Call for Submissions: Issue 10

Submissions are open for Queer Out Here Issue 10

Submissions are open for Issue 10, and we’ve extended the deadline to 1 August 2025.

Transcript

Allysse: Hey folks, it’s Allysse and Jonathan here. You haven’t heard from us for a while, but we wanted to let you know that we’re open for submissions for Issue 10, and we’ve extended our deadline to the first of August 2025.

Jonathan: We’ve had trouble getting word out about this issue, partly because the social media landscape has changed so much in the last couple of years. So, if you’re interested in being part of Issue 10, ah, please check out the call for submissions on our website. And, ah, if you’re not interested please tell a friend instead!

Allysse: If you need some ideas to get started, you could record the sounds of your environment, record a poem, interview a friend, make some music, create a sound art piece or send us an audio postcard.

Jonathan: For more inspiration, see our previous issues and trailers for Queer Out Here wherever you’ve found this - on your podcast app of choice or on our website, queer out here dot com.

Allysse: And now, please enjoy these sounds of birds at Bannau Brycheiniog in Wales, recorded by me.

To submit a piece

Find all the instructions and a link to the form on our contributions page.

Notes

Some audio in this call for submissions was recorded and produced on Brayakaulung/Gunaikurnai Country. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

Hi res download available here.

Issue 09

Responding to the topic of Climate, the pieces in this issue speak of weeds and wandering, bugs and birds, power cuts and public sex. OK, that last one isn’t entirely climate related! There are also conversations about rivers, transitions, walking, cities, woods and oceans and various perspectives on queer ecology. Take your ears adventuring…

If you enjoy Queer Out Here, please consider:

• Sharing it with folks who might be interested in the outdoors, audio and/or queer creators and voices

• Letting us and our contributors know (links to contributors’ socials below)

• Subscribing and leaving a positive review on your podcast app of choice

• Signing up to our newsletter (see the bar at the top of the page)

• And keep on listening!

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Information about Issue 09

Length: 1:31:40

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

High quality audio version: Google Drive (.wav file, 1.46 GB)

Running order:

1. every beach - Helen (originally shared in Issue 07)

2. How do you find yourself if you're never by yourself? - Liz Sutherland

3. Wireless (a poem written during a power outage) - rYAn

4. A Queer Revisit of the Franklin River - Oliver Cassidy

5. A Lonely Firefly - M. A. Dubbs

6. Last Butterfly - Fish

7. Peaceful queer out here - Sally Goldner

8. Cruising the Woods (for Beginners) - Patrick Marano

9. Take Me Back to the Ocean - The Mollusc Dimension

10. The Seagull’s Swan Song - M. A. Dubbs

11. A Field Guide to Edible Birds - Kate Hall

12. Queer Botany at Walthamstow Marshes - Sixto-Juan Zavala

13. Honeysuckle Cognizance - M. A. Dubbs

14. Queer Gardening at Hummingbird Farm - Xochitl (with Ella von der Haide)

15. Place Like Now - The Mollusc Dimension

Cover art: Our cover painting this issue is by Stephanie Lai and features flora and fauna of so-called Australia. Stephanie is a Queer Chinese-Australian painter, writer, and professional bin chicken. Stephanie uses traditional Chinese water-colour painting techniques to represent images of so called Australia, and started doing so as a way to reconcile loving a space as a settler-colonial immigrant from a refugee background. The cover is about getting down on the ground and sitting with one’s situation.

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains:

• Discussions of the climate crisis and its impact on humans, animals, plants, landscapes, weather and natural disasters

• Mentions of mental illness, mental health, suicide ideation

• References to queerphobia, racism, ableism

• Non-graphic mentions of death, child death

• References to living with disability, physical illness, Covid

• A piece about about public sex

• A piece about animal harm (killing and eating animals)

• Allusions to drug use

• Some swearing

• Some wind distortion and other harsh sounds

If you have specific anxieties or triggers, check the transcript or ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. Please let us know if there is something we’ve missed and we will add it to the show notes on our website.

Acknowledgement of Country: This issue and its documentation were edited in part on Brayakaulung (Gunaikurnai) Country. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We pay our respects to Gunaikurnai elders and we extend this to all Indigenous elders and Indigenous and First Nations listeners around the world.

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Show notes for Issue 09

Opener - various contributors

• 0:00:00

• Transcript

• Short description: A mixture of sounds and voices from the pieces in this issue.

Introduction - Jonathan (he/they) and Allysse (she/they)

• 0:00:37

• Transcript

• Short description: Welcome and housekeeping with Allysse and Jonathan.

every beach - Helen (she)

• 0:04:24

• Transcript

• Short description: Music. A piece from Helen’s album songs of time & distance.

• Creator bio: Helen grew up in the foothills of the Welsh Misty Mountains before packing her spotted hanky on a stick, eventually washing up on the unforgiving concrete shores of a big city on this rainy plague island. Helen died in early 2024. May her memory be a blessing.

• Creator statement: When we featured this piece in Issue 07, Helen wrote: “The original demotape was inspired by a visit to Barclodiad y Gawres, a Neolithic burial chamber on the coast at Ynys Môn (Anglesey). I had good memories of the day, which were brought back to mind after reading a tweet by the climate scientist Dr Genevieve Guenther, in response to the 2019 IPCC report, pointing out that climate change will have such a profound effect that "by 2100, every beach you've ever walked on will be below the waves.”

How do you find yourself if you're never by yourself? - Liz Sutherland (they)

• 0:07:56

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetic non-fiction with field recordings. Native Australian animals and a short spoken word poem on a hike on Whadjuk Noongar country.

• Creator bio: Liz Sutherland lives on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. They are studying a Master of Arts (Writing and Literature) at Deakin University and recently joined the Board of Overland. Liz brings lived-experience narratives of neurodivergent, queer, polyam, and trans joy into their writing, and was a finalist in the Pearl Prize 2024 and the 2023 OutStanding LGBTQIA+ Short Story Awards. Their writing has appeared in the Hunter Writers Centre Grieve Anthology, the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling event ‘Stripped Queer’, ScratchThat Magazine, Into the Wetlands Poetry Anthology, at Q-Lit festival events, and more.

• Creator link: Instagram

• Creator statement: Follow me on a hike in the southern hills of Boorloo (Perth, Western Australia) on Whadjuk Noongar country as I ruminate on the incredible privilege of city-living at the same time as being urgently drawn out bush. Slowing down and appreciating the beauty of the natural world as we know it now, before even more of these lands change in response to the climate crisis we’re fuelling. Out here I’m in solitude from other humans but surrounded by life, none more important than any other. 

• Content notes: Swearing.

Wireless (a poem written during a power outage) - rYAn (he/they/any)

• 0:12:15

• Transcript

• Short description: Poem. Written 8 days into a over outage after Hurricane Fiona.

• Creator bio: rYAn is an audio lover and forest dweller who lives near the muddy banks of the Bay Of Fundy.

• Creator link: Soundcloud

• Creator statement: I was not sure that I would survive the night when the hurricane happened. Absolutely terrifying.

• Content notes: Natural disaster.

• Land acknowledgement: rYAn is living in Mi'kma'ki.

Sweeper - Mags

• 0:13:26

• Transcript

• Short description: Recorded in Arnos Vale Cemetery. Established in 1837, the cemetery is rich with history and wildlife. It is a tranquil green space of 45 acres with interesting architecture and walking trails.

A Queer Revisit of the Franklin River - Oliver Cassidy (they/he)

• 0:15:31

• Transcript

• Short description: Non-fiction, field recording and film trailer. Oliver reflects on queerness, place and the making the award winning feature documentary, Franklin.

• Creator bio: Oliver has had a wide ranging 20 year career in the arts including writing, performing and producing for theatre, film and music. Continuing his father's legacy Oliver has worked to conserve biodiversity with the Tasmanian Conservation Trust since 2015.

• Creator links: Website

• Creator statement: The narration of this piece was written and recorded at my home in nipaluna, and includes sounds recorded while on location filming a documentary on the Franklin River. The final two minutes is the audio from the theatrical trailer of that film.

• Acknowledgements: Location audio recorded by Chris Kamen. Thanks also to impact producer Andrea Foxworthy. A press kit for the film itself with full list of thanks is available at FranklinRiverMovie.com

• Land acknowledgement: Hello from lutruita/Tasmania. I want to acknowledge the palawa pakana people who’s country this is, pay respect to their elders throughout time and acknowledge the people who have shared their wisdom and helped shape my appreciation for this island where I am lucky to live and work.

Sweeper - Emma (she)

• 0:25:28

• Transcript

• Emma is mowing the lawn using a manual pushalong clipper.

A Lonely Firefly - M. A. Dubbs (she)

• 0:28:11

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry. The first of three poems from M. A. Dubbs in this issue, exploring climate change in Indiana. 

• Creator bio: M. A. Dubbs is an award-winning Mexican-American and LGBT poet from Indiana. For over a decade, Dubbs has published writing in magazines and anthologies across the globe. She is the author of An American Mujer through Bottlecap Press (2022) and served as judge for Indiana's Poetry Out Loud Competition. She recently won the 2023 Holden Vaughn Spangler Award from River City College MUSE.

• Creator links: Website / Instagram

• Creator statement: These three poems were inspired by the changes I have seen in the landscape of Indiana over the course of my life. As an avid hiker and gardener, I feel connected to the land and plants around me and have noticed changes in climate, plants, and critters over time. These pieces are part observation, part mourning, but mostly call for awareness and action for my neighbours and citizens to engage, in any way they can, with climate change.

• Land acknowledgement: The land of Indiana (namesake for "land of the Indians") was original home to the Miami, Potawatomi, Piankeshaw, Wea, Kickapoo, Shawnee tribes among others. Indiana was the start of the Trail of Death, now reclaimed Trail of Courage, and residential schools.

Last Butterfly - Fish (they)

• 0:29:47

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art with field recordings, music and monologue. Health anxiety is eased a bit by seeing butterflies while on a walk. Autism foundation billboards suck.

• Creator bio: Fish (or Xym) is a nonbinary, disabled (neurodivergent + chronically ill) person living in Poland. They are a university dropout with a bachelors degree in chemistry and unfinished degrees in biotechnology and sociology. They have graduated from a music high school. In the past they have collaborated with a Warsaw based performance arts group, Kem. Before the pandemic they liked participating in improv workshops and poetry slams in their local theater. Their favorite hobby is playing tabletop RPGs. Currently they are trying to learn how to draw in order to make visual novels. They like talking to pigeons, listening to hedgehogs’ footsteps and taking photos of frogs and lizards.

• Creator link: Blog / Bandcamp / Mastodon

• Creator statement: This piece is inspired by the last late summer/early autumn walk I was able to go on before my illness made it impossible for me to leave the house the the next couple of weeks. I was able to record some ambient sounds near the train station. The piano/singing improvisation was also made on the same day.

• Content notes: Discussions of ableism, description of ableist media. Passing reference to suicide ideation.

• Acknowledgements: Crows.

Peaceful queer out here - Sally Goldner (she)

• 0:35:35

• Transcript

• Short description: Audio postcard/stream of consciousness. Finding peace and grounding within 25 minutes from home - where the city meets the country.

• Creator bio: Sally Goldner AM’s involvement in Victoria’s queer communities spans nearly 30 years. Her experiences include being a founding member of Transgender Victoria, presenting 3CR’s “Out of the Pan,” Transfamily Treasurer, Just.Equal Australia Treasurer and Bisexual Alliance Victoria Treasurer. She is the focus of an autobiographical documentary “Sally’s Story” and a life member of 4 queer-focussed organisations. She was inducted into the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll in 2016 (the first trans and first known bi woman to receive the honour), awarded LGBTI Victorian of the Year in 2015 and noted in The Age’s Top 100 most creative and influential people in Melbourne in 2011. She was awarded the Order of Australia in 2019. She is a pro wrestling ring announcer, MC, speaker, educator, life coach and occasional performer (all in contrast to her original accountancy training). Listen to an interview Sally did with Jonathan on “Out of the Pan” here.

• Creator links: Website / LinkedIn / Twitter (X) / Facebook / Instagram / Mastodon (salgoldsaidso) / Bluesky (salgoldsaidso) / Patreon

• Creator statement: This was recorded in early 2024 in the outer suburbs of Naarm/Melbourne, more on impulse than with any scheduling or planning in mind. It aims to convey the peacefulness of the unique natural settings that exist on this big island and how this can benefit queer people who can be especially prone to mental health issues in an often disrespectfully ableist and neurotypical world.

• Content notes: Mentions of mental health.

• Land acknowledgement: Recorded on Wurundjeri country.

Photo of the Yarra River by Sally Goldner

Stairs down to the river - photo by Sally Goldner

Sweeper - Stephanie

• 0:43:16

• Transcript

• Land acknowledgement: Recorded at the river on Brayakaulung, Gunaikurnai country.

Cruising the Woods (for Beginners) - Patrick Marano (he)

• 0:45:17

• Transcript

• Short description: Documentary guide (audio from video). Cruising in the woods is fraught with obstacles and unspoken rules. This video will help you with the right etiquette and find the right location.

• Creator bio: Patrick is a queer content creator pushing the limits and talking about taboo subjects with the intent to normalise them.

• Creator links: Website / YouTube / YouTube

• Creator statement: Cruising the woods, although done by many, is talked about by few. Why should something so popular be so shamed? It's time to be honest about our behaviours and share what we've learned. Although much of it is instinctual, there are nuances to cruising that will make or break an experience. Let's have fun with it!

• Content notes: Discussion of public sex, allusions to drug use, mention of blood.

Take Me Back to the Ocean - The Mollusc Dimension (he)

• 0:56:56

• Transcript

• Short description: Song. A sweet, uplifting QTPOC sea-punk song about wishing for life to be in colour again.

• Creator bio: Born in 1980, The Mollusc Dimension is a queer, trans, neurodivergent British-born Chinese composer, scorer, songwriter and multidisciplinary project-based artist. He creates transformative, reflective and emotional works around mental health, community and nature. The Mollusc Dimension composed music about queer mermaids for RHS Wisley, The National Maritime Museum; the elements for Chinese Arts Now (now Kakilang) and performed a song about the British weather for London Trans Choir and Moon Fest Bristol. Deep encounters with nature also appear in The Mollusc Dimension's forthcoming debut autobiographical comic book, "The Weird & Wonderful Surviveries of Squid Horse".

• Creator links: Instagram / Facebook / Instagram (comics) / Twitter (X)

• Creator statement: A song about discovering, remembering and creating with whatever life gives you, "Take Me Back to the Ocean" is taken from "Welcome to The Mollusc Dimension" - the artist's debut album, completed at a later stage in life due to voice dysphoria as a trans person. The secret to the track's appeal may be in the gentle guitar interludes and sweet backing vocals by fellow disabled, non binary artist and friend, Wild (@WildSings). The song originates from enduring living in a "political fortress" (the artist's words) and re-imagining the local fields are the sea - where he longs to be… The music video for "Take Me Back to the Ocean" was largely made under UK Covid-19 lockdown, thanks to garden access, holiday clips and an iphone. For him, it was a tiny reminder that no matter how lonely he feels, the memory of water and colourful sea creature friends are always there for him… and maybe for you too!

• Acknowledgements: Backing vocals and guitar by The Wild Sings (they/them). Recording engineer Felix Macintosh.

The Seagull’s Swan Song - M. A. Dubbs (she)

• 1:01:32

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry. The second of three poems from M. A. Dubbs in this issue, exploring climate change in Indiana.

• Creator bio, links, statement, acknowledgements: See above

Sweeper - Dan (he)

• 1:03:11

• Transcript

• Land acknowledgement: Recorded on Brayakaulung (Gunaikurnai) country, featuring many corellas.

A Field Guide to Edible Birds - Kate Hall (she)

• 1:05:26

• Transcript

• Short description: Poem with field recording. What would happen if humans started to catch and eat wild birds?

• Creator bio: Kate Hall is a writer, academic and Creative Director of Q-Lit, a festival which celebrates the work of LGBTQIA+ writers and artists across regional Victoria, Australia. Check out “Out-Side: Queer Words & Art From Regional Victoria” here. Kate is the author of the award-winning young adult novel, From Darkness, a sapphic portal fantasy set in the Otway rainforest and the classical underworld. Kate lives, writes, works and surfs on the unceded lands and waters of the Wadawurrung peoples of the Kulin Nations, in Southwest Victoria. Recent publications include a forthcoming co-authored book chapter in Animals and Science Fiction (Palgrave MacMillan, 2024) in which she imagines a future world as it might be for a cat, a fox, a yabby, a pig and a pigeon.

• Creator links: Website / Instagram

• Creator statement: As a queer person living in a small coastal town I often feel out of place. The nearest city is Naarm/Melbourne, about an hour and a half up the highway. Every time I drive this highway I pass trucks transporting cows and pigs and sheep and chickens to the abattoirs, saleyards and seaports outside the city. Where I live there are many species of free-living birds, as well as twenty chickens who live outdoors with a safe little shed for roosting. These birds are all lucky. Five minutes down the road there is a chicken farm. On hot days, the smell of the sheds drifts like fog across the coast road. I often wonder what tourists and day trippers from the city think about this olfactory disturbance of their relaxing drive to the beach. My recording offers a small glimpse of the world as it feels to somebody who cannot listen to birdsong without thinking about the chickens and other animals whose voices will only be heard by the humans who breed and kill them. As a queer vegan I am a disturbance, as out of place in this world as a chicken farm on the way to the ocean.

• Content notes: Animal harm, child death.

• Land acknowledgements: This poem was recorded on the sovereign, unceded lands of the Wadawurrung peoples. I pay my deepest respects to their ancestors, past present and future, and honour the continuing connection to culture and community of the First Peoples of this and all colonised countries. Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land.

Sweeper - Esther (she)

• 1:06:51

• Transcript

• Land acknowledgement: Frogs recorded on Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung country.

Queer Botany at Walthamstow Marshes - Sixto-Juan Zavala (he/they)

• 1:13:57

• Transcript

• Short description: Documentary, interview, field recordings. In May 2021 at the Walthamstow Marshes in Northeast London we hosted guided tours with a map and series of outdoor interpretive displays.

• Creator bio: Sixto-Juan Zavala is a designer and illustrator from Texas currently based in Dundee, UK. He holds a BFA in Communication Design from Texas State University and an MA in Narrative Environments from UAL: Central Saint Martins with a focus on exhibition design, graphic design, and illustration. Zavala is especially interested in culture, marginalised groups, the environment, and using visual communication and spatial design to facilitate cultural change. Zavala founded Queer Botany in 2020; inspired by the theoretical lens of queer ecology, the project studies connections between queerness and plants through events, storytelling, and design. Queer Botany aims to share marginalised perspectives and support more diverse representations in the environment and outdoors. Zavala has designed maps, installed interpretive displays, hosted botanical drawing sessions, and guided walks sharing stories about plants from a queer perspective.

• Creator link: Website (including the references mentioned in the intro to this piece)

• Creator statement: Queer Botany, founded in 2020, is a project Inspired by the theoretical lens of queer ecology. The project studies connections between queerness and plants through events, storytelling, and design. Queer Botany aims to share marginalised perspectives and support more diverse representations in the environment and outdoors. Along with collaborators, we have designed maps, installed interpretive displays, hosted botanical drawing sessions, and guided walks sharing stories about plants from a queer perspective. In May 2021 at the Walthamstow Marshes in Northeast London we hosted guided tours with a map and series of outdoor interpretive displays. The focus was on such site-specific wild plants as the dog rose, horse chestnut, yellow flag, and coppiced willow. The Walthamstow Marshes are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is a part of the Lea Valley: a chain of green spaces, marshes, and wetlands that cut through north London fed by the River Lea. Participants could learn about the plants on the project website, find the displays on their own, or be part of a guided tour. There were accompanying audio recordings about the plants for participants who were not part of the guided tour that could be accessed through QR codes.

• Acknowledgements: Rudy Loewe and anonymous interview participants. Sally Ashby.

Honeysuckle Cognizance - M. A. Dubbs (she)

• 1:20:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry. The last of three poems from M. A. Dubbs in this issue, exploring climate change in Indiana.

• Creator bio, links, statement, acknowledgements: See above

Queer Gardening at Hummingbird Farm - Xochitl (ze/el/he) and Ella von der Haide (she)

• 1:20:40

• Transcript

• Short description: Interview. Excerpt from "Queer Gardening: a Documentary about Queer-Feminist Ecologies in North America" by Ella von der Haide (2022)

• Creator bio (Ella): Ella von der Haide is a gardener, filmmaker artist from Germany. For 20 years she has been making films in community gardens. About 15 years ago she started to ask herself why she met so many queer people in those gardens?

• Creator link (Ella): Website

• Creator bio (Xochitl): Xochitl grew up on the Yakama Reservation (Toppenish, WA) and traces their ancestry to the Mixteco Region of Puebla, Mexico. They currently work for PODER SF (People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights) as the Farm Manager at Hummingbird Farm, a six acre collective farm in the Excelsior district of San Francisco. Ze has been organizing in ecological spaces for over a decade to raise awareness on the importance of flowers and their seeds as resiliency tools in the climate crises, as well as heteronormative understandings of nature. Xochitl cross-pollinates traditional ecological knowledge, queer ecology, and indigenous philosophies into the discussion of sustainable agriculture, environmental justice, and a just transition as we reconnect to ancestral plant medicines on occupied lands.

