Sass and Ennui

I’ll have a 2- to 3,000-word feature in the next issue of Bitch magazine.

I’ll have two articles (a feature and Buy or DIY) in an upcoming Bust issue.

Oh, and I recently had a piece about the Wallingford Kiddies Parade in the July Journal Newspapers.

By the way, I’m back from Thailand. And I’m writing about that, too.

I’m heading to Thailand in one day.  I will not be reachable.  This is glorious.

Back June 26.  Yeehaw!

Thanks to those who offered insights for the aforementioned story. I’ve submitted a draft and am happily awaiting editing suggestions. I’ll share the final when I’ve got it in my hot little hands.

In other news: through hook-ups with the glorious ladies of Bust, I am heading to Iron Maiden on Monday evening. See, I was planning to go anyway, but I kept putting off buying tickets because I hoped something like this would happen. That and, well, it’s on a Monday night and I need my beauty sleep. I also need to not deal with traffic. I wish there was an easy way to bike to Auburn that didn’t take three hours (or require weaving through that traffic I hate).

In other writing news, I’m working with NYC photographer Angela Boatwright on a photo/interview piece for (again, the aforementioned) Bust. So far, I’m aiming to interview five or six fabulous metal-fan ladies that she photographs. She’s awesomely talented and it has been killer to collaborate with her so far, so check out her stuff!

Finally, I leave for Thailand in approximately two weeks. This means I need to 1) procure supplies [like film] and 2) figure out what I’m doing while there for the trip’s second half. I really want to plan as little as possible and take opportunities that arise. But still, knowing how to get around and having connections are important when traveling anywhere. When I get back, I’m writing for a couple of publications about what it is I did there, so I’d better, you know, do things.

I’m currently working on a feature-length piece for a feminist magazine about female metal musicians and fans. The article will discuss women’s history of influence in metal music across subtypes and scenes – from black metal to thrash and beyond – along with an analysis of critique in rock journalism, academic writing and fanzines. But, to make all of my analysis and history interesting and compelling, I really want to talk with musicians and fans. I want to know why you play or listen to metal, what it means to you and how it interplays with your experiences as a feminist. Maybe you have an anecdote that you’d love to share. Really, I’m open to most anything feminist metal musicians and fans would like to give voice to.

If you’re interested, drop me a line and tell me a little about yourself: name, hometown, age, what bands you’re into and scenes you follow and what sort of experiences you’ve had where your fandom and musicianship mixed with your feminism. We’ll go from there.

 (written for Journal Newspapers)

From 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7, Wallingford Wednesdays kicks off in the Wallingford Center parking lot with music, refreshments and open nearby galleries. This Wallingford Chamber of Commerce event will bring kids’ art to storefronts and galleries on opening night. Chamber organizers hope to include children’s artwork during the kickoff as a means to publicly encourage artistic expression and are working with schools to achieve this goal. Given Wallingford’s dense, walkable, family-oriented center, the theme seems a perfect match. Twenty businesses and galleries have thus far agreed to participate, but organizers hope to see this number grow. The event will continue weekly on Wednesdays through October.

“We hope that Wallingford Wednesdays will stand out as the egalitarian, inclusive art walk,” said Colleen Kurke, owner of CUTZ/Wallingford Hair Salon and Gallery and member of the Wallingford Chamber of Commerce, who has been steeped in the art walk’s planning process. “Music and art connect all of us,” added Kurke.

The Wallingford Chamber of Commerce continues planning specifics, but members promise the evenings will feature all types of art - from handmade jewelry to sculpture, photography to hand-blown glass - along stretches of Wallingford Avenue North, 45th Street and Stone Way. Organizers have a few wishes for Wallingford Wednesdays and hope that they are able to fulfill them as planning continues. These desires include: art donations for raffles (with proceeds going to a neighborhood nonprofit), a shuttle to transport art walkers through all corners of the neighborhood, volunteers to help hand out postcards or direct people, musicians, artists with home studios and more businesses willing to stay open for the increased street traffic. Chamber members are also open to hearing community suggestions.

“We’re very serious about this being an open venue for fine art,” said chamber member Alex Strazzanti, who also owns one of the participating businesses, Oasis Art Gallery on Wallingford Avenue North. Strazzanti also stressed that artist slots are still available, and that interested parties should contact the chamber via e-mail at chamber@wallingford.org for more information, to volunteer time or to share ideas.

(written for Journal Newspapers)

Jessica Dally just wanted to teach and learn in a collaborative setting. And she didn’t know if she felt justified charging money for it. So, taking inspiration from other cities with similar initiatives, she decided to start the Seattle Free School as a means to satisfy her own urge to teach and to learn and to encourage others to do so as well. The inaugural class was in March.

“A friend approached me about teaching some people how to make cheese and that started me thinking,” said Dally. “I’ve also been approached by various groups to teach canning and preserving since I’m a master food preserver. I liked all these ideas but I really wanted to be a part of something bigger. I didn’t want to just teach sustainability classes, although that is most of my personal experience, and I wanted to be a part of a place where I could take classes and learn too.”

