I worked as an art director and Bill was my boss. It was a small company that made litigation graphics. Major law firms hired us to provide their attorneys with eight-foot-high charts to display during trials. The lawyers would point like Vanna White to charts for the jury to see from 20 feet away.

I said, “Good morning, Bill.”

The three graphic designers I shared the room with and the four from an adjoining room gathered round Bill to launch the morning ritual of stomach-turning sucking up.

“Bill, you look terrific. Great color for you,” Alicia said.

“How was your weekend with the family upstate?” Leo asked.

Big David starts in about football, “Did you catch the game, Bill?”

I just couldn’t stand it anymore, so I grabbed a stack of folders and headed off to the copy machine with my design layouts. Bill came into the narrow room and leaned against the door frame.

“Busy copying?” he asked.

“Yup,” I responded to the painfully obvious question.

Bill walked over and stood way too close. Without warning he leaned in, reached his hand down and yanked the seat of my cotton stretch pants.

“Baggy pants,” he said disapprovingly.

I whirled around and blurted out, “Don’t touch my pants,” and scurried out of the room.

“Why are you always so militant?” he called out after me.

I winced. My arms burned, my stomach churned, and I was sweating. Once back at my desk, I began putting the copied pages into their corresponding job folders. ‘Damn,’ I thought. The whole reason I wore the baggy pants was so he’d stop staring at my ass.

Every day I went home and combed the want ads in the Times, but I couldn’t find anything even close. I was making good money as a designer, had excellent dental and medical benefits, profit sharing, three weeks paid vacation and 12 paid sick days.

It seemed like it would be idiotic to quit. We worked on exciting highly publicized cases like a John Gotti trial, the Central Park jogger case and the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In many ways I loved the job. The work was fun and challenging. My co-workers and I liked to talk about movies and books, and I adored my supervisor, Leo, who shared my kooky sense of humor. But Bill … Bill was a sexist pig and a bully.

Another day Bill slithered up beside me. He was a foot taller than me, so when he put his arm around me as if he was my buddy sliding a hand around my waist, his hand brushed up against and rested on the lower part of my right breast due to our height difference. I felt sure that this “accidental” fondling was intentional. I froze. I wanted to kick myself later for not calling him on it. This was a man who insisted we attend his office pool party every summer.

Bill had a large second home outside of the city. During my first pool party initiation he took me on a tour. Bill showed me the master bedroom and master bathroom. He pointed to the custom-made shower that had a ledge built in. He said, “That’s so my wife and I can do one of those things married people do.” He gestured with his hand to make it clear he was talking about a blow job. I was aghast. Every year after that I tried to figure out a way to skip the pool party. But the one time I did, he tortured me about it for a year.

One day my co-worker Sherri ran over to me, crying. She showed me her weekly time sheet, with a note in Bill’s handwriting. It said, “I’m very attracted to you.” Bill was 68 years old at the time. Sherri and I were both 26. He was married to his third wife. I felt like scrubbing the time sheet with hand wipes. “What should I do?” Sherri asked me, a worried look on her face.

I didn’t have the answer. For the past month I had been trying to organize the other six women at work to bond together so we could sue Bill for sexual harassment, or at least confront him. Not one of them would agree to help. I tried cajoling them. When that didn’t work I tried getting them as mad as I was, but they all seemed passive.

“How long do you want him to slither his hands across your boob when he’s pretending to hug you?” I asked. They accused me of being too dramatic. I accused them of being in denial.

Day after harassing day, Bill would walk up behind me as I sat at my desk. He would slide his huge meaty hands around my neck until his fingertips touched. It felt like a combination of him wanting to seduce me and strangle me. Each time it happened, I was rendered paralyzed and speechless. One day I’d had it and said, “Don’t touch me!”

That started an ongoing office humiliation that would last for the entire eight years I continued to work there. Bill would sneak up behind me, and he would start to put his hands around my neck but would stop less than an inch away. Then he would make sure that he had an audience and say in a mocking tone, “Oops! No touchy.” All of the brownnosers would give it a hearty laugh and the blood would rush up to my face and ears.

My friends and my feminist mom often demanded an explanation for why I wasn’t taking this man to court. Bill was brilliant; he knew a lot about the law, and he was rich and could afford much better lawyers than I could. I was afraid of being ripped apart on the stand as rape victims often are. I was reluctant to spend all of my meager savings on lawyers and afraid of being fired.

One day I returned from an approved day off. Bill blocked my way to my desk and used his deep, flirty voice, “Ms. Olds” — he always called me that — “please see me in my office immediately. And bring the layouts that are on your desk.” I did as he asked. He shut the door and said, “So, a day off? Are you in love?” I replied, “That’s not something I will discuss.”

He slammed his fist down onto his desk, lurched towards me and demanded, “Why are you so combative? We are a family around here.”

“Bill, I have a family. This is where I work. Let’s talk about the layouts.”

My friend Lorraine gave me an 11″ x 17″ sign that said “What part of NO don’t you understand?” She suggested that I put it on the bulletin board behind my desk. I did. I wanted to believe it would help, but only two co-workers ever mentioned it. Both were female.

