make like björk and be all the smurfs.
A podcast has finally pulled me out of my blogging hiatus.
Queering the Burbs is a regular distillation of pop culture, politics and west suburban Illinois queerness written by Joe Erbentraut. If you like what you see, please consider subscribing (it’s free!), liking or sharing this piece.
I’ve had the house to myself the last few days and have been filling the silence with a most brilliant source: Björk’s newest artistic endeavor, a podcast.
The podcast, titled Sonic Symbolism, features the Icelandic artist in conversation with friends and collaborators of hers as they unspool the motivations, inspirations and moods behind each of the nine (soon to be 10) studio albums she has released as a solo artist to date.
I’ve always been a massive fan of Björk and few things bring me more joy than when the letter “R” rolls like a drumbeat off her singular tongue, but I think this podcast has something for anyone pursuing a creative endeavor, or anyone simply figuring out their place in the world. I’ve been going on lots of long walks around my neighborhood while listening to it, and it’s been shaking a lot of things loose for me.
At one point in one of the four episodes released so far, Björk quips that at the time she was releasing her early solo albums in the ‘90s, the powers that be in the industry wanted female artists to be just one thing — they could be sexy or serious, wacky or poppy. But Björk, she says, didn’t want to be the one Smurfette. She wanted to have the freedom to be all the Smurfs.
At another point in the same episode, Björk said something that probably sounds kind of obvious, but I think will resonate for any creative person: That she knows if something is not right in her world if she isn’t able to write.
Dear reader of this space, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t written here since February — almost seven months now. In that time, I just hadn’t been able to do it. In March, I left a professional environment that had no longer felt congruent with my personal values and ethics, and in July, I left another job that felt like a classic bait-and-switch. Over those months, I felt completely drained of my humanity. I often could not sleep. I felt depressed. I could not write.
When it comes to the queering of the ‘burbs, so much has happened recently that I could — and arguably should — have written about. Out here in the hinterlands, there have been so many artists, activists, witches and rabble-rousers of all varieties who have been creating and growing queer spaces, and responding with force when that progress has been threatened. Honestly, the amount of activity has been almost overwhelming. Just to recap a few examples:
In April, Batavia High School hosted its first ever Pride Fest resource fair organized by the school’s Pride Alliance.
In May, Fox Valley Pride (now called Belong: Fox Valley) organized a Queer Prom for area high school students at Mixology Spa in St. Charles. About 100 teens attended and, despite threats of anti-LGBTQ protests, the event came off without an incident. (WBEZ covered the event beautifully, too.)
Later in May, BPS Parents for Equity and Justice held a rally outside of a Batavia school board meeting demanding that the district take firmer action in response to numerous recent reports of incidents of racism and anti-LGBTQ+ harassment in the district.
In early June, the cities of St. Charles, Geneva and Batavia all hosted separate Pride Month dedications including raising a pride flag for the month and issuing formal declarations.
Later in June, Annie Hex and the Sidecar Supper Club hosted the second Queer Prom (this one for the 21+ crowd) in Batavia. The event was a massive sold-out success (and we’re doing it again in October—tickets on sale now, wink wink).
In mid-June, the Aurora Pride Parade successfully took place despite nearly being canceled due to a disagreement over police involvement in the event with city officials and Mayor Richard Irvin.
The weekend after the parade, Indivisible Aurora hosted an Aurora Pride Fest fundraiser featuring live music, craft vendors and a silent auction.
Belong: Fox Valley marked Pride Month with several events, including Family Pride at the Park at Wheeler Park in Geneva as well as an event at the Geneva Center for the Arts later in the month.
Here comes the backlash. Also in mid-June, pride flags were stolen from four separate Batavia homes. The incident prompted the city to put out a press release indicating they were investigating it as a possible hate crime, and multiple news stories were written.
In July, a planned drag show at the UpRising Bakery & Cafe, a Lake in the Hills vegan restaurant, resulted in the business being targeted in a harassment campaign that culminated in vandalism as the business’ windows were shattered and its walls were covered in spray-painted anti-LGBTQ hate speech. A 24-year-old Alsip man was charged in the vandalism, but the far-right organizations—like Awake Illinois and Dan Proft’s Morning Answer—that helped drum up threats toward the business have not faced any repercussions. The bakery received an outpouring of public support and has since gone on to successfully host drag shows and other events.
In August, Belong: Fox Valley organized community rallies around the “Pridrant,” a Geneva fire hydrant that had been painted with a pro-LGBTQ message but has now been vandalized a reported seven times. A 55-year-old Plainfield man has been charged in one of the reported defacements.
The battle, as always, continues. Awake Illinois is currently encouraging its followers to harass employees of the Downers Grove Public Library because it plans to host a drag bingo event there in October.
I’m thankful today to be in a much healthier space in my work life and personal life so I should be able to once again document goings on like these. I’m hoping to write more in this space as time and energy allow, though I won’t be holding myself to a weekly-ish publishing cadence.
Until next time, here’s to keeping up the work and being in community together. Here’s to listening to your body and stepping away when something feels off. Here’s to knowing your worth and not compromising or making yourself smaller to fit someone else’s vision for you.
Here are a few things—besides the Björk podcast—that have been keeping me artistically fed in recent months:
The Brisbane Pub Choir gathered 1,600 people this summer to all sing Kate Bush’s song-of-the-summer, “Running Up That Hill,” in an auditorium. The performance is even Kate-approved. This gives me chills every time I watch it.
Amid all of the incredible drama surrounding the upcoming release of Don’t Worry Darling (this is a solid primer, if you haven’t been devouring it already), Florence “Ms. Flo” Pugh herself floated into the Venice International Film Festival with an Aperol spritz in hand. This is the vibe I’m tryina’ conjure.
Chicago drag queen Masha Potato filmed a shot-by-shot remake of Nicole Kidman’s iconic AMC Theaters monologue inside the equally iconic Music Box Theatre. They need to play this before every screening.
The Ricky Gourmet TikTok account has brought an entirely new lexicon and a whole lot of pleasure to my life. Ciao, mama.
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