Through the Seattle Free School, students from all walks of life learn new skills and crafts and share ideas in a cooperative setting. The school is apolitical and inclusive of all, and just about anything may be taught, though Dally stressed that classes teaching hate or illegal activities will not be permitted. Classes can be taught by anyone passionate about a topic or idea; instructors needn’t be experts or expert teachers, but the class must be free and open to anyone, and the instructor must mention the Seattle Free School to attendees. Really, instruction is meant to be egalitarian and non-hierarchical, with teachers collaborating and learning along with students. Organizers envisioned the school as a means to give back to the community, not just to those who might be able to afford paying for a class.

“Why shouldn’t people who can’t afford to pay for a class on chickens be informed about how to keep chickens?” asked Dally, who added, “I’ve paid for at least a few classes that were really bad; more than good enough if they had been free, but not nearly worth what I was charged.”

Before starting Seattle Free School, Daily inquired into other free schools, including one in Olympia, and discovered that local anarchist group Team Victory was having similar thoughts. Dally and Team Victory worked together to devise initial classes, collaborating on ideas and getting the Web site up and running.

“We’ll have a lot of classes on a ton of different topics to attract everyone,” said Dally.

Now that Seattle Free School is up and running, Dally is curious to see what it can do without becoming a proper nonprofit and with little to no funds supporting it. Currently, the school has no physical space and doesn’t plan to acquire any. Classes will be held in various free places in the University District and beyond. Dally is also working on creative ways to share class information without paying for advertising and hopes the school can be successful just by calling on its community. To facilitate this assistance, the Seattle Free School Web site has flyers for supporters to print and post in their neighborhoods. This, said Dally, would help the school reach areas it might not otherwise. She also hopes people on the e-mail list will forward class announcements to family and friends. The entire challenge is an interesting experiment to its founders.

“We want to see what can be done without spending our time raising money,” says Dally. “Then we can keep this energy and excitement directed toward the school, classes and getting the message out there.”

The school offers an array of upcoming classes, including canning and preserving, presented in cooperation with King County Extension, on May 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park Towne Center and Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Burien Community Center. Additional upcoming classes will teach cold and hot process soap making, cheese making, beekeeping and how to acquire Irish citizenship. Organizers also hope to offer classes on bike repair, poetry, drawing and painting, using digital cameras, philosophy, psychology, Pilates, silk screening, knitting, history - the list is bound only by the imaginations of those who wish to teach. The school will also repeat the successful introductory chicken-keeping course.

Seattle Free School also intends to very tangibly and literally give back to its communities. The school currently seeks supplies for the aforementioned soap making class. All soap the class creates will be donated to local shelters during the holidays. “I’m hoping we can make a lot of soap!” Dally said.

For more information on the school or to get involved, visit www.seattlefreeschool.googlepages.com/ or e-mail seattlefreeschool@gmail.com.

In ninth grade, my friend Jeannie and I found a full, sealed pack of cigarettes on the side of County Road M during a bike ride to the Trade Lake Store to buy Slow Pokes and Snapple. Pall Malls. We deftly hid them in the bottom of my navy blue backpack, checking on them frequently throughout the two mile ride home, and then hid them under a rock near the base of the large, round chicken coop.

Every time she came over we’d uncover them, take off everything but our under-things, and smoke while sitting in crooked branches — our clothes fluttering in time with the birches.

Later that autumn she convinced me to try out for cheerleading. I did, and to my dismay, made the squad. Then she got us matching bellbottoms, which we wore to school despite jeers. Some time between the bellbottoms and track season she wouldn’t talk to me anymore.

I kept smoking the cigarettes.

——-

Some small towns creep into your heart and change even the pinkest and newest into shrewd participants in their politics. This sifts to even the smallest of us. I always made friends with the new kids knowing full well they’d eventually be convinced of my detriment to them, socially. It wasn’t even really dramatic by the time I was in high school. It just was. After I befriended a new kid, a few weeks later they avoided me in the hall. Averted eyes. Laughter with a new friend. Sometimes glowering. I considered this passing much like a quickening; they were mine, all mine, and then they learned something new, shook off and leapt.

You’d imagine this might create some sort of lack of attachment.

You’d be imagining correctly.

With every new kid who moved in and sifted through my fingers, another soon would take her place. Sometimes she had a disability, and others were quick to judge. There I was. Sometimes she had frizzy hair. Was quiet. Held onto her books too closely for the boys to evaluate her rack. Sometimes she just sat next to me, where a spot was open, and I loaned her a pencil. However it was, I tried to invite her in as soon as I could before she was swept away.

When she was, I walked through the gravel pit. Skipped stones. Read alone in my old metal bed piled high with woolens. Thought often of running. Thought often of being 18 and jumping into the backseat of a convertible with some grunge musician who would in no way drive 2,000 miles to Wisconsin to visit some Plath-obsessed 16-year-old with copper hair and a penchant for storing food in her room like Claudia from The Baby-Sitters’ Club. I wasn’t hopeless, but was hopeful. I always thought of who I’d be in the magical, glorious future. I always wondered.

This is ennui. And who have I been? What have I done that’s mattered, made a difference? How have I changed since then? How haven’t I?

