Dear Gregory Charles,
I just heard that “In the Key of Charles” will be canceled, and I’m writing to tell you how sorry I am. Aside from being an avid radio listener, I volunteer with my local community station as well as produce my own program. Dynamic shows such as yours are what inspire my involvement in this medium.
I was lucky enough to attend your performance on the West Coast two weekends ago, and it was absolutely incredible. Perhaps the bright side to all of this is that there will be more opportunities for your audience to enjoy the charm and grace of your magnificent stage presence.
I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Feral Geographer
i saw this meme over at amanda’s and am quite amused by it… never having been the type to carry a purse, i think it’s funny how i still *need* to have a backpack or satchel. here’s my current everyday bag:
safety pins = punk rawk... or just lazy?
i’m not particularly fond of it, but it does the job very well and that’s enough. when i leave for australia, i’m going to ditch it.
i got this bag for free, and it was in perfect condition. i added a small strap and clip so that it would stay on my back while i cycle. my friend will gave it to me, as he was distributing many items picked it up from the overflowing campus dumpsters at the end of last spring term (we call this phenomenon “hippy christmas”). the patches are covering a logo of some sort; my friend em made the one on the right.
i’m pretty utilitarian, i guess… there’s nothing very exciting about my bag’s contents! if it reveals anything, it’s that i’m into media production and wealthy enough to own a bunch of electronics. first thing this morning i was downtown doing an interview for my radio show, and am doing another show for the women’s collective this afternoon; i don’t always carry around all this stuff. frequently, but not always.
counterclockwise, from left… i’ve got:
- a spiral-bound notebook
- 2 usb portable storage keys
- 2 pens
- cell phone (yes, the screen has an amazing radiating crack in it)
- a cd case containing two cds (one is an interview, the other is a whole episode of my show)
- an envelope of photos of me and my lover
- assorted papers, mostly radio show scripts and background notes
- headphone adapter so that i can use my headphones on mixing board at radio station
- headphones
- mp3 player
- soporific tea
- sinus medication
- 1 rubber band
- 2 hair elastics
- 3 hairpins
- digital recorder
- mesh bag containing ac power source, usb cable, extra batteries, and foam muffler for digital recorder
- digital camera (not pictured, obviously)
yep. that’s it. huh. i would have thought there’d be something more obviously bike-related or queer or literary. oh well.
i’m going to follow amanda’s lead, by not tagging anyone in particular to do this meme next… but if you want to, post the link in the comments so that we can all enjoy judging you and your possessions!
zomg the third season of veronica mars is so crazily dependent on stereotypes of racialized peoples and feminists and animal rights activists and so-called “politicos”!
having said that, i’m pretty into the subplots that centre on the campus radio station, for obvious reasons. yeah, i’m hip.
Filed under: Animal Lover, Artist, Critic, Friend, Music Lover, Punk, Radio Star, Scavenger
since em commented on my last post that all i show you are “teaser” photos, i thought i’d let you in on what you’re missing, with a nice zoomed-out shot: look! gamin is helping me with my sewing project!
mmmm, cat @ss…
i didn’t make the quilt: i just repaired it for a friend because the panels were coming apart. of course, once i had it in pieces, i decided to replace the cotton lining with some batting that i had laying around… i’ve *got* to use up all these art supplies, cuz i can’t bear to think of packing them up yet *again*.
with that in mind, i’m going through the clothes as well as the fabric and doing what i can. a dorky long skirt (100% wool, lined, only $12 @ value pillage in toronto! even my stepmom was impressed, and she’s totally creeped-out by secondhand clothes!) became a totally kickass short skirt, plus… this belated solstice gift for my bff –>
teh skillz, i haz dem.
while sewing, i usually watch/listen to bad teevee: i’ve just started into buffy. should i bother telling you how offended i am? the sexism, the uniform whiteness, the f*cked up cultural representations? no, you’ve heard it before. to think, all these years i thought i was missing out, and now i’m glad i skipped it the first time ’round.
critical analysis aside, what really bugs me is the music. was cool music in the 90s really that bad? last week my buddy c interviewed me on his radio show about what music has influenced me, and i said that it was my cheapness that had me first listening to old punk bands like the clash, because i could get their albums from the library or thrift stores. now i’m reconsidering this concept, because the music on buffy is so tedious and yet so familiar: it’s no wonder i got into punk.
Filed under: Foodie, Homebody, Radio Star, Reader, Scifi Fan, Worker, Writer
the rain started on wednesday night, or at least that’s when it really started to come down. i biked home from work and it was stilll just grey grey grey. by yesterday morning, there were torrents. at 7:30 am, my best friend and i sat on the couch drinking coffee while looking out at the trees across my yard, and considered how important it was or was not that we leave the house.
just walking to the bus stop, my skirt and leggings were soaked.
halfway through my radio show, i read out the upcoming weather report: rain rain rain, all the way through to next week.
which is why, upon waking this morning to an even worse sore throat and aching head than i had yesterday, i contently went back to sleep instead of going to work. my boss is out of town anyway, and everything i should be doing could be done from home. truthfully, i probably won’t get much done, but whatever: i’m sick, it’s raining. time for reading (earth logic by laurie j. marks), low-effort cooking (black beans now on stove, will be spiced with chipotle for dinner tonight), cuddling (26 pounds of purr currently weighing down my lap) and watching movies (film noir! today’s choice is the big clock, followed by witness to murder). also, of course, blogging: can’t forget about the blogging, nosiree.
