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Current | |||
# 73The Art Issue
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In This Issue Notes for a Magazine Fran Day, |
The Front Cover
Jenna Weston
Contributors
sierra lonepine briano |
On the Back
"Old Oaks"
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Recent Issues | |||
# 72Utopia
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In This Issue Notes for a Magazine“The possible shapes of what has
not been before exist only in that back place, where we
keep those unnamed, untamed longings for something
different and beyond what is now called possible, and to
which our understanding can only build roads.” Audre
Lorde (“An Interview: Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich”
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde p.
101). Fran Day, |
The Front Cover
Diane Germain
Contributors
Margie Adam |
On the Back
"Sisterhood is Blooming"
Frances Lorraine |
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# 71Open Issue
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In This Issue Notes for a Magazine
This Open Issue of Sinister Wisdom features many writers and artists new to the pages of the journal; we enthusiastically welcome each of them to the SinisterWisdomhood! These new voices along with those of some of our regular contributors combine to bring us another exciting, empowering issue. Thank you to everyone who helps us celebrate Lesbian words, ideas and images.
Fran Day, |
The Front Cover
Verlena Johnson
Contributors
SDiane Adamz-Bogus |
On the Back
Nancy Nau
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# 7030th Anniversary Celebration
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In This Issue Dedication, Invitations, Celebrations, and Appreciations This 30th Anniversary issue of Sinister Wisdom is dedicated with love to the thousands of Lesbians whose lives have been touched by the journal. As I gathered and arranged the volumes for the photograph on the back cover, an amazing thing happened. I sensed a powerful gynergy flowing, spiraling from the collection of journals on the table. I felt thirty profound years of courage, excitement, connections, resistance, awakenings, hopes, validations, possibilities, laughter, tears, love, creativity, engagement, and stimulation. And yes, hard work, perseverance, angst, resilience and much more. Friends stopped by to admire the collection, to share memories, to celebrate the legacy of the body of work, and to give wishes for the future of Sinister Wisdom. Let these celebrations continue in the homes, communities, hearts and minds of the Sinisterhood everywhere! Appreciations: Thank you to all Lesbian Sisters, sung and unsung. Appreciations to writers, artists, readers, listeners, advisors, supporters, mailing crews, proofreaders, typists, binders, coordinators, donators, reviewers, board members, bookstore Sisters, designers, layouters, organizers, dreamers, inciters, editors, guest editors, web designers, searchers, sparkers, spinsters, weavers, comrades, friends, lovers, and others. We invite each of you reading or listening to this issue to join us in celebrating thirty inspiring years of survival and to help us continue thriving for many more years. “Let us continue to] be strong of heart; to believe in the importance of lesbian words and images as more than evidence we exist, more than documentation, more than entertainment. To know that the culture we create from our widely various lives is unique, growing as we grow, enriching us and nourishing future lesbians whose roots reach through ourselves back to the lesbians who have come before. We have to believe that what we do now directly affects lesbians to come. To know themselves fully, they must be able to touch, to read, to [feel] the gifts of our hearts.”
Fran Day, |
The Front Cover
Tee A. Corinne
Contributors
Ina Auerbach |
On the Back
Roxanna N. Fiamma
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Review of Sinister Wisdom #70 "30th Anniversary Celebration"
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Click here
to read Ruth Mountaingrove's
review (in pdf
format) of SW#70 30th Anniversary Issue as it appeared in Rain and Thunder. | |||
# 68/69Death, Grief and Surviving
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NEW REVIEW OF SW #68/69 | |||
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In This Issue If anyone decides that an issue about death, grief and surviving is too depressing to read, she will miss a major chance to understand how this threesome profoundly affects Lesbians. The overwhelming majority of writing on coping with illness or death is geared towards the heterosexual community, neglecting what often are some of the most difficult aspects for Lesbians. The writing in this issue makes it clear that we need to define what is required to help one another surpass unnecessary mental and physical suffering. Too many times planning is either neglected or done in such a way that the medical establishment won’t adhere to the wishes of either partner. There is one certainty in life—none of us will escape death of self or numerous loved ones. During the past few years a number of famous women and women activists in our community have passed away. Added to this number are countless family members, partners, friends and pets who loved us as we loved them. Knowing how to ease the ongoing pain requires the input of everyone who has survived such trauma. No one truly knows what tragedy feels like until it touches her personally. Every individual has to experience loss and recovery at her own pace. To begin the quest for answers to the countless questions involved, we need to understand what brought each to this place in time. The stories, poetry and artwork woven together in the issue speak in heartbreaking terms about what losing a loved one involves. Reading about the crushing grief of so many others non-stop brought me to my knees countless times. We know the inner and outer suffering when it’s our own, but when the description of borderline unbearable pain is repeated over and over and over again by strangers, it touches a part of us we never knew existed. If we truly care for each other as a community, we should be willing to share these burdens when they arise. Judith K. Witherow, |
The Front Cover
Sue Lenaerts, Guest Editor
Contributors
Janet E. Aalfs |
On the Back
"...within the war we are all waging with the forces of death, subtle and otherwise,
conscious or not - I am not only a casualty, I am also a warrior."
