RFD Issue 18 Winter 1978

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involved, in one way or another and across varying spans of hadn't hat as what was needed, but jpt time, With RFD from its very beginning. Yet for the >iew Orleans Sissie col­ tf we don't get it, the process is lective, issue f*18 that you’re about to read marks the first time any of us Low each other a lot of space for <jead. wfill n^vo nit o senses have been involved with the actual production proces . As Clarence once it each other Doing this issue of Ion and eccentricity. How can said, ’’This issue is opening minds like a can-opener!'

There are unconscious a own pace. High levels of trust RFD has been a real organic th levels of editing RFD which are shaped by the backgrounds, politics, visions, for a.li others. We are all doing our best and interactions of the individuals in the collective birthing any issue thru. kept it from being tense. Al;; communiontion al1 the time. Freedom from and see that in one another, For example, we were all white faggots on this issue, in a city where 5K; , but a deep collective attachment to and individualistic attachment to of the population is black. We 'eel the lack of cons*, lousness that our th ag n« *d» to be said about the inclusion oi pride in the total production, brothers of color would have brought us. This is both a criticism and a items relevant to Women In this issui , It seemed to have happened organically, description of our reality. We moan the loss, and struggle with the contra­ Several o; us wrought to RFD bits of information we wanted included. As males in dictions. The people working on any issue c RF; be. utu- a kind • f c’ :qu< . this society we ali have Interaction with Women friends, lovers, relations, sisters But it’s a clique like a sponge...it will take on any energies offered. The in-stru , le. And the more information we all have to exchange and share, the better work is steady and intense, anarchistic. All of us took part in all phases of production, learning skills of layout, paste-up, understanding the printing will be that level of communication and trust. RFD cannot remain an isolated fag* got onl «« mar.,vine. This does not necessat ily mean .a*ything as far as future "pot process, making editorial decisions together.

All constructive criticism That s up to future collective has been immediately accepted by the group and incorporates. Stac* came

Louisiana -- 0ut6-ide 0(5 New OnZ&anA

>#<*-

From any perspective, there can be no doubt of Howard Brown's conclusion in F aaiLtAJUi F aceJ>, Hidden Livte : the "final victory for homosexual freedom will have to be won in the small town."

We who live there, returning to our roots, have found that acceptance is no more difficult than was the struggle and adjustment in any metropoli­ tan area.

The gay press, arriving by mail from Boston, New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, Norfolk, in­ forms us that gays struggle in these cities.

Many of them are unhappy, quarrelsome with each other, alone in the midst of gay thousands, and unfulfilled. Adjustment for some in the city is never achieved and they long to return to that land from which they came. Somehow, these trans­ planted rural gays survive. But might not many of these achieve their full potential by return­ ing to the small towns and rural areas?

For we who remained, or reestablished our­ selves upon returning to Hometown, who are sup­ ported in the right to be here, acceptance has been achieved, strangely enough, not by ability to conform, nor by concealing our gayness.

It is not necessarily true that life is made unbearable for gays in small towns. The commun­ ity may be embarrassed, ashamed, or bewildered about its homosexuals. But it is also protective of its offspring and neighbors. Not exactly ar­ ticulated, the attitude seems to be: Queer they may well be, but they are OUA queers.

Deteriorating social forces, religious, fa­ milial, or capitalistic, continue their decline in the non-metropolitan areas. The church is equally in disrepute here as elsewhere. What­ ever needs these traditional institutions served, they are being replaced by more satisfying inner resources of the individual. Signs of resistance and open defiance to political machinations of traditional small-town institutions sprout here and there.

Some sprouts never mature, but too many seeds have been sown for rural gay freedom to be supres sed. There are indications of a Gay Rural Awak­ ening.

Will the Awakening result in confrontation, violence, and even death? Perhaps, but no more so than has occurred in the city. If the exag­ gerated and spectral presence of an anti-gay KKK brings caution and apprehension, it means that

Dear friends & lovers, We are saddened to find out that RFD is mov­ ing farther away from us this time, but at the same time, we are very happy to know that RFD is continuing on! Hooray!

Fall is upon us here in B.C., in very strange ways, as normally, by this time, the Pacific Northwest is enshrouded in clouds, fog and precipitous weather. To our surprise this year, we have been blessed with cloudless, sunny days, though the temperatures still remain cool­ er than in summer. Nonetheless It is lovely days that we are enjoying here, and only hope that the Winter is not too much of a sudden daze. We'll wait and see....

David & I have known RFD since its first issues, and have been able to visit its past two origins, Iowa and Oregon.

I only hope that in a while we will be able to visit you, too, in North Carolina. All gay men, and some gay women too, have been hard working, dedicated human be­ ings, putting out tons of energy to bring out RFD to everyone around them. A hardy task, but set to fiercely, and with good results.

Days will come, who knows, maybe a few years from now, that David and I will be setting our sights to the smaller towns and countryside, and in doing so, taking RFD with us, along with plants, cats, and such, keeping something that we have loved so much in these past few years.

Not much else to relate to you, except that in a few months we will hope to be sending a donation of some amount, and contributing to the pages of our lives.

Time and time again, with each letter writ­ ten, we always are sending invitations to be our guests when visiting Vancouver whenever anyone wishes to drop by. That invite still holds. We look forward to meeting and greeting RFDers from all over!

we may become better prepared. Today, the spec­ ter of violence must surely enshroud an unprepar­ ed San Francisco, one day after the assassination of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone.

Survival in small towns and rural America also includes the desire and ability to earn in­ come. There are no free lunches in the country, it needs to be said.

Here, the demand for "good help" takes pre­ cedence over church affiliation, social status, or sexual orientation. A good carpenter, the best floral designer, the best automobile mechan­ ic always has a job and income. Good service, knowledgeability, and pride in one's -craft or profession insure income. Self-employment or establishing one's own business further guaran­ tees it.

The services of professionals such as doc­ tors or nurses in parishes (counties) or towns where there are no others, are not rejected, boy­ cotted, or refused simply because one is gay or living with someone of the same sex. Attorneys are always in demand if they have some guts.

Why do gay people leave the cities where the attitude is said to be more liberal? At first thought one might answer that they wish to re­ turn to the family. But returning gays estab­ lish separate households. A small circle of in­ timate friends becomes the new extended gay fam­ ily. Gays affiliate in a newly formed, or pre­ viously existing gay family of two, six, eight:, or a dozen.

The gay family might be scattered in two parishes, and non-gays may be affiliated with it. These extended gay families offer each mem­ ber more intimacy, support and social life than some had found in the city.

One may return to live near brothers and sisters, mamma and pappa; but it is not to them that one returns. We go back to Hometown be­ cause life's struggles are more manageable where one feels he or she belongs. We know how to fight here, on our own terms, recognizing the situations in which we have a chance to win.

The strategy and techniques used in struggle were learned during adolescence, highachool days, and often refined during one's struggle in the city.

Ken Popert in The Body P otitic (Toronto, Nov. 1978) argues that the process of libera­ tion is not served by gays returning to the fam­ ily for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or traditional

family events. Popert wrote: "Being unfamllied is fundamental to our gay life and It is funda­ mental to our oppression." Not necessarily, sav I. Popert and 1 agree that there should be alter­ native gay family celebrations for those few who do not return to the nuclear family celebrations.

But we can maintain family ties without sac­ rificing integrity. One need not deny one's gay­ ness, he or she may affirm it as one wishes, but neither is it necessary to use one's gayness as a club to clobber the family. Acceptance of its own gay offspring by family or community is a consumation to the extent that one devoutly wishes to work for it.

Popert wrote more: "Discrimination is a part of our oppression, but it is not basic. Sure, some lose jobs, homes, children or opportunities because they are gay. But most of us do not.

Most of us construct our lives, with varying success, specifically to avoid such confrontations.”

Popert was not writing about rural or small town gays. Discrimination is the universal gay experience.

It is the reality in Toronto, Atlan­ ta, Houston, or San Francisco and Small Town.

— But enough of this tedious reiteration of our oppression.

Country cousins simply go ahead doing what they want to do and must do. They may live with partners, or may be quite satisfied with the once-a-week lovemaking with the married local trucker. The brutal, redneck, queer-basher la mute a «L*»i volyp*# than twality.

From experience and from the pages of RFD we have come to know that unhappiness and frustra­ tion for the rural gay Is related to the lack of social and personal contacts rather than discrim­ ination.

Isolation la a real problem, out iso­ lation and being alone are not a function of any community; aloneneas may be one's own choice whether acknowledged or not.

The observations which l have written here, true for the population areas of Louisiana out­ side of New Orleans, may not be factual for the entire South. But there Is much in print which indicates a sort of universal experience for gays living in small towns in New England, the Mid­ west, and the Rockies.

A grand landscape depicting the Gaylng of America will surely emerge, hopefully through our own little journal, RFD.

So, keep well, best wishes for the Winter issue and much love to you all....

Love always,

HctZ Houghton 6 Vav-ixl ttyex6 2274 ItiaveAtiJ Ave. Vancouve^t, 8.C., Canada VSP1R6 Dear RFD Friends, I am a 23-year-old male.

1 grew up in rural Brittany and spent some time traveling through some of the so-calleo Western world, in­ cluding a two-year academic stay in the U.S. Mid­ west before entering the service which is com­ pulsory in France.

In August, September, and 'ottftfsaibly October of 1979, I will be backpacking through a couple of National Parks in the MidVest and West, visiting a few friends on the way.

But, most of all, I want to meet you wherever ,7\ou are, in the wilderness or in the city, in a (collective or on your own. We are currently sharing RFD; yet l'd like us to share something more that I feel will enhance each one's aware­ ness. Whether you want me to stop by or you have any advice or hint to offer me, please do write. 1 will welcome and answer all letters.

Sincerely, ^

Heave Le VtgouAjoux.

Le Boceno 56400 Auaay (Fnonet) Naked to my approach He went bareback Among the fallen plum blossom drops

AItadaeA [1978) CONTACT LETTERS CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

Tsusiat Point is a place that I keep going back to. For me, it is a very precious piece of sea, forest, and weather. It is sacred. Most natural things have their own beauties, but this place is especially important for me. I have visited it several times over the last six years.

It has seen me go through many personal changes.

When I'm gone from it, I take comfort in keeping memories of its smells, sounds, and views in my mind. I grow to love it and to feel more a part of it with each visit. Tsusiat Point is one of "my" places. It is bound with my personal feel­ ings of background, refuge, and home.

The point sticks out into the Pacific on the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island (Brit­ ish Columbia, Canada).

It is a bald spot of sandstone emerging between the rainforest and the sea. The ocean waves are very strong there.

The weather is mostly cool and rainy. Thick blankets of cloud and fog shroud the land and the sea for most of the year. There are some­ times clear days and the coming of direct sun­ light and blue sky brings colour and contrast.

Usually the place is gray. In spite of this grayness, the land and the sea holds much life.

Even now, after considerable exploitation and destruction, the sea there is full of fish and sea mammals such as "killer whale," gray whale, seal, and otter. Raptors (predatory birds such as eagles and falcons) nest in older snag trees and find much food in this interface be­ tween land and sea. Cormorants and other sea birds nest on the steep cliffs and rocks of the coast. The forest is thick with old unlogged spruce, hemlock, and cedar trees. The ground is covered with moss and ferns. There are deer and occasionally bear and cougar. Tsusiat Point is a very alive piece of the Earth. It gives me a heightened sense of what life really is about and what my life can be.

There is a lot of discussion these days about country lifestyles for gay men. Many of us have gone from city to country and back for a num­ ber of years. Some country-born faggots have been able to come out while staying in their home areas.

As with the gay movement in general, there is a spectrum of values and politics represented in RFD. Hopefully with the Oregon departure of the maga­ zine, people will have less to feel isolated about.

The "non-political" versus the radical political/ gay liberation conflict is going to continue, how­ ever. Some people have been unclear in explaining their views and other people have been closedminded and rather tacky in dealing with opposing views. I want to add some more ideas to what RFD readers should be thinking about. I want to do this by talking in terms of Tsusiat Point.

Going to Tsusiat Point makes me realize that there is no escape. After a day's drive on rut­ ted logging roads and a two-day walk on a muddy trail, one can still find the same people who treat gay people, women, and non-white people like shit. In the middle of this vestige of the northern wilderness, there are horribly destruc­ tive logging operations taking place just a few miles inland, and huge oil tankers— which can run aground and break— just off shore.

Tsusiat Point is really Indian land. The native people of that part of the coast have nev— er signed treaties, and up until recently have used areas like Tsusiat Point for fishing and hunting. Now many more white people like me are coming to the area, and most of the land is park or used for logging. Native people of the area are stuck on tiny reserves,.like U.S. reserva­ tions. In many cases they are kept from pursuing their traditional livelihoods. Fishing is heav­ ily restricted and policed by an increasingly re­ pressive government. There are many native peo­ ple who feel they are the rightful owners of places like Tsusiat Point. They know that the land is theirs and that it has been theirs for a long time. They are beginning to organize to take it back. Most indigenous peoples love their lands and have managed them well. They've mostly been generous with sharing use with intruders.

I feel a deep connection to Tsusiat Point, yet don't feel limited by the fact that its ownership should and will lie with the people who have oc­ cupied it for thousands of years.

As white North American faggots we are oc­ cupying land that has been ripped off. There is a lot we can do to come to terms with this, such as giving material support to struggling native organizations. Not all of the former occupiers of our areas have disappeared. A lot of their great-grandchildren are trying to survive, and

many are being brutalized and murdered. We have a responsibility to these people. White country faggots are still white men. Living in indepen­ dence on land that has been stained with blood: Is that what I want to do?

We need to reconsider the ideas behind both land ownership and self-sufficiency. Most of us will never be wealthy enough to own our own land.

While some gay men have been developing rural vis­ ions in these last several years, hoards of specu­ lators and corporations have been buying up most of the cheap fertile land. It is a big mistake to think of living in the country mainly in terms of owning individual plots of land.

Quite a few of our ideas about self-suffic­ iency come from men like Jefferson and Thoreau.

They, and the North American farming culture, have many things to teach us, and I don't think we can rely on them for showing us ways to make our lives work. We sometimes forget an important point: self-sufficiency was not one family with "forty acres and a mule," but a whole series of mutually supporting communities. What do we do until there are enough people and the right conditions to make these communities work? I doubt that trying to "make it" alone is the answer.

Except in greenhouses, there will never be corn growing in places like Tsusiat Point. The soil is far too acidic, the forest is too thick, and the weather is too cool. There are a lot of places in the world where agriculture is not pos­ sible. People live in these places too. They fish, log, hunt, graze, and gather. At times peo­ ple involved with RFD seem to be shackled with very irrelevant, romanticized images of the white North American farm. Even this kind of farming is less successful these days.

Most of us are or will be working for wages to survive in the country. Many country people have always worked under extreme exploitation: slaves, sharecroppers, and farmworkers, for exam­ ple. How do RFD readers deal with this? Or is feeding the chickens aZiMiJ-b more important than talking? I've fed enough chickens to know that without social and political commitments, the prob­ lems we face will reduce our lives to a survival level. When people's lives are that limited and dehumanized, country or city hustles really are not very different.

I think we have a responsibility to each other, our neighbours, and to the land we love.

When people talk about radical and gay liberation politics, they are really talking about respon­ sibility, collective action, and the interconnect­ edness of all living things. The reasons why peo­ ple are revolutionaries are also reasons for pos­ sibly choosing to work and live away from the cities. The cities and the country are just dif­ ferent fronts in the struggle. There really is no escape. When I think about the places where I want to fight from and to build a new society on, Isusiat Point is one of the first places that comes to my mind.

6Atnt Ingram

«

iaxty, th ii paxt Octobex a gxoup oh S iiiie -h a s got men gathexed in the h it ti oh No. Carolina.

(Set R F V 'H -) The hoau o{ one. oh the cixctex that weekend wtu RP V. i t that time 3 oh ox h/wm New Oxteanx took on the xexp cn xibility ^o* cocxdinating the energy h0K thix xxiue. We wexe diked <n the c ixcJLe to come-out moxe about qua 'pcLLtixx' o>t 'woxtd-viewi' cl& S ix iie -id e n tih ie d b eingi. The h°ttowing 2 pagex axe the nexultx.

Some oh i t wai wxitten expecialty ion t h i i, &omt cK i t i i pexionaJL le tte x x .

TheAe i i alot hexe-We'd xeccommend bxouxing through it/p ick -u p what ya need, what ya heax/heel, what ya can u ie.

Remembex.. . Thexe axe no n u lex* ....

A S i a i e ' i Pexional Manihexto l reject in all forms, Internal and external, men's learned and historic fascination with, glori­ fication of and attachment to death.

I claim participation in and identity with the nurturing life force that is my birthright.

1, along with my brothers, take responsibility for and intend the healing of all men in an evergrow­ ing circle of men seeking life.

I re-enter with other wise and gentle healers into the family of women and children as we strug­ gle to protect and heal the earth and each other from the continuing ravages of male violence that threatens the life of our planet home now.

Returning to Chapel Hill, 1 looked at all the compromises 1 make to live in a straight society. To exist in a society which has given me little but pain. Attempting to emulate an image of straightness, of masculinity, denying my own specialness...adopting the ways and man­ nerisms of the oppressor. Our bluejeans, flan­ nel shirts, short-cropped hair and mustaches are similar to the hair-straightening and skin lightening of emasculated blacks not so long ago. So much of our power will come when we can discard those trappings of our oppressors and visibly challenge society on an equal foot­ ing.

