Issue 09
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Responding to the topic of Climate, the pieces in this issue speak of weeds and wandering, bugs and birds, power cuts and public sex. OK, that last one isn’t entirely climate related! There are also conversations about rivers, transitions, walking, cities, woods and oceans and various perspectives on queer ecology. Take your ears adventuring…
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Information about Issue 09
Length: 1:31:40
Transcript: Google Docs / PDF
High quality audio version: Google Drive (.wav file, 1.46 GB)
Running order:
every beach - Helen (originally shared in Issue 07)
How do you find yourself if you're never by yourself? - Liz Sutherland
Wireless (a poem written during a power outage) - rYAn
A Queer Revisit of the Franklin River - Oliver Cassidy
A Lonely Firefly - M. A. Dubbs
Last Butterfly - Fish
Peaceful queer out here - Sally Goldner
Cruising the Woods (for Beginners) - Patrick Marano
Take Me Back to the Ocean - The Mollusc Dimension
The Seagull’s Swan Song - M. A. Dubbs
A Field Guide to Edible Birds - Kate Hall
Queer Botany at Walthamstow Marshes - Sixto-Juan Zavala
Honeysuckle Cognizance - M. A. Dubbs
Queer Gardening at Hummingbird Farm - Xochitl (with Ella von der Haide)
Place Like Now - The Mollusc Dimension
Cover art: Our cover painting this issue is by Stephanie Lai and features flora and fauna of so-called Australia. Stephanie is a Queer Chinese-Australian painter, writer, and professional bin chicken. Stephanie uses traditional Chinese water-colour painting techniques to represent images of so called Australia, and started doing so as a way to reconcile loving a space as a settler-colonial immigrant from a refugee background. The cover is about getting down on the ground and sitting with one’s situation.
Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains:
Discussions of the climate crisis and its impact on humans, animals, plants, landscapes, weather and natural disasters
Mentions of mental illness, mental health, suicide ideation
References to queerphobia, racism, ableism
Non-graphic mentions of death, child death
References to living with disability, physical illness, Covid
A piece about about public sex
A piece about animal harm (killing and eating animals)
Allusions to drug use
Some swearing
Some wind distortion and other harsh sounds
If you have specific anxieties or triggers, check the transcript or ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. Please let us know if there is something we’ve missed and we will add it to the show notes on our website.
Acknowledgement of Country: This issue and its documentation were edited in part on Brayakaulung (Gunaikurnai) Country. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We pay our respects to Gunaikurnai elders and we extend this to all Indigenous elders and Indigenous and First Nations listeners around the world.
Show notes for Issue 09
Opener - various contributors
0:00:00
Short description: A mixture of sounds and voices from the pieces in this issue.
Introduction - Jonathan (he/they) and Allysse (she/they)
0:00:37
Short description: Welcome and housekeeping with Allysse and Jonathan.
every beach - Helen (she)
0:04:24
Short description: Music. A piece from Helen’s album songs of time & distance.
Creator bio: Helen grew up in the foothills of the Welsh Misty Mountains before packing her spotted hanky on a stick, eventually washing up on the unforgiving concrete shores of a big city on this rainy plague island. Helen died in early 2024. May her memory be a blessing.
Creator statement: When we featured this piece in Issue 07, Helen wrote: “The original demotape was inspired by a visit to Barclodiad y Gawres, a Neolithic burial chamber on the coast at Ynys Môn (Anglesey). I had good memories of the day, which were brought back to mind after reading a tweet by the climate scientist Dr Genevieve Guenther, in response to the 2019 IPCC report, pointing out that climate change will have such a profound effect that "by 2100, every beach you've ever walked on will be below the waves.”
How do you find yourself if you're never by yourself? - Liz Sutherland (they)
0:07:56
Short description: Poetic non-fiction with field recordings. Native Australian animals and a short spoken word poem on a hike on Whadjuk Noongar country.
Creator bio: Liz Sutherland lives on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. They are studying a Master of Arts (Writing and Literature) at Deakin University and recently joined the Board of Overland. Liz brings lived-experience narratives of neurodivergent, queer, polyam, and trans joy into their writing, and was a finalist in the Pearl Prize 2024 and the 2023 OutStanding LGBTQIA+ Short Story Awards. Their writing has appeared in the Hunter Writers Centre Grieve Anthology, the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling event ‘Stripped Queer’, ScratchThat Magazine, Into the Wetlands Poetry Anthology, at Q-Lit festival events, and more.
