Dana Wright has worked as an exotic dancer for the past fourteen years. In fall 2012 she participated in the RedUP memoir workshop. The two stories she reads here were published in the first issue of Pros(e), our literary journal. She read the stories at Red Umbrella Diaries on January 3, 2013.

Podcast editing and hosting by Josh Ryley. Podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project. Live events are produced by the Red Umbrella Project.

Dancer and performer Karl Marxxx tells a story about being an amateur dancer. The 77th episode of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast features a story told during Josh Ryley’s guest hosted night on May 3, 2012.

Karl Marxxx is a Brooklyn-based performance artist, exhibitionist and sex blogger. He has performed on numerous art and festival stages including recent appearances at Dixon Place (NYC), the Walters Art Museum (Baltimore), The Great Big International Drag King Extravaganza, Showgirls (Ptown), the Charm City Kitty Club (Baltimore) and CRACK (Washington, DC). Karl also blogs for the Big Shoe Diaries (www.colbykeller.com), an artsy-fartsy gay porn blog featuring nerd-porn icon, Colby Keller.

Podcast editing and hosting by Josh Ryley. Podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project. Live events are produced by the Red Umbrella Project.

Dancer and performer Sweet Loraine tells a painful and brave story about being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and what it took to get the right support, find the right people to believe her, and be a survivor. The 76th episode of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast features a story told during a night with the theme Survivors, which RedUP hosted during Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April 2012.

Sweet Loraine is an actress, performance artist, go-go dancer, & burlesque performer. Catch her on a stage near you, teasing and pleasing all over NYC! She loves the freedom that these types of performances allow in the realm of sexuality. She is thankful for all the healing and self acceptance that this edition of the Red Umbrella Project promotes.

Podcast editing and hosting by Josh Ryley. Podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project. Live events are produced by the Red Umbrella Project.

The 75th episode of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast features Aimee Herman reading about addiction and feeling at odds with the sex industry. She read this excerpt from the Red Umbrella Project’s literary journal, Pros(e) issue #1.

Performance poet Aimee Herman was recently featured at the LGBT Fresh Fruit Festival. She sews limbs on words to see how far they can stretch. Her work can be read in dead (g)end(er), THRUSH, and Lavender Review. She’s a former sex worker and current sex activist. Aimee edits erotica for Oysters & Chocolate and is a host for the Inspired Word performance series. Find her writing poems on her body in Brooklyn or at aimeeherman.wordpress.com.

Podcast editing and hosting by Josh Ryley. Podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project. Live events are produced by the Red Umbrella Project.

Ta-da! The return of the Red Umbrella Diaries! This time around, we’ve got a new host – Josh Ryley – and better audio recording quality (huzzah!)

The 73rd episode of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast features Anna Saini telling a story about a photographer she worked with in Detroit and their mutual messy relationship with the sex industry. She read this excerpt from her piece “Sin,” which was published in the Red Umbrella Project’s literary journal, Pros(e), issue #1, on January 6, 2013 in New York City.

The 67th episode of Red Umbrella Diaries features Ben Rosenberg serenading the crowd with a not quite love story. This reading took place during the Love and Riches reading on February 2nd 2012.

ben rosenberg is a multimedia/performance artist and designer who has spent the majority of his time getting schooled in herstory and urban development since emigrating as a refugee from los angeles early last year. when not cooking or making awkward quips about fighting the powers that be, he is usually working with [queer electro punk collective] lotus eater machine, as well as organizing PHAN[T.A.Z.]MAGORIA, a new immersive audio visual experience based on hakim bey’s model of the temporary autonomous zone.

Podcast editing by Josh Ryley. Podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project. Live events are produced by the Red Umbrella Project.

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The 66th episode of Red Umbrella Diaries features adult film star Sinnamon Love reading a message to a former lover. This performance took place on February 2nd 2012 as part of the Loves and Riches reading.

Sinnamon Love is an adult film star, fetish model, professional dominatrix, writer & single mom of 3 teenagers living in Brooklyn, NY. Since 1993, Love has appeared in over 250 hardcore movies, numerous men’s magazines and countless appearances on Playboy TV & Radio. In 2010, Sinnamon took on a year long tour with The Punany Poets of HBO’s “Real Sex” fame, a sex positive erotic poetry & sex education theater show. She is a frequent guest on Shade 45 on Sirius/ XM radio, and is currently a staff writer & relationship columnist for TheWellVersed.com. In 2010 she was inducted into the Urban X Awards’ Hall of Fame followed by induction into the AVN Awards’ Hall of Fame in 2011. Love is an outspoken Autism/ Asperger’s parent advocate and has recently taken on improving sex education in Inner City schools.

