Reading and Open Mic Hosted by Randy Stern

Art in the cafe...

Laurel Statz


"The Spectator"


December 2025



Laurel Statz is a painter and Madison area native. Her work, while figurative, is influenced by abstraction and minimalism. The paintings often have a quick and instinctual nature, capturing just what’s needed. While she often times herself to eliminate extra details and over-precision, she has ventured into more detailed works as well. Laurel does not attach narrative to her pieces. Rather, she thinks of them like a journaling process for her scatter-brained psyche. The figures in the pieces are meant to be processing tools for the artist and the viewer. She hopes that seeing these figures helps the...
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Sunday, October 16, 2005

As a closing for the Madison Zine Fest, Randy Stern will host a reading and Open Mic. Signup is at 6:30pm.

A former Madisonian, Minneapolis-based writer, poet, and gay activist, Randy Stern, will read from his book of poetry, The Boy From Reseda. Randy's poetry often looks at life from the perspective of a man who "did not fit the 'ideal' stereotype of gay culture."

Sometimes witty and brash, at other times soulful and serene, Randy's writing shows more of the rough edges of personal triumph, struggles, acceptance, and hope.

Reading