The debut episode just aired to viewers of GayLifeTV and OutOnline.  The "official" Sister ShOUT page will be up in a few days so you can see the podcast.  It was a lot of fun and thanks to a very organized team, pretty smoothy.  Smoothiness. :-) 

I have a few links for you.

Queer Events Calendar http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=u7bca5r4nru3jt91kfm6kkrpho%40group.calendar.google.com

Queer Event Listings http://groups.google.com/group/queer-event-listings?lnk=srg

Ehrrin   queerevents@gmail.com

Pam's House Blend http://www.pamshouseblend.com

PFLAG Pittsburgh http://pflagpgh.org/

Steel City Stonewall Democrats http://www.steel-city.org

Tune in next Sunday, September 13 when local media maven Fran Monaghan aka Ms. Monongahela joins us for  discussion of media representations of the LGBT community in primetime television. Fran writes a weekly media column for the City Paper and is the author of the local blog Ms. Adventures on the Mon.

We also wanted to remind you that Ledcat and I are VIP Sponsors for PodCamp Pittsburgh and hope to learn a ton of good stuff there. 

So, hey, today some lesbian herstory was made. Let's hope we can continue to draw engaging, informed guests to broaden our horizons.

Last night, Ledcat and I met with our producer - David from Gay Life TV and OutOnline.com.  We made some slight adjustments to the show -- launch time is now 7 PM, instead of 6:30 PM (make a note!).  He gave us some background into the foray into gay online television and we ran down some tips.

We also already have a potential sponsor!

This week's episode looks promising.  We'll be catching up on LGBT news, including the current legislative battles for marriage equality across the nation AND the "oh oh" news coming out of Focus on the Family.  Ledcat will give her unique perspective on the latest album from The Decemberists "Hazards of Love" and I'll share my favorite lesbian social media of the week.  Our guest is one of the architects of contemporary Pittsburgh online LGBT social networking, Ehrrin Keena.  Ehrrin is the founder of the google discussion group, Queer Event Listings which has more than 700 members and is the fulcrum for the exchange of event information from garage sales to house concerts, plus everything else.  Ehrrin also maintains the Queer Events Calendar, a much needed collection of what's going on queer in Pittsburgh.  Fittingly, Ehrrin will help us wrap up the show with a run down of what's going on in the community.

In other exciting news, Lesbian Central has brought on an official Chief of Staff to help us manage all the goings on.  For this unpaid position, we used a highly refined search technique and selected the 1,000 person to friend Sue on Facebook.

Ladies, ladies and gentleman.

 

Our Chief of Staff has been assigned to wo-man Lesbian Central while we are on the air and ensure all things run smoothly.  He also has to let the dogs out and shred the junk mail. 

See you Sunday www.outonline.com 7 PM. 

I hate poor customer service. Giant Eagle Mcintyre Square was horrible two weeks ago. I used the little form at the website to explain my displeasure. Two weeks later, nothing. If customer service doesn't respond to a customer service complaint well, I guess buiness must be good.

Today, Ledcat and I tried to refill 2 scripts and pick up a new. They lost the new script and RAN OUT OF BOTH of the others until TUEDAY.

What is going on? Ledcat thinks we should start a "people of giant eagle" website. I think we should go to the suburbs.

Giant Eagle sucks. Grrrrr.


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Sue Kerr
Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents
www.pghlesbian.com

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Always glad when the PG picks up gay-positive news.

Homos are now legally getting married in Vermont.  Reports that 18 Christo-bigots swooned and rumors that 11 marriages have been irreparably damaged after witnessing married gay people kissing.  Registries are booming.  Good stuff.  Hello economic gain. 

Pam's Lurleen has the story, too.

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Two days of PG+ and no LGBT content yet.  Some portions of the site are inaccesible so I could be missing an incredible Scott Mervis filing, to be fair. 

I know there's a lot of in-depth analysis of the future of print journalism and the value of a "plus" edition with the major journalism living on the free site.

I love the Post-Gazette.  I run for it every morning after feeding the dogs and starting the coffee.  I am so excited to tear into it, that I shove the green bag in whatever niche is handy (to Ledcat's everlasting annoyance) and dive in.  While I admit, I am looking for gay news coverage (and the A HA! moment when some bigot bashes us in print), I just revel in a newspaper.  I like the predictable structure.  I like finding something interesting in the business section and when I'm particularly lazy, I'll read sports and gardening.  Not often, but still.

The PG is in my blood.  My great-grandfather, Gil Remley, was the Executive Sports Editor for the PG and a reporter for the Sun and the Press before that.  The sports thing skipped over me, but my father insists that my blogging (and now vlogging) is the modern incarnation of Da.  The whole legacy thing is why I should write a guest blog for the PG along with a rotating list of other local established bloggers who can contribute occasional unique content that we will never see from the PG professional reporters. 

Plus, the contributors are a little heavy on the white middle age heterosexual guys.  I'm just saying.  When I think hip multimedia, I don't think Reg Henry debating Jack Kelly.  I think Khari Mosely debating Jack Kelly.  I think Reg Henry and Paradise Gray having a chat about protesting.  I think Mackenzie Carpenter talking with Fran Monaghan about the challenges of carving out a career in journalism, on and off line,  as a woman and a parent - especially when the mighty mights threaten to sue you.  I think reader submitted album reviews.  I think guest editorials/commentary submitted by leaders who don't get a lot of column space.  I think video of a group chat with the incoming City and County Councilpersons with an articulate person under the age of 40 would be intriguing (I'm 38 -- just sayin). 

