Rebel Friendships
2015-11-22 17:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | NY
Author Ben Shepard writes:
Rebel Friendships: “Outsider” Networks and Social Movements is a book inspired by the world of organizing we have all created, along with the lovely and messy ways organizers go about creating change through our own invisible committees, affinity groups, and networks of comrades. Some of the chapters I’ve been drafting for years now. The work covers my experiences with the first person I know to die of AIDS, my godfather Fred, who worked at Keller’s bar on the West Side of Manhattan, my recollections of towel snapping and high school football, identify blurring AIDS activism in San Francisco, drag marches in New York, anarchist bikers, Occupiers, and universal stories of friends still taking care of each other and their friends coping with premature losses, overdose, and struggles over what we hope our world can be.
Rebel Friendships considers the interplay between individuals and their friendships with social movements. The intersections between individual and community, the ways we experiment with social change, explore, create, and reduce the harms of modern living are the work of social movements. Yet, the process is rarely simple. Through auto-ethnographic reflections of experiences with the Beats, ACT-UP, Occupy Wall Street, anti-consumer, queer rights, and non-polluting transportation movements Shepard explores the way friendship infuses social movements with the social capital necessary to move bodies of ideas forward. Such innovation is rarely seen in more institutionalized social arrangements. Rebel Friendships offers a new take on the ties between friends who are connected through affinity and efforts aimed at social change.
Two ACT UP/NY veterans, Jay Blotcher and Andrew Velez, will join Shepard to discuss our experience of the magic of activist friendships and esprit de corps.

Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Praise for Rebel Friendships:
“A daring and innovative approach to social movements – Shepard’s book is a treasure and tool. Taking on the importance of affect, friendship, care and trust in movements he at once teaches the reader and entertains simultaneously. This trailblazing book addresses an area of social movements studies woefully under researched and does a stupendous job of capturing theory, history and feeling – all the while using a narrative form that makes the reader not want to put down the book.”
Marina Sitrin, author of Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina and co-author of – They Can’t Represent Us!: Reinventing Democracy from Greece to Occupy.

“Rebel Friendships delves deep into a phenomenon that every activist, and student of activism, is aware of, but not enough of us acknowledge: at the core of every collective and at the center of every social movement are individual friendships – radical friendships. Kudos to Benjamin Heim Shepard for writing this perceptive and moving book!”
Stephen Duncombe, Professor of Media and Culture, NYU, and Co-Director, Center of Artistic Activism

“In Rebel Friendships Benjamin Shepard continues and extends the project that has engaged him during the eighteen years of our friendship. That project is an ongoing social activism and a growing body of writing, a politics and an esthetics. It believes deeply in people as the ultimate repository of worth, a community but also a collection of frail, flawed, uniquely amazing individuals. Both Ben and his writing are good.”
Jim Eigo

“Benjamin Shepard book Rebel Friendships is a masterpiece, weaving together the lived experiences of activists critical to important movements for social justice. In lucid prose, Shepard vividly details the dialectical interplay among key individuals engaged in activism through friendships – the magical elixir of sustainable movement making. This compelling analysis is a must read!”
Ron Hayduk, Professor of Political Science, Queens College/CUNY and rebel friend among activists from global justice to immigrant rights, Occupy to the Lower East Side Collective

“Friendship is a central social and psychological force in people’s lives. Yet it also has political dimensions, as Ben Shepard so vividly demonstrates. Through his own personal stories, and interviews and biographies of friends, Shepard gives meaning to the oft-quoted feminist phrase that ‘the personal is political.’ In Rebel Friendships, we experience the many profound ways friends create community activism, develop families of choice, mentor each other, and perform rituals. This is indeed the book that illustrates the transformative political and personal power of friendships.”
Peter M. Nardi, PhD, author of Gay Men’s Friendships: Invincible Communities

“Rebel Friendships is a necessary contribution to contemporary radical social movements and the literatures that discuss them. Part memoir, part scholarly analysis, and part political assessment, in this book Ben Shepard reminds us, earnestly, that productive struggles from below require the engines of trust, love, and mutual aid that define “friendship.” Throughout the case studies and reflections here, Shepard offers powerful examples of the ways that friendship has played a decisive role in radical social struggles throughout recent history, and how friendship will be the foundation of our efforts toward building a better future.”
Craig Hughes, Team Colors Collective

“Shepard’s big-hearted book is a galvanizing reminder that the search for and maintenance of human connections lie at the center of any valid fight for change. Through well-researched historical analysis and engaging personal anecdotes, Shepard reimagines community organizing by simply reminding us who we have been, who we are, and who we can become. This book makes me want to befriend everyone.”
Rev. Micah Bucey
Associate Minister, Judson Memorial Church

“A impressively researched and starkly confessional examination of interpersonal bonding at the so-called edges of society — and how the power of friendship can incrementally reframe notions of normality. Ben Shepard delivers exactly the kind of cross-disciplinary study more social science scholars should be engaged with in order to understand the essentially activist components of our evolving human nature.”
Rob Magnuson Smith, author or The Gravedigger and The Scorper, teaches English and Creative Writing at Exeter’s Penryn campus in Cornwall.

By day, Benjamin Shepard, PhD, LMSW, works as an Associate Professor of Human Services at City Tech/CUNY. By night, battles to keep New York from becoming a giant shopping mall. To this end, he has done organizing work with the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), SexPanic!, Reclaim the Streets, Times UP, the Clandestine Rebel Clown Army, Absurd Response, CitiWide Harm Reduction, Housing Works, More Gardens Coalition, Times UP!, Right of Way, and Occupy Wall Street.
He is also the author/editor of several books: White Nights and Ascending Shadows: An Oral History of the San Francisco AIDS Epidemic (1997), From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization (2002), Queer Political Performance and Protest (Routledge, 2009) The Beach beneath the Streets: Contesting New York’s Public Spaces (with Greg Smithsimon, SUNY Press) and Play, Creativity, and Social Movements: If I Can’t Dance, Its Not My Revolution (Routledge, 2011), and Community Projects as Social Activism: From Direct Action to Direct Services (Sage).
In 2010, he was named to the Playboy Honor Role as one of twenty professors “who are reinventing the classroom.”
A social worker, he has worked in AIDS services / activism for two decades, joining ACT UP Golden Gate in the early 1990’s, opening two congregate facilities for people living with HIV/AIDS, serving as deputy director for a syringe exchange program, all while remaining active in efforts to bridge the gap between direct action and direct services. Today, he remains involved in organizing efforts around transportation, HIV/AIDS, labor, public spaces and environmental policy.

