METROPOLARITY

2014 Allied Media Conference in Detroit
2014-06-19 - 2014-06-23 | PA
Join Metropolarity & network at this year’s The Allied Media Conference, a collaborative laboratory of media-based organizing strategies for transforming our world, held every Summer in Detroit!
DID U KNOW? METROPOLARITY PRESENTS A SCI-FI FOCUSED PROGRAMMING TRACK THIS YEAR!
Liberation Technologies: Sci-Fi for World Building & Survival
The post-apocalypse is here and real, where ancient and varied modes of survival and technology have been erased in the name of Empire and Progress. What do we do when access to memory/the past is standardized? This track explores how people at the margins can remix, rewire, and revive emancipatory technologies such as storytelling, world-building, magic, sci-fi and speculation to envision and conjure narratives of power and joy. Through engagement with tools like portals and time-travel, we will develop strategies to manifest new/ancient narratives into reality. We will envision a world that has happened, is happening, and will happen. We hope that travelers will walk away with the courage to embody the power of fiction and visioning in healing personal and historical trauma and disenfranchisement. We want to create and share multifaceted inclusive networks that emerge our bodies from isolation and oppressive paradigms to keep our souls alive.
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ABOUT THE AMC
CREATE
At the AMC, we understand media as any way in which we communicate with the world, from zines to breakdancing, to designing neighborhood-based communications infrastructure. We share and create media that exposes, investigates, heals, builds confidence and radical hope, incites dialogue and debate. We demystify technology, not only learning how to use it, but how to design and build our own. In doing so, we redefine technology’s role and impact in our lives. The AMC creates learning environments for all ages and skill levels, including hands-on workshops, strategy sessions, presentations and performances.
CONNECT
The AMC is a network of networks – social justice organizers, community technologists, transformative artists, educators, entrepreneurs, and many others — all using media in innovative ways. Some of these networks sprout from the conference, grow over the course of the year then reconvene in Detroit larger and healthier. Others use the AMC as an annual point of convergence and a space to forge new relationships. Through cycles of participatory investigation and experimentation, our networks continue to grow, generating new theories and practices of media-based organizing.
TRANSFORM
As our networks grow, so does our capacity to take collective actions to transform our world. At the AMC, we develop new leaders and new forms of leadership, design new methods of problem-solving, cultivate the visions of our communities and build our power to make those visions real.
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Browse the 2014 Tracks, Practice Spaces, and Network Gatherings that make up the AMC here!
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REGISTER TO ATTEND! ／／／　FIND HOUSING, RIDESHARES, CHILDCARE & ACCESSIBILITY HERE
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Allied Media Projects Network Principles
We are making an honest attempt to solve the most significant problems of our day.
We are building a network of people and organizations that are developing long-term solutions based on the immediate confrontation of our most pressing problems.
Wherever there is a problem, there are already people acting on the problem in some fashion. Understanding those actions is the starting point for developing effective strategies to resolve the problem, so we focus on the solutions, not the problems.
We emphasize our own power and legitimacy.
We presume our power, not our powerlessness.
We spend more time building than attacking.
We focus on strategies rather than issues.
The strongest solutions happen through the process, not in a moment at the end of the process.
The most effective strategies for us are the ones that work in situations of scarce resources and intersecting systems of oppression because those solutions tend to be the most holistic and sustainable.
Place is important. For the AMC, Detroit is important as a source of innovative, collaborative, low-resource solutions. Detroit gives the conference a sense of place, just as each of the conference participants bring their own sense of place with them to the conference.
We encourage people to engage with their whole selves, not just with one part of their identity.
We begin by listening.

2014 Trans Literary Salon
2014-06-12 19:30 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | Leeway Foundation, 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 832, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
In conjunction with the 2014 Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference, the Leeway Foundation presents their Second Trans Literary Salon highlighting the work of emerging literary artists from a diversity of genres including poetry, fiction, memoir, and spoken word. The salon will feature readings from Annie Mok, (ACG ’13), Darkmatter, Imogen Binnie, J Mase III (ACG ’07), and Kokumomedia Inc.. Audience members are invited to bring work to share. Hosted by J Mason III. Thursday, June 12 from 7:30pm – 9:00pm at the Leeway Foundation (1315 Walnut Street, Suite 832). Location is wheelchair accessible.
Co-sponsors:The Apiary Corp., Thread Makes Blanket, Trans Masculine Alliance Network, Topside Press, Sisterly Love, and William Way LGBT Community Center
RSVP HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2014-trans-literary-salon-tickets-11372283807
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Annie Mok
Annie Mok writes and draw comic books, both solo, and collaboratively with artists including Emily Carroll and Sophia Foster-Dimino. She recently illustrated and designed a zine edition of Casey Plett’s short story ‘Lizzy & Annie.’ Annie draws an ongoing diary comics strip for ‘Comics Workbook’ called ‘Bleed-Throughs.’ She sings in the pop band See-Through Girls. Find out more about Annie’s work here.
DarkMatter
DarkMatter is a trans/national queer South Asian activist creative hivemind that likes to think about alternative post/colonial cyborg digestive futures && spit expletives about prison abolition and heteropatriarchy. You can read more about their work @DarkMatterRage and/or darkmatterrage.com.
Imogen Binnie
Imogen Binnie writes the zines The Fact That It’s Funny Doesn’t Make It A Joke and Stereotype Threat. She also writes a monthly column for Maximum Rocknroll magazine, and her work has been featured in The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard, as well as on prettyqueer.com, lambdaliterary.org and elsewhere. She writes about books at KeepYourBridgesBurning.com and her first novel, Nevada, was published in 2013. It is the recipient of a MOTHA Award and a finalist in the 26th Annual Lambda Literary Awards.
J Mase III
J Mase III is a black/trans/queer poet currently based in Brooklyn. The creator of the traveling performance event Cupid Ain’t @#$%!: An Anti-Valentine’s Day Poetry Movement, J Mase has shared his special brand of poetry on stages around the U.S. and UK. An organ donor, he is the author of If I Should Die Under the Knife, Tell My Kidney I Was the Fiercest Poet Around. In J Mase’s other life as an educator and activist, he has worked with thousands of community members and service providers across the country on the needs of LGBTQ youth and adults in spaces such as faith communities, elementary schools, domestic violence shelters, medical agencies, juvenile justice organizations, and foster care programs, among others. An advocate of really fierce scars and queering scripture, he currently spends his offstage time teaching poetry at various youth organizations. To find out more about J Mase III, feel free to stalk (follow) him on Twitter @jmaseiii, Facebook J Mase III, or track him on his website at jmaseiii.com.
KOKUMỌ
KOKUMỌ is the CEO/Founder of KOKUMOMEDIA INC., a Black transwoman run and operated multimedia production company that uses music, film, theatre, and literature to illuminate experiences of TGI people of color. For more information, please visit kokumedia.com.