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Podcast editing by Josh Ryley. Podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project. Live events are produced by the Red Umbrella Project.

The 65th episode of Red Umbrella Diaries features Akynos reading a piece inspired by a “Christian” client, Stefan. This piece was read at the Love and Riches event on February 2nd 2012.

The self proclaimed e-slut extraordinaire known as The Incredible, Edible, Akynos is a burlesque performer of almost 5 years. the newest member of the popular burlesque troupe Brown Girls Burlesque, she’s performed on stages from Symphony Space to the late great Zipper Factory. She’s a burlesque show producer and former stripper who aspires to strip again only if the money is right. She’s been a proud working girl and will write about her escapades in her graduating piece A Sexual Social History Involving Theory when she graduates from Goddard College this March. She’s scheduled to go on an east coast tour this spring and produce wonderful burlesque ensembles such as Darkie and Thick. You’d have to be pretty lucky to get a date with her but until then visit her on www.akynos.com

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Podcast editing by Josh Ryley. Podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project. Live events are produced by the Red Umbrella Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by  RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Wanda Lee Robinson is the author of STOPLESS!  Wanda Lee Robinson came of age in Lou Reeds New York in the 1970′s. She describes New York City of that era as a “GRITTY GLAMOUR”  She earned her living as a topless dancer, working in infamous places like; BILLY’S TOPLESS, THE BABYDOLL LOUNGE, and THE ADAM & EVE.

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Podcast editing by Josh Ryley. Podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project. Live events are produced by the Red Umbrella Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

The 62nd episode of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast features a hilarious story about sex and money, told by anna saini at the Love and Riches event on February 2, 2012.

anna Saini has lived many lives as a political scientist, radical activist, and multi-media artist. She completed a B.A. and M.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto and McMaster University respectively. She works as a community organizer on issues of equality in higher education, drug policy reform, prison abolition, womens abuse issues, police brutality, and labor rights. Her writing appears in Bitch Magazine, make/shift Magazine, various journals and in her self-published anthology Colored Girls.

In the 60th episode of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast, a pair of harm reduction workers spin a story – part personal and part political – about the changing landscape of sex work and drugs, and how public health policy interacts with these two cultural taboos. This piece was read by L. Synn Stern (she starts off the piece) and Nikki Krempasky at the High and Dry event on December 1, 2011.

Nicole (Nikki) Krempasky is a small town Ohio turnip turned Brooklyn-based activist and Nurse Practitioner in Women’s Health.  After a colorful upbringing and too long in the midwest, she relocated to NYC to find more of the stuff that her dreams were made on and that her life is. She now works as a healthcare provider in harm reduction and reproductive health settings.  She is an active member of SWOP-NYC (Sex Workers Outreach Project), PROS (Providers and Resources Offering Services to sex workers) Network, National Abortion Federation, Clinicians for Choice, and co-hosts a feminist and pro-choice radio program called Voices and Choices.

L. Synn Stern has worked with New York City’s syringe exchange programs since their pre-legal days in the 1980s.  She owes her start as a health care professional to the AIDS crisis which made street youth like her desirable for particularly those skills which one previously hid from an employer: how to inject, how to sneak condoms on, how to sell sex to strangers (and get out of their cars paid and alive).  She is the author of Tricks of the Trade, a much translated and widely used collection of health and safety tips for street sex workers and the agencies that serve them.  She has earned both a Masters in Public Health from Hunter College and an Aphrodite Award from Annie Sprinkle.  She currently works as a Registered Nurse and Health Services Coordinator at Washington Heights CORNER Project, a NYC-based syringe exchange program.

L.D. Sorrow was born on the same day as Dolly Parton and Edgar Allan Poe, and enjoys reading, writing, and driving very fast. She has recently graduated school and become Dr. Queer, Medicine Woman.

In the 57th episode of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast, latex fashion design and sex worker Klawdya Rothschild tells a story about how she learned to dress for work and how her business as a latex designer developed. This story was told at the Catwalk event on September 1, 2011.

Klawdya Rothschild is a curator, artist, advocate, and occultist. Klawdya has degrees in fashion, fiber/textile arts and museum studies, and has been seen curating the Baltimore Erotic Arts Festival, judging Miss Rubber World, and serving on the board of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF). The former House Dominatrix for BOUND, Klawdya has participated in the Sex + Community for over a decade as a model, performer, sex worker, sacred whore, and presenter. Klawdya currently offers custom latex and repair to New York’s rubber and vegetarian leather enthusiasts with her exclusive label KLAWTEX for Purple Passion.