Morgan Gwenwald
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 Funding for this issue was made possible through the generosity of Rose Provenzano in memory of Elena Boyd
Read
Ruth Mountaingrove's review of
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# 67Lesbians and Work
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In This Issue As Lesbians, how do we cope with heterosexism, lesbophobia, ageism, racism, classism, ableism and other oppressive policies and attitudes at work? How do we maintain our integrity (asserting our needs, defending our rights) without being penalized or losing our jobs? How do we cope with work that we find degrading, unethical, boring, stressful, dangerous, disabling, and/or unsatisfying? How do we cope with the myth that there is meaningful, well-paid work out there for everyone if we only try hard enough? What experiences have we had with successful alliances with other Lesbians at work? What positive experiences have we had at work where we felt we were doing something useful, where we were acknowledged for our unique contributions, and/or where we had a reasonable workload, healthy working conditions, and adequate compensation and benefits? These were some of the questions we asked in our call for material for this issue on Lesbians and Work. We also suggested other topics which included unions, workaholism, exploitation of workers, having to work as a child, while chronically ill, or while caregiving a sick/disabled partner. Understandably, many of those who planned to write for this issue found themselves too exhausted from working to do so. Some reported that they had just been laid off and had to put all their energies into finding other work. Nevertheless, many thought-provoking pieces found their way into our mailbox. The contributors to this issue of Sinister Wisdom explore the complex issues Lesbians encounter at work with imagination, creativity, compassion, grit and determination. "Sisters, let us put our heads together and create ways to improve the world of work for Lesbians and all oppressed people. Let us explore ways to sustain ourselves and each other outside the patriarchal work world. Sisters, take heart, unite, support each other, form alliances, and find courage and solidarity in our love for our kind ... "
Tanager,
Sister Courage
Fran Day, Editor
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The Front Cover
Cathy Cade
Contributors
Joan Annsfire |
On the Back
Cathy Cade
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# 66Lesbians and Activism
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In This Issue “ For positive social change to occur we must imagine a reality that differs from what already exists…. Activism is the courage to act consciously on our ideas, to exert power in resistance to ideological pressure—to risk leaving home.”Gloria Anzaldúa, This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation. Routledge, 2002, p. 5. Many of us once believed that activism meant demonstrations, picket lines, protests, street theater, sit-ins and public hearings. Now we realize that activism also includes protest songs, political art, resistance writings, radical teaching, private rebellions and much more. Some of us can no longer walk in the streets but we can write articles and poetry, give speeches, compose music, create art, and/or inspire others. Some of us actively resist by using a very anti-academic voice in our writings, embracing the most unofficial language we can find. In Julia Penelope’s words, we are unlearning the lies of the fathers’ tongues. As activists, we at Sinister Wisdom are committed to providing a forum for diverse Lesbian voices by printing writing (and art) that is often not published by mainstream presses. We know that there are many ways to write; we will not force patriarchal language rules on our contributors. We believe that each writer knows best how she wants to write about her experiences and ideas. We are committed to publishing writing that is readable and interesting to all of us in all our beautiful diversity. Some Lesbians have decided to separate from patriarchy, to detach, to refuse to put energy into challenging systems from within. They choose to be actively engaged in building a Lesbian world, devoting their love, energy, and thought into creating new ways of being. Sonia Johnson writes, “I dream of women's world, I remember it, I invent it. I love it and long for it and live in the memory of it as much as I am able. Caring profoundly about femaleness, I am loyal only to women, respecting and honoring us, awed by the power that is ours exclusively. All my thought and attention and energy is for women, and I rejoice constantly that I am one. Female is my species and my home” (p. 16). We need all of us doing whatever works for us, following our own hearts and dreams. Kim River and jody jewdyke write, “We deeply value all the forms of activism of all the Dykes who have worked and continue to work to change the world. We value the many things Dykes have done, and are doing to create and sustain Lesbian culture and community (p. 53). |
The Front Cover
"Unplugging Patriarchy's Chains" Bea Loud
Hungry for a better world, Lesbians are (and have been)
actively involved in every movement for social
change, peace and justice, and global awareness.
We refuse to collaborate in our own oppression,
the oppression of others, and the destruction of
our planet. The contributors to this issue of
Sinister Wisdom passionately write (and create
art) about their fierce determination to make a
difference.
Fran Day, Editor
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On the Back
Lesbians and Activism Excerpt from an Interview with Rhonda Simmons, Vancouver, Canada Some people would say I have many strikes against me. I am woman, I am a Lesbian, I am Black, I am a fat Dyke, I have a mental illness, I am a survivor, and I'm poor. But I see all of those strikes as opportunities. For me, not only to lead by example, but to talk about my experiences that have been full of adversity. I have used all those experiences for my highest good. I have what I want. And what I have is being able to communicate through my art of who I am and how I go through the world. Which ultimately connects in some way with whoever is seeing/experiencing my art. I've learned from my experiences and transformed them into opportunities for social change. Every time I do a piece in terms of political action, I am given an opportunity to learn more about the issue. This allows me to constantly reframe my perspective. Excerpt from "Activism from a Lesbian Feminist Perspective" by Jean Taylor, Melbourne, Australia Whereas writing is my breath (I breathe therefore I write) lesbian activism has been and still is my life's blood. I count myself extremely fortunate that over these past 30 plus years I have had the opportunity not only to participate in one of the most vibrant and politically necessary revolutionary movements of our time but the Women's Liberation Movement has enabled me to instigate changes so I can live my life as a radical lesbian feminist in ways that suit my best interests. |
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Contributors | |||
| Shaba A. Barnes Tanya Brannan Cathy Cade Lenore Chinn Chrystos Tee A. Corinne Martha Courtot Nisa Donnelly Elana Dykewomon Francis Eatherington Elizabeth Freeman Judy Freespirit Sheridan Gold Tamara Gorin |
Dianna Grayer |
Mary Meriam Sasha Merritt Elaine Mikels Cheryl J. Moore Ruth Mountaingrove Laurie Parsons Kim Rivers Lilith Rogers Rhonda Simmons Margaret Sloan-Hunter Jean Taylor Judith K. Witherow Merle Woo zana |
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# 65Lesbian Mothers and Grandmothers
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In This Issue
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The Front Cover
"Self-portrait with children" Marie LaPre' Grabon
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On the Back
"Michelle & Paisley" Marie LaPre' Grabon |
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Contributors | |||
| Kendra Brooks Tee A. Corinne Sara Farrell Deb Friedman Victoria Ferrara-Loris Lisa Figueroa Amy Gamble Merry Gangemi Maggie Harrison Cherie James |
Lori L. Lake Marie LaPre' Grabon Sue Lenaerts Patricia MacAodha Suzanne Mahue Jane Mara Linda Markin Lynn Martin Mary Meriam Kerry McCabe Janell Moon |
Ruth Mountaingrove Leslea Newman Marjorie Norris Minnie Bruce Pratt Alison Prine Sudie Rakusin Lilith Lynn Rodgers Leah Simpson Mary Spicer Judith K. Witherow |
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# 64
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In This Issue This issue celebrates Lesbian music, dance, drama, and art. How has your life as a Lesbian been touched by one or all of these creative arts? How has Lesbian culture been impacted? When did you first hear Lesbian music or see a Lesbian play or art exhibit and how did that inspire you to build community? Lesbian musicians, dancers, choreographers, playwrights, actors, artists and others have written about their experiences. Included in this issue: related
interviews, photographs, and
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The Front Cover
"Either/Or"
Virginia R. Harris |
On the Back
"Angela Wellman, Trombonist"
Jean Weisinger |
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Contributors | |||
| Laura Aguilar Tangren Alexander Kathleen Allen Jamie Anderson Kristan Aspen Sierra Lonepine Briano Becky Banasiak Code karen Cooper Tee A. Corinne Alix Dobkin Barbara Ester Ferron Roxanna Fiamma Judy Freespirit |
Carolyn Gage Sheridan Gold Bethroot Gwynn Ann Hackler Virginia R. Harris Happy/ L. A. Hyder Sarita Johnson Susan E. Keleher Lori L. Lake Hawk Madrone Ona Marae Rose Marcario Jess McVey Mary Meriam |
Bonnie J. Morris Ruth Mountaingrove Marjorie Norris Sudie Rakusin Reign Lilith Rogers Jean Sirius Sandy Tate Jean Taylor Mary Watkins Jean Weisinger Cris Williamson zana |
