BGSQD

Union Square Presents: Imani Sims, (A)live Heart Book Release and Open Mic
2016-12-06 19:00 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | NY
Union Square Slam is thrilled to host an electric reading by Imani Sims, and celebrate her latest book release, (A)live Heart, out now on Sibling Rivalry Press and available at the Bureau!!!
7pm: Sign-Ups and Socialize
7:30pm: Open Mic
8:15pm: Imani Sims
$5 // All Ages // Wheelchair Accessible
About our Feature:
Imani Sims is a spicy Chai tea loving Seattle native who spun her first performance poem at the age of fourteen. Since then, she has developed an infinitely rippling love for poetry in all of its forms. She believes in the healing power of words and the transformational nuance of the human story. Imani works to empower youth and adults through various writing courses and interdisciplinary shows all over Washington. She is a 2016 CityArtist Grant recipient, Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas curator, and Gay City Arts Fellow where she brought Afrofuturism and Performance Art together for eight shows. Her book (A)live Heart is available from Sibling Rivalry Press.

Launch Party for "Queer Methods" Issue of WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly
2016-12-08 07:00 - 20:30 | NY
Please join guest editors Matt Brim and Amin Ghaziani for the launch of “Queer Methods,” the Fall/Winter 2016 issue of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, published by The Feminist Press. “Queer Methods” presents pioneering feminist work on queer research practices across the disciplines, including sociology, performance studies, African American studies, lesbian cultural studies, critical psychology, African studies, transgender studies, media and digital studies, history, and literature. WSQ proudly features new poetry and prose selections by cutting-edge writers.

Matt Brim is associate professor of queer studies and director of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at the College of Staten Island, CUNY. He is author of James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination, as well as an interactive online study guide for teaching the HIV/AIDS documentary film United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. Currently, he is general coeditor of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly and is a contributing editor for the James Baldwin Review.

Amin Ghaziani is associate professor of sociology and Canada Research Chair in Sexuality and Urban Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is coeditor of A Decade of HAART and author of three books: The Dividends of Dissent, There Goes the Gayborhood?, and Sex Cultures. His work has appeared in the American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Contexts, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Social Problems, and Theory and Society.

Mystery & Romance with Ann Aptaker, Jean Copeland & Maggie Cummings
2016-12-10 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Give a gift of crime and passion this season! And enjoy a zesty night with writers Ann Aptaker, Jean Copeland, and Maggie Cummings at a reading and book signing. Fill her stocking with Mystery & Romance from BGSQD!

Ann Aptaker: Ann Aptaker’s debut novel, “Criminal Gold” was a Goldie Award finalist last year. Her second book, “Tarnished Gold,” was this year’s Lammy Award and Goldie Award winner. Both books have earned excellent reviews from Curve Magazine, Crimepieces, Rainbow Reads, and other print and internet venues. Her Cantor Gold crime series celebrates her favorite themes: dangerous women, crime and mystery fiction, and New York City history. The third book in the series, “Genuine Gold,” releases in January.

Jean Copeland: Jean Copeland is an English teacher and author of lesbian fiction. Her debut novel, “The Revelation of Beatrice Darby,” won the 2016 Alice B Lavender Award and the Golden Crown Literary Society “Goldie” for debut author. She is also the author of “The Second Wave,” available now, and “Twice Around” coming in 2017. She resides in Connecticut with her cat, Charlotte.

Maggie Cummings: Maggie Cummings lives in Staten Island with her wife and their two children. She has degrees in English, theatre and criminal justice. She works in law enforcement in the NYC metropolitan area. She is the author of Totally Worth It and Serious Potential, the first two novels in the Bay West Social series. She is currently juggling work on the series finale as well as a standalone novel to follow.

WOWPS Finals!! Chrysanthemum Tran!! Charlotte Abotsi!
2016-12-13 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
WOWPS FINALS IS HERE!!! Come watch our top women and gnc poets battle it out to represent Union Square Slam in Dallas, TX this March!!

NOT TO MENTION: Our most stunning electric features, CHRYSANTHEMUM TRAN and CHARLOTTE ABOTSI, on their Rush Hour Poetry Collective Tour!!

Slammers:
!! Kearah Armonie !!
!! Ashley August !!
!! Carol Brown !!
!! Cecily Schuler !!
!! Taylor Steele !!

$5 // All Ages // Wheelchair Accessible

WOWPS is:

a) an acronym for Women of the World World Poetry Slam
b) one of three national poetry slam events put on annually by Poetry Slam, Inc.
c) held in Dallas, TX from March 15-18th, 2017
Union Square Slam WOWPS Qualifier rules:

Qualified competitors are poets who are female assigned or identified individuals who are PSi members and are 18+ or 21+ years of age, depending on the Host City. This includes gender non-conforming individuals.

