I'm not part of the planning of the Femme Conference, but over the past few months I've gotten emails etc. from folks thinking I might have some information about what was going on with the conference for this summer. This week the collective revealed some info, it's not going to be in Atlanta due to finances, but instead in Oakland. Below is the message the Femme Collective went public with for all interested folks.  As an east coast femme I was looking forward to going to Atlanta (secret: i've never been to the femme conference) but I fear that unless I book some gigs about the same time as the Femme Conference California just might be too far for me this year.  What about all of you? Will you be at Femme 2010?

*****

Dear Community Members,

Finances are tight for all of us these days, particularly for community-supported events requiring travel and lodging, like the Femme Conference.  After a great deal of effort and research, we have determined that it is not financially possible for us to hold the 2010 Femme Conference in Atlanta as we had hoped to do.  We are incredibly hopeful for our future as an organization, but we believe that Atlanta would be cost prohibitive to both the members of the Steering Committee and to the larger Femme Conference constituency.  We realize this is a disappointment for many of us.

However, we have decided that rather than skip a year, we have the resources to hold the Femme Conference in Oakland in 2010.  We are tremendously excited at the prospects of holding a conference in the city we had originally chosen for the very first Femme Conference (we ended up in San Francisco as a result of financial considerations, so this feels like a full-circle in some ways)!

We appreciate your understanding and your continued support.  All details about hotel, dates and calls for submission will be announced at the beginning of February.  We are excited and we hope you are too!

Femme Collective

Hey everyone, I've got some blogs in the works that I hope to get posted soon, but in the meantime I came across this call for submissions that I thought some of you might be interested in.....

"Femme Means Attack" is a collaborative zine of submissions by people who identify as femme and as radical, anarchist, and/or anti-authoritarian. Femmes are often seen as non-radical or counterrevolutionary in many radical communities, despite the fact that we can take to the streets just as well as anyone else, in heels or steel-toed boots, and are FIERCE while doing it. As radical femmes, we often find ourselves alienated from mainstream femme discourse that focuses on standards of femme/femininity which are white, homonormative, aspire to be bourgeoisie, and rely on conspicious consumption. Thus, we radical femmes often find ourselves alienated from both our radical communities and femme communities.

"Femme Means Attack" aims to change that by giving us, radical femmes, a voice. We welcome submissions from femmes of all genders, trans and cis, binary gendered and genderqueer, of all races, socioeconomic backgrounds, both urban and rural, of all dis/ability statuses, etc. While submissions should touch on both femme identity and radical politics/communities, we leave it up to each contributor to determine what that looks like. We welcome all types of submissions - essays, personal accounts, poetry, artwork, etc.

Along with your submissions, we ask that you submit a one hundred word bio. This is merely to let us know who you are and where you are coming from on the femme spectrum. That said, there will be a bio section in the zine, so if you do wish to have your bio included, let us know.

Likewise, if you wish to tell us (the editors) your name, but would not like it published in the finished zine, just let us know. However, we do request that you use a pen name or nom de queer so that half of the zine is not attributed to "anonymous."

Criteria for submissions are:

Absolutely nothing oppressive.

You may submit as many pieces as you would like.

Submissions must be in an easily accessable computer format.

Additionally, written works must be submitted in a format that will allow for editing. That is- editing of format, not content.

PDF files will not be accepted.

Artwork must be submitted in jpeg format.

If any other issues arise with submissions, they will be handled on an individual basis.

You will receive notice as to whether or not your submission has been accepted. If you wish to challenge our rejection of your submission, we welcome your feedback. We only ask that you are as respectful to us as we will be to you. We both identify as anarchists and do not wish to hold any sort of power over anyone else. Thiszine's purpose, and our purpose in publishing it, is to bring unity and strength to femmes around the world.

Submissions are due by April 15, 2010

Please send submissions to:

femmemeansattack@gmail.com

Your co-editors,

naydeehn pearl messier and gayge sparkly purple unicorn freyjasbarn

Johnny Blazes and I met when we had the pleasure of working together as part of the 2008 tour of The Femme Show. Johnny's work there was fantastic and really spoke to me as a genderqueer femme with a complicated gender history.  As someone whose performance work is almost exclusivly word based, I also really appreciated the way that Johnny uses all sorts of movement to convey stories- it's not a style I ususally have an easy time following, but Johnny's style is so smooth I found myself picking up on nuances of movement that normally wouldn't connect for me.

One of the things I've loved about work of Johnny's that I've seen is how ze challenges labeles, expereinces, and socialization in a style which maybe can best be summed up in the first part of Johnny's statement of purpose on hir website:

"Perhaps somewhere along the line you got the message that you are ordinary.  Or if you are not, that you should strive to be.  Fit in.  Follow the trend.  Be normal.  Yet in a world of 7 billion people—each with their own way of expressing, being, living—how can any one thing be considered “normal”?  This seemingly simple question is one that we often forget to ask.  We allow ourselves to be persuaded by media and power structures in place that there is a correct way to be.  Their labels—“white,” “woman,” “middle class,” have strict definitions.  When we allow ourselves to believe these definitions, to assimilate them into our consciousness, then we become limited by their immovable boundaries and stop being truly ourselves."

I've never seen Johnny's full-length solo show wo(n)man but am really excited that it's coming to the city! The show will be up at WOW Café Theater here in NYC. Wo(n)man is a one-person, evening-length show that incorporates theater, dance, drag, circus arts, clowning and classical voice to humorously explore notions of gender performativity.
Friday January 15 – Sunday January 17, all shows at 8 pm
WOW Café Theater
59-61 East 4th St, Fourth Floor
$15

I've already got my tickets and will be there Sunday night! Now I just have to figure out what to wear!!!!

