RFD Issue 48 Fall 1986 by RFD Magazine Gay

MANAGING E D I T O R :

Ron Lambe

VOLUNTEER DEPARTMENT EDITORS:

This summer has been so busy that it seems to have passed especially fast, o much has happened here at Running Water and in our culture, country, and orld. It. is somehow Mtting that we didn't get our planned feature for this issue (postponed until spring) since this has been a time of unexpect ed events and changes. The Supreme Court decision Tn the Hardwick case was "iore disappointing than unexpected. ' I doubt that most of us had thought through the implications of such a ruling. We will be doing that for quite some time. The Meese Commission on pornography has released another exam ple of prejudice and hate--not to mention poor scholarship--whose implica tions we will have to live with for some time as well. Here in ôrth Caro lina we have a revision of the pornography laws that is so broad, vague, and confusing that we may never reach clarity, much less reason. All of this has already impacted the journal. We have had to play the cen sor on our own efforts, not knowing what would be misinterpreted as "offen sive." We don't want to cooperate with our own oppression--but, on the other hand, who wants to be the test case? Who has the resources and tem perament for such an ordeal7 Reing the irrepressihie optimist, I can't help hut believe that all o* these "reverses" will eventually work to our benefit. Things sometimes have to get so had that those who don't (or won't! see what is going on can't escape the obvious. Justice White's prejudice is so blatant that mucK of the press has "poker1 rut against it. "he absurdity of censoring drawings or photos of lovemaking while allowing the true obscenity of murder and violence has got to wake up middle Amer ica. One good piece of news is that there was a public êêrendum in Maine on pornography and the public clearly voted down censorship. However, my optimism is long-ranqe. We will no doubt have to go through much tribulation before the dormant sense of justice is awakened in the American psyche. We need a strategy for surviving the late 80's. We need to get serious about protecting ourselves and nurturing our own nascent and ancient culture. Put, we cannot accomplish this if we are isolated or sep arated; we must be with each other. I'm not suggesting that we all join collectives, but we do need a sense of community. Those of us in rural areas, especially, need to find our gay and lesbian neighbors and develop some kind of supportive society. Individually, we are too vulnerable. We also need to strengthen and support our existing national and regional gay and lesbian organizations. With an estimated gay and lesbian population in this country of 24 million, our national organizations are lucky to have a few thousand members. Too few are doing too much for too many. And, we need to strengthen our ties to allies. In spite of many appearances, we are not alone and do enjoy the support of many non-gays. We need to sup port their issues when we can. Another stratagem would be to develop a healthy measure of self-reliance. We can never he self-sufficient, but we need to protect ourselves with our own legal, health, political, religious, and even economic institutions. What is our defensive position regarding the (I believe) inevitable econom ic crash? How many of us are debt-free? If the banks were to fail, how many of us would lose our homes? Where would we live, especially when we are unwanted? What are our food sources? Has anyone ever thought of what would happen if the electricity were off for just one week? It could hap pen, and in times of crisis the overly dependent panic and rush to protect their own families. We need more of us living on our own land, producing o u r own food, tending our own needs, and nurturing our own culture. We can't afford to put off this agenda any longer. This issue is full of a variety o f concerns. Since we didn't get a feature we were able to assemble a number of articles and essays that range the whole field of RFD-land. Charles Simpson has moved to Running Water to help with the journal and the house, and his sensitive and articulate help s most welcome. Ric and James are to be thanked for their tremendous help with this issue and the household. I'm strengthened in my belief that much can be done when we are serious (not gloomy) about our lives. Happy

ARTICLES/ESSAYS: Richard Chumley, GA BK REVIEWS: Kenneth Hale-Wehmann, MA °R0S.BEHIND BARS: Len Richardson, OR CONTACT LETTERS: Gary Wilson, MN COUNTRY KITCHEN: Buddy May, NC rEY ARTS: Eranklin Abbott, GA FICTION: Randy Connor, TX GARDENING: Scott Tuzzolino, DC GATHERINGS: Sundance, CA "EALTH: (open) HOMESTEADING: Kim Grittner, WI °0ETRY: Eranklin Abbott, GA POLITICS: Stuart Norman, CA PROFILES: Warren Potas, DC SPIRITUALITY: Gerry Kamp, NY

- ▼ -------------------------- ♦ RED is a reader-written journal for nay men which focuses on country living and encourages alternative lifestyles. Articles often explore the building of a sense of community, radical faerie consciousness, the caring for the environment, as well as sharing gay men's experiences. Editorship responsibi1ity is shared between the Department Editors and the Managing Editor. The business and general production is centered at Running Water in western North Carolina. Features are often pre pared in various places by different groups. RED is published quarterly on the equinoxes and solstices at Running Water, Rt. 1 Box 127-E , Bakersville, NC 28705. One year's subscription is * 12,00 by second class mail; $18 *or first class mail. Foreign subs (including Canada) are $14.00/year. Tel : (704) 688-2447. --------------------------------- ♦ ISSN i?0!40-70QX USPS *073-010-00 Non-Drofit tax exempt status under *23-7199134 as a function of Gay Community Social Services, Seattle, Washington. MEMBER: CCLM (Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines) COSMEP (The International Assoc. of Independent Publishers’ , GLPA (Oay/Lesbian Press Assoc.) IGLA (Int’l Gay S. Lesbian Assoc.) INDEXED by Alternative "ress Index PO Box 33109 Baltimore, MD 21218 MICROFILMED by Alternative Media oo Box 1347 Ansonia New York, NY 1002?

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C O N T R IB U T O R S Franklin Abbott ...............36 Randy 3rieger .................33 James Broughton ...............36 Michael Cadnum ................34 John Calvi ....................32 Dwight Cathcart ...............2D Adam Christiansen .............53 Louie Crew ....................35 Thomas Crowe ..................BC Rick Dean ..................... 24 M.A. Difine ...................38 Mike Dittmer ..................33 Pru Dye ....................... 34 Richard T . Fdwards ........... 3D Michael J. Fmory ..............3? woward Gilligan ...............45 George Gott ...................33 Dill Gouge ....................34 Anne Herbert ..................46 Steve ^eselton ................37 Thomas Hopkinson ...........50,51 Scott Humphries ...............33 Wesley Johnson ................26 Joel Kelly ....................45 Brad Key ......................52 Max Kroschel .................. 13 Lee Lawrence .................. ID D.S. Lawson ................... 32 Light ............ FC,23,33 ,46,53 Alejandro Lopez ...............56 J.W.M.......................... 36 Buddy May ..................... 23 Roger McFadden ................16 Ric Meachum ...................36 Raeburn Miller ................35 Ron Mohring ................... 35 Stuart Norman .................47 Richard Norton ................26 M .P................... 66,57,60,61 J.M. Patella ..................41 Raphael Sabatini ..............50 Todd Shaw ..................... 30 P. Morgan Simmons .............40 A11 en Small inq ................50 Winthrop Gmith ................32 George Spray ...................1 Michael Swi^t .................44 Ric Taibot .................32-36 Howard Thornton ...............32 David Thorstad ................42 Meg limans ..................... 6? Tim Waddington ............... I3C Robin Walden .................. I7 Gwydion Wyngick ...............37 Barry Yeoman ..................23 John Za 1uski ...... -..... 34

ACOUNTRY JO U R N AL FOR G A Y M E N EV ERY W H ERE

R isk in g

pederal

Vol. X III No. 1 C O N T E N T S /IN D E X

D is a p p r o v a l

Issu e No. 48 Fall 1986 ^

A N N O U N C E M E N T S ...... ^ .......................................... 7.15 ARTICLES & ESSAYS Bedroom Ryes - J. Patella .......................... 41 Creating Impressive Images - R. Edwards ............ 30 Free at Last - 0 . Thorstad ......................... 4? The Importance of Truth - 0 . Cathcart .............. 20 Jesse - R. Yeoman ...................................2R A Kid Dies - A. Herbert ............................ 46 Sebastian Venable - M. Swift ....................... 44 Shamanism, Ecology and America - R. Simmons ........ 40 B O O K REVIEWS kdonlA C ancla (Zapata) - M. Umans .................. 52 Seyond HappineAA (McGehee) - T. Hopkinson .......... 50 S la c k Men/W kcte Men (Smith, ed.) - M. limans ........ 52 The Son 1(4.om SeAAut (^augham) - t , hopkinson ....... 51 The C ity of, Sodom (Ide) - B. Key ................... 52 Enemy (Maugham) - T. Hopkinson ..................... 51 Jo s e p h and th e Old Man (Davis) - R. Sabatini ....... 50 My Veep Vaak Pain 14 Love (Leyland, ed.) - M. Umans..62 Q ua-tA efoll (Barr) - A. Small ing .................... 50 BROS. BEHIND BARS Joint Venture .......................................25 Love Among the Ruins - W. Johnson .................. 26 Watch Your Step - R. Dean .......................... 24 C O N T A C T LETTERS ..................................................54-62 COUNTRY KITCHEN Recipes - B. May ..................................... 23 FICTION Just Remember This - M. Difine ..................... 38 The Space Between the Trees - J. Kelly ............. 45 G A T H E R I N G S Louisiana Woods Alive - G. Wyngick ................. 37 H O M E S T E A D I N G Friendship - L. Lawrence ........................... 19 Raising Exotic Animals - R. McEadden ............... 16 Waste Management - M. Kroschel ..................... 18 L E T T E R S .................................................... 4-6 P O ET RY Analysis - J.W.M.......... !..!...................... 36 Cowboys - M. Rmory ...................................32 I Don't ''rite That Way - B. Gouge .................. 34 Johnny - R. Mohring ................................. 35 Keepinq in Touch - D. Lawson ....................... 32 The Loins of Mankind - J. Broughton ................ 36 Lying on a Twin Bed - M. Dittmer ................... 33 Morning View - Sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Humphries ..................... ...33 No Soliciting - L. Crew ............................. 35 Seed - T. Crowe ............................ Back Cover Still and Small - R. Miller ........................ 35 Take a Breath - J. Calvi ............. .............. 32 Trojan Warrior - R. Meachum ........................ 36 Twice-Termed Lover - W. Smith ........................32 The Unofficial Statue of Liberty Poem - P. Briener ..33 VD Clinic - J. Zaluski ..... ........................ 34 Vietnam War Memorial - H. Thornton ................. 32 We Need Practice - G. Gott ......................... 33 White Balloon - B. Dye ...............................34 You Pretend To Be Asleep - M. Cadnum ............... 34 POLITICS Sodomize for Freedom - S. Norman ................... 47

V Participation in this journal does not necessarily indicate any particular sexual orientation. 3

V e a r R o n --

E njoyed t h i s is s u e (#47) so v ery m u c h - h e fii e t i o n and p o e t r y w ere above a v e r a g e . The N u clear p a g e : i t ' s a tim e bomb f'.’e a l l sh a re--w e e x p r e s s ou r co n cern to t h e pow ers t h a t b e - - if i t h e r e would be. a p r o b lem --th ere, would be no p la c e ofi s a fie ty ---'e a r e doin g our p a r t t o make th e pub l i c aw are. Mi t h lo v e V avid, C olorad o

Vear Mr. Ron Lambc:

VeaA RFV fio lk s ,

I th in k you a r e flig h t on target. r e gaA.cU.ng t h e nuclear w a ste. I was fiord to con v in ce b e c a m e I th in k p ro g ress shou ld alirny-s be made, but the d isa d v a n ta g es so fiafr outw eigh the ad v an tages th a t I p e r s o n a lly th in k we shoutd c e a s e and d e s i s t im m ed iately .

