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2 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY OWNERS AND PUBLISHERS Michael Daniels & Chris Hayes EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / ART DIRECTOR Chris Hayes hayes@outlookmedia.com ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR / PHOTOS Robert Trautman traut@outlookmedia.com
SNAPSHOT Healthy and Green were the buzzwords for the April 9 Network Columbus event hosted by Whole Foods Market.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mette Bach, Danielle Buckius, Wayne R Besen, Chris Crain, Jennifer Vanasco, Tom Moon, Regina Sewell, Leslie Robinson, Gregg Shapiro, Mick Weems, Julianne French, TF Barton, Romeo San Vicente, Jeff Fertig, Simon Sheppard, Tristan Taormino, Dennis Vanke, Mario Pinardi, Rick Kramer, Aaron Drake, Jennie Keplar, Scott Varner, Derrik Chinn, Dan Savage, Felice Newman, Tim Curran, Chris Hughes, Stephen J Fallon, Felice Newman, J. Eric Peters, Crystal Hawkins, Brent Wilder, Matthew Burlingame, Jacob Anderson-Minshall, Matthew Veritas Tsien, Cheri Meyers
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READERSHIP: 210,000 PEOPLE / MONTH Outlook Weekly is published and distributed by Outlook Media, Inc. every Thursday throughout Ohio. Outlook Weekly is a free publication provided solely for the use of our readers. Any person who willfully or knowingly obtains or exerts unauthorized control over copies of Outlook Weekly with the intent to prevent other individuals from reading it shall be considered guilty of the crime of theft. Violators will be prosecuted. The views expressed in Outlook Weekly are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or personal, business, or professional practices of Outlook Media, Inc. or its staff, ownership, or management. Outlook Weekly does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented. Outlook Media, Inc. does not investigate or accept responsibility for claims made in any advertisement. Outlook Media, Inc. assumes no responsibility for claims arising in connection with products and services advertised herein, nor for the content of, or reply to, any advertisement. All material is copyrighted ©2008 by Outlook Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
APR 17 - APR 23 VOLUME 12 NUMBER 41
APR 17 - APR 23 2008
SNAPSHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........2 ABOUT TOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....3,30 COMMENTARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........4 COMMUNITY CORNER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........6 HEALTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .........8 OUT BUSINESS NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......11 EXAMINED LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......13 EARTH TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......15 FEATURE: SPORTS! . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .16-20 DEEP INSIDE HOLLYWOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......22 ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......22 MUSIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......24 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......25 FILM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...25-26 INTERVIEW : KIM PEIRCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......27 SAVAGE LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......28 PUCKER UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......29 THE LAST WORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......31 SCOPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......31 NEXT WEEK: QUALIA!
OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 3
ABOUT TOWN by Chris Hayes THURSDAY, APRIL 17 SHOP TILL YOU DROP SN3TH @ various shops in The Short North, www.shortnorth.org: Starting today, more than 40 of your favorite shops will be open late every third Thursday of the month. Make a date. Start with happy hour, then stroll the strip, shop the shops and finish with a great dinner. Special sales, music, fashion, prizes and surprises. Till 9p; free. WHAT’S HE HOPPED UP ON? The Hopper Collection @ MadLab, 105 N Grant Ave, 614.221.5418, www.madlab.net: Building upon the success of their premiere production of Stone Cold Dead Serious, Evolution Theatre Company (ETC) will present the Midwest premiere of The Hopper Collection by Mat Smart. Through April 19. See page 30 for more info. 8p; $8-$10. PASS ME A SUNKIST Good Vibrations @ Shadowbox Cabaret, Easton Towne Center, 614.416.7625, shadowboxcabaret.com: Can’t find a date to the Prom? Nowhere to go on Spring Break? Sick of wedding after wedding that’s not yours? Come celebrate Spring Shadowbox style with the brand new show Good Vibrations featuring all new sketches penned by the Shadowbox comedy writing team. Fresh, fastpaced and fun. Through June 7. Thu 7:30p, Fri&Sat 7:30p&10:30p; $20-$30. FRIDAY, APRIL 18 BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S Patricia Neal @ the Drexel Theatre, 2254 E Main St, Bexley: The Drexel Theatres Group will kick-off a series of events to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the historic Drexel Theatre featuring a special appearance by one of Hollywood’s legendary leading ladies, Patricia Neal, tonight! The gala evening will include a tribute to Ms. Neal’s film career including film clips from her favorite performances, a screening of the film for which her performance won her an Academy Award for Best Actress, HUD, co-starring Paul Newman, and a special question and answer segment with Ms. Neal on the Drexel stage. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Drexel Theatre’s Restoration Fund. See page 24 for more info. 8p; $35-$150. INDY ART CAPITAL OF GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS Agora 2008 Preview @ Junction View Studios, 889 Williams Avenue, Grandview Heights, thecouchfire.org, www.agora.com: Join the Collective for an intimate evening of art, performance, and music prior to the public opening of Agora. Featuring 50 open artist studios and the work of over 250 visiting artists, performers, and musicians, Agora showcases the best of Columbus’ creative community. Appetizers from Haiku, Due Amici, and Surly Girl Saloon will be provided in addition to plenty of beverages. Guests at the preview will have the first chance to view and purchase artwork on display. Items from our artists and participating sponsors will be up for bid in a silent auction. Plus you will enjoy performances by acoustic guitar master John Morgan, Dayton art rock band Paego Paego, performance artists Queen Mae and the Bells, dance and stilt troupe HighJinks, and many others. The artist award ceremony will take place during the evening and will be hosted by our special guest, Maryellen O’Shaughnessy, member of Columbus City Council. (Main event Saturday) 6p; $25. GET GREENER Free Green Seminars @ WattWorks, 1078 Goodale Blvd, 614.458.1162: WattWorks, your neighborhood “Energy Savings Store”, is providing you with an op-
portunity to learn how to conserve energy and save natural resources. They have developed a series of Free Educational Seminars for all who want to learn how new technology can dramatically impact your monthly utility bills. This week’s topic: “Energy Efficient Lighting – The New LED.” New seminars each week. 3p&5p; free. GIGGLE Cafe Comedy @ Nora’s Café, Grove City: It’s the “Return” of Cafe Comedy to Nora’s Cafe in Grove City! Silly and Spontaneous improv comedy from Founder Dawn Holley, and troupe members Scott Summit, Yury Khidekel and Patsy Batdorf. It’s FUN for all ages! 8p; $5. EARTH DAY - SATURDAY APRIL 19 SPRING CLEANING Crash, Smash, Crush, Smush 08 @ Beulah Park, 3664 Grant Ave, Grove City, 614.871.9600, www.beulahpark.com: Beulah Park is sponsoring “Crash, Smash, Crush, Smush 08” today. Recycle, smash, smush, or crush your old fax, computer, printer or monitor for charity. Earth Day, $1 drafts & dogs, live bands, real corn hole, paint ball, pc dunking machines, ponies, cigars, VIP lounge and IT races. Party 4 the Planet! The fun event is free with a copy of the event advertisement. To learn more visit www.ParityInternational.org. DOWN DOG Hatha Yoga 6-Week Course @ Stonewall Community Center, 1160 N High St, 614.299.7764, www.stonewallcolumbus.org: Sign up now - class size is limited. This course is suitable for those who have never done yoga before to those who have some experience. It will introduce body awareness, basic yoga poses and their components, breath work and relaxation techniques. Students will discover newly developed strength, flexibility and mind/body awareness at their own level in a relaxed, lighthearted atmosphere. This class is most appropriate for those who can easily get up and down from the floor. 11a12a; $30 for full 6-week course. WATCH THAT ICEBERG! H.M.S. Pinafore @ The Southern Theatre, 21 E Main St, 614.340.1896: Ride a wave of music and laughter as romantic sailors, sisters, cousins, and aunts sing and dance their way across the deck of the fanciful British naval vessel with the improbable name. The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players return to Columbus for yet another romp through the gentle satire. In H.M.S. Pinafore, the very proper Captain Corcoran and ridiculously pompous Sir Joseph Porter preside, the villainous Dick Deadeye speaks the truth, and Little Buttercup reveals the outrageous mistake that allows true love to prevail. Tonight 8p, Sun 2p; $27.50-$67.50. SUNDAY, APRIL 20 PIANO MAN Billy Joel @ Nationwide Arena, corner of Nationwide and Neil, 614.246.2000, www.NationwideArena.com: Hey all you Uptown Girls, drink a bottle of red and a bottle of white and listen to Mr Bigshot who is still rock -n- roll to me. 8p; $51.50-$91. TUESDAY, APRIL 22 BORN TO BE WILD Rock ‘n’ Roll Tuesdays @ Exile, 893 N 4th St, 614.299.0069, exilebar.com: Come rock out with your cock out at the newly renovated Exile and everyone’s favorite good time guy, Jay Bird at this night of rock and hotties. 9p; free. APR 17 - APR 23 2008
4 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY
COMMENTARY by Wayne Besen
Standing Up to the Stand-Up Comics
It was business as usual when Tonight Show host Jay Leno asked his guest, Ryan Phillippe, to give his “gayest look” because he once played a gay character on the soap opera “One Life to Live.” The mortified reaction of Phillippe, however, combined with the outrage of gay rights groups, hopefully represents the end of a shameful era where it was acceptable to portray homosexuals as punch lines instead of people. While Leno apologized, the industry has a sorry record of thoughtlessly exploiting gays for cheap laughs. Gay advocates have traditionally given comedians and sitcom writers wide latitude because for decades their material offered rare visibility. At one time, it was a relief when comedians made cracks about the “love that dare not speak its name,” even if it came with the cruel cost of homosexuals being made the constant butt of tasteless jokes. While their words stung, they were certainly preferable to railing preachers who declared gays sinful or the conservative politicians who attacked basic legal rights. With little information about homosexuality - comedy offered a way to raise the topic among peers. Gay people could use the occasion of a joke to see how friends reacted and get a better idea who might be accepting - or who also might be gay. Additionally, comedy served as a useful icebreaker in educating people about this controversial topic. For example, when I attended The University of Florida in the early 1990’s, I would often speak to social science classes about my sexual orientation. Most of the students, at that time, had no openly gay friends. To break the palpable tension, I regularly told a joke about how I came out to my girlfriend. I recounted to the students that since I was
unable to utter the word “gay”, I took three tangerines off of a tree. One represented me, the other my girlfriend and the third a guy I was interested in at school. I then guardedly told my girlfriend, “if I were to go on a date, who would I go out with. After that, with hesitation, I slid the citrus that represented me, next to the produce that represented my male crush. The self-deprecating punch line was, “that was certainly one way to tell my girlfriend that I was a fruit.” The joke was always a hit and many of the students opened their minds after they laughed. Humor was a way to find common ground so we could discuss the real issues of crass stereotypes and rampant discrimination. Nonetheless, I would never dream of telling that antiquated joke today as the world has dramatically changed. In contemporary America, the majority of people know someone who is gay or lesbian. Visibility is no longer a major issue and there are positive role models for today’s gay youth. There are also a plethora of state and federal laws that now protect homosexuals from discrimination, while the next generation is favorably disposed to full marriage rights. Indeed, in 2008 there is nothing shocking or bizarre about the existence of gay people in everyday life. We are bankers, sanitary workers, doctors, parents, flight attendants and talk show hosts. Unfortunately, many comedians still act as if it were 1978 and immaturely treat homosexuality like an exotic novelty. If one watches network sitcoms, gags involving gays are disturbingly ubiquitous. The wisecracks are astounding in their sheer number and outright brazenness. After all, could you imagine if Leno had learned that an actor’s first role was a Jew and he urged him
to “look Jewish”? Unfortunately, there is a double standard when it comes to homosexuals in America. All too often, it is acceptable to disguise humiliation as humor, with the audience laughing at us, not with us. One wonders if many of today’s writers could complete a sitcom script without lacing it with homophobic laugh lines. Deciding when a joke is funny or anti-gay fodder is a delicate task. It does not help the gay and lesbian movement to be seen as killjoys, but, at the same time, much damage is done when we are comically killed for the joy of others. Society should be concerned whether the cumulative effect of demeaning jokes has a negative impact on gay teenagers, who are more likely to commit suicide. So, where is the appropriate place to draw the line? If gay individuals or groups do something that is actually amusing or absurd, it is perfectly acceptable that they be laughed at and lampooned. However, simply being gay - or insinuating that someone is homosexual should not be considered inherently funny. The punch line should never be: “Ha, ha, ha, you’re gay.” If the comedy writers can’t come up with more creative jokes, they should seriously consider new jobs. Jay Leno’s interview with Ryan Phillippe was quite perfunctory and the comedian had no apparent malice. He had simply trotted out a tired industry formula that had been repeated thousands of times. But, the old routine did not elicit a routine response, signifying that gay people are finally standing up to the stand-up comics.
The Reader Poll Last week we asked:
Do you participate in any of the local GLBT sports/rec teams?
Yes No
22.7% 77.3%
If so, which ones? • Bowling • Capital City volleyball • Cols Lesbian League Softball • IGBO - BOWLING • Would, if there was a Frontrunners chapter • Masturbating
NEXT WEEKS QUESTIONS: Which of the following do you consider the most spiritual experience? • Dancing • Attending church service • Sex • Meditating • Drugs/Alcohol Consumption • Praying • Creating/consuming - art/music/writing • Other?
© 2008 Wayne Besen. All rights reserved. www.waynebesen.com
Log on to: www.outlookweekly.net to take this week’s poll.
