May 2, 2018 / Citizens Climate Radio / 3 Comments »

Mental Health and Climate Change

Dr. Lise Van Susteren

Dr. Natasha DeJarnett

I try to look at climate change from multiple angles. A few years ago I began to read about how climate change affects our mental health, especially for people who experience extreme weather events. I also got to thinking about climate advocates like me who do this work day in and day out. How does it affect us emotionally and psychologically. Lucky for me I produce a monthly podcast, so I turned to experts as my guests.

Dr. Lise Van Susteren, a leading expert in looking at the psychological effects of climate change, and Dr. Natasha DeJarnett, a policy analysis in environmental health at the American Public Health Association, join show me for a thought-provoking and insightful conversation.

Fritz Horstman

Another feature of my show is the Art House. This episode I feature Fritz Horstman.

Artist Fritz Horstman talks about his trip to the Arctic Circle to take underwater photographs. The visual landscape of the frozen and thawing North captivated him, but the sounds really inspired him. He asked his fellow artists on the voyage to recreate the creaks and groans of the glaciers for his video, Ice Voices.

Here is a link to the episode or click the play icon.

Ice Voices from Fritz Horstman on Vimeo.

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April 24, 2018 / performances / No Comments »

Connecting the Seemingly Unconnected

My partner in love and art, Glen Retief, reminds me I need to help my audiences understand where I am going when I present one of my performance lectures. I make connections between things that are not apparent even after a short explanation. For instant, I see climate change as a queer issue. I told Glen I was sitting with the question: What is a Queer Response to Climate Change?

“Queer as in odd, out of the ordinary?” he asked. “Well, yes,” I replied,”but also lesbian, transgender gay, bisexual, and gender non-binary. I think climate change affects us differently, and we have unique perspectives and skills to offer in addressing it.” I took a year off to study climate change and the connections to LGBTQ people and history. Four years ago I wrote this piece which includes some my initial musings on the topic of climate change as a global LGBTQ human rights issue.

The word intersectionality is very big right now. Since my work has always been interdisciplinary as it has looked at LGBTQ oppression/liberation, faith, and society, it has been intersectional for a long time. I also benefited from reading Audre Lorde and Doris Lessing after I came out.

I couldn’t help looking at gay conversion therapies (pray-away-the-gay, etc) without seeing how it was tied to white Protestant male power and privilege in the USA. Many of us white guys in this program were not just trying to be straight for Jesus; we were desperately trying to regain lost power and privilege in Evangelical churches that saw us as feminized men and therefore blocked to serve very much like the women were treated, except we were not encouraged to watch the children.

If you want to hear how my brain processes this sort of stuff, check out this short radio interview conducted by Lori Walsh as South Dakota Public Radio. We cover a lot of ground! Conversion therapy, LGBTQ friendly Bible stories, extreme weather, and much more.

Click here to listen.

April 18, 2018 / video / No Comments »

Queer Eye for Disaster Relief

I am obsessed with queer responses to climate change. If someone faces threats and challenges when it a beautiful day out, things only get worse with the weather. Climate change is a threat multiplier. We have always had storms, floods, droughts, and heatwaves, but climate change magnifies these making them bigger and badder. Similarly, threats people face because of their identity, mobility, health, etc also increases with the more extreme weather events.

Homeless LGBTQ youth face many risks and dangers on sunny days. These explode with extreme weather, especially when they don’t seek shelter. Up to 40% of homeless youth avoid shelters.

According to LiveAbout.com

If at all possible, LGBT teens who are facing homelessness, or who are already homeless, should try to locate LGBT-friendly services.

When dealing with a crisis like homelessness, the last thing you need is a hostile or homophobic service provider.

Fortunately there are some of these LGBTQ-friendly shelters.

The Ali Forney Center in New York, has complied a list of such resources in 16 states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

I see addressing homeless LGBTQ youth needs (in nice weather and nasty weather) as a queer family values issue.

Fellow queer Quaker, Brian Blackmore told me about the work of The Night Ministry in Chicago. “They have a mobile bus that offers temporary shelter, counseling, Health care and testing, and sometimes food. The people who work there are some of the most valiant and compassionate people I have ever met. Tikkun Olam realized.”

I would love to hear of your own experiences, insights, and ideas of how we can build stronger communities before disasters come.

LGBTQ Youth, Disasters, and YOU from Peterson Thomas Toscano on Vimeo.

April 3, 2018 / blogging / No Comments »

The End of Blogging?

Interior of George Bernard Shaw’s writing hut

In an age of tweets and Instagram pics, is there a place for blogging? Back in May 2004 I wondered if I should blog or not. It meant getting a lot of feedback, perhaps unwanted interactions with people who wanted to start a fight or slam me for being gay.

Through this blog I have met some of my dearest friends, people who I now sit with in their homes. We share meals, sorrows, and secrets. Through blogging we built community for people who survived conversion therapy. I wrote about this for the journal, Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide in my piece Ex-Gay Survivors Go On-Line.

