Updates and Activities

Today I had fried brussels sprouts, cheese, and pear slices for dinner. No complaints.

Conference proposal: Tranzine Time Warp

Yesterday I sent in a proposal in to the Moving Trans History Forward 2020 conference with a very cool workshop idea a friend and I brainstormed. We actually came up with it weeks ago, but I only got around to applying the day before the call closed.

The idea is this: we would bring out our personal collections of trans-themed zines (which I have styled as tranzines in the application) from the 90s and 00s, supplementing with work from the Trans Archive.

We'd give a brief talk on the zines, discuss trading them by mail, at infoshops, shows, etc. Look at the way they were made (cutup? computer? stapled? sewn?) and the kinds of stories they tell.

Then, for the bulk of the workshop, we'd provide the participants with new copies of the zines, scissors, paper, glue -- glitter no doubt -- and have them create new zines that dialogue (appreciatively, giving credit) with the old ones. These new works would be displayed at the conference -- maybe just tacked up on a rolling corkboard (if such things still exist.)

Then, after the conference, where we could locate the original creators, we'd mail them the zines and continue the discussion, building cross-generational and cross-platform networks, as my proposal would have it.

One problem is that both of us have potentially very busy schedules exactly when the conference is happening. So we'll see. There is A Thing I would very much like to go to, which I will discuss at another juncture.

Newsletter Idea - Divine Randomness

Further to the question of whether or not to have a newsletter, here's a thought I had: I often use the phrase "divine randomness" or "divine chance" to talk about the pleasure of surrendering in a game to the roll of dice, or in a Tarot reading to the fall of the cards, or in gambling to the dangerous question of how much the universe loves you today and how it plans to show that love.

I was thinking one way to drive a regular publication would be by deploying some randomness. I have a few engines for creation that are fairly low-stakes and generative for me -- the problem drawings would be one, and the project I loosely call Quadratic Island would be another -- using the quadratic formula to generate poems. (I want to call them something fancy like bivalent poems, but mostly they're just poems.)

So I was thinking each issue I could roll the dice and whatever task came up I'd do. It adds an element of formal play, it takes some of the decision-making out of my hands, and it adds a little suspense for the reader.

I'm not sure just watching me do a thing will be interesting enough for a reader, to begin with at least. Some of the things, like problem drawings, at least offer exercises the reader could undertake themselves, which might be a good thought for some/all of the options.

If I did this, I'd want it to be authentically a part of a generative creative process for me, and it seems fair to at least offer some of that to the reader, should they be seeking it.

I dunno. Something like that. What do you think?

{rf}