Temps often worked the phones at the front desk. There was one large, sassy, redheaded Southern gal named Lucy. She pulled me aside one day, about three years after I had begun working at the firm, and said that I should know that the men doing the same job I was doing were paid more than I was. This was a tricky bit of information. How could I bring it up with Bill without betraying her confidence?

When I had been hired full-time, Bill had assured me that I would receive periodic raises “without even having to ask for them.” This had never occurred. I decided to muscle up some courage and go in for a talk.

“Bill,” I started, “are you pleased with my work?”

“Oh yes,” he said.

“Am I being paid on the same scale as the men?”

“Of course not,” he said.

Did I hear him correctly?

“Ms. Olds, David has a wife and two daughters to support, and mortgage on a house to worry about. It simply would not be fair to pay him the same amount as you.”

I was dumbfounded. Speechless.

The following week I received a raise. Very smarmy way to get a raise, but I was glad to deposit the money.
One day, without my knowledge, Bill took a photo of me. I was leaning over my desk, deep in concentration, working on graphics for a chart. I was wearing an appropriate V-neck top, but at that angle, a hint of cleavage appeared. He passed the snapshot, a zoomed-in view of my breast area, around the office.

Another incident happened while I had to fix chipped type on a chart in a hurry. I knelt down on the floor to quickly restore the chipped ‘H’ on the sign. Bill came through the doorway and said, “Ah, women – just how I like them, on their knees.”

I continued to look for a better job. I went on interviews. My father always warned me never to quit a job until I secured a better one. One November afternoon, Bill called me into his office and told me to close the door. He sat slumped, his brow was furrowed and the sides of his mouth were turned down. “As you know, business has been very slow this year. I am going to cut your salary by half. I’m sorry to give you this news, but I’ve always appreciated your loyalty and I know that you will stand by me during these tough times.” This came as a shock to me and so did my response: “In that case, Bill, I will not be working here any longer.”

It was as if I’d jumped out of a plane with no parachute and was in free fall. But the feeling was glorious and the risk paid off. I went into business for myself, which was terrifying at first. I had a mortgage to pay and monthly bills and feared using up the bit I’d managed to save. But within a month I got a full-time freelancing gig designing college textbooks and that year I made twice as much as I’d made working for Bill. I landed more and more creative jobs, web design and print work, and my writing took off.

It’s been years since I worked in an office. My desk is at home and my loyal dog likes my whistling. I make twice as much money and literally whistle while I work. And there is no longer a six-foot-four goon of a boss grabbing the back of my pants.

The post Fight or Be Fondled – Rising Above a Bully of a Boss appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

I hope you enjoy my photos from the Annual Halloween Dog Parade in Tompkins Square Park. The costumes this year were spectacular. You can read about the “Howling Good Time” on Sniff and Barkens magazine.

More doggie ghosts from Halloweens past

There was a huge turnout despite the rainy, cold and windy weather. Here is a teaser of photos. 

See more fun Halloween dog photography here!

One touching story came from Lorna Li who came dressed as a chef holding chopsticks. She talked about her darling dog, a Pekingese named Iggi. He has his own Instagram account: everyonesiggi. Read more about the amazing rescue of her little Iggi.

You’ll also hear exclusive quotes from beloved dog advocate Ada Nieves, who co-chaired the event.

The post Basket of Adorables: Photos From Halloween Dog Parade in New York City appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

“Enclave Reading Series, now in its 12th year, returns to Club Cumming with an absolutely stellar line-up of authors, headlined by the one and only Michael Cunningham, a true master of the craft. Essayist and author Dorri Olds, acclaimed novelist and filmmaker Brian Alessandro, and writer/comedian Eddie Sarfaty will all be taking the Club Cumming stage, comprising one powerhouse program of intellect and wit… As usual the lights will be down low, the drinks will be flowing, and admission is free.” — Jason Napoli Brooks, author (SHELTER), and co-creator, co-curator and emcee for Enclave’s monthly shows.

THANK YOU Honeysuckle Magazine!

It’s a night of wordplay, award-winning authors, treats and fun as the famous Enclave Reading Series rides again at a favorite Manhattan hotspot. On Monday, March 4, 7-9PM, join New York’s literati at Club Cumming (505 East 6th Street, Avenue A), for an evening to remember – with no cover charge. From somebody given to fill The Hours to an expert who knows laughter is the best medicine, a journalist speaking truth to power, and a novelist who can pin down the unmentionable, this is bound to be one for the books.

SEE ALSO: Enclave Reading Series was ‘FRAYED IN NEW YORK’

WHO’S READING? MEET THE AUTHORS:

Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize and PEN Faulkner Award Winner

Michael Cunningham is the author of novels A Home at the End of the World, Flesh and Blood, The Hours, By Nightfall, and The Snow Queen, and a short story collection, A Wild Swan and Other Tales, all published by Farrar Straus & Giroux. The Hours won a Pulitzer Prize and PEN Faulkner Award and was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was also made into a movie starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore.

Cunningham’s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly, the Paris Review, and other publications. A recipient of National Endowment for the Arts, Guggenheim and Whiting Foundation fellowships, he is a Senior Lecturer in English at Yale University.

Eddie Sarfaty (Mental: Funny in the Head)

Eddie Sarfaty, author and comedian, has appeared on The Today Show, Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, Logo’s Wisecrack, The Joy Behar Show, and is a subject the documentaries, Laughing Matters and Heartfelt. He has been featured at the prestigious Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, the Toyota Comedy, and the New York Comedy Festival. Sarfaty will be reading from his new novel.

His first book, a collection of hilarious autobiographical essays entitled Mental: Funny in the Head, was the InsightOut Book Club’s selection of the month and his essays have been published in anthologies When I Knew, I’m Not the Biggest Bitch in This Relationship, andLove, Christopher Street. In addition to offering stand-up comedy workshops at theaters around the country, Sarfaty teaches at NYU and The Theatre Lab in Washington, DC. keeplaughing.com

Dorri Olds, Author, Essayist, Journalist

Dorri Olds is an award-winning writer — and Honeysuckle contributor — whose creative nonfiction has been published in eight book anthologies.

Before the Cosby and Weinstein scandals, and the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, Olds’ personal essay in The New York Times, “Defriending My Rapist,” went viral. It became required reading at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice and led to frequent speaking engagements. She’s been interviewed by CNN’s Dr. Drew and on CBS, ABC and NY1; podcasts; and radio shows. She is currently working on her first full-length book. DorriOlds.com

Brian Alessandro (The Unmentionable Mann)

Brian Alessandro is the author of the novel The Unmentionable Man (Cairn Press). He wrote and directed the feature film Afghan Hound and co-founded The New Engagement, a literary journal that has published acclaimed authors. His plays were performed by the Neighborhood Playhouse, Love Creek Productions, and Monarch Theater Company. Most recently, Brian completed work on the graphic novel adaption of Edmund White’s 1982-classic A Boy’s Own Story for Top Shelf Productions, which won the National Book Award in 2016 for March.

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Don’t miss out on this night for the ages! Enclave Reading Series will present Monday, March 4th, 7-9PM at Club Cumming (505 East 6th Street, Avenue A).

To learn more about The Enclave Reading Series, visit theenclavereadingseries.tumblr.com or follow on Facebook and Instagram.

For more info on events at Club Cumming, visit clubcummingnyc.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The post Club Cumming • MARCH 4 • Let Enclave Entertain You • No Cover Charge appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

“This Sunday, January 27, UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, and over 350 venues in 55 countries, will host an unprecedented screening of the award-winning documentary, “Who Will Write Our History” and concurrent Facebook Live events. The international screening events and Facebook Live, orchestrated by Abramorama, and with the support of UNESCO, the World Jewish Congress’ #WeRemember initiative and multiple major partner organizations, takes place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and comes at a time of rising anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic attacks, and increasing concerns that the lessons of the Holocaust are quickly being forgotten.”

I feel a personal connection to this film by Spielberg and Grossman due to my family’s horrific past in Europe where they died in the Nazi concentration camps. My father’s cousin meticulously researched what happened to our family. Many were killed in the camps. The most frightening was the family members who died in Auschwitz. We will never know if they were experimented on by the demonic Dr. Josef Mengele.
Watch the Trailer
Synopsis: This film is about a courageous group of resistance fighters imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto in World War II. In November 1940, days after the Nazis sealed 450,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, a secret band of journalists, scholars and community leaders decided to fight back. Led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and known by the code name Oyneg Shabes, this clandestine group vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda not with guns or fists but with pen and paper. Now, for the first time, their story is told as a feature documentary.
The New York Times calls it, “A vital Holocaust documentary…Heartbreaking.”
Writter and director Roberta Grossman and executive producer Spielberg teamed up once again to create Who Will Write Our History which the writings of the Oyneg Shabes archive with new interviews, rarely seen footage, and stunning dramatizations that transport us inside the Ghetto and the lives of these courageous resistance fighters. They defied their murderous enemy with the ultimate weapon—the truth—and risked everything so that their archive would survive the war, even if they did not.

Now playing at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan

Showtimes & Tickets

Wed January 23

• 11.05am
• 1.00pm
• 3.05pm
• 5.10pm
• 7.15pm
• 9.20pm

Thu January 24

• 11.05am
• 1.00pm
• 3.05pm
• 5.10pm
• 7.15pm
• 9.20pm

Fri January 25

• 11.00am
• 1.00pm
• 3.40pm
• 6.30pm

Sat January 26

• 11.00am
• 1.00pm
• 3.40pm
• 6.30pm

Sun January 27

• 11.00am
• 1.00pm
• 3.40pm
• 6.30pm

Mon January 28

• 11.00am
• 1.00pm
• 3.40pm
• 6.30pm

Tue January 29

• 11.00am
• 1.00pm
• 3.40pm
• 6.30pm

Wed January 30

• 11.00am
• 1.00pm
• 3.40pm
• 6.30pm

Thu January 31

• 11.00am
• 1.00pm
• 3.40pm
• 6.30pm

The post Spielberg Movie ‘Who Will Write Our History’ Gives the Facts vs #FakeNews appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

Enclave Reading series on Saturday night was standing room only. Held at Alan Cumming’s Club Cumming in Manhattan’s East Village, the joint was full of hot bodies and talent. As I looked around, it gave me a feeling “down there.” Okay, so I just shamelessly lifted that phrase from Joan Jett, which fits the Enclave’s theme—FRAYED IN NEW YORK—with a focus on the 70s, 80s and 90s. It’s a time I remember oh so well.