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Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 54 features Sophia Dazzle’s story of drugs, young love (or lust), and gross bosses.

Sophia Dazzle started working in the sex industry as a teenager, and has since become an avid sex worker activist, academic and performer. Though a born-and-bred New Yorker, she considers herself tri-cosmopolitan, splitting her time between three continents (North America, Europe and Asia). She read this piece at the Recipe for Disaster event on August 4, 2011.

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Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 50 (!!) features three-time Red Umbrella Diaries performer Dominick’s account of a New Jersey cop’s willingness to cross state lines, a great river, and several other boundaries to be with him. He told this story at the Law and Order themed event on June 2, 2011.

‘Dominick’ found his confessional voice as a regular at Dean Johnson’s ‘Reading for Filth’ series. Dominick draws on his own diaries kept during his three year stint as a sex worker, delving into such topics as his lost sugar daddy, the evolution of his dominant guido persona, the digital transformation of the sex industry, eighties music, ass health- and of course, the johns, in all their splendor. Since retiring from sex work, Dominick walks among civilians in NYC’s real estate industry- where the art of the sell is supreme. Dominick lives on the far West Side with his very understanding boyfriend.

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Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Annabelle Xaah is a bookworm that pops out of the library every once in a while to strip dance and kick ass, in order to sustain a healthy cashflow. It’s all to keep the nutrition channeling uninterrupted through the wormy tunnels of her stomach and brain, where, unfortunately, the flow is always a matter of life or death. As a fifteen-year-old former runaway and survivor of a hundred secret senses, she thinks of herself as a dishonorably discharged war veteran of sorts: old, crippled, and angry. “Don’t ask me any questions – I’ll kill you. Can you spare some change?” She prides herself on being a bit of an oddball ascetic, working minimal hours at maximum wage, and not really giving a fuck when her bank statements begin with the word “danger” in red letters – in other words, she’s the laziest hoe in the world. She supplements her salary with a little dumpster-diving here and a little couch-surfing there, on the luxurious floors of her university library; because materialism stifles enlightenment, and property is theft – excessive amounts of it anyways – stiletto boots notwithstanding….All this trouble, for a room of one’s room, or just a carrell, a small space of peace to shelter the life of the mind, while making her way through that American system of contemporary debt slavery, AKA education. While Annabelle spends her weekdays reading about social justice and revolution, she takes a biting pleasure on the weekends in practicing the techniques of rebel warfare on her very generous little old slaves.

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Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Apologies for the month-long lag between episodes! We’ve been moving house, and it’s taken up a lot more time and energy than we thought. For the next few weeks we’ll be posting multiple episodes of the Red Umbrella Diaries each week. There’s a lot of great stories to get caught up on!

Episode 43 features Zawadi Nyong’o reading at the Boom and Bust event on April 7, 2011.

Zawadi Nyong’o is an activist from Kenya who read from “When I Dare To Be Powerful”, about which she says “Five audacious women, five compelling stories and what promises to touch, move and inspire many women in Africa and beyond. “When I Dare to Be Powerful” is East Africa’s first collection of herstories of women engaged in sex work.  Women who dare to cross the line, share their journeys of subversion, transformation and rebellion.  Women who express their love, pain, joy and ambitions.  Women who embrace sexuality, celebrate diversity, and refuse to tolerate adversity.  Women who weave through sexuality and its connections with many aspects and faces of women’s rights. May African women continue to tell their stories and break the silence.”

Download the whole set of stories for free here.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Rebecca Alvarez is a Brooklyn-to-Philadelphia transplant who totes around a panache for BDSM, a devotion to kindness, and a seat at her table for all sweaty freaks. She emerged as a fledgling sex educator in 2004 with the women owned-and-run sex shop Babeland in New York City. She went on to write a sex column for the Indypendent newspaper and the Sex Herald. Her love/disdain for the written word was tested during her tenure as a bookmaker/letterpresser with Booklyn and as the host of the NYC-based small-press reading series Cup and Pen. Currently, she works as one-third of the pleasure-based sex education collaborative ScrewSmart and a gynecological teaching associate while earning her dual masters degree in Social Work and Education in Human Sexuality at Widener University.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 37 features J.D. Ackerman telling a story about working in porn. This story was recorded during the Price of Love themed event on February 3, 2011.

