Queer Voices
Celebrating 32 Years of Queer Voices in Minnesota!
I like to document how we got here—behind the lens and behind the scenes. Because while this is our work, it’s also our story. First, a bit of backstory for context.
Carolyn Holbrook is a cornerstone of the Minneapolis literary scene. Her tireless work through programs like Go Back and Fetch It! and More Than A Single Story has empowered countless writers, especially from marginalized communities. Queer Voices is one such extension of her work—a 32-year-strong LGBTQIA+ literary series currently curated by LM Brimmer and Sherrie Fernandez-Williams, with roots in the original vision of Andrea Jenkins and John Medeiros.
This particular gig came to us by happenstance. About a year ago, I joined the inaugural 2024/2025 cohort for Go Back and Fetch It! and somehow became the unofficial photographer for the group. This was even before Skull Dogs Media had been officially born—but looking back, it feels like it was always meant to be.
My mom had gotten me an extendable selfie stick for Christmas back in 2023, and at the time I'd only really used it for location scouting for some of the pre-Skull Dogs Media film projects Jose and I have in the works.
The Inaugural Cohort of Go Back and Fetch It! at the ARC Retreat Community
But I soon came to see that with Go Back and Fetch It! I had another excuse to use it. Each session of the program featured a different mentor to guide us through the art of writing, and Carolyn would send monthly newsletters documenting what had happened and what was upcoming. I’m someone who cherishes memories, so I found myself naturally documenting these moments—partly for the community, partly for myself. That instinct to preserve became a kind of spark. It's always nice to revisit the fond memories and to see where you've been as you charge ahead into the future. Not only that, but I also recalled at the previous fellowship I was part of - Mirrors and Windows - there were members who frequently asked to take a group photo with the guest speakers that came through that program as well, so for me it became an extension of that role, and I became the one that would ask to take the photo.
At the end of the Go Back and Fetch It! program the group is set to perform a reading at Flava Cafe in St. Paul on July 20th at 2 PM to celebrate the inaugural cohort. After Dralandra and I had begun discussion on the work Skull Dogs Media would do for her upcoming book release: Before I Lie, it occurred to us that Skull Dogs Media should film the Go Back and Fetch It! reading as well!
I planned to bring it up to Carolyn—but she beat me to it. A day or two later, she emailed me, recognizing my unofficial photographer role and asking if I knew any videographers for an upcoming event.
I told her: as it turns out, Skull Dogs Media were videographers.
We were honored to be invited to partner with More Than A Single Story to film their Writer to Writer session: Queer Voices—Curators Past and Present, a conversation with curators John Medeiros, Andrea Jenkins, LM Brimmer, and Sherrie Fernandez-Williams.
Jose and I immediately got to work.
Tools: Our set up included our trusty Panasonic Lumix S5II, DJI 4, DJI 5, Insta360 X4, and my Galaxy S21.
The Lumix was our crown jewel, but when it comes to tech—redundancy is safety, even if these 5 cameras varied pretty drastically in quality.
Then, Jose and I did a bit of recon. As our team's audio engineer, Jose wanted to know more about the venue and audio setup. Would the speakers be mic'd? Was there a PA system involved? What were the acoustics of the room we'd be in? So, after getting all the details we could from our client partners, we decided to scout out the venue ourselves.
While the event was co-hosted by the Hennepin County Library, The event was physically hosted at Quatrefoil Library, the second-oldest LGBTQIA+ library in the U.S., founded in 1986 and still entirely volunteer-run. The space was intimate, the staff welcoming, and the collection stunningly diverse. I hadn’t realized how expansive LGBTQIA+ literature truly was until I stood surrounded by it—fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and more.
It was a pretty sweltering hot day, and the library opens at 7 PM during the week (though they open at 10 AM on the weekends) so, Jose and I had some time to kill before we officially made the journey. We explored some parts of the Twin Cities area, took some time get some Biria Ramen at Eat Street Crossing which...may have been a mistake given the heat, but it was worth it, then when it came close to 7 we started making our way over to the library....