The Enclave Opener

“I was so fucking depressed last night,” emcee Brooks said, referring to another hell week with the GOP’s spoiled toddler. Not The Orange Swamp Thing, the other entitled white baby in a suit, Brett Kavanaugh, the sobbing, blubbering, self-pitying Supreme Court nominee.

Brooks got huge laughs with a funny bit about the Unabomber, and talked about the night before the Enclave reading.

“Friday night…I decided to drown my tears and indulge myself in a twink…the magic of an iPhone app is this guy shows up, 22, cute as fuck, and, you know, huge. He had a reckless quality which I find attractive in a twink.”

Unfortunately, the young hottie ruined the action in the middle of it by calling out, Daddy!

“Being called Daddy during sex,” said Brooks, “is the gay equivalent of finding a fly in your soup at a fancy restaurant. You go from, this is gonna be good, right? — to what the fuck?”

I laughed so hard I nearly choked on my seltzer.

Frayed in New York

Jeremiah Moss, the man behind the award-winning blog and book, VANISHING NEW YORK read about what’s gone. It was apt for me. As I’d ambled past Tompkins Square Park on the way to the club, the recurring stab of sadness got me in the gut. My native Manhattan looks nothing like it did and often feels like an empty town filled with ghosts

In the 80s, whenever I was hit with an emergency need for drugs at 3am, it was that park that beckoned, luring me toward Alphabet City. It was a suicide mission back then. Being an ex-junkie, though, it’s not surprising that my wasted ideas always made perfect sense. The coils of my head kick off a Pavlov’s dog-inspired rush of endorphins that leaves me drooling at memories from years of debauchery.

Moss at the Mic

Moss at the mic lamented his arrival to what he refers to as the end of New York City: 1993. He was 22 then. Moss read, “I was Harold and New York, my Maude.” He openly admits his bias and lack of objectivity in his signature prose. Self-deprecating words inspired laughs from the audience but the biggest howl came when he quoted reviewers: “The New York Times called me a curmudgeon with a penchant for apocalyptic bombast” and “The Daily News dubbed me a fetishist for filth.”

Lara IS Sharp

DO THE HUSTLE is Lara B. Sharp’s memoir-in progress. It’s about being raised in New York City’s foster care system and her exploits as a crustie and grifter. She chose a chapter that is set in 1984 and appropriately titled Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves. “A crustie,” Sharp explained, “is a homeless runaway, living on the streets of downtown Manhattan.”

Sharp as a Whipped Crustie

The author opens by telling the audience a little background info.

“I was 14 years old and I ran away from foster care. I’m just kind of living in Washington Square Park because that was a done thing then…My mom was an alcoholic and a drug addict…but [she was] awesome because she taught me everything I needed to know. She taught me how to lie, cheat, and steal.”

In addition to writing, Sharp has performed in a number of theater productions, including Penny Arcade’s original production of the Sex and Censorship Show, BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE! Sharp’s author reading was a performance piece because she’s charismatic and naturally theatrical.

She nailed the accents for the scene’s two characters. One voice is Sharp at age 14. The other is “Gay Cher.” He is her new kinda-sorta mentor who tells the young Sharp that he can easily make her look 18 if she steals beauty products from Duane Reade. The motivation behind wanting to look older, was practical. She wanted to find a job.

Sharp reads in Gay Cher’s midwestern accent: “I’m the most beautiful, half-Mexican faggot boy ever to escape Kansas. I looked like a fat old milk cow, but not no more. And, honey, I can fix you up. I mean, you’re a mess. But, I have talents. No offense but your white eyelashes are disgusting.”

Huge laughs from the crowd.

Then, narrating in her younger self’s voice: “He scratches his left arm making the needle sores bleed. He rubs the blood into his stone wash cut-offs…. He yanks my scrunchie and runs his dirty fingernails through my long blonde hair, pulling at the matted sections.”

I quit drinking, drugging and smoking, but I can’t get enough of Sharp’s writing. Saturday night’s performance proved that I’m addicted to her prose.

Barb Morrison

I chatted with Barb Morrison. Yes, THE Barb Morrison—recording artist, hit songwriter, platinum and gold records producer. Morrison has played with Blondie, The Runaways, Johnny Thunders and plenty more biggies. Morrison’s pronoun is they. They told me they grew up in the East Village and Chelsea after arriving here at 17. They came to the city after a childhood in Albany.

“Did you runaway?” I asked (spontaneously) because I had. At 15, I moved into the Hotel Earle on Waverly (now, Washington Square Hotel). It was only one block from the park I’d fallen in love with. I found it romantic that Joan Baez sang about Bob Dylan smiling out of the window of that crummy hotel over Washington Square.

“Yeah, I ran away many times,” Morrison said. They laughed. “I disappeared into the city. You’ll hear all about it when I read.”

Reading from a memoir-in-progress, Morrison talked about being a squatter and a musician on her way up and joining a band called The Loveless. “I tried out a few bands but none of them fit the way this gang of misfit rebels fit me…. I wanted to get in bar brawls with my guys and wake up the next morning not knowing which bruise was for what reason.”

