Folx! I'm going to be on the LAUGHING MATTERS: FUNNY FOLX and & FEMINISM panel at Queens College Women and Gender Studies Program.
Kelli Dunham, Terry Galloway and Lorena Russi will be on the panel, too! Moderated by JV Fuqua and Nathalie Avalo!!
DATE: Monday, March 13, 2023
TIMER: Noon - 2PM Eastern time.
Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_heI9M9vORqaOMds4hlVmpw
The film starts at 7pm. At 6:30pm, as you enter the theater, pull a tarot card from the deck of internationally renowned pagan author and witch “The Supermarket Sorceress” Lexa Roséan and have your queer romantic forecast read!
Writer/director Madeleine Olnek will be at the screening for a Q&A!
And, you can even treat your date to cocktails and concessions. (Vegan and gluten free options available!)
SINGLES WELCOME!
* P.S. If you live outside the NYC area - you can make your own popcorn and stream this flick online (AmazonPrime, AppleTV, iTunes, GooglePlay, etc.)
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I share my real-life story of going to my first lesbian bar. The Three Sisters, a lost space, in Denver, advertised free hors d’oeuvre Christmas Eve. A trip to this bar cumulated in a bitter sweet story, perfect for the holidays!
Give it a listen for a very sad, yet very funny, story all year round.
Published by Salon.com in 2019, my queer Friendsgiving story is guaranteed to put a smile on your face! Find out what happens when I cook THE TURKEY.
I have to brag on my friend Doris Anderson!
She just launched her podcast for Self-Identified Lesbians: IN HEAT.
The very first episode is about The Top 5 Perverted Lesbian Movies of All Time! (One of my very favorite guilty pleasures.)
Won’t you please give her inaugural episode a listen? It is on Apple Podcasts. And, just about anywhere you listen to your podcasts such as, but not limited to:
Spotify, Stitcher, Deezer, Google Podcasts and more!
Don’t have access to any of those apps? Then just click HERE.
I am totally honored to be a guest on episode 150 of the Dyking Out podcast! The topic? SHAME. If you’re a queer who’s ever experienced “shame” how has it played into shaping your identity?
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry - but mostly laugh as we dish on homo “shame”.
Wondering what happens when a queer woman cooks a turkey? Read my humorous Thanksgiving essay which is an editor’s pick on Salon.com!
Jealously. My all time favorite emotion. Nothing makes me feel alive--really alive, like Jealousy.
Plus, Jealousy is also very practical. I know when I'm having a spell of jealously, I grab a sponge and scrub the porcelain sink until it glissens. Sometimes, I also squeeze in a vaccum.
Are you a victim of Professional Jealousy?
Comedian Kelli Dunham is a guest on the podcast WE LOVE YOU AND SO CAN YOU, and I’m in the podcast as a guest of Kelli’s! Check out this down-to-earth “makeover” podcast hosted by Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg. This episode is on the topic of "Professional Jealousy.”
Check out LGBTQ stories the new podcast TELL. I share a story in the premiere episode “BEING SEEN” about a comically disastrous visit to a lesbian bar!
TELL’s host Drae Campbell is serving up queer stories on queer terms. And, thanks to the support of BRIC, you can hear TELL on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play.
Give your ears a treat!
Every Sunday Night!
Are you in(to) an alternative space? Wanna see a Virtual Reality comedy show?
Then come see Kelli Dunham's COMEDY HOUSE SUNDAYS this Sunday, March 31st at 9pm. Find it in Altspacevr.
I'll be performing! For Real! All you need to see this show (which runs every Sunday evening) is an oculus PC, or Android to get into Altspacevr! For instructions, got to https://www.kellidunham.com/chs/
NYC Folks! Come on down and hear me tell a good 'ole fashion story!
Saturday, February 16th is the 5-year anniversary of TELL - 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 located in The LGBTQ Community Center (located at 208 W. 13th Street between 7th Avenue and Greenwich Avenue).
I'll be telling a story on the theme FRIENDSHIP along with Nilan, Summer Minerva, Seedy Edie, and, Jes Tom!
The show starts at 7pm - SUGGESTED donation of $10.
*No one is turned away for lack of funds!* So bring your income sensitive butts downtown for some fun!
On Thursday evening, January 24, 2019, I will be reading from my work-in-progress UN-BAD at the Martini Shot Collective Salon in Brooklyn, NY.
LOCATION: Swans Nest Yoga, 137 Montrose Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. Closest subway is the L Train to Montrose.
TIME: 8pm / Admission if FREE! BYOB
See the Martini Shot Collective’s FACEBOOK page for more information, including how to submit your material!
On Saturday evening, September 22, 2018 I will be performing in Kelli Duhham's 50th birthday performance event! Come see an awesome line-up of comedians, writers and performers including: Jay Toole, April Stace, Calvin S. Cato, Stephanie Schroeder, Virginia Vitzthum, Jes Tom, Michele Carlo, Jax Jackson, Maria Luisa Tucker, Sammie James, Morgan Goode and more!
