This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Mykal June is a writer, producer and musician. She spent more than a decade in public radio at WABE and is now making podcasts for iHeartRadio. She is co-host of Write Club, a live literary series, and her writing has appeared in the Bitter Southerner, Creative Loafing Atlanta, SLAB and Aaron Mahnke’s “13 Days of Halloween” podcast.
As part of an effort to help readers get to know members of Atlanta’s arts community better, we asked June to share 11 good things on her mind. Here, in no particular order, is her list of 11:
1. Attending meetups of the Southern Dyke Alliance. Maybe it was a mistake to start here, but I’m already typing, so let’s do this. I’m a single gal in the city who likes girls and also likes excuses to get a fun little coffee and gossip. Also, saying “OK, I’m going to SDA” sounds so official and important.
2. Filing paperwork to have my name legally changed. In order to start hormone replacement therapy, I had to have my therapist write a letter to my doctor saying, “Hey, she’s a girl, please give her medicine,” and now I’m navigating government bureaucracy in order to be called the thing I’ve been asking people to call me for years. Being trans is humiliating in a million tiny ways, but soon enough, cashiers won’t have to pretend they’re not weirded out by my driver’s license.
3. Driving six hours to see Emma Ruth Rundle play a show. One of my favorite songwriters of the last 10 years played a tiny upstairs venue in Raleigh, and I was not going to miss my goth mom coming this far south. I was rewarded with a breathtaking show and an acoustic performance of “Darkhorse.”
4. Making weird art with friends, including but not limited to joining Claire Lodge and like 18 other guitarists onstage at the Earl to make some glorious noise.
5. Reading “Tell Me I’m Worthless” by Alison Rumfitt. Horrifying, violent, trans-as-hell work that knocked the wind out of me for days.
6. Writing and performing poetry specifically designed to make straight people feel bad. As a treat.
7. Spending Halloween at the Plaza Theatre for their “Suspiria”/”Possession” double feature.
8. Hanging out with friends, cooking meals and watching movies.
9. Ordering the peppadews at Leon’s Full Service. They are magic, for real.
10. Putting Write Club onstage every month. I’ve been doing this for 14 years, but it’s evergreen. Getting Atlanta writers together to hear what they have to say and getting an audience to scream for them like rock stars is likely the best thing I have been or will ever be part of.
11. Getting my hair done. Disco Salon in Grant Park held an event with a drag show, free drinks and free gender-affirming haircuts, and my friend Saoirse and I basically hung out there all afternoon and had a blast. The phrase “need for queer spaces” is almost a cliche at this point, but given how nightmarish the world is, particularly for trans people right now, a few minutes of getting long layers, sipping a White Claw, laughing with Brigitte Bidet, feeling completely free and at peace — I will savor that. And I love that I live in a city with enough love in its heart to create moments like that.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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