i only slept for maybe 4 hours last night. the apartment is so quiet and empty, and the cooler weather has made it feel even more unwelcoming. the rooms are massive. i need to hang my art on the walls. well, i need to do a lot of things, but hanging the art seems the most manageable at the moment.
i have a massive cold sore on the center of my bottom lip. i’ve never had a cold sore before this, and didn’t know what it was. it got infected with bacteria of some sort, and the doctor told me if i don’t dose it with enough antibiotics, the infection could spread to my labret piercing. fuckin’ rad.
to top it off, things at work are stressful and upsetting. i just got off the phone with my boss. usually i like my boss very much, but she often has several agendas on the go and so can be difficult to trust. i have difficulty trusting most people, actually… and my boss gives me reason not to trust her. the subject at hand is my radio show, which i produce partly on company time and partly on my own. amid phrases such as “we’ve got to protect our interests!”, she told me that i shouldn’t be doing work that promotes our project if i’m not getting paid for all of the labour. at the same time, she wants to cut the number of hours for which i’m funded to produce the show. can you see where this is going? maybe i’m not providing enough context… at any rate, i may be losing my show. i feel angry and powerless. this hurts.
most things hurt right now, actually. but i’ve already cried a whole bunch this morning, so should try to hold off on more tears while i rehydate.
[photo: artsy shot of mic shadow and headphones @ cfuv... january 2008]
what the hell is up with internet access costing so much money?! i thought this was the era of web2.0, where the world wide web provides the closest approximation of democracy available and international aid groups give out computers. am i missing something, such as the part of the equation where telephone/cable companies don’t try to wring as much profit from their clients as they possibly can?
i’ve been using the neighbours’ wireless, for the nominal sum of $10 each month, and i always left the cash in their mailbox with a nice note and my phone number: and then last week they moved out without even a word of warning or goodbye! am spoiled techno-brat now: do not want another winter of taking my laptop to fantastico every time i need to send an email or edit a web page. the romantic associate and i are trying to decide on a course of action, aside from putting a note in the front hallway of our house to see if any of the other neighbours want to split the cost. it’s a good idea, but might not pan out.
getting our apartment wired will be very expensive, especially as neither of us have the necessary router/broadcaster/whatever hardware. also, we only have cell phones: telus will charge us a telephone connection fee, despite the fact that we don’t want/need a landline. we also don’t have cable (or a television at all, for that matter), but shaw seems more prepared to accept such a travesty without demanding extra fees.
i hate dealing with this sort of thing, all the more so because i hate admitting that I MISS THE INTERWUBS.
(…when i’m at home. obviously, i still have access at work… though our server died last night and so two of the websites that i maintain are offline for the foreseeable future, as my techie coworker bangs his head against the wall in frustration)
in other news, dudes: the hallowe’en alley cat race last wednesday night was awesome! i was sick and almost didn’t go but i’m glad i did, and not only cuz jenny made amazing t-shirts for all us marshals… check out the photo, isn’t it a great design? i was in waddington alley and my job consisted of telling the racers to pop their balloons before continuing on. it was a tough job, but luckily i had help from naomi. we managed.
also… the radio show that i co-host is being picked up by this radio station in atlanta, georgia. pretty cool, hey? and no, i don’t make any money from the deal, and yes, i’m okay with that.
have i ever told you what it is that i do all day? the brief explanation is that i do a lot of communications and propaganda work, and in this technological age, most of the time i’m frowning at a computer screen. which is actually fine with me, because i’m otherwise gallivanting about on a bike or hanging out at my teevee-less apartment… i like to spend my evenings knitting, playing cards, and listening to my vinyl collection. the access to information and online culture that i experience at work everyday is still a contrast to the rest of my life.
plus! there are these things called podcasts.
the news from lake wobegone…
cbc radio 3 podcast and the r3-30…
this american life…
savage love…
and… rubyfruit radio. this is an occasional, 30 minute-long podcast of music by women, and it’s so awesomely hit-and-miss, i can’t even begin to tell you. by which i mean: i don’t like about half the songs that are played, and the rest are ones that are either good enough to compel me to immediately drop whatever i’m doing and look up the artists, or are already in my computer because i *love* them. no matter what, i’m thrilled by the randomness of it. the latest episode features “you say party we say die”, which made me very happy.
check it out for yourself at www.rubyfruitradio.com… though the site’s getting updated, so it may not be totally functional. even easier, subscribe to it through itunes.
EDIT:
to clarify, i love rubyfruit radio. i listen to it regularly, and i think you should too.
[photo: me (and my older sister, behind me) at the international women's day march in 1986 or thereabouts... yes, i come by my feminism very honestly!]
i am not joking.
carol queen, THE carol queen. there is an email from her in my inbox.
for my job, i co-host a radio show about co-operatives. it’s something i love doing, but so far has just been a neat experience because i like talking to random people, not because it allows me to brush elbows with famous people. that’s cuz it hasn’t, unless you count triane, recyclistas’ only female mechanic. she’s pretty famous.
this week, i wrote to good vibrations, the sex toy/education company that carol queen founded ages ago, to see if i could interview someone regarding their switch from a corporate structure to a workers’ co-operative model and then back to corporate again. you know, the nitty-gritty of what it all means in our changing economic and social context.
the public relations officer forwarded my email to carol queen. carol queen emailed me.
and i’m going to talk with her on the phone next week.
eeeek!
