A debut author upends chick lit with an unflinching look at poverty.
By Gretchen Kalwinski
If there existed a polar opposite to chick lit, Corrina Wycoff’s O Street (OV Books, $17.95) would exemplify the genre. The debut author isn’t interested in romanticizing love, motherhood, hardship—or anything at all, come to think of it.
O Street collects ten short stories about Beth Dinard, who spends her Newark childhood caring for her mentally ill, homeless, junkie single mother. “Visiting Mrs. Ferullo” shows Beth following a neighbor home, longing for the home-cooking aromas that waft from the woman’s apartment. In “The Wrong Place in the World,” adult Beth is in Chicago trying to stabilize her life even while her brutal memories affect her relationships and attitudes about class and work. When she gets a phone call informing her of her mother’s death, it triggers a relapse into old, destructive patterns. It’s tempting to read the tightly linked stories as a novel, but Wycoff stresses the importance of the form.
“In a linked-story format, I can present other points of view as short pieces of contrast,” she says. “I wanted to structure the book so that it begins and ends with a death, because I wanted it to read as a cycle. Linearity, to me, seems more of a construct than cycles.”
A single mother herself, Wycoff says the stories should not be confused with autobiography.
“They are based on a political truth: Single mothers fall through the cracks in this country, and the cracks grow in proportion to these women’s economic challenges, making inaccessible the so-called American Dream,” she says. “When my son was born, I’d not yet gone to college, and money was extremely tight. I drew on that experience…but by the time I wrote about it, [I] had changed enough that it didn’t resemble my ‘real’ life at all.”
In one scene, a depressed Beth wishes that she could “grow into someone new—someone who could easily have had two parents, good breeding, hearty suppers and piano lessons.” Passages like these strike unexpected chords. Though many contemporary narratives deal with women’s physical and spiritual transformations, few do so at the poverty level. This is, of course, no grand coincidence: Poor women face even more barriers than their male counterparts in getting their stories told.
“The second of these I wrote when my son was two years old,” says Wycoff. “I wrote it, in part, in reaction to all of the sentimental, dreamy writing about motherhood. ”
In Chicago, Wycoff met UIC’s Cris Mazza, an award-winning author who has waged a one-woman war against the chick-lit genre. Since then, Mazza has become both her creative muse and mentor.
“Twelve years ago, I read How to Leave a Country, and decided I needed to read everything she’d ever written,” Wycoff says. “She was the reason I chose to go to college and, later, graduate school at UIC, and she helped me see that the disparate single-mother stories I’d written could be linked.”
Because of the book’s gravitas (the title story is especially harrowing), getting O Street published wasn’t easy.
“I got about seven rejections over the course of four years, all from small presses,” she says, “many of whom called the collection ‘too dark.’”
Indeed, Wycoff portrays the gritty, sorrowful elements of her characters’ lives head-on and offers no easy solutions—no one’s riding up on a white horse, but neither are the stories bleak. Instead, drama and tension are delivered in such a subtle but detail-infused way that the reader becomes invested in Beth’s plight early on in the collection. The collection will likely elicit Dorothy Allison comparisons for its depictions of poor women and lesbian relationships, .
Wycoff is working on a novel now, and is planning another about teaching at a community college.
With chick lit down, it looks like the vaunted “university novel” may next.
Jessa Crispin is a literary lass extraordinaire, and her Bookslut readings are icing on the cake.
Basic stats: Features three or four fiction or non-fiction authors, in conjunction with the smart, irreverent tone of Bookslut.com Incorporated: 2003 Website: http://www.bookslut.com When: Once a month (exact dates and locations vary) Fringe benefits: Free! Up next: May 24, 2006 at Hopleaf: Michelle Tea, Elizabeth Merrick, Gary Amdahl.
Jessa Crispin is a literary lass extraordinaire. She is the editor and founder of Bookslut.com, a “monthly webzine dedicated to those who love to read” that’s known for offering sharp, thoughtful and acerbic reviews of fiction and non-fiction, author interviews, commentary on publishing trends and literary news. It also contains the Bookslut blog, and Crispin’s authoritative tone and occasionally-biting commentary have made for her reputation as a successful and devoted literary blogger (the Bookslut site boasts 7,000-8,000 daily readers).
Crispin began the Bookslut website while living in Austin, Texas, where Bookslut.com began to gain momentum. Crispin also runs the monthly Bookslut Reading Series, which has featured such authors as Marisha Pessl, Luis Alberto Urrea and Kirby Gann, and usually features readers who have already been reviewed by Bookslut.com. Last year, Crispin made Wired’s list of the “10 Sexiest Geeks,” and in 2003, Bookslut.com was awarded as one of Time Magazine’s “50 Best Websites.” Centerstage chatted with Crispin about the origins of Bookslut.com and how the Bookslut Reading Series ties in with the website.