2014 Philly Literary Family Reunion & Potluck
2014-06-08 13:00 - 17:00 | Clark Park, 4300 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
VIA OUR FRIENDS, APIARY MAGAZINE
Us Philly poets and writers are lucky to have a beautiful & eccentric extended literary family. Over the last 5 years, APIARY’s met many newfound brothers and sisters, weirdo cousins, inspiring aunties and uncles, adorable nieces and nephews, and wise grands. After a busy spring, it’s time to catch up with everyone!
So on June 8, we’re throwing the first annual Philly Literary Family Reunion in Clark Park. No planned readings, no speeches, no bios. Just a grill & music & any Philly poet, writer, and reader who considers themselves fam.
Bring food or drink (it’s a public park, and there will be folks of all ages, so booze just needs to be non-visible and lowkey … don’t want it to be THAT kind of family reunion…). If you like, one of your chapbooks, CDs, etc to swap. And bring your family, too!
See you soon. Love,
APIARY

FLEX GATE: RETURN OF THE HOUSE PARTY
2014-05-31 22:00 | HOUSE OF SPIRIT & TIME, 4823 Hazel Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
／／／／／N　E　X　T 　L　E　V　E　L　！！！
Metropolarity﻿ and Liberation Technologies﻿ UNITE!
OUR MOST EXCELLENT GALAXY HIGH SPECULATIVE HOUSE PARTY CREWS RETURN FOR A WYLD TYME EXPEDITIONARY EXCURSION INTO OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE!
≠ BRING YOUR 11TH DIMENSIONAL BEACONS
≠ BRING YOUR OTHER SELVES
≠ BRING FIVE ($5) BUCKS ／／／C0Z DRINKS & GEAR WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURRRCHA$E
DJs ON DECK 4 SOUNDSCAPE::::::::
≈ PRECOLUMBIAN of CUTN PASTE n SELENA [queer global bass jawn]
≈ DJ JOHN MORRISON ΩΩΩ
≈ DJ ALEX SM1TH of FLY LIFE n LASER LIFE [queer sci-fi reading series]
≈ DJ AURA

LIMINAL/TEMPORAL YARD SALE
2014-05-25 11:00 - 16:00 | CASTLE, 4800 Warrington Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
ANOTHER FUNDRAISER** FOR THE Liberation Technologies SCI-FI TRACK OF THE ALLIED MEDIA CONFERENCE, this June 19~22 in Detroit!
+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
♡　WEARABLE ITEMS
☆　REFRESHING TEA DRINKS
♡　ONIGIRI RICE TRIANGLES
☆　METROPOLARITY SCI-FI ZINES 4 SALE
♡　OLD WEIRD STUFF (MUSIC/MOVIES/ELECTRONICS/WHAT)
☆　JEWELRY & DECORRR
♡　WELLNESS POTIONS by Stitch Prism x Honey & Blackbone Tarot
☆ AND OTHER ITEMS FOR REFRESHING/REORIENTING UR GENDER/MIND/MATTER STATE
+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
☆　HAVE STUFF YOU WANT TO DONATE TO THE SALE?　☆
MESSAGE US AND WE CAN ARRANGE PICK-UP/DROP-OFF!
+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
**What are we fundraising for exactly? As organizers for the sci-fi track of the AMC, it’s our responsibility to do as much fundraising as possible in order to provide financial assistance for presenters’ travel costs, room and board, and other expenses that they are unable to cover themselves. Providing financial assistance is key to bringing many of the amazing workshop & panel presenters that will make up the 9 sessions of our sci-fi oriented media empowerment track of programming at the AMC. This chumpie is trying to get transformative!
The Allied Media Conference is “a collaborative laboratory of media-based organizing strategies for transforming our world, held every summer in Detroit.” It’s organized entirely by a decentralized network of volunteers.
Want more info?? https://amc.alliedmedia.org/about/amc-mission

Hot Tears :: Alex Smith :: Ex. By V. :: Little Waist :: Marlo Reynolds
2014-05-24 20:00 - 23:00 | Eris Temple Arts, 602 S 52nd Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
you really don’t want to miss a show w/ a lineup like this….
Hot Tears (Olympia based)
http://hottears.bandcamp.com/
Little Waist (Brooklyn queercore / transcore )
http://littlewaist.bandcamp.com/
Alex Smith
Marlo Reynolds
http://marloreynolds.bandcamp.com/

Ex. By V.
http://exbyv.bandcamp.com/
space is right @ S. 52nd & Cedar in w. philly
doors @ 7:30 pm
show will start promptly at 8:00pm!
3 to 5$ sliding scale
no one turned away for lack of funds
all ages
see you soon!!