There's potential and I hope the PG decision makers will break free from the old paradigm to save the old paradigm.  I'll fork over the $36, log on each day and try to leave a comment as a way to say hello, but I am NOT watching Reg Henry debate Jack Kelly .... David DeAngelo has that covered, PG, and has been doing it really well for years on a weekly basis.  Now if you have David interview Jack Kelly, I might tune in. 

I really, really want this to succeed and I'm afraid it will become the "playground" others have described where reporters toss away their journalistic integrity to garner favor with the blog readers. 

Shake up the contributors to reflect the readership.  Make me want to click in as eagerly as I rip open the green bag each morning.  I want to be a believer. 

And, yeah, I'm big enough to admit that I want to pick up Da's mantle and contribute to the Post-Gazette. 

***************************************************

We are looking for "sister" songs for the new vlog/vodcast/whatever we'll launch Sunday night on OutOnline.com.  The show is called "Sister ShOUT" so you can see what I'm aiming to do.   Let me know if you have any suggestions.  My new favorite downer song is Sister Morphine by Marianne Faithful.  I'll work it in somehow thanks to Ledcat's musical genius. 

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September 2009 marks my debut article with Cue Pittsburgh, the region's newest LGBT publication.  A glossy magazine (think Whirl with more tiaras, fewer furs), Cue's success shows that Pittsburgh's community really is expanding in multiple directions. 

I was asked to pen a piece about local florist and gourmet gift entrepreneur, K.S. Kennedy.  You've read my account of his resurrection after a devastating fire.  In this piece, I chose to focus in on a new fascination for me -- the emergence of mini community "hubs" instead of a "gay" neighborhood.  A Pleasant Present in Squirrel Hill is a great example as would be several local gay bars, including Cattivo's emergence as a lesbian hub. 

What's unique about the hubs is the creation of a safe, affirming space combined with integration into the larger community.  What I notice about Cattivo is the constant influx of neighborhood folks seeking pizza (ah, that pizza).  Long gone are the days of South Hills brats lesbian baiting outside of CJs.  Pop into A Pleasant Present for some rainbow merchandise and you'll inevitably bump into some very straight shoppers enthralled with the latest cool gift Michael has on display.  Get your hair done at Veraldi's Salon in Oakland and the same thing happens, albeit with a little bit of a feminist/vegetarian/Buddhist twist. 

The same is true of K.S. Kennedy Gourmet Gift and Floral.  We started shopping there because we learned he sold fair trade roses and wanted to support family.  Fast forward 10 months and he's a dear friend.  We drop in to check out the new merchandise, pick up fair trade organic coffee, get the neighborhood scoop and ALWAYS meet new people, gay and straight. 

When Pittsburgh's OUT offered me a chance to co-host a vodcast (is that really a word - so awkward) with Ledcat, the first person I called was Kerry.  He was thrilled for us and threw out a dozen ideas that would benefit lesbians around the region.  And it was Kerry who urged Joe at CUE Pittsburgh to offer me the chance to write the piece.  Yes, folks, you can work for multiple media outlets and be fully committed to building both into powerhouses.  It is called freelancing. 

That's the kind of community support we need to continue building and I honestly think it is going to come from the hubs tucked here and there about the region.  The Gay & Lesbian Community Center would be well served to tap into that neighborhood power to create channels of communication. 

Check out the new issue of CUE Pittsburgh.  Check out the new issue of Pittsburgh's OUT. 

And definitely check out our new vodcast Sister ShOUT! on Out Online this coming Sunday night.  Kerry will be watching!

Its all the buzz at Lesbian Central --- Ledcat and I are launching a VODcast (videocast) this coming weekend in partnership with OUTonline and GayLife TV.

It is called "sister shOUT!" and will be a mix of queer women's news, album and social media reviews, updates on events and activities as well as a whole slew of fabulous guests from the local and regional queer community. 

For those of you who complain that OUT doesn't do enough to connect with lesbians, this is your chance to see them turn that on its head.  If you have suggestions for discussion topics, guests, news tips or any feedback at all ... hit us up either through OUT Connect or via email.  It should be quite an experiment.

Our first guest will be Pittsburgh's own social media maven, Ehrrin Keenan, founder of the hugely popular Queer Event Listings which is the region's largest LGBTQ email group.  She's also founded a monthly social dinner network called Queers:  Their What's for Dinner and a popular Queer Book Club.  Ehrrin proves that you can use ingenuity and a desire to connect people to make an impact. What better way to launch a new social media show than an interesting chat with someone who has used new social media to make a difference for all of us. 

So, what do you think?  Will you give this new program a chance?  Can it work? 

ps:  I'm also excited to announce that Lesbian Central has brought on board a new member of our team, Chief of Staff Yarone Zober.  Yarone was the lucky 1,000th friend of mine on Facebook so he was thrilled to join Lesbian Central as we leap into VODcasting.