We ended up being a bit early, so we took another stroll around the block. Found ourselves in a hidden away cafe called Amaal Cafe, which we ducked into for a bit to help beat the heat. It was a small cafe, but the atmosphere was really cozy and friendly. The food looked good too, but unfortunately we were still pretty full from Eat Street Crossing so we got some water to curb our dehydration, but otherwise didn't eat any of the food or try the coffee. But we'll definitely have to go back and try it out sometime.
After that, we visited a nearby Mexican Grocer in Ocampo Plaza where Jose was reunited with his childhood love: Malta India. He immediately bought some for the both of us so that I could try it too. The best way I can describe it to someone who may not have tried it is: It's like a root beer, but if it were flavored with molasses. It was nice to see Jose relive and recount his childhood as we made our way to the Quatrefoil Library.
When we made it back, we were let inside after only a short wait for 7:00 to roll around. The Library was small, and it was cozy (not unlike Amaal Cafe lol). The staff - all volunteers - were friendly and it was a really nice space to be - surrounded by so many LGBTQIA+ Books. Although the space was fairly compact, the thing that surprised me the most were just how many books there were. I just hadn't realized that there had already been so many LGBTQIA+ books, both fiction and non fiction, even graphic novels and films. The only genre missing was a dedicated "romance" section, but...considering the whole library was dedicated to LGBTQIA+ themes, I suppose that made sense. The category in and of itself is often, by default, about love.
I will admit, I did personally find a few gaps in their stock, so before we asked some question about the venue for the gig, I checked in with the staff to inquire if they accepted book donations. The library does accept book donations of up to 6 books (before they have to pull out the paperwork), so if you have books you'd like to share, your donations would be welcome.
I can't stress enough the welcoming atmosphere of The Quatrefoil as they work to create a sense of community in the Twin Cities.
After we finished up our scouting and left, Jose told me that it was the safest he's felt in that area of St. Paul. And I could see it in his demeanor how much being in such a safe and vibrant place had resonated with him. It was like he'd felt free to just be for the first time. That made me really happy. And the space had resonated with me as well, but I'd gotten used to being in spaces like that, maybe not on a regular basis, but enough that it hadn't felt so jarring to me to feel so welcome.
As a filming location, once we understood the size, the acoustics, and the lighting challenges, we decided to add more equipment to our arsenal. It's always tricky videoing speakers who aren't wearing mics, even when the space is small. We invested in a shotgun mic and the backup cameras became even more important as they would serve as alternative sources of audio.
We ended up renting a mic from EMI Audio, and then we were all set for the event.
On the day of the event, I packed up the books I'd prepared to donate—Fat Boy Romance by B&J, Call Down the Hawk and Mr. Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater, This Way to the Sugar and Not Here by local poet Hieu Minh Nguyen, and Belly of the Beast by Da’Shaun L. Harrison—and Jose and I headed to Quatrefoil.
Our set up was pretty simple. We set up the cameras with the Lumix in the back to get a nice flat front shot of the group. The DJI 4 was paired with the Galaxy S21 Phone camera at an angle. I put the DJI 5 on the other side of the room, hoping to get a nice alternate angle, but we ended up didn’t use the footage from that camera as the angle was back a bit too far and it wasn't nearly close enough. The Insta 360 was placed close to the audience so that we could get reaction shots.
Filming the event went very smoothly. I handled the DJI 4 and Galaxy S21 in the front, while Jose manned the Lumix in the back. I just let the DJI 5 run until it would eventually overheat, because I didn't want to interrupt the discussion by running across the room just to go check on it. Jose and I were a little bit concerned because we realized once we were there that we'd forgotten to pack our dummy battery for the Lumix!
The Dummy Battery is a false battery that fits into the camera's battery slot, but rather than being charged, the dummy battery is plugged into a constant power source which allows us to film for as long as we need without having to stop and replace the battery once the charge is depleted. This also helps prevent overheating - which frankly has never been an issue with the Lumix. That was actually the main reason we switched over to our Lumix from the Sony Jose used to have.