5 poets // 4 rounds

2 min (all)
1 min (all)
(Break for Feature)
4 min (top 3)
3 min (top 3)

Cumulative score wins the Union Square Slam Representative spot to WOWPS in Dallas!!
About our Features:

Chrysanthemum Tran is an emerging queer and transfeminine Vietnamese American poet and teaching artist in Providence by way of Oklahoma City. In 2016, they became the first trans woman finalist of the Women of the World Poetry Slam. A three-time semifinalist at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational, Chrysanthemum won “Best Poet” and “Best Poem” in 2016, and “Pushing the Art Forward” in 2015. A 2016 Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam champion and Pink Door Fellow, Chrysanthemum is a two-time member of the Providence national slam team and coaches the Providence youth slam team. Above all, they enjoy seasoning their cast iron skillet & avoiding the comments section.

A former Youth Grand Slam Champion, Charlotte Abotsi has taken on a directorship role at her home venue, the Providence Poetry Slam. There, she serves as a youth director, booking coordinator, and slam master. She has competed in several international slams, and most recently placed in the top 20 at the 2016 Women of the World Poetry Slam. She 1/2 of The Rush Hour Poetry Tour Collective, a collective demanding intersectionality at every avenue. Her poems have been written about in The Huffington Post and Mic.com. Her favorite typo is misspelling ‘live’ as ‘love’. She is a poet and writer who loves in Providence and is trying very, very hard.

20Something Monthly Manhattan Meetup
2016-12-14 20:00 - 21:30 | NY
If you are new to the city, recently out, just looking for friends, or whatever experiences brought you to us – we offer a safe space where we can mingle and talk about our experiences as an LGBT person in New York City. We recommend this 20Something Meetup to anyone who is looking for a more casual space to explore their sexual/gender identity. There will be light refreshments. Bring friends!
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau and 20Something. No one turned away for lack of funds.
20Something is the largest social events organization for young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in New York City, aged 21 to 30. We hold a monthly social, and two monthly icebreaker/discussion groups at the Brooklyn Pride Center and at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, the queer cultural center and bookstore on the second floor of The LGBT Community Center, in Manhattan. With more than 2,500 members, we engage young adults across all 5 boroughs with a safe, confidential, and respectful platform to meet other LGBT folk. Many of our members have made long lasting friendships, relationships, and have been connected to important LGBT services and resources. Whether you are new to the city, recently out, or just looking to make friends – 20Something offers a space for you to pave the way to your own adventures in New York City – and make living here a little easier. Become a member: meetup.com/20SomethingNYC

TELL 30: FUCKERY
2016-12-15 19:00 - 21:30 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division since February 2014.
FUCKERY is the theme of the thirtieth installment of TELL. Featuring m.b., Jose Rios, Alex Koones, and Teshale Nuer!

$10 suggested donation – no one turned away for lack of funds

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in with Rebecca Drysdale, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in festivals globally. Drae won the grand prize at the first annual San Miguel De Allende Storytelling Festival in Mexico. She once reigned as Miss LEZ and also got dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell hosts and curates a monthly queer storytelling show called TELL at BGSQD. Check her out online! www.draecampbell.com.

Having recently abandoned the sad sack of the corporate american dream for the deprivation and freedom of the freelance life, m.b. is an MFA student, editor, literary and commercial translator, events curator, singer, performance artist, cook, writer of fiction/poetry/memoir, and emerging insomniac. m.b. runs a monthly world-music and other performance series, has been the recipient of various writing and performance retreats and fellowships, has been a featured poet at the bowery poetry club for the-poet-in-new-york series, and has a varied and very weird performance history on the stages of carnegie hall, lincoln center, and symphony space, among others. m.b. is an alumnus of the helix queer performance network’s workshop “needing it” at bax/brooklyn arts exchange

At the young age of nine Jose Rios’s mother sat him down and gave him an extremely detailed talk about the birds and the bees. Today, Jose is a communication expert, sexual health educator, and body positivity activist spreading the message that fat people are having sex and skinny people need to get over it. Having moved from Phoenix, Arizona a year ago, Jose managed to get caught in an “accidental” sex part on his first night in New York City and there hasn’t been a dull moment since.

Alex Koones grew up working in New York kitchens and went on to Chef in some of the fancier ones such as The Breslin and Jean Georges. After years in professional kitchens, Alex left to put her experience towards building queer spaces. She is currently the founder and host of Babetown, a pop up supper club for queer women, trans and non binary people where she cooks up great food for a couple dozen queer babes every month.

