Articles in Arts
Alaska’s lesbian short story contest, women’s art and music shows, call for contributors and performers *New Deadline*
UPDATE: The short story contest deadline has been changed to February 15.
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Women in Alaska are invited to send their fiction stories with lesbian content to the RAW 2010 short story contest. But write fast – entries are due Feb 1.
“Radical Arts for Women is sponsoring a short story contest open to women living in Alaska. The fiction pieces must be between 250 and 5,000 words and contain some lesbian content. The grand prize is $500, second place is $300, and third place is $100. Deadline is Feb. 1, 2010. There is no entry fee. Winners will be announced at Celebration of Change on March 27, 2010.”
RAW is also accepting applications for an Art Show and Reception at the Kodiak Bar and Grill in downtown Anchorage. (Online application PDF HERE, due 3/15.) The art show runs March 19-April 1 and the reception is on March 19.
Celebration of Change is RAW’s all-women produced and performed annual show. Singers, dancers, poets, actors, comedians, as well as vendors and volunteer helpers, are encouraged to apply. Celebration is March 27 in the Wilda Marston Theatre, and the $15 tickets will be available at Metro Books and the Gay & Lesbian Community Center.
Along with the story contest winners, this year’s winner of the Radical Woman Award will be announced during Celebration. The Radical Woman Award honors women who have made significant contributions to the GLBT community in Alaska. To nominate a wonderful woman in your life, send a short paragraph highlighting her contributions to info(at)radicalartsforwomen.org by March 1.
RAW’s 2010 Short Story Contest Guidelines:
- Each entry must contain a cover sheet with author’s name, address, phone number, email, story title, and word count.
- The short story must be between 250 and 5,000 words and contain some lesbian content. Stories should be on 8.5-x-11 size paper, double spaced, 1-inch margins, no less than size 10 font. Do not put author’s name on the story. The fiction and lesbian stipulations may be interpreted by the author, but we are not seeking poetry or non-fiction. Erotica is acceptable. Electronic submissions are not accepted. Unpublished submissions only.
- Author must be a woman living in Alaska as of January 2010.
- February 1, 2010 is the postmark deadline for entries.
- There is no entry fee.
- Winner receives $500 and the winning short story will appear on www.radicalartsforwomen.org and may also be published in the Alaska LGBT literary journal, Naked Ptarmigan.
- Honorable mentions will be given at the judges’ discretion.
- Winners will be announced at Celebration of Change on March 27, 2010. For list of complete list of winners, include a SASE with entry.
- Mail entries by February 1 to: Radical Arts for Women Short Story Contest, PO Box 244436, Anchorage AK 99524-4436.
The first place stories for 2009, 2008 and 2007 are posted at Radical Arts for Women, along with a list of other winning stories and honorable mentions.
Mia Kirshner: From L Word to Alaska
Mia Kirshner, who played the sexy author Jenny Schecter on The L Word, just filmed a vampire movie where her character devastated the town of Barrow, Alaska. In the sequel 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, she plays the lead villain Lilith, the vampire queen responsible for the assault on Barrow that was the focus of the first 30 Days of Night.
The plot of Dark Days: After nearly a year of struggling to expose the truth about the destruction of Barrow by vampires, Stella joins a group of rogue vampire hunters in Los Angeles to seek revenge on Lilith, the powerful vampire responsible for the attack on Stella’s Alaskan hometown.
Was it filmed in AK? Was Mia here on the Last Frontier? Probably not.
OK, so it’s not news about LGBT Alaska, but it involves a co-star on a famous lesbian television series in a new role as a vampire in Alaska, and it turned up in a web search for lesbian Alaska, so here it is.
Continuing with the vampire theme, Kirshner is joining the cast of The Vampire Diaries starting on January 21.
Wasilla Gays to Levi: We’re here
Levi’s gay Wasilla homeboys (un)straighten Levi Johnson on the topic of whether there are gays in Wasilla. Yes, Levi, there are!
Gay Movie Night at the Anchorage Film Festival
“American Primitive” is this year’s gay movie at the Anchorage International Film Festival, showing at the Bear Tooth on Wednesday Dec 9 at 8 p.m. and followed by an after-party at Mad Myrna’s. Tickets are $7 for the movie, and the party is free.
American Primitive is set in Cape Cod in 1973. A widowed father relocates to Cape Cod with his teenage daughters to begin a new business and a new life, and struggles to withhold a secret that would tear the family apart. Ideas of sex and identity are questioned, topics that seemed to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue in the early 70s but were actually still taboo.