XTHETIX DIY LOOK-FEEL G00D SALON // MEMORIAL WKND VERSION
2014-05-23 18:00 - 21:00 | Unnamed Venue, Philadelphia
WATS YR XTHETIK? NEED HELP ACCESSING YOUR COMPARTMENTALIZED SELVES?
VISIT XTHETIX, a recurring BEAUTY/WELLNESS SALON & FUNDRAISER** FOR THE Liberation Technologies SCI-FI TRACK OF THE ALLIED MEDIA CONFERENCE, this June 19~22 in Detroit!
♡　NAIL ART
☆　STICK N POKES by TBA
♡　SELF-CARE
☆　MAKEUP GLAMOUR CASTING
♡　SELFIESSSS
☆　SHAPEUPS
♡　BRAIDING
☆　TWISTS
♡　SCALP MASSAGE/HAIR BRUSHING
☆　TAROT by TBA
♡　WELLNESS POTIONS by Stitch Prism x Honey & Blackbone Tarot
EXCLUSIVE WEST PHILLY NAIL FLASH/STICK N POKE FLASH
☆　SPIRITED CONCOCTIONS IF U JUST WANNA LEAN　☆
JEWELRY + LITERATURE 4 SALE tambien!
Clean dry hair, please. Feel free to bring own makeup and nails. Braiding includes cornrows. Message us for special requests or needs. BRING INSPIRATION.
HEY HOW MUCH?
Sliding scale for each station: $7-30
INQUIRE FOR ALL ACCESS PASS ::gasp ooooh::
LOCATION:
PACE STUDIOS
4711 chester ave
1st floor, door on the left,
(but we will be on the porch too ^_~)
please note: this location has stairs :/ but holler at us cause we want you there.
♡ JUST IN TIME TO GET CUTE FOR ALL THOSE BBQS N BACKYARD PARTIES ♡
≠ WEIRDOS FREMEN GLITCHES OANKALI CYBORGS FREAKS SPACERS ALIENS SHIP-OF-THE-IMAGINATION CREW MEMBERS LEY LINE WALKERS ALL ARE WELCOME ≠
Want to volunteer or offer a service for donation or shared cut? MSG US!
**What are we fundraising for exactly? As organizers for the sci-fi track of the AMC, it’s our responsibility to do as much fundraising as possible in order to provide financial assistance for presenters’ travel costs, room and board, and other expenses that they are unable to cover themselves. Providing financial assistance is key to bringing many of the amazing workshop & panel presenters that will make up the 9 sessions of our sci-fi oriented media empowerment track of programming at the AMC. This chumpie is trying to get transformative!
The Allied Media Conference is “a collaborative laboratory of media-based organizing strategies for transforming our world, held every summer in Detroit.” It’s organized entirely by a decentralized network of volunteers.
Want more info?? https://amc.alliedmedia.org/about/amc-mission

STREET THEORY: A Social Criticism Open Mic Night
2014-05-18 19:00 - 22:00 | The Cedar Works, 4919 Pentridge Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
Metropolarity presents a night of community building and sharing. We seek social criticism from the community–performance art, blog rants, monologues, critical sci-fi, thesis excerpts, protest songs–whatever. As long as it explores and dissects the world we live in today. We want to find out what our community feels about social issues. We don’t want theories handed down to us from the ivory tower.
We want your real life STREET THEORY.
Special Guests to be announced.
TO CELEBRATE THE DEBUT OF THIS SERIES, A POTLUCK WILL BE HAD! FEEL FREE TO BRING TREATS TO SHARE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS. 😀
Zines will be sold and donations will be collected for this year’s Allied Media Conference’s Sci-fi Track, coordinated in part by Metropolarity.
Email metropolarity@gmail.com for information on how to participate, otherwise bring your own material to present [reasonable lengths please!].
NOTE: Any ableist, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, or classist performances will be interrupted promptly.

Visionary Literature
2014-05-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Wooden Shoe Books & Records, 704 South Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19147, United States
We know the literary world is not immune to the racism and inequality all around us. And we know we can do better. This reading and panel discussion will explore how two small, independent presses in Philadelphia are exploring issues of race, gender, literature, and a better future.
Rasheedah Phillips of The AfroFuturist Affair /House of Future Sciences Books will present her book, Reccurence Plot (and Other Time Travel Tales), an independently-published novel set in Philly that uses time travel to explore issues of race, gender, trauma, and agency.
Author Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela of Thread Makes Blanket Press will be presenting Dismantle, a contemporary collection of work from the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop, a national workshop that nurtures writers of color. She will be joined by Andrea Walls, one of Dismantle’s editors, and Seve Torres, one of the writers included in the anthology.
Join us for a short reading and a discussion about new visions for literature today and into the future, and to celebrate the release of these two new books.
More information:
http://www.recurrenceplot.com/
www.threadmakesblanket.com
http://www.akpress.org/dismantle.html
Check out what Afropunk just said about Dismantle!

The Future Weird x The AfroFuturist Affair Movie Night
2014-05-10 16:00 - 22:00 | LAVA zone, 4134 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, 19104, United States
The Future Weird short film screening series out of Brooklyn joins The AfroFuturist Affair in Philly for an evening of sci-fi, experimental, speculative & weird short films by directors from Africa and the Global South, with live, thematic musical interludes from experimental/electronic artists Marlo Reynolds and Moor Mother Goddess.
Join us on Saturday, May 10 to screen two of The Future Weird’s curated tracks, VISIONS OF EXCESS and IN SEARCH OF A BLACK ATLANTIS.
VISIONS OF EXCESS features short films which document bodies produced by force. We study body movement which confounds the dichotomy between human and machine. But forget what you know about the sexy cyborg – we’re talking about discipline, ritual, secret societies run by women, the appetites of deep sea creatures, eroticized amputees, and militant bread bakers. Welcome to the black fantastic.
featuring a thematic performance by Moor Mother Goddess
In IN SEARCH OF A BLACK ATLANTIS, water is a cleansing force through which our bodies may be reborn, but it is also a site of memory where disappeared and suppressed things resurface, wash up, or return to us as detritus. Through myths that traverse the Black diaspora we meet a beautiful and dangerous sea goddess named mama wata. Following tourists and then refugees fleeing Europe, we consider stories concerning identity, slavery and commerce, high seas adventure, and the joint appeal and terror of being visited by ancestors or haunted by an unknown past.
featuring a thematic performance by Marlo Reynolds
When: Saturday, May 10, 2014
Where: LAVA Space, 4134 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Time: 4-9pm, with thematic musical interludes
Cost: $5 donation, no one turned away for lack of funds
Snacks
Sponsored by:
Philadelphia Printworks, GriotWorks, The Future Weird, and The AfroFuturist Affair

