Listening to: The Pipettes, "Because It's Not Love (But It's Still A Feeling)." Resurrecting the sound of 1960s pop, the Pipettes have had their entire lineup swapped once over already in their short career. No matter, both incarnations seem pretty great to me and I can't decide on a favorite song. I think it's Because It's Not Love but I'm also partial to "Your Kisses are Wasted on Me." For the first few days after I started listening to them, I thought the group's name was a reference to the scientific instrument, which of course made no sense. And then I found out I was pronouncing "pipette" all wrong. It's "pip-ette."
Hey, I'm doing a reading exactly one week from now in San Francisco. Remember last year I took a workshop with Kearny Street Workshop (and volunteered for APAture 2009)? For that class I was forced to read something, out loud and in front of people, for the first time since I became a technical adult. I volunteered to go first because I cave under extended pressure and going first makes the rest of the night so much more relaxing. That night, I went on-stage, sweated out my piece, and then waited for all the pent up nerves to dissolve over the next few hours. I'm hoping I can sweat less this time. And mumble less too.After that scintillating performance, Ellen from Kearny Street Workshop was still kind enough to invite me to read with KSW for Litquake 2010. Litquake is an annual Bay Area literary festival that started yesterday and runs for a week until everything culminates at Lit Crawl on Saturday, October 9th. On that night, over three hundred writers will be performing in stores, cafes, bars, restaurants, laundromats, and other cool spaces. I feel extremely lucky to be participating in Lit Crawl -- and seeing the event for the first time -- even if that means missing other fine performances, such as the one that'll be put on by Claire Light and her collection of speculative fiction superstars during our same time slot.
The KSW reading is me and five other writers, all of us in our thirties writing about our twenties. I think I have my piece written but I may do another one just in case. I've yet to practice it in front of anybody so friends, get ready to stifle your laughs. No wait, I want you to laugh, but only on that day, I think. Anyway, if you're in San Francisco that night, come on by, it's free!KSW: Younger than Guatama
Siddhartha Gautama (aka Buddha) achieved enlightenment at the age of 35. These young Asian American writers are not quite there yet. But as we know, it’s not the end result but the journey that matters. Come and hear their stories.
Saturday, October 9
8 – 9 pm
Cafe La Boheme
3318 24th St., SF
Writer Bios
mai doan uses poetry to disrupt and expand understandings of what it means to be queer, mixed, woman.
Noelle de la Paz sneezes loudly, laughs daily, plays with her DSLR, and spends much of her time thinking about things to write.
Cathlin Goulding has been involved with Kearny Street Workshop since 2003. She lives in New York City, where she studies at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Vanessa Huang practices poetry to feed resilience and movement building from the margins. Her manuscript was a finalist for Poets & Writers’ 2010 California Writers Exchange.
Adrien Salazar is an artist, warrior of light, and lover. Do not be fooled his appearances. He is actually a lion.
Jonathan Yang writes novels for young adults, mainly about celebrities and shopping. And um, hopefully deeper stuff too. He lives online here: www.jonyang.org.
