Interview for #Survivor series

Joanna Valente interviewed me for their #Survivor series on their website. Check it out, and please excuse my typos.

You're not stupid. You're not alone. You didn't do this to yourself and you didn't ask for it to happen. You're not a bad person for having it happen to you, you're not a bad person for talking about it, and you're not a bad person for trying to take control of your own narrative. Healing is a process and it can take a long time and you should only do what you feel is best for you in your in time.

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New newsletter coming soon! If you are not already on my mailing list and you'd like to receive the newsletter, you can easily add yourself by entering your email into the new pop-up I added to the site last night. So, pop-up blockers off please :)

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CTRL ALT DEL write-up in Phindie!

So I guess this is kind of an online press tour, and I'm pretty excited that our movie premier in Philly at the Trocadero is coming up so quick-- in just over a week I'll be flying into my hometown for this very special event. I hope people show up! I know if they do they will like the movie and also the poetry. 

I want to share this write-up by Christopher Munden on Phindie, a site which covers independent theater and film in the Philadelphia area, titled Poetry and Film: Alexandra Naughton combines literary and cinematic talents at a film premier.

The write-up contains wonderful moments such as:

“Alexandra is such an amazing writer and performer,” he gushes. “That’s one of the other reasons for having poetry with the film. I really want to showcase all these incredible artists that are creating alongside the film and bring all of us together.”

“I think viewers will enjoy the story being told in the film and the way that we tell the story,” says Naughton. “I love the film. Every time I see Pirooz, we end up watching CTRL ALT DEL at least twice. There’s a lot going on in the movie, there’s a lot to follow."

Pirooz also got a shout-out on a site called Technically Delaware, which is where he went to high-school, in a piece titled From Hockessin to Hollywood: Pirooz Kalayeh returns with film ‘CTRL ALT DEL’.

Get stoked for our film premier on Sunday, April 29 at the Trocadero! Did you get your tickets yet? You should get them now! Buy them here for $8.00 (poetry, a movie, and live music? talk about a GREAT VALUE) <3

 

Source: http://phindie.com/17406-ctrl-alt-del-prem...

Alexandra Naughton Podcast 001 & 002 featuring Cassandra Dallett

I love rap. I love listening to rap. I love reading about rap. I love researching rap. I love talking about rap. If you know me irl, you probably know this, and you might have also suggested that I start my own rap podcast.

Well, I did. I got the wonderful and super knowledgeable Cassandra Dallett to join me for the first two short intro episodes of the Alexandra Naughton Podcast (we had some technical difficulties about 30 minutes in and had to pause the live stream and reset the router, which is why there are two videos). 

Uploaded by Alexandra Naughton on 2018-04-10.

We talked about new releases from Cardi B, the Weeknd, and Drake, I asked Cassandra what her beef with Nicki Minaj is about, and we talked about poetry stuff and dealing with people who rip you off.

I hope you like the Podcast. We had a good time, and I'm glad we got the kinks somewhat worked out. This is a low budget podcast, we have no sound engineers or anything like that, but as long as we have a strong internet connection we will be good. 

Uploaded by Alexandra Naughton on 2018-04-10.

We will do this again. With more notes and talking points, maybe. Or at least we will do it again on a day where we both didn't wake up hella early and worked all day. I was exhausted by the time I got to Cassandra's house with my laptop. I need to make more money while somehow working less. If anyone has any tips on how to do that, I would be very grateful. Thank you.

Stay tuned for the next episode! You should probably subscribe to my channel so that you will always know when I'm about to go live <3

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alexandra naughton podcast: 001 & 002 feat. cassandra dallett

in this moment we were talking about swaggerjackers

Source: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb5rbj6c9...

be about it zine #15 now available!

Wow, I can’t believe we’ve already done 15 editions of Be About It zine!!! We’ve been making zines for 8 years now, and I think that’s something to be proud of. 

Buy Be About It zine #15 now (on sale) for only 4 dollars! 

Chock full of wonderful writing from:

Bianca Niño, Brice Maiurro, Chad Redden, Christine Hall, Cordelia Morgan, Donnie Martino, Is Sullivan, Joanna Anabo, Jonathan Aprea, Kevin Ridgeway, Kristina Ten, Maggie Grabmeier, M; Margo, Rhea Smith, Seth Berg, Sierra Ventura, Ted Tarnovski, Theo Konrad Auer, Thomas L. Winters

It’s kind of amazing to think that Be About It was born out of my lil ol quarterlife crisis back in 2010. I didn’t know what I was doing with my life at the time but I knew I wanted to write and create art and share it with people. I got inspired, and I put my all into something that people still care about. I had an epiphany last night that starting Be About It was the beginning of me figuring out my identity. Praises to DIY publishing and poetry!

