This week's damali ayo lecture has left my head spinning. Bear with me while I try to sort my thoughts, please?
I'd known of damali's work for a few years, but this was the first time I'd seen her perform. As I expected, she's wickedly funny, extremely articulate, exceptionally bright, and undeniably charismatic. In her talk, "Shut up and change: A life as a social change artist," she walked us through her childhood, her art projects and performance pieces, her heroes, the negative and hostile response to her work, her six-year struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome, and her recent decision to "pass on" her anti-racist projects so that she can focus on yoga teacher training.
I'm up in Portland this week, visiting Debbie and hanging out at the Bitch office. I haven't been here in about a year, and it's amazing to see how bustling the office is—with interns and volunteers and new staffers (hi, Brian!)—while maintaining a relatively unfrenzied vibe, even though it's the middle of production on a new issue. This kind of calm, um, was never really achieved when I was working here. I'm going to try not to read anything into that.
Toni Tabora-Roberts, one of Bitch's new Board members is facilitating this great event in Portland tomorrow afternoon where she will be talking to Roberta Wong, an artist who does installation pieces addressing identity, gender, race and politics, about her work in the current IFCC gallery show, RWONG Ideas.
Artist Tea: Roberta Wong talks with Toni Tabora-Roberts
Last night was Equity Foundation's annual benefit auction, held at the Portland Center Stage Gerding Theater. Equity is a fantastic Portland-based foundation that awards grants to nonprofit organizations statewide that are effecting social change, particularly around queer activism. We're honored to be among the organizations chosen for 2008: Equity will be sponsoring the Bitch In page for our upcoming Loud issue (Summer 2008).
It was fancy! And gay! Check out the archetypal gay icon herself hovering over an impressive lighting technique.
If there's anything more awesome than seeing an eight-year old girl scream that into a microphone, it's being in a theater full of girls like this celebrating the opening of Girls Rock! The Movie.
Mary Christmas started the night off with the story of her illustrious career as a young New York fashion model ending with an ill-timed family move to Chicago, where modeling perms for hair salons was considered top of your game.
Events are funny beasts - we spend so much time planning them - there is worry, stress, debating over whether there should be candles or whether the program should have the mission statement on the front page or inside back cover - and then when the big day comes they take on a life of their own and magically, everything works (or doesn't but that is another blog post). I just had to write about the auction we had last Saturday night - sm[art] *art show and silent auction to benefit Bitch, because this one worked!
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