In the past decade, the Internet has exploded with social networking opportunities for countless groups of ex-gay survivors, who communicate through various blog sites (first LiveJournal and later Blogger and WordPress), the Gay Christian Network or GCN (gaychristian.net), and most recently Facebook. In often heartbreaking and raw entries, they have shared their narratives. They have validated the experiences of people who have not been able to live as “recovered” homosexuals but haven’t been able to jump into mainstream GLBT culture either, often finding this community to be hostile to their faith. These forums have also given people outside of the ex-gay community a chance to peek into the ex-gay movement and the travails of those recovering from its deceptions.

Through GCN, I met Christine Bakke, a blogger and former ex-lesbian living in Colorado (risingupwhole.blogspot.com). Like many who recently surfaced from the ex-gay underground, Christine was a woman without a community other than those few people who knew her by an anonymous screen name.

These days I produce a monthly podcast, Citizens Climate Radio, and I write personal essays for journals and anthologies. I am also active on Twitter and Facebook where I share articles I think are important and look at the links friends and trusted sources share. No one seems to leave comments on blog posts much anymore, but the discussions carry on Facebook threads, responses to twitter posts and retweets, and through the shorthand of gifs and memes.

So I am wondering, does the blog matter any more? I am happy to continue sharing resources, book reviews, personal observations, and discussion topics. I get loads of press releases about LGBTQ issues, events, books, and video games. I could share theses, but there is a lot of content out there already.

So, if you are reading this and find this blog useful, let me know. What would you like to see here? If not, perhaps it is time to put my efforts into other platforms. I’m curious to see if there is anyone out there…

🙂

March 28, 2018 / UK / No Comments »

Going To Greenbelt 2018!

So thrilled to be headed back to Greenbelt. I first presented at Greenbelt in 2006. I love the thought-provoking conversations and the artful presentations of justice issues that happen at this annual Arts Festival in England. While I go as a presenter, I attend as many talks and performances as possible. Some of the most memorable and moving performances I ever witnessed took place at Greenbelt. I also always meet beautiful, thoughtful, and interesting people there.

I am thrilled to return to Greenbelt for the fifth time. My hope is to deepen conversations around LGBTQ issues, faith, and climate change. I will mix scholarship with personal narrative, storytelling, and performance art. As a Quaker, I will contribute to the conversations about Quakerism, peace, and meditative worship.

See some of the amazing acts that will also appear at Greenbelt. Learn more here.

After Greenbelt I will lead a workshop at Woodbrooke Quaker Centre and then tour with Ruth Wilde. I would love to come to your community to present my work and engage in the conversations you are having there.

The Greenbelt Festival 2015 where Peterson performed, Does This Apocalypse Make me Look Fat?

March 27, 2018 / Citizens Climate Radio / No Comments »

Chatting with writer Claire Vaye Watkins

Claire Vaye Watkins

Ever since I partnered up with a writer, Glen Retief, my life has been enriched by the many writers that I meet. These days I attend readings with some pretty awesome folks sharing their work: Aminatta Forna, Karla Kelsey, Natalie Diaz, Lydia Davis, Claudia Rankin, Honor Moore, Carolyn Forché, and George Saunders.

I first met Claire Vaye Watkins and her partner, writer, Derek Palacio, when they lived nearby and worked at Bucknell University. It was only after they moved away, I learned Claire had been working on a climate changed-themed novel during her time at Bucknell. We never spoke about climate change at that time, but after hearing an interview of Claire on WNYC’s On the Media, I learned about her book, Gold Fame Citrus.

This past fall I sat down and chatted with Claire about the book and her musings around climate change. As a creative writer, she is free to imagine all sorts of scenarios; she let’s her mind go to deliciously creative places and some tight scary spaces. What she shared with me is powerful, moving, at time hilarious, thought-provoking, and challenging. I am pleased to feature this interview in the latest episode of Citizens’ Climate Radio.

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March 21, 2018 / performances / No Comments »

Pulling Back the Curtain on my Performance Art

Whenever someone asks me to describe my performance work, I often fail at explaining it. It’s like having to explain a joke to someone. The whole thing can flatten out. What helps is when I instead detail my aims and influences. Then hopefully they will see the work for themselves, and it will make sense to them.

This week HowlRound, a free and open on-line platform for theatre makers, published my article, Queer Climate Performance Art in the Most Unlikely Places. In addition to recreating for the page my performance piece, Everything is Connected, I reveal sources of inspiration and some of my objectives in the piece.

The solo stage work of Whoopi Goldberg, John Leguizamo, and Lily Tomlin taught me marginalized people can use comic storytelling and character acting to communicate personal and political messages. These comic actors shape-shifted and embodied multiple personalities as they developed immediate and intimate relationships with their audiences. Unlike a traditional play with multiple actors interacting while the audience observes, the one-person comedy turns the audience into a character. We speak directly to them, casting them in roles.

–snip–

I seek to use my skills as a playwright and actor to take on LGBTQ issues, justice, privilege, and climate change while revealing the interconnectedness of these issues. I also throw in a Bible story. Within these different frames, I repeat core concepts knowing audience members will begin to see patterns emerge. In first performing my own very personal story, then an ancient Bible story, and finally the unfolding global story of climate change, I lead them to a synthesis of abstract ideas as outlined in Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning.

