Merry Gangemi is a writer, activist, poet, editor, and all around dilettante.
Her short fiction and poetry can be found in Paterson Literary Review, Journal of New Jersey Poets, Sinister Wisdom, and Harrington Lesbian Fiction Quarterly.
She was awarded the Audre Lorde creative writing award for poetry in 1999 and currently resides in Woodbury, Vermont via San Francisco.
July 30, 2006
Shakespeare Undone?
Move over Harold Bloom and Frank Kermode! Robin P. Williams is poised and ready to challange the most important question in Literature.
In her latest book, Sweet Swan of Avon, Williams outlines and discusses a topic she has been researching for seven years: Did a woman write Shakespeare?
Consider these documented facts:
So tune in to Woman-Stirred Radio this week for a fascinating discussion with Robin P. Williams, author of Sweet Swan of Avon. Woman-Stirred Radio every Thursday afternoon 4 to 6pm (EST) only on www.wgdr.org.
Post and Read Comments (0)July 15, 2006
Tea & Poetry
May 30, 2006
Nicki Hastie Crosses The Pond to Woman-Stirred Radio
It is almost Thursday and that means Woman-Stirred Radio at 4pm (EST). This week I am thrilled to host Nicki Hastie, of Nottingham, UK, a Dyke whose take on the world of Lesbian writing is exuberating and exhilarating. Case in point: Nicki's poem, Tender, written in April 2006.
I worked that summer with a host of dykes
and, newly-single, tended fertile growth
in more than one direction. Found my likes
accentuated in an armpit. Both,
to be precise. Their hairy hypnosis
informed imaginative dreams of lust.
Caressing feathered tufts, I knew a kiss
was preferential when wings free, robust.
So when the bed I truly nourished told
me that a cancer joined us there, we sobbed;
despaired; prepared to face our future bold.
And to this day you’ll say how you feel robbed
as lovers seeking ways to overcome
my urgent breath unfelt, your armpit numb.
Nicki was born in Hereford, UK in 1969. She completed her BA in English Literature and then an MA in "Modern Literature: Theory and Practice" at Leicester University.
Nicki's research and published writings have focused on coming out stories, lesbian fiction and representations of lesbians in popular culture. She has joined trAce to stimulate more creative output on similar topics. Her published work includes:
Nicki Hastie (1993) "Lesbian Bibliomythography"
in Gabriele Griffin (ed.) Outwrite: Lesbianism and Popular Culture London: Pluto Press, pp.68-85
Nicki Hastie (1994) "It All Comes Out in the Wash: Lesbians in Soaps"
Trouble & Strife No. 29/30 (Winter 1994/95): 33-38
Nicki Hastie, Sarah Porch & Lou Brown (1995)
"Doing it Ourselves: Promoting Women's Health as Feminist Action" in Gabriele Griffin (ed.) Feminist activism in the 1990s London: Taylor & Francis, pp.13-27
Nicki Hastie (1999) "Origins and Activities of a Self-Help Support Center in Nottingham, UK"
International Journal of Self Help & Self Care 1.1 (1999-2000): 123-127
Nicki Hastie (2000) "Cultural Conceptions: Lesbian Parenting and Midwifery Practice"
in Diane Fraser (ed.) Professional Studies for Midwifery Practice Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, pp.63-75
Andrea Barker & Nicki Hastie (2001) "The Cancer Journals"
Diva (October 2001): 8-9
Nicki Hastie (2003) "A Woman Shaved: a sign of what'"
The Student Underground Issue 43 pdf version (May 2003): 13
(1999 article reproduced with permission - original article on her website at: www.nickiehastie.demon.co.uk).
Please join us this Thursday, June 1st, for an interview with Nickie Hastie. Tune in (91.1 fm) or stream it live at www.wgdr.org. Interview starts at 4:30 (EST). Air studio phone number: 802 454-7762.
Post and Read Comments (0)May 15, 2006
Mary Cheney, Patrick Kennedy, & the New York Times
In today’s NY Times (Monday, May 15, 2006), Mary Cheney is pushing her new book and Sheryl Gay Stolberg is filling us in on all the emotional baggage Patrick Kennedy has carried since he was born into the most loved and hated Democratic clan and how, now, he is fighting the stigma of mental illness. Mary Cheney speaks from the Mayflower Hotel over lunch with Elizabeth Bumiller, and Patrick Kennedy reaches out to us from a press conference the day after he crashed his Mustang into a Washington, DC barricade in the middle of the night.
It is fascinating when the some of the next generation political children come of age and get in gear. Mary Cheney worked for her father's election campaigns and Patrick Kennedy is a Representative from Rhode Island.