Teshale Nuer is a NYC-Based writer, performer, educator and over-Activist specializing in Holistic Coaching and Embodied Storytelling. Teshale’s work focuses cultivating joy, healing trauma, centering the self.​​

Vaczine Magazine #3 Release Event / Signing
2016-12-16 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Official launch of the annual Queer art & literary journal VACZINE Magazine

Broken Werd by VACZINE #3 guest editors Max Steele, Mike Albo, Pamela Sneed & Walt Cessna. There will be editions #1 – #100 / 500 of Vaczine Magazine #3 for sale. $20 each. The first 50 purchases come with a complimentary exclusive double sided signed poster by Gio Black Peter.
Event image: collage by Slava Mogutin for VACZINE

Like A Virgin: Queer Nuns in the Renaissance
2016-12-17 19:00 - 20:30 | NY
What was a lesbian who wanted to enjoy the company of women to do in the 1600s? Join a convent!

From cock-teasing nuns that toy with the emotions of the convent’s male visitors to cross-dressing nuns who become swash-buckling Spanish conquistadors while seducing women in South America, the stories Dr. Horacio Sierra shares in this presentation will change the way you think about nuns, feminism, and lesbianism in the seventeenth century.

This presentation uses movie clips, written excerpts, and humorous GIFs to demonstrate how the Catholic Church provided a safe haven for same-sex loving women in Renaissance England, Spain, and Mexico. Come learn how the convent was queered by real-life women such as Catalina de Erauso and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz as well the literary creations of William Shakespeare and Margaret Cavendish.

Dr. Horacio Sierra is an Assistant Professor of English at Bowie State University. His book Sanctified Subversives: Nuns in Early Modern English and Spanish Literature details the ways in which authors from both Protestant and Catholic nation-states used nuns and convents to explore ideas about womanhood, feminism, and queer sexuality.

Closed on Christmas Eve
2016-12-24 | NY
The Bureau will be closed on December 24, 25, and 31, 2016, and on January 1, 2017.

Closed on Christmas Day
2016-12-25 | NY

Closed on New Year's Eve
2016-12-31 | NY

Closed on New Year's Day
2017-01-01 | NY

Queer Collage Party #4
2017-01-07 15:00 - 18:00 | NY
In conjunction with the exhibition Growing Sideways, the Bureau hosts our fourth Queer Collage Party. Cut, paste, and create in this hands-on event. Artist Catalina Schliebener will be on hand to share remarks on the role of collage in her practice.
We provide the glue sticks and paper, you provide the pictures. Everyone who attends should bring at least one magazine or book or a bunch of pictures that you’ll contribute to the group. Each person can make their own collage(s), or team up with others! You can keep your own collage(s), but don’t expect to walk away with your magazine intact! The spirit here is fun and sharing.
Feel free to bring snacks to share!

Artwork caption:
Catalina Schliebener, Sassy and Butchy 4, 8.5 x 5.5 inches 2016

Catalina Schliebener’s Growing Sideways is on view at the Bureau through January 22.

Dust, Disco, Skyscrapers and Spinning: Four Writers Share New Work
2017-01-11 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Scott Alexander Hess celebrates the release of his new novel Skyscraper, leading a cluster of outstanding writers in this literary event. Hess (whose new novel Skyscraper is called “A tantalizing piece of literary erotica. Well-crafted and beautifully written,” Joe Okonkwo, Author, Jazz Moon) hits the stage with four writer’s debuting stunning short story collections. Amy Dupcak (Dust), Robert Hyers (Spinning the Record) and Philip Dean Walker ( At Danceteria and Other Stories) will read and chat about the writer’s life.

Please contact the Bureau in advance to reserve copies of any of the books: contact@bgsqd.com

Scott Alexander Hess‘s novel The Butcher’s Sons was a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2015. Skyscraper (Unzipped, an imprint of Lethe Press) is his 4th novel.

Robert Hyers is a queer short story writer and novelist. His short story collection, Spinning the Record, is available from Lethe Press.

Philip Dean Walker‘s debut collection of short stories, At Danceteria and Other Stories, was published by Squares & Rebels in November 2016.

Amy Dupcak‘s short story collection Dust was published by Lucid River Press.

Artist Dialogue: Catalina Schliebener in Conversation with Kris Grey & John Chaich
2017-01-12 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Drawing insights from the recent Cut Ups exhibition at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, artist and educator Kris Grey and Growing Sideways curator John Chaich join featured artist Catalina Schliebener to discuss the process behind her use of collage and drawing to explore themes of gender formation, cartoon and medical narratives, and sexual curiosity in queer childhood in the works on view at the Bureau.

Catalina Schliebener’s Growing Sideways is on view at the Bureau through January 22.

Headshot Photo credits:
Catalina Schliebener, courtesy of the artist
John Chaich, photo by Melissa Blackall Photography
Kris Grey, photo by Alesia Exum

Interior Decorating with Christopher Clary & Stephen Grebinski
2017-01-13 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Join artists Christopher Clary & Stephen Grebinski as they discuss their fascination with interiors and the interiority of pornography—which they archive, revere, and destroy in their work.