• Creator link (Xochitl): Instagram

• Creator statement: Hummingbird Farm is an urban agriculture, food justice and leadership program brought to you by PODER SF! Led by Urban Campesinx’s, this farm is a space where everyone that reflects the deep diversity of our neighborhoods comes together to practice environmental, economic, and health justice strategies in the Southeast neighborhoods of San Francisco.  Reflecting the lessons, wisdom, and seeds of our ancestors, we work hand in hand to create healthy and vibrant communities, by growing food and plant medicine and regenerating cultural practices.

• Land acknowledgement: Ohlone territory.

Place Like Now - The Mollusc Dimension (he)

• 1:24:55

• Transcript

• Short description: Song. Nostalgic, down-to-earth piano chords spiral with breezy, jazzy, cloud-bound beats.

• Creator bio and links: See above

• Creator statement: Inspired by beat poetry and the emotions brought on by seasonal changes, "Place Like Now" appears to be a chilled lo-fi number but actually has a few little uplifting surprises. After starting with slow, deep jazz piano chords, the beat changes in the chorus - like flurries of wind whirling autumn leaves into the air. After some arpeggios of snow drifting down, the tempo gradually picks up speed as if there was a kite stuck in a bush and then it gets freed and flies away into the clouds! "Place Like Now" was selected by Helen Ganya ("Wonderful Vince Guaraldi vibes") for her Lunar New Year edition of "Mixed Tapes" - platforming music by POC musicians for Totally Radio.com. In his debut album, "Welcome to The Mollusc Dimension" (2019) the artist shape-shifted his way through various musical styles and genres. Whereas previously, he'd mostly consumed music due to gender, sexuality and race, after gender-affirming hormone treatment, he finally started to play with "many of the references and influences he absorbed through his life" (Walki, "Amplified" #179). The original version, for "Place Like Now" channels "older US beat poet" but as an instrumental (2024), it feels like a charming dream.

• Acknowledgements: Recording engineer Felix Macintosh

Conclusion - Allysse (she/they) and Jonathan (he/they)

• 1:29:12

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding comments and thanks.

Issue 09 Preview

Turning up the heat in Queer Out Here Issue 09.

Our next issue is broadly (but not exclusively) on the theme of climate. Here’s your first hit of what you’ll hear in pieces from our contributors around the world…

Information about Issue 09 Preview

Length: 2:06

File size: 4.1MB

Transcript: Google Docs

Content notes: This preview contains some harsh sounds, a little wind distortion, brief and non-graphic mentions of animal harm, and of course (given the overarching theme of this issue) climate change and collapse. Let us know if there’s anything else you think we need to mention here.

Acknowledgement of Country: Audio in this preview was recorded and produced around the world, including on the country/land of the following peoples: Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, Gunaikurnai, palawa pakana, Whadjuk Noongar, Mi'kmaq, Miami, Potawatomi, Piankeshaw, Wea, Kickapoo and Shawnee.

You can also find this trailer on Vimeo, SoundCloud and YouTube - and get more of a preview of of Stephanie Lai’s excellent cover art. Keep an eye out for the full issue, coming soon!

Listen to the preview on SoundCloud

Listen to the preview and see more of our cover art on YouTube

Issue 08

Welcome to a rich audio world that spans continents, species, genres and geological eras. With firework-studded skies, creepy streetscapes and remote mountains, travels by bike, jeep, foot and imagination, and connections through music, meditation, the natural world and community joy, there’s something for everyone in Queer Out Here Issue 08.

If you enjoy Queer Out Here, please consider:

• Sharing it with other people who might be interested in the outdoors, interesting audio and queer creators

• Letting us know (on Twitter, Facebook or by email) and letting our contributors know (links to their socials below)

• Leaving a positive review on your podcast app of choice

• Signing up to our newsletter (see the bar at the top of the page)

• Listening to more issues!

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Information about Issue 08

Length: 1:23:43

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

High quality audio version: Google Drive (.wav file, 1.24GB)

Running order:

1. A Dutch New Year - Jenny List

2. Winter 2020 - Elisabeth Flett

3. Uncanny Nausea - Shaughn Martel (aka bit-form)

4. Being Outside - Bilen Berhanu

5. Space in Nature - Dee Lister

6. Silence - Celia

7. Merging Temporalities - Jaime Simons

8. A Pretty One Sided Conversation with a Pigeon - Fish (aka Xym) 

9. Conduits for Joy - Roxanna Barry with Alison Wormell and Mari Funabashi

10. TransBike Europe - Bart

11. My Shiny Jeep and Me - Cheryna Guzman

12. Queer Forest Bathing with Toadstool Walks - Travis Clough

13. Grandmother Earth, Grandfather Sky - Indigie Femme

Cover art: This issue’s fantastic cover photo and design is by Dee Lister (they/she). Dee is a queer biracial visual artist and writer who’s in complex trauma recovery. Dee finds joy in the process of artmaking just as much as what’s created in consequence. When they aren’t walking in nature or creating black and white analogue photographs, Dee likes to doodle or read poetry whilst sitting under a blanket with their rescue dog. Dee writes of their cover, “The metaphor resonates of a bedraggled though majestic bird soaring away from the others who huddle atop a building nestled within the urban decay of a town centre (which in this case was Bolton). This may be cliché, but I believe transcending internalised shame and fear with gentleness, self-worth and acceptance of past trauma makes just stepping out the door an act of resistance.” Find Dee at their website, or visit their Linktree for other socials.

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains: discussions of mental illness, mental health, disability, and social ostracisation; non-detailed mentions of queerphobia, racism and ableism; mentions of Covid lockdown; non-graphic references to animal harm (e.g. fishing); sudden and loud sounds like fireworks, vehicles and wind distortion; harsh and unusual whispering sounds; some swearing and use of language that’s often considered ableist (e.g. “crazy”). If you have specific anxieties or triggers, check this transcript or ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. Please let us know if there is something we’ve missed and we will add it to the show notes on our website.

Acknowledgement of Country: This issue and its documentation were edited in part on Brayakaulung (Gunaikurnai) Country. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We pay our respects to Gunaikurnai elders and we extend this to all Indigenous elders and Indigenous and First Nations listeners around the world.

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Show notes for Issue 08

Opener - various contributors

• 0:00:00

• Transcript

• Short description: A mixture of sounds from the pieces in this issue, including thunder, singing, whale sounds, water, footsteps and snippets of talking.

Introduction - Jonathan (he/they) and Allysse (she/they)

• 0:00:42

• Transcript

• Short description: Welcome and housekeeping with Allysse and Jonathan. In the background there are gentle sounds of birds in the countryside in rural Wales.

A Dutch New Year - Jenny List (she/her)

• 0:04:40

• Transcript

• Short description: Audio postcard. A walk through a small Dutch town on New Years Eve, with attendant spontaneous firework display.

• Creator bio: Jenny is a middle-aged British trans woman with a lifelong love of the outdoors.

• Creator link: Website

• Creator statement: This is one of the most unexpected yet completely Dutch experiences for a British tourist to find in the Netherlands, when a sensible small town turns into something that looks and sounds like a warzone as everyone sets off as many fireworks as they can.

• Content notes: Loud noises, mentions of alcohol use and transphobia.

Winter 2020 - Elisabeth Flett (she/her)

• 0:13:09

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art. Join Elisabeth Flett in the depths of December 2020 as she goes on her nightly nocturnal walk and begins to question her sanity.

• Creator bio: Elisabeth Flett is an award-winning writer, theatre-maker, musician and general feminist trouble maker. Winner of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Rose Lawrence Award for academic writing in 2017 and University of Aberdeen Literary Lights 2021, Elisabeth’s writing spans academia, poetry, plays, fiction and auto-biographical content. Her poetry is featured in zines published by Hysteria and Coin-Operated Press, and in Out on the Page’s anthology “Queer Writing for a Brave New World”. Elisabeth is passionate about mental health awareness, LGBTQ+ rights and gender equality, themes which often feature in all forms of her work as a creative practitioner.

• Creator links: Instagram / Twitter

• Creator statement: Winter 2020 might seem a surprising creative response to the prompt “outside”. Indeed, when I played it to a friend she expressed horror that I’d created something so unnerving instead of something more joyful! When I think of the “outside”, however, my memory inevitably skips straight to the time period where I realised I’d always taken the outdoors for granted as I paced around my small flat, cooped up with the rest of the nation during Covid lockdown as we all went slowly insane and hoarded toilet paper. Living in Aberdeen and struggling through a Masters degree over Zoom, I was terribly lonely, lacking purpose, and with nothing to stop me I found myself sliding into a sleep routine worthy of Dracula. Wandering around deserted central Aberdeen at night, I felt like I’d slid into the pages of War of the Worlds, the city abandoned apart from me and perhaps an overly optimistic man skulking somewhere around in the sewers. As a fan of Jeff Wayne’s musical version of the novel I decided to pay homage to him with this poetic soundscape piece, the synths and distorted vocals a nod to the innovative sounds found throughout his compositions. 

• Content notes: Harsh and distorted sounds, whispering, references Covid lockdown.

Uncanny Nausea - Shaughn Martel (aka bit-form) (they/them)

• 0:16:33

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art, music. Edited field recordings from a rusting outdoor piano string section found on the street in winter 2023.

• Creator bio: Shaughn Martel is a queer, ADHD, new media artist focused on the performance of media, sound and digital technology, currently practising in Tkaronto, Ontario. Shaughn embraces form and content through bugs in digital tools and exposing the process of assemblage of digital materials, using the flaws of a medium as the grounds for artmaking. Shaughn has been exhibiting work since 2014, most recently with New Adventures in Sound Art for the 16th annual Deep Wireless Festival and with the Margin of Eras Gallery. Currently in their final year at OCAD University for a Bachelors of Art in Integrated Media, Shaughn is the first recipient of the James Bailey Award through NAISA North in radio and transmission art and became a member of the Ada Lovelace Fellowship in 2022.

• Creator links: Linktree

• Creator statement: I wanted to make a sort of disorienting horror soundtrack using intermittent starting and stopping of driving low tones. Field recordings of the overall atmosphere of the street where the piano string section was found include the passing cars. Both raw and edited sounds were used.

• Content notes: Harsh and distorted sounds.

• Land acknowledgement: Known by many names of first peoples for thousands of years, Tkaronto, “the place in the water where the trees are standing” in the Mohawk language, is also known as so-called “Toronto” in Ontario Canada. Historically, this place is known as the site for the Dish with One Spoon Treaty. Originally a trading ground, many Indigenous peoples from The Mississaugas of the Credit River, the Haudenosaunee, the Chippewa, the Anishnabeg, and the Huron-Wendat, developed this treaty in the interest of fellowship and shared stewardship of this land. Although this city currently stands to continue in commerce, the treaties concerning the lands of these people have been betrayed for large business and colonial expansion through resource extraction that poisons the land and water.

Sweeper - Mags

• 0:17:33

• Transcript

Being Outside - Bilen Berhanu (she/her)

• 0:20:20

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue, field recording. Reflections on being outside during the #52hikechallenge.

• Creator bio: Born and raised in Ethiopia and currently based in Brooklyn (New York), Bilen is a life-long enthusiast and student of all things outdoors. Bilen has an established full spectrum doula practice. Her care work is grounded in liberatory practices of reclaiming agency and providing pathways to empowered experiences in life’s monumental transitions. In an effort to add to the movement to address disparities, Bilen is deeply committed to creating accessible, culturally competent and LGBTQIA+ affirming experiences in the outdoors. Bilen graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies from Mount Holyoke College and an MA in Social Science: Environment & Community from Humboldt State University. 

• Creator links: Instagram / Twitter

• Creator statement: When I pause long enough and quiet my busy mind, I hear the land speak. It is easy to be in this conversation when you know to listen more than talk. But it’s not always easy to hear what is said and often asked of us. It is not easy to hold what cannot be carried. It’s not convenient but it’s still so important. Much has already been said about the separation between “man” and “nature”. Through this artificial cleaving and dispossessing, we produced a wilderness separate from us. We are forced to uphold binaries as though they serve us. The erasure. The falsehood. The pain-soaked soil. The tear-stained wind. There is no shortage of testimony. Just be still and listen. With your whole being. It is overwhelming. Asking permission. Acknowledging all that remains hidden. Making a real and lived effort to be in right relationship. Taking up space. Disrupting narratives. Pushing back. Opening wounds to find healing. Being outside, we can drop the pretence. The cacophony of everyday life melts away and we are called to remember. We have been out here. We belong out here. We are here.

• Content notes: References chronic illness, Covid and social injustices.

• Land acknowledgement: Stolen lands of the Lenni-Lenape peoples.

Space in Nature - Dee Lister (they/she)

• 0:30:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Audio postcard. Walk with Dee as they connect with nature and share their poetic prose thoughts whilst being buffeted by the wind. 

• Creator bio: Dee identifies as a queer, biracial person of colour who lives with invisible disability. Dee is an artist and published creative photographer whose work explores small stories in nature, whilst conveying their inner world to audiences using visual metaphor. For Dee, walking in nature is life-breath, which combined with their creative practices provides safe space to process complex trauma and embodied experiences. Dee published a zine called Glimmers in 2022 that featured anthotype photographs and words inspired by sunrise and sunset. More of their work can be seen on their website and Instagram.

• Creator links: Website / Instagram / Twitter

• Creator statement: This recording is a raw and unconstructed account of happenings in one place and time. The wind is the only accompaniment and so I spoke to this, exploring other sensory experiences as they unfolded. The piece is stream-of-consciousness because that’s how I make sense of being in the moment. It’s how I get through my days, or half hours more precisely, because it’s often a struggle to stay present as someone living with emotional flashbacks and complex trauma. I’m very unwell right now, everyday talking and doing is a rough path, but walking in nature brings me peace. This is my intention with the piece that may speak to listeners through conveying the simple beauty of mindfully moving through space.

• Content notes: References mental and physical illness, some wind distortion.

Silence - Celia (they/them)

• 0:32:37

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry. Reflections on the feeling of silence in the Norwegian mountains.

• Creator bio: Celia is from Bonares, a little village in the south of Spain, but lives in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. They work as a cook in a bio-regional, vegetarian-vegan restaurant although they studied Sport Sciences Bachelor's Degree and an Outdoor Sports Master's Degree. They are a mountain guide and would like to start their own queer outdoor tourism company, to guide groups in the mountains and create safe spaces for everybody outdoors. Sometimes, in their free time, they do research about the intersections between outdoor pedagogies and queer pedagogies. They love writing, cooking, taking care of their garden, doing outdoor sports and travelling by bike (especially with their cat).

• Creator link: Instagram

• Creator statement: The mountains of Bodø (Norway) inspired me to write this poem about silence. The aim of our trip was a conference about gender and sports in Bodø to present our research work. After that, my partner and I planned a hiking trip doing wild camping around Lurfjellhytta. The peaceful feeling of being alone between Nordic mountains in a frozen landscape... There was no wind sound, birds tweeting, or people's noise...

• Land acknowledgement: Bodø is located on Sámi land.

Sweeper - Jackie

• 0:34:07

• Transcript

• Land acknowledgement: Recorded on Wurundjeri country.

Merging Temporalities - Jaime Simons (they/them)

• 0:36:22

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art, field recording. This watery track queers time by merging sounds of the past and the present, spanning all the way back to the late Cambrian period.

• Creator bio: Jaime Simons is a Canadian sound artist and museum professional, residing on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabek. Their work merges art, history, and geography through creative interventions, drawing on sonic mapping and queer sound theory to offer different ways of engaging with historical sources.

• Creator statement: This track emerged from research into queer sound theory and frustrations with the binarisation of gender, time, history, and the environment through their treatment as immutable objects. To express this frustration, the track begins by treating the Ottawa River as a co-creator, engaging with its deep geologic time. It attempts to create a sonic image of the river and of the creators frustration at the time of the project by including field recordings done at specific moments. These include recordings of rapids and swirling currents, ice crystals, and underwater sounds, recorded during both solo and group hikes along the Ottawa River. The track meditates on queer geography and works to remind listeners of the wider environment, ecosystems, networks, and histories to which the Ottawa River both connects to and comes from. The recent past and the deep past are performed simultaneously, representing how evidence of deep time is still present in the here-and-now. The inclusion of the expected (e.g. water noises) and the unexpected (e.g. whale and walrus calls, human voices, sounds from different geological eras) encourage listeners to reflect on how they binarize thoughts about time and environments to move towards acknowledging the interdependence of places and temporalities.

• Acknowledgements: Natalie, Meranda, Sammy and Meg.

• Land acknowledgement: This work was created on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabek.

A Pretty One Sided Conversation with a Pigeon - Fish (aka Xym) (they/them)

• 0:40:44

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording, music. Fish is talking to pigeons about crows and mice. Pigeons don’t say much. Some singing happens.

• Creator bio: Fish (or Xym) is a nonbinary, disabled (neurodivergent and chronically ill) person living in Poland. They are a university dropout with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and unfinished degrees in biotechnology and sociology. They graduated from a music high school. In the past they have collaborated with a Warsaw based performance arts group, Kem. Before the pandemic they liked participating in improv workshops and poetry slams in their local theatre. Their favourite hobby is playing tabletop RPGs. Currently they are trying to learn how to draw. They like talking to pigeons, listening to hedgehogs’ footsteps and taking photos of frogs and lizards.

• Creator links: Blog / Bandcamp / Mastodon

• Creator statement: This piece is inspired by things I experienced during my walks to the Wisła river. I used my phone to record sounds from the park that is on the way from my home to the river, as well as the sounds of the Wisła river herself. I like greeting pigeons when I walk next to them, but I usually don’t hold long conversations like this with them. I did not actually bother the pigeons too much during recording. I feel solidarity with non-human animals that are often disregarded or disrespected by the other people I see participating in “the outdoors”. As a person who has been othered and denied bodily autonomy because of their identities and status as chronically ill, I see many similarities between how I am treated and other animals are treated. I wanted to examine how those experiences impact my connection with “the outdoors”. I hope my piece will inspire others to reflect about their relationship to nature and other human and non-human animals.

• Content notes: Mentions of ableism, social ostracisation, Covid, animal harm (fishing).

Conduits for Joy - Roxanna Barry (they/she) with Alison Wormell (they/them) and Mari Funabashi (she/her)

• 0:47:36

• Transcript

• Short description: Documentary, music. Excerpt from a short film exploring creativity (see below). Alison discusses making their own reeds for their bassoon and plays a piece on their bassoon in Grizedale Forest.

• Creator bios: Roxanna is a queer, mixed-race photographer and filmmaker, who focuses on diverse stories in the outdoors. Roxanna shot and directed the short film that this sound comes from. Alison is a queer bassoonist and founder of Play Outdoors Productions, a production house focused on shining a light on diversity in the outdoors. Alison performed bassoon in a forest in the Lake District and talked about what making music means to them. Mari is a queer, multi-ethnic immigrant of colour who is a musician and film composer. Mari scored the music for this track.

• Creator links: Play Outdoors Productions: Instagram / YouTube. Roxanna: Instagram / Website. Alison: Instagram / Website. Mari: Instagram

• Creator statement: This audio follows Alison Wormell (they/them) as we explore why they make reeds for their bassoon, and how this allows them to share joy through their music with others. We also hear about Alison's connection with the outdoors and how this influences their music. At the end, Alison performs a piece for solo bassoon. We recorded this performance after spending the day cycling around the local gravel, filming the film Conduits for Joy, which this audio is a part of. We found a clearing in Grizedale forest, pushed our bikes in, and recorded Alison playing the bassoon amongst the trees.

• Acknowledgements: Voice and performance by Alison Wormell. Largo for Solo Bassoon composed by Jean-Daniel Braun.

Sweeper - Raine

• 0:49:36

• Transcript

• Acknowledgement: Recorded on Gunaikurnai country.

TransBike Europe - Bart (they/them)

• 0:51:09

• Transcript

• Short description: Diary, field recordings. An invitation into one day of a six-month bike trip through Europe.

• Creator bio: Bart is currently a Ph.D. student; their research focuses on the experiences of trans people in outdoor and adventure activities. Further research interests are queer, feminist, and outdoor methodologies and the intersections between queer and outdoor pedagogies. Bart is also a UIMLA-certificated Mountain Guide. Bart loves travelling by bike, their cat Tjena (who always comes on biking and hiking trips!), hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, winter hiking, climbing, cooking and eating regional food, and taking care of their vegetable garden. 

• Creator link: Instagram

• Creator statement: The central part of this piece was recorded in the summer of 2020 for an art and performance project called “In first person: The Dance”. The intro and after was recorded in my garden on a sunny and cold afternoon in February 2023. The trip itself was a solo six-month bike trip that started in Malaga (south of Spain) in February 2017 and finished in Aurich (north of Germany) in August 2017. Throughout these months I got in contact with many other trans activists and participated in some demonstrations for LGTBQ+ rights and had lots of adventures. It was definitely one of the best periods of my life.

