Our Book on Display

It's been over a year since we spoke at Northampton, Massachusett's gay pride and had a reading at Pride & Joy Bookstore, but Lipstick & Dipstick must still be drawing them in, because our book is on display again in their window.

Thanks to Nohodyke for sending this in.

If you can't make it to Pride & Joy, you can still buy our book at Powell's or Amazon.

You Know You've made it big when...

...you find your book for sale on ebay.  (For a decent price, at that!) 

But we'll know we've really arrived when  Lipstick & Dipstick show up in the NY Times Crossword Puzzle.  

Lipstick, Dipstick & Harvey Milk

When my sister was visiting, she and her girlfriend took a trip to the mall. Here's a photo she sent me from her iphone of our book on display with Harvey Milk at Barnes & Noble. Pretty cool.

If you haven't seen the movie Milk yet, make plans to see it. It documents an important piece of queer history. But also the parallels to today's struggles, especially Prop 8, are astounding.

It made me wonder, why haven't we learned from history?  Why can't we build the kind of coalitions that Harvey built? Why didn't the "No on 8" people use Barack Obama's endorsement against 8 more vigorously? 

And why are we fighting the same fight 30 years later? Milk is all at once inspiring and infuriating. If you see only one movie this year, see Milk.

Soaking up the Sun with Lipstick & Dipstick

Are you headed on vacation this summer? If so, be sure to pick up Lipstick & Dipstick's Essential Guide to Lesbian Relationships before you head to the airport just like reader Heather Knight did. She sent us this great pic of her reading our book in the Bahamas.

It's a great way to out yourself to other lezbots on vacation and pick up chicks on the beach. Give it a try and send us your picks.

Pride Recap Part I

What a crazy week! Dipstick will be posting about the Pride festivities from the weekend and I'll touch on the great events we had early in the Pride hullabaloo.

Broadway Books Reading
A big thank you to all those dedicated dykes (and two dudes!) who came to hear Dipstick and I read at lesbian-owned Broadway Books. Sally was kind enough to ask us to come read and we're so glad we decided to wrap it up in rainbow colors for the week of Pride. For all you Portland, Oregonians, if you've never been to the adorable Broadway Books, be sure to check it out next time you're in Northeast Portland.

QLiterati!
This was the first installment of the new monthly queer reading held every second Wednesday at Portland's Q Center. There was a great turnout that inspired some wonderful readings. After Diane Anderson-Minshall welcomed the crowd, it was kicked off with Sossity Chiricuzio, who read some of her dirty poetry. She is the host of Dirty Queer, a monthly x-rated open mic, where people cum out and read all sorts of sexy, slutty things. Other readers included Jason, who read a short piece combining his two great loves: culinary arts and men. Heather Knight read a surprisingly provocative piece about--of all things to turn you on--Powell's Book Store! It was called Ode to Powell's Books. Marc Acito (photo) and his humorous and colorful writing/performing took the mic next and delivered a wildly entertaining reading from his new book: Attack of the Theater People. Jacob Anderson Minshall also read from contribution to Men Speak Out. Dipstick and I closed the show with a reading from our book and everyone enjoyed Diane's homemade (kinda) cookies when they asked a question during the Q & A.

The most exciting piece of info of the night was the announcement from Kendall, the center's Executive Director, about a $200,000 grant donated to the center that day. The catch, however, is that the center has to match the donation (in fundraising) in order to get it. So, if you feel inspired to give this summer (they have three months to raise the funds), consider this worthy cause!

Q Literati Tonight!

Portland Peeps---come out to the first installment of Q Literati! tonight at Portland's Queer Center.

Featured writers included Sossity, Jason Zenobia, Jacob Anderson-Minshall, Lipstick & Dipstick and literary superstar Marc Acito.

DETAILS
Portland's Queer Center
69 SE Taylor
Portland, OR

Reading this Tuesday for Pride

Portlanders, Lipstick & Dipstick will be reading from their new book--Lipstick & Dipstick's Essential Guide to Lesbian Relationships--this Tuesday at Broadway Books. It's in celebration of Pride week.

Come on out and be proud!

DETAILS
7pm
Broadway Books
1714 NE Broadway
Portland, OR

Introducing Q Literari

In partnership with the Portland, Oregon Queer Center, CURVE is annoucing the first QLiterati! The innaguaral monthly LGBTQ reading series will be held next Wednesday at 7pm. Details below. QLiterati! is a monthly LGBTQ reading series, that will feature established, emerging and underground writers and spoken word artists. QLiterati! events will offer an open mic, gourmet snacks, raffle prizes, multiple readings, audience Q&A’s and the occasional literary superstar to draw a crowd.

Held every second Wednesday and launching June 11th, 7-9 pm at the Q Center, the first QLiterati! will feature our friend Marc Acito, the “occasional literary superstar” author of Attack of the Theater People and also How I Paid for College. Yours truly, along with Dipstick, will join him, reading from our first book Lipstick & Dipstick's Essential Guide to Lesbian Relationships. And co-host Jacob Anderson-Minshall will offer his trans perspective to an essay from Men Speak Out. This first meeting of Q Literati! is sure to be a memorable one, so mark your calendars!