As a r e g u la r r e a d e r ofi RFV, I would l i k e to t a k e t h i s o p p o r tu n ity to thank you fior your efifio rts on b eial.fi ofi an a l t e r n a t i v e gay c u lt u r e . The w a itin g , e d it in g , g r a p h ic s , la y o u t, infio-rm ation and o r g a n iz a tio n w hich make up your publication a re fiir s t r a te .

1 am not so much in agreem en t w ith the P riso n er Pen P a t/ J o i n t Endeavo r id e a . I th in k th a t th e taws 0/ th ese g r e a t U nited S t a t e s sh o u ld be ob eu ed ; i t may be in c o n v en ien t to ad h ere bu t I am cowed by the p o s s i b l e c o n se q u en c es: PRISON! I am veAy s e n s i t i v e and h ig h -s tr u n g ; I have g rav e r e s e r v a t io n s th a t I co u ld cop e under such b ru ta t c o n d it io n s ; 1 would be one ofi the fii r s t t o be g an g -rap ed and v ic t im iz e d . So, s in c e I'm too o ld and fiat t o run away, and I never t e a m e d how t o defiend myselfi in street-fighting, the only logical answer is to OEEV.

B est w is h e s , Van Vo ran , M ichigan

Years ago I r e a d th e t a t e Ayn Rand's "A tlas Shrugged" and her s o lu t io n t o th e problem s c r e a t e d by p o l i t i c i a n s and b u rea u cra ts was b e a u t ifiu lly h an d led . I w ish t h a t S han gri-L a d id e x i s t , and 1 hope one day to move ou t C($ the Sun B e lt in t o a sm a ll, l a i d - b a c k , p ea cefiu l ruAat community in the R o c k ie s ; I s e e k on ly tob e l e f i t a lo n e in p e a c e and q u ie t await firom c h il d r e n /d o g s / p e s t s .

/ \ / N _____.. Vear Ron, For w h atev er rea so n I a p p r e c ia t e t h i s i s s u e (#47) more T/tan any b efiore. I a p p r e c ia t e m ost your i n t e r e s t S in v olv em en t in i s s u e s . I l i s t e n t o £ s e e k no s o u r c e ofi i n fio-rmation -than t h a t w hich comes t o me through NPR and th e v o i c e 0 ^ th e u n iv e r s e w ith th e e x c e p tio n bein g RFV. I t r u s t so fieio sou A ces, ifi any a t a l l . I am alioays astou n d ed by infio. £ in s ig h t s firom RFV.

Your. efifio its a r e s i n c e r e l y a p p r e c i a t e d by t h is g ra tefiu l s u b s c r ib e r .

I was ap p roa ch ed by a selfi-av o w ed wine who e n lig h t e n e d me on Big M ountain. I fi e l t hon ored to “be so in form ed . He s a id he s e n s e d he c o u ld co tm u n lca te w ith me, and T < eel you can communicate w ith me. With a s im ila r a c t io n ofi s e lf, w i l l you have ch o sen t o k eep me on my toe-s, e n lig h t e n e d £ infiorm ed w ith ou t a spoken r e q u e s t on my p a r t e x c e p t fior my som etim es d e s p e r a t e p le a s t o th e ofiten seem in g ly mute u n iv e r s e , w hich has more mouths mov ing than can b a b b le th e t r i v i a ofi man's e n t i r e moment on s t a g e .

S in c e r e ly , Bernard C. S t e i n m i lle r , New M exico

M l m/ lo v e , W alton, T en n essee

I want you to know how GRATEFUL I am fior RFV!! I t r e a s s u r e s me th a t I am NOT a lo n e , but t h a t o t h e r s w alk w ith me to the beat ofi that distant drum mer .

You a s k e d fior fieed back on th e e x panded announcem ents s e c t io n . I'm a l l fior i t . So fiew ofi th e homo sex u a l m edia ofifier announcem ents in d e t a i l , o r c o v e r t h e s m a lle r g rou p s. The GCN ofi B oston d oes a fia ir j o b , ofi c o u r s e , bu t so much ofi t h e i r stufifi i s w eig h ted fior t h e N o r th e a s t. And, I'm n ot ah oay s t o o i n t e r e s t e d in t h e le s b ia n stu fifi. I ’ m showing my b i a s , bu t t h a t ' s t h e loos i t i s . On n u c le a r w a s te , t h e Texas Gulfi c o a s t i s a l o s t c a u s e , p a r t i c u l a r l y alon g t h e Houston S h ip C hannel, bu t I e n jo y rea d in g ofi your s t r u g g le t o k e ep t h e c le a n e r s e c t o r s ofi t h e U.S. in a fia ir ly u n p o llu te d s t a t e . A ll b e s t , Bob V a le h it e , Texas

Vear Ron, You h e lp me to fie e l g ood a b o u t my s e lfi. P le a s e , k eep up your work around n u c le a r w a ste, and u se RFV t o s h a r e you r 100r k and co n cern s a b o u t t h i s p o t e n t i a l d e a th fior us a l l . W hile I c h e r is h my gay l i f i e s t y l e , I have a much d e e p e r con cern and a p p r e c ia t io n fior th e human c o n d it io n . I n eed t o b e co n n ected to a l l ofi l i f i e , and I alw ays a n t i c i p a t e g e t t in g RFV and r ea d in g ofi your work and ofi o t h e r s who g iv e so much ofi t h e i r tim e and e n e r g ie s fior us a l l . And y e s , k e e p up a l l th e announce ments . R e s p e e tfiu lly , Bob Cornier, M assach u setts

Pear RFV, 7 teas dism ayed a t t h e noAAow minded l e t t e A (#47) by BA onchini and Houutz e l l ichlch make a l l hunteAA and tA appens sa v a g es and th e m selv es heA oes. Fl a s t l y , hunt c m and tAappens fin a n c e t h e W ild li f e Pro grams thAough then a b u sin ess j\ees. S eco n d ly , t h e lum tens and tA appens, a t l e a s t t h e ones I know, ch ec k tn ap s d a i l y , u s u a lly a t l e a s t t w i c e ; I f hu n tin g, th e n ob ey t h e law s and even tuAn In "6l o b huntc m " I f Such sh o u ld show up. The hunteAA T know, do th elA b e s t t o g e t a one-A h o t " c le a n k i l l " and th e y nAe t h e m eat t h e y g e t . The o n ly I n s t a n c e s T heaAd o f staA v a t lo n , wcac of, deeA whene t h e d o-g o od en s w ould n o t a llo w hu n tin g, s in c e I t was much kindest t o l e t t h e deeA s ta n v e alo w ly to d e a th , than to b e Ahot and ea teti by p e o p l e . F in a lly , when t h e s e was n o t hope o f AuAvlval th e VHR went In and s h o t th e deeA t o Atop th elA A uffeA lng. Of couAAe, I may be wnong, but 8 and H s t a t e t h e y l o v e a l l t h e s e c s lt t e A S . I wondeA, would t h e y l e t th e dog k e e p teaA tng up t h e Aheep w h ile th e y coatched, b eca u se t h e dog waA happy? Have t h e y even Aeen a henhouAe afteA . t h e coon l e f t ? Have t h e y even had t o go In and k i l l p ig eo n s that, weAe hand f e d and tam e, b ecauAe a mink went thAough and l e f t CAopA t o An op en , le g A and wingA to An o f f , u s u a lly one wound peA b in d . Lucky wcac t h e few' who wcac. k i l l e d o a tA lg h t. I have Aeen t h i s and moAe. VeA, 7 A t i l l l i k e w ild l i f e , b u t 7 d e f i n i t e l y do n ot want to h av e w ild "outlaw A " Aun lo o.se anymoAe th an human o n es. When numbeAA on e k e p t In c h e c k , t h e s e I a l i t t l e p A ed atlo n . When thcA e I s a p o p u la tio n e x p lo s io n In w i l d l i f e , clth cA I t can b e hunted and u sed oa d i s e a s e " H I t a k e can e o f t h e pAoblem a s I t alwaijA d id In cen turies paA t, h e lp e d by s t a n v a t lo n . MotheA HatuAe playA a vcAy aoug'h game, and AuAvlval o f t h e f i t t e r s t I s o f t e n uAed to t h in p o p u la tio n . Thank you foA l i s t e n i n g , The HomeAteadcA

I t I a amazinq how faA a fa ls e h o o d can g e t In t h e wonld I f I t I s re peated o f t e n enough. 7 s e f e s t o th e ‘lava jo -H o p l la n d d is p u t e , and youA a A tlcle "Big Mountain G enocide" by Lynn S tep h en s. L et me tn y t o s e t

t h e record s tA a lg h t. 7 have countAy pAopeAty In t h e 4-comers area, and 7 know t h e pAoblem w e lt .

t e c t thelA in t e n e s t s anyway. AfteA a l l , th e H avajos and oun goveA n m en t wcac p A a c t lc a lly p an tnen s by th en .

The Hopi p e o p le have l i v e d In t h e 4n eg ion <or ovca a thousand yeaAA. Ho one A e a lly knows foA how lo n g . They are a p e a c e f u l , a g n lcu ltu A al p e o p le . At on e tim e th ey assumed th elA la n d ran fAom S a l t Lake C ity t o t h e noAth Aim o f th e GAand Canyon and eaA t In to ColoAado and Hew M exico. But th elA territory has been AhAunk t o p A a c t lc a lly n othin g to d a y .

The Hopls wcac A ig h t. The H avajos co n tin u ed to s e t t l e c l o s e s and c l o s e s to th e Hopl v i l l a g e s ; th e H avajos wcac supCAioA in p o p u la t io n , and th ey had p o l i t i c a l favon w ith th e U.S. The goveAnment gave th e H avajos' wiAfics de fa c t o A ecogn it lo n and su p p on t. In co n se q u en c e, th e Hopl and H avajo n esen v a t ions wcac d iv id e d I n t o d l s t A l e t s by the B I A - - o s t e n s lb ly as a co n seA v ation measuAc, and in 1943 t h e Hopl I n d ia n Agency was p u t In chaAge o f Vls.tAl.ct * 6 - -ev en though V is tA lc t #6 c o n ta in e d on ly 631,306 acres w ith in I t s b ou n d oA les. A lthough th e Hopl p e o p le tcere assu n ed t h a t V is t A lc t * 6 would n ot becom e t h e new Hopl A eseA v atlo n , t h i s i s e x a c t ly w hat happened.