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Sinister Wisdom #64: Lesbians and Music, Drama and Art
Review written by Ruth Mountaingrove (reprinted with permission from The -L- Word Newsletter [June 2005]) This issue of Sinister Wisdom is a feast. How many of these lesbians have you heard of or know their work? Singer-songwriters Ferron, Cris Williamson, Jamie Anderson, Alix Dobkin? They are all in this issue. How about Mary Watkins? There is an interview with her by Sandy Tate. How about artists Tee Corinne, Sudie Rakusin, Lenore Chinn, photographers Hawk Madrone and Jean Weisinger? Have you heard of Happy/L.A. Hyder? She founded LVA, Lesbians in the Visual Arts in San Francisco in 1990. You can visit LVA at www.lesbianarts.org. How about Kristan Aspen and her partner Janna MacAuslan and their duo Musica Femina Flute Guitar? Kristan and her partner live in Portland, Oregon and a few years ago came down to Arcata to do a house concert. Her article is on the herstory of the lesbian music of the Northwest. She begins in the year 1970 with an overview of lesbian music. Ann Hackler writes about the Institute for Musical Arts (IMA) More at www.ima.org. She founded IMA and is the executive director. Then there is theatre. Carolyn Gage has a one act play, The Drum Lesson which a drumming circle might like to perform. Gage is the author of the play Joan of Arc and forty-eight other plays, musicals and one woman shows, as well as four books on lesbian theatre. Have you heard of Bethroot Gwynn? Well that depends on whether you were here in Arcata when she performed her one woman show Immaculate Decision, about abortion, at Humboldt State University. She has a new one I would like to see - Women; the Longest Revolution, A Performance Documentary (2003 - 2004) There are some coming out stories. Tangren Alexander's article is called How Lesbian Music Changed My Life and Lesbian Art Sustained It. Lesbians can attest to that. Many of these women are multi-talented. Hawk Madrone who took the photograph of Bethroot in performance is also the author of the book Weeding at Dawn. She is land partners with Bethroot and they own Fly-a-Way Home where Bethroot directs Personal Theatre. Tee Corinne is not only an artist but also a photographer of famous lesbian writers and a poet, novelist, and non-fiction recorder and preserver of lesbian herstory in southern Oregon. Laura Aguilar, a Latina and a lesbian writes about her and other Latinas' invisibility in the Los Angeles gay and lesbian community. She is a photographer and has two photographs in this issue of Sinister Wisdom. One is set in the forest and the other at the beach, These are part of an on going project of self-portraits. Kathleen Allen writes movingly from her prison cell about her life as a poet and writer and why she destroyed all that work. Music from her harmonica has eased the tensions of her prison life for her. Ruth Mountaingrove writes about Lesbian and Art, about the women's movement and her art in the late sixties, the seventies, the early eighties, first in Philadelphia and then in Oregon and lastly in California. There are more lesbians creating art and I am pleased to be part of this book. Fran Day, the editor, has done herself proud bringing together so many talented women. | |||
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#63 Lesbians and Nature Cover by Sudie Rakusin We hope to have Issue #63 "Lesbians and Nature" available on tape soon. |
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#62 Lesbian Writers
Cover by Sudie Rakusin |
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Past Issues Available |
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| #61 -
Women Loving Women In Prison
#58 - An Open Issue #57 - On Healing - diverse voices explore healing #55 - Exploring issues of racial and sexual identification #54 - Lesbians and Religion - questions of faith and community #53 - Old Dykes/Lesbians - a landmark issue, guest edited by nine lesbians over 60, with work by 39 old dykes/lesbians #52 - The Allies Issue #51 - New Lesbian Writing #50 - Not the Ethics Issue we had planned - read it to find out why! Guest edited by Caryatis Cardea and Sauda Burch #49 - The Lesbian Body: Where Flesh and Theory Meet #48 - Lesbian Resistance - including works by dykes in prision #47 - Lesbians of Color: Tellin' It Like It 'Tis: Special 160 page issue written and produced by lesbians of color #43/44 - 15th Anniversary Retrospective: 368 pages packed with Herstory - Don't miss this one! #41 - Special Italian-American Women's Issue, guest edited by Giovanna (Janet) Capone and Denise Leto #40 - On Friendship #39 - Disability #36 - Surviving Psychiatric Assault/Creating Emotional Well Being in Our Communities #34 - SciFi, Fantasy and Lesbian Visions |
