Erotic/sensuality writing workshops begin next week!

EDIT: Note new workshop start dates!

There are still spaces available in both of the Writing Ourselves Whole sensuality/erotic writing workshops that begin next Tuesday, 5/6, and Wednesday, 5/7 -- please spread the word!

Register at http://www.writingourselveswhole.org/Contact.htm!

Declaring Our Erotic begins Tuesday evening, May 6. Open to folks of all sexualities and all genders!

Raw Silk: Women write desire begins Wednesday morning, May 7. Open to all women.

Workshops meet in downtown San Francisco in an accessible, BART-friendly location. Write to jennifer (at) writingourselveswhole (dot) org, or visit www.writingourselveswhole.org, for more information about the workshops or your facilitator, Jen Cross.

Here's what some folks have said about these workshops:

Magic happens here, that's the thing. We explore the politics of desire in the most amazing ways. Jen's workshops are good nourishment for the soul and creativity, as well as really empowering and FUN!!! Go toward the fun..... -- Cayenne

The chance to integrate erotica and language, out loud in community, every week, is such a human delight and relief--it can lead us to unexpected discoveries, both inside us and out there in the world. --LB

Interested? Or know someone else who might be? Send me a note at jennifer@writingourselveswhole.org, and I can tell you whatever you'd like to know about how to get some more erotic writing into your week days.

Community and remembrances

(a slightly longer version of this got posted on my livejournal -- katasutra.livejournal.com)

Thank you, Kathleen -- thanks to your love and your consistent spirit and to the ways you have affected my life, without my even knowing it.

Yesterday was Kathleen Bolton's memorial service, and one of the things I'd like to spend some time writing about community -- community in all its bigness and struggle and frustration & magnificence. There's been a community sustaining me here in the bay area since I moved here, though I've felt on the outside. There's a community of family & the dearest of friends forged over the past two decades (and then some, I suppose, with respct to the blood family, huh?) that I'm only just now, maybe, allowing to filter into the hardened-est, most vulnerable edges of my heart. The community that showed up here in SF for the Body Heat show just about tore my heart out, it was so gorgeous and celebratory -- and then the communities we got to touch into as we crossed the country: San Diego, Minneapolis, Columbia, Columbus, Easthampton, Boston, Providence, Philly, D.C., Atlanta -- even those we didn't meet directly (Milwaukee, Asheville and the folks listening to Diana Cage's radio show there in the morning's wee hours) -- the love and support was deep and present and nearly unquestioned.

And ok, sure -- sometimes, for survivor girl over here, it's hard to trust, to believe in, that kind of presence of spirit and appreciation, that unadulterated love, that faith & yes there was trust -- the kind that offers food and home to strangers, the kind that shows up to listen and offers cheers, the kind that welcomed us at each and every stop (truly).

And so it was clear to me, after I learned during the tour about Kathleen's terribly untimely death, that I needed to be present at her memorial ceremony -- I never got the chance to meet her, but she was, as it turns out, part of the community I've been sustained by here in the Bay Area: one of the queer women's communities, one of the femme-butch communities, one of the s/m-kink communities -- and she was friend to many of the folks I know and care about, and I am aware now of just how much I missed at not having the chance to ever meet her in person.

Kathleen lived absolutely within love and presence and faith, it certainly sounds to me -- and while I know that folks can be lauded after death as their many faults are conveniently ignored, the large turnout at her memorial service yesterday as well as the conversations I've had with friends and colleagues spell out for me that Kathleen was, in fact, a good good good hearted woman, someone who's example I'd like to have had the opportunity to emulate directly, but who nonetheless has inspired me to be more present in exactly the life I want to be living, and present in creating the kind of communities and societies can sustain us all.

So here's my one first big hug to all of y'all -- let's catch up soon, ok? I miss you...

Three snaps up for the Phase 1!

(who remembers what that means, even ... am I just dating myself? :)

So much love to all the folks at D.C.'s Phase 1 ("oldest lesbian bar on the east coast!") for welcoming and treating Body Heat so kindly! We had the fiercest kind of love for & from y'all, esp. given that this was our first show with our Celestina back (no pun intended there, folks...)!

Angela, Kris & all the rest of y'all -- thank you thank you thank you. The Phase opened specially on a Wednesday night, just for our show, and we hope it was more than worth it! V. got to come home into the loving arms of friends & community -- it's just what we need as we're pushing down through into the final two shows!