• Content notes: Passing mention of transphobia in sport, description of eating meat.

Sweeper - Rachel

• 1:01:42

• Transcript

• Land acknowledgement: Recorded on Gunaikurnai country.

My Shiny Jeep and Me - Cheryna Guzman (she/her) 

• 1:02:55

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue, field recording. Female off-roader exploring California, figuring out what it’s like to be in a male dominated world and to change it.

• Creator bio: Cheryna Guzman is an offroading enthusiast located in Oakland, California, USA. Her Jeep, known as Nacho, has taken her on many adventures often with her fiancé Bex Mui and occasionally with their cat, Angél too. You can find her either in the backyard removing rust and checking the bolts under Nacho, or exploring the country.

• Creator link: Instagram

• Creator statement: This piece is about my experience with the outdoors through the lens of having a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, my jeep Nacho. I discuss my perspective being a queer Dominican woman in the off-roading world and what that means. I invite listeners to join me on the road through a clip of one of my first off-roading trips. This story is ongoing, especially as I embark on a three-month, cross-country road trip, and I encourage folks to join me on this journey, and to help continue to raise the visibility of women and people of colour in the outdoors through following my Instagram.

• Land acknowledgement: The region that is now part of Tahoe National Forest is the ancestral homelands of Nisenan, the Washoe, and many other Indigenous communities.

Queer Forest Bathing with Toadstool Walks - Travis Clough (he/they)

• 1:10:34

• Transcript

• Short description: Documentary. A queer forest bathing retreat in the southern hills of Vermont. A weekend filled with queer connection and meditation in the woods.

• Creator bio: Travis was born and raised on unceded Wabanaki land now called Maine. When he's not making audio stories you can find him in the woods and rivers in Maine. He also loves to play old-time banjo and teaches monthly quilting classes. Travis is a Registered Maine Guide.

• Creator link: Instagram

• Creator statement: This piece was recorded over Insidious People's Weekend (October) in Vermont, USA at Basecamp at Beaver Falls, headquarters for The Venture Out Project. Tam Willey, Toadstool Walks, guide and leader of the weekend is interviewed about their practice. This piece was intended to give an overview of what a forest bathing retreat is. I used to guide for The Venture Out Project, and Tam and I ran three retreats together before the pandemic. This was the first one I attended as a participant.

• Acknowledgement: Thanks to Tam Willey.

• Land acknowledgement: Wabanaki (Dawnland Confederacy).

Grandmother Earth, Grandfather Sky - Indigie Femme (she/her)

• 1:16:13

• Transcript

• Short description: Music. Driving alone / Grandmother’s home / Grandfather’s gone / His spirit lives on / I see the moon / Look to the sky / Sacred prayers I know deep down inside.

• Creator bio: Indigie Femme (Tash Terry and Elena Higgins) weaves Navajo/Dine, Maori, and Samoan Cultures with their voices, drums, and percussion. Indigie Femme has been 2017 Indigenous Music Award nominees; 2016, 2014 and 2012 New Mexico Music Award winners; 2013 Aboriginal Peoples Choice as Best International Duo; 2011 Native American Music Award winners and Sacramento Women of Color & Diversity Honorees; and 2010 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. They are especially well known in the two-spirit world of indigiqueer performance. Elena brings her Maori and Samoan ancestors from New Zealand in new and moving vocals. Whether strumming her Australian Maton (upside-down guitar), offering harmonies or performing sweet a capella, she moves her audience to embrace her glorious smile and haunting sounds. Tash comes from the Navajo Nation bringing with her that Nation’s songs and stories. She grew up hearing the mystical music of her masani (grandmother) whose awe for mother earth and devotion to Navajo ways was unshakable. Tash now renders that enduring spirit through her own musical interpretations both traditional and modern.

• Creator link: Website

• Creator statement: “Grandmother Earth, Grandfather Sky” comes from Indigie Femme’s album of the same name. Tash writes: “This CD is particularly special in that it speaks and sings to my traditional grandmother and grandfather and the influences of growing up on the Navajo Nation. My grandfather Samuel Dalton passed into the Spirit World in 1996 and my grandmother Margaret Dalton continues to do her walk and live her traditional life on Black Mesa to the best or her ability - with help from relatives. In essence, my grandmother is of Grandmother Earth and my grandfather is of Grandfather Sky in the Spirit World, thus the title of the CD is dedicated to them.”

Conclusion - Allysse (she/they) and Jonathan (he/they)

• 1:21:45

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding comments and thanks. Background sounds of gentle birdsong and, later, sheep bleating in the distance.

Issue 08 Preview

Adventure awaits in Queer Out Here Issue 08.

Follow our contributors on nocturnal walks, over icy mountains, along lines of song, through living rivers and into the deep sea. Enjoy this extra long preview!

Information about Issue 08 Preview

Length: 2:38

File size: 5.1MB

Transcript: Google Docs

Content notes: This preview contains some loud, sudden and harsh sounds, brief and non-graphic mentions of animal harm (fishing), transphobia and illness. Let us know if there’s anything else you think we need to mention here.

Acknowledgement of Country: Audio in this preview was recorded and produced around the world, including on the country/land of the following peoples: Algonquin Anishinaabek, Chippewa, Coast Salish (including Duwamish), GunaiKurnai (Brayakaulung), Haudenosaunee, Lenni-Lenape, Mississaugas of the Credit, Nisenan, Sámi, Wabanaki (Dawnland Confederacy), Washoe and Wendat.

You can also find this preview on Vimeo, SoundCloud and YouTube (you can see more of Dee Lister’s great cover art there). We hope you’re excited for Issue 08… let your friends know its on the way!

Issue 07

A mixtape of queer, outdoorsy excerpts from other shows, channels and albums that we like. You’ll find alpaca, sheep and veg farmers, literature analysis, politics, hiking, nature sounds, filmmaking and music to take your ears on new adventures. We hope you enjoy these snippets and take the chance to go and listen to the originals - follow the links in the show notes below.

If you enjoy Queer Out Here, please consider:

• Sharing it with other folks you think might be interested

• Letting us know (on Twitter, Facebook or by email) and letting our contributors know (find links to socials in the show notes)

• Signing up to our (infrequent) newsletter (see the bar at the top of the page)

• Leaving a smashing review on your podcast app of choice

• Or, you know, just keep listening!

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Information about Issue 07

Length: 1:33:46

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

High quality audio version: Google Drive (.wav file, 1.49GB)

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains: mentions of racism, homophobia, transphobia and violent threats; discussion of killing, butchering and eating animals (specifically in “Fairside Farm”, “Memories of Sheep Farming” and “Boys in the Woods”); mention of maggots/flyblow in live sheep (“Memories of Sheep Farming”); bodily fluids (specifically alpaca spitting in people’s faces and mouths in “Tenacious Unicorn Ranch”); and references to the climate crisis and despair. There is also some mild wind distortion. If you have specific anxieties or triggers, check the transcript (linked above) or ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. If there is something else you feel we should mention here, please let us know.

Running order:

1. The Harriet Tubman Freedom Farm - Dallas Robinson & Nico Wisler on Queer the Table

2. Ode to Sheep (Introduction) - Rae Garringer of Country Queers

3. Fairside Farm - Wesley Godden & Rae Garringer on Country Queers

4. Memories of Sheep Farming - Elena Higgins & Rae Garringer on Country Queers

5. Passion Fruit Pictures and The Wanderlust Women - Frit Tam & Catie Friend on Chatting to a Friend

6. Boys in the Woods - Nino McQuown & Nat Mesnard of Queers at the End of the World

7. Queers at the End of the World Season 2 Trailer

8. every beach - Helen

9. Tenacious Unicorn Ranch - Penny Logue & Rae Garringer on Country Queers

10. Country Queers Season 2 Trailer

11. Native Flora and Frogs of Canberra - Dr Kate Grarock

Cover art: This issue’s cover art is a digital sketch Jonathan did when he was bored at work. “I was trying out an online art tool someone mentioned - I don’t remember what it was, now - and I started playing around without any aim for the final image. Clearly, given the mountains that emerged, I wanted to be somewhere other than the office.” Jonathan has had a small amount of visual art published previously, including line drawings for the Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild campaign.

Acknowledgement of Country: This issue and its documentation were edited in part on Brayakaulung (Gunaikurnai) Country. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We pay our respects to Gunaikurnai elders and we extend this to all Indigenous elders and people around the world.

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Show notes for Issue 07

Introduction - Jonathan (he/they) and Allysse (she/they)

• 0:00:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Welcome and housekeeping with Allysse and Jonathan. The sound of small birds and the soft chiming of goat bells plays in the background

The Harriet Tubman Freedom Farm - Dallas Robinson (ey/she) & Nico Wisler (they)

• 0:05:33

• Transcript

• Excerpt from: This excerpt is from Queer the Table, an excellent show hosted by Nico Wisler on the Heritage Radio Network. In this episode, Nico speaks with Dallas Robinson, who is working to bring a visionary farm and education center to life. In this excerpt, Dallas explains eir inspiration in creating and naming the Harriet Tubman Freedom Farm. Also mentioned: Soulfire.

• About Dallas: Dallas is a young Black lesbian land steward raised in eastern North Carolina. Eir goal to heal Black people’s relationship to land and agriculture is inspired by Fannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, and various Black farmers and sharecroppers who have taught her so much from a rich ancestry of African agricultural technology.

• Find Dallas online: Instagram

• About Queer the Table/Heritage Radio Network: Queer the Table is a show about the joyful, messy, radical magic that happens in spaces where queerness and food intersect. In conversation with farmers, chefs, activists, historians, seed savers and business babes, host Nico Wisler explores the idea of “queer food” in all of its limitless forms. Heritage Radio Network (HRN) is a nonprofit podcast network dedicated to creating a more equitable, sustainable, and delicious world by expanding the way eaters think about food. Founded in 2009 by Patrick Martins and inspired by the Slow Food Movement, since its inception HRN has been a platform for thought-provoking conversations about the real issues affecting the global food supply. There are many stories that never reach mainstream food media and that’s where HRN is different: it features from voices across the food chain - farmers, truckers, chefs, cheesemakers, cookbook authors, activists and more.

• Find the Heritage Radio Network online: Website | Instagram | Twitter

Sweeper - Esther

• 0:12:10

• Transcript

• Short description: Crickets on Wurundjeri Country, not far from the Maribyrnong.

Ode to Sheep (Introduction) - Rae Garringer (they)

• 0:14:33

• Transcript

• Excerpt from: This excerpt is part of Rae’s intro to the Ode to Sheep series on the Country Queers podcast. This issue of Queer Out Here contains three excerpts from different interviews in the series. Here, Rae discusses why and how they brought together the Ode to Sheep series.

• About Country Queers: Country Queers is an ongoing multimedia oral history project documenting the diverse experiences of rural, small town, and country LGBTQIA2S+ folks - across intersecting layers of identity such as race, class, age, ability, gender identity, and religion.

• Find Country Queers online: Website | Twitter

• Music: All music in Country Queers excerpts appears courtesy of Country Queers. Pieces are written by either Tommy Anderson or Sam Gleaves. Once piece is performed on pedal steel by Rebecca Branson Jones.

Fairside Farm - Wesley Godden (he) & Rae Garringer (they)

• 0:19:51

• Transcript

• Excerpt from: This interview first appeared on Country Queers (see above) in the episode Ode to Sheep Part One. In this excerpt, Wes talks about why he and his partner chose to breed hair sheep and his relationship with the flock. Wes shares some thoughts about the ethics of food production in farming.

• About Wesley: Wesley is a biracial Singaporean and first generation gay farmer living in Eastern Ontario, Canada, who hand raises 200 Katahdin hair sheep with his partner of over 22 years. Because of their love for nature and the outdoors, they decided to move to the countryside to be closer to nature and never looked back.

• Find Wesley online: Fairside Farm: Website | Instagram. Wes: Instagram

• Acknowledgement of Country: ​​Fairside Farm is in Eganville Ontario, on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation.

• Content notes: This extract includes discussion of farming sheep for meat, and of the killing involved in both agriculture and horticulture.

Memories of Sheep Farming - Elena Higgins (she) & Rae Garringer (they)

• 0:28:33

• Transcript

• Excerpt from: This interview first appeared on Country Queers (see above) in Ode to Sheep Part Three. In this excerpt, Elena recounts how the land and the farm of her relatives brought connection to her in her youth - how she found a sense of freedom in the landscape and lifestyle but also learned about the reality of farming livestock for consumption.

• About Elena: The balance from three very strong cultures, Elena was born in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Raised in a Pākehā (white) foster family in which she regularly visited her Samoan matrilineal aiga (family) and her Māori whanau (family.) In 2006, Elena moved to the USA to pursue her musical talents. Supporting Native American gatherings and circles, she found her way to New Mexico. In August Elena met Tash. November of the same year saw the birth of Indigie Femme - international award winning musical duo! Elena is also the Executive Director for IndigenousWays and her mission has always been about supporting the arts and music and bringing people together so we may all love and learn from one another.

• Find Elena online: IndigenousWays: Website | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram. Indigie Femme: Website | Reverbnation | YouTube | Facebook

• Content notes: Contains discusses butchery and maggots (flyblow) in live sheep.

Sweeper - Emily & Jenny

• 0:35:11

• Transcript

• Short description: Currawongs and a small child on GunaiKurnai Country.

Passion Fruit Pictures & The Wanderlust Women - Frit Tam (he/they) & Catie Friend (she)

• 0:38:00

• Transcript

• Excerpt from: This is an excerpt from an episode of the interview podcast Chatting to a Friend, in which Catie Friend interviews Frit Tam. Original episode here. In the featured excerpt, Catie and Frit discuss his film The Wanderlust Women, and the need for better representation of people other than “grizzly bearded white men” in outdoor media. 

• About Frit: Frit Tam is an award-winning outdoors and adventure filmmaker and photographer specialising in adding colour and diversity to the outdoors through adventure films and outdoors photography. With his film studio, Passion Fruit Pictures, his latest films 'Brave Enough' and 'The Wanderlust Women' have won awards and are creating change in better positive representation of outdoors people and athletes. Frit has worked alongside brands and organisations such as Patagonia, Sprayway, The Ramblers and Mountain Training and, as a transgender individual, advocates powerfully for the LGBTQIA+ community.

• Find Frit online: Passion Fruit Pictures: Website | Instagram. Frit: Website | Instagram

• About Chatting to a Friend/Catie: Catie is a Scottish sports presenter and commentator living in Switzerland. She grew up in the countryside, climbing trees, building dens and riding horses but didn’t take up sport until she was 38. Saying yes to sporting adventures has not only changed her life for the better physically and mentally but has made her a better mum, wife and adventure buddy. Chatting to a Friend started in 2020 as a lockdown project and since its launch over 50 incredible people have shared stories about their lives and achievements. Catie invited Frit to be on the podcast because she wanted to hear more about their challenge to cycle and rollerblade across England in Glide for Pride. It is important to Catie to talk to people who have different life experiences from her and this seemed like a phenomenal opportunity to understand areas of life she didn’t know much about - and to hear about a good old adventure!

• Find Catie online: Chatting to a Friend: Website | Instagram. Catie: Instagram

• Acknowledgements: Amira Patel and her mother Aysha Yilmaz collaborated with Frit to make the film The Wanderlust Women. Find Amira on Instagram.

• Other notes: Catie says, “When Frit was invited on the podcast, they identified as a gay woman and by the time it came to record Frit had come out as a trans man meaning the conversation was rich with warm and vulnerable conversation about the challenges and joys of being trans in the outdoor space. I just wanted to thank Frit for being so open, for allowing a cis heterosexual woman to ask quite probing questions and answering so openly and with such good grace while I almost certainly blundered in my attempts to understand better their story. I felt very honoured and fortunate.”

Boys in the Woods - Nino McQuown (they) & Nat Mesnard (they)

• 0:48:43

• Transcript

• Excerpt from: This is an excerpt from the fantastic podcast Queers at the End of the World - specifically, the episode Boys in the Woods Part II. In this episode, Nat and Nino range through topics such as toxic masculinity, the siege at the US Capitol, and the ascension of Britney Spears. In this particular excerpt, Nino and Nat are discussing three survivalist narratives: Chris McCandless in John Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”, Brian Robeson in Gary Paulsen’s “Hatchet”, and Sam Gribley in Jean Craighead George’s “My Side of the Mountain”. The conversation shows how queerness, through its presence or absence, can be read into texts, and how a queer approach can encourage new interpretations.

• About Queers at the End of the World: Queers at the End of the World is nerdy queer and trans folks talking about media of apocalypse, dystopia, and survival. Episodes are released every two weeks and bring together queer and trans artists, scientists, activists, and scholars to (re)imagine apocalypses and utopias, old and new.

• Find Queers at the End of the World online: Website | Twitter | Instagram

• About Nino: Nino McQuown is a fat trans butch who builds zines, poems, puppet shows, podcasts, and gardens in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. They like research, dangly house plants, and naps in the bath, and are a proud parent to more than three thousand hermaphroditic worms. 

• Find Nino online: Website | Twitter | Instagram

• About Nat: Nat Mesnard writes fiction, teaches storytelling, and designs games. Nat has published poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in Catapult, Cartridge Lit, Autostraddle, Bodega, Blackbird, The Kenyon Review Online, The Gettysburg Review, and elsewhere. New games include a drag-inspired tabletop RPG titled “Ball of the Wild” published in the 2021 Level 1 Anthology for Free RPG Day.

• Find Nat online: Website | Twitter | Instagram

• Notes: Discusses a character eating an animal that has been killed by another animal.

Queers at the End of the World Season 2 Trailer

• 0:58:10

• Short description: Full transcript unavailable. The trailer includes the voices of Nat and Nino, their guests and found or archival soundbites, played over echoey drones, keyboards, rockets launching and dial up modem sounds. The theme of the season is “what comes after collapse” - i.e. escape, in its various forms.

Sweeper - Dan

• 0:59:50

• Transcript

• Short description: Roadworks echoing in a long tunnel on a rail trail.

every beach - Helen (she)

• 1:01:54

• Transcript

• Excerpt from: This piece is from Helen’s album songs of time & distance, available on BandCamp. 

• About Helen: Helen grew up in the foothills of the Welsh Misty Mountains before packing her spotted hanky on a stick, eventually washing up on the unforgiving concrete shores of a big city on this rainy plague island. A burst of creativity in response to the Covid-19 pandemic found Helen sampling her old demotapes for sources of raw audio, which were further processed through granular synthesis software before she reassembled the results to produce a collage-like effect. The result was songs of time & distance.

• About this piece: The original demotape was inspired by a visit to Barclodiad y Gawres, a Neolithic burial chamber on the coast at Ynys Môn (Anglesey). I had good memories of the day, which were brought back to mind after reading a tweet by the climate scientist Dr Genevieve Guenther, in response to the 2019 IPCC report, pointing out that climate change will have such a profound effect that "by 2100, every beach you've ever walked on will be below the waves."

• Find Helen online: Bandcamp

Tenacious Unicorn Ranch - Penny Logue (she) and Rae Garringer (they)

• 1:07:01

• Transcript

• Excerpt from: This interview first appeared on Country Queers (see above) in Ode to Sheep Part Two … but it is actually about alpaca! In this excerpt, Penny discusses her reason for setting up the ranch and farming alpaca, gives the low down on alpaca spit and gives us a great imitation of the sound of “alpaca indecision”.

• About Penny and Tenacious Unicorn Ranch: Penny Logue is the founder of Tenacious Unicorn Ranch, a queer Anarchist collective alpaca ranch in Southern Colorado. Penny has dedicated her time on this planet to securing queer liberation, bringing down the state and most importantly returning this stolen nation to its rightful indigenous caretakers.

• Find Tenacious Unicorn Ranch online: Website 

• Acknowledgement of Country: Tenacious Unicorn Ranch is on Ute, Apache and Navajo land.

• Notes: Describes alpaca spitting in people’s faces and mouths.

Country Queers Season 2 Trailer

• 1:17:17

• Short description: Full transcript not available. The trailer features nature sounds, music, and the voices of the six rural and small town LGBTQ+ folks featured in the next, collaborative, season of Country Queers.

Sweeper - Mags

• 1:20:34

• Transcript

• Short description: Splashing water, the honking chatter of swans, ducks and geese, and a shouting child.

Native Flora and Frogs of Canberra - Dr Kate Grarock (she)

• 1:22:56

• Transcript

• Excerpt from: The audio of this piece is taken from the video “Day hike and explore - native plants and animals - Mt Ainslie, Canberra” on Kate’s interesting YouTube channel. During this local lockdown outing, Kate takes her dog Lupo for a walk, stopping to identify frog species (based on their different calls) and pointing out several plants that have been used by Australia’s First Nations People for tens of thousands of years.

