The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the creator and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of F Newsmagazine or its staff. We believe in providing a platform for diverse perspectives and welcome thoughtful engagement with the ideas presented.
Transcript:
[INTRO]:GREN: Hi, my name is Gren Bee, and this is “F News Amplified: Transsexuals Versus the End of the World.”
This is an episode recorded on May 23. It is a collection of interviews with trans artists and trans musicians about the rise of AI and the importance of physical media, but also the state of trans right in lieu of the the passing of the Big Beautiful Bill through the house and senate, which as of July 3rd, has been passed by the house of representatives.
Now, at the time of this episode’s recording, the bill was attempting to restrict the use of medicaid to cover gender affirming healthcare, and this caused a lot of distress in my community. As of now, however, that threat has been rolled back, as the senate parliamentarian has decided that this cut to medicaid was not in compliance with senate reconciliation rules.
While there is a small victory here, the bill is still set to slash SNAP, defund planned parenthood clinics, increase funding for ICE by 30 billion dollars, and increase spending on immigration detention centers by 45 billion dollars.
This is obviously a very scary time, and this was a very scary day. I remember a lot of my trans brothers and sisters and siblings being very anxious and very concerned, and at the same time there was a bunch of trans music and shows books all around the city
So I went to one that I knew was hopping off, that I knew was happening, at the Burlington Bar, which is where this episode takes place. So the bill was stacked. It was an Anne Helen Wells show. There were some fantastic openers as well. It was an excellent night, and I was happy to go, happy to take pictures, happy to record audio, and all that good stuff. But I also wanted to bring my press kit, talk to the artists, and talk to some people that were there, get their thoughts and feelings.
But also, you know, it’s “Transsexuals Versus the End of the World.” We’re not letting the Big Beautiful Bill, you know, encapsulate the entire evening. I also wanted to talk to them about their projects, and that is what most of the episode is about!
So these interviews include content about trans archivalism and physical media and the creation and preservation of trans art. And I’m really excited for you to listen
Oh, oh, and one more thing. There are two quick audio notes. First off, towards the end, there’s an interview with my friend Zoey AKA shinespark, and my audio sounds a little off because of background music removal, which made it sound like I was recording into a tin can, but Zoey sounds totally fine… for some reason, even though it’s the same mic. And then also for the last interview, my recorder got knocked out of my hand and the settings got a little messed up, so the audio is coming in a little hot there at the end. But luckily, we have a transcript available on the website that will be linked below! So if you have any trouble hearing what we’re saying, please check out the transcript.
Anyway, that being said, this is “F News Amplified: Transsexuals Versus the End of the World.” Take it away.
[Awesome epic synth-y music plays]Gren: Hi, how’s it going?
Jesse: Hi.
Gren: Would you like to introduce yourself?
Jesse: Hi, my name is Jesse Patience.
Gren: Hi, Jesse. What kind of work do you do? Jesse: I’m an animator. I make cartoons.
Gren: Yeah?
Jesse: Yes.
Gren: And are your cartoons really transgender and cool?
Jesse: They’re the most transgender and, in my opinion, the most cool.
Gren: I think they’re pretty cool.
Jesse: Oh, thank you.
Gren: So what’s the importance of making really transgender media right now?
Jesse: You want this genuine?
Gren: Yeah, yeah.
Jesse: Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Gren: I sort of have a way of talking.
Jesse: It’s all right, it’s all right. The way you presented it, I was like, am I secretly a part of Gren’s new whack-a-woodle movie?
Gren: No, no, no.
Jesse: Okay, okay, okay. Which I would happily be. Okay, wait. Could you ask me again?
Gren: Yes, of course. What is the importance of making really transgender cartoons right now?
Jesse: It’s all about hearing trans voices and shouting out into the void and being heard by people who don’t have that voice.
Gren: Hell yeah.
Jesse: Art is important because it contextualizes feelings that people don’t have the words for that others do and especially trans people. Especially in a terrible time like this, we’ll make it good with art like this.
Gren: Wait, Jesse, what’s so terrible about these times?
Jesse: Just turn on your computer. I don’t know.
Gren: Speaking of the computer, as a content creator-
Jesse: No.
Gren: As a video artist, in a world of content creators, what are some struggles that you’re facing getting your art out in a world of AI slop and bullshit?
Jesse: It’s hard to keep up with what social media algorithms promote and push out because they value volume over anything else. And finding a way to get your art out in front of people without losing your soul is a really difficult dance, and one that you can only figure out in time. And I think I loosely have figured it out. I have periods where I’m like, oh god, I’m a sellout right now. But I trust that most people hate AI slop though. And in time, it’s gross. And people want emotion. They don’t want things they’ve seen before. And therefore, I think the human artist will continue to live.
