S. Bear Bergman will be a Unit One/Allen Hall Guest-in-Residence 9/9-9/13
S. Bear Bergman is an author, theater artist, storyteller, and lecturer on gender, sexuality, and culture. Bergman is the creator and performer of five award-winning solo performances. His published work includes Butch Is a Noun, Lambda Literary Award-finalist The Nearest Exit May be Behind You, and the children's books Backwards Day and The Adventures of Tulip, Birthday Wish Fairy. He is also the editor (with Kate Bornstein) of the multiple-award winning Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation.
All events take place at Allen Hall, 1005 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, unless noted.
Sunday, Sept 9
7pm – Opening Program: 24 Answers To 20 Questions, or How Well Can You Ever Really Know a Storyteller?
(in the South Rec Room)
After a career ranging from substitute goat-milker to featured artist to Fortune 500 corporate trainer and with an even more varied activist past, it would be difficult to encapsulate author, educator, instigator and raconteur S. Bear Bergman's career into a single, introductory talk. Come roll the dice (literally), play your cards right (ditto) and get a wide ranging, fast-talking, overview of what Bear's managed to fit into the past few decades.
Monday, Sept 10
Noon - Through The Looking Glass: Five Things I Only Understood About Men Once I Was One
(at the Women’s Resources Center, 703 S. Wright St, C)
7pm – Storytelling Performance: Family Stories
(in the South Rec Room)
Stories about family both logical and biological, blood wine, and glitter, being a husband, father, and child and grandchild. Bring kleenex (and your mom if she's handy).
9pm – tea time: Queer & Trans Identified folks only, please.
(in the guest apartment)
Tuesday, Sept 11
7pm – Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Gender
(in the South Rec Room)
Just exactly what is a transsexual, anyway, and how do they get that way? How is transsexual different from transgender, exactly? And what is genderqueer, and why do the words keep changing, and none of these newspaper articles make sense, and can't you kids today just make up your damn minds!? An informational and personal lecture about hormones, surgeries, 'social gender', gatekeepers, identification (and its discontents), and all the nuts, bolts, mechanics, fears, hopes, and dreams before and beneath a gender change. Rated M for mythbusting.
9pm – tea time: Writing and Publishing
(in the guest apartment)
Wednesday, Sept 12
8pm – Is it OK to Ask My Question?
(in the South Rec room)
Talk and learn about the delicate balancing act between wanting to be more educated and putting someone on the spot; about locating the boundaries between learning facts and interrogating truths, between curiosity and intrusion. We'll explore the role of power and privilege in these communications, and try to create greater understanding of how we move in and out of those places so we know when (and where, and how) it is okay to get our questions answered (and what to say when we don't have the energy to answer anymore today).
10pm – tea time: Bedtime Stories
(in the guest apartment)
A milk-and-cookies pajama party where people of any age can enjoy children's books that celebrate gender variance and LGBTQ identities, read aloud with flourish. Books to be read (and discussed, if the audience prefers) include several of Bear's own trans-positive children's books. Snuggle up, unwind, and enjoy. Actual pajamas encouraged, along with pillows, blankets, and fuzzy animals should you like.
Thursday, Sept 13,
7pm – Dirty Stories
(in the South Rec Room)
Queers and transfolk are so often erased from smut, and when we're not, we're made into fetish objects. Bear will read 100% homo-made dirty fiction, encompassing a variety of genders, sexualities, orientations, and permutations for your delectation. Please note: this is serious x-rated business; please manage your own comfort level with explicit material.
9pm – tea time: Sex Advice 5¢
(in the guest apartment)
Sex/sexuality related questions; a nickel buys you one answer. Questions may be asked privately or anonymously but all answers will be given publicly (because for sure someone else has your same question).