Community | Words & Tricks

8 random things about me - A meme

May 19th, 2008 | 5 Comments | Posted in Nonfiction by Chris Pommier

Recently, Crystal at Big Bright Bulb, a blog chock full of great advice and insight for small business owners and entrepreneurs, tagged me with a blog meme that’s been making the rounds. I was flattered because it makes me feel a bit more like I’m part of the blogging community. The ideas is that someone comes up with a post, writes it, and “tags” a few other people to write a similar post. Everybody reads the others’ posts, and comments on them. Links are exchanged in a friendly way, everybody has fun, and then we move on with our lives.

So, this one is simply a list post of eight random things about me that you may, or mat not, know. I’m supposed to tag 8 other people at the end, but I don’t know 8 people who blog. So, I tagged three people at the end. I guess I really need to stop lurking on all those great blogs I read. I hereby resolve to comment more.

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Interview: Jane Levin shares insight on poetry, surviving cancer and self-publishing [with Video]

April 30th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Poetry, Writing, arts by Chris Pommier

I’ve been lucky to know Jane Levin for over a year now. She and I were awarded a Mentorship by SASE/Intermedia Arts, a local arts organization, and the Jerome Foundation in 2006. With several other local poets we Legacy, by Jane Levin met regularly to workshop and support each other under the watchful eye of Sun Yung Shin, our mentor.

Since then, Jane has worked hard and met with a lot of success in publishing her poetry in both online and print journals. Last week she performed as a featured reader for the SASE/Intermedia Arts GLBT Reading Series. Award-winning writers Andrea Jenkins and John Medeiros curate this long-running reading series.

Part reading, and part book release party, Jane triumphantly held up the gem-green book that she had labored to publish over the previous months. Legacy is a slim volume packed with lyrical, wry and moving accounts of the author’s experience dealing with the fear and pain of cancer, and celebrating the triumph of health, family, friends and her lover Judy.

In her own words, Jane says:

My poems, especially those in my chapbook Legacy, explore universal issues that arise from living as a Jew, a cancer-survivor and a member of the LGBT community. My hope is that my poems will also heal.

I used my digital camera (a Cannon PowerShot A95 for you poetry-loving gadget-geeks out there) to record some short video clips during Jane’s reading. You can watch three of those clips edited together here.

In this 4:42 minute video, Jane thanks her supporters and reads “Atoll” and “Passover” from her book, Legacy.

To order the book, you can send an email to moonflowerpress [at] gmail.com. Each copy is only $8.00 USD. Legacy is also available at the following Twin Cities independent bookstores: Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, Birchbark Books, Brochin’s, Elijah’s Cup and Micawbers.

Read the full interview with Jane Levin after the jump, and below the video.

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WT Update: Selection of Chris Pommier’s freelance clips online

April 19th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Nonfiction, Writing by Chris Pommier

I wrote for Lavender Magazine, a local gay/lesbian/queer focused print magazine in 2006-2007. However, in February 2007, they rolled out a new draconian contract for freelancers that would have forced me to give up all future rights to my work, and would have held me liable for future litigation against the magazine. I refused to sign it because of that, so they couldn’t give me any more work.

I really enjoyed working for them, and their wonderful editor at that time, Michael Moeglin. Though the magazine is rightfully critiqued as a glorified advertising pamphlet within the community, it does support good work, and some wonderful talent. Unfortunately, for some reason the publisher of Lavender has never archived the magazine’s content online. So, for about a year now, I’ve had physical clips sitting in my file drawer waiting to be released online to prospective editors and employers.

I finally made the time to scan, and place, those clips as pdfs on this blog. It took most of Saturday morning, but it was worth it.

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Thinking Outside the Bottle…

February 22nd, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Environment, Minnesota, politics by Amber Collett

Today I’m posting about the Think Outside the Bottle campaign, run by Corporate Accountability International.

Many people are unaware of the environmental and social justice issues associated with bottled water. The manufacture, bottling, and transport of water bottles consumed 17 million barrels of oil in the US last year, enough to fuel 1 million cars for one year. Up to 40% of all bottled water on the market comes from public water systems, sold back to consumers at 1000x the price of tap.

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Freelance Clips

February 1st, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in Uncategorized by Chris Pommier

Here you can find links to nonfiction and journalism clips including features, news, interviews, arts pieces and profiles published in community newspapers and online news sites by Chris Pommier.

