JAHRGANG 2015

That power top of all power tops Daniel "Haji Romana" Hendrickson the Scandinavian Muzlim
jihadist translator to the academic shtars is on a working trip to Sicily to translate film scholarina
Gertrude Koch's book and to participate with some pals from Gorizia at the Queer Sicilia
Festivale. He's only going to be gone for three weeks but it alreadys feels like three years.
The dashing BFF of Comrade Hendrickson-Daryl Els the director of the fabled Bioscope
Independent Cinema in South Africa is in Berlin for Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus'
Visionary Archive Festival which opened May 21st with a big shebang. I was fortunate to
attend most of the programs featuring the handsome Mr. Els who is quite commanding on
stage when he uses his most posh South African accent which is so charming. The guest
curator Tobias Herring seemed to always end the programs featuring Mr. Els who is
an excellent moderator early just when the conversations were getting juicy, which was
a shame. So glad I was able to catch the screening of the South African blaxploitation
film Joe Bullit featuring a ruggedly lovesexy lead and a snaggle tooth villain.
Empress Stefanie at the opening gave a wonderful introduction. I wanted more Empress and
Daryl Els as both have great charisma and personality on stage in front of an audience. Empress
Stefanie and her incredible hard working expertin team of Markus Ruff, Uli Ziemons, Miss Tanya
Horstmann &Company have put together a most excellent program of workshops, discussions, panels and exhibitions. The festival even includes representation by an African Refugee Group which other
institutions in Berlin never even consider. The festival continues until May 31st with an
open air screening. Those of you visiting Berlin please catch the final weekend events.
www.arsenal-berlin.de.
I wasn't able to attend as many Visionary Archives events as I wanted because I am running
around like a chicken with its head cut off working on my new visual art exhibition "Come
On Daughter Save Me" which will debut in November in New York City at the Invisible Exports
Gallery on the Lower East Side. This will be my most difficult solo show to date and I have
to focus on it now during the Spring and Summer if I am to make my deadlines in the fall.
Don't want to say too much about it as to not jinx it.
Had a lovely meeting with the very young and sweet curator Pedro Marum of Queer Lisbon Art
& Film Festival along with the delightful Ricke Merighi who is a direct descendent of
Caravaggio. They are bringing me to Lisbon for an art congress on the African diaspora
which should be very exciting as it will be my first time in Portugal.
Also met with the beautiful Baseera Khan who collaborated with me back in 2012 in New
York City at Participant Inc Gallery on my first solo exhibition Hag-small,contemporary,
haggard. Ms. Khan was on a fellowship to Israel and Southern Italy and took a pitstop to
Berlina to visit with the doll. We had a delightful time having cake and coffee at
the Nollendorky Platz cafe Romeo und Romeo. Wish I could have spent more time hanging
out with Baseera who is smart and personable and recommended to me a book by the
young Nigerian writer Teju Cole called Every Day Is For a Thief. Cole is known for another
novel called "Open City" which i also have to read ASAP.
I have been so remiss in writing that I am late in reporting of the deaths of two
performance art greats Chris Burden and Rachel Rosenthal. When I was working at UCLA in
the 1990s I was on a hiring committee headed by Chris Burden where we had many hilarious
lunch meetings pigging out at the faculty center. Also on the committee was Mrs. Michael Glass who in those days was so full of humour and hot scandalous gossip. Rachel Rosenthal is a
performance art legend whose technique of Doing By Doing is something that I use when
teaching students all over the world with my performance art seminars and workshops.One
fun fact about Ms. Rosenthal is that she was married in the 1950s to the original
Ronald McDonald clown spokesman for the fast food empire. Chris Burden and Rachel Rosenthal
will be greatly missed.

