Issue 05 Side A
/Queer Out Here Issue 05 Side A
Remember the Before Times? Issue 05 Side A features recordings made when people were still travelling internationally, gathering in crowds at the drop of a hat and visiting friends without a second thought. Our contributors take us on adventures from the deserts, lakes and city streets of North America to the villages, countryside and bike paths of western Europe and the cobbled alleyways of Melbourne, Australia. Come and escape from lockdown for an hour!
If you like what you hear, please share Queer Out Here with your friends. You can also get in touch with the creators (info in the show notes) or drop us a line (Twitter / Facebook) - we love hearing from you.
Information about Issue 05 Side A
Length: 0:58:25
Transcript: Google Docs / PDF
File size: 112MB
High quality audio version: Google Drive (927.4MB, .wav file)
Cover art: Emily Doyle. Emily also has a piece in Issue 05 Side B. She writes, “I took this photo of a bluestone alleyway near my home on one of my lockdown daily wanderings. The slow pace of hand embroidering something means you're forced to spend a lot of time reflecting on and considering the work. The experience of making this art piece mirrored the themes of my audio piece, Bluestone: a forced focus on the environment that you don't get when simply snapping a photo or glancing as you pass by, and a forced reflection on its details, history and meanings.”
Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains some swearing and the use of words such as ‘crazy’ to describe people’s behaviour. There is mention of a relationship breakup in Rainy Day at Wahtum Lake (starts at 7:28); wind distortion in Chrissy in the Desert (starts at 32:34) and Gabe and Lena Take to the Streets (starts at 38:26); and mentions of queerphobia in Christmas Getaway (starts at 22:27) and I Think We Got Away With It (starts at 48:49). Please let us know if there is something we’ve missed and we will add it here.
Running order:
Nightingales - Dru Marland
Rainy Day at Wahtum Lake - Kaj Jensen
What Remains (Petrichor) - Jonathan
Christmas Getaway - Julia
Chrissy in the Desert - Chrissy
Gabe and Lena Take to the Streets - Gabriel Coleman and Lena Greenberg
I Think We Got Away With It - Jenny List
Show notes for Issue 05 Side A
Introduction - Jonathan and Allysse
0:00:00-0:00:38
Short description: Opener, welcome, thank yous and housekeeping. Sound of woodland with pigeons, corvids, small birds and insects plays beneath the voices.
Nightingales - Dru Marland
0:02:20-0:06:00
Short description: Poetry, field recording, monologue. Nightingales don’t need a bagpipe accompaniment, honestly.
Creator bio: Dru is a poet, illustrator and mechanic who lives on a canal boat moving slowly round Wiltshire.
Creator statement: Call me an old curmudgeon, because I probably am. But I’d rather just experience wildness directly rather than have it mediated through somebody else. Ironically, I suppose that is exactly what I’m doing with this nightingale song.
Sweeper - Martha
0:06:00-0:06:27
Rainy Day at Wahtum Lake - Kaj Jensen
0:07:28-0:15:34
Short description: Audio essay, field recording. Join Kaj on a rainy day hike exploring the connections between place and memory.
Creator bio: Kaj is a trans, genderqueer person who completed the Master’s of Creative Writing program at University of Brighton. They write personal narrative essays, speculative fiction, poetry, and video games in addition to creating audio essays. They prefer to travel at human powered speeds, walking and cycling whenever possible. When Kaj isn’t writing or doing research, they can often be found spying on birds and sneaking up on wild edible plants.
Creator statement: This audio essay continues to explore some of the themes discussed in Kaj’s The Nature of Queerness from Issue 03. Kaj reflects on the way that landscapes and places can hold multiple memories and serve as a touchstone for accessing those moments in time.
Acknowledgement: This recording was made on the lands of the Kathlamet, Wasco and Wishram, Clatsop, Clackamas and other Indigenous peoples who have been caring for this place for countless generations.
What Remains (Petrichor) - Jonathan
0:15:34-0:16:33
Short description: Music, sound art. An audio experiment to describe the scent of petrichor through sound.
Creator bio: Jonathan likes the outdoors (and the indoors). He is one of the editors of Queer Out Here.
