Ksenia M. Soboleva, Samantha Nye, and Catalina Schliebener will discuss their collaborative project Raspberry Swirl: Dyke Views on Tori, which poses Tori Amos as a time-capsule into 1990s teenage rebellion, queer alienation, and femme aesthetics. Published by Lyeberry press, the eponymous artist-book is the culmination of their deep dive into queer Tori fandom, which they have coined the “Tori Vortex.” Led by Ksenia’s desire to theorize the lesbian obsession with Tori Amos, Sam and Cata reflect on the ways in which their adolescence was marked by the redhaired musician, and how these sensibilities have informed their current artistic practice.

Megan Milks will read from TORI AMOS BOOTLEG WEBRING, their personal history of early online Tori fandom. In this second volume of Instar Books’ new Remember the Internet series, Milks returns us to a world before “search” and “social media,” a world still inventing the rules for being with one another online. Teenage Megan takes us on a journey from early listservs and personal fan pages to the most elite Tori Amos tape trading webring of 1998, using their living room computer to navigate fandom friendships haunted with nascent queer meaning.

Stephen van Dyck will read from PEOPLE I’VE MET FROM THE INTERNET, a queer re-imagining of the coming-of-age narrative set at the dawn of the internet era, taking the form of a very long annotated list. The book spans twelve years, starting in 1997 when AOL is first entering suburban homes just as thirteen-year-old Stephen is coming into his sexuality, constructing selves, and cruising in the fantasyscape of the internet. Through strange, intimate, and sometimes perilous physical encounters with the hundreds of men he finds there, Stephen explores the pleasures and pains of growing up, contends with his mother’s homophobia and early death, catalogues popular culture (Shirley Manson, Annie Lennox, and Tori Amos), and searches for glimpses of utopia in the available world.

Safety protocol:

In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 we ask that all attendees bring proof of vaccination and we are limiting the number of in-person attendees to 35. Registration on Eventbrite is required in order to attend. You will need to show proof of vaccination at the door.

Click here to register

If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please cancel your reservation so that others can attend.

Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.

KSENIA M. SOBOLEVA is a Russian-Tatar writer and art historian specializing in queer art and culture, with a particular focus on lesbian (in)visibility. She holds a PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU.

SAMANTHA NYE is a painter, video installation artist and long-term Tori Amos lover living in Philadelphia. Samantha’s first solo show My Heart’s In A Whirl is currently on view at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

CATALINA SCHLIEBENER is a Sudamerican, Chilean-born visual artist who works primarily with collage, installation, and murals. Schliebener’s work draws on images, objects, and narratives associated with childhood and explores gender, sexuality, and class.

MEGAN MILKS is the author of Tori Amos Bootleg Webring, as well as Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body and Slug and Other Stories, both out this fall from Feminist Press.

STEPHEN VAN DYCK is the author of People I’ve Met from the Internet, out now from Ricochet Editions. Stephen lives in Los Angeles.