Selected Publications

I write non-fiction essays and stories that fuse my lived experience with feminist cultural analysis. I write for audiences seeking strategies for self, artistic and economic empowerment, and a critical take on current events and have written for publications that include The Rumpus, Literary Hub, and Business Insider.

I have written regularly for a wide variety of independent and community-centered publications. I currently write regularly for the Coachella Valley Independent and in the past I interviewed culture makers, musicians, and artists for Weird Sister. For Bitch magazine I explored the connections between the culture of zine makers and bloggers; I wrote features and reviews centered on female musicians for Venus Zine and Boxx Magazine; shared career advice for non-profit professions on Idealist.org; explored strategies and tools for creative business success for DIY business owners and creative entrepreneurs with Dear Handmade Life and the DIY Business Association; and provided critical analysis of the arts and arts management for ArtsFwd and NYFA Current.

I am a proud zine and artist book maker and have been sharing my essays that explore identity, feminism, history, and culture in my personal zine Indulgence since 1997.

Through the Y2K Looking Glass: A Conversation with Kristen Felicetti

I think that’s part of the book to show this sort of optimism going into the new millennium before 9/11 was not necessarily genuine; it was just hiding problems below the surface.

An interview with author Kristen Felicetti about her first novel Log Off for The Rumpus.

I lost my apartment in a fire. I learned that community is what makes a home.

At 4:49 p.m. on April 3, 2019, my phone rang. It was a crystal clear spring day with gusty winds, and my neighbor informed me that my Brooklyn apartment — and home of 10 years — was on fire.

A short piece on what I lost, and found, when my home burned down for Business Insider.

On Annihilation

Shock waves from bombs rattle my windows and my sense of peace, causing a friend and I to text each other, “Was that an earthquake?” Commentators on the local Facebook group call the artillery blasts “sounds of freedom.” At night, the sky lights up with the incandescent glow of battlefield flares that tourists mistake for UFOs.

A personal essay examining what makes a landscape sacred, or sacrificial, published in Kitchen Table Quarterly.

A black and white image showing the author as a young woman holding an electric guitar and singing at a microphone.

Bliss Street

But biking that far to Queens felt like unchartered territory. Before heading out, I unfolded the New York City bike map out on my stainless steel kitchen table, tracing the route from one conflicting grid to another …

A love letter to the “world’s borough” and a reflection on the political and creative hopes I had for myself in my early twenties for The Queens Review.

Read now.

Riot, Grrrls: Marisa Crawford on Why Feminist Lit and 1990s Girl Culture Need More Critical Attention

A conversation with Marisa Crawford, editor of “The Weird Sister Collection” for Literary Hub.

Read now.

Finding My Femme-inism: Riot Grrrl’s Influence on Identity

During my junior year of high school in 1998, my dreams were flooded with girls …

Published in The Coil, this essay is a reflection on how Riot Grrrl, Queercore, and zines impacted my identity as a teenager growing up in Maine in the 1990s.

Read now.

Punk Beach

Unlike the photos I had diligently saved and feared lost, I had never seen these before.

Published in Windmill Magazine, the Hofstra Journal of Art and Literature, this personal essay is a reflection on teenage summers in Maine, the process of grieving and finding yourself again after a loss, and the centering possibility of the beach. Plus, it recounts how I booked a show for the crust punk band Aus Rotten at a grange hall in Portland, Maine.

This look is love

When the phone rang that night after dinner I raced to answer it before my mom, my sock-clad feet slipping on the hardwood floor as I bellowed, “It’s for me!” I ran up the grey carpeted stairs, cordless phone in hand, and slammed the door to my room.

Featured in Memoir Mixtapes vol. 3 “Whole Lotta Love,” this essay is framed around my discovery of the heady mix of love, friendship, punk rock and the Riot Grrrl subculture, with a backdrop of Portland, Maine in the 1990s and the transformative power of Sleater-Kinney’s “Call the Doctor.”

Illustrations of jewels on a black background reading The Weird Sister Collection.

ANONYMOUS WAS a riot Grrrl

In sixth grade, I decided that I was going to be a feminist. It was 1993.

Featured in The Weird Sister Collection, edited by Marisa Crawford, and collecting the best of the underground blog Weird Sister, these unapologetic and insightful essays link contemporary feminism to literature and pop culture. My essay “Anonymous Was a Riot Grrrl” was written in 2023 for this collection and is a analysis of the lasting impact, and sometimes unexpected, impact of Virginia Woolf.

Order the book.

Inheritances

I began to obsess over the objects that I could save from my apartment, as if by salvaging them from the smokey murk I could salvage my life. After the fire, these objects became a stand-in for nurturing family connections I had backed away from.

An essay about reckoning with family, loss, and home and what we inherit, whether we want it or not published in the Upper New Review.

Double Dare Ya: Kathleen Hanna reflects on feminist life in ‘Rebel Girl’

In the black-and-white photo Kathleen Hanna is wearing a short plaid skirt, wailing into the microphone, and grabbing her crotch. I feel her voice emanating from the glossy page, “Hey girlfriend, I got a proposition that goes something like this, dare ya to do what you want, dare ya to be who you will…”

A review of Kathleen Hanna’s memoir for The Midst.

Promote Your Book Like a Pro

Publishing is hard, and publishing takes a long time… You need to love what you’re doing.

An interview for The Bleeders, a podcast about writing and publishing, hosted by Courtney Kocak. In it I discuss my top five tips for book promotion, my publishing philosophy, and what I’ve learned from publishing with an indie press.

Listen now.

Cosmic Femme Punk Visionary: A Conversation with Taleen Kali

“As an interdisciplinary artist my projects have always been conduits, helping me to excavate and express different parts of my identity … the more stuff I make the more I realize it’s coming from the same source.” An interview with LA-based artist and musician Taleen Kali.

Using Your Feminist Superpower: An Interview with the Pussyhat Project

“How can you use your superpowers—the skills you love to flex—in a way to make a difference?” Krista Suh, Aurora Lady, and Jayna Zwieman, the organizers of the Pussyhat Project, discussed their motivation and hopes for the project before the 2017 Women’s March.

Music and Radical Potential: Louisa Solomon of the Shondes

“The act of creating is a coping mechanism, a survival tool. I think some of what is most inspiring in political art is not the explicit content, or even the ‘topic,’ but the exposure of process.” Louisa Solomon, bass player and singer in feminist rock band The Shondes discusses their album Brighton.

How to Make a Budget for a 20-Foot Butter Sculpture of Donald Trump’s Face

How to take the fear out of budgeting for creative projects, tell the story of your work in numbers, and stick it to the man.

Not Hiding Behind Her Skirt: Aurora Lady IN PRofile

“If something makes me uncomfortable or is painful, then I know I need to work deeper in that direction.” The LA-based visual artist talks about how music, pop culture, and intersectional feminism influence her work.

5 Steps to Take the Pain Out of Grant Writing for Artists

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: raising money as an artist is a challenge and it can often feel like a full-time job, but a no-nonsense approach to grant writing helps creative people become more comfortable with the process of raising money.