I just stepped in a big pile of sassy!

Fruit Platter: An Evening with Award-Winning GLBT Writers!

Quatrefoil Library hosts a reading and reception with award-winning GLBT writers Jane Levin, Barrie Jean Borich, Chris Pommier, and William Reichard on June 11 at 7:30 pm. The library is located at 1619 Dayton Ave. in St Paul, MN. Admission is free, and refreshments will be served. For more information about the authors, please see details below.

Jane Levin’s poems have appeared in over two dozen publications and the forthcoming anthologies Drash: Northwest Mosaic and Best Lesbian Poetry 2008. She is the recipient of a Howard B. Brin Jewish Arts Endowment grant and a Jerome Foundation/Intermedia Arts Mentorship in Poetry.

Barrie Jean Borich is the nonfiction editor of Water~Stone Review, author of My Lesbian Husband, winner of an American Library Association GLBT Nonfiction Book Award, and a member of the MFA faculty of Hamline University.

Chris Pommier is a poet, freelance writer, editor and recipient of a Jerome Foundation/Intermedia Arts Mentorship in Poetry. His poems have been published in Kingfisher, the Big Q, Right Hand Pointing, and Silent Actor. Currently, he is writing for the grassroots citizen journalism portal, Twin Cities Daily Planet.

William Reichard’s first collection of poetry, An Alchemy in the Bones, won a Minnesota Voices Project Prize, and his novella, Harmony, was the recipient of an Evergreen Chronicles National Novella Prize. He is City Arts Program Director and faculty member of the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs.

The MC for the evening will be Linnea Stenson, Academic Dean at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, 2004 Grand Marshal of Twin Cities Pride, and former Director of the U of M Schochet Center for GLBT Studies.

Questions? Please call (651-641-0969) or email (info@qlibrary.org).

Thanks, Jason.

KARE11 is so gay these days - first Sven, now Jana (myspace).

Score!

*I’ve yet to see Jana on t.v. Actually, I hadn’t heard of her until I read the above mentioned blog post 20 minutes ago. Interesting.

In somewhat related news (as Sven is their spokesperson), please Dine Out For Life on Thursday! I’ve been going for years now. It’s for a good cause and it’s all kinds of crazy delicious.

Honestly. Sally Kern frightens me. She makes me concerned for the state of the U.S. and its people.
I wonder what she has to say about other minority groups.
Disgusting. Here’s a link - hear for yourself.
Don’t worry - she’s not anti-gay and she’s not gay bashing.
Really?

1) I’m really sick of the Catholic church.
Perhaps it’s my upbringing (I grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family).
Perhaps it’s my “alternative lifestyle.”
Perhaps the Catholic church needs a reality check.
Quit shooting yourselves in the foot, Catholic big wigs!
Archdiocese discourages church talks by lesbian and her father.
Discourages? They did more than discourage. They outright refused to allow a Catholic lesbian and her father to speak.
You know who did allow them to? - Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ. Thank you, Spirit of the Lakes!
Good to know that you can be a lesbian in the catholic church, but only if you’re celibate.
Guess what? The priests are supposed to be celibate, too, yet they’ve been molesting children for who knows how long.
Way to go, Catholic hierarchy. Keep on keeping on with the hypocracy and ignorance.
Jerks.

2) There is/are no such thing as “transgenders.”
There are transgender people, yes.
There are also homosexuals and gays.
“The gay,” however, does not exist - though I could have sworn that I came down with a nasty case of it once.
But I digress…

And I must confess that I read/browse the strib online most mornings.

No, I really do!

In honor of yesterday’s National Coming Out Day, I decided that having my photo in an ad that runs in Lavender (local gay rag) bi-weekly just wasn’t enough.

I needed a photo of myself in an article, too!

Check out the new issue (it came out today) and you’ll find me (and a host of other folks) inside.
Wahoo!

I’ve just out-gayed myself. AGAIN.

Next thing on my list? Getting over the crazy school girl crush that I have on my gorgeous co-worker. Really.

I spent an hour or so last night looking through wordpress themes on multiple websites in an effort to spruce up my blog. No luck. I mean, COME ON! My “about” photo is 3 years old and I’m totally over this background. Humph. Perhaps I’m too picky? Perhaps.

Any-hoo, on to the foodstuffs.

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of dining at Bonnie’s Cafe, and was waited on by none other than Bonnie herself! The woman is all sweetness and light with an extra cup of smiles and sunshine tossed in for good measure. The food is also super tasty! I ordered the 2X2X2, which comes with french toast (2 slices), 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon or sausage links, and hashbrowns. I gave the meat away to my dining companion, drooled to the max over the best french toast I’ve had in quite a while (though, to be honest, I am not a connoisseur), and my tummy thanked me for such a tasty, tasty breakfast.

I loved Bonnie’s - it has the look and feel of a small-town diner, nearly small-town prices, on the edge of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Also, Bonnie’s opens at FOUR A.M. - they had a killer 4-6am breakfast special, too. I have no idea why I’d ever be up for going out to breakfast at that hour, but if I am, you bet your hot ass I’ll be taking myself to Bonnie’s.

