Literary Band

In my quest to do things I'd never done before, I did something that I thought I'd never do: sing in a band! Skylight Bookstore put together a band called "Skylight Juice." SJ would make their command performance at the opening of "1814," an extension of the store.

I sang "background vocals." It was a kind title for a guy who stood in the back and mostly clapped along. Here's proof.

If you want to see more about the opening and more of Skylight Juice perform, click here.

Literary Convention

I don't know about you, but I cried when Mr. Obama accepted the nomination tonight. CRIED! There was so much hope in his speech, so much. When he mentioned proper treatment of gay and lesbians, I teared up. When he talked about the proper treatment of immigrants, I cupped my mouth to stifle a cry. (Ur, I was driving in my car and concerned that I would be pulled over for reckless crying)

His speech was so well written, so well delivered. I knew he was a good writer when I read his book, but this speech (and all the other writers who put in their two cents, I'm sure) was amaaaaaaaaaazing.

Literary Circumcision

Not everything I did in Mexico was vacation. I did have to write to earn my keep. Part of my going to the International AIDS Conference was to cover it for the Global Voice, the official publication of the conference, and to write something for IN Los Angeles Magazine.

I was given two hours to write an 800 word article. I was thrown into the manic buzz of the press room (see below). Journalists from all over the world frantically tried to get the jumbled words to flow into some cohesive article.

My story was on "Male Circumcision: To Cut or Not To Cut." I went to a panel discussion on circumcision and how it can reduce HIV infection. I wrote another article on the reduction of stigma and homophobia for IN Los Angeles.Here's a picture of me typing away.

Check out one of the articles that I wrote Here.

Literary Pyramids

I think inspiration is a wonderful thing. While in Mexico, I decided to visit pyramids in Teotihuacan. I did something that I think might have been the literary highlight of my year.

I took my handy-dandy camera and made this...

A British man took this photo of me. His family was quite impressed that I was working on my novel on a pyramid! Who can say that?

I must confess: I was quite proud of myself.

Literary Grace

Check out this essay by Grace Talusan here. It mentions the passing of Miss Philippines 1980 who was a finalist in the Miss Universe Pageant. I'd written about Miss Philippines in my solo show "Master of the (miss) Universe." What is a common theme in my show and the essay that Grace wrote was the need for familiar faces, especially on TV.

Um, I'm actually quite sad at hearing the news of the death of Miss Philippines Chat Silayan. She probably didn't know it, but she inspired Filipino kids in America like Grace and myself.

Literary Frida

I went to see Frida Kahlo's house. It just one of those things you must do in Mexico City. For me, there is no other Mexican icon like Frida. I didn't even bother with seeing the movie about her life because I felt that her presence could never be captured in a medium like film.

I couldn't show you pictures of the inside of the house. Photos were not allowed. So, here's the outsie landscape. The home was filled with books, pictures, furniture that belonged to Frida. It was a literal shrine to her life. I was most impressed with a letter that Poet Pablo Neruda wrote to Miss K.

Here I am, all angsted out at walking in the home where Frida and Deigo once made love.

Literary Mexico

I'd been in Mexico for a week now. And loving it. I can't believe that I'd never been here before. I first visited the Historic District. This museum is called Collegio de San Ildefonso. It's the place where Frida Kahlo first saw Diego Rivera painting. You can see the murals behind the columns.

This is a painting on the ceiling of San Ildefonso. It's of Cortes and La Malinche. She apparently became a mistress to Cortes and helped him conquer Mexico. She's seen to some as a traitor to her people.

With the conquering of Mexico, old Aztec temples were torn down and replaced by ornate churches like this one. The city recognizes this horrible deed and has windows outside of the cathedral showing the holy land under this holy land.

Literary Aztec

The Aztec culture boasted fine music and literature. I'll have the opportunity to learn about their culture as I go to Mexico. My job is sending me there for a few weeks. I'll be there to work on a new MAKE ART/STOP AIDS exhibition that will be part of the International AIDS Conference. Mexico!!! WooHoo!!!!!

Literary Closet

I've always been a closet poet. I've written plays, novels, short stories. All of these take forever to finish. I've had stories waiting to be finished for over ten years!

I want some closure. I think poems can help me achieve this. So, here's a poem. No workshops, no revisiting. It's finished.

On Being 40

I am in the middle.
I am half
More full, than empty.

Literary Laureate

It was noted that Kay Ryan was named the new US Poet Laureate. She has a slew of awards, including ones from the NEA and the Guggenheim. She's spoken highly of and congrats goes to her!

And she's a LESBIAN!!!

I love it when queer people get sh*t like this. It gives me hope that the WORK, not the sexual orientation is most important.

Literary Baseball

I went to a Dodger game. I would have never gone if the tickets weren't a gift from a friend. The last time I went was well over 25 years ago when I was twelve. I saw Fernando Valenzuela hit a home run.

My basebll story would have ended there...until now! I was there for all of 3 minutes when I got into the spirit of the game. I was cheering, hootin' and hollerin'! I couldn't believe how much fun I had! I got caught up in the culture of the stadium, standing up to participate in The Wave, singing "Take me out to the baseball"--I knew all the words--and hoping the Dodger would win (they lost to the Marlins).

On the giant TV, I was shot back to my childhood when they showed that Fernando Valenzuela was in the stadium watching the game also. Whoa.

I kept kicking myself because baseball is such the American past time and The Dodgers are such an icon of Los Angeles. I consider myself a Los Angeles writer (above other labels like gay writer or Asian American writer) that I couldn't believe that I allowed myself to be deprived of such a Los Angeles cultural event. Hmmmm. I wonder if I can get Laker tickets.