coaucaa

The Hopls b e l i e v e In t h e anonym ity o f t h e I n d iv id u a l. They b e l i e v e In I s o l a t i o n fAom otheAA, and In th elA om cu ltu A al AovcAeignty and I n d ep en d en ce. The Hopls have no p o l i t i c a l AtAuctuAe. ThcAe. waA no T A lbal Council, (referred to by S te p h e n s ). The Hopl T A lbal Govern ment was th e woAk o f our Bureau 0 |( In dian AffalA A. I t never has in c lu d ed any o f th e Hopl F ld en s ( a ls o kn om as T n a d it lo n a l s ) . The TAibal C oun cil I a made up o f young IndianA w illin g to n e g o t ia t e w ith our goveAnment (as th ey sate t h e H avajos AuccesA f u l l y doing) foA th elA own b e n e f i t ( n o t ic e t h e c o a l - f i n e d powcA p la n t on t h e Hava j o acacav a tlo n a t S h lp A o ck ). The Hopl EldeAA have never d e a l t w ith ouA govcAnment. They have no machlncAy foA doing Ao. U nlike the HavajoA, t h e Hopls have never sig n ed w ith ouA govcAnment; t h e y have never ex ten d ed d ip lo m a tic A ecogni,tion to o u r govcAnment. They t a k e t h e view) t h a t t h e la n d is n ot som ething th a t can be bestow ed by man, and t h a t th elA la n d " is t h e sacA ed home o f t h e Hopl p e o p le ," and t h a t a l l t h a t '•ns ever g iv en t o them was t h e t a s k t o p n o t e c t I t . So th ey Acs i s t e d th e E x ecu tiv e Order o f 1&$2 w hich gave th e Hopl p e o p le 2 m illio n 500 thou san d acn es o f la n d as an a ttem p t by t h e U.S. GovcAnment to e s ta b llA h I t s pA esen ce on t h e la n d . They re sented bein g g iv en la n d " th a t I s alA eady ours.” They found our goveAnment a g e n ts " in tn u s iv e ." By 1900 th e H avajos (who coop eA ated e n t h u s i a s t i c a l l y w ith 67A au th oA l l i e s - - l i k e m ost p e o p le sig n up foA s o c i a l sec u A lty b e n e f i t s today) had moved on to a good p o a tlo n o f th e Hopl A eseA vatlon . They u sed th e ?and foA g n azin g . The Hopls wcac planteA A . The goveAnment a p p o in ted a CommlssloneA o f In dian A ffa in s , bu t th e Hopl EldeAA gave him no au th oA lty to In teA feA e In th e d l s pute t h a t had d e v e lo p e d betw een them and t h e H avajos. The Hopls b e lie v e d our govennme,nt had no ju A is d lc t lo n In t h e m atteA , and th e y feoA ed th e U.S. would n ot pro 5

For a l l p n a c t ic a l puAposes th en , goveAnment w hich Supponted the I n f l u e n t i a l and c o o p e r a t iv e H av ajos, sIxAank the Hopi la n d to a token f r a c t i o n o f the en s h r in e d a r e a v e n e r a t e d in Hopi c e r e m o n i e s . By 1953, th e Hopl A eseA v atlon o u t s id e V is tA lc t *6 u r n o c c u p ie d a lm o s t e x c l u s i v e ly by H av ajos. Congress p a s s e d a m easure t h a t a llo w e d the Hopls to sue the H avajos in s e t t l e ment o f th e la n d d is p u t e . In 1962, a th A ee-ju d g e f e d e r a l a p p e a ls couAt p a n e l r u le d t h a t th e Hopls o n ly had e x c l u s i v e n ig h t to V is t A lc t *6, and " { o ln t , u n d iv id ed and e q u a l n ig h ts to a l l the e x e c u t iv e on d er r e s e r v a t i o n . . . ly in g o u t s id e V is t A lc t *6" w ith th e H av ajos. What a t r a v e s t y ! And n e t , p e o p le Ig n o ra n t o f the t r u e h i s t o r y and f a c t s su p p o r t the H a v a jo s--ev en though theif alA ead y occu py m ost o f th e o n ig in a t Hopl A eseA vatlon. ouA

As foA th e c o a l m ines (which are a smoke s c r e e n t o h id e th e A eal i s s u e ) , t h e TAlbal. Council, ( e s t a b l i s h e d by ouA goveAnment) l e a s e d to P eabody, e t c . The s o - c a l l e d T r a d it io n a l s a c t u a l ly f i l e d s u i t In 1971 a g a in s t t h e Sec. o f InteA loA and P eabody, a l le g in g t h a t th e T A lbal C ou n cil had no a u t h o a it y w ith in th e Hopi AtAuctuAe, and t h e l e a s e v i o l a t e d Hopl t r a d i t i o n and sh o u ld be de clared v o id . Von’t t a k e my word foA i t ; to o k i t up foA y o u r s e l f. The Hopls deserve thelA entire 2,6 ^ 0 ,0 0 0 acres b a c k -even though th e y won'* c o o p e r a t e ' d th even who tn l.es to h e lp them. Good w is h e s . C o r d ia lly , Von S lateA Homosexual In fo rm a tio n C enter Los A ngeles

V e a r Ron S G ro u p - -

I'm alw ays happy to s e e the. maga z in e when i t a r r i v e s , even when 7 fin d 7 h ave l i t t l e i n t e r e s t in th e c o n t e n ts . I t doet> seem as though ou r cou n try b r o t h e r s who have tim e to c o n t r ib u t e one engaged f a t h e r h e a v ily w ith p o l i t i c s . Is t h e r e a r e a s o n l o r t h is ? 7 mean, p o l i t i c s w i l l alw ays be w ith us in a g e n e r a l s ens e , and in th e Ap e d a l t e n s e t h a t gays do have to p a r t i c i p a t e in m ainstream p o l i t i c a l a c t io n in o l d e r t o d e v e lo p a neiivork oft p e o p le ivho w i l l be w i l l i n to p a r t i d fo a t e in gay p o l i t i c s as non-gays ivho su p p o rt gay i s s u e s . But i t seems to me t h a t a m agazine fo r a u r a l gays w ould have more a p p e a l to r u r a l gays i f i t fo c u s s e d on the r e a l i t i e s o f r u r a l l i f e r a th e r than on t h e p o l i t i c s o f n u c lea r is s u e s , etc. 7 mean, t h e r e ' s a l o t in v o lv e d in b ein g in the. cou n try . S u re, th ere's p o lit ic s . But t h e r e ' s a l so the r e s t o f th e e x p e r ie n c e : ponds, strea m s, l i v e s t o c k , c r o p s , m ach in ery , b u ild in g s , econ om ics, p erson al r e l a t io n s h ip s - - a ll th a t stuff t h a t makes us r u r a l gays r a t h e r than m e tr o p o lita n gays o r p o l i t i c a l g a y s. 7 d on ’t mean t o knock th e p o l i t i c a l w r it e r s and w o rk ers. But 7 p e r s o n a lly w ould l i k e to s e e a l i t t l e more a b o u t r u r a l l i f e and l e s s about p o l i t i c s . 7 th in k o f th in g s l i k e t iiis e v ery once in a w h ile ; f o r exam ple, when som ething funny happens h ere a t th e Pansy P atch. L ike l a s t Sunday m orning: we had j u s t " in h e r it e d " tivo Khaki Cam pbell d u cks, from someone who had been g iv en them t o e a t and c o u ld n ' t d e a l w ith k i l l i n g and p lu ck in g them, '" e ll, we a r e n ' t s e t up fo r l i v e s t o c k y e t ; we had sh ed s and so fo r t h when ive l i v e d on our last farm, but t h is one is s t i l l in th e b u ild in g p r o c e s s and we d o n ’ t even have, a dog h ou se, much l e s s a poul try y ard . So toe l e t them lo o s e in t h e y ard around m id n ig h t and went t o bed . S ix o ' c l o c k Sunday morning 7 got up to g e t read y fo r work (7 do t y p e s e t t in g fo r t h e is l a n d p r in t sh op on ce a w eek) and d is c o v e r e d one o f th e ducks o u t s id e th e fe n c e and th e o t h e r try in g to g e t o u t, t o o . So t h e r e 7 tutu, w earing a p a ir o f g o -a h e a d s , w ith t o o th p a s te in my b e a r d , s lip p in g and s li d in g in th e dewy g r a s s , try in g to g e t a g a te open and chase, th e one duck in t o th e yard b e fo r e th e o t h e r one g o t o u t, and t h e r e ivas Robb, in h is summer b a t h r o b e , b a r e f o o t , sn eakin g

up on the " o u tsid e" duck throu gh th e t a l l g r a s s , hungover and h a l f aw ake. We f i n a l l y g o t t h e o u t s id e duck in s id e , and then had to t e a c h the p oo r th in g s what a pond i s a l l a b o u t, b ec a u se t h e o r i g i n a l owner h a d n 't had a pond and t h e y ’ d n ev er s e i f o o t in ivoter b e f o r e - - t h e s e a r e m ature d ra k es w e 'r e t a lk in g a b o u t, n ot c h ic k s . Long and s h o r t o f i t is t h a t note t h e y d o n 't want t o come ou t o f th e ivater even t o f e e d and w e're tr y in g t o d e v e lo p s t r a t e g i e s fo r coax in g them up on the bank so t h a t e v e n t u a lly t h e y ' l l g e t u sed to b ein g around humans and t o bein g c lo s e d up in a l i t t l e duck hou se a t n ig h t fo r ra cco o n p r o t e c t io n . When 7 f i n a l l y g o t my b r e a th b a ck , 7 r e a l i z e d i t ivas a v ery funny s i t u a t i o n , and one t h a t c o u ld o n ly happen in t h e co u n try . What a l l t h is i s ten d in g tow ard i s a s u g g e s tio n t h a t RPV do a humor is s u e , 7 g u e s s , o r have a r e g u la r column on th e laughs in v o lv e d in cou n try l i f e . T hat ivould lig h t e n up the h e a v ie r s id e o f t h e c o n t e n ts , w ith o u t [1 h o p e ) o ffe n d in g r e a d e r s who e n jo y th e p o l i t i c a l s t u f f , and maybe p r o v id e an im p etu s fo r b e t t e r newsstand sales w hich w ould, in tu rn , h e lp expand th e c ir c u l a t io n o f th e magazine in g e n e r a l . Or maybe t h e r e ' s a c a r t o o n i s t in t h e r e a d e r s h ip who'd be i n t e r e s t e d in doing a s in g l e ea ch q u a r t e r , o r even a fo u r-jo a n el s t r i p . 7 know a non-gay man in S e a t t l e who u sed to do a fo u r - p a n e l w eek ly fo r our coun ty p a p e r , so i t ' s a th in g t h a t can be don e. Other than t h a t , I'm s t i l l p le a s e d to be g e t t in g RFV a f t e r a l l t h e s e y ea rs live have a co m p lete run o f the m agazine) and p le a s e d t h a t i t ' s s t i l t a p p e a rin g . So many m agazines f a l l a p a r t a f t e r a c o u p le o f y ea rs o f i s s u e s ; som ething t h a t g oes ou t t o th e cou n try gay p o p u la t io n i s v a lu a b le sim p ly on th e l e v e l t h a t m a l l know t h e r e ' s someone else out t h e r e tr y in g to l i v e a san e l i f e t o o . s t r o k e s f o r you on I s s u e 47: 7 en jo y e d F ra n k lin A b b o tt's "Fey Arts" fe a t u r e , i t ' s n ic e to know whose p o e tr y I'm r e a d in g ; en jo y e d Randy Krahn's "R est S to p " ; en jo y e d K irk F e r a l' s "Sharing t h e Warmth"; g o t a g i g g l e ou t o f "A Group Song"; en jo y e d R aphael S a b a t in i' s " I f y ou 're Mot Going To S tay . . . " ; g o t a g i g g le ou t o f S . J . H am ilton 's " B efo re the B e g in n in g ..." ; e n jo y e d Wayne S izem ore, Ja m a l. and Rohin W alden's a r t , a l s o R ick Vean's [ e s p e c i a l l y the Love-Brotherhood-Support vs. MVS, tvhich you 've run b e f o r e h a v e n 't you?) ivith i t s swinging p h a llu s e s . 6

Keep up th e good w ork. I may b it c h and moan a l o t , bu t 7 co n tin u e to t h in k RFV i s w orth s u p p o rtin g . G ay lov e, P i e t e r , W ashington S t a t e [Editor's note: We welcome the opnortunity to emphasize the fact that RED is a reader-written journal. We can't publish what we don't get in. Publishing political issues is in no way at the expense of farm issues. We try to budget space for all of our (admitted) many departments. And, indeed, there "ought to be clowns; send in the clowns." RLl

