Sassafras Patterdale's Blog, page 27

Sassafras and 'Kicked Out' on 'In The Life' !

In one of the many apartments I crashed in as a queer teenager there was a TV. It didn't have cable, and barely picked anything up, but late at night sometimes my local PBS station would play this show  called 'In The Life' and I would sit transfixed. I don't remember the content of any episode really connecting to me or my life, the power of it came from just seeing LGBTQ people on TV. Before that I'd only seen my people occasionally on the news as the victims of hate crimes.

 

I remember sitting on stained carpet because I had no furniture and putting a zine together watching this show.  I'm thrilled and honored to announce that the November episode of 'In The Life' is focused on  queer youth homelessness, and includes interviews with myself talking about my story and the history behind the Kicked Out anthology! We are featured alongside  community leaders from fantastic organizations and homeless LGBTQ youth from around the country!   Below is the official press release for the episode which begins airing on PBS stations across the country today, and can be streamed online at http://www.itlmedia.org/home.shtml

IN THE LIFE's Finding Home:

Featuring Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Residence & Kicked Out Youth

 

New York, November 1, 2011 – November is Homeless Awareness Month and IN THE LIFE examines the plight of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth experiencing homelessness. The episode features Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Residence, the first permanent affordable housing to be offered to LGBT at risk youth in New York City.

 

"I believe that a strong society is an inclusive society and if we want to win big in this world, we better include everybody." Cyndi Lauper.

 

There are an estimated 1.6 to 2.8 million homeless youth in the United States, up to 40% identify as LGBT. IN THE LIFE takes a stark look at youth kicked out of their homes from New York to Illinois to California, answering the questions: What services are offered to the youth on the street? How do they cope and survive? The episode highlights The Family Acceptance Project, an organization conducting innovative research on the harmful effects of family rejection.

 

"I've definitely built my own little family support system here. When they get on me, it's about getting my life together and keeping me on track. It's not about who I am. They just want to make me a better person." Tiffany Viruet, left home at age 19.

 

Watch the complete episode online of IN THE LIFE's "Finding Home" here:

http://www.itlmedia.org/home.shtml

 

Finding Home begins airing November 1st on public television stations across the country and will be available for free video streaming and downloadable podcasts from the In The Life Media website. To find out when it will air in your local area, to stream or download it, go to ITLMedia.org.

 

To receive the latest updates about In The Life Media, follow @ITLMedia and use the hashtag #ITLMedia.

 

ABOUT IN THE LIFE MEDIA:

For twenty years, In The Life Media has been a leading media organization for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement. One of the nation's most honored and influential LGBT groups, In The Life Media creates social and political change by examining issues critical to LGBT individuals and providing audiences with powerful ways to advance equality within, and beyond, their communities. Produced by In The Life Media, the Emmy-nominated series, IN THE LIFE, was the first—and remains the only—LGBT issues-oriented show on public television. IN THE LIFE is a two-time Emmy Award nominee, a Lambda Legal Liberty Award honoree, a Seigenthaler Award recipient from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and a Ribbon of Hope Award recipient from The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: www.ITLMedia.org

ABOUT AMERICAN PUBLIC TELEVISION:

IN THE LIFE is distributed by American Public Television. APT has been a leading distributor of high-quality, top-rated programming to America's public television stations since 1961. In 2009, APT distributed 56 of the top 100 highest-rated public television titles. Among its 300 new program titles per year are prominent documentaries, news and current affairs programs, dramatic series, how-to programs, children's series and classic movies. APT also licenses programs internationally through its APT Worldwide service. In 2006, APT launched Create® – the TV channel featuring the best of public television's lifestyle programming. APT is also a partner in the WORLD™ channel expansion project including its web presence at WORLDcompass.org. For more information about APT's programs and services, visit APTonline.org. For more information on Create, visit CreateTV.com.

canine angels– losses & blessings

[image error]Last week Kestryl and I thought we were going grocery shopping instead our attention was diverted to one of the rescue vans that regularly parked in downtown Brooklyn. In the lower center crate curled up was our girl, Charlotte. She's  a beautiful Shepard mix and she grabbed our hearts hard. We left our granny cart and empty shopping bags on the sidewalk and walked into the rescue van. it was full of cute dogs and cats, but we were transfixed with her.  This summer Kestryl and I had spent several months planning and talking about adding a puppy to our lives sometimes in the autumn, and here she was.

