Kate Bornstein Is A Queer and Pleasant Danger—this is her blog

Come Up to the Lab: My Gender Workshop

Ever since Time Magazine proclaimed a “Transgender Tipping Point” a year and a half ago, I’ve been exploring trans identities and expressions that aren’t included in mainstream acceptance—because as a nonbinary trans person, I have yet to occupy any mainstream tipping point. So I’m researching this for a new book I’m working on: “Trans! Just for the Fun of It!” and that makes this workshop a laboratory. So…

…come up to the lab, and see what’s on the slab!

Workshop participants will be encouraged to step out of any gender/sexuality comfort zones they’ve managed to establish for themselves. We will experiment more or less safely with a few of the very real dangers of living a trans life in a cis world, including a good long look at whatever it might be that shames us, humiliates us, and otherwise prevents us from having a wonderfully fun time with our genders. The tools I’ll be using include postmodern theory and Tibetan Buddhism, which overlap in slapstick.

All this to say you can expect a day full of laughs, more than a few head-scratching puzzles, and most likely a tear or two or three. Please do join me!

Manchester, UK: Saturday, 6 February 10am

SOLD OUT: London, UK: Saturday, 13 February

kiss kiss

Kate

Trans Is Here To Stay—So Now What Do You Do?!

Hello Dear Friends, Family, Allies, and Simply Curious,

I'm happy to say that my cancer has been in remission for nearly a year and a half. My strength and stamina continue to improve—and that means I'm ready to hit the road again this fall. Given all that's been happening in the wild and wacky world of trans over the last year or so, it's clear that a new version of Trans 101 is sorely needed. To that end, I've put together a new workshop and I'm taking it on the road:

Transgender Is Here to Stay—So Now What Do You Do?!

On May 29, 2014, Laverne Cox graced the cover of Time Magazine, along with the words, “Transgender Tipping Point, America’s Next Civil Rights Frontier.” Ever since then, there’s been more and more evidence that proves Time’s point. Transgender is irrevocably out of the closet, and smack dab center stage in the culture. Some common questions that all of us are having to ask include:

• Is gender a binary, a spectrum, or what?
• What’s the difference between transgender and trans?
• Other than gender, can you name ten factors that define your sexuality? 
• What are three can’t-fail ways to be an ally in Trans civil rights? 
  (Hint: it’s not pronouns or bathrooms)
• What words for trans must you never use? 
  (Hint: there aren’t any—it just depends on who you're using them with)
• Can you articulate a definitive truth of gender that everyone can agree on?

I’ve designed this lecture/workshop to provide the tools most folks might need to mindfully articulate, discuss, have fun with, and navigate on their own terms, the world beyond a transgender tipping point.

Now Booking My 2015-2016 Speaking & Performance Tours

I’m looking forward to presenting this workshop in your town, at your high school, on your campus, or at  your conference. Here's a shiny new touring catalogue that lays out pretty much everything I'm doing on tour these days:  Download KateBornstein_15-16_Tour_Catalogue

Booking & interview inquiries, please email me at katebornstein at earthlink dot net. To get in touch with me personally, the best way is still Twitter or Instagram @katebornstein.

Hope to see you soon in your town!

xox

Kate

Kate Bornstein Tour — Winter/Spring 2015

Hiya. I'm SO PLEASED that I'm well enough for another round of tours.  Winter is almost fully booked, and my agent and I are still working on spring. If you see that I've got a free day in or around your area, and you'd like to book me for a performance, lecture, or workshop, please contact Jean Caiani through her website at SpeakOut. 

I'll update this page from time to time with new gigs, confirmations on dates currently being held, and/or specifics as I receive them. Please do let me know if you'd like to explore bringing me to see you in April or May. xoxo Auntie

--------------------------- 

Friday, Feb 6: New York City, Athena Film Festival 2015 at Barnard College. Screening of "Kate Bornstein Is A Queer and Pleasant Danger." Audience talkback along with director, Sam Feder.

Saturday-Sunday, Feb 7-8 New York City: Gender Reel Film Festival at NYU. Screening of "Kate Bornstein Is A Queer and Pleasant Danger." Audience talkback along with director, Sam Feder. 

Saturday, Feb 21: San Francisco, CA, UCSF, where I keynote UCSF's  7th Annual LGBTQI Health Forum.

Monday, Feb 23: Portland, OR: My delightful day off with Anna Rigles, who made the following Oregon leg of my tour happen!

