Adventures in the Subway Riding

Remember how taking the CTA was one of things I had mixed feelings about giving up when I left my job? The whole never-on-time, always-slow thing irritates me beyond belief, but you see some interesting shit. Well, I still take the CTA a little bit in my new life. This week I took it downtown twice, once to do an event at Columbia, once to the Chicago Culture Center to chant and both of those occasions reminded me of my loathing for the Blue Line. It took forever to leave the station and then the train crawled downtown, taking double the time it is supposed to take on both occasions.

But last Friday, my Blue Line experience was definitely the most interesting yet! Now, I gotta say if this had happened in a normal situation where I was alone on the train trying to get some place on time, I would have been freaking out. But as it happened, I'd met Kathy after work (and we met on the train. I'm now the queen of arranging on-train meet-ups!) and we were headed back to her neighborhood to walk her dogs and have some dinner. We were catching up. The train went underground. We still had several stops to go. Then the train comes to a stop. Yeah, not unusual. This happens often. Especially seeing as the Blue Line sucks and they tend to run a billion trains in one direction and none in the other. After work, I would always see about 5 trains go by the other way before a train went my way. Now I was going the opposite way with the ton of trains, so I figured we were stopping either because we were "waiting for signals ahead" (AKA, the train ahead of you isn't out of the station yet) or the usual working on the tracks type thing.

But then there was an announcement about a "medical emergency." Hmm, okay, maybe someone pressed the emergency button and the conductor is going back to check on them. Kathy and I begin to discuss that it would seem more logical to hurry to the next station so that the person having the medical emergency could be taken off the train and get care. But then the lights go out. The train engine dies. There is another vague announcement about the medical emergency, urging us to sit tight and not open the doors. Umm okay.

"I've never been on a train where they completely turned the power off," Kathy says.

"Yeah, me neither."

"If you weren't here, I'd be freaked out."

"Me, too. I'd feel claustrophobic and have no way to contact the outside world because my cell phone doesn't work underground."

"Mine neither." Kathy says. Only US Cellular and now Verizon phones work in the tunnels.

"But since we're together, this is a little bit fun. It's an adventure in away," I say and Kathy agrees. I'm sure the people around me who were just trying to get home from work thought we were nuts.

We make more small talk until another announcement. This time the conductor says, "Please remain in your train car. There has been a medical emergency and we need to exit the train. Please remain where you are, I will be coming to each car to help you exit the train."

Murmurs of excitement. Kathy and I might be the only ones who are actually exciting. "Oh my god, we get to walk through the tunnel!" I squeal.

"Thank god, we're in the third car so we can get off fast," Kathy adds and we both state again that we are happy we are together and this is definitely an adventure. We're also pleased that we are between La Salle and Jackson, not Clinton and La Salle, like we'd thought, which is a much longer distance between stations.

Like most things CTA, I have always had mixed feelings about actually getting trapped on a train that cannot move for some reason. I've had a reoccuring nightmare since I was a little girl about getting stuck at this abandoned station between Cicero and Austin (I later realized that I don't think it ever was a functional station, it's just a platform that's there for CTA workers) and having to swing from what were essentially monkey bars all the way to Austin because we couldn't walk or else we might touch the third rail. I think these nightmares were about A. my lack of upper arm strength and B. my fear of that electrified third rail. One time I was going downtown with my neighbors and the son dropped his glasses and the dad jumped down on the tracks to retrieve and I seriously thought I was going to watch him get fried right there.

But anyway, ever since I read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, I've been fascinated about the subway tunnels. My imagination totally runs away from me just thinking about what it is really like outside in the darkness that I'm speeding through. So I was psyched to get out of that train and walk to the station. A little freaked because I was under the impression that it was a pretty skinny ledge we'd be walking along. I'd had rebel punk friends who used to actually sneak through those tunnels either just for the thrill of it or to do graffiti, but I'd never gone along because of my third rail fear.