28 SO U RC
APR 17 - APR 23 2008
E : AP/IPSOS
CATEGORY
NOV 2 ’04
APR 14 ’08
DIFFERENCE
AMERICAN DEAD
1,122
4,032
2,910
AMERICAN WOUNDED
8,124
29,628
21,504
IRAQI CIVILIAN DEAD
16,342
90,304
73,962
NATIONAL DEBT
$7,429,629,954,236
$9,442,707,483,965
DAYS ‘TIL 2008 ELECTION
1,463
204
$2,013,077,529,729 (1,259)
OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 5
APR 17 - APR 23 2008
6 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY
COMMUNITY CORNER COLEMAN APPOINTS ROTHAN TO SERVE ON RECREATION & PARKS COMMISSION The Columbus Recreation and Parks Commission is welcoming a new member this week, after the appointment of Karla Rothan by Mayor Michael B. Coleman. The Mayor’s appointment was sent to City Council and unanimously approved on April 7, 2008. Rothan replaces the Mayor’s previous appointment, Lynn A. Greer, for a new term ending December 31, 2012. “I’ve worked with Karla Rothan on a variety
SSSSSHHHH! BE QUIET! DAY OF SILENCE APRIL 25 Get ready for the hallways in Central Ohio high schools to be a little quieter. Kaleidoscope Youth Center is working in partnership with area GSA’s to observe the Day of Silence. On April 25, students in local schools will join young people across the nation in protesting the discrimination, harassment and abuse - in effect the silencing - faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students and their allies in schools nationwide. GLSEN’s 2005 National School Climate Survey found that four out of five LGBT students report verbal, sexual or physical harassment at school and 29% report missing at least a day of school in the past month out of fear for their personal safety. The Day of Silence is one way students and their allies are making anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and name-calling unacceptable in America’s schools. The Day of Silence, a project of GLSEN, will be held during school hours across the nation. Youth from aproximately 20 Central Ohio schools are organizing “silent” activities, wearing stickers and passing out ‘speaking cards’ that read: “Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies in schools. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?” “It is a day for us to be heard without saying a word,” comments Lee H., Youth Advisory Board CoChair of Kaleidoscope Youth Center and Vice-President of the CAHS GSA. “This is really important to me,” Lee said. “I’ve always been pretty out there about who I am, but I know a lot of other people who don’t feel like they can be honest about who they are. Letting those who can’t talk know that they are okay, and harassment is NOT okay is incredibly important.” Following the Day of Silence, there will be a “Sunset Speak Out” event at Kaleidoscope Youth Center for activists to reflect on their day. The free event open to all youth aged 20 and under will begin at 5 pm. Festivities will include food, discussion, music and spoken word performances about topics ranging from LGBT identity issues to violence against women. For more information or directions contact Angie Wellman, Executive Director, by calling 614.294.5437 or e-mail at angie@kaleidoscope.org. Kaleidoscope Youth Center’s mission is to serve GLBTQ youth in Central Ohio by providing advocacy, education, support, and a safe environment. APR 17 - APR 23 2008
of topics over the past several years and am very pleased at her growth as a community leader on a diverse assortment of issues,” said Mayor Coleman. “From addressing senior services to bringing together LGBT organizations, and to personally working in our Recreation Centers, Karla has a passion for helping people and is committed to building our city for our Bicentennial and beyond.” One of Rothan’s first orders of business was
ATTENTION ALL GLBT FILM MAKERS OUTReels, a project of The Center, is looking for films produced by members of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky GLBT community. Chair of the committee, Bill Abney says the OUTReels committee is now forming for an event sometime in 2008. Abney added that films don’t necessary have to be “gay themed” to be considered, just made by a local GLBT filmmaker. For consideration, please send your information, and screener to Bill Abney, OUTReels Chair, c/o The Center, PO Boxx 23159, Cincinnati, OH 45223. Also, you may write Bill at bill.abney@glbtcentercincinnati.com OUTReels is now meeting every second Saturday of the month at 12 Noon (excepting the month of June as the date falls during Cincinnati’s GLBT Pride weekend). The next meeting is Saturday May 10, 2008. All meetings are at The Center, 4119 Hamilton Ave., Cincinnati, Oh 45223. This is OUTReels third turn out at producing a film festival, the first was in 2006, and the second last year. OUTReels attempts to educate and advocate for diversity through film.
GROUPS ADVOCATING FOR LGBT RIGHTS URGE D.A. TO CHARGE ALLEGED LAWRENCE KING MURDERER AS A MINOR A coalition of 27 groups fighting for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights today is urging Ventura County prosecutors to try 14-year-old Brandon McInerney in juvenile court, and not as an adult. McInerney has been charged as an adult in the February 12 murder of his E.O. Green Middle School classmate, 15-year-old Lawrence King. Students say McInerney targeted King because the victim was openly gay and because he wore women’s jewellery and makeup. LGBT civil rights organizations, including Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Transgender Law Center, have delivered a short statement to Ventura County District Attorney Gregory D. Totten, calling on him to try McInerney as a juvenile. “We are saddened and outraged by the murder of junior high school student Lawrence King,” the statement reads. “At the same time, we call on prosecutors not to compound this tragedy with another wrong “we call on them to treat the suspect as a juvenile, not as an adult. “The facts in this matter seem clear: one boy killed another in a climate of intolerance and fear about sexual orientation and gender expression. The alleged perpetrator, who turned 14 years old less than three weeks before the shooting, should be held accountable for his actions. But we support the principles underlying our juvenile justice system that treat children differently than adults and provide greater hope and opportunity for rehabilitation.
to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Scioto Mile project. This newly renovated city park will be one of most beautiful parks in the nation attracting visitors and residents to our downtown neighborhood. “I am honored to serve on the board of one of the best Recreation and Parks Departments in the nation and I look forward to this journey and commitment to our city.”
In addition, public safety is not served by treating children as adults. According to research released by the Centers for Disease Control in 2006, children transferred to adult court are more likely to re-offend than those committing similar offenses who remain in the juvenile justice system. California law does not require District Attorneys to prosecute 14 year-olds as adults, even in circumstances such as these, and we oppose them doing so. We are issuing this joint statement because we believe so strongly in principles of justice that protect all our young people and know that, even in the face of strong emotions, we should not abandon them. We refuse to let our sense of outrage blind us to the fact that the suspect is only 14 years old. “Prosecuting the alleged perpetrator as an adult will not bring Lawrence King back nor will it make schools safer for LGBT youth. We must respond to this tragedy by strengthening our resolve to change the climate in schools, eliminate bigotry based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and hold schools responsible for protecting students against discrimination and physical harm.”
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER PLEDGES TO OPPOSE CALIFORNIA MARRIAGE BAN Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) today for the first time pledged to oppose a proposed constitutional amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples in California. In remarks to the Log Cabin Republicans National Convention in San Diego, Schwarzenegger predicted Californians would reject the amendment and said, “I will always be there to fight against that.” “It’s a great day for the Republican Party and for all California families,” said Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon. “Gov. Schwarzenegger is a strong Log Cabin ally and a great friend for gay and lesbian people. His opposition to any anti-marriage amendment is great news. He will be an important voice against this effort.” Governor Schwarzenegger has twice vetoed same-sex marriage bills, stating the courts or the people should decide the issue. A decision by the California Supreme Court is expected by June 5th. Anti-gay groups are working to gather signatures to put a same-sex marriage constitutional ban on the November ballot. Schwarzenegger’s remarks to Log Cabin members came during a public discussion with Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon about the future of the Republican Party. Sammon asked the governor whether he would oppose the effort to ban same-sex marriage. The governor said, “First of all, I think that it [the marriage ban] will never happen in California. I think that California people are much further along on that issue. And, number two, I will always be there to fight against that. It will never happen.”
UNITED METHODISTS KEEP MOVING ON GAY AND TRANSGENDER ISSUES The Methodists are coming! Not by horseback as their founder, John Wesley, did in his circuit riding days, when Wesley traveled more than 200,000 miles, but by plane, train, and automobile. Almost 1,000 elected United Methodist delegates are coming - half clergy and half lay members - from around the world and arrive in Fort Worth for legislative sessions beginning April 23 and running through May 2. Once every four years, delegates and several thousand support staff and observers gather to sing, pray, praise, argue and vote on policies. It is a Christian tradition. The United Methodist Church, with 8 million members, is second only to Baptists among Protestants and tends to mirror the attitudes of the broader culture in the United States. As such, the United Methodist Church has become a key battleground between conservative and progressive forces, with gay issues at the center. Supporters of full inclusion point to the United Methodist slogan, “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors” and ask why there is a double standard for gay and transgender Christians. Critics promise a split if gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people are accepted. In 2004, members of Confessing Movement, a conservative Methodist organization, proposed “amicable” separation and sent shockwaves through the church. “At stake now, for the first time, is basic church membership for gay persons,” said Troy Plummer, executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network. “The Holsinger court let a pastor refuse membership to a gay man. The Council of Bishop’s unanimously opposed this unfair decision but when the court had the opportunity to revisit its decision, it refused.” “A statement in support of basic civil rights for gay people is still in the Book of Discipline (the book of official policies),” Plummer said, “but that positive statement is the exception. The Discipline forbids ordaining openly gay people, it bans funding any group that supports the acceptance of gay people and it prevents people from marrying the person of their choice.” “This year, the church may add transgender clergy to their list of banned people,” Plummer said. “Delegates will also decide if clergy should be banned from blessing gay families, and they will decide if campus ministries are forbidden to discuss gay and transgender issues or forbidden to allow gay groups to meet in their buildings.” “But things are changing. Even though insults have been added to injuries every four years for thirty years, the margins of the votes are moving in our direction,” said Plummer. “In 2004 the split was 45 to 55 percent on key votes. With a 5-percent shift, the policies will change and young people may lead the way. A recent Barna Group survey revealed that 80 percent of evangelical young adults felt their churches had ‘excessive contempt’ for gay people and felt that churches were ‘hypocritical.’ Change is coming.”
OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 7
APR 17 - APR 23 2008
8 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY
HEALTH
Part 2 of our month-long coverage for STD Awareness Month
Hepatitis and human papillomavirus There are nearly 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the U.S. each year, but obvious symptoms often don’t develop and many people who contract an STD are unaware they and their partners are at risk. With this in mind the American Social Health Association (ASHA) and National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) recognize April as National STD Awareness Month, and emphasize testing as a key component for sexual health. Here at Outlook, we strongly encourage everyone to get the facts about STDs and get tested. To that end, we are doing a month-long series on the topic to get you up to speed. Read, learn and then call your local physician, Columbus Public Health or Columbus AIDS Task Force and set up an appointment to get a screening. CPH and CTF both have free testing available, and as you’ll read later this month, CPH has streamed lined their process and “friendly-ed” up the place making it so you can get in and out in a reasonable amount of time and without the lecturing. With syphilis and HIV infection on the rise in Franklin County, we want you to be responsible, find out your status and then make the best-informed decisions. Together we can help bring infection rates back down.
Hepatitis A & B Hepatitis A and B are viruses that infect the liver. Hepatitis A can cause jaundice and flu-like symptoms, but not long-term infection. Hepatitis B has similar initial symptoms, though about 30 percent of those infected show no visible sign of the virus. Hepatitis B can result in serious illness, such as cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer and even death. More than 170,000 people in the U.S. become infected with hepatitis A or B each year. About 750,000 people are chronically infected with hepatitis B. There are 77,000 new cases each year. One out of 20 people will become infected with hepatitis B at some point in their lives. About 5,000 people die each year from hepatitis B. Both hepatitis A and B are preventable by vaccines. The public is less familiar with hepatitis A & B than with all other common STDs. APR 17 - APR 23 2008
Who’s Likely to Get Hepatitis A & B? People at risk for hepatitis A include: those living in communities or traveling to countries where the virus is prevalent, those living in households with infected members, drug users, men who have sex with men, day care workers and those with chronic liver disease. People at risk for hepatitis B include: health-care workers, drug users, men who have sex with men, people with multiple sex partners and household members of those with hepatitis B.
adults. Washing hands with soap after changing diapers or using the toilet, and before eating can reduce the risk of hepatitis A and B. Using condoms regularly and correctly can reduce the risk of hepatitis B. A preparation of antibodies known as immune globulin can provide short-term protection against hepatitis A infection. While rest and proper nutrition can alleviate some symptoms, there is currently no available treatment for hepatitis A. While there are medications available for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection, there is no cure.
HPV is especially common in young women and usually disappears on its own. However, the presence of HPV in women over 30 - particularly those in monogamous relationships - may indicate a persistent, long-standing infection. About 13,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. About 99 percent of cervical cancer tissue contains high-risk HPV.
patient-applied topical therapies as well as through conventional clinic-based approaches. Pap tests can detect abnormal, precancerous or cancerous cell changes in the cervix, but cannot directly diagnose HPV. Specialized DNA tests can diagnose HPV in the cervix. These DNA tests are routinely used to clarify Pap test results that are unclear. They are also approved for primary screening in women over 30 How Is HPV Transmitted? (in combination with conventional Pap Genital HPV is most easily transmitted testing). How Are Hepatitis A & B Transmitted? by direct skin-to-skin contact. Sexual acTests of an experimental vaccine deHepatitis A is spread when someone tivity is the most common form of trans- signed to protect women against highcomes in oral contact with the stool mission. risk HPV have shown that the vaccine (feces) of an infected person, usually Because genital HPV infections usu- provides total (100%) protection. through contaminated food. Hepatitis A HPV ally have no symptoms, the virus is most is also transmitted by oral-anal sex. Public Health and Policy Issues HPV (human papillomavirus) is one of often transmitted unknowingly. Hepatitis B is spread through the HPV can have a long latency period in Pap testing and DNA HPV testing the most common sexually transmitted blood and bodily fluids of an infected diseases (STD) in the U.S. About 6.2 mil- the body, where no symptoms appear for should be widely available and accessiperson. More than half of all hepatitis B lion people get genital HPV each year. months or even years after infection. ble to low-income women. infections come from sexual activity. There is no apparent link between Follow-up treatment should be offered HPV is the name of a group of viruses In addition, hepatitis B can be trans- that infect the skin. There are about 100 HPV, miscarriage, premature delivery or to those with cervical abnormalities. mitted when infected needles are shared different types of HPV. Certain types other pregnancy complications. The risk Such treatment has been shown to preby drug users and, among health-care of transmitting the virus to one’s baby is vent cervical cancer deaths. cause warts on the hands and feet. workers, from needle sticks in the work- About 30 types cause genital infection very low. place. and can cause genital warts or abnormal Hepatitis B can also be transmitted Costs and Consequences cell changes in the cervix. Now go get tested! during delivery from an infected mother The direct medical costs of treating At any one time, about 20 million peoto her baby. cervical cancer in young women aged It’s easy. Either of these ple are infected with HPV, though most About one-third of all people with 15–24 are about $2.9 billion a year. The have no visible symptoms and are unagency can help you out. hepatitis B don’t know how they became aware of it. costs of treating all HPV-related infecinfected. About 80 percent of all sexually active tions are much higher. The hepatitis B virus can be 100 people have been infected with HPV at times more contagious than HIV. Prevention and Treatment Basics some point in their lives. Outside of sexual abstinence, the The immune system of most healthy Costs and Consequences people is able to suppress HPV within a surest way to avoid getting HPV is to reColumbus Public Health Nearly 1 in 5 people infected with frain from sexual contact with an infew months. 240 Parsons Ave hepatitis A must be hospitalized. Certain HPV viruses are linked to cer- fected person or to be in a long-term, Columbus, OH 43215 In rare cases, hepatitis A can lead to vical and other cancers. These viruses mutually monogamous relationship with (614) 645-7417 death. There are approximately 100 an uninfected person. are called high-risk types. HPV viruses www.publichealth.columbus.gov deaths due to hepatitis A infection per Using condoms consistently and corthat are not linked to cancer are called Sexual Health Clinic hours: year in the U.S. rectly can reduce the risk of getting HPVlowrisk types. Monday 7:15am-3:30pm The medical costs for hepatitis B are related diseases, such as genital warts Though tens of millions of women Tuesday 10:45am-7:00pm $51.4 million a year. have high-risk HPV, a very small percent- and cervical cell abnormalities. However, Wednesday 7:15am-10:30am In 1997, the average medical cost for age develop cervical cancer. condoms do not protect all genital areas, Thursday 7:15am-3:30pm each case of hepatitis B was $668 a Regular Pap tests can prevent cervi- and therefore, cannot completely prevent Friday 7:15am-3:30pm year. cal cancer or diagnose it in early stages. the spread of HPV. Regular screening through Pap and With early diagnosis, cervical cancer can Columbus Aids Task Force Prevention and Treatment Basics DNA tests can catch cervical cancer in be treated and cured. 1751 E. Long St. Both hepatitis A and B are preventaits early stages, when there are no sympColumbus, OH 43203 ble by vaccines. The hepatitis A vaccine Who’s Likely to Get HPV? toms. (614) 299-2437 should be given to at-risk groups older Since cervical cancer typically takes About 4.6 million young people aged www.catf.net than two years. The hepatitis B vaccine 15–24 get HPV each year. They account 5–10 years to develop, regular screening CATF Hours : should be given to everyone 18 years and for nearly three-quarters (74%) of all can prevent or cure nearly all cases. Mon-Fri 9a - 5p under. It should also be given to at-risk new infections. Genital warts can now be treated with
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OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 11
OUT BUSINESS NEWS HCX GETS A MAKEOVER Phia Salon, formerly known as Hair Color Experts Salon in the Short North, celebrated its official coming out at a VIP event April 2. at Spice Bar & Restaurant in the Arena District. Showcasing both the name and mission of the newly rebranded salon, a 2008 spring trend release was the highlight of the event. Owners, managers and staff worked together for months to create a vision of what they wanted their new salon to embody. They knew they wanted an environment that had enough passion to feed the artists who worked behind the chair, while constantly enhancing their technical expertise.