Closed for Thanksgiving Day
2015-11-26 | NY

Affirmative laughter: African-American Friday Edition
2015-11-27 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Affirmative Laughter is back and we’re reclaiming BLACK Friday. Each month host Elsa Waithe brings you a comedy show dedicated to hilarity and diversity. This month we are taking over the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division (in conjunction with the Bureau’s exhibition The Uses of Anger) and featuring NY’s best QTPOC comics, plus special guests.
Comics:
Calvin S. Cato
Wanjiko Eke
Alex English
Gloria Shantae Butler
Special Guest/Affirmative Hire:
Joel Palilla

Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.
We will also pass a hat to collect donations for the performers.
Please note: The Center and the Bureau will open at 5 PM on Friday, November 27th.

Nowhere Slow - a reading with Bertie Marshall
2015-11-28 19:30 - 21:30 | NY
A reading from Bertie Marshall’s NOWHERE SLOW- collected writings (1994-2014)… containing poems, plays, chapbooks, memoirs and a reprint of his 1997 debut novel Psychoboys.
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Check out Bertie Marshall’s discussion of Nowhere Slow in OutThere.

Photograph by Joe Ray
Bertie Marshall is the author of Berlin Bromley (his critically acclaimed memoir about his life as part of The Bromley Contingent- and mid 70s pre punk London) his other books include Psychoboys, a novel and Nowhere Slow, collected writings. The British Library have recently acquired Marshall’s archive.

Union Square Slam presents DESIREE DALLAGIACOMO and Semi-Finals #1 (spotlight feature with Sam Sax)
2015-11-30 18:00 - 21:30 | NY
Union Square Slam presents Desireé Dallagiacomo and Semi-Finals #1, a special spotlight feature with Sam Sax, and our very first Semi-Finals, hosted by Omar Holman!!!

Competitors tonight:
Kearah Armonie
Noel Quinones
Guangpyo Hong
Anthony McPherson
Nkosi Nkululelo
Cecily Schuler
Carol Brown
Itiola Jones
Chris Rodriguez
6pm: Free Writing Workshop with Sara Emily Kuntz
7pm: Sign-ups start (open mic only)
7:30pm: Open Mic
8:00pm: Feature
8:30pm: Slam (invite only tonight)

*** AT OUR NEW LOCATION ***
Monday weekly slams will be hosted by the Bureau of General Services – Queer Division
housed in the LGBT Center
208 W 13th St, Rm 210
All Ages // $5 // 18 and under Free Admission
Please note: the Bureau is closed on Mondays. We will open at 6 PM on Mondays for the Union Square Slam.

About our Feature:
Ranking 3rd in at the 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam, 3rd at the Women of the World Poetry Slam, and 3rd at the 2014 National Poetry Slam, Desireé Dallagiacomo is an award-winning writer, performer, and educator. She is the program director and a lead teaching artist for Forward Arts Inc, a literary arts non-profit in Baton Rouge, LA, and a 2014 Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has been featured in The Huffington Post, The San Francisco Gate, EverydayFeminism.com, Upworthy, Tulane University’s production of The Vagina Monologues, the New Orleans Fringe Festival, and Tandem Review. Studying creative writing and women & gender studies, she is a student at the University of New Orleans– where she is a recipient of the Ryan Chigazola Poetry Scholarship. She has taught and performed at colleges, universities, and youth organizations across the country. Desireé enjoys working with student and community populations in middle school, high school, college, and beyond.
About our Slam:
Semi-Finals is an invite-only slam. The 8 highest ranking poets of the last 6 open slams are competing tonight — the top 2 winners secure spots in our Finals in May 2016. SemiFinals is run just like Open Slams: 3 rounds, first round has 8 poets in random order, 2nd round has 5 poets going from high to low ranking, and 3rd round has 3 poets, also from high to low. All rounds are cumulative. Each poet has 3 minutes to read a poem, plus a 10-second grace period. All other PSi Slam Rules apply.

Transgender Defender Zoe Dolan: Book Talk and Signing
2015-12-02 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Zoe Dolan will talk about her new book There Is Room for You: Tales from a Transgender Defender’s Heart, a memoir of recovery from sex addiction, gender transitioning, falling in love, and handling high-profile terrorism cases as a trial lawyer.
This event is co-presented by The LGBT Community Center and the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division.
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Reading at 7:15 PM

Please purchase your copy of There Is Room for You from the Bureau. To reserve a copy write to us at contact@bgsqd.com.

Zoe Dolan is a writer and trial lawyer known for handling high-profile criminal cases, including the 2014 trial of Suleiman Abu Ghayth, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and the allegedly highest-ranked al-Qaeda suspect to be tried in a civilian court in the United States. Her writing includes the book There Is Room for You: Tales from a Transgender Defender’s Heart (this excerpt appeared in The Guardian in August), and a blog on The Huffington Post. Earlier this year, as part of her Being Transgender – Naked project, Upworthy presented this video about being transgender. Profiles of Zoe and her work have appeared in The New York Times, Al Jazeera, and The Advocate.