[JUMPCUT]Oz: My name is Oz. He/him pronouns.
Gren: Thank you. And where can people find your work?
Oz: Quiet Coyote with a zero as the second O in coyote on Instagram [quietcoy0te].
Gren: And I probably should have prefaced this with, what kind of work do you do?
Oz: I make queer comics, usually dealing with a lot of generational trauma or overcoming stuff.
Gren: Hell yeah.
Oz: My most recent comic was a queer retelling of a Polish fairy tale, where surprise, the main character is trans.
Gren: Yeah, real. That rocks. Yeah. Well, could you tell us a little bit about the importance of, obviously, there’s so much stuff online, and there’s so much digital content and things like that. Can you maybe talk to us a little bit about the importance of physical media in comics?
Oz: I think being able to make something yourself takes a lot of power away from the publishers and like anywhere that can filter your media. I think actually being able to produce things yourself and self-publishing, that gives a lot more power to the creator themselves.
Gren: I love that. Thank you so much. And then I have one more question, which is, what’s the importance of making queer and trans comics in times such as these?
Oz: Oh boy howdy. A lot of my students are trans, and I don’t think they realize that, let alone comics, but comics are an excellent way for trans voices to be heard, to be read, to be seen, and just absorbed. Yeah, I think it’s important, for especially queer kidsm to see that it’s an option, not just in comics, but that they can be heard in any form.
Gren: Absolutely. Okay, so I have one more question for you because I thought of another one while you were talking. So you’re in education, and you’re trans. What are the biggest obstacles that you’re facing as a trans educator?
Oz: Honestly, none. I feel like any obstacles are just parents, maybe, but never the kids, never the school. I feel like it’s only a problem if people make it a problem.
[JUMPCUT]Gren Hi, my name is Gren Bee, and this is?
Mary: Mary Jennifer.
Gren: And what do you do, Mary Jennifer?
Mary: I’m a musician and audio engineer.
G: I knew that, but the people didn’t.
Mary: That’s why I said it.
G: So I wanted to talk to you today, if you don’t mind, about how intense of a time we’re in. Some dark, dark, dark shit is going on, and yet we party hardy.
Mary: Yes, we do.
G: Can you talk about the importance of making trans music and partying transgenderly?
Mary: Yeah, you know, shit’s horrifying and bad. There’s no denying that. It’s like I’m scared every day, but the thing that makes me feel like I’m going to be okay is, you know, trans music. Specifically, going out to shows and seeing a bunch of people unified in one room to dance to it. It’s amazing how often there is incredible trans music happening. Even tonight, there are three incredible live shows going on around this very city, all with either predominantly queer artists or heavily featuring queer artists. I don’t know. It’s the thing that makes me feel sane and good and held in this world.
G: Yeah. Love that, love that, love that. So you are not on the bill tonight, but the last time you were on a bill, I was there lowkey. I was on the stage. I do have to disclose that. I have to disclose that. It was a great time. It was a beautiful night. I didn’t ask you then because hold on, let’s let this guy pass.
G: That was a really sick car. I can’t even be mad.
Mary: Coolest car I’ve seen in a long time.
G: Fucking awesome. That’s cool. He can turn it up louder. I don’t give a fuck.
Mary: Yeah, no.
G: OK, so anyway, it was a beautiful show. It was an awesome night. Could you talk a little bit about it? It was your big night, and it was awesome. And can you talk a little bit about what it meant to you personally as an artist, and then just cultivating those kinds of spaces for trans people?
Mary: Yeah, totally. So I play live as Mary Mary. The show was billed as “Dream Girl, a Mary Mary show.” It was a kind of thoroughly planned and staged live show, about an hour long of my music with live visuals being mixed by our dear friend Ramsey Kwaja on VHS mixers. You know, little theatrical elements peppered into the songs. You know, not unified in a narrative, but unified in themes and images, and just like putting maximum effort into a thing like that. And, you know, entirely trans bill. It was just a beautiful night. It was at the Empty Bottle, my favorite venue here in town. And I don’t know, it just felt like it was. Sorry, what was the question? I’m sorry.
G: No, you’re so good. That was the first half. And then the second half was just what was the importance of cultivating that trans space for people?
