METROPOLARITY

Apiary x METROPOLARITY Soft Targets Launch Party
2016-07-09 19:00 (America/New_York) | Painted Bride ArtsCenter, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106, United States
all danger all softness no geolocation
1 nite revelry spells and sanctuary
texts songs dances
against the gathering data storm

this portal exists when we begin
this portal ends at midnight

APIARY MAGAZINE x METROPOLARITY
:
SOFT TARGETS
issue 8 of APIARY in collabo with sci-fi collective METROPOLARITY.
read philadelphia’s visions of vulnerability, violence and ecstasy;
survival strategies in our contested city;
the monstrous and tender contending inside us

7 PM: PARTING OF TIME AND SPACE // AIRPLANE MODE

enter.
drinks (government ID checked at door)
new names (memorywipe your government ID)
anti-surveillance face & body art

8-10 PM INCANTATIONS FOR INVISIBILITY

readings by 25+ storyspinners and poets
frequency lifting by the URBAN SHAMANS word/sounds/power:afrobeat funk jazz

10-MIDNIGHT DANCE PARTY
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ FEATURING ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
⚡ Anti-facial recognition face painting and body art by Kitakiya Davis
♪ Live musical performance by Philly’s URBAN SHAMANS: afrobeat funk jazz grooves, WORDS, SOUNDS, and POWER!
♪ DJ wizardry by Alex Smith (of METROPOLARITY)

MIDNIGHT-??? AFTERPARTY @ SILK CITY

may the ephemeral gather strength and carry us through the night

PAY WHAT YOU CAN: $7-10 SUGGESTED DONATION

⊙ Casita De Las Olas ⊙
2016-08-13 18:00 - 22:00 | The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
A VERY FINE EVENT FROM OUR NEIGHBOR, GENESIS MARTINEZ-CRESPO Y MARCELLINE MANDEG
IN WHAT WAYS HAS NOSTALGIA HINDERED OUR PERSONAL GROWTH? HOW DOES ONE BUILD A HOME OUT OF CONSTANT THEMES OF WHO THEY USED TO BE? WHAT IF THERE ISN’T MUCH TO BE NOSTALGIC ABOUT? BECAUSE AT NO TIME IN THE RECENT PAST YOU, YOUR PARENTS OR YOUR PARENT’S PARENTS WEREN’T IN A STATE OF DISPLACEMENT. IF YOU COULD ONLY PIN-POINT WHEN AND WHERE ITS EVEN POSSIBLE TO BREAK THE CYCLE.
⊙ Casita De Las Olas ⊙
1) DRAWING BASED INSTALLATION AT 40TH STREET AIR GALLERY.
+
2) AN ACCOMPANYING COLLABORATIVE PERFORMANCE WITH MARCELLINE MANDENG (http://mandengarchives.tk/) AT THE ROTUNDA AT 8PM
GALLERY DATES ⊙ ALSO OPEN TO APPOINTMENTS (GENCRESPO@GMAIL.COM)
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 17TH 6-9PM
FRIDAY AUGUST 26TH 4-7PM
FIRST FRIDAY SEPT 2ND 6PM-9PM
SATURDAY SEPT 10TH 2PM-5PM
CLOSING SEPT 16TH -HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH KICKOFF FEAST
ACCESSIBILITY INFO: THE ROTUNDA IS WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE ALONG WITH AN ADA COMPLIANT RESTROOM. 40TH STREET HAS 5 STAIRS TO THE ENTRANCE AND 2 SMALL STEPS TO THE GALLERY, HAS A COMMON HOUSEHOLD-LIKE RESTROOM. BOTH VENUES HAVE SEATING.
SEPTA: CLOSEST TO 40TH ST MARKET-FRANKFORD LINE STOP. 40 BUS, 30 BUS AND A FEW BLOCKS FROM THE 40TH ST PORTAL.