All these questions have such a simple answer. I changed and changed and changed. And then I changed back into her.

I still befriend. I still reach out. I still read alone and walk alone and run alone and think alone. Just as easily in tandem. I still question authority and consider sources. I still wonder where I’ll be in a year, five years… hell, six months. I still set people free, and try to free myself from expectation. I still make space at the table and cringe at politicking. I wish I had a chicken coop with a tree with a crook in it that’s perfect for sitting.

Apparently, my six-word memoir made it into Smith Magazine’s book Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. How neat. I remember getting a note forwarded my way from a writer friend a couple years ago, and apparently my little ditty now joins those by far cooler people than I. Like Amy Sedaris. I honestly really think we’d make great cupcake-making friends. And I bet she likes whiskey. I’d make her a bear-eared hat and we’d talk about travel and tchochkes.

But I digress. I’m sure you’re dying to know what, indeed, this teeny-tiny memoir says. And here it is:

Country girl seeks, finds, abandons city.

I guess the last part chronicles the future.

Urban hens: Chickens aren’t just for life in the country
By: Jenny Rose Ryan, Journal Newspapers

Rooting and cooing, the hens dig in the black dirt searching for grubs, seeds and corn thrown by a loving hand. But this isn’t some country yard in Carnation or a farm along the Skagit. This is a Seattle backyard. And the chickens are here to stay.

“I wanted to have a little taste of living in the country,” said Laura McCrae, who runs a blog about her flock called Urban Hennery (urbanhennery.com). “I also started becoming very interested in where my food was coming from and ways I could make healthier choices. Chickens seemed like an easy place to start - they don’t take much space, they don’t have to be walked and they pay their rent in eggs.”

For decades, Seattle Municipal Code has allowed chickens, but the practice has caught on fervently as interest in household sustainability and organic, local food has increased. This interest has meant that Seattle Tilth’s “City Chickens 101″ class, held periodically on Saturdays at Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford, is consistently full of eager new urban chicken farmers of varying experience levels and backgrounds. And it has also meant that the University District’s Seattle Free School will offer a free class called “Keeping Chickens in the City” at the University District Library on March 15 at 10:30 a.m. In the classes, attendees learn about caring for a small number of hens in limited space, chicken physiology, breeds, behavior, health, nutrition, housing and city regulations.

As regulations go, Seattle residents are allowed up to three hens on a standard-sized lot, with one more chicken allowed for each additional 1,000 square feet. Roosters, however, are not permitted, mainly because they’re noisy neighbors. Hens, though, are not as vocal. While they may squawk while laying eggs or in greeting their owners, they don’t have the tendency toward 5 a.m. wakeup calls or cackling all day at neighborhood crows.

For shelter from Seattle’s winter rain and beating summer sun, owners may choose to construct their own coop, as McCrae did one weekend using salvaged wood and other supplies, or they may purchase premade shelters from a number of different companies. The coop can be as basic or as fancy as you, or your yard, desires. All hens really need is protection from wind, rain, sun and raccoons or the famed Discovery Park coyote. They need a place to perch and boxes where they can lay their eggs. They need food and water containers and the feed and water to fill them. As chicks, they require a bit more tending - including frequent litter changes and a warm heat lamp - but this stage passes quickly as the young chicks grow into teenaged chickens, or pullets.

As for egg production, according to Seattle Tilth, most standard hens meant for egg production will lay between 180 and 320 eggs per year during their first year - and, no, they don’t need a rooster around to do so. After that first year, productivity decreases - though not rapidly until the third or fourth year. Each of McCrae’s four birds, which range in age from eight months to two and a half years, produce between four and six eggs per week - which means a lot of eggs both for her and her husband and friends and neighbors.

“It’s a chance to reconnect ourselves and our friends, family and neighbors with the food chain,” said McCrae. “It’s a real connection to the fact that food doesn’t come from boxes, cans and bags. It makes its start as something that comes from nature - whether that’s an animal, a plant or a combination.”

Like humans, hens are social animals, so people considering backyard urban chickens should plan to have more than one. McCrae lauds the funny habits of her own four hens, “They’re funny and provide a good source of entertainment around the yard. It’s hard to be too serious when a hen is squawking at you for cracked corn. And even harder when she’s doing that funny hen run across the yard to try to steal her friend’s treat.”

It’s for all of these benefits - from the sense of accomplishment in homegrown food to the whimsy and hilarity of the animals themselves - that city people are tending to their own urban chickens. And it’s why everywhere from small yards in Wallingford to larger tracts in West Seattle, hens are thriving and producing eggs that are truly local; truly from our own backyards.

For more information about raising chickens, urban gardening and many other green living resources, see www.seattletilth.org.

This poem is currently greeting Seattle Metro riders, iPods and all.   And it’s a true story. I had a fun time reading it at the Moore Theater back in November.  A perfect item to discuss in public, I think.

Janice, Madge and Dolores 

I’ve named my left ovary Janice.
Janice is toxic and cystic.
She wears too much lipstick and isn’t close to her daughters.
She drives an old Nova that putters.
She wears blue eyeshadow
And works in a café with Madge and Dolores.