A bunch of things make a post

[catherineldf]

Personal stuff first. Been a long, grueling couple of weeks, filled with good and bad stuff. The bad stuff's not dire, just a combination of not feeling great, periodic migraines, day job crap and bad tax news. All survivable but sucky, The good stuff has been more exciting - saw several good plays, caught the Alan Cumming show at Orchestra Hall this weekend, off to the Patty Griffith/Anais Mitchell/Sara Watkins show tonight and lot of birthday stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks. My copresenter, Valerie Lockhart, and I did a good solid run at our presentation on "Aging and Accessibility in Tech" for AlterConf Minneapolis, coming up on April 9th and we're both feeling good about it (and got it turned in early for ASL interpretation set up). My reading on Saturday at the Tretter Collection went well (Curator Lisa Vecoli said some particularly nice things about my work, which may have been slightly impacted by the fact that I showed up with an organized box of various anthologies and papers, plus all the associated paperwork, ready for my archive there ;-). The Finding Aid for my currently catalogued stuff is here and the next time I stop by, I'm hoping to drop off papers from my former bookstore, Grassroots Books in Iowa City as well some mementos from my time spent helping found and for a time, run, the Iowa Women's Music Festival and from participating in Queer Nation, various anti-war, feminist, bi and Central American Solidarity activities and so forth. And more writing since I have quite a few more publications to include. I should note that the University of Northern Illinois at Dekalb SFWA Archive also has a substantial amount of my books, papers and related material and that Finding Aid is here.

Apart from that, I'm embarking on a new editing project and have just heard that the Secret Project has gone up to the next level, so I expect that to start soon, if all goes well. I'm trying to get a few stories out the door and dig in on the novel edits, which were moving along but have stalled due to time conflicts. Queen of Swords should have a website update as soon as I fix an email problem and get signed up for MailChimp. Author contract template is almost done too and I plan on getting ISBN numbers next weekend. More bulletins soon.

On the level of things that are not specifically about me:

• The MN GOP, ever eager to have more trainwrecks of their very own, is attempting to get a transphobic bathroom panic bill through the Legislature. Check the Outfront MN site for your rep's and senator's contacts and let them know how you feel about this b.s. Remember that even if Dayton says he will veto it (and he will certainly try), that these efforts have a horrible effect on queer kids and that the number of suicide attempts  goes up every time one of these monstrosities gets put forward so let's make sure they can see that lots of folks are on their side. 
• North Carolina. Shit. Where to begin? If you want to help folks there, I recommend Equality North Carolina, the ACLU of North Carolina or Lambda Legal as excellent places to start. If you live there (or have disposable income for donations), I recommend any and all opponents of the elected officials who endorsed this.

And a couple of fundraisers:

• Author Veronica Harnish (Car Living When There's No Other Choice) wrote a powerful piece for VOX earlier this month on ending up homeless three times and living in her car with her cat due to the crappy job market, no housing and a lousy safety net. She's got a Go Fund Me and what I think is a current Crowd Rise page going and I believe that's she's still facing homelessness, so the Crowd Rise is to help her get a used RV which would be much safer and better for her and her kitty. Or you could buy her book, thus giving her ongoing income. Give it to everyone you know who thinks we don't need a safety net or that it'll never happen to them  or any other person you think needs it.
• Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency is working on a new film project on women smashing stereotypes. It looks terrific and there's only 9 more days on the fundraiser here.

More soon!

Comments

[jolantru]

HUGS!

[catherineldf]

Thanks! Back at you. :-)))