I wonder if Patrick conferred with Rush Limbaugh about how to handle the spin on his criminal behavior of allegedly driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. And who is going to explain why Mr. Kennedy was not given a breathalyzer test'
I also marvel at Mary Cheney, whose mother wrote a lesbian pot boiler which can be bought on eBay for some thousands of dollars, and whose father is a high-speed conduit to millions for every military-industrialist in the free world, describes her dad as a big, warm, fuzzy guy and believes that the federal marriage amendment underscores the futility of fighting a single-issue cause.
That Mary made a comfortable living working for her dad’s election and re-election campaigns is as interesting as the very existence of the Log Cabin Republicans. Who but rich Republicans believe that they can buy dignity and equal rights and protections under the law, and who but the son of a wealthy American clan could expect to escape the consequences of driving under the influence'
And Americans complain about entitlement” Wow.
Post and Read Comments (0)April 19, 2006
A Special Show for Tee Corinne
Thursday's show (April 20th) will be all music and dedicated to Tee Corinne... because being really really sick is the pits and sometimes music soothes the pain.
Broadcast begins at 4 pm (EST)
Any requests'
Call the air studio at 802 454 7762 or email me during the show at mgangemi@sover.net
Post and Read Comments (0)April 20th Interview Cancelled
The Thursday, April 20th Woman-Stirred Radio interview with Rev. Jan Griesinger has been cancelled.
Post and Read Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)April 06, 2006
Julie R. Enszer on Catie Curtis
When Merry started the Woman-Stirred radio hour a few months ago, I was thrilled that she was going to interview not only poets and writers but also musicians and artists. For me the creative expressions of our queer-ness is not limited to words but must necessarily include our bodies - our ears, our eyes, our hearts, our souls. We need that stimulation of all senses.
Still, I as a poet feel a special kinship with the folksingers. I confess, it may be jealousy that is the root of my kinship; I'd like to be alone on a stage with a guitar singing my poems. I can't carry a tune. I can't play the guitar. My poems don't have the refrain of the folksongs. They don't have the reassuring lilt of a song. I would wish that they did, but they don't.
Fortunately, others write folksongs. Amazing folksongs. Like Catie Curtis. I first heard Catie Curtis when she had just put together her first album, From Years to Hours. She came and sang at a local coffeehouse. I loved her. Her lyrics made me swoon. They were poems set to music.
But I'm not being radical when I kiss you I don't love you to make a point It's the hollow of my heart that cries when I miss you And it keeps me alive when we're apart
Is it morning' Is it night' She don't know, can't remember which is dark and which is light Is this the end of life' She don't know, can't remember if she's young or if she's old
I've got my grandmother's name, but she don't remember who I am
Her music grew from that first album to now include a handful of CDs, online song releases, regular tours, and my favorite venue for her: Provincetown.
All of the women (wimmin') of Woman-Stirred have been talking about how amazing Merry's show is because it captures our shared lesbian/bi/trans culture. Catie Curtis is an important part of that for me. You'll want to tune into www.wgdr.org on Thursday, April 6, 2006 at 4:30 p.m. EST to hear Merry interview Catie. The Woman-Stirred radio show starts at 4 p.m. and extends until 6 p.m. Tune in early--I bet Merry will be spinning some of Catie's early and current hits.
Post and Read Comments (0)November 08, 2005
Cora Brooks & Merry Gangemi
For those who are drawn to the language and music of poetry, please mark your calendars for Woodbury Community Library's next program on Thursday, November 17th at 7pm. And for those who haven't had the opportunity to listen to the spoken word of poetry and/or to talk about words, meaning, structure, flow of this art form, now is your chance!
The Library's Poetry Reading and Discussion will be presented by local poets Merry Gangemi and Cora Brooks. The program is free, open to the public and refreshments will be served. Come out for the evening and bring a friend! For more information, contact Patricia Tedesco at 456-7404 or WoodburyCLibrary@aol.com.
Thank you for the continued support of your community library!
Patricia Tedesco, on behalf of the trustees Elizabeth Hansen, Tom Beers, Cassie Molleur and Larisa Vigue Picard
September 26, 2005
Montpelier March 09/24/05
September 08, 2005
Katrina Benefit
Sunday, September 11, 2005. 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Montpelier HS auditorium.
Featuring:
Bread & Puppet
Michael Arnowitt
Marjorie Ryerson
Anything Goes, with Ben Koenig & Mark Greenberg
Cora Brooks
Peggy Sapphire
Susan Thomas
the Montpelier HS Jazz Band
and many more!
Free admission... but donations gladly accepted!
Underwritten by Annie's Naturals
American Friends Service Committee
& Merry Gangemi
September 02, 2005
Grace Paley & Friends
What is amazing about Tea & Poetry is that it simply is what it is: Vermonters coming to hear the poetry of Vermonters and helping their fellow Vermonters in the process.
