Hi Everyone!

As you may already know from my regular postings about it on Facebook or Twitter, I’m going to be out in San Francisco the end of this month for the San Francisco release of Kicked Out! 

While I’m in town I’m going to be collaborating with some great folks and have a reading of some of my new work titled ‘Children of the Revolution’ as well as two workshops: Leather Storytelling and Queers Surviving: Telling our whole stories co-facilitated with Jen Cross!

I don’t know a lot of folks in the bay area so I’m sending this message around to folks I know who either live there, or have a lot of ties to the area in hopes that you will help me to spread the word about the events!

Friday, August 27th
– 8:30pm

Magnet

4122 18th St. San Francisco

FREE!

Children of the Revolution is part memoir, part love letter to Portland Oregon’s queer gutter punk world at the turn of the 21st century. Written by author, artist, and storyteller Sassafras Lowrey, this piece celebrates love and loss on the streets, punk houses, and in youth centers of the City of Roses as seen through the eyes of boy-dyke Click Patterdale (Lowrey’s former self). Children of the Revolution is an intimate trip through underground lives, while reminding us that homeless youth birthed the modern “gay rights” movement, and continue to shape our culture in ways we are only beginning to understand.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147342451943540&ref=ts

Leather Storytelling

Saturday, August 28^th  – 2-4pm

SF Citadel

1277 Mission Street

$20

Leather Storytelling is focused on exploring what it means to tell our stories when as leather folk we are often silenced, and pushed out of even the most progressive spaces who deem us as inappropriate or obscene. The workshop is not specifically about writing porn/erotica though of course sexually explicit themes are welcome, but rather this workshop is about telling the stories of our dynamics, of our communities, and of ourselves. It’s about taking ownership of why we find solace, and pleasure in the things that we do, and coming out of the shadows to make our voices heard. This workshop is designed for all variety of folks who find leather to be a driving force in their lives regardless of context or dynamic(s). Through guided writing exercises, workshop participants will discover the transformative power of storytelling and how it can be used to break down divides, foster and preserve community, and build coalitions within leather community and beyond

Fetlife event: http://fetlife.com/events/22866

Kicked Out Anthology San Francisco Release!

Saturday August 28^th – 7pm

Modern Times Bookstore

888 Valencia St. (at 20^th Street)

FREE!

featuring editor Sassafras Lowrey and contributors Tommi Avicolli Mecca and Booh Eduardo

In the U.S., 40% of homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer(LGBTQ). Kicked Out brings together the voices of current and former homeless LGBTQ youth and tells the forgotten stories of some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. Diverse contributors share stories of survival and abuse with poignant accounts of the sanctuary of community and the power of creating chosen families. Kicked Out gives voice to the voiceless and challenges the stereotypical face of homelessness.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134868813217021&ref=ts

Queer Surviving: Telling our whole stories

Sunday August 29^th – 1-4:30

Co- facilitated with Jen Cross

$20-40, sliding scale (NOTAFLOF; please be in touch if $ is an issue, and we can work something out!)

Please visit www.writingourselveswhole.org to register!

What does it mean to ’survive’ as a queer* person? The word ’survivor’ can mean many things: sexual assault or abuse, partner violence, family violence, believing that we’re worth less because we’re queer (internalized homophobia), dealing with homophobia at work, at school, from the police or elsewhere (institutional homophobia), being hospitalized to ‘cure’ our queerness, forced or chosen houselessness (when ‘home’ is the least safe space to be) and more.

Sassafras and Jen invite you to spend an afternoon writing about your larger story of survival, which may also be your larger story of ‘coming out.’ We are, each of us, endlessly creative in the ways that we find to survive and reclaim our power in this society. Bearing witness to our fuller stories, and allowing others to bear witness to us, can be a way to honor the difficult choices we have made, and decrease our sense of being alone or ‘crazy.’

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147532201928866&ref=ts

Thank you so much for helping to spread the word about these events and I hope to see you while I’m in town!

xoxo

Sassafras

Hi!
First let me apologize for sending a mass email, it’s not normally my style.  I’m writing to friends and colleges who have been a great support to me and Kicked Out, and who are either based in San Francisco, or who I know have strong ties to the city in hopes that you might have some ideas for me.  Two of the incredible contributors to Kicked Out who are local to the bay area were just booked to do a reading from Kicked Out at Modern Times bookstore on Saturday August 28th.  I had not initially planned on being able to participate as I’m based in NYC, but on a whim I looked at airfare and discovered I could get round trip tickets with tax & fees for under $400 for that weekend.

I know that I will not always be able to be with Kicked Out contributors as they do events connected with the book. Call me sentimental, but there is something very special about this book’s first reading in San Francisco, and It would mean a lot for me to be there, and I know the contributors would like me there as well.  It’s also possible that if I get there I’ll be able to do a storytelling workshop with a homeless youth shelter.