Theater note: People Sittin’ Around Doin’ Shakespeare
April 23, 2008 TC Daily Planet By Chris Pommier, After watching the play Hamlet II this weekend at the Lowry Lab in St. Paul, may I suggest a change of name for the company that produced it? Rather than People Sittin’ Around Doin’ Theatre, perhaps a more apt name would be People With a Huge Amount of Energy and Commitment to Emerging Artists Jumping Around Stage Doin’ Theatre. Of course, that may be a bit long for a marquee.
Watchdoggin’: Top notch reporters & editors share investigative journalism tips for ethnic media
April 14, 2008, TC Daily Planet By: Chris Pommier, Article Body: This weekend the nonprofit Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc., a grassroots organization devoted to improving the quality of investigative journalism, brought professional journalists from the New York Times, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Wisconsin State Journal to Minneapolis for a two-day conference and workshop. With partners New American Media the Twin Cities Daily Planet and the Twin Cities Media Alliance, IRE provided workshops and networking sessions focused on strengthening watchdog journalism, and building coalitions, among local ethnic media. (Note: this article was originally published on my blog, here.)
Bluegrass concert to benefit American Indian women in recovery
Feb 6 2008, TC Daily Planet By: Christopher Pommier Article Body: Roots music is the name of the game this Saturday night at the Cabooze, a bar and music venue on the Hiawatha Line in South Minneapolis, as the Duluth bluegrass string-based band Trampled by Turtles headlines a benefit concert. The concert will raise money for Kateri Residence, a safe and sober space for American Indian women in recovery.
Native American composer Louis Ballard to be spotlighted in benefit concert
Jan 3 2008, TC Daily Planet By: Christopher Pommier Article Body: In 1988 a group of Native American gay and lesbian people from across North America hosted an event called The Basket and the Bow at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. This summer the event, now called the International Two-Spirit Gathering, will return to Minneapolis to celebrate its 20th year.
Theater note: Ballet of the Dolls cracks one tough nut
Dec 26 2007, TC Daily Planet By: Christopher Pommier Article Body: ‘Tis the season when interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker abound. Dance companies dust off that old chestnut and try to fill seats, and their coffers, by giving it new life in any way they can. Classical ballet? Check. Modern dance? Check. Post-modern performance pastiche? Check, check, and check. However, if your childhood memories of The Nutcracker include nodding off to sleep as the Sugar Plum Fairy took the stage, I suggest you redeem your faith at the hot pink altar of the local dance company Ballet of the Dolls.
Flaming film festival lights up Bedlam Theater this weekend
Nov 13 2007, TC Daily Planet By: Chris Pommier Article Body: Entering Patrick’s Cabaret last Saturday night for the 7th annual Flaming Film Festival’s preview show, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The Festival is the brainchild of local rocker, artist, director, activist, mentor, and community volunteer Lisa Ganser. Since 1999 she has been encouraging and supporting independent Queer filmmakers from Minnesota and beyond to push boundaries and blur contemporary understandings of “gay” and “lesbian.”
Mending Senses (link to pdf LARGE FILE)
Jan 5, 2007, Lavender Magazine By Chris Pommier “Medicine sometimes snatches away health, sometimes gives it.” - Ovid, Roman Poet (43 BCE-17 CE). Somehow, while growing up, most of us were told that our heath is the most valuable thing we posses. Perhaps we don’t recall precisely who told us, but nevertheless the sentiment became intrinsic to our understanding of the way the world works. After bankruptcy, foreclosure, or a bad breakup, friends their heads and say, “Well, at least he has his health.” When that health is threatened, though, where do we turn? Our primary physician? An alternative healer? God?
Out of the Woods (link to pdf LARGE FILE)
Jan 5, 2007, Lavender Magazine By Chris Pommier It’s winter. Get outside and make some friends. No snow? That’s no excuse. Just because you can’t cut across the face of a mountain with a pair of K2 Apache Recons strapped to your feet, or mangle a pristine meadow under the treads of your Arctic Cat doesn’t mean you have to stay indoors surrounded by the detritus of the holidays as your ass widens and you watch your TiVoed reruns of Desperate Housewives.
On a Winge and a Prayer [ Kevin Winge ] Lavender 2006 Person of the Year (link to pdf LARGE FILE)
Dec 22, 2006, Lavender Magazine By Chris Pommier In a snowstorm in upstate New York in 1983, a young Kevin Winge recently out of college, began a new life for himself far from friends and family in Minnesota. What seemed like a whimsical choice made by a single guy in his early 20s would lead Winge into the vibrant gay scene of New York City, and to new friends and new experiences. It would change the path of his life forever, and, after little more than a decade, would lead him back to Minnesota and eventually to South Africa.
2006 Lavender Fab 50 Awards (link to pdf LARGE FILE)
Oct 27, 2006, Lavender Magazine By Chris Pommier These are short (approx 150 words) reviews of venues, people, places and things around Minneapolis and the U.S. that made Lavender Magazines top 50 list for 2006. I have highlighted my contributions in yellow. From the description of this year’s awards: “In a download-able, sound bite happy world, instant gratification simply takes too long. But there’s more to life than increasing its speed. So, Lavender’s annual survey of all things fabulous will help you take a few minutes to appreciate the queer and queer-friendly people, places, organizations, and events that make the Twin Cities our kind of town-and yours.”
Leaders by Example: The Ann Bancroft Awards (link to pdf LARGE FILE)
Sept 15 2006, Lavender Magazine By Christopher Pommier Article Body: What do a retied Supreme Court Justice, a South Minneapolis High School student, and a professor have in common? For one thing they are all women who have shown a great deal of vision and the determination to see that vision through. For another, they, along with Perspectives, Inc. - an organization that helps homeless and drug addicted women and their families turn their lives around - are winners of this year’s 10th Annual Ann Bancroft Awards.