J.D. Ackerman J.D. is a new media sex educator and sexuality writer with a Masters of Education in Human Sexuality. Not only is she a co-creator of ScrewSmart, Philly’s own pleasure-based sex education collective, she works online, creating a sex-positive community with HotMoviesForHer.com, a video-on-demand adult movie site specifically for women. With a focus on pleasure education and queer sexuality, J.D. spends her days making sure that every person is experiencing the most pleasure they can, as well as baking, sewing, crafting and pretty much doing anything else that involves her hands.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Matthew Lawrence is a writer and former escort living in Providence, Rhode Island.  He has written for Carnal Nation and $pread Magazine. Currently he runs a small literary events organization and co-edits Headmaster, an art magazine for man-lovers.  His blogs are Mixtapes For Hookers and Naked Pictures Of Your Dad.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 27 features LeNair “Tré” Xavier, who shares a story about what his mother thinks about his life as an out bisexual porn star. This story was recorded during the Family Affairs themed live event on December 2, 2010.

LeNair “Tré” Xavier is a predominantly gay bisexual entertainer and author who writes about sex, life & love in his blog, Tré’s X-Ray Vision. While he has retired from performing in studio-based gay porn, his continued exhibitionist displays online and telling of his sexual adventures and explorations for his blog maintains his being considered an adult entertainer.

During his time in the industry, Tré’s writing skills at creating vivid pictures and expressing valid points has led to him writing blog entries for Pitbull Production’s ThugPornBlog, and more recognizably, MOC Blog, which he still maintains being a contributing writer for. He has also had his opinions published in a book review for FlavaMen Magazine, and in the Feedback section of The Advocate. In the vein of his published words on MOC Blog and in The Advocate, he is an active and well-recognized voice for racial equality in gay adult entertainment by way of comments on various websites like Fleshbot, Gay Porn Times, and The Sword. And since retiring, Tré’s voice fighting for that racial equality continues to be heard by the aforementioned, and even more places now as he has spread to fighting for it in gay mainstream entertainment as well, including most recently the gay cable channel, LOGO. All this while he resurrects his skills as an actor, dancer, singer, artist, poet, and songwriter. Most of which can be found on his YouTube channel.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 26 features Katelan Foisy, who shares a story about her mother’s brush with Playboy. This story was recorded during the Family Affairs themed live event on December 2, 2010.

Katelan V. Foisy is a visual artist, pin-up model, writer, and tarot reader living in NYC. Her fine art pieces have been displayed at The Worcester Art Museum, Ohio History Museum, Mae West Fest, MODA, Museum of Contemporary Art DC, as well as the A&D gallery in London. Her illustrations have graced the pages of the Grammy Awards, Scholastic Books, as well as appearing on the stage of Ensemble Studio Theater. She is the art director for Constellation, an astrology-based arts magazine, and released her memoir Blood and Pudding earlier this year. www.katelanfoisy.com

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 25 features Syd, who shares her story about growing up the daughter of a sex worker. This story was recorded during the Family Affairs themed live event on December 2, 2010.

Syd is a writer and photographer interested in youth led research, sexuality & social justice. Her masters thesis, “Beyond Risk: The evaded curriculum in sexuality education for marginally housed and homeless young women,” has helped shape and focus her lens through which she sees the power in education and knowledge. She has been a passionate photographer since the age of 14, continually documenting her life in New York City and Beyond.

She has a BA in Sociology from St. Lawrence University and her MA in Sexuality Studies from San Francisco State University. Currently she is working with queer youth in NYC, c0-creating and building a peer sex education program with 15 amazing youth interns.

Her photography has appeared in publications by the National Sexuality Resource Center and The Center for Sex and Culture and The Richard F. Brush Art Gallery. Her writing is published in $pread magazine and the San Francisco State University Library. She is interested in Photo Journalism & Art/Erotic Photography.

This Cuban/Greek sex geek lives in New York City with her Pound Pup, Henry Marie Elizabeth and is always on the look out for a new restaurant to try.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

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Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 24 is a special edition of the Red Umbrella Diaries podcast, featuring select speeches from the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers event held in New York at the Metropolitan Community Church on December 17, 2010. The event was organized by SWOP-NYC and was one of dozens of events taking place around the world. Audacia Ray hosted the evening, and the Red Umbrella Project was a co-sponsor, along with the Anti-Violence Project, Audre Lorde Project, Babeland, Counterpublic Collective, FIERCE, MADRE, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Peter Cicchino Youth Project, The Queer Commons, PONY (Prostitutes of New York), PROS Network, SAFER, Sex Work Awareness, Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, SWANK (Sex Workers Action New York), SWITCH, SWOP-NYC (Sex Workers Outreach Project – NYC Chapter), The Space at Tompkins, and the Third Wave Foundation.