Christopher Clary collects, performs, creates and destroys photographs — specifically his pornography. His commission for Rhizome at the New Museum was named by Hyperallergic as one of the top 10 works of Internet art in 2015. He was also honored as a Discovery Award nominee at the 2011 Les Rencontres d’Arles in France and featured at the 2009 New York Photo Festival. His work has been reviewed in the New York Times, Artnet, Village Voice, Photo District News, Butt Magazine, HX, Out, and a forthcoming article about appropriation in Elephant magazine. “The court cases that pepper the career of Richard Prince might be round the corner for Clary, too, as he makes the transition from emerging- to established-artist.”

Stephen Grebinski is an artist working primarily with self-published books and zines, which are the result of an omnivorous photographic and archival practice. His printed work has been shown at NADA Fair, Printed Matter, The New York Art Book Fair, Art Metropole, and other institutions worldwide. His work tangles together queer bodies, architecture, and the persistent baroque impulses of desire. Existing somewhere between documentary and performance, these efforts are driven by an impulse to reveal and test the fractured, hidden world beneath our intentions and experiences. These images intersect and collide through brooks, multi layered screen prints, photographic installations, and video.

Union Square Slam ‎presents Ephraim Nehemiah and Open Slam Qualifier #4
2017-01-17 18:30 - 21:30 | NY
POETS! WRITERS! ARTISTS! LOVERS!
Welcome back! Union Square Slam is ready to roll out an incredible second half of the season, starting with our ever-present Free Writing Workshop, a dynamite feature the Heart of the Heartland, Ohio’s own EPHRAIM NEHEMIAH, and our fourth of six NPS Team Qualifier Slams!
* * * * * * PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW START TIME * * * * * *
6:30pm: Writing Workshop w/ Itiola Jones (Free!)
7:30pm: Sign-Ups and Socialize
7:55pm: Draw for Slam
8:00pm: Slam, Round One; Feature; Slam Rounds 2 and 3
Bureau of General Services — Queer Division
208 W 13th St, #210
NY, NY 10010
(btw W 7th and 8th Aves)
$5 // All Ages // Wheelchair Accessible
About our Feature:
Ephraim Nehemiah is a performance poet, actor and father. He is the co-founder of Kent, Ohio’s first poetry slam founded in 2015. Ephraim has participated in the Individual World Poetry Slam, National Poetry Slam, College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational and many other poetry competitions representing himself and teams in Ohio. His work has been published both online and in several anthologies. He has been featured on BlackPoetsSpeakOut, Write About Now and Slamfind. He is currently a student of Kent State University completing his bachelor’s degree in Pan-African Studies.
About our Slam:
::Union Square Slam National Team Competition::
There are six opportunities to compete for the Union Square Slam National Team. The top two winners of each Open Slam have secured their spot in Finals.
Each open slam will :
– consist of up to 8 poet competitors
– have a 3 min time limit for each round with a 10-second grace period
– will go from 8 in the first round to 5 in the second round and 3 in the third round (this is subject to change depending on the number of competitors that night — see below)
be scored cumulatively — the winner of the night will have the highest cumulative score from all three rounds.
Union Square Slam Nationals Qualifiers (Open Slams) are on the following dates:
September 20th
October 18th
November 15th
January 17th
February 21st
March 21st
Union Square Slam National Team Selection Finals will be held on April 18th.
The National Poetry Slam will be held in Denver, CO August 7-12th, 2017. All proceeds and donations to Union Square Slam go directly to funding travel, lodging and registration fees for representatives of Union Square Slam at national events.
In order to represent Union Square Slam at any National Competition, you must meet the following requirements:
– Be 18 years old or older
– Be an active member of PSI at the time of competition (register at www.poetryslam.com you cover your annual registration fee of $20 — questions? Talk to Cecily or the current slam manager)
– Read, sign, and adhere to the PSI Code of Conduct
– Participate in at least one Specialty Slam during the 2016-7 season. Specialty Slams include WOWPS qualifiers, Nerd Slams, Petty Slams, Iron Poet Slams, etc.

Book Release Reading for SLABS by Brittany Billmeyer-Finn
2017-01-22 18:00 - 20:00 | NY
We’re having a reading / a showing / a sharing to present Timeless, Infinite Light’s newest release with you: SLABS by Brittany Billmeyer-Finn.
Slabs is a collection of poetry dealing in and out of the body through various sites including; home, memory, books, and ritual. It is a meditation on self care, sexuality, and identity through a dis/embodied subject in the water, the home, and in the streets. It is a collection of tender sincerities and queer awakening.
PERFORMERS:
// Brittany Billmeyer-Finn //
// Ariel Goldberg //
// Trace Peterson //
// Phyllis Ma //

Bureau of General Services—Queer Division
Sunday Jan 22
Doors 5:30
Event 6-PM
10$ suggested donation // NOTAFLOF
TIMELESS INFINITE LIGHT is an oakland-based small press that publishes poetry and environs, with a heavy, west-coast lean towards the experimental/political/mystical. Sometimes our books look like books, and sometimes they don’t. Join us step into the lifestream fuck the police.