ROCKERS + SLASH EM UP PRESENTS race+ punk + identity in the new age DAY TWO
2014-04-19 20:00 | The Great Indoors
ROCKERS+ SLASH EM UP PRESENTS
race+ punk + identity in the new age
2 DAYS OF SHOWS/READINGS/ZINES DISTRO
ROCKERS! DAY TWO
FRIDAY APRIL 19th
Featuring::::::::::
THE BREATHING LIGHT (CHI)
TROPHY WIFE
MIGHTY PARADOCS
ALEX SMITH
ATRUTH ANARCHOPUNK (NYC)
DJ HARAM

$5-7
First Rockers of 2014
Don’t miss this.
DAY 1 here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1423252754588602/

ROCKERS + SLASH EM UP PRESENTS race+ punk + identity in the new age DAY ONE
2014-04-18 20:00 | LAVA zone, 4134 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, 19104, United States
ROCKERS+ SLASH EM UP PRESENTS
race+ punk + identity in the new age
2 DAYS OF SHOWS/READINGS/ZINES DISTRO
ROCKERS! DAY ONE
FRIDAY APRIL 18th
Featuring::::::::::
THE BREATHING LIGHT (CHI)
AYE NAKO (NYC)
METROPOLARITY
2 MORE SPECIAL GUEST TBA
DJ MMGZ

$5
Hosted by Adrian Adonis
First Rockers of 2014
Don’t miss this.

Xthetix: Pre-Sissy Hop DIY PREP SALON
2014-04-17 18:00 - 22:00 | HOUSE OF SPIRIT & TIME, 4823 Hazel Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
WATS YR XTHETIK? NEED HELP ACCESSING YOUR COMPARTMENTALIZED SELVES?
VISIT XTHETIX, a recurring FUNDRAISING BENEFIT FOR THE SCI-FI TRACK OF THE ALLIED MEDIA CONFERENCE** ((this June 19~22 in Detroit!)
[info here: https://www.facebook.com/libtechamc
and here: http://liberationtechnologiesamc.tumblr.com/]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NAIL ART | STICK N POKES | SELF-CARE | MAKEUP CONSULTATIONS | SELFIES | SHAPEUPS | BRAIDING | TWISTS | SCALP MASSAGE/HAIR BRUSHING | TAROT
STICK N POKES by GENESIS
TAROT READINGS by CYREE
JUST IN!! POTIONS by Stitch Prism x Honey & Blackbone Tarot
EXCLUSIVE WEST PHILLY NAIL FLASH/STICK N POKE FLASH
SANGRIA CONCOCTIONS OH MY
[Stitch Prism jewelry for sale with 25% going to LibTech]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Clean dry hair, please. Feel free to bring own makeup and nails. Braiding includes cornrows. Message us for special requests or needs. BRING INSPIRATION.
HEY HOW MUCH?
Sliding scale for each station: $7-30
INQUIRE FOR ALL ACCESS PASS ::gasp ooooh::
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
♡ JUST IN TIME TO GET CUTE FOR THAT SISSY HOP ♡
≠ WEIRDOS FREMEN GLITCHES OANKALI CYBORGS FREAKS SPACERS ALIENS SHIP-OF-THE-IMAGINATION CREW MEMBERS LEY LINE WALKERS ALL ARE WELCOME ≠
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Want to help volunteer a service? Holler at one of the coordinators 〜☆
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
**What are we fundraising for exactly? As organizers for the sci-fi track of the AMC, it’s our responsibility to do as much fundraising as possible in order to provide financial assistance for presenters’ travel costs, room and board, and other expenses that they are unable to cover themselves. Providing financial assistance is key to bringing many of the amazing workshop & panel presenters that will make up the 9 sessions of our sci-fi oriented media empowerment track of programming at the AMC. This chumpie is trying to get transformative!
The Allied Media Conference is “a collaborative laboratory of media-based organizing strategies for transforming our world, held every summer in Detroit.” It’s organized entirely by a decentralized network of volunteers.
Want more info?? https://amc.alliedmedia.org/about/amc-mission

FLY LIFE: HOUSE MUSIC JAMMY JAM!
2014-04-12 22:00 | Bear’s Lair, 5008 BEAUMONT AVE, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
“Can we all come together? Can we ALL come together? Please…come. I’m calling on you to come and feel the power. Let it move you to come. COME. I want to feel the energy, the love, the passion, the energy, the soul. COME.”– Kevin Aviance
BAA!!
BAA!
baa
b a a . . .
Tonight, inside we have, providing a journey of eclectic sight and sound, the din da da, your own FLY LIFE DJs:
DJ ALEX
**calling up shango**
DUIJI 13
**the tribal elder, the soothsayer**
JOHN MORRISON
**the sprite, the mischief maker**
DJ AURA
**our earth, our mother**
hosted by ICON EBONY-FIERCE **two-spirit world walker**
HOUSE MUSIC ALL NIGHT LONG! ATTENTION: THIS IS NOT A KIKI!! FIERCE! ALL NIGHT LONG, SOUL, TRIBE, AND BLESSING! LET IT MOVE YOU TO COME, FEEL THE ENERGY, FEEL THE SOUL! HOUSE MUSIC!!
BEAR’S LAIR
5008 BEAUMONT AVE
$5

