The Trans Gynecology Access Program, or TGAP, is a new endeavor between the Chicago Women’s Health Center and the Queer People’s Health Collective (which, WHOA, will be getting its own post). This new program was developed under the knowledge that talking about your bit parts with randomly selected care providers is a crap shoot. “Rarely do women, let alone transmasculine, butch or genderqueer people, look forward to their yearly gynecology exam. For trans people, that feeling of dread at the mention of a pap smear can be compounded by bad experiences with past providers, the preference that certain body parts didn’t exist, or just the strangeness of walking into a gynecology office with facial hair.” I got really lucky and found a gay doctor for myself long ago, and have never even thought about switching: there is nothing like knowing the person you’re giving pink and brown details to is not judging. To schedule an appointment with TGAP, please call CWHC at 773.935.6126 and ask for a TGAP appointment. The Chicago Women’s Health Center is located at 3435 North Sheffield Avenue, Ste. 206A, Chicago, IL 60657.
This program is so new, it will be holding a logo design contest soon! For more information about the contest or TGAP, please contact Riley at info((@))qphc.org . Or subscribe to the CWHC newsletter by clicking here.
One of the best parts about Spring is that the annual CHIRP Record Fair & Other Delights happens, and it’s always a good time. You might know because you live in Chicago, or could have guessed from the name, but Think Pink Radio started out on the air on a community radio station. Low Power FM licenses are near-impossible to get in today’s post-Clear Channel world, and for two years CHIRP has been working to change that. The Chicago Independent Radio Project is a non-profit organization of volunteers that aims to bring a new, indie radio station to Chicago, and the Record Fair is its biggest fundraiser. Aside from the tables and tables of vinyl records, the “Other Delights” part make it a well rounded weekend, with musical performances and all kinds of independent companies selling their wares. I am excited about this year’s inclusion of local print distributor PROUN. Not only are they purveyors of indie-minded publications, but they also are kink-aware. They are the only local distributor of Pisszine, “a four-monthly post-gay zine that challenges the language and aesthetics of the gay mainstream. Photography, Interviews, words and illustrations explore many topics in the new world-wide radical homosexual scene.” You can guess that their is a focus on urine, and the mag is even printed on yellow paper. Save for a few cutesy-revengey moments in the shower, I have never urinated on someone, but a mag that uses it as its jump off point can only be really damn interesting. I’m getting a copy this weekend, make sure you come on out to the CHIRP Record Fair & Other Delights! Entertainment schedule after the jump, get the full list of vendors at the site.
Maybe you were on vacay or had religious/family preoccupations or live in California and were able to go outside, but the shit hit the fan this past weekend. A casual facebook check had status-updates abound regarding Amazon and their de-listing of queer themed books. What that meant was certain publications were no longer found using subject searches, and they were not included in theme-related suggestions. If you knew the title of a specific book you could still find it, but if you just needed say, a recommendation on some lesbian erotica, you’d be out of luck. If you google search the debacle now, you’ll get all sorts of explanations: from Amazon claiming a “glitch,” to a fundamentalist hacker developing a hate-virus to flag unmentionable books. Whatever. Amongst me and my friends, this sparked a debate on what constitutes censorship in today’s mucho-accessibility culture and why the hell a giant like Amazon would risk this kind of sphincter-shaped media tornado. What is clear to me is this: we live in lightning-fast times. If you are a source of media/money exchange, like Amazon, or CNN or the President, you need to know who your people are and what kind of games you are playing. If you play the e-commerce game, or the personal blog game, or the for-the-people politics game, you better wipe your nose after every sniff because everyone is watching, and we’ll get the news out fast. One weekend, one problem, billions of people, piles of awareness, LOVING it.
As we all lament the cancellation of Guiding Light after 72 years, we can at least look forward to an exciting week for Otalia! After months of will they/won’t they, Natalia and Olivia reach a pivotal point in their story: Olivia declares her love for Natalia, just as Natalia is set to walk down the aisle with Frank! Will Natalia put a stop the wedding and succumb to her true feelings? Will Otalia fans get what they’ve been longing for? Will Guiding Light finally go all out now that their days are numbered? Yours truly will definitely be tuning in to Guiding Light next week to see! Let’s celebrate Otalia while we can!
