OUTsider: Connections, Conversations, and Family

One of my favorite aspects of art and performance is putting related pieces into conversation with one another, enriching the conversation surrounding a given topic. I’m so very happy with the way OUTsider Festival’s programming is facilitating those sorts of conversations, and I only wish I had the opportunity to participate more fully this year. […]

OUTsider Fest: Khmer Classical Dance

I never feel quite so Western as in those moments when I’m confronted with Asian modes of performance. So it’s only fitting that the second night of OUTsider Festival in Austin featured a performance by Prumsodun Ok, a practitioner of Cambodia’s Khmer classical dance. I think it’s important to be aware of and claim those moments […]

Lactate Intolerance

2015 is a bad time to be a worker. Not only is the minimum wage well below a living wage, but corporations seem determined to erode the rights of laborers wherever and however they can, and the government keeps siding with them. In December, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of Amazon, saying that […]

Period Talk

Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, we can’t completely rid ourselves of the negative messages we internalize from our native cultures. Even when we know better, even when we’ve done the self-work, even when on a good day we love and accept ourselves, there are still moments which elicit knee-jerk, immediate reactions to stimuli. Moments where […]

Book Review: The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History

The Vagina: A Literary and Cultural History, by Emma L. E. Rees explores how female genitalia is represented in popular culture, both throughout history and in the present day. Exploring Literature, Visual Art, Film, Television, and Performance Art, Rees argues that cultural representation of female genitalia follow two tropes: covert visibility (simultaneously seen and unseen) […]