The band had their first show at the underground Lismar Lounge. “You had to enter through one of those gates in the sidewalk that went down into a basement. Most of the bands on the Lower East Side couldn’t play worth shit and we actually had some good songs, so we instantly gained a following the night of our first gig. I remember pushing our amps up First Avenue after that show. Someone rode past in a cab and yelled “LUHHHHHVVVV LESSSSSSSSSS!” at us. We were too broke to take a cab but we felt like the most famous rockstars on the planet that night.”

Christopher Stoddard

Author Christopher Stoddard read from his new book (AT NIGHT ONLY). His words were about the universal feeling of yearning for an ex to come back and convincing yourself that just by wanting it, you can make it so. Max, his dog, is also an important character in the chapter.

“I’m wondering what he’s doing right now….He didn’t text from Montreal to let me know he landed safely—like he did when we were still in a relationship.” Then he describes pulling out his iPhone to contact his ex. The foreshadowing makes it clear that is always a bad, bad, bad idea. Stoddard’s voice is easy to listen to and, yes, his was one of the hot bodies I had referred to in my second sentence of this recap.

Pedro J. Rosado, Jr., actor, dancer and stage manager. He stage-managed Penny Arcade’s BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE! at Performance Space New York. He can be seen in Joan Moossy’s MISS MOOSSY’S NEIGHBORHOOD MYSTERIES on YouTube singing “It’s Important to be Friendly.”

Despite a packed room, Alissa Brianna, the solo bartender for the evening, breezed through the night and looked calm and poised amidst the madness. She banged out those drinks—which I was told were fantastique!

Also in Attendance:

Elizabeth Wurtzel, celebrated author of  PROZAC NATION and BITCH: IN PRAISE OF DIFFICULT WOMEN
(the lyrics are awesome!)
He may be a middle-aged white heterosexual man/But he’s friendly/He’s not an ageist, sexist, racist, homophobic pig/He’s friendly.
Be like him/ Be friendly.

Lauren Pine, downtown debutante and horse lover, as in horse trainer and horseback rider, not to be confused with old slang for heroin. Glad we cleared that up. Pine, Morrison and Sharp are alumnae of the Don Hill’s Thursday night Squeezebox Parties and have known each other for 30 years.

Melody Jane, danced in Penny Arcade‘s 2018 BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE! at Performance Space New York

Elizabeth Collins, writer and comedian (RAISED BY GAYS AND TURNED OUT OK!)

Clayre Saxon Morrison, British fashion stylist and photographer

Steve Zehentner, stage designer and sound designer who has collaborated with theater artist, writer and performer Penny Arcade for 30 years. One of their collaborations was the Lower East Side Biography Project. If you’ve never experienced it, I recommend clicking on that link.

Gavin Van Vlack, guitar, bass and vocals and member of the bands Canonized and Burn

Liza Béar, artist, photographer, writer, filmmaker

Albie Mitchell, well-known downtown photographer who documented the East Village for over 40 years, and worked for the Village Voice and for the original production of Penny Arcade’s BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE! at PS122 and the Village Gate.

Jenny Gorman, practicing fine art and photography in New York City and the Hamptons for over 25 years.

Cid Scantlebury artist and musician. Cid was an original Bitch from the Don Hill’s ‘ladies metal’ night of that name, a Loser’s Lounge singer, and she sings at F*Bomb NYC shows several times a year.

Sean Harris, artist, whose works in paper collage and mixed media can be viewed on Instagram @seansheengram.

AUTHOR BIOS

JEREMIAH MOSS, creator of the award-winning blog Vanishing New York, is the pen name of Griffin Hansbury. His writing on the city has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Daily News, and online for The New Yorker and The Paris Review. As Hansbury, he is the author of THE NOSTALGIST a novel, and works as a psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City

LARA B. SHARP‘s writing has appeared in various print and online publications, including Longreads and Teen Vogue. A native New Yorker, she has also written for and performed in a number of national and international theatre productions and live storytelling events in New York City, London, and Philadelphia. She was an original member of Penny Arcade’s BITCH! DYKE! FAGHAG! WHORE! in the early 90s and toured with Penny Arcade. Sharp earned her BA from Smith College, where she was an Ada Comstock fellow, and is working on a memoir about her childhood in the New York foster care system.

BARB MORRISON is a musician and producer who uses music as a platform of advocacy for the transgender community. A regular performer at The Ritz and CBGB’s, they were the saxophonist, guitarist and singer for the bands Gutterboy and Itchy Trigger Finger, which were signed to Mecury Records and toured with Lollapalooza in 1999. Barb has co-written and produced songs for artists such as Blondie, Rufus Wainwright, LP, and Franz Ferdinand. They also wrote the scores for films, including The Safety of Objects (2000), which starred Glenn Close. Their writing has appeared in various publications, such as the New York Times and The Good Men Project. Currently, they are at work on their memoir.

CHRISTOPHER STODDARD’s new novel At Night Only from Itna Press released this June, which has been praised by The Paris Review, Kirkus, Slate, Lambda Literary, and authors Edmund White and Gary Indiana. Featured in OUT Magazine’s “Tastemakers” issue in 2015 for his contributions to literature and publishing, he’s written two other novels: Limiters (Itna Press, 2014), and White, Christian (Spuyten Duyvil, 2010). He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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To learn more about The Enclave Reading Series, visit theenclavereadingseries.tumblr.com or follow on Facebook and Instagram.