Tuesday, Feb 24: Portland, OR: Portland State University

Wednesday, Feb 25: Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University

Wednesday, Mar 4: Los Angeles, CA: Hammer Museum. Screening of "Kate Bornstein Is A Queer and Pleasant Danger," as part of the Brian Weil Exhibit. Audience talkback along with director, Sam Feder. Free to all who want to attend.

Thursday, Mar 5: Claremont, CA: Pitzer College.  Screening of "Kate Bornstein Is A Queer and Pleasant Danger." Audience talkback along with director, Sam Feder.

Thursday, Mar 12: Columbus OH, Ohio State University. Screening of "Kate Bornstein Is A Queer and Pleasant Danger." Audience talkback along with director, Sam Feder.

Sunday, Mar 15: Somewhere. My Birthday!

Monday, Mar 16: Somewhere. Barbara Carrellas' Birthday, AND Alex Gibney documentary film, "Going Clear," premiers on HBO. Pass the popcorn!

Sunday, Mar 22: Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Melon University. I keynote the 2015 MOSAIC Conference on Gender, with the theme "Deconstructing Gender: Beyond the Binary."

Wednesday, Mar 25: North Adams, MA, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Tuesday, Mar 31: Ewing, NJ, The College of New Jersey. Screening of "Kate Bornstein Is A Queer and Pleasant Danger." Audience talkback along with director, Sam Feder.

Thursday, Apr 2: University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

Thursday, Apr 9: San Jose, CA IMsL 2015

Friday, Apr 10: Palo Alto, HOLDING THIS DATE FOR CA, Stanford University

Saturday, Sunday, Apr 11-12: San Jose, CA. Barbara Carrellas and I are attending IMsL 2015. Plans are in the works for an onstage interview with one or both of us. Admission for paid attendees only.

Tuesday, April 28: New York City, Bluestocking Books, I'm reading at the New York City launch of Changers Book  2, By: T Cooper and Allison Glock-Cooper. I love these books. Look at how much time you have to read (or reread) Book 1! 

Thursday, May 21, London, UK: Hackney Attic, Me, Onstage in Conversation with my long time friend and colleague, Roz Kaveny.

On the Road Again!

I’m delighted to write that my lung cancer continues to be officially in remission. What's more, my leukemia has dropped back down to Stage 0. So, here I go… heading back out on the road for a fall touring season. It’s been nearly two years since I was last out and about on a series of tours, performing, giving talks, facilitating workshops, and meeting with students and faculty.

Now, I’m still recovering from those years of surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, so my doctors, girlfriend, and touring agent have all laid down the law as to what I can do and what I mustn’t do. Used to be I could do a classroom appearance, a lecture, a workshop or a performance, a book signing, and meals with students and faculty—all in one day! I’d love to be able to continue with that kind of pace, but I haven’t yet built up enough energy and strength. So, I’m limiting myself to two of those events a day. What’s more, it used to be that I could live on fast food and Diet Pepsi. Now, I eat fresh veggies and fish. No sugar, gluten, or dairy. Lots of water. My presenters for this round of touring are making sure I eat well, and they’ve all built down time into my schedule.

I’m betting on a long-lasting remission, and ever-increasing health, energy and stamina. With all that in mind, I’m currently booking my winter/spring tour schedule. If you want to bring me to your town, please drop me a line at katebornstein at earthlink dot net. Any correspondence sent to this address for any reason other than booking tours, will not be answered. Twitter is still the best way to reach me for any personal reason. I hope to be tweeting updates from the road, as well as posting photos to Instagram. My account name at both Twitter and Instagram is @katebornstein. 

So, here I go! If you can, please catch up with me at one of the following stops.

October 20: New Orleans, LA. Tulane University
October 22: Radnor, PA. Cabrini College, National Body Image Conference
October 27: LaCrosse, WI. U Wisconsin LaCrosse
October 28: Waukesha, WI. U Wisconsin Waukesha
October 29: Madison, WI. U Wisconsin Madison
October 30: Milwaukee, WI. U Wisconsin Milwaukee
November 8: Chicago, IL. U Chicago, conference “Transgender In the Academy and In the Arts”
November 20: Bristol, RI. Roger Williams College, Transgender Day of Remembrance

kiss kiss,

Auntie Kate

The Cat Came Back

Hello, Dear Heart

My lung cancer is back—not in my lung, but in some lymph node. Here comes surgery, chemo, and radiation again. Now, kindly allow me to put this in a perspective and context that I promise is NOT scary. Really, I’m doing super well with this, and I’ve got a lot to tell you that I’m finding out, so please hang in here with me. Trust me, I’m The Auntie.

