Biography
I hold a PhD in Music from the University of California San Diego. My work on gender and technology grew from my lived experience. I began as an electric guitar player, thinking through the troubling cisheteromasculinity which follows the instrument and shapes the social interactions which surround it. I found myself drawing from the lineage of gender trouble-making guitarists––which I have labelled "disorienting guitar practice” (see Hochman 2016)––to mark my separation from the guitar. Upon building a collaborative relationship with Hillary Jean Young in our experimental punk duo masc4masc, I have reconciled with my instrument. The two of us improvise and antagonize the gendered nuances of our instruments, creating a space of interrogation to generate alternative musical imaginaries. In particular, I have found freedom in the use of pedals to push the electric guitar beyond its traditional timbres and melodic gestures. On our record, “Not Another Queer Movie” (2020), queer narrative and genre frame our free improvisation and extended technique to emphasize these questions.
My current research draws from my performance practice as a drag queen to ask similar questions about gender and technology. As a musician in a scene of lip-synchers, I was drawn to questions which center different approaches to technology and how it intersects with the social politics of the scene. My recent writing and speaking engagements explore the controversy which surrounded the first drag lip-synchers; its perceived affront to the ‘work ethic’ of the nightclub performer; its association with transsexuals and sex workers (both taken to be lazy and improperly utilizing their femininity). As a transwoman who found freedom in technology, my research seeks to better understand how this oft-told story may predate its more commonly cited origin with Wendy Carlos and the Moog synthesizer. I also have challenged myself to use my live voice more in drag performances, using performance as a method of inquiry alongside archival research.
I am an Assistant Professor at a community college where I am one of the few out queer people (and even fewer out trans people). I have taken on the responsibility of running numerous programs for my trans students––including a highly successful club called Trans Tea Time. We have guest speakers, share knowledge and skills, and hold space for each other to talk about difficulties navigating life as trans people in the suburbs. As an out trans person, I am always making connections with queer and questioning students. They always seem to find me and my classes. My work is dedicated to teaching them and bringing them joy.