She began with a story about bringing her grandmother to a Michigan women's festival and a female ejaculation workshop.

"It was 7,000 naked lesbians in the woods," she said. "My grandma stage dived with the butchies and the Indigo Girls."

Spoken word artist Alix Olson gave a keynote performance last night in the HUB Auditorium to the Penn State queer community as they celebrated National Coming Out Day.

Olson, who admitted to being raised as a radical feminist, blended political and homosexual themes with raw comedy and emotional poetry.

She told anecdotes in between performing spoken word poems for an audience of about 100.

Olson's transitional stories were purely comedic, but the poetry delivered more serious messages.

"I'm out to save the world when I'm not scrambling to save face," Olson yelled while performing one of her pieces.

Olson shared stories about falling in love with her therapist, being the cheerleading captain in junior high and touring the Southern states with a bumper sticker that read "the road to hell is paved with Republicans."

"I am a lesbian so I've had three Subarus by now," she said. "It's important to streamline your politics on the back of your vehicle."

The performance shifted moods quickly, as she joked about her transgendered ex-girlfriend and then performed poems about breaking up with America, male poets who tell her to be more subtle and sexual encounters with Catholic schoolgirls.

Bryn Kimball (graduate-geosciences) said her favorite poem was about Wal-Mart because it was funny, clever and hit a lot of valid points.

"Attention Viagra-popping Gucci-shopping suburbanites - America's on sale," Olson said while performing the Wal-Mart piece. "Our ethic inventory's low because moral business has been slow."

Olson's poetry included racy, sexual themes as well as politics.

"Your red-hot forehead's touching my knee and I'm checking my pulse, making sure she hasn't quit on me," she said during a poem about falling in love with someone who "doesn't necessarily belong to you."

Olson, originally from Bethlehem, criticized some "harsh, intolerant Santorum-ese parts of Pennsylvania" and said she was raised as an atheist and a Marxist.

"I was impressed with her willingness to speak out," Kimball said. "She's a cheerleader for what I believe in."

David Cicero Bevacqua (graduate-geosciences) said the event was an opportunity for the gay community to increase visibility and dialogue.

"Penn State has one of the more conservative populations of students," he said. "[Homosexuals] don't always feel welcome so this looks well on the school."

Bevacqua said seeing Olson perform is a reminder that anyone can make a change to better the society.

Jamie Carrier and her friends drove two hours from Mansfield University to see Olson's performance.

Carrier said she loved the political message of the event but was disappointed in the amount of students in attendance.

"I was surprised by the small turnout," she said. "We could have gotten this many people at Mansfield."