I’m looking for other gigs that I could do that weekend that would be able to cover my expenses to get out there.  I’d be able to get airfare to get me to SF for just under $400 and then would just need somewhere to stay for the weekend.  The Kicked Out reading is booked to be taking place Saturday August 28th at 7pm leaving plenty of time for me to another couple events while in the city.

Readings focused on my story of homelessness, survivor stories, gender travels, leather are all possibilities.  I’d love to teach one (or a few) of my storytelling workshops, examples include: queer youth writing workshop, storytelling of the queerly feminine, gender revolution, body narratives, love letters, leather storytelling, ghosts, transitions and other past lives.  All of my workshops and readings can be fully tailored to the needs and desires of the group(s) that want to have me.

I know that making this happen is a long shot given the short amount of time there is to pull this together, but I also know I’ll kick myself if I don’t try.  If you have any ideas for getting me booked (quickly – as I expect airfare won’t stay this cheap) with folks who will be able to cover some/all of the expenses please please let me know and I’d love to talk with them about making something work.  This is a special situation that is enabling me to go cross-country for so inexpensively so I hope to be able to take advantage of it!

Thank you in advance for all your help!

xoxo
Sassafras
_
Sassafras Lowrey
SassafrasLowrey@gmail.com
917-628-7707
www.PoMoFreakshow.com
www.KickedOutAnthology.com
Editor Kicked Out Anthology

A year and a half ago I responded to an online call looking for people whose lives had been impacted by dogs, to be interviewed for a book titled “Every Dog Has A Gift.“  Those of you, who know me, know that in a lot of ways dogs have defined my life especially my young adulthood. As you can imagine, I was pleased when I heard back from the woman who I was led to believe was the author (turns out she was just a “book associate”).   After exchanging a few emails we arranged a time for her to interview me by phone.

The interview itself was pretty non descript. She asked me for background information about when my life first became intertwined with dogs. I didn’t even think much of it when she began focusing her questions on my experience of being kicked out and loosing ‘my boys.’ After all, losing the dogs and the dog community was as defining as my queerness during that time. I didn’t hear much from her after that, and didn’t really expect to. The book was being released from a major publisher, they didn’t have a release date and after all I was just a small interview informing her work that might be quoted somewhere along the way.

About a year ago I was asked for a photo and was sent a contract to sign giving them permission to use my name, photo and story within the book, all normal stuff.

There did however come a time when I began getting nervous. After sending my contract my contact with the book (who I still believed was the author) mentioned in an email that my story was one of her favorites and one of the most powerful in the book. It was then that I requested to see a copy of what had been written about me.  My request was denied.

Last weekend in my mailbox was a manila envelope with two copies of ‘Every Dog Has A Gift’ (my payment for participating). Immediately I looked at the index, found my name, flipped some pages and was horrified by what I found.

I was met with a title, my name, and a large photograph of myself and my dog Mercury (the largest photo in the book I might add). I was confused, the way it was laid out made it look like I’d written what was to come on the further pages,  I must be  paranoid, all I’d done was a simple interview. I turned the page to find a “first person” account of my “story.”

Now you might be asking yourself “first person? I thought you said she just interviewed you? How does that get turned into you wrote something????”

Good question.

Reading “my” story was very interesting. I learned that I had been “banned” from my family. I also learned that I’d lived on the streets and only after college was my life stable enough to welcome a dog into my home. In reality I survived by couch surfing with friends, and had adopted my dog Mercury before I even got into college because my life was incomplete without canine companionship and creating enough stability to have a dog was really the only thing I cared about.

I’m so furious about this issue that it has taken me days to even know how to talk about it publically. I’m angry because as an author I have a voice and style and this poorly written “story” that they fabricated is an embarrassment. But my anger goes beyond professional self-consciousness. This is personally insulting.

When we let other people tell our stories, especially when those stories include accounts of homelessness, with few exceptions words will be put into our mouths, the names of those we love will be altered (they chose to make some of the names of my dogs anonymous but not others), our stories will be sensationalized, and we will be put into situations where we have to talk about lies masquerading as truth.

I’m in the process of looking over what I signed in that contract and speaking with an attorney but given that this book is out in the world with my name and photo on a section I feel the need to come forward now and explain the actual story behind my involvement and to publically denounce the book. In my workshops I always talk about how it’s important that as queer people we tell our own stories, that we be careful of those we let speak for us, and I have *again* learned that lesson the hard way.