USS presents: Muggs Fogarty and New! Shit! Slam!
2017-01-24 18:30 - 21:30 | NY
Oh Hey There, USSers!! We know you’ve been all holed up behind all this snow doing nothing else but writing all about your feelings and impending doom — time to see what kinda chops those freewrites have! Come join us for a New! Shit! Slam! AND LEST WE NOT FORGET, MUGGS MOTHERFUCKIN FOGARTY will be in house coming for your heart’s throat, so just BE PREPARED.
* * * * * * PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW START TIME * * * * * *
6:30pm: Writing Workshop (FREE!!)
7:30pm: Sign-Ups and Socialize
7:55pm: Slam Draw
8:00pm: Slam, Round One; Feature; Slam, Round 2
Bureau of General Services — Queer Division
208 W 13th St, #210
NY, NY 10010
(btw 7th and 8th Aves W)
$5 // All Ages // Wheelchair Accessible
About our Feature:
Muggs Fogarty is a genderqueer poet and teaching artist from Providence, Rhode Island. Muggs’ work addresses identity and lived experience, with a focus on intersectionality. A former Brave New Voices finalist, Muggs’ unique poetry and stunning performance has left audiences breathless from Providence to San Jose. After graduating from The New School in 2013 with a degree in creative writing, Muggs has been serving the youth of Rhode Island as a writing instructor at the award-winning youth advocacy group, New Urban Arts, and also as head coach of the Providence National Youth Slam Team. Muggs has become one of the most respected voices for queer rights and identity issues within the performance poetry community, and their work has received tens of thousands of views via Button Poetry, the largest spoken word platform in the world. Muggs is working currently as the co-director of the Providence Poetry Slam, and as a teaching artist with CityArts. Their published work can be found in FreezeRay, Wicked Banshee, Bluestockings Magazine, among others.
About our Slam:
New Shit Slam is a triple-dog-dare to push ourselves as artists and to use the mic as an aural and community-based editing tool. Fashioned after Tatyana Browne’s Lit Slam, judges will act as editors: they will not only score the poem on a scale of 0.0-10.0, but also make quick first impression notes based on originality, content, and performance, that will be handed back to the poet as feedback. (Don’t worry, judges! It’s anonymous! But do keep it to a loving objective criticism) Audience members are also encouraged to approach the poets afterwards with their own feedback and responses after the show.
New Shit is defined by having never touched a USS mic — the one exception is if the work has been heavily edited (over 50% new)
8 poets, 2 rounds, 4 minute time limit, no elimination
All poets read in both rounds. Order is determined/drawn before the show
(Participation in at least one Theme Slam (New Shit, WOWPS or Capturing Fire Qualifier, etc) is required for you to compete in Finals. You do not have to win a Theme Slam in order to compete in Finals)

Love Positive Women Valentine Pop-up Exhibition
2017-01-26 18:30 - 20:30 | NY
Opening Reception with reflections:
Thursday, January 26, 6:30–8:30 PM
Exhibition Hours:
Thursday, January 26 – Sunday, January 29, 2017, 1 PM–7 PM

For LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN 2017, artists, activists and HIV+ women will come together at Dieu Donné’s paper making studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to create hundreds of unique handmade paper valentines which will be mailed to women living with HIV around the world. Visual AIDS, the Fire Island Artist Residency, Dieu Donné and the International Community of Women Living With HIV (ICW) are hosting three papermaking valentine workshops on January 18 to show their love and support for women living with HIV internationally. The LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN Valentine Pop-up Exhibition at the Bureau of General Services Queer Division will display a selection of the valentines, and directly after the reception, these artworks will be mailed to women internationally and will arrive for Valentine’s Day.
Women living with HIV as well as invited artists—including Chitra Ganesh, Carrie Moyer, Marlene McCarty, Travis Boyer, Jesse Harrod, Jarrod Beck, Pamela Sneed, Natalie Frank, and many others—will make paper valentines for women living with HIV around the world. The valentines will be mailed with personalized messages as a gesture of love and support in the hopes of lessening the stigma experienced by women living with HIV.
LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN is an ongoing project established by Visual AIDS artist member Jessica Whitbread in 2013. “Why not do something nice for the women most forgotten about?” says Whitbread. “Taking the time to do something for someone else is really beneficial to society as a whole. Don’t underestimate the value in something as simple as sending a valentine to a stranger.”
LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN (LPW) is an international series of grassroots events that uses Valentines Day as a backdrop, creating a platform for individuals and communities to engage in public and private acts of love and caring for women living with HIV. Working from a place of strength, LPW focuses on the idea of interconnectedness, relationship building, loving oneself and loving ones’ community.
Women living with HIV can sign up to receive a valentine by sending their name and mailing address to: lovepositivewomen@gmail.com

10th Anniversary Celebration of A Midsummer Night's Press
2017-01-27 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Please join us to celebrate ten years of publishing poetry from A Midsummer Night’s Press.
Since the press’ beginnings in 2007, it has championed LGBT voices with its Body Language imprint, later adding the Sapphic Classics series (co-published with Sinister Wisdom) which reprints iconic lesbian feminist texts with new introductions and afterwords, making them available to a new generation of readers.