They had already worked hard to promote an uplifting environment, where employees and clients alike are encouraged to be “strong, real, and true to themselves.” And, according to Elizabeth Bella, Phia Salon owner, “It became really clear to us that we wanted to cherish and nurture our clients, our community, and our earth and to preserve our collective resources, so it was really important to us for our new beginning to happen during Earth Month.” All three groups were involved in choosing the name Phia (pronounced “fee-uh”) which is derived from the word Phi, a term known as the “Golden Section,” or “Divine Proportion,” used to explain physical proportions of many life forms and nature to achieve balance, harmony and beauty in its own creations of art, architecture, colors, design, composition, space and even music but most beautifully in humans. To support this desire to nurture the environment as well as clients and staff, Phia has partnered with Aveda and is in the process of bringing in the entire line of plant and essential oil-based products. Aveda’s natural ingredients reflect their commitment to environmental leadership and responsibility – not just in the world of beauty, but around the world. Their green ingredients position Aveda as a leader with ethical and traceable soil to bottle ingredients, organic ingredients and practices that are changing the industry, plant-based alternatives to synthetic chemistry, innovations in responsible packaging and continued commitment to safe products manufacturing and corporate practices that are socially and environmentally advanced. The difference you’ll see in Phia is a more holistic, peaceful, caring and Earth-wise approach to directly address client’s health and well-being at its source.
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY RESTRUCTURES FOR THE FUTURE The Ohio Historical Society today announced a restructuring to strengthen the organization and position the private nonprofit for the delivery of strong statewide services. Facing a $2 million budget deficit resulting from the softening Ohio economy, decreased state funding and increasing inflationary expenses, the OHS Board of Trustees has approved a balanced budget of $20.9 million to support the Society’s activities in the 2009 fiscal year. These include managing a network of 59 historic sites and museums and preserving historic resources for Ohio. The approved budget represents a 3-percent decrease from 2008. The Society also will expend $4.4 million in state capital funds for various projects around Ohio. Beginning July 1, the Society will focus its investments in priority areas of educational/interpretive programs, collections and outreach. The Board’s goal is to increase its ability to provide services to the people of Ohio, according to Richard D. Ruppert, M.D., president of the OHS Board of Trustees. “Telling Ohio’s history and preserving our collections for all Ohioans to enjoy and learn from are our main responsibilities,” Ruppert said. “We are confident this strategic approach to restructuring will position the Ohio Historical Society for the future and to be more effective and efficient at providing statewide services.” OHS Executive Director William K. Laidlaw Jr. added, “Since 2004 the Society has been less reliant on state support by generating income through grants and other private sources. We will continue our efforts to diversify our revenue and involve Ohio citizens.” Budget priorities include increasing Web access, maintaining access to the Archives/Library at the Ohio Historical Center, continuing improvements in state and local government archival services, retaining most curatorial functions, providing services to local historical societies and operating the Ohio Historic Preservation Office. The Society also will continue its emphasis on museum exhibitions, public events and educational programs, such as school tours at OHS sites, National History Day in Ohio and teacher training. In addition, the reorganization will position seven OHS sites as regional centers to provide stronger statewide history services and promote economic development through partnerships with local stakeholders, such as historical societies and chambers of commerce. These historic sites include: Adena Mansion & Gardens in Chillicothe and Fort Ancient near Oregonia for southwest Ohio; Campus Martius in Marietta for southeast Ohio; Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Fort Meigs in Perrysburg and Piqua Historical Area in Piqua for northwest Ohio; and Zoar Village in Zoar for northeast Ohio. All will retain their current hours of operation. Although schedules have been reduced at other OHS sites, most will be open during periods of highest attendance. School and group tours will remain available. Sites with changes in
hours include the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus, Paul Lawrence Dunbar House in Dayton, Flint Ridge near Brownsville, Harding Home in Marion, National Road/Zane Grey Museum near Norwich, Serpent Mound near Peebles, Youngstown Historical Center in Youngstown, Fort Laurens near Bolivar, Ohio River Museum in Marietta, Schoenbrunn Village in New Philadelphia and Wahkeena Nature Preserve near Lancaster. For Serpent Mound and Flint Ridge park access will be emphasized with limited access to buildings. To help defray increasing operating costs, the Society will implement a $1 fee increase for adult ($8), senior ($7) and child ($4) admissions as of April 25 at all locations. School tour fees will remain $3 per person. The last fee increase occurred in 2004. The Society will work with other groups to operate four sites under management agreements. These include Cedar Bog Nature Preserve near Urbana, Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool, Ohio Statehouse Education & Visitors Center in Columbus and Tallmadge Church in Tallmadge. As a part of the restructuring 47 full and parttime positions will be eliminated, including 21 coming from unfilled job vacancies. Of the 26 employees affected by job elimination, 18 worked at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus and the remainder worked at other OHS sites. In addition, 49 employees were notified of changes in their hours. The annualized savings of these position eliminations after restructuring is $1.8 million. “The Society regrets that a number of dedicated, knowledgeable employees will lose their jobs as we restructure,” Laidlaw said. “We extend our most sincere thanks for their contributions. These are difficult decisions in a difficult economy. Our board is confident that the changes being made are necessary for the Society to help people connect with Ohio’s past in order to understand and create a better future.” Over the last decade, the Ohio Historical Society has had to retrench its operations as state funding declined from a staffing level of more than 400 full-time equivalent staff members in the 2001 fiscal year to 270 full-time equivalents in the 2009 fiscal year. Employees notified today of job losses will receive a severance package, full pay of eligible leave balances and outplacement counseling. They also are welcome to apply for the Society’s position vacancies. All employment categories, from professional and managerial to part-time and support positions, were affected among the total number of positions eliminated. Other cost-cutting measures to be taken include deferred equipment purchases and staff travel restrictions.
DIVERSITYINC ANNOUNCES THE 2008 DIVERSITYINC TOP 50 COMPANIES FOR DIVERSITY® Ohio-Based Procter & Gamble, Macy’s, Keybank Make The List DiversityInc-the leading publication on corporate diversity-announced its 2008 Top 50 Companies for Diversity®. For the second time in
three years, Verizon is No. 1 on the list. The annual DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® competition, now in its eighth year, is an editorial process, entirely driven by metrics obtained in a detailed survey. Top 50 companies demonstrate consistent strength in four areas: CEO Commitment, Human Capital, Corporate and Organizational Communications, and Supplier Diversity. “Top 50 companies have clarity of their absolute values of human dignity, demonstrating a global adherence to these core beliefs,” said Luke Visconti, Partner and Co-founder of DiversityInc. “These sustainable values drive margin.” | The DiversityInc Top 50 list is increasingly competitive; a total of 352 companies participated this year, up 10 percent from last year and up 100 percent since 2003. Thirteen companies appeared on the list for the first time, and 16 companies went up in ranking from last year. Key findings from The 2008 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies: • In the United States, the Top 50 hire 44 percent Blacks, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans, compared with the U.S. work force, which is 29 percent Black, Latino, Asian and Native American* • Twenty-five percent of Top 50 companies management are Black, Latino, Asian or Native American, compared with only 15 percent nationwide* • Top 50 boards of directors are 23 percent Black, Latino, Asian and Native American, compared with 13 percent nationally* • Top 50 boards are 22 percent female, compared with 15 percent nationally* • Although Top 50 companies employ only 5 percent of the U.S. work force, they employ 17 percent of the college-educated Black, Latino, Asian and Native American workers* • Top 50 companies average 48 percent of their revenue outside the United States, compared with 38.5 percent five years ago • Forty percent of the Top 50 have employeeresource groups outside the United States • One hundred percent of the Top 50 offer domestic-partner health benefits for same-sex couples, compared with 53 percent of Fortune 500 companies • Top 50 companies spend 9 percent of their procurement budgets with minority- and womenowned suppliers, compared with just 2 percent nationally* DiversityInc also compiles 11 specialty lists available upon request: The Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention, The Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity, The Top 10 Companies for African Americans, The Top 10 Companies for Latinos, The Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans, The Top 10 Companies for Executive Women, The Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees, The Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities, The Top 5 Global-Diversity Companies, The Top 5 Regional Utilities and The 25 Noteworthy Companies. For a complete listing of this year’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity, please visit www.DiversityInc.com/top50. APR 17 - APR 23 2008
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THE EXAMINED LIFE by Tom Moon, MFT
Understanding the Fear of Success Anyone can understand why people might be afraid of failure, but is it really possible that some people are actually afraid of success? One of the most difficult aspects of human nature to understand is the strange and widespread tendency of so many to sabotage themselves, to shoot themselves in the foot, to undermine their strivings for success and happiness, as if they have some kind of allergy to success. One way to understand this powerful and perplexing issue is to imagine that we have a kind of internal emotional thermostat which sets a range for how much suffering and pain, at one end, we’re willing to tolerate; and at the other, how much happiness and fulfillment we can allow ourselves to experience. Most of us do, in fact, have something like this in our makeup. Our personal ‘misery index’ has to drop below a certain line before the ‘heat’ comes on and we take action to change things. And people’s settings vary. What typically determines the setting is the emotional atmosphere of our family lives when we were children. If our families were characterized by abuse and disappointment, we probably learned to treat such experiences as natural, and as adults our ‘common sense’ tells us
that life is just ‘like that.’ On the other hand, to the degree that the family atmosphere was characterized by mutual respect, safety and affection, we learned to take it for granted these conditions are our birthright. The thermostat image isn’t just a metaphor, because it can actually help explain why and when people take action in their own behalf. When listening to the stories of recovering addicts and alcoholics, for instance, I’m struck by the fact that, for some, ‘hitting bottom’ meant being hung over one too many Monday mornings, while for others it meant losing everything and living on the streets. There is a similar range of tolerance for domestic abuse. Some people get hit once by a partner and immediately take action to see that it never happens again, while others (who may have been subjected to abuse as children or witnessed one parent abusing another) put up with violence year after year, assuming that it’s just the price they have to pay for ‘love.’ What’s really interesting, and harder to understand, is that, for many people, this inner thermostat also has an upper setting, a point where the ‘heat’ goes off and they deliberately, if unconsciously, cool down their efforts to improve their lives. This setting, too, is deter-
mined by the emotional atmosphere of childhood. A man who had long dreamed of getting a post-graduate degree was accepted to a prestigious graduate school. Suddenly he found himself feeling anxious and depressed, uncertain of his goals, and making all kinds of excuses for why he shouldn’t go. Why? Neither of us parents had finished high school, and were so threatened by his education that they had constantly ridiculed him for being “stuck up” and for using big words they couldn’t understand. Despite his longing for higher education, he had a deeply rooted feeling that he really didn’t deserve it. The unconscious, irrational belief which governed his behavior was that if he pursued his educational goals he would harm and humiliate his parents. This belief affected him deeply, despite the fact that both of his parents had been dead for many years. Fear of success is like that. The root belief is always some version of the idea that exercising our own strengths must be at someone else’s expense. The effect is that when we get close to achieving an important goal (a relationship that works, career success, more education, etc.) we suddenly find ourselves feeling
anxious, depressed, and uncertain. We may feel “out on a limb”, or experience a nameless dread which we can’t explain to ourselves. People who feel these things are strongly, if unconsciously, tempted to give it all back by sabotaging themselves and getting their happiness level back down to a more familiar and tolerable level. The problem of fear of success is anything but uncommon. It’s so widespread that it has spawned a multi-billion dollar success industry offering workshops, motivational tapes, lectures, affirmations, etc., all pushing essentially the same message – that having a happy and productive life isn’t inherently harmful to others, that it is, in fact, your birthright, and your responsibility to yourself. It’s a simple message – who would argue with it? Yet it’s sad how many, in their heart of hearts, can’t quite bring themselves to believe it. But that’s the task facing anyone struggling to overcome the habit of self-sabotage – to learn to believe it, and in so doing, to ‘reset’ the thermostat to allow us to tolerate success and fulfillment without internal conflict. Tom Moon is a psychotherapist in San Francisco. His website is tommoon.net.
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OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 15
EARTH TALK From the Editors of E
Dear EarthTalk:
Dear EarthTalk:
How can I find out which seafood to avoid if I am concerned about lessening my impact on the environment and avoiding consuming unhealthy pollutants?
What makes those so-called “new urbanism” housing developments popping up around the U.S. more environmentally friendly than regular old suburban neighborhoods?
Pat Kelly
Rusty Spinoza
Several decades ago a fish-centric diet was considered to be not only healthy but also environmentally friendly. But today those of us who eat a lot of fish may not be doing ourselves or the environment any favor. The two major concerns are overfishing and pollution. Demand for low-calorie, protein-rich fish has grown tremendously alongside increases in world population. At the same time, the technologies employed for catching seafood have improved to the point that the commercial fishing industry has essentially stripped the ocean of its once teeming fish populations. One recent analysis concluded that only 10 percent of the large predatory fish that once roamed the world’s oceans are left, due to overzealous sport and commercial fishing. Another study concluded that three-quarters of the world’s fisheries are either fully fished or overfished. Pollution from industrial, agricultural and other everyday activities like electricity generation and automobile driving has also taken a serious toll on the health of the remaining fish species. Scientists routinely find unsafe levels of mercury, PCBs, dioxins, pesticides and other harsh toxins in the fat, internal organs and even muscle tissue of many different kinds of fish. These contaminants are then passed on up the food chain to our dinner plates. According to Seafood Watch, a project of the Monterey Bay Aquarium that works to educate the public about the seafood crisis, consumers can make a difference by getting educated so as to make smart choices about what seafood to avoid. Consumers can download and print out free Seafood Watch pocket guides to the “best choices” across six different regions of
the U.S. - after all, what’s abundant and sustainably harvested in your area may not be the same for someone across the country. Another convenient way to get the low-down on the fish you may be contemplating buying at the grocer or a restaurant is to text “30644” with the message “FISH,” followed by the name of the specific fish in question. In a few seconds, an automated response will come back from the non-profit Blue Ocean Network’s FishPhone service with information on the status of the fish in question - and alternatives, should Blue Ocean consider the fish an undesirable choice. The basic skinny on fish consumption is that if you like it, you should eat it, but responsibly - that means in moderation and armed with the proper knowledge of which types of fish to buy and which to avoid. For those looking to cut down on or eliminate seafood from their diets but still gain the health benefits of eating fish, plenty of alternatives exist. As most vegetarians know, beans, tofu and many nuts can be significant alternative sources of protein. And walnuts, flaxseed and hemp oil/seeds are all rich in the Omega-3 fatty acids common in many fish and thought to help ward off heart disease, cancer, macular degeneration (age-related blindness), arthritis and inflammatory disorders.
The husband-and-wife team of town planners Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk are typically credited as the founders of new urbanism, a style of community design that embraces mixed use (commercial and residential) development in pedestrianfriendly and green space-rich neighborhoods - much like the old neighborhoods many baby-boomers remember before suburban sprawl made us all slaves to our cars. Duany and Plater-Zyberk formulated their new urbanism principles while living in one of the Victorian neighborhoods of New Haven, Connecticut while they attended graduate school in architecture at Yale. Their neighborhood included corner shops, front porches and a variety of attractive and well-designed housing and commercial structures - planting the seed of an idea that has now swept the U.S. and beyond. The prototypical new urbanist community is Florida’s Seaside, which Duany and PlaterZyberk began designing in 1979 for the 80acre coastal parcel’s developer, Robert S. Davis. Their plan took the best elements of a handful of graceful southern cities like Key West, Charleston and Savannah to create a community based on the tried-and-true concept of walkable, self-contained neighborhoods. Besides 300 homes, Seaside contains a school, a town hall, an open-air market, a tennis club, a tented amphitheater and a post office - everything anyone could ever need in a town, and all within a five minute walk. According to the non-profit Smart Communities Network, Seaside works as a community because of its design: “Mandatory
porches are set close enough to walkways to enable porch sitters and passersby to communicate without raising their voices. The streets are all interconnected; creating a network that eliminates ‘collector’ routes and reduces congestion. Walkways crisscross the development to encourage walking and biking, while narrow streets serve to reduce traffic speed.” Building fronts are a uniform distance from the curb and all streets are tree-lined to further the community’s “sense of place.” Other examples of new urbanist communities include: Stapleton on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado; Seabrook on the southern coast of Washington State; Melrose Arch in Johannesburg, South Africa; Alta de Lisboa near Lisbon, Portugal; and Jakriborg in southern Sweden. Meanwhile, the idea has caught on in New Orleans, where developers are styling new communities in the wake of Hurricane Katrina based in part on the principles of new urbanism. According to the website NewUrbanism.org, being green is central to the concept of new urbanism, where houses tend to be compact and on small lots. And many developers are incorporating green building design and alternative energy generation into their plans for these communities. Furthermore, proponents say that building densely settled, walkable communities instead of road-intensive suburban developments cuts down on the need to drive, thus further reducing the carbon footprint.
CONTACTS: Seafood Watch, www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp; FishPhone, www.fishphone.org. Seaside, www.seasidefl.com; Smart Communities Network, www.smartcommunities.ncat.org; NewUrbanism.org, www.newurbanism.org. GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? E-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com.
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FEATURE STORY by Chris Hayes
Into their 2008 season, the Ohio Roller Girls are back and better than ever. You’ve for sure heard about them, but do you know what in the hell they are or what they do? Well we caught up with the queens of the roller derby to get you up to speed and give you some insight into the local phenomenon. Chris Hayes: What is a Roller Girl? ORG: A roller girl is an athlete who plays roller derby. They put on quad roller skates and take on a persona that could be their alter ego or reflective of who they are in real life. CH: So what type of girl becomes a roller girl? ORG: The types of girls who become roller girls runs the gamut. We have experienced athletes and women who are playing an organized sport for the first time, professionals, students, stay-at-home moms; you name the type, you can probably find someone who plays roller derby. CH: Is it mostly lesbians that play? What’s the ratio on the teams? ORG: There are girls of all orientations who play roller derby. CH: How many teams are there in town? ORG: The Ohio Roller Girls consists of four teams – the Band of Brawlers, Blackeye Bullies, Sprockettes and Take-Outs. The Ohio Roller Girls’ All Star team (comprised of members from all 4 home teams) plays other leagues across the country as well. CH: Who plays for which teams? Who are the team captains? ORG: We have about 60 skaters across all four teams. We hold tryouts, train the new recruits, and then draft skaters to even out the teams as needed. Mia Slamm is the Band of Brawlers captain, Barracuda is the Blackeye Bullies captain (she’s also the All Stars captain), Tha Devil is the Sprockettes captain, and Foxy Force is the Take-Outs captain CH: Is there a state or national association that APR 17 - APR 23 2008
Ohio Roller Girls is a part of? ORG: We are an original member of the Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby Association. It is the organizing body that has developed the rules for roller derby and is leading the resurgence of the sport. It has been an honor to be a part of the WFTDA and see were roller derby was and were it is now in just a few short years. Visit http://www.wftda.com/ to learn more about WFTDA and flat track roller derby! CH: Is Roller Derby an actual sport or is it more like pro wrestling? ORG: Women’s flat track roller derby is the exact opposite of what people might remember from the 1970s and ‘80s. There is a set of rules that skaters must follow or could find themselves in the penalty box. We spend a lot of time training – on and off skates – and developing strategy to defeat our opponents. You won’t see any pre-determined outcomes here. We work really hard and pride ourselves in the exciting gameplay fans have experienced for the last three years. CH: How do you play roller derby? What are the rules, how do you score? Can you give us an overview of the game? ORG: The way the game works is two teams face off against each other with five skaters on the track. Four of each team’s skaters are blockers with the lead blocker positioned as the pivot. This skater controls the pace of the pack and is the last line of defense. The fifth skater from each team is called the jammer and is the one who scores the points for the team. The pivots and jammers from each team wear helmet covers to distinguish their positions. Before the beginning of a jam, both teams form a pack with the jammers lined up behind, and the jammers then race through the pack once the referees start the jam. Jammers need to make it around the pack once before they are allowed to score points. The first jammer legally through the pack without going out of bounds or committing a penalty is designated lead jammer and can choose to end the jam before the two minutes has elapsed.
The opposing team blockers attempt to prevent the jammer from passing while trying to get their own jammer through the pack and score the most points. Playing offense and defense simultaneously is unique to roller derby. CH: What is going to an actual Ohio Roller Girls game like? What will I experience? Is there music? Beer? Blood? Romance? ORG: It is an experience like no other and something for all the senses to be overwhelmed with. You’ll see some great roller derby that is quickly becoming a sporting event that fans are marking their calendars for month after month; taste some cold, refreshing PBR; hear DJ Moxy spinning tracks for the bouts and The Tank, Caesar, and Rhonda Burgundy expertly commentating for the fans; and shake hands and get an autograph from your favorite roller girl after they play a great game. CH: What is it like to get hit going around that track so fast? ORG: Trust me, you don’t want to be on the receiving end of one these hits. Barracuda, Ruby Doom, Mia Slamm and Hell Camino deliver some of the most devastating hits in the league. A good hit on anyone who isn’t looking is sure to hurt…and make the crowd go wild! CH: How many injures have you incurred over the years? Which team seems to get “beat up” the most? ORG: We all have injuries! The saying in derby goes, it isn’t IF you get hurt but when. We take turns being injury prone with injuries as severe as broken legs to less severe injuries like sprains and bruises. We pride ourselves on the really impressive derby bruises! CH: How can someone get involved? Are there tryouts? ORG: We do hold try-outs once a year usually in the fall. If you think you’re interested, you should strap on those quad skates now and get used to them
again (most of our skaters hadn’t skated on quads since they were kids). You may even run into one of our skaters at an open skate (especially if you head to Skatezone 71). Watch as much derby as you can so you know the rules, and keep an eye on our website (www.ohiorollergirls.com) for open skate dates with our skaters as well as the try-out dates. Oh, and start training like an athlete now – put that beer and pizza down and start eating your veggies and drinking lots of water. Hit the gym and get your cardio workouts in at least 5 days a week. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work to be a roller girl, but it’s worth it! CH: What’s the best thing about being a Roller Girl? ORG: Ask a roller girl that question and you’ll get a different answer every time simply because there are so many great things about being one. It’s challenging, and you couldn’t find a more fun way to be fit, but that’s barely the best thing. You are part of a family in your league but across the country, as we’re all roller derby sisters. Our league (as well as all WFTDA member leagues) is owned and operated by the skaters, so we not only train, but we run this business and make it happen so we can skate. It’s a complete package of participating in our beloved sport as well as being directly responsible for growing the fan base and popularity. Several women will tell you that it has built their confidence or helped them develop leadership skills. Hmmm, the easier question might be, “What’s the worst thing about being a roller girl?” For that answer, I’d refer you back to the question about injuries, as we don’t like anything that keeps us from skating! CH: When and where’s the next bout? How much is it? ORG: The next bout is at 5p, May 11 in the Lausche Building at the Ohio Expo Center. Tickets are $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Children 10 and under get in free. Doors open at 4p. For more ticketing information, visit www.ohiorollergirls.com.
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18 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY
FEATURE STORY by Chris Hayes
More Softballs Than You Can Shake A Stick At
Photos © Neal Raffensberger
CLGSA Bids on World Series and Expands Bat-N-Rouge In case you didn’t know, there are two queer softball leagues in town. One is The Columbus Lesbian Softball League (CLSL) which is a girl only league aimed to provide a positive and supportive environment in which women can recreate and strengthen relationships within the lesbian community. The other is the integrated CLGSA (The Columbus Lesbian and Gay Softball Association) which services both guys and dolls in a variety of levels. Known for putting on Bat-N-Rouge at Pride, the CLGSA this past year not only joined a national association and made BNR a year-long fundraiser, but they are in the process of bidding for the gay softball world series to come to town. The CLGSA was founded in the early 1980’s. The league grew from a handful of teams to currently having over 450 registered players on 26 different teams. The league is a non-profit organization, raising money and donating funds to such organizations as Stonewall Columbus and the Columbus AIDS Task Force. While founded as an independent softball league, the 2007 board of trustees and managers elected to become a member of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance for the 2008 season. The volunteer, recreation organization is run by a board of trustees who is elected by team managers each year. The executive board includes a commissioner, assistant commissioner, treasurer, and secretary. Additional members on the board include a fundraising director, publicity chair, and field preparation coordinator. At the start of each season league managers elect conference chiefs to represent each of the three conferences. The CLGSA is divided into three conferences: Roberts – Competitive; Akers - Competitive-Recreational; St. Clair – Recreational where teams are encouraged to build their roster with players of similar ability level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) but roster-building is based on manager discretion. While no specific player rating system was originally employed, the league has begun to implement NAGAAA ratings for players during recent seasons. Traditionally CLGSA is known for two major events in town: Bat-N-Rouge and the Midwest Invitational Softball Tournament, or M.I.S.T. Bat-N-Rouge is a fundraising event that occurs the last Sunday of June each year during the Columbus Pride Holiday. Players from the CLGSA dress up in drag for a charity softball game emceed by local drag queens. Proceeds benefit the CLGSA and selected lesbian/gay and other related charities. Trying to enhance the effectiveness and fundraising ability of BNR, the league has taken it to a year long drive with various events around town. One in particular is
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coming up on May 3 at Score Bar. The Midwest Invitational Softball Tournament, or M.I.S.T., is an annual softball tournament that travels between Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Detroit. M.I.S.T. is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, hosting gay and lesbian teams from various states across the country. CLGSA last hosted M.I.S.T. in 2007. Now however, CLGSA wants to add another plum to there cap and our vying to host the 2010 NAGAAA World Series. We caught up with the leagues commissioner Dallas Aldridge and Business Development/Sponsorship coordinator Sam Schisler, for more info on both BNR and the World Series.
Chris Hayes: Let’s start with Bat-Rouge, why did you decided to make it a yearlong drive and what does that mean exactly? Sam Schisler: Bat-N-Rouge is a very costly Charity event. The committee and myself felt that if we could get most of Bat-N-Rouge paid for by fundraising throughout the year, our charities would get larger contributions for their efforts in our community. CH: What all added events make up BNR? SS: There’s 1) The Kick-off Show on May 4; 2) Bat-NRouge Idol, which is made up of winners from every bar that holds Karaoke with Finals Night on June 15 at Wall Street where the winner will be able to sing the National Anthem and one song of their choice at half time; and 3) various other activities surrounding this years event.
and has a great time for this incredible cause. CH: How is the actually Pride BRN going to be different this year? I heard you can’t bring your own beer anymore. SS: Bat-N-Rouge will be different this year because I have been blessed with the most incredible committee of individuals anyone could ask for in putting on a major event like this one. The details, the sound, the look, the feel, will all be very much alive and well this year. We all are putting a lot of time and effort into this event because all of us believe in its worth to “Our Community” and to the Charities BNR supports. Yes, there are no coolers allowed this year. In past years we have tried to police this as much as possible but unfortunately it still takes place and we have to be very careful with the liquor license and our sponsors. We feel it is no different than walking in a bar, you can not bring your own beer to U or Score Bar, or even to another festival, so it really should not be a big deal. CH: Do you know who is hosting? SS: We do and we will be announcing that on the May 4 Event. If anyone wants to help us with Bat-NRouge, all anyone has to do is go to www.clgsa.net and send me an e-mail.
CH: Tell us about this event on May 4, I heard it’s gotten huge. SS: We have our kick-off Fundraiser at Axis Night Club on May 4 with the All-Star line-up as a cast, like Nina West, Paige Passion, Virginia West, Vivie Vellure, Maria Garrisson, Georgia Jackson, Sonya Ross, Coco Cane, and many more! The other exciting news for this event is it will be Hosted by the National Entertainer of the Year “DEE RANGED”. Some of the other All-Stars include The Stompers, Spin Ohio, live vocals and much more! This event is definitely a “Do Not Miss Event!”
CH: Let’s move to the NAGAAA and the world series bid. First, how are things since the move NAGAAA? What is different about the local league now that you are members? DA: The transition has been a lot of work for the Board and the team manager’s. Rating players has been the biggest challenge. As players are officially rated this year, we will ensure the level of play in each division is much more even. Our league really gets to set our own rules for play, we recently aligned with the Amateur Softball Association which only had minor rule changes. NAGAAA really gave us a system to rate players and the ability to be joined with a National Gal and Lesbian organization. This has given us the opportunity to join with National Sponsors for our league. Both Coors Light and Miller Lite sponsored the CLGSA for the 2008 season.
CH: How many do you plan on attending? SS: Our goal is to sell out Axis Night Club. The tables are priced from $40, to $60 and entrance is only $6 per person. I really can not tell you where you will ever be able to have entertainment like this for that little money. We just hope the community comes out
CH: You are bidding on the 2010 World Series to come to Columbus, what all does that entail? DA: We currently have a committee together looking at the possibility of submitting our intent to bid for the 2010 GSWS. We are really in the early stages of our bid process, but as of today we submitted our
bid application to NAGAAA. May 4 is the deadline for submissions. We will wait to see our competition. CH: What does hosting the event actually mean for the city? How much commerce and tourism does it bring? DA: This event will be great for the city and the community. We estimate 160 or more teams playing softball for an entire week, roughly 5000 visitors in the city for that time period. The city of Phoenix hosted the event in 2007; they estimated a $10-$12 million dollar impact on the local community. CH: That’s a big event, do we have the infrastructure and man power to pull it off? DA: Definitely! Berliner Park is the largest softball complex in the United States, often hosting tournaments with 400 teams. Our hotels in the downtown area will have no problem accommodating the visitors. Having a Midwest location, we are 500 miles from more than half of the nation’s population. The sports commission is also a great asset to assist our organization; they have the experience in securing other national events for the city. Our city is perfect to host this event. CH: How can people help secure Columbus as the host town for 2010? How can people get involved? DA: As I mentioned we are in the early stages of organizing our bid. Our presentation will be in Seattle in August. We will be announcing fundraisers in the near future to assist with our bid presentation. We need to secure sponsors for the bid and the tournament. We will need to raise roughly $100,000 to host this event. Most of the money will be secured with sponsorships. If anyone is interested in sponsorship packets they can contact us using the website www.clgsa.net. Our website is a great place to get news about the league and we will be giving updates on all of the events we will be hosting. You will start to see “Back the Bid – GSWS 2010” information popping up very soon. One of our first items is a red and black silicone wristband, they will be $5. This will assist us in presenting our bid in Seattle. CH: Finally, Is it too late to find a team for this softball season? How can people still play? DA: We have passed the registration dates for teams. However, if anyone would still like to play they can reach out to us and we will see what we can do to help them play this year.
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FEATURE STORY
Bowling Ain’t No Laughing Matter Columbus Gay Bowling Leagues Prepare for COMIC 2008
The local gay bowling leagues just finished up the winter league and are gearing up for the summer leagues. There are Leagues that bowl on Sunday afternoons, Monday, Wednesday, & Friday evenings. The Monday evening league, Not Ready for Prime Time, has been a local favorite having been around for over 25 years. An arm of the CMH gay bowling leagues is COMIC. The Columbus Ohio Midwestern Invitational Classic (COMIC) is a not-for-profit social and service organization that primarily promotes bowling and sportsmanship within the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community through its annual bowling tournament and fund-raising events held throughout the year. Additionally, COMIC raises money for local charitable organizations of interest to the GLBT community. Since 1982, Columbus has hosted a bowling tournament for the GLBT community. The current
tournament, COMIC began in 1994 and has continued as an annual tournament. Bowlers and supporters come from all across the United States (the majority coming from Ohio and its neighboring states and Canada participate). In its first year, COMIC attracted 176 bowlers. In its second year COMIC sold out to its then capacity of 296 bowlers. Capacity was increased in 1997 to 360 bowlers with the addition of another bowling shift. In 2003, COMIC once again expanded to 432 bowlers - making it the largest annual gay sporting event in the world! COMIC has sold out every year since 1999 and this year is no different. The four hundred thirty-two bowlers and their supporters will be in Columbus the weekend of April 25-27 for the COMIC Bowling Tournament contributing some $405,000 to the local economy. The Host Hotel for COMIC 2008 is, once again, the The Columbus - A Renaissance Hotel located in Downtown Columbus at the corner of Third and Gay Streets. One major highlight during COMIC is the talent show put on by committee members who entertain the bowlers Saturday night by performing in drag, stomping or whatever they do best. The Committee Show was started at the first COMIC as a fundraiser for local charities. The show became a fundraising success story from the beginning. The response of the bowlers to the show has been overwhelming. The first show, “Going to the Chapel,” involved just a handful of people in one skit. Over the past few years, the shows have involved more than 40 individuals in over 13 skits and musical numbers. With its continued appeal to the bowlers and fundraising ability, the Committee Show will continue for years to come. This year’s show is hosted by Maria Garrison. Additional fundraising events sponsored by COMIC include: Toilet Bowl & Jester (mini bowling tournaments), “Labor of Love” Volleyball Tourna-
ment concessions, T-Shirt Auctions, Club “Bar” If you are interested in joining a league please Nights and the weekly mystery score held in the go to there web site at www.gaybowling.net for GLBT bowling leagues. further details or contact Gene at 614.276.3185 Through the Committee Show and its other or gene@cmhgaybowling.com. fundraising events, COMIC has raised over $37,000 for local charities. This amount includes $9,000 raised during the IGBO Friday April 25 Annual Tournament in 2001. Past beneficiaries Hospitality Suite Opens 4p of COMIC fundraising inGeneral Registration: Tradewinds 7p-11p clude: The Stephanie Spielman Fund for Breast Shift C Registration: HP Lanes 5:30p-6:30p Cancer Research, Buckeye Shift C Singles/Doubles 6:30p-11p Region Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO), Camp Sunrise, Project Open Saturday April 26 Hand Columbus, Ohio Shift A Check-in: HP Lanes 8a-8:30a AIDS Coalition, Stonewall Columbus, Kaleidoscope Shift A Singles/Doubles 8:30a-1p Youth Coalition, F.A.C.E.S., Shift B Check-in: HP Lanes 1:30p-2p Columbus Children’s HosShift B Singles/Doubles 2p-6:30p pital and the IGBO AIDS Quilt. Committee Show at Tradewinds 10p Columbus is also excited to be bidding on the 2010 IGBO (International Sunday April 27 Gay Bowling Organization) Shift B Check-in: HP Lanes 7:30a-8a annual tournament and Shift B Team Event 8a-10:30a convention. A group of local bowlers and their Shift C Check-in: HP Lanes 10:30a-11a supporters have formed a Shift C Team Event 11a-1:30p committee to present a bid in Atlanta over Memo- Shift A Check-in: HP Lanes 1:30p-2p rial day weekend. The Shift A Team Event 2p-4:30p committee is excited to try Cocktails at The Renaissance 6p-7p and bring this annual tournament to Columbus Banquet/Awards:The Renaissance 7p-11p again having hosted it in Farewell Party: Tradewinds 11p-? 2001.
COMIC 2008 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
QUIT PUTTING AROUND! Join the Rainbow Golf League today! Memberships are now being reserved for the 2008 Rainbow Golf League season. League play will be held at Mentel Memorial Golf Course on Fridays with tee times starting at 5p. Please refer to the League website concerning reservation of memberships and for more details: http://www.rainbowgolf.org/08_dues.htm Those who wish to play should fill out the online Membership form ( http://www.rainbowgolf.org/member_ form.htm) and get their check & Media waiver www.rainbowgolf.org/waiver.pdf) in ASAP to be sure their place is reserved. Signups close at the end of April. APR 17 - APR 23 2008
The 2008 Season will begin on Friday, May 2, 2008. Please review the online calendar for details: http://www.rainbowgolf.org/calendar_08.htm The 2008 season will run for 17 weeks. A $10 guest fee will be collected from any non-members who wish to play if space allows. The league format is mainly social with a good mix of men and women teeing off as they arrive at the first tee. There are mid-season and end of season tournaments as well as social events throughout. For questions, contact League Director, Jim Riedel: director@rainbowgolf.org
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DEEP INSIDE HOLLYWOOD by Romeo San Vicente
MCKELLEN RETURNS TO THE SHIRE
BEALS AND KLINE, WITH SUBTITLES
SIMON DOONAN’S NASTY SITCOM
YOUNG PEOPLE COMING SOON
Dumbledore may be the gay wizard of the moment, but any Lord of the Rings fan knows that Ian McKellen’s Gandalf is the real O.G. (original gay, that is) wizard. And if McKellen himself has anything to say about it, then he’ll return to the role in the upcoming two planned film versions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson will executive produce the Hobbit series, and both he and McKellen are eager to see the beloved Brit put that robe back on. McKellen has yet to ink any deals - in fact, there have been no official casting decisions made. But with McKellen having been Oscarnominated for the role, anyone else grabbing Gandalf’s staff would just be wrong.
The L Word may be ending after its upcoming 2009 season, but Jennifer Beals has been using the show’s career-rejuvenating effects to do interesting non-TV work - like movies in French. The soon-to-be-erstwhile Bette Porter will star with Kevin Kline and Sandrine Bonnaire in Joueuse (Queen to Play) from director Caroline Bottaro, based on Bertina Henrich’s novel The Chess Player. Gallic star Bonnaire plays a hotel maid fascinated by a chess-playing couple (Beals and French actor Francis Renaud). She then enlists the help of Kline to mentor her in the art of the game. Kline’s role will be entirely in French, which has already prompted amusing quotes from producer Michel Feller, such as, “[Kline] speaks good French, better than John Malkovich.” Bilingual audiences can judge for themselves when the film reaches theaters, most likely in 2009.
His day job is designing the eye-popping windows at upscale department store Barneys. But Simon Doonan, in addition to popping up on shows like America’s Next Top Model, has also authored several books, including the memoir Nasty, which detailed his working-class upbringing in England. And now the New Yorkbased Doonan will see his life come to the small screen on the BBC sitcom Beautiful People. Doonan is interested in playing his own grandmother, and is reportedly hoping that Linda Hunt will play him. It’s not a farfetched wish: the actress famously won an Oscar in 1983 for her portrayal of a male Chinese-Australian little person in The Year of Living Dangerously, so playing the 5’4” Doonan wouldn’t be much of a stretch, so to speak. And as always with UK programming like this, start petitioning BBC America now with your requests that the show air on this side of the pond.
Want people to pay attention to your indie film? Then title it Young People Fucking and just sit back. But this isn’t porn. It’s a Canadian comedy that could have been titled Four Couples and a Threeway, with five separate but thematically intertwined stories about five different sexual encounters all taking place in the course of one night. Its young cast features up-andcomer Callum Blue (Dead Like Me, The Tudors) as a playboy with a past. The debut feature from Martin Gero has already come under fire in Canada thanks to religious protesters angry that the film received a government tax break. Look for indie distributor ThinkFilm to release the movie in an art-house theater near - or maybe not so near - you in the coming year, regardless of whatever conservative anti-sex backlash awaits.
Romeo San Vicente thinks five intertwined encounters sounds like a good weekend. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.
ARTS by Elizabeth Jewell
Happy Birthday, Sweet 16 Remember the anticipation and excitement of your sixteenth birthday? Perhaps it marked the day you would take your driver’s license exam, or receive that long overdue extended curfew. Maybe that was the age when you were finally permitted to go on your first (official) date or wear high-heeled shoes. Well believe it or not, organizations and committees get excited too, especially when a fun event reaches the “sweet 16” milestone. That is exactly what’s happening this month for the Worthington Arts Council and its annual Art Sale. Formerly known as the “Recycled Art Sale,” (the committee’s gift to the event was allowing it to shorten its name,) this yearly spring event brings art lovers together to buy and sell all kinds of art. The premise is simple: bring gently used, quality art from your home or office to our sale site, set your own price, and receive 50% of the sale price if sold. The Arts Council retains the other 50% to help underwrite its artistic and educational programming. The Art Sale usually garners about 1,500 pieces of art, including posters, prints, original paintings, sculpture, and fine crafts by artists of local, national, and international reputations. Prices range from just a few to thousands of dollars. Many people return year after year, and are treated to work by artists such as Romare Bearden, Emerson Burkhart, Norman Rockwell, and Alice Schille, among others. Of particular note this year is a rare, first edition intaglio lithograph by Salvador Dali enAPR 17 - APR 23 2008
titled “Lincoln by Dalivision.” The work shows two distinct pictures: observed from a normal distance, the viewer sees a lady named Galla, who is looking through an irregular opening. However, when the picture is viewed from 10-15 feet, Galla disappears and the picture transforms into a large bust of Abraham Lincoln. (The transformation also occurs when you look through a brass monocle which is mounted on the frame.) Consignment for this year’s sale will take place on Monday, April 21 from 2p-6p, and on Tuesday, April 22 from 5p-8p. During these times, artwork may be delivered to the sale site on the lower level of Worthington Square Mall. Patrons must set their own prices, and will receive 50% of the sale price for sold artwork. A professional appraiser will be on hand to help patrons set prices. Those who are especially anxious to view the Dali piece and all the other treasures in this year’s sale are invited to attend the Preview Party on Friday night, April 25 from 7p-10p. The party, which is a fundraiser for the Worthington Arts Council, will feature live music by local favorite Standard Time, hors d’oeuvres, and beer and wine. Tickets are $35 per person in advance, or $60 for two. ($40 each at the door.) The 16th Annual Art Sale is free and open to the public on Saturday, April 26 from 10a-3p and on Sunday, April 27 from 12p-3p. On Saturday at 1p, special thirty-minute workshops by local profes-
sionals on appraising and framing art will be offered. The sale and all associated events will be held on the lower level of Worthington Square, beneath Joseph A. Banks. (150 W Wilson Bridge Rd., just south of I-270 and west of High St) Sponsors of the 16th Annual Art include Worthington Square and Storage Inns of America. For more information, or to order tickets for the
Preview Party, please call the Worthington Arts Council office at 614.431.0329 or visit www.worthingtonarts.org. Elizabeth Jewell, Executive Director, Worthington Arts Council, a member organization of the Columbus Arts Marketing Association. For more information, visit www.camaonline.org.
OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 23
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MUSIC by Mickey Weems
SOul SearChinG in the 2008 Miami Winter MuSiC COnferenCe The Winter Music Conference in Miami is one of the biggest annual gatherings of electronic music and dance in the world. Its sheer size and number of events creates a dilemma: what do you do when there are 5000 parties going on, and you really, really want to be at 100 of them? You pick a genre. My choice was deep house R&B dance music. Here are the highlights of the WMC as the tradition of soulful groove lives on through DJs, producers, and, of course, the dancers who want to feel the music within the innermost reaches of their being. Ashé! Tommy Boy Sessions Tommy Boy Sessions at the Victor Hotel was my first event. The Tommy Boy label is an industry giant going back to the first days of house music. Thrown by Victor Lee and Andy Reynolds, this was a truly elegant soiree. There were lots of handsome dark-suited security personnel who were refreshingly and unfailingly polite. Heavyhitters from the music industry were milling about (you couldn’t drop your vodka cocktail without it hitting the designer shoes of the next Madonna), exchanging cards, and working the room with fierce elegance. This was a party for adults: no faux-hawks, fake-tits-in-your-face, shirtless ‘roid-bunnies, malt liquor, or excessive bling at this function. Smiles were blooming everywhere, lies were turned into promises, and everyone was having a great time. How could we not? The deep house sounds of singer-turned-DJ Ultra Naté (a certified diva in the Gay male community) were making quite an impression on the dance floor minglefest in front of the DJ stage. A strong contingent of NYC and Chicago club noir kids were shouting their appreciation, at times singing along to rhythms that were like James Bond’s martinis: shaken, not stirred. The dancing was not wild abandon, but rather the smooth Afrocentric stutter-step of the chilled urban pulse in which restrained passions speak louder than flailing limbs. After Ultra Naté came the internationally famous Bob Sinclar, rumored to be the most popular DJ in the world. His fans jammed the dance floor, except for just in front of the DJ booth. I will never understand Straight clubbers. They all face the DJs in prayerful adoration like they are rock stars, but then are too shy to dance right in front? Go fig. Sinclar played an engaging set of remixed classics with a touch of high-energy, no real fireworks but a totally acceptable set, complete with screaming scantilyclad women-groupies in gaggles in front of him (still the respectful 5 paces away from the booth, however). APR 17 - APR 23 2008
DJ maestro Danny Tenaglia finished the night with an easy, down-tempo urban sound. Shine We attended a second party at Shine in the Shelborne Hotel, sponsored by the New York super-club Cielo, voted the top venue the night before at the Club World Awards. Jessica O’Connor and Benny Soto greeted us warmly at the door as we walked into a deep house groove generated by Danny Krivit of Body and Soul fame. I talked briefly with Krivit, who was psyched about his event and other 718 Sessions (named after a Brooklyn area code) events being planned that had a similar soulful vibe. “It’s just a little taste of what we do in New York,” he said. The WMC is the place to reconnect with the heart of house music and listen to DJs such as Krivit, Tony Smith, Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, and Claude Monnet. Since their sound is pretty much an NYC-Chicago thang, and since I live in Ohio, I really look forward to these encounters. Our Circuit sound has as much of deep house in Abel’s and Paulo’s remixes as it does the progressive tribal sound. A steady stream of industry people, DJs and musicians flowed in to see Krivit as we spoke. Later, Joi Caldwell sang a live number, delighting the crowd with her spontaneous lyrics as well as her beautiful voice. Groove Junkies and MoHo The biggest surprise of the WMC was MoHo in SoBe, a free event thrown in the Shelborne Hotel lounge. I had to stop; the lounge was overflowing with dancing people, and the sweet sounds of gospel and R&B house filled the air. People were drawn in for the event, not because it was a who’s who display, but because they wanted to congregate more than they wanted to impress. This happening was sponsored by Groove Junkies and MoHo (MoreHouse) to celebrate the upcoming release of Groove Junkies’ debut album, In The Zone. The DJs were an international sampler, with DJ Meme from Rio de Janeiro, DJ Morten Trust from Copenhagen, and DJ Kerry from Los Angeles, along with an appearance of club diva Solara. It is parties like MoHo in SoBe that really define what the WMC is all about. Sure, I do get a kick out of going to exclusive soirees and massive dance fests. But the true strength of the scene doesn’t come from $50 admission spectaculars. Rather, house music gains its power in those functions thrown by those who are dedicated to generating community without vanity.
Jellybean Soul The best was yet to come. On the evening of our third day in Miami, we hit the Jellybean Soul party at the Hotel Victor. World-famous musician and music producer Jellybean Benitez was joined by DJs Greg Gauthier, Ruben Mancias, and Tyrone Francis. DJ legend Louie Vega.made an appearance as well. Jellybean Benitez himself greeted me at the entrance and invited me in. He and his associate Jennifer Grey are gracious people, as is Louie Vega. For Gay folks in the Bay Area, Jellybean Productions has a deep house party in San Francisco called Devotion at the End Up. That’s How Much I Love Ambrosia The party was a true soul party. It seemed like New York’s best dancers came together to throw down. And to top it all, conga drums were brought in, as well as rhythm sticks and a tamborine. Usually the presence of live instruments is a distraction at such parties. Too often, the people who bring a tamborine and such to the dance floor aren’t that good; they don’t keep the beat with the music. But this crowd was different. Whether drumming, dancing, or even singing along, they were right on time. This party featured 3 live performances. Wunmi, an energetic singer from West Africa, sang and danced with the crowd. Emory performed a number after Wunmi with smooth masculine vocals. The biggest treat of the evening was Ambrosia, who sung her hit, “That’s How Much I Love You.” A group of young men gathered behind her and sang 3-part harmony for her, a spontaneous addition to her music that made the number even better. The crowd also sang along, but not too loud, because Ambrosia’s voice and that of her back-up singers were just too pretty for words. When she was done, people came up and expressed their appreciation for such a beautiful rendition. One woman was in tears. I spoke with Ambrosia afterwards, telling her that her song made me miss my husband Kevin. She too was touched by the moment. “I’ll go home and cry when this is done!” she said, laughing. This event was a sexy, spiritual mixture of Straight dancers, Gay dancers, live singing, live instruments, and electronic music. Tommy Boy Sessions, 718 Sessions at Shine, MoHo in SoBe, and Jellybean Soul made the 2008 Winter Music Conference everything I hoped it would be. I was lifted.
THE 6TH ANNUAL CLUB WORLD AWARDS 2008 WINNERS Star-Studded Ceremony Is the Program’s Best Yet The Club World Awards, the only awards show that celebrates excellence in North American nightlife, reached new heights in this, its sixth year. On Wednesday, March 26, a crowd of 600 nightlife industry-ites and dance music glitterati gathered at what would soon be named “Best Lounge” and “Best Interior Design” winner— Opium Group venue Set, in Miami Beach—to hand out the awards. The Club World Awards 2008 Winners Party Strands Presents Best Superclub: Pacha, New York Best Club: Cielo, New York Best Lounge: Set, Miami Best New Venue: Circa, Toronto Best Sound System: Advanced Audio Technology for Bliss, New Jersey Chauvet Presents Best Lighting System: Neu Visions Design & Focus Lighting for Aura, Bahamas Best Video System: John Lyons Systems for Jet, Las Vegas Best Interior Design: Francois Frossard Design for Set, Miami Best Renovation: Cameo, Miami Best Party: Dance.Here.Now., New York Best One-Off: F*ck Me I”m Famous, Cameo, March 24, 2007 Pioneer Pro DJ Presents Best Resident DJ: Kaskade, Smart Bar Chicago Best Resident VJ: Roonie G, Jet Las Vegas Best Resident LJ: Timmy Lights, Pacha New York Best Bottle Service: Tao, Las Vegas NightStalker Award: Deko Lounge, New Jersey Club Banger Of The Year: Fedde Le Grand, “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit” (Ultra Records) Club Anthem Of The Year: David Guetta, “Love Is Gone” (Ultra Records) Ultra Records Presents Best DJ Set: Danny Tenaglia, Vinyl Reunion, Pacha New York, April 6, 2007 Best Sound Product: Turbosound TA-500 Best DJ Product: Allen & Heath Xone:S2 Best Lighting Product: High End Systems Road Hog Best Video Product: Pioneer SVM-1000 Best LED Product: Martin Professional LC Series Best Effect Product: Chauvet Élan www.clubworldawards.com
OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 25
FILM by Adam Lippe
STREET KINGS “I woke up, and I was a cliché.” The fact that this isn’t the first line of dialogue in Street Kings, a new cop-thriller with Keanu Reeves, should be considered a missed opportunity. Opening with Reeves getting out of bed to a blaring alarm, fully clothed, hearing a neighborhood dog barking, loading his gun, stumbling over to the bathroom and throwing up this morning’s hangover — it’s amazing that the alcoholic undercover cop alarm didn’t go off in screenwriter James Ellroy’s mind. Ellroy is considered the king of LA crime stories (he wrote the novels LA Confidential and The Black Dahlia, among others). Despite Reeves’ 43-year-old paunch, when dressed in uniform for his ex-partner’s funeral, Reeves’ character still looks like a little boy in blue, trying on Daddy’s oversized hat. During the past 20 years, Reeves hasn’t developed as an actor at all, and here, where he is supposed to show his dark side as a dirty cop slowly turning toward the light, he
makes absolutely no impression at either side of the spectrum, making his about-face totally unconvincing. Left to the supporting characters, this film wallows in brutal violence as a way to keep the audience awake, during slow and obvious twists and turns. (Unsurprising considering that director David Ayer, who wrote and produced Training Day and directed Harsh Times, seems to have the market on repetitive, unoriginal films about unseemly LA cops). What the movie boils down to is a bunch of character actors scowling at each other, with Hugh Laurie (the camera has a strange focus on his bald spot), Jay Mohr (sporting the world’s porniest mustache), and Forest Whitaker getting most of the screentime. Whitaker, generally a great actor, coming off a fairly similar role on The Shield (there’s even a reference to “The Barn”), gives his worst performance to date, sweating, snarling, bug-eyed, slobbery and way over-the-top without being intentionally funny, not helped by a lot of hammy dialogue (“It’s time to turn the page and close the book”), and a truly embarrassing final scene that takes the movie from lousy to full-on camp.
In a movie where apparently Asians of all origin know Kung-Fu, and cops handcuff and/or tie up suspects in front, as opposed to behind their backs (allowing for easy distraction and eventual escape) the most distracting element is clearly the bewildering number of scenes that Reeves shares with similar non-entity actor Chris Evans. Evans portrays a cop investigating, but later joining up with, Reeves — and both ought to win some sort of MTV Movie award for least convincing duo.
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APR 17 - APR 23 2008
26 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY
FILM by Adam Lippe
STOP-LOSS
LEATHERHEADS
“You got a right to be stupid.” A more apt line to describe its characters and its intended audience could not be written. Stop-Loss,* an updated version of a Vietnam film, concerns the miscast Ryan Phillipe as a dedicated soldier in Iraq whose tour is coming to an end as the movie begins. When he returns, after a brutal battle shown with a clumsy mix of digital video and film, he is “stop-lossed,” or told he has to return to Iraq for another round of peril. Upset by this, Brandon King (Phillipe) takes off. And thus begins a tale of turning from hero to fugitive. Deemed a pariah by his abandoned friends (which include a superb Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who really should have been the lead), King gives up everything to escape this perceived injustice. At face value, there is nothing wrong with this story. The problem is that the concessions made to make the film by writer/director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) in order to appease co-producer MTV films destroy the poignancy of the opening scenes. Peirce wants to send a message, but only comes off as heavyhanded and condescending. It’s a shame, because the dialogue is often sharp and witty — an early moment has the soldiers examining the trunk of an Iraqi car and asking the driver “You got any Mexicans in there?” But just as often, there’ll be a clunker intended to reflect the jingoism that is battling for airtime, and the simplistic caricatures overtake any authenticity with lines like “Onions smell like home to me,” or “We killed ‘em over there so we don’t have to kill ‘em in Texas.”
George Clooney’s insistence on playing the strapping buffoon lead is both refreshing and tiresome. Leatherheads is clearly inspired by his roles in the Coen brothers’ Intolerable Cruelty and O’ Brother Where Art Thou?, where he mixed double-take style kitchen sink slapstick, with movie-star charm and Cary Grant-like smugness. This is an odd idea, considering these things don’t go together — even remotely. How would the same person even contain this sort of ability? But the fact that Clooney has now done it three times would suggest that he ought to move on. Clooney, in his directing follow-up to the polar opposite Good Night, and Good Luck, takes not just his acting choices from the Coens, but Leatherheads also has the golden-hued visuals and the frantic screwball style of the two Coen films he starred in. Unfortunately, Leatherheads sputters along under the impression that it’s a sports comedy about the early days of what theoretically would have become the NFL, and the most important feature is not the humorous jokes or situations, but the endless montages set to “old-timey” music, most of which is taken wholesale from Clooney’s friend and business partner, Steven Soderbergh, and his film King of the Hill. Leatherhead’s mysterious PG-13 rating aside (which may be the MPAA falling in with some family groups that are pressuring for higher ratings on movies that feature smoking), the film believes itself to be a lot wilder than it actually is. For in-
APR 17 - APR 23 2008
Sure, part of this is refreshing as some of the characters are actively stupid and yet they don’t seem dumbed down (which conflicts with a lot of the on-the-nose clever dialogue). But at some point, they stop resembling everyday people and seem more like points Peirce is trying to make. Some of the more obvious symbolism (the final shot is a none-too-subtle suggestion of servicemen being sent off like cattle to be slaughtered, though it could just as easily be read as a train to Auschwitz) is even overtaken by lazy stereotypes. According to the Texans in this movie, New York City is an unfriendly, Jewy place, where slickster lawyers don’t know the difference between southern states, and where Canada is a place worse than hell. * Beefcake note: The barechested shots of the various lead characters that blanket the TV ad are largely absent from the film.
stance, when the football commissioner says he wants them to play clean, you’d think he was referring to a different film, as all we get are a lot of mild trick plays, and no non-penaltied shenanigans. Besides, this is a movie made for people who don’t know anything about football anyway, as the final “surprise” is a play that is absolutely befuddling in its lack of logic, seemingly suggesting that one of the teams has somehow decided to go in the wrong direction. While there are some small highlights, such as a terrific suicide gag and an overblown war story told by star player John Krasinski (whose nose gets more close-ups than his face), this is the kind of sloppy, half thought-out movie that Clint Eastwood would have made in the ’80s. Plus or minus a chimp.
OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 27
INTERVIEW by Gregg Shapiro
Unstoppable an interview with filmmaker Kimberly Peirce There are a few reasons why Stop Loss is one of the most eagerly anticipated movies in the Spring 2008 line-up. First, it’s the second feature length film from acclaimed filmmaker Kimberly Peirce, the out director behind the acclaimed and award winning Boys Don’t Cry. Second “Stop Loss” boasts a hot, youthful and attractive cast, led by Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum and Joseph GordonLeavitt. And, third, the subject matter of Stop Loss, about an Iraq war soldier who returns home to Texas thinking that he has fulfilled his obligations to the U.S. military, only to find out that he has been recalled, “stop lossed,” if you will, to duty in Iraq. I spoke with Peirce following a screening of Stop Loss at which she was present. Gregg Shapiro: I interviewed you a few years ago shortly before the release of Boys Don’t Cry. Now that a few years have passed, how do you look back on that film? Kimberly Peirce: I look back on that film as an extraordinary privilege to have made. Really. I fell deeply in love with that character and I was intrigued and terrified by what those men had done to him. What I wanted to do was go as deeply inside of it as I could. It came into my life, and from the moment I read it, it was this obligation to tell the story of somebody whose story nobody understood, and that was why they were hurt. It was an honor and a privilege and I could not have been more moved by the fact that people actually fell in love with Brandon. That was my goal, but I never imagined, because I love Brandon so much, that the world would, but in retrospect, of course they would, because we did. GS: Nine years passed between Boys Don’t Cry and the release of your new film Stop Loss. What were you doing during that time? KP: I was in grad school when I made Boys…, and it was supposed to be my 10-minute film. It was funny, because I went to shoot, and my stepmother said, “It’s a feature!,” and I said, “I can’t make a feature.” I ended up having three different (sets of ) actors. I had actors in the short, actors at Sundance and actors in the feature – they were like, “It’s a feature.” So really it was an uphill learning curve, moving from a 10-minute film, and it was extraordinary what happened to it. I basically emerged from it with a Hollywood career, which was great, and I was appreciative. But my standards were so high artistically, because that was about my gender and my identity and my friends’ gender and identity. It was literally creating an indentity that I needed in the world. I never could have foreseen what happened with Boys… I came of age and then Hollywood came to me offering me millions of dollars and movies, but when I knew to make art was my identity, and I’d already made this story about my gender and my sexuality, I wasn’t going to make that again. I then had to look for the next thing that was compelling to me. I was fortunate and I fell deeply in love with the story about the life and death of William Desmond Taylor. It was the greatest un-
solved murder mystery in Hollywood and it turns out that we cracked the case and figured out who did it, why they did it and how and why it was covered up. It was covered up by the government and Hollywood to protect Hollywood and America’s innocence. I ended up casting it (Silent Star) with Hugh Jackman, Ben Kingsley, Annette Benning and Evan Rachel Wood, but it was a period piece, and the studio ran the numbers and said, “We’d like to see the $30 million version of this, and I said, “Great.” And they said, “But we’d like to pay for the $20 million version.” So that was a huge lesson, as any obstacle always is. That was the end of ’03. I’ll make that movie someday. But I learned a huge lesson, which is, maybe I shouldn’t tie up the means of production and my artistry with a corporation, simply because if what I’m trying to do is at all innovative, the studio system isn’t made for making innovations. And I’m not putting them down for that, but if I’m dealing with gender and sexuality and things that haven’t really been touched, I’m going to have to spend way too much time justifying my curiosity
ing about quitting his job (writing for the Emmywinning series Huff) and I advised him against it because it was spec script. Then he called the next day to say that he had quit his job, and I said, “Why don’t you move in?” So, Mark Richard, and I love him, this Texas guy moves into my little beach house and he’s sleeping on the floor and we’re writing as fast as we can from all the research. It was this thing that we had a passion for and we didn’t have to ask anybody if it was interesting. It was interesting and meaningful to us. We gave it to our agents and they were like, “We need to make this now.” Then Reid and I cut together this five minute trailer that had all these original soldier videos that my brother and all of these other soldiers had brought back – handheld, hung from a Humvee, put on a sandbag, put on the gun turret – and we com-
KP: Yeah, that was great. GS: You talked about the way that digital video recorders and cameras were revolutionizing the way that soldiers in Iraq were able to record and present images from the war. Would you say that that was the impetus for you to make this film? KP: I would. I knew I was going to tell the story about this soldier, but it was when I saw the videos that I understood the style. Those videos are the defining thing about this generation. We’ve had great World War II films and Viet Nam war films, those images are seminal. I love the great war films, but how can I take what they’ve already done and not graft that onto this experience, but allow this experience to inform me. This is the generation that picks up a video camera, turns in on themselves and their friends and puts it on youtube. That is the defining thing of this war, this generation, of where humanity is. If we can make a movie that captures that…it’s been extraordinary bringing that to life. GS: Music also plays a considerable role in the film and I was thinking of the way that movies about Viet Nam also used music of the era. KP: Not only did I write down the name of every piece of music that I found on a video from a soldier – the music that they were mixing in, like a DJ, with their videos – what I found was that they were listening to Toby Keith - “I’m an American soldier/courtesy of the red, white and blue.” They were listening to Southern rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Marshall Tucker Band, and country-western. They were listening to a lot of rock – Drowning Pool’s “Let The Body Hit the Floor” and “Firestarter” by Prodigy, AC/DC. Then we interviewed soldiers about what they were listening to – a lot of Linkin Park.
than if I just did the work. I had enough money that I could pay for the research. After 9/11, I funded interviewing soldiers around the country, including Paris, Illinois to interview 1,000 soldiers for the homecoming of the 1544th. They had the highest casualty rate and the highest number of combat hours, and I interviewed the military families with my friend (producer) Reid Carolin. He had just graduated from Harvard and was willing to pick up a camera and jump on a plane. If it was interesting to us and it was moving and humane, I’ll pay for the camera, the tickets and the plane. Then I paid for the writing of the script. I got novelist Mark Richard. GS: He wrote The Ice at the Bottom of the World. KP: Exactly. He’s a great Texas writer and we agreed to do it together on weekends. It wasn’t fast enough and he called me to say that he was think-
bined with the homecoming of the soldiers in Paris, Illinois – that I didn’t have to say to Hollywood, “Let me tell you what’s going on in America. Let me show you.” When they saw that and got the script and saw that its young and energetic, that it had rock music, that it was actually happening, that it had good looking young soldiers, they saw the movie. I don’t know if it’s ever happened before, but we greenlit a movie off of a script. That was a different experience than the one I’d had on the last movie, and to me it was a corrective experience. It will never take me that long to make another movie because I’ve already learned that lesson. Don’t put the things that are most precious to you in the hands of people who may not make them, whatever the cost. GS: While introducing the Feb. 27, 2008 screening of Stop Loss at the University of Chicago, of which you are an alumnus…
GS: Without giving away the ending, what occurs came as something of a surprise. Was that always the ending that you had in mind? KP: If I’ve gotten you emotionally invested in wanting him to get free, you need a turn at the end. Given who he is – he’s a patriotic guy who signed up for all the right reasons: his home, his country, his family. He signs up with his buddy. He gets over there and what does he discover. He discovers what every single soldier I interviewed discovers, that it’s about surviving and camaraderie. It’s about keeping the guy to your left and right alive; that the most profound experience is the camaraderie. So that in the end - home, family, camaraderie, patriotism the only way that he can not lose who he is, and, again, it’s a story of identity, this character makes a choice about preserving the deepest sense of who he is and what he finds most valuable. APR 17 - APR 23 2008
28 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY
SAVAGE LOVE by Dan Savage
I thought I could bang out a column today a regular column, a column about my readers’ problems and their freaky fetishes and all those asshole politicians out there. You know, the usual. The day my son was born, I managed to slip out of the maternity ward and write a column; I wrote one the day I was indicted by the state of Iowa for licking Gary Bauer’s doorknobs. (I was actually indicted for voter fraud - on a trumped-up charge, your honor - but Bauer’s knob needs all the attention it can get.) I’ve written columns on days that I was dumped and on the morning of 9/11. So I figured that I could bang out a column today. I opened my laptop and started reading your letters. I love reading your letters - I do. But I couldn’t get into it. I just don’t have a column in me this week. I’m disappointed in myself. I write this column at Ann Landers’s desk, for crying out loud, and the old lady banged out a heartbreaking, truncated column when her marriage collapsed. If Landers could bang one out under that kind of emotional strain, then I could damn well bang one out, too. Just do it, right? Just fucking do it. But I just fucking can’t. My mother died on Monday. Perhaps a sex-advice column isn’t an appropriate place to eulogize an articulate, elegant woman, a practicing Catholic named for the patron saint of hopeless causes and, perhaps consequently, a Cubs fan. I mean, really. Eulogizing my mother back here with the escort ads? So let’s not think of this as a eulogy. Let’s think of it as a thank-you note, the kind of nicety that my mother appreciated. Forgive the cliché: My mom gave me so much. She gave me life, of course, and some other stuff besides: her sense of humor, her APR 17 - APR 23 2008
bionic bullshit detectors, her colossal sweet tooth. She also gave me - she gave all four of her children (Bill, Ed, Dan, Laura) - her unconditional love. Long after I came out, she told me she always suspected that I might be gay; I was the quiet one, the boy who liked Broadway musicals and baking cakes and shared her passion for Strauss waltzes. When I asked my parents to take me to the national tour of A Chorus Line for my 13th birthday, that should have settled the matter. Your third son? Total fag, lady. But my parents were Catholic and religious and it somehow still came as a shock when I told them. My mother came around fast and she came out swinging - rainbow stickers on her car, a PFLAG membership card in her wallet, and an ultimatum delivered to the whole family: Anyone who had a problem with me had a problem with her. But the real reason I feel compelled to thank her in this space, back here with the escort ads, is because I wouldn’t have this space if it weren’t for her. My mother, as my brother Bill likes to say, made friends like Rockefeller made money and George W. Bush makes mistakes - and she was that friend you confided in and went to for advice. I was a mama’s boy - hello - and I spent a great deal of time in my mother’s kitchen listening to her tell her friends exactly what they needed to do. Sometimes gently, sometimes brusquely, always with a dose of humor. My mom liked to say that her son got paid to do something that she did for free - and isn’t that the way the world works? Women cook, men are chefs; women are housewives, men are butlers; she gave advice, I got paid to give advice. (And for a few years, she did too; my mother and I wrote a joint column for a couple of websites in the 1990s.)
So I want to thank my mom. I wouldn’t be writing this column today if it weren’t for her gifts and her ability to find the humor in even the most serious of subjects. Even death, even her own. After a long struggle, we had to go into my mother’s hospital room and tell her that nothing more could be done. She didn’t go into the hospital expecting to die and she was not ready go. But she took the news with her characteristic grace. She said her farewells, asked us never to forget her (as if), and paused for a moment. Then Mom lifted an eyebrow, shrugged, and said… “Shit.” My mother wasn’t crude; I didn’t get my foul mouth from her. She used profanity sparingly and then only in italics and quotation marks. When she said “shit” on her deathbed, we understood the joke. What she meant was this: “Now, the kind of person who casually uses profanity might be inclined to say ‘shit’ at a moment like this. But I’m not the kind of person who casually uses profanity - and certainly not at a moment like this. But if I were the kind of person who casually used profanity, ‘shit’ might be the word I would use right now. If I were that kind of person. Which I’m not.” Everyone gathered around her bed - my mother’s husband (my son has two fathers and so do I), my sister, my aunt - knew what Mom wanted: She wanted us to laugh. This woman, so full of life, who wanted so badly to live, having just been told she would not, she was trying to lift our spirits. (“Shit,” for the record, wasn’t her last word. Those were just for the family.) Anyway, my mom is dead, and I am not in the mood, as she used to say. (“You are so,” one of us kids would usually respond. “You’re in a bad mood.”) So I’m going to take a week or
two off, from the column and the podcast, hang out with the boyfriend and the kid, and burst into tears in coffee shops and grocery stores. I’ll run some greatest hits in this space while I’m away - I’ll find a column or two featuring Mom - and then I’ll be back, just as filthy minded as ever. In lieu of flowers, please send pictures of your boyfriends’ rear ends. (Lesbians may send flowers.) If you’re the donationmaking type and you’re so inclined, my mother would be pleased to see some of your money flow to PFLAG (www.pflag.org) or the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org). Oh, one last thing: I was supposed to take my mother to see the national tour of The Drowsy Chaperone in Chicago this Friday. It was her birthday present. I got us great seats: seventh row, on the aisle. But I won’t be able to use our tickets now. Not because it would be too depressing to go without my mother - not just because - but because, as rotten, stinking fate would have it, I’m going to be at my mother’s wake on Friday night. But I’m practical, like Mom, and I’d hate to see perfectly good tickets to a national tour of a hit Broadway musical go to waste. And it occurs to me that there has to be a teenage boy out there - in Chicago or close enough - who likes musicals and has a mother who loves him for the little musical-theater queen that he is. If you know that boy or you are that boy or you were that boy a decade ago or if you’re that boy’s mother or grandmother, send me an email and I’ll arrange to get these tickets to you. Like I said, they’re great seats. I would go if I could. But I can’t. Shit. mail@savagelove.net
OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 29
PUCKER UP by Tristan Taormino
The New Wave of Trans Cinema The latest transporn breaks down both boundaries and inhibitions I spent my weekend watching transpeople fuck on film. A lot. OK, a lot is a relative term. I mean it took up a chunk of time, but there’s not exactly an abundance of independently produced tranny porn around. In fact, there’s a big disparity within the genre that breaks down by (what else?) gender. Most porn featuring transwomen is slick, heterocentric, and all about fetishizing “chicks with dicks” - it occupies a comfortable, profitable niche in the mainstream adult-film industry. Most porn featuring transmen and other genderqueers is homemade, do-it-yourself, grassroots fare that’s rough around the edges and self-distributed. (Buck Angel is the major exception to this rule - much of his work has mainstream distribution and acknowledgement.) It’s queer, genderfucking, community-based, and political. That’s what was in my DVD player. Couch Surfers is the second movie from San Francisco–based Trannywood Pictures (trannywoodpictures.com), a project of Brazen Garage Squad, which also owns Eros, the Bay Area’s well-known sex club for men, and one of the few bathhouses in the country that welcomes transmen. The film was shot at Eros, and about half the people involved are current or former employees. As soon as you open the DVD case, it’s clear that this company is working on an entirely different model: How many pornos do you know that come with educational literature? Trannywood’s first production, Cubbyholes, included a well-written booklet on safer sex for transguys; Couch Surfers comes with A First-Timer’s Guide to Playing With Transguys, a succinct, helpful little missive with tips on how to get down with a transmasculine person. The reading material isn’t the only thing that makes the movie alternative: Safer-sex practices are incorporated seamlessly, and there’s a diversity of body types, from skinny butts and tattooed skin to big bellies and hairy asses. The standout scene is a double-fisting threeway between Dex Hardlove, Brett McCloskey, and Ian Sparks - studly Dex is the most charismatic of the entire cast and has true presence on-screen, while Brett comes off as a sex pig in the best sense of the word, hungry and unafraid of his seemingly endless appetite for fucking. My only complaint is that the bonus disk is light on extra material. The orgy scene is actually one of the best scenes overall, and I’m surprised it wasn’t included in the film, since the guys look the most relaxed in it. But I want interviews with these boundary-busting sex performers: I want to know who they are and why they decided to fuck on film. The most notable and unique element of the movie is how each performer’s different sexual boundaries are communicated to the viewer. In a typical porn flick, everyone seems to be up for everything that happens; hesitation, slowing down, or choosing not to do something isn’t really part of the equation. In Couch Surfers, some guys never take their clothes off, others get naked, and others fall somewhere in between. Some do the fucking, others get fucked, others switch, and which holes (if any) are open for exploration depends on the guy. The sheer diversity of sucking, fucking, licking, jerking, and fisting is an education in and of itself. This should be required viewing for anyone who wants to
know more about transmen who have sex with other men. Ken Rowe, co-owner of Trannywood, told me that productions are run cooperatively: “Each scene is negotiated, framed and developed by the actors . . . many guys have developed their own style or comfort zones in a vacuum, and Trannywood is one place they can showcase how they have sex and also push their own boundaries if they want.” These boys pushed my boundaries, too. I’ll admit that when a guy kept his tightie-whities or jock strap on, I sometimes got distracted wondering what was underneath; when everyone was naked, it was easier for me to focus on a scene. I caught myself in a who’s-got-what guessing game, and these scenes challenged me to rethink my own biases about what porn is, how sex can be shot, and if visible genitals equal sex. The men behind Trannywood credit Morty Diamond (mortydiamond.com), director of Trannyfags, as one of their influences, and Diamond has a new film of his own currently making the indie film-fest rounds. Trans Entities: The Nasty Love of Papí and Wil is Diamond’s documentary-style porno love story about two sex radicals who consider themselves male, female, both, and neither. It’s the best transporn film I’ve ever seen, mostly because of the way we get to know the couple through Diamond’s intimate, interview-driven story. Frank, articulate, and madly in love, Papí and Wil talk about being kinky, polyamorous people of color - from BDSM to spirituality, no topic is off-limits, including their genders. They both haven’t changed their bodies with hormones or surgeries, and feel comfortable moving in and out of masculinity and femininity. The sex flows easily in and out of the narrative, which is well-paced and well-edited. In their first sex scene, the couple play a sort of erotic version of the game Mercy, seeing which one can withstand hard smacks to the chest the longest. Their play is definitely not for the faint of heart; the awkwardness between partners in most amateur porn (including Couch Surfers) is absent from this duo’s highly charged screen romp. As they get deeper into their scene, their genders become malleable and less significant than their connection with one another. The second scene features the two playing with their lover, Chris, and it’s full of slapping, spanking, and dominance and submission. The more you get to know the three of them, the more the intensity is amped up. The film culminates in an interrogation role-playing scene fueled by their intense passion and love of dramatics, wherein we witness the before-and-after communication. As in the Trannywood movie, boundaries figure prominently in Trans Entities, but this time the focus is on exploring sexual taboos, physical limits, and power. Diamond himself stomps all over the line between porn and portrait (he calls it “docu-porn”), adding another level to the film that makes it work as a thoughtful documentary, a meditation on queer love, and a dirty jerk-off movie - all at the same time. It’s no mistake that films produced by, for, and about transfolk break down seemingly finite categories, create new iconography, and redefine sexual images and stories. For more of Tristan Taormino’s work, please visit Puckerup.com.
APR 17 - APR 23 2008
30 • OUTLOOK WEEKLY
ABOUT TOWN
ETC presents The Hopper Collection
Building upon the success of their premiere production of Stone Cold Dead Serious, Evolution Theatre Company (ETC) will present the Midwest premiere of The Hopper Collection by Mat Smart. Through April 19 at MadLab (105 N. Grant Avenue) in downtown Columbus. Ticket prices are $10; $8 for seniors and students with ID. Advance tickets can be purchased at www.madlab.net. For phone reservations, call (614) 221-5418. Credit cards or cash are accepted at the door. The Hopper Collection features a middle-aged couple fighting time, illusions, and each other, much in the vein of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Smart’s play introduces wealthy couple Marjorie (Ellen Knolls) and Daniel (Dan Welsh) hosting the younger Edward (Billy Earnhart) and Sarah (Megan Lynch) who have traveled to see Marjorie’s prized possession - her original Edward Hopper painting “Summer Evening.” The piece has made an impact on all of them and the four characters spend an explosive evening bonding and clashing over art, relationships, and the truth. Directing the show is ETC Artistic Associate Drew Eberly, who previously acted in the company’s first production. “There’s a lot going on here: the biting humor, the challenges to art, the nod to Albee, and four vivid characters that are all flawed but engaging. It’s truly a dark comedy,” says Eberly. Evolution Theatre Company is also planning a full 2008-2009 season featuring four shows that will be new to central Ohio. Eberly says, “Our focus is staging Columbus premieres that audiences will find both captivating and entertaining and The Hopper Collection fits that mission. The show found enthusiastic support in San Francisco and Boston, and our actors and production team are working to give the play a strong run here in Columbus. It will be a enjoyable evening showcasing a very talented young playwright.” Photo by Mick Pennington
CATCO Presents Pulitzer, Tony Award-Winning Doubt: A Parable
The setting is a Catholic K-8 school in the Bronx in 1964. Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the strict principal of the school, begins to question the relationship between a young priest and one of the students. The more strongly Father Flynn defends himself, however, the stronger Sister Aloysius’ suspicions become and the harder she pursues him. Fresh from Broadway, Doubt: A Parable, written by John Patrick Shanley, is the decade’s most highly acclaimed, performed and talked-about drama. An entertaining and provocative play, Doubt is part mystery – did Father Flynn commit the crime he is accused of? – and part suspense – as the story twists and turns with the emergence of conflicting viewpoints shared by the characters. In the end, Doubt leaves audiences talking. “It is almost impossible to watch this play and not get swept up in the four characters and the choices they make. Everyone in the audience has a different reaction to it and for different reasons,” said CATCO Executive Director and Founder Geoff Nelson, who is directing the production. “John Patrick Shanley, has said that he considers the second act of the one-act play to take place when the audience leaves the theatre and goes to a bar or restaurant and starts talking about their reactions to it.” For a deeper understanding of each play, CATCO presents talkback sessions for audiences. For Doubt, the actor talkback will follow the Sunday, April 20, matinee; the dramaturg talkback will follow the Sunday, April 27, matinee. Performances are Wed-Sat 8p and Sun 2p. Tickets for regular performances are $20-$40. All tickets can be purchased at the box office at 41 E State St., next to the Ohio Theatre, by calling 614.469.0939 or by calling or visiting any central Ohio Ticketmaster location. Performances are in the Studio One Theatre at the Vern Riffe Center, located at 77 S High St. in Downtown Columbus at the corner of State and High streets.
COLUMBUS NEXT MEETING: MAY 14, 6P-8P; LOCATION: BOMA - 583 E BROAD ST; SPEAKER: KELLY AUSTIN, SANDLER SALES INST. WWW.NETWORKCOLUMBUS.COM
APR 17 - APR 23 2008
OUTLOOK WEEKLY • 31
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THE LAST WORD by Leslie Robinson
REFERENDUM RASCAL Michael Heath is so anxious to go back in time you’d think he expects to earn frequent flier miles for the journey. Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, has initiated a referendum that would ban same-sex marriage and civil unions, and prohibit same-sex couples from adopting. It would also remove sexual orientation from the Maine Human Rights Act’s list of protected classes, and strip the funding for civil rights advocacy in the state attorney general’s office. In short, Heath wants to return to an era when the only right gays had was the right to hate ourselves. If the secretary of state’s office approves his wacky proposal, then Heath will start gathering signatures. He’ll need about 55,000 of them to put the referendum on the state ballot. “The question that he has submitted to the secretary of state is so broad that it’s ridiculous,” said Betsy Smith, executive director of Equality Maine, to the Bangor Daily News. “I don’t even know if it’s legal to put a question
like that on the ballot. He basically wants to repeal any rights gays have gotten.” Yes, Heath is certainly a greedy fellow. I’m surprised he isn’t also trying to outlaw gay bars and hair product. Heath isn’t a crusader-come-lately. When in 2005 Maine legislators made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing and education, Heath and his Christian Civic League spearheaded a referendum to restore each Mainer’s god-given right to discriminate. But 55 percent of voters in the Pine Tree State disagreed with Heath, the law stood, and he has been girding his loins ever since for the next fracas. Shortly before filing the paperwork for the latest referendum, Heath laid out his intentions on the Christian Civic League’s Web site: “It is time for another referendum on gay rights. We have been licking our wounds long enough. I’m not going to sit by doing nothing really meaningful and watch either the courts or the legislature further advance special rights for homosexuality.” Okay, so don’t watch. Kidding! In his edito-
rial Heath used the word “special” more often than the Church Lady. He also wrote, “Everyone has the right to marry already. Nobody should have legal rights that are premised on being sexually promiscuous! NO SPECIAL RIGHTS FOR HOMOSEXUALITY! PERIOD!!” Lordy. The special rights argument is tired. The statement that everyone can marry is a slap in the face. The sentence about legal rights for being sexually promiscuous I don’t even understand. Is he saying gays are people who are so lustful we sleep with each other because heterosexual coupling doesn’t satiate our gargantuan appetites? This much I know: Maine has a zealot on its hands. Considering that state seems to go through a battle royal over gay rights every six minutes, average citizens must be getting awfully sick of it. And those whose lives and livelihoods depend on fair treatment don’t relish another bloody round. “I’m tired of trying to have to justify my right to maintain my employment,” Sarah
Parker-Holmes, who’s fought in five major campaigns since 1992, told the Portland Press Herald. “I’m tired of fighting.” Maybe Heath is counting on his opposition being exhausted. Or maybe he hopes voters have had it with the issue of gay rights, and will stay home. I’m starting to think he chose to make his potential referendum so sweeping because he knows this could be his last hurrah. He’s throwing the kitchen sink at this one—before Mainers decide to hold a referendum on him. Leslie Robinson lives in Seattle. E-mail her at LesRobinsn@aol.com, and read more columns at www.GeneralGayety.com.
HOROSCOPES by Jack Fertig
ARIES (Mar 20 - Apr19): Money comes easily to you now, but can go fast if you’re not careful. Focus on resourcefulness and economy, especially at work. Whatever you accomplish (or don’t!) will be noticed and can have a big effect on your career.
CANCER (Jun 21 - Jul 22): Talk over long-term plans with your partner. Discuss the most serious issues that you see persisting through the long run. If you don’t have a mate, serious talks like this could help you find one.
LIBRA (Sep 23 - Oct 22): Find someone in whom you can confide your darkest, dirtiest secret. Is it about sex? Your family? Both? Letting this out will give you freedom and greater confidence in your sexuality and/or dealings with your family.
CAPRICORN (Dec 21 - Jan 19): Playful efforts at bitchery could come off brilliantly, but exercise restraint and judgment before opening your mouth. On the other hand, if you really want to devastate an opponent in an argument, your wit is nuclear. Let ‘em have it!
TAURUS (Apr 20 - May 20): Your sense of selfworth is usually measured in strictly practical terms. Give yourself more credit for your mind and your creativity. Explore new, adventurous ways to indulge your playful side. You’ll find that surprisingly challenging, but also very rewarding.
LEO (Jul 23 - Aug 22): Be thrifty, resourceful, and dedicated in your work, and your efforts will be amply rewarded. Discuss goals with your boss or an expert. Revise exercise routines; a slow, steady approach will work best for you.
SCORPIO (Oct 23 - Nov 21): Although you prefer nonverbal communication, voice a commitment to your relationship in clear, direct words. That could open up a number of things that should be said to make your partnership solid and strong.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18): Be mindful of your sexual standards, and consider especially the spiritual rewards and costs of your fun and games. Some enduring truth from traditional wisdom (maybe not your family’s tradition!) may serve as an effective stabilizing touchstone.
GEMINI (May 21 - Jun 20): Take some time to face your fears about old age and mortality. Thoughtful planning can alleviate some of that, and only acceptance can dispel the rest. Sharing some secret fears might help you get rid of them.
VIRGO (Aug23 - Sep 22): Challenge your mind with new ideas. Listen to debates, and feel free to join in. You may feel a bit intimidated, but take that as a challenge. You’re selling yourself short, and can prove yourself with just a little perseverance.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 - Dec 20): Upper back problems? Take care of them now! Lock in new work habits, or just emphasize the best of what you’ve been doing. Financial problems are in high relief, making it easier to resolve them.
PISCES (Feb 19 - Mar 19): Pessimistic feelings about relationships could just be a realistic antidote to dysfunctional romantic ideals. Discuss your issues with a good friend in a brutally pragmatic light. You can take the hard truth especially well now, so don’t pull punches!
Jack Fertig, a professional astrologer since 1977, is a founding member of the Association for Astrological Networking. He can be reached for consultations at 415.864.8302, www.starjack.com, and by e-mail at QScopes@qsyndicate.com.
APR 17 - APR 23 2008