LASER LIFE queer SF reading series
2014-04-11 19:00 - 21:00 | A-Space Anarchist Community Center, 47th and Baltimore Avenues, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
LASER LIFE
they shredded their anti-manifestos and their futurist-hate manuals and their tracts and lit them on fire. the ash rained down for days and days; the edicts spewed against them were heavy and voluminous. but they soon celebrated on the salt-like dust of their detractors words, stomping a mad ritual with leaden, though tattered, boot, soon returning speckling confetti of the Grand Nayser back to the earth.
they hooked up wires to their souls and downloaded spirits, uploaded ancient lwa, and disc-burned orishas into their retinas. “scan this”, they told them in their jack-boot and hazmat suits. they watched the thing of it all become the dance, the word become the deed, and launched themselves, defiantly, into deepest, darkest void, into space itself, piloting a starship through time.
their life was lived in laser
Your queer sci-fi reading, where members of the LGBT community express their visions, projections, wars, romances, speculations, fears, battles, and dreams in glorious, mystifying tales inspired by the griots of old, informing the future. It is called LASER LIFE.
featuring Imogen Binnie , critically acclaimed writer of the powerful, darkly comedic novel of trans discovery, “NEVADA”.
Pauline Darkstar of nervy and kinetic prog-punk band SGNLS, providing his strange wordscape.
as well as readings from the Laser Life founders:
Maggie Eighteen
Ras Mashramani
Rasheedah Phillips
Shane Jenkins
Alex Smith

Time Travel Convention | Pt. 2 - Activation * Recurrence Plot Book Release
2014-04-05 18:00 - 21:00 | Yell Gallery, 2111 East Susquehanna Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19125, United States
The Time Travel Convention is an exhibition that explores time travel as a practical activity – something that does not necessarily require a machine, an advanced degree, or any other privileges. Using afrofuturism and the speculative as lenses, the exhibition will feature time travel devices and objects from creators who use tools such as memory, dreams, imagination, manipulation of language and perception, light, and music to craft their temporal devices.
Time Travel Convention | Pt. 2 – Activation is an opening reception for the exhibition and book release for AfroFuturist Affair Creator Rasheedah Phillips’ experimental fiction novel, Recurrence Plot (and Other Time Travel Tales).
Featuring Time Machines and Devices from:
MMGz — PsychoAcoustics & Memory
Black Shesus — The Pyramid of Shesus
R.Phillips — Recurrence Plot (RP)
Kameelah Janan Rasheed — No Instructions of Assembly, Activation II
Alisha Wormsley — black people in the future
Mourl Ferryman — The Shadow and the Substance 2014
Melissa Moore — An Infinitygram: Diasporan Object Design For A New Future
Readings from:
Metropolarity
Warren The poet longmire
Michael Michael Joseph O’Hara
Rasheedah Phillips
+ Special Guests
FREE
Time Travel Convention | Pt. 1 – Preparation will take place at Yell Gallery on Sunday March 23, 2014 from 3 to 6:30pm. Pt. 1 will prepare travelers for the time machine activation event with workshops, music and memory stations, and other workshops and interactive activities with contributing artists. See invite to Pt. 1 here: https://www.facebook.com/events/201554873388538/?notif_t=plan_user_joined
afrofuturistaffair@gmail.com for questions

Time Travel Convention | Pt. 1 - Preparation
2014-03-23 15:00 - 18:00 | Yell Gallery, 2111 East Susquehanna Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19125, United States
The Time Travel Convention is an exhibition that explores time travel as a practical activity – something that does not necessarily require a machine, an advanced degree, or any other privileges. Using afrofuturism and the speculative as lenses, the exhibition will feature time travel devices and objects from creators who use tools such as memory, dreams, imagination, manipulation of language and perception, light, and music to craft their temporal devices.
Pt. 1 will prepare travelers for the time machine activation event with
– Quantum Time Capsule Workshop
– Music & Memory Stations
– Time Machine Installation Building
– Dream Journal Project
– Other workshops and interactive activities with contributing artists
FREE w/ one small object or artifact to place into the time capsule
(Donations accepted for workshop materials)
Time Machines and Devices from:
MMGz — PsychoAcoustics & Memory
Black Shesus — The Pyramid of Shesus
R.Phillips — Recurrence Plot (RP)
Kameelah Janan Rasheed — No Instructions of Assembly, Activation II
Alisha Wormsley — black people in the future
Mourl Ferryman — The Shadow and the Substance 2014
Melissa Moore — An Infinitygram: Diasporan Object Design For A New Future
Time Travel Convention | Pt. 2 – Activation will take place at Yell Gallery on April 5, 2014 from 6 to 9pm. This opening reception for the exhibition will also be the book release for AfroFuturist Affair Creator Rasheedah Phillips’ experimental fiction novel, Recurrence Plot (and Other Time Travel Tales). See invite to Pt. 2 here https://www.facebook.com/events/1431545053750221/?previousaction=join&source=1
afrofuturistaffair@gmail.com for questions

The Afrofuturist Affair Gala at Samek Art Museum
2014-03-20 20:00 | Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor, Elaine Langone Center, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 17837, United States
This unique celebration of black Scifi with live music from composer and producer King Britt, as well as a host of other luminaries from the worlds of performance, music, fashion, and art is not to be missed! Join us for dancing and fun in the galleries.
The event is co-produced by Rasheedah Phillips and is part of the special exhibition, Afrotechtopia at the Samek Art Museum.
More on the artists and performers:
King Britt
Alex Smith
Jos Duncan
Moor Mother Goddess
The DaQuan
NorvisJr.
St. Skribbly LaCroix
75 Studios
Intuitive Expressions

NYC Feminist Zine Fest 2014
2014-03-01 13:00 - 18:00 | Barnard College, James Room, 4th Floor, Barnard Hall, 3009 Broadway, New York City, NY, 10027, United States
Do you like zines? How about feminism? Because the second annual NYC Feminist Zine Fest is coming up! Mark your calenders for March 1st, 2014 from 1-6pm. This time we will be at Barnard College in uptown Manhattan, 3009 Broadway in the James Room on the 4th floor of Barnard Hall. The space is handicap accessible, and the event is FREE and open to the public!
2014 Tablers: http://feministzinefestnyc.wordpress.com/who/
Schedule for zine readings and workshops: http://feministzinefestnyc.wordpress.com/schedule/
Please check out http://feministzinefestnyc.wordpress.com/ for zinester interviews published several times a week!