JONATHAN at 10
2015-12-04 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Jonathan, a journal of queer male fiction, is having its first-ever reading to celebrate its TEN issues! Come join its editor RAYMOND LUCZAK and listen to SEVEN writers read from their work:
GERARD CABRERA
DALE CORVINO
GREGORY GERARD
B. V. MARSHALL
ROBERT SMITH
PHILIP DEAN WALKER
BRAD WINDHAUSER

Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.
This event will be ASL interpreted.
All 10 issues of Jonathan are available for purchase at the Bureau. To reserve a copy of issue 10, or any previous issues, please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com.

HEY GIRL, HOMOCATS DO THE BUREAU!!
2015-12-05 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
J. Morrison’s HOMOCATS return to the Bureau for a special one-night extravaganza featuring zines, t-shirts, screenprints, and more!
Please join the artist and BGSQD in celebrating the new HOMOCATS editions including “Fuck the Internet”, “What’s the T?”, “Free Butt Sex”, the HOMOCATS Cross, and the Rainbow Cats!
Come enjoy special surprises, prices, and drinks!!

Photo: Rebecca Levi, J. Morrison at NY Art Book Fair 2015.

Bio:
J. Morrison is a multidisciplinary Brooklyn-based artist working in print, performance, and curatorial projects.
Morrison first created the HOMOCATS during a 2010 residency at the Anderson Ranch in Colorado. They have since been exhibited at the NY and LA Art Book Fairs, Transformer Gallery (Washington, DC), Lorem Ipsum (Boston), Brooklyn Fireproof Gallery (NY), and the BGSQD in 2013. They will be featured at Christopher Stout Gallery in Miami Art Basel and on Transparent’s upcoming Season 2!

Screening United in Anger: A History of ACT UP and Q&A with Jim Hubbard and Sarah Schulman
2015-12-06 18:00 - 20:30 | NY
In conjunction with the Bureau’s exhibition The Uses of Anger, the Bureau and The LGBT Community Center are proud to present a screening of United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. Following the screening director Jim Hubbard and producer Sarah Schulman will engage the audience in discussion.

Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

UNITED IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UP (2012, 93 minutes) is a unique feature-length documentary that combines startling archival footage that puts the audience on the ground with the activists and the remarkably insightful interviews from the ACT UP Oral History Project to explore ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) from a grassroots perspective – how a small group of men and women of all races and classes, came together to change the world and save each other’s lives. The film takes the viewer through the planning and execution of a dozen exhilarating major actions including Seize Control of the FDA, Stop the Church, and Day of Desperation, with a timeline of many of the other zaps and actions that forced the U.S. government and mainstream media to deal with the AIDS crisis. UNITED IN ANGER reveals the group’s complex culture – meetings, affinity groups, and approaches to civil disobedience mingle with profound grief, sexiness, and the incredible energy of ACT UP. Before there was Occupy Wall Street or the Arab Spring, there was ACT UP.

For more information visit unitedinanger.com

Jim Hubbard has been making films since 1974. Recently, he completed United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, a feature length documentary on ACT UP, the AIDS activist group. Sarah Schulman and he are continuing work on the ACT UP Oral History Project, as well. One hundred and two interviews from the ACT UP Oral History Project were on view in a 14-monitor installation at the Carpenter Center for the Arts, Harvard University as part of the exhibition ACT UP New York: Activism, Art, and the AIDS Crisis, 1987–1993, October 15 – December 23, 2009. A version with 114 interviews showed at the White Columns Gallery in New York, September 8 – October 23, 2010. He, along with James Wentzy, created a 9-part cable access television series based on the Project. Among his 19 other films are Elegy in the Streets (1989), Two Marches (1991), The Dance (1992) and Memento Mori (1995). His films have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, the Berlin Film Festival, the London Film Festival, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, Torino and many other Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals. His film Memento Mori won the Ursula for Best Short Film at the Hamburg Lesbian & Gay Film Festival in 1995. He co-founded MIX – the New York Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film/Video Festival. Under the auspices of the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS, he created the AIDS Activist Video Collection at the New York Public Library. He curated the series Fever in the Archive: AIDS Activist Videotapes from the Royal S. Marks Collection for the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The 8-program series took place December 1-9, 2000. He also co-curated the series, Another Wave: Recent Global Queer Cinema at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, July and September 2006.

