Nudity is Only Skin-Deep

Life continues with its peaks and ravines. My grandmother has been put in a longterm care facility. She's somehow still alive despite declining from what was already precarious health. She's been dying since the 1980s, and is no longer physically or mentally capable of caring for herself. She has dementia, and is certain she was put into a home in order for Mom to steal the house and car and such. Poor Mom. That's a lot to deal with. My grandmother has never been kind to my mother. Well, maybe she was nice to her when she was a baby, but probably not for very long. My grandmother has always been mean.

I sent her a card when she was first put into a home, but then she was moved to another facility and I don't know if the card will get forwarded. I'm a writer, and what I wrote on the card was short, but it was one of the hardest things I've ever penned. I don't want to cast recriminations on a scared, dying elder, even if she is cruel. How could I point fingers to someone on their deathbed? Even awful people need some kindness.

On the good news side, I recently found out I won a writing scholarship. I just can't announce which one until the other applicants have been contacted. Since I apply for a lot of scholarships, I don't think I'm giving too much away here by saying this little bit. I honestly didn't think I'd get it, but I applied for it anyway just to practice doing applications. I write genre fiction, and these sorts of awards typically go to writers of literary fiction. Apparently, my manuscript won out over an international pool of authors. Let this be a lesson to all y'all and to me, too. Even if we don't think we qualify, give it a shot.

Have I even told you what I'm even working on? Here's a snippet from a practice query letter:

Sales Handle: Enki, the god of water, has it pretty good until he finds out God expects him to bring about the Great Flood and end all life on earth. Good thing he has a workaround.

THE EVERWHEN is a 100,000-word epic Slipstream fantasy with the sacrilicious irreverence of GOOD OMENS and the syncretic world-building of SANDMAN.

When the Garden of Eden is put up on blocks and a newborn earth is placed under the control of men, God calls it a day. While He sleeps, the world follows His orders by going forth and multiplying. This results in a burgeoning population of strange and noisy creatures, including the Nephilim. Racing toward a preordained ecological disaster, Nephilim, angels, mortals, and the planet itself must find a way to outwit God and survive the inevitable Great Flood.

THE EVERWHEN is a timeless cli-fi story with a foundation in Bible stories, mythology, pop culture, occultism, and western science.

I am a multidisciplinary artist, playwright, poet, and swamp hag who was raised in an apocalyptic cult while living on the land and off the grid. I grew up to major in mythology, manage a comic shop, and get really, really good at climbing ropes. When I’m not writing, I’m chilling with my chinchillas or getting filthy in the woods. A recent graduate of the Writers’ Studio at Simon Fraser University and the LET(s) Lead Academy at Yale University, my writing is in AUGUR, FEMINIST STUDIES JOURNAL, PRAIRIE FIRE, and YELLOW MEDICINE REVIEW.

THE EVERWHEN is my debut novel and has series potential.

Of course, I'm not actually 100,000 words in yet. But I am over 40,000 words in, and I'm still going strong. My alpha readers are loving it, and I even have an ending I'm working towards. I'm improvising my way there as a discovery writer/pantser.

Here's the funny thing: my book is basically a literary dick joke. Enki is a fertility god who works his magic with an oversized tallywhacker.

Last week, I also had two poems (which are not literary dick jokes) accepted by Green Linden Press. They will be appearing in Under a Warm Green Linden Issue 14: Indigenous Ecopoetry. I believe it will be launching online on December 21.

Here's my performance of my recently-written personal essay "Monsters". Many thanks to MT Space's Arts Exchange program for the support and videography. Content Warning: contains mention of child abuse and elder abuse.



I am still avoiding my Instagram account because of being falsely accused of being a pretendian. I locked the account down and blocked the person who was harassing me. Maybe I'll reclaim it in the new year. I hate that I have been driven away from my social media by the effects of colonization. I need to have some sort of social media presence as a professional artist and writer, but I don't want to deal with being targeted in yet another witch hunt just yet. This isn't my first witch hunt, but it is my first witch hunt of the millennium.

