GLBTA Programs Office

Kate Bornstein Did the Twin Cities: October 19-23, 2008!

Thank you to everyone who joined world-renowned educator, author, playwright, performance artist, social activist, and gender outlaw Kate Bornstein for a week of gender freedom events in the Twin Cities!

Download Kate Bornstein Week Flyer

Sunday, October 19, 3:00 PM
Amazon Bookstore Reading & Signing
4755 Chicago Ave South, Mpls

Kate Bornstein will be at Amazon Bookstore reading from Hello, Cruel World and signing books, with Andrea Jenkins opening. This event is free and open to the public—and Amazon will have plenty of Kate’s books for sale!

Monday, October 20
6:30 and 8:00 PM
MN Transgender Health Coalition Masquerade Dinner
Kate Speech: "Dangerous Dreams and Damned Desires"
Pi Bar & Restaurant
2532 25th Ave South, Mpls

6:30: Kate will be a special guest at the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition’s First Annual Masquerade Dinner: Unmasking Our Many Genders at Pi Bar and Restaurant! Costumes not required, but welcomed! Full dinner (vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free or meat) and dessert only options are available but limited—register online or by phone today at 612-823-1152 to guarantee your spot!

8:00: Kate will give her dessert-time speech Dangerous Dreams and Damned Desires: "Sex, love, gender and desire - even when they’re consensual and respectful - are rarely granted any seat at the table of public discourse. For thousands of years, radical notions of consensual, respectful desires have been demonized, silenced, and invisibilized. It’s time we talk with each other about sex. Desire is the stuff of laughter, tears, and paradox. The outer edges of our desires are some of the most life-affirming dreams in our lives."

Tuesday, October 21
4:30 and 7:00 PM
Transgender Commission Open House
Kate Performance: "On Men, Women and the Rest of Us"
North Star Ballroom, St. Paul Student Center, University of Minnesota - St. Paul Campus
2017 Buford Ave, St. Paul

4:30: Kate will be a special guest at the University of Minnesota Transgender Commission 3rd Annual Open House in the Northstar Ballroom on the 2nd floor of the St. Paul Student Center. This year, we're talking gender freedom from the U of M-St. Paul Campus!

Enjoy free food, learn about the work of the Trans Commission and opportunities to get involved, and network with people interested in creating change! A social hour will be followed by a short program, highlighted by remarks from Kate Bornstein, Commission leadership, and student leaders. For more information, please contact TransCom@umn.edu. This event is free and open to the public, and a light dinner will be provided (while supplies last).

7:00: Directly after the Open House, in the same space, Kate will perform Kate Bornstein: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us: "Kate’s autobiographical signature piece is entertainment and a welcoming introduction to the notion of sex and gender beyond the binary—as well as a deeply moving affirmation of spirit for sex-and-gender outlaws. These are Kate’s most personal stories, favorite comic and dramatic monologues, and even a chapter from Kate’s upcoming memoir, Kate Bornstein Is A Queer and Pleasant Danger." This event is free and open to the public.

Wednesday, October 22, 6:00 PM
Kate: "Hello Cruel World: An Outlaw's Mini-Guide to Survival"
LOCATION CHANGE: Moved to the Queer Student Cultural Center at 205 Coffman Memorial Union at the University of Minnesota
300 Washington Ave SE, Mpls

Kate will be at the Queer Student Cultural Center doing her workshop Hello Cruel World: An Outlaw's Mini-Guide to Survival: "Sometimes, whatever it is that gives you the most joy, pleasure or relief also gets you into the deepest trouble—especially when you try to explain it to other people. Like when you love someone you're not supposed to love. Or when the way you express yourself makes other people queasy. As harmless as you feel you're being, people may still think you're bad, wrong or immoral. This workshop is about doing anything it takes to make your life more worth living. Anything. With the single rule: Don’t be mean."

This event is free for GLBTIQQA youth of ages! We’ll also spend some time in the art lab and have some food before the workshop. Registration is required. For more info or to RSVP as an individual or group, e-mail Remy Corso at TransCom@umn.edu.

Thursday, October 23, 1:30 PM
Augsburg College Lecture
Kate: "Sex, Bullies, and You—how america’s bully culture is messing with your sex life"
Sateren Auditorium, Music Hall, Augsburg College
2211 Riverside Ave, Mpls

In the Sateren Auditorium in the Music Hall at Augsburg College, Kate will bring her talk Sex, Bullies, and You: "There are sex-and-gender bullies of all ages, and many hold positions of real power in the culture, or on your campus. Bullies make life seem less worth living. Bully culture began way back in school, when kids were teased, harassed, beaten, raped, or murdered for nothing more than their sexuality—or for the way they expressed themselves as masculine or feminine. It was simply love that made those kids stand out. You’d think it would be love that could make us stand together. Sex, Bullies, and You is the piece Kate wrote to inspire that kind of love. Then, we can get on with the business of cultural revolution." This event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, October 23, 7:00 PM
Metropolitan State University Lecture
Kate: "Seeing Beyond Red or Blue: ending the bully tactics of junior high that are playing themselves out in the US presidential campaign"
Great Hall, New Main, Metropolitan State University - St. Paul Campus
700 East 7th Street, St. Paul

Thursday evening, in the Great Hall of New Main at Metropolitan State University, Kate will deliver her newest talk, Seeing Beyond Red or Blue: "Senators Obama and McCain both promise they're going to change things for the better in this country. Every other word in this campaign is change. It's Kate Bornstein's opinion that neither of the good Senators should fiddle around with any change until they learn a lot more about the mechanics of change... and precisely what it is about our culture that needs changing. It's not a matter of Democrat or Republican, it's not black or white, or rich or poor, or smart or stupid. American culture is deeply divided—and subdivided, and subdivided, and subdivided again. It's the dividing that's got to stop." This event is free and open to the public.

Thank You to All of Kate's Co-Sponsors!

Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition
GLBT Services at Metropolitan State University
LGBTQIA Services at Augsburg College

University of Minnesota:
Queer Student Cultural Center
GLBTA Programs Office
Women's Student Activist Collective
Office for Student Affairs
Institute for Advanced Study
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences
College of Education and Human Development
Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies
Department of Psychology
Department of American Studies

MN GLBTA Campus Alliance
Amazon Bookstore
Macalester College
YouthLink

Special thank you to Remy Corso for organizing so much of Kate's Twin Cities Week!

Access and Information

For more information and/or accessibility requests, please contact Remy Corso and Ross Neely, Transgender Commission Coordinators, at 612-626-3064 or TransCom@umn.edu.