Right, history first: I was first diagnosed with lung cancer on September 24, 2012. I had surgery to remove the upper lobe of my right lung. The surgical team tried real hard, but they didn’t get it all. Normally, I would’ve gone straight on to chemo and radiation. But a big deal medical oncologist determined that there was no chemo that would work on me. If I wanted to live, he told me, it had to be by radiation alone. To be fair, the doctor was confronted by a challenge in me. I’ve got a whacky health status and, an immune system compromised by chronic lymphocytic leukemia that was first diagnosed in 1996. Plus, I’ve got a body grown on testosterone, that’s now running on estrogen. Genital conversion surgery aside, I’m minus a gall bladder, half a liver, and 12 inches of intestine. I’ve got cervical dystonia and scoliosis. I’m a rambling wreck! And, hello… I’m OLD! (Oh yes, I am. More on that later.) But y’know what the last straw was—the final thing about me that would bar me from all approved chemo regimens? Tinnitus. All my life, I’ve had a ringing in my ears. I didn’t learn until high school that I was the only one hearing all those mad bells and buzzers. I thought you heard them, too… all the time, like me. Well, tinnitus is a common side-effect of most chemo, and what it could do to me was make me deaf, and maybe even kill me. Like in Buffy or Haven, blood would leak out of my ears and I’d die, that’s what he implied anyway. Yes, honey, I do tend to exaggerate, but truly: it was the ringing in my ears when the big deal medical oncologist threw up his hands and, with a look of pity, handed me over to the radiologist.

My girlfriend and I did a lot a research—friends gave us terrific advice for alternative treatments. Through my touring work and book income, I’ve been able to pay for insurance that covered me fairly well for medicorp-government-approved procedures. But I had insufficient money to cover any forms of treatment outside the approved regimens—not to mention the cost of living while getting those treatments. That’s when my miracle happened. That’s when some friends came to my side. Thousands and thousands of friends and family came to my side. Maybe one was you—maybe you sent me money and/or you sent me love. One week of crowd-sourcing raised me over $100,000. Thousands of you. Thousands of people told me they love me. Can you imagine what a lasting blow that was to my low self-esteem?!

Well, the money raised covered it all. Thank you. Acting on the advice of Kris Carr, I found a clinic in Chicago where the doctors did their homework and found a chemo treatment that had just passed a stage two clinical trial. I began chemo on my birthday, March 15 2013, and I continued to travel to Chicago every three weeks through June. At the same time, I received 33 days of radiation, here in New York City. And it all worked. The cancer was gone, and it had been a year to the day since I was first diagnosed. Such relief and joy!! I had six amazing cancer-free months, during which I got back out on the road for some unforgettably wonderful engagements. What’s more, I’ve had the time and circumstances and good health to begin a novella—a book I’m writing just for the love of writing it. It’s delightful fiction that I’ve been wanting to write now for over a decade, but other books needed to come first. As of this past Christmas, I’d got through the first two chapters. Then, on December 30th, a PET CT revealed, and a fine-needle aspiration confirmed: yep, the lung cancer is back.

Darling, those were always the odds. That’s how cancer works. So now, I’m simply moving on with the next phase of living with cancer: more treatment. Treatment this time around begins with surgery at the end of January—then weekly chemo + daily radiation starting probably in the second week of February.
As to my touring schedule, I’m still working out my calendar with the doctors, but I’ve confirmed that I can do my week-long, six-city tour of Wisconsin, February 3-8. After that, I’ll do my very best to make all the gigs I’m already committed to. And for now, my booking calendar is closed for any new engagements before May or June. I hate to disappoint, and I thank you for your kind understanding.

Dear heart, please know I am dealing REALLY WELL with this. Of course I get scared, and I’ve named my fear as a realistic dread of the inevitably noxious side-effects of chemo and radiation. BUT… I’m not beating myself up for feeling scared, and I’m changing my perspective by reflecting on the delightful paradox: chemo and radiation are exactly what’s gonna let me live longer. Wanting to live longer is new for me. I’m not used to it. But I like it. Why do I wanna live longer? Well… for you. Truly. I so enjoy being your old auntie, and what’s an old auntie without her nieces and nephews?? So, fuck dread. And fuck cancer. I’m gonna write another non-fiction book about my life with cancer… I’ll get to that after I write my novella. See, now? I do plan to be around for awhile. That’ll get me two new books, and (lots) more time with you. I’m so looking forward to that. Thank you for your love.