On Saturday, August 27th, about thirty people (me included) who came to hear Cora Brooks, and Bob and Charlie Barasch read their poetry. The setting was the tea garden at Perennial Pleasures. The sun shone, the birds sang, and in the distance, someone was mowing.
Bob Barasch’s Aging Gracefully, is an unassuming book that chronicles the relationships in life that somehow burrow into our consciousness and remind us of the intricate simplicities of our relationships with family and friends. Bob’s work is unassuming, and his telling of it clear and sophisticated. Bob Barasch does not posture; he tells us his emotional secrets without trying to gloss over his frailties. Anyone who reads his work will be satisfied to have done so.
Charlie Barasch is a poet of a different stripe. If his father is firmly grounded in his intuitive observations, Charlie is a master at extrapolating thoughts and dreams. Through his brilliant poems narrating the dreams of our presidents, Charlie Barasch somehow manages to validate their humanity. Imagine the dream of John F. Kennedy, a montage of sexual energy and Catholic remorse; the dream of George H.W. Bush as he reconfigures his memories as a fighter pilot in WWII; the dream of Grover Cleveland, as he reconstructs his own disasters. And then there are the Charlie’s baseball poems; gems in the order of Americana and myth.
And Cora Brooks, who gave us an amazing poem from memory; a poems of how the reality of air moves through the mind; of how tactile experience translates into profound truth; of how no one among us is barred from experiencing the sensuality and excitement of what we see and hear in the flow of everyday life. Of how futile it is to fight the normalcy of springtime wasps in the attic, or the profundity of participating in her daughter’s marriage to the woman of her dreams.
Sunday, August 28, 2005: Susan Thomas, Jane Shore, Judith Kane, and Grace Paley.
The day was rainy but the East Hardwick Grange welcomed all of us to hear the poems of these remarkable women.
From Susan Thomas’s brilliant poems from her work-in-progress, The Empty Notebook, to Jane Shore’s vignettes of childhood, friends, and cultural iconography, to Judith Kane’s complex narratives of experience, observation, and memory, to Grace Paley’s masterpieces of emotion and her clear-eyed assessment of war, misogyny, and violence, not one minute was wasted.
These poets had messages to deliver and the 75 people who gathered in the East Hardwick Grange (the gardens were too wet from Sunday’s rains), saw and heard some of the most important contemporary poets in Vermont (if not the country).
It is unclear why so many Vermonters come to hear the work of these poets. But my guess is that Vermonters love their poets, and respect and honor what their poets have to say.
Please join David Budbill, Martha Zweig, and April Bernard next Saturday, September 3rd, for the final reading of Tea & Poetry, 2005. The readings are free but donations to benefit the Hardwick Area Food Pantry are gratefully accepted. Come early for Tea at Perennial Pleasures. Reservations are required. Call 472-5104.
Post and Read Comments (0)August 21, 2005
Poets Shine for Tea & Poetry
The clouds and drizzle did not discourage the 40-odd people who came to Perennial Pleasures to hear Myra Shapiro, Peggy Sapphire, and Jody Gladding read their poems. We simple moved the reading from the gardens to the Victorian living room of Judith and Rachel Kane's farmhouse. The afternoon was more salon than event... and the interplay of words and emotion held everyone's attention.
The differences of style and presentation coalesced into a message of peace, the necessity of truth, and a profound consciousness of the time and place we occupy in this corner of America.
Myra Shapiro's poems are lyric and confident; the intensity of her respect for the very spirit of poetry weaves craft to the heritage of Poetry. Myra's tribute to Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet was infused with the ironic juxtaposition of what is seen, to the shadows of what is hidden from plain sight. On a trip to Istanbul in 2000, the Four Seasons hotel she stayed in had been Hikmet's prison, and the taxi driver, who drew a blank when directed to The Four Seasons, immediately recognized the address as the former prison.
Peggy Sapphire's gutsy intensity brings the personal experience of family and politics front and center; one can hardly ignore the connections between our collective, personal histories and how we negotiate the trappings of social class, economic exploitation, and political reality.
And Jody Gladding brought with her an experimental piece that starkly underscored the ugliness of the commercial development of Sabin Pasture (a well-loved area in Montpelier) to the bones of the very pasture itself. Her ingenious use of the split log, the layered slab of slate, and the mobile constructed of stick, feather, and slivers of slate, forced us to connect the pieces of our earth to the obscenity of its abuse.
If this first reading of the series is any indication of what's to come over the next few weeks, then I'm sure we will want more.
Next Saturday, August 27th at Perennial Pleasures, please join Bob Barasch, Cora Brooks, and Charlie Barasch for another Tea & Poetry delight.
On Sunday, August 28th, please join Grace Paley, Susan Thomas, and Jane Shore. All readings begin at 4pm.