Mary: I don’t know how much I can speak for its importance to people. I think it is important to create trans spaces. I also think that what I do is a little bit of a self-centered act to an extent where, yes, it’s incredible to put trans people on a stage, but also I’m putting myself on a stage and yelling, “look at me” for a long time. And that’s a thing that I also want to be aware of is making sure that I’m also uplifting my fellow friends and musicians and artists and also just fellow trans people who aren’t necessarily performers, because it takes a particular type of fucked up person to be a performer. Speaking as one, and I’m sure you can relate.
G: I sure can, I sure can.
Mary: Like there’s something broken in us, and that shouldn’t have to be the case to be celebrated by other people in the trans community. So I feel very blessed and excited to have that, or at least, you know, feel part of a big scene here and feel like I’m, you know, able to put big things together like this that I love, and I also want to shy away from thinking what I do is important because it’s important to me, but at the end of the day, I’m shaking my little butt on a stage, you know?
G: Hey, I think, I think, I think it’s pretty damn important. Thank you so much for talking about this.
Mary: Anytime.
[JUMPCUT]Gren: Yeah, you ready?
Ezra: Yeah.
Gren: Well, how about, can you both introduce yourselves?
Ezra: Hi, my name is Ezra Mercy.
Naz: My name is Naz.
Gren: Well, it’s great to meet you both. So again, I saw you guys taking some awesome pictures and awesome videos with your cool ass cameras and things like that. And I think that’s a really important thing. And I wondered if y’all could talk a little bit about why it’s important to take pictures and videos of trans artists.
Ezra: Oh, well, you know, the world is a scary place right now. And I feel like in these rooms is where we experience so much safety and joy and whimsy. And when we record and document these moments, I feel like we’re really creating a time capsule for ourselves to remind ourselves of what all of this is worth and why we do all of this work.
Naz: Yeah, I don’t know that I could have said it better. I think it’s just important to document and uplift these voices right now, especially.
Gren: We’re partying. We’re going crazy. I saw y’all tearing it up on the damn dance floor. Could you talk a little bit about why it’s important to dance right now?
Naz: We need dance. We need to move. We need to keep our spirits light right now. I’m not terribly well-versed. No, I don’t do well.
Ezra: Something that I read on the internet was depression hates a moving target. And if I know anything about being trans, it’s that part of picture usually looks like dealing with like mental health. And that also reflects on a larger picture. And so dance is one of the most important ways of getting back into your body, connecting with the people around you. Some of the best friends that I’ve made are people that I’ve met on the dance floor. And I’ve deepened friendships on the dance floor. It’s important to dance. Get out there and dance.
[JUMPCUT]Gren: So would you like to introduce yourself?
Zoey: Can I lick the mic?
Gren: You can lick the microphone. I don’t give a fuck.
Zoey: I’m Zoey Eliza. What’s up?
Gren: Hi, Zoey Eliza. So I just saw your set. Great stuff. I do mean that. I said it’s stupid, but I do mean it. It was really awesome. I know. I’m too silly with it sometimes. So I want to talk to you about your new album. Could you tell us a little bit about it?
Zoey: Yeah, it’s called “Zoey_Eliza_Dream_Realm” with underscores because it’s like a file.
Gren: I bought a copy. I must disclose.
Zoey: You bought one?
Gren: I did lowkey buy one.
Zoey: I remember that. Yeah, you were there.
Gren: So it is physically releasing and a very limited, fun, Extremely limited, rare, homemade kind of format.
Zoey: Yeah, yeah, extremely limited. Rare. Like homemade kind of format. So I wanted to do a DIY thing, but I also wanted it to look clean. My thing is to have a CD or a set or something that just has this nice look to it, but is totally done by hand or something. I did tapes that are kind of like that too.They have stickers on them, and they’re all see-through.
Zoey: But yeah, with the CDs, I was looking for something I could DIY in like a week because I didn’t have much time, and I wanted to release something. And I was looking at options, and you can like print with like a laser printer, but you need the expensive printer or you can get fucking like paper labels.
Zoey: And like paper labels like suck. They stick on and they get all wrinkled if you actually play the disc. And I also don’t like how they look very much. So I was trying to find something and I was like, there’s got to be some way to like burn into the disc, right? And I looked into it, and I found this old technology from like the early 2000s called LightScribe. But yeah, they came out with that. And like it was like this prosumer kind of thing, ike you could buy this disc drive that it like has a little reader in it, and it has a laser or it has the normal CD laser. And it reads this little code on the inner ring and that tells it the positioning of the disc. And then it just uses the normal CD burner laser to burn graphics into the disc. And it’s like absolutely incredible looking. Like I saw this, and I saw some people do like “Half-Life” and like some Sega Dreamcast games. And like when you first look it up, you know, you get like this bullcrap kind of like, it’s like people’s photo albums where they use like impact font. It just looks like absolute shit. And you’re like, oh, nevermind. But then I found these like Dreamcast ones and they have like this 3D look to them. And I just thought it looked so fucking cool on this black and white. It looks like pencil drawn or something.
