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WINDY CITY TIMES
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Sister Spit heats up a frigid Chicago
Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Vern Hester 2014-04-22
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This article shared 6395 times since Tue Apr 22, 2014
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Continuing a feminist/queer tradition which began in 1994, this year's Sister Spit tour rolled into the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts on the campus of the University of Chicago and wowed an SRO crowd on April 14. ( Organizer Michelle Tea was not on this particular tour. )
It hardly mattered that an ice storm raged outside or that the temperature sank below 20 degrees. This edition of the long-running annual showcase was top-heavy with feminist perspectives, queer notions, celebrations of the body, satiric commentaries on the state of the union, gender politics, sex, Michael Jackson and navigation through life with a skewered point of view. With a cast of poets and authors who have taken the label of "independent publishing" to a new level, this stop of the tour was full of humor, fury, eroticism and wit.
Oakland native and poet/playwright Chinaka Hodge served as the emcee and guided the audience through an evening of poetry and book readings, performances and filmed segments. Author/librarian/publisher Rhiannon Argo read from her book Girls I've Run Away With ( Moonshine Press ); jazz/hip-hop-infused poet/musician Lenelle Moise delivered a searing collection of poems as well as an hilarious take on Jackson; tech guru Jerry Lee Abram spoke about his risque adventures as a go-go boy and presented a short film; and former nightlife columnist/arts organizer/actress Beth Lisick spoke about the absurdity of everyday life. In addition, filmmaker/author Dia Felix read from her upcoming book, Nochita ( City Lights/Sister Spit publishing ); and body-image activist/lecturer Virgie Tovar spoke candidly about taking ownership of her body and self, inventing an image of herself that defied societal "expectations" of what a large person should feel about herself.
The result was an empowering evening topped with a short story from filmmaker and recent University of Chicago Mellon Fellow Chase Joynt.
Photos and text by Vern Hester
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This article shared 6395 times since Tue Apr 22, 2014
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