They’re also encouraging emerging authors to sign up for the open mic--which they can do so in advance or at the event. Their first open mic features writers from Dirty Queer and Write Around Portland. It's not necessary for authors to address gender or sexuality in their work; but they do specifically want to encourage the participation of LGBTQ-identified writers.

If you miss Q Literati! this month, stop by the Q Center booth at Portland Pride to get more info on it and on CURVE Magazine. And mark your calendars for every second Wednesday for Q Literati.

For more information contact the Q Center at info@pdxqcenter.org, or the hosts at jake@quirkyguys.com.

DETAILS
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
7:00-9:00pm
Q Center
69 SE Taylor Ave at SE Water Ave, Portland
FREE
More info: http://www.pdxqcenter.org/

We Love to Hear From Readers

We got this email from some readers in the UK yesterday and thought we'd post it here. It's always such a pleasure to hear from readers, so keep the letters coming, especially if you've got something nice to say. :) Here it is:

Hey ladies, i've just finished reading your brilliant book (lipstick and dipstick essential guide) and it was brilliant. I couldn't put it down. I laughed so hard and at the same time received brilliant advice from the both of you. My name is Nad and i am from Wales in the United Kingdom. My partner Gemma is now reading your book after a bit of persuasion from myself. Your book was great, I can't stress enough how fab it was, definately the best book i've read EVER. I could relate to so many things in your book, like me and my partner have been together 18 months and like everyone else we do argue an have very nearly broke up, your book told us how to get through these times an now we're getting married. Your chapter on marriage was great, i thought i was the only butch out there who wanted to wear a tux on my big day but reading your book i found i am not the only one, woohoo. Thanks for giving me a fantastic read and i think your both awesome.

Thanks Lipstick & Dipstick

Nad & Gemma

The Sweetest Comment Ever

Look what someone wrote on our My Space page:
"I know that I'm a little late on the book, but that didnt stop it from helping me in any way. It has helped me so much in my relationship. I dont know how I could ever thank you for this book and all it has done for my girlfriend and I. We were having problems and I couldnt seem to find any solutions, so I figured what the heck, buy the book it cant hurt anything at this point..lol. And I was so glad that I did. You saved me and you saved us, thank you from the bottom of my heart. ~*Areonda*~ "

Mombian Book Review

Are you a parent? Have you read our book? Neither Lipstick nor I are parents, but in writing the chapters about being in relationship with someone who has kids, or deciding whether or not to have children, we consulted our friends with children and read up on the lesbian mom experts, like one of our favorite blogs Mombian.

So, we were honored when Dana Rudolph from Mombian offered to review Lipstick & Dipstick’s Essential Guide to Lesbian Relationships for us from a parent’s perspective. In part, here is what she said:

Although neither Belge nor Daggett is a parent, for the most part their advice is sound. They first tackle the issues that can arise when you are dating someone who has children. “You gotta like kids,” they observe, but note with honesty, “They don’t have to like you.” Learning to share time and space with children is key for those who suddenly find themselves in a household with them. They advise taking things slowly, and not being hasty to move in or take on a parental role towards your new love’s children.

For the most part, she loved our book. She did have one little quibble, though. In an answer to a quiz about whether or not you’re ready to have children Lipstick wrote:

Oh, dear dyke, you are going to be the PTA Mother of the Year and your child will be a straight-A student and a stellar concert pianist. You’ll raise her well and she’ll go through life with her head high, fighting for her rights as a straight ally.

I guess this hit a sore spot with Mombian. But she does have a good point. Children of queer parents aren’t really our allies, they are part of the LGBT community. Read on.

She’s exaggerating, and that’s fine, but she also makes some potentially offensive assumptions about the children of LGBT parents by calling the one in her example a “straight ally.” Statistically, some children of LGBT parents will not be straight. We should not ignore or marginalize these “second generation” LGBT individuals for the sake of avoiding the old stereotype that homosexual parents always lead to homosexual children. To use the example of a straight child in parallel with being a top student and skilled pianist implies that the opposite would be to be a poor student, with no musical skills—and gay. I don’t think that was Daggett’s intent, but it comes off that way.
Furthermore, many, if not most, of the straight children of LGBT parents do not view themselves as allies, but rather as members of the LGBT community, as Abigail Garner has shown in Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is, and on her blog. “Ally” implies an outsider, however supportive. People who grew up in LGBT households, learning the lingo and the in-jokes, attending Pride marches and other LGBT events, and sometimes bearing the brunt of anti-LGBT prejudice as much as, if not more so, than their parents, deserve to be members of the community in which they were raised. They are “culturally queer,” as Garner puts it, even if they are straight.

Thanks Mombian for the review and a bit of education about our community.