Here’s the trailer:
This Week in LGBT Alaska 12/4/09
The Anchorage International Film Festival begins today, and it’s also Art Walk First Friday.
This week’s LGBT events from the statewide newsletter Alaska GLBT News.
Juneau
SEAGLA Social Fridays (6-8 p.m.) for GLBT people and our friends over 21, at The Imperial Bar, downtown.
Fairbanks
LGBTA Christmas Concert Gathering with the social group, Sunday 12/6, 4 p.m. for the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra Christmas Concert in the David Concert Hall, UAF. Tickets here, and email Joshua to RSVP.
UAF Gay-Straight Alliance meets Mondays at 5 p.m. in the Women’s Center (Eilson 112). Jessi.
Wednesday LGBTA Social around 9:30 p.m. Email Joshua for the current location.
Mat-Su Valley
Mat-Su LGBT Community Center in Palmer is open M-F 5-8 p.m. (except 6-8 on Wed.) The social group meets Wednesdays, 5-6 p.m. at Vagabond Blues.
Anchorage
Kristara is co-hosting the Friday Night Diva Variety Show 12/4, 9 p.m at Mad Myrna’s.
Comic Mike Lebovitz 12/5, 8 p.m. performs at Mad Myrna’s and part of the proceeds benefit the YWCA.
Sunday worship with MCC Anchorage at 2 p.m.
Gay, Joyous and Free AA Meeting, Mondays 6:00 p.m. at the GLCCA.
“American Primitive” showing at the Bear Tooth 12/9, 8 p.m. as this year’s Gay-La gay movie with the Anchorage International Film Festival. Followed by an after-party at Myrna’s around 10 p.m.
Free copies of "Silent Lives" for GLBT-welcoming ministries
PFLAG Juneau has received another grant to give away several hundred more copies of the book by local author Sara Boesser, Silent Lives: How High a Price?
Silent Lives combines autobiographical stories, personal interviews and questions for reflection to explore issues about everyone’s sexual orientation and gender status, whether heterosexual, or gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or intersexual.
Boesser examines the consequences a sexual minority person suffers when attempting to pass as heterosexual or as having a traditional gender expression. She also looks at how society as a whole is affected when an individual is pressured to hide his or her sexual identity.
This year, the gift copies are available for furthering the work of “Welcoming Ministries” around the country: for faith and religious people, groups and denominations that are working to become more accepting of GLBT people, for your own work to make your faith community more accepting of GLBT people, or to give to someone you know who is involved in that effort, maybe a copy for a church or synagogue library, a counselor’s office, a religious parent, or a faith leader, rabbi, minister, preacher, pastor, or priest.
The book isn’t religious per se, but Boesser is a minister’s daughter and she reflects on that in the book. Excerpts of Silent Lives are posted on the Silent Lives web site.
“This book is the result of my personal struggle for integrity,” Sara wrote in the introduction to Silent Lives. “I realized I could no longer be silent and let society condemn a core part of me while praising the outer manifestations I selectively permitted it to see. And with that realization came another: while society was blind, my very silence was what blocked its vision.”
“From that instant of realization, my only hope for personal peace was to seek clues that could free me from my silence and to speak out about what I discovered in the process. This book is the result of the first fourteen years of that search.”
Kathy Reim of the Skagit PFLAG chapter wrote a column based on Silent Lives:
“Where is the silence in my life or yours? What do we lose when, as Sara Boesser challenges us, we “pass”- we pretend for whatever reason to be something else to make it comfortable for others and easier for ourselves – and lose our authenticity in the process?”
“… Boesser suggests we all lose when silence separates us. We end up hiding from ourselves. When the safety net is widened for all of us, the lives of everyone will be enriched.”
If you’d like a free copy or two, write to Sara Boesser with your name and mailing address, and say how many copies you’d like. And feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.
You can read more about the welcoming Christian movement at Welcoming Community Network, and the welcoming multi-faith movement at Welcoming Resources.
Sullivan’s Say ‘No’ To Bullies Month (or something like that)
“Hi, I’m Mayor Dan Sullivan. I’ve declared November as Say ‘No’ to Bullies Month. Bullying occurs far too often, and we need to stand up and say ‘no’ to this hurtful behavior.”
The Jazz Greats concert at the PAC on Friday is a benefit for a good cause: Bye Bye Bullies, an international anti-bullying organization based in Anchorage. Earlier this week, Bent heard that Mayor Sullivan supports the program and declared November Bullying Awareness Month to draw attention to the issue.
