WOMEN, THE ARTS, AND ACTIVISM: SUPPORTING THE SCENE

I’ve been involved with the Sarah Lawrence Women’s History Month Conference since 2009, planning 2010’s The Message is in the Music. This year (in its 14th year) will be my first time presenting my own work at the conference, and I am excited to be doing so with my cohorts in For the Birds. Here are the details for our panel THIS SATURDAY. I'll be presenting a slightly edited version of the paper I read at last year's Women Who Rock conference in Seattle.

SARAH LAWRENCE WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH CONFERENCE

Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
4:30pm-6:00pm
Slonim Living Room

SUPPORTING THE SCENE: CREATING AND CURATING A FEMINIST SAFER SPACE

Feminist collective For the Birds will discuss the ways that gender informs their curatorial and activist practice, and their understanding of “safer spaces,” as well as how their scholarly journeys have been reflected in their own community-building experience.

Kate Wadkins, Sarah Lawrence College
Lauren Denitzio, Parsons the New School for Design
Sarah Hanks, CUNY Graduate Center
Roz Hunter, Sarah Lawrence College

For the full details, conference description, & schedule, click through the jump.

VIDEO: ZINE CULTURE AT SARAH LAWRENCE

It's like our own version of LIVE! TONIGHT! SOLD OUT!!

Last Tuesday night, I rode the Metro North up to Bronxville to visit Sarah Lawrence for a zine reading hosted by Kate Angell. Kate, a frequent collaborator and friend, recently established a zine collection at my alma mater, and organized the zine reading as a celebration.

I read the introduction to International Girl Gang Underground and one of my favorite pieces from the zine by contributor Katie Crutchfield. My dear friend Cynthia took this video so I could share it with you. I intended to also read my piece "This is a Thank You Song..." but wanted to leave enough space for the other speakers.

Kate and her librarian-partner-in-crime Charlotte Price (who recently moved to the Music Library at Sarah Lawrence) made delicious baked goods, which I thought looked enticing placed next to Stephen Duncombe's Notes from Underground and Cindy Crabb's Doris collection.

DESIGN: THE AFFECT FACTORY POSTER

Silkscreen separations for NYU's The Affect Factory conference, hosted by Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory; design by Kate Wadkins

While I haven't been doing much design for punk shows or album art (my usual realm), recently I've had the pleasure of working for some publications I really respect.

Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory contacted me about designing a poster for their conference The Affect Factory. I gladly accepted and was able to work with my friend and frequent collaborator Jason Roy to print the posters.

My other design job for January-February was a cover for Zine Histérica, a punk feminist zine from Brazil. I'll be posting more about that as the zine gets published!

ZINE READING AT SARAH LAWRENCE

Flyer by Charlotte Price

I'm excited to announce that I will be reading from International Girl Gang Underground and related materials with fellow zine author and Sarah Lawrence graduates Cynthia Schemmer and Annie Soga.

Kate Angell, advocate for feminist/queer librarianship, has recently established a zine collection at Sarah Lawrence. We'll be celebrating the collection with an inaugural zine reading, also organized by Kate, on Tuesday, February 21st:

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2012

@ SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE
in the Esther Raushenbush Library Pillow Room
7pm

Readings by

CYNTHIA SCHEMMER
(Habits of Being zine, MFA Creative Nonfiction)

KATE WADKINS
(International Girl Gang Underground zine, MA Women's and Gender History)

ANNIE SOGA
(an educator at the Children's Museum of Manhattan, reading from a zine about Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls)

MIX TAPE #7: YOU'RE JUST HOPELESS

YOU'RE JUST HOPELESS: A(n) (Anti-) Valentine's Mix

Jean Grae - Get It

The Parting Gifts - Keep Walkin'

Weezer - I Don't Want Your Lovin'

Antwon - Skullkrush

Tenement - City Bus #30

Allergic to Bullshit - I'm Not Ashamed

that dog. - Ms. Wrong

Bouncing Souls - Hopeless Romantic

Lost Weekend - A Bushel & A Peck

Weezer - Waiting on You

Beyonce - Resentment

YOU'RE JUST HOPELESS: A(n) (Anti-) Valentine's Mix from wisdomtooth on 8tracks.