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7 4t i l l r e l i s h your a r t i c l e s , s t o r i e s , p o e t r y , e t c . , e t c . Any ch an ce o f som eone d oin g a com ic s t r i p fo r RFV? 7 p ray t h a t t h o s e Mundanes in W ashington, V.C., n e it h e r s c a r e nor f o r c e you to r e d u c e t h e q u a l i t y o f your jo u r n a l. I t w ould be a p r in c i p l e to d im in ish d ie c o n te n t a n d /o r number o f f i n e s k e t c h e s , p i c t u r e s , and p h o to s (a lth o u g h t h e p h oto s c o u ld b e a l i t t l e l a r g e r ). 7 l i k e d t h e aw fu l c e n t e r s e c t i o n in ^46-<:p ‘rin g 1986! RFV w ou ld n 't be t h e same w ith o u t Camp and n e it h e r would we. P le a s e , d o n 't s t o p bein g "nasty" as w e l l as e n s e g h t fu l , i n fo r m a tiv e , and c u te . Are t h e r e any F a e r ie s l e f t i n my a r e a o r a r e a l l t h e cov en s c lo s e d ? I f i t iv er en 't f o r RFV, and S tarhaw k, 7 c o u ld im ag in e t h a t c i r c l e s had t o b e c o n c e n t r ic . Hiss VASFA sa y s "Hi" t o B u bbles (and anyone e l s e who l i k e s S c ie n c e F ic t io n / Fantasy/Fandom ) and ev ery o n e e ls e . Love, Voug, V enver, C olorad o

GAY MAN REGAINS CUSTODY OF SDN

f GAY/LESBIAN LIBERATION IN ITALY Neo-fascists have been active in intimidation against gays in Italy, including claiming responsibility for setting a gay disco on fire. These fascist hostilities have caused left wing groups to re-exa mine their own attitudes toward gays and to amplify policy in sup port of gay rights. This affirma tive support for the rights and dignity of gays is under attack from the Italian Catholic right wi ng. y THE BEEF IS "BURGER" f NATIVE TRIBES BLOCK THE SAWS British Columbia Natives in this wilderness area have succeeded in temporarily halting the jaws of the lumber companies that have been re lentlessly encroaching upon and desecrating lands held by and sacred to tribes. The tribes were forced to resort to spiking and spraying trees to thwart clearing. The Nuu-Chahnulth Tribe took the issue to court in order to permanently re strain wilderness exploitation. Support is needed. Write: Haida Tribal Council, Box 98, Queen Char lotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada V&T 150.

A large and demonstrative group of concerned gay men and lesbians ral lied in protest outside Lincoln y Center in New York where out-going • Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger was attending a dtnner spon sored by the American Bar Assoc. Some of the demonstrators managed to get by armed police and reportedly threw eggs at the dais. Burger and others were reportedly "so frightened^ that they had bolted themselves in o n ’ the second floor." Police on horse back charged the crowd outside and inflicted bodily harm on the demon strators .

y AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ON GAY ARREST y ONUS OFF GAY BELLSOUTH ADVERTISERS

How many people are in prison for reasons directly or indirectly re lated to their being homosexuals? Amnesty International is currently attempting a survey/study in this area. If you have pertinent data, or interest, write: George A. J. Siamensma, P.0. Box 1473, 1000 BL Amsterdam, Netherlands.

San Diego Supreme rourt Judge Judith McConnell awarded custody of 15 year old Rrian Batey to his father, Frank. Datey's ex-wife, a fundamentalist, violated the law that had given the father custody, when she spirited Brian away on a 19 month cross-country trek. Frank battled emotional fundamentalist testimony to regain his son. The battle was at last won when the judge listened to Brian in a closed hearing in June. In summation, frank Batey said, "When organiza tions scream 'homo,' a person's constitutional rights go out the door." CHEROKEE NATION ELECTS WOMAN CHIEF Wilma Mankiller now heads the 65,000 member Cherokee Nation. Mankiller sees her election as a return of the woman in key tribal positions.

PUBLIC OPPOSES SODOMY RULING Of 611 adults surveyed by Newsweek , 47% disapproved the SupremeTourtf$ sodomy laws decision. 41% approved it. 57% felt that states shouldn't police private homosexual practices 61% don't regard homosexuality as acceptable. Support for the deci sion was highest among those over 50 and non-high school graduates.

BellSouth announced a policy change with regard to gay references. The y NEW ZEALAND DECRIMINALIZES GAY SEX formerly restricted words "gay" and "lesbian" can now be included in The New Parliament voted on July 9 yellow page advertising. Ads will to enact the Homosexual Reform be judged only on the basis of "ad Bill, decriminalizing homosexual herence to our publishing standards activity and setting the age of and by ... conformity to decency consent for gays at 16. The 49-44 and good taste," said Neal Clay, vote ended 16 months of Intense manager of corporate information y L.A. GAY PARADE CENSORSHIP controversy, including ant1-gay for the Atlanta-based BellSouth efforts by the Salvation Army. corporation. Gay men and lesbians marched to gether 10,000 strong in the Chris topher Street West parade in Los Angeles this June. Over 150,000 y p ADI CALS THREATEN FREE ZONE y PERSECUTION OF PAGANS people lined the parade route and gave the marchers warm and some The Davis, Calif., Civil Rights Or Circle Sanctuary, a Wiccan oriented times wildly enthusiastic support. dinance, in place since Feb. 2B, group with IRS status as a reli 1986, prohibits discrimination in gious group in Wisconsin, was sub However, Christopher Street West, employment, housing, and business jected to harassment at a recent the organizers of the parade, services, regardless of a person's town meeting. Circle sought relief threatened gay rights pioneer Marry age, sex, marital status, color, from a permit/zoning technicality Hay with arrest for his support of creed, origin, disability, or sex having to do with a building on its NAMBLA. Hay objected to CS1-''s ex ual orientation. The ordinance, own 200 acre sanctuary. However, however, is in danger from reli clusion of NAMBLA from the parade. citizens at the meeting ignored the ,Je bore a simple sign which read gious groups which have gathered issue and began condemnation and "m a m d l a marches with me." An orenough signatures to qualify an charges of satanic intent. Circle anti-gay-rights initiative for nanizer of the parade chided ua.y finds itself the focus of what the November ballot. Contact: and then directed a mounted sheriff amounts to a witch-hunt. Help is Citizens for Fairness *or Lesbians to arrest Hay. In order to avert needed. Contact: Selena Fox, an incident, a brother sympathetic and Gays, P.0. Box 365, Davis, Circle Sanctuary, Box 2 1 0 , Mt. CA 05617-0367, (016) 753-B7B7. to Hay ripped up the sign. Horeb, WI 53572. 7

LAMBDA STRATEGY ON SODOMY LAWS

^ campaign to counter the Supreme Court's decision to uphold sodomy laws is being launched by the Lambda Legal and Education Fund. The stra tegy includes challenge, reform, and education. Contact: ''bby Rubenfeld, Lambda Legal Defense and Edu cation Fund, Inc., 132 W. 43rd St., New York, NY 10036, (212) 944-9488.

NO ON LAROUCHE Lyndon LaRouche has sponsored an initiative scheduled to appear on California's November ballot. The LaRouch-sponsored initiative seeks to quarantine and isolate AIDS vic tims and SUSPECTED AIDS victims. In effect, the initiative seeks to create concentration camps. Con tact: No On LaRouche Initiative, 7985 Santa Monica Blvd. #109-174, West Hollywood, CA 90046.

CHALLENGING THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

y SUPPORT SOUGHT FOR FLECTORAL REFORM BILL Sponsor support is needed for rlec^oral Reform Bill, H.R. 232D. The bill would set uniform standards among the states for independent and third party candidates seeking federal office. The hill currently has 17 congressional supporters but needs 40. The New Alliance °arty encourages citizens to write their congresspersons and urge support of the bill. For info, contact: New Alliance Party, 216 W. 102nd St., New York, NY 10025, (21?) 864.1000.

y VICTORY OVER INSURANCE COMPANY National Gay Rights Advocates have successfully forced an insurance company--Sentry Life Insurance Com pany of Wisconsin--to restore the health and life insurance coverage of a man with AIDS. This is an im portant victory for AIDS victims, since it forced the company to re instate coverage after loss of group coverage when an AIDS victim was fired from a job.

y OVERTURN SODOMY LAWS The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced plans to overturn the sodomy statutes still on the books in 24 states and the District of Columbia, in response to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold laws that violate privacy. "The goal of this project is to provide assistance to those state groups that want to take up the challenge the Supreme Court has thrown down," said Jeff Levi, NGLTF's executive director. Contact: NGLTF Privacy °roject, 1517 U St. NW, Washington, D.C. ?nOD9, (202) 332-6483.

YHANDICAPPED VS. THE AIRLINES The Supreme Court is attempting to reach a decision as to whether handicapped citizens have the same rights to reasonably unrestricted access to commercial airplanes as do the non-handicapped. Some air lines insist that a handicapped per son be accompanied by an "aide while flying." This issue is currently in debate, and while President Reagan has spoken out on the needs of the handicapped, his Justice Department has challenged suits that attempt to remedy airline discrimination. '.'rite: Handicap News, 272 North 11th Ct., Brighton, CO 80601, (303) 659-4463.

A man, fired by Broward County in Florida because he is afflicted with AIDS, is suing Broward County and, by extension, challenging the Justice Department. The suit in vokes the Federal Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicap. The Justice Department permits dis crimination in cases where there is fear of contagion.

rROSS-DRESSING LAW RULED INVALID The U.S. Court of Appeals in St. >ouis declared, this past July, that a St. Louis ordinance which orohibited cross-dressing and "lewd and indecent" behavior was unconstitutional. The ACLU said, "This case is a major victory for those who are gay or sexually dif ferent in any way." Police had previously used the law as a means of harassing gays, transvestites, and transsexuals.

y N.C. RE-CALL EFFOPT FAILS WILDERNESS WATER RIGHTS Durham (NCl mayor, Wib Gulley, has been a target of fundamentalists' wrath because of the Mayor's en dorsement of a democratic proclama tion that states: "All people have the riqht to love and live free from bigotry, violence and fear." The proclamation was issued in con junction with gay pride week. The sentiments of equality expressed were obviously not shared by a gang called "Citizens for Traditional Moral Government ; this political cult attempted to have the mayor re called by petition, but they failed to collect enough signatures. Ob viously stung by defeat, this group is blaming the drought on gays, and contends that an anti-nuclear group is really a gay front to divert pub lic attention from AIDS (!). The mayor's comment on all this: "The re-call effort gets more bizarre each day." 8

H.R. 4233 would overturn a ruling by Judge John Kane in "Sierra Club vs. Block." In November of last year, U.^. nistrict Court Judge Kane ruled that wilderness areas nossess a "reserved water right." In other words, a water right is established automatically when wilderness areas are designated by Congress. The ruling was the re sult of a suit by the Sierra Club against former Secretary of Agri culture John Block. In their suit, the Sierra Club sought to establish the existence of "reserved wilder ness water rights" for wilderness areas. If it is upheld, Judge Kane's decision could have farreaching implications since auto matic water rights for wilderness areas may conflict directly with water rights established under state water laws.

f ABOUT COMMUNITY LIFE

tor

proopr INTERESTED IM Mrg

‘7r, a new quarterly magazine, Reuses on men and includes dis cussion, analysis, and information about men as men. Contact: M/r, n.'\ Box 40755, Berkeley, CA °4 704.

Community Soundings, published by East Wind Community, includes essays, poetry, short stories, and comments about community life. Con tact: Community Soundings, Box 6B2, Tecumseh, MO 65760.