What’s the most memorable Bookslut reading thus far? Our first reading was with Shalom Auslander, who wrote Beware of God, and since it was the first one I had no expectations, but she completely rocked it; she’s just a very good performer. I didn’t know how that night was going to work out actually; because we had Beth Lisick, a feminist writer named Paula Kamen who wrote All in My Head and a scholar named Peter Manseau who wrote Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son. Lisick was the first reader and she opened with a story about um, fisting. Peter was hilarious about it when it was his turn though. He got up there and was like, “how do I insert fisting into this?” I was worried, but it turned out fine.
What did you set out to do with the Bookslut website? I just kinda started it to kill some time at my day job; I never would have imagined that it would have become what it has.
How does the site inform your choices for the reading series? The readers kind of depend on who the publishers will send. It’s gotten a little better now, but when we were starting and trying to get writers it was like pulling teeth.
Does this mean that by you use more authors at big publishing houses rather than smaller ones, because the bigger ones can cover traveling expenses? Not really, with some of the writers we’ve taken up collections and helped pay travel costs that way. We actually get a lot of small press writers and it seems that bigger publishers are LESS likely to cover travel expenses. Also, we’ve had a longtime relationship working with small houses, as opposed to bigger ones who are like “who the hell are you, again?”
What book are you reading now? Pearl by Mary Gordon, who we are trying to get for July. It’s a novel about an American girl who chains herself to a flagpole in Dublin on a hunger strike but no one can figure out what she’s protesting.
I heard that your parents are kind of reserved and don’t say the name of the site out loud. Right, they just call it “the site”. After we made Time Magazine’s list of best websites, my father was at their church and they have this part of the service where you pray for people, and offer “concerns and congratulations.” My dad started to say, “Oh, my daughter got this award” and then he was like, “Oh wait,” and tried to work around the name of the site, but by then people were already starting to ask him all kinds of questions.
Who are some upcoming readers that you’re excited about? May’s reading with Michelle Tea and Elizabeth Merrick will be great, and the June reading will be a good nepotism month because the readers have all written for Bookslut.
The first Ladyfest took place in 2000 in Olympia, Washington. In addition to bands like Sleater-Kinney and Cat Power performing, the weeklong event hosted bands like the Rondelles, Neko Case, and Mary Timony, and a dizzying array of varied spoken-word artists, authors, and visual artists, along with workshops and dance partiesOlympia festival, an astounding 80 Ladyfests around the world have been successfully planned, testifying to the need for this sort of event. Ladyfests should not be mistaken for a franchise, however, and the different Ladyfests are not related to one another, except in spirit. The varied places around the world that have hosted Ladyfests include Bloomington, Indiana; Chicago; San Francisco’s Bay Area; Nantes, France; Glasgow, Scotland; Toronto; Los Angeles; Stockholm, Sweden; Melbourne, Australia; Seattle; Berlin; Napoli, Italy; and Vienna, Austria. In 2005, approximately 30 Ladyfests were scheduled to take place worldwide. Venus interviewed organizers and performers from this year’s festivals in Brisbane, Australia; Guelph and Ottawa, Canada; Denver; Lansing, Michigan; and Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Organizers Ladyfest organizers as a whole are a determined lot with an idealistic focus and an overabundance of energy. They also are uniquely open-minded about their attendees and welcome all genders, unlike the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, for example, which restricts attendees to only biological females. Sarah Brown of Ladyfest Ottawa noted that their demographic was “definitely young women 18 to 30, but we had audience members of all ages and genders.” Fellow Ottawa Ladyfest organizer Natasha Beaudin attributed their good turnout to dynamic and feminist-oriented programming, affirming that, “it was definitely a better turnout than one would get [from] a lecture on feminism, for example.”
Ladyfest Guelph organizer Ashley Fortier was impressed with the event’s large attendance and the variety of ethnicities that were represented, especially given Guelph’s small population. “It was a very diverse crowd, especially at the hip-hop night,” she said. Ladyfest Out West organizer Shannon Perez-Darby commented on the queer focus of their festival’s performances. “Over 75 percent of our performers were queer, lesbian, gay and/or trans identified,” she said. The organizers of Ladyfest Guelph went a step further by specifically listing their event as”anti-oppressive, feminist, queer and trans-positive, DIY, and collective.”
Local Focus, Broad Appeal The 2005 Ladyfests had varied concentrations in their different locations. Some had a heavy hip-hop presence, while others were more film-centric or focused on performance art or workshops.At Ladyfest Ottawa, the closing party with the Gossip was the most popular event, and Alix Olsen was a “big hit” in Lansing, Michigan. The best-attended performance at Ladyfest South Africa was a band called Electro Muse, a string quartet that combines drum‘n’bass tracks to trip-hop.