Literary Music

I love this idea of artists inspiring other artists. What gets me to write the most is when I am exposed to a great movie, an incredible painting, an amazng performance. Check this video of songs that were inspired by literature. Who knew George Orwell inspired so many?!?!?

Literary Worley Wind Tour

I highly recommend this story by Cole Ynda about the Joanne Worley no one ever knew. See here.

Literary Caricature

I hate narcissistic blogs where all you see are pics of the author, but I had to show this. I've never been a caricature before. It was done by Rama Hughes (http://www.ramahughes.com/) for Skylight Books. See other Skylight staff drawn like this here.

Literary Cut

At my old job, it took me fifteen minutes to get to work and fiteen minutes to get back, maybe 25 in traffic. With my new job, it takes on average an hour to get to work and an hour to get back. That's two hours out of my day driving and not writing.

I needed more writing time. One way of doing this was to cut my grooming time. My hair actually takes a bit to prepare. With the drying time, gel or pomading time, combing and styling time, I lose about 20 minutes. So, I decided to cut off my tresses. This is the shortest my hair has ever been. I like it. It takes me three minutes to prepare it now.

Literary Tongue

I was fortunate enough to partake in the Tongue and Groove reading series put put on by Conrad Romo (above with fellow writers Faye Lane and Catherine Griffith). I shared the stage with some great talent, including Kate Crash, Kerrie Kvashay-Boyle, and Jake Labotz.

In preparing for this, I had an interesting time. I couldn't decide what to read. I was sort of tired of reading from the novels. I didn't feel like reading from the new novel-in-progress. I considered some short stories, maybe an essay. In the end, I chose a monologue from one of my solo shows and borrowed an entry from My Finger Project, a piece written by Cheryl Klein.

As I prepared, I remembered how I didn't have much of a choice 10 years ago. I didn't have that much to choose from. To think that now I have a "Body of Work" to pull from was actually kinda cool.

I read/performed a piece from The Rice Room. I hadn't done anything from that war horse in awhile. Performing Rice Room was interesting. I was acting! Inside it felt like home. I couldn't sleep because the feeling was so familiar and exciting.

Funny, when I was a twenty year old actor, I didn't know I'd become a performance artist. When I was thirty, I only had dreams of publishing a novel. Now, that I'm forty, I wonder what I'm going to become.

Literary Heat

I. I've noted that my next novel will have Blood and Disease as themes. Earlier this month, I got into a heated e-mail exchange about how gay men can't give blood becuase of the fear of tainting the blood supply with AIDS. However, heterosexuals who make up most of the HIV infections in the world aren't held to the same standards. Also, it turns out drug users and prostitutes can eventually give blood after a certain time, but gay men can't. Ever! Some of you who read my second novel Talking to the Moon may have remembered a scene where a son couldn't give his dying father blood because he was gay. Well, that came from my real life experience.

Writer (and former student) Serena Lin wrote (with minor assistance from me) this piece for Asian Week. It says in a nutshell that this practice is wrong and should be changed.

II. I escaped the heat of Los Angeles by doing a reading in San Francisco with Michelle Tea (below) on Tuesday. It was most fun. For the first time, I read a section from my novel-in-progress, Boy With Bleeding Hands (see section I about what it's about). It was a wonderful exercise in putting my next novel out into the world.

III. It's going to get hot this weekend as I do a reading for Conrad Romo's Tongue and the Groove. I'll probably be reading from the new novel as well.

Details:

"Tongue & Groove"A monthly offering of short fiction, personal essays, poetry, spoken word + music produced by Conrad Romo. This month featuring the following: Noel Alumit, Kerrie Kvashay-Boyle, Kate Crash, Katherine Griffith, Faye Lane and music by Jake La Botz.

Sunday the 29th of June

6:00-7:30 pm

The Hotel Cafe1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd.Hollywood, Ca 90028

$6.00

Literary Queery

I'd been doing a lot of really queer stuff lately. Maybe because it's June and it simply screams Gay pride month. I started with an event on gay and lesbian publishing, hosted by PEN USA West.
Novelist Sarah Schulman (left), joined here with novelist Nina Revoyr, cracked open the evening by stating the disparities in publishing. Last year, not a single lesbian novel was published by a major publisher.

The host was KCRW's Michael Silverblatt (left), joined with Corey Roskin from the City of West Hollywood, who was most passionate about gays and lesbians TAKING a place in the world of writing--cuz no one is going to give it to us.

I hung out with the mostly lesbian crowd at the Hammer Museum to check out Sister Spit, a troupe that writer Michelle Tea started in the 1990's in San Francisco that provided space for girls to read their work and develop as writers. Poet Eileen Miles headlined the event.

The Lambda Literary Organization moved to Los Angeles and Executive Director Charles Flowers and Poet/Editor David Groff decided to have a lunch. Some noteworthy writers showed up like Peter Gadol, Chris Rice, and Mark Thomspson. The joint we lunched in was known for it's pizzas, but most of us chose salads to gorge on.

Here is the seafood salad I ate.

Here's to the gay writers who lunch!

The queer month ends with me doing a reading, curated by Michelle Tea herself, at the San Francisco Public Library (above, located at 100 Larkin and Grove) on June 24th at 6pm. I will be joining zinestor and illustrator Nicole J. Georges (Invincible Summer); performance artist and Sister Spit member Sara Seinberg; and writer, activist, performer and educator Guillermo Gomez-Pena (author of American Book Award winning New World Border). Come on out and say, Hi

Literary Summer

For the Pride issue of IN Los Angeles magazine, I was asked to put together a summer reading guide. Look at who I talked to and find out what ten books I chose that every gay man should read this hot season. See here.