GAY DISCRIMINATION IN ALASKA Identity, a local gay advocacy group, has conducted an extensive survey that reveals a high inci dence of active prejudice against gays, so much so, is fact, that Identity is calling for Anchorage's Equal Rights Commission to provide specific protection laws for gays, -"he Andorage rqual Rights Commis sion is reviewing its anti-dis crimination laws in considering a gay rights ordinance.

YCONCERN FOR THE PLIGHT OF ANIMALS Civitas reports about the abuse of animals, particularly in labora tories, and about successful animal rights activism. Contact: Civitas, Box 26, Swain, NY 148R4, (607) 545-6217.

y PEACE ACTION CALENDAR This calendar is a time-table for the peace effort. It focuses on significant events throughout the vears affecting peace and freedom, and also notes days of infamy. Contact: War Resisters League, 379 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012, (212) 228-0450.

y ABOUT LOVE AND GROWTH The Violet Moon Journal celebrates 1ove, friendship, contact, and grow ing together. Reader participation is encouraged. Contact: The Violet Moon Journal, P.0. Box 1A, 9130 SW nleson Rd., Portland, OR 97223, (503) 244-7171.

y FAIRY NETWORK PUBLICATION

LAND-SAVING ,'CTIr'w

Drivate-sector preservation o* open space lands is no longer solely an activity of big conservation organi zations like The Mat.ure Conservancy. During the last ten yeats, the tech niques have proliferated *ar and wide. Rural Republicans are doing it with *heir croplands; uroan ghetto dwel1ers *re doing it with rubble-strewn va cant lots; creature lovers of a11 kinds are orotectin" spec fie nldM f e habitats. The orouns tend to be small, volunteer, community oriented, and with very specific tasks in mind This book, with chapters by 0,1 dif ferent experts, embodies the exper ience that ten /ears saving land has produced, and will serve anyone ■/ho loves a piece of land enough to ■/ant to find out how to save it. The book is entitled: Land-Saving Action and is Hi ted by Russell ’ . Brenneman and Sarah ’1. pates. It has ?62 pages and is available at S37.45 (postpaid! from Island Dress, Star Route 1, 9ox 79, rovelo, CA ns4 eg.

Fairy circles are springing up like mushrooms, and many feel that data base networking is essential so that contact can be established and maintained between groups and gatherings. A new publication that addresses itself to this need is available. Contact: Touch Circle, y "ANSWERING THE CALL" AWARDS DINNFR P.0. Box 3350, Berkeley, CA 94703. On May 12th the Fund for Human Dig nity held its 1986 Annual Awards Dinner. Honorees included: syn dicated columnist Liz Smith, Rev erend Paul Moore, Jr., and Judge y SAFF SEX AND MORF Ricard C. Fail!a. "Answering the '"all" pertains to educating and in The Hot ’n Healthy Times is a safeforming the oublic about the oay sex education pamphlet about con community and its needs, especial 1 ' doms, with how-to photos, written during the AIDS crisis. Contact: especially for gay men. Contact: The Fund for Human Dignity, Tnc., Hot 'n Healthy Times, P.0. Box 666 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, TT05(T3, San Francisco, CA 94141(212) 529-1600. 9503, (415) 864-1386. 9

pooegr r/\Rj«rn'<; u/ynnonov nrville ,"a,T'n 1 ives on acres o f nogue niver '.'alley t.imberland in °renon. "hen he took it over in 1 ■*, it had been devastated by con sent iona1 lorne r<:. Mow if 's a shown ^ c e and °rville has been making a Mvin" from hfs core$t by observant, *■boughtfu1 , and resoonsiMe mananement - which, tragically, has litfe to do with the kind taught 1n our forestry schools or oracticed by lumber coroorations - and this modest, no-nonsense book tells how to h 0 it. Camp's system of sustainable manage ment based on natural processes re quires attention, persistence, and hard work. Non-damaning access roads, a key element, take both thought and proper equipment. It's the opposite o f the usual cut-andspray system, and it can give per manently productive forests, control erosion, promote fisheries, minimize fire, avoid chemicals, and provide a decent place to 1 ive. In a time when the "eaoan administration has abandoned even a Dretense o f sus‘■ained-yie1d practices, ramp's hook is a nractica1 , detailed antidote to irresoonsible short-^erm-profit forestry. Tt. should instantly be come the hi hie for independent or medium-sized ooerators who want to do it rinht, and a ’secret manua1 ror oeopie in the corest Service or tim ber corporations who want to do "ood stewardship if they get the chance. The book is entitled: The rorest rarmer' s Handbook (A GuuJe to Natural Selection rorest ’’anagement) and is by frville ^amp. It is avail able for *5.olj from Sky niver °ress, '’36 rast "ain St., Ashland, DP 97S?9.

African Swine Fever has been found in a herd of pigs in Belle Glade, Florida. Almost all nine samples also tested positive for the anti body to HTLY-III, the virus be lieved to cause AIDS. Researchers, drawn to Belle Glade, because of the unusually high incidence of AIDS in the local population, be lieve there is a correlation be tween the presence of African Swine Fever and AIDS. The U.S. Department of Agriculture con tinues to deny such a correlation. For details contact: International Health Research Foundation, 1780 NE 168th St., N. Miami Beach, Florida 33162.

Y MIND OVER MATTER Spiritual healing may combat AIDS, "ichael Hartley, a researcher at the California School of Profession al Psychology, is a practitioner of the technique called REIKI and advocates conscious control over physical health. Contact: Ken Rower, (213) 657-3329. Y GOLD IN THrM THERE ILLS

Despite the Reagan administration's "cold cuts" in medical care programs and fiscal belt tightening (at least around the neck of the poor), sala ries at the top show that the pie stays at the top: David Jones, chairman of Humana, Inc., the larg Y CENATE APPROVES AIDS DISCRIMINATION est for-profit hospital chain, pulled down over 18 MILLION DOLLARS A rider attached by Jesse Helms IN SAIARY IN 1985; Thomas Frist, (R-NC) to the Debt Ceiling Bill Jr., head of Hospital Corporation of overturned a D.C. law that prohibits America, received 2 MILLION DOLLARS insurance company discrimination IN SALARY; Richard Earner of Nation against AIDS risk groups. For de al Medical Enterprises got 6.4 tails, contact: Jeff Levi, "'ational MILLION DOLLARS; Robert Van Tuyle, Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), of Beverly Enterprises, the largest 1517 U Street, NW, Washington, D.C. nursing home chain, received 1.9 20029, (202) 332-6483. MILLION DOLLARS. "Take two aspirins and rest."

Y MARROW TRANSPLANT COMBATS AIDS Dr. Anthony S. Fauci has performed a successful bone marrow trans plant from a healthy twin to one with AIDS. The marrow works to restore blood and lymph. The AIDS victim given the new marrow "feels quite well." It is still a specu lative process and will need long term monitoring before it is con clusive.

T 25* OF AIDS VICTIMS ARE BLACK That statistic is the result of a national conference--"AIDS in the Black Community"--which met July 18, 1986. Its findings reveal that "in the United States, 25* of those diagnosed with AIDS are black men, women, and children." Write: NCBLG, Inc., 930 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20004.

AIDS "SELF-HEALING" TAPE AVAILABLE

TOO MUCH SUN AN AIDS RISK? ftnn Giudici Fettner speculates in The New York Native that too much exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays may contribute to developing ''IDS and ARC. Evidence indicates that certain skin cells may be a major reservoir for the HTLV-TTI virus. There has also been specu lation that atomic testinq has damaged the ozone shield and dang erous rays now penetrate our at mosphere .

YFED FILES AIDS DISCRIMINATION SUIT AIDS RrCOVERY--SELF INVOLVEMENT Jim Carlton, a recovered person with AIDS, is featured on a video called "AIDS IV: A Recovery?" This is the fourth video in the series focusing on AIDS victims. The video featuring Jim Carlton was shown on Cable Channel A3 in Boston, July 18. Carlton asserts that taking charge personally of his condition and not just turning his body over to someone else is one of the chief reasons for his recovery. He attributes his re covery to his philosophy of "selfcontrol," plus his tenacity and resolve.

The House of Dawn has prepared what it calls a "self-hypnosis" tape that is intended to assist in the transition from sick to healthy bv positive thinking. Contact: House of the Dawn, °.0. Box 5336, phoenix, A7 85010, (602) 267-120*1.

AIDS AND AFRICAN SWINE FEVER

Department of Health and Human Ser vices has charged that Charlotte Memorial Hospital in North Carolina has, by firing an AIDS victim, vio lated the law which prohibits firing anyone on the basis of a handicap. This is the first such suit filed by the federal government.

CALL TO SCREEN GAY MEN William Petri, a doctor at the Vir ginia School of Medicine, "suggests" that a common intestinal parasite may be responsible for activating the AIDS virus. 0^ the basis of his "speculation" he is calling for all gay men to be "screened."

ESTELLE GETTY TOUGH ON AIDS Estelle Getty, known for her por trayals of mothers with a touch of YCANDLES LIT FOR AIDS WORLDWIDE acid, has agreed to promote "Stamp Out AIDS" stamps, to raise money for Thousands of concerned people took p ro g ra m s which serve people with part in an historic memorial that AIDS. The stamp idea is similar to circled the globe, a coordinated Easter Seals. AIDS stamps sell in candle-lit event *hat called attersheets o* 6 for $1.00. Contact: tion to the victims of AIDS. Details National AIDS Network/Stamp Out from Mobilization Against Aids, 2120 AIDS, 240 W. 44th St., New York, Market Street, ><106, San Francisco, CA 94H4, (415) 431-4660. NY 10036, (212) 354-8899. 10

r~'> SEARCHING FOR MR. RIGHT?

United Brothers is a new gay con tact group with its own contact periodical. Ads are given code numbers for confidentiality. All replies are forwarded through United Brothers. Contact: United Brothers, P.0. Box 1733, Louis ville, Kentucky 40201.

CHURCH TO OFFER GAY OUTREACH

The American Fellowship Church of Monterey, Cal., is currently cull ing input from the gay community, so that the church can evolve a pro gram to specific problems. The GAY PARENTS GROUP WELCOMES LESBIANS mission program claims to be dedi cated to encouraging interaction Gay Father's Coalition International among seniors, prisoners, and gays, has extended itself to meet the or the otherwise disenfranchised. needs of Lesbian parents, after a Contact: American Fellowship Inter 3-day conference in Chicago attended y OTHER SEX national Mission Project, P.0. Box by more than 200 men and women. The 14172, North Palm Beach, FL 33408. group's new name is Gay and Lesbian Have you had sex with an alien, or Darents Coalition International. with a discarnate? Other level Contact: GLPC, 3225 Sheffield, sex? Out-of-body sex? 4B Company Chicago, IL 60657, (312) 929-4357. is conducting a survey. Contact: 4B Company, Star Route Box 9A, T NEW HAMPSHIRE SUPPORT GROUP FORMED Damascus, AR 72039 The Mt. Washington Valley area has y NEW TAMPA GAY CLUB organized a gay men's support group and is seeking other members. Con Suncoaster Rawhides Club is forming y r’AY OFFICERS ACTION LEAGUE, INC. tact: GMSA, P.0. Box 3011, N. Con a new group in the Tampa Bay Area. way, NH U3860-3011. It is an alternative to the bar Gay Officers Action League, Inc., scene and a way to meet new friends. is a professional and social or The club advocates "the nudist, ganization of women and men who are or were employees of the agen safe sex way of life." It is open y ARKANSAS TASK FORCE FORMED cies of the Criminal Justice Sys to any male anywhere. Contact: tem. Membership is also open for SRC, P.0. Box 2100, St. Petersburg, Arkansas Gay and Lesbian Task Force non-professionals in the Friends FL 33731. (AGLTF) has just been formed, add of G.O.A.L. Newsletter to all mem ing another link in the network of bers plus participation in events. solidarity and support. Write: Contact: G.O.A.L., 208 W. 13th AGLTF, P.0. Box 45043, Little Rock, y METROLINA AIDS PROJECT St., New York, NY 10011. AR 72214. The Metrolina Aids Project (MAP) is a not-for-profit organization which recognizes the needs of the people y WAR RESISTER LEAGUE PERSEVERES living in and around Charlotte, and fANARCHY ADVOCATES is attempting to meet those needs The War Resister League (WRL) con by providing information, education, tinues the tradition of promoting The Mackay Society discusses in its and support services. Write or call peace by peaceful means. For more literature the idea of individual Metrolina Aids Project, PO Box 32662 about the WRL, write: WRL, 33Q anarchy as the ultimate resistance Charlotte, NC 28232, USA (704) Lafayette St., New York, NY 19012. to domination. Contact: Mackay 364-AIDS. Society, Box 131, Asonia Station, New York, NY 10023. y UNREGTSTFR FOR THE DRAFT y ASIAN GAYS JOIN THE PARADE GAY SOUTH ASIANS, a newly formed group, joined the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade. The group is a welcome addition to the many faces of the gay community. Gay men and lesbians of Asian heri tage (and others) contact: Arvind Kumar, Trikon, Box 60536, Palo Alto, CA 94306, (415) 857-2450.