Fortunately it is not a ledge, it's a skinny sidewalk. In most places two people could even fit side by side. Other than that, it was as a dark and dingy as expected. There was disgusting crap dripping down from the grates you walk over on the street. It smelled like basement. I didn't see any rats, but wouldn't have been shocked if I did. It was perfect. And of course Kathy and I documented it to share with you:
Yeah, sorry you can't really see much. Except that I am way more excited than I should be about the situation. Of course, we did have the problem of figuring out how to get to Kathy's. We decided to catch a cab, but that took about 10 minutes because it was rush hour and raining and everyone wanted a cab. Once in the cab, we started texting and calling everyone to tell them of our debacle though. I asked Scott to investigate what happened and a couple hours later he texted me to let me know what I'd already basically figured out... What's the only medical emergency that would cause them to turn all the power off? Someone on the tracks. A person had been "hit" by a train two stops ahead of us. I put "hit" in quotation marks because you really don't just get hit by an L train like you would a car because you can't just walk in front of it. Most likely this person jumped. And it was probably the train or two in front of us that hit them and we would have been on that train if I hadn't been running late. So that certainly put a damper on the tunnel adventure.

But CTA amusement is limitless... On my way home, I was offered "Boomers" by a kid, marking the second time in two weeks I've been offered drugs on the train. I turned them down without admitting I had no idea what Boomers were. I texted Kathy and Scott's little sister to see if they knew. Kathy was as clueless as me. Her theory was speed, which was mine as well. But a couple hours later Scott's sis texted me back, "Dude, you just turned down shrooms!" Well, I guess it was appropriate that I invited that kid to the Irvine Welsh reading...

Anyway, so that was last weekend's adventure. Anybody else have weekend adventures or train-related adventures to share?

And don't forget to go check out my girls Civet who I featured for Women Who Rock Wednesday this week. The girls are overwhelmed with interviews and stuff right now, so I'll do an interview with them later, but I am giving out a sweet promo version (so therefore collector's item to music junkies like me!) of their new album Hell Hath No Fury, so you'll wanna leave a comment!

Women Who Rock Wednesday: Civet!

Welcome to Women Who Rock Wednesday, the day I highlight the gals that rock my world because of their amazing music, books, art, etc. Last week, I paid tribute to one of the women who has influenced me most in my life, Mia Zapata of The Gits. Since Mia's life was tragically cut short, I couldn't interview her personally, but her bandmate Steve Moriarty wrote a beautiful tribute to her. Steve also agreed to send out a copy of my personal favorite Git's album, Frenching the Bully, (which I believe he is gonna sign) to a lucky winner and that person, chosen via random number generator from all the comments is Liviania! Liv, please send an email to stephanie at stephaniekuehnert dot com with your address so I can pass it on to Steve.

This week I'm thrilled to feature the mindblowingly awesome band: Civet and give away their amazing new CD Hell Hath No Fury!

There are only a handful of bands that I have gotten me as excited and revved up about music as Civet has (Nirvana, Hole, Social Distortion, Rancid, Sleater-Kinney, The Distillers, and Against Me!) and only two of those bands (The Distillers and Against Me!) came out after I graduated high school. I don't know if if I'm getting old and jaded or if there just aren't as many good bands as there used to be, but it takes a lot more to impress me lately.

I discovered Civet via a contest that Melissa Marr and I did on her livejournal. I was giving out early copies of IWBYJR to five people who listed the best girl power anthems. A girl named Kate posted a link to Civet's myspace page and told me to listen to the song "Son of A Bitch." I listened to it five times in a row. It was still a week before I'd choose winners, but I knew already that Kate would be one of them. Where was this song four years ago when I was going through my last terrible break-up? Where was this band when I was in high school and I needed more kick-ass punk girls to growl along with? And why why why was I going to have to wait all the way to September (it was June then) to get my hands on their album Hell Hath No Fury, which was coming out on my favorite punk label, Hellcat?

I spent the summer listening to the songs on Civet's myspace and telling everyone who listened that I thought they were the best band out there. They filled the void that Hole and The Distillers left for me when they broke up and what was even better, is unlike those bands this quartet is made up of all girls. Beautiful tattooed punk girls who could totally kick your ass and who IMHO are rocking way harder than most of the boys out there. Femme Fatale Punk Rock is what they label their music

Of course I worried a little bit that I'd spent the summer revering this band and then when I heard Hell Hath No Fury I'd be disappointed (funny to say this because I know so many of the book bloggers who said this about my book), but that concern was totally unfounded. I got HHNF a week ago and I haven't listened to anything else since. I'm addicted the same way I was to Nirvana, Hole, and Rancid albums in high school where I literally just cannot stop listening. Like I said, this is really, really rare for me now.