Read the full Mombian Review

Gearing up for the East Coast

Dipstick and I are excited about upcoming East Coast Tour, which starts early next week. If you live in any of the below cities or have friends on the east coast, please post and pass along the below information. Drop a line if you have any questions: ask@lipstickdipstick.com

April 23
7pm
Talking Leaves Bookstore
3158 Main Street, Buffalo NY 14214

April 25
7pm
Equal Grounds Coffeehouse
750 South Avenue, Rochester NY 14620

April 26
1pm
Lavender Inkwell
304 North McBride Street, Syracuse NY

April 27
4-8pm (show at 6pm)
Doubles II
29 Church St. downtown Catskill
Kingston, NY

April 30
7pm
Oscar Wilde Bookstore
15 Christopher Street, New York NY

May 2
10pm
PURE
75 Warrenton ST Boston
Boston, MA

May 3
North Hampton Pride
1:45pm-1:55pm

May 4
1pm
Pride & Joy Books
20 Crafts Avenue, Northampton MA

We Ho + San Diego Recap

Lipstick forgot the chords to her camera for their California tour, so I'm just now able to unload them onto my computer. While super short, we had fun in West Hollywood for the 18 hours we were there. Afer our reading at A Different Light (thanks Albert!) next door to East West (home to Shannon Kampa's PLATINUM, a sophisticated women's night on Thursdays), we got to catch up with old friends--my ex and her girlfriend--as well as our publicist Deborah Brosseau with Spinner PR. We had dinner and drinks at the Abbey.

In San Diego, we read at the Rubber Rose, a great sex shop owned by Carly and Leah. What a great sex shop; it's super friendly, cozy and well-equipped for all your needs between the sheets.

When it was all said and done, Dip and I were exhausted. We're glad to be home, but grearing up for more book fun later this month when we kick off our East Coast tour. See the side bar here--UPCOMING EVENTS--on our blog for more details of our stops along the way...

A special thanks to Kimpton for giving us a smoking rate at their gaslamp district property Hotel Solamar. It had a great roof top bar!

An Evening with Lipstick & Dipstick in Whistler

This just in: a lovely man named Nathanial Christopher filmed this clip of Dipstick and I doing our reading at the Solarice Spa in Whistler, BC earlier this month. He just uploaded it to YouTube and we thought we'd share it with you.

Lipstick & Dipstick on the Web

Curious about the book? Check out the latest coverage on Planetout.com and Gay.com.

Book Release Party at Pop Tart this Sunday!

Come and hang out with us on February 10th at Pop Tart. Lipstick & Dipstick are hosting a pre-party from 5 to 7pm to celebrate the release of our new book the "Essential Guide to Lesbian Relationships." We will have readings from the book with
interpretive assistance from the Rose City Sirens, Portland's own all lesbian burlesque troop.

Doors open at 5. Ashleigh Flynn plays at 5:30 and Lipstick & Dipstick entertain at 6. Stick around to get a signed copy of our book and to boogie the night away with DJ Rickie Leigh from Seattle and Mr. Charming.

Come early because the first 100 people get in for free.

Holocene 1001 S.E. Morrison

Can't wait to see you there

Come to Hot Flash Tonight!

Join Lipstick & Dipstick tonight as we ring in the 4th anniversary of Hot Flash at Barracuda (9 NW 2nd Ave) in Downtown Portland, Oregon. We will be emceeing the evening's entertainment.

Party starts at 5pm and goes until 9. The party, which is geared toward women who are 36 and over, is sure to be a blast. Lipstick will have to sneak in the back door, since she is underage. But she sure loves her some middle-aged lesbox!

We will be reading from our new book, Lipstick & Dipstick's Essential Guide to Lesbian Relationships.

Come on down!

Lipstick & Dipstick Reading Tonight

Dipstick and I will be reading from our new book tonight at Powell's City of Books in downtown Portland, Oregon. If you're not busy, come one down. If you are, cancel your plans and head on over.

The reading -- which will include a little bit of audience participation -- begins at 7:30pm

Powell's Books
1005 W Burnside
Portland, OR 97209

Come say hi!

PS: I thought I'd add this window shot of our cover at Powell's. I tripped and almost fell on my face when I saw it in the window in the Pearl District. Very fun.

It May Not Be Rolling Stone

But it sure was fun to come home to this cover feature in Just Out yesterday.

To read the whole article, go HERE.

I've been out of pocket for the last week on a little Southwest Holiday in Arizona. More on that later this week, but Texas and I had a wonderful time catching up with my family and old friends. Now--God help me--I'm trying to catch up on work.

Enjoy the article. Dipstick and I are excited about this one, as it's our hometown.

Thanks Just Out!

xo
Lip

You know you've made it big when...

You are mentioned in a "Chance Meetings" ad. This was posted on Portland's Craigslist.

Hi,

We met a Common Grounds Coffee on Hawthorne, I was reading 'Lipstick and Dipstick's Essential Guide....'

I mentioned their booksigning a Powell's downtown, would you care to go?
Since we both ride the bus and the signing is after dark in downtown Portland, well, there's safety in numbers, and I think it would be fun. So far the book is quite entertaining. I can't help but to LOL.

Cordially,
K

This totally made my day. If you two do meet up, please come and say hi to us!!