Authors published in Body Language include: Achy Obejas, Brane Mozetic, Julie R. Enszer, Raymond Luczak, Roz Kaveney, David Bergman, Lawrence Schimel, Michael Broder, Julie Marie Wade, and Rigoberto González.

Authors published in Sapphic Classics include: Minnie Bruce Pratt, Cheryl Clarke, elana dykewomon, and Pat Parker.
The press also publishes poetry in translation by women writers under the Periscope imprint, featuring poets from Estonia, Slovenia, Spain and Lithuania so far, and mythic poetry under the Fabula Rasa imprint, which has published authors like Rachel Pollack, Francesca Lia Block, and Jane Yolen, among others.

All of A Midsummer Night’s Press’ titles will be available at the Bureau.
Reception at 7pm, Readings at 7:30pm.
Readers:

David Bergman

Michael Broder

Cheryl Clarke

Rachel Pollack

Lawrence Schimel

Julie Marie Wade

David Bergman is the author of four books of poetry: Fortunate Light (A Midsummer Night’s Press), Heroic Measures, The Care and Treatment of Pain, and Cracking the Code. He is poetry editor of The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide. He is winner of the Lambda Literary Prize as the editor of Men on Men 2000. He has published two studies, The Violet Hour: The Violet Quill and the Making of Gay Culture and Gaiety Transfigured: Gay Self-Representation in American Literature. Educated at Kenyon College and The Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a Ph.D., he is a professor of English at Towson University. He lives in Baltimore with his partner of many years, John Lessner.

Michael Broder is the author of the poetry collections This Life Now (A Midsummer Night’s Press, a finalist for the 2015 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry) and Drug & Disease Free (Indolent Books). He holds a BA from Columbia University, an MFA from New York University, and a PhD in Classics from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the founding publisher of Indolent Books and the creator of the HIV Here & Now Project. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband, the poet Jason Schneiderman, and a backyard colony of stray and feral cats.

Cheryl Clarke is a poet, essayist, scholar and activist. She is the author of the poetry collections: By My Precise Haircut, Experimental Love, Humid Pitch, Living as a Lesbian (reprinted by Sapphic Classics), and Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women. She is also the author of the study After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement as well as the volume of her selected works The Days of Good Looks: Prose and Poetry, 1980-2005. She lives with her partner in Jersey City, NJ and Hobart, NY.

Rachel Pollack is an author (poetry, fiction, and non-fiction) and an authority on the modern interpretation of Tarot cards. Her novel Godmother Night won the World Fantasy Award and her novel Unquenchable Fire won the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Some of her non-fiction works include 78 Degrees of Wisdom and The Body of the Goddess. She is also the creator of The Shining Tribe Tarot, which she wrote and illustrated herself, and teaches in the MFA program at Goddard College. A Midsummer Night’s Press published her first collection of poetry, Fortune’s Lover: A Book of Tarot Poems.

Lawrence Schimel writes in both Spanish and English and has published over 100 books as author or anthologist, in many different genres. He has won the Lambda Literary Award twice, for PoMoSexuals: Challenging Assumptions About Gender and Sexuality (with Carol Queen) and First Person Queer (with Richard Labonté), in addition to numerous other awards. He is the publisher of A Midsummer Night’s Press, which has also published his collections Fairy Tales for Writers and Deleted Names. He is also a prolific literary translator.

Julie Marie Wade is the award-winning author of the poetry collections When I Was Straight (A Midsummer Night’s Press), SIX, Postage Due and Without, as well as the prose works Wishbone: A Memoir in Fractures (winner of the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Memoir), Small Fires: Essays, Tremolo: An Essay, and Catechism: A Love Story, in addition to a forthcoming collection co-written with Denise Duhamel. She teaches in the creative writing program at Florida International University and lives in the Sunshine State with her wife Angie Griffin.