• About Kate: Dr Kate Grarock is a Eureka Prize finalist, wildlife ecologist and expedition leader at Bush Blitz (Australia’s largest species discovery program). She loves inspiring people to be as passionate about the environment as she is. Kate is a proud new mum with her partner Elsie. During Covid lockdown, to get her ‘nature fix’  Kate decided to make a video of a 700km hike she completed along the coast of Australia. She loved documenting her hikes and sharing her passion for the environment with the Youtube community. She loves using her environmental knowledge in her hiking videos and encouraging minimal impact camping.

• Find Kate online: YouTube | Instagram | Twitter

• Acknowledgement of Country: This piece was created on Ngunnawal Country.

Conclusion - Allysse (she/they) and Jonathan (he/they)

• 1:31:11

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding comments and thanks. The sound of waves on a shingle beach plays beneath the voices.

Issue 07 Preview

Introducing a different kind of episode...

Allysse and Jonathan talk a little bit about what’s to come in Issue 07.

Information about Issue 07 Preview

Length: 1:45

File size: 3.4MB

Transcript: Google Drive

Content notes: We don’t think there’s anything that needs warning for in this one - let us know if we’re wrong and we’ll add a note here!

Acknowledgement of Country: The bird and nature sounds in the background of this trailer were recorded on Brayakaulung, Gunaikurnai Country. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.

You can also find this preview on Vimeo, SoundCloud and YouTube. Please share the preview with folks you think might be interested and get yourself ready for Issue 07, coming later in May 2022!

Issue 06

From academia to ice swimming, from the city to the bush, come with us! Let’s head down the river to the sea and to the islands beyond. Whether surf fishing, grappling with the impact of lockdown or addressing racism in environmental movements, our contributors offer glimpses into their own moments and ongoing projects of connecting with outdoor spaces and places. The story of Issue 06 grows out of the interplays of internal/external, anticipation/reality, history/present, between what we want and what we feel able or allowed to do. Together, the pieces describe ways of moving towards being present in the outdoors.

If you enjoy Queer Out Here, please consider:

• Sharing it with other folks you think might be interested

• Letting us know (on Twitter, Facebook or by email) and letting our contributors know (find links to socials in the show notes)

• Signing up to our (infrequent) newsletter

• Leaving a smashing review on your Podcast app of choice

• Or, you know, just keep listening!

---

Information about Issue 06

Length: 1:25:26

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

High quality audio version: Google Drive (.wav file 1.26GB)

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains: non-graphic references to racism and racist violence; non-graphic references to queerphobic, transphobic, transmisogynist violence; discussions of mental health issues including depression; swearing; wind distortion in a few pieces (Skye’s and Jade’s pieces in particular); mentions of unhappy relationships; discussion of fishing (no mention of animal harm); a colloquialism that has ableist connotations (“drives me insane”); a non-graphic reference to vomit (“threw up in my mouth”). If you have specific anxieties or triggers, check the transcript (linked above) or ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. If there is something else you feel we should mention here, please let us know.

Running order:

1. So Much For - Berrak Nil Boya

2. Surf Fishing, Soul Searching Journey - Moxy

3. Lockdown Litter Picking - Mags

4. Excerpt from Breaking Green Ceilings - Isaias Hernandez and Sapna Mulki

5. Field Recordings - Emily 

6. Back on Country - Skye Stewart 

7. GEILT (a number of ways) - Rufus Isabel Elliot

8. My Science Journey: Black Botanist Week - Itumeleng Moroenyane

9. Thou Shalt Not Compare Queer People To Insects - Connor Butler 

10. How Are You? - Jade Mutyora

11. The Stick - Martha Casey and Jonathan

12. Sounds of Ice Swimming - Corrie

13. Desire Lines - Ariana Martinez

Cover art: Our cover art is a piece titled “Self Portrait with Reflective Landscape” by Melbourne-based AI artist and researcher J Rosenbaum. J works with 3D modeling, artificial intelligence and extended reality technologies, exploring posthuman and postgender concepts using classical art combined with new media techniques and programming. J says:

This work is a collaborative piece drawn with a landscape producing AI. I drew a self portrait and the neural network rendered my sketch in with the landscape format in baroque styles. It weaves the lines in with what it understands of landscape elements to integrate the two. As a landscape AI it is not trained to handle faces, so the facial elements become tree-like, part of the sky, a reflection in the water. I walk a lot, my primary physical therapy is walking and I walk around parks and nature reserves as much as possible. This work shows some of the elements of my favourite park, with trees and a lake and observation points. It feels like part of me. A world where I can breathe and be part of nature, I can disconnect and recharge. Working with those elements in AI gives me a moment of calm in a world of chaos. AI is difficult to control, like nature you have to work with it, not against it. 

J is a PhD candidate at RMIT University in Melbourne at the School of Art Computer Perceptions of Gender and the nature of AI generated art and the human hands behind the processes that engender bias, especially towards gender minorities. Their artwork highlights this bias through programmatic interactive artworks and traditional gallery displays. They speak at conferences worldwide about the use of artificial intelligence in art and have exhibited all over the world. J’s artwork has been supported by the City of Melbourne Covid-19 Arts Grants and has won the Midsumma Australia Post Art Prize. 

Find J online at their website, on Instagram, on Facebook and on Twitter.

---

Show notes for Issue 06

Opener - all contributors

• 0:00:00

• Transcript

• Short description: A mix of snippets from the pieces to follow

Introduction - Jonathan and Allysse

• 0:00:40

• Transcript

• Short description: Welcome, thank yous and housekeeping with Allysse (she) and Jonathan (he/they). The sound of gentle waves raking over stones plays in the background.

Sweeper - Gears for Queers

• 0:03:30

• Transcript

So Much For - Berrak Nil Boya

• 0:04:11

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording, monologue. A internal monologue about anxiety, heartbreak and resentment, with a kayaking daytrip on the background.

• Creator bio: Berrak Nil Boya (she) is a multi-disciplinary audio artist and a programmer based in Berlin. Her work consists of several different mediums, including but not limited to, sound design and composition, web-based generative/reactive art works, audio-reactive real-time visuals and narrative video games. With a formal education in music and more than a decade of experience in programming, she focuses on areas that enable her to merge her passion for technology and art. Capturing visual snapshots of acoustic properties of sound and the functional use cases for augmented reality are some of the current topics of her artistic research. As a former educator with more than a decade of experience, she puts emphasis on creating experiences that are easily accessible and navigable by newcomers to that specific genre or style of work.

• Creator links: Github / Bandcamp / Twitter

• Creator statement: The field recordings that build the foundation of “So Much For” were made on a kayaking daytrip to Brandenburg from Berlin, in September 2020, between two lockdowns. It was a spontaneous trip aimed at creating some sense of adventure and novelty, to help me escape from the city where I braved the first wave of the pandemic, only two months after moving there. And to also help ease my mind about a recent heartbreak and the ongoing process of stagnated healing, due to being talked into a friendship with the person who broke my heart in the first place. The internal monologue is recorded in one take and then layered in a way to imitate how I usually think, or at least how I think about my own thinking process. As someone who recently learned that some people think in other ways than “internal monologuing”, I decided to share what my brain sounds like to me while I am seemingly just going about my day.

• Content note: Unhappy relationship/heartbreak.

Surf Fishing, Soul Searching Journey - Moxy

• 0:07:30

• Transcript

• Short description: Moxy (he) talks about his experience surf fishing and how it helped restore faith in himself. 

• Creator bio: Moxy is a Trans Black personal trainer, musician, and van dweller! He enjoys traveling the Pacific North West in his van with his partner and fur babies. His goal is to help diversify the outdoors by empowering other Queer POC to go out and explore the outdoors. 

• Creator link: Instagram

• Acknowledgement: Coast Salish, Including the Duwamish People.

• Content note: Non-graphic references to racism and racist violence. Mention of mental health struggles.

Lockdown Litter Picking - Mags

• 0:13:37

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue, field recording. Dual purpose walks - wellbeing and cleaning up the environment.

• Creator bio: Mags (she) resides in Northumberland and works for an educational charity.

• Creator link: Blog

• Creator statement: This recording was made during one of my regular walk in the local area. The walk took me along the edge of a housing estate and into an industrial park with the return walk taking me along the main road back to my home. It was a lovely sunny spring like afternoon with glorious blue skies. My walk of 6.64km took me 1.5 hours. 

• Content note: Mentions a funeral.

Sweeper - Travis Clough

• 0:18:37

• Transcript

Excerpt from Breaking Green Ceilings - Isaias Hernandez and Sapna Mulki

• 0:19:44

• Transcript

• Short description: Interview. Excerpt from an interview with Isaias Hernandez on the Breaking Green Ceilings podcast - Episode 11: Making Space for Queer People of Color in the Environmental Movement.  Find the full episode here.

• Creator bio: Isaias Hernandez (he/they) is an Environmental Educator and creator of QueerBrownVegan where he creates introductory forms of environmentalism through colorful graphics, illustrations, and videos. He seeks to provide a safe space for like-minded environmentalists to advance the discourse around the climate crisis.

• Creator links: Website / Instagram / Twitter

• Creator bio: Sapna Mulki (she) is an expert in water education and policy, principal at Water Savvy Solutions and host of the podcast Breaking Green Ceilings. The podcast is a weekly interview series that amplifies the voices of environmentalists from historically underrepresented communities including Disabled, Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color and our Accomplices.

• Creator links: Website / Twitter      

• Acknowledgements: The music (drawn from Breaking Green Ceilings) is "Lost Souls Music” by David Buco and Julian Virag.

• Content note: Non-graphic references to racism and classism.

Sweeper - Dan

• 0:30:31

• Transcript

Field Recordings - Emily

• 0:33:12

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording. A layering of experiences in the bush and in the city.

• Creator bio: Emily (she) spent her childhood roaming tea-tree forests in central Victoria, catching yabbies and getting gumboots stuck in clay mud. These days she's a conservationist-in-training, living in Melbourne and escaping on the weekends for epic hikes in the bush.

• Creator statement: This piece represents almost every time in the last three years of I have paused with my ears perked up and felt driven to press record. Sometimes the sounds of birds, insects and amphibians have put on performances just as I'd hoped. Other times, recordings were interrupted by human voices, vehicles or wind. Overall, the piece reflects the accumulation of these moments that form my impressions of--and personal connections to--the wild creatures we share these spaces with.

• Acknowledgements: I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which I made these recordings. These include the Wurundjeri, Barengi Gadjin, Gunditj Mirring, Eastern Maar, Taungurung, Wadawurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Yorta Yorta, and Tasmanian First Nations people. I pay my respects to their elders - past, present and emerging. Their land was never ceded.

Back on Country - Skye Stewart

• 0:38:53

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue. Heartfelt musings on what it means to be a Queer Aboriginal non binary person who is connected to Country, culture and the world around them.

• Creator bio: Skye (they) is a proud and Queer Wergaia and Wemba Wemba woman. They were born on Country and have been connected to their culture through their Mum, Nan, cousins and of course, the land. As a midwife, a student hot air balloon pilot, a transpersonal art therapist and a senior project leader of an entire states maternity service, Skyes life is embedded in connection, holding, advocacy and healing. Adventure and curiosity see Skye exploring the world around them. Appreciating the small details about the giant world around them enables Skye to gain perspective and understanding about their own identity and their place in the world. 

• Creator link: Instagram

• Creator statement: I'm moving back to the Mallee after 20 years being away from it, being in the city. Even though I always visited back home, I have the call now to return. I was sitting on my back porch and you can hear the wind blowing between the trees. The sun was setting and it was beautiful. The Mallee is flat, so the sky is huge and the sunsets are magnificent. I didn't prepare anything, I just spoke from the heart once I pressed record. I acknowledge my Nan and my Mum, two people who helped shape who I am today.

• Content note: Wind distortion.

GEILT (a number of ways) - Rufus Isabel Elliot

• 0:43:49

• Transcript

• Short description: Music, field recording. A series of short, abstracted pieces performed by string instruments with a background of bleating sheep.

• Creator bio: Rufus Isabel Elliot (it) is a trans composer and musician, based in Port Henderson in the North West Highlands of Scotland. Its work is concerned with honesty, giving testimony, and the conditions in which one can speak out. Rufus has been lucky, in the course of the last couple of years, to work with the likes of Magnetic North, Red Note Ensemble, Lammermuir Festival, The Night With, and many others. Its work is highly collaborative, and it loves to learn from the people it works with. Making a new piece involves learning everything possible about it, and new collaborations and working relationships leave a permanent mark on its practice. Rufus also produce a trans, non-binary, and gender-minority music-making ‘world’ called OVER / AT, which includes new commissions, recording projects, workshops, and touring projects, all by/with/for the Folk. Its aim is to reimagine the trans voice, whether singing, speaking, or howling. 

• Creator link: Website

• Creator statement: ‘Geilt’ is an Early Gaelic word used to refer to the character Sweeney, and other wanderers and outsiders. Sweeney, the cursed king of Dál Araide, experiencing PTSD-like symptoms following a battle, transforms into a bird or a bird-like creature, and flits around the wilds of Ireland as an outcast, telling in verse of the places he drifts through. GEILT is a collection of tunes made for some special places, places which, when I lived in them, brought with them an ephemeral life of moving on. It calls out to both the lived intimacy of the place, and its abstract brutality – of being rooted, and of being astray. The piece has been seen as being 'about' hitchhiking, the frantic, start-stop journeys that we made around the North West, in blazing sunshine and love. For clarity, the actual hitchhiking was:

  • a Freudian repetition

  • a game of tag with Death himself

  • a seduction technique

  • an escape attempt

  • a practical way of getting to and from work

  • not always fun

  • also, at times, not really hitchhiking

In this version, recorded on The Street, in the remote St Kilda archipelago, you will hear wild Soay sheep, the wind battering your ears, and musical evocations of feral places. This was something I used to help introduce the piece to players (Google Doc).

• Acknowledgement: The Nevis Ensemble

Sweeper - Gabriel

• 0:47:31

• Transcript

My Science Journey: Black Botanist Week - Itumeleng Moroenyane

• 0:48:58

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue. A talk given as part of the “Bodies” event organised by Broad Science in partnership with Confabulation. Find the full piece here.

• Creator bio: Itumeleng Moroenyane (he) is a plant biologist focusing on how interactions between microbes and their plant host are acted upon by evolutionary processes. Itumeleng has a firm background and deep understanding of Mediterranean ecosystems and ecological theory. Itumeleng’s current work focuses on understanding which assembly processes are delimiting the plant microbiome, as well as the evolutionary history of niche shifts and stability. This work will contribute to our understanding of how plant microbiomes are assembled and maintained, and more importantly, offer a new perspective on the hologenome theory of evolution. Itumeleng is also passionate about science communication and contribute to online discussions regarding advances and challenges in microbiome research. Itumeleng is an openly gay South African. As part of a growing network of Black scholars, Itumeleng assists in building students and community capacity in science. Itumeleng is passionate about science communication and contributes to online discussions regarding advances and challenges in plant microbiome research

• Creator links: Itumeleng: Twitter / Website - Broad Science: Website - Confabulation: Facebook

• Acknowledgements: Thank you very much to Itumeleng and Broad Science (particularly Rackeb Tesfaye) for allowing us to edit and play this piece as part of this issue. Thanks also to Broad Science and Confabulation for organising the event at which Itumeleng spoke.

• Content note: Non graphic references to racism and apartheid in South Africa.

Thou Shalt Not Compare Queer People To Insects - Connor Butler

• 1:00:30

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue. Butterflies, a volcano and coming out.

• Creator bio: Connor (he) is an Ecologist researching the impact of environmental change on the amphibians and insects of our planet’s tropical rainforests. 

• Creator links: Instagram / Twitter

• Creator statement: As an Ecologist, I spend my time studying the fluctuations and cycles within the natural world. Change is an inherent part of being, but the active choice to make a change can be a difficult one. This piece is about butterflies, a volcano, and how I came out to my parents. It includes field recordings of my garden in Oxford, England. As well as recordings from the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia.

Sweeper - Richard

• 1:07:25

• Transcript

How Are You? - Jade Mutyora

• 1:08:39

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry. A poem about the mood-altering power of outdoors. 

• Creator bio: Jade Mutyora (she) is a writer of British and Zimbabwean descent based in Yorkshire. She is currently working on novels for children and young people and writes short fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry when she wants to procrastinate. Her work appears in Fourteen Poems, Juno, Untitled:Voices, Ang(st), Ghostheart Literary Journal, Forever Endeavour and The Selkie. She was awarded 1st prize in the Nottingham Writers Studio George Floyd short story competition. She is represented by Abi Fellows at The Good Literary Agency. 

• Creator links: Instagram / Twitter

• Creator statement: I wrote this for my partner, who dragged me out to go for a walk while I was stuck in bed, paralysed by depression, knowing that being outside is important for my mental health but unable to take that first step on my own.

• Acknowledgment: Liz Chadwick Pywell 

• Content note: References to mental health struggle (experience of depression). Some wind distortion.

The Stick - Martha Casey and Jonathan

• 1:10:03

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art. Martha re-learns how to walk and explores her neighbourhood while recovering from spinal surgery.

• Creator bio: Martha Casey (she) is a Jill of all trades and mistress of none. She lives in Brighton with two cats and no husbands

• Creator link: Instagram

• Creator bio: Jonathan (he/they) enjoys being outside, eating, stickybeaking and creating. He is one of the editors of Queer Out Here.

• Creator link: Twitter / Blog

• Creator statement: Martha always walked as a matter of course, sometimes even regarding it as a chore when commuting, covering the same ground again and again. But at the end of 2020, she sustained an injury to her lower back, and pain shrunk her world until she could barely get from her bedroom to the kitchen. She was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery. As Martha’s recovery has progressed, she has rediscovered the pain and the joy of being on her feet, like a toddler, stumbling and out of sync. As her world began to expand again - from the house, to a bench less than 100m away, to the end of the housing estate and beyond - Martha recorded her thoughts, finding a new novelty in the sight of brick buildings and the seagulls that lurk by the bins. Jonathan edited Martha’s recordings to echo the progression of her movements post-surgery. It starts with uncertainty and hesitation then graduates to longer phrases as Martha is able to move more freely. The music, based on the rhythms of Martha’s voice, supports this growing sense of physical ease. The piece builds up a portrait of Martha’s experience of her body and neighbourhood.

• Content note: Swearing.

Sounds of Ice Swimming - Corrie

• 1:16:09

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording, monologue. Come on a journey through ice and water...

• Creator bio: Corrie (she) is a mum, wife, swimmer and doctor in the North of England. Along with 27 other northern swimmers she swam every day in January to raise money for the homeless charity, Crisis.

• Creator links: Instagram / TikTok

• Creator statement: With the coldest winter in years came the opportunity to break ice to swim. Swimming in the wild is always a multidimensional experience but the ice added to the experience further, with unique sounds, light and sensations. 

• Acknowledgement: The January Daily Dippers for their support with swimming every day in January. 

Desire Lines - Ariana Martinez

• 1:20:22

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art, poetry, field recording. A poetic journey through stages of desire - for oneself, for lovers, & for the natural world. 

• Creator bio: Ariana Martinez is a multimedia artist based in New York City. Their creative work spans images, objects, and audio documentary—responding to the ways geography, space, and place affect individual and collective experience. Ariana has produced radio features for BBC Radio 4's Short Cuts, BBC Radio 3's the Essay, and was the sound designer for Brain on Nature, a 6-part audio documentary series created with Australian producers, Sarah Allely and Olivia Rosenman. Ariana’s work has been featured at the LUCIA Festival in Florence, Italy; the HearSay Festival in Kilfinane, Ireland; and the Third Coast Conference in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Ariana dreams of endless mountain ranges and hybrid art forms that have no name. 

• Creator links: Website / Twitter / Instagram

• Creator statement: Grounded both literally and figuratively in the natural world, Desire Lines explores the slow-build of desire and the unique, multi-layered sensory and sensual pleasure that only comes to our bodies when we are outdoors. Embedded in this piece are field recordings I collected myself in August of 2019 in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Minnesota (USA), as well as found sound collected by others. I wrote the poem that forms the anchor of this work in the following winter - that summer's journey returning to me as a flood of warm longing. As a city-dweller, I'm preoccupied with the kind of loneliness and detachment from the natural world we experience, and how the desire to be back out in nature is as strong as the desire for human companionship and love. This poem reads as if it calls to a lover because it does - even if the recipient of that love is ambiguous, be it a landscape or person, or the experience of being bodies in a landscape.

Conclusion - Allysse and Jonathan

• 1:22:25

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding comments and thanks. Sounds of snow, dripping trees, wind and water play beneath the voices, fading out at the end.

Issue 06 Preview

Where in the world will Queer Out Here Issue 06 take you?

Come outside with our queer contributors. Have a listen to our preview and gather some clues about where you’ll end up this time…

Information about Issue 06 Preview

Length: 1:48

File size: 3.5MB

Transcript: Google Docs

Content notes: Sounds include a siren, a very small amount of wind distortion and whispering. Content includes mention of the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdown and racism/apartheid. Please let us know if there is anything else we should note.