The Committee Against Registration and the Draft (CARD) is behind a campaign to mobilize men to "un register" for the draft, an allout effort to counter the govern ment’s preparations for the draft. According to CARD, "un-registration is "perfectly legal." To obtain an "un-registration" card, write: CARD, 731 State Street, Madison, HI 53703. 11

y RICHMOND, VA. AIDS INFO NETWORK The Richmond AIDS Information Net work (RAIN) has been established under the umbrella of Fan Free Clinic as a central resource for information, support and network ing with regard to the AIDS crisis Contact: RAIN, Fan Free Clinic, Inc., 1721 Hanover Ave., Richmond, VA 23220, (804) 355-/,428. HOT LINE: (804) 358-6343.

▼ LAND FOR RENT

FI FRA

FmHA now has a whopping 1.2 million acres of farmland, representing 4,075 farms, acquired by fore closures. The agency doesn't ex pect to sell the land in the near ruture, according to Marlyn Aycock, rmHA spokesman. In nine Midwestern states, there's almost a total ban on such sales. Instead, FmMA wants to lease the land to experienced rarmers.

Y SWAMPBUSTER-SODBUSTER

The House Agriculture Committee has approved a measure (H.R. 2482) to overhaul the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). In approving changes to the pesticide law, the committee managed to meet the concerns of pesticide manufacturers and environ mental ists. The law had not been changed since 1972, and since 1981 Congress has been unable to do anything with it. Lawmakers simply extended it in one-year increments.

PROVISIONS y rARM PRODUCTION

USDA will not enforce the so-called swampbuster-sodbuster provisions of the 1985 farm bill this year be cause it has not had time to de velop appropriate regulations. The Food Security Act of 1985 re quires that any highly erodiMe Tand or wetlands planted in lq811q85 must meet certain standards by lQq0, or two years after soil survey mapping is completed for the farm. A further provision allows a farmer using a soil con servation plan five years to fully comply with the program before he is declared ineligible for farm program benefits.

y DRINKING WATER ACT Both the Senate and Mouse have ap proved legislation to reauthorize the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The bill authorizes more than $809 million over five years for grants to states and for federal programs for the development and enforcement of drinking water stan dards. A key element of the bill is a requirement that states de velop and obtain Environmental Pro tection Agency approval for plans to protect wellhead areas, or socalled zones of influence, that provide water to public systems serving 25 people or more. Under the new legislation, states would be given three years to de velop a program to prevent pesti cides, toxic chemicals and gasoline from leaking storage tanks from contaminating groundwater serving public water systems. The legislation would also require the rpA to expedite the process of setting water quality standards 'maximum contaminate levels) found in groundwater. The legislation would also require local govern ments to monitor public water sys tems for contaminants.

The American farmer is even more productive than the statisticians have been saying, according to USDA. According to the new statis tics, one American farmer produces enough food and fiber to supply 116.2 people. The previous total had been calculated to be 77.3 people. y A CHANGING RURAL AMERICA According to the Farm Bureau, people who live in the metropolitan areas of the country probably have an out moded perception of rural America. They tend to think that rural means farming and ranching, declining population, isolation, lack of ser vices, poor educational opportuni ties, and so on. The facts are quite different. The nast 20 years have witnessed un precedented increases in employment and population in cities, small towns and the open country of rural America. Viewed as a whole, non metropolitan or rural areas have be come much more similar to metro areas, yet they are far more diverse among themselves.

The law would absolve farmers from liability for environmental con tamination if they used products according to label instructions. The measure also requires training ror commercial applicators. It al so speeds up the reregistration process for older pesticides. The bill gives the Environmental Protection Agency nine years to complete reviews of 500-600 chemi cals. Under the current process, the reviews would take decades. The bill also would ensure that "minor use" pesticides are kept on the market, if safe, and provides Tor a safety program for farm workers.

y PEASANT

SUPPORT

According to a report of the Club of Rome entitled: "A Barefoot Revolu tion" by Bertrand Schneider, an in vestment of S6.50 per peasant per year is all that is needed to free the world's two billion peasants xrom their cycle o* poverty and hun ger. Instead of high finance, there is the example of the Thai peasant who was loaned two chickens on the condition that he return four.

Economists and rural sociologists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture have come out with a report on the social and economic structure of rural America that divided the 2,443 nonmetro counties into seven Y USDA TO ESTABLISH OFFICE OF BIOTECH classifications, rather than look ing at them as a whole. Actually, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Richard between 1070 and 1980 population in Lyng has announced the creation of creased 16* in those counties-a new Office of Agriculture Bio about twice the rate of metropolitan technology which will be super counties. vised by the USDA Assistant Secrefary Tor Science and Education. Counties dominated by farming number ^he new unit will coordinate all only 792, less than a third of the department policies with other nonmetro counties and only 13" of state and federal agencies through the nonmetro population. It is in the National Biological Impact these counties that farmers have Assessment Drogram. Some members of Congress have been asking for the most political clout; but they represent a small minority of con stricter controls on genetic en gressional districts. gineering experiments. 12

OAK RIDGE NUCLEAR LEAK

YURANIUM LEAKAGE SINCE 1956 According to a report by the Govern-^ nent Accountability Project, mana gers at a uranium processing plant in Fernald, Ohio, just northwest of Cincinnati, knew about uranium dust leakage for the past 30 years and never did anything about it. Dur ing those years, 300,000 pounds of uranium escaped the plant. f HIDDEN COSTS Cynthia Pollock points out in her new book, "Decommissioning: Nuclear Pow er's Missing Link", that the nuclear power industry will soon suffer fin ancial fallout from disposal of its Y reactors. The estimated costs of decommissioning these 350 plants over the next 30 years is from $50 mill ion to $3 bill ion. Y LEUKEMIA AND CHERNOBYL Dr. Robert Gale of Los Angeles, who visited the "almost-meltdown" at Chernobyl, has prognosticated that leukemia cases are likely to appear within two or three years, with other types of cancer taking as long as 20 or 30 yefirs to show up. Y

mrs

POLITICAL TRADE-OFF

According to documents released by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass), it ap pears that the Department of Energy (DOE) "suspended" its search for a second repository for nuclear waste in the east as a political ploy to garner support for its pet project of a Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility in eastern Tennessee. An MRS facility would accept al1 the spent fuel from nuclear reac tors in the country for "process ing" for final storage in a reposi tory and "temporary" storage. "The documents show us that DDE is not looking for the best nuclear waste system, but instead is look ing for the easiest political course," said Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn). Tennessee officials have gone to court to block the project because the DOE has violated its own guidelines in the process of siting the facility by not afford ing Tennessee adequate "consulta tion and cooperation." A May 13 DOE memo lists pros and cons of several options and says canceling the second dump altogeth er would provide "immediate politi cal relief" from the 17 states be ing considered and would furnish a "possible bargaining chip for MRS proposal."

NRC FAILS ON NUCLEAR TRAINING

According to a report prepared as a citizen's analysis of the proposed Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) Facility in Tennessee by Victor Hovis and others, the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant area and the city of Kingston in Roane Co. have experienced water supply pro blems brought on by radioactivity contamination of the Clinch River. Following heavy rains, abnormal amounts of radioactive Strontium 90 were washed into the Clinch River from the Oak Ridge National Labora tory site. Apparently, at least part of the contamination came from contaminated groundwater overflow ing. When the Oak Ridge plant dis covered the contamination, workers were cautioned not to drink the water and drinking water was trucked to the site. However, the local community of Kingston just downstream was not notified, al though it derives its drinking water from the same river. The people of Kingston learned of the contamination from a reporter.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reports that "worker mistakes are involved in 38$ of nuclear power mishaps, mishaps that could lead to catastrophic accidents." The training of personnel in the nuclear industry was undertaken in 1979 by Institute for Nuclear Power Operations (INPO). Since then, INPO has consolidated its position to an almost omnipotent force within the heart of the nuclear industry. Y HAZARDS IN SHIPPING NUCLEAR WASTE INPO excludes the public from its accrediting board meetings, and The Blue Ridge Environmental De INPO status reports are not public fense League (BRrDL) has done ex ly released. INPO routinely ap tensive research on nuclear waste proves utility programs despite and its transport. BRFDL's find problems the NRC staff claim were ings, presented in a thorough and "well known." INPD was responsible comprehensive study, refute the De for the accreditation and training partment of Energy’s claims to a for five of the Three Mile Island "perfect safety record." Between nrograms. Currently, Congress, 1971 and 1985, in the 16-state under the initiative of Sen. Daniel southeastern region, there were 4JH “oynihan (D-NY), is seeking ways to accidents involving handling and replace INPO. The NRC, once criti transportation of radioactive cal of INPO has, under chairman waste. Contact: The Blue Ridge Lando Zech, rallied to INPO's sup Environmental Defense League, P.0. port. "Give it a chance." Zech has Box 1308, West Jefferson, NC pleaded. Public Citizen, a civic18694, (919) 982-3843. minded group, condemns the NRC as having "totally abandoned its re sponsibilities under the law"--its responsibility to insure public Y WAR SURVIVAL FOR OFFICIALS ONLY safety. Contact: Ken Bossong, Public Citizen, 215 Pennsylvania The Federal rmergency Management Ave. SE, Washington, D.C., 20003. "gency (FFMA) has drafted a 1.5 (203) 546-4996. billion dollar plan to build 600 bomb shelters around the country, she’ters funded by taxpayers but intended for officials only--the "UNUSUAL" NUCLEAR PLANT EVENTS idea being that, during and after a nuclear attack, local officials, Fire in the charcoal filtering sys safely sequestered in shelters, tem at the Perry nuclear plant in will be able to maintain bureau Ohio, reaching temperatures in ex cratic continuity over a town that cess of 1,140 degrees, was labelled may no longer exist. Land records an "unusual event" by plant offi would likewise be sheltered so cials. This is the second time in that ownership of land (radioactive 3 weeks that this "unusual event" or otherwise) could be maintained. has occurred--such occurances are Communities that do not take FEMA the first stage of warning required seriously could lose federal emer by the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory gency funds. Commi ssion). 13

DAY POLITICIANS MEET

y STOC^MOL*’ AIDS CONFrPrNCF

the Second Annual National Con ference of Lesbian and Gay Elected and Appointed Officials and Pro spective Candidates will be held in '•'ashington D.O. November 20-23 , 1986. The agenda of previous meet ings included AIDS, discrimination, and violence against gays. All in terested are invited to participate Contact: The National Association, 1742 Massachusetts Ave., Washington O.C. 20003.

The social, cultural, and political aspects of AI OS and HTLV-III/LAV will he discussed at the forth coming international conference organized hy the Institute for So cial nolicy, to he held at the Grand Hotel, Stockholm, Oct. °7-24, ’QR6. rontact: Institute for So cial °olicy, Inc., Pox T7?i7t ioa Stockholm, Sweden; telephone AS-Q-KP 00.

ALLIANCE FOR CULTURAL DEMOCRACY

y MAINE— n t h ANNUAL CONFERENCE Northern Lambda Nord sponsored a conference for Maine's Gay and Les y GAY PRIDE COORDINATORS TO CONFERENCE bian Community. The event, held “emorial Day weekend, drew 155 par The fifth annual conference of ticipants from the U.S. and Canada lesbian and gay pride coordinators and was held in a rural area for the will take place in San Francisco on October 10. Contact: Conference first time. '86, Project, 584 Castro St., Box "105, San Francisco, CA 94114. y rAY GROUPS CONSOLIDATE MEETINGS In an effort to consolidate strength in the face of mounting anti-gay activity, the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Democratic Clubs is rescheduling its biennial national convention and moving it from Seattle to ''ashington, n .C., Nov. 21-23. The convention will now coincide with the second annual conference of lesbian and Gay Fleeted and Ap pointed Officials and Prospective randidates.

Y MENN0NITE COUNCIL FOR GAY CONCERNS The Brethren/Mennonite Council for Gay and Lesbian Concerns will hold its first international convention in Chicago on Oct. 10-12. Contact: RMC Convention, Information, P.0, '’ox 74060, Washington, n.C. 20024.

Under the title IMAGINACTION, the Alliance for Cultural Democracy rACD) holds its 10th anniversary in Boston, Nov. 7-10. ACD's goal is to encourage cultural self-ex pression by using the complex as sault of external stimuli (social, political) and funnel ing those sti muli into a cultural result--in short, using the prevailing social forces for expression, rather than being used by them. For informa tion: ACD, c/o Vivienne Simon, 42 Jamaica Rd., Brookline, MA 02146, (617) 277-1009, (617) 4233711.

CROSSDRESSERS' FAIR The 12th Annual Fantasia Fair will be a vacation for crossdressers (straight or gay) and their mates. The Fair takes place Oct. 17-26, in Provincetown, Mass. Contact: Eve Goodwin, P.n. Rox 368, Kenmore Station, Roston, MA 02215.

y NC MEN'S WORKSHOP

ronnections is a series of workshops *or gay and bisexua1 men in the Char’otte, NC area. The "safe and nuturing" workshop is designed for par ticipants to learn again to openly y SAY AND LESBIAN PEOPLE OF COLOR enjoy sensuality, closeness, massage as well as assertiveness and empower The Fourth Annual Meeting of Gay ment. Write: Clay Felts, 5901 Lin y HEALTH CONFERENCE and Lesbian People of Color meets ford Dr., rharlotte, NC 28210. in Los Angeles, "ov. 21 -°3. For The National Lesbian and Gay Health details, contact: ILP0CC, 859 N. Conference, to be held in Los "irgil, Station D-145, Los Angeles, Angeles, March 26-29, 1987, will '■A 90029, (213) 665-1485. y UNMASK tHE urAPT INTENSIVFS focus on health care, mental health, women's diseases, and AIDS. Con The assaulted heart has a way o f tact: National Gay and Lesbian protecting itself *rom further pain; Health Care Conference, P.0. Box ‘he result *s a mask behind which 65472, Washington, D.C. 20035, y BRITISH r0UJMBTAN GAYS MECT ‘he heart hides, thereby keeping (202) 797-3708. Gays and lesbians took part in a ’ove in the dark. Mnmask the Heart conference at the University of ’ntensives attempt to bring the Victoria aimed at addressing issues Heart into the light. Like birth, of interest for gays and lesbians it can sometimes be a painful pro NAMBLA CONFERENCE living in small towns. Issues hav cess, but the results bring forth new life. Unmask the Heart '-tening to do with rights and dignity The North American Man/Boy Love si ves are facilitated by Thomas in the face of ,rc "c:al preju Association will hold its 10th In 'einberg. vext series of intendices were foremost on the agenda. ternational Membership Conference The meeting was jointly sponsored sives to be conducted in Hawaii. in Los Angeles, November 7-9. For Contact: Unmask the Heart, °.0. by the Island Gay Society and the details, agenda, and rates, write: Box 310!, Hanalei, Kauai 96772, Gay and Lesbian Organization at "embership Conference, . Box 1808) D?6-638Q. 48772, Los Angeles, CA 90048-0772. the University of Victoria. 14

w r.nv n[ YM°Tr GAMCS

Y REAL ENERGY COSTS

Gay Games TI, with some 36nn en tries from around the world, is a success by virtue of attendance, support, and interest generated. However, the Games, held Aug. 0-17 at San Francisco's Kezar Stadium had been legally barred from using the word "Olympics" in its descrip tion. Lawyers for the Games con tend that the word "Olympic" is generic and dates back to the Greeks, but the U.S. Olympic Com mittee claims exclusive rights to the word (although it has not chal lenged other groups' use of the term). "We will carry our case to the Supreme Court if necessary" vows Shawn Kelly, executive direc tor of Gay Games II. Judge Kozinski, in his review of this legal battle, state, "What I find most troubling, however, is the haste with which the Gay Games are being ushered out of court."

According to Alan Meier, editor of Energy Auditor & Retrofitter, even if oil were free average electricity prices would fall only 0.2 cents per kilowatt/hour. The main costs in producing electricity are the non*uel expenses such as capital pay ments, operations, and maintenance.

yHUMAN

CLIMATE EFFECTS

According to conclusions from a con ference in Villach, Austria, by two "N agencies and the International Council of Scientific Unions, signi ficant climate change due to human activities can be expected during the first half of the next century.. It Y confirmed the growing greenhouse ef fect, up almost 10* from 1958 to 2 984 , as burning o f f o s s i l f u e l s keeps putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The conference also expects the sea level to rise from 20 to 140 centimeters as a result of the global warming of 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius. Y

SUN BUGGY James Tevort has designed a threewheel vehicle which is powered by the sun with *6 square feet of pan els. For details, write: FSPVA, 8217 Valencia Rd., Sebring, rL 33870,

$1.1 **TLt TGN TOR AIDS RESrARCH

SOLAR CONFERENCE "Cogeneration: Making the Right De cisions" will be the topic of a twoday conference on Nov. 18 & 19 in Cambridge, Mass. It is organized by the New England Solar Energy Assoc. Write: NESEA, P0 Box 541, Brattleboro, VT 05301.

YACin RAIN COSTS MOUNT A little-noticed provision in a new acid rain bill would make electricity customers in polluting states pay cleanup costs, but would require states to spread those costs around within their own borders. The bill would require state govern- y ors to present control plans incorpo-’ rating "reasonable efforts" to avoid "an unnecessarily disproportionate economic effect on electricity rate payers in any region of the state." Edison Electric Inst., the major trade group for private utilities, said 13 utilities in the East and M idwest would face rate increases of 20o/ or more if they had to shoulder the cost themselves.

The American Foundation for AIDS Research announced it has awarded more than $1.1 million in scientif ic research grants and fellowships to AIDS researchers throughout the nation. American Foundation for AIDS Research, 9601 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90210, (213) 2735547.

MARIJUANA LAW MADNESS New legislation in New South Wales could increase the penalties drastically for use and possession of marijuana. Possession of a single seed could get a person 2 years in gaol and/or a $2000 fine! N0RML is leading the fight against these medieval laws and needs support. Write: N0RML, GP0 Box 91, Sydney, New South Wales, 2001, AUSTRALIA. YSHORT MOUNTAIN GATHERING

YDEBT AFFECTS THE ENVIRONMENT

Harvest Moon Pandemonium will be Oct. 10-1R, 1986, and will include music, theatre, creative rituals, make-up, dress-up, play time, fun, good food, friendship. This faerie gathering is for gay men, lesbians, and children. Contact: Short "ountain Sanctuary, Rt. 1 Box 98-A, ! iberty, TN 37095.

Y IS THE CIA FREE TO FIRE GAYS?

According to the Talloires Interna tional Seminar on rnvironmental Issues ■in France, the environmental impact of the debt crisis is "like a natural disaster" as the International Mone tary Fund puts nations through its wringer, forcing them to sacrifice natural resources for production.

YSOLAR CANOE ARCO Solar “'ews relates the saga o* a^ive-day trip by solar canoe with only the backup of a paddle and a bottle of Scotch. Write: ASM, °0 Box 21OS , Chatsworth, CA °1313.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Wash ington, D.r ., has rejected the CIA's claim that it had the absolute a c cretion to fire employees for secur ity reasons without any review by courts. A CIO male was fired by the CIA because it contends that he re presents a security risk, even though a 10-hr polygraph conducted against the employee showed him to he truthful about his trustworthi ness. How the onus is on the CIA to Kack its claims that the man is and was a security risk. Contact: Morton walperin, Oirector, ACLH Washington Office; (9r>?) 544-1681. 15

AFFAIRY GATHERING IN LOUISIANA Gay men are invited to participate in the Affairy Gathering on 32 acres in Pollock, Louisiana, Oct. 16-18. Contact: Briarpatch, Rt. 1 Box 615, Pollock, LA 71467.

RAISING EXOTIC ANIMALS FOR FUN AND PROFIT by Roger R. M e Fadden The current llama market is in a "boom phase" and will probably level off with a two tier structure. High quality animals should stay at current prices and lesser quality animals will probably decline in price.

l V s a lonq time reader of RFD, I have been qreatly im nressed by the desire of many of our brethren to "re turn to the land" and be self-sufficient. As many of you know, a lack of cash flow is often the difference between success and failure in such ventures. The typical small farm usually concentrates on crops and the usual domestic animals (cows, pigs, goats, chic kens, etc.) which produce little cash income. I would like to offer an alternative and share my ex periences with you.

There are pitfalls for the beginner to avoid. Some dealers will sell guanacos or mixed llama-guanaco animals as llamas. For the beginner, finding an in formed and honest breeder is essential. My other venture in the exotic animal field has been with ostriches. These are marvelous and impressive birds (and a great source of plumes to fulfill one's fancies). Ostrich eggs sell for 620-630; newly hatched chicks bring 6250-6400; 3-6 month old birds sell for 6350-6500; and adult females bring 61000-<1500 with adult males selling for 6700-61300. The birds reach breeding age in 2-0 years and produce 16-20 eggs per year.

Several years ago I purchased seven llamas and en tered into an agreement with a friend to raise them on his farm. This has been one of the best invest ments that I've ever made. Currently, +emale llamas bring from $5000-615,000, even when young. Males range from $500-620,000, depending on quality. Al though the start-up costs are high, the return is im pressive. A female has a breeding life os 20+ years with a gestation period of 11 months (one baby per year).

The ostrich is a native of Africa and belongs to the ratite group of birds which includes the emu, rhea and cassowary. There are two sub-types of ostrich: the blue neck and the red neck (for real!). The red neck is slightly larger, more aggressive and rarer. °rices for red neck birds are 25-cO^ higher than the above prices.