Union Square Slam Presents: Christopher Lilley!
2017-01-31 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
*Mark your calendars: the last Tuesday of every month will feature a local musical performer.*
We’ve got quite the treat for y’all. Christopher Lilley, the phenom, will be bringing us light and good vibes with his musical magic.
About our Show:
7:30pm: Sign-ups and Socialize
8:00pm: Open Mic (Music + Poetry Are Welcomed Here!)
8:45pm: Chris Lilley!
All Ages // Wheelchair Accessible
Open Mic // $5
About our Feature:
Christopher Lilley, a New York native, is a poet, spoken word artist, a singer and multi-instrumentalist, and a teaching artist.
Chris has had the privilege of collaborating with Jasmine Mans and Rudy Fransisco, and has performed in several famed spaces such as the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and the Bowery Poetry Club, as well as in venues across the country. A graduate of Manhattan School of Music with his Master’s degree, he seeks to fuse music and poetry to create well rounded and engaging stories. These stories are used to begin community dialogues on topics that have been labeled as taboo or shameful, with a focus on bringing mental health awareness to black, Christian, and otherwise marginalized communities.
For more of Chris and his work, visit him @clilleypoetry on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
And over at Clilleypoetry.com

Launch party for LGBTQ STATS by David Deschamps and Bennett Singer
2017-02-02 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Join authors David Deschamps and Bennett Singer as they celebrate the launch of LGBTQ Stats: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People by the Numbers. This “astounding handbook” (Booklist, starred review) chronicles the ongoing LGBTQ revolution, presenting more than 1,000 facts and figures about LGBTQ people at home, at work, at school, and at play. Professor M.V. Lee Badgett calls the book “the most comprehensive portrait of LGBTQ people around,” while activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Mandy Carter describes it as “essential reading for everyone committed to social justice.”

Deschamps and Singer will discuss how this book differs from the first edition, which they co-authored in 1994; the event will also feature an interactive quiz highlighting the most eye-opening stats that the authors unearthed during the year they spent researching this project.

Refreshments will be served. Learn more at www.lgbtqstats.org.

David Deschamps is co-author (with Bennett Singer) of Gay & Lesbian Stats, the acclaimed first edition of this book. He conceived and co-directed the award-winning PBS documentary Electoral Dysfunction, hosted by political humorist Mo Rocca, and co-directed four videos on voting for the New York Times Op-Docs series. Deschamps and Singer have been partners since 1987 and were married in 2012; they live in Brooklyn.

Bennett Singer is the editor of Growing Up Gay/Growing Up Lesbian (a Lambda Literary Award finalist) and 42 UP (both published by The New Press). He co-directed Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, a feature-length documentary that premiered at Sundance and won more than 20 international awards, including the GLAAD Media Award. Singer served for eight years as executive editor of the education program at Time magazine and has written curriculum materials for WGBH, HBO, and Teaching Tolerance.

Opening reception for Steady Mess: Works from the 2016 Fire Island Artist Residency
2017-02-03 18:00 - 21:00 | NY
Each year, the Fire Island Artist Residency receives over 400 applications to its free one month LGBTQ exclusive artist residency in Cherry Grove, on Fire Island. The five artists chosen for FIAR live and work in rental properties that become their studios, kitchens, and social spaces. While in residence, they are visited by celebrated figures in contemporary art who act as mentors. Chosen by the five 2016 artists themselves, the title of our show, Steady Mess, refers to rustic living quarters and studio spaces, as well as Cherry Grove’s own special funky charms. Much of the work on display was conceived or completed during the residency, and a beach vibe permeates many of the works on display.
Featuring works by the 2016 FIAR residents: Wilder Alison, Paolo Arao, Edie Fake, Jesse Harrod, and Derrick Woods-Morrow.
Now in our seventh year, Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) is an organization founded in 2011 which brings gay, bisexual, transgender and queer identifying artists to Fire Island, a place long-steeped in LGBTQ history, to create, commune, and contribute to the location’s rich legacy. FIAR is the first and only visual arts residency exclusively for LGBTQ emerging artists.
Steady Mess will remain on view at the Bureau from Friday, February 3, through Sunday, March 26.

USS presents Regional!! Slam!! Off!
2017-02-07 18:30 - 21:30 | NY
Time for a regional slam off! Come see and hear some of the best poets in the region duke it out for their team! Heartache! Glory! All the Feels! Hosted by none other than Justin Woo! Free writing workshop and limited open mic beforehand — see y’all there!
6:30pm-7:30pm: Free Writing Workshop
7:30-8pm: Sign-ups and Socialize
8pm-8:30pm Open Mic (limit to 5 poets, 3 minutes each)
8:30pm-9:30pm: Regional Slam Off
UNION SQUARE:
Kearah Armonie!!
Patrick Roche!!
Taylor Steele!!
Cecily Schuler!!
JERSEY CITY:
Rashad Wright!!
Chris Rodriguez!!
Ann Marie Manso!!
Sean Aliño!!
ADVANCED:
Eric Alter!!
Nick Yuk!!
Jessica “Morningstar” Kratz!!
Thomas Fucaloro!!
ROC SLAM:
Bryan Roessel!!
Nick Nappo!!
Joseph Quiroz!!