Creator statement: This piece was made for Week 5 of the Audio Playground project. I was thinking of the scent that lingers after the rain passes and I tried to approach the sound the same way. I stuck my recorder in the old piano in our kitchen and played a few notes and chords (and mucked around with the sustain pedal and plucking the strings inside), then edited it to remove all the attack/hit of the keys, instead fading the sound in to only capture the decaying sound that remains. The rain sounds are made by a rain stick a friend made at a camp many years ago that she was getting rid of when she moved house, so it’s also a kind of left-over.
Short Black Lives Matter discussion - Allysse and Jonathan
0:16:33-0:20:35
Short description: The editors discuss the withdrawal of a piece from Issue 05 Side A and encourage listeners to seek out media by Black people, Indigenous and First Nations people and other People of Colour. Specific mentions: Diversify Outdoors and Melanin Basecamp. The editors also invite more ideas on how to improve Queer Out Here and offer assistance to potential producers who are Black, Indigenous/First Nations, POC.
Sweeper - Aneurin and Kermie
0:20:35-0:21:34
Christmas Getaway - Julia
0:22:27-0:32:34
Short description: Audio diary. Julia escapes Christmas for a cycle adventure up the Rhine.
Creator bio: Julia is a geek, currently residing in Amsterdam. She built herself a bike and has since been riding far and wide, training for ultra endurance bike racing.
Creator statement: I don't have a family to go spend Christmas with, so to take my mind off this I go for an adventure, cycling somewhere interesting. This is a three-part audio diary I recorded along the way during Christmas 2019.
Chrissy in the Desert - Chrissy
0:32:34-0:37:25
Short description: Audio postcard, field recording. Chrissy wanders around Utah deserts on a family holiday.
Creator bio: Chrissy is a journalist and a political activist. When she's not off on her travels, she spends her time between England's south-east coast and north west hills.
Creator statement: On a family road trip to the USA, I collected some thoughts, conversations and sounds of the desert.
Gabe and Lena Take to the Streets - Gabriel Coleman and Lena Greenberg
0:38:26-0:48:06
Short description: Field recording, conversation, sound art. Two friends cycle the NYC marathon route after streets close.
Creator bio: Gabriel Coleman is an artist, musician, runner, and aspiring environmental historian living in Brooklyn, NY. Lena Greenberg is a climate organizer, bike commuter, follower of water, fermenter of veggies and writer of newsletters living in Boston, NY. They met driving a van together for New York City's network of farmers markets and have been eating and dancing and making things together ever since!
Creator links: Gabriel: Twitter / Website Lena: Twitter / Website
Creator statement: On November 3rd, 2019 Lena Greenberg and Gabriel Coleman joined the annual unsanctioned bike tour of the NYC Marathon route which takes place after the streets close to cars and before the tide of runners flood the route. In this piece we mixed our individual audio diaries together, one playing in each ear, and interspersed our conversation with audio of the crowd cheering for marathoners as they passed through Brooklyn later that day. This piece celebrates what can happen when spaces normally reserved for cars and for one way of being in and moving through space become places for community, gathering, and celebration.
Acknowledgement: This piece was recorded on Lenape territory.
Sweeper - Queer Out Here Adventures
0:48:06-0:48:21
I Think We Got Away With It - Jenny List
0:48:49-0:56:37
Short description: Conversation. A rural churchwarden surveys her charge after a storm, and muses on being a trans woman in a religious setting.
Creator bio: Jenny List is a technical journalist and engineer, who grew up and lives in a small village in Oxfordshire.
Creator link: Twitter
Creator statement: Jonathan and Dan stopped over on their way up the M40 on a damp day in early 2020 following an Atlantic storm. Fortified by fresh fruit cake we went for a walk together, but first we had to take a quick tour of the parish church to make sure that there was no storm damage. This recording follows us from the church gate up the path, into the building, and for a walk round the outside.
Conclusion - Allysse and Jonathan
0:56:37-0:58.25
Short description: Concluding comments and thanks. Woodland sounds play beneath the voices and fade out at the end.