In this podcast, you’ll hear (in order) speeches by:

Audacia Ray is a media maker and advocate who is based in New York City. She consults on information and communications technologies for the Global Network of Sex Work Projects and hosts a monthly storytelling series, The Red Umbrella Diaries, where people who have worked in the sex trade gather to share stories and document their experiences. Audacia leads annual media training workshops with Sex Work Awareness.

Michael Miller developed and implemented a harm reduction intervention in peer education and peer outreach for LGBTQ youth of color that were engaging in street and internet-based sex trade. Through this work, Michael became one of the founding members of the PROS Network (Providers and Resources Offering Services to sex workers) and is currently serving on the PROS Committee for Community Education. Michael is speaking tonight on behalf of the Counterpublic Collective, a peer-led workgroup that fosters thoughtful reflection and community-building around queer issues through discussions that are both academic and personal.

Chelsea Johnson-long is an artist/activist with over 6 years of experience in liberation theater and music therapy. She rests her head in Brooklyn via her homeland on the island of Oahu. She received her BA in Community Studies, Theater, and Feminism from UC Santa Cruz. As current program Co-coordinator of the Safe OUTside the System collective (a program of the Audre Lorde Project) she works with the LGBTSTGNC people of color community in central Brooklyn to address violence without relying on police.

Sarah Jenny Bleviss is a community organizer and co-founder of SWANK and SWOP-NYC. She read a piece by Stephanie Thompson, daughter of Catherine Lique, a sex worker who was found murdered in Nevada in 2003.

We also got some great mainstream media coverage. Watch an NBC segment on the event below:

This event and podcast is hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded by Chris Thomas and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

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Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 23 features Lily Burana, the author of the memoirs Strip City and I Love A Man in Uniform and the novel Try. Lily reads from her book Strip City in this episode, which was recorded during the Family Affairs themed live event on December 2, 2010.

Lily Burana is a punk rock girl turned writer and editor. Since starting her writing life as a columnist and editor at punk and alternative ‘zines, she has gone on to write for numerous publications including The Washington Post, GQ, The New York Times, Self, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly, Details, The Village Voice, Slate, Salon, and The New York Observer, and her reviews and cultural criticism have been picked up by magazines and newspapers around the world. She has been a Contributing Editor at SPIN and New York magazines. Her essays have been included in numerous anthologies.

Lily is the author of three books. Her first book, STRIP CITY: A Stripper’s Farewell Journey Across America (Miramax Books, 2001) made Best Book of the Year lists in Entertainment Weekly, Salon, New York Newsday, and Rocky Mountain News, and was selected as a Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers title. Strip City was also named in the Top Six “EW Picks” in Entertainment Weekly’s 2008 “So You Want to Write a Memoir” roundup, which featured a thousand recent memoirs. Her novel, TRY (St. Martins Press, 2006), an alt.Western romance, was lauded by Kirkus Reviews as “a touching winter-spring romance set amid full Western regalia.” Her third book, I LOVE A MAN IN UNIFORM: A Memoir of Love, War, and Other Battles (Weinstein Books, 2009) was called “a notable historical document” by the New York Times.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 22 features Goldschwanz, a German escort who is based in Berlin. The piece was recorded during the Bad Behavior themed live event on November 4, 2010.
Goldschwanz is a Berlin & London based independent escort, dedicated activist, writer & visual artist. She smashed her promising academic career to become a sex worker, and has since checked out the European adult industry, starred in scat movies and fetish clubs, and has been an usherette at porn movie theatres, a party host, and sex coach. She blogs at “Hookers’ Republic,” a dirty, entertaining, and revealing treatise on sex worker issues, and documents her life and travel with images, print columns, comic strips, and poetry. She also performs multifaceted stand-up comedy to crack mind-mapping and stereotyping and tackle political issues with grim humor. She has performed in London & Berlin and this is her debut in NY.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 21 features multiple AVN Award winner Joanna Angel. The piece was recorded during the Bad Behavior themed live event on November 4, 2010.

Joanna Angel is a writer, producer, director, model and AVN award-winning adult film star – is more commonly referred to as the “Queen of Punk Rock Porn” in the adult world.

A nerd by nature, Joanna holds a B.A. in English from Rutgers University and although her name and brand are synonymous with a much more risqué art, she remains a director, writer, actress, adult entrepreneur and comedian. Joanna has been published in Carly Milne’s “Naked Ambition,” and was a featured sex columnist for Spin Magazine in 2006. She is also a diligent blogger who captures her daily experience for fans on the BurningAngel blog.