Hell Hath No Fury is going to make my top albums of all-time list because not only is it some of the best punk rock I've heard in awhile, it's music that empowers women and girls and there has been a lack of that since the original riot grrrls. I could go into detail about why I love every track on the album because I do and there is not one I skip over while listening to it (again, that's a rare thing for me these days it seems), but there are a few in particular that stick out to me right now.

"Son of A Bitch" is still my favorite song. There are a lot of songs on this album that would have gotten me through bad breakups in the past and I will certainly be buying this CD for any of my friends going through heartache because it doesn't just help you get out the rage, it empowers you and encourages you to be true to yourself. Like the song "Brooklyn," which reminds us, "Don't ever let someone get in the way of what you love/I'm gonna stay true/I'm gonna stay gold." Then there is the last part of the song "You Don't Know Me" that I can just imagine me and my best girlfriends in high school chanting along to with Civet girls: "We got something that you can't touch/We got something that you can't touch/You can try really hard, but you can't beat us."

And I told my best friend that our new anthem is "All I Want," which is a song co-written with Tim Armstrong of Rancid because it's all about the importance of tight friendships between girls ("All I want is you to stand by my side/We've been through everything/We'll be sisters to the end/What's broken we will mend/Boys will come and boys will go just like street cars"). I really admire this song because I think there needs to be more celebration the importance of sisterhood instead of being women pitted against each other... Well, you know my feelings on saluting your sisters, that's why I do this blog.

Anyway so that is my big ol' salute to the femme fatale punk rock foursome, Civet. And I had really, really hoped to post an interview from them today, but they are busy ladies with this album just coming out. However, I couldn't wait any longer to post this feature on them because I am too excited about them and want to give them a big push right now when the album is fresh. When I do have the interview, I will post it, but in the meantime, I thought it would be cool to share these "Rock Journal" episodes that vimby.com is doing on the band. It really gives us the behind-the-scenes of being in a band, which fascinates the hell out of me.

VIMBY - Rock Journal - Civet: Episode 1

VIMBY - Rock Journal - Civet: Episode 2

VIMBY - Rock Journal - Civet: Episode 3

Also a few days ago, I shared the video for "Son of a Bitch" on my blog, well now Yahoo is doing this Who's Next thing where if you vote for Civet, they bring them into the studio for a performance. That would be rad as hell, so click here to vote for these fabulous ladies.



As always I'm doing a giveaway for my WWRW guests, so leave a comment to be entered to win a sweet promo copy of Hell Hath No Fury, this is a collectors item, not found in stores! I will choose the winner next Wednesday when one of my newfound favorite female authors, Cecil Castellucci, comes to visit us!

Last but not least, I have a big event tomorrow at the Oak Park Library, so if you are in the Chicago area, come out, hear me read, ask me a million questions and lets talk books and punk and women who rock!

I rocked Metro!

I did it! Reading at Metro might have been the scariest thing I've ever done in my life, but I did it! I spent all weekend full of anxiety, but when I finally walked on stage, I did it with confidence. I told myself, I deserve to be here, and I have to work the stage like I deserve it and I think I actually pulled it off! So thank you to all of you who sent me comments and messages of encouragement. It meant a lot to me and helped me muster up the necessary confidence. So here is the story of the night in photos.

The first thing we saw when we arrived was this:
My name on the Metro marquee. Holy crap, I can't even begin to express my excitement! I never ever thought I'd see it up there where I'd seen the names of all my favorite bands. So, Scott and I went in. There was a little confusion as to who we should talk to and for a moment they acted like Scott couldn't come in with me, but it quickly got straightened out. We waited in the hallway until the backstage area was ready. Bill Hillmann, the other reader and his wife came in and it was such a relief to see them because Bill was clearly as nervous as me, but also just as excited. It was good to hang out with someone who was feeling the same way. We tried to get over our nerves by snapping pictures of things with our names on it. Like the schedule:

And these flyers:

Then we explored the backstage area and walked on the stage where so many of our idols have played and of course posed for pictures.

