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julia update - december 2016
in this update:
1) brand new article!
2) upcoming show!
3) new books to boot!
4) keep me in mind for 2017 college events!
OK, so this is my December email update (aka, the last one you'll get this year). I am sending it a couple days early because of an unexpected new article and last minute new event that I wanted to let you know about ASAP . . .
1) brand new article!
Last week I published a new essay: Prejudice, “Political Correctness,” and the Normalization of Donald Trump. It is my response to all the political center & left pundits who think we should abandon "identity politics" or "political correctness" in the wake of the election. It also includes some of my thoughts on how prejudice works, and how activists challenge it (in the most general sense).
If you like it, please share widely! Also it's on Medium -- the more "hearts" it gets (icon at bottom), the more likely it will appear on other people's Medium feeds. so please "heart" it if you like it!
This essay was made possible by my Patreon supporters -- so if you like this piece and want to see more like it, please consider supporting me there.
2) upcoming show!
On Tuesday, December 6th, I will be reading at Yarn: Comedy Storytelling at The Octopus Literary Salon (Oakland, CA). It is a wonderful monthly show hosted by Heather Gold, featuring women storytellers, solo performers, and comics who are "Hollywood Old" (aka, over 29)....
The other performers that night include Heather Gold, Julia Jackson, and Aundré the Wonderwoman. The Octopus Literary Salon is at 2101 Webster St (at 22nd St), Oakland, CA, and the show is from 7 - 9:30pm. Tickets are $12 a week before the show (so buy them today!), $15 at door (advance purchasing info here). Note: this show often sells out, so advance tix and/or showing up early is highly encouraged!
If you come, you will hear me read never-before-performed material from my Kat Cataclysm in-the-works debut novel 99 Erics (see more about Kat Cataclysm below). So please do come out!
3) new books to boot!
When you're a writer, sometimes there are years when you are hard at work the whole time, but with little to show for it in terms of publications. Well, this year has been the opposite for me: I've had three new releases in 2016, plus other aspects of my work have seen the light of day in other ways. Here is a brief end-of-the-year run down (in case you missed it). And since this is the season for peddling wares, I would be remiss not to mention that any and all of these books would make lovely holiday gifts!
 The newest of these releases is my third book, Outspoken: A Decade of Transgender Activism and Trans Feminism. This collection compiles forty-eight of my previously unpublished and difficult to find trans-themed writings -- including my early slam poems and spoken word, essays and manifestos written contemporaneously with my previous books Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity and Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive, plus my recent work addressing differences within trans communities and activism. These pieces are augmented with thoughtful introductions and interludes that contextualize the issues at hand and previous periods in transgender activism. Combining elements of memoir, historical account, gender theory, and activist philosophy, this book is a must for anyone who is a fan of my work and/or has an interest in transgender identities, experiences, perspectives, and progress.
On my Outspoken webpage, you can check out the Table of Contents, read part of the Introduction to the book, and find links to numerous excerpts from the book. Elsewhere you can explore the online trans/gender glossary (with almost 200 entries!) that accompanies the book. Paperback books can be purchased at Amazon, and are available at other retailers & for bookstore/library purchasing through Ingram. E-books can be purchased at/for Amazon/Kindle, Barnes & Noble/Nook, iTunes Books, Kobo, Smashwords, and other outlets.
 As many of you likely know by now, the second edition of my first book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity came out in March -- here is a wonderful BuzzFeed article about the new edition & the legacy of the first edition.
While the book interior remains pretty much the same, it does have a snazzy new cover, plus a new Preface that provides historical context for the book and discusses the many things that have changed with regards to trans activism, awareness, and acceptance since. I was excited to learn over the summer that my publisher wanted to do an audiobook with me narrating it! We recorded it in September, and I am happy to say that it is now available for purchase, for instance, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Audible!
 2016 also provided an introduction to Kat Cataclysm, a pen name under which I am writing surreal, silly, sex-positive fiction. While on tour with Sister Spit in March, I recorded live performances of several Kat Cataclysm pieces: Smells Like Teen Dystopia, The Sex Which Is Not One, Mr. Prince, and Poetry Slammed -- all available for your listening pleasure via those links.
All four of those pieces are included in my 3rd book release of 2016, General Surgery & Surgeons General: a Kat Cataclysm chapbook. This modest forty-some page collection offers a potpourri of Kat’s absurdist short stories, slam poems, and whimsical musings, which touch upon and/or outright tackle diverse topics such as YA dystopian fiction, photosynthesis, mountain climbing, temporal anomalies, bisexuality, ethical non-monogamy, Santa Claus, Prince’s song lyrics, malapropisms & paraprosdokians, and the trials and travails of the contemporary author. As if that were not enough, the book also premieres several excerpt chapters from the eventual Kat Cataclysm debut novel 99 Erics.
 Finally, back in 2013 my second book Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive was published. In it, I discuss some of the recurring problems that arise in activist movements (particularly in feminism and LGBTQIA+ activism), and offer numerous strategies that may help to overcome them. In the years since the book was released, there has been a mainstream backlash against social justice activism (which I see as largely stemming from many of these same problems). I continue to write about these matters, and I'm compiling these more recent pieces on this webpage: Activism, Language, and Differences of Opinion (a compilation of essays). My post recent essay, Prejudice, “Political Correctness,” and the Normalization of Donald Trump, is most certainly a part of this effort.
4) keep me in mind for 2017 college events!
I often speak about my work and writings at colleges & conferences -- for those interested, I have a booking webpage containing all of the pertinent information, including short descriptions of some of my most frequently requested talks.
This year, I've added two new talks based upon my most current projects! Here are brief descriptions from that page:
Outspoken: Transgender Oral History & Spoken Word Poetry
In this talk (largely based on her recently released book Outspoken), Julia shares her personal experiences growing up trans and finding transgender community in the pre-Internet age, performs some of the slam poetry/spoken word that she created as an outspoken trans activist in the early-to-mid ’00s, reflects upon the evolution of the transgender movement over the last several decades, and discusses how we might overcome some of the new challenges we face moving forward.
Activism, Language, and Differences of Opinion
Within social justice movements, there have always been differences of opinion with regards to whether certain ideas, language, or approaches are useful and productive, or self-defeating and destructive. These debates have intensified in recent years, as certain activist strategies and terminologies have increasingly garnered mainstream attention and backlash (e.g., condemnations of “identity politics” or “political correctness”). Drawing from her extensive writings on such matters, Julia will attempt to shed light onto the underlying forces (e.g., how discrimination works, the varying approaches to activism, objections to expressions of activism, considerations of language) that lead people to come to very different conclusions with regards to how best to challenge marginalization.
So if you are affiliated with a college -- especially if you belong to a trans, queer/LGBTQIA+, women's, feminist, and/or social justice-related organization -- please consider bringing me out to your campus. And even if you aren't associated with a college yourself, feel free to forward this onto people that you know who may be students or staff elsewhere. Once again, here is my booking webpage.
That's it for now. And remember, between updates, you can always check out:
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