SASS & SMASH: Benefit for Sass and Laser Life Sci-Fi Anthology
2014-02-22 20:00 | LAVA zone, 4134 Lancaster Ave, Philadelphia, 19104, United States
“The earth owes me nothing. I owe the earth.”– Vinne Paz
To enhance your experience reading these blurbs, please read from the bottom and up to the top. Din da da.
SWARM
To fellow queer super-heroes, wanderers, listeners: when they danced, i held up my fist to attract lightning i was an antennae for god, just there, present. i couldn’t hear drums and voices, i made no notes in my moleskine, i didn’t strain for lyrics or “meaning”. I just was. There was just soul opening, movement, rage, honor, and meditation; my heart was a queer spire and every “-ism” and “-phobia” fell away, I was.
THE DAQUAN
Alien alert! Sci-Fi seamstress, weaving wild tales channeled from the divine ether, this wordsmith speaks to cosmic minutiae populating the other’d dimensions with pure verbal acrobatics over futurist beats ringing clear like breakbeats pounded out on Cybotronian lunch tables.
MOOR MOTHER GODDESS
What is EDM to the mother of Moors? What is a punk rocker to one who casts spells? A mere beat-maker to a shaman? Then an emcee to a Goddess? The good in all these things, the fire and the noise
GOODNIGHT STARS GOODNIGHT AIR
Like fireflies rising through cracks in cement, a tree birthed in ruins of a long forgotten warehouse, GSGA gives us blissed out drone pop, from pennsylvania’s industrial north.
EX BY V
Roiling chaotic drums, lascivious bass, strange experiments and, above all, complete frenzy, collude to bring us this meddlesome twosome. Wild, focused and free
MARLO REYNOLDS
Blue flame. When you see the blue flame, meditate on the blue flame. A fool in your life acting up? Blue flame: fool is gone.
SEE THROUGH GIRLS
Some how, after days of bashing and wailing, through a maze of broken string and apoplectic tantrum, this amalgam of pre-calculus homework, dizzy punk and robot rebellion is finally punk and ready to tear off heads.
TRIANGULLUM
sound, digital collage/video, textile, object design for a new future, diasporan design, and speculative fashion to create a container for mind-transformation, subversive de-colonization, and ancestry communication.
SHANE JENKINS
The anthropomorphic sprite of a 100,000 words of light, unveiling a sonic journey through the afterfuture.
DJ AURA
Kinetic Kemetic sound blender, the rare dj who’s mixes are as meticulous as they are boundary pushing, as tight as they are genre bending, and as freaking nasty/fun as they are curated!
hosts/readers: METROPOLARITY
http://metropolarity.net/
$10///no one turned away for lack of $//benefit for Sassquat, a community queer DIY house/movement responsible for many of the west philly undergrounds greatest moments, and for Laser Life (queer sci-fi reading series) upcoming anthology
**This is a safer space, bros fall back!**

LASER LIFE: Queer Sci-Fi Reading Series
2014-01-31 19:00 - 21:00 | A-Space Anarchist Community Center, 47th and Baltimore Avenues, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
Queer Sci-Fi Reading Series
From the files Baron Harkonen Solo-Margiela, District 98234.
CLASSIFIED>
For 100 years, LASER LIFE has provided the denizens of the hollowed out, Siberian dystopic husk formerly known as West Philly, with the one and secret voice. Fashioning antennaes from bones of dead CEOs and the rotting the planks of the Comcast building onto abandoned warehouses and hipster enclaves, it’s ever revolving cast of miscreants and saboteurs have been broadcasting the last zombie drenched signal of hope out into the universe. They are all just the strange fags and three-eyed queers caught stealing fruit and guns at the intergalactic bazaar, stowing away on the Millennium Falcon, and photo-bombing the white washed sardonic landscapes of even the most triumphant Capt. Kirks in victory pose. We’ve found them. This is their Santeria, this is their church.
LASER LIFE
known, dangerous throughout the galaxy:

Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela— the weaver
the curator for the still untitled literary salon, Johnson-Valenzuela has created stark, unflinching habitats where we all clatter and bang, brushing our empty tin cans against the rusting steel bars of life.
*powers and abilities: Dream weaving, mind control
Suzy Subways— the spark
west philly’s own urban cosmic enchantress, Subways weaves the cityscape– all burnt out husk and Orwellian encroachment– into shifting beautiful literary orbs
*powers and abilities: tactical firearms, laser cannon, silent weapons
and the Metropolarity crew…

Shane Jenkins— the anthropomorph
powers and abilities: Shape Shifting, Startocasting, astral projection
R.Phillips— the time traveler
powers and abilities: teleportation, quantum digitization, spell casting
Ras Mashramani — alien goddess
powers and abilities: flight, anti-gravition manipulation, light speed
Maggie Eighteen— the cyborg
powers and abilities: empathy, cybernetic link, machine/A.I. manipulation
Alex Smith— the vigilante
powers and abilities: ghosting, shadowtalking, boyfriend stealing

ArtHaus at The Black Box @ Underground Arts
2014-01-17 20:00 | Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States
This month’s art exhibition:
John Fitzpatrick [Cellar Door | http://theJOHNF.com/]
Steve Shorts [CoSM]
Brandon Spangler [Clouds For Sale | http://bibble.deviantart.com/]
Marc Tous [New JAAG | https://marctous.see.me/]
Live painting by Hekkate [http://hekkate.tumblr.com/]
Live body painting by Yenna Hill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Live music at midnight from Philly’s own one-woman analogue synth-pop artist Void Vision [http://voidvision.bandcamp.com/]
Music of all kinds all night by DJ’s:
Lazerfeet [Psy.Fi]
Samwas [Psy.Fi | FML | https://soundcloud.com/allthatis]
John Morrison [https://soundcloud.com/john-the-liberator]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vendors:
Rockers Closet [http://www.rockerscloset.com/]
—————————————————————
$10 | 21+ w/ ID | 8:00 PM – 2 AM | 1200 Callowhill Street
Presented by Psy.Fi [http://psyfi-dimension.com/]
Check out footage of the previous ArtHaus: http://vimeo.com/79946895
[Videoraphy by Mangig Productions]

