Author: ninarota_4vrelg

I just wanted to listen…

On By ninarota_4vrelg

i just wanted to listen to my meditation
but icloud kept butting in
what’s the password
tell me the password

i kept dismissing it
until I couldn’t anymore
and then
a screen saver popped up

there are no screen savers on iphones
right?
and then it starting talking

this is your mother speaking

—as if—

i’ve been calling and calling
and you haven’t been answering

oh, how can i help you?

you called me
you asked for a sign and here i am

ah, oye, i asked for oye
the keeper of the cemeteries
and here she is
waiting for my response

yes, yes, I was wondering
could you help me experience
death without dying?

whyyyyy?

fear, fear, I have too much fear
and i can’t sleep at night

have you tried valerian?

yes, yes, everything
but when someone dies
even ambien doesn’t work

well, i can do it
but i can’t guarantee your return
call me back when you
decide

and by the way
you’ve been spelling my name wrong
it’s oyá
and there’s an accent on the a

 

black toast and white tea

On By ninarota_4vrelg

dancing bear plate

black toast and white tea
sat there on a small round plate
with a dancing black bear

above the bear
the sky was night blue
and the stars were yellow
as a flame shot down
and singed the bear’s tail

i was shocked
but not surprised
i’d seen it before

i just didn’t register it

other plates had been
spinning and moving
before my eyes

i hadn’t noticed that either

but when a loud loud bell
rang in my bedroom
in the middle of the night
finally, i sat up

three circles of dancing bears
quiet bears
i’ve never heard a bear talk
have you

the circles finally spun up
and into the sky
then out of sight

a slight presence remained
and i knew it was oye
the protector of cemeteries
the one who receives the bodies

i’d asked her to give me a sign
i’d been calling her for days
because i didn’t believe
and here she was

during the night…

On By ninarota_4vrelg

during the night i sprouted an orange knit cap
which covered my skull and unaccountably
climbed backward then swept upward.

i looked like an ancient Egyptian symbol
or a Doge of the Venetian Empire.

no one noticed and strangely
it carried no weight
but flew up and away
not leaving its perch.

now and then
like my nipple or my small intestine
i thought of it.

i passed by someone closely
we almost touched
and my hat was gone.

i looked back.

the person hatched a chicken foot
on the side of their neck.

i felt lucky for my sculptural orange cap
as though beauty and power
had been bestowed upon me
instead of disability.

at least for the day.

 

Sex Talk Realness: Being Genderqueer by Rachel Hill

On By ninarota_4vrelg

I am one of the people interviewed in this piece on cosmopolitan.com in October 2014. I’m really happy Rachel wrote this piece.I did not choose anonymity. I am the older one.

Scratch that. As of at least March 5, 2018, this link has been replaced by an article titled 4 People Explain What It’s Like Being Genderqueer, and I have been replaced by someone many years younger. This may be some new journalism practice that is entirely unfamiliar to me. What do you think?

Keep Dancing, in response to the Orlando Pulse shooting (2016)

On By ninarota_4vrelg

I’m one of the dancing fools in this beautiful video in response to the tragic Orlando Pulse shooting. Produced by Victor Élan and Christopher Landavazo

49: Share Your Voice #keepdancing

Women Seeking Women (2009) – Written and Directed by Nina Rota

On By ninarota_4vrelg

Wanting to stand out in the crazy world that is the Women Seeking Women section on craigslist’s personal ads, our hero creates a video showing exactly how exciting a date with her will be.

Directors: Nina Rota, Kate Johnson
Actors: Nina Rota, Kate Johnson

Passing by Nina Rota (Eunoia Review)

On By ninarota_4vrelg

Passing (Eunoia)

This piece was originally published in Witness Magazine, not online. I’m happy to say that this essay has now been published online at Eunoia Review.  Thank you to Ian Chung. I write about gender issues so other people can handle these things better than I have, and if it’s not online who’s gonna find it :O)?

While investigating the gender transition of LA Times Sportswriter Mike Penner/Christine Daniels, I found myself in the middle of my own gender identity crisis. A second transition lead me to the deeper nature of all life transitions, and an understanding of the impossible position Christine found herself in.

Smiling Jenny

On By ninarota_4vrelg

My short story Smiling Jenny has been published in this month’s Diverse Voices Quarterly. (This is a PDF of the DVQ , search for “Smiling Jenny” to read my story.)

Dan has given up on human girlfriends because they all leave him—probably because he insists on having sex with other women in front of them. As our story begins, Dan is unpacking his newest silicone doll and preparing to have sex with her in front of his current synthetic live-in girlfriend, Smiling Jenny. She is none too pleased about this and not at all shy about expressing her feelings

The Shadow Temple

On By ninarota_4vrelg

Hey Everyone, My essay The Shadow Temple has been published in the Sex Issue of Red Fez.

The Shadow Temple describes an explicit inner sexual fantasy in which a female narrator is an older man seducing a much younger man. We then follow the narrator’s experience of acting out the fantasy in real life with someone she meets at a gathering.

Fly By (excerpts) 2014

On By ninarota_4vrelg

From EZTV Museum

Fly By was a live, 15 minute, site-specific multimedia performance for dancers, telematic avatar performers, musicians, video installation and drone camera pilot. Performed on May 31st, 2014, it was part of the outdoor art exhibition: ONE Night: EZTV, LA ACM SIGGRAPH and Digital Art in West Hollywood. This exhibition was the finale of the three-month long retrospective series about EZTV’s history, presented by ONE Museum and Archives at USC.

A collaboration between EZTV, Donna Sternberg & Dancers, Vanessa Blaylock & Co., David Raiklen, Nina Rota, Prof. Gregory Tarle of Univ. of Michigan and Dr. Brian Nord of Fermi Lab.

Concept: Michael J. Masucci, EZTV
Choreography: Donna Sternberg and Dancers
Avatar Choreography: Vanessa Blaylock
Composer: David Raiklen
Producers: Joan Collins, David Frantz, Kate Johnson, EZTV
Tech. Dir./Assoc. Producer: Marc Rosenthal
Scientific Consultants: Gregory Tarle, PHD, Brian Nord, PHD
Drone Captain: Nina Rota
Drone Pilot: Bernie Seidler

Sponsored by the City of West Hollywood, BARCO Projectors, ONE Archives USC, LA ACM SIGGRAPH. Additional support from ARC Grant, MCubed Grant, U of Michigan.