Woodstein Media Podcast Episode 21: Sista Patricia discusses the work of Drag Storytime Guardians

Since May, a group of concerned citizens known as the Drag Storytime Guardians have supported Drag Story Time and Pride events throughout Southwestern Ontario. At the heart of the guardians is a 70-year-old biker, Sista Patricia, who has been putting what she has learned, marching for the rights of women and the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, into action to protect families and drag queens from far-right fanatics who show up at libraries to protest Drag Story Time.

In this episode, Sista Patricia discusses how she came to be involved with the Guardians, the work they are doing and her thoughts on why the protesters are feeling bold enough to show their hate without regard for how they are perceived in this era.

In a related theme to the main focus of this episode, Woodstein Media also wishes respect and love to the Minneapolis, Minnesota music scene based around the 2SLGBTQIA+ friendly punk music venue Nudieland. Sadly, on August 11, the house venue was the scene of a mass shooting that injured six people and killed one beloved member of the scene, August Golden.

A couple of GoFundMe campaigns have been created after the shooting. One will go toward the "medical bills, lost wages, rent, food and other basic needs" of those impacted. A separate fundraiser was created to support August's partner.

The poetry at the beginning of the episode is by Jimmy Cooper, whose band, Texture Freq, was having a release celebration at Nudieland on the night of the shooting. The episode ends with the song Jackknife by August Golden’s band Scrounger, and the classic song Ich Bin Ein Auslander by Pop Will Eat Itself and Fun-Da-Mental warning of being “trampled under foot of the right on the rise.” 

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Links related to this episode.

Drag Storytime Guardians Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/668134058487048 

Support for victims of Nudieland shooting in Mpls - https://gofund.me/4ee7fabc

Help Support August Golden’s partner - https://gofund.me/a142f093

Music and Poetry links

Furious Beautiful Zines - https://furiousbeautiful.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-my-place-in-things

Scrounger - https://scrounger.bandcamp.com/album/at-the-edge-of-our-abilities

Pop Will Eat Itself - http://www.popwilleatitself.net/pwei/

Fun-Da-Mental - https://akifdm.bandcamp.com/music