Gay in the Bay | Vol. 2023, Issue 10

Queer Intro

Welcome to the Gay in the Bay Blog! I am Josie, a queer writer and videographer that loves to document what I see around me. This started out as a writing blog but has grown to include events that more people should know about.

This post is for the week of March 5 - 11.

Do you have a live event that needs filming? I’m a videographer! Please check out the Sweeney Media on your way to the About > Contact page. I look forward to working with you.

Writing

Writing has been difficult only because of depression and the constant dread known as Atmospheric River Bob looming over us. That simile of the cloud hanging over someone has been a bit too literal. But I’m not letting this keep me from gettin’ them words down!

I found a note-taking method that really surprised me and immediately picked up. The Zettelkasten Method will seem complicated at first, especially when trying to incorporate this into a digital platform such as Notion. So far this works pretty well with the my Notion. I'd like to expand upon this in a later post, as it deserves its own space for explanation; plus, there appear to be a million videos on it.

I did it. I quit social media. Let me explain.

Last week I wrote about my friend being arrested by police after voicing her opinion about an anti-drag bill. Early on in the week I just couldn’t take all the news (partly why the post was short). I took this manic time to essentially sign out. The only exceptions were to respond to messages on Instagram or Facebook (the two socials left, unless you count LinkedIn). I’m on Twitter, but that’s only watch that empire fall.

I’ve checked them once or twice today to send messages. There were a couple of videos that I watched, and an update on my cousin’s pregnancy (she’s doing great, thanks for asking). Otherwise I had no interest in seeing anything else on there. And I kinda want to keep it that way.

I want to continue this. I feel like some of my attention span has come back. Well, as much attention as someone with ADHD can have.

Even More Expensive Headphones!

Move over, expensive computers! Step aside, American-made headphones! France now has the most expensive headphones yet. I really wonder how much Parker Hall got paid to say nothing but good things about the Focal Bathys Headphones.

Why do we need to keep making expensive headphones. Yes, many of us are audiophiles now, thanks to the like of Apple, Bose, Sony, and other companies. But France wants to beat them to our wallets.

I’m personally pretty worn out with “ultimate headphones” and similar descriptors. We’re just reinventing the wheel at this point. I think Wired is going for a younger audience than me, because I’ve heard the exact same marketing since I got into Walkmans (I’m a 90’s kid, for reference).

I know I’ve successfully made this sound like an auditory conspiracy. But I’m just glad I can focus on smaller things, such as the $800 price tag for this pair of headphones. I’ll save up for a new computer or gaming system for that much. Not headphones.

Local News

Court rejects religious exceptions for Covid vaccines. Even now, after three years have elapsed, some still believe that they get religious exemptions from everything. Well, not today.

Missouri News

Missouri Republican attempts to use a Bill to prohibit the acknowledgement of “sexual orientation” from being mentioned in schools. Her bill is then torn apart by another Republican because of the Bill’s language. It seems she believed that sexual orientation did not apply to a man and a woman.

“She knows full well that the intent of this bill is not to protect kids in a classroom. It is just to discriminate against the LGBT Community, and to parade her Christianity all over the place… She is incapable of keeping her Christianity to herself.”

Brian Tyler Cohen’s video on YouTube.

Color Coded Calendar

Each week I keep track of events so you don’t have to! This is amazing since I’m neurodivergent. But below are events that I really think you’ll enjoy…

Each week The New Parkway Theater in Oakland has a variety of events. The two that I love the most are Drinks & Dragons (Wednesdays) and Trivia (Thursdays) respectively. I am officially a new Game Master, and want to help make D&D more fun at the New Parkway. Check out The New Parkway website for further information on these and other events. You cannot go wrong no matter what day you show up.

Local Events

Queer Bedtime Stories is hosted at Milk SF this Thursday at 8pm.

Poetry Slime is hosted at Milk SF this Saturday at 2pm.

Pop Culture

Each week I include media that I’ve enjoyed. If you’re a creator of any kind, please email me to be included in this list. I love discovering new artists; from singer-songwriters to upcoming directors, and beyond.

  • A friend mentioned a YouTuber in a discussion: Jenny Nicholson. She talks about theme parks and other things. I couldn’t get enough of her video on Evermore (and that’s a big video).

  • I found a new way to take notes today (Thursday). It’s called the Zettelkasten Method, and you can learn about it from this video here. I’m already implementing it to compile my research for video essays.

Gay in the Bay | Vol. 2023, Issue 7

Queer Intro

Welcome to the Gay in the Bay Blog! I am Josie, a queer writer and videographer that loves to document what I see around me. This started out as a writing blog but has grown to include events that more people should know about.

This post is for the week of February 12 - 18.