Less fortunately, I ate dinner at Pi and was extremely sick afterwords. On Thursdays they have “all you can eat tacos,” so naturally I ordered tofu tacos. I only ate one plate of them (two gigundo tacos), and for what it’s worth I do remember remarking that the rice “tasted funny.” It was chewy and had a strange consistency, so I didn’t eat much of it. Now, I don’t want to diss Pi, because in theory and most of the time in practice, I really dig the joint, but I am afraid we have an abusive relationship - Pi hit me right where it hurts - in the gut! Oof!

I am sad that my girlfriend* Sabrina Matthews was voted off of Last Comic Standing last week.
She’s my favorite.
I’ve had a crush on her for just about forever. I love me a funny lady, I tell you what.
You can listen to her here - an awesome podcast. Also, you can find lots of videos of her through her website, which I linked to above.

I e-mailed her back in February of 2004, because I’m a huge dork. She did write back, quoted me (woo a personal response) and said that she had added me to her mailing list, which I appreciate. Also, we’re “friends” on myspace.

I will continue to watch Last Comic Standing because there were a couple of other comedians that tickled my funny bone, but I will do so with a heavy heart as there will no longer be any more Sabrina Matthews on the show. Sad day.

*note: Sabrina Matthews is not my girlfriend. Damn.

Dear Sven Sundgaard,

Good afternoon.
Hope you’re enjoying the lovely weather and having some nice shirtless runs (all of my best gays can’t wait for some more sweaty, topless photos on your blog)!

Why must I write about/to you again?
Well, because you are crazy.
You are one of the gayest gays that ever gayed in gayland; however, you have yet to officially come out in the twin cities area.
You are on the COVER of Lavender magazine!
You are the local spokes person for Dining Out For Life (which is awesome. kudos).
What gives?

I don’t know about you, but I prefer my queer celebrities to be out and proud.

Hell, Robyne Robinson does tons of work with AIDS organizations, local art/culture, various non-profits, gay organizations, and the like. She’s openly straight (believe me - I’ve heard her go on about her Greek boyfriend) - why can’t you be out and proud?

Love ya Sven, but you’re killing me here.

x’s and homos,

-Sassy

It’s settled. I like Pi.
3.141592654…
No, the bar.
Pi. I do like it.

I liked it better last weekend when I got hit on, but I digress.
This Saturday was fun, too.

Here’s the rundown of my thoughts/experiences at Pi so far:
*The Gender Inclusive bathroom is a nice touch.
*I wish Pi had a real website, not just a myspace page.
*The mural in the pool room is amazing.
*The rest of the joint (two bar areas and dance floor - like a giant open room) needs more character/decor. It has bland/boring cement floors and not much color on the walls. I’d suggest a mural in every room. Or photography. Or something. It’s lacking.
*The crowd is quite diverse in many arenas (age, gender, orientation, ethnicity).
*Not sure how I feel about the $5 cover, then again, I’m not willing to show up before 9:00pm to avoid having to pay said cover.
*Parking SUCKS. Last night I got lucky as someone was leaving right as I was pulling in, so I only had to park 1/2 a block away. Then again, I got there at 12:15. If you show up any time before that (say, between 9pm and 12am), good luck finding a spot within 3 blocks of the joint. Also good luck not falling on your ass on the icy sidewalks nearby. I’m just sayin’.

Last Saturday I was there for a couple of hours - last night only about 45 minutes.
Pi is definitely a place to go with a group of friends.
Not many folks are willing to venture out of their little bubbles and chit chat.
Minneapolis is unbelievably cliquey.
It (the queer scene here) is like a second high school, for homos.

mmmm… Pie….
Completely off-topic, but pie-related?
I tried the Chocolate French Silk Pie Blizzard at Dairy Queen yesterday (I was at the Mall of America being a good little consumer).
It’s freaking delicious, but so rich that I could only have a handful of bites before I threw it away.
Tasty.

Backstory:
Last summer, or perhaps even before, a crew of folks stirred up some drama at The Townhouse.
The staff at the Townhouse were heavily policing the bathrooms, which really sucked on Saturday nights.
On top of the fact that many transgender (FTM) friends of mine were being kicked out of the men’s room left and right, on certain nights (which are more dominated by either gender), you would have to wait up to 20 minutes just to pee.
This prompted an impromptu protest, “Free to Pee,” I believe it was called - a musical romp presented by a slew of creative folk who were really upset about transgender people being kicked out of the bar (completely - out) for “using the wrong bathroom.”

Long story short, the protest was a success, and the bathrooms at The Townhouse were made unisex on Wednesday and Saturday nights.

Update:
This past Saturday, I was a the Townhouse, really had to pee, noticed a long line for the women’s room, and headed for the men’s room.
There was a security person seated right in front of the men’s bathroom entrance.
I asked him if the bathrooms were still “unisex” on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and he said no.
I asked why and he said that “Women weren’t letting men into the bathroom (which I am almost convinced is an outright lie/poor excuse).”
Next, I asked him, “What do transgender people do if they need to use the bathroom?”
Then he said, “We go by what it says on your I.D.”

Bogus, man.
Poor form.
Gender and Sex are not necessarily one and the same.
Guess I can look forward to much more gender policing at the Townhouse and a new uprising/outrage amongst my crew of friends.
Happy new year.