Sharswood Community Clean-up Day
2016-08-20 09:00 - 14:00 | Community Futures Lab, 2204 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19121, United States
Join the Ridge Avenue Block Captain, Community Futures Lab and Sharswood (North Philly) residents, neighbors, and business owners for a community clean-up day! Brooms, bags, and other supplies will be provided, as well as refreshments. Come anytime between the hours of 9am and 1pm, and bring a friend!
Date: Saturday, August 20
Time: 9am-2pm
Meeting place: 2224 Ridge Ave, a few doors down from Community Futures Lab
Contact: Stephanie Hardy, Block Captain – shardy01@temple.edu or (267) 595-1488

The Free Black Women's Library at Community Futures Lab - Community & Memory Theme
2016-08-27 13:00 - 17:00 | Community Futures Lab, 2204 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19121, United States
The Free Black Women’s Library comes to Community Futures Lab!
The Free Black Women’s Library is a Brooklyn-based interactive mobile library that features over 420 books written by and about Black women. The library centers and celebrates the art, music, history and stories of Black women and girls worldwide. All books are available via trade. http://thefreeblackwomanslibrary.tumblr.com/
Please feel free to bring a good book written by a Black women to donate or trade.
1pm – Library Opens
3pm – Join us for a discussion on themes of Community and Memory in Black women’s literature.
3:45pm – Parables AfroFeminist Sermon delivery by Ola Ronke
4:30pm – Open Mic – bring a short piece of any genre to share
FREE
ALL AGES
ACCESSIBLE
LIGHT SNACKS
The Free Black Women’s Library at CFL is part of the weekend-long Rockers Bbq Weekend #6 2016 with performances to follow at 6pm ($5 admission):
https://www.facebook.com/events/664370080395117/

ROCKERS BBQ WEEKEND #6
2016-08-27 13:00 - 2016-08-28 16:00 | Community Futures Lab, 2204 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19121, United States
ROCKERS BBQ WEEKEND WILL TAKE PLACE
AUG 27TH & 28TH 2016
WE CELEBRATE OUR 6TH YEAR DOING THE FESTIVAL!!
I CAN NOT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR SUPPORTING ROCKERS OVER THE YEARS IT HAS BEEN A BLESSING TO PROVIDE SO MANY WITH A PLATFORM TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES.ROCKERS MONTHLY SHOWS MAY BE OVER BUT WE WILL CONTINUE EVERY YEAR WITH THE BBQ WEEKEND!!! THIS IS A WEEKEND FOR RECONNECTING, GIVING THANKS AND HAVING FUN. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE,
—————………..……………………..…………———-
DAY 1 AUGUST 27TH
2PM – 5PM BLACK WOMANS LIBRARY EVENT
READING BY RAS
Community Futures Lab
7PM RBW6 SHOW @yungcandystore

URSULA
https://www.facebook.com/ripursula/?fref=ts
ANDRE ALTREZ
https://www.facebook.com/andrealtrez/?fref=ts
PINKWASH
https://pinkwash.bandcamp.com/
THROWDOWN SYNDICATE (DC)
https://www.facebook.com/Throwdown-Syndicate-299281278982/?fref=ts
WHAT NERVE
https://www.facebook.com/whatnerve/?fref=ts
IRREVERSAL ENTANGLEMENTS
https://www.facebook.com/Irreversible-Entanglements-1222309981135873/
DJ MADAM DATA
https://www.facebook.com/madamdata/?fref=ts
AFTERPARTY Sofistifunk!!!
————–……………………………….-————————
DAY 2 AUGUEST 28TH BBQ – BBQ – BBQ
3PM -4PM COLLECTIVE ZINE MAKING WORKSHOP @communityfutureslab
SHOW & BBQ 4;20 – 8PM @communityfutureslab
RASHEEDAH PHILLIPS
https://www.facebook.com/AfroFuturistAffair/?fref=ts
JOHN MORRISON
https://www.facebook.com/JohnTheLiberator/?fref=ts
Distant//Damage
(Form space chumpy)
MIGHTY PARADOCS
https://www.facebook.com/Mighty-Paradocs-115554085164785/?fref=ts
SWARM
https://www.facebook.com/swarm.philly/?fref=ts
DJ MR. MANIC
https://www.facebook.com/mistermanic?fref=ts
—————………..……..———–…….……………………..…….
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN VENDING OR HELPING OUT WITH THE RBW6 WEEKEND PLEASE
EMAIL SDFSBOOKING@GMAIL.COML