Kiss kiss

Auntie Kate

 

Great News, Good Hope

Dear Twibe,

Here’s the bullet: The docs have scanned me, and the scan came back and
it says two wonderful things: 1) There are no new cancer cells in my
body and 2) The places where there was cancer have shrunk a LOT
already. So the chemo and the radiation, and the supplements and change
of diet are WORKING. Holy crap and yippee!  It’s the best possible
post-chemo scan a person can get. AND I’m still not out of the woods.
Here’s what it means. It means I’ve got a good hope.

I’ve never been a big one for hope, but I always fall into it. There’s
dumb hopes, and greedy hopes, and impossible hopes, and tragic hopes.
But every now and then, you get a good hope, and with this scan, I just
got one.

The purpose of this scan is to determine a baseline picture of cancer
in my body, to match up against a more accurate PET scan that I’ll get
in 2 to 3 months. Why wait 2-3 months? I’m done with chemotherapy and
radiation, but they’re not done with me. The radiation and chemo are
going to keep working in my body for at least that long. And THAT means
I’m going to be chemo-brained, exhausted, and weak for that time. BUT
NOW I HAVE A GOOD HOPE!

A special thank you to everyone who contributed to my GoFundMe account.
 You made this possible. Yes you did: you bought me my new diet, my trips
to Chicago, my nutritional supplements—in short, you kept me alive. 
Thank you so very much. I've got good hope. 

I have such a good hope that I’m booking gigs. The earliest I’ve got
right now is a week in USA’s heartland in mid-September. If you’d like
to book me to speak or perform this fall, winter or spring, please
tweet me @katebornstein, or send me an email at my touring account,
katebornstein at earthlink dot net. Please be kind and only use this
address for touring questions. 

OK—living with hope is new for me, so here I go. I promise I’ll keep
eating well, taking my supplements, and exercising as I can. It took an
awfully long time for me to write this, but when I get more of a brain
I’ll write some more, I promise that too. So, have good hope. I love
you.

Kate

 

 

15 Spaces of Cultural Regulation, and the Binaries They Pretend to Be

I've been working on a new version of my touring workshop. This one's called:

World Peace

through Gender Anarchy & Sex Positivity

I tried out early versions of the workshop at both the Queer Arts Festival in Vancouver, and at a recent tour at Hampshire College. I'll be honing and developing the piece over the next couple of seasons' touring. Here's one of the slides I'm using. I told folks at Hampshire that I'd post this online for their reference. I'm trying to contextualize the gender binary as one of many spaces of cultural regulation that more or less pass for binaries in the world. The workshop points toward building a coalition of the margins, with both sexuality & gender activists playing an equal role at the coalition table. This is nothing written in stone. It's just a theory, which means it could be a great big fat lie. But I don't think it is. Comments welcome.

xoxo

Auntie Kate

(click on the image to see full-size. feel free to copy & print.)

The Great "Gender Outlaws TNG" Blog Tour

 I'm going out on tour, and I'm not leaving the comfort of my writing chair. You can come along too!

The reviews are coming in on Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation: one a day for the next nine days. Seal Press is the publisher of the new anthology. Their slogan is Groundbreaking Books, By Women, For Women. Well, they're stretching that slogan all out of shape. They came up with the fun idea to arrange for a tour of reviews from nine different corners of the feminist/trans/trans-friendly/and genderqueer blogosphere.

I've already had a chance to read the first posted review today. It's by Everett Maroon, and it's up on I Fry Mine in Butter. No puff journalism, this. It's a wonderful essay. I've posted a comment to the blog, and I hope to read and comment on each of the reviews as they're posted. 

(Oh! I'm enjoying this almost as much as I enjoyed working with S. Bear Bergman and Seal Press to put this anthology together in the first place!)

So, here's the rest of the schedule. Enjoy the perspectives!

• Tuesday, Sept 28 -  Rose Spotts posts on Twisted Peppermint.
• Wednesday, Sept 29 -  R. J. posts a comic review on Riot Nrrd Comics.
• Thursday, Sept 30  -  Jamie Ann Royce posts on Stuff Queer People Should Know
• Friday, Oct 1 – Hannah Royce posts on Walking the Labrynth

We take the weekend off, and continue the following Monday.

• Monday, Oct 4 – Zane McHattie posts on ED Recovery
• Tuesday, 10/5 – Nome posts on That’s What Ze Said
• Wednesday, 10/6 – Jac Stringer posts on MWgenderqueer

and we close our blogging tour of GO The Next Generation with...

• Thursday, 10/7 – Bevin Branlandingham posting on Queer Fat Femme Guide to Life

AND...