Sarah Schulman is a novelist, nonfiction writer, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and AIDS historian.
Her plays include:
CARSON McCULLERS – (Sundance/Playwrights Horizons -2002),
MANIC FLIGHT REACTION (NY Stage and Film/Playwrights Horizons-2005) ENEMIES, A LOVE STORY, adapted from IB Singer (Wilma Theater-2007).
And play workshops, commissions, readings at: South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, ART, New York Theater Workshop, The Roundabout.
Her nine novels : THE COSMOPOLITANS (The Feminist Press, 2016), THE MERE FUTURE (2009), THE CHILD (2007), SHIMMER (1998), RAT BOHEMIA (1995), EMPATHY (1992), PEOPLE IN TROUBLE (1990), AFTER DELORES (1988), GIRLS, VISIONS AND EVERYTHING (1986), THE SOPHIE HOROWITZ STORY (1984) and five nonfiction books: CONFLICT IS NOT ABUSE: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility and The Duty of Repair (2016) ISRAEL/PALESTINE AND THE QUEER INTERNATIONAL (2012). THE GENTRIFICATION OF THE MIND: Witness to a Lost Imagination (2012), TIES THAT BIND: FAMILIAL HOMOPHOBIA AND ITS CONSEQUENCES (2010) STAGESTRUCK: Theater, AIDS, and the Marketing of Gay America (1998) MY AMERICAN HISTORY: Lesbian and Gay Life During the Reagan/Bush Years (1995)
In film Sarah has collaborated as a screenwriter w/ film director Cheryl Dunye on THE OWLS, (2010 Berlin Film Festival,) MOMMY IS COMING, (Berlinale 2012,) w/ director Stephen Winter on JASON AND SHIRLEY, (Brooklyn Academy of Music BAMfest ’15,) w/ director Jim Hubbard on UNITED IN ANGER: A History of ACT UP, (Museum of Modern Art.) With Jim Hubbard, she is co-founder of the MIX: NY LGBT Experimental Film and Video Festival, now in its 30th year, and The ACT UP Oral History Project (www.actuporalhistory.org).
Awards include a Guggenheim (Playwrighting), Fulbright (Judaic Studies), Kessler Prize for Sustained Contribution to LGBT Studies, 3 NY Foundation for the Arts Fellowships (Playwrighting and Fiction) 2 American Library Association Book Awards (Fiction and Nonfiction) and a finalist for the Prix de Rome. Sarah is a Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at The City University of New York, College of Staten Island, a Fellow at The New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU and on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Union Square Slam presents JADE SYLVAN and WOWPS #4
2015-12-07 18:00 - 21:30 | NY
Come on out for the witty lyric honesty of Jade Sylvan and our final WOWPS qualifier!!
ALL AGES!!! $5 cover. No one is turned away due to lack of funds.
6:00pm: Free Writing Workshop with Sara Emily Kuntz
7:00pm: Sign-ups
7:30pm: Open Mic
8:00pm: Feature
8:30pm: WOWPS qualifying slam
About our Feature:
Jade Sylvan, called a “risque queer icon” by the Boston Globe, is an award-winning author, poet, screenwriter, producer, and performing artist living in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Jade’s most recent book, Kissing Oscar Wilde (Write Bloody 2013), a novelized memoir about the author’s experience as a touring poet in Paris, received rave reviews, and was a finalist for the New England Book Award and the Bisexual Book Award. Jade has toured extensively, performing their work to audiences across the United States, Canada, and Europe. They are heavily rooted in the literary and performance community of Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts.
Over the past decade, Jade has produced and performed in dozens of acclaimed stage-shows and workshops in collaboration with entities such as The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Harvard University, and Mass Poetry. In 2012, Jade co-wrote and starred in Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein’s first feature-film TEN (awarded “Runner-Up” for Best Screenplay and Best Genre Film at the Imaginarium Film Festival), and was also commissioned to write the official novelization of the film. Jade has had pieces published in The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, The Toast, PANK, and many other places. The author has received the Bayou Poetry Prize, the Write Bloody Renaissance award, and a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
Jade identifies as genderqueer and prefers the pronouns they/them/their [example: “That’s Jade, they’re the coolest person I know.“], unless otherwise specified.
About our Slam:
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 Brooklyn, NY from March 9-12th, 2016
d) the second national event to which Union Square Slam is sending a rep
Union Square Slam WOWPS Qualifier rules:
Competition at WOWps is limited to poets who live their lives as women. Qualified poets include female assigned or identified individuals who are PSi members and are 18+ years of age, including gender non-conforming individuals.
8* poets, 3 rounds. Cumulative Scores.
4 min (all)
cumulative – cut to 5
1 min (5 poets)
cumulative all 3 rounds – cut to 3
2 min – cumulative score wins the slam
Top two are in Finals** (December 14th). Finals will be 4 ROUNDS — all cumulative!!!

John Hanning Book Launch - Unfortunate Male
2015-12-09 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Jackson Davidow, Camilo Godoy, Ted Kerr, Kris Nuzzi, Esther McGowan, Lucas Michael and Fredric Sinclair will join John Hanning in reading passages from Unfortunate Male – telling the strange tension between the incomprehensibility of medical records and the crispness of Hanning’s articulation of memory.
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

John Hanning is a collage and digital artist born in Arkansas. His work has been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions including Queer WAH, WAH Center, Brooklyn, The Queer Feeling of Tomorrow, Art Gallery Guelph, Canada; Powerful Babies: Keith Haring’s Impact on Artists Today, Spritmuseum, Sweden; Color Dot Connect, Mixed Greens, New York; and in alternative spaces throughout New York City. Hanning is also the creator of Cosmo, his stick-figure-alter-ego and virtual avatar and the author of Unfortunate Male, his first book. He lives and works in Brooklyn.

Apogee Issue 6 Launch
2015-12-10 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Join us in celebrating the launch of Apogee Issue 06 with a reading featuring Derrick Austin, Chase Berggrun, Victoria Brown, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Soyini Ayanna Forde, Leila Ortiz, and Nina Puro.
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Derrick Austin is the author of Trouble the Water, selected by Mary Szybist for the 2015 A. Poulin, Jr. Prize (BOA Editions, Spring 2016). A Cave Canem fellow, he earned his MFA from the University of Michigan. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Best American Poetry 2015, Image: A Journal of Arts and Religion, New England Review, Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, The Paris-American, Memorious, and other journals and anthologies. He is the Social Media Coordinator for The Offing.

Chase Berggrun is a genderqueer poet and the author of Discontent and Its Civilizations: Poems of Erasure, winner of the 2012 jubilat Chapbook Contest. Their work has been published or is forthcoming in inter|rupture, No Tokens, Cosmonauts Avenue, Cutbank, BOAAT, Beloit Poetry Journal, the anthology Time You Let Me In: 25 Under 25, and elsewhere. They are Poetry Editor at Washington Square Review, and an MFA candidate in Poetry at NYU.

Victoria Brown is the author of Minding Ben (Hyperion 2011), which was released in paperback as Grace in the City (2012). Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, New York Magazine,NBCnews.com, Sunday Salon, Moko Caribbean Arts and Letters, and in Perigee, Apogee Journal’s online blog. Her work is also forthcoming in Caribbean Quarterly.She teaches at the City University of New York and is currently at work on her second novel.

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is a Japanese-Chinese-British-American writer with an MFA from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a fellow at the Asian American Writers Workshop. Her work has been published in TriQuarterly, NPR’s Selected Shorts, The Tin House Open Bar, and The Indiana Review.