Irvine showed up while we were hanging out on stage. We went downstairs with him to the backstage area where there was cold Stella Artois waiting for us (and the backstage manager was nice enough to get me some drink tickets since I'm not a beer drinker). We had a few beers and Irvine caught us up on his adventures on tour. He's always got wild stories to tell and the ability to make me laugh even when I'm scared shitless. Bill and I kinda sucked at keeping up our ends of the conversation though because we were both so nervous about going on.

I also got to meet Joe Shanahan, the owner of the Metro. Meeting Joe was like meeting a rock star. I'm so grateful to that man because his venue was my home away from home during my teenage years. I can't count how many Metro shows I've been to. I was trying to remember which was my first and thinking it was Beck, but I looked at my scrapbook filled with ticket stubs today and discovered it was Urge Overkill. Anyway, I think another thing that gave me confidence was the conversation Joe and I had before I went on. He told me how much he enjoyed the book and really felt like he was right there in the story. He also told me how River's Edge reminded him of the really early days of Metro when he was just having local punk bands like Articles of Faith. It just really gave me a surge of pride to know that my little punk book had impressed a true music connoisseur like Joe!

They ended up switching up how they were going to do things at the last minute and decided to just do music before and after the readings and have the three of us read right in a row, introduced by my former professor and another author I hugely admire, Don DeGrazia. Bill went on first and I watched from the side of the stage, which was a totally cool experience in and of itself, but also it just helped me build up my strength to go on even more to watch this guy who I'd spent the past hour being totally nervous with just own the stage. He read a short piece and then he did another completely improv, just telling the audience the story. It was freakin' amazing. I was so impressed and proud.

But when he walked off, I knew that I was moments away from going on. I reminded myself for the last time, that I deserved to be out there. That Irvine and Joe thought my book was good enough for me to be there. I also knew that my friends were up in the balcony to my left and they would be laughing at the right places and cheering for me. The crowd wasn't too huge since it was a Sunday night and Chicago had been in a state of torrential downpour all weekend, but I knew there were about 150 people out there. The beauty of it was that when I stepped into the spotlight, I realized I really couldn't see beyond the front row. That totally helped. I just pretended I was reading for about ten people and my friends up in the balcony and I read as I had been practicing. I really try to read from inside of the story when I read. I try to become Emily and use her inflections and emphasize certain words and lines the way I meant for them to sound when I wrote them. One of my regulars at the Beacon told me a couple days ago that that was what had really brought him into my story when I did my reading at the release party at the Beacon. "Just read your heart out like you did then and you'll be fine," he reassured me. I took that to heart and I was. I'd never gotten so much applause in my life. I can't tell you what a rush it was!

Scott took some pictures of me while I was reading, but they are a little dark and blurry because I guess he didn't want to use flash. The first one he took from the side of the stage and the others from the balcony:




We also took this picture of Irvine from the balcony while he read an excerpt from his new novel Crime. It's such a moving story. I bought the book and had him sign it while we were signing together and I can't wait to delve into it.Yeah, I also felt like such a rock star sitting beside Irvine Welsh and signing my book. Of course he signed twice as many books as I did, but the dude is a hero. I was just elated to be there and to have people coming up to me, telling me I did an awesome job and they were so excited to read my book. The Metro also had us sign a bunch of posters which they'll be auctioning off for charity at some point.

And they gave me four of the posters! I'll be getting one framed of course and giving one to my mom, but I imagine at least one will end up as a contest prize for a contest I run at some point. Of course I completely spaced on having Bill and Irvine sign my posters, but I'll see them both in a couple of weeks so hopefully I'll remember then.

I've gotta say that I've honestly never felt so good about myself and like I really am accomplished as a writer as I did right after Metro. It continued on to the next day too because I spent my afternoon yesterday at Columbia doing their Fiction Writers at Lunch event. It was so amazing to be the one giving the presentation when only three years ago I would have been watching it as a student. I could tell that I truly inspired some of the students and that really meant the world to me because I want all the creative people out there to acheive their dreams. Also one girl told me that my book photo didn't do me justice and I am totally gorgeous. As the girl who has always felt like an ugly duckling, that just made my day too.

