The Rev. Darlene Nipper, deputy executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force will speak on the organization's work with local communities at a special presentation Thursday evening, May 21, at 7:30 pm. at POCAAN, 1609 19th Ave, in Seattle. 

The free presentation is sponsored by Ingersoll and the following organizations:

Mission of the NGLTF
The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. We do this by training activists, equipping state and local organizations with the skills needed to organize broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all.

From our friend Jamison Green.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Jamison
www.jamisongreen.com
P.S.  If you’re interested in writing a short piece about sexuality
for “The FTM Guide to SEX” (not erotica, but practical information
about how you solved particular problems, like telling a new
prospective partner that you’re trans, finding gay male sex partners,
dealing with fears about your sexuality, or how your surgery(ies)
impacted your sexuality, drop me a note.  You could either write it
under your own name or a pseudonym, or you could make it part of your
anonymous survey response.  I look forward to hearing from you!
Unless it’s part of your anonymous survey response, I’ll need these
short pieces by the end of July.  Thanks for considering this!

Authors Vikram Chandra, Christa Bell and Jennifer Finney Boylan present new writing with new songs by country rockers The Maldives

Friday, March 20, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall Seattle 

SEATTLE - Richard Hugo House presents “My Avatar,” the final event of the 2008-2009 Hugo Literary Series, featuring new writing by acclaimed novelist Vikram Chandra, memoirist Jennifer Finney Boylan and performance artist Christa Bell with new songs by country rockers The Maldives. The evening commences with two readings from this season’s winners of the New Works Competition and the Youth New Works Competition. The event takes place on March 20, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall Seattle.

“When I first contacted Jennifer Finney Boylan about writing on the theme of avatars, her response was, ‘You’re asking a transgendered woman to write about fantasy selves, mass schizophrenia, and Doppelgängers? Gee. Just a few ideas come to mind,’” recalls program director Alix Wilber. “The theme resonated with Vikram Chandra as well, as he was planning a new book that will deal, in part, with notions of identity and reality in current or slightly future times. Needless to say, we’re agog to see what Christa Bell and the Maldives will add to this already promising literary stew.”

Culminating the 2008-2009 Hugo Literary Series, “My Avatar” follows the series’ first three events; “Road Trip” (with Aimee Bender, Marie Howe, Matt Ruff and musician Laurie Katherine Carlsson on Oct. 24, 2008) “Personal Injury” (with Ryan Boudinot, Richard Rodriguez, Sallie Tisdale and musician Laura Veirs on Nov. 21, 2008) and “72 Hours” (with Sherman Alexie, Pam Houston, T.M. McNally and musician Devin Sullivan on Feb. 13, 2009). In total, the series includes 12 writers and 4 musicians/bands—each bringing new writing and songwriting on a theme of Hugo House’s choosing. Each event is followed the next day with classes (additional registration required) and a panel discussion ($5 or free with a ticket to the previous night’s event) curated by one of the writers.

For “My Avatar,” the performers have been asked to write new work and songs that address the ever blurring theme, “My Avatar,” using the following prompt:

Back in the day, an avatar was, literally, a god come to earth in human form. These days, it's more likely to be a 45-year-old accountant reinventing himself online in the godlike guise of a 23-year-old stud-muffin.

We live in an age where identity is mutable—and the technology exists to allow each and every one of us to create simulacra of an idealized self—a 10th-grade math nerd transplants her brain into the body of a sleek and seductive super-assassin in four-inch stiletto heels; a 50-year-old librarian morphs into a muscle-bound Navy Seal; a middle-aged male FBI agent masquerades as a 13-year-old school girl to catch the 40-year-old pedophile pretending to be a cute teen-age boy. We all meet in the virtual world—where nobody can see our real face.

So here's the question: is it all just good, clean fun, or is it a kind of mass schizophrenia? What are the implications of slipping so easily out of one's own skin into another, of blurring the lines between this reality and the virtual world? What if you couldn't get back? Would it matter?

Following the Friday night event, on Saturday, March 21 at Hugo House, Christa Bell will curate a panel discussion on an aspect of the writing craft, beginning at 11 a.m. Admission to the panel is $5, or free with a “My Avatar” ticket stub. At 1 p.m., Jennifer Finney Boylan will offer a class on story structure (“Celluloid Heroes: Stories that Feel Like Movies”) while Vikram Chandra’s class will focus on the elements of fiction (“The Seductions of Form”). Registration requires an additional class fee; call (206) 322-7030.

Individual tickets for “My Avatar” are on sale now. Tickets are $25, $20 for Richard Hugo House members and $15 for students and seniors. Tickets may be purchased at brownpapertickets.com

“My Avatar” is followed by a party with food, drink and music by The Lamar Lofton Trio. Books are for sale by Elliott Bay Book Company, and authors are available for book signings.

Details at www.hugohouse.org or by calling (206) 322-7030.

About Richard Hugo House
Richard Hugo House is a home for writers and readers. Our mission is to provide writers of all ages and backgrounds with the resources they need, connect audiences with the world of writing, foster the creation of new work and promote the literary arts as a vital part of our culture. Richard Hugo House is located at 1634 11^th Ave in Seattle.

About the writers and musicians

Christa Bell is an award-winning feminist folk poet, performance artist and cultural activist. She is the author of three collections of poetry, two spoken word CDs and the creatrix of the one-woman phenomenon, “CoochieMagik: A SpokenWord Musical Comedy” directed by Baraka de Soleil.

Jennifer Finney Boylan was born transgendered and lived and published several books, including “Remind Me to Murder You Later” and “Getting In,” among others, under the name James Finney Boylan until 2001. In 2003, Boylan published the memoir, “She's Not There,” winner of the Lambda Award, and a follow-up memoir “I'm Looking Through You” in 2008.

Vikram Chandra is the author of the acclaimed novel, “Sacred Games” (2007), an epic story of crime and punishment in Mumbai, as well as two earlier novels, “Red Earth and Pouring Rain” and “Love and Longing in Bombay.” He lives in Berkeley, where he teaches at the University of California, and in Mumbai.

The Maldives are a Seattle-based country band whose self-titled LP debuted in 2006. The band has toured the United States, performing at Bumbershoot and Sasquatch, among other venues, and regularly plays at the Tractor Tavern. The Maldives’ second album, “Listen to the Thunder,” is forthcoming.

Richard Hugo House receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, PONCHO, the Washington State Arts Commission, the Hearst Foundation, Humanities Washington, ArtsFund, the Boston Foundation’s Sara Delano Redmond Fund, Wells Fargo, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, 4Culture, the Seattle Foundation, the Hafer Family Foundation, the Norman Hirschfield Foundation, The Charles Engelhard Foundation, City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Charlotte Martin Foundation, the Roberts Family Foundation, the Fales Foundation, US Bank, the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, Wissner-Slivka Foundation, Maurer Family Foundation, the Schiff Foundation, the W Hotel, KUOW, KBCS, Seattle magazine and The Stranger.