For more info on events at Club Cumming, visit clubcummingnyc.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Dorri Olds is an award-winning freelance writer whose work has appeared in book anthologies, and publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Woman’s Day, Time Out New York, The Fix, The Forward, Yahoo, and Tablet. Visit her YouTube channel and see other works she’s done for Honeysuckle here.

The post Enclave Reading Series ‘FRAYED IN NEW YORK’ at Actor Alan Cumming’s Club Cumming appeared first on Award-Winning Writer and Graphic Designer.

In the searing new documentary The Sentence, we discover that the casualties of the “War on Drugs” extend beyond the millions of Americans harshly punished with prison time—their families suffer the brunt.

About the Filmmaker

Director Rudy Valdez, an American of Mexican descent, began filming his three nieces for his sister Cindy Shank. Why? Because she’d been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. Her loving brother, the youngest sibling, wanted Cindy to be able to see the girls grow up. The even greater tragedy is her family’s suffering the pain of living without her. The worst crime is Cindy’s children doing time, also—they grew up without their Mom.
As Valdez began fighting to reduce his sister’s draconian sentence, he discovered that the problem of over-sentencing was much larger than his family’s painful tale. Due to the failed “War on Drugs,” nonviolent first-time offenders, like Cindy, received ghastly punishments because the judge had to adhere to the mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

The Girlfriend Problem

Cops and lawyers have a nickname for Cindy’s all-too-common scenario: The Girlfriend Problem. Cindy’s crime was falling in love with the wrong man.

Although it is not shown in the film, we learn that Cindy lived with Alex Humphrey until 2002, when he was murdered by gunshot right outside their home in Lansing, Michigan. When police searched their home for clues to the murder—which is still unsolved—they found more than 40 pounds of cocaine.
Cindy had attempted to leave Humphrey, but he had threatened her. After his death she was free to move on and straighten out her life. She fell in love with a good man, married him and the couple had three children.

The Arrest

Without giving too much away, the police knocked on the door six years later and arrested Cindy. She was charged as a conspirator because she had known about Humphrey’s drug dealing.
At SVA Theatre this past Wednesday, after a pre-screening of the documentary, filmmaker Valdez said, “We can no longer sit around and be okay with people profiting off the backs of the disenfranchised.”
“It’s the rhetoric we hear: hard on crime or you’re soft on crime…. we need to get rid of that crap. You’re either smart on crime or you’re not,” Valdez said. “This film is apolitical on purpose; it doesn’t go into the history, the right or the left, or who started this, or who’s perpetuating this. It’s a hearts and minds film that transcends voting…. There’s a cultural shift that needs to happen in this country.”

Sundance Film Festival to HBO

The film won the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. HBO purchased the film and will air it Monday, October 15. I suggest putting a box of tissues nearby.

—
THE SENTENCE premieres on HBO Monday, October 15, 2018 at 8PM EST. Click here for additional screening times.

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Nigerian Prince is a coming of age story and a heist thriller. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, it uncovers the hidden world of “Nigerian Prince” email scams. In the photo above, listed left to right, are actor Chinaza Uche, filmmaker Faraday Okoro, and actor Antonio J. Bell at the Tribeca Film Festival red carpet in Manhattan.
The story is based on an advance-fee fraud where a supposed Nigerian prince emails you that he will share his million dollars—or more—if you can help him with the bank fees by sending him $10,000. Then, once you’re hooked, there will be additional emails sent to you that contain even more cockamamie reasons why you will need to send the scammer more money before your big payoff of the cool mil.
It’s hard to believe that anyone is so gullible that they fall for it—but they do.

Nigerian Prince will have its theatrical release tonight.

In April, AT&T awarded its second $1 million winners, Sasie Sealy and Angela Cheng. Their film, Lucky Grandma, will have its world premiere screening during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival next April. Both films will also run on DirecTV NOW.
AT&T and the Tribeca Film Festival are giving filmmakers another shot at $1 million to make a movie as part of the AT&T Presents: Untold Stories program, a multi-year, multi-tier alliance between AT&T and Tribeca, along with the year-round nonprofit Tribeca Film Institute. Aspiring filmmakers can submit their scripts between now and Nov. 19 for their chance to compete and become the third $1 million recipient of AT&T’s Untold Stories program. To submit your script and to view official program rules and regulations, please visit TribecaFilmInstitute.org/ATTUntoldStories.

Filmmaker Faraday Okoro

Faraday Okoro, a New York City based Nigerian-American filmmaker, wrote and directed Nigerian Prince. The movie had its premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Okoro received a $1 million grant from AT&T to produce this film.
 

See more Red Carpet photos here.

Chinaza Uche—who is even more captivating in person—plays Pius, Eze’s ne’er-do-well cousin, a full-time scammer. Newcomer Uche gave a flawless and nuanced performance as a pitiable character despite his perfect looks and seductive charm. Despite his big talk as self-appointed scamming mentor to Eze, Pius leads an empty, lonely, life of quiet desperation.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854).

Throughout the film, there are moments where you’ll catch Pius looking like he has been haunted for years with despair. Actor Uche has gives a performance with a full range and  conveys so much with just his eyes.
The film has everything: strong plot that you haven’t seen before, great dialogue, excellent acting, a surprising amount of humor and plenty of substance.