TIME: 7pm - 10pm
LOCATION: Greenpoint Reformed Church, 136 Milton St, Brooklyn, NY 11222 (X Franklin St. & Manhattan Ave.) Closest train is the G to Greenpoint Avenue.
Admission if FREE! Donations will be accepted for undocumented high school students to help them with tuition/books.
See the FACEBOOKevent page.
NYC 1999. It was the height of the DotCom bubble and I was looking for an apartment with a former girlfriend. There was so much competition for housing, you couldn't take a shit without hiring a broker, let alone rent an apartment.
Our goal was a two-bedroom for $1,100 per month. We knew we probably weren't going to find anything in Manhattan, so we started looking in Queens and Brooklyn.
Everyone, EVERYone I told about our apartment size and price specifications said we would NEVER get that. It didn't matter if it was a friend, co-worker, random person on the street, I never heard the word "NEVER" said so many times to me on a daily basis. For nearly a year, not one single person ever said anything but, "You will never get a two-bedroom--not even a one-bedroom--for that price."
We ultimately focused our search along the L train subway line. Our primary reason for doing so was because we weren't sure where our jobs would be located in the future and the L train hit every major train line in Manhattan from east-to-west. We also discovered, by looking at at a true scale map, the train stops along the L line were quite close together. So what looked like a stop WAY out on the subway map, was actually a 15 minute ride to Union Square.
Once we focused our search on the L line, we worked consistently with three different brokers. (Why did we choose those three? Probably because they were the only ones who returned our calls.)
Even though we stated our price was $1,100 (which in reality was a stretch for us), we were consistently shown apartments priced between $1,200 and $1,600. When we weren't biting at any of these places, the real estate agents reluctantly began showing us lower priced places - and always with the cautionary phrase - "You need to carry a gun to live in 'that' neighborhood."
And it dawned on me, they were trying to scare and panic us into taking a higher priced apartment--not too mention what a racist and classist remark this was. There were in fact, a lot of apartments available in our price range, but realtors were keeping the pressure on to get us (and all their clients) to rent THE most expensive apartment they could possible get us to sign for.
When we discovered this game (which is still in play today) we changed our tune each time we talked to one of the realtors. "Now we are actually looking for a two-bedroom for $1,000 a month." A few days later we said, "Now we're actually looking for a two-bedroom for $950 per month."
Then one day, after a real estate agent brought us back to her office--after she had just showed us a beautiful apartment for $1,350 and expected us to sign a lease--we sat staring at the wall behind her desk where there was a giant sign posted saying TWO-BEDROOM RAILROADS FOR $850. We pointed to the sign and said, "That's the apartment we want you to show us!!"
Completely disgusted and discouraged with us (and all the time she spent showing us apartments out of our price range) she grumbled, "Ok. Steve - will you please take them to see THAT apartment?" Steve was her assistant, and it was clearly below her to show us such a inexpensive apartment--and the realtors fee she could expect to receive from a lease signing.
We did take that officially rent stabilized apartment off of the Jefferson stop on the L train.
Now: 2018. I currently live in an affordable apartment at Columbus Circle (Manhattan) that my partner and I won via a housing lottery. We got this through the NYC Affordable Housing Lottery. This particular apartment is in a new building that is participating in a 20/80 program. Participating buildings reserve 20% of their units for very low, low and middle income people at a deeply reduced rental rate. (The building receives a tax break for participating.) And, the rest of the 80% of their units are priced at market rate. To give you a sense of price, the rent stabilized lease I signed for my apartment is a one-bedroom for $810 a month. (The market rate of this same one-bedroom is $5,000.)
Is this real? YES. I know five people in my outer circle of friends who have won affordable housing lotteries in the past 5 years. I have a close friend who has recently been invited to interviews for two different apartment buildings. I have a co-worker who is in the process of getting an apartment.
To put my affordable housing good fortune into perspective, I have been applying for affordable housing opportunities for 20 years. In 2010 my number came up for a studio in a building near Union Square. I went to my first screening interview (where I also had to bring tax documents and proof of income), and found out that the affordable rent expired after 5-years and would go to market rate. (I withdrew my application because -- what? I was gonna have to move after 5 year in an ever escalating and gentrifying real estate landscape?) I had also been on a 10-year waitlist for Manhattan Plaza. (This is an apartment complex reserving 70% of their units for artists in the performing arts.) Rent is based on tenants' annual income and goes up and down with said income. When my number came up at Manhattan Plaza, the most recent 3-years of my income was evaluated to confirm if I qualified to received a unit. Unfortunately, 1 of my 3 years did not qualify.
But as luck would have it, me and my partner's number came up for The Encore and we began the multiple interviewing and screening appointments in 2015 and have now resided here for two years.