Post and Read Comments (0)August 18, 2005
Candlelight Vigil in Montpelier in support of Cindy Sheehan
More than 200 people gathered tonight in front of the Post office in Montpelier in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan. And for a small city like Montpelier, the turnout was profoundly reassuring... Emperor Bush might do well to take his head out of his backside and look around... something has shifted in the hearts and minds of many many Americans, and I don't think it bodes well for the lame duck in Washington to ignore it.
This war was based on lies and deception. Mr. Bush must be held accountable.
Action: Please send a postcard a day to Cindy Sheehan at the following address.
It is crucial that you use the complete 9 digit zip code. The Crawford post office is not delivering postcards that do not have the 9 digit zip code.
Cindy Sheehan
Crawford Peace House
9142 East 5th Street
Crawford, TX 76638-3037
August 17, 2005
Tea & Poetry 2005
The second annual Tea & Poetry series begins this Saturday, August 20th, at Perennial Pleasures in East Hardwick. Local poets Peggy Sapphire and Jody Gladding will be joined by Myra Shapiro, of NYC, in what promises to be a wonderful start to this year’s series.
Judith Kane, of Perennial Pleasures, will be serving her delightfully delectable English crème tea from noon until four. Reservations are a must and tea patrons should give themselves plenty of time to enjoy their scones and cucumber sandwiches before the readings begin.
The four-part series runs weekends from August 20th to September 3rd and features Vermont poets or poets who are deeply connected to the Vermont communities in which they have studied or taught. All readings start at 4pm and are free of charge, but donations on behalf of the Hardwick Area Food Pantry will be gratefully accepted. The Galaxy Bookshop, of Hardwick, will sell copies of the authors’ books.
Jody Gladding, of East Calais, was born in York, Pennsylvania and graduated from Franklin and Marshall College. She received an MFA from Cornell University. She has translated many books from the French, including Evil and Exile, by Elie Wiesel.
Gladding's Stone Crop (Yale University Press) was the winner of the Yale Younger Poets Award in 1993. Writer James Dickey notes "Skiing, swimming, hiking, collecting, bringing items found in the woods and creeks and making them part of her living-space are all functions of Jody Gladding's interpretation with the world, fascinating, rare, and desirable. She can go deep, and with a naturalness that requires no effort."
Jody’s poems have been published in many journals, among them The Paris Review, Grand Street, and Poetry Northwest. She has received the American Academy of Poets Prize (1981), the Clarence Urmy Poetry Prize of Stanford (1983) and the Vermont Council for the Arts Finalist Award (1990).
Myra Shapiro was born in the Bronx, NY, and returned to live in New York after 45 years in Georgia and Tennessee where she married, raised two daughters, and worked as a librarian and teacher of English. Her poems have appeared in Harvard Review, The Ohio Review, River Styx, Pearl, Ploughshares, The Poetry Miscellany, Southern Indiana Review, as well as many anthologies. She won the New School's Dylan Thomas Poetry Award, and is the recipient of two fellowships from The MacDowell Colony. She serves on the Board of Directors of Poets House in New York City, a library and meeting place for poets. I'll See You Thursday is her first full- length book.
Peggy Sapphire, was born in Brooklyn, NY. Her family moved to Florida in the late 40s, and then to Costa Rica in the mid-1950s, where Peggy finished high school. She is a graduate of Queens College, NY, and was an educator in New York State public schools, as well as an adjunct professor in several colleges. She is former editor of Connecticut River Review, a national poetry journal. Her work has been published in various journals and anthologized in several collections, including Poets Against the War, edited by Sam Hamill, and The Circle Continues, edited by Judith Duert. An anthology, All That I Remember, is forthcoming in 2006. Peggy is an active member of the Women’s International Writing Guild.
This year’s Tea & Poetry poster was designed and executed by Gwen Marsha, of Woodbury, who generously donated her time and talent.
The series is produced by Merry Gangemi. She can be reached at 802 456-1630.
For tea reservations, call Perennial Pleasures, at 802 472-5104.
August 13, 2005
Perennial Pleasures
Perennial Pleasures is close to almost perfect and simply perfect for Tea & Poetry
Post and Read Comments (0)July 19, 2005
Tea & Poetry 2005
The 2nd annual "Tea & Poetry" at Perennial Pleasures in East Hardwick, VT
Saturday, August 20th. 4pm
Myra Shapiro, Peggy Sapphire, & Jody Gladding
Saturday, August 27th. 4pm
Bob Barash, Cora Brooks, & Charlie Barash
Sunday, August 28th. 4pm
Grace Paley, Susan Thomas, & Jane Shore
Saturday, September 3rd. 4pm
Martha Zweig, David Budbill, & April Bernard
Continue reading "Tea & Poetry 2005"
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June 27, 2005
Sinister Wisdom
Check out the website of the oldest lesbian feminist journal in the United States.
Next issue: Lesbian Mothers and Grandmothers
Available in October 2005.
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