Much love and many thanks, too, to the folks at the Tritone in Philly! We had an intimate and dear crowd, many of whom stuck around after the show to chat us up and make offers some of us found difficult to refuse... :)

One more hard-driving day and then we're at the Eyedrum in Atlanta tonight -- K. gets to come home! So much love to all the folks at D.C.'s Phase 1 ("oldest lesbian bar on the east coast!") for welcoming and treating Body Heat so kindly! We had the fiercest kind of love for & from y'all, esp. given that this was our first show with our Celestina back (no pun intended there, folks...)!

I got to connect with a good old friend from high school, one of those folks who, without knowing it, made life bearable (and that's no exaggeration), so the fact that he came & stayed & very well may have even enjoyed is a thing I think I have yet to find words for...

Angela, Kris & all the rest of y'all -- thank you thank you thank you. The Phase opened specially on a Wednesday night, just for our show, and we hope it was more than worth it! V. got to come home into the loving arms of friends & community -- it's just what we need as we're pushing down through into the final two shows!

Much love and many thanks, too, to the folks at the Tritone in Philly! We had an intimate and dear crowd, many of whom stuck around after the show to chat us up and make offers some of us found difficult to refuse... :)

One more hard-driving day and then we're at the Eyedrum in Atlanta tonight -- K. gets to come home!

so much to say about being on tour

... and who can get it down in words? and I'm too caffeinated and not breakfasted/lunched enough to type very well...

from 4/14:

Easthampton (thanks Calvin! :), Boston (thanks, Aliza!), and then a workshop at MIKO (such amazing writers) & then a performance at BROWN UNIVERSITY (can you stand it? Thank you, Kristen! We were in a lecture -- so fantastic. All I could think was, Will their version of the Review be there? :)

Tonight we get to go on Diana Cage's Sirius satellite radio show: www.sirius.com/outq fmi -- they want you to subscribe, but it looks like you can sign up for a free trial... we're supposed to arrive at 11pm, and we go on the air at midnight.

then philly, dc, atlanta and then we end in asheville -- can it be that we only have four shows left? Lord -- how to go back to "real life" after this?

Oh -- the Pi is my new home...

... or could be.

It's 2:30am and we have to be on the road at 7, and still...

What a show -- so so many thanks to Shannon Blowtorch & Tara & Bennie at the Pi Bar. PEOPLE -- when you're in Minneapolis, get you to the Pi Bar. An amazing performance venue/bar/restaurant & music that will not let you get off the floor if the dancing is happening. Thank you Annie for the goodie bag!

Thank you Blowtorch & T. for the quarters & hospitality & tunes!

The Pi & the Twin-Cities Femme Mafia hosted V & I tonight for the third leg of the Body Heat tour -- Kathleen rested her ailing self for one more day and so we brought her CD & her words, as we did with Celestina's -- we miss you both!

We could not have been more welcomed and well-received here -- and next time I come, I'm getting that tater-tot hot dish, I tell you what.

THANK YOUs to our incredible special guests:

Mashinda, who brought Kathleen's opening poem into the room with a deep kind of ferocious energy that I SO hope you keep on rocking!!

Jess, a so-called virgin to the mic, so clear and comfortable up there on the stage, with pieces that tore my heart up in all the good ways...

Jamez, a sister-porn writer who shared his fierce poetry and strong, showering energy (and wonderful hugs!)

and yes, yes, Zakiya, whose fresh poetry nearly brought me to tears. I really want a copy of that one...

Oh. What to do with so much shared energy, community -- with this exchange of words and power and space and love?

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We're off tomorrow, back down 35 to Columbia, for our postponed show -- hooray for the Rag Tag! This was a quick visit/reminder that up north here, winter lasts a long time... :)

We're coming to Minnesota!

Thunderstorms in Columbia, MO this morning -- it's s gorgeous to be in the midwest in the spring!

Today we're off to Minneapolis for our show up there, then tomorrow we head back down to Columbia for a postponed/rescheduled show here! The weather goddess conspired against us on Sunday: snow in Vail meant a slower start than we needed to comfortably make the originally-scheduled performance in Columbia, so we'll be coming back here for an earlier gig on Wednesday.

Please send your good, healing thoughts to Kathleen, who is having to rest and sleep to recover from some sick!! Kathleen says to call this "The Sick C*ck Tour."

Unfortunately, we *won't* be going to Milwaukee -- we hadn't heard that anyone had registered for our workshop there, and had to make the difficult decision to cancel that show! I really hope we can make it back there for the next tour!

Things I want to remember to say:
- there are cardinals in Missouri! I haven't heard them in years, and nearly cried when their strong song pealed through me yesterday at the Uprise Cafe (attached to the Rag Tag Theater, & a wonderful place for a femme on tour to sit outside & write).

- Interstate-quick meetings with fathers can be good for the soul.