Annie Mok debuts SCREENTESTS w/the crew
2014-01-17 19:00 - 23:00 | Vox Populi, 319 N. 11th St, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
West Philly-based cartoonist Annie Mok reads from Screentests, her most fully-realized work to date. Annie’s comics are by turns quiet, raucous, funny, and sad, and always clear-eyed and nuanced.
“These stories, which could be incredibly heartbreaking with no relief, instead give the reader hope.” – Mey Rude, Autostraddle
She’s joined by the incredible creators Ras Mashramani (metropolarity.net), R.Phillips (AfroFuturistAffair.com), and Alex*Laser Life (theafterv3rse.tumblr.com), of the Philly-based queer sci-fi crew Metropolarity; O. Horvath (Spurt of Blood), “hysterical cartoonist / pvd”; and Khristina Acosta of the Philly/NJ-based PoC-only zine distro No Shame Distro (facebook.com/noshamedistro), reading from her zine The Birthday Party.
A Q&A and signing will follow the readings.
Annie’s work can be found at www.cargocollective.com/heyanniemok, http://heyanniemok.tumblr.com, and @HeyAnnieMok on twitter.
Please note that some stories read at the event may be triggering.

THE SPECULATIVE ABYSS: A spec-fic reading with Elwin Cotman & Alex Smith
2014-01-08 18:00 - 20:00 | A-Space Anarchist Community Center, 47th and Baltimore Avenues, Philadelphia, PA, 19143, United States
ELWIN COTMAN‘s work evokes the strangeness simmering underneath the floorboards of New Orleans speakeasys; the sort of melancholy soaked into the floorboards of a Carolina porch in misty May. Weaving through the murkier, funnier parts of American dreams, stopping right at the horizon of nightmare and flat-out hilarious, Cotman delivers a well needed shock to both the orthodoxy of African-American letters and to staid genre fiction at large. To say that A-Space and Laser Life are stoked beyond all hell for the opportunity to read with the brother is quite an understatement. We are prepared for the psycho-subconscious journey of this budding master mythmaker; gear up and join us.
http://www.lookmanoagent.blogspot.com/
ALEX SMITH is shedding his Laser Life sci-fi cocoon for an evening of lucidity. Or is he? Sure, bring your wine and cheese for this auspicious gala, served on your finest crystal; they won’t be broken and discarded, rent to shards and used as weapons against the establishment. Trust us, it’s not that kind of party. Reading from his long-awaited poetry chapbook (snicker) “Gang Stalk Oprah”, Smith promises a serene, intellectually tantalizing experience. Riiiighht.
http://theafterv3rse.tumblr.com/

Emergent Strategies: Spec Fic & Radical Organizing with Adrienne Maree Brown
2013-12-08 13:30 - 15:30 | PA
Join Leeway Foundation on December 8 to welcome writer and cultural organizer Adrienne Maree Brown for a lively conversation inspired by the work of visionary, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction author Octavia Butler. This discussion will explore the visionary qualities of science/speculative fiction with radical community organizing practice using Butler’s work.
Butler’s writing in The Parable series and other works instigates and provokes new thinking about how we can bring into being the kind of society that we want and expands what we might imagine. Through her protagonists, Butler illustrated adaptive, intuitive, shared leadership in practice. This recurrent theme, dubbed “Emergent Strategy,” will be a key focus of the afternoon’s discussion.
The event is free, but you must RSVP at http://leewayemergent.eventbrite.com/
About Adrienne
Adrienne is a 2013 Kresge Literary Arts Fellow writing science fiction in Detroit. She is co-editor, with poet/activist Walidah Imarisha, of the forthcoming anthology Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements She has helped to launch the Octavia Butler and Emergent Strategy Reading Network for people interested in reading Octavia’s work from a political and strategic framework, and is building with the Octavia Butler Legacy Network on other ways of extending Butler’s work.
This workshop is presented in partnership with the following organizations: The AfroFuturist Affair, Apiary Magazine, ART SANCTUARY, Blackprint, Bread & Roses Community Fund, GriotWorks, Media Mobilizing Project, Metropolarity, Myth Media Studios, Thread Makes Blanket, and Training for Change.

Philly Feminist Zine Fest
2013-11-23 12:00 - 17:00 | William Way LGBTQ Community Center, 1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
Philly Feminist Zine Fest is:
– a fundraiser for Project Safe!
– an event about amplifying the voices of female-identified people!
– a really good opportunity to learn things at skillshares and workshops!
– a fun fest about reading zines, celebrating community and making new friends!

POC Zine Project Benefit
2013-11-16 19:00 - 23:00 | PA

The AfroFuturist Affair 3rd Annual Costume & Charity Ball
2013-11-09 20:00 | MythMedia Studios, Philadelphia, United States
The AfroFuturist Affair is throwing our 3rd Annual Charity & Costume Ball: Dark Phase Space on November 9, 2013 at MythMedia Studios in Philadelphia! At the annual Ball we celebrate and bring awareness to AfroFuturistic culture with feature artists, authors, and performers who will present works and creations that use Afrofuturism and Sci-Fi as vehicles for expression, education, agency, and liberation. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Futurist Fund, a community grant dedicated to serving the needs of an underserved or marginalized member of the community.
We need your support to throw the Ball and fund our community grant!

The AfroFuturist Affair is a community formed in Philadelphia in 2011 to celebrate, strengthen, and promote Afrofuturistic and Black sci-fi culture through creative events, community workshops, blogging, and creative writing. All proceeds from our events are used to fund the Futurist Fund Community Grant. The AfroFuturist Affair is also a founding member of Metropolarity.net, a 215 Speculative Fiction Collective.

