A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

“Milk” screening Sunday benefits One Anchorage

Come out Sunday, January 22nd for a screening of Gus Van Sant’s Milk, starring Sean Penn in his Oscar–winning performance as openly gay politician Harvey Milk. Suggested donations of $5 will benefit One Anchorage in its campaign to gain passage of the Anchorage Equal Rights Initiative.

PULSE Dance Company at the Sydney Laurence this Friday/Saturday

PULSE Dance Company takes it to the PAC on Friday and Saturday, January 20–21, with an exciting, eclectic presentation of eight thought-provoking, socially aware, comedic and abstract dances. Pieces range from satire to an homage to the late Merce Cunningham.

Dan Savage & “Savage Love” return to UAA on February 9

Dan Savage, author of the wildly popular sex advice column “Savage Love” and cofounder with his husband Terry Miller of the It Gets Better Project, returns to University of Alaska Anchorage on February 9, 2012 with his honest and funny question and answer session on everything sexual. Tickets available at UAATix starting January 20.

I Heard the Moon Call — A Song for My Trans Sisters

Bent Alaska is pleased to welcome a new contributor, Annie Muse. With her poem “I Heard the Moon Call,” we’re also pleased to inaugurate Bent Alaska’s greater inclusion of the creative writing of LGBTQA Alaskans.

“An Ordinary Family” and “Weekend” — two gay films showing in Anchorage this week

Two films featuring gay male characters are playing this week in Anchorage: An Ordinary Family with two screenings on Wednesday and Thursday, December 7—8 (part of the Anchorage International Film Festival), and Weekend on Monday, December 12.

Open Projector Night 4, this Saturday night at Out North

The time has come  for Open Projector Night, the Alaska independent filmmakers’ open mic, presented by the Alaska Film Forum and Out North Contemporary Art House, on Saturday, November 26 at Out North.

Bring a short film or clip of something longer on DVD, BluRay, or digital format ( h.264/m4v, 720p). Projector slots will be given out on a first-come first-serve basis.

For filmmakers, this is a great opportunity to meet other people working in town and have your films screened for an audience. For everyone else, this is your chance to see the awesome work that the local filmmaking scene is putting out, and to show your support for independent filmmakers and filmmaking.

Schedule for the evening:

5pm – Media drop off begins at Out North
8pm – Doors open for socializing/networking time
9pm – Screening begins

• Date/time: Saturday, November 26, 8:00 to 11:30 PM
• Location: Out North Contemporary Art House, 3800 Debarr, Anchorage, AK (see map)
• Age restriction: This event is 21+. IDs will be checked at the door.
• Further info: see Facebook events page

Want to know more about Open Projector Night? Read Ben Anderson’s July 2011 story in the Alaska Dispatch.  Or, check out the video:

Open Projector Night 4 from Tri-Seven Pictures on Vimeo.

Alaska Film Forum and Borderline Productions helped to put this piece together to talk more about the creation of OPN and its role in the Alaska Film Community.

Alaska favorite “I Can’t Think Straight” to become a web series — with your help

Last October, two films by independent lesbian filmmakers Shamim Sarif and Hanan Kattan were screened in Alaska, accompanied by Sheetal Sheth, costar of both films. Now one of those films, “I Can’t Think Straight,” based on the true story of Shamim’s and Hanan’s meeting, is set to become a web series — with your help. [Update: The project is on hiatus.]

“Out in the Silence” showing a successful event for Anchorage-area GSAs

Out in the Silence was shown two nights ago (Sunday, Nov. 6th) at Out North. It was an excellent turnout of students, families, allies, and friends to address the issue of bullying of our teens that is brought up in the video.

B!D!F!W! Penny Arcade’s Sex and Censorship Show at Out North starting this weekend

B!D!F!W! is a powerful critique of the Christian right as well as of the politically correct Left. A blend of outrageous humor, political humanism, freedom of expression and erotic dancing, the show shocked NY’s supposedly unshakeable downtown art scene with its brazen use of strippers and erotic dancers and its huge audience dance break. 1500 international performances later, this show (like all true masterpieces) has never left the cutting edge; it comes to Anchorage, finally, to up the ante on the hot topic of “choosing respect.”

“The show was everything you ever wanted to know about censorship, feminism, counterculture and joy.” – Rolling Stone

“Arcade’s strength is that she takes issues which divide and frighten people and exposes the absurdity behind them. A wonder to behold…Beg, steal a ticket.” – Newsweek

About Penny Arcade: Born Susana Carmen Ventura to an immigrant Italian family in the small factory town of New Britain, Connecticut, she became Penny Arcade at age 17 in an effort to amuse her mentor and patron, openly gay photographer/artist Jaimie Andrews. It was Andrews, a member of The Playhouse of the Ridiculous, who introduced the young Arcade to legendary director John Vaccaro. Vaccaro, then directing Kenneth Bernard’s potent play The Moke Eater, subsequently gave Penny her theatrical debut in the groundbreaking production. Soon after, Arcade became a teenage superstar for Andy Warhol’s Factory with a featured role in the Morrissey/Warhol film Women In Revolt, but quickly found the life of an upcoming pop tart too one dimensional and fled to Amsterdam.
She has been a legendary, provocative, ground breaking performance artist ever since. Plus, she’s super cool and super kind.

Find out more about her at www.pennyarcade.tv.

What Out North does: Produces and presents art that challenges and inspires; nurtures creative space where people of all cultures, generations, circumstances and abilities can gather and learn; champions artists whose work pushes traditional boundaries of aesthetics and content.

18 and older unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.

• Date/time: Fridays and Saturdays November 4 to 19, 8 PM
• Location: Out North Contemporary Art House, 3800 DeBarr Road Anchorage, AK (see map)
• Cost of admission: Tickets $25 general, $20 students/60+/military in advance at Centertix. Or $30/$25 at the door.
• Further info: see Facebook events page

Virginia Woolf, author (LGBT History Month)

Virginia Woolf was an accomplished 20th century English novelist and one of the founders of the modernist movement. She published nearly 500 essays and nine novels. Bent Alaska presents her story as part of our celebration of LGBT History Month 2011, with thanks to the Equality Forum.

Virginia Woolf

“Language is wine upon the lips.”

Virginia Woolf (born January 25, 1882; died March 28, 1941) was an accomplished 20th century English novelist and one of the founders of the modernist movement. She published nearly 500 essays and nine novels.

Born Adeline Virginia Stephen, she was privately tutored at home and never attended college. She inherited a love of literature from her father, Sir Leslie Stephen, who had an impressive library and was a magazine editor.

Woolf suffered emotional hardships from an early age. When she was 6, her stepbrother began molesting her. The abuse continued into her early adulthood. At 13, she suffered a mental breakdown following her mother’s death. At 22, Woolf suffered a second breakdown when her father died.

Upon recovering, Woolf and her siblings moved to Bloomsbury in London. There she involved herself with the Bloomsbury Group, a cadre of intellectuals who met for discussion of politics, art and literature. She began her literary career teaching at Morley College and writing book reviews.

In 1912, Virginia married Leonard Woolf, a member of the Bloomsbury Group. The marriage was described as passionless, but loving. Together they founded the Hogarth Press and published significant books, including Mansfield’s Prelude, T.S. Elliot’s Poems, and her own book Kew Gardens.

Woolf had a number of close relationships with women. It is believed there was only one sexual relationship, with Vita Sackville-West, on whom Woolf based the protagonist of her novel Orlando (1928). The plot of Orlando span over 300 years (1588–1928), during which Orlando ages only thirty-six years, and changes gender from male to female. Sackville-West’s son described the novel as “the longest and most charming love letter in literature.” Orlando was made into a 1993 film with Tilda Swinton in the lead role and Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth I. From the novel:

For it was this mixture in her of man and woman, one being uppermost and then the other, that often gave her conduct an unexpected turn. The curious of her own sex would argue, for example, if Orlando was a woman, how did she never take more than ten minutes to dress? And were not her clothes chosen rather at random, and sometimes worn rather shabby? And then they would say, still, she has none of the formality of a man, or a man’s love of power. She is excessively tender-hearted. She could not endure to see a donkey beaten or a kitten drowned. Yet again, they noted, she detested household matters, was up at dawn and out among the fields in summer before the sun had risen. No farmer knew more about the crops than she did. She could drink with the best and liked games of hazard. She rode well and drove six horses at a gallop over London Bridge. Yet again, though bold and active as a man, it was remarked that the sight of another in danger brought on the most womanly palpitations. She would burst into tears on slight provocation. She was unversed in geography, found mathematics intolerable, and held some caprices which are more common among women than men, as for instance that to travel south is to travel downhill.

Woolf’s modernist style differed from other writers of the day. It concentrated more on communicating impressions and people’s inner lives than recreating reality. It often included techniques such as stream-of-consciousness writing. Many of her works contain strong feminist themes, such as her book-length essay A Room of One’s Own(1929) where she wrote, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”  Other works by Virginia Woolf include the novels The Voyage Out (1915), Night and Day (1919), Jacob’s Room (1922), Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), The Waves (1931), The Years (1937), and Between the Acts (1941). She also wrote volumes of short stories, essays, and other works. She is also the subject of numerous biographies and critical essays, and several of her works have been adapted into movies.  The Hours (1998), a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham, focused on three generations of women affected by Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway — including Woolf herself — and was adapted into a 2002 film with Nicole Kidman portraying Woolf.

Over the course of Woolf’s life, she was treated for mental illness. She was likely suffering a mental breakdown at the time of her death. After weighing down her pockets with stones, she drowned herself in the River Ouse in Lewes, England. According to her suicide note, she feared her suffering would not end.

The only surviving recording of Virginia Woolf’s voice is from a talk called “Craftsmanship” in a BBC radio broadcast from April 29, 1937 (transcribed here). The text was published as an essay in The Death of the Moth and Other Essays (1942). YouTube user Atthis22 prepared a slideshow of photographs of Virginia Woolf to accompany the audio. Watch:

For more about Virginia Woolf, visit her biography at Yale University’s Modernism Lab, LGBT History Month page, or Wikipedia article.

Image credit: Portrait of Virginia Woolf by George Charles Beresford, 1902.