Do you have a live event that needs filming? I’m a videographer! Please check out the Sweeney Media on your way to the About > Contact page. I look forward to working with you.

Writing

Broke Ass Stuart

Most of the writing done this week has been in preparation for a potential job. If you’ve lived in the Bay Area for any amount of time (which is about as long as I’ve lived here now), you have definitely heard of the sassy Broke Ass Stuart (BAS for short).

BAS made a call for a writer, part time. I made the most humorous cover letter I could write and sent it to the Editor In Cheap. The Almighty Editors (my name for whomever responded) answered me and gave me a deadline for this week. I’ve answered it.

I have become a Game Master!

Chaos ensued and I stepped up to the plate! This past Wednesday I became a GM (Dungeon Master if that’s more familiar to you) at the New Parkway Theater. The usual GM was unable to attend tonight’s session, and there were about 15 people joining. The backup GM asked me if I could be in charge of the other game. I was more than happy to oblige.

Queer Superhero Novel

While writing for my book has been sparse this week, I’ve still written something. Outlining has been necessary in order to make this superhero story feel like an introductory novel; not just focusing on the main character. Because of that, I’m learning what tropes are expected in order to make something feel like a “superhero" story. Some are obvious (like costumes, the need/want to save people, insane ideas for world domination, et al), while others less so.

I’m introducing other characters. It just makes sense to me to include more heroes while more villains appear in front of the main character. But it still requires more planning to make everything feel coherent.

The End of the Internet?

I just watched a video by Legal Eagle on YouTube that talks briefly (20 minutes is honestly brief for this particular lawyer) about a Supreme Court Case. One that can spell out disastrous things for normal social media things like sharing your next drag show event on Facebook.

He was as brief as he could be, and I have a link to his video. This case is pretty complicated, but I’ll attempt to summarize it here.

A case was brought to the United States Supreme Court. This case dealt with a question that has massive ramifications: is Google responsible for its content on YouTube? This is certainly something that will affect everyone to varying degrees. I will follow this and see where it leads.

Oakland City Hall in State of Emergency

The city of Oakland was hit by a malware attack on February 8th a couple of weeks ago. The police department and other public officials are being somewhat transparent about the issue. They are acknowledging that it happened, but not indicating in what way. This could be a tactic to minimize damage being caused, or to minimize public panic, another reason entirely, or some combination of both.

This story is progressing, as they are still fighting the malware. As much as I’m not a fan of any police force, the police department appears to be the most forthcoming on information.

Oakland Police Dept. on the malware attack.

Mind Ghirardelli Square’s Dust

Ghirardelli Square is a fixture of San Francisco. I finally got to visit on February 14th, where I discovered a lot of the shops are currently closed. There are signs stating they will open up in the Summer of 2023. In just a few months, we’ll get even more chocolate options and see what they’ve been working on!

Berkley Throws in their chef’s hat for Best Pizza

Berkeley claims to have the best pizza in the Bay Area. Is the SF Eater article correct? Please let me know, in the comments or on Instagram! I take this as a personal challenge to venture in the wilds of Berkeley and scavenge their pizza selections.

National News

USA Today continues coverage of the officers charged with the death of Tyre Nichols from January 2023. The most frustrating part right now is that the court system will not start proceedings until May 2023. Paul Hagerman is the lead prosecutor, and is urging the courts to do what is right. Whether the officers are allowed back to work until then remains unclear. They go on to include the defense attorney claiming there should be justice for Tadarrius Bean (one of the officers charged for Nichols’ murder).

This whole situation calls for a complete overhaul of the police department. It has been clear for years that the entire system is questionable at best, and corrupt in every level at worst. But Memphis and the rest of Tennessee would rather kick the can down the road and focus on budget cuts or a new stadium instead of focusing on human rights. Did Martin Luther King, JR die for nothing in Memphis? My former hometown can and should do better.

The New York Times tripped this week

Major backlash has started following a New York Times Op Ed by Pamela Paul called In Defense of JK Rowling. If you decide to read the opinion, go for it. But this is most professional gaslighting I have yet to read.

To quote Bo Burnham: “The backlash to the backlash to the thing that’s just begun/ There it is again/ That funny feeling/ That funny feeling.”

Table Top Ideas

And now for more positive news…

I recently hosted my own game of D&D and loved it! I’m now looking for resources to help make things even more fun. There’s a lot of discourse on what’s better: analog vs. digital content. In the wake of the OGL debacle, the flames of chaos have been fanned as more lovers of lore and character sheets debate on the best way to play a table top game.

Personally, I love digital content. That’s not to say that screens dominate the table during the game. It just keeps things less cluttered. The biggest bonus is that a map (among character sheets and other small details) can be printed out and drawn over a million times over!