Those statements and realizations scare the hell out of me. Financial security, societ­ al acceptance, sexual fantasy are all left open to chance. i can only make those steps to re­ gain my own power and sense of self within a supportive framework. And we have to strive to provide that framework for ourselves, because nobody is going to give it to us. I've waited twenty-two years to wear a dress!!!

One last point: Village People are just part of a larger problem the gay male community faces: the current "Macho Man Syndrome.'

That is, gays adopting exaggerated masculine dress to prove they are more manly than straight men (or each other) and that they're certainly no limpwristed drag queen. Well al.1 I can say is drag comes in many different forms and I see little difference between dripping in rhinestones and chiffon or metal studded leather. I mean this as no insult to queens or those heavily into the leather scene, but just wish that the majority of gay men could learn to be themselves— mental­ ly, emotionally, and not dress in fads.

I personally can't take it anymore. Recent­ ly I've gotten many a raised eyebrow around the Village and nasty looks from my "brothers" at the Spike Bar, since I have begun wearing a new tee-shirt 1 had made up especially at this time (with help from the Village People).

It is black, tight fitting (fairly flattering to my torso) and spells out in tasteful white letters: MACHO QUEEN. In Gay Unity,

Sxian O’ V eil New York City (This excerpt appeared originally as a letter in

Gay Conminity Newi, September 23, 1978.)

David Knudien

C haxtie HuAphu

The word "sissy" is the one word used early on in a young male child's life to Intimidate him toward behavior patterns which society (parents, the military, school, peers, etc.) say are ap­ propriate for a "Man" and away from those pat­ terns appropriate for a "woman." Any time a boy shows tenderness, emotions, delicacy ("fe­ minine" attributes) he is vulnerable to the ac­ cusation of "Sissy." I want to reclaim those "feminine" attributes— 1 want to experience my­ self as a whole/balanced Self. We are a tt born with the ability to develop a healthy range of emotions, nurturance , and cooperation.

1, in claiming my slssie-self am rebelling against the social conditioning which says 1 should be emo­ tionally immature, competitive, and individual­ istic .

Reclaiming Slssieness is something that has nothing to do with sexual preference or orienta­ tion. The scare tactics in the word Sissy are used long before any development of conscious sexuality. All males (gay, straight, in-between) have been shaped (misshaped) by this same social­ izing tactic. We all have lost a part oi our Selves in order to survive. Some of us have lost more than others. We have aXt lost.

Reclaiming ourselves as full human beings has meant for some sissies the wearing of color­ ful clothes, jewelry, nail lacquer, "makeup."

Often we hear the claims of feminists that we are furthering the oppression of women, but 1 think we need to look at it more closely.

1 do not attempt to pass as a woman.

(I specifically let my facial hair grow so I'm not mistaken for a woman.)

I do attempt to affirm women and the feminine spirits within myself. Since ray earli­ est years and even more so recently women have been my inspiration. When 1 use several colors or only paint one or two of my fingernails, I'm not mocking the womau, but the io c ie iy that tries to define a woman as having painted fingernails all of one color and preferably neatly manicured.

I’m not mocking women who wear matching earrings when I wear several unpaired and yet attractive earrings. I am mocking our stereotypical images of what a woman or man is supposed to look and act like.

Outward appearance is the most obvious sign of a sissie coming-out, and often the one given most attention— but unfortunately it is the least important in some ways. Consciousness of oneself as a sissie has very little to do with physical appearance. All the color and flow would mean nothing if it isn't done with a poli­ tical awareness of sexism in our culture.

In my Identifying with and not imitating of women, I have experienced first hand the fear and in­ timidation of straight men's rapist energy. I get treated the same way as women on the streets.

Just change the yell "You cunt!" to "You cocksucker!" These experiences have helped me feel the oppression of my sisters and helped me see more clearly my responsibility in changing it.

I do stiil have the privilege of going back into closets of respectableness (white maleness).

Another reason sissiness is relevant to women and the feminist revolution is because we need to visibly present alternative role models to children.

(Ye gads! Briggs's, Bryant's, and Bircher's greatest fears come true!) Boy child­ ren especially need to be offered choices to the current role models: G.I. Joe, Tarzan, Joe Namath. And how else will that happen but by us consciously creating them. It is a common oc­ currence to be on the street and be asked by a group of giggling children * "Are you a man or a woman?" "I'm a sissie," I respond, and they giggle some more, eyes big like saucers as all the categories in their minds crumble and iotneWheXe inside of them they realize that there axe alternatives! Again, this has nothing to do with "sexual preference" (what an ugly expression any­ way!), but rather with alternatives to being.

There are countless ways for us to relate to each other.

(Ah, for the days when we as a species are beyond the labels of homo-, hetero-, bi­ sexual, and even beyond gay and straight!)

Vimid

Here in this beautiful sensuous city on the river (New Orleans), I can find the place and space to show off in a way, to dress differently in a different environment. Back up in Tennessee, I get tired of wearing mostly work clothes, which is usu­ ally what the farm scene calls for. Only at part­ ies or around the garden or kitchen sometimes do I wear a skirt or robe. I run around the barnyard naked, of course, but so do the goats. The chick­ ens are more modest: they wear their feathers. On the street in New Orleans' Vieux Garre I can wear my skirt with dangly earrings and a brilliant lilyflowered Goodwill shirt and begin to experience and explore what it means. One reason for coming down here was to check out my feeiings about sissie garb and the reactions and connections it engenders /en-genders/ungenders.

A long-time women friend in Nashville doesn't understand the relevance of sissie men wearing skirts and jewelry or painting their fingernails, and I have been unable to break it down to her.

She's not offended or oppressed by it, but finds it irrelevant to her struggle.

In her mind's eye, she sees wimmin tossing away these oppressive adornments and gay men picking them up from the refuse heap.

(This i i where I get a lot of my stuff.)

The whole idea of faggot effeminism always had a lot of meaning for me as a strategic way for anti-sexist men to attempt to ally with wimmin in that endeavor, and sissie effeminism seems to say it even better. But, I ask myself, how does it really connect? Does this really challenge or threaten or transmute sexism and the patriarchy?

Suppose it's all a form of street theater, perhaps a subliminal message is conveyed when the het couple sees me crossing the street in my cordu­ roy skirt. In my own mind, it creates different feelings and perhaps a surface awareness of some of the oppression which wimmin endure daily just because they are wimmin, and thereby clearly iden­ tified in a sexual way. It means that I can't "pass" for straight, although I can still try if I go and change clothes.

It means that wimmin may see me as a potential ally rather than as a poten­ tial rapist.

I can't yet explain to Darlene how this direct­ ly helps to overthrow patriarchial power in an ultimate sense, but it can certainly, on an immed­ iate basis, establish a psychological unity in daily life experiences. The experience certainly creates in me a temporary feeling of freedom from gender-role identification which carries over from day to day no matter what clothes I do or don't wear. Appearance and being are interrelated, not rigidly linked. We are not chained to a genderrole by our biological sexual Identity.

My wearing of "nonmale" clothing is not an at­ tempt to imitate or oppress women.

I feel the need to express certain behaviors and adopt styles of dress which in our culture are usually reserved for wimmin.

I do this as a sign of identification and allegiance with wimmin, a rejection of male bonding and patriarchy, treason to "my" gender.

The sissie stance is also part of my personal path to gynaudry (androgyny) in order to integrate various aspects of my being and be more aware of myself.

©

In the Fall issue of RFD, Cathy Gross offer­ ed thoughtful criticism about issues of sexism m d oppression.

I hear strongly Cathy s critic­ ism of our adoration of movie queens— specifically Marilyn Monroe and Susan Hayward and our love/hate relationship with drag. My own feei­ ings on these issues are unqueer. Perhaps by sharing my imperfect analysis with RFD, gayraen can begin to explore the complex nature of our relationship with Women and their symbols.

To a certain generation of gaymen— those of us who were teens during the second World War movie queens were the only Goddess Images avail­ able to us. For those of us who were Sissies, and thus used to daily taunts from both school­ mates and schoolteachers, Bette and Susan (and later Judy and Marilyn, tho more in their per­ sonal lives than their screen images) came to represent iuxvival.

We cried thru scenes where their Woman's gentle spirit was crushed by a MAN, for we lived that pain every day of our lives. Thru that pain came my early identifica­ tion with Women, and it is the reality of daily shared pain that lies at the heart of my Sissie Effeminism.

Pain is a powerful force, neither good nor evil. And like all such forces needs a politic­ al analysis to be effective (affective?). The Goddess image presented to me in my youth was an image projected by heX.eXOiex.ual men and calcu­ lated (consciously or not) to ensure the continu­ ed subjugation of Women. It is an oppressive image even when given tragic stature by great artists. And so for years I internalized that image and tried to suppress Her symbols in my life.

Capitalism— and the sexism it engenders— thrives on contradictions.

I have no easy ans­ wer to the contradiction that arises when I wear a skirt, thus learning firsthand how my movement is restricted, and then watch my friend, a Woman across the courtyard, go off to work on Bourbon St. in dress and high heels— her work drag, she calls it— vulnerable to every rapist in the Quarter. The TVs and TSs I know here are poor Sissies who hustle Bourbon St. in high drag in order to survive. No het and no gay business would hire them (even if they had skills) because they're Sissies. They are looked upon by gaymen with the same sort of contempt that het-men look upon Women. As a Sissie, 1 feel their pain. As an Effeminist, I struggle with the contradictions For of course my Sissie friends on Bourbon St. axe oppressive to Women. They are oppressive to themselves. I have no answer to this contradic­ tion, short of following the advice of my favor­ ite poster: DESTROY PATRIARCHY-SMASH HETERO­

SEXISM! We live in a society that defines gender role and gender behavior by the clothes we wear.

As Tede says in illoxd 15 Out: ."We are born naked.

Everyone is in drag." The contradictions of patriarchy often force us into dressing roles that do not reflect our true identity. And be­ cause gaymen are no less sexist than straitmen — that is, as males, we are all conditioned to hang on to the privilege that comes with being born a MAN in a male-dominated society— we are often tricked into donning the drag of our op­ pressors. Hence the Macho Look. Gaymen are be­ ing polarized on the basis of images— macho vs. sissy— which is exactly what The Man wants. And Women have a right to be skeptical until we develop an analysis of the politics of drag att drag.

The best writer an clothes that I know, Thorsten Veblen, was an economist. In his Tatc-ly o{, the Leisure C & U A he shows how the ownership (ruling) class advertises its wealth by the clothes they put on their Women and chil­ dren. Since the French Revolution, when the menin-power were given a jolt from which they have yet to recover, men have attempted to disguise themselves as clones. Minor stylistic changes mark the eras— width of lapels and pantslegs, straight-cut or tapered, etc.— but basically the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (now polyester doubleknit) is a direct descendant of Victoria's Prince Albert.

In a patriarchy, Women and children are the property of men, and it is always important to restrict their movement— particularly the Women.

In the 1890s, when Veblen was writing, a Woman's total dress, including undergarments, could weigh as much as 75 lbs and consume nearly 100 yds of fabric. In those periods when Women threatened to achieve some modicum of freedom, their clothing became even more restrictive: the hobble skirt circa World War I, bound breasts in the 1920s, stiletto heels and pencil skirts in the fifties. It was a movie queen, Marlene Dietrich (during her famed affair with Mercedes de Acosta) who popularized slacks and freed Wo­ men's legs. For a brief period during the late

and (2) I am not a rapist. Capitalism— the nec­ essity of working in a het-male world— forces many of us to wear male drag in order to survive.

I'm a waiter and cannot wear skirts or blouses or scarves. But I wear four earrings: two stars and two crescents, symbols sacred to the Goddess.

Another Sissie works for the state and has to wear suit-and-tie drag for eight hours. And when he leaves work be puts on dang.lv earrings for the bus ride home.

I struggle constantly with the question of how relevant my little bit of sexual terrorism is to the oppression of Les­ bians and Women. I have no answer. 1 do what 1 can. . „ .

Sissy vs. macho is another of those great non-issues which The Man uses to divide us. I work with Sissies who wear farmboy drag because that's who they are: country faggots who came to the city in order to survive, emotionally and physically. Clone drag has been a part of gaymale culture for as long as I can reme.mh.er (I came out in 1950). In my day it was the Ivv League look: very short hair, no beards or mus­ taches, pullover sweaters, buckle-back chinos, and penny loafers. The clone look then was mid­ dle class. Today it's working class. Rita Mae Brown calls it Proletariat Drag, and rightly in­ sists that it is an insult to the working-class.

And yet it persists. Why? I have no queer analysis, but think (hope!) it has something to do with a budding class consciousness.

If Tede is right— that everyone is in drag— then what is drag but the unconscious reflection of what we are feeling? The sexual terrorism of Gaypeople is to make the unconscious conscious. That's what Sissies and Dykes— men with long hair who wear skirts and Women with short hair who wear pants— have always done. It Is where History and Herstory become Ourstory.

*

Vennl4 Melba'^on

A LEAFLET GIVEN TO MEN SEEN TAKING MALE PRIV1LEGES

sixties, Women’s clothes allowed free movement; pantsuits were In and heels were low. George Gilder, the Phyllis Schafley of his day, wrote a book called Sexual Siucx.de in which he deplored the unisex look. The men panicked, and now I see Women in the restaurant where I work wearing bluejeans and heels higher than any I remember.

Is it any wonder that rape is on the increase?

Any drag queen will testify that you cannot run in high heels.

Gaypeople, by our very existence, are sexu­ al terrorists. We challenge all "norms" of be­ havior. Men are supposed to compete with each other for power. Women are supposed to compete with each other for men. But instead of compet­ ing, we shatter all norms by loving one another.

I know of no guerrilla theater more shocking to the heterosexual tourist into our gay ghetto, the French Quarter, than two leather Sissies in full regalia walking down Royal St. holding hands or kissing each other in a crowded restaurant.

They look like men, but they don't behave like Men. Genderfuck has the same sort of shock value on another end of the scale. A longhaired beard­ ed male walking down the street in a skirt on some subliminal level forces the unwary clone to look at the politics of dress. A female imper­ sonator does the same thing on another end of the same scale.

Female impersonation has a long history among those who honor the patriarchy. In those cultures where Women were considered to have no souls— ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, Islam, Japan— the role of Women in their social rituals were played by males. The first Woman appeared on the Western stage only 318 short years ago. The greatest star on Broadway in the 1880s was Julian Eltinge, who built his own thea­ ter (now a CBS recording studio) where he starred in plays appearing as both a man and a woman.

There is more to female impersonation than the lip-sync-to-Liza that we all know and hate.

I am most unqueer in my analysis of drag queens. They have borne the brunt of gaymen's oppression from the very beginning.

In the fif­ ties we used to say that it was people like "them" who gave cocksuckers a bad name. And yet it was "those people" who fought back at Stone­ wall and today are those of us who are the most cop-hassled, arrested, beaten up, robbed, and murdered. When the city refused to let us have a public building to hold a No On 6 fundraiser, it was a drag bar that came thru and opened up its doors. Transvestism has a long history among those who honor the matriarchy. Male devotees of the Goddess donned Women's clothes during the Great Mother festivals. Male temple attendants wore female dress all the time, as did the gay shamans of the Sioux and Mandan peoples.

For many gaymen, drag is the only way we can get in touch with our feminism. For too many of us, that means getting in touch with the womanhatred programmed into every male child. The image projected— exaggerated breasts and hips, elaborate hairstyles, grotesque makeup— is one of self-hatred, fear of that part of us which society condemns: being "womanish," a Sissie.

It's a way of hiding from ourselves the secret knowledge that we can always "take it off" and go back to "looking like a man." It is that aspect of drag, I think, that Women find so of­ fensive. And r'ghtly so.

Sissie drag, as I perceive it, is an attempt to rid ourselves of oimaJL male privilege. Wrhen we walk down the street we try to visually pro­ ject two messages: (1) I am not a heterosexual;

In our society no woman can safely or legal­ ly remove her shirt in public. Men can. Why? Clearly it is a "sexual" taboo for women to expose their chests. Why? Are men's chests less sexual? Are women's chests mone sexual?

Why can't women expose their chests?

Would women's naked breasts let loose some "sexual hysteria"? There are other cultures on this planet that allow women this same right as men, and they experience no such "chaos."

Is it some early association we carry with us from childhood about the female breast? If it is, why is it that something so llfie-glvlng as a woman's breast must be covered, hidden from the life forces of sunlight and fresh air?

Why must women 6u^e/i for producing life?

I believe that this is a clear example of the oppression and inferior status forced on women in this society. As a gay man who has some awareness of the oppression of women, T feel the need to raise the consciousness of other men who I see taking privileges that wo­ men do not have.

The next time you want to take off your shirt in public, keep it on and experience the heat, sweat, and uncomfortableness that women suffer all the time. Experience some of the frustration and anger such oppression creates.

Next time you see another man remove his shirt, con^Aont him! Think about It....

FREE OUR SISTERS...FREE OURSELVES

As a sissie attempting to work on my white male privilege, the most direct method i have at my disposal of breaking men's bonding to me is by indicating ay sexual preference without ques­ tion, hesitation or shame. Recognizably queer, i put myself in the category of Other"/property.