The Futurist Fund is a community, need-based grant established to provide a small amount of financial assistance to those in the community with an immediate and demonstrated need, and without other available funds or resources to meet that need. The Futurist Fund grant is awarded by The AfroFuturist Affair each year, with grant funds raised from non-tax deductible donations made through creative Afrofuturistic events held year round by the organization and other collaborative partners.
Since we started giving out the grant in November 2012, we have assisted a mother with past due bills after tragic deaths in the family, a young mother with severe health issues, and an individual in need of assistance with moving costs. We have also used the funds to provide sponsorship and community partnerships to a number of community events, including Psychic Windows Gallery with artist Joshua Mays at Sanctuary Wholistic Arts, the Philly Premiere of The Triptych with AfroPunk and MythMedia Studios, and Rockers! 3rd Annual BBQ Weekend.
The Annual Ball provides a platform for artists, authors, musicians, visionaries, and performers of color who purposely create with science fiction and afrofuturistic themes and mediums. Artists who feature at the AfroFuturist Affair Carity & Costume Ball are diverse in their theories, topics, and modes of expression, but all of their work embody common afrofuturistic elements – paying homage to our histories, commenting on our present state, and envisioning our futures as people of color. Some of our past guests and sponsors have included:

Dja Dja N. Medjay, author of the science fiction novel, Renpet
Bill Campbell , author of Sunshine Patriots and Koontown Killing Kaper
Nicole D. Sconiers, author of a collection of speculative fiction short stories, Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair, and Rage
Napoleon Dolemite and the Signifying Monks

Visual Artist Lorna Williams
Intuitive Expressions
PSL Presidential Candidate of the US Peta Lindsay
Artists Rell Stylez of S.W.A.G
Designer Nit Ra Sit
DJ John Morrison The Alien Architect

Philadelphia Printworks feyasterling inc. The Black Tribbles
Black Sci-Fi.com
Blu Dahlia

Funds also help to support other activities and endeavors of the organization, including our tumblr blog which promotes and supports Afrofuturistic culture, practice, and events around the diaspora, our free community workshops, and critical, creative writing on Black scifi and Afrofuturistic phenomenon.
You can see photos from our past Balls from 2011 and 2012.
Here is an interview with the Creative Director of The AfroFuturist Affair at a promotional event from the very first Ball in 2011:

Other Ways You Can Help

All donations are greatly
appreciated, but we understand that not everyone has the means to monetarily support. Your support by sharing this campaign on your social networking
sites is truly invaluable! We will also try to set up some sort of digital gift
for most shares, such as a .pdf of The AfroFuturist Affair mini-zine.
If you are interested in sponsoring, vending, or volunteering at the 2013 Charity & Costume Ball, please submit an email to afrofuturistaffair@gmail.com. To share your ideas, talents, and proposed performances for inclusion in this year’s Charity & Costume Ball, please email afrofuturistaffair@gmail.com by September 30, 2013.

More About The AfroFuturist Affair

The AfroFuturist Affair engages the community by cultivating a vehicle through which people can push beyond the confines of the mainstream narratives and stereotypes that have marginalized their interests, experiences, and their very existences and allows them to continue developing their identities in a comfortable and safe space with people of like minds. The project also provides a space for individuals of color with similar experiences and interests in Afrofuturism, fantasy, science-fiction, and speculative fiction to collaborate on a project that promotes and encourages their art and philosophies as connected with these themes. In the sense that Afrofuturism and speculative fiction is a medium for social commentary and a lens through which communities can shape evaluate or shape their futures, the project provides the space not only for further dialogue around these ideas, but for actual, practical implementation of these ideas as they serve social progress.

PhilCon 2013
2013-11-08 08:00 - 2013-11-10 17:00 | Crown Plaza Hotel, Cherry Hill, NJ, United States
we may be tabling . . .
The 77th anniversary of the world’s first and longest-running conference on science fiction, fantasy, and horror!
Started in 1936, Philcon features cutting-edge programming about literature, art, television, film, anime, comics, science, gaming, costuming and cosplay, music, and other topics of interest to fans of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. We will also have many other attractions, such as our awesome Art Show and Auction; a Vendors’ Room full of unique merchandise; a full slate of Children’s/Family programming; our Writer’s Workshop (featuring professional authors and editors); Concerts; the Time Traveler’s Masquerade Ball, our Masquerade/Costume Competition, and more!

Return to Octavia City
2013-11-07 20:00 - 23:00 | GTOWNRADIO, 24 Maplewood Mall, Philadelphia, PA, 19144, United States
Black Tribbles and The AfroFuturist Affair present
OCTAVIA CITY 2
Thursday November 7th 8-11pm
LIVE BROADCAST on G-town Radio
www.GTOWNRADIO.com
Co-hosted by The Black Tribbles and Rasheedah Phillips of The AfroFuturist Affair. Special Guest Host Gabriel Bryant of Stepping Into Tomorrow.
Musical soundscape provided by Shawanda Aura Spivey aka the one and only DJ AURA.
CALLING ALL AUTHORS….
Inspired by Hugo and Nebula Award winning author, the late Octavia Butler, OCTAVIA CITY presents original tales of Afrofuturism, science fiction fused with perspectives born from the African diaspora.
You are invited to submit your original story to be read aloud during this special broadcast by yourself (if available) or a local professional storyteller. Stories should time out no longer than 10 minutes. One submission per author. No pornographic or offensive material will be accepted.
Submissions should be emailed to OCTAVIACITY@gmail.com
SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE BY FRIDAY OCTOBER 25.
Authors selected for our April event are WELCOME to submit. HEY, RORIE!!!
We look forward to seeing you on the radio – GTOWN RADIO The Sound from Germantown!
Promo flyer illustration – ‘JAGUAR WRIGHT’ by Len ‘Cruze’ Webb aka BatTribble of Black Tribbles
