Hello from me and the June gloom! This is the second installment of our Pride issues, with our biggest calendar yet and two more events to round out your final weekend. I hope you’re ready.
We hosted our second event last week, and it was a rager. Thank you to everyone who showed out! It’s been so exciting to dream up different ways to bring everyone together, and we have a lot more in store. Head over to our Instagram or Ric’s website to see the pictures, and stay tuned for more footage to come.
Our featured artist is a friend of mine and one of the two best volleyball captains a girl could ask for, Jessi Olarsch. Her paintings draw upon her lived experiences, examining life with chronic illness, the raw tenderness of queer friendship, the shifting boundaries of public and private queer life, and the complicated joy of coming “into” a community.
This issue’s poet is Aster Drewe, who read at the same Herbal Supplements as me a few months ago and absolutely blew me away. Drewe is a writer and artist dedicated to the creation of honest work that stems from the true diaspora of human experience. She aims to develop work in a space that is both safe and challenging. In her work, she releases urgency—instead, the room and the page will be a place for growth, healing, and patience. The product is no longer the goal; rather, the process and development of human voice and story is, in a space that is gracious, open, and receptive. Her directing work has been exhibited recently at Yale University, NYU Tisch Graduate School of Drama, and Columbia University. She was the co-writer and director of the viral internet sensation BUTCH WICKED. Her solo play Chaos God of the Orion Sun will be performed June 27th and 28th at the Tank.
For past three years, Singers has self-produced the Twinks vs. Dolls Olympics: a lighthearted, annual Pride day party and event poking subversive fun at the often over-politicized expectations of gender identity and performance, pitting two teams of young men and women against each other for the glory of victory in a farcical battle of the sexes. Twinks vs. Dolls has quickly become an annual staple of NYC Pride, practically an overnight institution, named Pride event of the year by New York Magazine in 2024.
Now it’s time for biggest, baddest showdown yet—TWINKS VS DOLLS IV: TOTAL CARNAGE. Doors open at The Brooklyn Hangar at 12 with pre-show performances by Dreamcrusher, Dangerous Rose, Josephine Network, Lex Walton, Girldick, and Magda, and opening ceremonies begin at 3 pm with the national anthem by Claywoman. General admission is $50 advance, $60 door, and live streaming the event for those that cannot attend on New York Television.
Gay Gayer Gayest started as a series of house parties a year ago and has now expanded to venues, block parties, and an upcoming Juneteenth celebration in Prospect Park. I discovered them right as they were making the move into public spaces, and I’ll always regret not getting to see how it all started—but it’s been so fun to see how far they’ve come! Celebrate their first anniversary with them at their birthday party on June 28th at Car Park (154 Scott Ave).
We may be halfway done, but the Pride is still high! I ended last June convalescing on my couch for 2 hours before I could drag myself to my bed, where I continued to rot, and I aim to be even more of a wreck this time around. Maybe don’t follow my example.
Dykes and Dolls is always available for free, as we believe community events should never be behind a paywall. We distribute copies around Brooklyn and Manhattan twice a month, usually at the following locations (but keep an eye on our Instagram around release day to see where they end up):
Honey Moon Coffee Shop
Hive Mind Books
Cubbyhole
Soft Butch
Nook
The Bush
Principles GI Coffee House
Obscure Coffee
If you’re loving the zine and want to support us, we do accept donations to help fund production. The more funding we have, the more copies we can get out to our community. Click here to contribute.
We’ve also started a $5 a month mailing list if you would like a copy of the zine mailed to you twice a month. Click here to sign up.
Issue 9 drops on July 1st. Snag your copy IRL, or subscribe here on Substack for the rest of the month’s events.
Did you know our calendar stays up-to-date via Google Sheets? Click here to check that out.
Follow us on Instagram @dykesanddolls to keep up with daily events and new issues.
Thanks for reading! We’ll catch y’all next time.
Lota
Dykes and Dolls