The way my life has evolved in my coming out, i am in a position where i have extremely long hair, have been known to wear upward of 8 ear­ rings at a time and polish my long nails with various colours of lacquer. I wear buttons that read "Sxiixe Hippie Ccrmxe faggot," "CockiuckeA," " S i i i l t Majik." Many men wear dresses in an at­ tempt to confront traditional attitudes about im­ posed male sex-role identification. I believe, from experience, that any Woman on the street seeing me with my flowing clothes, earrings, etc., will be relieved for a moment with the probability that i am not a rapist. I don't re­ fer to my style of dress as "drag," In the tra­ ditional sense of that word: In order to pass as a woman.

(Basically all clothing anyone ever wears is "drag"— blue Jeans and flannel shirts, evening gowns and boas.) 1 don't mold my life into an imitation/mockery of Wymyn. 1 do claim the power of "gender fucking" in my use of the clothing designed to bind Wymyn. "Women dressed as men" and "men dressed as women" is a form of sexual "terrorism," forcing an abrupt change of consciousness in relation to biological roles.

Certain males adopt the sexual models of Wymyn, as patriarchally defined, early in life becuz we know that altho we are biological males, we are also emotionally "same" motivated. Since females are the only role model available of lov­ ing human beings, we recognize in ourselves the "Other" (part of that double or second or same vision queer beings have).

Ln realizing our otherness, we retreat into opposite-dressing as an outlet for repressed sexuality and beingness.

It is one of the earliest "stages" in the coming out of nearly every sissie i know— identification with the traditional trappings of feminization.

What is our common oppression? All of us, Wymyn and Gay men, are victims of imposed control over our own bodies and decisions of reproduction, of imposed sex-role identities, of imposed sexual harassment and violence and death. This is not becuz of a conscious desire on our part for abuse, but becuz we are neither heterosexual, in the case of Gay males and Lesbians, nor are we Men (in de­ fined and accepted terras), in the case of Gay males and all Wymyn. We are seen as "Other"/property, to satisfy any man.

By dressing and living as we must and are, we weaken the power the Man holds over us all, we reclaim the power of our own identities, we threaten the very foundations of both the econom­ ic system and the social order. We represent sexual anarchy— the power over decisions of re­ production and pleasure. We decide our position in the economic order and the social order and every other facet of our beings.

Kapitalism depends on the continual increase of production/consumption units, maintainence of a large labor pool or static-labor segment of society. This labor pool comprises the largest and most volatile economic caste, the working class; tin' largest and most volatile ia<ial cast*, Third World peoples; and the let gust and most volatile sexual caste, Wymyn and all sexual beings.

There is a tremendous amount of' potential in our drawing together around issues which we can collaborate on. if we can develop an analysis of our common position, perhaps we can come together over many ol these issues and progress toward a unified st reng lit. '

Home

An E^ejruj'uAt'i Pe/icepllon Sexual’- Role-Model Id en tifica tio n land othe/i abiVuxet toplc&l As males in our struggle against sexism we have commited ourselves to an "examination of the oppression of our sisters and our responsib­ ility in it" (RFD #16). Previous Issues of RFD have explored the oppression of Wymyn predomin­ ately through the photographic medium. We as males must develop an analysis of the commonal­ ity of our oppression as Gay men and the oppres­ sion of Wymyn; the issues of rape and power-over relationships; the issues of transvestism; trans­ sexuals; "drag"; Gay male oppression of Wymyn.

This is of the utmost importance, and these as well as many other issues must be directly ex­ plored.

Males have privilege Inherent in being male, reinforced by the system of patriarchy. Wymyn, traditionally defined as "Other"/property by Men do not have Access to the privileges of maleness.

Many Wymyn today are openly living their lives as Wymyn, independent of male support, identifi­ cation and coercion. These Wymyn, as all Wymyn, live in constant terror of rape, of a male for­ cibly "taking possession." These strong Wymyn today are not living the He/life of the "Other" any longer. They are learning the truth and strength of Wymyn. These Wymyn are strong and valiant. Certain strong Wymyn in the past, our­ story tells us, disguised themselves as men and held lifelong positions of respect, power and privilege. They, too, donned "drag" to pass for what is accepted by those in power. Hopefully, Wymyn now and in the future will not have to "stay in the closet" to acquire power and con­ trol in affecting change in our society.

There's one thing about being a sissie I feel should be made more clear: I didn't just become a sissie one day when ray consciousness was raised.

I always was one and you were too Most men could never be a sissie. That's be­ cause it is an identity— something you develop at an early age. Consciousness raising only brings us out to realize who we are and why we've been so different and isolated in our lives; and that we shouldn't put our frustra­ tions on women because we have a potential unity with them that most men, unfortunately, may never realize. Sometimes I feel like the men's movement is trying to blur the issues we raise, or something like that.

Phyll SchmteA

©

# O What To Do Until ■>|||% IBM Goes Broke Look at America today. What is happening?

The System is back, bigger than ever. Now showing everywhere! in Its most spectacular pro­ duction ever! Suddenly, it has become safe, even fashionable, to put down the Sixties and the is­ sues it raised. "The System Is the solution!" smiles the phone company baldly, forgetting that not too long ago It had been the problem.

And the System do&b work, all too well, as long as you play along with Its rules. Nixon knows how well the System works. Affronted by his stupidity in getting caught, the System dis­ gorged him just as It does anybody who threatens the credibility of the System. The System, like Mother Nature, doesn't like to be fooled with.

Nixon presumed too much.

The System, in fact, is grabbing for ever more power as the years pass. Freedom of speech is now "unbridled" speech, rights of privacy are taboo. Big Religion and Big Politics are kissing in public, and cruel and unusual punishment is having a sale.

Even the pseudo-socialist and communist coun­ tries of the world have become partners, albeit uneasily, with this macho-competitive System of Greed. Russia may call itself communist, but it's another congolmerate now.

The System, in fact, always wins in one way or another, because It alone knows all the rules and it alone knows how to play. If we learned anything from the Sixties, it is that most out­ side efforts at reconstructing or destroying this System are so much Gulliver. Any System that can survive the Great Depression, World War II and the protests of the Sixties— not to mention Water­ gate— is not easily brought down by the arrows of a few Lilliputians. Nixon's Vietnam pull-out had little to do with our protests against the war.

Name one system in history that has collapsed from without.

If anything is to stop this cur­ rent System, It is not going to come from outside that System: it will be through the actions of that System Itself. Nothing else will quite do the trick.

Look at what's happening.

One person, or corporation or country, can exploit our planet's limited resources only so far before it runs into the System-declared pro­ perty lines of another person, corporation or country. The System, having drawn this artifi-

cial ours-theirs world across the face of our in­ nocent soil, now finds that It must either change the rules by which those grids were drawn or vio­ late those grids in order to keep the game moving.

War, after all, is just another form of busi­ ness. By its own rules, the System has to keep the Big Bucks flowing, by peace or by war. If that means World War III, so much the better. War is good business practice: some of our best inven­ tions have been perfected under the pressures of war, son!

And don't think this coming struggle will be just for Truth, Justice, George Washington and Mora. "What will we call this war: the War for Energy Independence? And the next one? The War for Coffee Independence? And the next..."

What better way to demonstrate the false values of this System than to let It reveal, like the Mystery Guest, Its true identity?

But where does this leave us homosexuals? By our own nature, we are not a part of this System.

We may work for It, we may buy from It; we may eat from Its hand. We may even compete under It and contribute directly to Its coming Great Grab.

But the System has no friends, only followers.

Those who do not follow, It can ignore, or crush when the time is right. The System only uses us and can do without us when Its goal of grab is somehow threatened: just as It destroys anyone who gets in Its way.

What the System can never understand, however, is that we, along with many of our "straight" brothers and sisters, have the seeds of a new world already within us, and that we only need to learn how to plow, plant and reap these seeds to ensure a world post-System.

This coming age will be the truly socialistcommunist age: the true fulfillment of our turnof-the-century ancestors, and not the nightmare world of the present Russian and Chinese Corpora­ tions, which are really a capitalist dream-cometrue, and not the superstitious fears of America's rightists, but a world of non-competition, post­ capitalism love and peace: the realization of that impossible ideal of that improbable decade ten years ago.

But the new order cannot thrive on cold bodies.

The most important thing we can do is learn, even more, how to survive on our own: a skill that we, as homosexuals, learned long ago.

What you are about to read is not an article, but much more.

It comes from an Introduction of a book that I've been in the process of writing for quite a while. The book is called The. Vxeam Child, and the Introduction is called lire Dream Cycle. You see, the Cycle is the key to under­ standing this book. For it is true, based on my life and experiences. And 1 feel l should share it with you all. For my message of the book is ...Love.

As people raised in a System hostile to our survival, we have nevertheless learned how to flourish. We stand as living proof that we can be men and women outside of the System's ideals of what men and women have to be. We have seen through the sham of a highly competitive macho society.

In spite of all we were taught, we learned on our own how to be different.

Word is out: we can live without the System.

This is why the System fears us so, or tries to ignore us.

In the post-System world, gays' knowledge of survival in a hostile world will serve a promin­ ent need of all mankind. Prosaically, we will be no threat to overpopulation of a planet with greatly diminished resources; but, more important­ ly, having learned the need to live and let live from a System that showed us the perils of not doing so, we can help teach the rest of the world the value of what we have understood for so long.

Through sheer necessity of survival, our en­ tire species will find that only through coopera­ tion and sharing of wealth, living an d letting live, rather than competition and grabbing for wealth, can we hope to survive intact.

With our soil gone and our cities missing, our cultures blotted out by phone calls, man will at last see the pure necessity of such a social­ ist order; whereas now the power of the System, like the rays of the Sun-King, have blinded most people to the fact that It walks the earth with­ out clothes.

As the People from the Other Side of human nature, we will represent not just those forces of the human body so long repressed by the Sys­ tem, but those forces of the mind that found ex­ pression, till then, only in the arts, music, etc., but very seldom in common human relation­ ships .

As men loving men, and women loving women, we have learned how to touch other men or women without fear of physical harm. By our touch alone, the one sensation feared the most by so many people under this present System, we will teach all humankind how to approach each other without fear of getting slugged.

This System, so fearful of human non-competi­ tive encounters that It sometimes even refuses to believe in the possibility of homosexuality, can­ not exist forever atop its homophobia. The heav­ ier It sits upon Its lid, the greater Its chances of getting blown to bits.

And who will be there when the System is only dust?

Only those the System rejected as unfit to survive.

liive Czyzin&kA.

SAM CHILD

IntAoduclion: The Vxexrn Cycle PaM I - The Beginning In every community across the nation— for that fact. Che world— there is a young boy in his teens. With no real family or friends, alone and confused. A boy full of Intelligence, far above those around him. More than an adult and yet innocent and naive like a child. On the verge of becoming a man. Different, yet deep in his emotions. Hungry for love, without knowing it. Disgusted with life, hating those around him. Hoping it will all end soon. With some­ thing inside him that makes him go on to survive.

Wliy? He does not know.

And survive he does, and does not realize it.

For he feels too much pain to realize or under­ stand anything he feels. All he knows is that there must be someone who will help him. And yet it seems he never finds that someone.

So it's back to surviving the only way he knows how...he dreams. He turns everything with­ in himself. Not knowing why or what it is, he loves within that dreamworld. That.secret mean­ ing of the fantasy, the key to survival he does not even understand himself.

Workbook/cpf

PoAt. III - The. Ma/ittjAi The ones that do survive the pain, in heart will always be a child, wanting someone to love them as such. As they also want to be loved by a man. They grow older, and find themselves in two societies. One that hates them, the other of men and men alone. But in the society of men. which has long ago put aside love for lust, be­ cause of the society of the world. Rarely do they find that man to make their dream come true.

They live their life alone and empty, tied up in a lustful, loveless world. So with no one to fuliill the love that they possess, they too die and are forgotten. For they had no real reason to live.

PoaX II - The Amkejting PoaX 1f - The Vxeatn ChdLd But then the time comes for each one of these boys to realize that their dream is...love. And when, they realize it, that dream, that fantasy of their dreaiaworld. The one created from their pain. The pain created from society. And the love society has denied them has now turned into the love of their dream. The love of another man.

For many the pain is now doubled because of their love. So they hide their love and face the pain. And in doing so destroy the key to their survival. The dream shattered, and in the end out of despair and loneliness. Because of that child within them, that innocence, they take their own life. Although society cries for them, they are forgotten. And it has no meaning. For no one will ever know the loss of these few, es­ pecially their love. Or what their life could have been.

But out of each generation of these young men, created by society, one has enough love for his dream, that man he knows not. He is the strongest and most determined one of all. Be­ cause he Is the one society has hurt the most.

He is the most intelligent and yet the one with the most childish heart. Society has unwilling­ ly given him the power to survive. For it was the great hurt that made his love the strongest.

And before he knows it, while he is still a boy by age, he makes his dream come true. He finds that rare young man from the society of men who has fought the society of the world for the pursuit of love instead of lust. They meet and they love, for now they have truly conquered the society of the world. For the pain of their lii etime has brought them together. To stand out against the rest...alone!

Youth Alternatives/cpf The innocence of the heart, the intelligence of the mind- has made his dream come true. For he is the child of all ages. One made from so­ ciety, the society of the world. And now that the child and his love, his dream, is finally ful­ filled. That he and his lover have found one an­ other and live in their happiness together. The society of the world cries out against it, for it is sinful and evil they say. And try to destroy it. And even the society of men, of which they are part, seek to destroy it with their lust.

But they shall not destroy it, for they have survived everything of both societies and have become the sole owners to the key of survival... which is love!

They have no hate for them, just pity. Be­ cause they are nothing but heartless souls who know not the happiness of love. And in time they will be forgotten, for only love survives!

This is the paradox of life, the love of two men. A love that survived all, even time. This is their story, the child of a dream for love and the man of a fighting will for love. Together their love will be eternal. For it will survive even the destruction of society itself!

And now that you've read the Cycle, I'd like to dedicate it to Stella Mifsud. One of the dream children of the last generation who survived.

And has encouraged and enlightened me to continue this story. For 1 feel it belongs to us all. It is part of our heritage and the world should know it!

5. Michael Amitxong- Rei.d

\

ho\\ to make baskets and mats out of baling twine when i first moved to this farm three years ago i found a large pile of old baling twine out in the barn, it was all in about six foot leng­ ths, dry and in excellent condition, i figured there were probably some neat ways to use it, but i couldn't settle on anything that i really want­ ed to do with it till i read an article on coil basketry and it seems so simple. the only thing i needed besides the twine was a needle, i look­ ed around to buy a needle, but couldn't find one with an eye large enough to thread baling twine thru, so i carved one out of wood, i'm not par­ ticularly handy at carving things, but this was pretty simple and i enjoyed doing it. this is the size of my needle.

Adding Twine when you've got about eight inches of weft lett, it's time to add more, do this by simply laying another strand of twine in as if i t were part of the core, wrapping over it until it's secure. then unthraad your needle from the old weft and use the new strand as the new weft, wrap over the remaining bit of -he o r ig in a l ’weft as if it were part of the to add more strands to the core just r strand in an inch or so before the ole ■ins out. it's very simple and it makes ong basket.

Ending th e B asket for me this is the n It part to do gracefully, clip the str i core so that they make a taper (like y the very be­ ginning), at this point it _______ x hest _ if you have « an extra needle to use, or a toothbrush handle will work, wind the weft very tightly around the core and the new needle and continue with the stitch until you reach the end of the core, unthread your needle and thread the extra needle and pull it back thru the winds that are around it and then clip It.

© p H a h 4 ul Cu drl11 the eye_h0le first. i show ed a neighbor how to make these baskets and she broke her wooden needle whilst in the middle of making a basket, having "basket fever" she im­ mediately went and broke the bristle part off her toothbrush and sharpened the broken end and that worked fine, so if you've got an old toothbrush lying around, you've practically got a needle al­ ready made.

1 can't emphasize enough how easy these baskets are to make! the process is very satisfying be­ cause the work progresses so quickly and mistakes just seem to practically hide themselves, the baskets are eminently usable and super durable— just don't let them stay damp, a door mat was one oi the tirat things i made, and tho it's been in use constantly for three years it doesn't show any sign Of wear, baskets always seem to be the perfect gift, uaable and beautiful. if you want to find out more about basketry here's three real nice books:

Starting the Basket 1 usually use three strands of twine for the core (any amount can be used). these should be arranged to have a slight tapered effect .•"'"thread” your needle with another strand of twine, this strand will be called the weft, using the un­ threaded end of the weft, begin to wind the weft around the core, starting two or three inches rom the end of the taper and working toward the taper, the first wind of the weft should be crossed over itself to hold it firm, continue winding to one or one-half inch from the end of the taper, bend the core and continue winding the weft over both cores, you have now made a very tight loop, push your needle thru the cen­ ter of the loop (111. #1). bend the core to make a coil and bring the weft up behind the coil and wrap the coil three more times (111. #2). then push the needle thru the center of the loop again, tnen wrap the coil three more times, then thru the center again, continue doing this keeDine the basket very tight, when you8 begin’ the ^ r d coil, don t go back to the center anymore. Iny° ^ needle beneath the next inside coil Ull. if 3 ) . continue doing this until you've made the bottom of the basket as large as you want it to be. now start putting the new core on top rather than beside the last coil, this can be done gradually or all at once depending on the shape you want. y

A ModeAn Approach to BaiketA y, Dona Meilach, Crown Pub., $4.95. paper

clanenee m glebent

NcbtuAal BcukeXAy

Carol and Dan Hart, Watson-Guptill, $6.95, paper

Backed* and Beyond Coutts, Watson-Guptill, ??, hardbound

......................... i i f t m m

PoputaA Culture and Pop Gum>

Poem One, 10/18/1978 Somewhere around 1976, with the

Ton. Jach&on

Buy- Centennial--

\ou said you liked my poems.

