Today is National Coming Out Day, and I’d like to talk about my teachers, my colleagues, and my peers. I didn’t come out formally, publicly, until May of 2020. I’d been out to handfuls of people here and there for a couple years already, but when I moved back to
Read MoreHappy Pride! It’s such a lovely day to be queer. It’s hard to celebrate with pure enthusiasm this year, given the slew of anti-trans bills being passed across the country (more on that soon). Trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people are facing a fresh wave of violence, and most of our
Read MoreTo the men who are my peers and colleagues (and plenty of other people in my spaces): I’ve seen a lot of “VOTE.” lately, especially since RBG died. While I’m excited you’re all (theoretically) taking your civic duty seriously, I also know that for some of you, this is what
Read MoreApril 29th is National Dance Day in the US. It’s one of my favorite not-quite-official holidays; I spend time stretching and honoring what my body is capable of, I move in ways that make me happy, and I usually forget to post on Instagram until several days later. It’s an opportunity
Read MoreWhen I was an undergrad running with the jazz boys, no one wanted to sleep with me. …Yeah, I didn’t know how to start this one, either. For all my work addressing sexual assault, I actually don’t spend all that much time dealing with sex. (I tend to leave that
Read MoreEvery once in awhile, usually when I’m in the middle of a slew of pieces about assault, my mom will check in with me about my writing. “You are taking the time to write happy music, right?” she often asks. It’s a time-honored song and dance—she asks, I reassure; lather, rinse, repeat. Less often,
Read MoreOver the past few years—especially since the election—I’ve seen lots of meaningful conversation, art, and advocacy on behalf of women composers and their work. I’ve seen an elevation of public consciousness—not necessarily across the board, but within classical and jazz spheres, to be certain. And yes, we’ve got a lot
Read MoreA lot of the lessons I’ve learned in music school were designed for my male peers. Or, at least, they were designed to *work* for my male peers.
Read MoreThere’s a tumblr excerpt that goes around every once in awhile about respect. Though I’m sure I can’t quote it verbatim, the gist of it is that there are two types of respect: “you treat me like a human” and “you treat me like an authority.”
Read MoreOn the “young lions” of the Phoenix jazz scene and how we talk about ensembles with certain gender balances.
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