It was November 10, but there was no declaration of Bullying Awareness Month on the Mayor’s website and no mention of it in the ADN’s piece on the concert. Sure the Mayor has been busy vetoing Assembly bills, denying thousands of Anchorage voters protection against hate-based discrimination, and slashing the city’s arts and library budgets. But if he wants to draw attention to an important problem like bullying by declaring a month to raise awareness about it, you’d think that his office would send out a press release.
So I wrote to a contact person listed on the Mayor’s website, praising Bullying Awareness Month and asking for a copy of the declaration.
Then I heard the radio ad for the Jazz Greats concert with Mayor Sullivan’s part quoted above, declaring November as Say ‘No’ to Bullies Month.
Well, ok, the promoter must have written the name incorrectly, Bullying Awareness Month instead of Say ‘No’ to Bullies Month. But there wasn’t anything posted on a local Say ‘No’ to Bullies Month either, so I waited for the declaration from the Mayor’s office… and was surprised to get a declaration for Bullying Awareness Month. (Did they write it on Nov. 10 in response to my request? Or did they change the name in the radio ad after the declaration was written?)
Bullying Awareness MonthWHEREAS, we must safeguard schools for our children, and, through our recognition of the serious issues that face them each day, offer our children an environment that holds promise and security; andWHEREAS, many organizations, school districts, educators and parents have publicly expressed concern about the bullying of children; andWHEREAS, it is important that we acknowledge and heighten awareness about the serious issues and the negative effects of bullying, including the long-term damage it can cause in our youth, which may include the risks of teenage suicide; andWHEREAS, providing a safe physical and emotional environment is a significant goal and a personal responsibility of each individual; andWHEREAS, it is appropriate to speak out AGAINST bullying and FOR our children; andNOW, THEREFORE, I, Mayor Dan Sullivan, on behalf of the citizens of Anchorage do hereby proclaim the month of November 2009 asBULLYING AWARENESS MONTHin the city of Anchorage and encourage the community to acknowledge and address the important issue of bullying and work to prevent it from affecting our children.
It’s a good statement and a great cause, although I hope the Mayor will do more than just speak about it. For example, he could recommend that the Bye Bye Bullies program be taught in the Anchorage School District.
“It’s a benefit for Bye-Bye Bullies, a program to address school violence that originated in Anchorage and is now being effectively used in school districts around the country (though not here; go figure),” wrote the ADN.
Maybe he could do more to provide a ‘safe physical and emotional environment’ free from bullying for both the children and the adults who live here. Just saying…
Bye-Bye Bullies, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to protecting the integrity of individuals and preventing violence in schools and beyond. Founded by attorney Dennis Maloney, Bye-Bye Bullies organized the Violence Prevention Under the Midnight Sun conference in Anchorage, Alaska, the first national conference on bullying.
The Jazz Greats concert features Jeff Golub & Rick Braun, two excellent musicians. Go and enjoy the music for a good cause. And if anyone tries to bully your children this month, stand up and say “no.” Mayor Sullivan says so.
KK editor, former ADN writer seeks Queer Alaska stories
Remember the local lesbian newsletter, Klondyke Kontact? Kim Wyatt, an editor of the KK and board member of RAW, has co-founded Bona Fide Books and wants to publish your stories of being gay or lesbian in the Great Land.
Queer in the Last Frontier is an anthology of literary essays that explore the experiences of LGBT Alaskans, the challenges and pleasures of being queer – for both newcomers and old-timers – in a place that is “isolated, conservative, and impossibly beautiful.” Bona Fide is also seeking essays for an anthology called Permanent Vacation: Living and Working in Our National Parks. The two calls for submission were posted earlier this month HERE.
Kim gave Bent Alaska the scoop on Queer in the Last Frontier:
Q. Why did you choose an anthology of literary essays on Queer Alaska?
A. I’ve always loved nonfiction anthologies, and received an MFA in nonfiction from UAA. Also, I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and living in Alaska was an eye-opener. I felt like I had a better understanding of queer life and the importance of community after my time here. (Plus, I really love the title!)
Q. What queer and writing activities were you involved in when you lived in Alaska?
A. I edited the Klondyke Kontact for a while, and one of my goals was to make it a newsmagazine. I did shepherd it from rainbow-hued Xeroxed paper to newsprint with art, and tried to bring some consistency to the columns and layout. I applied for grants from the Gill Foundation and other organizations to upgrade materials. I had a lot of fun working on the KK, and had the help of some great Alaskan women. I was also on the board of Radical Arts for Women. And as I mentioned above, I got an MFA at UAA, and wrote for the Anchorage Daily News.