CopWatch/HateWatch Training
2017-02-10 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
CopWatch is an effective and legal tool for empowering communities, ending police misconduct, unprofessional behavior, and discrimination. You have the right to observe and record all police activities in public places. Learn how to exercise your rights safely and legally. Workshop will be taught by comedian and activist Elsa Waithe. Suggested donation of $5 to $10, but no one will be turned away. The Bureau will host another CopWatch training on Thursday, February 16th, at 7 PM. Spread the word!!!

SISSY THAT SHOP: a really queer pop up gigarama
2017-02-11 13:00 - 19:00 | NY
5 creative and independent artisan makers of New York City come together to represent their unique brands of clothing, jewelry, zines and more!

On the roster we’ll have clothing by Tyler Wallach Studio, custom lighters by THE CLOUT CLUB, jewelry and jocks by Ten Yards Clothing and ZINES by Raw Meat.

A Thin Bright Line: A Conversation About Queer Historical Fiction
2017-02-12 17:00 - 19:00 | NY
Lucy Jane Bledsoe (A THIN BRIGHT LINE) and Sarah Schulman (THE COSMOPOLITANS) will converse about their queer historical novels. Bledsoe’s novel tells the true story of her aunt and namesake, a woman who, as a lesbian, worked at a highly classified government job during the McCarthy Era and Civil Rights Movement. Schulman’s novel takes place in 1950s Greenwich Village and spins the complex friendship between a black, gay actor and a white secretary.

Praise for A Thin Bright Line:
“Gripping historical fiction.” – Alison Bechdel
“An engaging and moving novel about an unforgettable character.” – Rabih Alameddine
“Poignant in both its conception and execution.” – Lillian Faderman
“Literary page-turner.” – Patrick Ryan
“In this ingenious hybrid of fact and fiction, a fine novelist uses her storytelling skills to recover the lost life of a favorite aunt.” – Christopher Bram
“It triumphs as an intimate and humane evocation of day-to-day life under inhumane circumstances.” – New York Times Book Review

“Gripping historical fiction about queer life at the height of the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement.” – Alison Bechdel

“A stirring and deeply felt story.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Empowering and bold…Bledsoe injects life and dimension through her often stunning dialogue. With heart and zest, the author depicts Lucybelle’s slice of life as both pleasant and harrowing.” – Publishers Weekly

“Bledsoe’s novel is an absolute wonder. Combining a McCullers-like facility in letting her settings tell half the story with characterization and dialogue worthy of Harper Lee, Bledsoe dives deep into the life of her protagonist…A Thin Bright Linewill help widen the metaphorical crack in the chains that bind those who are outside of societal norms.” – New York Journal of Books

“Berkeley author Lucy Jane Bledsoe shows the sexy side of the 1950s in her new novel, A Thin Bright Line.” – San Francisco Chronicle

USS Presents the Joy Slam Fundraiser Featuring Taylor Steele
2017-02-14 18:30 - 21:30 | NY
This Valentine’s Day, we’ve got a special night of poems for you!
6:30pm-7:30pm: Free Writing Workshop with I.S. Jones
7:30-8pm: Sign-ups and Socialize
8pm-8:30pm: Joy Slam sign-ups (sign up limited to 6)
8:30pm-9:30pm: Feature: Taylor Steele
All ages // Wheelchair Accessible // $5
About the Slam:
5 poets / 3 rounds / 3 minutes per poem
Theme on Joy:
There is a lot we have to mourn: the direction our country is heading, heartbreak, capitalism, lost edges, not being Rihanna enough, shitty bosses, etc etc etc.
Tonight, let’s honor our love/hurt/grief/peace. Let’s celebrate life.
ABOUT THE FEATURE:
Taylor Steele is a Bronx-born, Brooklyn-based writer and performer. Her work can be found at such esteemed publications as Apogee Journal, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, Rogue Agent, Blackberry: a Magazine, and more. Her chapbook “Dirty.Mouth.Kiss” is available on Pizza Pi Press. Taylor has written for The Body is Not an Apology and Drunken Boat Journal and is a content writer for Philadelphia Printworks. An internationally ranked spoken word artist, she has been featured by Huffington Post, Brooklyn Poets, Button Poetry and is a 2016 Pushcart Nominee. Most importantly, Taylor is a triple-Taurus who believes in the power of art to change, shape, and heal.

CopWatch/HateWatch Training
2017-02-16 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
CopWatch is an effective and legal tool for empowering communities, ending police misconduct, unprofessional behavior, and discrimination. You have the right to observe and record all police activities in public places. Learn how to exercise your rights safely and legally. Workshop will be taught by comedian and activist Elsa Waithe. Suggested donation of $5 to $10, but no one will be turned away.

Spread the word!!!

“What to do if you’re stopped by the police”: a handy guide from the New York Civil Liberties Union. Print it out. Share it widely. Keep it with you. And you can find other “know your rights” cards (in English and Spanish) here.