Workshops also drew in enormous crowds. Sarah Brown of Ladyfest Ottawa mused that, “A panel discussion on privilege in activism was one of our best-attended events. Bookbinding also had high numbers.” Nearby in Guelph, the workshop on urban gardening was hugely popular. Oftentimes, decisions about performers and events were made broadly and then localized, with organizers focused on bringing in as much local talent as possible. “We included similar broad themes like music, art, politics, film, etc., but then tried to re-appropriate it to the Brisbane context,” said Ladyfest Brisbane organizer Nikola Errington.
Similarly, Ladyfest Ottawa included local talent such as Les Alumettes, Sarah Hallman, Daydream Square, and the Hussies. Ladyfest Out West brought in resident spoken-word artists Jeanette Henriquez, Angela Palermo, and Isis, in addition to well-known local activists Ashara Ekundayo and Kelly Shortandqueer MC and the Denver band Supply Boy.
The Talent When asked about their Ladyfest experience, performers often got gushy. Susie Patten was double booked at Ladyfest Brisbane with her bands I Heart Hiroshima and the Mean Streaks, and she enjoyed playing to the crowd’s enthusiastic response. “My bands played first and second, so we thought that there’d be a pretty quiet vibe around, but everyone was really into [it]. The crowd response was fantastic. Maybe that was just because Kate Bush was played in between sets.” Patten attended other Ladyfest events while on location and said that “apart from the rad music, the photography exhibition was probably the highlight — so much awesome talent.”
Patten said the only changes she would make for future Ladyfest stints are that she’d like to play last. “And for Cat Power to support us, and maybe even for her to fall in love with me,” she said. “So realistic.” Deb Cavallaro of the Golden Circles called the Brisbane Ladyfest an “intimate, beautiful, dynamic, honest, and inspiring gig. As far as sisterhood goes, there was a fair bit of that feeling going around that night and [it was] kinda great … when you look at the stage and see more than one woman out there.”
Organizational Challenges The momentum for these festivals seems to be only increasing as time goes by. In 2002, there were 13 Ladyfests; in 2004, the number had reached 26, and in 2005, close to 30 Ladyfests occurred around the globe. This steady growth is encouraging to those of us who aren’t having our needs for this kind of event met in mainstream culture. However, there are definite challenges in planning these festivals. First, there is no one source of income or funding for Ladyfests, and one of the first things that organizers are obliged to figure out is how to raise funds through advertising, fundraising events, or auctions.
Ladyfest Ottawa raised funds via craft sales, bake sales, film nights, rock shows, garage sales, art parties, and bottle drives. Sarah Stollak and Latricia Horstman of Lansing, Michigan’s Ladyfest invested the money from their tax returns to fund their town’s festival, in addition to applying for grants and selling ads to local businesses. Ladyfest South Africa secured Jose Cuervo as a sponsor and “used most of the funding to pay the marketing and printing” costs for their festival. There are definite challenges to organizing other than finances. Many organizers struggle with the admittedly valid critique that Ladyfest and events like it can work to marginalize women artists and performers. Being cast as an “alternative” culture can run the risk of alienation, an important point to consider when in the planning process. Others depict the female nonprofit organizing process akin to a series of infighting sessions, characterizing women’s managerial styles as too emotional or complicated.
However, the typical response from a Ladyfest organizer is that although the planning completely consumed their life for the better part of a year, the payoff was enormously rewarding. Most organizers said that they’d do it again but would change small parts of the process. For instance, they suggested a different organizational structure, setting earlier application deadlines, and, as Nikola Errington of Ladyfest Brisbane said, “we would try and make EVERYTHING all-ages.”
When asked if she’d program another Ladyfest, Sarah Brown said, “Hell yes. Organizing this festival is so rewarding. It deeply affects your life, and as an organizer you have the privilege of watching it affect others.” Latricia Horstman muses that she set out on a mission to bring Ladyfest to Michigan in a way that changed her community’s mindset, all the while having fun and providing a fantastic opportunity for folks to get involved and learn. “The ultimate goal for everyone participating or attending: to have fun, learn something, and have some money at the end to give to a charity,” she said. “Every year we’ve done just that.”
Good Deeds, Progressive Values Ladyfest South announced on its Web site that it is a forum for “radical and progressive women everywhere” and goes above and beyond the call of duty by not only paying their performers, but raising a good deal of cash for local social-service projects that assist women, such as the DeKalb Rape Crisis Center and the Women’s Center to End Domestic Violence.