No stranger ever told me that in a bar before.

And your eyes.

Were they just faking, not really there, imperious stars shining above nightshade of skin?

Are all poetry lovers half insane?

The 1970s fell over dead for the lack of interest.

We are now in the late 80s.

1984 has already come and gone.....

1984— We all missed you...... you didn't miss Ui........

The Demos and the Repubs want to delegate in 1980_ Who's to tell them they're 10 years too late— ?— Not me!

And what clouded over great gaps between us when too much sun baked dry the rolling landscape of our tongues?

Love, are all poetry lovers half insane?

The sky could rain nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives for a million years and still I'd never know: Are all poetry lovers half insane?

Steve Abbott

Knowing we're in the 90s is our trump card, and-Getting a slim deck to start with, this only seems fair— (TO KNOW WHAT WE KNOW AND NOT TELL THEM IS A TERRORIST WEAPON.)

Vimid

W|*

rop! goes the weasel spraying semen over the breakfast sugar pops— a famous event to be celebrated in our star-spangled periodicals-(our first-rate mags are on the rag, such bloody news they've spilt and spill.)

Ves, tell us, mouth of the masses, Who’s fucking whom and who's fucking with us?

8tralgJt (no’ tel1 us 9ueer) and tell us true, rrint for us the news storv of the year Print the truth.

Stevie Bnyant

Pom to an Unnamed Fk'iJ If ever a kid smacked of Ganymede this boy did— someone to be picked up in a field, not a bar.

His chin chiseled in fresh air, his sweat gleaming starlike & not dripping in glass of Southern Comfort either; in short, I knew at once this boy was not for me.

[CcwX bating th e uioAd)

Still, I gazed (he stood alone) as longing over ancient etchings of Greek art.

"I want a heart," his eyes blinked sadly.

"I want a home."

HI6 eyes? Maybe they were mine. (at 2 am eyes so mixed up swimming up in mirrors restless unsent Valentines).

Autumn Motoring fluster-lapped ivory sky-light spun etched light of haze liquid yellow spark bare branched red 1 imbed still trees in smoke moist air and earth mold whitened damp mushrooms blowing up leaves go crisp like burnt paper underfoot...

Bare branch points upcreek with dry vines carelessly hung on open blue sky. ?Who's been here?

Kedbi rd!

Over old rocks the water murmurs: follow my length so far not to go back The branch of a tree The branch of the creek is black division

Alone I wasn't god enough, or man, to risk just reaching for his hand and so we stood, lone friezes on a vase, longing, if anyone cared, lingering...

barely noticed, a dream floats bye an angel glides downwind.

Light's failing falling so deep you cant see the bottom too moving to assume any shape

and yet, even now I cannot forget his face.

For Us

Vavld SunseM

5 O 'clock Pom How to make a poem out of an afternoon's slice of sun, old shoes slipped off into a room's still life of furniture, dust?

How to make an easy poem running like a siren down La Brea or 3rd Street can't really tell from here: old ambulance-chaser pencil jotting long after the sound is gone.

How to make a poem fresh and alive as salt — too much talk not enough soul: ah, that's the goal, a cry from the heart for the world held in a teardrop salty on a child's cheek:

________________ For us who are unable to weep or who don't want to weep or who have no time to weep or who have forgotten how or haven't the heart to weep the rain weeps.

For us.

Contest Magician's wardrobe tight container ribbon-bound gift, adult fashion.

Still flashing bird tall grass, thoughts like glass balls dropped in water.

Magician's drink clear, full draught: clowns incite all elements to riot.

Enter many distinct particles dancing briskly 1C. carry each item feeling the weight of itself only, small solid pieces fit tediously into place.

I'm not meek, but like a hard-to-be man 1 must speak.

Flat orange slice cut into sections: medallion.

VENUS was above the moon completing the crescent like the Turkish flag the evening I knew for sure Slept alone on the floor in sleeping bag with the dark and a face and those rainbows as I came in living colors wet dream then woke

U h ian Sun In Mi/ Ei/c Frismic eye holds closely 1ingered night dispels force gives sight magnified as burning blossom glints in iris poised needle-like sapped in radiation cleared by colors by crystal glass cut to transpire rainbowed cornea to let white... to flower spectrum., to beam hard a long thin lucid light.

astral travel is fine but for now at least Oh, I want my lovers in person AUacbres (7972)

Sw eet SpldeAboy

this searing slices mind.

3 Em

Paved Sunse/U

Not .like a flower you are beautiful, not like a statue.

When 1 see you naked to the sunset, I’m walking hungry at night the Copenhagen shops all closed each with a sample out front for sale by machine, walking past rows of dubious offerings, and then a single

so large and ripe 1 cradled it in both my hands never caring that all my diligence could not suck up all the juice; licking my fingers all the way home.

Gary LampeAt

Meeting at sunset in the thicket by the canal I wouldn't smoke your grass so you kissed me and got me high. in the cold mountain cabin I cried when I came; in the morning you went to work in the forest with your dumbfounded ranger roommates and i went home.

I’m a digression in the tables of your history, a relic.

But I still see you smiling hanging by your knees from a swing blond hair blowing in the sunset.

Do you know that you can't forgive me, that I still get hard when we meet?

Gary Lamport To Robbie They found each other cute, They said almost at once.

Is it only passing admiration that two men should find one another cute?

Is it too much to hope that they should dare proceed beyond an introduction, this odd fellow, funnily suited, that quick, handsomelad, the girl's bestfriend?

Is it that two quick, too bright boys best not see too much of one another?

Is it?

S tev ie Buoyant

Steve Abbott

____________

Tom Bltccke

For your eyes That smile across for me And span any space That know my pain That hail crystal pebbles From great azure orbs That take one more look at me— And gleam

Vavc Bayant

©

witchcraft and the gay counterculture:

by Arthur Evans $5.50 from Fag Rag Books Box 331, Kenmore Station, Boston, MA 02215

book review

We are taking flight on the wings of Libera­ This is the conclusion of W ltchcA ait and th e Gay CcunteAcultuAe by Arthur Evans, the first publication of Fag Rag Books. This attractive and quite readable paperbound book traces the threads of gay sexuality and culture through the tapestry of the planet's societal evolution. Liv ing today in a predominantly urban society large­ ly dominated by repressive churches and politicomilitary institutions, we lose sight of what hu­ man life was like in other times and places. The hiA-storians of the European rational tradition have repeatedly purged the written record, just as the armies have pillaged and burned, elimina­ ting (favorable) mention of Goddess-worship or "paganism" and its accompanying gay aspects.

While I have never studied much "Religion," different worship patterns awaken very deep feel­ ings within me. W itchcA alt and th e Gay CounttACultuAe helps to sort out these feelings in re­ gard to various aspects and manifestations of Mother worship throughout time/space.

In this book, well-documented explanations of events, people and cultures are linked together and anal­ yzed to illustrated the rise of male gods and ur­ ban civilization, and the accompanying demise or destruction of nature-worshiping "primitive" folk. We have accepted straight explanations of these happenings for so long that they frequent­ ly stand unquestioned. Some of the events and phenomena which Evans covers are Joan of Arc (and her faggot companion, Gilles de Rais), European matriarchial cultures from the Stone Age through the witchhunts, sex and class warfare in ancient Greece, various heresies (Gnosticism, Massalianism, the Bogomils, Cathars, etc.), medieval witch craft, Third World sex magic, and U.S. imperial­ ist!!.

The explanation of Native American shaman­ ism and its links to homosexuality should be of particular interest to us. Just as the European peoples have lost touch with the old religions, so have most contemporary Native Americans for­ gotten or denied these aspects of their cultures.

Several early white explorers recorded Indian customs in regard to homosexuality, Evans notes.

Effeminate men and transvestites, called beAdacheA, occupied established roles of honor in Native American life and were viewed with a kind of religious awe. Quoting from the book: "For a man to dress in the clothing of a woman was not considered disgraceful in a culture (unlike

to spawn industrialism across the planet among peoples who never needed it before. "The whole industrial system is like one great night of the living dead, where the entire populace has been reduced emotionally to the level of zombies. It has deadened us to our environment, deprived us of art, sterilized our animal nature, robbed us of the skills of survival, degraded our labor and leisure, and decimated our sexual lives.

And so it has made us the living dead— dead to nature, dead to each other, dead to ourselves."

The final chapter outlines a vision of the future even more fantastic than the phenomenal glimpses into the past we have been given. "If we are ever to rise up from the dead and regain our rightful place in nature,...we will have to summon forth powers that have not been known since the days of the shamans." "Magic and Rev­ olution" will be our watchwords as we come out into the struggle to transform the world around us and reclaim our natural planetary heritage.

tion.

Hopl MotheA EaAth / emeAgence symbol

This is a very up-to-date analysis of cur­ rent political trends and conditions and some timeless wisdom about the relationships between human beings and the other webs of life around us— plants, animals, rocks and mountains. Evans advocates demystification of tvtAy institution of industrialism through collective work to satisfy our needs, replacing industrial tech­ nology with people’s technology. Our new work collectives must be more than functional groups, they must also be nature societies, or covens, which can tap into magic and ritual energies as a means of communicating with the natural world and its beings.

Those of us who undertake this endeavor are creating a genuine Gay culture, one that is free from hatred and oppression of women and sissies. Just like the tree roots which erupt from beneath the city sidewalks, splitting the concrete, the magic earth forces are alive be­ neath the relatively short centuries of violent domination of patriarchial industrialism. Our vision is the creation and growth of "tribal collectives that are held together through shared work, sex and magic...and creation of a post-industrial communist nature-society where Gay culture can flourish free from repression and exploitation.... We are taking flight on the wings of self-determination."

our own) where women held a high status. It's only because men look down on women in our cul­ ture that effeminate-appearing men are ridiculed .... If women were seen as the equals of men, no man would feel threatened by a woman-appear­ ing man." Ritual gay sex was also a part of na­ tive life, and was incorporated into fertility rites.

Gay women also played an important part in tribal life, and Evans suspects that the insti­ tution of the Lesbian warrior was as well estab­ lished among all the North American Indians as it was in ancient Europe. As for the Europeans, "The widespread homosexuality of the North Amer­ ican Indians was given-ps an excuse by the in­ vading Christian whites for their extermination.

Their religious sex rites were taken as proof of their supposed racial inferiority...." Evans goes on to elaborate on sexuality in other early Third World cultures and concludes that the rtt ual worship of sex and nature ("witchcraft") "was once common throughout the world..." and "Gay people of both sexes were looked upon with religious awe."

In a chapter called "Sex Among the Zombies,’ we are informed of the links between male homo-, phobia and the conquest and colonization oftthe American continents. The chronicle of connec­ tions continues into the present, with analysis of Pentagon control over our lives and insi 0 into the obsessive need of our "civilization'

H ilo

For a 30 minute interview/review cassette of Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture by/with Arthur Evans, send $4 to Steve O'Neill, Box 11472, S.F.,CA. 94101.

Faggots aAe abou t 901 wateA, we a ae pAimaAi l y ll u ld caeatuAeA, and th e wateA we d-ilnk and b ath e in a l l e e t s th e way we L iv e oua liv eA . The Moon iA th e p h y s ic a l p lan e A eali t y o l t h e Goddess being in heA w a sh in g /h ea l­ ing cyele(> and ph ases. The moon w ill ecn tln ue to glow long afateA th e t>un goet> o u t ...a n d 6o fitly lad e away endiiig th e centuA xes-long wax./wane; ebb/llow S h e exeAt6 oveA ouA. wateAA ouA bodleA ouA lei'a tio n sh ip s • The majeAty and gAandueA c l th e GoddeA6 who loveA tAusts and AeApectA HeA pet it io n in A e a lity 60 that.

She can be ab6ent. lAom A ea lity I oa peAlod6 o l tim e, out6tAlp6 th e lieA ce mania o l th e eveA beaAlng 6un. A6 a A esu lt we pAeAent to you th e 1979 LunaA calendaA d e d ic a te d to th e Goddess In HeA many gulA eA ...

The moon makes one rotation on her axis each time she revolves around the earth. This cycle is called a sidereal month and takes about 27 eves, 7 hours and 43 minutes, and uses a fixed star as a referent. Since the earth moves around the sun, it takes slightly longer for the moon to return to its position as seen from the earth. This cycle of about 29 eves, 12 hours and 44 minutes is call­ ed a synodic month or lunation.

The New, Full and Half moons are indicated on the calendar. The exact time and date of oc­ currence is given in Eastern Standard Time on the 24 hour clock. Outside of EST use standard time zone conversion; e.g., for Greenwich Mean Time (0°) in the British Isles, add 5 hours; for Pac­ ific Standard Time (120°) in California, subtract 3 hours. Remember to add an hour for Daylight Savings Time.

L U N A R . *79 CALENDAR.

QIa v e V me

and cAeAcent sacAed to the Muon GoddeAS [klinoan g w )

The moon changes her sign/house ever 2-2-1/2 eves. Lunation is the visible cycle of transfor­ mation of the moon. The moon's transits reflect observations of the condition of the collective psyche.

The waxing period from the New moon is a good time to begin ventures.

The Full moon is the apex of vitality— the highest energy time.

The waning period from the Full moon to the New moon is the time to finish projects. Good time to analyze earlier events.

The New moon is the time of rest and peace.

The oldest Irish/Celtlc alphabet, the BethLuis-Nion, takes its name from a series of trees which the letters symbolize. This Druidic lan­ guage is made up of 13 consonants and 5 vowels; the 13 consonants represent the lunar raajik of the trees and the months.

Pagan festivals mark the separation between light and dark, the solstices; of equality, the equinoxes; and the points between, the cross­ quarter days.

KAieA • Cardinal fire: self-assertion. Moa. 21-ApA. 19 TauAuA ’• Fixed earth: home practicality. Ap>i. 20-May 20 Gemini : Mutable air : intercommunications. May 21- Jun. 21 CanceA : Cardinal water: domestic sensitivity. Jun. 22-Jul. 21 -nag. 21 Leo■ Fixed fire: romantic vitality. Ju l. \JiAgo- Mutable earth: survival criticisms. Aug. 22-S ep .22 LlbAa: Cardinal air: harmonious grace. Sep. 23-Oct. 22 SeoAplo : Fixed water: strong business. Oct. 23-Nov. 21 SagittaAluA : Mutable fire: cultural honesty. Nov. 22-Vec. 21 CapAicOAn: Cardinal earth: successful goals. Vec.22-Jan. 20 A quaAluA ’■ Fixed air: queer gaiety. Jan. 21-Feb. 19 Pisces : Mutable water: psychic present. F eb . 20-MaA. 20

Beth— Birch: Dec. 29 - Jan. 28 Luis— Quickbeam: Jan. 29 - Feb. 26 Nion— Ash: Feb. 27 - Mar. 27 Fearn— Alder: Mar. 28 - Apr. 26 Saille— Pussywillow: Apr. 27 - May 25 Oath— Hawthorn: May 26 - Jun. 24 Dulr— Oak: Jun. 25 - Jul. 23 Tinne— Holly: Jul. 24 - Aug. 22 Coll— Hazel: Aug. 23 - Sep. 21 Muln— Vine: Sep. 22 - Oct. 20 Gort — Ivy: Oct. 21 - Nov. 19 Ngetal— Reed: Nov. 20 - Dec. 11 Ruis— Elder: Dec. 12 - Dec. 28

H all th e Rlseng Mocn6 o l R evolu tion ALL HAIL THL MOTHER

Many thanks to The Luna Press, Box 511, Kenmore Station, Boston, MA 02215. The 1979 Lunar Cal­ endar is $6.95 + $1.00 postage and w e ll WOAth I t !

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Friedrich Krupp, gay industrial­ ist, b. 1854

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1898

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LammcU) James Baldwin, b. 1924

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Mercedes de Acosta, lesbian writer, b. 1900

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1483

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Faggots & Friends...

The F a g g o ti 6 Thee* Fa ie n d i Between Revol.Uiti.oni, Written by Larry Mitchell and Illustrated by Ned Asta.

®©@ m

FAGGOT WISDOM Oh, to be a child and have and read the wondrous tales of the faggots as they live their lives in Ramrod, a country ruled by Warren-and-his-fuckpole. The stories are vivid in their exploration There is more to be learned from wearing a dress for a day. than of the homophobia of the society at large; we there is from wearing a suit for a lifetime. struggle to be ourselves in the face of a larger body that denies our lives. The fairy tales are set to us in such a way that we are developing our own mythology from out of the stories of the boys.

We are given a varied tapestry of characters and events to occupy our thoughts, and are involved in a joyous celebration of the lives of our sis­ ters and brothers.

DC

South Louisiana Is noted for its cuisine. This cuisine results from three basic and inseperable elements: 1) the cuisine of the Creole culture (Creole is a mixture of French, Spanish and African-Carribbean cultures of New Orleans which have flourished for over 200 years.)

2) the cuisine of the Cajun culture (Cajun is a mixture of the cultures of the Acadians; FrenchCanadians who were exiled by the British from Canada, who then settled in the bayou country of south Louisiana 200 years ago; and the Indian natives of the bayou country.

3) the land and sea of south Louisiana. The abundance of game from the bayous, swamps, and sea; and the subtropical climate, ideal for year round agriculture, provided the above peoples with the foods that their cuisines and cultures developed around.

And so, here are three of my favorite recipes and the favorites of my Creole family.

A(v in o Vitla A o u b ia LaC oite HaMtcoti Rouge avec Riz ( xedbeans and 'idee) Ingredients: 2 lbs. red beans 5 quarts water

3 large onions, sliced .1 green pepper, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 Tblsp. lard 6 Bay leaves 1 hambone 2 lbs. Andouille (or any smoked sausage) dash of cayenne dash of salt dash of pepper 1 dash each of cayenne, salt and pepper Rinse beans and place In large pot, add water and let soak for 1 or 2 hours. Add lard, gar­ lic, green pepper, onions and cook for 2 hours, stirring occassional 1y . Then add humbone, Andouille, bay leaves and cayenne. Cover and cook to creamy consistency, about 3 hours. Serve over fluffy long grain rice. French bread is a must when eating red beans. Serves 15.

We are gaily exhorted to change our lives and live for the revolution; challenged to take bold action against the men. We are told that the first rev­ olutions destroyed the cultures of the women. The second revolutions made alot of the people less poor and " a small group of men without color very rich." It is a book of survival; of determination in the face of overwhelming odds. This wonderful book clearly presents the distinctions among our community; there are the faggots, the fairies, the queens (named after the glorious past reign of the women), the dreamboats, the women who love women, the queer men and the Men. "Even weak links in the chain are links in the chain."

What a delight to learn of the lives of characters with names like Moonbeam, Lilac, Pinetree and the many groups of different ones of them living to­ gether in houses on Pansy Path. There are the Tribe of the Rising Sons, the Gay as a Goose Tribe, the Angel Flesh, who all live, work, and interact together. We laugh and feast and joy with the wonderful beings and prepare along with them for the third revolutions - Which will soon engulf us

Home

To oadeti c o p i e i ; ie n d $4 . 0 0 + . 5 0 p o ita g e and handling pen. copy t o : Calamm B ooki, 323 M. Geneva S t ., Ith a c a , N . y . 1 4 8 5 0 .

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fa; f.igyots act nut their fantasies without believing them to be ■ real.

I he men act out their fantasies always proclaiming that they are real.

The faggots' fantasies create play—dressing up and dressing down.

The men's fantasies create responsibilities—going here and doing that.

The faggots' fantasies arc about love and sex and solidarity.

The men's fantasies are about control and domination and winning. fhe faggots move towards the limits of living in the body for thes have known body ecstasy and want to live there with everyone aiw avs.

The men move towards the limits of living among tilings for thev have seen great collections and want to live there alone alw avs.

C alai (avec ca^e au to u t ox cafie n o il) 2 cups cooked fluffy long grain rice 4 whipped eggs 2 cups flour yeast 1/2 cup honey 1/3 cup hot milk with dash vanilla 1 dash each salt and nutmeg Place in bowl and beat until smooth. Drop Tblsp.full into deep hot fat and fry until goldgolden brown. Serve plain or with honey drib­ bled over them. This is especially good with breakfast cafe au lait or with afterdinner cafe noir. Serves 10.

Faggot Faituy faggot fairy, deep with me elusive butterfly of a soul demanding to be set f ree, refusing to be held even to be put beyond the bars of my fear you are beautiful, your jewelry making music hairy chest and pretty cock showing through the soft silk of your flowing gowns

H ia tito n i F oAci [ s t u p e d ru A titon i) Ingredients: 5 mirlitons (vegetable pear) 1/2 cup hambone, finely chopped 10 Tblsp. butter 2 large onions, minced 1/2 green pepper, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 2 cups sliced shrimp, boiled and peeled 2 dashes fresh minced parsley 1 dash each of salt, thyme, pepper 2 bay leaves 2 cups fluffy long grain rice Boil mirlitons until tender, cut in half, scoop out the centers, saving the shells. Place mash­ ed mlrliton centers, onions, green pepper, gar­ lic, shrimp in the pot with melted butter, saute a bit, then add salt, parsley, bay leaves, pep­ per, and rice. Stoner for 1/2 hour, stirring regularly. Stuff the shells with the mixture, sprinkle with bread crumbs, place on baking sheet and bake until brown. Serves 10.

Calamus Books is a group of do-it-yourself Gay people who are eager to publish other books by Gay male and Lesbian writers, which "in our op­ inions, will aid the progressive forces within the gaymale/lesbian movement." They can make no promises (money and time to publish is hard to come by), but are open to receiving manu­ scripts from any of us out here. Two books of poetry are also in the process of being print­ ed .

Two Stanzas 1 Right off, 1 could like him— the way growing up in Texas hadn't burnt the wonder from his heart, and the way his fingers spoke fluently with wrenches.

I said to myself,

I want to know him.

Then I noticed the river of his black hair smooth around his shoulders, his greyhound body susceptible to grace, though he marched it around awkwardly,

t k i i i i how men axe supposed to w alk.

And I noticed the mouth too thin, the arrogant jaw defending his hot brown eyes from all who took a tender notice of his youth.

1(5 1 l i k e him l ' I t lo v e him, 1 said to myself, and he Won't lo v e me.

So I hated him instead.

II My feelings were apricots stuffed in a cupboard to rot and mold and sour.

1 lost who might have been, if not a lover still a friend, and the chance to be a friend-This poem is no apology to you, Jim: though I do repent the hurt I did you, this is a promise to me to savor apricots while they're sweet.

Gary Lamp e a t

you mock me. you laugh a hearty laugh that shows your affection for me and my sad attempts at bringing you out from the depths of my being

but you won't come out. you lurk in my soul. you know i 'm too uptight too controlled to really let the faggot fairy out. so you stay with me, tormenting my stilted self with your joyful gay abandon. faggot fairy, deep with me mystical, magical elusive butterfly you won't let go of me your joy and spirit captivate me draw me towards you but chains of self-doubt and insecurity hold me back i can't embrace you . . . yet.

Ankha Shamin

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Vietnam Era War Veterans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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the in-sane!!!!!

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"At this point in time . . ."

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it's becoming all too Queer (Clear) for me!

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Now they're back— crazed to a high sanity....

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1972

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1974

WE HAVE THE NEW, THE SAME RICHARD NIXON—

&ient Ingram

"You won't have me to kick around anymore."

T^e beautiful vibrant earth is our Mother and we feel good with her, but our security is false— below the surface lie arsenals of nuclear over­ kill— barely contained vats of radioactive poi­ son. Radioactivity is the a t t i m t e . pollution!

Plutonium must be kept separate from the bio­ sphere for at least a quarter of a million years if newkiller power and newkiller weapons are not stopped— soon— human beings will not survive on the planet, and neither will the plants and ani­ mals .

This earth deserves to be saved— not for "our" children (as some of the anti-newkiller rhetoric says), but for herself. This is not "our" earth either. We belong to the earth, not the other way around. Inform yourself. The more we know about newkiller power— the more we are equip­ ped with the horrifying and insane facts— the bet­ ter we will be able to stop the rush toward a radioactive future. If you feel secure, you are living in a myth! Imagine mutation and desola­ tion in place of the lush, fecund life all around us. We are living on the hair edge of that un­ thinkable reality.

For more facts and info, read ^uctzaji Maan&ii by Dr. Helen Caldecott.

"Four more years!!"

1960

1972

o TJ

"Me and Checkers and Pat and the girls are at your command-Oh, no— I meant to say, command-ment to say— Service."

1984 Serve a little of the same old stuff, heated up.

They ate it last time, they consumed it last time, they burned it last time---HEH!!!! cast time WE was It!!! consumed LAST TIME!!!!

Again it's our time!!

We was what they burned-ate-

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They haven't learned yet!!!!

Maybe, maybe GALA— Earth-Being-Entity/Single-Cell-Organism Knows what she .is doing--Given us the NEW-CLEAR EXPLOSION A cancer— a rapid noroal/abnormal growth of cells!

Mushrooming the shroom shapes out Into the galaxy, off this plane-t to end this experiment.

Maybe w e ’ll learn the lesson this time!

PerrudfHouL&a

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Growlag up gay was no trauma for me. Being gay has always been overshadowed by the much greater struggle of living with a physical handi­ cap. I ’ve had muscular dystrophy all my life and have always been disabled to some degree.

I gradually got to the point where I needed a wheelchair by the time I was twenty-two. I ’m twenty-seven now. It’s been a much different ex­ perience for me than for other gays, mainly be­ cause society has few or no expectations of the physically disabled as far as sex goes. For ex­ ample, no one expects me to "ball chicks" or get married and have a family, etc. In fact, some people, gays included, don't think of me as a sexual parson at all, I am! I was sexually ac­ tive with other boys when I was ten and eleven years old and then not again until I was eight­ een .

My high school years were spent alone study­ ing piano with great emotion and hours of dili­ gent practice. That was my whole purpose in life until my condition got the best of my arm muscles and 1 had to give it up. Having to give up my music was one of the hardest things that I've ever had to do, but at least I'm thankful I haven't gone deaf.

Life goes on. I enjoy life so much and 1 love every minute that passes, the sorrow, the joy, everything has meaning. 1 don't let my un­ fortunate situation interfere with my "social" life. People tend to respect me and love me when they realize that I don't let my condition stand in the way with my ability to relate to people and to love.

I've never felt oppressed because I'm gay, but rather because I'm disabled, and I might add, most of that oppression comes from other gay peo­ ple. I guess everyone is oppressed or discrim­ inated against for some reason or other at some time or another. But I can handle it because there aAe guys who find me attractive, so I can't really generalize how people feel towards me and I don't really want to.

(I don't like categories for anyone.) As long as 1 don't let my situation bother me it doesn't seem to bother anyone else and 1 am accepted.

I've had a variety of wonder­ ful experiences with a number of people, some of whom were extremely beautiful physically and who were exceptionally beautiful as people too. I sure don't seem to have trouble attracting "good" friends.

I have found a comfortable place for myself in the gay world. I live off Uncle Sam and my family, dividing my time between the country with my mother and the city with a dear friend.

I love the pastoral scene in Indiana where I have time to reflect and get to some reading and writ­ ing, but all my social life seems to be in the city with all my gay friends.

1 have the best of both worlds you could say.

Ln short what I'm saying is that I'm not hassled for being a queer. Somehow I'm forgiven.

Why isn’t everyone?

(My Mom says there's nothing to forgive.) I feel free to continually seek out new friends and lovers. My passions just escape my heart and reach out to embrace others. 1 hope I have reached the. RFD readers.

I invite letters from any of you folks out there!

CONTACT L E T T E R S

Dear Friends, Here 1 sit, in ray comfortable San Francisco flat...the classical radio station has just air­ ed a "No on 6" commercial, and in doing so has provided me with a subject by which to start this letter.

(Writing to people you've never met can be awkward— "How do I begin?" "What should I say first?").

My parents named me James, but my close friends call me Bambi. 1 am 30 years old, going on 17 (12?). I moved to the west coast from Bos­ ton a little over a year ago, and have been think­ ing aZot about moving again, this time to the "country," where I may teach.

For the last ten years I've talked about moving to the country "someday." I've never spent more than a year outside a city in those ten years (one glorious year on Cape Cod), but have sampled different lifestyles in Boston, L.A., New York, and San Francisco.

I moved here from Cape Cod because the man I was living with wanted to come here (when will I learn to think for myself? Perhaps today...). It didn't take long for the novelty of San Francisco's "gay scene" to wear off; then I was faced with the dilemma of finding a job in this huge "amusement park" (which is what this city reminds me of).

As cities go this one is one of the better ones I've lived in, but it is still a city.

There's too much noise, too many cars, too many crowded mini-buses, and too many mannequins

where there should be thinking/feeling people.

In short, I am turned off by "gay mecca." I want to move out of the city— at least for a while.

I am alone," meaning I have no romantic/ physical ties. I haven't had a so-called "lover" in over four years, and I think I do a fairly good job of dealing with my loneliness. All of which leads me to think that I am strong enough to attempt to break the conditioning ties which have kept me living in cities for so long.

1 will be laid-off from my job as a "dres­ ser" at the San Francisco Opera just before New Year's. By then I hope to buy a secondhand ve­ hicle of some kind which will give me the mobil­ ity to move. At that time I intend to head to­ wards the foothills of the Sierra's, say around Placerville, CA. I do not want to move into a collective immediately as I am living with six other men now and am looking forward to being "very alone" for a while.

However, I would like to know other gay peo­ ple (men and women) who live in the same neck-ofthe-woods, which is why I am writing to you. I do not know a soul in the Placerville area, but 1 thought that you might. I did some camping last summer in the Eldorado National Forest (do you know it?) and fell in love with the land­ scape. Since then I've wanted to go back to that area and stay for a while.

I am not concerned about employment as I will be able to collect a fairly good amount of unemployment starting in January. My hope is that the unemployment will carry me over until I can make connections for some kind of work. Also, I am certified as an elementary-level teacher, so I may look into the possibilities of setting up some kind of alterna­ tive day school for young kids.

I've been told of a group called Eldorado Faggot Fanners which is comprised of gay people who live in the general vicinity of Placerville.

Have you heard of them? Do you know how I could reach them? I would very much like to make some connections with other gay people before I move out there, especially since they might be able to help me find a comfortable living‘situation. I am sufficiently attracted to that part of the country that 1 will probably go ahead and move there whether or not I know any one out there ahead of time, but if you can help me connect with people first I will be most grateful. Also, I would be most eager to hear any advice you can share with me. Do you think I'm crazy to just go ahead and move? I feel philosophical about it— nothing ventured, nothing gained!

A friend, who used to live in Portland, turned me on to your magazine when I told him I was thinking of becoming a rural faggot. He has lent me a half-dozen back issues to peruse.

I was so excited to know that there are "organized" country faggots, and thus I have come to write to you— for help, and to encourage you to keep up your efforts. Forgive me for sounding sophomoric, but I'm sure there are many of us faggots who are grateful for your Really Fine Deeds! I hope you can help me— I look forward to hearing from you.

In brotherly love,

r f r ~ 1-X.' jji

BambZ StAangefiauZZ aka

Jim AA&enauZt 1909 Page S t r e e t San FaanciAco, CA 94117

fUchaAd Caption 2494 hi. Gnand 1level Ave. O km oi, MI 48864

2- WheAe do a n g eti come, ^aom?

A. F cuAieA making l o v e . . .

Loving Vou Hello my love, we're a few more feet in time I don't know your ways, you're unaware of mine.

But still I feel a love for you; one that's made of time.

Oh my man I feel you still, you're a part of all I do.

And so I'll leave a midnite spot, for you here in my heart.

For loving you comes easily, so far down this line.

And when some day we meet again, and you take me in your arms My mind will soar, in misty times, and cry for yours and mine.

So in this midnite spot you got, love me in your way.

Because loving you comes easily, so far down this line.

Buddy

AfateA th e Act I search tonight for some presence of you, some clue, indicative of your being here: the wanton pleading of a telephone, the crunch of gravels from the drive, a flicker of a lighted cigarette, bearing truth from the patio door.

Some signal, however slight that you are near.

I could not be so foolish as to hope, You bear no truth for any man, You feel nothing, You carry joy to no one, save those moments you show your face, and that hideous smile, God, that smile, it cuts too deep, briefly, until being here becomes too much, I am happy, severely depressed, absorbed in your being.

Damn you, messenger of hell, Could I offer you more, Lord Good God 1 would Happy and hoping.

Were you to find a truth would you relay this finding, Must Polaris be the only guide, Would you find your way?

I am open and giving alms, praying for you, forgetting my own thoughts, Man devil, Demon of hell , I am shackled here, factotum to your mood.

I am prostituting myself, Release me, Love me.

Randy SmaZZwocd

announcements WA L L S

TO

w kbcou

Nanny Goat Productions (I love that name!) sells all of the winsains "underground” comic books that have come out in the last several years, as well as a few others written by men which have redeem­ ing social value. The best one I ’ve ever seen is "Dynamite Damsels," about four vitamin who come out and come together in the Lesbian scene in L.A. Very moving and humorous.

It costs $1.00 plus 35p postage & handling for each copy.

(You must also state you are over 21; that is the age­ ist law.) Anyway, the address is:

R O S E S

The Walls to Roses Music Collective is proud to announce the completion of their first album.

They are a collective of seventeen men who have come together from across the nation and combined energies with six women to create a record which supports the struggle against sexism in its broad­ est sense and strives for a more positive vision of masculinity. Copies of W alls to R oses: Songs 0$ Changing Men are $5.30 each and can be ordered by writing to: 20 Highland Ave., Apt. 3, Cambridge, Mass. 02139.

HOT

Manny Goat PAcducXions P.Q. Box 845 Laguna Beach CA 92652

Since C? c? have had more access to $$ 6 power in the Patriarchy, we w wood need yr extra cash now and use it for Matriarchal slide shows, pri­ son music, healing work (including financing of a medicine kitchen), and wimmine' theater. These projects need funding besides basic essentials we are lacking, such as a wood cookstove, ringer washer, and hot water heater. Thank you.

As the struggle continues,

Rt. 2 Bex 183, \{,ton, UA 22920.