Blogging. FUCK YES. Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s classist to say but I can’t live without internet at home (and actually after I did my 2008 taxes, I can totally brag about the stuff I do have, cuz it ain’t much folks). Duh, a lot of the new feminist, queer, and immigration movements are happening because we are all online all the time. I can’t tell you how many wonderful, active people I have met online and through this blog. Even in my same city, it would be difficult to mobilize our unrestful without the many facebook pages, email lists and web zines. And that is how we land at Young Creature, a new Chicago-based blog that focuses on “exposing and supporting queer musicians, artists, filmmakers, writers, troublemakers, and earth shakers.” So far, these art-school peeps are heavy into covering our community’s people that make somethings out of nothings. Their latest post is about (former Tracy + Plastics) Wynne Greeenwood‘s new performance project “Sister Taking Nap” showing in Seattle. Using sculpture, video and music, this piece features a collaboration with Gina Young of Team Gina. Click here for an interview with Greenwood about how she started working with video, how the Plastics freaked her out and using this new project to further her explorations about power and space. Thanks Young Creature!
If you never got to see Tracy + Plastics, below is a video that shows what you missed. Summary: it was a truly genius video/music project involving Wynne Greenwood playing Tracy and her two band mates, Nikki and Cola. Using performance as a meta-concert, she portrayed band politics and interpersonal relationships as an avenue to tackle feminism and queer issues all the while being funny as shit.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again: this might be a good time to renew your faith in Peaches. Production by Simian Mobile Disco, Soulwax, Drums of Death and a guest spot by Shunda K, May 5TH is sure to be a good day for beat-driven gender fucking. There is a really interesting mini-documentary about Peaches’ history and her vision over at peachesrocks.com. Merrill Nisker is once again leaving an off-white stain on the indie community, and I’m excited. I Feel Cream‘s songs are all over the internet if you l.o.o.k. hard enough, don’t rely on me kids. Vid for lead single “Talk To Me” below, tracklist after the jump.
To be honest, I have never heard Kim Ann Foxman of Hercules & Love Affair spin records, so I can’t vouch for her deck skills. BUT WHO CARES?! The best part about queer indie celebs from bands coming out for a DJ set is the crowd, this is sure to be a sexy mix. Stardust has quickly made a name for itself, being the newest weekly night at the always intense Berlin, and having this petite butch come out for a night is only furthering its reputation. Can’t wait!
IML. Say it with me, folks. Nothing does Spring in Chicago like International Mr. Leather, and every year I get more and more excited. Memorial Day weekend in Chicago is the another gay holiday to me, the far superior Pride for so many reasons. What is better than tens of thousands of Leather Daddies descending upon us for a raunchy weekend, taking over the Loop and an unsuspecting public? Nothing. At all. You just can’t beat a Walgreens filled with fetishists, and when the guy in the full blue leather sailor suit asks for some wintermint gum and lip balm in a super nelly voice, I know why I live in the best city on earth…it’s home!
Anyhow, this year the Leather Archives & Museum is hoping to expand the horizons of the event by staging performance and displaying art at the Leather Market (if you don’t know what the market is, picture a craft fair but all the “crafts” will make you blush). From the LA&M press release:
S&Mart consists of two parts, an Opening Night Art Show/Auction and a Demo Stage Market Show. The Art show will be held at the Hilton – Chicago and is open to the event’s local and international audience. Works will be on display and available for sale as part of a silent auction with a percentage of the proceeds returning to the artist. The Demo Market Show will consist of a group of 5 to 7 performers or performance groups and will be scheduled as acts between scheduled Fetish Demonstrations.
If you are interested in showing or performing fetish/leather related art at this year’s IML, contact Scott Ian Ray at gagallery((@))leatherarchives.org
Adam Rose, aka Antibody Dance, is performing this Saturday April 11th as part of Sorry Entertainment at the Elastic Arts Foundation, 2830 N. Milwaukee, 2nd Fl., Chicago. There is a suggested donation of $7. Rose will be performing a piece called “Saturn,” with harmonium by Noé Cuéllar. The wee press release just said, “After the end, the kingdom will be rebuilt from the wreckage of civilization. My children shall grow strong living in homes constructed from garbage. The water will once again flow pure. They will live in a state of total law and no one will restrict their movements.” Sooo Antibody. Also on the bill are Katie Bateman, Devin King (with Sean O’Connell), Robin Marie, Marissa Perel, Julia Rich, and Emily Smith. You already know how big a fan TPR is of Adam Rose, this is sure to be the first of many dates this Spring.