TOMORROW NEVER HAPPENS
2016-08-30 12:00 - 2016-12-04 17:00 | Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor, Elaine Langone Center, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 17837, United States
FIND METROPOLARITY PRINT ARTIFACTS AMONG THIS STACKED EXHIBIT AT BUCKNELL U’S SAMEK ART MUSEUM:::::::
Aug. 30 – Dec. 4, 2016
Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor Elaine Langone Center, Bucknell University
This exhibition explores queer futurity and the aesthetics of utopia by asking: How are queer communities imagining and working toward a better world? And how do queer theories, artistic practices, and lived experiences influence broader cultural thinking about the future?
Related Events:

Tomorrow Never Happens Semester Launch Party
Friday, September 16, 7pm
Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor Elaine Langone Center
Join us to celebrate Tomorrow Never Happens and the beginning of a new semester. Featuring spoken word, drag, and hip hop performances.
Field Trip: Hermitage and Mahantongo Heritage Center
Saturday, October 1, 10am-3:30pm
Departs from Elaine Langone Center
In connection to Tomorrow Never Happens and its focus on the concept of a queer utopia, we will be visiting this one-of-a-kind queer utopian experiment right here in Central PA. Information on how to sign up will be available soon on our website. Includes bus travel and lunch at Penn’s Tavern is on your own.

Tomorrow Never Happens Curatorial Talk
Wednesday, October 12, 6pm
Gallery Theater, Elaine Langone Center
Samek Director, Richard Rinehart will be in conversation with Bucknell Assistant Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Nikki Young. Introductions by Associate Provost Robert Midkiff. A post-talk performance by Cornelius Loy will take place in the Samek Gallery.
G.E.T. Fall Gala
Friday, November 4, 5:30-7:00pm
Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor Elaine Langone Center
The Samek’s student organization, the Gallery Engagement Team, is throwing its fall gala at the Samek in celebration of Tomorrow Never Happens. This event is for students, by students.

HIGH TIDE GALLERY (SMALL) SMALL PRESS FAIR
2016-09-03 12:00 - 2016-09-04 17:00 | High Tide Gallery, 1850 N. Hope St., Apt 14a, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, United States
METROPOLARITY TO TABLE & READ @ THIS PHILADELPHIA FOCUSED SMALL PRESS / MULTIPLES / ART OBJECTS / READING & PERFORMANCE / ZINE FAIR
(Small) Small Press Fair @ High Tide
September 3 & 4
12noon – 6pm
FREE ADMISSION
Featuring Vendors:
3dot Zine
Art Vandelay
Brickman Pubs
Fume Room
High Tide
Jessica Hans & Leah Horowitz
Metropolarity
Pomegranate Press
Ulises
Poster designed by Joel Evey

TRANS & GENDER NONCONFORMING YOUTH WRITING WORKSHOP SERIES
2016-09-10 12:00 - 2017-04-08 14:00 | Kelly Writer’s House, 3805 Locust Walk , Philadelphia, PA, 19139, United States
Kelly Writers House invites you to join a new
Writing Group for Trans
& Gender Non-Conforming Youth
This monthly writing group is open and free of charge for youth ages 14–22 who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming (GNC). The group will meet monthly at Kelly Writers House on the University of Pennsylvania campus on the second Saturday of the month, 12:00–2:00pm. No experience or expertise in writing is expected. Trans and GNC-identified guest writers will lead the group each month, and trans and GNC-identified facilitators will attend and support all monthly sessions. Lunch will be provided, as well as SEPTA tokens for transportation to and from the group. Come join us!