Q. What qualities are you looking for in the essays?
A. Honesty and transcendence are ideal, but I’m probably partial to stories that make me laugh or cry. We’re really just looking for well-written explorations of queer life in Alaska. Or life in Alaska as it is experienced by someone who happens to be queer. You can write about relationships, the Northern Lights, or working on a fishing boat. Just tell your story.
Q. Will you be visiting Alaska to promote the book?
A. Absolutely. I try to get up there whenever I can.
Kim has a special greeting for all the Alaskans who remember her, especially the KK readers:
“Hello, Alaskans! I just got back from a backpacking trip with another former Alaskan, Val Garrison – the friendships I made there are lasting, because that’s just the kind of people Alaskans are. (And I would like to give a shout-out to the Wesleyan Wimmin’s Writing Wetreat!)”
photo: Bona Fide Books Publisher Kim Wyatt & Val Garrison goofing around in Yosemite 9/09.
The deadline for submitting an essay to Queer in the Last Frontier is February 5, 2010 and the word count is limited to 5,000. Writers will receive $100 for their story and one copy of the collection. Send to Bona Fide Books submissions with “Alaska” and the title of the work in the subject line.
For more information, please visit Bona Fide Books.
New Press seeks Essays on Queer Alaska
Ex-Alaskan Kim Wyatt and Shelley Zentner from the UK launched Bona Fide Books earlier this year, “a small press that seeks to publish provocative and adventurous literature.” They are seeking submissions for two anthologies of literary essays: Queer in the Last Frontier and Permanent Vacation: Living and Working in Our National Parks.
Queer in the Last Frontier explores the experience of LGBT Alaskans, the challenges and pleasures of being queer in a place that is “isolated, conservative, and impossibly beautiful” for both chechakos and sourdoughs. Permanent Vacation considers the daily life and wider implications of living and working in our national parks, from Denali to the Everglades.
Queer in the Last Frontier
Alaska is a place of extremes, where people go to reinvent themselves. Or perhaps you were born there at a time when it wasn’t safe to be out. What is it like to grow up or remake yourself in a place that is isolated, conservative, and impossibly beautiful? Bona Fide Books seeks literary essays for Queer in the Last Frontier, the first collection to explore the challenges and pleasures of being gay or lesbian in the Great Land. We seek a diversity of experience, from the newly arrived to the old-timer who has seen it all. Send us your stories of prejudice, triumph, and community in the Last Frontier.
Writers will receive $100 for their story and one copy of the collection. Deadline: February 5, 2010. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, and 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font with standard formatting applied; word count is limited to 5,000. Send to Bona Fide Books submissions with “Alaska” and the title of work in the subject line.
Permanent Vacation: Living and Working in Our National Parks
Bona Fide Books is also seeking literary essays about your experience working in our national parks, from Denali to the Everglades, Yellowstone to Yosemite. Some go seeking commune with nature; others to escape. Diverse park experiences are desired. Although we enjoy tree-hugging epiphanies, we also want to read about day-to-day life, and societal, environmental, and existential implications of living in the park. What happened there, and how did it influence your life?
Writers will receive $100 for their story and one copy of the collection. Submit manuscripts postmarked no later than January 5th, 2010 to Bona Fide Books submissions with “Permanent Vacation” and the title of work in the subject line. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, and 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font with standard formatting applied; word count is limited to 5,000.
For more information, please visit Bona Fide Books.
The Music and Poetry of Celebration 09
The Celebration of Change Silver Anniversary show was performed on Saturday, June 13 in the Wilda Marston Theater, presenting a variety of female musicians, poets and comedians to the mostly female audience.
Celebration is the main fundraiser for RAW, Radical Arts for Women, a Lesbian and Feminist philanthropic group that funds Alaskan women art projects.
The Wilda Marston Theater is also being used this month as the overflow room for the Assembly hearing on the equal rights ordinance, which seeks to add “sexual orientation” to the Anchorage nondiscrimination policies.
But on June 13, the Wilda Marston rocked with the sounds of women’s voices, from original jazz to pop and opera, Balkan folk songs on the accordion to the Mary Tyler Moore show theme song, and covers of rock and country. Several of the performers are new to Alaska or new to Celebration. Other performers, and many audience members, have been coming to Celebration of Change for years, or decades.
The Radical Woman Award 2009 was presented to Victoria Shaver for her work with Celebration and the LGBT community. Congratulations, Victoria!
