Hey there. I’m writing to say I’m going into hospital on Thursday, June 12th for some abdominal (abominable?) surgery. I’ll be in hospital for just under a week, then pretty much housebound for 3 more weeks, is what the docs say.
Read the next paragraph (in italic type) if you want the somewhat gory details. For the more faint of heart, please skip this next paragraph cuz it’s major league icky! If all you want is the free bonus comic, skip all the way down to the bottom of this post.
I’ve just returned home from tour. I’ve been either on the road or in the hospital (woo-hoo!) from September up to now. Touring and writing are activities that demand all of me, so I don’t do both at the same time. So, I’m back. To everything, there is a season. This seems to be the season for writing.
While I was on the road this year, I either performed my solo show, “On Men, Women, and The Rest of Us,” or I delivered some sort of keynote address. The show is a cut-n-paste piece—drawn from all my favorite words to read/perform at that moment.
The keynote address is something that evolves over the course of months, even years. I spoke the latest version of something I’m working on at the 2008 Western Regional Queer Conference, hosted by UCLA. So, I’m including the text here because this is as far as I’ve gotten with it. The conference theme was “Viva the Queervolution!” Some conference attendees asked me to make my keynote text available, so here it is.
I’ve been a huge fan of the Mid-West LGBTIQQA movement for years. That’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, and allies. In my campus travels around the US for the past dozen years or so, it’s been mostly the red states where I’ve met and had the privilege of working with the some of the most loving, caring dedicated sex positivists and gender anarchists I’ve ever met. And I just wanted to say YAY FOR IOWA!!! Thank you for living up to my 50’s dream of an America based on fair play.
These guys are Feast of Fools, a podcast. They are SO funny and SO fun and SO inclusive of radical sex or gender outlaws of any kind, and SO NOT MEAN TO ANYONE and they’re lovely and hardworking and talented and if you listen to podcasts, add this to your list, and if you like what you hear, please VOTE FOR THESE GUYS. Feast of Fools Podcast has been nominated for not one but TWO People’s Choice Podcast awards
1- People’s Choice (the top category) 2- GLBT
I could burst, I’m so proud of them. They’re good boys and I’m glad they’re getting recognized for their excellent work in making more safe spaces for queer people. If you agree, then please do vote once a day, every day at: www.podcastawards.com. kiss kiss, kate
Greetings from New York City. I’m writing this on Saturday, June 23rd. It’s the day before the big Pride parade here. Lots of proud lesbian women, and a whole lot of proud gay men, as well as a healthy sprinkling of proud bisexual folks, and a nice assortment of proud transgender people. A lot of people turn out for Gay Day in New York, and the weather is supposed to be fairy-tale appropriate: sunshine, sunshine, sunshine. I won’t be going. I’m proud of a lot of things in my life, but it doesn’t seem that I’m proud of what I’m supposed to be proud of.
I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER THESE DAYS! I’m just now finishing week one, free of pain and free of narcotic painkillers. My great doctor at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center (The GLBTQ health clinic in New York City) has put me on a terrific regimen of meds, and now I’m free to get my body into better shape, and that brought me to Yamuna Body Rolling. That’s Yamuna in the picture to the left, holding the red ball.
Okay — no easy way to say this. Since my last posting, I’ve been in and out of hospital several more times. The docs haven’t yet figured out what’s wrong with me (as if they ever will! hahahahahaha!) — but seriously, I’m in pretty much constant pain and on major painkillers pretty much constantly. I’ve been doing my very best to keep all the commitments for appearances on my schedule, but I’ve had to make a really hard decision: I won’t be opening or touring my new solo show this spring and summer in Manchester, San Francisco, or Washington DC. Damn.
"This handy how-to promises mind-blowing, toe-curling, highly spiritual sex for humble beginners, BDSM aficionados and everyone in between. Sex educator Carrellas is on a mission to bring Tantra-the ancient practice of sacred sex, in which interpersonal connection and transformative ecstasy are the norm-to the modern world, to reclaim sex from "messed-up, sexually-dysfunctional, judgmental, and ignorant culture," and to shift the urban sex paradigm from recreational activity to a sumptuous, impassioned way of life. Not that one necessarily needs that kind of ambition: Carrellas offers ways to enhance any old sexual encounter (with techniques like breathing, stroking, prodding and piercing), techniques for solo play and countless uses for a trunk full of toys. Same sex, transgender, and multi-partner play is encouraged (if not highly recommended), and the text is peppered with illuminating, try-this-at-home anecdotes. Pictures and diagrams are whimsical but instructive, making Carrellas’s cheerful descriptions of unusual concepts-"gigglegasms," "rainbow rubs" and "the mushy puss" among them-easy to grasp. A final chapter, on "Sex Magic," examines the power of Tantra to achieve a number of effects, from backpain relief to a happier office to world peace; however far you’d like to take your sex life, this friendly guide will likely show the way."
I’m both pleased and frustrated to announce the unexpected and pretty cool news that the first edition of Hello, Cruel World has nearly sold out. There are a few copies left here and there. Seven Stories Press is working as fast as they can to print a second edition, and hopefully it won’t take too long.
If you’re looking for a copy of the book for yourself or as a gift for someone else, please email Seven Stories Press and you’ll receive an email the instant the second edition comes out.
I’ve been getting great feedback from readers, and I’ll be continuing to travel around using concepts from the book in all my upcoming engagements. And by the way… if you’re reading this, you’re part of the reason the book sold so well without an ounce of mainstream advertising. It was all through the very cool network of outlaw blogs and podcasts, and through underground print and AV media. I couldn’t be prouder of our tribe, and that includes you. Thank you, and kiss kiss. Kate
