makers, sock monkeys & drag queens

Yesterday: The Maker Faire, a phenomenal event hosted by MAKE Magazine at the San Mateo Fairgrounds every year. Chance led me there—AT (soon to be the best and most beautiful nurse ever after graduation this weekend) thought of me when she picked up the flyer last month, but I would've forgotten if M/M hadn't mentioned she was going and that Frisky (pervert transport mechanism of choice) had room for me.

One word: Amazing. Techies, tinkerers, pyromaniacs, performers, artists & lovers of all things creative wandered in the sun watching people fly through the air on questionable-looking metal contraptions built by the Cyclecide clowns (I'm a big fan of any event with giant hand-painted signs that read: "You voluntarily assume the risk of serious injury or death..."), peeked through the lace curtains of the Neverwas, set the cranks in motion for the LifeSize Mouse Trap, or just made sock monkeys... DIY workshops of every kind, from screen printing, Renaissance yarn-spinning, jewelry making, punk-rock knitting, wheel-throwing and bookmaking, to MIDI-controlled music, robotics, whatever.

The Swap-O-Rama-Rama Fashion Show was one of the highlights, with Bad Unkl Sista winning the crowd, hands-down (and on stilts). Norene Leddy and Andrew Milmoe, creators of The Aphrodite Project, ran one of the demo stations on outfitting platform shoes using a new kind of nontoxic plastic and multimedia technology. The Platforms prototype comes complete with wireless internet, GPS tracking system, LCD screen, emergency button, and speakers. Leddy's new media works provoke dialogue on contemporary urban sex worker issues, and will be featured in "Sex Hacks", tomorrow night at the Center for Sex & Culture, 7:30pm, after party at Shine.

To top it all off, the Stellaaaaaaaaaa! screening of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was nothing short of fabulous, with live drag performances by Raya Light, Monistat, U-Phoria, and LayBelline. Think fog machine, disco lights, flying ping-pong balls and confetti, in a private theater down Dore Alley. I was the gatekeeper, drawing little stars on people since we didn't have stamps, and this was the perfect end to a perfect fucking day.