I attended the OUTsider Festival again this year in Austin, and again they totally hit it out of the park. Five days of fabulous queer art and community here in Austin. So much discussion about the relationships between sexuality in art, queer space and place, diversity and representation in art, art and activism. I’m still […]
Wedding Bells in Austin, Oct 23
On October 23 at 8pm, Stephanie Vela Anderson is marrying her dildo, “Glen Potter.” The wedding ceremony, which will take place at Mister Tramps in Austin, is part performance art and part fundraiser for Anderson’s upcoming documentary about mental illness, entitled “Heartlight.” A video of the happy couple can be found here. In an interview, […]
Let Go
This piece was originally performed for Greetings, from Queer Mountain in September 2015. I’d like to think I’m good at letting go of things. But it’s mostly because because holding on uses up a lot of energy and I get tired! I find holding grudges to be exhausting. If I am ever in a contest […]
AGLIFF Review: Une Nouvelle Amie
Une Nouvelle Amie (The New Girlfriend) is a film by French director François Ozon. It is utterly sweet and charming throughout. The film is at once very distinctly French and also approachable enough that I believe even viewers completely unacustomed to French film will be able to enjoy and appreciate it without any trouble. I […]
AGLIFF Review: Reel in the Closet
What were the lives of LGBTQ individuals like in the 1930s? The 1950s? These are questions we might normally think of as unanswerable. Dir. Stu Maddux’s new film, Reel in the Closet, shows otherwise. Reel in the Closet is an exploration of queer home movies and what they can teach us about queer history which […]
AGLIFF Review: Deep Run
Any viewers who grew up in a conservative town in the rural South will see a lot in Deep Run that is familiar. Though I am not transgender, the struggle to make ends meet, the desire for acceptance, the lack of anywhere to go to live authentically, and the pressure to go to church, repent, […]
AGLIFF Review: The Guy With the Knife
Sometimes, even people with the best of intentions can get things horribly wrong. Rather than holding on to what we think we know is true, we all need to be able to look past our preconceptions and admit our biases. As much as we would sometimes like it to be, nothing is black and white. […]
AGLIFF Review: Desert Migration
What does it mean to age? What does health look like? What does chronic illness look like? How do we face mortality without succumbing to depression? How can we create meaning and beauty in our lives, even and especially when the deck is stacked against us? When things are at their bleakest, how can you […]
AGLIFF Review: S&M Sally
I’m ready for an honest, mature, and realistic film portrayal of BDSM and Polyamory. S&M Sally is unfortunately not that film. The film follows the story of a group of friends exploring their sexualities. Jill and Jamie, a lesbian couple, start experimenting with BDSM in their relationship. Jill is supposedly experienced, having been a regular […]
Austin’s Ground Floor Theatre
You might be familiar with Austin local Lisa Scheps from “Off the Stage and On the Air,” a radio show she hosts each Wednesday on KOOP 91.7. Her latest brainchild is Ground Floor Theatre, a new theatrical venue in East Austin, at the corner of Airport and Springdale. The goal of Ground Floor Theatre is to foster “an environment […]