Also, check out Be About It #15 at Everyday Skate Shop's "Zine Bazaar" on April 5th in San Francisco, as a part of the Tenderloin's First Thursday Artwalk. I'll be there, hope to see you! 936 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, at Everyday Skate Shop from 7-11pm.

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Source: https://www.alexandranaughton.com/books/be...

new rewards posted on Patreon

Social media is a mess these days. People are leaving facebook because they just figured out that the website has been selling our content for strategic marketing purposes forever. I want to be cool off facebook because it's an incredible waste of my time, for the most part, but I'm not going to delete it.

I want to stay connected with people and I want to be better at engaging with the literary community in a meaningful way. I want to stay in touch with people who make things, people who are doing shit. So I'll keep it and check it every so often but I'm no longer going to spend hours just scrolling. My time is better spent focusing on writing and making shit and keeping up with people who are doing the same.

So that's why I checked up on my Patreon page today. Go ahead, take a look, have a little laugh. I don't really know how to best use the site at the moment, but I'll figure it out. It seems like there is a lot of potential in the platform to keep myself creatively motivated while possibly earning a little extra dough to help pay some bills.

I hadn't checked my Patreon page since last July, but I went in today and edited the copy and added some new rewards. Do you think anyone will pay me $20 a month to get a personalized voicemail message? Or pay me $20 to receive a video of me rapping a verse by Nicki Minaj? I sure hope so.

I will rap to you

$20 or more per month

I love to rap (mostly Lil Wayne or Nicki Minaj, but I also write my own raps sometimes) and if you choose this reward I will make a video of myself rapping a hot 16 and will send it directly to you. Just send me your email address first, or maybe your phone number.

I will call you and leave a poem on your voicemail

$20 or more per month

You have to give me your phone number, though. Don't worry, I will only call once a month, and I promise I won't sell your phone number to some shady umbrella corporation if you promise to do the same for me.

This is a pretty cool reward if you never get phone calls and you enjoy listening to voicemails. 

 

 

Source: https://www.patreon.com/naughton

Back to Philly (and some shows)

I will be moving back to Philadelphia at the end of January. I am looking forward to the move and I believe it is a positive and healthy choice. 

The San Francisco Bay Area has been a second home for me these past nine years and I will miss it. I became an adult here. I realized and actualized my dreams of writing and publishing here. I've made some very important friendships here. On top of everything, it is the people I will miss the most, those who have supported and encouraged my work and made some room for me. I am grateful and forever thankful for them.

Right now I am packing and trying to get rid of things. I have a lot of books and a lot of clothes. I also bought two big boxes of American Mary right before I got laid off and I'd like to sell as many copies as possible so that I don't have to pack them up to ship to Philly, so I'm offering them up at a great price: $8.00, which is actually half price. If you already own a copy, maybe you know someone who would appreciate the book as a gift. Buy one here.

Before I leave, I am doing a few events:

  • on Thursday December 14 I will be performing in San Francisco for a holiday-themed storytelling event presented by The Establishment, a news and culture outlet run by women and dedicated to highlighting marginalized voices. Carol Hood, July Westhale, Andrea Grimes, and Ingrid Rojas Contreras are also performing. You can buy a ticket here.
  • and then the very next day I will be performing in Los Angeles at a show that I have put together with Yesenia Padilla and Grant Leuning called Now That's What I Call Poetry/Be About It: Reading in LA at the Poetic Research Bureau. Also performing in addition to myself, Yesi, and Grant are Paige Elizabeth Gretsky, Megan Lent, Viva Padilla, Miranda Tsang, Rachel Olson, and Jeremy Hight. Please don't miss this if you're in the LA area!

 

Funding for Ctrl Alt Del

In 2015 I made a movie with Pirooz Kalayeh called Ctrl Alt Del. The story actually starts in 2014 when Kalayeh approached me about writing a story for him to make a movie into. I agreed and sent him something over which he developed into the script for Ctrl Alt Del. Several months later, around Christmas 2014, I took a week off work and flew down to Los Angeles to work on one of the most exciting projects I've ever been involved in. I wrote about the filming process in two posts on Enclave here and here, please give them a read.

Not only did I help write the film and star in it, I was also involved in the editing process and got to see the footage we shot become a real film. I love film and I love making movies and I really want to share this movie with people and keep on making movies.

Right now we are trying to raise funds in order to screen Ctrl Alt Del in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We only have a few more weeks on our IndieGoGo and we need to make them count. If you want to help support independent filmmaking we definitely need your help! We are trying to bring community together to share the experience of this film in theaters in these three cities.

Buy your ticket now, and please contribute what you can! Tickets are on sale now on the indiegogo: please reserve yours now so that we know it's real.

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