September 10 – Andrew Spiers, Kalen McLean and Hazel Edwards, facilitators
Come meet and start writing with the three trans and GNC-identified people who will facilitate the writing group and help establish ground rules and brainstorm topics participants want to write about. Andrew Spiers is a trans/queer writer, musician, and radical social worker. Kalen McLean works at the Mazzoni Center and helps facilitate a support group for young trans and GNC youth. Hazel Edwards is an artist, trans activist, and member of the Justice League at the Attic’s Bryson Center.

October 8, 2016 – Guest Writer Kavi Ade
Kavindu “Kavi” Ade is a writer, activist, arts educator, and nationally recognized spoken word poet. While best known for their gender identity poem titled “IT,” Kavi’s work most often bridges the realms of personal and political identity – navigating what it means to be Black, Transgender, Queer, and first-generation American all at once. Through their poetry the world unfolds itself in moments of cruelty, rage, and grief, but also beauty, wonder, and becoming.

November 12, 2016 – Guest Writers Mel Bentley and Leah B.
Mel Bentley co-organizes Housework at Chapterhouse, a reading series in Center City. They have two chapbooks published from 89plus/Luma Foundation and Lamehouse Press. Leah B. (Ksenya Leah Basarab) creates experimental musical fragments and prose/narrative/essay-form written works. Her musical pieces are an energized form of communication that involves sharing a myriad of emotions, memories, and opinions via varying vocalizations, a bass guitar, timing effects/layers, sometimes a piano, and more rarely a cello.

December 10, 2016 – Guest Writer M Eighteen Téllez

A founding member of the METROPOLARITY sci-fi collective, Eighteen is a hybrid mestiza cyborg and Philadelphia native who is frustrated/pissed with institutional distinction, empire and white supremacy, and fixed rather than fluid treatment of language and identity. They consider the spoken and written word handy and inexpensive tools for deconstructing oppressive world-ordering narratives.

January 14, 2017 – Guest Writer Cyree Jarelle Johnson
Cyree Jarelle Johnson is a Black non-binary essayist and poet living and working in Philadelphia. Their writing considers disability as a cyborg femme reality, femininity as resistance and rebellion, and Black pessimism. They are a founding member of A Collective Apparition, a Black queer and trans interdisciplinary arts collective. Their work has been featured in publications both domestically and internationally including Black Girl Dangerous, Feministing, and in the anthology Poems for the Queer Revolution.

February 11, 2017 – Guest Writer Trish Salah
Trish Salah is a Lebanese/Irish-Canadian feminist writer and educator whose writing addresses trans themes as well as questions of diasporic Arab identity, anti-racism, queer politics and economic and social justice. Her first volume of poetry, Wanting in Arabic, published in 2002 then reissued, won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction in 2014. Roof Books published her second book, Lyric Sexology Vol. 1, in 2014.

March 11, 2017 – Guest Writer Davy Knittle
Davy Knittle is a poet whose chapbooks include empathy for cars / force of july (horse less press) and cyclorama (the operating system). He is a PhD candidate in English at Penn, where he thinks about what cities and poetry have to say to each other, and how poetry might help cities make room for everyone who lives in them.

April 8, 2017 – End-of-year party and chapbook launch
We will have an end-of-year celebration at Kelly Writers House where the youth can share their writing with friends and family.

Sessions will take place at Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk, on the University of Pennsylvania campus, except on October 8 and March 11, when the writing group will be held at the LGBT Center at Penn, 3907 Spruce Street. Questions? Please contact Amy Hillier at ahillier@upenn.edu or Andrew Spiers at andrewspiersmss@gmail.com or Rachel Zolf at zolfr@writing.upenn.edu. Funding for the writing group is provided by Kelly Writers House and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice.