My rating: 5 stars

All photos © 2018 Dorri Olds

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In this fourth annual three-day program, THROUGH HER LENS, five emerging USA-based female writers of short-narrative films will receive one-on-one mentorship, artistic guidance, and financial support from Tribeca and Chanel.

$100,000 in Filmmaker Grants

4th Annual 3-Day Program

The Leadership Committee includes Kathryn Bigelow, Lena Dunham and Courteney Cox. The purpose of this extraordinary opportunity is to propel women filmmakers forward.
@Tribeca     #ThroughHerLens     #WhatsYourStory
Presented by Tribeca and Chanel, in collaboration with Pulse Films, and facilitated by Tribeca Film Institute (TFI), this immersive program provides one-on-one mentorship and industry support, along with guidance for artistic development. The intense master classes run for three days.

The winning female filmmaker in the competition will be awarded full financing to produce their short film and will receive support from Tribeca Studios to bring the film project to fruition.

Here’s How It Works

Five short film projects were selected from women storytellers. During this past summer, each of the five chosen filmmakers were given the extraordinary opportunity to work with writing mentors who helped to shape and refine each of the five projects.

When and Where

From October 16 to 18, the filmmakers will gather in New York City with the mentor and program advisors for an in-depth intimate program concentrating on script-to-screen development, casting, finding collaborators, and working with cinematographers, music composers, costume designers, and producers. The selected program participants will attend master classes and have individual mentoring sessions with leading women in filmmaking, meet distributors, and spend concentrated time refining their pitching skills.

It’s a Win-Win

On the final day, each of the five filmmakers will pitch their projects to a jury of industry experts. Although only one woman will receive the full financing, no one among these five carefully-chosen filmmakers will lose.  The four runners up will also receive grant money to assist in the further development of their films.

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Written for Honeysuckle Magazine

The global human rights organization Breakthrough works to “change the attitudes and assumptions around gender that lead to violence and discrimination.” This year is their 4th annual Dudes Against Violence Against Women Because DUH. Featuring comedians from beloved shows including 30 Rock and The Daily Show, the evening of laughs was initially spearheaded by SiriusXM’s Dean Obeidallah (read below for more on the history of his involvement), and will be a night to remember. All tickets sold will benefit Breakthrough’s efforts to shift cultural norms to end gender-based violence. Lynn Harris, author and former VP of Breakthrough, came up with the brilliant title.

The show happens Wednesday, July 18, 2018 at the Gotham Comedy Club at 7:30 PM; doors open at 6:30.

THE DUDES

Judah Friedlander (30 Rock)

Roy Wood, Jr. (The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Comedy Central’s This Is Not Happening)

Dean Obeidallah** (Host of SiriusXM radio’s The Dean Obeidallah Show)

Josh Gondelman (writer, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver)

Jordan Carlos (The Colbert Report, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore)

Rob Paravonian (Comedy Central, Dr. Demento, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn)

Eddie Sarfaty (Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, Logo’s Wisecrack)

with special guest and emcee

Negin Farsad (NPR, HBO, Fake the Nation)

More About Breakthrough

Manager of Business and Development Operations at Breakthrough, Jason Fluegge, told Honeysucklethat this is not just any human rights organization. Fluegge said, “In the U.S., there’s this idea that human rights are about oppression in faraway lands. But we’ve got ’em right here, too.”

Breakthrough uses pop culture to make human rights real, relevant, urgent, and actionable.

“We believe,” said Fluegge, “that we can change our culture.” The emphasis, he underscores, is on promoting human rights values—dignity, equality, and respect—you know, how we all should treat each other. “We’ve made online games about immigration and racial justice, and videos about gender norms with puppeteers from Avenue Q, so it makes total sense that we’d do comedy intended to challenge gender-based violence.”

It was Dean Obeidallah who approached Breakthrough several years ago and came up with the idea of doing a comedy show to support the organization’s work. Fluegge recalled, “We decided on a comedy fundraiser that made a statement. It wasn’t only about making money; it was about taking a stand. Of course violence against women has long been an issue, but the show feels particularly relevant and urgent this year. Wow, do we need a laugh.”

Fluegge credited the #MeToo movement for shining a light on what women have endured—and are no longer willing to endure. “There is a need for men to act, not just by questioning their own past actions but to stand up with women and fix this problem in our institutions and our culture.”  

In March of 2013, with the launch of Breakthrough’s Ring the Bell: One Million Men, One Million Promises campaign, Breakthrough asked men worldwide to step up and make violence against women their issue. Dean Obeidallah did just that, pledging to devote his skills—comedy and advocacy—toward helping launch the first Dudes Against Violence Against Women in 2014.

Today Breakthrough is asking you to step up and let the world know that gender-based violence isn’t just a women’s issue, but that it is everyone’s issue. Even if you can’t attend the show (though we hope you do!), you can still take part in #Dudes18. Sign up below and for more information on how you can get involved. The time to act is now.

DUDES AGAINST VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN BECAUSE DUH

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18TH, 2018 AT 7:30 PM

Gotham Comedy Club
280 West 23rd Street
(7th & 8th Aves)
New York City

Watch comedian Rob Paravonian explain why this show matters:

For more information on Breakthrough and #Dudes18, visit us.breakthrough.tv or follow them on Facebook and Twitter (@BreakthroughUS) or Instagram (@breakthroughtv).

