Sister Spit was a lesbian-feminist

spoken-word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

collective based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, signed to

Mr. Lady Records Mr. Lady Records (or Mr. Lady Records and Video) was a San Francisco-based lesbian- feminist independent record label and video art distributor. (Press release of a 2001 art show at the Weisman Art Museum) Artists on the label included Le Tigre ...

. They formed in 1994 and disbanded in 2006. Founding members included

Michelle Tea Michelle Tea (born Michelle Tomasik, 1971) is an American author, poet, and literary arts organizer whose autobiographical works explore queer culture, feminism, race, class, sex work, and other topics. She is originally from Chelsea, Massachuset ...

and

Sini Anderson Sini Anderson (born November 6, 19??) is an American film director, producer, performance artist, choreographer, dancer and poet, from Chicago, Illinois. Anderson is widely known for directing ''The Punk Singer'' (2013), a documentary about riot ...

, Other members included Jane LeCroy and poet

Eileen Myles Eileen Myles (born December 9, 1949) is a LAMBDA Literary Award-winning American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. No ...

. The group were noted for their ''Ramblin' Roadshow'', performing at feminist events such as the

Michigan Womyn's Music Festival The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or Michfest, was a feminist women's music festival held annually from 1976 to 2015 in Oceana County, Michigan, on privately owned woodland near Hart Township referred to as "The L ...

. The ''

Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' and ...

'' described it as "the coolest (and cutest) line-up of talented, tattooed, pierced, and purple-pigtailed performance artists the Bay Area has to offer"."Great expectorations: San Francisco's Sister Spit heads east"
, ''

'', July 1997. The ''

Independent Weekly ''Indy Week'', formerly known as the ''Independent Weekly'' and originally the ''North Carolina Independent'', is a tabloid-format alternative weekly newspaper published in Durham, North Carolina, United States, and distributed throughout the ...

'' magazine described the group as a "literary celebration of outspoken and courageous feminists"."Feminist/Queer Entrepreneurs: Mr. Lady Music and Videos"
''

'', June 27, 2001. Sister Spit performed on numerous occasions at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, as well as on multiple tours across the United States, chiefly to

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

audiences, including the

Castro Street Fair The 'Castro Street Fair'' is a San Francisco LGBT street festival and fair usually held on the first Sunday in October in the Castro neighborhood, the main gay neighborhood and social center in the city. The fair features multiples stages with li ...

Pride Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

and

Ladyfest Ladyfest is a Community organization, community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for feminist and women artists. Individual Ladyfests differ, but usually feature a combination of band (music), bands, musical groups, performa ...

.Lynnee Breedlove's CV
, includes Sister Spit festival appearances. They played at such locations as

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

."Eileen Myles is an unregenerate punk at 50"
Article on Sister Spit in the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

''.

revived the tour in April 2007, calling the new incarnation Sister Spit: The Next Generation. The new group includes original Sister Spitters

and Ali Liebegott, as well as younger writers such as Cristy Road,

Nicole Georges Nicole J. Georges (born 10 December 1981 in Kansas) is an American illustrator, writer, zinester, podcaster, and educator. She is well known for authoring the autobiographical comic zine ''Invincible Summer'', whose individual issues have been co ...

, and

Rhiannon Argo Rhiannon is a major figure in the Mabinogi, the medieval Welsh story collection. She appears mainly in the First Branch of the Mabinogi, and again in the Third Branch. She is a strong-minded Otherworld woman, who chooses Pwyll, prince of Dyfe ...

."Quirky women spice up literary reading at Jake's"
Article on Sister Spit in ''

The Olympian ''The Olympian'' is a newspaper based in Olympia, Washington, in the United States. History Olympia was home to the first newspaper to be published in modern-day Washington, ''The Columbian'', which published its first edition on September 11, ...

''. For a month on the road, Sister Spit: The Next Generation traveled across the U.S. and Canada, and occasionally through Europe, performing mainly at universities and art centers. In order to reflect changes in gender identity and sexual orientation, the line-up no longer includes only women. Performers have included

, Cristy Road,

, Beth Lisick,

Blake Nelson Blake Nelson is an American author of adult and children's literature. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Wesleyan University and New York University. He lives in Hillsboro, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. Biography Nelso ...

Justin Vivian Bond Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Described as "the best cabaret artist of heir!-- MOS:GENDERID --> generation" and a "tornado of art and activism", they first achieved prominence under the pseudon ...

and

Ariel Schrag Ariel Schrag (born December 29, 1979) is an American cartoonist and television writer who achieved critical recognition at an early age for her autobiographical comics. Her novel ''Adam'' provoked controversy with its theme of a heterosexual tee ...

. In 2017, the 20th Anniversary Sister Spit tour included Denise Benavides, Virgie Tovar, Maya Songbird, Celeste Chan, Cathy de la Cruz, Juliana Delgado Lopera and

Joshua Jennifer Espinoza Joshua Jennifer Espinoza (born December 17, 1987) is an American poet from Riverside, California. She is a Visiting Professor of English at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. Espinoza's works have been published in ''Poetry Magazine ...

Sister Spit and City Lights Publishers

In 2012 Sister Spit made the long-desired leap from promoting and supporting up-and-coming queer, feminist writers to actually shepherding them into print via a collaboration with

City Lights Publishers City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected ti ...

. The new imprint, City Lights/Sister Spit, began by publishing the anthology ''Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road''. Subsequently, it has published works by Ali Liebegott, Beth Lisick, and others. In their 40th-anniversary issue, ''

Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

named the anthology a "great read" of the season that honors the cultural institution that is the Sister Spit roadshow. The mission of the City Lights/Sister Spit imprint is to publish primarily but not exclusively writings that are informed by a queer, feminist outsider perspectives. Editor Michelle Tea wishes to nurture work from people who struggle to find a place.

Membership

Sister Spit had a rotating membership. Members for many or all shows includedMichelle Tea shrine
features line-up of Sister Spit. *

- writer; co-founder and co-host of Sister Spit *

- performance poet, producer, and director; co-founder and co-host of Sister Spit * Ida Acton - author * Kirk Read - writer and performer * Marci Blackman - novelist,

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbow ...

winner * Cooper Lee Bombardier- writer and visual artist * Lynnee Breedlove - lead singer of

Tribe 8 Tribe 8 was a LGBTQ punk rock band from San Francisco, considered one of the first queercore groups. The band took their name from the practice of tribadism, with "tribe eight" being a play on the word ''tribade'', a sexual practice sometimes ...

and writer * Tara Jepsen - performance artist, actor, and writer * Rocco Kayiatos - poet and

beatboxer Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

* Beth Lisick - writer, filmmaker and musician * Shar Rednour- author, filmmaker, podcast host * Miranda Mellis - dancer, trapeze artist, and poet *

- author * Sara Seinberg - photographer * Anna Joy Springer - professor at UCSD * Samuael Topiary - filmmaker, performer, PhD candidate at UCSC * Ali Liebegott - author *

Amos Mac Amos Mac (born 1981) is an American writer, photographer and a publisher from Augusta, Georgia. Mac is based in Los Angeles as a writer for television and film . Early life He grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ''Original Plumbing'' As a ...

- photographer * MariNaomi - cartoonist *

Myriam Gurba Myriam Gurba is an American writer, story-teller, and visual artist. She is best known for her review, in Tropics of Meta, of American Dirt. In 2019, ''O, The Oprah Magazine'' called Gurba's work ''Mean'' (2017) one of the "Best LGBTQ Books o ...

- author *

- author * Nicole J. Georges - cartoonist * Sash Sunday - heckler/roadie * Kat Yoas - author

Releases

*''I Spit On Your Country: Words From The '97 Roadshow'', Mouth Almighty Records, 1998 *''Sister Spit's Ramblin' Road Show - Greatest Spits'',

, May 29, 2001. *''Tribe Spit Deep'', 2002

Bibliography

* Tea, Michelle. ''Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road'' (

City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and ...

, 2012). *Felix, Dia. ''Nochita'' (

, 2014). * Moïse, Lenelle. ''Haiti Glass'' (

, 2014). {{ISBN, 978-0-87286-614-0

References

External links

Sister Spit website
- selected members of the original group touring with new members
5 Reasons To See Sister Spit in 2011 (LAist)
Feminist organizations in the United States Feminist collectives Lesbian collectives Lesbian feminism Culture of San Francisco American spoken word artists LGBT organizations in the United States History of women in California