To OuAselves Qua S oha Qua F a th e r s , a collection of short films showing men playing, working, im­ agining, loving, dancing, singing, reflecting, aging, miming, and creating. The film explores our need for Love, Brotherhood, and Compassion in our struggle to embrace Ourselves and return to Others. For rental information contact:

Mayce Thomey P .0. Box 133 fays CAeek, OR 97429

M ichael C hait P .0. Box 1959 Gxand CentAal S ta tio n New Voxk, NY 10017 (2/2) 636-0066

FEMI MARV FminaAy, one of the oldest surviving feminist publications in the South, announces a shift in focus from a local feminist magazine to a lesbian feminist journal for the South. "We want to hear Southern lesbians tell the stories of women in the South...we are committed to working on issues of race...we want to encour­ age feminist and lesbian organizing in a region whose women suffer greatly in their lack of political power."

FminaAy is published 3 times a year. Sub­ scriptions are $5/yr. for individuals; $10/yr. for institutions. Address all correspondence to F minaAy, P.0. Box 954, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. <• •> <■•>

SEG0 4 In the planning stages is the Fourth Annual South­ eastern Conference of Lesbians and Gay Men to be held in the Spring of 1979. Anyone interested in helping in any way or wanting more information should write: SEGC4, Box 39, Carolina Union 065A, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

For a year's subscription to Changing Men send $5 to Men's Resource Center, 3534 S.E. Main St., Portland, OR 97214 (503) 235-3433.

SPONGES

Kuan-tzu, 4th cent.uAy 8 .C ., China Contact: BMC, Box 24060, Washington, D.C., 20024

Area Men's Resource Catalog. This 40-page journ­ al for men against sexism is now available by mall order from the Bay Area Men's Resource Cata­ log, Box 6072, San Francisco, CA 94101. The price is $1.50, postage 6 handling included.

The new Bookmarks (#2) describes over 100 new and little-known books about:

Sexual Politics Nukes • The Left The Third World Socialism & Anarchism ... and more Look for it in all radical and feminist bookstores, or send $1 for two copies to Carrier Pigeon, 88 Fisher Ave., Boston, Mass. 02120.

MenstAual (Sea) Sponger *

f

1-4 Sponges, $1,25 p*r

sponge postpaid. Unless prepaid, all first ord­ ers will be sent COD. Order directly from: WIMMIN TAKE BACK CONTROL, P.O.Box 30063, New Orleans, La. 70190. Write for ordering and credit inform­ ation.

UtAaZ AmeAica is a nonprofit membership organiza­ tion set up to give people in rural areas and small towns a stronger voice in Washington. Our membership is made up of concerned and active peo­ ple who share a common sense of the richness, vi­ tality, and diversity of rural America; people who recognize the economic and social needs of rural people; and people who have come to the be­ lief that, collectively, we can significantly im­ prove the lives of rural Americans and all citi­ zens. Our main goal is to assure equity in the formulation and implementation of public policies and programs. We also serve as a national clear­ inghouse for information and services to indivi­ duals and groups. Contact:

Nov.

The voters of Miami defeated 58% to 42% an ordinance which would have provided full and equal opportunity for employment, public accomo­ dations and housing without discrimination or segregation on grounds of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, sex, physical handicaps, place of birth, creed, affectional and sexual preferences, matriculation, politic­ al affiliation, native or familial language, source of Income, past or present military ser­ vice, or membership in trade unions, organiza­ tions or associations.

In California, Proposition 6, the anti-Gay, anti-teacher Briggs Initiative, lost 58.5% to 42.5%. Thank Goddess!!!

However, Proposi­ tion 7, a draconian death penalty measure pro­ posed by the same Briggs, was approved. In an Ironic twist, the right-wing former supervisor White, accused of the murders of Mayor Moscone and Gay supervisor Harvey Milk, will face the death penalty under the provisions of an initia­ tive he probably voted for.

In further news on the electoral front, the people voting in Seattle defeated an anti-Gay initiative (013) by a two-to-on* margin. A Mon­ tana ballot Initiative was adopted which In ef­ fect outlaws nude.it development la that state.

Overall, election result* were mixed as tar »a Cays ware concerned. At least Phyllis Schlafly's friend, Alex Seilh, was defeated in his bid to oust ageing Republican boy wonder Chuck Percy from the Senate in Illinois.

The General Welfare Committee of the New York City Council voted, six to three, not to send intro. 384 to the full council. Tills pro­ posed Gay Rights measure has been repeatedly turned down. Oh well. »

The Lesbian Mothers National Defense Fund is a group of women organizing to win child-custody cases. Anyone interested in contacting them can by writing LMNDF, Box 21567, Seattle, WA 98111 (206) 325-2643. Membership in LMNDF, which in­ cludes a newsletter, Mom's Apple Pie, is $5/y*«r.

Donations of any size are welcome and tax deduc­ table .

If you are thinking a year ahead, sow seed.

If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree.

If you are thinking one hundred years ahead, educate the people.

F utuAe HistOALJ, the second edition of the Bay

ELECTION BRIEFS—

SoncjA 0 F iA e- songs of a Lesbian Anarchist.

By Kathy Fire. Flute & piano improvisation

by Mojo; sound by Marilyn Ries. To order: send $6 to, Fireworks c/o 4494 Arch St., San Diego, CA 92116

The Brethren/Mennonite Council for Gay Concerns (BMC) has published issue If2 of ViaZogue, their newsletter.

It explores(attitudes and policies of their church to homosexuality and the gay com­ munity, and contains the following poem:

Tcaalj HeZbing Gay TheateA AZ lian ce 51 W. 4th S t. fbom 300 New YoAk, Ny 10012

The October 1978 issue of The Body P oliX ic, a Canadian gay paper, reported that a pro-Chinese information magazine has devoted an article to the current Chinese view of homosexuality. An American physician and former resident of China discussed the question of homosexuality with five Chinese medical and legal experts.

According to the article, the Chinese view gayness with "considerable tolerance." Quoting further, "people feel that a person should be measured not by his {sic] sexual preferences, but by his 'contribution to the building of soc­ ialism.'" There are no laws in China against homosexual behavior, nor do Chinese doctors and scientists consider homosexuality a medical prob­ lem.

The article concluded by stating that the present Chinese policy is to "mobilize all posi­ tive factors and unite all who can be united to modernize the country and to build socialism.

Homosexuals, where they exist, are considered part of the forces necessary to unite for this task."

read this!!

MUL C H

Hot Mulch is an organic herb growing collective in the Blue Ridge Mts. on Shannon Farm. We want to add 4 or 5 people with green thumbs. Gay and bisexual people are invited to share with us, in the garden and out. Write Chuck H a ll, CxaztJ OloZ,

A group of gay women and men has formed to "fos­ ter and promote the development of gay theater.

The Alliance is open to all people who seek to expand awareness and understanding of gay life­ styles through theater." Plans are under way for a newsletter, regional and eventually national/ international meetings. Northeast contact:

ix w keco m i xwk e c omj x p v k e c om ix vyke

S ubscription F orm (r

VuaoZ AmeAica 1346 C on n ecticu t Ave. MW W ashington, t.C . 20036

RFD Is published four times a year by RFD, Rt. 1, Box 92E, Efland, N.C., 27243. Second class post­ age paid at Efland, N.C., 27243. Copyright C RFD 1978. RFD is a non-profit corporation. Donations tax deductible.

Q$6/year, 2nd class Q$8/year, 1st class (j$7/year, Canada and abroad QFree-Prisoners' Subscription Q$10/year, Institutions Q$15/year, Sustaining Bookstores and distributors receive a 40 and 48% discount.respectively, with full credit for complete copies returned.

NAME____________________________________________ _ STREET/BOX

_________ ________________________

TOWN________________

STATE___________ZIP

In the 1960#, the CIA began paying the Meo tribe to work in the Army and provided protec­ tion for opium caravan# from Laos to Viet Nam. A# a result, approximately 252 of the U.S. sold­ iers became addicted and came home with $200/dey habit#.

(Curiously, 252 of the current Federal prison population i» Vietnam war era veterans.)

People who speak out against the government's perpetuation of drug addiction are prosecuted and sent to prison. Jon Wildes, who stood trial in Lexington, Ky., is one such person. He was the director of Matrix, a therapeutic community of ex-addicts at the Lexington Center. Matrix achie­ ved an 652 cure rate before it was destroyed by the Federal government on March 16, 1972.

After four years of harassment and terror, Jon Staten Wildes, Federal Political Prisoner If 20912, has been placed in a position of being murdered by other inmates. The officials have placed him in situations where he has been as­ saulted, tortured and raped on several occasions.

Please write President James Carter (Wash­ ington, D.C. 20500) asking for Executive Clemency for Jon Staten Wildes. Send a carbon to:

PRISON PAGE......

PRISON RAGE Dear RFD, I am a 25-year-old gay federal prisoner who would like a subscription to RFD. Being a pri­ soner, I am indigent, and I want you to know out front that it is impossible for me to afford a subscription.

My second reason for writing is to connect with pen pals. It gets kind of lonely in this madhouse without having some people to correspond with.

I appreciate your time and energy and I hope that you will consider my letter and help me find some pen pals.

Sincerely, Laayience li b a l c k

Jon (lUld&& Fandom Comu.ttze.

Suburban Bank Bu.ildirtg Suite. 330 800 E. NohtJwej>t Hu)y.

P a la t in e , 1L 6006 7 Dear KJFi), i received your card explaining that this in­ stitution rejected the current RFD. It's really been « long time since I. have seen a copy of RFD. For a while I had several old Issues that I had obtained before the federal ban was completely enforced, but these have long ago been passed along to other convicts I've met along the way.

I miss RFD--but knowing it still exists for so many is very encouraging.

1 am In dire need of contact wiLh people on the outside. I write to perhaps six people regularly and wish I knew more people to begin writing to. This request is more than a request for "pen pals." I find myself de­ teriorating and becoming a non-person and desper­ ately need to form ties and build contacts with caring people on the outside. 1 will appreciate any tiling you cun do.

Love and rage,

21180-115 Box P.W.8.

A tlan ta, GA 30315 Dear Brothers/Sisters, Greetings from the struggle inside.

I am asking you for your most urgent support, and pro­ test of my present situation and wish to thank you for supporting many of us inside prison.

Presently, I have been placed in disciplin­ ary segregation for being gay, and on protection status as a central [undecipherable] case as pur­ suant to being involved with Gay Activist Ernest Valenzuela when he was set-up and murdered four years ago.

The same capitalist oppressors are still trying to set me up, even with 8 months parole date after seven years in federal prison.

1 am in a single cell status, but was forced by offic­ ials to either be placed among a dangerous situa­ tion set-up or be punished for only my records of which they have ignored. I am denied com­ missary, toilet articles, personal property, and denial of rights, privileges as others receive.

P lu s being threatened with transfer to Terre Haute U .S . prison where 1 was assaulted by offi­ cers in July '78.

Jon bU U tA , 20912- 175 Box 34550 Mem pkls, TN 38134 mmm

mmmm

I have several legal actions pending in court that my attorney is pursuing for damages against officials due to mail tampering, assault, placing my life in jeopardy, plus I am a plain­ tiff on suits against the Bureau of Prisons per­ taining to gay publications, and Metropolitan Christian Church. There are several gay brothers in lock-up who have been struggling for our rights as officials are still trying to break the strug­ gle and us. But with your concern, support we will survive and overcome.

I ask that you send protest letters of my treatment and transfer to: Warden Hul R. Hopkins, Memphis F.C.I., Box 34550, Memphis, IN 38134, and to: Norman A. Carlson, Director U.S. Prisons, Washington, D.C. 20530.

As my life and future is involved, I wish to thank you for this support. Any funds for legal and other expenses to help gay brethern/sisters in need can be sent to my attorney. You may con­ tact him for update facts. Mr. Jona Goldschmidt, 828(D) E. Main St., Robinson Center, Carbondale, IL 62901.

Remaining in struggle with you,

John Glbb-i 86976- 132 Box 34550 MejiipU5, F . C . l . , TN 38134

THE CHANGES CONTINUE: V1ANNE F EINSTEIN SAN FRANCISCO'S FIRST WOMAN MAV0R

Athens 'A' News/cpf

A book o f days, a book of hope.

WHILE THERE IS A SOUL IN PRISON O n e 19^9 d e ^ k c a le n d a r is b o th p ra ctica l a nd id e a lis tic : th e W ar Resisters le a g u e ca le n d ar.

M e a su rin g 5V," by 8 V , it has a page fo r each w e e k a nd is h a n d ­ s o m e ly p r o d u c e d w it h m a n y s tr ik in g illu s tra tio n s . Its s p ira l b in d in g enables it to lie flat Hut m u ch m o re im p o rta n t is its te xt, w h ic h is w ritte n by M a rtin L u th e r K ing , R obert L o w e ll. |ud n h M a lm i D a ve D e llin g e r , Rosa L u x e m b u rg , Emma G o ld ­ m an all p riso n e rs at o n e tim e in th e ir lives. The o rd in a ry " p m o n e rs are h e re to o , sp e a kin g to us n o lo n g e r as n u m b e rs b u t as c o h e re n t b e in g s R e m in d in g us that p ris o n itse lf is a c rim e .

H a n d so m e , p ra c tic a l, m o v in g and m o re The 25th ann u a l WRL c a le n d a r in c lu d e s lis t in g s o f p e a ce o rg a n iz a tio n s a n d p e riradicals, im p o rta n t dates in th e h is to ry o f th e m o v e m e n t fo r s o ­ cial change, and a p ris o n re a d in g list.

This is a m e a n in g fu l 1979 cale nd a r fo r y o u a nd an im p o rta n t g ift fo r y o u r frie n d s . S end $1.50 (o r $11 to r to u r co pie s) to W ar Resisters League 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY KM) 12

Yes, Harvey Milk is not a martyr - I believe right now he does not see himself that way. So, what about the coincidence??? - White was the most conservative supervisor. He was strongly against progressive issues.

He was for the Brigg's initiative(s). And the question-Why kill Harvey Milk, too? He had no power over Whites reinstatement. Moscone chose not to re-appoint him. White is the straight white (a White named white), conservative, man feeling the crunch that's coming-down all around him. Harvey Milk is not a martyr. He is a victim. White, too, is a victim - the unconscious actor in Act I, Scene I of the "Coming Revolutions of Quear and Odd­ ly Different People." From out here in AmeriKKKa it all seems like the unconscious acting-out of the "class" warfare that's happening across this continent and world. We people (women, racial and national groups, workers, gay-ones) are tak­ ing our place under the sun, claim­ ing the Rising Moons of Revolution.

I think we as a species are very unconscieus of our Selves...The peop­ le in Guyana are our version of the lemmings mass-suicide It's not a pretty picture - It tells me we are much further along the road than I thought. We haven't much time.

Change, lots of it and far reach­ ing has/is going to HAPPEN NOW!

A MEMORIAL POEM TO MARGAREi MEAD, HARVEY MILK, AND GEORGE MOSCONE

Guyana-910, San Francisco-2, New York City-1 DEATH j

These are the images— brought to Global Consciousness with a

!

SCREECHING j |

j j 1 :

HOWL!!!

Y J l e<zd

fa ike JT{ot?i£r

We are in the 80s-The 60s were SpiritThe 70s were SedateThe 80s are SurvivalWe are in the 80s-It's only a short 20 years till 2000--- A.D.(According to the Christians!!!)

Only a short 20 years— Only a short— Only— Oh!-

asiet

-????

IS THIS THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS???

Vlmld

With an active career spanning over half a cen­ tury, she greatly affected the modern culture's view of itself through comparison with native/ natural peoples around the planet. Through her popular books and articles, she made Anthropology a household word. Raised from the age of eight to observe and record the world around her, she investigated new aspects of human/animal behavior.

Once, speaking to the Washington Press Club, she referred to the apparent increase in homosex­ uality. "We decided we don't want so many child” ren,' she stated. Not wanting to be stodgy, she added that homosexuality is a "perfectly good choice" for some, saying, "I think extreme hetero­ sexuality is a perversion."

Put Cut ricm ca x u a i Blue* Try to change me, Lord, when I've been a lifetime becoming.

Through a thousand day dreams and a clamoring reality humming.

1 can not claim to have an answer, but I have seen a Light Reflecting joy and life, and floating like a dancer.

1 claim to have no answers, but 1 have seen a silver Light Reflecting joy and all of life, and gliding along like a dancer.

And haven't 1 known eyes shining gold like the sun?

Haven't 1 known lovers. Lord, and haven't I been one?

Through a thousand day dreams and a clamoring reality humming, Just try to change me, Lord, when I've been a lifetime

Though many have claimed to know the way, i just couldn't follow.

There was too much myth, and too much structure to swallow.

Becoming.

And I have walked alone always, searching, always for the way 1 knew was mine: My life belongs to me.

c h a e l Maion

For with this cause and that cause all vying for applause, 1 know above all that it's my cause I must believe most in.

There is no other way.

God created me, and God alone: 1 know that as 1 have know this.

These wandering eyes of God look out on a troubled unsatisfied world.

The roar of the wind in the trees...that is God too.

God has no certain dwelling place, so on whose tongue shall he speak?

Claim that it's your tongue: 1 don't mind.

Everything happens for the best.

But in the end won't we see that what is best is what is best For ourselves along with the rest?

