narrator
Carrie Ferguson (They/Them) was born in April of 1970 in Eureka, California to their father, a teacher, and their mother, who worked at a county office, and lived with their parents and brother. Although born in Eureka, Carrie was raised in a liberal, hippie town called Arcata, California, where they attended Arcata High School. Carrie attended Arcata High School followed by some time at Arcata’s local university, Humboldt State, before transferring to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1990. When moving to Massachusetts, they began working in the food service industry, and continued working in the industry after graduating UMass Amherst in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies, and worked in food service up until 2004. In 2007, Carrie began their formal musical career, as they started teaching piano lessons, followed by working with Piti Theatre as a songwriter and performer beginning in 2010.
Carrie has worked as a songwriter and performer since 2010, and has performed in many local music venues all over Massachusetts, including the Iron Horse, the Parlor Room, the Academy of Music, and many more. Carrie is still active in their performing career, as their most recent video, The Many I Am, was their biggest video project, and was released in 2024 in celebration of pride month. They specialize in kid and family music, alongside some adult music, with their band The Grumpytime Club, and uses their music platform and role as a piano teacher to advocate for Queer rights and visibility. Carrie has also performed in many Valley Pride Marches and organizes the annual Queer Kids Fest in Northampton.
abstract
This interview with Carrie Ferguson focuses on the coming-of-age and identity-forming experience of a queer individual. In this interview, Carrie talks about their relationship with themselves, and brings attention to the process of figuring out who they are and their changing identities throughout their youth, adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood. Carrie emphasizes the need for patience and self-love, education, and the importance of using self-reflection to educate oneself on intersectional identities.
As a kids and family musician and piano teacher, Carrie speaks in this interview on the importance of music and art as an outlet for youth, as well as the importance of queer visibility in the media and through music and art. Carrie also talks about community, and the importance of the intentional spaces that they have created for themselves and for the queer community in Western Massachusetts.