I got linked to this on Facebook this evening, and wanted to pass the info along to all of you!

Call for Workshops, Papers, Performance, and Art
Femme of Color Symposium (FOCS) 2010: Celebrations and Reflections
March 26-28, 2009
Astor Crowne Plaza
739 Canal Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
www.focs2010.com

FOCS2010: Celebrations and Reflections, the inaugural symposium by and for self-identified FEMMES of COLOR, will create the opportunity—through workshops, community building/social activities, presentations, panels, and/or performances—to uncover and discover our similarities, our differences, our needs and how to build the bridges that will allow us to support each other in all ofwho we are. It will serve as a launch point for a real-time and virtual nation-wide network of diverse individuals, prompt dialogue, and empower us to cultivate, sustain, and celebrate the vibrant connections we have made and will make among femmes of color.

We invite femmes of color from all over the map—community members, artists, academics, homemakers, activists, etc.—to participate in FOCS2010 as presenters and participants.

Submissions of all kinds are welcome. In particular, we hope that the intersections of femme with race, region, class, faith, access, ability, privilege, and marginalization will be talked about, given space, meditated upon, constructed, and deconstructed.

We hope to draw participants from across discipline, medium, and social boundaries. We encourage submissions from anyone interested, regardless of sexual identity (lesbian/gay, bisexual, etc.). We do ask that you read our mission statement before submitting. Though we would not be able to live, love and/or laugh without our many allies, this conference is for elf-identified femmes of color only.

We are soliciting contributions from any woman who is interested, including (but not limited to):

Workshops
Performances
research presentations
skill shares
activist & organizational topics
visual art
video or film

Submission deadline is January 31, 2010.

To submit a proposal, please submit the following to Krysia Villon at klvillon at aol dot com. Please put “FOCS Proposal” in the subjectheader.
*For research presentations, send a 300 word abstract
*For workshop and skillshare proposals, send a 300 word description of your workshop or skillshare ideas
*Visual artists should send samples of work and a 300 word description of their artistic vision
*Performers, filmmakers and other creative artists should contact us for more information

To learn more about us, our mission and to contact us with any questions, comments or concerns, please find us at our website: www.focs2010.com

Happy New Year Femme Folks!!!

It’s been quite a year for me, and I feel really blessed that I’ve been able to spend bits and pieces of it with you, and I look forward to sharing 2010 with you as well!  Of course this isn’t just any new year, here we all stand at the end of the decade, and I like many other folks have been thinking a lot about what has changed in my life over the course of the last 10 years.  In some ways the answer is simple….. EVERYTHING!

10 years ago I was a conservative high school student in Milwaukie Oregon whose life revolved around dog agility trials. I was not femme. I was trying (and failing) to be a tomboy. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would have thrown away all my pants, that I would live in NYC, and I would be queer I would never have believed you!

I’ve been a lot of people in my relatively short 25 years on this planet. I’ve been thinking a lot about the ways in which I’ve killed off former selves, the conservative, rural, quiet, shy, and nervous.  I wonder what she would think of me now. Would she forgive me?  Would she understand that her dreams were not compatible with the life I grew to want? At 15 I’d never been on a date,  I had no idea that I was queer, and I did not write. I’ve killed her, but pieces still race through my bloodstream. They run the way she ran with dogs.

I’ve come to terms with my past lives, I’ve forgiven those selves for the evils they did, or their shortcomings. I’ve forgiven myself for knowing wouldn’t be friends with them. How I’d avoid them at a party, or if they were related to me I’d send awkward cards on Christmas and their birthdays but I wouldn’t go visit…well maybe some of them, but the oldest selves? They’d be lucky if I didn’t disown them. The legacy I’ve learned best from my family of origin is that of disownment.

I have ink to commemorate them, their lives, and their losses. I took from them everything important in order to be here today. I took their dreams, their loves, and their identities. I had to. I saw no other option.  I hope that they can forgive me as I’ve forgiven them for not being what I wanted, what I needed.

I don’t think the girl I was 10 years ago would really like or understand the femme I am today. I’ve forgiven her shortcomings; I hope she can forgive me for taking her dreams.   2009 has been an incredible year for me, it’s marked a full year at my dayjob, it’s brought touring opportunities I’d never dreamed of, my partner and I bought our own apartment, there is no doubt that the year has treated me well.  Sitting here staring 2010 in the face, I’m welcoming it with open arms, and it seems fitting that new years day begins the pre-sale* on my first book: Kicked Out, an anthology of current and former homeless LGBTQ youth.

The girl I was 10 years ago still lived with her mother, she had yet to kick her stepfather out of the home. She’d never told anyone that her mother drank, or that she was abused. The girl I was 10 years ago didn’t have the words to talk about what she’d seen; she didn’t even know that other people dared say those words out loud. The girl I was 10 years ago did not write. Even then she knew that writing was dangerous. Even though the girl I was 10 years ago might not understand the femme I am today, if she could see me now, could see that I got away, that I told, if she read the words I’ve dedicated my life to writing, if she saw this book, and heard the chorus of others telling their/hers/mine/our stories, I think she’d be proud.

*If you are interested in ordering a copy of Kicked Out, the pre-sale opened today. You can find more info about it at http://homofactuspress.com/books/kicked_out/. Their running a really great buy one- get one free promotion right now where if you buy kicked out you’ll get any other of their titles (including The Femmethology!) for FREE!!!!