You can also find this preview on Vimeo, SoundCloud and YouTube - including a peek at our cool cover by AI artist and researcher J. Rosenbaum. Please share the preview with folks you think might be interested and get yourself ready for Issue 06, coming in June!

Issue 05 Side B

Queer Out Here Issue 05 Side B

As the world went into lockdown, the sounds around us changed. Some of us were treated to soundscapes of birds, beaches and backyards without interruptions from road and air traffic. But the restrictions placed on human movement meant that our experiences of “the outdoors” also changed - from international journeys to walks in nearby parks, from meeting up with friends to sitting alone on balconies or beside windows hoping to catch the breeze. Side B is a more reflective, slower paced exploration of local environments at a strange moment in history.

If you enjoy Queer Out Here, please share it with your friends and consider leaving a review via your app of choice. You can also get in touch with the creators (info in the show notes) or drop us a line (Twitter / Facebook) - we always appreciate it when folks take the time to contact us.

Information about Issue 05 Side B

Length: 1:03:00

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

File size: 121MB

High quality audio version: Google Drive (954MB, .wav file)

Cover art: Emily Doyle. Emily also has a piece in this issue. She writes, “I took this photo of a bluestone alleyway near my home, on one of my lockdown daily wanderings. The slow pace of hand embroidering something means you're forced to spend a lot of time reflecting on and considering the work. The experience of making this art piece mirrored the themes of my audio piece, Bluestone: a forced focus on the environment that you don't get when simply snapping a photo or glancing as you pass by, and a forced reflection on its details, history and meanings.”

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. Issue 05 Side B contains several discussions of COVID-19/Coronavirus, being in lockdown and other related issues. There is also mention of colonial violence in Australia in Bluestone (starts at 45:40); description of feeling unable to breathe underwater in Caught Within the Fisher’s Net (starts at 52:01); a few sudden, loud sounds; and wind distortion in many of the field recordings. If you have specific anxieties or triggers, check the transcript (linked above) or ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. Please let us know if there is something we’ve missed and we will add it here.

Running order:

1. A South London Stroll - Emma Charleston

2. Lockdown Walks - Allysse Riordan

3. Wish It Were Safe Out There - Emily Miles

4. Recording the Tide - Jonathan

5. Sounds of Confinement - Sylvie Beaumont

6. Ambient Sound, 2020-04-10 - Jenny List

7. Havannah During Lockdown - Mags

8. Bluestone - Emily

9. Caught Within the Fisher’s Net - Lynda Berry

10. My Favourite Place - Cecily

Show notes for Issue 05 Side B

Introduction - Jonathan and Allysse

• 0:00:00-0:01:59

• Transcript

• Short description: Opener, welcome, thank yous and housekeeping. Sound of waves crashing on a shingle beach plays beneath the voices.

Sweeper - Nova

• 0:02:00-0:03:03

• Transcript

A South London Stroll - Emma Charleston

• 0:04:31-0:09:54

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording, audio postcard. A short walk through a park in Clapham, featuring birds and trains.

• Creator bio: Emma is a queer illustrator/graphic designer/zine maker living in South London.

• Creator links: Website / Twitter / Instagram

• Creator statement: I have been getting really into recording voicemail messages for friends who are far away, describing where I am and what I can see and smell, and what I'm doing and thinking, and this felt like an extension of that to a wider audience, to share one of my current favourite outdoor places.

Lockdown Walks - Allysse Riordan

• 0:10:57-0:17:26

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art. The repetitive, sometimes maddening, loops of daily lockdown walks.

• Creator bio: Allysse is a wanderer and creator. At the source of her work are her journeys and every day life. Through non-fiction pieces, she recounts the personal stories she encounters taking reader/viewer/listener outdoors with her.

• Creator links: Website / Twitter  

• Creator statement: During the Covid-19 pandemic, outdoors pursuits have been restricted to a daily walk. For weeks, I explored my hyper local area, retracing my steps over and over again. Some days I walked the longest loop, some days the shortest one. In this piece, I wanted to record this experience. While it has been lovely to get every detail of my local area through Spring, it has also sometimes been maddening and making me feel caged. I wanted to reflect that in the piece.

Wish It Were Safe Out There - Emily Miles

• 0:17:27-0:22:37

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording. Across the street from the red gas station is a viburnum, and between them are hums and rattles and song.

• Creator bio: Emily is an audio producer based in Indiana. She produces a podcast about climate change for Indiana University and spends almost all of her free time roaming neighborhoods and romping through local creeks.

• Creator links: Twitter / Instagram

• Creator statement: This is absolutely unproduced. I saw a tweet calling for the sounds outside the homes of queer people, and when I hit record, it was 5 p.m. Normally the streets would be much busier. But in a college town during a pandemic, the only ones left on the road are essential workers and people without houses and lonely ones like me, who might just drive to feel safe seeing fellow faces.

Sweeper - Dan

• 0:22:38-0:23:20

• Transcript

Recording the Tide - Jonathan

• 0:25:00-0:34:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue, field recording. Reflections on the craft of field recording and the incoming tide filling a rock pool.

• Creator bio: Jonathan is a walker, stickybeak and creative type living in the UK. He is one of the editors of Queer Out Here.

• Creator links: Twitter / Blog

• Creator statement: One day during lockdown as my partner was grocery shopping, I walked along the beach. I spent some time recording the sounds created by waves rippling and slapping around the rocks, and of the rock pools filling as the tide came in. The piece starts with some reflections on the craft of field recording and specifically how this recording was made.

Sounds of Confinement - Sylvie Beaumont

• 0:34:01-0:35:29

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording. A garden during the third week of COVID-19 confinement in France.

• Creator bio: Sylvie is a 59 year old woman who recently relocated to the South of France after a life-time in the UK. She is a fervent traveller, occasional hiker, wannabe ukulele player and unconvincing glass artist. She dabbles in “real” work the rest of the time.

• Creator statement: This was recorded on day 19 of our confinement and is representative of the only sounds we've been hearing for the past 3 weeks. No cars, planes, people. Only the sound of birds, bumble bees, footsteps in the grass and the occasional DIY noises from neighbouring houses.

Ambient Sound, 2020-04-10 - Jenny List

• 0:35:30-0:39:19

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording. The sound of lockdown one afternoon in Godington churchyard.

• Creator bio: Jenny List is a technical journalist and engineer, who grew up and lives in a small village in Oxfordshire.

• Creator link: Twitter

• Creator statement: This is an ambient recording I made in response to an appeal for lockdown sounds. It’s taken in the churchyard where the conversation in I Think We Got Away With It (Issue 05 Side A) was recorded a couple of months earlier.

Havannah During Lockdown - Mags

• 0:39:20-0:42:35

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording. Quieter than usual during lockdown at the Havannah Nature Reserve, close to the airport flight path.

• Creator bio: Mags works for an educational charity and has recently moved back to Northumberland in her native North East of England. She enjoys walking, swimming and participates in her local Parkrun. One of the ways in which she unwinds is by getting out into nature and photographing what she sees around her.

• Creator links: Twitter / Website / Blog

• Creator statement: The recording of birdsong was made on 14 April 2020, 3 weeks into the lockdown as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. With the closure of the local swimming pool and the cancellation of the regular Saturday Parkrun, I found myself walking more in the local area and nature reserves, exploring and discovering new routes. The flight path to Newcastle airport is close to both local reserves and the lack of air traffic was very noticeable. With restrictions in place on movement and activities, walking has been almost a form of meditation and I have found that the permitted hour of outdoor exercise each day has been essential for my mental wellbeing.

Sweeper - Dru

• 0:42:36-0:43:02

• Transcript

Bluestone - Emily

• 0:45:40-0:51:26

• Transcript

• Short description: Essay, field recording. "History" and "natural history" are often more enmeshed than we think. 

• Creator bio: Emily spent her childhood roaming tea-tree forests in central Victoria, catching yabbies and getting gumboots stuck in clay mud. These days she's a conservationist-in-training, living in Melbourne and escaping on the weekends for epic hikes in the bush.

• Creator statement: This piece came about through my reflection on my local built environment. Engaging with local First Nations people as part of my conservation qualification and undertaking research in my local history, I realised my experiences in the bush and drive to become a conservationist were more tightly enmeshed with my engagement with my immediate environment as well. 

• Acknowledgements: This piece was recorded primarily on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging, and acknowledge any First Nations people listening to this piece.

Caught Within the Fisher’s Net - Lynda Berry

• 0:52:01-1:00:01

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry, monologue, field recording. The captive and captivating nature of the sea during lockdown in Britain. 

• Creator bio: Lynda Berry is a freelance writer, private tutor and considering taking up a PGCE next year. She started writing poetry at the tender age of 8 and has never stopped. She lives in Worthing and enjoys frequent walks and runs along the beach.

• Creator links: Twitter / Website

• Creator statement: The piece is about my relationship with the sea, starting from childhood, and continuing with the Lockdown in the UK. I have spent many hours escaping the boredom of being at home running along the beach. Though the piece originally focused on running it morphed into a more general discussion on the ocean’s calming effect on human psychology, it’s healing potential, and how all paths seem to lead back to it.

My Favourite Place - Cecily

• 1:00:02-1:01:24

• Transcript

• Short description: Video, audio postcard. The beach at 5.30am during lockdown.

• Creator bio: Cecily is a 77 year old lesbian living on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland with her partner.

• Creator statement: I am hoping to show a bit of our life in this region, and what sustains us in this time. This video is of my beach at 5.30 am when I walk and swim. I walk especially early now because of Coronavirus and social distancing, and also I love this time beside the sea.

• Note: You can watch video of this piece on Vimeo and YouTube.

Conclusion - Allysse and Jonathan

• 1:01:25-1:03:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding comments and thanks. The sound of waves breaking on a shingle beach plays under the voices, then slowly fades out.

Issue 05 Side A

Queer Out Here Issue 05 Side A

Remember the Before Times? Issue 05 Side A features recordings made when people were still travelling internationally, gathering in crowds at the drop of a hat and visiting friends without a second thought. Our contributors take us on adventures from the deserts, lakes and city streets of North America to the villages, countryside and bike paths of western Europe and the cobbled alleyways of Melbourne, Australia. Come and escape from lockdown for an hour!

If you like what you hear, please share Queer Out Here with your friends. You can also get in touch with the creators (info in the show notes) or drop us a line (Twitter / Facebook) - we love hearing from you.

Information about Issue 05 Side A

Length: 0:58:25

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

File size: 112MB

High quality audio version: Google Drive (927.4MB, .wav file)

Cover art: Emily Doyle. Emily also has a piece in Issue 05 Side B. She writes, “I took this photo of a bluestone alleyway near my home on one of my lockdown daily wanderings. The slow pace of hand embroidering something means you're forced to spend a lot of time reflecting on and considering the work. The experience of making this art piece mirrored the themes of my audio piece, Bluestone: a forced focus on the environment that you don't get when simply snapping a photo or glancing as you pass by, and a forced reflection on its details, history and meanings.”

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains some swearing and the use of words such as ‘crazy’ to describe people’s behaviour. There is mention of a relationship breakup in Rainy Day at Wahtum Lake (starts at 7:28); wind distortion in Chrissy in the Desert (starts at 32:34) and Gabe and Lena Take to the Streets (starts at 38:26); and mentions of queerphobia in Christmas Getaway (starts at 22:27) and I Think We Got Away With It (starts at 48:49). Please let us know if there is something we’ve missed and we will add it here.

Running order:

1. Nightingales - Dru Marland

2. Rainy Day at Wahtum Lake - Kaj Jensen

3. What Remains (Petrichor) - Jonathan

4. Christmas Getaway - Julia

5. Chrissy in the Desert - Chrissy

6. Gabe and Lena Take to the Streets - Gabriel Coleman and Lena Greenberg

7. I Think We Got Away With It - Jenny List

Show notes for Issue 05 Side A

Introduction - Jonathan and Allysse

• 0:00:00-0:00:38

• Transcript

• Short description: Opener, welcome, thank yous and housekeeping. Sound of woodland with pigeons, corvids, small birds and insects plays beneath the voices.

Nightingales - Dru Marland

• 0:02:20-0:06:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry, field recording, monologue. Nightingales don’t need a bagpipe accompaniment, honestly.

• Creator bio: Dru is a poet, illustrator and mechanic who lives on a canal boat moving slowly round Wiltshire.

• Creator links: Twitter / Blog

• Creator statement: Call me an old curmudgeon, because I probably am. But I’d rather just experience wildness directly rather than have it mediated through somebody else. Ironically, I suppose that is exactly what I’m doing with this nightingale song.

Sweeper - Martha

• 0:06:00-0:06:27

• Transcript

Rainy Day at Wahtum Lake - Kaj Jensen

• 0:07:28-0:15:34

• Transcript

• Short description: Audio essay, field recording. Join Kaj on a rainy day hike exploring the connections between place and memory.

• Creator bio: Kaj is a trans, genderqueer person who completed the Master’s of Creative Writing program at University of Brighton. They write personal narrative essays, speculative fiction, poetry, and video games in addition to creating audio essays. They prefer to travel at human powered speeds, walking and cycling whenever possible. When Kaj isn’t writing or doing research, they can often be found spying on birds and sneaking up on wild edible plants.

• Creator links: Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

• Creator statement: This audio essay continues to explore some of the themes discussed in Kaj’s The Nature of Queerness from Issue 03. Kaj reflects on the way that landscapes and places can hold multiple memories and serve as a touchstone for accessing those moments in time.

• Acknowledgement: This recording was made on the lands of the Kathlamet, Wasco and Wishram, Clatsop, Clackamas and other Indigenous peoples who have been caring for this place for countless generations.

What Remains (Petrichor) - Jonathan

• 0:15:34-0:16:33

• Transcript

• Short description: Music, sound art. An audio experiment to describe the scent of petrichor through sound.

• Creator bio: Jonathan likes the outdoors (and the indoors). He is one of the editors of Queer Out Here.

• Creator links: Twitter / Blog

• Creator statement: This piece was made for Week 5 of the Audio Playground project. I was thinking of the scent that lingers after the rain passes and I tried to approach the sound the same way. I stuck my recorder in the old piano in our kitchen and played a few notes and chords (and mucked around with the sustain pedal and plucking the strings inside), then edited it to remove all the attack/hit of the keys, instead fading the sound in to only capture the decaying sound that remains. The rain sounds are made by a rain stick a friend made at a camp many years ago that she was getting rid of when she moved house, so it’s also a kind of left-over. 

Short Black Lives Matter discussion - Allysse and Jonathan

• 0:16:33-0:20:35

• Transcript

• Short description: The editors discuss the withdrawal of a piece from Issue 05 Side A and encourage listeners to seek out media by Black people, Indigenous and First Nations people and other People of Colour. Specific mentions: Diversify Outdoors and Melanin Basecamp. The editors also invite more ideas on how to improve Queer Out Here and offer assistance to potential producers who are Black, Indigenous/First Nations, POC.

Sweeper - Aneurin and Kermie

• 0:20:35-0:21:34

• Transcript

Christmas Getaway - Julia

• 0:22:27-0:32:34

• Transcript

• Short description: Audio diary. Julia escapes Christmas for a cycle adventure up the Rhine. 

• Creator bio: Julia is a geek, currently residing in Amsterdam. She built herself a bike and has since been riding far and wide, training for ultra endurance bike racing.

• Creator links: Twitter / Instagram

• Creator statement: I don't have a family to go spend Christmas with, so to take my mind off this I go for an adventure, cycling somewhere interesting. This is a three-part audio diary I recorded along the way during Christmas 2019.

Chrissy in the Desert - Chrissy

• 0:32:34-0:37:25

• Transcript

• Short description: Audio postcard, field recording. Chrissy wanders around Utah deserts on a family holiday.

• Creator bio: Chrissy is a journalist and a political activist. When she's not off on her travels, she spends her time between England's south-east coast and north west hills.

• Creator statement: On a family road trip to the USA, I collected some thoughts, conversations and sounds of the desert.

Gabe and Lena Take to the Streets - Gabriel Coleman and Lena Greenberg

• 0:38:26-0:48:06

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording, conversation, sound art. Two friends cycle the NYC marathon route after streets close.

• Creator bio: Gabriel Coleman is an artist, musician, runner, and aspiring environmental historian living in Brooklyn, NY. Lena Greenberg is a climate organizer, bike commuter, follower of water, fermenter of veggies and writer of newsletters living in Boston, NY. They met driving a van together for New York City's network of farmers markets and have been eating and dancing and making things together ever since!

• Creator links: Gabriel: Twitter / Website Lena: Twitter / Website

• Creator statement: On November 3rd, 2019 Lena Greenberg and Gabriel Coleman joined the annual unsanctioned bike tour of the NYC Marathon route which takes place after the streets close to cars and before the tide of runners flood the route. In this piece we mixed our individual audio diaries together, one playing in each ear, and interspersed our conversation with audio of the crowd cheering for marathoners as they passed through Brooklyn later that day. This piece celebrates what can happen when spaces normally reserved for cars and for one way of being in and moving through space become places for community, gathering, and celebration.

• Acknowledgement: This piece was recorded on Lenape territory.

Sweeper - Queer Out Here Adventures

• 0:48:06-0:48:21

• Transcript

I Think We Got Away With It - Jenny List

• 0:48:49-0:56:37

• Transcript

• Short description: Conversation. A rural churchwarden surveys her charge after a storm, and muses on being a trans woman in a religious setting. 

• Creator bio: Jenny List is a technical journalist and engineer, who grew up and lives in a small village in Oxfordshire.

• Creator link: Twitter

• Creator statement: Jonathan and Dan stopped over on their way up the M40 on a damp day in early 2020 following an Atlantic storm. Fortified by fresh fruit cake we went for a walk together, but first we had to take a quick tour of the parish church to make sure that there was no storm damage. This recording follows us from the church gate up the path, into the building, and for a walk round the outside.

Conclusion - Allysse and Jonathan

• 0:56:37-0:58.25

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding comments and thanks. Woodland sounds play beneath the voices and fade out at the end.

Issue 05 Preview

Listen to a little of what’s to come in Queer Out Here Issue 05.

Reflecting how the world and our relationship with the outdoors have changed in 2020, Issue 05 will be released in a few weeks… and it’s going to be a two-parter! Until then, here’s a preview to pique your interest.

Information about Issue 05 Preview

Length: 2:00

File size: 3.8MB

Transcript: Google Docs

Content notes: Be aware that there is some wind distortion and loud audio in this clip. There are mentions of COVID-19 and of struggling for breath underwater and allusions to family estrangement. Please let us know if there is anything else we should warn for.

You can also find this preview on Vimeo, SoundCloud and YouTube (including a glimpse of our crafty new cover by Emily Doyle). Feel free to share this preview with your people and keep an ear out for Issue 05, coming soon!

Here’s a peek of some of the sounds from Issue 05, reflecting how the world and our relationship with the outdoors has changed in 2020. The special, two-sided issue will be released soon. You can find Queer Out Here on various podcatcher apps or go to www.queerouthere.com/listen/ to stream/download issues. Transcript coming soon: www.queerouthere.com/listen/issue-05-preview Cover art (extract) by Emily Doyle.

Issue 04

Queer Out Here Issue 04

Immerse yourself in the world! These queer-produced audio pieces explore themes ranging from the intimate and individual to the communal and universal. They will take you from stormy mountains, down rivers brimming with life, into majestic woods, through bustling cities and down to the mysterious underwater world beneath the waves. You’ll find poetry, songs and readings in here, as well as sound art, field recordings, solo musings and conversations. Take your ears adventuring . . .

If you like what you hear, please share Queer Out Here with your friends. You could also get in touch with the creators (info in the show notes) or drop us a line (Twitter / Facebook) - we love hearing from you!

Information about Issue 04

Length: 1:29:55

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

File size: 144MB

High quality audio version: Google Drive (1GB, .wav file. Trust us, this sounds so much better than the compressed podcast feed version!)

Cover art: Art by Ella (Instagram). Ella writes, “Art is a form of therapy for me, and I wanted this cover art to be an explosion and appreciation of the queer community, and all the wonderful voices within it. I’ve always loved the look of stained glass windows and wanted to experiment with colour to create something fun and expressive. All of my art is hand drawn!”

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains explicit descriptions of sex, queerphobia, drug use and fear during risky activities. If you have specific anxieties or triggers, you may wish to ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. You could also check the transcript for particular words, or send us an email. If we’ve missed something, please let us know. In particular this issue contains the following:

1. Explicit description of sex in Sweetness (starts at 1:19:24) and mention of sex in A Cartography of Trespass (starts at 1:07:07)

2. Mention of drug use in The LGBTour in Amsterdam (starts at 44:20) and A Cartography of Trespass (starts at 1:07:07)

3. “Deaf”, “dumb” and “blind” as negative traits in Beauty in the Rain (starts at 14:47)

4. The Holocaust is mentioned in The LGBTour in Amsterdam (starts at 44:20)

5. Calorie count (not in a restrictive-eating way) in Storms and Saturn’s Return (starts at 55:55)

6. Low-frequency heartbeat rhythm used in I am Still Breathing (starts at 6:09)

Running order:

1. River - Cecilé Rose

2. I Am Still Breathing - Allysse Riordan

3. Beauty in the Rain (“Rain” by Raymond Garfield Dandridge) - Mags

4. Autumn on the Red Hill - Mike Parker

5. A Southern Queer Rambles - Aaron Calidris

6. The LGBTour in Amsterdam - Sara Espi and Sanne Pols

7. American Lesbian Odyssey - Carol Prior

8. Storms and Saturn’s Return - Chris Harnois

9. A Cartography of Trespass - Jonathan

10. Sweetness - Kamila Rina

11. Hikes to the River at the Mountain Base - Fenrir Cerebellion

Show notes for Issue 04

Introduction - Jonathan and Allysse

• 0:00:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Opener, welcome, thank yous and housekeeping. Sound of a trickling stream plays beneath the introduction.

