EssaysProject SpaceScene
Performing Arts 3-2-2020
Part of Series

The Kissing Number

Karen Sherman

Choreographer, writer, and handymam artist Karen Sherman takes us to the East Village in the summer of 1994, in a diptych of essays that contemplate a moment in queer culture, the early days of the internet, aesthetic fixations, and the transience of desire.

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almost almost 24
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The Kissing Number [Without Links]

Finnish wrestlers, Japanese billiards players, Australian power lifters, Québécois aerobics instructors flooded NYC in June of 1994. The city’s hosting of the Gay Games coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which meant you couldn’t swing a dental dam without hitting a queer. I was 23, soon to be 24, living in the East Village and waiting tables in a neighborhood café. I would eventually get fired for being a lesbian but as the only queer person working there, I got excellent tips that summer. European Gay Gamers who didn’t tip left their…

>> continue reading without links

The Kissing Number [With Links]

Finnish wrestlers, Japanese billiards players, Australian power lifters, Québécois aerobics instructors flooded NYC in June of 1994. The city’s hosting of the Gay Games coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which meant you couldn’t swing a dental dam without hitting a queer. I was 23, soon to be 24, living in the East Village and waiting tables in a neighborhood café. I would eventually get fired for being a lesbian but as the only queer person working there, I got excellent tips that summer. European Gay Gamers who didn’t tip left their…

>> continue reading with links

This article is part of the series by guest editor Kristin Van Loon.