Amy Detroit
In Omaha, during my late teens and early twenties, I created an alternate persona, which I used as a vehicle for art. Her name was Amy Detroit, and I created her when I was still a girl (I’m a tranny, if you don’t already know.) It started when I would get drunk with my friend Kelly; I/we’d write weird letters and draw little cartoons and send them to the letters to the editor of The Reader (Omaha version), which would then publish my drunk junk. Eventually,Amy became popular, I even got a couple fan letters sent to the Reader which were published.
She had several shows, where I’d get wasted on wine, and I mean wasted in the way that only a nineteen year old can get wasted, and sell my art for really fucking cheap. I miss a lot of those pieces that I sold, even though I know that a lot of them are in good homes, on people’s walls to this day—ten years ago. Eventually Omaha Pulp, (another alternative weekly in Omaha that was started by a former editor of The Reader and Bar Hag, a then popular and witty (and hot!) columnist from The Reader,) offered me space in their publication to run a single-panel, weekly comic. A lot of the stuff I did, looking back, was total crap (especially compared to now, a decade later) but I was published at a pretty young age, and that’s pretty fucking cool. I still have copies of the issues Amy Detroit was published in.
I want to bring Amy back. I’ve been trying to think of a new moniker, but nothing sounds very good to me. I also want to go to Detroit since I’ve never been there, and Amy is from Detroit. Part of why I want to create a new persona is because I haven’t been female for over 7 years now…and uh, Amy is a chick. On the other hand, I want to keep the name because she’s already well known and with a female name, I could be more anonymous at shows, were I to ever have one again.
I like anonymity.
I want a show in Omaha. I want a show in Chicago. I don’t have quite enough stuff for two shows yet, but I’m not taking classes this summer, so I’ll have time to make stuff. I need connections in Chicago, and I need to get new connections and find old connections in Omaha. Help.