***

Was going through some of my notes and because of being so busy with all this traveling I forgot to write about several motion pictures, television films and cable miniseries that were sent to me ages ago for review. The HBO mini series Looking that is a product of the British film director Andrew Haight who many fagulas see as their new filmic savior. I wasn't so impressed by his film Weekend. This TV series is a soap opera with three unsympathetic leads. The best thing I can recommend about the program is the supporting players that include the incredible Lauren Weedman as a feisty faghag, the handsome Raul Castillo and a wonderfully delightful Latina actress whose name i don't know who played the opinionated cousin of the character portrayed by Mr. Castillo. An Honorable Woman starring the exceptional talents of Ms. Maggie Gyllenhaul. Wonderful ensemble cast of British actors but the dress you up in my love geo politikal rigamorale is too much jizz for me to swallow in one 7-11 big gulp. Banana and Cucumber from the creator of the original British version of Queer as Folk has a nice glossy sheen to it but seemed forced. Wouldn't mind seeing more of male ingenue Dino Fetscher without clothes though.

***

Received this little missive from the wonderous art team of the great Beth Stephens and
the icon known as Annie Sprinkle:

Dear Friends and Colleagues Extraordinaire,

Greetings from the redwood forest. We are writing to, 1.) say ‘hello’, 2.) inform you of our new projects, 3.) and extend an invitation to join us.

WATER MAKES US WET! We are launching several projects about the pleasures, politics, and importance of WATER! Perhaps you are up for doing something fun? Perhaps you, like us, love and take pleasure with water, and are concerned with the drought and the way water is being exploited and polluted? Join us in expressing your thoughts and feelings about water.

NEW FILM! After the success of our first documentary film, we are, GULP, starting another film! Goodbye Gauley Mountain—An Ecosexual Love Story (2013) played some great festivals, won some awards, and was picked up by Kino Lorber, a great distributor. Best part was that the film raised awareness about the destruction of mountain top removal coal mining in West Virginia and introduced all kinds of audiences to ecosexuality and the idea of Earth as lover. We want to extend this idea into a new film about water. This is where YOU come in! We’d like to invite you, and your friends, to create some performance pieces with us, and be in our new film.

PARADE PERFORMANCES! We’re doing two Pride parade contingents in June, officially adding the E (for Ecosexual) to GLBTQI, in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. These events will kick off with ribbon cutting ceremonies, water toasts, and some special short performances by special guests. Then we make our way along the parade routes. We’ll be dressed in black with blue accents as fierce, punk-rock-ish, sexy water warriors. La Pocha Nostra’s co-director Saul Garcia Lopez will direct us. Guillermo Gomez Pena and his beloved Balitronica are the godparents of this SF piece. Artist Sandy Stone is our Santa Cruz project angel.

CALL FOR COLLABORATORS! We seek performers, flag bearers, safety monitors, marchers, makers, make-up artists, hair artists, production assistants and more. We welcome humans of all body types, ages, genders, sexual preferences, colors, nationalities, mobilities and eco-proclivities. Find all the juicy details here:

Santa Cruz’s Ecosex Contingent Performance for June 7th: http://theecosexuals.ucsc.edu/santa-cruz-pride/

San Francisco’s Ecosexual Contingent performance for June 28th: http://theecosexuals.ucsc.edu/sf-pride

ECOSEX WALKING TOURS--We are also performing Here Come the Ecosexuals!Walking Tour of Bernal Hill, directed by Joy Brooke Fairfield. June 21st we will film the 10:30 a.m. walk and would love to have you in our audience. (Free!) There’s also a tour at 5. Come get your ecosexual gaze on! Tour info here: http://theecosexuals.ucsc.edu/pop-up-performance/

OUR SF HOUSE & BOULDER CREEK CABIN FOR RENT: In July, we will take off on a road trip around Northern California, exploring more about water with our film crew. To help fund our film crew and travels we are looking to rent out our houses for bits of July through September. If you or anyone is interested, contact us for more information. bethandannie@sexecology.org

A Ph.D. & A NEW BOOK! Beth is scheduled to defend her Ph.D. dissertation in October. Then at the end of this year, we have a book about our work due. Its called Assuming the Ecosexual Position, and it will be published by the great University of Minnesota Press. We expect photos of the above projects (perhaps with you in them) to be in the book.

We are busy bees here at Pollination Productions. Our greatest joy would be to have some quality time with YOU, soaking in the hot tub, hanging out at the beach… going swimming… Water makes us wet!

With sunshine and daffodils,

Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle