UPCOMING LITERARY LESBIANS’ BOOKS:

• May: Zami, A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lord

May Calendar

MOVIE NIGHT:
Nice Chinese Girls Don’t:
A Portrait of Poet Kitty Tsui
Wednesday, May 1
5:00 PM (PT), 7:00 PM (CT), 8:00 PM (ET)
Approximate Duration: 60 minutes

Q&A with filmmaker, Jennifer Abod, will follow the film presentation.

Poet, activist, writer, and bodybuilder, Kitty Tsui is an iconic Asian American lesbian who came of age at the dawn of the Women’s Liberation Movement in San Francisco. She is the author of Words of a Woman Who Breathes Fire (Spinsters Ink Books, 1983), the first published book by an Asian American lesbian; Breathless: Erotica (Firebrand Books, 1996), winner of the Firecracker Alternative Book Award; and Sparks Fly (Masquerade Books, 1997). Kitty is also the recipient of a Phoenix Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women & Transgender Community (APIQWTC).

Synopsis:
This succinct autobiography crackles with energy, as Tsui narrates her life. Combining narration with her poetry, Kitty Tsui beautifully samples her writing and shares aspects of her life. Themes include family, aging, sex, bodybuilding, Asian identity, and being a lesbian. Tsui concludes with the poem Aging with Grace, a lovely meditation on getting older.

Film Running Time: 20 minutes

WATCH THE TRAILER

About the Filmmaker:
Jennifer Abod, Ph.D. is an award-winning producer, director, and writer of both film and radio. Her award-winning films include The Edge of Each Other’s Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde, The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen, and Nice Chinese Girls Don’t: A Poet’s Memoir - Kitty Tsui, available from Women Make Movies and Kanopy. Look Us in the Eye: The Old Women’s Project is available from Terra Nova.

About this film presentation:
May is Asian American Pacific Islander Month. We are proud to present this special screening as a fundraiser to help Kitty Tsui, with immediate domestic and medical needs. Additional support can be sent via Venmo: @Jabod. Please include your name and a message to Kitty.

$10 or FREE for WOTN Members
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

CINEMA SOIRÉE:
BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE
Friday, May 3
5:00 PM (PT), 7:00 PM (CT), 8:00 PM (ET)
Approximate Duration: 90 minutes

We have selected the 1999 romcom, BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE, for our Cinema Soirée!

Film Synopsis
Not long after moving into her own place, Maggie (Karyn Dwyer) finds herself with two unsolicited roommates: her recently divorced mother, Lila (Wendy Crewson), and her young brother. The timing is especially bad, considering Maggie has fallen hard for an attractive woman, Kim (Christina Cox), only hours before they move in. What could be a nonissue becomes increasingly complicated -- since Maggie’s family is unaware of her sexual orientation, and Maggie is not open to sharing that information.

Director: Anne Wheeler
Writers: Peggy Thompson & Walter Donohue
Starring: Wendy Crewson, Karyn Dwyer, Christina Cox

Please Note: Much like a book club, this “movie club” event will be more enjoyable if you watch the film before attending.

FREE EVENT
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BOOK READING:
WITH LOVE FROM PLANET B
Sunday, May 5
4:00 PM (PT), 6:00 PM (CT), 7:00 PM (ET)
Approximate Duration: 60 minutes

About the Book:
We ignored the climate deadlines. The bombs made it worse. Now it’s 2085, and the 6th extinction event is unfolding.

Master lucid dreamer, Zara is training her team in this rare skill in the hope that if a suitable earth-like exoplanet is ever found, they can safely teleport there. When Lex, her girlfriend and team mathematician, discovers Planet B, it seems Zara’s dreams may come true.

Join Zara and Lex on their journey to find their true selves and face new revelations about reality. Will they manage to cure themselves of the Three Spiritual Diseases that afflict all Earthlings? Will they get to survive on Planet B?

About the Author:
Zaayin Salaam is the author’s pseudonym. She is a traveling hospital doctor of Internal Medicine. This is her first and possibly last fiction novel. She would like the world to know that writing this book led to her own spiritual awakening. What started as a dystopian rant turned into a lesson about love and life’s secrets.

FREE EVENT
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MEDITATION ADVENTURES
Monday, May 6
9:00 AM (PT), 11:00 AM (CT), 12:00 PM (ET)
Approximate Duration: 30 minutes

This guided meditation is a time and space for you to relax, recharge, and focus on intentions, dreams, and aspirations.

Reverend Diana Lee Bartera provides a path for love, happiness, prosperity, and change. She was a board trustee president and leader at a metaphysical center in Burbank, CA. This was the catalyst for Rev. Diana Lee to found Goaling for Success and Appreciation Ministries in 2012.

FREE EVENT
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

SUZANNE WESTENHOEFER:
“I HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS...
EXCEPT MATH”
Wednesday, May 8
5:00 PM (PT), 7:00 PM (CT), 8:00 PM (ET)
Approximate Duration: 60 minutes

We are ecstatic to welcome back Suzanne Westenhoefer!

The girl who grew up on the wrong side of Amish country has been making us laugh AND advocating for LGBT rights, women’s rights and choice, and other causes since the 1980s.

It doesn’t matter whether you are in line for a TSA screening or in a sold-out auditorium, Suzanne will not stop until she has you rolling with laughter. Every show is an off-the-cuff, unscripted laugh riot.

$10 or FREE for WOTN Members
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION:
A Story of Biology and Belonging
Thursday, May 9
5:00 PM (PT), 7:00 PM (CT), 8:00 PM (ET)
Approximate Duration: 60 minutes

In an era where queer families are common and reproductive options for members of the LGBTQ+ community abound, it’s easy to forget that that hasn’t always been the case. Meet the “Taylor Babies,” a clan of 10ish adults born in the 1980s, whose lesbian mothers found Dr. Taylor, a man willing to perform clandestine artificial inseminations. But the doctor kept no records, and details about their donor were concealed. These “offspring” were raised believing there was no way to find their biological father or any half-siblings.

Flash forward 35 years. With access to DNA test kits, and Mormon genealogists, the Taylor Babies found each other and their donor. In doing so, they uncovered connections they never thought possible and expanded their beliefs about family. Sharing a deep understanding of what it was to grow up the first of their kind, they possess the ability to talk about it with levity and honesty.

Join the Taylor Babies for a discussion about finding each other in midlife, the commonalities that come with shared DNA, and how this newfound family influences their lives today. Bring your questions and sense of humor because this clan loves to laugh.

About the book:
In the early 1980s, 95% of all artificial inseminations were performed for married, heterosexual couples. Among the other 5% were people like author Gwen Bass’s parents: lesbians navigating a homophobic medical system ready to deny them children.

Growing up, Gwen wondered if she resembled her donor – what he might look like, how he might walk, what he might say if they met. But there were no records.

Eventually, Gwen stopped asking questions about her biology. She knew who she was and where she came from. On a whim, she sent in a DNA kit and found ten biological siblings.

Immaculate Misconception isn’t just a window into a sliver of queer history; it’s a reflection on nature, nurture, identity, and belonging.

Link to purchase Immaculate Misconception

FREE EVENT
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Susan Feniger: FORKED...
A culinary disaster
Friday, May 10
5:00 PM (PT), 7:00 PM (CT), 8:00 PM (ET)
Approximate Duration: 120 minutes

Join us for a screening of this deliciously daring award-winning independent film!

About the Film
The film is a verité documentary feature following award-winning celebrity chef Susan Feniger (Too Hot Tamales, Master Chef) on her first solo restaurant and her passionate struggle to bring global street food under one roof in the form of a new LA restaurant: STREET. Featuring appearances by Wolfgang Puck, Bobby Flay, Mary Sue Milliken and shot by Susan’s longtime filmmaker partner in Vietnam, Shanghai, and Los Angeles, it’s a personal story of starting over and about not IF one fails… but HOW.

The director and co-producer, Emmy award-winner and filmmaker Liz Lachman, is Susan’s spouse and followed Susan for a year and half during all the trials and tribulations and in the process captured a personal peek at the James Beard/Julia Child award-winner that few have ever seen.

Film Running Time: 90 minutes

WATCH THE TRAILER

$10 or FREE for WOTN Members
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT about

THIS IS JESSICA, a documentary by Andrea Meyerson

OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE: December 13, 2022
Available on the following streaming platforms:

AWARDS

L.A. Outfest 2021
Winner: Audience Award for Best Documentary

Cinema Diverse, US 2021
Winner: Director's Award
Winner: Festival Favorite

LGBTQ Unbordered Film Festival 2021
Winner: Outstanding Excellence Documentary

Long Beach QFilm Festival 2021
Winner: Best Director

Through Women's Eyes Film Festival 2022
Winner: Team Choice Award

OutReels Cincinnati 2022
Winner: Audience Choice Award Favorite Documentary

Louisiana LGBT+ Film Festival 2022
Honorable Mention

WATCH THE TRAILER

A documentary by Kathryn L. Beranich and Andrea Meyerson

Community has always been the driving force behind Andrea Meyerson’s work. And that did not change when COVID-19 locked us down, Andrea devised a plan to keep lesbians connected and entertained.

On March 20, 2020, she launched Women On The Net and went live five nights a week via Zoom. Women all over the world came together for events that included comedians, films, musicians, panel discussions, parties, and more. These nightly gatherings helped alleviate the loneliness and feelings of isolation by bringing joy, laughter, and new friends into these women’s lives.

Andrea called it distant socializing, the participants called it a silver lining.

As the world has started to open up, AN UNEXPECTED COMMUNITY, a documentary about Women On The Net has gone into production to preserve this piece of lesbian herstory and celebrate the beauty of our community. We would be most grateful if you would consider supporting the making of this film.

All contributions made through the Center for Independent Documentary (CID), our fiscal sponsor, are tax-deductible. No donation is too small!

Please click on the Donations link for more information regarding our fiscal sponsor and the documentary, currently in production.

And be sure to watch the video — you might see yourself in it! However, not seeing yourself in this crowdfunding video does not mean you won’t still be featured in the film!

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION