OutHistory.org Announces LGBTQ Local Histories Contest Winners

OutHistory.org, the award-winning website on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer U.S. history, announced the winners of its “Since Stonewall Local Histories Contest” on Monday, June 28, exactly 41 years after the start of the rebellion that marks the beginning of the modern movement for LGBTQ rights and liberation. The contest—the first of its kind—invited people from across the country to create exhibits on OutHistory.org about the history of LGBTQ life in their village, town, city, county, or state since the Stonewall riots. The contest also offered five cash prizes, from $5,000 to $1,000, to the creators of the top five exhibits. The awards were provided by the Arcus Foundation, which funded OutHistory.org for four years.

OutHistory.org received over thirty exciting exhibits about LGBTQ history. One of the contest’s major goals was to draw attention to LGBTQ history in places that scholars have overlooked. The staff of OutHistory.org was pleased to see exhibits about states such as Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, and Virginia, among others.

The “Since Stonewall” exhibits are all geographically-based, but range dramatically in subject, from one New Yorker’s memoirs, to a history of the Gay Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C., an account of a long-lived gay bar in Michigan called The Flame, and a timeline of The Lesbian Mothers National Defense Fund in Seattle. All the entries are listed on the site.

Professors and historians of homosexuality John D’Emilio and Leisa Meyer served as judges of the contest.

The First Place Winner
The first place prize was awarded to “Man-i-fest: FTM Mentorship in San Francisco from 1976 – 2009,” created by Meghan Rohrer, the first openly transgender pastor ordained in the Lutheran Church, in partnership with San Francisco’s GLBT Historical Society.
The exhibit documents Lou Sullivan’s transition from female to male over the course of thirty years, with evidence drawn from Sullivans’ photos and letters, as well as video footage of interviews he did with the mainstream and community press, and medical professionals. D’Emilio and Meyer praised “the exhibit’s attention to the less studied FTM transition,” and noted “the critical role of mentors in these transitions is remarkable.”

Second Place
The second place winner, “Rainbow Richmond: LGBTQ History of Richmond, VA,”
compiled by Cindy Bray, Program Director for the Gay Community Center of Richmond, provides a deeply textured story of the multiple challenges and triumphs that have constituted the queer history of this former capital of the Confederacy.
“Moving from a straightforward timeline of the significant moments and turning points of Richmond’s LGBTQ history,” D’Emilio and Meyer said, “this exhibit offers detailed and evocative coverage of the violence, legal battles, and activism that characterized the four decades since Stonewall and offers browsers the rare opportunity to substantively engage this vital southern LGBTQ community.”

Third Place
In third place, historian Lindsay Branson’s “Gay Liberation in New York City” provides a remarkable array of sources, from an initial picture of “gay” graffiti to vivid oral history interviews and video footage of historical moments. This entry makes visitors to the site feel like they are part of the vibrant gay liberation movement in New York City during its brief heyday, while working to clarify the complex legacies of Stonewall.

Fourth Place
“Las Vegas, Nevada” the fourth place winner documents the creation of LGBTQ communities in Las Vegas over the course of 30 years. It was created by Dennis McBride and Crystal Van Dee of the Nevada State Museum with Paul Ershler of the Lambda Business and Professional Association. “This exhibit makes clear that, while Stonewall is part of a ‘shared’ queer history, we might be better served by looking to institutions like the Reno Gay Rodeo, Le Café in Las Vegas, and the fierce local struggles to maintain these and other institutions to understand the emergence of queer Nevada” D’Emilio and Meyer declared.

Fifth Place
In fifth place is the “Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, San Francisco, California 1971-2004,” created by historian Nathan Purkiss, which documents the first registered LGBT democratic club in the nation. The exhibit draws from the Alice Reports newsletter, interviews with longtime Alice members, and the Gay Vote Newsletters of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club to provide, what D’Emilio and Meyer call, “a fascinating textual and visual journey.”

Honorable mention was given to “The Midwest’s ‘Queer Mecca’: 40 Years of GLBTQ History in Bloomington, Indiana (1969-2009),” and “LGBT Life in Iowa City, Iowa: 1967-2010.”

OutHistory.org’s founder, the pioneering gay historian Jonathan Ned Katz, hopes that the Since Stonewall Contest exhibits will be used by teachers to incorporate local LGBTQ history into high school and college courses. He also hopes that the contest will inspire others to write their local histories on the site, which, like Wikipedia, permits users to create content. As contest contributors can continue to edit their entries on OutHistory.org, and new histories are added by the public, the site’s local LGBTQ history content will continue to grow.
According to D’Emilio and Meyer, “The OutHistory.org website and the ‘Since Stonewall’ contest are critically important in bringing attention to local LGBTQ history, and LGBTQ history more generally. Without recognition of LGBTQ history on local, state, national, and transnational levels our historical narratives will remain forever incomplete.”
OutHistory.org was the co-recipient of the first Allan Bérubé Award from The Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History of the American Historical Association.

Introduction of Sharon Bridgforth for the Queer Cultural Event

I had the good fortune of introducing Sharon Bridgforth for the Queer Cultural Event at the Queer Studies Symposium on the University of Maryland’s campus in April 2010. Below is my introduction. Do check out Bridgforth’s work published by Lisa Moore of Redbone Press.
Good Afternoon and welcome to the second Queer Cultural Event as a part of the DC Queer Studies Symposium. I’d like to thank all of the sponsors of this event and especially Professor Marilee Lindemann and Damion Clark for their vision and hard work in making this event a success.

As we embark on the second Queer Cultural Event, you may notice that these events are, in part, reflections of my own obsessions. Last year, three gay male poets entertained and enlightened us from a variety of aesthetic positions, reflecting my desire for greater aesthetic dialogues within poetry and for more poetry in queer studies. This year, Sharon Bridgforth, an extraordinary writer, performer, historian of the imagination, and theorist, will enliven our afternoon with her work. She embodies my admiration of and appreciation for African-American Butch Lesbians. Although I don’t want to fix Bridgforth in a particular identity location because she is in fact a multi-faceted performer and artist, consider her renderings of one woman-loving-woman named bull-dog-jean from her book the bull-jean stories,

bull-jean say
i been giving away tastes
piece by piece/samples
of my Heart/I
been giving for free                 all my Life

bull-jean continues

and that wo’mn is kind
and she Lovves me         and
it don’t matter if it’s thirty minutes a day
or ONCE in the next Life
I’ll go git her/smile
whenever she’ll let me
have it!

Part of Bridgforth’s project is, in her words, considering “a range of possibilities of gender expression and sexuality within a rural/Black working class context.” She “articulates African-American sensibilities/history and oral traditions for the purpose of exploring the ways that” African-American communities have survived.

And did I mention her work is hot? Here again from the bull-jean stories

let me

be the coffee in yo cup

hold me close/smell

your memories

wake

black/wid

a little sugar

made to fit your taste

stir and sip me slow

don’t let none go to waste

Sharon Bridgforth is a two time Alpert Award Nominee in the Arts in Theatre and a recipient of the 2008 Alpert/Hedgebrook Residency Prize. She has been the Artist-In-Residence in Performance Studies at Northwestern University and her work has received support from the National Endowment For The Arts Commissioning Program; The National Endowment For The Arts/Theatre Communications Group Playwright in Residence Program; National Performance Network Commissioning Fund; the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media; and the Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund Award.

She is the author of two books, the bull-jean stories, which won the 1999 Lambda Literary Award in Poetry, and love conjure/blues, which Tara Lake described as a “historically imagined juke joint community—populated by “the mens the womens the both and the neither”—[that] restores queer agency to black history in the tradition of Audre Lorde, Bruce Nugent, and James Baldwin.” Lake continues, “This poetry is not just a blues, but a sort of divine witchcraft, a stomp circle, a shout! Not jubilee, but hallelujah.”

Both of these books are published by RedBone Press and are available for sale and signing after today’s performance.

Sharon Bridgforth is an affiliate of The Austin Project, sponsored by The John L. Warfield Center For African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and has just been appointed to the position of Multicultural Faculty Member in DePaul University’s Theatre School for the next academic year. This afternoon, Sharon Bridgforth will perform Like Jazz, selections from her current work. After her performance, we will have time for questions, queries, and other queer forms of audience engagement. Please join me in welcoming Sharon Bridgforth.

Winners of the 22nd Annual Lambda Literary Awards

Winners of the 22nd Annual

Lambda Literary Awards

Lesbian Fiction
A Field Guide to Deception, by Jill Malone (Bywater Books)
 
Gay Fiction
Lake Overturn, by Vestal McIntyre (HarperCollins)
 
Lesbian Debut Fiction
The Creamsickle, by Rhiannon Argo (Spinsters Ink)
 
Gay Debut Fiction
Blue Boy, by Rakesh Satyal (Kensington Books)
 
LGBT Children's/Young Adult
Sprout, by Dale Peck (Bloomsbury USA)
 
Lesbian Mystery
Death of a Dying Man, by J.M. Redmann (Bold Strokes Books)
 
Gay Mystery
What We Remember, by Michael Thomas Ford (Kensington Books)
 
Lesbian Erotica
Lesbian Cowboys, edited by Sacchi Green & Rakelle Valencia (Cleis Press)
 
Gay Erotica
Impossible Princess, by Kevin Killian (City Lights)            
 
Bisexual Fiction - A Tie!
Holy Communion, by Mykola Dementiuk (Synergy Press)
Love You Two, by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (Random House Australia)
 
Bisexual Nonfiction
Leaving India: My Family's Journey From Five Villages to Five Continents, by Minal Hajratwala (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
 
Transgender
Lynnee Breedlove's One Freak Show, by Lynn Breedlove (Manic D Press)
 
LGBT Anthology
Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City, edited by Ariel Gore (Lit Star Press)

LGBT Drama
The Collected Plays Of Mart Crowley, by Mart Crowley (Alyson Books)
 
LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror
Palimpsest, by Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam/Spectra Books)
 
Lesbian Romance
The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin, by Colette Moody (Bold Strokes Books)
 
Gay Romance
Drama Queers!, by Frank Anthony Polito (Kensington Books)
 
Lesbian Poetry
Zero at the Bone, by Stacie Cassarino (New Issues Poetry & Prose)
 
Gay Poetry
Sweet Core Orchard, by Benjamin S. Grossberg (University of Tampa Press)
 
LGBT Studies
The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth Century America, by Margot Canaday (Princeton University Press)
 
LGBT Nonfiction
The Greeks and Greek Love, by James Davidson (Random House)
 
Lesbian Memoir/Biography
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith, by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin's Press)
 
Gay Memoir/Biography
Ardent Spirits: Leaving Home, Coming Back, by Reynolds Price (Scribner Books)

S as in Sam, Z as in Zebra

Dear Friends,

Since there is lots of exciting news about Handmade Love, I'm sending another newsletter. Please forgive the extra email, but some news is just too good to not share!

Upcoming Readings

New York City

On Wednesday, 12 May 2010 at 6 p.m., I'll be reading with three other fabulous lesbian writers, Elaine Sexton, Sarah Van Arsdale, and Patricia Grossman, at the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, 208 W 13th Street, NY, NY 10011. As you can imagine, it's very exciting to me to be reading at a LGBT Community Center as I spent many years working at one. Tickets for this event are $8 in advance. If you are in the New York area, please join me for this event.
More information:
http://www.gaycenter.org/node/5084

Washington, DC

On Sunday, 16 May 2010 at 7 p.m., I'll be reading as a part of the Cheryl's Gone reading series at the Big Bear Cafe, 1700 1st St NW Washington DC (at 1st and R). This should be a great fun, relaxed evening and I would love to see local friends there.
For more information:
http://cherylsgone.com/?p=93

On Tuesday, 8 June 2010 at 7:30 p.m., I'll be reading as a part of the Miller Cabin Poetry Series in Rock Creek Park. The series is held at Joaquin Miller Cabin in Rock Creek Park, Picnic Area #6, Beach Drive at Military Road Overpass. I'm excited to be reading with Jericho Brown, a fabulous poet. There will be a rain location though it has not yet been announced. If it is raining that day, call Kathi Morrison-Taylor at 703-820-8113 for information about the location. The entire Miller Cabin Poetry Series is always magical. Please join me and Jericho Brown for a great early summer evening of poetry.

Reviews

I'm thrilled to share some of the good reviews that Handmade Love has received. Rigoberto Gonzalez mentioned Handmade Love at Critical Mass, the blog of the National Book Critics Circle. You can read his words here:

http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/small_press_spotlight_april_poetry_month_edition/

Richard Labonte, author of the bi-weekly column, Book Marks, wrote a lovely review of Handmade Love that has been syndicated to a number of LGBT newspapers. Here it is in the South Florida Gay News:

http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/book-reviews/1261-handmade-love-by-julie-r-enszer.html

The Lambda Book Report reviewed the book on their fabulous new website.

http://www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/poetry/04/28/handmade-love-by-julie-enszer/

I've been crowing about this quotation from Courtney Gillette's review at Lambda Literary:
"Anyone who’s loved Dorothy Allison’s early chapbook of poetry, The Women Who Hate Me, will recognize the same brash confidence and articulation in Julie Enszer’s work."

My friend Merry Gangemi wrote a lovely blog about her experience reading Handmade Love. You can read it here:
http://merrygangemi.blogspot.com/2010/04/some-thoughts-on-julie-r-enszers-new.html
(And if you are a blogger, think about writing your own block about the book!)


Other Writings

Lambda Literary has been very generous to me in the month of April (National Poetry Month!). I was a featured interview for the Book Buzz column. You can read the interview here:
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/interviews/03/31/julie-r-enszers-archival-instinct/
And included in the series, 'Five Poets Who Changed My Life."
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/5-poets/04/22/5-poets-who-changed-my-life/
This month an article I wrote about The Furies was included in the new issue of Beltway
http://washingtonart.com/beltway/furies.html

Order the book

Still don't have your copy of Handmade Love? You can order it through the publisher's website here:

http://amidsummernightspress.typepad.com/amsnp/2010/02/handmade-love.html

It is shipping from Amazon.com as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Love-Julie-R-Enszer/dp/0979420857/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267904433&sr=8-1

If you prefer to support independent distributors, order it from Small Press Distribution here:

http://www.spdbooks.org/Producte/9780979420856/handmade-love.aspx

How You Can Help

I'd love it if you would pass on the word about the book to your friends and family, encourage people to order it or buy extra copies and give it as a gift. If you liked Handmade Love, please think about leaving a comment on Amazon.com, GoodReads, or LibraryThing. Your kind words and good wishes are greatly appreciated.

All in all, a busy and wonderful month. Now I'm deep in writing my last qualifying exam for my PhD program. Great fun with a little bit of stress thrown in. Think of me at the end of May when I am defending it!

I hope this newsletter finds you well and thriving!

Julie

SEVEN KITCHENS PRESS announces the third annual Robin Becker Chapbook Prize for an original, unpublished poetry manuscript in English by a Lesbian, Gay. Bisexual, Transgendered or Queer writer.

Prize: Fifty author copies.
Submission deadline: Postmarked between March 1 and May 15 of each year.
Eligibility: Open to all L/G/B/T/Q poets writing in English (no translations, please).
Please note: Two manuscripts will be selected as co-winners of the 2010 Robin Becker Chapbook Prize: one by a writer with no previous book or chapbook, and the other by a writer with previous book or chapbook publication.
Please read the guidelines carefully; the complete guidelines are posted on the Seven Kitchens site and we are not responsible for other versions of the guidelines that may be posted, in whole or in part, elsewhere.
COMPLETE GUIDELINES:

Anyone who identifies as L/G/B/T/Q is eligible to submit to the Robin Becker Chapbook Prize.
The manuscript itself need not address L/G/B/T/Q themes, though such work is welcome.
The final judge for this year's series is Eloise Klein Healy.
Submit a paginated manuscript of 16-24 pages (not including front matter).

Include two cover pages: one with the manuscript title, author name, address, e-mail and phone number; the second cover page should have the manuscript title only.
Include a table of contents page, if appropriate.
The collection may contain a series of poems or one single chapbook-length poem.
Include, if applicable, an acknowledgments page for work previously published.
Please include, on a separate page, a brief (100-150 words) biographical note, including a statement of any previous or pending book or chapbook publication.
The author's name must not appear in the manuscript.

Collaborative works are accepted. Should a winning manuscript be collaboratively written, the author copies will be shared equally.
All manuscripts will be blind judged, meaning all identifying material will be separated from the manuscripts as they are logged in.
Manuscript titles and their log numbers will be posted on the web site [http:// sevenkitchens dot blogspot dot com] as they are received.
Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify us promptly if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

Submissions must be posted between March 1 and May 15, 2010.
The winning manuscripts will be announced on or before October 15, 2010.
Manuscript finalists will also be announced, and may be eligible for publication.
Manuscripts will not be returned. E-mailed submission is preferred, but you may send via regular mail.

If you are sending by mail, do not staple or bind your manuscript; please use a binder clip and mail flat in an 8.5 x 11 envelope.
Please do not use expedited delivery services; your postmark date is sufficient to ensure your entry qualification, and we will allow 7-10 days for receipt of all mailed entries. Please use First Class Mail and consider spending the money you've saved on a chapbook from an independent press!
If you are sending by e-mail, please send one document in Microsoft Word format (.doc, .docx or .rtf files are ideal); you must include the words “Robin Becker Chapbook” in the subject line of your e-mail.
Include a $12 reading fee with each manuscript you submit (multiple submissions are welcome). Checks should be made payable to Ron Mohring, NOT to Seven Kitchens. Online payment may be made via PayPal to sevenkitchens at yahoo dot com.
Each entrant will receive one copy of either winning chapbook, to be published during the winter of 2010-11. Please let us know if you change your e-mail or mailing address!
Each co-winner will receive fifty copies of her or his chapbook. Additionally, the publisher will distribute ten review copies and will solicit online reviews of each chapbook.
Send your manuscript:
~by e-mail, as a Microsoft Word attachment, to: sevenkitchens at yahoo dot com; or
~by mail to Ron Mohring, Publisher; PO Box 668; Lewisburg PA 17837.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Initiated in 2008, this chapbook series honors Robin Becker, whose continuing accomplishments as a poet, professor, and mentor of lesbian and gay writers deserve wider acclaim. Becker serves as poetry editor for the Women's Review of Books and is a professor of English and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of six collections of poems, including Giacometti's Dog (1990), All-American Girl (1996), The Horse Fair (2000), and Domain of Perfect Affection (2006), all from the University of Pittsburgh Press, and of the chapbook Venetian Blue (Frick Art & Historical Center, 2002).

Titles in this series include Lost Lands by Judith Barrington, Postcards from P-town by Steven Riel, (2008), Inland Sea by Erin Bertram, and Scavenge by RJ Gibson. All titles are kept in print and are available for $7 each; please add $1 for shipping.

ABOUT THE JUDGE: Eloise Klein Healy is the author of six books of poetry, including Ordinary Wisdom, Artemis in Echo Park, Passing, and The Islands Project: Poems for Sappho. Healy's work has been widely anthologized in collections including The World In Us: Lesbian and Gay Poetry of the Next Wave and Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals. Her imprint with Red Hen Press, Arktoi Books, established in 2006, specializes in publishing the work of lesbian authors.

The Production of Lesbian Spaces in the 1970s

Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) Lesbians in the 70s Series:
The Production of Lesbian Spaces in the 1970s

March 19th | Friday, 6-8 PM
Room 9205 at The CUNY Graduate Center (NYC) 
365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

Participants: Madeline Davis, Deborah Edel, Julie Enszer, Joan P. Gibbs, Stina Soderling
Moderator: Jen Gieseking

"The Production of Lesbian Spaces in the 1970s" panel and reception is part of CLAGS’s year-long series, “In Amerika They Call Us Dykes: Lesbian Lives in the 1970s.”  The panel will discuss the production of lesbian space and place in the 1970s, both urban and otherwise and within and without lesbian feminism, with a reception to  follow from 8-10pm.  We hope to touch on such topics as the roles of concepts of public and private, the politics, experiences, and uses of visibility and invisibility, and shifts in lesbian-feminist, butch-femme, and other dynamics throughout this period.  Participants include Madeline Davis (founder and director of the Madeline Davis GLBT Archives of Western NY, and co-author of _Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold_--winner of the 1993 Lambda Literary Award), Deborah Edel (activist and co-founder / long-time treasurer of the Lesbian Herstory Archives), Julie Enszer (poet and founder of the online Lesbian Poetry Archives), Joan Gibbs (co-founder of Azalea and Dykes Against Racism Everywhere), and Stina Soderling (Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers University studying lesbian separatist spaces in the 1970s).  The event will be recorded and archived on the CLAGS site for future viewing, while the conversation itself will continue in an online mapping venue that those in New York City and beyond can contribute their own place markers with accompanying stories to record lesbian spaces over time throughout the world

Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS) Lesbians in the 70s Series:

The Production of Lesbian Spaces in the 1970s

March 19th | Friday, 6-8 PM

Room 9205 at The CUNY Graduate Center (NYC)

365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

Presentation by Julie R. Enszer

In thinking about space, I returned to Gaston Bachelard on the Poetics of Space. He writes, “[A]n empty drawer is unimaginable. It can only be thought of. And for us, who must describe what we imagine before we know, what we dream before what we verify, all wardrobes are full” (Bachelard, xxxvii-xxxviii.)

From my perspective, lesbians in the 70s were describing what they imagined and what they dreamed and then writing and publishing those dreams and imaginings in lesbian print culture. They were creating spaces and finding “all wardrobes full.” When I think about lesbian and lesbian-feminist print culture in the 1970s, I think of four “spaces”:

• •Poems (like Adrienne Rich’s “The Floating Poem” “whatever happens with us, your body/will haunt mine—tender, delicate” or Pat Parker’s “For Straight Folks who don’t mind gays but wish they weren’t so blatant” or E. Sharon Gomilion’s lines, “We’re doing it in our books/history, poetry, and song/We’re doing it every chance/we get/Right on—further on!” Judy Grahn’s “A History of Lesbianism” “The subject of lesbianism/is very ordinary; it’s the question/of male domination that makes everybody/angry.”)


• •Poetry books, chapbooks, broadsides and other printed materials


• •Journal, newspapers, newsletters, and periodicals like Sinister Wisdom, Conditions, The Furies, Azalea.


• •Small presses like Violet Press, Out & Out Books, Women’s Press Collective, Diana Press, Persephone Press, and Easter Day Press.

I think of these “spaces” like Bachelard conceptualizes the poetics of space, as rooms in a house – and probably a collective group house with regular meetings to discuss process and politics. Each of these “spaces” created, produced, and reproduced new spaces, such as

• •Physical objects – the things that are in libraries: books, chapbooks, journal issues


• •Shared communities of concerns – collectives of women producing the work and communities of readers


• •Institutions with economic, cultural, and political impacts


• •Shared spaces, physical and metaphorical, for and array of activities including identity creation, community building, political strategizing, theory generation and a variety of other political, social, economic, and cultural mobilizations.

Some of these formations endure today (Sinister Wisdom for example), but many are now in memories, archives, and histories. The desire to understand what happened in the cultural and literary spaces that were created and to contribute to strategies for preserving this history motivated me to start the Lesbian Poetry Archive. The Lesbian Poetry Archives is an online archive that is my way of thinking about the spaces and the objects that were created by lesbians between 1969 and 1989 in print culture. I am interested in beginning to translate these objects into the new publishing culture of our contemporary moment. Online at the Lesbian Poetry Archive you will find samples of chapbooks published during the 1970s, the introductions and tables of contents from Lesbian Poetry and Amazon Poetry, two anthologies that have been central to my thinking about the time – and to me personally as a lesbian who came out AFTER the 1970s – and a variety of bibliographies that represent my continued attempts to preserve and not forget.

I am appreciative deeply of the organizers of this panel for inviting me; my presence here is a testament to the power of lesbian spaces—I met Jen Gieseking at the Lesbian Herstory Archives. I thank CLAGS and Sarah Chinn for the important work on the series In Amerika They Call Us Dykes. Finally, I just want to leave you with the final four lines from Rich’s “The Floating Poem.” Rich evokes a particular type of space in this poem; one that is crystallized by touch. It is a space that was central in the writing of lesbians in the 70s and so I want to remind us of this space as another in our considerations this evening. The last four lines of Rich’s “The Floating Poem:”

your touch on me, firm, protective, searching
me out, your strong tongue and slender fingers
reaching where I have been waiting years for you
in my rose-wet cave -- whatever happens, this is.

Thank you. I am very much looking forward to the conversation.

Lambda Literary Awards Finalists Announced!

2009 Lambda Literary Awards Finalists

 

 
LGBT Anthologies
 

• Gay American Autobiography: Writings from Whitman to Sedaris, edited by David Bergman (University of Wisconsin Press)

• Moral Panics, Sex Panics: Fear and the Fight Over Sexual Rights, edited by Gilbert Herdt (NYU Press)

• My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them, edited by Michael Montlack (University of Wisconsin Press)

• Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City, edited by Ariel Gore (Lit Star Press)

• Smash the Church, Smash the State! The Early Years of Gay Liberation, edited by Tommi Avicolli Mecca (City Lights)

 

 
LGBT Children's/Young Adult

• Ash, by Malinda Lo (Little, Brown)

• How Beautiful the Ordinary, edited by Michael Cart (HarperCollins)

• In Mike We Trust, by P.E. Ryan (HarperCollins)

• Sprout, by Dale Peck (Bloomsbury USA)

• The Vast Fields of Ordinary, by Nick Burd (Penguin Books)

LGBT Drama

• The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, by Kate Moira Ryan & Linda S. Chapman (Dramatists Play Service)

• The Collected Plays Of Mart Crowley, by Mart Crowley (Alyson Books)

• Revenge of the Women's Studies Professor, by Bonnie L. Morris (Indiana University Press)

 

LGBT Nonfiction
 

• The Golden Age of Gay Fiction, edited by Drewey Wayne Gunn (MLR Press)

• The Greeks and Greek Love, by James Davidson (Random House)

• I Am Your Sister: Collected and Unpublished Writings of Audre Lorde, edited by Rudolph P. Byrd, Johnnetta Betsch Cole & Beverly Guy-Sheftall (Oxford University Press)

• Ties That Bind: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences, by Sarah Schulman (The New Press)

• Unfriendly Fire:How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America, by Nathaniel Frank (St. Martin's Press)

 

LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror

• Centuries Ago and Very Fast, by Rebecca Ore (Aqueduct Press)

• Fist of the Spider Woman, by Amber Dawn (Arsenal Pulp Press)

• In the Closet, Under the Bed, by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)

• Palimpsest, by Catherynne M. Valenta (Bantam/Spectra Books)

• Pumpkin Teeth, by Tom Cardamone (Lethe Press)

 

LGBT Studies
 

• Metropolitan Lovers: The Homosexuality of Cities, by Julie Abraham (University of Minnesota Press)

• Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP's Fight Against AIDS, by Deborah B. Gould (University of Chicago Press)

• The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century, by Kathryn Bond Stockton (Duke University Press)

• The Resurrection of the Body: Pier Paolo Pasolini from Saint Paul to Sade, by Armando Maggi (University of Chicago Press)

• The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth Century America, by Margot Canaday (Princeton University Press)

 

Bisexual Fiction
 

• Arusha, by J.E. Knowles (Spinsters Ink)

• Holy Communion, by Mykola Dementiuk (Synergy Press)

• The Janeid, by Bobbie Geary (The Graeae Press)

• Love You Two, by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (Random House Australia)

• Torn, by Amber Lehman (Closet Case Press)

 

Bisexual Nonfiction
 

• Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life, by Edna O'Brien (W. W. Norton)

• Cheever: A Life, by Blake Bailey (Alfred A. Knopf)

• Leaving India: My Family's Journey From Five Villages to Five Continents, by Minal Hajratwala (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

• Map, by Audrey Beth Stein (Lulu.com)

• Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer, by Emanuel Levy (St. Martin's Press)

 

Transgender

• Bharat Jiva, by Kari Edwards (Litmus Press)

• Lynnee Breedlove's One Freak Show, by Lynn Breedlove (Manic D Press)

• The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, by S Bear Bergman (Arsenal Pulp Press)

• Transmigration, by Joy Ladin (Sheep Meadow Press)

• Troglodyte Rose, by Adam Lowe (Cadaverine Publications)

 

Lesbian Debut Fiction
 

• The Creamsickle, by Rhiannon Argo (Spinsters Ink)

• The Bigness of the World, by Lori Ostlund (University of Georgia Press)

• Land Beyond Maps, by Maida Tilchen (Savvy Press)

• More of This World or Maybe Another, by Barb Johnson (HarperCollins)

• Verge, by Z Egloff (Bywater Books)

 

 
Gay Debut Fiction

• Blue Boy, by Rakesh Satyal (Kensington Books)

• God Says No, by James Hannaham (McSweeneys)

• Pop Salvation, by Lance Reynald (HarperCollins)

• Shaming the Devil: Collected Short Stories, by G. Winston James (Top Pen Press)

• Sugarless, by James Magruder (University of Wisconsin Press)

 

Lesbian Erotica
 

• Flesh and Bone, by Ronica Black (Bold Strokes Books)

• Lesbian Cowboys, edited by Sacchi Green & Rakelle Valencia (Cleis Press)

• Punishment with Kisses, by Diane Anderson-Minshall (Bold Strokes Books)

• Where the Girls Are, by D.L. King (Cleis Press)

• Women of the Bite, by Cecelia Tan (Alyson Books)

 

Gay Erotica

• Rough Trade: Dangerous Gay Erotica, edited by Todd Gregory (Bold Strokes Books)

• Impossible Princess, by Kevin Killian (City Lights)

• I Like It Like That: True Tales of Gay Desire, edited by Richard Labonté  & Lawrence Schimel (Arsenal Pulp Press)

• The Low Road, by James Lear (Cleis Press)

• Eight Inches, by Sean Wolfe (Kensington Books)

 

 
Lesbian Fiction

• Dismantled, by Jennifer McMahon (HarperCollins)

• A Field Guide to Deception, by Jill Malone (Bywater Books)

• Forgetting the Alamo, Or, Blood Memory, by Emma Pérez (University of Texas Press)

• Risk, by Elena Dykewomon (Bywater Books)

• This One's Going to Last Forever, by Nairne Holtz (Insomniac Press)

 

Gay Fiction
 

• Lake Overturn, by Vestal McIntyre (HarperCollins)

• The River In Winter, by Matt Dean (Queens English Productions)

• Said and Done, by James Morrison (Black Lawrence Press)

• Salvation Army, by Abdellah Taia (Semiotext(e))

• Silverlake, by Peter Gadol (Tyrus Books)

 

Lesbian Memoir/Biography

• Called Back: My Reply to Cancer, My Return to Life, by Mary Cappello (Alyson Books)

• Mean Little deaf Queer, by Terry Galloway (Beacon Press)

• My Red Blood: A Memoir of Growing Up Communist, Coming Onto the Greenwich Village Folk Scene, and Coming Out in the Feminist Movement, by Alix Dobkin (Alyson Books)

• Likewise: The High School Comic Chronicles of Ariel Schrag, by Ariel Schrag (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone Fireside)

• The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith, by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin's Press)

 

Gay Memoir/Biography

• Ardent Spirits: Leaving Home, Coming Back, by Reynolds Price (Scribner Books)

• City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960's and 70's, by Edmund White (Bloomsbury USA)

• Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division, by Jon Ginoli (Cleis Press)

• Once You Go Back, by Douglas A. Martin (Seven Stories Press)

• The Pure Lover: A Memoir of Grief, by David Plante (Beacon Press)

 

Lesbian Mystery

• Command of Silence, by Paulette Callen (Spinsters Ink)

• Death of a Dying Man, by J.M. Redmann (Bold Strokes Books)

• From Hell to Breakfast, by Joan Opyr (Blue Feather Books)

• The Mirror and the Mask, by Ellen Hart (St. Martin's/Minotaur)

• Toasted, by Josie Gordon (Bella Books)

 

Gay Mystery

• All Lost Things, by Josh Aterovis (P.D. Publishing)

• The Killer of Orchids, by Ralph Ashworth (State Street Press)

• Murder in the Garden District, by Greg Herren (Alyson Books)

• Straight Lies, by Rob Byrnes (Kensington Books)

• What We Remember, by Michael Thomas Ford (Kensington Books)

 

Lesbian Poetry

• Bird Eating Bird, by Kristin Naca (HarperCollins)

• Gospel: Poems, by Samiya Bashir (Red Bone Press)

• Names, by Marilyn Hacker (W.W. Norton)

• Stars of the Night Commute, by Ana Bozicevic (Tarpaulin Sky Press)

• Zero at the Bone, by Stacie Cassarino (New Issues Poetry & Prose)

 

Gay Poetry
 

• Breakfast with Thom Gunn, by Randall Mann (University of Chicago Press)

• The Brother Swimming Beneath Me, by Brent Goodman (Black Lawrence Press)

• The First Risk, by Charles Jensen (Lethe Press)

• Sweet Core Orchard, by Benjamin S. Grossberg (University of Tampa Press)

• What the Right Hand Knows, by Tom Healy (Four Way Books)

 

Lesbian Romance

• It Should Be a Crime, by Carsen Taite (Bold Strokes Books)

• No Rules of Engagement, by Tracey Richardson (Bella Books)

• The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin, by Colette Moody (Bold Strokes Books)

• Stepping Stone, by Karin Kallmaker (Bella Books)

• Worth Every Step, by KG MacGregor (Bella Books)

 

Gay Romance
 

• Drama Queers!, by Frank Anthony Polito (Kensington Books)

• A Keen Edge, by H. Leigh Aubrey (iUniverse)

• The Rest of Our Lives, by Dan Stone (Lethe Press)

• Time After Time, by J.P. Bowie (MLR Press)

• Transgressions, by Erastes (Running Press)

S as in Sam, Z as in Zebra

The periodic email newsletter from Julie R. Enszer

Dear Friends,

My First Book: Handmade Love

I am thrilled to announce the publication of my first book of poetry, Handmade Love.

This is from the publisher's website:
In her first collection, Julie R. Enszer offers poems that are as unabashedly erotic as they are unabashedly feminist. Whether responding to queer cultural icons, fantasizing about sex, or mourning illness and loss, these poems are sweet and sultry, fierce and tender.

From demonstrations on the streets to bedroom romps, these smart and sexy poems interweave narrative and lyrical moments with the political and the sensuous.

Handmade Love renders a world that delights in the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and tells queer life stories sublimely and generously.

HANDMADE LOVE

by Julie R. Enszer

Body Language 05

ISBN-13: 978-0-9794208-5-6
ISBN-10: 0-9794208-5-7

Poetry/Lesbian Studies
64 pages/perfect bound
Pub Date: 1 April 2010

$11.95

The book is already available and shipping. You can order it directly from A Midsummer Night's Press with free shipping here:

http://amidsummernightspress.typepad.com/amsnp/2010/02/handmade-love.html

It will also ship from Amazon beginning April 1st. Here is the Amazon page (you can also leave comments/reviews on the book for Amazon readers and users):

http://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Love-Julie-R-Enszer/dp/0979420857/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267904433&sr=8-1

If you prefer to support independent distributors, think about ordering it from Small Press Distribution here:

http://www.spdbooks.org/Producte/9780979420856/handmade-love.aspx

Finally, I have very snazzy postcards of the book cover. I'm happy to mail you one or many. Just drop me a line and let me know.

New Essay: On Friendship

An essay of mine titled, "On Friendship," appeared in the Packingtown Review this winter. The essay is about friendship and in particular the friendship of Maxine Kumin and Anne Sexton. If you are interested in reading it, you can order copies of the journal here: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/pr.html

I also have a new column from the CIVILesbianIZATION series on the Edge Network. It is titled, "Let's Say I Do to Universal Health Care," and is available online here:
http://www.edgeunitedstates.com/index.php?ch=style&sc=life&sc2=news&sc3=&id=97599

I post many links to Twitter and Facebook (and try to be relatively engaging on these new media) so let's connect there if we haven't.

Today it finally feels like spring here in Maryland after a longer than usual, more snowy than usual, and colder than usual winter. We're all happy about it, including the newest member of our family, Emma, a giant and lovable St. Bernard. She joined us on Halloween 2009 and has been growing ever since - about two pounds a week on average! She's a delight and keeping us all busy.

I hope this email finds you happy and thriving.

All best,

Julie

Julie R. Enszer
www.JulieREnszer.com

On Book Publishing

Book publishing is a weird thing. To begin with, books start out in the mind. There is nothing physical about the beginning of books, only the ruminations, the nattering of internal voices. Slowly these translate into words and find their way onto a page where they may become "real," by that I mean, printed, a physical thing in the world. Even then, though, written in a notebook, typed in a computer, they are still ephemeral in many ways and for so long personal. At some point though they are shaped into what we imagine as a book, but even then, it is a stack of 8.5 x 11 papers. It develops a physical presence in the world, but not what we know to be a "book." For me, I've spent ten years writing poems. Celebrating when they found their way into print in journals, print and online. I imagined a book, even fantasized about what it would look like, but they were vague fantasies. Then, there was the promise of a book. The work to craft a manuscript that would be a book. At some point, there is this transmogrification of years of work into an object. Page proofs from the publisher. Cover designs. The exciting part of imagining and creating books. And though there is the blessed moment when the object arrives and you hold it in your hands, the process is still no less weird. You have a stack of things, beautiful, gorgeous things, that contain hours of your labor. You know you must do something with them. You make postcards and mail them to everyone for whom you have a mailing address. You send copies to friends with short funny notes. You inscribe them. You look for reviewers. You share them. You hope people find them, read them. It sounds like a linear process as I write this, but it isn't. The fits and starts of writing poems continue even with the physical artifact in hand. Mail takes time. People take time. My beloved read my book last night, three days after I gave it to her (I don't begrudge her the time), I listened to her chuckle at moments. She looked up after the first few poems and said, this isn't about me. It wasn't. Keep reading, I told her. She did. She finished the book. Ten years of writing, she read it in about thirty minutes. She liked it. I'll wait to see if others do. It's weird though, the time, the transformation, the waiting. There is the pleasure of "I made this." There is the anxiety of "Is it good enough?" I'd like a better adjective than 'weird,' but at the moment it is all I have. That and a stack of books, bearing my name on the cover.

Books are here - and postcards, too! If you haven't ordered your copy of Handmade Love already, please do so today. You can order directly from the publisher, A Midsummer Night's Press, by clicking here, or from Amazon.com. If you want a personally inscribed copy, send me $11.95 on paypal (email: JulieREnszer@gmail.com) and I'll post one to you as soon as possible. The book is gorgeous. Much appreciation to Lawrence Schimel for his fabulous editing and publishing. It is like a dream to hold Handmade Love in my hands.

I believe that there are two kinds of love in this world:

inherited and handmade. Yes, we inherit love
but my people, my people make love by hand.
—From “Handmade Love”


In her first collection, Julie R. Enszer offers poems that are as unabashedly erotic as they are unabashedly feminist.

Whether responding to queer cultural icons, fantasizing about sex, or mourning illness and loss, these poems are sweet and sultry, fierce and tender.

From demonstrations on the streets to bedroom romps, these smart and sexy poems interweave narrative and lyrical moments with the political and the sensuous.

Handmade Love renders a world that delights in the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and tells queer life stories sublimely and generously.


Julie R. Enszer has published poems in Room of One’s Own, Long Shot, Feminist Studies, Bridges, So to Speak, Suspect Thoughts, Windy City Times, and many other journals. She has a MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland.


Handmade Love
By Julie R. Enszer
From A Midsummer’s Night Press
US: $11.95
ISBN-13: 978-0-9794208-5-6
Order today from www.amidsummernightspress.com, Amazon.com, or, for an autographed copy,
email JulieREnszer@gmail.com.

delirious hem: Amy King

delirious hem: Amy King

How I am Going to Spend New Year's Eve

From David Allen of Getting Things Done

DAVID'S FOOD FOR THOUGHT
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE LATELY?
I mean, what have you actually finished, completed, and accomplished? If you haven't made a list in the last year, I would highly recommend that you take a few minutes and capture that.
It has always intrigued me how much a less-than-conscious part of me can still have energy wrapped up around activities and projects, until I acknowledge that they're done, to myself. Kathryn and I have made an annual exercise, at year-end, of making the list of major completions and accomplishments. We've even been saving that list in a Lotus Notes database for the last few years. It's really quite a healthy, cleansing completion in itself. It includes everything that we can think of—from projects like launching a new product, to adding new staff, to trees planted, to new places visited, to family deaths handled, to old business completed, to new skills and tricks learned.
I've noticed that there is likely some resistance to doing that process as well. I had an attorney (client) recently say in all sincerity that it was quite scary initially to go through the workflow coaching process with me, precisely because he was afraid to declare some of his projects "done"! (I mean, what if they weren't perfect yet?!)
I suggest you give yourself a treat and review the year that just past and look forward to the year ahead.
 
"Celebrate any progress. Don't wait to get perfect."
-Ann McGee Cooper
 
DAVID'S COACHING TIPS
For those of you who want more form and structure, here are some questions that can guide you in your 2009 review and 2010 goal setting. When I go through these kinds of questions I like to consider my answers in several areas:

1. Physical


2. Emotional


3. Mental


4. Spiritual


5. Financial


6. Family


7. Community Service


8. Fun / creativity / recreation

COMPLETING AND REMEMBERING 2009

Review the list of all completed projects
What was your biggest triumph in 2009?
What was the smartest decision you made in 2009?
What one word best sums up and describes your 2009 experience?
What was the greatest lesson you learned in 2009?
What was the most loving service you performed in 2009?
What is your biggest piece of unfinished business in 2009?
What are you most happy about completing in 2009?
Who were the three people that had the greatest impact on your life in 2009?
What was the biggest risk you took in 2009?
What was the biggest surprise in 2009?
What important relationship improved the most in 2009?
What compliment would you liked to have received in 2009?
What compliment would you liked to have given in 2009?
What else do you need to do or say to be complete with 2009?
CREATING THE NEW YEAR
What would you like to be your biggest triumph in 2010?
What advice would you like to give yourself in 2010?
What is the major effort you are planning to improve your financial results in 2010?
What would you be most happy about completing in 2010?
What major indulgence are you willing to experience in 2010?
What would you most like to change about yourself in 2010?
What are you looking forward to learning in 2010?
What do you think your biggest risk will be in 2010?
What about your work, are you most committed to changing and improving in 2010?
What is one as yet undeveloped talent you are willing to explore in 2010?
What brings you the most joy and how are you going to do or have more of that in 2010?
Who or what, other than yourself, are you most committed to loving and serving in 2010?
What one word would you like to have as your theme in 2010?

New Essays



I have two essays in this collection. One, "What We Celebrate," is about gay and lesbian couples during these moments of transitions around marriage recognition. The other, "Getting In: Reflections on the Milestone of Acceptance," is about my sister and I both getting accepted to college programs at different times in our lives.

I haven't received my copy yet, but am very much looking forward to the collection.

Steal This List (From Amy King)

CONTEMPORARY QUEER POETS
Grow this list – Proliferate! Redistribute!

I initially started this list as one for contemporary queer poets, but it has grown to include the living and the dead, the post-poet, the fiction and non-fiction, the bent, the bendable, and more. Thanks to all who’ve contributed so far! Please feel free to add names in the comments as we are growing, blooming, and busting the borders!

In no particular order, except as added:

Akilah Oliver +++ Tisa Bryant
Nathaniel Siegal+++ Ching-In Chin
Julian Brolaski +++ Cynthia Sailers
Kathryn Pringle+++ E. Tracy Grinnell
Tim Peterson +++ Jill Magi
Brenda Iijima +++ Stacy Szymaszek
Erica Kaufman +++ Truck Darling
R. Erica Doyle +++ Wayne Koestenbaum
Ana Bozicevic +++ Trish Salah
Robert Glück +++ Rachel Zolf
Cedar Sigo +++ Scott Rex Hightower
Jen Benka +++ Carol Mirakove
Caroline Bergvall +++ Eileen Myles
Marilyn Hacker+++ John Ashbery
Mark Doty +++ Timothy Liu
D. A. Powell +++ Kay Ryan
Reginald Shepherd+++ Mark Bibbins
Mark Wunderlich +++ Magdalena Zurawski
Julie R. Enszer +++ Merry Gangemi
Nicki Hastie +++ Gwyn McVay
Michelle Tea +++ Ben McCoy
Alex Dimitrov +++ Michael Tod Edgerton
C. Dale Young +++ Betsy Wheeler
Megan Volpert +++ Deborah Poe
Gabrielle Calvocoressi+++ Joy Harjo
Gloria Anzaldua+++ Elena Georgiou
Elise Ficarra +++ Paul Foster Johnson
Robin Reagler +++ Rachel Levitsky
Richard Siken +++ Kazim Ali
Micah Ballard +++ Jeffery Beam
Gregg Biglieri +++ Nicole Brossard
Regie Cabico +++ David Cameron
Guillermo Castro +++ Abigail Child
Allison Cobb +++ Jen Coleman
Kyle Conner +++ Dennis Cooper
Jim Cory +++ Phil Crippen
Del Ray Cross +++ Rachel Daley
Almitra David +++ Tim Dlugos
kari edwards +++ Maria Fama
Michael Farrell +++ Alex Gildzen
Guillermo Gómez-Peña
Alexandra Grilikhes+++ Chris Gullo
Jeremy Halinen +++ Rob Halpern
Julia Hastain +++ Yuri Hospodar
Kevin Killian +++ Dodie Bellamy
Bill Kushner +++ Lori Lubeski
Filip Marinovich +++ Janet Mason
Sina Queyras +++ Camille Roy
Jocelyn Saidenberg +++ Trish Salah
Jack Spicer +++ Christina Strong
Roberto Tejada +++ Karl Tierney
Jay Thomas +++ David Trinidad
Tony Towle +++ R. Dionysius Whiteurs
Eli Shipley +++ Kary Wayson
Carl Phillips +++ Jeremy Halinen
Betsey Warland+++ Jen Currin
Christine Leclerc +++ Charles Jensen
Carol Guess +++ Elizabeth Colen
Chocoalte Waters +++ Mary Oliver
Judith Witherow +++ Judy Grahn
Jan Clausen +++ Dorothy Allison
Robin Morgan +++ Willyce Kim
Frank Kelly +++ Kevin Wisher
Meredith Pond +++ Janet Mason
Fran Winant +++ Audre Lorde
Paula Gunn Allen +++ Allen Ginsberg
Walt Whitman +++ W.H. Auden
Frank O’Hara +++ Cyrus Cassells
Elizabeth Bradfield+++ Rafael Campo
Robin Becker +++ Truong Tran
William Burroughs+++ Carol Ann Duffy
Pat Parker +++ Elsa Gidlow
H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) +++ Amy Lowell
Elizabeth Bishop +++ Olga Broumas
Sapphire +++ Cheryl Clarke
Jewelle Gomez +++ Joan Larkin
Fran Winant +++ Minnie Bruce Pratt
Adrienne Rich +++ May Sarton
Muriel Rukeyser +++ Cherrie Moraga
Lesléa Newman +++ Mark Doty
Mark Wunderlich +++ D.A. Powell
Randall Mann +++ Peter Covino
Rigoberto Gonzalez +++ David Groff
C. Dale Young +++ Walter Holland
Eric Gamalinda +++ Michael Montlack
Charles Jensen +++ Gregg Shapiro
Stephen McLeod +++ Spencer Reece
Ron Mohring +++ Michael Broder
Richard Tayson +++ Dean Kostos
Aaron Smith +++ Ron Drummond
Guillermo Filice +++ Jon Nalley
Steven Covdova +++ Steven Turtel
Jason Scheiderman +++ Stephen Motika
T. Cole Rachel +++ Christopher Davis
Greg Hewett +++ David Casto
Billie Merrill +++ Alex Dimitrov
Wren Tuatha +++ Marge Piercy
Lawrence Schimel+++ Robin Kemp
Tee Corinne +++ Tory Dent
Elizabeth Bishop +++ Gertrude Stein
Muriel Rukeyser +++ Kay Murphy
Hart Crane +++ Harold Norse
James Schuyler +++ Robert Duncan
John Wieners +++ William Bronk
Stephen Jonas +++ Joseph Legaspi
Richard Howard +++ Renee Vivien
Natalie Barney +++ Stephanie Byrd
Nathalie Stephens +++ Ellen Marie Bissert
Karen Brodine +++ Maureen Seaton
Jane Miller +++ Olga Broumas
Elizabeth Bradfield +++ Samiya Bashir
Gerry Gomez Pearlberg
Judith Barrington +++ Eloise Klein Healy
James Merrill +++ Brent Goodman
Ben Grossberg +++ Darius Antwan Stewart
Franklin Abbot +++ Thom Gunn
Liz Ahl +++ Jonathan Alexander
Cynthia Rausch Allar +++ Shane Allison
Mark Ameen +++ Ken Anderson
Maggie Anderson +++ Hanna Andrews
Duncan Armstrong +++ Rane Arroyo
Geer Austin +++ Kim Baker
John Barton +++ Ellen Bass
Dan Bellm +++ David Bergman
Erin Bertram +++ Tamiko Beyer
Jonathan Bracker +++ Michael Broder
Dustin Brookshire +++ Regie Cabico
Guillermo Castro +++ Terry Kirts
Erigh Leigh +++ Tony Leuzzi
Justin Chin +++ James Cihlar
Ava Cipri +++ Larry Wayne Johns
Rodney Jack +++ CA Conrad
Christina Hutchins +++ Steven Cordova
Alfred Corn +++ Eduardo Corral
Brian Teare +++ James Crews
Holly Day +++ Jeff Mann
Dean Kostos +++ Andrew Demcak
Gavin Dillard +++ Patrick Donnelly
Octavio Gonzalez +++ Rudy Kikel
Ron Drummond +++ Jim Elledge
Steve Fellner +++ Edward Field
Edward Denby +++ Ron Schreiber
Federico Lorca +++ Matthew Hittinger
David Groff +++ Ruth Schwartz
Maureen Seaton +++ Michael Klein
Amanda Laughtland+++ Jill Jones
Michael Farrell +++ Collin Kelley
Cleo Creech +++ Theresa Davis
Turner Cassity +++ Alan Sullivan
Timothy Murphy +++ Jessica Hand
Alice Teeter +++ Maudelle Driskell
Julie Fay +++ Ed Madden
Assoto Saint +++ Reinaldo Arenas
Honor Moore +++ Melanie Braverman
Thomas Avena +++ Sam D’Allesandro
Essex Hemphill +++ Paul Monette
Severo Sarduy +++ Ian Stephens
Zaedryn Meade +++ Stacie Cassarino
gabrielle jesiolowski +++ Nancy Kathleeen Pearson
Cheryl Boyce Taylor +++ Ruth L. Schwartz
Achy Obejas +++ Tamiko Beyer
Sunshine Dempsey +++ Cheryl Burke
Laurie J. Hoskin +++ Kristin Naca
Samiya Baskin +++ Staceyann Chin
Niki Herd +++ Julie Porter
Juliet Patterson +++ Jeff Walt
Elaine Sexton +++ Ken Pobo
Richard Tayson +++ Michael Lassell
Greg Hewett +++ Adrian Oktenberg
Stacey Waite +++ Steven Riel
RJ Gibson +++ Jen Perrine
Boyer Rickel +++ William Reichard
Ann Tweedy +++ Ragan Fox
David Trinidad +++ Brad Telford
James Kirkup +++ Kevin McLellan
Ocean Vuong +++ Robert Walker
Henri Cole +++ Scott Wiggerman
Tiffany Wong +++ Peter Pereira
Reggie Harris +++ David Dooley
Frank Bidart +++ Kristy Nielsen
Greg Scott Brown +++ Brian Leary
Holly Painter +++ Vicente Viray
Mark Ameen +++ Beatrix Gates
William Dickey +++ Melvin Dixon
Essex Hemphill +++ James L White
James Schuyler +++ Paul Goodman
Joe Brainard +++ Pam Brown
David Malouf +++ Martin Harrison
joanne burns +++ Keri Glastonbury
Louise Wakeling +++ Martin Harrison
Bel Schenk +++ Angela Gardne
Stephen J Williams +++ Tim Denoon
Jill Jones +++ Maria Zajkowski
Chris Edwards +++ Louise Wakeling
Danny Gentile +++ Denis Gallagher
Kate Lilley +++ Paul Knobel
Andy Quan +++ Jenni Nixon
Miriel Lenore +++ Terry Jaensch
Margaret Bradstock +++ Javant Biarujia
Dîpti Saravanamuttu+++ Nandi Chinna
Wendy Jenkins +++ Peter Rose
Lee Cataldi +++ Carolyn Gerrish
Dorothy Porter+++ Scott-Patrick Mitchell
Susan Hawthorne +++ Tricia Dearborn
Kerry Leves +++ Ian MacNeill
Amanda Katz +++ Corrine Fitzpatrick
Danica Colic +++ Jack Lynch
Martha Oatis +++ James Allen Hall
Jan Heller Levi+++ Jenny Johnson
Jericho Brown +++ Kerry Carnahan
L.B. Thompson +++ Laura Jaramillo
Maya Funaro +++ Miller Oberman
Misty Harper +++ Richard Sime
Suzanne Gardinier+++ Valentine Freeman
Gregg Bordowitz +++ Sarah Dowling
Ari Banias +++ Sophie Robinson
Angie Estes +++ Kathy Fagan
Tommy Peeps +++ Nat Raha
Francesca Lisette +++ Tricia Bayman
Linda Bierds +++ Larissa Lai
Vanessa Huang +++ Soham Patel
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Dulani +++ Rona Luo
Naomi A. Jackson +++ Celeste Chan
Zuleika Mahmood +++ Maiana Minahal
Sharon Bridgforth +++ Joel B. Tan
Griselda Suarez +++ Rigoberto Gonzalez
J.P. Pluecker +++ Kristin Naca
Duriel E. Harris +++ Nickole Brown
Qwo-Li Driskill +++ Deborah Miranda
Aimee Suzara +++ Amy King

Juvenalia
Here is one of the very first articles I published. I've been looking for it for a while and was pleased to find it in a box the other day. Scanned copies showing all of the yellowing of the paper. Rereading it, I realize that my concerns have not changed much in the past twenty years.

My Thoughts on President Barack Obama at the HRC National Dinner

First, I must confess that while the President spoke I was filled with an overwhelming rage thinking about how, if he were to die tomorrow, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha would all receive social security benefits, and if Kim died tomorrow, I would not. I don’t begrudge them the benefits; social security is an important and valuable program in our country. I just want queers to be included in it. We pay in equally, we should receive benefits equally. I was surprised by the amount of anger and agitation that I had thinking about this while listening to him speaking. Now, I won’t be on the street if Kim dies tomorrow, nor would she. We are well-trained lesbians with wills and life insurance policies to protect one another in case of tragedy, but the visible manifestation of this injustice had me beside myself with anger. Hence, I didn’t stand and applaud as much as the masses in the Convention Center. I was more skeptical and suspicious.
Let me say next that we had great seats, including being right behind Lady Gaga, who was fabulous. I’m a new fan. We could see the President very well. He was both comfortable and charismatic. I do feel like he is more comfortable with addressing a gay and lesbian audience than he was a year ago and he is more conversant and passionate about the issues. Do I think that is going to translate into more action at an executive level? No. He will sign legislation that comes out of Congress in support of LGBT people, including the forthcoming Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. I don’t underestimate the importance of that or the importance of someone who at least in word if not in deed is supportive of the LBGT community. I just want more than rhetoric and more than invitation acceptances as a part of his vision and his legacy. Though, on balance, I’ll take President Obama’s rhetoric over Bush’s active anti-LGBT work. And I’ll vote for President Obama again, though I am unlikely to give money unless he is more proactive on behalf of the agenda of the LGBT community. On one hand, I don’t want to underestimate the power of language to transform our realities; on the other hand, I don’t want to rest on easy rhetoric when there is real work to be done.
Kim found me to be a wet blanket on this issue. She was impressed by the way that he spoke about recognizing relationships between two men and two women and found that to be new and courageous. She also felt like he had come to a place of more understanding, acceptance, and comfort with LBTG people and that should recognized and celebrated. She was inspired by it all and insisted on many picture demonstrating the evening, it’s historical significance, and her proximity to power. The photos are all on Facebook - friend me if you want to see them.
Finally, for me the emotional highlight of the evening was seeing the tribute to Senator Kennedy and the award to Denis and Judy Shepard. Judy Shepard has worked tirelessly for the Hate Crimes act to be passed and seeing that come to fruition is incredible. That made me cry, much more than the President. I expect, though, that at some point in my lifetime, I’ll see a President, and perhaps this one, who will take action and will do things on behalf of LGBT people that make me cry. I hope that day is soon.

I’d like the high of completion without the despair afterward, please.

A number of months ago, a friend of mine who completed his MFA with me at Maryland noted that what he missed most about school after graduation was losing the milestones, the markers along the way. I think I grimaced at the time feeling the pressure of many new milestones ahead of me in the PhD program. I understand today more of what he meant.

At the end of August, I finished one of the first milestones of my PhD program. Honestly, it was exhilarating. I spent the summer reading and annotating a list of books and articles. Then seventy-two blissful hours of writing. Integrating the ideas and information. Playing with them on the screen. Printing the pages, editing, correcting, altering. It was a game for the seventy-two hours to see how many citations I could build in from the larger list within the constraints of the thirty pages allotted for each essay. Then, one Monday at noon, it was over. All printed, sealed with a binder clip and delivered to the university. I came home and cleaned my workroom. I vacuumed. I emptied out the pending emails that I had stored away. I poked around at a new project. I picked up a new book or two. Still, I felt empty and at bit at loose ends. That weekend we whisked off to the Midwest to visit family and I didn’t read at all, or work online. Home. Silence. No looming deadlines (well, a few.) I started new projects, but still there was a particular emptiness, even loneliness, to the completion.

Now, a few weeks later, I’m embroiled in other projects. One nearing completion. One that is a huge and hairy project which exceeds any possibility of completion before the end of my natural lifetime. The despair of those first days after the last milestone is dissipating, slowly, though at this moment as I think about the milestones ahead, I remember the high of completion and honestly, I crave it again, but I know that it comes with the despair, the loss of focus, the silence, the loneliness afterward. I’d like to avoid that, please. I’d like only the pleasure of the driven weeks, days, and hours in advance, the glory of the intense engagement, then, then, I don’t know what, but I know what I don’t want. I’d like to replace it with a satisfied, clear mind. With the revelry of some free time, the restfulness of accomplishment.
It’s like how at the end of a day of writing, the writing seems so perfect, so clear, so accurate, so beautiful. Then the next morning, with a fresh cup of coffee and the computer quickly booting up, the clarity of the previous day vanishes. Edits, slack prose, poor word choices, doubt. They creep in to that mid-morning despair. Can’t we do away with that? Can’t we preserve the high of completion without the despair afterward? Please?

Cotillion Festival for GLBT writers of African descent heads to Austin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 27, 2009

Contact: G. Winston James

info@fireandink.org



*Cotillion Festival for GLBT writers of African descent heads to Austin*





Registration is underway for Fire & Ink III: Cotillion, a festival for
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people of African descent, to be
held October 8-11, 2009 in Austin, Texas. Cotillion presenters include
keynote Nikky Finney, poets Samiya Bashir, Staceyann Chin, Lenelle
Moïse, Anton Nimblett, Tim’m T. West, Marvin K. White and avery r.
young; writers Sharon Bridgforth, Laurinda D. Brown, Terrence Dean,
Thomas Glave, and Nalo Hopkinson and Ana Lara; filmmakers M.
Asli Dukan, Thomas Allen Harris, Yoruba Richen and Yvonne Welbon; visual
artists Torkwase Dyson, Zanele Muholi, Wura-Natasha Ogunji and Carl
Pope; and performances by E. Patrick Johnson and Daniel Alexander Jones.
Cotillion will be held at the Hilton Austin, 500 E. 4^th  St. in
downtown Austin, with additional Cotillion events at the Blanton
Museum and the Historic Victory Grill, among others. A complete listing
of presenters can be found athttp://2009.fireandink.org
<http://2009.fireandink.org/>.


Early bird registration ($125) for the four-day festival ends Sept. 4,
2009; regular registration ($175) ends Oct. 1, 2009. There is no on-site
registration. Cotillion is open to the public with paid registration.
More information can be obtained at http://2009.fireandink.org
<http://2009..fireandink.org/>.


Featuring more than 40 workshops, panels and roundtables, Cotillion
attendees can expect engaging, thought-provoking discussion in such
panels as “Dash: Metaphor and Connection,” which explores how writers
influence visual artists’ work; “Contemporary Caribbean LGBTQ Writing”;
“Witness to Tradition: LGBT African Media Makers”; “Canaries in the
Mine,” about black queer political theater and social change; and “Pot
Calling Kettle Black: Heterosexism in Homo-Hop.” Cotillion writing
workshops target beginning, intermediate and established writers;
Cotillion also brings a sampling of today’s hottest performance work
with a staged reading of /delta dandi/ by Sharon Bridgforth, /Pouring
Tea/ by E. Patrick Johnson and an intimate cabaret evening with Jomama
Jones.


Cotillion brings together writers, readers, scholars, students, editors,
publishers, curators, audio and visual artists and media professionals
from around the country. Dr. Dwight McBride of the University of
Illinois-Chicago describes the festival as “one of the few critical
spaces where writers, critics, and publishers interested in literature
by LGBT persons of African descent can come together to have dialogue
about the state of literary culture, important issues in the African
American community addressed in that literature, and to chart new
political and aesthetic directions.”


Fire & Ink, Incorporated is devoted to increasing the understanding,
visibility and awareness of the works of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender writers of African descent and heritage. Cotillion is made
possible by major sponsorships from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for
Justice; the John L. Warfield Center for African and African-American
Studies at the University of Texas at Austin; and ALLGO,
a Texas statewide queer people of color organization. Other sponsors
include the International Federation of Black Prides and the Law Firm of
Francés Jones, P.C.

-30-

Call for Submissions: And Then It Shifted: Women Open Up About Leaving Men for Women (Seal Press, 2010)

Call for Submissions
 
Working Title:
 
And Then It Shifted: Women Open Up About Leaving Men for Women (Seal Press, 2010)
 
2,000-4,000 words
 
Payment: Upon publication. Amount will vary, depending on experience and other variables ($50 and up). Please include a list of any previous publication credits with your query or submission. Contributors will also receive two copies of the published book.
 
Deadline: December 1, 2009. That said, we strongly encourage you to send us a query well beforehand, so that we can review it, give you helpful feedback, and have a good sense of what will be coming our way that month. If you are able to submit the piece earlier, we prefer that you do.
 
Editors: Candace Walsh and Laura André. Candace Walsh is the editor of the recently released anthology Ask Me About My Divorce: Women Open Up About Moving On (www.askmeaboutmydivorce.com).
 
As Dr. Lisa Diamond’s recent groundbreaking book Sexual Fluidity makes clear, women’s sexual desire and identity are capable of shifting. Cynthia Nixon, Carol Leifer, Wanda Sykes, Portia de Rossi, and countless others have left the fold of heterosexual identity to enter into or pursue same-sex relationships.
 
 Although this book will evolve as we receive submissions, we welcome first-person, literary non-fiction essays from women
 
1) who were aware that they had always felt robust same-sex desires, but wanted to try to make it work in the straight world, and also
 
2) who identified as heterosexual at one time, but found that the situation they were in just naturally led to embarking on an intimate romantic relationship with a woman.
 
We seek a diversity of voices, and welcome submissions from a variety of perspectives.
 
We also welcome essays from women who don’t fit precisely into the above descriptions.
 
Here are some questions that we’d like answered in your piece. It may be one of the questions, or you may touch on most of them, and throw in some extra, great stuff that didn’t even occur to us. Please don’t feel like this is an essay question test and that you have to cover them all—we want the format of your essay to feel organic and not be explicitly dictated by our questions.
 
How did you come to your moment of truth?
 
Did your perception of yourself change?
 
Do you feel that others’ perceptions of you changed? Did they surprise you with either an unexpected positive or negative reaction? How did this affect you? Did their reactions change over time?
 
Do you feel like you surrendered heterosexuality or elements of heterosexual privilege? Do you feel like your new life with a woman has yielded rewards? What were the rewards you expected and which ones were surprises?
 
What do you miss? What do you not miss? Everything from in the bedroom to out at dinner, at a wedding, as a parent, as a family member, at the gym, in the workplace, on a picnic—whatever comes up for you.
 
What is this journey like, in general and for you? How did you feel as you were setting out on it and how do you feel now? How do you mark your progress? Were there stages? Illustrative moments? Looking back, do you feel like you went through certain phases?
 
What is it like to shift your identity? What about you is the same and always will be? What about you has changed or altered?
 
How did you feel as you began your relationship with a woman? Did you get flak from individuals who second-guessed you? Did you feel like you had to prove yourself? How did you keep your internal balance?
 
How did your socialization as a straight woman prepare you (ill or well) for pursuing a woman or being in a relationship with a woman?
 
How did your cultural/religious/racial/ethnic background shape your experience?
 
Do you like, or are you attracted to certain things that your partner or girlfriend, or gay women do that are traditionally labeled as masculine? Feminine?
 
How do you define yourself? Do you feel like the current “labels” work for you or that what you are is not yet defined by a word or phrase? What paradigm do you imagine?
 
Are you still with the woman you left your previous relationship for? Was she just a catalyst, or a rebound, or something else, or “the one”?
 
As editors, we value specificity, detail, “showing, not telling,” honesty, epiphanies, clean, polished, yet real and un-prettied-up writing, and the sharing of insights.
 
Please send your submission (Word document, double-spaced), along with a short bio and full contact information to: andthenitshifted@gmail.com
 
Website: http://sites.google.com/site/andthenitshifted