4 Events with WEHO ARTS!

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This year, the LA Pride Parade will be replaced by a Resist March. The #ResistMarch will be on June 11th, 2017.
RSVP for the March here: https://www.facebook.com/events/280603222354825/

SparkleBlob is proud to work with The City of West Hollywood’s One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival celebrating Pride in 2017 with the festival theme “Go West”.

In the continuing history of people using handmade posters and signs to raise awareness of contemporary issues and to inspire change, SparkleBlob’s CraftNight will be at  FOUR EVENTS leading protest poster painting party workshops between May 22 (Harvey Milk Day) through the end of June Pride month. Click here for street closures.

Monday, May 22nd at The Abbey from 5-9pm: It’s Harvey Milk Day, and The official kickoff party for One City One Pride! The Mayor and City Council are going to make comments at 7:45pm so that’s a great time to be there if you can. Our guest artist to help make signs with you and show you some tricks of the trade is Lori Meeker: Artist, Costume Designer and Fabricator Extraordinaire!

RSVP at the Facebook invite here: https://www.facebook.com/events/296723707443358/

Friday, June 2 at the Long Hall from 7PM – 9PM: Opening Reception for ‘Lesbians to Watch Out For: ‘90S L.A. ACTIVISM’ 2017 marks the 24th anniversary of the historic National Dyke March in Washington DC and the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Lesbian Avengers. These two events inspired national activist efforts and a legacy of Dyke Marches across the country – giving renewed public visibility to lesbians and queer women and calling attention to our issues and contributions in American political life and culture. CraftNight will be there with paints and poster board so that you can make your own signs and buttons!
Location: Plummer Park, Long Hall, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd. Free admission.
RSVP at the Facebook invite here: www.facebook.com/events/270091986782556

June 3rd at City Council Chambers from 11am to 5pm: It’s an ALL DAY Protest Poster Painting Party!!! Come see us before, during or after the Stuart Timmons LGBTQ History Tour and make your own protest sign! Two ONE Archives LGBTQ History Exhibits will be on view in West Hollywood Park, trans artist Yozmit will stage (TOTEM) the first part of a three part performance artwork, and there will be an opportunity to provide feedback on preliminary results from WeHo Arts: The Plan.
Location: City Council Chambers at the West Hollywood Library, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 6PM to 9pm: DYKE MARCH 
Come and make a sign and then march with it that very evening! The annual Dyke March begins with a program at 6pm, and march down Santa Monica Blvd. at 8pm.
Location: Sal Guarriello Veterans’ Memorial, 8447 Santa Monica Blvd. www.weho.org/pride

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Super Sloppy Chili Cheese Dawgs VI: Los Angeles Marathon 2017

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In attendence for March 18th, 2017: Alex Kenefick, JP, Vero, Dedman, Nockels, Sebastian, Will, Roz, Emilie, David, Yenni, Parker

Full Photo Album Links coming soon!

It was our SIXTH time handing out super sloppy chili cheese dawgs on the corner of Temple and Edgeware (Mile 5) during the Los Angeles Marathon! As expected, it was very uplifting and gratifying watching all of our Angelenos reaching their personal best in their racing outfits!

Every single one of these runners had to train, prepare, consider their goals, and get up earlier than the sun to do this run. But not all of them knew they’d be facing the possibility of eating a chili cheese dog, and that’s where we come into the picture. Runners sprinting up over the freeway and hanging a left on Temple had to make a choice they’d never considered.

They had to ask themselves:

Am I going to eat a super sloppy chili cheese dog right now?

Because as said above, the SparkleBlob Chili Cheese Dawg Station isn’t at the end of the route, we’re at the very devious mile 5.

We don’t want you to be prepared for the question, we want you to reckon with your emotional nature, and wrestle with yourself. We want to catch you off guard. We’re a junk food rubicon, merely one in a series of mental trials and initiations that will accompany your physical and mental 26 mile journey. We are there to provide you with a decisive crisis that will transform you in some way… for better or for worse.

You don’t have to be a Republican or a Democrat to eat a chili cheese dawg, you don’t have to be religious, or an agnostic or an atheist, you don’t have to be tall or short or skinny or fat or any specific type of person to eat one of our questionable creations. You just have to pick a very unexpected and strange option that greets you at mile 5. We’re not all born with money, but we’re all born with time, and none of us know how much each of us gets. This existential fact hits home when marathon participants round the corner and see us hollering, cheering and handing out these improbable (but desirable) tasty greasy globs of low nutritional value.

Our chili dogs may give runners those extra carbs and salt that’ll boost them through the next few miles… or our chili dogs might give some that miserable belly bomb feeling, standing in the way of their personal victory, we’re never quite sure. What we do know is that we run out every year, and that even if not all runners EAT a chili dog, they always smile and laugh when they see us.

We laugh together, and we offer each person, each hardworking person working on their aspirations and athleticism, we offer them a chili dog. Because that’s just such a wildly unreasonable thing to do during a sporting event in a town that praises eating right, getting enough sleep, having good skin tone, etc. In our absurdity lives camaraderie, and every runner is fed like family, while supplies last.

Disco’s playing, hotdogs are steaming, the stove is cooking, cowbells are ringing, horns are blaring, we are a nonstop hollering cheering chili cheese machine! They think we’re deranged, getting out there in the morning and making super sloppy chili cheese dawgs, but we know they’re truly the wacky ones, they’re running 26 miles!

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Bookmarks with Lambda Litfest Los Angeles!

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SparkleBlob had a rousing good time helping celebrate LitFest Los Angeles’s first annual 2017 season!

Lambda LitFest Los Angeles is a celebration of contemporary voices honoring and expanding on the rich, diverse tradition of LGBTQ writers and readers in the Southland.

There was music, dancing, cocktails, and CraftNight hosting a bookmark-making soiree at Akbar in Silverlake. Attendees could choose from a myriad of paper colors and styles, then trace a template to get the perfect bookmark size. Decorating and theming their bookmarks, they’d bring them up to the Craft Table to have them laminated by yours truly, using quadruple strength packing tape! After that, crafters tied colorful tassles to their creations and voila, durable, hefty bookmarks ready to save a spot in any story!

Here is Lambda Literary’s mission statement:

Lambda Literary believes Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer literature is fundamental to the preservation of our culture, and that LGBTQ lives are affirmed when our stories are written, published and read. 

It was a real pleasure to hear authors and fans, readers and writers get together and speak about what inspires them. It was also fun to see some of them outside their comfort zone, making souvenirs with their own hands. What was especially sweet was watching people encourage each other to make bookmarks, and giving praise each other’s work. Everyone was generous to one another, some of the bookmarks were quite hilariously tawdry! It was a memorable, sparkly night, an auspicious start to LitFest LA’s emergence.

 

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