Over the years I've been blessed with the gift of wordplay, and the grace to land on stage in many ways.  The fire that moves me towards healing, personal growth and love has always lit me up in creative ways.  I have always seen the world in metaphor, and this led me towards music and poetry.  I won my first poetry contest in fourth grade, my most recent one two years ago.  I have performed music in places as diverse as Pine Box in Brooklyn, Hotel Utah in San Francisco, and Camp Trans outside the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.  I have also curated and performed in shows everywhere I've lived.  In addition to what you can hear below, I've landed gigs as a burlesque dancer in Seattle's Queen Bees, a drag king in the New York Drag Squad, and a rollerskating diva in my junior high school talent show. Listen in for a snippet of  my music and poems below. 

 

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Listen and Watch

 

 

Writing and Academic Awards

  • · Manuscript “City Artist” selected as semifinalist for Tomaz Salamun Prize 2017
  • · Poem “Skytalk” honorable mention in 2015 Annual Poetry Prize for California State Poetry Society
  • · Manuscript Go Ahead semifinalist in Crab Orchard’s 2015 First Book Contest
  • · Wrote and read 20 minute Kairos talk at St. Ignatius November Senior Retreat 2015
  • · Poem “Reality TV” chosen for Poems on the Emery-go-Round May 2015
  • · Poem “Dating Divorced Men” nominated for “Best of the Net 2015” for *82
  • · Poem “Thousands” 1st place winner of 2014 New South Poetry Contest
  • · Poem “For wrapping trees in cellophane” 2nd prize in 2013 Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest/Off Channel
  • · Memoir, “Portable Housing” nominated for Walter Sindlinger Writing Award, 2008
  • · Petrie Fellow, full academic scholarship, Columbia University Teachers College 2007
  • · Keynote Graduation Speaker, Sarah Lawrence College 2005
  • · Curator of Graduate Reading Series at Cornelia Street Café 2005 and 2006
  • · Founder's Award from the Women's Center at Saint Mary's College, 2000

Publication

  • “Watercolor Sky” and “A Catalog for Why They Came” published in Nomadic Journal 2016
  • “Skytalk” and “Powerlines” in California Quarterly
  • “The unnamed psychosis of art addiction” and “Options for foxes” in Collective Hum Spring 2015
  • “Cabaret Girl 24” and “Peroxide for Pants” in Psycho edition of Red Light Lit Winter 2015
  • “Dating Divorced Men” in *82 March 2015
  • “Rock Skipping” in Damselfly Issue 28, 2014
  • “Pushing for that Asana Electric” in Elephant Journal 2014
  • “Dinner Together” in Minerva Rising 2014
  • “Thousands” in New South Journal 2014
  • “For wrapping trees in cellophane” and “Musuem of Truth to you” in Off Channel 2013
  • “April in the Bay” Sparkle + Blink May 2013
  • “Glare” in Women Poets Wearing Sweatpants January 2013
  • “Light Speed” in No Dear, Spring 2008                                  
  • “Three Conversations” in Beloit Poetry Journal, Summer 2007
  • “To you, my reader” in Goodfoot, a Poetry Magazine (#7) Fall 2007
  • “Greedy Mouth” in RantArt.com September 2006
  • “Nuts” in Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write their Bodies 2006
  • “Drawing maps on the paper tablecloth...” in Void Magazine October 2005

Recent Readings & Curated literary Shows

  • Curated & hosted monthly series, Mashup Up the Hill, November 2015-May 2016
  • Bazaar Café Poetry Salon, March 2016 & September 2015
  • SF Art Institute’s Write of Way Literary Festival October 2015
  • Poetry Happy Hour for 29th Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition, October 2015
  • LitQuake, October 2015, & October 2014
  • Red Light Lit, January & February 2015
  • The Basement Series, January 2015