• Friday, 10/8 – Mr. Sinclair Sexsmith posting on SugarButch!

I'll be tweeting each stop on the tour as it goes up. So... enjoy the next couple of weeks of binary-blowing gendernalysis. And please do join in the conversation along your way with comments on each of the reviews, and right here if you like. I am SO all aquiver!

kiss kiss

Auntie K

The Outlaws Are Coming! The Outlaws Are Coming!

Dear Heart,

Thank you for your continued or new interest in my work. 

For the past fifteen years, I've been touring college campuses, conferences, and rallies with pieces that have focused primarily on deconstructing sex and gender binaries—and more recently, I’ve added suggestions on how to stay alive once you've done that. I’m adding layers of social justice, coalition-building, and laying open the very real heart connection that can be found in putting queer theory into practice.

With the publication of Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation (co-edited with S. Bear Bergman), up-to-date information on the ever-changing state of gender is yours to study, experience, and have fun with… right now! I understand that this isn't necessarily good news for everyone. It's hard to be the new kid in the clubhouse. What's more, the presence of new identities within a group puts a strain on the group's values and definitions. Oh, what to do!?

By combining what I've learned through writing Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and other Outlaws with what I've learned from all the amazing contributors to Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, I've been able to come up with a perspective and point of view that fosters inclusion over exclusivity, trust over suspicion, and compassion over bullying. 

To that end, I've put together an all-new touring catalogue for 2010-2011, which includes several new lectures and talks, including my shiny new workshop, The Outlaws Are Coming! The Outlaws Are Coming! with which I hope to co-create with you a safer space for you and other teens, freaks, and other outlaws.You can peruse the PDF right here, right now: 

Download KB_Tour_Catalogue_2010-11.

That's my work these days. That's what I'd like to help you with on your campus, at your conference, in your town, business, or place of worship. I hope to see you soon. 

With love & respect, Kate

Gender And Sex Positive Talent Agency Open 4 Biz, Needs a Name.

Contest alert!! 

Name the new LGBTQ etc booking agency! 

Wouldn't you just love to work with this woman to book your next campus, conference, or corporate queer talent? 

More and more LGBTQ etc. artists, theorists, film-makers, performers, and lecturers are criss-crossing the globe with their cutting edge sex and gender positive work. For years, there's been no central booking agency for this work. That changes now: there's about to be one place where you can book a full rainbow of Talent: performers, authors, sex educators, activists, comedians, musicians, dancers, and more. We're not exactly a collective, but we're all working together to help get this project off the ground. 

The woman heading this up is Seraphin (pictured here)—she's been booking talent for MTV, but she thinks we're a lot more fun! 

Seraphin is putting a database together from all our contacts. She's also working on the website as I'm writing this. But we can't open the website WITHOUT A NAME?!

In the meantime, though... the agency is open for business! In the spirit of tribe, we promise to keep all our booking fees fair. None of the speakers or performers will be upping our fees to pay the agency a commission. We want all of us: the agency, you as producer, and us as talent—to do well in bringing queer talent out into the wide, wide world. The aim of the agency is to make it possible for anyone to find great affordable queer talent for their campus, company, theater, or conference.

The new agency is opening with these clients: Kate Bornstein, Barbara Carrellas, S. Bear Bergman, Midori, and Dr. Ducky Doolittle. But this is so just the beginning. The as-yet un-named agency is expecting to represent more and more talent over the next few months. If you want your act represented, please email Seraphin at and she'll talk over agency terms with you.

And if you want to book any of us, you can contact Seraphin with a click of the button. The agency already has it's own Twitter account: twitter.com/LGBTQ Bookings. And yes, it includes a LOT more than simply LGBTQ. As an agency, we aim to include any talent who's sex and gender positive.

HELP US FIND A NAME, PLEASE?

Please send us your ideas for the agency name. We want the name to be inclusive of ALL folks whose work is located on the matrix of sex positivity and gender anarchy. Make it sassy! Make it surreal! Make it sweet or serious or sensational. We can't wait to hear what your furry li'l imaginations come up with!

Over the next week, please send us your ideas either via Twitter or by commenting on this blog, or both. Enter as often as you like. We're working out prizes, and we'll be announcing them in a day or two. 

Hurry! It's SO HARD TO LIVE WITHOUT A NAME! The entry deadline is April 29, 2009 and the winner will be announced May 1st, 2009 (which just happens to be my 23rd girl birthday!!!) Get your entries in fast!

This is an exciting development in the queer world, and I'm pleased and proud to be part of it. Please join on in.

kiss kiss

Kate