 

I'm not a big believer in love at first sight, but we took her for a walk, and were instantly in love.

 

When we moved forward with the adoption, we learned more about her story. At just a year old, she's already been through a lot.  A rescue organization pulled her and her four puppies from the gas chamber at a shelter in South Carolina. She was emaciated but the great folks with the rescue got her to New York and got her into a foster home that was able to nurse her back to health, and get her ready to join our family.

 

I've talked before on the blog, and certainly in my own story in Kicked Out about the important roles that dogs have[image error] played in my life. They are what saved me, they are the reason that I finally left my mother's home to save myself, and in the end,  loosing them because I was a homeless teenager when my dog trainer threw me out for being queer was the most difficult part of my experience.   My dog trainer kept my younger dog Flash, and my older pup Snickers went with my maternal grandparents who I have minimal contact with.

 

When Kestryl and I got home with Charlotte last weekend I was heading upstairs to get Mercury (our other dog) to bring him down for introductions on the sidewalk and I happened to stop and check the mail. There was only one thing, a letter from my grandmother.  A couple hours later with Charlotte curled up at my feet on the living room I opened the letter and learned that Snickers who by now was a very very old dog, had died.

 

I was immediately in tears. Though this week the pain of loosing him has been different and less sharp than I imagined it would be. I've realized that in so many ways I mourned his loss a decade ago when I rocked myself to sleep on strange couches and leaky basements clutching a pillow and imagining that it was him. It was then that I was faced with the loss of my best friend, and also how intertwined the loss of him was with loosing everything else – home, family, community/dog sports as well.

 

Over the last week i'm just in awe at how Charlotte has fit into our home and family. She's an incredible girl whose

Mercury showing his little (big) sister the park!

already extremely bonded with all of us, and us equally so with her. She's wicked smart already knowing nearly a dozen words/commands and even her issues like uneasiness with strange dogs on the streets and an inclination to chase kitties has improved in ways I never expected to see this fast.  I'm not one to talk about woo woo stuff in general and especially publically,  but when I think about how she came to us, how we were stopped in our tracks on the street, and then to receive the news about Snickers right when we got home with her, there is no doubt in my mind that this was meant to be, and that it was Snickers that brought her to us.  I couldn't be more grateful.

Build Right Here, Right Now – supporting Toni Amato

photo by Syd London

I first met Toni Amato through his words. I was a crusty punk kid living in Portland, Oregon and some friends of mine had heard about a new book called 'Pinned Down By Pronouns' which he co-edited. I was the only person in my circle of friends with a credit card, so I purchased the book and was utterly smitten.  I had no idea that nearly 10 years later Toni would have become a dear friend, trusted colleague in queer story facilitation, an invaluable mentor in my own writing, and most important of all a beloved member of my chosen family.

I cannot speak highly enough about Toni and his work in the community.  There are few people I've met who truly walk what they speak, who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, and who truly commit themselves fully to those amongst us who are wounded, freaks, and other outsiders.

Because of where I'm from and what i've survived trust isn't something that comes easily to me. I can count on less than one hand the number of people in the world that I truly and completely trust.  Toni is one of those people.

Toni has been one of the biggest supporters of Kicked Out and what it represents in terms of the power of storytelling for marginalized queers and the importance of created families.  In the past year he and I have worked together very closely as I've worked on creating an initial draft manuscript of my novel, and quite literally helping me to find my voice again and remember why I find so much joy in writing.

Toni is someone who sees all of me and in his own patient quiet way has helped me to believe that there could be a place for religion/spirituality in my life because i'm a freak, not in spite of it.  Even if I find it through picture books.

After battling major health issues for the last two years Toni is taking a medical sabbatical to heal and recover. As a self employed writing coach and activist Toni has no employer benefits or the financial resources to take the time he needs to recover.  I'm so honored to be part of the community that's rallying around Toni to support him with his work/ministry.  Our goal is to raise enough money ($10,000) to cover his living expenses for the rest of the year, and access to occupational health and medical therapies into 2012.  There is no doubt that I wouldn't be where I am today  were it not for my relationship with Toni, and I cannot speak highly enough about his work.