So go on and claim it in your power; just put no more walls around my lands, And no more chains upon my hands.

For I have lived for life.

That has been mine.

1 have sought out honesty And taken my own integrity to wife.

the ic ic le s hang in the alA qua b rea th fa e e z e s blue crisp n es s cu-t h e a r tb e a t* ra ce c o ld c o ld wet north wind across immense wateA the e a r ly n ite season s te p s in a fa ll moon and s o l s t i c e f a s t a t Her heels the faA st f r o s t ev erg reen s th r iv e s h in ­ ing L ite. bedecked w ith fa i r ies tars stan din g a p ­ proaching th e w hisper of the cxt e l e oa i t touches th e lo n g estd a rk in rapture in th e c y c le s com­ p le t io n in awe a t the naked b la ck n ess th e depth and the in t e n s ity cf the unknown in fa i t h oa the ciA cle spin s hopefully to th e new l i t e s b irth V ibran t t h i s w in ter in Acadia.

House

And will you condemn me?

Whom then aren't you condemning?

For 1 am not like you, that is true.

But I have been true to myself, at least truer than you.

1 have seen that there is Love, and there is nothing but that love.

You look out on the world like that's your world.

And so that's your world.

Jut that's the one you can't take with you.

Understand this here.

Because you can't take it with you.

Someday perhaps it all will be shown that each one has harvested what each one Has sown.

That each one has held his life to the bone, But that all in the end might be shown outgrown.

And I have held my life in my hands Uncertain sometimes of how to make it grow, for me.

But you see, I stand here with these empty hands and promises Still looking for rainbows to volley in my hands.

I see sad people around me dying, even though they assume they embody life, And all of life itself.

But dying.

Plaguing the fulfillment of empires and exteriors: but Dying.

And though many claimed to'know the way, I just couldn't follow.

Not with all those attitudes and those iron-clad caste moldings to swallow.

And I have walked alone always, searching, always, for the way I knew was mine.

For my life belongs to me.

release the guilt feel the pain gain ourselves trusting love power chances coming material contentment growing working hard getting just what we deserve our birthright to blossom -ill our sweet, dreams realities filled with revolution 'n airy raggot desires.

demolish tlie fears lace the danger well deal with the cards it's our time a time to fold our wings (can you imagine?) sighing land ground clearing isolation evaluation regeneration to storm through influence of the patriarch around and within.

laming Ritual or S truggtefun a t 4 :00 a.m.

the newfounding of an old community a historical context filled with happy anarchy tradition and terror and the cards tell us... increasing power and ability we have yet to own.

of

the forces opposing us are awesome but they don't stand a chance! these brothers anew mountain guerrillas trained with pure thought armed with pure reason able energy creative turning it all around!

\KMUqHT

S t e l l a Uifsud hard pioneering and waiting concerned but the green the apples and lillies clarify values direction: uprooting our internalized oppression and the time is now as always seizing the moment doing battle implementing unethical means marching with strings, rattles and keys musicians arm in arm chanting poetry shimmying and leaping flashing swords of enlightenment laughing

This poem and g r a f lk a r e in s p ir ­ ed by a T arot readin g conduct­ ed by JO fa g g o ti Sunday, Oct. %, 1978 ~ th e l a s t night o5 th e Punning Water g a th erin g . The in t e r p r e t a t io n comes faom A F cmin is t Tarot by S a lly Gea-rhanX., Persephone P ress, P.0.

Bex 1211, Watertown, MA 01 Ml

©

_SOAAE

"i talk to myself, talk to birds and animals." "have few gay contacts;not into city games." "primarily celibate." "i’m not surviving real well.”

Upfront Gayness in straight small-town community.

12% upfront to all.

10% upfront to some.

6% upfront to a few.

14% NOT upfront to anyone; "they would kill me.”

3% no comment.

Less than 1/3 are out; about 1/3 come out when asked; more than 1/3 tell usually only counter­ culture people.

36% have electricity.

1% use a generator.

3% use a battery.

5% have no electricity at all.

Rural Gay Men's Survey; Initial Results.

100 surveys were sent out; 582 came back in:

00000000@0@0@00@@(3@@(3@@S2@@@(3{3@{?@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Only 1 out of 50 Is political.

Returns: California Oregon 6 Washington Western states Plains states Northeast states Southeast states

262 A3% 582 50% 72% 71%

Incomes: 5% rurally raised; moved to city.

15% work 40 hr/wk city jobs.

8% do odd-job work.

10% do odd-job work; some income from the land, crops or animals.

12% are self-sufficient - all income from the land.

Other Gay Male support: 17% live completely alone on their land.

7% have one lover only.

5% have a menage with a third male.

8% are the only Gays in straight groups.

2% are in 1 mixed commune.

2% have female wives (1 is a Gay 6 Les­ bian marraige: 1 is "bi-sexual".)

5% are unclear.

50% live alone or with only one lover as "out" Gaymales.

Other Gay Male mental support: 20% have no Gay neighbors within 10 ml.

13% have 1-4 8% have 5-10 8% have 10 or more.

Again, 70% of us are alone out there.

16% live within 1 hrs. drive of a city.

12% live within 50-100 ml.

9% live within 100-200 ml.

3% live over 200 ml. from a city.

2% live in town.

16% own 5 acres.

9% own 10-25 acres.

7% own 30-70 acres.

6% own 80-100 acres. the remaining 5% own from 140-480 acres.

This survey was compiled by Steve Ginsburg.

For a complete survey and results write to; Steve Ginsburg, Peppermint Parsley Farm, P.0.

Box 109, Mt. Aukum, CA. 95656.

( C o n tit' ifr.

M-tA-tam

F o r . R F .D l a y o u t .

)

acknowledging our access to power and acting on that knowledge.

(See Mayce's letter on page 15.) We see RFD as a resource of contact and sharing, of collectivizing and everfocusing energies. As a magazine it has brought a wide spectrum of visions, backgrounds, and different ones of us into each others lives.

Any group planning to do it should have its trip together. We could've gotten a lot further faster if we'd had a typewriter lined up and a way to get photo enlargements made quick­ ly. People should not feel intimid­ ated by the process of putting out RFD. The process is not intimidat­ ing. Just take it one step at a time and get it done. Working on RFD teaches you how to lay magazines out and you will always say, "God­ dess, how much work that took!"- And you will always remind yourself of the expensive sophisticated stateof-the-art technological equipment Time magazine possesses. And you will always feel proud knowing that we did it all by hand, as you read every RFD. And you will always feel strength that so many diverse col­ lectives gave so very much of their lives to our magazine.

Hi, and another issue, finally hack on regular schedule.

It has certainly been a challenge getting established in North Carolina, doing the myriad things done by a collect­ ive before.

Financially, we're no worse off than before. Our bank account has almost $300, which will pay almost .1/2 the costs of printing #18. We still owe $350 to Miriam Singer for #17. So, while this isn't spefically an appeal for funds, we also ain't gonna turn them down.

No specific themes have been chosen for specific future issues, although a group of us at a faggot's gath­ ering at Running Water did talk about doing a music/songbook issue. We do need articles - one good topic would be making it economically, or how one deals with being a faggot in the country, especially If you have found ways to be open and also be accepted. Many readers write that they want to see something about those topics, but those envelopes never contain articles! We also need to re­ build up our graphics collections - ink drawings, blackand-white (high contrast) photos, etc. As before, if an article is rejected by one collective, it is sent on to the group doing the following issue(s), so that a wider range of "editors" will have a chance to choose.

We have tentative committments to have issues pro­ duced at Atlanta, Norfolk, Butterworth Farm (they did #7), and again in North Carolina, but in a different location. Any group, preferably having at least one person with publication experience, should contact RFD if you’re interested.

Although the last two issues have been smaller and haven't had the sophisticated art and printing jobs that earlier issues have, we felt we were not yet in a position to be able to lower the cover price - especially since we are not yet breaking even. We felt, however, that the quality of what we produced was excellent, and so have many of our readers.

The sissie/butch; country/city and other splits and arguments continue. Some readers report they're tired of hearing about these topics. Other people write in, which means they're not tired of it all. We will continue to publish accounts on these and other controversial issues. One thing we are quickly learning is the truth of the old saw: "You can please some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time

F aygele. ben

1

HINTS

If you have energy to work on RFD, yet you don’t have experience with magazines, and you wonder whether or not you can do it, there is an easy answer: You can do it! Perhaps by sharing some tips on layout that i have learned from working on this issue, i can soothe some of those fears.

Make sure that you have enough layout sheets for the number of pages your issue is going to be, plus two: you will make mistakes. A roll of newsprint from you local newspaper is indispen­ sable in order to make a life size mock up. You will need a lot of special paper called "repro" paper: it is white dull sheen paper on one side and glossy blue on the other. A good typewriter is of the utmost importance: an IBM Selectric with a carbon ribbon types the clearest copy for camera ready layout. If you don't know of a friend you can borrow one from, arrange to rent one from an office equipment store, if possible.

A light table is also important (although a win­ dow has been known to work well enough). Make sure, if you have photos to use, that you have a photo enlarger handy. The more room you have the more people will be able to work on the issue at the same time. Lots of airy space is needed. With the carbon ribbon the copy must. be sprayed with fixative (hairspray will do), or it will smear and you'll have to retype every­ thing. Make sure that you have more than one of each of the following: bottle of rubber cement, ruler, exacto knife, roll of scotch tape, scis­ sors, liquid paper, paperclip, box of blue pen­ cils, and sheets of press-on letters. Take many breaks when you start getting bummed out or have been staring at a page too long. NEVER, under any circumstances smoke, eat or drink any sub­ stance in the vicinity of the layout sheets or table. Give one another unconditional support: ask questions, give and receive criticism-self­ criticism - trust and love one another.

House

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MAN­ AGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION (REQUIRED BY 39U.S.C.3685). 1. Title of publication: RFD0. 1A. Public­ ation number: 18. 2. Date of filing: Sept. 25, 1978. 3. Frequency of issue: Quarterly. A. Numb­ er of issues published annually: 4. B. Annual subscription price: $6.00. 4. Location of known office of publication: 4525 Lower Wolf Creek-Rd., Wolf Creek, OR. 97497. 5. Location of the head­ quarters of the publisher: Rt. 1 Box 92E, Efland, N.C. 27243. 6. Names and addresses of publisher, editor and managing editor: Publisher: Len Rich­ ardson, P.O.Box 282, Wolf Creek, OR. 97497: Edit­ or: Jai D'Elliott, 3502 Coyote Creek Rd., Wolf Creek, OR. 97497: Managing Editor: Faygele Singer, Rt. 1 Box 92E, Efland, N.C. 27243. 7. Owner: Gay Community Social Services, Rt. 3 Box 1708, Port Angeles, WA. 88362. 8. Known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds,mortages or other securities: None. 9.

Not applicable. 11. Extent and nature of circul­ ation: A. Total No. copies printed,2500. B.Paid circulation 1. Sales through dealers and carriers street vendors and counter sales,1146. 2. Mail subscriptions,804. C. total paid circulation, 1950. D. Free distribution by mail carrier or other means,samples,complimentary and other free copies,100. E. Total distribution,2050. F. Copies not distributed 1. Office use leftover un­ accounted ,spoiled after printing,230. 2. Returns from news agents,220. G. Total,2500. I certify that Che statements made by me above are correct and complete, Len Richardson, Publisher.

12. For completion by publishers mailing at the regular rates (Section 132.121, Postal Service Manual) 39 U.S.C. 3626 provides in pertinent part : "No person who would have been entitled to mail matter under former section 4359 of this title shall mail such matter at the rates provid­ ed under this subsection unless (s)he files annually with the Postal Service a written re­ quest for permission to mail matter at such rates."

In accordance with the provisions of this stat­ ute, I hereby request permission to mail the pub­ lication named in item 1 at the reduced post­ age rates presently authorized by 39 U.S.C. 3626.

Len Richardson, Publisher

Please be sure to let us know of address changes (include a magazine you d o n ' t . g e t .

Wholesale: bookstores p.r, '1.2 0 (-0 discount), distributors $ 1.05 (4.5 ), c it fu! l red It for complete- copies returned.

confessions o f a would-be herbalist Slants and their abilities to beautify, bless, cure and nourish have been a lascination of sine for quite a while. Lately, however, I have be­ gun to take the whole thing a lot more "seriously" and see its importance in many different ways. As I've gotten into it more I've discovered how I knew, and how many mistakes I've made. At the present time, 1 hesitate to casually recommend herbs to people who aren't into them already, because people react to plants and their properties in a variety of ways.

1‘ here are difierent dosage levels, means of combining herbs, and methods of application.

Fifty years ago, ray uncle was studying pharmacy. His old textbook contains a huge amount of information about plants and how to derive stan­ dard-dose medicines from them (formulas, diagrams of apparatus, etc.). La­ tin names and abbreviations were used to mystify the whole thing, of course.

Iinct. Hydr. means tincture of Hydrastis, that being a preparation of goldenseal roots. today, instead of an herbal formulary, the doctors have the 1 .D.R. (Physicians Desk Reference) with its colored pictures of little pills and caps (also belladonna-opium suppositories).

These days there seems to be somewhat of a backlash from the food and medical industries against natural and organic methods of nutrition and health care. A recent article in the Nashville Tennene/Ul contained the current Laetrile horror story as well as the assertion that "more than 40 of the commercial tea blends... contain psychoactive...plants, capable of causing serious intoxication." Which 40, you may ask? Well, they didn't reveal that information.

Any moves against herbal medicines and wild foods seem innocuous when compared with current patriarchial efforts to hassle and punish wimmin who are exercising Goddess-given control over their own bodies through homedelivery childbirth or abortion clinics. We are seeing simultaneous prose­ cutions by the medical profession of nurses practicing midwifery and fire­ bombing of abortion clinics by "right-to-lie" fanatics. A public TV pro­ gram on home delivery was banned from Nashville showing by the Medical Soc­ iety because the scene of a birth was "unsuitable for the audience" (all of whom have been present at at least one birth).

Ihe whole issue of people's health ties in very much to the understand­ ing and use of substances from the natural world, which are very powerful curatives and can be applied in a great variety of ways, tea (infusion or decoction) being one of these. Powered herbs, roots or barks can also be packed into gelatin capsules and taken orally. Tinctures, solutions of herb material in an alcohol and water (1:1) mixture are very valuable for both internal and external use. They can be very powerful, and are fre­ quently taken a drop or two at a time, diluted in water. The foregoing preparations act on the physical body in a relatively gross way. Homeo­ pathic remedies are tuned to a finer or higher vibration. For some reason I don t understand fully, a greater attenuation (dilution) produces a

stronger effect. The Bach Flower Remedies are extreme dilutions of flower essence, cap­ tured by the simple action of sunlight being reflected off of flowers through water. This water somehow takes on the healing power of the flower's vibration or aura and is further diluted at least twice and used to treat disordeis of the. emotional body before they mani­ fest as illness. As I understand it, this method heals emotional disturbances or imbal­ ances without affecting the physical body. lor me, a complete understanding of the plant and nature kingdoms and their relation­ ship to humans would include: knowledge of all the plants in one's environment in all stages of their growth; how to collect their edible or medicinal parts and process them for use; how to propagate them from seeds or vegetative parts; their active principles or components and the effects of those compo­ nents on our physical and emotional beings.

This is a tall order, probably more than one person could hope to do in their lifetime.

Anyone can begin, however, with one or a group of plants, and investigate as much as possible or desirous.

It took me several years to discover that I had been mistaken in the identification of two plants I had been collecting and giving to wiramin to help them regulate their reproductive cycles— may the Goddess forgive me.

Black Cohosh resembles both Baneberry and False Goatsbeard in certain stages of growth. Until just this year, I thought I knew what wild American Pen­ nyroyal was, gathered and gave it to people. Now that I've found it for sure, I wonder what that other little plant is? Maybe it has some use, of greater or lesser Import. I present these two examples to show that "a L c t t t e knowledge is a dangerous thing."

The Goddess presented her daughters with the arts of horticulture and healing as well as the knowledge of all the wild plants in the woods and fields. Over the centuries this has been twisted and hidden and over—spec­ ialized into the sciences of botany and medicine and placed under the domi­ nation of a male professional hierarchy. At present, there are more books becoming available on herbology and plant identification. These need to be used with the guidance, if possible, of someone more experienced in their use. We have a lot to learn and a lot to teach each other— and a lot to learn from Mother Earth.

GuU i t C O M o S M

Every spring and fall I help teach a course in edible and medicinal wild plants in middle Tennessee. Weekend-long, camp out, reasonable (about $15) cost. Open to all, child­ ren welcome. Write me for more information.

Mifo

Rt. 1 Box 9SA Gangway, TN 57095

Lou/smbir\ -

L o u t

A

BKEIZI HILL--ante-bettum mansion/fiaggot-tpace, ZuxatiantZy decaying in the path o the highivay. Gnat,hviZZe, t e n n u i n i e .

I San) in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing All alone stood it, and the moss hung down from the branches; Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark green,. and its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself; but I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves, standing aloije there, without its friends, its lovers near— for I. knew I could not; And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it, and twined around it a little moss, And brought it away— and I have placed it in sight in my room; It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends, (For I believe lately I think of little else than of them:) Tet it remains to me a curious token— it makes me think of manly love; For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in Louisiana, solitary, in a wide-space, Uttering joyous leaves all its life, without friends, lovers, near I know very well I could not.