When forming the BurningAngel empire, she drew upon her strengths as a powerful, intelligent and creative woman, added her innate sense of comedic timing, and – with a lot of chutzpah and her unique vision – created a whole new genre of adult film. http://joannaangel.com

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 20 features Desiree Burch, who tells a story about her struggle to understand her power as a dominatrix. The piece was recorded during the Bad Behavior themed live event on November 4, 2010.

Desiree Burch is an NYC-based comedian, emcee, writer, and New York Neo-Futurist, best-known for her acclaimed solo show “52 Man Pickup” which has played alt-theater venues in New York and London as well as the Hollywood and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. One of New York Magazine’s “10 New Comedians that Funny People Find Funny,” Desiree has supplied laughter for MTV, VH1, NBC News, The New York Post, Comedy Central, Huffington Post and more, and can also be seen in the upcoming feature-length documentary “I Heart New York.” She is a Yale graduate and previously hosted/curated the reading and variety series Smut. (“Art that should carry a Parental Advisory Label” – NY Times). http://desireeburch.com

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 19 features Christine Macdonald, who reads from her memoir-in-progress. The piece was recorded during the Bad Behavior themed live event on November 4, 2010.

Honolulu native Christine Macdonald worked the darker side of paradise as a nude exotic dancer Waikiki. Her articles, The Customer is Always Trite, Embarrassing Stripper Moments and Stripper Scoop: your top five questions answered earned her cover spots as Editor’s Picks on Open Salon; she has also been featured and recognized as a rising author on the popular publishing site Scribd. An avid supporter of equal rights, Macdonald founded Another way to say it Greetings, a greeting card company that caters to her friends in the GLBT community. She plans to launch these cards following completion of her current project. Christine is currently writing a memoir about her experiences as a stripper from 1987 to 1996, and was selected as the October 2010 NAMW Member of the Month.She is a self-proclaimed stripper cliché and recovering narcissist.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 18 features Alithea Howes, who talks about her experience running a Monday night burlesque show, Original Cyn. The piece was recorded during the Healing Touch themed live event on October 7, 2010.

Alithea Howes takes her clothes off in bars and teaches people how to be kinky. She has been performing burlesque since 2005 and stunning audiences with her creative twists on the art of burlesque. After becoming a professional dominatrix in 2006 she began teaching classes on the art of kink and has taught for TES, DSF, and GD2 among others. She is also a writer, a storyteller and an artist. Find her on facebook, fetlife (under the name Coraline) or look her up at www.marycyn.com

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 17 features Tobi Hill-Meyer, who shares a story about her partner Briar. The piece was recorded during the Healing Touch themed live event on October 7, 2010.

Also check out Tobi’s piece My Year as a “Pimp”, in which she writes about her experience working security for her partner, an outcall sex worker.

Tobi Hill-Meyer is just about your average multiracial, pansexual, transracially inseminated queerspawn, genderqueer, transdyke, colonized mestiza, pornographer, activist, writer.

Having been less than thrilled with both her own experience in mainstream porn and the amount of representation trans women have in queer and feminist porn, she directing and produced Doing it Ourselves: The Trans Women Porn Project, winning the Emerging Filmmaker award from the Feminist Porn Awards in the process.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 16 features Sarah Sloane, who talks about her path to sex education and the sex business, through surviving and thriving after sexual trauma. The piece was recorded during the Healing Touch themed live event on October 7, 2010.

Sarah Sloane travels the US & Canada as a sex, relationship, and kink educator, sowing her wild oats (and selling sex toys) along the way. She speaks to thousands of people each year, and gets a total buzz from watching the “aha!” moments that happen to attendees during and after classes. She’s also a grudgingly prolific writer (with regular columns on Fearless Press and on other websites), activist, and sex-positive business coach & consultant. Her current adjectives include queer, butch-ish, curmudgeony, left-wing, and unapologetic introvert.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded edited by David Beasley, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 15 features Ducky Doolittle, who shares some insight on resilience, healing, and her path from peep show girl to sex educator. The piece was recorded during the Healing Touch themed live event on October 7, 2010.

With more than two decades working in the field of sexuality, Ducky Doolittle graduated from behind the peepshow glass to the front of the class. Today she is a celebrated Sex Educator and the author of “Sex with the Lights On: 200 Illuminating Sex Questions Answered” Ducky is also a certified Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention Counselor. Harvard University has cited her as their “favorite, most informative and hilarious” sex educators ever to grace their campus. MTV said, “Who do you want to talk about sexuality with? Ducky DooLittle. She knows it all!” Ducky is the President of Love U Parties, a healthy-for-the-body sex toy company.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was edited by Audacia Ray, with podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 14 features “A Parent’s Story,” my favorite blog carnival selection from September. This piece came to me from Touching Base New South Wales, an organization in Australia -where sex work is decriminalized- that aims to facilitate the links between people with a disability, their support organizations, and the sex industry. The story is by Angie, mother of Elisabeth, about their family’s struggle to address the sexual needs of their daughter, who has cerebral palsy. The piece was recorded during the Healing Touch themed live event on October 7, 2010. Read the whole blog carnival here.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 13 features the story “Ode,” written by the blogger Hooker Addict and performed by Red Umbrella Diaries host Audacia Ray. Every month I selected a favorite piece from the monthly blog carnival and read it at the live event. The piece was recorded during the Demand Side themed live event on September 2, 2010. Read the whole blog carnival here.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was edited by David Beasley, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 12 features performance artist and poet Puma Perl, accompanied by Big Mike. Though he doesn’t speak, Big Mike cut up Puma’s dress as she performed – so listen for the scissor snips. The piece was recorded during the Demand Side themed live event on September 2, 2010.

Puma Perl’s poetry and fiction have been published in over 100 print and online journals and anthologies. Her first chapbook, Belinda and Her Friends, published in 2008, was awarded the Erbacce Press 2009 Poetry Award in a field of over 1400 applicants; a full length collection, knuckle tattoos, was published in early 2010. She performs her work in many venues, in and out of New York City. She lives and writes on the Lower East Side and has facilitated writing workshops in community based agencies and at Riker’s Island, a NYC prison. She believes in the transformative and healing power of the arts.

Big Mike is the author of 2 books, 81 Pounds and Sibling Rivalry and appears in the anthology One Millimeter, all published by Pretty Pollution Press. Big Mike is known for his performance art and was awarded Best Neptune in the 2004 Mermaid Parade in Coney Island.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was edited by David Beasley, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 11 features Emma Lee in her public debut as a sex worker. The piece was recorded during the Demand Side themed live event on September 2, 2010.

Emma Lee is a writer and editor who has contributed to BUST, Elle, Marie Claire, Maxim, Radar, and other fine publications. She used to write a dirty blog that was featured in Rolling Stone, Playboy and TimeOutNY.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 10 features Caveh Zahedi, director of the autobiographical film “I Am A Sex Addict.” The piece was recorded during the Demand Side themed live event on September 2, 2010.

Caveh Zahedi received a B.A. in Philosophy at Yale University and an M.F.A. in Film Production at the UCLA School of Film and Television. His feature-length films include A Little Stiff (1991), I Don’t Hate Las Vegas Anymore (1994), In The Bathtub of the World (2001), and I Am A Sex Addict (2005). http://cavehzahedi.com/

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was edited by David Beasley, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 9 features my story “The Johns,” which was recently published in the Kickstarter-funded anthology Coming & Crying, a book of true stories about sex edited by Melissa Gira Grant and Meaghan O’Connell. The piece was recorded during the Demand Side themed live event on September 2, 2010.

Audacia Ray is a media maker and advocate who is based in New York City. Audacia is the Program Officer for Online Communications and Campaigns at the International Women’s Health Coalition. She consults on information and communications technologies for the Global Network of Sex Work Projects. As a co-founder of advocacy organization Sex Work Awareness, Audacia leads annual media training workshops for sex workers. She is the author of Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing In on Internet Sexploration and has written and edited a variety of blogs about sexuality and culture, including her personal blog Waking Vixen, which launched in 2004. Audacia is a former sex worker who was an executive editor at the Utne Reader award-winning $pread magazine for three years.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was edited by David Beasley, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 8 features a short excerpt of Ignacio Rivera’s one person show, “Dancer.” The piece was recorded during a live event on September 3, 2009 that featured contributors to $pread magazine.

Ignacio Rivera is a Queer, gender fluid, Trans- Entity, Black Boricua performance artist, lecturer/trainer, activist, new filmmaker, sex worker and self-proclaimed sex educator.

Ignacio is the founder of Poly Patao Productions. P3 is dedicated to producing sex-positive workshops, performance pieces, films, play parties, panel discussions, social/political groups and educational opportunities that are specially geared toward queer women, transgender, multi-gender, gender-queer, gender non-conforming and gender variant people of color. Ignacio is also one of the founding board member of Queers for Economic Justice, a progressive non-profit organization committed to promoting economic justice in a context of sexual and gender liberation.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was edited by David Beasley, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 7 features a story by Busty Kitten, “Ode to My Fellow Dancers.” The story was recorded during the Coworkers and Co-conspirators live event on July 1, 2010.

Busty Kitten is a theatrical know-it-all, muse and artiste, and feminist barstool philosopher. She co-produces and co-hosts The Giddy Multitude Vaudeville Co, a monthly cabaret of circus, music, dance, comedy, and burlesque. www.giddymultitude.com. Her work explores issues of sex and sexuality, body image, and constructed identies of femininity. She holds a BA from UC Santa Cruz and will be pursuing an MA in Applied Theatre at CUNY in the fall. She can be seen burlesque dancing at the usual venues around NYC and proudly earning her sweat equity at WOW Cafe Theatre.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was edited by Audacia Ray, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Episode 6 features the story “Helmut the Maid,” told by Alex Kinney. The story was recorded during a live event on December 3, 2009.

Alex Kinney is an old whore who has prostituted himself in the Ivy League, America’s regional theaters, the Golden Hills of Hollywood, one cold Christmas in Dublin, and more lengthily, the South of the Slot in San Francisco. Alex is also a director, actor and playwright whose most recent play, Holy Hell, was developed at The Actors’ Studio.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was edited by Audacia Ray, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or search for it on iTunes.

Episode 5 features the story “A Father’s Pain,” told by Mistress Astrid. The story was recorded during the Love and Pain live event on February 4, 2010.

Episode 4 features a story by Guy Gonzales, “My Illustrious Career in Times Square Peeps.” The story was recorded during the Embarrassing Things I’ve Done for Money live event on May 6, 2010.

Guy Gonzales. Peepstar. Hustler. Notorious Nude Club Manager. Outlaw Artist and Writer. Warrior. From peddling firecrackers to live sex shows, legendary hardcore hustler Guy Gonzales was born in Manhattan of Asian-American ancestry. Despite the façade of a decent upbringing, he became enticed by the filthy streets. Flesh emporiums fueled his incentive; in 1982 Guy gravitated to Times Square, a reputed red-light district, and began as a cashier/mop-man in the adult peep shows. While swabbing pools of disgrace, he dated a Private Booth showgirl; subsequently they became a Love-Team, performing live sex acts on stage. On a mattress stained with bodily fluids, he penetrated even deeper into the inner sanctum of smut. Guy’s artwork, articles, and photo essays have been featured in Screw, Hustler, Swank, Vibe, the Village Voice, and Penthouse Forum. Featured in TimeOutNY as the leader of the Mortuary Squad, an elite task force that documents the underbelly; and the 40th Anniversary Issue of New York Magazine. A+E ‘Biography’ entitled ‘Times Square’ chronicled his unusual experiences, with interviews and illustrations. Exhibitions include ‘Erotopath’ and ‘Viewer Discretion Advised’. In 2006 he exhibited at the Ayala Museum, Makati, the Philippines, with former President Fidel Ramos in attendance. A noir New Yorker, Guy continues to evoke the broken mirror ball on the fringe of a forgotten Times Square, as his autobiographical account PEEPMAN/DEUCE42 nears completion.

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was edited by Audacia Ray, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Click here to listen in your browser.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or search for it on iTunes.

Welcome to Episode 2 of the Red Umbrella Diaries Podcast!

This episode features a story from Damien Luxe, which was told on July 1, 2010 during our Coworkers and Co-conspirators night.

Damien Luxe is a multi-media performer and artist who has worked in DIY/indie print, web, theater and audio production for over 10 years. She has performed all over Canada and the US, has two self-published music albums out, and from 2006-2009 she Art Directed the award-winning $pread Magazine. Currently, she is the Co-Head Madam of the NYC Femme Family, Co-Creative Director of the H[art] Collective, is completing a DIY MFA, and is touring work that honors feminine hero/ines. Check out her work at http://femmetech.org

Live events and podcast are hosted by Audacia Ray. The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

Subscribe to the weekly podcast by RSS feed for a new episode every Sunday or on iTunes.

Welcome to the first episode of the Red Umbrella Diaries Podcast! Every Sunday, I’ll be posting a new episode – each one will be about 10 minutes long, give or take. Most of the episodes will have been recorded at the previous month’s Red Umbrella Diaries event in New York City, though occasionally I’ll drop in an episode from my archives.

The first episode features my selection from the June Blog Carnival on Coworkers and Co-conspirators, which I read at the live event on July 1. The story is written by Mona of the blog Civil Undressed.

For your chance to have your story read by me and included in the podcast, participate in an upcoming blog carnival. I’m always on the lookout for performers for the live events, which happen the first Thursday of the month in NYC. To get in touch with me about the podcast, performing, or any questions, email stories@redumbrellaproject.com.

The audio in this episode was recorded and edited by David Beasley, podcast bumper music by The Mercy Studio Project.

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Subscribe to the podcast by RSS feed or on iTunes