Please help spread the word about Build Right Here, Right Now to folks you know in the writing and LGBTQI activist worlds, follow us on Facebook or Twitter –   Toni has given so selflessly of himself to our community, it's time for us to take care of him so that he can rest and recouperate.  That's what family is for.

QUEER TEXT SERIES: THE QUEER SHELTER PROJECT STORIES WORKSHOP AT DIXON PLACE

 

This week Lambda Literary published coverage of the reading earlier this month at Dixon Place of the writers from the Queers for Economic Justice Shelter Project writing group I facilitated this summer.  The article written by Kelli Dunham offers a powerful look at the evening and the importance of  storytelling. Read it here! 

Thoughts for National Coming Out Day 2011

I can never ever forget how powerful it was for me to see out queer folks when I was a  closeted teen. They were risking safety and livelihood  to be out in that conservative county I was raised in. I fed on their bravery. Seeing them was food for my starving soul. I would count the long weekend hours until Monday morning when I would see the dyke teacher at my high school. Just seeing her swagger down the hallway in doc martins and faded jeans gave me hope enough to make it through another day.

Coming out for me, like so many others was incredibly dangerous. The price for queerness was extremely high – it cost me my home, family, and the community i'd grown up in.  And yet, queerness has given me more than I ever could have imagined in those dark closeted days.  Being out has afforded me a loving chosen family, work that I truly feel called to do, and so much more.  For me, there has been no greater freedom than being out, but I say that knowing that  I have and continue to be incredibly lucky. For far too many, coming out means falling through another set of cracks of  systems not designed to support our kids, and a community not ready to take them in.

 

Last year, for the month of October we started an online storytelling campaign called 'Come Out, Kicked Out' designed to provide an opportunity for folks in the community to write, draw, take a picture, or make a video coming out about their experiences with queer teen homelessness, and for allies within our community to stand up in solidarity with current and former homeless LGBTQ youth to talk about how they have seen this epidemic impacting their community.   Every day of October a different story was shared on our website with the idea of putting more faces and stories to this epidemic and to break down the profound stigma that still exists within the LGBTQ community about owning a history of teen homelessness or biological family disownment.  You can find all of last year's incredible stories here.  If you find yourself inspired by the incredible stories shared last year we're always looking for guest posts. Email your stories to kickedoutanthology@gmail.com

 

The thought I'd like to end with on Coming Out Day is the hope that when we as queer folks shout COME OUT! COME OUT!  we must be sure that we as a community are prepared not just pay lip service to welcoming those youth into our "family"  we must truly be prepared to open our  homes, wallets, ears and hearts to ensure that the youth who pay a heavy price for heeding our call are not abandoned by the very community they have lost everything to be part of.

 

make/shift !

A couple of months ago several Kicked Out contributors and I sat down with the fantastic folks of make/shift feminist magazine to talk about queer youth homelessness and creating families.

The article is a roundtable conversation between myself, and anthology contributors Kay Ulanday Barrett, Kestryl Cael, Lucky Michaels and KJP.  We talk a lot about what being part of the anthology and the community that has been born out of it has meant to us, what we see for the future of homeless queer youth, and the power and need for creating families.

We're a feature article in the new winter issue of make/shift which just hit independent bookstores near you!

A Special Queer Text at Dixon Place/Queers for Economic Justice Event on Tuesday, October 4th!

One of the most incredible experiences I've had as a facilitator came this summer when I had the privilege  of partnering with Queers For Economic Justice to facilitate a summer writing intensive for folks involved in the Shelter Program.  The stories that came out of that workshop were absolutely incredible, and without a doubt some of the most powerful work I've ever witnessed.  There was a community reading at QEJ right after the workshop ended – you can read my reactions to that here.

 

I'm thrilled to announce  the writers from the summer writing intensive will be reading their work next week as part of a partnership with Dixon Place theater and the monthly Queer Text reading series!

 

Queer Text at Dixon Place presents Amber Hollibaugh of Queers for Economic Justice introducing Sassafras Lowrey and writers from her 'Queer Shelter Project Stories Workshop' as they bring their everyday experiences of queerness, homelessness, survival, and desire to the page, and now, to the stage.

 

Scheduled readers include Jay Toole, Clio, Dinick, and Gykyira. Event curated by Nicholas Boggs.

Doors at 7, reading at 7:30. $8 cash only (a portion of each ticket purchase is donated to Queers for Economic Justice).