Affordable housing has it's pros and cons, but general regulations are getting better. For example, it is illegal for buildings to have "poor doors". Poor doors are entrances reserved for low income residents and they are not allowed to use the "regular" entrance nor the amenities of the building. (There are a couple of notorious buildings that created "poor doors" before this was outlawed.) In our lease and related paperwork, there is a murky area that indicates our affordable housing lease may discontinue after 20-years. To date, we have not been able to get a straight answer from anybody about what this means exactly.
In the meantime I am sending a rally cry to all those in the 20/80 NYC Affordable Housing Program, NYCHA Housing, and ANYONE looking for permanent, long-term affordable housing to ban together for support in finding, keeping and securing affordable housing programs.
NYC Housing Housing site will link you to:
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) offers affordable housing programs throughout the City.
NYC Housing Connect: You can search and apply for affordable housing.
NYC Mitchell-Lama Connect: View Mitchell-Lama developments that are accepting entries. You can create or update your account and enter waiting list lotteries.
NYC Housing Development Corporation: Get information about NYC Housing Development Corporation-financed developments accepting applications for apartments.
New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Public Housing
Housing Options for Seniors
Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE)
Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) Program
Tenant Resources
And more...
Rent Stabilization and Rent Control
Are You Living in a Rent Stabilized Apartment?
Join the Facebook Group 20%ers Unite to connect with 20%ers across the 5 boroughs and in your building!
READ Article from Curbed NY - 2019: Finding an affordable NYC apartment just got a bit easier
NYC Real Estate Investment Cooperative Facebook Group
Almost daily, AMNY and MetroNY, (the free papers in the subways) have full page ads for new buildings that are opening up a 20/80 lottery.
Affordable Housing
Tenants Rights
Small business
Homeownership
Look around and see the building boom of luxury (and non-luxury) buildings and high-rises in all 5-boroughs. Many of these building are participating in the 20/80 program.
And speaking of the building boom, do you think every single unit is, or will, get filled? Let's say a building can project that at any given time, they can fill 100 units, but perhaps not more. But, if they build 200 units, each and every apartment that sits empty is a business loss/tax write-off. Look at the thousands of new, luxury high-rises all over the 5-boroughs. They are not all at 100% occupancy. In fact, having a $5,000 apartment sitting empty is more profitable for the company than renting it at an affordable, let's say, $1,000 a month. Taking calculated losses is part of the real estate business profitering plan. And it's a corrupt set up, in my opinion. And it contributes to keeping the housing crisis in crisis.
Avoid sabotaging thinking like, "I'll never get accepted because so many people apply," or "I make too much or too little money to qualifiy." Incomes change yearly and sometimes drastically. And from the time you apply, to the time your number comes up, you might be in just the right income bracket! And remember, if you itemize your taxes because you are a freelancer, for example, your adjustable gross income is often dramatically lower than your gross. There is no reason not to sign up for NYC Housing Connect right now and register yourself so you can start applying for lotteries.
If you feel overwhelmed by it all--ask your friends for emotional support. Or even ask them to help you organize you documents.
Start getting ready for when your number does come up. Organize your tax and financial documents so you are ready to make copies to take to your qualifying interviews. Get a small (or large) filing cabinet and some manilla folders and organize your shit. (You probably need this stuff organized anyway for numerous other things in your life.)
Rents are skyrocketing across the U.S., though obviously there are still many places to live where real estate is less expensive and the cost of living is lower. But, if you are thinking about leaving NYC, don't forget you'll probably have to have a car and
Car payments
Insurance
Triple AAA (to get it towed when--not if--it breaks down)
Gas
Regular oil change
Regular maintenance (carborator, tires, fuel pump, battery, blah $$$ blah $$$ blah $$$ and blah $$$.)
Support social change - every person, single, married, with/without kids, etc., deserves decent, stable and affordable housing. Check out The Eviction Lab and the Urban Democracy Lab.
Speaking of social change - don't be one of those people who is renting a room in your apartment and "over-charging" a roommate to cover your expenses. Gross! Ask yourself, "Would YOU want to live with anyone who is over-charging you, and not sharing the details about the actual rent?" Practicing honesty and transparency is a win-win for everyone.
If you have any resources or tips you can share, please leave them in the comment section. Let's all help each other secure affordable housing.
P.S. Non-housing, but awesome resources in NYC!
Director Stefanie Sparks' feature comedy IN CASE OF EMERGENCY is available on Amazon Prime!
And, check out the review it received on Hammer to Nail!
Summary of Film: Following an accident Sarah Williams, a New York City socialite, is forced to reevaluate her values in this darkly comic, low budget gem. Is Sarah ready to put away her judgements and pearls to descend into the subways of redemption? Or will she continue up the photoshopped elevator towards a lonely, bitter Park Avenue high rise? Laugh out loud with hints of gag-me gross & riot girl angst, director Stefanie Sparks’ edgy comedic genius grapples with what really matters in a world of selfish selfies: friends IRL. With appearances by Phoebe Robinson (YOU CAN’T TOUCH MY HAIR, 2 DOPE QUEENS), Cathy Curtin (ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK) and other emerging female comediennes.