Creator link: Instagram
Creator statement: Follow me on a hike in the southern hills of Boorloo (Perth, Western Australia) on Whadjuk Noongar country as I ruminate on the incredible privilege of city-living at the same time as being urgently drawn out bush. Slowing down and appreciating the beauty of the natural world as we know it now, before even more of these lands change in response to the climate crisis we’re fuelling. Out here I’m in solitude from other humans but surrounded by life, none more important than any other.
Content notes: Swearing.
Wireless (a poem written during a power outage) - rYAn (he/they/any)
0:12:15
Short description: Poem. Written 8 days into a over outage after Hurricane Fiona.
Creator bio: rYAn is an audio lover and forest dweller who lives near the muddy banks of the Bay Of Fundy.
Creator link: Soundcloud
Creator statement: I was not sure that I would survive the night when the hurricane happened. Absolutely terrifying.
Content notes: Natural disaster.
Land acknowledgement: rYAn is living in Mi'kma'ki.
Sweeper - Mags
0:13:26
Short description: Recorded in Arnos Vale Cemetery. Established in 1837, the cemetery is rich with history and wildlife. It is a tranquil green space of 45 acres with interesting architecture and walking trails.
A Queer Revisit of the Franklin River - Oliver Cassidy (they/he)
0:15:31
Short description: Non-fiction, field recording and film trailer. Oliver reflects on queerness, place and the making the award winning feature documentary, Franklin.
Creator bio: Oliver has had a wide ranging 20 year career in the arts including writing, performing and producing for theatre, film and music. Continuing his father's legacy Oliver has worked to conserve biodiversity with the Tasmanian Conservation Trust since 2015.
Creator links: Website
Creator statement: The narration of this piece was written and recorded at my home in nipaluna, and includes sounds recorded while on location filming a documentary on the Franklin River. The final two minutes is the audio from the theatrical trailer of that film.
Acknowledgements: Location audio recorded by Chris Kamen. Thanks also to impact producer Andrea Foxworthy. A press kit for the film itself with full list of thanks is available at FranklinRiverMovie.com
Land acknowledgement: Hello from lutruita/Tasmania. I want to acknowledge the palawa pakana people who’s country this is, pay respect to their elders throughout time and acknowledge the people who have shared their wisdom and helped shape my appreciation for this island where I am lucky to live and work.
Sweeper - Emma (she)
0:25:28
Emma is mowing the lawn using a manual pushalong clipper.
A Lonely Firefly - M. A. Dubbs (she)
0:28:11
Short description: Poetry. The first of three poems from M. A. Dubbs in this issue, exploring climate change in Indiana.
Creator bio: M. A. Dubbs is an award-winning Mexican-American and LGBT poet from Indiana. For over a decade, Dubbs has published writing in magazines and anthologies across the globe. She is the author of An American Mujer through Bottlecap Press (2022) and served as judge for Indiana's Poetry Out Loud Competition. She recently won the 2023 Holden Vaughn Spangler Award from River City College MUSE.
Creator statement: These three poems were inspired by the changes I have seen in the landscape of Indiana over the course of my life. As an avid hiker and gardener, I feel connected to the land and plants around me and have noticed changes in climate, plants, and critters over time. These pieces are part observation, part mourning, but mostly call for awareness and action for my neighbours and citizens to engage, in any way they can, with climate change.
Land acknowledgement: The land of Indiana (namesake for "land of the Indians") was original home to the Miami, Potawatomi, Piankeshaw, Wea, Kickapoo, Shawnee tribes among others. Indiana was the start of the Trail of Death, now reclaimed Trail of Courage, and residential schools.
Last Butterfly - Fish (they)
0:29:47
Short description: Sound art with field recordings, music and monologue. Health anxiety is eased a bit by seeing butterflies while on a walk. Autism foundation billboards suck.
Creator bio: Fish (or Xym) is a nonbinary, disabled (neurodivergent + chronically ill) person living in Poland. They are a university dropout with a bachelors degree in chemistry and unfinished degrees in biotechnology and sociology. They have graduated from a music high school. In the past they have collaborated with a Warsaw based performance arts group, Kem. Before the pandemic they liked participating in improv workshops and poetry slams in their local theater. Their favorite hobby is playing tabletop RPGs. Currently they are trying to learn how to draw in order to make visual novels. They like talking to pigeons, listening to hedgehogs’ footsteps and taking photos of frogs and lizards.
Creator statement: This piece is inspired by the last late summer/early autumn walk I was able to go on before my illness made it impossible for me to leave the house the the next couple of weeks. I was able to record some ambient sounds near the train station. The piano/singing improvisation was also made on the same day.
Content notes: Discussions of ableism, description of ableist media. Passing reference to suicide ideation.
Acknowledgements: Crows.
Peaceful queer out here - Sally Goldner (she)
0:35:35
Short description: Audio postcard/stream of consciousness. Finding peace and grounding within 25 minutes from home - where the city meets the country.
Creator bio: Sally Goldner AM’s involvement in Victoria’s queer communities spans nearly 30 years. Her experiences include being a founding member of Transgender Victoria, presenting 3CR’s “Out of the Pan,” Transfamily Treasurer, Just.Equal Australia Treasurer and Bisexual Alliance Victoria Treasurer. She is the focus of an autobiographical documentary “Sally’s Story” and a life member of 4 queer-focussed organisations. She was inducted into the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll in 2016 (the first trans and first known bi woman to receive the honour), awarded LGBTI Victorian of the Year in 2015 and noted in The Age’s Top 100 most creative and influential people in Melbourne in 2011. She was awarded the Order of Australia in 2019. She is a pro wrestling ring announcer, MC, speaker, educator, life coach and occasional performer (all in contrast to her original accountancy training). Listen to an interview Sally did with Jonathan on “Out of the Pan” here.
Creator links: Website / LinkedIn / Twitter (X) / Facebook / Instagram / Mastodon (salgoldsaidso) / Bluesky (salgoldsaidso) / Patreon
Creator statement: This was recorded in early 2024 in the outer suburbs of Naarm/Melbourne, more on impulse than with any scheduling or planning in mind. It aims to convey the peacefulness of the unique natural settings that exist on this big island and how this can benefit queer people who can be especially prone to mental health issues in an often disrespectfully ableist and neurotypical world.
Content notes: Mentions of mental health.
Land acknowledgement: Recorded on Wurundjeri country.
Photo of the Yarra River by Sally Goldner
Stairs down to the river - photo by Sally Goldner
Sweeper - Stephanie
0:43:16
Land acknowledgement: Recorded at the river on Brayakaulung, Gunaikurnai country.
Cruising the Woods (for Beginners) - Patrick Marano (he)
0:45:17
Short description: Documentary guide (audio from video). Cruising in the woods is fraught with obstacles and unspoken rules. This video will help you with the right etiquette and find the right location.
Creator bio: Patrick is a queer content creator pushing the limits and talking about taboo subjects with the intent to normalise them.
Creator statement: Cruising the woods, although done by many, is talked about by few. Why should something so popular be so shamed? It's time to be honest about our behaviours and share what we've learned. Although much of it is instinctual, there are nuances to cruising that will make or break an experience. Let's have fun with it!
Content notes: Discussion of public sex, allusions to drug use, mention of blood.
Take Me Back to the Ocean - The Mollusc Dimension (he)
0:56:56
Short description: Song. A sweet, uplifting QTPOC sea-punk song about wishing for life to be in colour again.
Creator bio: Born in 1980, The Mollusc Dimension is a queer, trans, neurodivergent British-born Chinese composer, scorer, songwriter and multidisciplinary project-based artist. He creates transformative, reflective and emotional works around mental health, community and nature. The Mollusc Dimension composed music about queer mermaids for RHS Wisley, The National Maritime Museum; the elements for Chinese Arts Now (now Kakilang) and performed a song about the British weather for London Trans Choir and Moon Fest Bristol. Deep encounters with nature also appear in The Mollusc Dimension's forthcoming debut autobiographical comic book, "The Weird & Wonderful Surviveries of Squid Horse".
Creator links: Instagram / Facebook / Instagram (comics) / Twitter (X)
Creator statement: A song about discovering, remembering and creating with whatever life gives you, "Take Me Back to the Ocean" is taken from "Welcome to The Mollusc Dimension" - the artist's debut album, completed at a later stage in life due to voice dysphoria as a trans person. The secret to the track's appeal may be in the gentle guitar interludes and sweet backing vocals by fellow disabled, non binary artist and friend, Wild (@WildSings). The song originates from enduring living in a "political fortress" (the artist's words) and re-imagining the local fields are the sea - where he longs to be… The music video for "Take Me Back to the Ocean" was largely made under UK Covid-19 lockdown, thanks to garden access, holiday clips and an iphone. For him, it was a tiny reminder that no matter how lonely he feels, the memory of water and colourful sea creature friends are always there for him… and maybe for you too!
