Please submit any news for the weekly QA newsletter to Sam Klugman at news@queer.brown.edu by 11:59pm each Saturday.
Members of the Brown queer and allied community have been invited to attend a candle light vigil at Prospect Heights Park (Congdon Street, Providence) to remember those individuals who have been killed in transgender related hate crimes. The vigil will be held this evening (Sunday, Nov 20), beginning at 6:30PM. Members of the Queer Alliance executive board will be leaving for the vigil from Faunce arch at approximately 6PM. All are welcome to join us in walking over; email if you would like us to wait for you. queer@brown.edu
Our last Porn Party of the semester is happening this Sunday, November 20th. The meeting is at 8:30pm in the Tap Room and we'll show the film at 9pm. The porn of the evening will be some sort of steamy man-on-man action. Don't miss it! E-mail for directions. SexClub@risd.edu
In the wake of the attention that SPG received last week, the Queer Alliance will be holding a special general body meeting this Monday, November 21, at 9PM in Petteruti lounge (first floor Faunce). We hope to clarify facts, disseminate information about the current situation, and take your questions. We hope you'll join us.
Members of Voices Against Hate will be holding an informational protest, November 21, 2005 in front of Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel from 8:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. The group, and its allies, will be protesting the performance, of Buju Banton, who is currently on trial in Jamaica for the gay bashing of 6 gay men in their home in Kingston, Jamaica and internationally known for his anti-gay music. All are encouraged to attend the protest. The more people that attend, the bigger the statement we have made that this is unacceptable to the community in the Ocean State. I urge you to attend.
Signs and candles will be provided, please just bring yourself and all of your friends and family. We are especially interested in having a showing from area college students. If this is you, please come. Email Joe Brummerwith questions.
Bisexuals Talk and Eat *is* meeting at 9 PM on Tuesday, November 22nd in the LGBTQ Resource Center (321/323 Faunce). If you haven't already left for Thanksgiving break, please feel free to drop by! Remember, you don't have to be bi to take a BiTE with us... and we'd love to see you there. :) For more information, email JessicaFH@gmail.com or Robert_Cohen@brown.edu.
We call it our Will and Grace Class where all men and women, regardless of sexual orientation hit the mats to come together as a community and practice our yoga! So COME OUT and bring your gay, lesbian and straight friends!!!
Why? Its just plain fun!!! And an amazing practice. Meet anyone from our class and check out their HOT YOGA BUTT! This is yoga not only for your health but social connection for your spirit!
This is a special class and I'm inviting and challenging all of you who have yet to try a vinyasa (flow) style of yoga to be very brave and check it out. Wherever you are in your exercise or yoga experience this class is for you as you can modify anything to make it work for you! Fee for class is $12.00 and mat rental is $1.00.
This months class however is special because it is a WINTER CLOTHING DRIVE!
If you bring an article of winter clothing to donate to needy families in our area the class is FREE FOR YOU! (Go in your closets just for a moment!! and pull out jackets, coats, scarves and gloves you are willing to donate. Bring them into this Saturdays class (Nov 26) and that class (and mat if needed) is FREE FOR YOU!
Let the giving begin and let it begin with US!
Also a quick shout out of thanks to Joe Siegel of Innewsweekly for attending our last Will and Grace class and writing such a nice piece about our class for the current Innewsweekly.
In Newsweekly -.- Tom Fronczak -.- Rhode Island yoga for Wills & Graces
Namaste everyone!
See you soon and enjoy the holiday!
Tom
Thomas Fronczak, LICSW, ACSW
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
What lies are people forced to tell in order to gain acceptance as "real?" When someone passes -- as the "right" gender, race, class, sexuality, age, ability, body type, health status, ethnicity -- or a member of the dominant religion, political party, social/educational institution, exercise trend, fashion cult or sexual practice -- someone else fails.
How do we break the rules and make the tools to skewer dominant cultural norms and open space for those in the margins?
Mattilda is looking for essays that explore and critique the various systems of power seen (or not seen) in the act of passing. Mattilda is seeking not only scathing critiques of passing into the mainstream, but also essays that examine unconventional passings and standards for inclusion in subcultures and cultures of resistance.
What does it take to pass as nonmonogamous, on the DL, genderqueer, totally broke, spiritual, ghetto fabulous, anti-capitalist, outside the beauty myth, differently-abled or completely uninterested in passing as anything? How healthy can a sick person feel? What about passing as crazy in order to get disability benefits, passing as Latino or Asian to avoid being targeted as an Arab, or passing as a woman in order to marry a man for citizenship (when you've recently transitioned from female to male)?
We're looking for essays that confront the perilous intersections of identity, categorization and community in order to challenge the very notion of belonging. We're especially interested in confronting gender normativity within trans communities and racial profiling by individuals already marginalized by race, as well as rules of passing enforced by model minority mythologies, class striving obsessions and cultural appropriation scams.
Realness Is Overrated will make sure that nothing escapes scrutiny. If we eliminate the requirement to pass, what delicious and devastating opportunities for transformation might we create?
Mattilda, a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore is the editor, most recently, of That's Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation (Soft Skull 2004) and the author of Pulling Taffy (Suspect Thoughts 2003). Mattilda spoke at Brown in the fall of 2004, and was brought to campus by RUQUS, a subgroup of the Queer Alliance.
SPECIFICS:
*Submit non-fiction essays of up to 6,000 words. All submissions must be typed and double-spaced, and sent by mail only (no email submissions, but feel free to contact Mattilda with queries, mattilda@sbcglobal.net).
Please include a short bio.
*The book will be published by Seal Press in 2007.
Contributors will be paid $60-100 per accepted work, depending on the total number of essays included in the anthology.
*Deadline is January 31, 2006 -- but the sooner, the better.
*Send submissions to:
Realness Is Overrated
c/o Mattilda, a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore
P.O. Box 640047
San Francisco, CA 94164-0047
Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work
Wayland Wellness Associates
120 Wayland Avenue, Suite 4B
Providence, RI 02906
Office: (401) 431-2953
www.tomfronczak.com
Voices Against Hate is hoping to enlist the support of activists on regional college campuses in its efforts to protest Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel. We're planning our second protest on Monday evening, November 21st. On that evening, Buju Banton is scheduled to perform. Buju Banton, like Beanie Man whose concert we protested last Monday night, has recorded songs with lyrics that advocate murder and violence against gay and lesbian people. (For more information on Buju Banton, Beanie Man and Voices Against Hate, please visit our website at voicesagainsthate.org.)
Our first protest was a success and garnered much attention from the media. This time, we'd like a substantial showing from our college campuses along with members of the larger community. If you are an activist on a college campus in Rhode Island or nearby Massachusetts or Connecticut, gay or otherwise, or if you are in touch with on-campus activists, please contact us. Our email address is voices@voicesagainsthate.org.
Anyone otherwise interested in joining our efforts is also welcome to contact us at the same address.
Voices Against Hate has been endorsed by:
The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence
AIDS Care Ocean State
Marriage Equality Rhode Island
Website: voicesagainsthate.org
Email: voices@voicesagainsthate.org