Soyini Ayanna Forde is an island grrl in Florida. She has poems and fiction included in MokoMagazine, SX Salon, The Caribbean Writer, Tongues of the Ocean, The Guidebook, St. Somewhere Journal and Black Renaissance Noire. Her poetry chapbook Taste of Hibiscus was published by Dancing Girl Press. She is very interested in West Indian identity and culture, diasporic connections, and what she can learn from the resilience of strong women.

Leila Ortiz is a poet and social worker in NYC public schools. Leila grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and now resides in Bay Ridge. Her poems can be found in No, Dear Magazine, Referential Magazine, Stone Canoe, and The Ledge. She received her MFA in Poetry from the Queens College Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation.

Nina Puro’s work can be found in Guernica, H_ngm_n, the PEN Poetry Series, and other places. A member of the Belladonna* Collaborative; the author of two forthcoming chapbooks (Argos Books and dancing girl press); and the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and Syracuse University. Nina cries and works in Brooklyn.

TELL 19: Family
2015-12-11 19:00 - 22:00 | 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.
Family is the theme of the nineteenth installment of TELL. Featuring Austin Hernandez, Poison Ivory, Tommy Pico, and Linda Saegert.

$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

Austin Hernandez is an esé from SA. As a Tejano living in Brooklyn, his quest for decent tacos is never ending. His creative work is strongly influenced by his mom’s second-wave feminist leanings, working-class origins, riot grrrl, and complicated love of hip hop. A product designer by day and DJ by night, Austin is a recent recipient of The White House LGBTQ Tech and Innovation Fellowship for his work teaching and empowering low-income LGBTQ youth to learn programming skills. He spends his free time with headphones on, creating playlists and dancing on the subway.

Kevin Blumenthal Photography
Crowned Miss Starlet Burlesque at the Hollywood Burlesque Festival and winner of the Pennsylvania Burlesque Festival’s coveted Crystal Corset Award, Poison Ivory is a New York based burlesque performer who is beginning to make her mark. With a background in theater and dance, Ivory’s combination of thoughtful musicality, sultry expression and sensual movements always leaves her audience wanting more. (Pronounced I-vo-ree, Like the soap.)

TOMMY “TEEBS” PICO is the author of absentMINDR (VERBALVISUAL, 2014)—the first chapbook APP published for iOS mobile/tablet devices—was a Queer/Art/Mentors inaugural fellow, 2013 Lambda Literary fellow in poetry, and has poems in BOMB, Guernica, and [PANK]. Originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, he now lives in Brooklyn and co-curates the reading series Poets With Attitude (PWA) with Morgan Parker. @heyteebs

Linda Saegert is a butch who currently works in sales. Being a Gemini, has had many careers: social worker, nurse, retail store manager and French Chef! In love with the woman of their dreams, they have 6 dogs! Linda also has 2 grown sons. Linda considers themself Genderqueer.

Fiction Reading by Paul Russell
2015-12-12 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Paul Russell will read from his latest novel Immaculate Blue.

Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

To reserve a copy of Immaculate Blue, please contact us at contact@bgsqd.com.

Paul Russell is the author of seven novels, including Immaculate Blue, The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov and The Coming Storm. He is a two time winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award for Fiction. His work has been translated into 14 languages.

After Meth: Rebuilding Your Life, Intimacy and Sex
2015-12-13 16:00 - 19:00 | NY
Join psychotherapist and sex therapist Dr. David Fawcett as he shares selections from his new book Lust, Men, and Meth: A Gay Man’s Guide to Sex and Recovery and outlines a post-meth pathway to healthy sex and intimacy.
Based on years of clinical research and practice, Lust, Men, and Meth explains the perils of the “perfect storm” of methamphetamine, high-risk sex, and HIV, and how it has created an epidemic within the gay community. Fawcett will reveal how the drug commandeers desire by fusing an altered state with heightened sexuality. Most important, Lust, Men, and Meth offers hope, by describing a clear path to recovery and the restoration of healthy sex and intimacy.
Following a brief presentation, the author will have a discussion with audience members. Refreshments will be served and David will sign copies of his book.
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.
To reserve a copy of Lust, Men, and Meth: A Gay Man’s Guide to Sex and Recovery please write to contact@bgsqd.com
Join us for a reception afterwards in Room 201B, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM catered by Richard Ferrara Event Planning & Catering

David Fawcett, PhD is a psychotherapist and writer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He specializes in gay men’s health and has worked with addictions and recovery for over thirty years. His writing about substance use, mental health, and HIV appears in TheBody.com and other journals, and he is a highly praised speaker and trainer, frequently presenting workshops both in the United States and internationally.

Union Square Slam presents PORSHA O and the Women of the World Poetry Slam FINALS
2015-12-14 18:00 - 21:30 | NY
Union Square Slam presents PORSHA O and the Women of the World Poetry Slam FINALS
(Please note: the Bureau is closed on Mondays. We will open at 6 PM on Mondays for the Union Square Slam.)
We are quaking in our boots with excitement as we welcome our feature, the legendary Porsha O, and buckling our seatbelts for Union Square Slam’s first Women of the World Poetry Slam Finals!!!
There will be FOUR ROUNDS of competition tonight. Each poet will read in the 4 minute round and the 1 minute round. We will then cut to 5 poets to read in the 2 minute round. The Final Round is the top three poets reading a 3 minute poem.
Because of the length of competition tonight, we will be substituting our open mic with a few brief spotlight poets.
6:00pm: Free Writing Workshop, hosted by Sara Emily Kuntz
7:00pm: Spotlight Artists
7:30pm: Feature
8:00pm: Women of the World Poetry Slam Finals (invite only)
About our Feature:
Porsha Olayiwola is the 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the 2015 National Poetry Slam Champion. Black, poet, dyke-goddess, hip-hop feminist, womanist, friend: Porsha separates herself from the field of issue-based performance poets by applying advanced political analysis to examine injustice while providing perspective on concrete solutions A native of Chicago, Porsha now resides in Boston where she writes and teaches.