Zoey: So I was like, I have to do that. I have to do that. So I went on eBay, obviously. And LightScribe disc drives are easy to get. I got one for 10 bucks or something. But then the discs are like everyone wants them. All the nerds do. So those were 50 bucks for 20 of them. And I found some guy that just like had like a couple left from, you know, 50 pack or something from the early 2000s. But yeah, so I bought those, and I put it in like literally two days ago. And I was like, I hope this thing works. Like I still haven’t tried it. And yeah, then I printed them. But they take really long to burn. They take like 42 minutes.
Gren: Can you talk to us a little bit about the importance of just physical media in general as like a trans creator in a world of AI slop and, you know, bullshit?
Zoey: Oh my God. I just like, I don’t know. For me, the process of just like making something physical. I was literally talking about this in therapy. Like it just hits something for me. It like brings so much life into my body. I think when you think about selling things and media and shit, it’s just like, you can’t help but think about like capitalist shit and just selling all your stuff and trying to market. And like, that’s the part I don’t like about it. Like the part I like about it is just like I’m making art. And like this is this format that like is presented to me. And like, I’m just making my art fit into this awesome, like vintage format. I feel like something like this just hits so hard for me, like doing these CDs. I don’t know. The whole thing was so important. Just sitting there and putting it in the disk drive for so long, you know, 42 minutes waiting for it to spin up, and then it just didn’t work half the time. But it’s like the fun of like the old days, like people used to do so much stuff with their hands and like everything is just turned into computer now.
Zoey: And also fuck AI, like make art yourself. Why does AI attack, not attack? Well, I perceive it as attacking. Most people don’t or tech bros don’t. But why does AI attack fucking art and music and stuff that like humans enjoy creating? Why does AI not used for, you know, things we don’t want to do? That’s what AI should be for. Why is it art that it’s doing first? It’s art because a bunch of fascists are like promoting it, you know?
Zoey: And I just feel like, I don’t know, in the trans world, there’s just so much beautiful, like hands-on in-person stuff. I feel like it just goes hand in hand with it. You reject a lot of society and you, you know, you just create so much yourself, you know? And this community is so strong and beautiful.
Gren: Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it very much. And again, great set and great talking to you.
Zoey: Thank you for interviewing me.
[JUMPCUT]Gren: Would anyone like to talk to the press?.
Elle: What would you like to know?
G: Hi, can you introduce yourself?
E: Hi, I’m Elle. I also make music under the name Violet Head.
G: Well, thank you so much, Elle. Your show was fan-freaking-pastic. I just saw it. Can I ask you, you just moved here. Where are you moving here from?
E: I’m moving here from Milwaukee and the Milwaukee area. I spent almost seven years there, and it’s beautiful. You should go visit sometime. The art museum has like all your favorites’ B-sides. The parks are to die for. I was worried that I wouldn’t get that here in Chicago, but I moved into like just the right place to get out and for walks.
G: So what brings you to Chicago?
E: I love it down here. Every time I visit, I feel like I have a really lovely time. There’s so much. The music is like so happening right now, especially the kind of music that I make. Everyone seems so invested in everyone else’s success, which is like, I don’t know. I can just, it’s palpable. I feel the love. So what a lovely welcome. I feel so lucky.
G: Can I ask you some questions about politics?
E: Oh, sure.
G: So there’s a big bullshit bill coming out.
Outside people chiming in: Bullshit bill.
G [Trump voice]: It’s a big bullshit bill.
G: Obviously, people are really worried about healthcare and transitioning and all that stuff. And it also cuts a lot of other things. But, you know, we live in Chicago. It’s sort of seen as like this safe haven, but we might still get hit by it anyway. Oh shit. Anyway, what do you think about that?
E: Uh, the clinic is not liberation, and it never will be. If you’re not finding ways of building networks of survival outside of what the owning class has given us, then, you know, what are we doing here? Why are we transsexuals? Link up with people. Get on hormones, no matter who tells you yes or no. So yeah, that’s what I have to say.
GREN: Let’s get back in there.
[MUSIC BY SHINESPARK]Thank you so much for listening. This is “F News Amplified: Transsexuals Versus the End of the World.” The show is produced by Sophie Goalson, Sidne K. Gard, and Alex Lee. Thank you so much for getting this show up and on the air. And now, Shine Spark.
[END] [MUSIC BY SHINESPARK]