Acknowledgements: Backing vocals and guitar by The Wild Sings (they/them). Recording engineer Felix Macintosh.
The Seagull’s Swan Song - M. A. Dubbs (she)
1:01:32
Short description: Poetry. The second of three poems from M. A. Dubbs in this issue, exploring climate change in Indiana.
Creator bio, links, statement, acknowledgements: See above
Sweeper - Dan (he)
1:03:11
Land acknowledgement: Recorded on Brayakaulung (Gunaikurnai) country, featuring many corellas.
A Field Guide to Edible Birds - Kate Hall (she)
1:05:26
Short description: Poem with field recording. What would happen if humans started to catch and eat wild birds?
Creator bio: Kate Hall is a writer, academic and Creative Director of Q-Lit, a festival which celebrates the work of LGBTQIA+ writers and artists across regional Victoria, Australia. Check out “Out-Side: Queer Words & Art From Regional Victoria” here. Kate is the author of the award-winning young adult novel, From Darkness, a sapphic portal fantasy set in the Otway rainforest and the classical underworld. Kate lives, writes, works and surfs on the unceded lands and waters of the Wadawurrung peoples of the Kulin Nations, in Southwest Victoria. Recent publications include a forthcoming co-authored book chapter in Animals and Science Fiction (Palgrave MacMillan, 2024) in which she imagines a future world as it might be for a cat, a fox, a yabby, a pig and a pigeon.
Creator statement: As a queer person living in a small coastal town I often feel out of place. The nearest city is Naarm/Melbourne, about an hour and a half up the highway. Every time I drive this highway I pass trucks transporting cows and pigs and sheep and chickens to the abattoirs, saleyards and seaports outside the city. Where I live there are many species of free-living birds, as well as twenty chickens who live outdoors with a safe little shed for roosting. These birds are all lucky. Five minutes down the road there is a chicken farm. On hot days, the smell of the sheds drifts like fog across the coast road. I often wonder what tourists and day trippers from the city think about this olfactory disturbance of their relaxing drive to the beach. My recording offers a small glimpse of the world as it feels to somebody who cannot listen to birdsong without thinking about the chickens and other animals whose voices will only be heard by the humans who breed and kill them. As a queer vegan I am a disturbance, as out of place in this world as a chicken farm on the way to the ocean.
Content notes: Animal harm, child death.
Land acknowledgements: This poem was recorded on the sovereign, unceded lands of the Wadawurrung peoples. I pay my deepest respects to their ancestors, past present and future, and honour the continuing connection to culture and community of the First Peoples of this and all colonised countries. Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land.
Sweeper - Esther (she)
1:06:51
Land acknowledgement: Frogs recorded on Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung country.
Queer Botany at Walthamstow Marshes - Sixto-Juan Zavala (he/they)
1:13:57
Short description: Documentary, interview, field recordings. In May 2021 at the Walthamstow Marshes in Northeast London we hosted guided tours with a map and series of outdoor interpretive displays.
Creator bio: Sixto-Juan Zavala is a designer and illustrator from Texas currently based in Dundee, UK. He holds a BFA in Communication Design from Texas State University and an MA in Narrative Environments from UAL: Central Saint Martins with a focus on exhibition design, graphic design, and illustration. Zavala is especially interested in culture, marginalised groups, the environment, and using visual communication and spatial design to facilitate cultural change. Zavala founded Queer Botany in 2020; inspired by the theoretical lens of queer ecology, the project studies connections between queerness and plants through events, storytelling, and design. Queer Botany aims to share marginalised perspectives and support more diverse representations in the environment and outdoors. Zavala has designed maps, installed interpretive displays, hosted botanical drawing sessions, and guided walks sharing stories about plants from a queer perspective.
Creator link: Website (including the references mentioned in the intro to this piece)
Creator statement: Queer Botany, founded in 2020, is a project Inspired by the theoretical lens of queer ecology. The project studies connections between queerness and plants through events, storytelling, and design. Queer Botany aims to share marginalised perspectives and support more diverse representations in the environment and outdoors. Along with collaborators, we have designed maps, installed interpretive displays, hosted botanical drawing sessions, and guided walks sharing stories about plants from a queer perspective. In May 2021 at the Walthamstow Marshes in Northeast London we hosted guided tours with a map and series of outdoor interpretive displays. The focus was on such site-specific wild plants as the dog rose, horse chestnut, yellow flag, and coppiced willow. The Walthamstow Marshes are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is a part of the Lea Valley: a chain of green spaces, marshes, and wetlands that cut through north London fed by the River Lea. Participants could learn about the plants on the project website, find the displays on their own, or be part of a guided tour. There were accompanying audio recordings about the plants for participants who were not part of the guided tour that could be accessed through QR codes.
Acknowledgements: Rudy Loewe and anonymous interview participants. Sally Ashby.
Honeysuckle Cognizance - M. A. Dubbs (she)
1:20:00
Short description: Poetry. The last of three poems from M. A. Dubbs in this issue, exploring climate change in Indiana.
Creator bio, links, statement, acknowledgements: See above
Queer Gardening at Hummingbird Farm - Xochitl (ze/el/he) and Ella von der Haide (she)
1:20:40
Short description: Interview. Excerpt from "Queer Gardening: a Documentary about Queer-Feminist Ecologies in North America" by Ella von der Haide (2022)
Creator bio (Ella): Ella von der Haide is a gardener, filmmaker artist from Germany. For 20 years she has been making films in community gardens. About 15 years ago she started to ask herself why she met so many queer people in those gardens?
Creator link (Ella): Website
Creator bio (Xochitl): Xochitl grew up on the Yakama Reservation (Toppenish, WA) and traces their ancestry to the Mixteco Region of Puebla, Mexico. They currently work for PODER SF (People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights) as the Farm Manager at Hummingbird Farm, a six acre collective farm in the Excelsior district of San Francisco. Ze has been organizing in ecological spaces for over a decade to raise awareness on the importance of flowers and their seeds as resiliency tools in the climate crises, as well as heteronormative understandings of nature. Xochitl cross-pollinates traditional ecological knowledge, queer ecology, and indigenous philosophies into the discussion of sustainable agriculture, environmental justice, and a just transition as we reconnect to ancestral plant medicines on occupied lands.
Creator link (Xochitl): Instagram
Creator statement: Hummingbird Farm is an urban agriculture, food justice and leadership program brought to you by PODER SF! Led by Urban Campesinx’s, this farm is a space where everyone that reflects the deep diversity of our neighborhoods comes together to practice environmental, economic, and health justice strategies in the Southeast neighborhoods of San Francisco. Reflecting the lessons, wisdom, and seeds of our ancestors, we work hand in hand to create healthy and vibrant communities, by growing food and plant medicine and regenerating cultural practices.
Land acknowledgement: Ohlone territory.
Place Like Now - The Mollusc Dimension (he)
1:24:55
Short description: Song. Nostalgic, down-to-earth piano chords spiral with breezy, jazzy, cloud-bound beats.
Creator bio and links: See above
Creator statement: Inspired by beat poetry and the emotions brought on by seasonal changes, "Place Like Now" appears to be a chilled lo-fi number but actually has a few little uplifting surprises. After starting with slow, deep jazz piano chords, the beat changes in the chorus - like flurries of wind whirling autumn leaves into the air. After some arpeggios of snow drifting down, the tempo gradually picks up speed as if there was a kite stuck in a bush and then it gets freed and flies away into the clouds! "Place Like Now" was selected by Helen Ganya ("Wonderful Vince Guaraldi vibes") for her Lunar New Year edition of "Mixed Tapes" - platforming music by POC musicians for Totally Radio.com. In his debut album, "Welcome to The Mollusc Dimension" (2019) the artist shape-shifted his way through various musical styles and genres. Whereas previously, he'd mostly consumed music due to gender, sexuality and race, after gender-affirming hormone treatment, he finally started to play with "many of the references and influences he absorbed through his life" (Walki, "Amplified" #179). The original version, for "Place Like Now" channels "older US beat poet" but as an instrumental (2024), it feels like a charming dream.
Acknowledgements: Recording engineer Felix Macintosh
Conclusion - Allysse (she/they) and Jonathan (he/they)
1:29:12
Short description: Concluding comments and thanks.