I'd like to meet:
Artists, dancers, visual artists, film makers, poets, writers, musicians, comedians and all creative persons with disabilities whose artistic expression wants to be seen and felt.Prospective funders and supporters of Sins invalid's vision, political voice and sexy activism that liberates society from the chains of prejudice through the power of art.Colleges and Universities -Disability studies programs, gay and lesbian, race and gender studies programs.Disability friendly recording studios, radio stations and all forms of multimedia entities.
Donors, volunteers, people who want to be part of this historical event.
The Dancing Tree
The Dancing Tree is an alliance of visual and performing artists that is devoted to makinng the hidden visible. We seek to facilitate, develop, perform, document and publish the stories of people who have been underrepresented because of disability, incarceration, illness, lifestyle, age, or circumstance. Combining movement, rhythm, music, writing, video animation, photography, drawing and painting, we help to create works that develop body and spatial awareness, encourage self-acceptance, self-expression, and self-advocacy among artists from these unseen communities, and at the same time challenge the public's notions of "art."
www.thedancingtree.org
Sins Invalid 2006 Artists
Patty Berne
Oriana Bolden
'ron daniella
Soledad DeCosta
Thanh Diep
Todd Herman
Ron Jones
John Killacky
Leroy Franklyn Moore Jr.
leah rae
Noemi Sohn
Lisa Thomas-Adeyemo
Lady Venus
Lee Williams
Sins Invalid 2007 Artists
Patty Berne
'ron daniella
Loree Erickson
Lezlie Frye
Todd Herman
Lateef H. McLeod
Leroy Franklyn Moore Jr.
Peggy Munson
Maria R. Palacios
Seeley Quest
Roopa Singh
Noemi Sohn
Lisa Thomas-Adeyemo
Sins Invalid 2008 Artists
Rodney Bell
Patty Berne
Nomy Lamm
Leroy Moore Jr.
Cara Page
Maria R. Palacios
seeley quest
Noemi Sohn
Bring Sins Invalid to your community. For more information please contact us at [email protected].
What Makes a Man?
by Leroy F. Moore Jr.
copyright 2002
A man with a big heart
has to be tough & rough
can’t be soft & tender
mirrors turned inwards
passed brown skin & disability
to reveal what really counts
The beating that flows blood
through the body up to the brain
creates this poem
breaking down masculinity walls
to make room for feminist seeds
April showers & August rays
Blossoming a new type of man
who is not scared to wear
his heart on his sleeves
going back to the garden of Eve
corroboration not competition
seeing everyone as equal
Worshiping his mother
protecting his sister
strengthen his vows to his wife
loving his unborn daughter
should be expressed
among all women
A closet of feelings
need Spring-cleaning
men have to learn
tears are healing
not a weakness
glue the pieces
Of the Black family
forming a strong community
healing historical wounds
understanding, our enemies
won’t and can’t give us medicine
Our ancestors were doctors and nurses
their treatment were not western
but they’re our own inner medicine cabinet
no wonder we have survived all these years
shaped by friends and family
not by societal norms
So let go of a stereotypical vision of what makes a man
Revenge
Photograph: Richard Downing(c)2007
Lighting Design: Stephen Siegal
by Noemi Sohn
copyright 2007
i goolged your name and
found you on the web
you look so different
an oncologist in tucson
curiosity opened
old memories for me
do you remember?
twenty-six years ago
as you run down the stairs
i scream and yell out
eleven months of hell
yes, there were moments of
bodies locked in sensual paradise
but only moments
all other time marked
by mind fucks
subtle and not so subtle
directed towards me and not
meanness unknown to me
you say—women carrying
down syndrome fetuses
by law should abort
you whine—affirmative action
kept you out of ucsf medical school
what, stanford not good enough
you torture a little lizard
don’t kill it outright
you poke and prod in delight
and then you have more fun
at my expense of course
my speech or moves
for you a cause for laughter
you pretend to be me
the key keeps missing
the doorknob with shaky hand
you think the way i
blow my nose—a comical event
and that last night together
etched in my bones
earlier in the day
on a beach somewhere
south of san luis obispo
in anger, i throw
7-up in your face
so mad you pull me to the car
drive eighty miles an hour
back to san francisco
come up to my flat
take a shower
and won’t go home
crawl into bed with me
i want to talk
you want to fuck
i say no—but, you
pin me down anyway
wanting to escape
i say okay, just first let me pee
and you let me up
i think to run out the front door
but you get there first
drag and push me into bed
you straddle my body
your hands hold down mine
my only control
avoiding your kisses
for many years i dream revenge
take you to court and
you get twenty-five to life
or i play loreena bobbitt
cut off your dick
and shove it down you throat
or a simple public confrontation
with friends who can kill with looks
but today, almost
twenty-six years to that day
my sweet revenge is living
fully in joy and peace
for when i see your photo now
i feel nothing.
My Normal Abnormalities
by Maria R. Palacios
copyright 2007
The normal in me can tell you
about distracted bones
that refused to learn
about motion,
about fingers that speak
a language of tangible deviations
and feet that fell asleep
before their time.
The normal in me
is the underexposed flesh
half shown to you
as you explore my imperfections
pretending that your hands are deaf
to the whisper of my scars.
My normality
has been redecorated
as an unusual
biological masterpiece,
a human canvas
displayed in front of you
the artist who values
the rare
the sensual
the woman.