Watt Whitman with a little help from his friends

The fJlean'mi^ o f /tofstioeCelebrating the* Winter Solstice is a people's tradition that stretches as far back as we have visual or written records. For the past brief span of two thousand years, it's been called Christmas. Even that's not strictly true, for the date of Christ's Mass was not established by Church decree until early in the sixth century, and then because it was the only way to co-opt a people’s celebration, the Saturnalia, an event marked by cross-dressing and sexual freedom.

The word pagan has a bad ring to Christianity, the world's first city-centered religion. The conflict between uAbani, "city people," and pagani., "country people," is an old one. To be a pagan Is to be a hick, a rube, a peasant. rite word also means "of the people."

In the lunar calendar, the Solstices mark the longest day (summer) and the longest nite (winter). The Summer Solstice is a time to cele­ brate the outbreaking of the earth. Our lives are outer-directed, experiencing. The Winter Solstice is a time of turning Inward to compre­ hend and analyze, to gather in the events of the past year and plan for spring’s reawakening. It is a time of closeness, of coming together in all senses of that phrase.

Where found in Nature, the holly and the mistletoe, the flaming candles and the evergreen tree are symbols sacred to those who worship The Mother. The holly, because it berries in winter, represents life. The candles are a reflection of the myriad stars seen In this dark phase of the moon. The evergreen tree is a reminder of the rebirth to come. And the mistletoe might even be said to be a Gay symbol, for it represents a life attached to another energy— in ancient times, the sacred oak— without in any way being harmful to it. The practice of kissing anyone caught under the mistletoe is a collective-unconscious way of paying tribute to the sexual anarchy that once marked this season.

For Gaypeople, trapped in a patriarchal heterosexist society, the Winter Solstice is of­ ten a time of great loneliness and pain. Most of us are cut off, in one way or another, from our biological family, our nukes. Even the hets understand this pain. To be alone on Christmas Eve is the very Symbol of Loneliness, and once a year the media cry loudly about our alienation.

We are our own creation. We are everywhere.

We come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and ages.

We are our own mothers and fathers. Each of us is the other's sister and brother. Ours is a spiritual family that transcends culture and language, blood and class, race and gender. Let us restore the meaning of Solstice to its Motherroots. Let us love one another.

See y'all under the mistletoe!

Vennii Metba’ion

Sissie K

*** My visions briefly outlined here are, I ad­ mit, utopian, and I've said nothing about the very real and critical problems of trying to in­ tegrate an "outsider" into an existing group, Hfcw to define commitments and needs to one another, how to deal with the racism, classism, and sexism conditioned into us which prevents us from working/1iving/sharing together.

Our collective— Louisiana Sissies in Struggle (LASIS)— feels open to interchange/sharing to working these processes through. Collective mem­ bers have gone to the two recent Southeast gather­ ings at Running Water Farm, which brought 30-40 Southeast faggots together. Due to Che sharing process begun there, sissies from Ceorgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky came to New Orleans to help work on this issue of RFD. RFD has, I feel, a very important place in all this. It can be our main communications ve­ hicle. I'd like to urge existing sissie groups to write into RFD about themselves: their back­ grounds, structure process skills, goals, visions, politics, etc., and have RFD's next issue publish listings of where sissie groups are, what exchanges

a cy S-to th e r lo v e r

Home/Pe*ouAce Sharing I want to share a vision with RFD readers.

It’s about developing/nurturing a sharing/exchange community/network bringing together/in­ creasing connections between city-based and coun­ try-based sissies and sissie groups. There's a lot of us out there. Unfortunately, we (I) don't know where we all are, what groups/spaces cur­ rently exist, what the focus, backgrounds, struc­ tures process, goals and visions of various groups are. If a lonely individual sissie feels the need to live with other sissies, where can (does) he go? How can he find out what now exists and where to put his energies?

I've felt different needs at various points in my life, sometimes wanting to live in the country, sometimes in a city. I don't feel one is better, more righteous, or more productive than the other. I believe there is a strong need for sissies to be everywhere— in the country reclaiming our shaman magick, returning to grow­ ing our food, worshiping the goddesses, building our structures; in the cities reaching out to sissies trapped there, providing a strong sissie political presence to support our sisters and counter the macho men who dominate "gay politics.”

I've often felt it was an either/or decision: spend my life in the country or in the city. I need opportunities to move back and forth, becom­ ing part of a sissie caring/sharlng network.

We all have skills/resources which need to be shared with other sissies, things which each group has learned through their experiences. My vision is that we will open ourselves to this sharing, open our homes, lives, visions, skills, and resources to one another.

Economic reality plays a large part too.

There are few jobs in the country and jobs pro­ vide the money resources to buy the land, tools, seeds, materials: all necessary to make country spaces survive. Money is concentrated in cities.

I see country based sissies coming to cities for periods of time (particularly during the winter months) to work, gain resources to continue coun­ try spaces. If there were places one could stay, groups one could join, more resources could go back to the land and less to paying for rent, etc., which would be the case if living alone.

City s is s ie s also have needs to relate to the country, to draw psychic magick energy from the land, to taste foods grown through sissies' toil.

Gradually we can, I hope, evolve a system of mut­ ual support, with city bases providing much of the money resources to maintain country spaces, and country spaces providing food and psychic sustenance, with sissies moving among various spaces.

are taking place, how they have worked well and what problems have been. To start this process I ’d like to tell you a bit about LASTS.

The h f i * t tim e I rea d th e above "m aniheito" I ($elt. very overwhelmed and in tim id a te d (mij name a in ' t Vimid &0A n othin g!} by th e * e (what appeaAed to be] veAy busy d ed ic a te d p e o p le . knd .then 1 r e a liz e d t h a t I am one oh them and t h a t l/we a l* o a t tim e* i%eak ou t, g e t drunk, argue, iu tk . Sometime* it *eem* t h a t a l l cua e^oAt* to c h a n n el/or.ganu.ze oua en u rg ie* d i* * o lv e in to nothing. 1 g u t** i f * a p a rt oh li v in g - - t h e d a y -to -d a y l i h e on th e d elta " a* we *ay! I need to le a r n to acce.pt t h i* t o * * Ofj str u c tu r e a t tim e* and hope you ou t th e r e w i l l n ot fjeef in tim id a ted by qua *tr e n g th * ._________________ _____

Louisiana Sissies in Struggle is our name for our group day-to-day living, what we call the "delta of existence." For political action in the gay and larger communitv. we have formed the Pink Triangle Alliance (P.T.A).

Background '■ Four white sissies from mid­ dle-class backgrounds, ages 24, 25, 31, 45; two Capricorns, one Libra, one Scorpio living in one charming old Creole house (rented) in old New Orleans. New Orleans is a wonderful winter city, and I'd highly recommend it as a place for coun­ try sissies to come when the land is least pro­ ductive. There is also a flea market here which can be utilized as an outlet for cottage indus­ tries .

Structure proce** •• All monies are collec­ tivized with individual allowances for personal expenses. Decisionmaking is by collective con­ census, nearly always reached, at formal meet­ ings around money and other specific topics.

S k ill* / Re* ouAce* ’■ Current jobs: one cook, one waiter, one textbook indexer, one bank ex­ aminer (but not for long!). Skills in account­ ing, bookkeeping, craftwork (quilting, crochet­ ing), plant care, writing, jr. auto mechanics, etc. We have a freelance textbook indexing ser­ vice developing which we are open to sharing/ expanding with other sissies. Has advantages of working at home, a decent hourly rate, far away from publishers (who need know nothing about our lives).

Indexing sounds intimidating and complicated, but it's not and is relatively easy to learn.

P o li t ic * : Anarcho-effeminist, strong sis­ sie identification, support for sisters. Thru the Pink Triangle Alliance we make an outfront queer presence at political events, such as the recent schoolteachers' strike; picketing of racist/sexist gay bars; an anti-Klan rally, wo­ men's choice and ERA rallies. We worked in co­ alition with gay groups around the Gay Pride Rally, a No on 6 fundraiser. We have a column in New Orleans' monthly gay newspaper, Im pact.

We are evolving a childcare/child-relating col­ lective and a health food buying-club. Current­ ly we are doing layout on this issue of RFD. G oal* /Vi i i o n * : Developing a nurturing sis­ sie environment, overthrowing the patriarchy in all his forms, securing a permanent sissie base in New Orleans (buying a structure), supporting and participating in country/land trips. Devel­ oping a self-supporting sissie owned and run "business" to support ourselves: restaurant/cafe, bookkeeping service, indexing service.

We are very open to having other sissies join to help build a sissie community and share resources. A sissie from California is coming in early December to enter a process of joining us.

I welcome all feedback/criticism and hope others will write into RFD about building a sup­ porting sissie network through collectivizing home/resource sharing.

Log Meadow/Sequoia

untitled poem

it seemed a massive hoax at first:

In sea bottom darkness we love, abandoned,

pine cones as big as toy feet that seeded to rose petals

as a tide of sweat washes sweetness into our flesh.

giant trees as old as Rameses, older, that stood like many armed monsters in the green mail of staghorn lichen

My hands like tendriled seaweed cling to the hidden crevices of your body,

slopes of stoney debris slid down from heaven with tablets of slate as large as continents

while my tongue darts about your nipple erect as coral, as though a minnow spooning nourishment.

and gem-like tarns set in granite fed by flumes of snow in summer.

Through this hot, humid night the old electric fan beats out a loud alarm

It seemed a massive hoax until I leaned you into the blackened alcove of a sturdy sequoia

to keep us from slipping forever into this pelagic dream.

and dreamily sucked you of your sap for what certainly was days.

Cave oh V arkne**, Cave oh Light Camping in Utah

Even on the brightest, of days, this cave of bittersweet is dark, a vault of safekeeping for all those forbidden pleasures people creep in here to enjoy.

On a bed of last year's leaves, the loomy fragrance of duff incensing our presence, we torch this shadowed darkness with spurting flames of white light.

g ra p h ic* by Stevie Bryant

After not having showered for days we were quick to slip into the tent, the hot water having brought feeling back to our fingers: you hung over me a swelling, bending current— my own limbs giving boundary to your force— my buttocks, two ancient rocks rubbed smooth together.

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Alladres (p c e tly , 1, 8) Box 1018, Lawrence, KS 66044 Allan Stein (graphic, 15) 6505 Vista Del Mar Dr., Plaza del Rey, CA 90251 Alvino Villarrubia LaCoste (aA ticle, 12) c/o PTA, Box 51012, New Orleans, LA 70151 Ankha Shamin (poetAy, 12) 4600 Springfield Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19143

Randy Smallwood (poetAy, 8, 14) Williamson Rd. at Zebulon, Rt. 1, Box 942, Pikeville, KY 41501

s Skip Ward (aA ticle, 1) Box 1583, Alexandria, LA 71360 Stacy Brothcrlover (aA ticle, 20 )

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See undeA

Brent Ingram (<lA tic le , 23; gAaphlc, 2-3, 13) c/o RFD Brian O'Dell (a A tic le , 4) Box 2, Village Sta., New York, NY 10014 Buddy Wolff (poetAy, 14) Box 326, Nelson, B.C., Canada

Dennis Melba'son (a A tic le , 4-5, 19)

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Dimid (a A ticle, 4; gAaphlc, 18; poetAy, 7, 13, 16) See undeA LASIS

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LASIS (Louisiana Sissies in Struggle) Box 51012, New Orleans, LA 70151; ph. 1-504-943-2081

E. Michael Armstrong-Reid (a A tic le , 6; g ra p h ic , 17) c/o PTA, Box 51012, New Or­ leans, LA 70151

Charlie Murphy (a A tic le , 4) 906 S. 49th St., Phila­ delphia, PA 19143 Clarence Englebert (aA ticle, 7; poetAy, 13) Route 3, Fayetteville, TN 37334

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d Dave Bryant (poetAy, 8) 741 Ponce de Leon Crt., Atlanta, GA 30308 Dave Czyzinski (ilA tic le , 6) 1121 Rogers St., Louisville, KY 40204 David Chura (poetAy, 20) 59 Church St., Greenwich, CT 06830 David Knudsen (aAticle, 4) 213 N. Graham St., Chapel Hill, NC 27514 David Sunseri (poetAy, 8, 21) Box 186, Wolf Creek, 0& 97497

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Tom Bilicke (poetAy, 8) 165 S. Mansfield Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Michael Mason (poetAy, 18)

Gary Lampert (poetAy, 8, 12) Box 3302, Tucson, AZ 85722

lasis

Stella Mifsud (poetAy, 18) 218 N. Division, Ann Arbor, Ml 48104 Steve Abbott (poetAy, 7, 8) 930 Shields, San Francisco, CA 94132 Stevie Bryapt (poetAy, 7, 8; gAaphlc, 14, 20) 1455 E. Broad St., Athens, GA 30601

"SoAAy, doA lln', lo s t youA address; p la n e white r f d (,oa youA |$Aee tub."

Michael Staron (graphic, 13, 18) 1240 California 1/8, San Francisco, CA 94109 Milo (a A t i c l e 4, 19; gra­ phic, 19; Aevlevo, 5) Route 1, Box 98A, Gassaway, TN 37095

h H. Hallmark Walker (graphic, 19) 1613 Pauger, New Orleans, LA 70116 House (aA ticle, 5; gAaphlc, 4, 5, 14, 19; poetAy, 13; AevleiW, 12) See undeA LASIS

P Phyll Schuster (a A tic le , 5) 3304 Portland Ave. So., Minneapolis, MN 55407

Ancient Symbol “ Yi" for Confucian "Changes"

Dear R.P.D , Ya can't expect it - ya just have to believe it!!

Thanks to: The F em in ist TaAot by S a lly

GeaAhaAt

A tla n ta Bock V lstA lbutoA shlp, a Lesbian F em l/u st company who p ro v id ed us w ith ty p e wAiteA and layout mateAlals.

P a tti Smith The Gay Engagement CalendaA and Jon athon Katz Vennts, Vlmld, House, S tacy , ClaAence, M ilo, John, S tev e, Mike, Jam es, M olly, N elson, F a y g ele, S t e v ie , BeAnaAd, Monk, A lvino, P ick, Ankha, J o s e , K enny,Patsy,

There will be a celebration of Gay males at Running Water Farm(f/3 in the series!) June 15-17,'79 Contact: Michael Glover 618 Redgate Apt.02,Norfolk Va.,23507 804/622-8070

gk -- .-*.(*>■ .. .^,r., After a long fight to get Gay publication# * in here, the administration ha# finally allow ed it. 1 am trying to tind publication# and individuals interested in helping Gays in prison. Also I'm trying to get a# much publi­ city aa possible concerning a case I'm in­ volved in presently.

My lover, Tom Stofiel,39891 and myself got into a fight in here Oct. 27 and the state police and administration are investigating me for an attempted murder. It was a fight, nothing more,nothing else, and neither of us were seriously injured,but I have a good many enemies among the staff because of my sexual preference. I'd appreciate it If you would pass my name and address on. If this case goes to trial, I hope to show how the staff uses Gays for its own ends.

M flld R S

Also, I am starting a prison newspaper and would appreciate it if you would run this ad.

Subscribe to PAlson a prisoner owned/ published newspaper giving our view of the prison business. PAlson needs writers,poets,artists, and most of all YOU. $6.00 a year,$100 a lifetime.

Send check or M.O. to Donald Danford, Box 32323,2605 State St..Salem,Or.97310

lennBylvania Lesbian/Gay Support Network, Box 4031, Allentown, PA. 18105. They are working on a switchboard, and an alternative to the bar/bath scene, as well as other services for the Gay community.

Buttonmaking is fun and easy. We have a badge making system consisting of five multi colored metal dies, and a hand press.

First a design is drawn (or whatever) within a circle 2.25 inches in diameter. Then a badge front is placed in a die with the design on top with a plastic disc on top of that.

A die or two is added and pressed together then a badge pin-back is inserted and other dies inserted and pressed in the hand press.

Voila, a badge a minit.

To have a button made send your design, according to the above specifications, and .50<? per button to: B uttons, P.O.Box. 51012, N0LA. 70151. For information on ordering a button machine for your collective write to: S p e c i a lt ie s

by Spaldin g, 3014 Falmouth Va. , L o u is v ille , KY.. 40205; and ask about the Badge a M u n it.

"1 am a m usician, S te v ie bAiyant by name, and earn­ ing {jAom GeoAgla to San F Aon c is c o In mld-VecembeA to s ta y a t l e a s t thnu. JanuaAy. I would be In teA ested In meeting hoiks w ith eneAgy h°A h ls to A ic a l and AevolottonaAy "aAt", R F V, suppoAl­ iv e community.. .P le a s e WAlte c /o TaAaneh Alikhani.

61 UlaAAen Va . , S .F ., CA. 94131."

Sum m ation

like.

An Atlanta Weekend Gay Male Gathering

Z)cmce. lihc.J\ain 5/Vi^ like Air

Slee-f> like, ^rfh like.fire,

'Oa.-iiJ SwriSteri.

Beginning Friday, February 2, 1979, there will be a weekend gathering of rural and urban Gay males similar in spirit to Running Water. The meetings will be held at Phoenix Unitarian Church. Bring your own food - there is a health food store in the neighborhood. For housing contact: Frank or Russ, 1422 Iverson St.N.E., Atlanta, GA. 30307. 1-404-524-1465.

(Let them know at least a week ahead of time, please.)

T fh-Al

oi ca