Thursday, July 30, 2009

S as in Sam, Z as in Zebra

This is my periodic update email with where my work has been and where it is appearing. If you’d like to be added to the email list, do let me know at JulieREnszer at gmail dot com and I’ll happily send it directly to your email box.

I write this from the midst of my studies for my General Exam in Women's Studies which I'll be writing the weekend of August 21-24. The reading, summarizing and annotating have been one of the joys of the summer. Another joy was the opportunity to spend three weeks in Cuernavaca, Mexico studying Spanish. I posted a plethora of photos on Facebook from the trip, so if you're on Facebook, check them out there.

Two New Poems

Two poems have been recently published online.

"Constantin Brancusi's The Kiss" in the Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=21587

"Absolutely No Car Repairs in the Parking Lot" in On The Issues Magazine
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/2009summer_Poetry.php

I'm thrilled to be included in both of these publications with other fine poets and writers.

Lesbian Poetry Archive

I've been adding to the Lesbian Poetry Archive, one of my projects for my PhD. Recently, I've posted a new chapbook and anthology. Do check it out periodically here:
http://www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org/
Also, please consider joining the Lesbian Poetry Archive group on Facebook! Click here:
http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/group.php?gid=91784956929&ref=ts
Join and post comments, if you wish. One of the goals of the Lesbian Poetry Archive is to connect more people interested in lesbian poetry, both contemporary lesbian poetry and lesbian poetry from years past.

Second Person Queer

This spring, Second Person Queer was published by Arsenal Pulp Press, and I was thrilled to have an piece included in it. Second Person Queer is an anthology of essays on LGBT life written in the second person. It is filled with delightful, passionate, funny and moving essays by great LGBT writers. I highly commend it to you. You can see it online here: 
http://www.arsenalpulp.com/bookinfo.php?index=291
and order it from any fine bookseller that you matronize.

Two poems were included in the most recent issue of Feminist Studies as well so check that out in your local library or at your newsstand. I have poems forthcoming in a variety of places including Women's Review of BooksKnockOut and Gertrude Journal. I'm also still writing book reviews and other various and sundry writing projects. I post many links to Twitter and Facebook (and try to be relatively engaging on these new media) so let's connect there if we haven't.

That's my update for the summer. I hope this email finds you happy and thriving and filled with good dreams and schemes for the fall. 

Julie

Julie R. Enszer
www.JulieREnszer.com
http://JulieREnszer.blogspot.com

P.S. You're receiving this email newsletter because sometime, somewhere I thought that you might be interested in periodic updates about my work. If you'd like to be removed, please just reply to this email and I'll remove you from the list promptly.

Friday, July 24, 2009

HOMOSEXUALS ARE REVOLTING



I was enchanted this morning by this photo from the BBC. There is a whole exhibit of photos of the history of pride in the UK. It's worth a look. Meanwhile, I'll be contemplating revolting homosexuals for the balance of the day.

H/T to Lesbian.pro for the link.

Thursday, July 23, 2009


My friend and Woman-Stirred colleague, Jan Steckel, is celebrating the publication of her newest chapbook, Mixing Tracks. It won the 2008 Fiction Chapbook Contest at Gertrude Press. This is what the press says about the story:

A darkly comic and oddly touching story of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and a plane crash that crushes human bodies while leaving the mandolins unharmed. In “Mixing Tracks,” Jan Steckel strikes an unsettling balance between the consolations of memory, the thrilling ephemerality of youthful ambition, and our shared need for connection, even (or especially) when our world seems to have to come to its end.

It’s a fabulous story by a fabulous writer. Pick it up for just $8 today at the Gertude Press website.

Since Stonewall Contest sponsored by OutHistory.org

This looks very cool. I’d love to do a history of stuff in Detroit, but I fear I don’t have time.

***
OutHistory.org Extends Deadline for Since Stonewall Local Histories Contest!

OutHistory.org has extended the deadline for creating online exhibits on the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer histories of villages, towns, counties, cities, or states in the U.S. since June 1969.

To enter the contest simply create and finalize an exhibit about a local LGBTQ community by March 31, 2010. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, OutHistory.org will award five prizes from $1,000 to $5,000 for the best online exhibits. A panel of judges, convened by OutHistory.org will assess the exhibits and OutHistory.org will announce the top five exhibits on June 28, 2010. In fall of 2010, OutHistory.org will host an event showcasing the winning exhibits.

Jonathan Ned Katz, OutHistory.org's Director, expects this contest "to draw attention to LGBTQ histories of places and communities outside of major cities, as well as in major metropolitan areas." OutHistory.org users have already created exhibits about the histories of LGBTQ life in places such as Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Columbia, South Carolina and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Lauren Gutterman, OutHistory.org Coordinator, hopes the site will "receive at least one submission from every state," but there is no limit on the number of entries per state, village, town, county, or city.

This contest is supported by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City of New York Graduate Center and funded by a generous grant from the Arcus Foundation.
***
The Since Stonewall Contest invites you to create an exhibit about LGBTQ history in your local community over the last 40 years, and post it on OutHistory.org. Any logged-in user can create and edit entries on OutHistory.org. To be eligible for this contest, all you have to do is begin your exhibit by June 28, 2009 .

Timeline:

- First drafts of exhibits must be posted by the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots on June 28, 2009.

- Revised exhibits must be completed by March 31, 2010.

- OutHistory will announce the top five exhibits on June 28, 2010.

Requirements:

- Your exhibit must have a title that includes the village, town, city, or county, and the state and a time frame. Although we prefer that exhibits span the entire 40 year period, we will accept exhibits that begin after 1969. For example: “Detroit, MI: Forging New Lives Since Stonewall, 1984-2009.”

- Your exhibit must have a main entry page that will list all the additional pages in your exhibit. For an example of such a main page listing on OutHistory.org see: http://www.outhistory.org/wiki/Sample_Exhibit

- Every page must fully and clearly cite all sources using the Chicago Manual of Style Guide.

- To help OutHistory users find subjects of interest, every page in your exhibit must have subject categories listed at the very bottom of each entry page. These categories might include: “Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, AIDS, Parenting, Aging, Activism.”

- Every entry page in your exhibit must have a synopsis. For example: “This page discusses how the HIV/AIDS epidemic affected gay life in Chicago, IL.”

- Every entry page in your exhibit must have specified time-span. For example, “August 1981–July 1992.”

- Every exhibit must have a contact person. You can post a contact person’s name and e-mail address on your page, or send it to outhistory@gc.cuny.edu.

Suggestions:

- Please take this contest as an opportunity to collaborate with archivists, students, activists and others in your local community. We welcome collaboratively-created exhibit entries.

- There are multiple ways to structure a local history exhibit. Consider which structure would work best for the story you want to tell. You could, for example, base your 40-year exhibit around a few individuals’ life stories, notable local events, or specific organizations or places in your community . You could document how different groups of people have experienced the last forty years differently.

- Find a wide array of sources on which to base your exhibit: newspaper articles, interviews, diaries, letters, artwork, personal photographs, maps, audio recordings, etc.

- Find historical documents and objects at LGBTQ archives, local historical societies, or libraries.

A listing of LGBTQ archives across the country can be found here: http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/lagar/guide/index.html

- Try to make exhibits as dynamic as possible – include images, video and audio clips whenever possible. See OutHistory “Help” pages for instruction about how to do so.

- Try to design your exhibit so that a broad audience of internet users can understand and learn from it.

- Please include a chonological timeline of events so that the history you are telling is clear.

Please contact the Project Coordinator at outhistory@gc.cuny.edu with any additional questions.