Dearest Ladyfest,
Radical Cheerleading is often a part of workshops and performances at Ladyfests across the world and we were hoping for some help through your vast networks to get the word out about our project to document the last 10 years of Radical Cheerleading. Could you please post the following information on your myspace and/or pass the “call for submissions for the Radical Cheerleading Anthology” on to all those that you may think would be interested. Our first deadline for submissions is June 1st and is approaching fast.
If you have any suggestions on how to get more publicity and involvement in our book through feminist networks we would most appreciate your advice. look fwd to your response.
thanks so much.
cheers, brackin firecracker, jeanne vaccaro, aimee and cara jennings
please fwd/ post the following:
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BLOOD, SWEATS AND CHEERS: 10 YEARS OF RAHRAH RADICAL CHEERING
We are compiling a zine like anthology that will include a range of styles and voices – personal, political, academic, and artistic. This book should be like radical cheerleading itself, where the initial idea (an anthology) is corrupted to create a tool for activism. Let’s start writing about our experiences as radical cheerleaders setting protest (and turned over cop cars) on fire! This is a guideline. Choose your own adventure… mix, match, or make up your own!
Pom Pom’s Not Bomb Bombs————————————–
• Do we make an impact politically? • Action brag book, or I can’t believe you got away with that! • What was your favorite protest, and why? • How does creative street theatre allow you to express your politics? • How do the physical movements and choreography of radical cheerleading affect the way you participate in and feel about political action? Did you ever write your own cheer or cheer ‘zine?
You Too Can Be a Cheerleader! NO TRYOUTS!!! • Where/when did you first see radical cheerleading? • What made you want to be a part of a radical cheerleading squad? • How old were you when you first started cheering, and do you still cheer? How is radical cheerleading empowering? Pleated skirts and pom poms: Does radical cheerleading ever reproduce the politics or aesthetics it attempts to mock and reject?
We’re Here. We’re Queer. Get used to it. Sex, Gender, and Politics • What were the gender politics of your squad? • Is radical cheerleading for all genders/everybody?
White Girls Gone Wild • How are race and class accounted for in radical cheerleading? • Why does radical cheerleading appeal to_____________ people? • What did your squad look like and why?
Here Come the Cameras and the TV crew • How do radical cheerleading (and performance activism) generate media attention? • Does publicity help or hurt your message? • Which stunts and antics worked, and which didn’t? • How is radical cheerleading is part of a larger movement of creative protest? How is radical cheerleading connected or influenced by Queerleaders, jeerleaders, cuntleaders, raging grannies? • Is radical cheerleading 3rd wave? • How is it DIY? Do you have a personal collection ofradical cheerleading memorabilia? What does it look like?
Deadline is June 1, 2007. Send your photos, artwork, personal stories, academic essays, manifestos, cheers, flyers, collages, sound files, and more to: radicalcheerleaders@gmail.com – or – Francis Goldin Literary Agency 57 E. 11th Street, Suite 5B New York, NY 10003 Attn: Radical Cheerleading Visit us at www.myspace.com/radicalcheerleadingbook
All accepted contributors will receive a copy of the book and financial compensation. The editors – Brackin Firecracker, Cara Jennings, Aimee Jennings and Jeanne Vaccaro – are represented by the politically progressive Francis Goldin Literary Agency in New York City (goldinlit.com). PASS IT ON.