So yeah, now it is time to pour some of this energy into my writing! But before I go, I just want to remind you that it's your last chance to enter to win a Gits cd by commenting on last week's Women Who Rock Wednesday blog. Also I did a couple more great interviews so go check them out on Angel Young's blog and Book Review Maniac!

Saturday Scribe and Sunday Read Against Recession

The fabulous book blogger Mrs. Magoo invited me to do one of her Saturday Scribe interviews. It was loads of fun, so go check it out here!

And tomorrow night is the big night. *GULP!* My Read Against Recession event with Irvine Welsh at the Metro. I read for 15 minutes starting at 7 pm. Doors open at 6 and you should plan to get there then because in the past Irvine's free events have filled to capacity. That's a thousand people. YIKES! I know because of the weather and such it may not be that huge, but still promises to be my biggest event yet, so please come and support me if you can and if you aren't in Chicago, cross your fingers and toes that I wow that audience and sell a lot of books and don't nervously trip over my reading and bore everyone to tears. Sigh, I'm gonna be okay, right???

Hearting Civet, Hating Palin

I want to say thank you to all of you leaving comments about the tribute to Mia. It's wonderful to read about all the lives she's touched. I've sucked at replying to blog comments lately because I'm still behind on everything, so excuse the mass thank you, but I hope to better with it and everything next week.

And because I'm so freakin' obsessed with the band Civet right and I want to get everyone pumped for their upcoming Women Who Rock Wednesday visit. I thought I'd share their music video for "Son of A Bitch" with you. This is the song that made me fall in love with them in a way I haven't fallen in love with a band since The Distillers. I hope they become hugely popular and famous because they totally deserve and they get me revved up the way music did in high school which just feels so good.



On another note, I need to get political for a second. If you don't like politics or don't agree with my politics (which I think I made pretty clear in the subject header), that's fine, you don't need to read the rest of this blog then. But due to the nature of my writing (stories that are punk rock and feminist), I'm guessing that many of you might be politically oriented. And I can't not share how I feel about the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin.

I kept my boyfriend up late last night worrying about where we'll move if she and McCain get elected into office because I seriously could not handle being in this country anymore. Canada seems like the obvious choice, but I worry about work visas and if we can take the cats. I also pondered if one of us could get dual citizenship in the countries where our grandparents are from (Italy for him, Poland for me), but I'm really afraid we couldn't take the cats to Europe... I'm trying not to think about this right now and just focusing on Obama getting elected because I don't want to feel like I have to flee my home because Sarah Palin is like a natural diasaster. So the pro-Obama thing I've done today is contributed a signed copy of IWBYJR to a group doing a silent auction to fundraise for him and now I'm also writing this blog as a way of making my views public.

I'm disgusted by the nomination of Sarah Palin for many many reasons, but today the top reason is that I think it is such a slap in the face to American women, particularly to Hillary supporters, for the Republican party to choose her. I mean it really shows that Republicans think women, particularly Hillary supporters, are idiots. They really think that if they wave a woman in front of us, no matter how anti-women's rights that woman has to be, that we'll vote for her. Like we're more concerned about ovaries in the White House than, for example, our right to choose what happens to our bodies if we get raped. I mean, seriously, to say that even rape survivors shouldn't have rights to abortion??? Does this woman have any empathy? I have so many friends that are survivors of sexual abuse or assault and I wish I could make Palin to sit down and listen to all of our stories and what it would be like to have carry a physical, growing reminder of that for nine months. Ugh.

Anyway, I know many of my readers may be Hillary supporters and I do hope you won't fall for this Republican trick. Personally, I have been an Obama supporter all along because his beliefs were most in line with mine (there are no mainstream candidates that I would ever 100% support because I've got kind of radical political views), but I do admire Hillary for certain things and I do admire her supporters and like them, really want to see a woman in the White House in my life time. But not this woman.

