If All Water Were Blood
Posted: January 5, 2019 Filed under: Art, Books, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Writing 2 CommentsI’m honored to finally have this piece in print, after having read and kneaded and baked it for years now. Thank you yet again to the powerful people of Paper Darts.
I am the SciComm from Your Video
Posted: January 18, 2016 Filed under: Comedy, Dolphins, Fiction, Interview, Nonfiction, Performance, Science, Speaking, Storytelling, Uncategorized, Writing Leave a commentOne more dispatch from my adventures with Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre & their Interrobang Festival of Questions. Click the below links for some primo procrastination-aiding video content!
A discussion of ocean vs. space travel & the public’s expectations of science*, among molecular biologist/science communicator Upulie Divisekera, sci-fi author & BoingBoing editor Cory Doctorow, & some “comedy science” lady (me)
And What Future Do We Want and Deserve? With radical chef Adam Liaw, futurist Kristin Alford, author/editor Cory Doctorow, & that “comedy science” lady again, moderated by Wheeler Centre Director Michael Williams
*Stay tuned for the above-referenced COMPETITIVE Q&A, plus my speech on what science & art tell us about the importance of words vs. actions.
Dolphin Brains, Greener Pastures, & David Bowie Chemistry
Posted: February 24, 2014 Filed under: Art, Dolphins, Fiction, Nonfiction, Performance, Radio, Science, Uncategorized, Writing 2 CommentsThe latest:
- Gosh but you people really love hearing about dolphins and dolphin brains. Thanks to you humans and your weird obsession, I’ve gotten to speak all over town (here, here, and here) about dolphins, dolphin brains, and humans’ weird obsession with dolphins and dolphin brains. Next stop: MPR’s “A Beautiful World”. Subject: Consciousness. You see where this is going.
- My short story, “Lawn”, was selected as the winner of Revolver and Thirty Two magazine’s ANTE-UP contest. I’m honored. Check it out here, and in the new paper issue of Thirty Two.
- New posts on chemistry, David Bowie, and the science of hands in my Science+Art column for the Walker Art Center’s MNartist’s blog. Because, you know, it is a beautiful world.
Science+Art: Dolphin+Tupac
Three Great Things Happened
Posted: July 24, 2013 Filed under: Fiction, Nonfiction, Performance, Science, Uncategorized, Writing | Tags: contest, Smithsonian, train-track typewriter 3 Comments1. Mediander with me
Over two years ago, I was sworn to secrecy as I started writing for a crazysexycool new website, the likes of which the world had never seen.
This month, it finally launched, and the world got to fall in love with…
MEDIANDER DOT COM (com, com, com…)
I’ve linked you to the place where most of my “Culture Maps” live––nine and counting. What makes Mediander different is that the research connects disparate topics: Charlie Chaplin to The Atomic Cafe to books by dictators, Nabokov to synesthesia and lepidopterology, and much! Much! More!
Got off to a good start when researchers at the International Space Station liked my map on the Space Race:
2. That Smithsonian magazine
A childhood dream came true this month when I had an article published in Smithsonian. The piece allowed me to explore science+art at its best, in the form of Guillermo Bert’s 2D-coded traditional indigenous tapestries––one of the coolest artistic concepts I’ve seen in a long time.
Read it here!
3. WRITE FIGHT
The night before my birthday, I sat down at an old, malfunctioning Olivetti typewriter, on the train tracks.
The purpose? To battle it out in Revolver magazine‘s WRITE FIGHT, a single-elimination showdown with some of my favorite writers in town. It was both humbling and harrowing.
Competitors got the first line of the story, ten minutes to think for the first two rounds, no time to think for the last round, AND there were insane, orchestrated distractions at every turn. First round, I wrote as audience members came up and whispered suggestions in my ear. Second round, I had to put the typewriter on the lap of a stranger, who smack-talked me all the while.
Third round, at the center of a dancing mob, I wrote the story behind what improvisors would call the cruelest possible set-up:
“Even as it happened, I realized this was the most hilarious death ever.”
See what happened in the last three paragraphs of this article! [Spoiler alert, I won.] It was one of the most difficult feats of art I’ve ever undertaken, and my comrades in arms are my heroes more than ever. The… End…?
A Bunch of Stuff I Neglected to Mention…
Posted: May 13, 2013 Filed under: Fiction, Interactive, Interview, Nonfiction, Performance, Production, Radio, Science, Storytelling, Television, Writing | Tags: Interactive 1 CommentIt’s been awhile. Here’s a the haps:
- Last month, Ken Eklund and I got to share Ed Zed Omega with Tribeca Film Institute Interactive, alongside the other incredible Localore producers. I mean wow. The future was then and there, folks.
- I was honored to have a story in the first “Choose Your Own Adventure” Night at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Many thanks to my illustrious comrades Ed Bok Lee, Katie Heaney, John Jodzio, and to Paper Darts for putting it on. Check out the gorgeous map Meghan Murphy at Paper Darts made special for my story:
- In the same vein, I have two story poems up on the “Poetry Trail” as part of Walker Art Center’s series at Silverwood Park. If you can’t make it to the park, you can listen to them here.
- New science pieces up at Mental_Floss, including my “authoritative” breakdown of what makes a platypus a platypus. More in the coming week(s).
- Revolver lit mag just published my short short story, “The Poke,” which is potentially NSFW.
- Last week at Two Chairs Telling, I swapped stories with Linda Gorham about growing up poor and figuring it out as you go.
- Just this morning I was featured on KFAI’s Story City, telling my totally true tale of vodou overseas. (You may want to turn volume down due to some mic trouble at the start, plus my voice was terrible that day. Here’s me sounding way better on KFAI last year, talking women in comedy.)
- Oh, and I have a very specific tumblr now, called Orphaned Panels. I don’t update it much. It’s a slow-motion tumble.
Ed Zed O––Whaaa…?
Posted: August 11, 2012 Filed under: Fiction, Nonfiction, Production, Screenwriting, Writing Leave a commentJust got called on as Writer/Producer for a cutting-edge new interactive documentary, paid for by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It’s called Ed Zed Omega.
But what is Ed Zed Omega…?
Let’s find out together, August 15, 2012.
The Half-Dog Story, in Full.
Posted: April 21, 2011 Filed under: Comedy, Fiction, Writing | Tags: gutty-works, half dog, King Solomon, Paper Darts, Sheba, short story 1 CommentRemember when I mentioned that story in Paper Darts’ 3rd Issue, called “Sheba”…? Why here it is now.
Click Image to enlarge. Click again to enlarge again.
And here I am reading it, on “Radio Dispatch with John & Molly” (29:10)
My story published in Paper Darts, Issue 3
Posted: March 7, 2011 Filed under: Comedy, Fiction, Writing | Tags: apocalyptic pick-up lines, art, digestive tract, fiction, half dog, humor, merfolk, new piece, Paper Darts, published, punk rock, readings, Sheba, short story, what happens when you see butts from your bike Leave a comment
Straight cocktail loungin' at Honey
The newest news: Paper Darts, Issue 3!Grab yourself a copy of the magazine because it’s gorgeous in word and in picture, and because you can there read my story, “Sheba,” which is about a half dog. Read it here.
At the launch party, I read two new pieces, one called “An Address to my Fellow Residents of Surrency, GA, On July the 25th, 1866,” and another called “Mermaid Explains Your Tongue to You.” They may appear in Paper Darts Issue 4–keep an eye out.
And check out the work of the other folks who read at the party (HINT: they’re also in this issue), if you are interested in such topics as punk rock, apocalyptic pick-up lines, and what happens when you see butts from your bike.
Mandford
Maggie Ryan Sandford 
