Lois M. Leveen
Encyclopedia
Lois Leveen is an American writer and educator based in Portland, Oregon.
, "a Richmond slave who became a spy for the Union army."
Her Christmas-themed piece "No Place Like Homo for the Holidays" was featured in the 2010 Lambda Literary Award winning anthology Portland Queer
In 2008, her short story describing her experiences with and love for the sidewalk "Free Box" was published in an anthology called, Our Portland Story, a book about Portland, Oregon by Portlanders.
appeared in Bitch Magazine
In 2003, her essay "Pitiful strategies : Richard Delgado's legal storytelling and the politics of racial representation" appeared in CrossRoutes, the meanings of "race" for the 21st century, an international collection of critical race theory.
Her poem "Walloon at Walgreens" appeared in Monkey Puzzle # 8 in 2009
2010:
2009:
2008:
2007:
2006:
cartoon Mission Hill
, which was created by three of her long-time friends. She auditioned for the voice of her own character, but actress Vicki Lewis
was determined to be even more “Lois-y” than Lois Leveen herself, and she was cast in the role instead.
Lois' lifelong commitment to LGBT issues was reinforced by her friendships with fellow Harvard students, including Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation President and former Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett Barrios
. She wrote passionately about the importance of the queer community at Harvard in a letter to Harvard Magazine.
Lois continued her advocacy by carrying the now-legendary "**** the Patriarchy" sign at the 1989 March for Women's Lives
in Washington DC.
Before graduating from Harvard in 1990, a stuffed whale that had formerly been in Lois' possession was, after a ceremonial parade through the Lil' Peach convenience store, deposited on a table at the local intellectuals' gathering spot Cafe Pamplona
, with a note bearing the cryptic plea, "Cafe con leche, por favor."
Civil War Articles and Fiction
Leveen is a contributor to the New York Times Disunion blog, which tracks the causes of the Civil War. She is currently completing a novel based on the life of Mary BowserMary Bowser
Mary Elizabeth Bowser was an American freed slave who worked in connection with Elizabeth Van Lew as a Union spy during the Civil War.-Later life:...
, "a Richmond slave who became a spy for the Union army."
Creative Nonfiction
Her essay "The Ice Age", about her father's mid-life crisis as a figure skater appeared in The Oregon Literary Review in 2008.Her Christmas-themed piece "No Place Like Homo for the Holidays" was featured in the 2010 Lambda Literary Award winning anthology Portland Queer
In 2008, her short story describing her experiences with and love for the sidewalk "Free Box" was published in an anthology called, Our Portland Story, a book about Portland, Oregon by Portlanders.
Critical Essays
In 2008 her piece critical of the television character Dora the ExplorerDora the Explorer
Dora the Explorer is an American animated television series created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh, and Eric Weiner. Dora the Explorer became a regular series in 2000. The show is carried on the Nickelodeon cable television network, including the associated Nick Jr. channel. It aired on CBS until...
appeared in Bitch Magazine
In 2003, her essay "Pitiful strategies : Richard Delgado's legal storytelling and the politics of racial representation" appeared in CrossRoutes, the meanings of "race" for the 21st century, an international collection of critical race theory.
Poetry
Her poem "Cognative Dissonance" was featured in the Jewish feminist journal Bridges in 2009Her poem "Walloon at Walgreens" appeared in Monkey Puzzle # 8 in 2009
Columns
Leveen is Jewish. Since 2008 she has been an ethics columnist ("The Shmeticist") for The Jew and the Carrot, a Jewish food blog.Teaching
The non-profit organization Literary Arts has run "Delve Readers' Seminars" since 2005. Lois Leveen has led several of these:2010:
- We, Too, Sing America: 20th-Century Writers & The Legacy Of Whitman
- Illustrating Identity In The Age Of The Graphic Novel
- Exploding The Canon: How Native American, Asian American And Latina Women Remade American Literature
2009:
- Shakespeare: The Tragedies of Empire
2008:
- Shakespeare: The Tragedies of Empire
- Charles Dickens: Bleak House
- William Faulkner & Toni Morrison: Absalom, Absalom! & Beloved
- Nathaniel Hawthorne & Gustave Flaubert: The Scarlet Letter & Madame Bovary
2007:
- Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man
2006:
- Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Radio
Lois Leveen read her personal essay on pseudo-death and rising long-distance rates on episode 68 of the NPR variety show Live Wire in June 2008.Television: Mission Hill
Lois was the inspiration and model for the character of Natalie Leibowitz-Hernandez on the Adult SwimAdult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
cartoon Mission Hill
Mission Hill
Mission Hill is an American animated television series that first aired on The WB in 1999. Although 18 episodes were planned, only 13 episodes were produced. The show was put on hiatus by the WB Network after two episodes due to poor ratings. It returned to the WB in the summer of 2000 but was...
, which was created by three of her long-time friends. She auditioned for the voice of her own character, but actress Vicki Lewis
Vicki Lewis
Vicki Lewis is an American film, stage, television and voice actress best known for her role as Beth in the NBC sitcom NewsRadio.-Personal life:...
was determined to be even more “Lois-y” than Lois Leveen herself, and she was cast in the role instead.
Multimedia
Since 2007 Leveen and her partner have created four videos, including Four Act Foreman with characters drawn from their idiosyncratic selection of objects as part of Performance Works NorthWest's annual Richard Foreman Mini-Festival. Lois served on the Board of Portland's Performance Works NorthWest from 2006 to 2010.Early educational and advocacy work
As a Harvard undergraduate, Lois volunteered with the university's Peer Contraceptive Counselors, demonstrating her leadership during an incident in which she climbed upon an Adams House dining table to exhort fellow students not to use the condoms they'd just stolen from the house Christmas tree, as these had been rendered unreliable by their attachment to the tree with safety pins.Lois' lifelong commitment to LGBT issues was reinforced by her friendships with fellow Harvard students, including Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation President and former Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett Barrios
Jarrett Barrios
Jarrett Tomás Barrios is a politician, activist, and executive, currently serving as the chief executive of the American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts. He was a member of both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate and became the first Latino and first openly...
. She wrote passionately about the importance of the queer community at Harvard in a letter to Harvard Magazine.
Lois continued her advocacy by carrying the now-legendary "**** the Patriarchy" sign at the 1989 March for Women's Lives
March for Women's Lives
The March for Women's Lives was a demonstration for reproductive rights and women's rights, held April 25, 2004 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. The National Park Service no longer makes official estimates of attendance after the Million Man March controversy in 1994, so official estimates...
in Washington DC.
Before graduating from Harvard in 1990, a stuffed whale that had formerly been in Lois' possession was, after a ceremonial parade through the Lil' Peach convenience store, deposited on a table at the local intellectuals' gathering spot Cafe Pamplona
Café Pamplona
Café Pamplona, located at 12 Bow St. beside the intersection of Bow and Arrow Streets near Harvard Square, is an unusual and renowned café. When it opened in 1959 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it was the first café in the Square. The owner, Josefina Yanguas, claimed the café had the first...
, with a note bearing the cryptic plea, "Cafe con leche, por favor."