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SEE ALSO: Honeysuckle Magazine

Ashley Judd. Photo © 2018 Dorri Olds

The awesome all-day affair was filled with uplifting, invigorating female speakers (and one #woke male). Participants included Tribeca Film Festival’s Jane Rosenthal and Paula Weinstein, and long-time activist and founder of the #MeToo movement, Tarana Burke. Actresses-turned-activists who spoke included Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino, Mariska Hargitay, Lupita Nyong’o, Amber Tamblyn, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, Sienna Miller, Jurnee Smolett Bell, Cynthia Erivo, Sasheer Zamata.

Additional trailblazing women included Haifaa al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia’s first female filmmaker; Joanna Coles, Chief Content Officer of Hearst Magazines; Pam Wasserstein, CEO of New York Media; Roberta (Robbie) Kaplan, of Kaplan & Company and co-founder of #TimesUp Legal Defense Fund; Amy Emmerich, Chief Content Officer, of Refinery29; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women — and the list goes on.

Ashley Judd’s Powerful Letter

We can heal. That has been my experience. We may not, admittedly, know how to, or even from what we need to heal. It may be the event itself, or vivid or dull memories of it, and it is entirely plausible that we don’t even remember the event. There is a police record of a time I was sexually assaulted in high school. I was wearing a green and gold cheerleader uniform, my mother tells me. It was in a local store, and I have no memory of that crime. We may not even think we need to heal, that maybe we’ve just had some crappy relationships. Whatever trauma looks like in our lives, feelings can be healed.

Healing is our birthright. It was not our birthright to be sexually harassed or assaulted or raped based on social constructs of gender, biology, sex, identity, orientation, ethnicity, race, ability, or any intersection thereof. It is our birthright to know in our bones that it wasn’t our fault. We humans hurt each other, and sometimes we hurt ourselves, but we can make decisions and take actions that free us.

She Makes An Excellent Point Here

Everyone’s freedom may look a little different. For some it is calling the police, or reporting to HR, or contacting the legal defense fund. Often choices include healthy, cathartic processing with a safe, wise friend or a trauma-informed specialist. The particular freedom I’m describing does have one universal quality: It’s an inside job. It is peace of mind. Yes, we can have peace of mind, even as survivors of violent sexual assault.

It does take work, and it does take time. It requires transformation, and we are worth it. This meta-transformation is a powerful journey from being a disempowered victim who was aggressed upon to the wound just becoming an integrated part of the whole that we are. Trauma lives in the cells of our bodies and it affects the neuroanatomical pathways of our brain; it is completely natural for being a victim to be a part of our bodies. It is, I am here to tell you, impermanent.

Trauma and the Brain

There’s no universal timeframe for this trajectory of healing, and everyone’s work looks a little different. For some, talking about it drives the trauma deeper into the brainstem, and for others, divulging every nuance and detail is liberating.

Professional modalities have helped hundreds of thousands of us get relief from impossible burdens. Inpatient treatment, workshops, and retreats have brought us together and set us free. Experiential work and meditation are necessary. Breathing is free, and it intercepts PTSD. Meditation is clinically proven to ameliorate the trauma that lies triggered and wired in our brains, waiting for life to trip us up. Exercise is still the best pill around.

Twelve-step programs and other resources are so helpful because many of us, in our efforts to self-soothe, to find peace where there has been turmoil, turn to alcohol or give it a cookie, take it shopping, seek out relationships. And those behaviors can become out of hand or even compulsive. Eventually, though, what happened to us becomes externalized, and we may hold it in our hands and look at it objectively. The facts remain the facts, but by God, we change. Resilience kicks in.

No, Life Is Not Fair but…

This is not fair. Let’s be plain. It isn’t right or fair that 1 out of 4 girls or 1 out of 6 boys will be sexually assaulted, by conservative estimates, at the age of 18, amongst other catastrophic statistics. But—and this is everything, my friends—when we become aware of our pain, and have some education about it, we become responsible for addressing our pain in effective and healthy ways.

What happened to us will always have been wrong, sexist, and criminal, yet we are fundamentally and ultimately responsible, respondable to our own lives. This may sound harsh, but it means we have autonomy, we are powerful, and we have agency. The final stage is that what happened to us merely becomes a story we tell that may be of service to another human being. Perhaps placed in God’s hands, or some other benevolent, compassionate higher power’s hands, this story makes life so worthwhile and meaningful now. With it, we can help others avert death and misery.

You Are Not Alone

You are not alone, I believe you, and it wasn’t your fault, by now are our internal paradigm. We learn how to trust people who are trustworthy and have discernment about those who are not. We can artfully set and maintain healthy boundaries.

We use our voices, we weather retaliation and act up anyway. We cease taking people, places, and things so personally, and what was that rage Tarana [Burke] spoke about becomes our strength, our energy, and our motivation. What was depression becomes expression, and self-pity and helplessness are transformed into dignity, integrity, and courage. We celebrate and enjoy our sexuality. We prosecute and forgive at the same time.

There will still be the hard days. The facts do remain the facts, but we know our preciousness and our fierceness. Healing, damn it, is our birthright.

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