I figured out how to add a title and end credits. Turn on subtitles for the full experience.

The beginning of a retelling.

Possible video application for the Canadian ocean expedition. They want to know my name, interests, passions, and why participating is important to me. They are looking for enthusiastic people. Think I qualify? I hope I qualify.



If the video didn't embed properly, here's a link.

This was my first attempt at making a webcast, and my last assignment for my archaeology course. The video's a bit clunky, but I hope you find the story interesting. If my video editing skills were better, there'd be much more audio. I did all the photography and videography here.

This past year has been tricky for me. I recover from one issue just to fall back into another. My hip is feeling pretty good, but my peroneal tendonitis has flared up again and put my training on the back burner. So much for the running I was hoping to do.

Still, I survived the Louise LeCavalier workshop last weekend. Although the choreography with its tic-like specifics combined with jumps and full-body movements eluded me, it was because my brain and choreography don't mix well. Physically, I was fine. I was tired from the intense training, but not as tired as from one of my usual training sessions. I could tell the other dancers were feeling it, though. Although everyone else had the choreography better than I did (no surprises there), I suspect I was the only one who wasn't feeling muscular soreness from the training.

As a note, tricky dance workshops are not a good match for wicked menstrual cramps. That is all. UGH.

In regards to the material itself, we worked on conditioning exercises drawn from boxing. I am not a boxer. However, I have studied a variety of martial arts for over a decade, and know how to deliver a solid punch, and how to use my body mass to drive that impact. There were a few stylistic differences between my trained/natural fighting stance and the stances expected by Lecavalier. She wanted us to put more weight on the front leg, which may work fine for boxing, but for any sort of fighting where kicks or leg sweeps are a possibility, it's not so ideal. I did as she said, because it was a dance workshop, not a fighting workshop. Still, a few things niggled at me. The guard position she touted had the elbows touching or almost touching the torso. This is a weak defensive position, just begging to be jammed. And when we were doing punches, she said I was hitting too hard. This boggled me until the end of the workshop, when we got to do a Q&A period. This is when I learned that although she does a lot of boxing training, she never competed, only sparred once, and hates hitting things.

Ahhh... This explains much.

The choreography she taught was a combination of elements from Édouard Lock and another choreographer whose name I didn't catch. Lock's elements were twitchy and precise, with jumps and arm waves. The other choreographer's work used more space, larger, less specific movements, and incorporated rolling and floorwork.

When it comes to dance, Louise Lecavalier is amazing. She's a living legend who's been accorded the Order of Canada. When it comes to applicable martial arts, though, seek someone else. After having taken two workshops with her now, I think I have no more need to do it again, unless she showcases new content. The material was almost identical for both.

Nevertheless, I recommend her workshops to any dancer who gets the opportunity. She is a sweet, highly-skilled dynamo, and holy heck, she sure is fit. She did two workshops each day, back to back, and did most of the work alongside us. That's some serious endurance. She also has an incredible memory, and called out to each of us by name throughout the workshop with corrections/critiques. To top it off, without introductions, she remembered me and the other student who'd taken the workshop with her two years ago by name. And I look very different now from then, too!

....

On March 10, I performed at 60x60 again. It went well. ( Here's a still. )

Try this link if the video doesn't load....

Today's clip is of Remi Martin and Eike von Stuckenbrok performing for the tv show Verstehen Sie Spaß? Wow.

It's been a while since I've posted one of these. This time, it's a comedy piece: a parody of a belly dance routine by "Sibel Istanbul". I do not know the dancer's actual name. Watch for the unique isolation shimmies. ;)

Not so long ago, I couldn't do even one diamond push-up. Here I am, on day 98 of my 100-day push-up challenge, banging out ten.



Up next, I plan on doing a 100-day squat challenge, with the focus on one-legged squats (pistols and one-legged box squats). Who's with me (regular squats count, too!)?