Special thanks to Chantal Bilodeau for inviting me to write the piece and to JD Stokely at Emerson College office of the Arts for assistance with editing.

Read the entire article including the description of the Three Acts in Everything is Connected: Queer Climate Performance Art in the Most Unlikely Places

March 8, 2018 / review / No Comments »

The Unknowns : A Book Review

Refreshing twist on a coming of age story

I was constantly surprised by Shirley-Anne McMillan’s new book, The Unknowns. She takes the familiar story of a girl who is a little different and who is finding her way in the world as she comes of age, and adds fresh, original elements to the personality of Tilly and the narrative. The risks feel very real. The discovery of the world similarly feels authentic and exhilarating. Seeing a character encounter her own specialness and strength even when she is initially unable to see it in herself, got me deeply invested in what happens to her and the unconventional friends she meets late at night.

Beyond the engaging plot, I love the atmosphere of the book, these late night gatherings and meetings that appear sinister at first but then surprised me by the warmth and friendliness within. Much like those misconceptions I can have of a person on first encounter, McMillan’s book invites the reader to look with clearer vision that overturns negative judgements. She presents an edgy Belfast filled with grit and decay that contain surprising nooks and crannies for community to pop up like flowers growing in the cracks of abandoned parking lots.

Playing with Perspective

I was also surprised by the ways she helped readers consider perspective. Who gets to tell a story affects the story and how people respond to it. Reading about the events in the book as they happen and then reading the flattened out, misleading, and negative commentary about these same events as reported in the newspaper, got me thinking about the injustices that happen from misreporting events and slandering people in public and private forums.

Shirley Ann McMillan

Taking on Big Issues

As with all of her novels, McMillan does not shy away from real life and hard topics–the loss of a parent, sectarian violence, and issues related to sexuality, gender, and orientation.

She is never preachy. Instead she provides visions of what acceptance and understanding look like next to the harsh realities of what ignorance and fear inspire. It is in the sudden unexpected beauty of the communities she envisions and the love and art these communities foster, that McMillan provides an antidote to negative forces in the world.

I recommend The Unknowns by Shirley McMillan!

Weeks after reading the book the images remain and the characters feel like real friends I met who are still living their lives and standing up for their friends. I highly recommend, The Unknowns by Shirley Ann McMillan. Available in the UK and USA from booksellers and on Kindle.

March 1, 2018 / Citizens Climate Radio / No Comments »

Bigger than a blockbuster movie — The Cape Town Water Crisis

As host of Citizens Climate Radio I chatted with two residents of Cape Town, South Africa about “Day Zero.” If it sounds ominous, it is because it is. Sometime over the next few months the city will have to turn off the water that is piped into homes.

Because of a climate change magnified drought, mismanagement, lack of preparation, overcrowding, and wasteful water practices by much of the middle class, there is not enough water in the dams.

Residents are in a panic as they prepare for Day Zero. In addition to figuring out how they will live within 25 liters of water daily, they are working hard to reduce water use right now in hope of holding off the crisis.

Listen to the entire episode of Citizens Climate Radio to hear more of what Helen Moffett has to say. Also meet Judith Abrahams, who shares her insights about the crisis.

Dig Deeper

Helen Moffett’s Blog about the Water Crisis and more
Industrial Development Corporation, Project Funding Company where Judy Abrahams works
Ten Good Things about Cape Town’s Drought by Patrick Dowling
Cape Town Water Crisis Wikipedia Page
Itzapala, Mexico City Water Crisis

If you listen on iTunes, please consider rating and reviewing the show.

February 20, 2018 / Personal / No Comments »

Celebrating 15 years of Performance Activism

Saturday was my birthday. I spent it in Columbia, South Carolina with about 100 students from all over the Southeast for the Eco Reps Conference.

What did I want for my birthday? Just that–time learning and sharing with people passionate about making the world a better.

I cannot think of anything more satisfying than celebrating my birthday doing public art.

My first promo card designed by Tina Encarnacion

As I was about to take the stage Saturday, I realized that it was exactly 15 years before on my birthday in at Holy Trinity Church in Memphis, TN I premiered my play, Doin’ Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House. This satire about my time in conversion therapy was the first major step I took into the world of performance activism.

The Homo No Mo poster designed by Christine Bakke and inspired by Roy Steele

Since then I have grown as an artist and an activist. As Kurt Vonnegut told me years ago, “Everyone should practice art, because art enlarges the soul.” My craft as a playwright and actor has improved and the topics I feature in my work has widened.

I met my man, Glen Retief, when I perform this play at the 2008 FGC Gathering

What stands out for me most though is that I have had the privilege and joy to meet so many extraordinary people on the road, some who have become dear friends, comrades, and fellow travelers. I write this filled with joy and gratitude. Thank you for supporting my weird ways on and off stage, and my performance activism.

Thank you for challenging me, shaping the work with me,

and deepening my understanding of the world.

Now a film, Transfigurations provided me an opportunity to merge art, activism, and scholarship.

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