Dixon Place is located on the Lower East Side at 161A Chrystie Street between Rivington and Delancey

Dear Lambda Literary

Dear Lambda Literary:

This is my open letter to you as a queer author, as the editor of a Lammy Finalist book from last year,  a regular reviewer and contributor to Lambda Literary online, and, most importantly, as a reader whose life has been saved by the queer books I read.   This morning, when I awoke to the news that you have finally caved to mainstream pressure and decided to (with the exception of three awards) open the Lammys up to straight writers, I was angry, sad, and heartbroken.

 

Queer books saved my life, again and again. They helped me to imagine a place in the world, and helped me – the scared alone, homeless queer teenager–to believe that I could survive.  Books gave me hope.  Queer books gave me life, and they helped me to believe that I could tell my own story.  I tell everyone in my writing workshops that storytelling is social justice work, that only they are qualified to tell their stories.  Now we have  the most powerful force in LGBTQ literature telling us that our voices don't matter, that they are not important or special, and that we need to make room for privileged oppressors to write about us- our lives, our community, and our families.  We are supposed to act like this is "progress" – I don't think so.

 

Call me a queer separatist if you want, but  I am incredibly disappointed to watch Lambda Literary take this conservative step. Lambda has been the place where queer authors have been able to come together, to connect, to have our work recognized from within our own community. It has been the place where we have (theoretically) not had to explain ourselves in the way that so many of us must when we write in interact with straight authors and audiences.   As queer authors, we compete with straight writers every day in Amazon rankings, on bookstore shelves, and in every other literary venue. At the Lambda Literary awards this year, where my book was a finalist, I was horrified by the self-hating and downright offensive remarks made by Pioneer Award recipient Edward Albee. He spoke  about how those of us who write from queer experience are lesser authors–much to the audible anger of many of us in the audience.  I was at the time shocked that  Lambda Literary would have given an award to someone who would say on stage things that seemed to go so against everything the organization stood for. Now, I can't help but feel like it was an intentional sign of what was to come.

 

I didn't start writing books to get rich or famous. I started writing to save my life, and to reach out and connect with other queers. That is the root of why I write today, and it is why I will always write. I want to write dangerous stories, complicated stories,  the kinds of stories that show just how queer our world really is, and I want others to have the space to do the same.  We need more queers to write about ourselves and our communities and the last thing we need is to encourage straight folks to write more books about who they think we are, and what they think our world looks like.  This morning on facebook in response to the Lambda news,  Liam Wolf, one of the Kicked Out contributors, said "This is ridiculous. How can a straight writer tell the heartache, frustration and joy of a queer life if they've never lived it?"  I couldn't agree more.

 

These are our stories, our lives, and we are the only ones qualified and capable of truly writing about them.  It is my hope that the straight authors who are truly allies will realize this and not nominate their books for the Lammy awards, knowing that it is not a space they belong.  Since the news broke my phone and email have been filled with emails and texts from other queer writers angry that Lambda would sell us out in this way. Many of us are thinking about ways to speak out and mobilize – the idea of starting our own truly queer literary awards has even seriously been thrown around realizing that the only option might be to take our community back.

No Shelter: NYC Failed LGBT Youth During Hurricane Irene

 

 

Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter know that I've had a lot of things to say this weekend about the ways in which homeless folks were systematically failed this weekend in NYC surrounding Hurricane Irene.  Today I have a guest blog on Bilericoto talk more about what happened on the ground, and how lucky we are the eye of the storm missed the city.

 

Click here to read the full blog

 

video from Shelter Stories @ Queers For Economic Justice

This summer I have been privileged to have the opportunity to partner with Queers For Economic Justice to facilitate a writing intensive for folks connected with their shelter program.  We have been gathering every Wednesday to write and last night was the community reading at QEJ to celebrate the power of the stories that have been penned this summer.

Tremendous thanks to Amber Hollibaugh and Jay Toole of QEJ,  all the Queers For Economic Justice volunteers for making the event happen, a special thanks to  everyone who came out to the event, and ESPECIALLY each and every one of the writers who shared some of the most raw and heartfelt work. I am so honored to have been able to work with each of you this summer.

 This is just the beginning of arts programming at QEJ, and I will have a more indepth blog post going up very very soon, but I wanted to share the video recording of the event for everyone who wasn't able to be here with us: