Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road

by Michelle Tea (Editor/Contributor), Samuael Topiary (Contributor), Cooper Lee Bombardier (Contributor)

"Heartbreakingly beautiful writing; sometimes funny, sometimes shattering—always revolutionary. Truly amazing collection!"—Margaret Cho

"Sister Spit is like the underground railroad for burgeoning queer writers. Not only in the van, but in the audiences trapped in the hinterlands of America and looking to escape. Sister Spit saves lives."—Justin Vivian Bond, author of TANGO: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels

A collection of writing and artwork from the irreverent, flagrantly queer, hilariously feminist, tough-talking, genre-busting ruffians who have toured with the legendary Sister Spit. Co-founded in 1997 by award-winning writer Michelle Tea, Sister Spit is an underground cultural institution, a gender-bending writers' cabaret that brings a changing roster of both emerging writers and some of the most important queer and counterculture artists of the day to universities, art galleries, community spaces, and other venues across the country and worldwide.

Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road captures the provocative, politicized, and risk-taking elements that characterize the Sister Spit aesthetic, stamping the raw energy and signature style of the live show onto the page. Bratty poets and failed priestesses, punk angst and tough love, too much to drink and tattooed timelines—this anthology captures it all in a collection of poetry, personal narrative, fiction, and artwork. Featuring a who's who of queer and queer-centric writers and artists, the collection functions as a travelog, a historical document, and a yearbook from irreverent graduates of the school of hard knocks.

Includes contributions by Eileen Myles, Beth Lisick, Michelle Tea, MariNaomi, Cristy Road, Ali Liebegott, Blake Nelson, Lenelle Moise, and many more!

Genres: Queer, Poetry, Nonfiction, Anthologies, Feminism, LGBT, Short Stories

225 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2012

About the author

Michelle Tea (born Michelle Tomasik) is an American author, poet, and literary arts organizer whose autobiographical works explore queer culture, feminism, race, class, prostitution, and other topics. She is originally from Chelsea, Massachusetts and currently lives in San Francisco. Her books, mostly memoirs, are known for their views into the queercore community. In 2012 Tea partnered with City Lights Publishers to form the Sister Spit imprint.

Reviews

[Oriana]

God, why do I have to work? Why can't I just sit around and read all day so I can get to all the books in the world??

From Flavorpill, whom I sometimes feel is my very own personal taste arbiter:

The transgressive underground writers’ coalition / performance art roadshow / multi-media collective / all-around gang of awesome known as Sister Spit teamed up with City Lights this year to create a new imprint focused on publishing queer and feminist writers, starting with this new anthology, which is filled with hilarious, provocative, and counterculture art, fiction, poetry and everything in between. It’s what the cool girls are reading.

I am a cool girl! I want to be reading this now!!

[MariNaomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah, I'm in this, but I'm giving it five stars anyway. So there!

My super-favorites were Blake Nelson's tour diary, Nicole J. George's tour diary, Kat Marie Yoas's "Training for Goddesses" (about taking a course to be a dominatrix--hilarity ensues!), Kirk Read's heartbreaking story about "Belle," and more and more and more and more: Elisha Lim, Myriam Gurba, Cassie J. Sneider, Ben McCoy, Beth Lisick. Holy crap, what a lineup! And Rhiannon Argo's story about tour dysfunctions in Europe was juicy and satisfying. If you love Sister Spit, you need to get this book!

[Sage Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bunch of different writing by different authors, some good some eh

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve seen Sister Spit, the roving, rotating band of writers, performers, poets and cartoonists of the queer, queerish, or at least marginalized persuasion twice now – the first time was when my friend Mari was a part of the posse in 2011, and then again several months ago for their spring '12 tour. Best believe I’ll go see them again next year and the year after that and every year after - as long as they come a’calling to my town, I’m in – they’re just that good and inspiring and hilarious and moving and awesome. This book obviously can’t capture the complete experience of seeing them live but is still full of that ubiquitous Sister Spirit energy and spirit. There are no duds here and tons of great stuff from the likes of such folks as Spit’s genius founder, Michelle Tea, and the always sardonically hilarious Ali Liebgott; there’s a twisted piece of bent psychofantasy from Myriam Gurba, a terrific illustrated tale of cultures clashing by Elisha Lim, and several You Are There On-The-Road/tour diary entries from folks like Blake Nelson and Cristy C. Road, as well as from two of my favorite cartoonists, Nicole J. Georges, and my awesome pal MariNaomi. These diary entries set me off to daydreaming about quitting my day job, writing and creating fulltime and then stowing away in the Spit van for fun, adventure, and unbridled creativity, albeit interspersed with road traumas, shitty food, sheer exhaustion, scary encounters with creepy drivers and the like – they don’t sugarcoat that it ain’t always a bed of roses, but that makes it just all that much more inspiring that it happens and happens again - all over you and your town. I love it, five stars.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring, entertaining, engaging, empowering. I've got lots of adjectives for this book that captures what it's like for a group of writers to spend months traveling together in tight quarters and less than luxurious lodgings in the name of feminist, queer, urgent voices. I was lucky enough to experience a Sister Spit show, and this was a wonderful reminder of that magic.

[City Lights Booksellers & Publishers · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This riotous collage edited by a Sister Spit cofounder celebrates the acclaimed underground lesbian-feminist roadshow. Poetry, art, stories and snippets of self-reflection from the collective's rotating membership honor this cultural institution in its signature provocative fashion." —Ms. Magazine, Fall 2012 Issue

"Raw, real, and riotous … Critical and demanding, [Sister Spit] asks us to imagine a better world and then do whatever it takes to make our fantasies real." —Eleanor Bader, AlterNet

"Sister Spit: Writings, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road is a genuine, honest and funny collection of stories. It captures the provocative, brazen and high-energy nature of Sister Spit, though it reads like a personal journal." —Elizabeth Coleman

[Blake Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome!

[Rhea · Rating 4 out of 5]

filled me with jealousy and desire. I want to go on a Sister Spit tour, or, better yet, I want to know rad writers like this in my community.

[eve is reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was such a great find in the used section of bookshop santa cruz!

i've been looking for more of michelle tea's work after reading against memoir and knocking myself up so it was fun to be introduced to some of the sister spit crew through this work. as with all collections composed of various people's work, some stood out more than others. i liked the variety of what was in here. you have poetry, diaries, comics, fiction/nonfiction, representing a broad range of stories.

highlights for me were:
my life in ink by cooper lee bombardier
the hong moon lesbians of the sacred heart by elisha linn
excerpt from cha-ching by ali liebegott

and my favorite, with some heavy bias on my part due to the laytonville mention, was belle by kirk read.

i do also want to mention that cristy c road's illustration style really impressed me as well!

what a fun find, and i am happy to release it back into used book circulation so others can get to this under read collection.

[Cindywho · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the spitters in the 90s and saw them every chance I got. I don't remember this 2010s revival, but it's nice to know it happened. It's a nice collection of stories, drawings, and pieces of larger works. Thanks Spitters!

[Mina Beach · Rating 3 out of 5]

super middle of the road but easy to read

[Leigh Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

What it says, and it's wonderful.

Sister Spit, for the uninitiated, is a group of queer poets/writers/performers who would randomly van up and trundle around the country, reading their work at various colleges, bars, and whatever other wimmin-friendly venues they could find. Some of the pieces in here were delivered at stops on the tour. Others are road diaries. Both types of writing are fun and interesting to read, and one in particular -- Kat Marie Yoas's "Training for Goddesses," would make a terrific speech/oral interp. piece, if only at the college level (ain't no high school THAT liberal). Of the tour chronicles my favorite was "I'm not Lost, I Just Don't Know Where the Fuck We Are," Rhiannon Argo's uncomfortably hilarious retelling of the leg of their European tour that involved Sabine the bitchy Slovenian driver.

This came over as an ILL from Penn State, and it was definitely worth sending for. Recommended for anyone interested in queer lit, poetry, road trips, kinky sex, farts, and other alterna-wordplay. There are even a few comics tucked in there, like a breath of fresh air between heavier pieces. Look for it in your local 'brary, or ask the staff to show you how ILL works (assuming you don't already know).

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh how I love Sister Spit performances and how I have loved them for many years. However, I can't say I loved this anthology. The contributors have greatly varying degrees of talent, which can be a charming thing, especially seeing a live performance, but in book form leaves most of the contributions worth skipping. I mean putting Eileen Myles in there is just a bit unfair to everyone else. After reading Eileen's piece most others feel a bit flat. Also, this book presents itself as a collection that focuses on the tour aspect of Sister Spit, when really only about 4 pieces are about touring. It all just feels hastily thrown together without much thought. I think those that have participated in Sister Spit over the years are not well represented by this anthology. Not only does Sister Spit have an amazing wealth of talent in the pool, but even those represented in this book have done better work than what Michelle chose here.

[Amy D.P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish you could use the phrase "amaze balls" in a literary critique and sound dignified.

This anthology is fantastic!It may help that there is an essay by my favorite author Blake Nelson in here and he may have mentioned meeting me in his writing (yeah, I'm a literary rock star now...or at least a groupie). To just say that Blake Nelson's writing is awesome enough reason to read this would be true, but also every other piece in here could stand-alone and be enough reason to read this. Voices that define a moment of importance to someone, somewhere, spill forth moments of genius and humility with beauty, honesty and humor. I can already tell this is a book that I will revisit every few years.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

B+ A lot of great short things in here, much abt Sister Spits' tours, some general writing. Good, fun writing in lots of formats.

[Becca Gonzalez · Rating 3 out of 5]

k

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emotional, various. Some I loved, some I liked, some I skipped.

I like the concept of it, but like most queer/feminist scenes, reeks of transmisogyny.

[Ana Ventura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just awesome...