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Upcoming Issues |
Click here for Submission Guidelines |
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Two Spirit Women of First Nations (submissions still being accepted) Guest Editor: Chrystos (Menominee) 3250 S 77th #8 Tacoma, WA 98409. Email: creeptoes@yahoo.com. Colonialization has marginalized Indigenous women (as well as men), making Native Dykes almost completely invisible. We celebrate the survival of Two Spirit women of First Nations in this issue. Submissions may be in any format - taped interviews, dialogues, as well as fiction, poetry, etc. Please respect certain definitions, which have often been violated – ie, we ask for work from lesbians who are Native in this lifetime only, recognized by their tribes or communities (although a BIA number is not required) and willing to use their name rather than a psuedonym (this is to help prevent submissions of non-authentic work). We define Indigenous Dykes as coming from the Americas, as well as the Pacific (Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia), with a land base (ie. reservation, ranchero, etc.) and a tribal affiliation (Maori, Koori, Cree, etc.). Government recognition of tribal status is not necessary (ie. we recognize the Duwamish). We are particularly interested in stories from dykes who were in residential schools, Elders, incarcerated, & in honor of those who have passed on (Barbara Cameron NationShield, Smiley Hillaire). Megwetch. Issue #74
Forthcoming
Issue #75 Lesbian Theories/Lesbian Controversies Deadline: June 1, 2008 Guest Editor: Julie Enszer Theory is an analysis of a set of facts in relationship to one another. Theory simultaneously reflects and shapes our lives. Sinister Wisdom has always been a place for Lesbian theories to be created, expanded, evaluated, and discussed. What are the theories that are driving our lives today? What conditions in our lives do we need to think about, analyze and share with one another? What are the controversies within the Lesbian communities today? What controversies are spoken? What controversies are unspoken? How are we working to understand, share, and celebrate the controversies among us? Creative explorations of Lesbian Theories and Lesbian Controversies are sought for this theme issue of Sinister Wisdom. The guest editor is interested in current theories and controversies about Lesbian separatism, contemporary Lesbian culture, patriarchy, Lesbian identity, and Lesbian life. Especially welcome are submissions that challenge, incite, connect, and create new theories and new controversies as well as collaborative submissions by multiple writers, artists, activists, and thinkers. Send
manuscripts for #75 only to Julie R. Enszer, 6910 Wells
Parkway, University Park, MD 20782 with SASE for
response or email
JREnszer@aol.com
Open Issue
Deadline: September 1, 2008
Editor: Fran Day Please do not send submissions before June 1, 2008.
Please read the Environmental Issues/Lesbian Concerns Deadline: December 1, 2008 Guest Editor: Diane Foster
Mother Earth is at
risk! Her soul cries for love, nurturing and protection.
The veins of her ecosystem are weakening, the air she
provides is choked with pollutants, her nutrients
providing sustenance for life are poisoned by those with
no regard or respect for life itself. Her travails
giving life to this planet has found her weeping
polluted, agony stained tears. As Mother Earth Lesbians,
the 77th issue of Sinister Wisdom relates to what
Lesbians around the world feel concerning Environmental
Issues. Topics included but not limited to are: lesbian
and/or lesbian groups working in the realm of
saving/protecting the environment, what efforts are
being done, who and where are Earth-Conscious Lesbians.
Does your heart cry out, are you angry? Do you feel
there is a correlation between patriarchal dominance and
the state of our environment? Do Lesbians and/or Lesbian
groups face unique challenges and/or oppositions in
their quest to protect and save Mother Earth from
environmental devastation? This issue welcomes prose,
short story, poetry, essays; from the serious to the
lighthearted, but they all must deliver a succinct
message.
Call for Artists: Please submit
your artwork for consideration: images sent
electronically must have a resolution of 300 dpi for
photos and 600 dpi for line drawings.
Old Lesbians/Dykes II Deadline: March 1, 2009 Editor: Fran Day Details forthcoming. Issue #79 Call for Guest Editors | |||
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