On Saturday I headed up to Albany for the first annual Empire State Book Festival.  I was excited because though I’ve attended and presented at lots of conferences I’ve never before participated in one focused exclusively on books. It was a good experience, but one also very very different from the sorts of spaces I’m used to being in.  The following is my somewhat brief reflections on the experience of being there and the things it brought up for me.

As a queer person, and a queer author being at the conference reminded me that I take for granted the idea that folks writing and publishing books in their 20’s isn’t uncommon. To be somewhere that I was easily 20 years younger than most other authors was quite shocking, and reminded me of what a little bubble of queer artists I exist within.

When I first arrived at the conference the volunteers staffing the author check in table mistook me for a lost conference attendee. I quickly learned that within the paradigm of the Empire State Book Festival I was not in line with what an author looked like.  At first I thought it was my tattoos or piercings, which made me, seem not authorly (which I’m sure did play a part), but then person after person began commenting on how young I was, a few even outright asking my age.  I’ve decided moving forward I need to come up with a clever way to respond, perhaps a calculation of how old I am binary or hexadecimal.

The conference itself was interesting; I went up and back in the same day but arrived early enough to be able to attend all three of the morning workshops. I stuck mostly to the ones focused on memoir with some of the presenters being more engaging than others. The main concern I had was during a panel of five memoirists (all women) the male moderator attempted to make an argument that memoir is inherently a women’s genre.  I was shocked, especially so when none of the panelists responded with the same outrage that I would have expected. Clearly again an example of the queer & feminist bubble that my work and I exist within.

It was a busy day of running between sessions, including teaching a 45-minute LGBTQ Storytelling workshop in the mid-afternoon.  45 minutes is the shortest period of time I’ve ever had to do one of my workshops, and honestly I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to work.  One of the things I always start my classes by saying is that “this is not a safe space.” On a fundamental level I believe that writing, especially the sort of writing that I lead folks through is dangerous stuff. That said, usually I’m not putting folks in the position of traversing mental landmines in such a condensed period of time that doesn’t even allow for a introductory go-around.

Going in I didn’t know what to expect, but came away energized and thrilled because in 45 minutes people were walking away with starts to fantastic stories addressing a wide range of complex and sensitive topics from identity to disability.  I feel so privileged to have been able to spend time (however brief it was) in a room with folks so willing to jump head first into the difficult work that I was asking them to do!  After the workshop I headed to my scheduled “meet & great” where I had the chance to meet some fantastic upstate queers!

Although my experience at the conference was a complicated one, I have no regrets about making the trip up to Albany.  I got to meet some fantastic people both at my workshop and my meet & greet session, and I got to support a young event, which is already off to an impressive start.  Although the festival reminded just how much of an artistic bubble I exist within, it also was a great opportunity to do my part and challenge core assumptions about who authors are to a broader more mainstream audience. Furthermore, it excited me to see The New York Library Association (who sponsored the conference) prioritize LGBTQ issues through having me as an invited author with a meet & greet, and including my LGBTQ Storytelling workshop in the conference programming.

It was not the sort of conference where being there felt like home, which was difficult because both my work and I needed more explanation, but I think that made my being there all the more important. The way I see it if one person left that conference with a different perspective of who an author can be and what they might look like, or more importantly if they actually talked to me about my book and know more about LGBTQ youth homelessness, than I’ve done my job.

I’ve been in this perpetual state of emotional hangover since Thursday night when I had the privilege of being among about 30 queer folks gathered for a secret viewing of Ticked Off Trannies with Knives (TOTWK)- arguably the most controversial queer film this year. Since that night Being there was a reminder to me just how fortunate I am to do the work that I do, to be surrounded by colleagues whose art I have such respect for, and to live somewhere like NYC where a viewing like this is even possible.

As a general rule I do not watch horror/revenge/thriller movies because I find the overt violence too triggering. That said when the invitation to attend this screening and the following community discussion I knew that being part of this was more important than my own emotional comfort.  I sat on a couch, breathed through the panic attacks and forced my eyes open. I felt so privileged to be in that space and surrounded by people working to make our community better and I wanted to truly witness everything this film had to offer.

As I’m sure will come as no surprise to anyone, I found TOTWK far from perfect. The overt racism that was present at points was horrifying, and the ways stereotypes of white southern men as violent bigots was deployed was also unacceptable. That said, for me the film was also far from without merit. Far from the damaging evil misrepresentation of transgender women that GLAAD and others have been accusing it of, in some ways I found TOTWK to be an important step forward for cinematic representation of transgender lives and community.

First, this film stars trans women played by actual trans people. This may sound simple but seldom and never in a mainstream Hollywood movie has a transgender actor been cast to play the role of a transgender character. The fact that on stage there were four trans women playing trans women characters is on its own nothing short of revolutionary.