Sweeper - Abby

• 0:02:20

• Transcript

River - Cecilé Rose

• 0:03:03

• Transcript

• Short description: Poem, field recording. An affirmation to myself, and a love letter to the one that makes me feel alive.

• Creator bio: Cecilé Rose is a 28 year old woman living in Stockton, California. She is fat, bi, and a watercolor artist, so making art with sound is really new to her. Cecilé loves to be outside with her dog, Josie, and whether it's hiking, a day at the lake, or even a walk around town, she's always with her partner in crime. Ms. Rose also volunteers to take her city's animal shelter's dogs out for a day. It's really rewarding, not only does she get to hang out with new dog friends but she also brings attention to the dogs and their personalities. Between her two, sometimes three, jobs and making sure every dog is happy, it can be a handful - one thing Ms. Rose enjoys doing for herself is kayaking alone down her favorite river, the Mokelumne.

• Creator link: Instagram

• Creator statement: In my poem "River" I took a recording of one morning kayaking down the Mokelumne River, then added my poem separately. This past summer I've started to regularly kayak. My favorite place to go is the next town over's small lake and going down the connecting river, the Mokelumne. The stretch I've gone so far is super calm - and it's always a new adventure. Saving capsized bees, catching glimpses of the families of river otters, even on occasion running into swimming deer (they swim fast!) I've fallen in love with this river, I've fallen in love with myself on this river. So this is my love letter to the river and all that she's shown me.

• Acknowledgements: Recorded on Plains Miwok land.

I Am Still Breathing - Allysse Riordan

• 0:06:09

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art. The piece follows my experience of diving for the first time, from being terrified of the sea to going underwater.

• Creator bio: Allyse is a wanderer and creator. At the source of her work are her journeys and every day life. Through non-fiction pieces, she recounts the personal stories she encounters taking reader/viewer/listener outdoors with her.

• Creator links: Website / Twitter

• Creator statement: The piece follows me as I go diving for the first time with some friends, from being terrified of the idea to braving my fears and going underwater. The event is recounted in words and a variety of sound recordings that aim to recreate my feelings and experiences of the day. The piece aims to create an atmosphere and transport the listener with me. As such, and due to the nature of the sounds used, it is best listened to through headphones.

• Acknowledgements: This piece uses the following recordings sourced via freesound.org: pushtobreak - Earth, Wind, Fire Pack - Water 1 / pushtobreak - Earth, Wind, Fire Pack - Water 2 / pushtobreak - Earth, Wind, Fire Pack - Water 4 / 170134 - Heartbeat / Timgormly - Outdoor Suburb Summer / Richwise - Summer City Birdsong / ScreamStudio - Moving Low Frequencies / CUeckermann - Someone Putting On A Blazer / ckr365 - Short Car Trip / Dobroide - Breathing / Robinhood76 - 01019 Car Door 3 / Julien Nicolas - Seaside Wave EQ / tim.khan - Seaside Cove Waves / vuralyavas - Seaside 2 / Arnaud Coutancier - Waves On Seaside Rocks 1 / YoloSwaggins - Underwater Ambiance / Tyops - Diving Smooth Drowning / Martysonic - Strange Diving / felix.blume - Water Splash / HDVideoGuide - Scubadiving 01 / digifishmusic - Scuba 1 / carmsie - Underwater Sounds Loopable

Beauty in the Rain (“Rain” by Raymond Garfield Dandridge) - Mags

• 0:14:47

• Transcript

• Short description: Poem. A rainstorm and a reading of the poem Rain by Raymond Garfield Dandridge.

• Creator bio: Mags works for a charity in East Sussex, but is about to relocate to her native north east England. She enjoys travel, photography and enjoying nature. 

• Creator link: Website

• Creator statement: I awoke early on 27 July 2019 to the sound of rhythmic rain. It can feel so calming and soothing just to sit and listen to the raindrops as they quench the thirst of the earth below. My home is surrounded by trees and this seems to amplify the sound. The rain evoked the poem Rain by American poet Raymond Garfield Dandridge.

• Acknowledgements: The recording was made at the Pestalozzi International Village, Sedlescombe, East Sussex where I live and work.

Sweeper - Ross

• 0:15:57

• Transcript

Autumn on the Red Hill - Mike Parker

• 0:17:43

• Transcript

• Short description: Reading, field recording. An autumnal foraging outing at Rhiw Goch is interwoven with readings from Mike’s new book On the Red Hill.

• Creator bio: Mike is the author of around a dozen books, including Map Addict, a love letter to the Ordnance Survey, The Wild Rover, a celebration of the humble footpath, and Neighbours From Hell?, a polemic about English attitudes to Wales and the Welsh. His new book On the Red Hill is a search for the queer rural, focussing especially on his friends and benefactors Reg and George, who met in 1949 and were together until their deaths a few weeks apart in 2011. They left their remote old farmhouse in the Welsh hills to Mike and his boyfriend Preds, as well as a mighty archive of photos, diaries and letters that form the backbone of On the Red Hill.

• Creator links: Website / Twitter / Instagram

• Creator statement: The piece was recorded when Allysse came to Rhiw Goch, to talk through ideas of the queer rural as explored in On the Red Hill. She and I went out walking - and swimming - the landscape that I write about in the book, always accompanied by Fflos the dog. It was recorded in September 2019 in mid Wales, and features the great autumn activity of foraging as well as readings from On the Red Hill.

• Acknowledgements: Readings from On the Red Hill: Where Four Lives Fell into Place by Mike Parker, published by William Heinemann (Penguin) in 2019.

A Southern Queer Rambles - Aaron Calidris

• 0:27:52

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue. Some rambling thoughts from a queer outdoorsperson living in the US Bible Belt.

• Creator bio: Aaron is a nature lover and an amateur nature photographer. They spend their free time searching for rare plants and sometimes wildlife and photographing them so that these ecosystems and species can have their stories told.

• Creator link: Instagram

• Creator statement: Living in the Southern United States presents dilemmas at times. The yearning to be yourself and to also be safe. However, nature has always been a calming force that not only helps me to better understand myself and the world around me but to love better. 

Sweeper - Martha

• 0:34:02

• Transcript

The LGBTour in Amsterdam - Sara Espi and Sanne Pols

• 0:34:59

• Transcript

• Short description: Interview. Sanne takes visitors to Amsterdam on a journey through the streets of our queer past. Hear what inspired her LGBTour.

• Creator bio 1: Sara Rosa Espi is a recovering academic, queer parent, writer and performer. In her research as part of the project Back to the Book, Sara focussed on the archiving of zines in a digital age. She also writes and performs stories which have been featured on Australian national radio. Her zines Curiosity Killed the Cat But it Saved My Bacon, Burnout, 5000 Cans of Spam and Platonic Love Stories are about neurodivergence, food, love and friendship.

• Creator bio 2: Sanne Pols is a public speaker, writer, and trainer with which she tries to make your school- or workspace more inclusive. Personal storytelling flows through her veins and is reflected in all her work as an expert in diversity and inclusion. Most of all she enjoys her self-developed LGBTour, a queer walk through the pink heart of Amsterdam, through which she connects LGBTQI+ people and allies from all over the world.

• Creator links: Instagram / Airbnb

• Creator statement: Since 2017, Sanne Pols has been leading people around Amsterdam on the LGBTour. Her tour weaves together intensely personal narratives with historical stories of joy and repression, of coming outs and finding places to come together - like the first lesbian bar in the city, which opened in 1927. As a storyteller I was fascinated by the idea of her tour, and how she creates new queer geographies of the city in these intimate tellings. Sanne agreed to an interview which would go on to launch a close friendship. We met under the strange phallic sculpture at Dam Square where her tour begins and settled down for a talk. The square is full of tourists, pigeons, bustle and hustle and lots of interruptions. It felt like a perfect place to talk about what inspired her to start leading visitors around the city, and how coming out made her aware of the intense vulnerability of being queer in public. 

American Lesbian Odyssey - Carol Prior

• 0:44:54

• Transcript

• Short description: Music, monologue. Songs written whilst travelling in the USA in 1987, discovering the burgeoning lesbian scene from Florida to Michigan.

• Creator bio: Carol Prior is a singer-songwriter and choir leader based in Hastings.

• Creator link: Website

• Creator statement: In 1987 I was a jobbing actor. After making an autobiographical film for Channel 4 as a lesbian performer (Waiting for the Green Light) I decided to see what the USA had to offer. What I discovered was a burgeoning lesbian culture unlike anything I had experienced in the UK. I was totally smitten and a six week holiday became a six month odyssey. I felt inspired to write four songs about my experiences, three of which are featured in my piece.

• Acknowledgements: Sheila Fey and Sandi are singing and playing drums/percussion.

Storms and Saturn’s Return - Chris Harnois

• 0:55:55

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue. Stormy weather, a trail clinging to the side of a cliff and a solo backpacking - a parallel on life at large. 

• Creator bio: Chris is an avid hiker, flutist, yogi, and reader that burns for the trail and adores mixing their passions. They have a day job on the side. They reside in Seattle, WA, USA on the ancestral land of the Duwamish. 

• Creator links: Instagram / Website

• Creator statement: Field recording made on 8 August 2019 in the North Cascades, Washington State, USA. A reflection my life as it stands in 2019, disappointment around outdoor goals, yet positive conviction on moving forward and creating community. 

• Acknowledgements: Piece recorded on ancestral land of the Nlaka'pamux.

Sweeper - Emma

• 1:05:49

• Transcript

A Cartography of Trespass - Jonathan

• 1:07:07

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art. A twisting, meandering audio essay, reflecting on space, trespass and queerness.

• Creator bio: Jonathan is a walker and a stickybeak. He is one of the editors of Queer Out Here.

• Creator links: Twitter / Website

• Creator statement: An abridged version of a longer piece that explores ideas about space, trespass and queerness. (Listen to the full length version here.) In this edit, we start by passing a ‘keep out’ sign to explore the woods near my home, before delving into my own memories of queer encounters and dipping into queer stories shared anonymously via an online map. This is a conversation opener rather than a definitive statement: my experiences and thoughts on this topic come from a position of white, able bodied and relative class privilege. Other people in other places will have very different relationships to space, place and trespass - and I would love to hear responses in that vein in a future issue.

• Acknowledgements: Australian field recordings taken on Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung) and Krowathunkooloong (GunaiKurnai) country. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We acknowledge Woiwurrung and GunaiKurnai elders past and present, and extend this acknowledgement to all Indigenous people listening. Thank you to Queering the Map for permission to include user-submitted pins from their map in this piece. Queering the Map pins read by Dan, Jess from Canada and Stephanie Lai. Additional field recordings by Emily, Jenny and S-J Smith. Thank you!

Sweetness - Kamila Rina

• 1:19:24

• Transcript

• Short description: Poem. A poem about semi-public sex in nature.

• Creator bio: Kamila Rina is a multi-disabled immigrant Jewish non-binary bi poet, a sexuality/gender/disability educator, and a survivor of long-term violence. They enjoy talking about being present in one’s body and fomenting the revolution. Their favourite things include trees, books, chocolate, radical accessibility, and people and things that smell good. Kamila has been published in Room Magazine, Breath & Shadow, Sinister Wisdom, Monstering, Deaf Poets Society, and We Have Come Far, has publications forthcoming in Carousel and Augur, and has produced a chapbook titled Multitasking with Feelings.

• Creator link: Website

• Creator statement: I always love hanging out with trees, whatever else I'm doing. So this is a piece about having sex in a hammock, in nature, surrounded by gorgeous trees - but still close to various other people also enjoying the nature. The two things I was focused on, and am focusing the poem on - other than of course the joy of orgasms and the getting to them - were/are the necessity of being quiet (because we wouldn't have enjoyed getting 'caught') and the joyful and grounding energy I was absorbing from the trees.

Sweeper - Emily and Jenny

• 1:21:36

• Transcript

Hikes to the River at the Mountain Base - Fenrir Cerebellion

• 1:22:30

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording, monologue. Trail and river hiking with a dog, talking about changes in the river and the importance of trail access.

• Creator bio: Fenrir is a white, Muslim, disabled, queer settler living on Unceded Coast Salish Territory, in the city of Vancouver. They grew up in the Okanagan, of Syilx and Nlaka’pamux Territory, in the semi-arid climate of the Rocky Mountains. While struggling to live in a city that is increasingly financially inaccessible to its residents and queer space creation, they are finally on the move for somewhere they can spend more time writing, playing music, and hiking with their dog.

• Creator links: Twitter / Website

• Creator statement: After struggling to find hikes online to take my dog off-leash, I started looking for trails on maps and found this now-regular hike. While sometimes accompanied by a friend, these recordings are from solo hikes in Summer and Fall with my dog, taking note of the river’s changes between seasons.

• Acknowledgements: The Seymour River (as named by settlers) and surrounding area are the lands of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

Conclusion - Jonathan and Allysse

• 1:27:43

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding comments and thanks. Background sound: a trickling stream morphs into a drone and electronic twangy notes, building to a crescendo then cutting abruptly, leaving echoes and a quiet stream to fade out.

Issue 04 Preview

Glimpse the places you’ll visit in Queer Out Here Issue 04.

Here you’ll find echoes and snippets of queer experiences underwater and under woodland canopies, on mountain paths and city squares, people alone or with friends and communities. Issue 04 will be released in mid-December. Until then, immerse yourself in this preview!

Information about Issue 04 Preview

Length: 1:56

File size: 3.7MB (.mp3)

Transcript: Google Docs

Content notes: We don't think there's anything to flag up in this preview. If you notice something we've missed, please send us an email so we can add a note here.

You can also find this preview on Vimeo, SoundCloud and YouTube (including a sneak preview of our gorgeous new cover by Ella). Watch, listen, share! And look out for Issue 04 in a couple of weeks.

Glimpse the places you’ll visit in Queer Out Here Issue 04. Queer Out Here is an audio zine that explores the outdoors from queer/LGBTQIA+ perspectives - and Issue 04 is coming soon! You can find Queer Out Here on various podcatcher apps or go to www.queerouthere.com/listen/ to stream/download issues. Transcript available: www.queerouthere.com/listen/issue-04-preview Cover art (extract) by Ella: www.instagram.com/ellxamcd_art/

Issue 03

Queer Out Here Issue 03

What does it mean to gain or lose a connection with nature or place? To move in familiar or unfamiliar landscapes? To form relationships with other creatures, myths and histories? Queer Out Here Issue 03 asks these questions through poetry, diaries, music, monologues, prose, field recordings and conversations - while passing through seasons and countries, memories and cities, woods and weather. Jump on a bike, lace up your walking boots, hop on a reindeer sled and take your ears adventuring!

If you enjoy this audio zine, please share it with your friends - and let us know, too!

Information about Issue 03

Length: 1:20:29

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

File size: 155MB (.mp3)

High quality audio version: Google Drive (1.28GB, .wav)

Cover art: Dev Moore (Instagram / Twitter / Patreon). Dev says, “When I lived in Wales, sometimes I would head to the valleys to wander through the woods. I remember a clearing in Cwm Clydach which I came across accidentally in late summer, deep with moss and dappled light. The woods in Britain retain its ancient history, the lost pathways of people and animals past, the bones beneath your feet - nature will always be there, waiting to take you back.”

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains swearing, queerphobia (mostly homophobia and transphobia), mentions of drinking and physical violence, risky activities and environments, mention of misogyny/sexism including passing reference to sexual harassment, dead animals, sensual encounters (not explicit). If you have specific anxieties or triggers, you may wish to ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. You could also check the transcript for particular words, or send us an email. In particular this issue contains the following:

1. Queerphobic slurs in “Home” and “Half Moon Lake”.

2. Description of a dead animal in “You Gather Their Bones”.

3. Wind distortion in audio in several places, notably in “Walking the Spaces Between”.

Running order:

1. adventure - Narinda Heng

2. Go to Hell (The Road to Hell 1) - Julia Freeman

3. The Nature of Queerness - Kaj Jensen

4. Home - Jonathan

5. Half Moon Lake - Penelope Foreman

6. Fucking Åmål (The Road to Hell 2) - Julia Freeman

7. RSPB Birdwatch - Mags

8. Finnish Winter Adventure - Emily and Jenny

9. Satyrs - Pablo Miguel Martínez

10. You Gather Their Bones - Jade Wallace

11. Good Intentions (The Road to Hell 3) - Julia Freeman

12. Walking the Spaces Between - Jonathon Stalls

13. Nature Walk - Johnnie Gale

14. The British Countryside - Allysse Riordan

15. Been There, Done That (The Road to Hell 4) - Julia Freeman

Show notes for Issue 03

Introduction - Jonathan and Allysse

• 0:00:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Opener, welcome, thank yous and housekeeping. The sound of a small stream plays beneath Allysse and Jonathan’s introduction.

Sweeper - Anna, Jessica, Dan and Jonathan

• 0:02:02

• Transcript

adventure - Narinda Heng

• 0:02:44

• Transcript

• Short description: Poem. A Khmer American backpacking instructor reflects on the differences between her mother’s and her own attitudes towards adventuring.

• Creator bio: Narinda Heng has worked in experiential education since 2014, starting with GirlVentures as a volunteer climbing mentor and then as a backpacking and rock climbing instructor. She’s also worked with National Outdoor Leadership School, Dunn School and Eagle Rock School. She is currently an instructor at the Stanford Adventure Program and will work with GirlVentures again this summer. Prior to 2014, Narinda worked in the nonprofit sector and Asian American arts community in Los Angeles. From rock climbing trips to extended wilderness expeditions, she values group outdoor experiences as opportunities to grow self-awareness, learn effective communication and practice interdependence. As an instructor, she emphasizes reflection and curiosity around the complexities of history, place and identity. Aside from teaching rock climbing and backpacking, Narinda spends her time making pottery, baking with wild yeast and writing.

• Creator links: Website / Instagram

• Creator statement: Since 2012, I’ve put together annual collections of poetry and writing as a way to process the year and to share with people. Today I’m sharing a poem from my 2015 collection, from somewhere along the way. That year, I was just beginning to embark on work as an outdoor educator, and reflecting on what that meant to me as a child of Khmer refugees. I’m constantly ruminating on what it means to work in the outdoors and participate in it in these particular ways, and the contradictions that exist there. If you relate to these thoughts, I’d love to hear from you.

Go to Hell (The Road to Hell 1) - Julia Freeman

• 0:05:44

• Transcript

• Short description: Diary. Short diary-like recordings made while cycling to Hell from Northern Germany in Autumn 2018. The first of four diary entries found in this issue.

• Creator bio: Julia is a geek, currently residing in Amsterdam. She built herself a bike and has since been riding far and wide, training for ultra endurance bike racing.

• Creator link: Twitter

• Creator statement: In the four diary entries I talk about Hell, about Åmal, whether to quit or not, and generally the discomfort of long distance cycling.

The Nature of Queerness - Kaj Jensen

• 0:09:49

• Transcript

• Short description: Conversation. Friends Susannah and Kaj talk about their relationships to nature on a walk at Sauvie Island.

• Creator bio: Kaj is a trans, genderqueer person who recently completed the Masters of Creative Writing programme at the University of Brighton. They write personal narrative essays, speculative fiction, poetry and video games in addition to creating audio essays. They prefer to travel at human powered speeds, walking and cycling whenever possible. Kaj has learned to love backpacking and bike touring in the Pacific Northwest, where they now call home. When Kaj isn’t writing or doing research, they can often been found spying on birds and sneaking up on wild edible plants.

• Creator links: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

• Creator statement: This piece is part of a much longer conversation during which Susannah and I compare our childhoods, I stop to identify birds and plants, and we ponder the existence of ghost cats. We have about as opposite experiences as you can get, since I grew up 20 miles from the nearest town, and 45 from the nearest 'city', and they grew up in New York City. Our relationship to nature is very different, but our struggles to inhabit our genderqueer/nonbinary bodies are quite similar in a lot of ways. I find that spending time in nature, especially doing challenging hikes or bike rides, helps me feel connected to and grateful for my body as it is, reducing my sense of dysphoria. I also have found that learning the names of the birds and plants in places I call home for any length of time helps me to feel connected and grounded, so I share a bit about that in the longer piece as well. Special thanks to Susannah H for letting me take them into the woods and ask a lot of questions.