Our previous equipment line up included a Sony, which tended to overheat, even after only a few hours of filming. We’d even had to buy peripherals like an external fan just to mitigate this. It was actually the reason we'd initially bought the dummy battery, too. The problem got so bad that we ended up trading the Sony for a Lumix. So far, we've been really happy with the Lumix, from temperature control to picture quality, it all just works. The Lumix has a cinematic quality that, alone, is worth the price of admission. At this point, I can't really imagine trying to go back to a different camera system for our main camera.
All in all, the event lasted about 2-3 hours give or take. The Lumix easily lasted the whole session, though Jose did have to swap out the battery after about 2 and a half hours. Meanwhile, I was able to film some solid chunks before I started having to worry about overheating issues with the DJI and my phone. I felt I did a really good job with everything for the most part, but...ugh, I did have one major fumble when I was swapping out the battery on the DJI. Everything was perfect, LM Brimmer was reading her fantastic poem, and I was quiet as a ninja as I grabbed the replacement battery from the case...and then I dropped it and caught it with a loud clatter as the case lid closed in my hand. It's funny how it's such a short and small moment in the video, it didn't even interrupt the reading or the event, but man, in that moment it felt like an earthquake had just ripped through the room and it was my fault.
Otherwise, the recording session went perfectly. Even Jose mused over his ninja skills when he had to change the Lumix battery, so he faired a bit better than I had. And he'd communicated with me before the swap, too, so I was able to ensure my cameras were functional and filming while he made the swap so we didn't miss a moment.
Afterward, I finally got to introduce Carolyn Holbrook to Jose. Both had...heard quite a bit about each other, so it was nice for them to finally meet face to face. Then once all was said and done, Jose and I celebrated at a nearby Pizza Hut. There we reviewed the footage and were dismayed to find the Lumix had let us down!
Because of how we'd positioned it in the back of the room, there was a small part of the crowd that stayed in the frame throughout the event. Unfortunately, with figures up close and the main focus further back, and me having forgotten to tell Jose to turn off the Lumix's auto focus, the camera didn't know what to focus on and there were large chunks of our primary footage that were just fully out of focus, like I'm talking full blur. It was really disheartening, especially because I knew how good the Lumix's quality was, especially compared to our other cameras, and I'd been so confident about how smoothly everything had gone, and it wasn't Jose's fault. It had been my decision to put the Lumix in the back where it was, and to get a view that was over the heads of the audience, we'd had to put it on a table, and without our secondary monitor, there really wasn't a way for Jose to micro manage the focus or keep an eye on it the whole time. So, in the end we had to rely a lot more on our ancillary footage.
Still, while I've openly stated that the Lumix is way higher quality than our other cameras, our other cameras still aren't anything to sneeze at. I haven't really tested how the DJI 4 and 5 stack up to each other in terms of quality, and given the bad angle I got during this session, it still wasn't comparable. The Insta 360 X4 was easily the lowest quality footage when paired with the room's lighting situation, followed by the DJI Cameras, and then my Galaxy S21 was the next best besides the Lumix, but it also overheated the fastest, so it was used the least. Most of this, I already knew, having learned much from my adventures in Beyblade Training, but this was the first time I got to see it all up close and personal.
Needless to say, I was really glad I went ahead and brought the other cameras. We could have had a real crisis without them, but instead we were still able to piece together a really nice video for Queer Voices. All things considered, I'm really happy with how it turned out. And I think I've learned to be much more attentive to the autofocus situation in the future...
So, that wraps it up for a Behind The Scenes look at our project with Carolyn Holbrook and More Than a Single Story’s Writer to Writer discussion with Queer Voices. I encourage anyone who might be interested to learn more about this Queer Voices event and the Quatrefoil Library to check out the gallery page here on our website.
Wherever you are in your journey, know this: you are not alone. We see you. We honor you. And we're walking forward with you, one story, one breath, one step at a time
Keep Howling,
~ Christian