The violence as I’m sure comes as no surprise was intense, that said it was unlike violence that I’ve seen in any film until this point. Unlike other films, which focus on violence against transgender people (‘Boys Don’t Cry,” “The Crying Game,” “Soldier Girl” etc. etc. etc.) where the violence we see is usually stylized resulting in the brutality does not directly register with viewers, in TOTWK it was intense, terrifying, and powerful.  The violence against trans people was extreme, but important. This film may have been fiction but what we watched on screen could have been ripped from any headline (or more importantly the news stories that are never written) about the brutality and violence that transgender people face. As someone with PTSD I can say I’ve never seen a filmmaker capture the intensity of flashbacks the way I saw in this film. This is violence not just for the sake of violence, but violence that reflects the reality of what our community faces and though painful to watch, I think we need to see this.

I have a great deal of respect for the work that GLAAD does around working with mainstream media on its representation of LGBT people. That said, sometimes even those with the best of intentions get it wrong, and in this instance GLAAD has seriously missed the mark.  Regardless of weather or not this is a “good” or “bad” film really is irrelevant to me. What concerns me on a core level, as an artist is the call for this film to be censored.  I believe very firmly that censorship is never the answer. There is a lot of art in the world that I don’t like or agree with but I honor and respect that it has a right to exist. The idea that a group of activists fueled by one of the most powerful LGBT organizations is calling for censorship is concerning.

I would fully support activists protesting Tribeca’s decision to show the film and calling for a boycott. There is a fundamental difference between boycotting and censorship. Boycotting is a personal response that allows the space for others to form their own opinion. However, censorship is acting forcefully with the belief that your own response should preclude anyone else’s ability to make an educated decision about something.

Today we’re talking about ‘Ticked Off Trannies With Knives’ but I find myself asking what/who will be next?  As queer artists we live everyday with the knowledge that our work is at a high risk for censorship from mainstream venues, the idea that we live in a world where we live in a world where censorship could come from within if our depictions of queerness do not meet standards of “acceptability” and “positive” representation that some organizations and activists are setting is incomprehensible and unacceptable.

Follow Up:

* For me even more important than the screening itself was the talkback that occurred immediately following the viewing. I believe that an audio recording will be available in the coming weeks & I’ll post a link when it goes up.

* I was live tweeting my thoughts while watching the film, which you can find by looking at my twitter http://www.twitter.com/sassafraslowrey

* Scott Turner Schofield live tweeted not only his thoughts during the film, but also what was happening at the talkback, and that can be found on his twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/turnerschofield

Kicked Out: New York Release from Samantha Stark on Vimeo.

Samantha Stark of Dirty Hands New York was at the NYC release for Kicked Out and has just put up a fantastic article & video that talks about the Kicked Out anthology including excerpts from my own story, as well as an interview conducted the night of the reading which focuses on the inspiration behind the book! Samantha took video and conducted interviews from all the Kicked Out contributors participating that night so expect more fantastic things from her soon!

-Sassafras

I’m still in awe of how incredible last night’s NYC release at  of Kicked Out at The Center was.  Those of you who plan events know that sometimes all the chaos ahead of time pays off and suddenly things flow seamlessly…. this was one of those nights.  I can honestly say that there isn’t one thing that I wish I could go back and change.

I have a longer and more coherant post planned for in a few days, but for now I just wanted to offer a huge thankyou to all of the contributors who were part of the festivites, The Center for hosting us, and the nearly 70 people who came out to support the release of this anthology, and the importance of current and former homeless LGBTQ youth telling our stories.

Readings by Kicked Out Editor Sassafras Lowrey & Contributors Lucky Michaels,
Ksen Pallegedara, Kestryl Cael, and Kay Barrett

Friday March 19th 7pm @

The Center 208 West 13th Street

Room 310

As a kid just the idea of Westminster meant a whole lot to me, so as you can imagine I was over the top thrilled when I was given the opportunity to get a press pass to the show and cover it for The Bark this year!!!  My article about my experience going which talks a bit about what i see as the pros and cons of the AKC but then mostly is focused on what attending Westminster meant to meant to me just went live over at The Bark

The blog at The Bark briefly references my experience of being homeless as a teenager and loosing my dogs- the eight anniversary of that actually just passed last week which made the experience of getting to attend the show even more meaningful for me, sort of a right of passage and the ultimate proof to myself that I survived. Needless to say I think the press pass is going to be hanging at my desk for quite a while as a special reminder of the experience. I blogged on the exact anniversary of being kicked out over at the ‘Kicked Out’ website and that post includes pictures of me from when I was in high school with the dogs I lostbelow the cut are some of the pictures I took while I was at the show!  there were so many beautiful dogs I didn’t get a ton of great pics but did take a few that didn’t get used for the story so i thought you guys might like to see