About

August is a queer intellectual and advocate of embodied liberation and decolonized, beloved community.

In the early 2000’s, their writing as Rocko Bulldagger was published in the anthologies That’s Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation and Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore.

August completed the Rockwood Art of Leadership training in 2005, and has a strong interest in cultural transformation and deep collaboration. They had a solid 15 years work in education reform, focused on change management, leadership development, and team building. To be clear, education reform was a misguided movement to improve schools for children by redirecting public funding to corporate and non-profit entities and giving them opportunities to make changes dreamed up by business minded opportunists. August’s commitment to better educational experiences for children remains but they no longer work within that framework. August’s work in education continued through consulting and facilitation with the NYC Department of Education.

From 2007 to 2016, under the name Sloan Lesbowitz, August was a curator, co-director, and then president of the board at MIX NYC, the organization behind the legendary NY Queer Experimental Film Festival. Along with the films and art, they gained experience in collaboration across differences, conflict mediation, and challenges in diversifying the staff of a volunteer based organization.

August worked as a sex educator for eight years. Their areas of interest include the relationship between sex drive and the realities of aging, health, and depression. They are both proud and humbled to have been a rank-and-file organizer and a shop steward in adult retail. August is dedicated to organizing working class-based, queer, multiracial communities and movements to transform our world.

They see all their various projects in life as serving to explore and expand our freedoms. Our shared liberation depends on us acting with love, courage, and responsibility to one another and to all living things. None of us can do this alone, so August seeks to share the journey with others and provide all the support they can. August is currently offering mentorship, counseling, and coaching via Zoom. They are available as a panelist, teacher, and/or facilitator on a limited basis.