Celestial Body 3—Opening the Closed Doors: BDSM, Underground Sexuality . . . and God.
2015-12-16 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
“Is our often-censored urge towards sex and our great, undeniable urge towards a union with God . . . the same urge?” Perry Brass, The Substance of God.
CELESTIAL BODY 2 was a huge hit. More than 50 people came to discuss the link between sexuality and spirituality, between the body and the sacred. To talk about: What core feelings link queer sexuality, the outsider regions of BDSM and spirituality? Is submission spiritual? Is sexuality at its deepest point prayer? Does it link us directly to the God-force, part of a universal glue holding human feelings together?
The 3rd and final session of Celestial Body will talk about opening the closed doors in your psychic house—the doors leading to your Deeper Self, the authentic Self that loves you and stays with you your entire life.
Perry Brass (The Manly Pursuit of Desire and Love, Belhue Press), hosts this discussion leading to the question: “Is God a lot kinkier than you thought?” Celestial Body is about finding depth, honesty, and truth in your life.
Attendance at previous two sessions not required—all are welcome.
Join us in this fascinating, life-expanding conversation.
Guest speakers include writer Donna Minkowitz on sex and God; trans and polyamory activist Kyle Applegate on submission to self, and others to be announced.
Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015 7 PM (half-hour mixer).
Program begins at 7:30 @ the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011.
For more info: belhuepress@earthlink.net
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Perry Brass has published 19 books, including poetry, novels, short fiction, science fiction, plays, and bestselling advice books (How to Survive Your Own Gay Life, The Manly Art of Seduction, The Manly Pursuit of Desire and Love). Active in the movement toward lgbt rights (gay equality) since 1969, Brass’s work continuously deals with issues of sexual freedom, personal authenticity, and personal politics coming out of his involvement with the movement for gay liberation. He is especially interested in that connection between sexuality and spirituality; with the world of the body, the mind, and a deeper “soul” consciousness connecting the two. Aside from his books, poetry, plays, and essays, he also regularly blogs for the Huffington Post. For more information: www.perrybrass.com

Wonder (Wo)man
2015-12-17 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Questioning identity, sexuality, society, and reality: Dresden Castle invites all humanity to a night of art and wonderment featuring a very special preview screening of the incipient video diary A Doge’s Life, episode 1. A fundraiser for the future of fantasy, this event will open your eyes to the truth of your true power.
Reception to begin at 7:00pm
Performance at 7:30, followed by screening and Q&A.
Frivolity throughout.
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

What's Normal Anyway book release party and comic reading
2015-12-18 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
A couple of the first thoughts Morgan Boecher had when coming out as a trans guy were:
1. Can I still have a happy life?
2. Well, I now have a cool story to tell.
After that, he wrote a comic. Morgan, creator of What’s Normal Anyway: a comic about being trans male, reads funny and heartfelt scenes from his comic, published by Kickstarter and now Scout Publishing, at this book launch party. What’s Normal Anyway discusses the trans male experience through the story of Mel, who takes the big risk of being himself and transitions from female to male. Stick around for a discussion and author signing after the performance!
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Morgan Boecher has been making comics about all sorts ever since he was a youngster in Florida. His educational focuses were in anthropology, social work, and traveling the world. Now living in the New York City area, he uses his learning to market music festivals and create art.

Valerie Geffner
2015-12-19 20:00 - 22:00 | NY
Valerie Geffner will give a performance of original poetry and song.
Creatrix. vessel of expression . authentic. intense . super sensitive. soul full. powerful Valerie Geffner is excited to celebrate and honor 2015 and to the upcoming wonderful year.

Valerie Geffner is a graduate of the Juilliard School. classic theatre. has been on the stage her entire life. since elementary school, starring in musical theatre then going to a high school of performing arts, in long island. years later she taught performance coaching there and she still coaches people to free their voice and themselves and to authentically sing, share and be.

this show is dedicated to shamanic living miracle: Domonique Echeverria. soulmate. genuis. artist. fashion designer . icon. nighttime show girl.
Domonique recently survived a tragic accident and thank Good she is alive and miraculous healing.

Valerie Geffner will be wearing a green lace gown that Domonique hand made her and gifted her
(images of it on patrickmcmullan.com)

Domonique introduced Valerie to the Bureau, when Domonique had a fashion show/installatioin at Strange Loop Gallery, the Bureau’s first home. Valerie was a model for the live installation fashion show.

Valerie Geffner is now excited to be performing her original song and poetry at the Bureau.
for studio visits of The Valerie Galerie in soho: email: valeriegeffner@gmail.com
Valerie is on Facebook and instagram
Suggested donation of $5 for the performer.

Valerie Geffner is a multifaceted artist. The Creatrix. Based in NYC, she has recently completed her album “antenna” which she both wrote and produced. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Valerie has a background in theatre, film and tv. She is a magnificent artist, producing paintings and drawings as well as clothing and bags. Able to engage audiences everywhere, Valerie has been declared “a commanding presence” by the LA Times. She can deliver the classics as effectively as contemporary, pop, and avante garde electronica. interviewed by Deepak Chopra : https://soundcloud.com/valeriegeffner/deepak-chopra-and-valerie