Tomorrow Never Happens Semester Launch Party
2016-09-16 19:00 - 22:00 | Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor, Elaine Langone Center, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 17837, United States
COME GET YOUR SPECULATIVE VISION STRONG WITH ALEX & EIGHTEEN, READING AT THE LAUNCH JAWN 4 YOU~
Tomorrow Never Happens Semester Launch Party
Friday, September 16, 7pm
Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor Elaine Langone Center
This exhibition explores queer futurity and the aesthetics of utopia.
From marriage equality, to “bathroom bills,” to the massacre in Orlando, queerness is central to current social and political life. Current events can mire us in an unrelenting present that makes it hard to imagine a path beyond.
A rising chorus of artists is asking where do we go from here? How do queer communities imagine and work toward a better world? And how do queer theories, artistic practices, and lived experiences influence broader cultural thinking about the future?
The artworks in this exhibition represent a diverse range of sexes and sexualities, gender identities and expressions, national origins, and aesthetic sensibilities. Each work speaks with its own voice and they point down many possible paths to queer futurity. In some works, sexuality and sexual imagery are exposed as politics. Some works invoke collective strength and a sense of shared destiny. And others code utopian messages into history, mythology, and culture. Together, they suggest that our best hope may be to queer the future.
Join us to celebrate Tomorrow Never Happens and the beginning of a new semester. Featuring hip hop, drag, and spoken word performances from
Abdu Ali, Lil Miss Hot Mess, as well as Maggie Eighteen and Alex Smith of Metropolarity.

RIPExpo 2016 - Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo!
2016-09-24 12:00 - 2016-09-25 17:00 | Providence Public Library, 150 Empire St, Providence, RI, 02903, United States
METROPOLARITY LOVES RIPEXPO.
CATCH RAS & EIGHTEEN THIS YEAR TABLING W/NEW
POSTERS
PINS
#DIYSCIFI BOOKS
+ TEEEEEE SHIRTS
^___^/
About
The Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo (RIPExpo) is a spring weekend devoted to small-press and self-published comics, zines and books. Artists and writers from all over North America will join local creators to exhibit work and generate discussion. RIPExpo is committed to giving voice to those underrepresented in mainstream media.
The RIPExpo main exhibition halls at the Providence Public Library will have over 120 exhibitors selling their small-press and self-published comics, zines and books. Running during the show will be panel discussions with creators and publishers, and in the evenings there will be various events throughout Providence.
Free & open to the public!
Date
September 24 – 25, 2016
Location
Providence Public Library
225 Washington St
Providence, RI
02903

ICA Philly Free For All w/ Black Quantum Futurism
2016-09-28 18:30 - 21:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, 118 S. 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States
RUMOR HAS IT METROPOLARITY WILL BE IN THE BUILDING WITH BLACK QUANTUM FUTURISM AS PART OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART’S FREE FOR ALL PROGRAM SERIES
CONFIRMED DETAILS FORTHCOMING

JINXED Science Fiction Reading
2017-04-27 18:30 - 21:00 | PA
👽A science-fiction reading at Jinxed West Philly location featuring @metropolarity co-founders Alex Smith and M Eighteen Téllez, as well as Sarah Sawyers-Lovett and Moose Lane!

LASER LIFE presents Style of Attack
2017-05-10 19:00 - 22:00 | Vox Populi, 319 N. 11th St, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, United States
</^> laser life queer sci-fi reading </^>
***this is the psycho-social, queer liberatory, autonomous, afro-curatorial, queer propulsed pulse, electro light light beam, sigil sub-conscious, navigatory cosmic trance dance on the techno-veldt… this is STYLE OF ATTACK***
METROPOLARITY is a DIY sci-fi collective based, bred, and tested in the colliding future-present of Philadelphia. STYLE OF ATTACK Report contains select work from Metropolarity’s four founding members, who contribute theory, practice, and experience of home grown speculative visioning for both historical documentation as well as personal and collective survival. The collection serves as a model and a record of how Black, brown, queer, low-resource, working, ill and in-recovery people can project themselves into the future, conjuring resources, technology, and magic that aid us in the present.
Also this sci-fi is FIRE cuz the crew don’t play.
Laser Life is a queer sci-fi reading documenting the release of STYLE OF ATTACK and a celebration of the book being nominated for a Lambda Literary Award, the highest honor in LGBT letters.
purchase and peruse the book here:
http://metropolarity.bigcartel.com/product/style-of-attack-report
Come here the futurist voices of:
Ras Mashramani
Maggie Eighteen
Rasheedah Phillips
Camae Ayewa
Alex Smith
+ special guests TBA
http://metropolarity.net/
**flyer by Oskar Castro http://www.bohitifotuto.com/

