I'd Forgotten

I'd forgotten I ever commented on this; that whole time feels very numbed. I stand by what I said at the time, though:

Vox Pop: War in America
25 September 2001

Four American RainbowNetwork readers give their side of the story following the terrorist attacks, the media frenzy surrounding the events, and the possibility of American retaliation in the Middle East.

• I think the media, both British and American, has been very irresponsible in their reportage of the situation: the constant repetition of celebrating Palestinians; the repeated comments of such reactionary U.S. politicians such as Hatch and Baker. I don`t understand where the BBC and Channel 4 are pulling all these right-wing U.S. speakers from to make their so-called considered comments, including some of the American ex-pats they`ve been quoting on the British TV networks. I wish they`d interviewed me. When I talk to my family and friends in the U.S., I have heard nothing but distress and shock, fear of war, abhorrence of the possibility of bombing and hopes for peace. This is a viewpoint that has not been publicised; with typical sterotyping, the British media prefers to show an America that exhibits knee-jerk jingoism.
Kathleen Bryson, writer and editor, London

From an article by Charlotte Cooper

New Review

(^this was one of the pictures that was published with the article)

I had a great new review (article, really) for Girl on a Stick in Just Out magazine today:

“Able to move with ease between mediums, Kathleen Bryson is one of those multifarious talents that Portland attracts like moths to a benevolent flame. She is binational, bisexual and bilingual, and she is or has been an author, editor, actor, director, painter, riot grrrl, model, anthropologist, linguist and abundant storehouse of arcane information. (A few days after I interviewed her for this article, she joined my little crew for the filming of a short movie at the Washougal River; during the course of the day she cursed in Finnish, discussed the finer points of Neanderthal cranial formation with my male lead, and took off her high heels to scuffle barefoot down a steep rocky slope.)...

Girl on a Stick is subversive in that it's a love story in which the couple's ultimate break-up is the happy ending. Equally intriguing are the novel's stylistic innovations… There is extensive, semi-Joycean wordplay, and the text is enlivened with drawings, diagrams and crosswords that drive home the interconnectedness of its themes and the fact, alternately depressing and liberating, that our childhood remains with us forever.”

(article by Tony LeTigre - here in its entirety)

Kenai, Alaska: My Class Reunion Was Great

My old kindergarten pals Cathy and Matthew and, below, Matthew, Matthew's partner Ray and myself. It was a blast, to use some appropriately 1980s slang - I was so glad I went. Everything good-spirited; saw old friends like David Oberg and Dean Carignan and the Wagoner Twins and Rob Innes, all of whom I've known since we were all 3 years old (!) - okay, I've only known Rob since we were 7 - and nearly all of whom are in the first picture, where we're looking at our kindergarten class picture. There's such a real warmth that connects you to people you've known that long - it was wonderful to feel that link after not seeing people for so many years.

New Publication

I just had a short story, "So Cool" published (and let me tell you, I really needed that $50 check that arrived for the story this week).

Devilish pictures for those so inclined.

Eden II: Strange Fruit 1996 (print exhibited)


Succubus 1995 (original exhibited)


Upside-Down Eden 1994/1997 (original exhibited)


Little Devil 1994/1997 (original exhibited)


The Fall 1994 (original exhibited)


Dreamy 1996 (original exhibited)


O my demons.

I am feeling better now. But I still think a 15-16 year slog as an artist is a loooonnng time. It is hard not to be envious of those handed artistic freedom/money/prestige on a platter. And I have simple tastes. I am not talking a $500,000 book deal or a show at the Guggenheim. I am talking regular exhibition space; a steady relationship with a reputable publishing house.

Your Score: N-S-R

You scored 66% Non-Reductionism, 22% Epistemological Absolutism, and 33% Moral Objectivism!

You are an N-S-R: a metaphysical Non-Reductionist, an epistemological Skeptic, and a moral Relativist.

Link: The Sublime Philosophical Crap Test written by saint_gasoline on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Struggle

I want a book deal for The Matchbox. Is that so wrong? I want Girl on a Stick officially out, I want the film finished. I am so tired of waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.

I am probably in a different situation than most whining authors - Girl on a Stick *has* a publisher, will be published (soon); I *have* a lovely agent who is repping The Matchbox, and big-deal publishers *are* currently interested in it. The film is *nearly* finished, after five years. Almost. And yet, and yet, I made $8,000 last year. There is no real publishing industry in this town, so employment is, er "frustrating". I am way below poverty-line, and I am tired of struggling. I am tired of struggling as an author, painter, filmmaker. I have been struggling, not to "make it", but just to have a voice, since I was 22. That is 15 years of struggle, and it has worn me down.

I also find it hard to retain optimism in this difficult world.

15 years of graft; I know if I just hang on a little longer, but I am really tired. Really tired. And all I've done, all the paintings, short films I've acted in, films I've created, books I've written, ALL of those I have done while working full-time, as a publisher, editor, waitress, envelope-stuffer, persimmon-polisher, you name it. I am not a privileged artist. I'm just so fucking tired.

The Jetstones

Here.

I Just Can't Stop.

The Witch and the Princess.

Breakfast

Over here.