- SO SO SO many thanks to: Meliza Benales, who BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN in SF; Lorelei Lee, our amazing SF show opener; and the gorgeous Miss Amelia Paradise, who strip-teased us up to the highest heights at the midpoint of the SF show.

- We miss Celestina! Veronica brought her energy, her piece, to San Diego, & she's coming to Minnesota the same way...

I miss F!, & I miss home, and I'm more excited about this trip than I can say. :)

love love love -
Jen

Body Heat melts the snow

I'm writing to you from Vail, CO, where we were SNOWED IN last night (I-70 closed & highway patrol directing folks off the road at 1am). Fresh! helped finagle us a room in a hotel& spa, so though we're not terribly rested, we're at least clean and good-smelling! :)

We had a small show in San Diego at this wicked cute sex shoppe, The Rubber Rose, and it was beautiful! Now we're pushing through our second long long day of driving, from Colorado to Missouri. We were supposed to stay at my dad's place last night, just outside of Denver, but were thwarted by the weather goddess. The pass is open now though, and so we can get back on the road. Maybe we will be able to see my dad the interstate just for a hug... :)

Incredible scenery yesterday, and the kinds of conversations you can only have in the car.

Tonight's show's in Columbia! And then a day of rest...

Thank you SF & SD! Body Heat's heading out toward the Midwest!

I want to write more and longer about the two tour dates so far -- the standing-room-only crowd in San Francisco's Center for Sex and Culture (www.centerforsexandculture.org) who sent us out & off with the most extraordinary energy; the gorgeous, dedicated crowd at the Rubber Rose here in San Diego, who gathered in to each other and opened up to us as we performed... *however*, we have a 16 hour drive tomorrow (and that's without stops!) & so I will try to say more once we are safely ensconced in Missouri, day after tomorrow.

Thank you to Carol & Robert, to the ladies at the Rubber Rose (Carly!). Thank you T.K & Mo! Thank you to my co-performers Veronica & Kathleen -- & Celestina, we miss you! Veronica read your piece this evening to & with so much love...

Body Heat: queer femme tour kicks off tomorrow, 4/3

I have the great privilege of being a part of the Body Heat: Femme Porn Tour, which kicks off here in San Francisco tomorrow, 4/3, at the Center for Sex and Culture at 7pm.

Femmes, as some of us know, still bear an interesting burden of invisibility -- our right to call ourselves dykes is called into question sometimes even still, because we don't bear the masculine markers of more "visible" dykes (which turns into an interesting paradox), and our sexual agency is still, I think, considered to be determined by our lovers, rather than by we ourselves.

There are LOTS of fierce femme writers & performers who are calling into question these and other misunderstandings around femmeness, and I get to be on tour with three of them -- Vixen Noir (aka Veronica Combs of the incredible Liquid Fire fame), Celestina Pearl (di-va writer, filmmaker & performer!) and kathleen delaney (spoken word artist out of Atlanta & a dear friend from back when I lived on the East Coast!)

More info below -- I'll be blogging about the tour here and at my myspace blog: www.myspace.com/writingourselveswhole

Wish us luck, good driving, and sleep! :)

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~Body Heat: A femme porn tour~

Body Heat is a collective of fierce, sassy, irreverent Femme artists setting
ablaze performance art communities and smashing Femme stereotypes. Porn, Kink,
Smut, Erotica - Body Heat is not reclaiming our sex so much as OWNING it.

We will turn you on.

We will challenge all of your gender, sex, feminist, social, & political boundaries & assumptions.

We will entertain the hell out of you & we will leave you panting, begging, dripping for more.

April 3, 2008 @ The Center for Sex & Culture, San Francisco, CA.
April 4 @ The Rubber Rose, San Diego, CA.
April 6 @ Rag Tag Cinema, Columbia, MO.
April 7 @ Chicago -- Location TBA
April 8 @ Pi Bar, Minneapolis, MN.
April 9 @ A Women's Touch, Milwaukee, WI.
April 10 @ Havana, Columbus, OH.
April 11 @ Mount Holyoke, Northampton, MA.
April 12 @ Truth Serum hosts @ Lily Pad Gallery, Boston, MA
April 13 (2 shows) @ MIKO & Brown University, Providence, RI.
April 14 on Diana Cage's Radio Show SIRIUS in NYC, NY
April 15 @ Tritone, Philly, PA.
April 16 @ Phase 1, Washington, DC
April 17 @ The Eyedrum, Atlanta, GA.
April 19 @ The Jolie Rouge Asheville, NC.

Spread the word and bring your friends! Visit http://www.myspace.com/femmeporntour for more info!