What I Was Doing November 2022

I was inspired by this Now page to make my own. I also like Milos Stanic's, and Marva Jackson Lord's. Learn more about Now pages here, and, maybe even make your own.

Updated November 1, 2022

This is an archived version of a past Now page. For up-to-date info about my current doings please see my current Now Page.

Consults, Facilitating Work of Art Classes, Negotiation for Creatives

Rubin Hardin and I did an Ask Me Anything with Springboard for the Arts recently. It was a fascinating conversation, and I really appreciate Rubin, as well as Springboard colleague Adia Morris Swanger for her sensitive and brave questions.
Join me, David Fallon, and Minda Mae for With Us: Artists with Disabilities on Empowerment, presented by Springboard for the Arts.
With the rest of the Work of Art facilitation team I'm continuing in facilitating Work of Art classes through Springboard for the Arts at Hennepin County library this fall. See this schedule, which shows all Work of Art events.
I'll be facilitating a Work of Art+ class on Artist Statements through Springboard for the Arts with The Playwrights' Center November 10, 2022
Stay tuned here and on other channels (my Facebook page, LinkedIn, email newsletter) for class offerings focused on developing negotiation skills for artists and other creative frelancers and contractors.
Get your consults! Step right up and get your consults! I meet with artists to strategize on the business side of their careers. Recent consults have focused on developing systems, on grantwriting, on promoting projects, grantwriting, seeking press coverage and concerns specific to artists with disabilities. Visit the Springboard for the Arts Artist Career Consult page to book time with me (consults are free or low-cost for Minnesota artists.)

I have launched a Patreon featuring my stories about the Craigslist personals that also includes some art and a wider context into what the personals did and where they came from.
From the research I've been doing as a 2022 Legacy Research Fellow at the Minnesota Historical Society I'm developing a podcast exploring mental health treatment in an historical context.
I've been writing and writing and writing. Expect to see an essay that explores Traci Lords and Joyce Carol Oates somewhere in the hopefully not too distant future.
I'll be exhibiting at Fresh Eye Galleries' Yulemart November 11 through December 23 in Minneapolis. Stop in their south Minneapolis location for zines and prints of my collage.
You also can find my zines for sale in my online shop.
The result of doing stand-up comedy recently (for Sarah McPeck's Wensgays Comedy Night), is I've been encouraged to do more stand up. I'm excited to keep blurring genre lines.
- Sarah wrote: Alison Bergblom Johnson "did stand up for the first time and raised money for the Queer & Funny Improv Festival scholarship fund! Yay! Thanks Alison! You were fantastic!" The scholarship fund drive is completed, but you could always make a donation to affiliated Huge Theater.
I added a services page to this site. If you're interested in learning about ways we might work together please check it out.

After I pubbed the previous Now page on August 21, as I re-read it, I remembered that a very long time ago Salon.com nuked their Mothers who Think section, and ever after titled the part of their website where personal essays lived as "Life." I didn't care for that change. I also do think the Mothers who Think moniker does have some aggro baggage to it.
I've made some personal choices that are giving me more space that I did pretty much everything to avoid.
I've been participating in a support group that is challenging, but is leaving me with a lot of hope for myself and my community.
October left me with only one migraine. Someone encouraged me to start trying for a month with no migraines recently. I know I will sometimes have migraines, but it's really encouraging to have had so few recently.

My Springboard for the Arts Artist Career Consultant colleague Jes Reyes will have an open studio November 4th through 6th at her new studio at Artblok at 2010 Hennepin Ave in Minneapolis. Hours are Friday Nov 4, 5 to 10pm, Saturday Nov 5, Noon to 8pm and Sunday Nov 6, Noon to 5pm.
If you were hoping to know about life in the 612, I have these Minneapolis media suggestions:
Fellow Twin Cities Collage Collective member Ben DiNino will be hosting a collage making night on Thursday November 3rd from 6-9pm in conjunction with the Minneapolis Park and Rec Board at North Commons Park Community Center (1801 N. James Ave, Minneapolis, MN). The event is free and all supplies are provided.
Strike Theater has a storytelling show coming up focused on bodies, produced by Allison Broeren and Bruce Manning. Allison is one of the prime reasons Minneapolis is a storytelling town, and I'd encourage anyone to check this out, as well as the rest of the Strike Calendar.
Two journalists from the Financial Times created a podcast on the economics of the adult film industry. They tell these stories from a business perspective, and it's fascinating.

For my most recently past Now page, see August 21, 2022.