SAFER SPACES RECAP

Nina Mashurova wrote a piece ("Making Safer Spaces") about our conversation at Silent Barn Public Meeting X: Safer Spaces for The Media's 23rd issue. I really enjoy her conclusion at the end, which I've included above, courtesy of The Media.

You can also stream the entire audio recording of this discussion on Silent Barn's YouTube channel.

Relatedly important: we coined the term "brahvant garde" (meaning "bro avant garde") which I foresee being helpful in the forever future.

Thanks to Rachel Levy for snapping the photo above!

[on tumblr]

10 FAVORITE MOMENTS IN THE YEAR OF BAD LUCK

The Media just published a year-end issue featuring over 20 contributors from 2013. I published a photo essay of never before seen (that's right! NEVER! BEFORE! SEEN!) photos that depict some of my favorite moments from this year in music, arts and culture.

THE ARTICLE
THE ISSUE

Happy 2014. To infinity, and beyond.

Tao Lin mixtape for The Media: Very Okay

SOME OF MY FAVORITE SONGS from fvckthemedia on 8tracks Radio.

[via lizpelly on tumblr]:

a mixtape by Tao Lin for fvckthemedia.com 

1 algorythx and gurantaxtaxq by blackblack
2 teenage unity song by the miracle of ‘86
3 together again by falling for a square
4 the commuter by falling for a square
5 blue of distance by very okay
6 where you go by very okay
7 tampa bay by johnny hobo and the freight trains
8 where is my coffee? (where is it?) by johnny hobo and the freight trains
9 diana by p.s. eliot 

Thanks to Tao Lin for putting not one but two Very Okay songs on this mixtape for The Media, whom I love. I miss being in this band, and playing music with these people!

Here's some things that us Very Okay bandmates are up to now:
(me) // Angie // Cynthia // Jared

HOW PUNK FEMINISM SAVED MY LIFE, ETC.

For the Birds is headed to Ladyfest Philly this weekend to present our workshop Winging It: Nurturing Authentic Communication in Feminist Organizing for the second time (the first time was at last year's C.L.I.T. Fest). I wrote about some of my own experiences in feminist organizing, as well as the workshop for The Media.

The Media was established by Liz Pelly and Faye Orlove in the wake of The Boston Phoenix. Read Liz Pelly's super-satisfying inaugural article about their choice to create The Media here, and an interview with its creators at the Voice. The piece I wrote is in Issue 5, a Ladyfest Philly preview issue. It's a great one, and Katie Alice Greer's piece on community spaces is one of my favorite  things I've read in recent memory.

For more Ladyfest info, check out their website.
For information on For the Birds' Ladyfest workshop, go here or here.

WRITING FURIOUSLY

I wrote a new thing for Daily News about Rayya Elias' book HARLEY LOCO: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk, from the Middle East to the Lower East Side:

Rayya Elias reminds us why we love New York in 'Harley Loco'

At The Frisky, I'm telling you about Amy Poehler's life tips that you must repeat like mantras to yourself for an all-time high of positive vibes:

Courage, Risks, Yes, Go, Now: 15 Totally Necessary Life Tips From Amy Poehler (In GIFS!)

I also wrote something for The Media, which you can check out here, but I'll be telling you more about that in another post.