Sex

Now that I've got your attention, I want to remind you that the next issue of the Journal of the Women's League of Ale Drinkers has a deadline in the not too distant future:

March 21st

Send us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses -- or rather, send us your artistic visions yearning to be free!

We need artists, musicians, writers, crafters and people of unusual abilities to send us their stuff. Send us your high quality JPEGs, your links to MP3s or videos, your Word documents or websites. We want to highlight some fabulous women artists, but we also want your thoughts on ALE and its DRINKING. We want your musings on SEX and all that provokes because this issue will be out at Beltane (let's hope the snow's gone by then). BE WILD! Be interesting -- because the only sin is being BORING.

We hope to have some print copies of the journal available, too; we still can't pay for contributions, but consider your piece to be advertisement for your work and include all the necessary linkage to your sites.

As always, you can send you offerings, files and questions to me, Vicky. Join the League; raise your glass.

Ten Q: Natalie Rauch

1. What name(s) do you go by?

Nat, Knit2death, Patience (for death), Hey You! Weirdy Girl!

2. Where can we find your fabulous work (both online and IRL)?

Facebook

Etsy

Crafty Ewe in Ticonderoga NY and Nangellini’s South Street Philadelphia (soon)

3. What piece would you want to use for a "first impression"?

Meow DelMuerte hats. I think people love the cuteness of the kitty ears and earflaps but also the novelty of the handmade buttons that decorate them.

4. How did you learn your craft?

I learned to crochet from my grandmother because I was hyperactive and had ADD. I crocheted everywhere with my tongue hanging out the side of my mouth. Doing multiple things at the same time is the only way I feel comfortable. I learned to knit later on and really put some effort into when I was in college and an insomniac. Now I can’t stop and it’s still about keeping myself busy but now also about learning to develop it into an art form.

5. Who/what inspires you?

My friends who are very creative and don’t let any hang up keep them back inspire me. My friend Regina from Crafty Ewe and Nature Buttons is what I call a real Renaissance woman and I definitely look up to her.

6. How do you cope with the inevitable discouraging days?

I scream, I kick rocks in the parking lot, I cry like a baby, and then I get over it and force myself back out again.

7. What are your goals for your work?

To keep trying new things, to teach others and most of all to teach people that anything is possible. Once you get past the mental block you can do anything you want.

8. What wisdom from your own experience would you pass on to other WLoAD members?

Just what I wrote in the previous answer… The biggest battle is getting over the things we do to ourselves mentally to hold ourselves back. You can work and be a mom, not have a lot of money but still be creative and out there doing what you love. You are amazing. I know it, now you should too.

9. If you received a million dollar grant, how would you make use of it?

Community programs for people of all ages to learn skills, education and arts. Places for people to go to practice music and get lessons from others and lots of programs for kids to learn and do these things after school.

10. WLoADed stars need not actually drink ale: what's your fave bevvie?

I live in Philly, beer is a passion here but I’m a nasty bastard without a connoisseur's limitations. I can go from an Orkney skullsplitter to Old English 40’s in a split second and Yuengling (Lager as you would order it here) goes well with Jaegermeister, Oatmeal stout is a favorite as well. When it’s not beer it's vodka and when it’s not liquor or beer (which it definitely doesn’t have to be) it’s organic ginger beer or just good, clean water.

Thank you, Natalie! You've supplied a fascinating perspective and your knitting is fabulous!

WLoAD #1 is here!

Step right up and get your copy of the fantastic, spanking new JOURNAL OF THE WOMEN'S LEAGUE OF ALE DRINKERS! A bargain at only 99¢ and you get all this plus a lovely cover by our own resident artiste, Stephanie Johnson:

Contents

Vicky Squid - Editorial Pronouncement

Justine Graykin - The Necessity of Creation

Alessandra Bava - To Emily Dickinson

Wendy Goldberg - Quantum Poetry & Summer Tomatoes

Sue Menhart - Sue Menhart Band

Stephanie Wexler - Arching & The Summer's Dusting

Judy Holder - Land of Textures

H. Byron Ballard - My City Mother Has Risen From the Dead

C. Margery Kempe – A Literary Concoction

Wendy Goldberg – The Wrong Word

S. L. Johnson – Night Lady

Adrean Darce Brent - No Forwarding Address

Natalie Rauch - KNIT2dEATH

Nancy Parent - Red Hot Stove Tops / Rivergods

Elena Steier - Lydia Sick

Wendy Goldberg - Dreaming

Alessandra Bava - Almost Sidereal

Stephanie Wexler - Knotted

Judy Holder - Blue Door

Adrean Darce Brent – Freakonomics

K. A. Laity - Fear and Loathing in Deptford

We'll be spending November getting to know the contributors to this issue with our TEN Q questionnaires. It's not to early to start thinking about the next issue which will be out in time for Beltaine (that's May Day for the mundane). The deadline will be March 21st so mark it on your calendars!

The Journal

Lovelies --

We have some wonderful submissions and your delightful trimulierate of talented women are hard at work assembling the disparate threads of this endeavour into a coherent whole. How to wrangle such individualistic works into a comprehensive unity? That remains to be seen. But you will doubtless be delighted by the outcome because there's no way all this fantastic inspiration could disappoint. And no, it's not a bit like this ;-)