I wrote this feature story on “disconnected youth” (take the name with a grain of salt) before going out on maternity leave last January.

Living in Limbo: Sonoma County ranks high for ‘disconnected youth’—those out of school and unable to find a job—and reversing the trend isn’t easy

Songlist:

Captain Beyond–Dancing Madly Backwards

Frankie Rose and the Outs-Little Brown Haired Girls

Avi Buffalo-What’s In It For

The Fresh and Onlys-Waterfalls

Three Mile Pilot–What’s In the Air

Deerhunter–Desire Lines

Corin Tucker Band–Doubt

No Age–Fever Dreaming

Margaret Atwood–Year of the Flood

Marnie Stern–For Ash

Listening to the last Hit It or Quit It Podcast reminded me that September marked the 25th anniversary of Kate Bush’s strange/sometimes annoying (monster voices and glitches galore on “Waking the Witch”)/oft times wistfully beautiful album “Hounds of Love.” The guy they interviewed talked about how the anniversary of the album had passed with remarkedly little fanfare (no reissues, rare vinyl releases or special television celebrations, no YouTube reeanctments of favorite moments from the Bush’s surreal/modern dance-inspired video backlog) So I just wanted to give my own shout out here. Thanks to Ms. Bush for making the world a more welcome place for weirdo witchy lady musicians.  xoxo

Meet the tube-nosed fruit bat.  I’m going to take him for walks and we will frolic in remote rainforests where we will nibble on bits of berry between sips of sparkly sugar water.  

I haven’t been blogging over here much, but I have been blogging over at Petals and Bones! Here are some links to my most recent posts:

The Beauty of Being Idle

How Playing Plants Versus Zombies Helped Me Tame My Inner Critic

I wrote a short essay about zine tour and DIY awesomeness over at Is Greater Than. A subject near and dear to my heart. Enjoy!

A song from San Francisco-based Grass Widow’s new album, released by Kill Rock Stars this past August. I get the perfect happy rise in my stomach hearing this one, similar to when listening to the Young Marble Giants orElectrelane. Airy, slightly out of tune vocals combine with a jaunty, rolling guitar line to make a lovely stew.  The vocals seem to ride over the guitar and bass, almost it’s own separate song. Reminds me of  three little girls singing in the back of a car, each singing the same song, but at slightly different tempos.

 Do you hear it? Do you love it too?

Here’s another one by them that is also freakin’ great:

And if you haven’t heard Electrelane yet, then you must by god listen to this song, and run don’t walk to get a copy of “No Shouts, No Calls,” which is brilliant, essential, fucking-fantastic. They share that same slightly out-of-tune vocal style, and the songs always take me back to that first moment of falling hard for someone, seasick crush feeling.

I have a new blog post at about the Bay Area Zine Tour over Petals and Bones. Let me know what you think in the comments section! Talking about community and what we can do to strengthen it is an excellent discussion, I do believe.

So have you heard of Kickstarter? If you haven’t, you should check it out. A funding platform for creative projects, Kickstarter helps artists, writers, and filmakers raise money for projects that might otherwise languish in obscurity. I had my first experience with the site today, when I donated $14 to Tom Tom: A Magazine for Female Drummers (and can I say how freakin’ rad it is to now be part of this illustrious group now that I’m drumming for the 50/50′s?!?!)

Anyway, my friend Beth Winegarner, a Sonoma County native who now lives in San Francisco, is using the site to raise money for her current book project. It’s about heavy metal and video games and parenting—so you know it’s going to be interesting and thought-provoking. You can check out her site below, and I hope to be writing more about her project in the near future!