There is a blog, http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/, which is posting comments from women about the Palin nomination. I encourage my outraged female readers to contribute to it and my outraged male readers to pass this on to the woman in their lives. They invite you to reply to womensaynopalin at gmail dot com (don't spell out the at or dot) with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support thiscandidate as second-in-command for our nation. Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence. I have sent in my thoughts and will share them below. Also I would like to share something a a friend passed on to me by Eve Ensler creator of the Vagina Monologues as her thoughts are written much better than mine (it's been awhile since I wrote a good political piece I guess.)

Anyway my thoughts:

As the daughter of two healthcare workers, I cannot support Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate. My father is a public health worker who, among other things, has been working to end the AIDS crisis since the 80s. Palin's stance on sex education and birth control will set back all of the progress he and his colleagues have made. We need more education, not less. My mother, a neonatal nurse who often cares for premature infants from communities without access to birth control and sex eduation, can also speak to this.

As a long-time vegan and lifelong environmentalist, I cannot support Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate. The people of our nation have finally begun to recognize the danger our environment is in and have begun act on it. We need to keep that momentum going. Sarah Palin will deter those efforts and that would harm us all and leave our children and grandchildren with a world they may not be able to save.

As a writer, I cannot support Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate. She is a major threat to free speech and the exchange of ideas that makes this country great.

As a survivor of sexual abuse, I cannot support Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate. In stating that abortion should be illegal even in the case of rape, she shows absolutely no compassion for her fellow woman, especially those of us who have been violated.

Ultimately, as a women, I cannot support Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate because her views and policies would create an extremely dangerous world for me, my family, my friends, and especially their children.

Eve Ensler's piece:

Drill, Drill, Drill by Eve Ensler

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Okay, I will get off my soapbox for now and go listen to more Civet since this is clearly a time for real girl power!!!

Women Who Rock Wednesday: A Tribute to Mia Zapata and The Gits

Welcome to Women Who Rock Wednesday where I shine the spotlight on a female who I think rocks and who is doing something I think you should know about. Last week, I introduced you all the the fabulous up-and-coming fashion designer Alyse Frank of DeCatoure Clothing and Alyse generously put up a red polka-dot corset that she designed as a prize. The winner of this totally unique garment is... B from MySpace!!! ( http://www.myspace.com/brookereviews ) So B, send me a myspace message with your address and I will forward it along to Alyse!!!

Well, I'd planned to feature one of my new favorite bands, Civet, today, but since their album Hell Hath No Fury just came out yesterday, they are swamped with press so we're gonna have to push that back to next week.

So instead, I am going do a tribute to one of my all time favorite female musicians, Mia Zapata, and her band the Gits. The Gits were one of the bands that got me through high school. I loved them so much that I ended up going to college at Antioch College in Ohio partly because that was where they'd formed. Mia Zapata seemed to speak directly to my soul. She knew my pain, my passion, my joy. I can't count how many hard times songs like "Another Shot of Whiskey," "Second Skin," and "Seaweed" have gotten me through. And if anyone is wondering what my character Emily Black's singing voice sounds like in my head? It's the blues-infused wail of Mia Zapata.

Unfortunately, Mia Zapata was murdered 15 years ago, so I can't have her here today to tell you about herself and her band and probably make you laugh and totally fall in love with her music. But her bandmate Steve Moriarty has written an absolutely beautiful tribute to Mia that tells the story of their band the Gits. Steve has also agreed to send one lucky person a copy of my favorite Gits album, Frenching the Bully, and I think he'll probably even sign it for ya. As usual that winner will be chosen at random from the comments, so please comment away about anything you like after reading Steve's story:

Zapata and THE GITS

My name is Steve... and I am a Sniveling Little Rat Faced Git. I played drums in THE GITS among other bands for a long ass time. Not all the bands were that great but THE GITS were. We formed THE GITS in 1986. The Sniveling Little Rat Faced Gits, stolen from a Monty Python episode, this was the only name which could describe our dorkiness and general lack of social grace. We shortened it to THE GITS to fit on our demo tape, which eventually became the Kings and Queens CD.

We wrote songs and played shows. Mia and Andy wrote most of the songs but I was always there to help with rhythms and arrangements. Mia and I could sync up effortlessly and that became true of all of us as a group. In the summer of '89 we moved to Seattle for no particularly good reason. We played the clubs up and down the West Coast relentlessly. During that time we played the scene with small up-and-coming bands like: Nirvana, Beck, Sublime, No Doubt and Green Day. THE GITS were never as financially successful as any of those bands. All the money we made went into maintenance and gas for our 1976 GMC tour van. It ran on (very green) leaded gasoline. We lived out of that van on tour. We just wanted to play and tour. We were purists and we loved what we were doing.

In 1991 we booked a tour of punk squats and community centers across Western Europe and Scandinavia. We loved playing in Europe and the people we played for loved us too. Energized by the tour, we came back to the states and played with a mission and rage like no other band out there. And there were a lot of bands in Seattle at the time. We recorded our first album, "Frenching the Bully", which ended with the song that seemed to have something special. That song was Second Skin. It was our fan's version of a hit. Not in the top 40 sense, but in the realm of human connection and universality. I have been told more than once that "Second Skin" saved some one's life. "Frenching the Bully" was very well received in the press and got widely reviewed around the world. The album got unprecedented reviews for such a relatively unknown small band. Even the snobby English press like N.M.E. and Melody Maker gave it great write-ups.

We continued to play live as much as possible, and went into the studio to record a second album. We had finished most of the music tracks and decided to do a tour before putting on the finishing touches. On that tour we played flawlessly.

After a pair of well attended shows in L.A. record companies took notice of our band. An A&R dude at Atlantic Records drew up a contract to offer to us. We never got the offer because on July 7, 1993 our friend and singer Mia was brutally raped and murdered by a stranger on the street in Seattle.

That’s the short story of THE GITS. But Stephanie has asked me to write about my friend and our singer Mia Zapata. John Lydon (Aka Johnny Rotton of the Sex Pistols) was asked to comment about the death of Pistol’s bass player Sid Vicious he said, “He was my friend, he died and I miss him.”

That is what I’d like to say about Mia. She was my friend, I loved her, she died and I miss her terribly. I think perhaps the best way to describe her as a musician and a band member is to allow the people who have been touched by her voice and lyrics to tell you how they feel.
I thought I would present some quotes for you to get an idea of how Mia affected people who knew her and people who just heard the music or saw us play live. All that is left is for you to listen to the records and interpret the music in your own way, how it best suits you. Enjoy.

Mia i never knew you but i've seen you sing your heart out many times. thanks for being who you were. i know you are one bad ass angel. i miss you.

To Mia's family I send my thanks for bringing her in to this world. I hope that this resolution can bring you a small bit of peace. Her energy and spirit touched everyone who knew her. I'm thankful for the time that she was my friend and the fun times we had together. I miss you every day Mia.

I thought that by them bringing Mia's killer to "justice", I'd magically feel better and think pretty, happy thoughts about the beauty that was robbed from us. I find the only thing that has happening is the blunt realization that there is no "justice" to make everything change back to the way things were before. We miss you Mia. My hope is you find everlasting peace.

very good verse from bhagavad gita I pray for liberation and eternal joy for mia . thankyou that the demon is caught

I'll never forget the first time I heard the Gits and Mia's voice. I can't tell you how many times I've played the records, I had to buy an extra copy of the Second Skin single because I was afraid of wearing it out.Thank you for this website, for keeping that music alive, and for making people in that court feel how great a loss her murder was to so many people.

Thank you Mia for continuing to give me strength and inspiration. With every photo I print of you, I learn a little bit more about your spirit. With every word I read/hear about or from you, more of your spirit lives on. Peace Mia. Viva Zapata!

Hello from all the way down in Queensland Australia. Even for an extremely long distance, but still immensely passionate,fan like myself it is great to finally get some type of closure in the resultant prosecution. GITS music will always have a secure place in my heart. THANKS ETERNALLY TO MIA & ALL THE GITS.

I still get goosebumps when I hear Mia's voice...thank you for keeping the music and her spirit alive. Take care.

Some Gits music:

If reading about the Gits has inspired you to learn more about them and their music, you can check out www.thegitsmovie.com to find out more about the brilliant recent documentary about them and also visit www.thegits.com to order their music. Of course you can also enter to win a copy of Frenching the Bully by leaving a comment. You can speak to Steve's moving tribute, tell how The Gits make you feel if you are familiar with their music, or just say whatever is on your mind. The winner will be chosen at random and announced next Wednesday when I bring you Civet!

