Simon

Photo by Pidgeon

Simon Strikeback is an activist and educator focusing in history, gender  studies and  performance and has been an organizer of various campaigns and gatherings related to queer and transgender issues for the past ten years. While pursuing a women’s studies degree at DePaul University, Simon became interested in justice organizing around workers’ rights and queer visibility projects. From 1999-2005, He was a lead organizer in Camp Trans, a a protest and community space fighting for the inclusion of transwomen at the  annual Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.

In this vein, he has given presentations at numerous universities throughout the US,   addressing ideas of feminism as it relates to transgender issues.

Simon was born into a family of musicians and was trained from an early age. After playing in many groups throughout the years, it was while living at a queer arts commune in rural Tennessee that he began to play the ukulele and sing, while developing an appreciate for traditional bluegrass music. In the music duet Actor Slash Model Simon sings, plays ukulele and writes songs.

He recently completed a graduate degree at University of Chicago and is also the editor of the self-produced zine Bound To Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet, accepting open submissions for Volume 4. You may contact him directly with interests, or to acquire past issues. http://www.myspace.com/boundtostruggle