Ladyfest Mexico will be held in Monterrey in February 2006, and the organizers are calling for submissions of women artists, including photographers, writers, actresses, filmmakers, musicians, and fashion designers. The festival will focus on subjects such as the situation of women in politics, society, and the economy, with a critical reflection of the role assigned to women in the work-field and family by societal and moral values.
The possibilities of Ladyfest seem endless. As long as there are women producing good work, there is a seemingly endless array of locations and venues for Ladyfests to showcase them. It is of note, though, that what most of the organizers, participants, and attendees are ultimately working for is a world where the kind of work, art, and music featured in Ladyfests around the world would automatically be showcased and valued by a larger and more diverse demographic of society. We’ve come a long way, ladies, but there is still a long way to go.
The Future of the Fest Some upcoming Ladyfests in 2006 are in Atlanta and Monterrey, Mexico. For more information about past and future Ladyfests, visit http://www.ladyfest.org.
All photos courtesy of Nikola Errington of Ladyfest Brisbane 2005.
Top photo: Stitch N’ Bitch event Middle photo: Scout Niblett performing Bottom photo: Women in Activism workshop
Christen Carter reignited the one-inch button market in 1995 after talking with a button-making friend in London and realizing that few people were doing it stateside. Carter saved her pennies to invest in a button-making machine, named her company Busy Beaver, and worked solo for the first few years. The business grew organically, and now employs four of Carter’s friends, who work out of Busy Beaver’s headquarters – Carter’s apartment in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village. After producing 7,000 button designs, Busy Beaver decided to take on a new challenge – dispensing buttons from gumball machines. Carter scored a load of vending machines and is dispensing one-inchers at various Chicago restaurants and hangouts.
How did Busy Beaver get started?
I was living in London on a work exchange through Indiana University and a friend was making buttons over there for bands and his own promotion. I realized that nobody was really offering custom buttons in the U.S. anymore, so he showed me around his machine. I had gotten sort of friendly with Guided by Voices in London, and when I came back to the States; they asked me what I was planning to do. I said that I was thinking about making one-inch buttons for bands, and they said they’d be my first customer. That really made me go out and find a machine and figure out how to print (I just used the IU computers) and figure out pricing (which I’ve never changed). I then went through my record collection and sent fliers to all those people and it just kept growing.
It seems like button-making could get monotonous?
Very true! Pressing and pinning are really repetitive. But it’s a good job for people who don’t mind just thinking or listening to music or NPR while working.
Who are some of your well-known customers?
Sleater-Kinney, Lost Goat, Paul Westerberg, the Butchies, Le Tigre, Tracy + the Plastics, Stereolab, Beck, Tenacious D, NOFX, Slayer, and Fisher Spooner.
You employ your friends and work out of your apartment. Do you sometimes have to be the boss and say, “OK, we’re done having a beer, guys. Let’s get to work”?
I’m not completely comfortable being a boss. I had to learn how to deal with being communicative, but now I’m more comfortable. But I sometimes ask, “Do you think you’ll be OK to come in tomorrow morning or are you going to be hung over?”
What are the biggest perks of running your own business and working from home?
We can cook food while we’re working and the kitties are nice to have around. If I ever worked in an office, Max and Floyd would have to do some serious adjusting.
What’s your workaday schedule?
We work like mad Monday through Thursday and take Friday off unless it’s super busy. But I work really late when it’s busy; otherwise, I usually wrap up about 7 p.m.
There are several button Web sites that look like yours (www.busybeaver.net), and some of them even have similar price gauges and timelines. Since you were the one who got this button thing going again, what’s your take on the competition?
I think there’s room for us all. I honestly feel like we’re a great business and do a great job, so that’s all I can do. But it’s sort of a nice feeling to have set a standard in the independent one-inch buttons world.
You had an opening party for your button machines in September. How did the project begin?
It’s working out really well, and I love doing it. I was talking to a New York friend who has a vending machine in a record store there, and me and Rosie [Sanders, a Busy Beaver employee] decided “We have to do that here!” We scored vintage vending machines on eBay, and asked some friends [including Archer Prewitt, Jessica Abel, Emily Counts, and Paul Koob] to design buttons. The next exhibit will be in December or January, and I think the theme will be a scavenger hunt.
If the vending machines do well in Chicago, would you be interested in expanding to include more artists and venues in other cities?
I’m not sure, I guess we’ll see. We have 20 machines and 10 are en route, so there’s room to grow. There’s been some interest from people in New York, but we haven’t figured out how to refill, do maintenance, etc. I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.
Expanding?
Sure we could grow and I’d like that.
Any advice for potential entrepreneurs with original ideas?
For people who don’t like paperwork, I say just go for it and deal with the paperwork after you’re actually earning a little bit. And don’t be shy about promoting your ideas, talk to people about it.