IWBYJR nominated for Best Book of 2008 by Venus Zine!!!

I got the most thrilling news yesterday! Venus Zine, one of my all time favorite magazines released their nominations for the 2008 Hottt List and I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE has been nominated for Best Book of 2008!!! My little book about a punk rock girl is up there with books by the likes of David Sedaris, Chelsea Handler, Michael Chabon, and Curits Sittenfield among others! I'm so totally honored to be on this list though I have my doubts about actually winning because um, those guys are all bestsellers and I'm totally not. But hopefully a lot of people will want to root for the underdog and will vote for IWBYJR. If it does manage to win, it will be featured in the Winter Issue of Venus, which is just huge for me! So if you wanna help the cause, go here to vote for IWBYJR: https://www.venuszine.com/articles/you/readers/4246/Hottt_List_2008_Ballot

Man, that is kinda weird asking people to vote for me. I never ran for anything in my life! Since I feel a little bit awkward about blogging totally to self promote, I'm going to do a meme I got from the fabulous Tara Kelly's blog.

The 20 questions meme:

A) People who are tagged must answer on their blogs and replace any horrid question with questions of their own design.

B) Tag 8 people to do this quiz. These people must state who they were tagged by & cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.

1. How many songs are on your iPod?
8073

2. Last book I really enjoyed?
Beige by Cecil Castellucci. It's on the best books of all time list. I love a lot of books, but this one really does get top honors

3. What magazines do you have subscriptions to? Bleh. New question: Do you have a secret you'd like to share? No secrets. New question: Are you going to any concerts soon?
I just got tickets for Rise Against last night when I realized that because my work schedule had changed I could go to a show on Thursday night. I've never seen them live so I am sooooooooo psyched.

4. What is your favorite scent?
Rain, my boy, orchids, my garden

5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it?
I'd pay off my debts, maybe upgrade to house with a backyard and then invest what was left so I don't have to work and can write full-time. that would be the best gift I could give myself.

6. What is your theme song?
My theme song depends on the moment, but one of them is I Am A Revenant by the Distillers just because it is about surviving your worst moments and drawing strength from them and that pretty much sums up my past.

7. Do you trust easily?
No.

8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think?
A bit of both. I tend to be an overthinker which can be horrible at times, but when I act before I think, I tend to regret things. I need to learn how to think without over thinking.

9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days? No negativity! New question: What are you most looking forward to right now?
Civet's album Hell Hath No Fury, which came out today. I'm waiting for my record store to get it in, but I'm dying I've been wanting to listen to this for like 5 months now.


10. Do you have a good body image?
I try to. I still beat myself up over certain things though and I'm trying to get over that. It's really a matter of having the right fitness routine. When I had that a year or so ago, I was happier with myself than I'd ever been.

11. Is being tagged fun? New question: What's one thing you love to do that you really suck at?
Play guitar. *Huge sigh*

12. What websites do you visit daily?
Google, Gmail, MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, LiveJournal

13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately?
Popcorn. I think the thing I missed most about working at the Beacon was that I have an endless supply of fresh-popped popcorn when I'm working. I eat at least two baskets per shift.

14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?

Tara is a kick ass girl, a talented writer and musician, and just the kind of girl I want to hang out with all the time, but we live across the country from each other so LiveJournal friends it is.

15. What's the last song that got stuck in your head?
Son of a Bitch by Civet

16. What's your favorite item of [clothing]jewelry?
I have two very special rings that I wear everyday. One is the promise ring Scott gave me. The other I wear on a chain, it was my friend Marcel's ring. When his family found out how much it meant to me, they insisted that I be the one to keep it. It was one of the best gifts I have ever been given.

17. Do you think Rice Crispies are yummy?
I like them in Rice Crispie treats when they are made vegan.

18. What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground?
Take my boyfriend out to dinner.

19. What [item] could you not go without during the day?
My Blackberry. Yeah it is crack.

20. What should you be doing right now?
Writing. Gonna go do that now.

As for tagging, I'm not much with the tagging. Whoever is looking for something fun to do, should play.