Union Square Slam presents SARAEVE and Open Slam 2.1
2015-12-21 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Union Square Slam is delighted to welcome SaraEve to feature at our first open slam of the second quarter!!
6:00pm: Free Writing Workshop
7:00pm: Sign-ups for Open Mic and Slam
7:15pm: Open Mic
7:35pm: Feature
8:00pm: Open Slam
Bureau of General Services-Queer Division
(located in the LGBT Center, 208 W 13th St, #210)
$5 // ALL AGES // 18 and under FREE
About our Feature:
SaraEve is a performance poet and epilepsy advocate from New Jersey. A 2015 Best of the Net nominee, she has performed for both local and national events, including the 2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam and for the Greater Los Angeles Epilepsy Foundation 2015 Care and Cure Benefit to End Epilepsy in Children. The Editor in Chief of Wicked Banshee Press and a Contributing Editor for Words Dance Magazine, her work can be found or is forthcoming in GERM Magazine, Words Dance Magazine, Drunk in a Midnight Choir and the University of Hell Anthology We Can Make Your Life Better: A Guidebook to Modern Living ,among others. Her first full length book, View From The Top of the Ferris Wheel, will be published be Emphat!c Press in 2015. She believes in the power of foxes and self publishing. Learn more here: https://saraeve41.wix.com/saraevepoet
About our Slam:
In order to represent Union Square Slam at any National Competition, you must meet the following requirements:
Be 18 years old or older (if you are under 18, you can still slam! We just can’t take you to national events)
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 BOTH one New Shit Slam AND one Theme Slam during the current season (those going for IWPS may complete this requirement during the summer quarter)
::Union Square Slam National Team Competition::
There are 3 quarters of competitive poetry slam, each culminating in a Semifinal. Each quarter consists of six open slams (one or more of which is a New Shit slam — competition in New Shit slams counts towards your total points!)
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.
At the end of each quarter, the poets with the 8 highest cumulative scores FOR THE QUARTER, are invited to compete in Semifinals. If a qualified poet opts out, then the next highest ranking poet qualifies. Semifinals are run using the same rules as the Open Slams. The top two highest ranked poets in each Semifinals bout will advance to Finals Stage, along with the top two winners of the Last Chance slam.

Closed for Christmas
2015-12-24 - 2015-12-25 | NY

Union Square Slam presents MCKENDY FILS-AIME and the HOLIDAY WHAT? Theme Slam
2015-12-28 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Union Square Slam presents MCKENDY FILS-AIME and the HOLIDAY WHAT? Theme Slam.
Need a break from all that Holiday Cheer? Got some choice words for the streetcorner Santa incessently ringing that tinny bell? Come on down to Union Square Slam for our Holiday What? theme slam, with none other than the brilliant boss McKendy Fils-Aime, hosted by Joanna Hoffman!!
(Please note: the Bureau is closed on Mondays. We open at 6 PM on Mondays for the Union Square Slam.)
6pm: Free Writing Workshop with Sara Emily Kuntz
7:00: Sign-ups
7:30: Open Mic
8:00pm: Feature
8:30pm: Slam

Bureau of General Services-Queer Division
(located in the LGBT Center, 208 W 13th St, #210)
$5 // ALL AGES // 18 and under FREE

About our Feature:
Mckendy Fils-Aime hails from Manchester, NH. He is the author of three self-published books of poetry and is currently working on a fourth. He is one of the organizers behind Slam Free or Die, NH’s most popular poetry open mic. The only thing Mckendy likes as much as poetry is his sneaker collection.

About our Slam:
For many of us, holiday season make us have ALL THE FEELINGS. Here’s a mic: let’s hear it!!! Dust off all your praise poems, odes, rants, gripes, celebrations, durges, toasts and bones to pick with the holidays, and bring them all to us! Or write some new ones! Or make them up on the spot!
All slammers who are competing to represent Union Square Slam nationally in 2016 and beyond, at either IWPS, WOWPS, or as part of the Union Square Slam Nationals Team, MUST participate in BOTH a New Shit Slam and a Theme Slam at any point during the slam season. (9/14/15 – 4/28/15). You may compete in any or all of these slams, whether or not you intend to go out for the team, however, preference may be given to competitors that have qualified for Semis or Finals.

::THEME SLAMS::
We have a variety of Theme Slams, meant to introduce different artistic elements, challenges, and inspiration to our work. Points will be recorded for the sake of naming a “winner”, however, these points do not count towards your total score for the quarter. Your participation in one Theme slam meets your requirement for Final Stage Participation. All theme slams will take up to 8 competitors, and will be ranked in an 8-5-3 cumulative fashion. Each round has a 3 min time limit unless otherwise stated.

Closed for New Year's Eve
2015-12-31 | NY

Closed for New Year's Day
2016-01-01 | NY

Union Square Slam presents MWENDE "FREEQUENCY" KATWIWA and Open Slam 2.2 (NEW SHIT SLAM)
2016-01-04 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Union Square Slam is starting off this New Year right and a NEW SHIT SLAM, featuring the New Orleans powerhouse Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa!!
(Please note: the Bureau is closed on Mondays. We open at 6 PM on Mondays for the Union Square Slam.)

6:00pm: Free Writing Workshop with Sara Emily Kuntz
7:00pm: Sign Ups
7:30pm: Open Mic
8:00pm: Feature
8:30pm: Slam
ALL AGES // $5
About our Feature:
Born in Kenya, Mwende “FreeQuency” Katwiwa is a 24 yo Black, Immigrant, Queer, Womyn poet based in New Orleans, LA where she is the 2015 Grand Slam Champion. An award-winning spoken word and slam poet, FreeQuency is also an Anti-Racist and Reproductive Justice organizer who has spent most of her life living and writing at the intersection of art, serive, education, and activism.

About our Slam:
All slammers who are competing to represent Union Square Slam nationally in 2016 and beyond, at either IWPS, WOWPS, or as part of the Union Square Slam Nationals Team, MUST participate in BOTH a New Shit Slam and a Theme Slam at any point during the slam season. (9/14/15 – 4/28/15). You may compete in any or all of these slams, whether or not you intend to go out for the team, however, preference may be given to competitors that have qualified for Semis or Finals.
::NEW SHIT SLAMS::
New Shit is defined as:
– any piece of work that has not been heard on the USS mic.
– any work that has been on the USS mic that has been overhauled/edited (at least 50% new material)
We will take up to 8 poets in each New Shit Slam. The points you earn will be added to your total in the quarter (1,2 or 3) and help you in qualifying for that semifinal. Your participation in one New Shit slam, regardless of placement/score, meets your requirement for Final Stage Participation.