Valentine's Day isn't normally even a subject I touch on, save for the once-a-year-riot-grrrl-bonanza organized by my friends and comrades that has brought me many positive memories. So why You're Just Hopeless? I had been creating a mix in my mind gradually, as I've had a bunch of new must-listen-to's lately. Everyone's favorite hate-to-love/love-to-hate holiday is swiftly approaching, and I realized a theme was emerging in the songs: difficult love, love that doesn't quite work out, nontraditional love.

Rivers' hesitant laugh - or cracked voice - as he sings "I don't want your lovin'..." is a moment I savor every time I hear that song. It's one of those songs where you're likely to tune out whatever lyrics don't apply to you so you can sing the chorus over and over again. The catchiest vocal melody, and so affirming.

I made this really brash mix last year that I never posted, and in the post I divulged a lot about how I think rap music can be the best healer, and how Jean Grae in particular helps me face the fine line between wanting to give up altogether and ruthlessly defending your right to live. I find that in more of her songs than not. Her spin on marriage is great here ("And I'm not going anywhere / cuz me and life is married / and I ain't getting divorced"), making it a real dedication to herself and no one else: self-love, self-as-valentine. On a related note, my V-Day post from last year is a love letter to the the bad-assery of singledom, as said best by a Nikki Darling and Beyonce pairing. B'Day on V-Day just sounds like a good idea.

I had already planned on adding Jean to the mix, but it seemed even more appropriate when I remembered I'm headed to the event she's hosting at WORD tonight, "Just Working On My Breakup." Right in my neighborhood! At one of my favorite bookstores!

As I started putting this mix together I thought it would be funny to bring in some more desperate tunes. Allergic to Bullshit's "I'm Not Ashamed" (a cover) has resonated with me since my late teens, many times over, each while I was helplessly infatuated with someone, of course. Lost Weekend's "A Bushel & A Peck" is about sisterly love from what I hear (wink), which can be a particularly fraught and under-appreciated yet truly special kind of love.

So, here it is, for better or worse. Happy Valentine's Day, y'all.

ADOPT CHARLIE

...THE CUTEST DOG IN THE WORLD!

Photo by Danielle M.

Photo by Lily O. 

Meet Charlie. He is the most adorable dog this side of the Mississippi and looks like a black version of Falcor mixed with a baby seal. He is also the most mild-mannered, sweet, funny and cuddly little dude I have met in a long time. Charlie needs a home! He is currently in the care of Lil Monsters ("a private, limited admission facility for animals that operates under a 'no kill' philosophy"), and deserves to move into a stable, loving home.

Are you ready to accept a bundle of snuggles into your life?

Have you fallen for Charlie already?

Do you know someone who is ready for this cuddlemonster?

Then please contact Zoe or Angela at Lil Monsters:

lilmonsters.org

646.837.2059

Please repost far and wide.

NOTE: I visited Charlie today (2/9) & someone is coming to look at him tomorrow, but keep reposting/reblogging until we know he has a stable, loving home!

OLD BANDS, NEW NEWS

Cover art by Amos Pitsch

TWO THINGS OUT OF THE PROVERBIAL BLUE:

1. Cheeky's long-promised (and I thought potentially never to exist) split 7" with everyone's favorite Appleton, WI trio, Tenement, is now available as a co-release from Rally Records and No Breaks Records.

There are only 400 copies available so get your copy here, quick. We recorded this song during the What the Heck sessions back in 2009. I'm happy that we not only get to do a release with Tenement, but with Amos' cover art.

A lower point of 2011 was leaving my latter band, Very Okay. After graduating Sarah Lawrence and beginning an internship at Hyperallergic (while also working two other jobs) I just couldn't fit music into my schedule. Some of us have moved on to new bands, to new cities, and others of us just hope to get a dog (ahem), but people are still kind enough to give us a holler every now and then.

2. One of those people is author Tao Lin, who gave us a shout-out in his interview with friend and music comrade Jeff Rosenstock this week at Vice Magazine. Someone also made us fan art.

Another exciting post I found was from "Leftovers & Reruns" on tumblr, who uploads scans of his record collection. He scanned Cheeky's Choke on a Cheeseburger EP, which I did the art for in 2007.