I’m a freelance writer and editor based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.. My non-fiction and journalism publishing history includes cover stories, features, interviews, events coverage and arts and entertainment pieces for community newspapers and magazines in the Twin Cities and California.
Currently I am writing for the grassroots citizen journalism portal, Twin Cities Daily Planet.
I’m proud to have been recognized in 2006 as an emerging artist by the Jerome Foundation and SASE/Intermedia Arts, a local arts organization. I was chosen for a poetry mentorship with poet, author and educator Sun Yung Shin. My poems have since been published online.
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.
Further Reading on Words & Tricks
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