MOOGFEST
2017-05-18 10:00 - 2017-05-21 17:00 | PA
May 18—21 Durham, NC
Catch our workshops & reading events alongside Black Quantum Futurism collective as part of this year’s ‘Future Thought’ programming at MOOGFEST in Durham. It’s $$$ tho so don’t stress – we do our thing regularly around the city of Philadelphia.
Moogfest is the synthesis of music, art and technology.
Since 2004, Moogfest has brought together artists, futurist thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, scientists, and musicians.
By day, Moogfest is a platform for conversation and experimentation. This mind-expanding conference attracts creative and technology enthusiasts for three days of participatory programming in Durham, North Carolina. By night, Moogfest presents cutting-edge music in venues throughout the city. Performing artists include early pioneers in electronic music, alongside pop and avant garde experimentalists of today.
Moogfest is a tribute to Dr. Robert Moog and the profound influence his inventions have had on how we hear the world. Over the last sixty years, Bob Moog and Moog Music have pioneered the analog synthesizer and other technology tools for artists. This exchange between engineer and musician is celebrated with a unique festival format where the creative process is understood as a collaboration among many people, across time and space, in commerce and culture.

2017 Lambda Literary Awards
2017-06-12 19:00 - 22:00 | PA
YOUR LOCAL SCI-FI SQUAD IS NOMINATED FOR A LAMMY IN SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR. CROSS YR FINGERS! WE’RE ROLLING DEEP TO THE AWARD CEREMONY.
ABOUT THE LAMMYS
The Lambda Literary Awards (the “Lammys”) identify and celebrate the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the year and affirm that LGBTQ stories are part of the literature of the world. The Lammys, which receive national and international media attention, bring together 600 attendees—including nominees, celebrities, sponsors, and publishing executives—to celebrate excellence in LGBTQ publishing. It is the most prestigious and glamorous LGBTQ literary event in the world.
The Guardian newspaper said: “… Steeped as they are in celebrity and ceremony, the Lammys aren’t as stuffy or straight as many LGBT awards shows often are: they were unabashedly, gleefully queer, representing the many facets of queer life.”
Honoring
Jacqueline Woodson with the Visionary Award
Jeanette Winterson with the Trustee Award
With special introductions by Cynthia Nixon & AM Homes
Hosted by Mx Justin Vivian Bond
Stellar roster of presenters include
Heather Acs · Frank Bruni · Ana Castillo · Betty Dodson
NYC Councilman Daniel Dromm · Masha Gessen · Keelay Gipson
JP Howard · Cleve Jones · Saeed Jones · Taylor Mac · Eileen Myles
Tig Notaro · Carl Phillips · Ariel Schrag · Meredith Talusan
Vivek Tiwary · Jes Tom · Mitchell Waters · Karen Williams
Other surprise guests to be announced in May
The awards ceremony is directed by Charles Rice-Gonzalez
Join us at the most glamorous LGBT literary event in the country. Over 500 attendees, sponsors, and celebrities will come together to celebrate excellence in LGBT literature. Read the full press release here.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
5:30 pm Red Carpet and VIP Cocktail Reception
7:00 pm Awards Ceremony
NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
566 LaGuardia Place
New York City
9:30 pm After Party
Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street
New York City