• Note: The land that is currently called Sauvie Island, and the broader Portland area, was illegally taken from the Multnomah tribe of the Chinook Indians.

Home - Jonathan

• 0:19:17

• Transcript

• Short description: Song. A reflection on the country town where Jonathan grew up - the beauty and the bigotry.

• Creator bio: Jonathan is a walker and a stickybeak. He is one of the editors of Queer Out Here.

• Creator links: Website / Twitter

• Creator statement: I have a complicated relationship with the place I was born and grew up. I loved the river, the bush, the animals, the beach, the rainforest, the hills where we lived. But my desire to protect nature (expressed often and loudly from a young age) put me in conflict with a small town that pinned its identity on logging native forests and with peers who couldn’t wait to get a gun and go duck shooting. I felt that conflict more keenly, but more privately, as my awareness of my queer identity coalesced: when you’re a teenager surrounded by prejudice you learn to be strategic with your admissions and omissions. Time and distance have soothed some of the hurt I felt when I wrote and recorded this song over a decade ago - I’m more sad than angry, now. The atmosphere of that town - stultifying bigotry, queerphobia, tall poppy syndrome and toxic masculinity that surrounded us - didn’t only harm queer kids, sensitive kids, marginalised kids: it stunted everyone. I love the place. I wish I could have been happier there.

• Note: This song was recorded on stolen Wurundjeri country. I pay my respects to Wurundjeri and Kulin Elders past and present - and acknowledge all Indigenous and First Nations people listening.

Half Moon Lake - Penelope Foreman

• 0:25:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Prose and poem. Penelope lost her bones-deep attachment to nature because being queer felt like she could never be natural again.

• Creator bio: Penelope is a former teacher, storyteller, folklore magpie, landscape poet and industrial heritage enthusiast. Her roots are in Wales and Yorkshire and the rich artistic and cultural heritage of both these wild, working, wind-and-rainswept landscapes. With almost a decade’s experience in teaching, specialising in challenging behaviours and working in areas classed as deprived, Penelope is a passionate proponent of creative arts, outdoors and hands-on learning. As a community archaeologist she helps people embed themselves in place, past and heritage by bringing archaeology alive in creative ways. She is rarely without her favourite hat, glittery Dr Marten boots and her ideas notebook.

• Creator links: Twitter / Instagram

• Creator statement: When I was a child, I was indistinguishable from the landscapes around me. My skin was earth and my bones forest - and I ran with other children through the wild with abandon. But as soon as I became “woman”, and a non-straight woman at that, suddenly this illusion of harmony was shattered. I want to talk about how the queer experience of basic human interaction, of existing in places we used to feel totally at home and at one with, changes with the weight of society's assumption of heterosexual sexuality, hormones, and adulthood. This piece has only become more poignant as I see a return to the dark, lonely, frightening Section 28 days of my own education. I don't want anyone to grow up frightened of themselves and with that immense, painful loss of belonging that homophobia and LGBTQ+ erasure makes horribly possible.

Fucking Åmål (The Road to Hell 2) - Julia Freeman

• 0:32:28

• Transcript

• Short description: Julia’s second diary entry. Further information above.

Sweeper - Gavin

• 0:035:11

• Transcript

RSPB Birdwatch - Mags

• 0:36:47

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording, postcard. A review of doing the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch in winter 2019, including some birdsong from summer.

• Creator bio: Mags lives in East Sussex, UK and works for a local educational charity. She enjoys travel, photography and the outdoors.

• Creator link: Website

• Creator statement: On Sunday 27 January 2019 I took part in the RSPB Garden Birdwatch, which helps the RSPB to monitor trends and see how birds are doing. I filled up my feeders and observed from my living room window. The weather was cold and dull and I didn't observe as many birds as in previous years. I did spot blue tits, robins, great tits, a chaffinch, magpie, pigeon and a pesky grey squirrel who decided to try and consume as much of the bird food as possible! A relaxing hour doing something useful before the heavens opened and it started to pour down.

Finnish Winter Adventure - Emily and Jenny

• 0:40:06

• Transcript

• Short description: Conversation, field recording. Jenny and Emily discuss the outdoor adventures they had in a remote part of Finland.

• Creator bio: Emily and Jenny are a couple of outdoor adventurers and homebodies living on Wurundjeri land in Melbourne, Australia.

• Creator statement: We went on a holiday to Finland, using a tour group to go on a "Finnish Winter Adventure" in a national park in the north of Finland. We did some conversational field recordings and Jonathan interviewed us about our experience the week after.

• Note: Recordings in Finland were made on Saami Homeland, which has been occupied by the Saami people for thousands of years.

Satyrs - Pablo Miguel Martínez

• 0:51:18

• Transcript

• Short description: Poem. This short poem reflects Pablo Miguel Martínez’s love of nature, history, art and men.

• Creator bio: Pablo Miguel Martínez’s collection, Brazos, Carry Me (Kórima Press), received the 2013 PEN Southwest Book Award for Poetry. Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Sandra Cisneros praised Brazos, Carry Me as her favorite book of 2013. Pablo’s chapbook, Cuent@, was published by Finishing Line Press in February 2016. Pablo’s work has appeared in numerous U.S. publications, including Bilingual Review/Revista bilingüe, Gay and Lesbian Review, Inkwell, North American Review and Pilgrimage. He has been a recipient of the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Artistic Excellence, the Oscar Wilde Award and the Chicano/Latino Literary Prize. His literary work has received support from the Artist Foundation of San Antonio, the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. Pablo is a Co-Founder of CantoMundo, a U.S. retreat-workshop for Latinx poets. He resides in his hometown, San Antonio, Texas.

• Creator link: Twitter

• Creator statement: I have long imagined the ancients' expressions of what we currently refer to as homoeroticism. That fascination serves as a personal reminder that queer people have lived and loved even when we were excluded from the official record and/or widely circulated representations.

You Gather Their Bones - Jade Wallace

• 0:52:31

• Transcript

• Short description: Poem. A recording of a poem Jade wrote about feeding feral cats in downtown Toronto with their then-lover.

• Creator bio: Jade Wallace is a legal clinic worker and writer whose fiction, poetry and essays have been published internationally, including in Studies in Social Justice, The Town Crier, and The Dalhousie Review. Their latest chapbooks are Rituals of Parsing (Anstruther Press, 2018) and Test Centre (ZED Press, forthcoming 2019). They are an organizing member of Draft Reading Series, a member of the collaborative writing partnership MA|DE and one half of The Leafy Greens, a band that has been incorrectly described as "psychedelic stoner metal."

• Creator links: Website / Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

• Creator statement: In downtown Toronto, there is a well-known neighbourhood called Kensington Market, which is home to a large population of feral cats. Local volunteers set out food and water for the cats year-round, as well as taking up other initiatives to help ensure the cats' well-being. A few years ago, I was in my first visibly queer relationship with someone who fed the cats weekly and often I would tag along as they made their rounds. One of this person's other and unrelated habits was tenderly collecting the bones of dead animals they found and setting them among stones, feathers, and other ephemera in beautiful quasi-shrines throughout their apartment. I thought that both the feeding of the cats and the collecting of the bones were not only good but also mystical and inspiring undertakings by my lover. These two preoccupations collided one day when we came across a striking dead starling while feeding the cats. A choice had to be made.

Sweeper - Dan

• 0:53:42

• Transcript

Good Intentions (The Road to Hell 3) - Julia Freeman

• 0:53:55

• Transcript

• Short description: Julia’s third diary entry. Further information above.

Walking the Spaces Between - Jonathon Stalls

• 0:57:45

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue, field recording. Move by foot with Jonathon Stalls after a snow storm on urban streets in Denver, Colorado.

• Creator bio: In 2010, Jonathon spent 242 days walking across the United States. He has continued to walk alongside thousands of people for thousands of miles. He's a passionate artist, social entrepreneur/co-op owner and advocate for social, economic and racial justice. He is also LGBTQIA+, Creator of Intrinsic Paths and Founder of Walk2Connect. He finished his studies at the Living School for Action and Contemplation in 2017 and has committed much of his life to help people deepen and heal relationships to one another, to the natural world and to themselves.

• Creator links: Intrinsic Paths on Patreon / Facebook / Website / Twitter / Instagram; Jonathon Stalls on Twitter / Instagram; Walk2Connect on Twitter / Website

• Creator statement: It's a raw, urban, traffic-filled invitation to moving more the way we're made to outside of our walls, screens, and automobiles. I believe so deeply that queer lives are essential to a more loving, just, and human future. Our bodies, stories, reflections, and art are needed more than ever in public - outdoor spaces, whether that be on nature trails, rural dirt roads, or urban streets.

• Note: Walking on mostly Arapaho and Cheyenne lands (Colorado front range).

Nature Walk - Johnnie Gale

• 1:06:30

• Transcript

• Short description: Poem. Johnnie created Nature Walk while taking a stroll along a creek - it is a spur of the moment piece.

• Creator bio: Johnnie is a multi disciplinary gender-queer artist. He is a poet, working in both performance and Spoken word. He is also a videographer/photographer, creating video art, poetry and postcards from where ever he is at the moment. He is a Zinester creating culinary themed zines, photography zines and per zines. Years ago he got a degree in Media Arts. He worked as a professional cook/chef in world renowned restaurants/hotels. He likes to draw and paint, play with his cat and spend time with his spouse. Together they are the Artistic Nomads, two people looking to live and work full time on the road, creating art and experiencing life. His photography has been focused on flowers and food, with a bit of abandoned buildings thrown in. He loves the sweeping vistas of both the Sonoran desert and the Plains where he currently lives.

• Creator links: Johnnie on Twitter; Artistic Nomads on Twitter / Website

• Creator statement: Nature Walk happened in early Spring, 2016, in a suburb/rural area of Kansas. It is a piece I created while visiting my current home, Kansas. It was early spring, I was on my daily walk. I realized that I have a recording device with me at all times. On the spur of the moment I read this piece into the recorder of my smart phone. Extracted for your listening pleasure is the audio recording of this piece. The video can be seen on YouTube. I love nature in all of its different states and environments and am inspired to create more pieces like this one.

The British Countryside - Allysse Riordan

• 1:08:09

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording. People using the British countryside, including horses, cars and bikes on the road.

• Creator bio: Field Recordist. Sound Artist. Photographer. Writer. Microadventurer. Usually found traipsing in the countryside if not inside creating something from material collected while outside.

• Creator links: Website / Twitter / Instagram

• Creator statement: I set out to record a piece about my love of cycling but while I was doing so, this field recording happened and I fell in love with it. I was standing on a quiet Somerset lane next to my bike. As normal there was some shooting going on (clay I assume) and a lot of birds. I was enjoying the relative quiet when a small airplane came in, followed by cyclists, cars, horse riders, a bigger airplane, and finally the shooting and birds again. I felt I had captured a slice of a typical beautiful Spring Sunday in the lanes of Somerset when everybody is out enjoying the sun. All I was missing were joggers and ramblers but then, they were probably in the fields rather than the road.

Sweeper - Gemma

• 1:14:26

• Transcript

Been There, Done That (The Road to Hell 4) - Julia Freeman

• 1:15:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Julia’s final diary entry. Further information above.

Conclusion - Jonathan and Allysse

• 1:19:19

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding comments and thanks. The sound of a small stream plays beneath the voices.

Issue 03 Preview

A tantalising taste of what’s on the menu in Queer Out Here Issue 03.

The wonderful poems, conversations, music, diaries, monologues and field recordings of Issue 03 will be served up to you in a week or two. Until then, whet your appetite with this snack!

Information about Issue 03 Preview

Length: 1:48

File size: 3.5MB (.mp3)

Transcript: Google Docs

Content notes: We don't think there's anything to flag up in this preview. If you notice something we've missed, please send us an email so we can add a note here.

You can also find this preview on Vimeo (below), SoundCloud and YouTube (including a sneak preview of our super new cover by Dev Moore). Watch, listen, share! We hope you’re looking forward to Issue 03 as much as we are.

A tantalising taste of what’s on the menu in Queer Out Here Issue 03. Queer Out Here is an audio zine that explores the outdoors from queer/LGBTQIA+ perspectives - and Issue 03 is coming soon! You can find Queer Out Here on various podcatcher apps or go to https://www.queerouthere.com/listen/ to stream/download issues. Cover art (extract) by Dev Moore: https://www.instagram.com/nevernever.art/

Off Track presents Queer Out Here

Special edition of Queer Out Here

Off Track presents a special edition of Queer Out Here, featuring a selection of pieces from Issue 01. Off Track, with Ann Jones, is an Australian radio show from ABC’s Radio National. Every week, Off Track explores an aspect of the natural world - anywhere from deep in the ocean to high in the mountains, from the outback to suburban back yards. We love this programme, and we are delighted to be featured in their series of “some of the best of international nature broadcasting and audio”. You can also find this special issue on the Off Track website.

If you enjoy this edition, please share it with your best people - and let us know! You can find us on Twitter and Facebook, check out the Off Track website and find Ann Jones on Twitter.

Information about Off Track presents Queer Out Here

Length: 32:47

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

File size: 31.5MB

High quality audio: Google Drive (360MB, .wav)

Cover art: Elements from both Off Track’s header image and our Issue 01 cover by Emma Charleston.

Content notes: Pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This special issue contains: a piece with a rhythmic, meditative, potentially hypnotic cadence; mentions of mild physical injuries and blood; poems about family estrangement; discussion of concerns relating to transition processes and exercise as a weight loss strategy. Please see content notes from Issue 01 for more information.

Show notes: This special issue is an edited version of Queer Out Here Issue 01, featuring pieces chosen by the Off Track team. Details about each of the featured pieces (and the creators, of course!) can be found in the show notes for Issue 01 and on the Off Track website. The running order for Off Track presents Queer Out Here is as follows.

1. Off Track introduction - Ann Jones

2. Queer Out Here introduction - Jonathan and Allysse

3. Sweeper - Gary

4. An Aborted Swim (Ladies' Pond) - Jo Impey

5. As I am Walking (I am Becoming) - Jonathan

6. Sweeper - Ruth

7. Excerpt from Floodlight Viscera #12 - Erin Kyan

8. Off Track insert - Ann Jones

9. Highway, Shepparton and Rooms - Belinda Rule

10. Sweeper - Emma

11. New Year's Day Thoughts - Jenny List

12. Off Track outro - Ann Jones

Issue 02

Queer Out Here Issue 02

Join us on a reflective journey into the outdoors. Bask in spaces present, remembered and imagined; travel from mountain lakes to holy wells, from canals to backyard ponds; grapple with physical and emotional hardship; take your ears adventuring. (We’ve even got a marriage proposal thrown in for good measure!) The pieces in Queer Out Here Issue 02 include audio postcards, conversations, music, musings, field recording and poetry from queer/LGBTQIA+ folks around the world.

If you enjoy this audio zine, please share it with your friends - and let us know via Twitter, Facebook or email.

Information about Issue 02

Length: 1:09:28

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

File size: 133.4MB

High quality audio version: Google Drive (1GB, .wav)

Cover art: Eris Barnes (Tumblr/Twitter). Eris writes, “My inspiration for the cover was pretty solely based on a tree I remember in my primary school when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old. It was the hip, happening place for making fake food out of mud and rocks, and daring your friends to eat the little purple flowers. Unfortunately, the tree was torn down during the school's renovations on the play equipment and football field, but that only motivated me more to draw my memories of it.”

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains some swearing, mentions of physical and emotional distress, difficult family relationships and social situations, experiences of physical injury and hardship, danger from the elements and being misgendered. If you have specific anxieties or triggers, you could check the transcript for particular words or ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. If we've missed something obvious, please send us an email so we can add it. Some people might wish to take note of the following:

1. Lady’s Well, Holystone - starts at 3:22 - wind distortion in audio

2. Failure - starts at 21:51 - emotional distress, mentions difficult family relationships

3. Nonbinary Nomads - starts at 47:01 - mentions minor physical injuries and physical danger from the elements, hunger and thirst, uses the word “crazy”, discusses being misgendered

4. On the Cuckoo Trail - starts at 59:16 - at one point a fly buzzes close in the right channel

Running order:

1. Lady’s Well, Holystone - Mags

2. Ripples in a Pond at Night - Mary Ann Thomas

3. Beloved (Emily in Love and Ortanique) - Stone Strike’s Lost Weekend Remix

4. Failure - Julia Freeman

5. Snow, Tyres, Breath, Song - Nikki

6. No Gender - Lise

7. Solo Camping at Murray Lake - Fenrir Cerebellion

8. Nonbinary Nomads - Max and Jaye

9. Widewater - Dru Marland

10. On the Cuckoo Trail - Chrissy, June and Jonathan

Show notes for Issue 02

Introduction - Jonathan and Allysse

• 0:00:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Opener (45 seconds), welcome, thank yous and housekeeping.

Sweeper - Rainbow Ramblers

• 0:02:49

• Transcript

Lady’s Well, Holystone - Mags

• 0:03:22

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording/monologue. A walk around Lady’s Well in Holystone, Northumberland National Park.

• Creator bio: Mags is 50 years old and has lived in the South East of England for the last 20 years. She was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne and returns to the area several times a year. Mags enjoys travel and photography.

• Creator link: Twitter

• Creator statement: “This recording was made in May 2018 during a visit to Northumberland National Park. Lady's Well, which is in the care of the National Trust, lies on the edge of the village of Holystone. The pool is surrounded by a grove of trees and it is rumoured that it was used to baptise early Christians. The village is supplied with its water from the spring that also feeds the pool. A stone cross was added to the pool in the Victorian era. A 15th century statue of St Paulinus lies at the east end of the pool. What were the origins of the well? Were they pagan, Roman or perhaps celtic? One can only speculate.”

Ripples in a Pond at Night - Mary Ann Thomas

• 0:08:06

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue. I watched sunset from the backyard of the house I lived in while in rural upstate NY. Mohawk land.

• Creator bio: Mary Ann Thomas is the brown queer daughter of Indian immigrant parents, a travel nurse, bike tourist, and writer. She has bicycled over 10,000 miles in the last five years: in 2014, she bicycled solo from San Diego to Montreal; in 2017, she biked across India from the Himalayas to Kerala, the state at the tip of the subcontinent where her family is from. As a writer, she has attended the VONA Travel Writing Workshop in 2015 and 2017. Since 2015, her work has been published in numerous literary journals and travel platforms, which include Autostraddle, She Explores, Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel, The Rumpus, and On She Goes. She has been featured on several podcasts, including The Dirtbag Diaries, Musafir Stories, and The Ethical Traveler. She is a presenter at the WTF Bikexplorers Summit.

• Creator links: Instagram / Website

• Creator statement: “Living in a rural area increased my capacity to take on responsibilities and clear my mind. This happened through the time I spent outside, watching ripples on the water, feeling the sun on my skin, and letting stress dissolve from my body. In this piece, I sit out by the pond and talk about writing, being outside, and pleasure.”

Beloved (Emily in Love and Ortanique) - Stone Strike’s Lost Weekend Remix

• 0:17:30

• Transcript

• Short description: Ambient music. A remix I made of an original tune by Emily In Love & Ortanique. (Used with permission.)

• Creator bio: Stone Strike grew up in the foothills of the Misty Mountains in North Wales before packing my spotted hanky on a stick, eventually washing up on the unforgiving concrete shores of London.

• Creator links: Stone Strike has chosen to highlight the work of Emily in Love and Ortanique

• Creator statement: “Getting older and being less able to "get out and about", I've turned increasingly to music for its ability to invoke a sense of time and space. The concept of hauntology has brought its own resonance - the music of Burial being a prime example. When Emily sent me her new tune, I was struck by that same sense of time and space and inspired to remix it in a way which reflected that. I took a small sample from the tune, applied some granular synthesis and a minimal amount of post-production. The result is, I hope, true to the original while highlighting that sense of urban hiraeth that I felt on first listen.”

Sweeper - Jessica

• 0:20:48

• Transcript

Failure - Julia Freeman

• 0:21:51

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue. Thinking about failing.

• Creator bio: Julia is a geek, currently residing in Amsterdam, she built herself a bike, and has since been riding far and wide, training for ultra endurance bike racing.

• Creator link: Twitter

• Creator statement: “Monologue discussing thoughts on failure, both in an outdoors context and for LGBTQ persons.”

Snow, Tyres, Breath, Song - Nikki

• 0:34:10

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording. A field recording of movement and stillness in the snow.

• Creator bio: Nikki is newly mobile by foot and by bike and enjoying exploring new territories close to home and further afield.

• Creator statement: “The margins of a park in a large city. It has a reputation as a popular place for cruising and, as a woman who wanders around on her own a lot, I've been explicitly and implicitly warned to stay away from here. In the early hours of the morning, however, I have the woods to myself, free from stigma or fearmongering, and my tyres are the first marks in the freshly fallen snow. Intense concentration on the subtleties of speed, traction, balance and momentum dissolves as I come to a stop: my awareness first shifting to my laboured breathing and then outwards to the songs of the birds that are around and above me. Introspection returns as I later contemplate my evolving relationship to this location, my identity and the assumptions made by myself and others. For a while there though, all that had dropped away and it was just me, my bike, the snow and the birds.”

