2011 RADAR Lab artists- It’s Tania Katan!
- At August 13, 2011
- By Beth Pickens
- In RADAR artists, Radar LAB
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Tania Katan won me over forever when, after crushing her competition in round 1 of San Francisco’s Literary Death Match, she extended her hand to her squashed opponent and -just as he humbly reached toward her- she drew drew back in the Welcome Back, Kotter tough guy hair swipe. Humiliation for the guy! I was smitten! She’s an excellent writer, a stellar comedian, and a terrific performer. We’re excited to have her join us on the playa!
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TK: Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I HEART this book so much!
TK: I didn’t know it was a queer retreat. Well, in that case…the queer part.
TK: The initial process of writing involves vomiting up as many memories/ideas/themes as I can, then picking through the vomit to find chunks of clarity, stories, and threads that start to connect the pieces, make them part of a larger whole. Standing up in front of an audience involves vomiting before going on stage. So, I guess I’m really proficient in throwing up.
TK: The best thing about Arizona is that it invests no money in education. Na-da. That’s Spanish for Arrest me. This means that we get government officials who are uneducated, which means that we, the residents of Arizona, feel way smarter then we ever done!
TK: I’m not a planner, so I love being with women who are serious about the future. Whether it’s a One-Year Supply of food, or prepping for the Celestial Kingdom, I like my ladies hungry and thinking ahead. Oh, and you should see what my Mormon lady can do with a bonnet; there is nothing sexier! Check it out:http://www.lisasettegallery.com/a-ellsworth.htm
2011 RADAR Lab Artists- Whoa, it’s Andrea Lawlor!
- At August 12, 2011
- By Beth Pickens
- In RADAR artists, Radar LAB
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I had the pleasure of meeting Andrea Lawlor in April 2011 during the Sister Spit national tour’s U Mass Amherst stop. Andrea read a poem she’d recently written in response to Ali Liebegott’s call-for-submissions for her upcoming “Faggot Dinosaur” journal. Andrea surprised us with the paleontological-correct poem and blew us away with the reading!
She is the creator of Pocket Myths, a series of zines based on mythology. This is a massive undertaking and the edition entitled “The Odyssey” is comprised of both an impressive art and print zine with an accompanying DVD featuring shorts by 24 filmmakers tackling Homer’s epic. WHOA, Mary.
I can’t wait to talk Modern Jackass astrology with her!
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I plan to work on my novel, which is about a young queer shapeshifter in the early 90s. My dream is to see the end of this novel, to write my way there. I’m also working on a series of poems (see here <http://mipoesias.com/2011/04/05/andrea-lawlor> and here <http://www.scribd.com/doc/53201841/OCHO-31>), a sort of busman’s holiday from the novel. I’m pretty excited about poetry right now, after taking workshops this year with Dara Weir and James Tate.
What’s interesting about a queer artists retreat?
I love being around queer people! It’s so relaxing. And of course I’m excited to talk about writing with queer writers. For instance, how are other people addressing issues of representation, gender, language? In a group of queer artists, there are higher odds of finding people who are facing similar challenges, who share culture and values.
Radar LAB Beach Reads!
- At August 11, 2011
- By Michelle Tea
- In Radar LAB
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Maybe you wonder what the brainacs who come to the Radar LAB read while lolling on the beach between writing hours and board meetings? Here is but a smattering! Check it:
One of my most favorite books! I have been moaning and groaning for YEARS that in a fair and just world, Wanda Coleman would have Charles Bukowski’s career and Jennifer Egan would have, like, Jonathan Franzen’s. So I am really, really happy that she just won a big award for Welcome to the Goon Squad, which is a great book, as his her novel The Keep, but my all-time fave is this wildly meta book about a disfigured model, a scholar on the brink, and waaaaaay more.
What a great cover! This book just won a Lambda Literary Award, congratulations!
Know what a book about running sounds like to me? BORING. But two of RADAR’s board members were raving about it, and insisting that you don’t even have to be a runner to get totally wrapped up in this story of a Native Mexican people who have a tradition of extreme barefoot running whilst fortified by energy shakes made of chia seeds. Chia seeds are the new flax seeds, so this book feels timely in that way at the very least.
You guys, I have to cry all the time in totally inappropriate situations! I should totally read this book. Word is she’s super into the Goddess, too.
This is what I’m reading! Kamikaze Girls is one of my favorite movies, and the book is really entertaining, I love the snarky teenaged voice of Momoko, a gothic lolita with an intense Rococo life philosophy who is trapped in the sticks hours from Tokyo, and the frenemyship she strikes up with Ichiko, a scooter-riding sukeban gangster who comes to buy the trashy counterfeit Versace Momoko’s wanna-be yakuza father was making.
This is not the edition I’ve seen lying under the palapa, but hello – High Risk! I pulled it off Dennis Cooper’s awesome blogsite, DC’s, where there is a whole essay about the author, Herve Guibert.
Elsa Gidlow was a dapper lez with hot style from back in the day. And oh yeah she was a poet. And a writer. Her memoir has been lying around the Lab, much to the delight of many. Ali Liebegott wrote an amazing epic manifest- tribute to Elsa Gidlow for a RADAR event at last year’s National Queer Arts Festival. Know her!
Okay I am NOT DONE, there are still more Beach Reads to share, and a whole new crew of writers coming sometime next week! Stay tuned as we help you build your reading list!














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