'We Are The Gentle Angry People': Emotional Legacies of South African LGBT Activism
2016-01-07 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Activist Kyle Bella writes:
“In November and December, I traveled to South Africa to explore LGBTQ activism around HIV/AIDS. I focused most of my work on Simon Nkoli, born in one of the townships outside of Johannesburg, who would later become the country’s first recognizable Black and gay activist. I would like to talk about his legacy, what it means for a younger generation of activists to access this material today, and explore what these emotionally charged histories can mean for us in the United States.”
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau.
No one turned away for lack of funds.
This event is presented by the Bureau in conjunction with the Bureau’s exhibition The Uses of Anger.

Kyle Bella currently resides in Bushwick. He’s the founder of Our Viral Lives, an online archive of stories related to HIV and sexuality for an under 35 LGBTQ audience. He also writes for various publications, and is working on a book project about queer archiving in 2016.

Union Square Slam presents EIREAN BRADLEY and Open Slam 2.3
2016-01-11 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
All the way from Denver, Eirean Bradley will be leading us in a night of pure revelry!
6:00pm: Free Writing Workshop with Sara Emily Kuntz
7:00pm: Sign Ups
7:30pm: Open Mic
8:00pm: Feature
8:30pm: Slam
ALL AGES // $5

(Please note: the Bureau is closed on Mondays. We open at 6 PM on Mondays for the Union Square Slam.)

About our Feature:
Eirean Bradley is the multiple time pushcart award nominated author of two full length books of poetry the I in team and the little BIG book of go kill yourself on acclaimed independent press University of Hell. He is also the poetry curator for the online literary magazine Drunk in a Midnight Choir as well as being an editor for pop culture poetry stalwarts FreezeRay. He has been published in numerous journals and anthologies all over the place.
He is a decorated Slam Poetry veteran as well, having placed in the finals of the National Poetry Slam twice. He competed at nine national poetry slams and has only failed to make at least the semi finals once. He has toured all over the country and has featured in all 48 continuous states (yes, even North Dakota). He is well known for having a distinctly kinetic performance style and crowd pleasing approach which lends a frenetic energy to his humorous poems about really not humorous subject matter and has had numerous videos published online by well known websites Button Poetry and Poetry Slam International.

About our Slam:
In order to represent Union Square Slam at any National Competition, you must meet the following requirements:
Be 18 years old or older (if you are under 18, you can still slam! We just can’t take you to national events)
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 BOTH one New Shit Slam AND one Theme Slam during the current season (those going for IWPS may complete this requirement during the summer quarter)
::Union Square Slam National Team Competition::
There are 3 quarters of competitive poetry slam, each culminating in a Semifinal. Each quarter consists of six open slams (one or more of which is a New Shit slam — competition in New Shit slams counts towards your total points!)
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.
At the end of each quarter, the poets with the 8 highest cumulative scores FOR THE QUARTER, are invited to compete in Semifinals. If a qualified poet opts out, then the next highest ranking poet qualifies. Semifinals are run using the same rules as the Open Slams. The top two highest ranked poets in each Semifinals bout will advance to Finals Stage, along with the top two winners of the Last Chance slam.

Fundamental Awareness: Source of Mind and Matter
2016-01-13 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
A Bureau Fundraising Event!
Does mind make the world? In his lively, conversational way, Dr. Neil Theise explores the nature of consciousness and its relationship to us and to the cosmos through the three lenses of contemporary science, Western philosophy, and diverse metaphysical systems.
From this, he will lead us to an integrative model called Fundamental Awareness as the substratum from which the world emanates, providing a set of concepts to potentiate cross-talk between these varied world-views.
Videos of Dr. Theise engaging these topics can be viewed at:
https://vimeo.com/44013533
https://www.closertotruth.com/contributor/neil-theise/profile

Suggested donation of $20 to benefit the Bureau (no one turned away for lack of funds).

Neil Theise is a physician-scientist, complexity theorist, contemplative (senior student of Roshi Enkyo O’hara, Village Zendo), and now (apparently!) philosopher. He is a diagnostic liver pathologist at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center in NYC. He is considered a pioneer of adult stem cell plasticity with publications in the highest level scientific journals such as Science, Nature, and Cell. Those studies have taken him further and deeper into the nature of existence, a journey which he will be exploring in this talk.
Videos of Dr. Theise engaging many of these topics can be viewed at:
https://vimeo.com/44013533
https://www.closertotruth.com/contributor/neil-theise/profile

Bi Book Club discusses Static, by L.A. Witt
2016-01-14 18:30 - 20:00 | NY
The Bi Book Club meets on the second Thursday of each month to discuss bi-themed books and the issues they raise.
Dinner after nearby (so far, we always go to Village Den.)
Our book for January: Static, by L.A. Witt. (We suggest you buy or order your copy from our host, BGSQD.)
After two years together, Alex has been dreading the inevitable moment when Damon learns the truth: that Alex is a shifter, part of a small percentage of the population able to switch genders at will. Thanks to a forced implant, though, Alex is suddenly static—unable to shift—and male. Overnight, he’s out to a world that neither understands nor tolerates shifters . . . and to his heterosexual boyfriend.
Damon is stunned to discover his girlfriend is a shifter, and scared to death of the dangers the implant poses to Alex’s health. He refuses to abandon Alex, but what about their relationship? Damon is straight, and with the implant both costly and dangerous to remove, Alex is stuck as a man.
Stripped of half his identity and facing serious physical and social ramifications, Alex needs Damon more than ever, but he doesn’t see how they can get through this.
Especially if he’s static forever.
Pick out some phrases, paragraphs or scenes that you’d like to discuss, give us your critique of the book: what worked, what didn’t, how was bisexuality represented? If you haven’t had the chance to read the book, come anyway because we read passages aloud for discussion. As usual, we’ll also be using the text as a jumping off point to further discussion of bisexual issues and personal experiences.

RSVP on meetup.com (not required)