No Gender - Lise

• 0:37:37

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue with field recordings. Living with no gender and how the nature helps.

• Creator bio: Lise is a graphic designer who lives in France. Since they were young, they were looking for their gender but were never happy with the boy or the girl look. After time, they find the answer: they are no gender, that's all. Just a human on Earth.

• Creator link: Online portfolio

• Creator statement: “In conversation about being no gender and how I live it. How the nature helps.”

Solo Camping at Murray Lake - Fenrir Cerebellion

• 0:42:20

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording/monologue. A brief description of my time at the north end of Murray lake while boiling water for tea. Nlaka'pamux territory.

• Creator bio: Fenrir is a white, ace-aro, gendervoid, mentally ill settler living on Unceded Coast Salish Territory, in the city of Vancouver. They come from and are eager to return to the Okanagan, Nlaka’pamux Territory, in the semi-arid climate of the Rocky Mountains. They moved to the city for medical resources in their transition and forgot to leave when they finished, until their friends and community started to leave the city one by one for the mountains, the islands, or across the continent. As a writer, musician, and avid knitter, they look forward to finding some remote place to live with their dog Sisko, where their primary concern is collecting enough firewood for winter.

• Creator links: Twitter / Website

• Creator statement: “After accidentally climbing a mountain at a smaller campsite the previous day, my dog and I moved to a quieter campground up the Coquihalla. It was my first time solo camping since my summer bike tour two years ago. After this recording, my cassette stove had just enough gas left for a morning cup of tea the next day, just before leaving.”

Sweeper - Emily

• 0:45:21

• Transcript

• Wurundjeri country

Nonbinary Nomads - Max and Jaye

• 0:47:01

• Transcript

• Short description: Conversation. Audio recording about us and our adventures.

• Creator bio: Max and Jaye are a nonbinary couple living in Monterey, CA. They do one backpacking trip every month and have explored tons of the USA including Zion, Yosemite, Bryce Canyon (to name a few)! Their future plans include hiking the John Muir Trail (summer of 2019) and getting married (summer of 2020). For their honeymoon, they plan on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Their other interests include roller derby, Olympic lifting, crossfit, reading, gardening and dogs!

• Creator links: YouTube / Instagram / Facebook

• Creator statement: “Max and Jaye are being interviewed in a car next to Lake Mary in Mammoth Lakes, CA during their hiking trip in the Sierras.”

Widewater - Dru Marland

• 0:56:35

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry. A bit of a state-of-the-nation poem, written in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum.

• Creator bio: Dru is a poet, illustrator and mechanic who lives and works on a canal boat in the West of England.

• Creator link: Blog

• Creator statement: “The canal is a long, thin village, with a very diverse community living and moving on it, threading through the heart of Deep England.”

On the Cuckoo Trail - Chrissy, June and Jonathan

• 0:59:16

• Transcript

• Short description: Interview/sound art. Three people having a chat during a summer walk along the Cuckoo Trail in East Sussex.

• Creator/participant bios: Chrissy is a journalist, specialising in radio and audio. She is also a political campaigner. June is a keen hillwalker and chorister who loves all that Hastings has to offer. Jonathan is a walker and a stickybeak. He is one of the editors of Queer Out Here. All three are members of the Hastings and Rother Rainbow Alliance.

• Creator/participant links: Jonathan: Blog / Twitter Chrissy: Instagram / Twitter

• Creator statement: Jonathan: “A hot summer day, a busy East Sussex rail trail, a long group walk with HRRA’s Rainbow Ramblers. I recorded a meandering conversation with Chrissy and June as we walked and talked our way through a variety of subjects including political activism, living by the sea, local community networks and how we got into walking. With the more experimental edit, I have tried to emphasise the rhythm of walking and the momentum of our footsteps. I had to cut more than half of the original conversation, and I ended up rearranging narratives, weaving them together and drawing echoes of different stories through the piece. I hope that this also gives a sense of the fragmentary nature of conversations on long group walks - how people move around and how snippets of conversation can blend together into a new kind of whole.”

Conclusion - Allysse and Jonathan

• 1:08:05

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding remarks from the editors.

Issue 02 Preview

A taster of what’s to come in Queer Out Here Issue 02. Enjoy!

Hold onto your hats! Issue 02 will be breezing into your feeds and apps in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, this preview should blow away a few cobwebs.

Information about Issue 02 Preview

Length: 1:35

File size: 3MB (.mp3)

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

Content notes: We don't think there's anything to flag up in this preview, but please check the transcript if you're concerned. If you notice anything we've missed, send us an email so we can add a note here.

You can also find this preview on Vimeo (below), SoundCloud and YouTube (Including a sneak peek at Eris Barnes’ cover art for Issue 02) - share away!

Issue 01

Queer Out Here Issue 01

From the sea to the mountains, from cities to fields, along footpaths and highways and beaches, let us take your ears adventuring! The fifteen pieces in Queer Out Here Issue 01 include poetry, conversations, sound art, stories, interviews and field recordings from queer/LGBTQIA+ folks around the world. Full transcript and show notes available below.

If you enjoy this audio zine, please share it with your friends and let us know via Twitter, Facebook or email. You can subscribe to the zine on iTunes and on some other podcast apps.

Information about Issue 01

Length: 1:40:05

Transcript: Google Docs / PDF

File size: 137MB (.mp3)

High quality audio version: Google Drive (1GB, .aif)

Cover art: Emma Charleston. Emma writes, "I recently moved to the country and have been struggling with living in the countryside a bit - my heart will always lie in the city. One of the only ways in which I've succeeded in positively engaging with being outdoors 2 or 3 hours a day (while walking our dog) has been engaging with biology on a close up level, as the seasons change. So that was my inspiration. This is my first ever drawing using a tablet, too, so it's a bit experimental!"

Content notes: The pieces in Queer Out Here talk about many things related to being queer and the outdoors. This issue contains some swearing, descriptions of kissing/sex, mentions of exercise as a weight loss strategy, internalised homophobia, being in physical danger from cold and wildlife and transition-related concerns. If you have specific anxieties or triggers, you could check the transcript for particular words or ask a trusted friend to listen and give you feedback. If we've missed something obvious, please send us an email so we can add it. Some people might wish to take note of the following:

1. As I am Walking (I am Becoming) - starts at 0:13:52 - rhythmic, meditative, potentially hypnotic cadence

2. Story from the Appalachian Trail - starts at 0:17:18 - describes physical danger from cold and wildlife

3. An Aborted Swim (Ladies’ Pond) - starts at 0:54:25 - mention of mild physical injuries and blood

4. New Year’s Day Thoughts - starts at 0:59:22 - concerns relating to transition processes, exercise as a weight loss strategy

5. Highway, Shepparton and Rooms - starts at 1:19:03 - family estrangement

6. We’ve Won the Winter - starts at 1:14:51 - descriptions of sexual/sensual activities

7. Beach Meditation at Bexhill - starts at 1:26:41 - significant wind distortion in audio

8. Wendy at Camber Sands - starts at 1:28:11 - internalised homophobia

Running order:

1. A Walk Down My Path - Adele

2. As I am Walking (I am Becoming) - Jonathan

3. Story from the Appalachian Trail - Aubri Drake

4. Excerpt from “Finding Home in the In-Between with Travis” - Flex Your Heart Radio

5. Excerpt from Floodlight Viscera #12 - Erin Kyan

6. Kenyan Journey - Ania Przygoda

7. Out with Frankie the Dog - EZ

8. An Aborted Swim (Ladies' Pond) - Jo Impey

9. New Year's Day Thoughts - Jenny List

10. Excerpt from “Putting the ‘Out’ in Outdoors With Elyse Rylander” - MtnMeister

11. We've Won the Winter - Liz Tetu

12. Highway, Shepparton and Rooms - Belinda Rule

13. My Seaside - Allysse Riordan

14. Beach Meditation at Bexhill - Mags

15. Wendy at Camber Sands - Wendy and Jonathan

Show notes for Issue 01

Introduction - Jonathan and Allysse

• 0:00:00

• Transcript

• Short description: Welcome, thank yous and housekeeping. The audio playing beneath the introduction is from Allysse Riordan's album Passage, available through Humanhood Recordings.

Sweeper - Gary

• 0:03:07

• Transcript

A Walk Down My Path - Adele

• 0:04:06

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording/monologue. A walk along a path beside a rec ground in Brighton & Hove, trying to connect to nature in the city.

• Creator bio: Adele has lived in Brighton for 9 years. She lives in a one and half bed flat in a block where most of the neighbours don’t know her name. She lives with her Bulgarian partner Elitsa. Now in their late 20s, early 30s they are feeling too old for the city and are working out how they might be able to get out . . . any people with a beautiful house in the country they want to rent out to reliable tenants - please get in touch!

• Creator links: Twitter: @AdeleJBates

• Creator statement: "A walk down a concrete path. My closest bit of nature."

As I am Walking (I am Becoming) - Jonathan

• 0:13:52

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry/sound art. A meditation while walking, about how our identity is related to our environment.

• Creator bio: Jonathan is a walker and a stickybeak. He is one of the editors of Queer Out Here. Jonathan has a few places he considers home: the bush beside the Snowy River on GunaiKurnai country where he grew up; Melbourne, where he went to uni; and East Sussex in the UK, where he’s lived for the last six years.

• Creator links: Blog: In Which I / Twitter: @jonathanworking / Twitter: @inwhichi

• Creator statement: "A meditation while walking. I was thinking about how we bring ourselves into being, how bodies carry traces of the environments in which they are articulated, how we understand our embodied identity from deeply within but also in the way the world reflects our selves back to us. Not everyone can “be in nature” easily or in the same way, but I was thinking about why I feel so much more comfortable when I am in my walking clothes and boots, when I have been walking for an hour or two, when it’s just me and whoever I’m walking with, me and my pack and the path, me and my body, my breath, the wind, the trees, the birds, the sheep. Am I a different kind of person then? Does a person’s identity change as the way they are reflected changes? I was also thinking what that might mean for queer people. After all, despite some of our perceived risks from other humans (in the bush, in parks, in the countryside, in the woods, on the trail) the trees don’t care about the shape of our bodies, the path doesn’t care who we love or who we fuck. I composed and recorded the majority of this piece while walking, which I hope brings the form of the thought, the embodiment of it, into the piece. I was interested to find that the pace of my sometimes matched exactly, even across terrains and continents, but then my footsteps and narration diverged again into their own times and places."

Story from the Appalachian Trail - Aubri Drake

• 0:17:18

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue/story. A dangerously cold, snowy, icy walk in the woods, featuring an encounter with a moose.

• Creator bio: Aubri Drake is a white, queer, genderqueer, trans hiker and backpacker. They section hiked the Appalachian Trail between 2013 and 2017, wearing out many shoes, breaking many trekking poles, and adopting a Southern baby queer along the way! When they're not out in the woods, they do medical research, rock climb, read, crochet, and cuddle their ginger tabby cat, Wash (yes, he's named for the pilot in Firefly).

• Creator links: Articles: The Trek - Timex / Blog: Timex's Appalachian Trail Adventures

• Creator statement: "The Appalachian Trail is a trail that runs from Georgia to Maine, in the United States. It is 2189.5 miles, give or take."

Excerpt from “Finding Home in the In-Between with Travis” - Flex Your Heart Radio

• 0:30:16

• Transcript

• Short description: Interview. Mountains, snow sports and queer adventures with The Venture Out Project. Thank you so much to Travis from The Venture Out Project and Lacy from Flex Your Heart Radio for allowing us to use this excerpt from “Finding Home in the In-Between with Travis”. You rock!

• The Venture Out Project: "We at The Venture Out Project believe in bringing the queer community together to experience the beauty and fun of the wilderness. Our trips are run by queer people for queer people and are open to people of all levels of experience."

• Flex Your Heart Radio: "A podcast about body positivity, fitness, feminism, recovery, taking risks, and crushing it at life."

Sweeper - Ruth

• 0:37:20

• Transcript

Excerpt from Floodlight Viscera #12 - Erin Kyan

• 0:37:46

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry/sound art. Three snippets of life, at a cafe, on the beach in winter, on a road trip.

• Creator bio: Erin Kyan is a disabled, queer, trans man whose writing leans in two drastically different directions. In his spoken word and zines, he touches on themes of vulnerability, courage, desire, and pain, often reaching for the warm and wet darkness that lurks within us. In his audio drama podcast Love and Luck, he gently paints a cheerful picture of love and community, presenting joy and hope as a remedy for hard times.

• Creator links: Website: Erin Kyan / Twitter: @Erinkyan / Facebook: ErinKyanDotCom / Podcast: Love and Luck

• Creator statement: "My poetry is centered in sensory experiences first and foremost. Supporting these stanzas with sound was a natural progression of the piece, another tool to build a stronger connection with the audience and bring them deeper into my experience."

Kenyan Journey - Ania Przygoda

• 0:41:04

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording/sound art. A blend of sounds, music, voices collected on a trip through Kenya in 2010.

• Creator links: Website: Ania Przygoda / Twitter: @aniaadventure / LinkedIn: Ania Przygoda

• Creator bio: Ania Przygoda is a freelance sound editor. She works on features and shorts, as well as commercials and online videos.

• Creator statement: "I love traveling. I like to take my recorder and make binaural recordings of my trips as 'audio postcards'. In this way, I am non intrusive to my environment, and unnoticed as a sound recording. When listening back to them I am literally transported right where I was at that time."

Out with Frankie the Dog - EZ

• 0:49:24

• Transcript

• Short description: Conversation/snippet. A winter walk, differences between English and Bulgarian countryside, dog poo in plastic bags.

• Creator bio: EZ is studying Architectural Technology in Brighton University. Originally from Bulgaria but lived in the UK for the last 10 years. Thoroughly into architecture and art, enjoying living by the sea of Brighton and never found better place to live in England. Since 2012 she is blessed to be in a relationship with her love Adele.

• Creator statement: "Before Christmas, stayed at Adele's family house in Burton upon Trent. Had a flu for a week and a half and tons of university work to do. This field walk was so relaxing and recharging. Always loved animals and being with them is such a special time, adding to this nature the combination becomes extremely appealing."

An Aborted Swim (Ladies' Pond) - Jo Impey

• 0:54:25

• Transcript

• Short description: Conversation/field recording. An attempt to go swimming on Hampstead Heath is thwarted by ice on the pond.

• Creator bio: Jo is a radio producer at the BBC World Service and an aspiring wild swimmer.

• Creator links: Twitter: @JoannaImpey

• Creator statement: "It’s a rainy Sunday in December. It’s been bitterly cold for the last 10 days. In London, Jo is wondering whether this will be the winter when she finally manages to keep swimming right through till spring. She last took a dip in the Ladies Pond at the end of November, when the water temperature was seven degrees. Now it’s near freezing – and sadly, as we’re about to hear, that thwarts her plans. She decides inspect the ice instead . . ."

Sweeper - Sam

• 0:57:58

• Transcript

New Year's Day Thoughts - Jenny List

• 0:59:22

• Transcript

• Short description: Monologue. Thoughts on transition and why trans people might find themselves walking in the great outdoors.

• Creator bio: Jenny List is an engineer and journalist whose roots are firmly in the North Oxfordshire countryside.

• Creator links: Twitter: @Jenny_Alto

• Creator statement: "Thoughts on the whole Queer Out Here thing and why some trans people go walking, during a New Years walk on the Oxon/Bucks border."

Excerpt from “Putting the ‘Out’ in Outdoors With Elyse Rylander” - MtnMeister

• 1:06:38

• Transcript

• Short description: Interview. Queer youth trips with OUT There Adventures, queer people (re)claiming outdoors spaces and activities. Thank you so much to Elyse from OUT There Adventures and Ben from MtnMeister for allowing us to use this excerpt from Episode #172, “Putting the ‘Out’ tn Outdoors With Elyse Rylander”. You're fab!

• OUT There Adventures: "We believe every young person deserves the opportunity to explore their identity in a positive and affirming environment. The goal is simple: empower queer young people through their connection with the natural world."

• MtnMeister: "The podcast that explores the minds of those who explore."

We've Won the Winter - Liz Tetu

• 1:14:51

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry/non-fiction. Charts the development of a relationship through make-out sessions in the wood and long term illness.

• Creator bio: Liz (sometimes Ulysses) Tetu is a gag comic artist and general writer. He’s written creatively about his own life for the 1888 Center, Impossible Archetype, and anthology My Body My Words. At Metropolitan State University, he puts together papers for his last classes in the Creative Sexual Communication major. When he finds time to put down the pen, he picks up bad habits like drinking straight from the milk carton or cussing at his boyfriend for leaving hickeys on his forehead.

• Creator links: Tumblr: liz-isnt-fair

• Creator statement: "Two young bi men, their relationship tied to the woods behind a local apartment building where they make out, have to adapt as one develops ulcerative colitis. This piece blends poetic prose with creative nonfiction."

Sweeper - Dan, Jonathan and Peter

• 1:18:14

• Transcript

Highway, Shepparton and Rooms - Belinda Rule

• 1:19:03

• Transcript

• Short description: Poetry. Memory and place intertwine, so when we lose our families, we can feel exiled from the places we once loved

• Creator bio: Belinda Rule is a Melbourne writer of poetry and fiction. Her work has appeared extensively in journals and anthologies including Meanjin, Australian Book Review, Westerly, Island, Cordite Poetry Review, The London Magazine and Best Australian Poems.

• Creator links: Twitter: @BelindaRule

• Creator statement: "Like many queer people, I am estranged from a large part of my family. We were a camping and travelling family, and I have quite a passionate relationship with the places we used to go. But the memory of family is intertwined with the memory of place, so that even when I am literally standing in the beloved place, I still feel that I am in exile. And that’s what these poems are about. These poems have appeared in print previously: ‘Highway, Shepparton’, Eureka Street, 20 June 2016; ‘Rooms’, foam:e 14 (March 2017)."

My Seaside - Allysse Riordan

• 1:23:04

• Transcript

• Short description: Sound art/field recording. Listen closer to the sounds of the seaside, collect them to make memories

• Creator bio: Ears open and pen at the ready, Allysse is a wanderer and a creator. When not at work, she explores the outdoors around her and further afield, documenting her journeys with the help of her microphones, pen, and camera.

• Creator links: Website: Allysse Riordan

• Creator statement: "My Seaside is an exploration of what the seaside sounds like to me. Made up of different beaches, it is an imagined place, a remembered place that I conjure up even when I'm nowhere near the sea."

Beach Meditation at Bexhill - Mags

• 1:26:41

• Transcript

• Short description: Field recording. The waves splash and drag on the shingle, the wind leaps around the groynes.

• Creator bio: Mags is a 50 year old woman, originally from the North-East of England, but who defected to the South East 20 years ago. She works for an educational charity and in her free time loves photography, travel, reading, music and to hug the odd tree! Mags has a fascination for wandering around old churches and graveyards too.

• Creator links: Twitter: @Magsalex67 / Blog: With Each New Day

• Creator statement: "I often find myself drawn to the sea when I need to escape the stresses of work and daily life. On this day, I had received a barrage of calls related to work and felt the need to escape. Bexhill is only a 20 minute drive away and the sun was shining so this was where I ended up. I find that the sound of the sea crashing onto the beach and the ebb and flow of the tide have the innate ability to create a sense of calm within me. At times I closed my eyes and just engaged with the sound of the sea and wind. I left some time later feeling a sense of calm had washed over me."

Wendy at Camber Sands - Wendy and Jonathan

• 1:28:11

• Transcript

• Short description: Interview/field recording. A conversation ranging from LGBT walking groups to Machu Picchu, childhood and wild swimming.

• Creator bio: Wendy is a second generation Holocaust survivor who lives by the sea on the south coast. Jonathan is one of the editors of Queer Out Here.

• Creator statement: "Wendy was keen to contribute to Queer Out Here, but wasn’t sure about creating a piece herself, so she asked if Jonathan could record a chat while on one of the group walks and if he could edit it down for the zine . . . It’s a cold, clear December morning. There’s ice on the puddles in the Camber Sands car park. The wind is barely stirring, which is unusual for this beach, and the incoming tide laps at the sand with the smallest of saltwater tongues. There are dozens of people out and about - couples arm-in-arm going for a stroll, extended families bundled up in warm clothes, kids tearing in and out of the tall sand dunes, solo joggers, dog walkers and groups of runners in full lycra and neon pink shoes doing laps of the streets and the beach. And then there’s us, a dozen or so members of the Hastings and Rother Rainbow Alliance walking group, our identifying features mostly hidden under scarves, hats and coats. We’re off for our monthly walk - a very short one, this time, just up to the mouth of the River Rother and back along the sand. We pause for a few minutes by the river to chat and take some photos . . ."

Sweeper - Emma

• 1:38:43

• Transcript

Conclusion - Allysse and Jonathan

• 1:38:52

• Transcript

• Short description: Concluding remarks from the editors. The audio playing beneath the conclusion is from Allysse Riordan's album Passage, available through Humanhood Recordings.