The coolest find this week is a fantasy map maker. Inkarnate is a website that allows any Game Creator to create a map to their own specifications. The range is tremendous; from world maps to furniture decorating a building, it has it all. My first impression: this caters to the medieval setting that most are used to seeing in D&D. My hope is that they accommodate other map aesthetics as well.

Color Coded Calendar

Each week I keep track of events so you don’t have to! This is amazing since I’m neurodivergent. But below are events that I really think you’ll enjoy…

Each week The New Parkway Theater in Oakland has a variety of events. The two that I love the most are Drinks & Dragons (Wednesdays) and Trivia (Thursdays) respectively. Check out The New Parkway website for further information on these and other events. You cannot go wrong no matter what day you show up.

Monthly Stuff

OmNomNom Burlesque will perform at Amado’s in the Mission District. This month’s theme is Afro Futurism.

998 Valencia St.

February 25th at 8.30pm

Pop Culture

Each week I include media that I’ve enjoyed. If you’re a creator of any kind, please email me to be included in this list. I love discovering new artists; from singer-songwriters to upcoming directors, and beyond.

This week a special mention must be made to the video below. Tennessee has done a lot of questionable things lately. But something UNquestionable was Clyde Stubblefield and his contribution to Hip Hop, among other genres of music.

A short documentary about Clyde Stubblefield.

  • I love dogs. NYC banned dogs on subways. This beautiful mess happened.

  • I was hanging out with friends after Poetry Slime, and we started talking about bands we listen to. I’ve always enjoyed the more mainstream stuff, but I took notes. I’m in love with these new-to-me bands:

    • Plumander

    • Destroy Boys

    • Illuminati Hotties

    • Japanther

    • Amyl and the Sniffers

Hurricane Holiday Season 2022 | Writing Blog

I do my best to organize my thoughts, but I’m always afraid that I come across as rambly. For what it’s worth, I want to start a discussion about first drafts for any manuscript, not just my own. On here or Instagram.

Writing Blog

The holidays can feel like a hurricane. Many of us have already been through the whirlwind known as Thanksgiving Day (or Turkey Day, as I like to call it). Like it or not, you’ve got to admit there’s an awful lot of logistics involved. And now there’s December, which gives way into the new year. Even then, there are birthdays and other cultural holidays that begin that just keep on rolling. The point is: you think it’s over after Thanksgiving, but then there’s more to go. Then there’s a deceptive lull. And before you know it, it’s over.

This hurricane metaphor has been true of my first draft. For five months there have been plenty of writing, planning, talking with friends and acquaintances, reading comics (relavent I swear!), and other sorts of craziness. Early on it felt like my brain had turned to mush, and that scared me. I wondered if I was already burnt out. Or it could have been another issue (see my autism posts, which need to be updated honestly). Whatever the issue, it became apparent that I needed different environs in order to write through parts of the book that I was stuck on. And thus my YouTube channel idea was born (after other ideas, of course).

After all of that, I considered joining National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) in October. But in the last week of spooky month The End occurred. The end of the book, that is. I primarily focused on the whirlwind that was the characters, their needs, and the abrupt conclusion with a strange Doctor Who-inspired ending.

I found myself writing more than usual. Generally I write in short bursts and need to take a break but not that week! And it was a damn rollercoaster, the interactions, espionage, trying to bring all the various threads to the final fight. Ending one chapter and setting things up for the next. It was the most exciting thing since moving out to California.

After I wrote that final twist at the end, I realized that Hurricane Holiday Season had only just begun.

There are a lot of things that come to mind after completing this draft that I had to take a break from.

  • How much closer to being published am I?

  • How do I find an agent again?

  • Oh shit, what do I do about revisions?

  • How long do I need to wait before revising?

There were more, but I focused (and still am focusing) on revisions first. And that’s another deep conversation for another post. But the first part of this writing journey is done. For book one, since this is a series. I must be a glutton for punishment because I know this book is only going to expand from here.

I hope you survived NaNoWriMo unscathed. And I hope the rest of the Hurricane Holiday Season treats you well.

Here’s what I’ve been up to this week…

I rely on music now more than ever. For rest and relaxation, for writing, road tripping, you get the idea. According to Spotify, I seem to listen to Pop the most. But I’ve been following more Punk, Ska, and Jazz lately. Anyway, here are links to music and other content that I’m consuming. This helps while I’m writing.

Speaking of writing, I started the first chapter of my next book while filming at Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park. I decided to do this while waiting to revise the first book and outline the second one. I have most of the broad strokes down, but for the second novel I need to get more specific details down.

Alexander Lasarenko, and I found out him through this documentary by Defunctland on YouTube.

Chloie and the Scouts

Books! I read a ton of books at once, so it’s worth my time to only mention one at a time. If I’m honest, I think it would be overwhelming to list them all off at once.

A Scatter of Light