The llama is a member of the camel family (camel ids) native to South America. Other members of the family include the alpaca, guanaco, vicuna, dromadary and bactrim camels. Commercially the llama produces wool of fine texture, prized by cottage weavers; it is used as a pack animal and is a marvelous pet. Our llamas are like overqrown dogs, very affectionate and "cuddly." There are llamas in virtually all of the States--although they do better in cooler weather.

Raising ostriches requires good fencing to keep the birds in and the critters out. An adult ostrich can run at 30-40 miles per hour--so if one escapes the chase can be wild. Like llamas, these birds are very hardy and easy to maintain. With sufficient space they require minimal feed. We feed ours chicken pellets. During breeding season the male becomes aggressive and dangerous (their kick can be lethal), sut at other times they are very gentle and curious hi rds.

Llamas are very hardy and can easily survive on any pasture that will support sheep or cows, for those with limited pasture area, supplemental feeding with hay and grain is needed. 16

I have known of ostriches being raised as far north as Nebraska with no ill effects from the weather. In winter they should have a shed to protect them from the wind--they can get frostbite of the legs, hexing immature birds is very difficult--our first four were all male. So one should either buy adults or buy from a dealer who will guarantee the sex.

There is a nation-wide exotic animal market. Auctions are held in the spring and fa 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the largest in Texas and Missouri. These auctions are well worth attending just for the information and entertainment value. VirÂ tually everything is for sale--lions, tigers, zebra, elephants, deer, etc.)--we found a pet hippopotamus awhile back, but had to pass on it--no room.

Examples of other exotics that bring good prices and are easy to raise are black swans (SAOD-^SOO/pair), crested cranes ($600-51000 each), spotted miniature Sicilian donkeys ($1000-53000).

r'0 , for the adventurous spirit, exotic animals can offer a profitable as well as fascinating addition to the farm. I would be happy to correspond with anyone interested in this subject.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

by M a x K rn c rh t> l

[Reprinted from The Farallones Institute |Journa1, Spring 85

The commercial Toa Throne has been inoperative for about two years due to leaks and operational failure. The Clivus Multrum is the only remaining commercial compost toilet still functioning at the Rural Center, fit has performed since installation without major problems, but is in a private cabin and gets limited use.)

Durinq the '70s, the Rural Center of the Farallones institute in California pioneered in alternative sys tems for waste and water management. Experiments with compost toilets and qreywater recycling caught the interest of homeowners, homesteaders, nark directors and Third World agencies. Though phasing out the compost toilets, they still receive numerous inquiries about them. Herein, Max Kroschel, the waste water systems engineer, describes the results of their experiments and future waste management plans.

Though compost privies proved mostly inappropriate for our purposes, not all of our experiments with them were unsuccessful. Several composting systems were installed in private homes and function very well under normal family loading rates. The original Farallones double vault desiqn has been modified to allow accumulated liquids to drain into a short Teaching field. The drum privy has been improved con siderably since our early experiments with metal 5S gallon drums. The new polyethe1yne drums are light, do not corrode, have airtight lids and come in con venient sizes, some with handles.

C O M P O ST E X P E R IM E N T S In the '70s, dry toilets were our only option. The °ural renter's first live-in education program raised our population to so, at a time when there was not enough water for an average family of four to flush a toilet. Tn addition to the water shortage, we lacked enough land with suitable soil conditions for a con ventional septic system.

The compost toilet remains a viable alternative in situations where it gets moderate and careful use. I live in a remote area with minimal water supply, on a steep hillside where a conventional leach line would be impossible to build. I am planning a Wisconsin Mound system downhill from my compost toilet on a more level spot, and will eventually install a toilet that uses filtered shower water for flushing.

We built compost toilets rather than pit privies out o f a philosophical commitment to recycling wastes. Compost toilets have been used successfully in the Orient, particularly Vietnam, to improve rural sani tation and increase fertilizer for agricultural pro duction. But the Rural Center is not a Third World agrarian village. We learned through eight years o f practical experience that compost toilets are not appropriate to an educational center with 1? resi dents and a large, fluctuating population of visitors.

C O N V ER T IN G TO L O W -F L U S H As our problems with compost toilets led us to explore new directions in human waste management, three de velopments expanded our options: we increased our water supply; new, very water-saving toilets became available, and we developed (and the County approved) -he Wisconsin Mound waste-water disposal system.

We experienced difficulties with both maintenance and design of the dry toilets. They reguired excessive maintenance, and were very sensitive to periods of high usage during workshops or conferences. The re sults of our investigations and those of a Stateconducted study, o f which we were a part, demon strated that compost toilets do not adequately treat human waste to a^low its unrestricted use as fer tilizer. We had to bury the compost under one foot o f soil , and could only use it on crops such as *ru1t trees and berries. two chamber septic tank

"o date, the Rural Center has installed three flush toilets: a Microphor two-quart model that uses com pressed air to aid flushing; an IFO Sanitar threeliter flush from Sweden (installed in the Visitors Center, where the old compost privy vault was retro fitted as a septic tank), and a conventional toilet

dosing syphon food crops

6 clay soil anaerobic upflow fitter 6" lopsoil coarse aggregate mamfotd lateral distribution original surface plowed

modified to low-flush (part of a greywater recyclinq experiment that used filtered shower water for flush water). More retrofits are planned--hy the end of the year, we expect to have replaced all but the Clivus Multrum privy with low water toilets.

To a limited extent, Mounds recycle both water and •.-.'aste nutrients. The sand bed becomes a giant com post pile in which the waste nutrients are first fil tered and then decomposed by micro-organisms. Grass and other plants growing on or around the mound can absorb the water and nutrients from it. Water not captured by plant roots is fi1ted down to the water table where it recharges the ground water.

But what of our commitment to human waste recycling? The commitment remains, and the search continues for a system appropriate to the Rural Center's needs. In 1q7Q, we constructed a large Wisconsin Mound disposal field fis handles waste and water from the bathhouse and new low-flush toilets^. ns the name implies, the structure is a large mound of sand covered with top soil into which the waste water is pumped (or flows by gravity if topography permits). Although the tight clay soil prohibits use of a conventional leach line system, the soil is permeable enough to allow for drainage of a Mound.

We are now developing a modified Mound designed spe cifically as a Dlanting bed, using the subsurface waste water for irrigation. Growing food on ton of the Mound is the final component to a complete wastewater system--one the user can operate at the turn o* a valve rather than the turn of a pitchfork, as with the compose privy.

FRIENDSHIP, FRIENDSHIP, JUST A PERFECT FRIENDSHIP L by Lee Lawrence

vou heard me, Make A Hate! Go what if you haven't been on a date since you took the girl of your moth er's dreams to the high school prom. It's never too late to start.

ew in Atlanta wants to "meet new people who are of like mind." Michael in Ohio asks, "uow are you sup posed to get a relationship going, or even started in a culture that seems to put more emphasis on tricking and scoring . . . and the ones you do trick with don't even say hello the next time you see each other." Twenty-two year old Fred in Atlanta said, "the new generation of Gays are trying to find something to do with their time other than having sex . . . it can kill you."

We, as a society, have to unlearn a set of behavior patterns that were fun while they lasted but are no longer suitable . . . or safe. Mo one said it was going to be easy--but then again anything really easy isn't worth having anyway. There's no doubt that sex is an important aspect of any relationship--straight or gay, but so is friendship and it lasts longer. All too often relationships begin on a purely sexual level and when the passion fades as it always does when it's the primary ingredient--so does the relationship. The men I've interviewed who've had the longest, most suc cessful relationships regard their lover as their best *riend. Many said they knew each other for a period of time before they became lovers. A non-sexual friendship is easier on the nerves and less stressful. Don't, you think that's a more realistic approach to establishing a future with someone than sweating and gasping away your wedding night only to find out next morning his name is Merwin Carbuncle?

We all want more. More love, more understanding, more realness in our relationships--and yet we're still hung up in old behavior patterns. We are coupling up too quickly--without giving ourselves enough time. Louis in Alabama has the right idea, " . . . the longer we put off jumping into a relationship and the more we put into understanding ourselves, the better off we are. I put a lot of myself into establishing friend ships. One of the best mirrors we can have is that in the face of a friend." You want more? Then demand it--right from the begin ning. Where is it written that just because a dude's body makes your knees weak and palms sweat you have to jump his bones? rven, bless his soul, if he wants to jump yours.

There's a world of difference between "Mr, Pight for Life" and "Mr. Right for Tonight." The important thing is to recognize the difference and act accord ingly. Louis summed it up in his letter, "When Mr. night comes along you will know it. He will be every thing in life that excites you and not just another pretty face. This one will stay."

We all want to meet Mr. Right--but, "not in a bar!" uell, then what the hell are you doing there, selling Girl Scout cookies? There's nothing wrong with going to a bar or even meeting someone there. But get things in proper perspective. Go to dance--!-* you go to that kind of bar--or stand around looking butch--if that's your thing. Go for the entertainment value, to be social or swap recipes--whatever. If "Mr. Ohmygod, he wants me!" gives you the eye--give him one right back. Go over--say a Howdy--shake his hand--buy him a drink or ask him to dance. Tell him right up front you're socializing--not cruising. If--well, it's his loss because you're a pretty neat guy and he's missed out on one hellofa chance. If, however, he's pleased or even relieved than maybe--just maybe--you are of "like minds" and hell, that's a beginning! Go for coffee-shoot the bull and if the vibes are right make a date.

A little old fashioned courtin' and sparkin' may be just what the doctor ordered. Really. Anybody with thoughts and suggestions'on relationships and how to make them work, get 1n touch with me. Write to Lee's Letters, Lee Valley Farm, Route D, Box 145, Rogersvi1le, TN 37857, or give me a call at (615)°72-4068. I'd 1iMe to hear from people who met through or have had experiences with classified ads.

On July 7, 1984, Charles Howard, t homosexual 23 years old, was thrown into the Keduskeag Stream in Bangor, Maine, and drowned. Three boys, aged 15, 16, and 17, were charged with manslaughter and tried and convicted as juveniles and sentenced to indeterminate terms in a juvenile correctional facility. According to police reports, the victim was killed because he was a ho mo sexual .

On May 9, 1985, two children, both boys, were removed from the foster care of two gay men in Roxbury, Mas sachusetts. Subsequently, the Department of Social Services announced a new foster care policy which effectively removed gay and lesbian oersons from the list of those to be considered as foster parents. Both of these incidents were accompanied by intense media attention and by an extended public debate on the gay community itself. The following essay was published in a slightly di f ferent form in Bay W i n d o w s , V o l . 3, No. 20.

Charlie Howard died in Bangor a year ago. Once, he and I were in my car going north on 1-05, talking about his earring--a slender silver chain, loose at both ends--hanging from his left earlobe. We dis cussed whether he should take it off before we reached our destination. I was in favor, he was opposed. He took it off. A couple of weeks later, he was dead, and I was sorry that I had asked him to take off his earring. I had had my eye on the immediate problem of the meeting we were both to att.end--largely rednecks-and had lost sight of something Charlie never lost sight of: who he was and the absolute necessity to hang on to that in the face of the gay-hating world.

D W G H T c A T H C A I

R T

GAYS T have a clear knowledge of what it was Charlie stood for, and of the relationship between his death and his life and the emergence of the gay community in Bangor. ! still have vivid memories of the weeks after his death, of us coming together for the first time, of hugging and crying with both grief and joy. I remember fhe headlines announcing the creation of the Coalition and marking the legal proceedings leading up to the charging of the three boys with murder. I remember the times in the Court House parking lot and in front of the Unitarian-Universalist Church, the television cam eras trained on us, the area white-lit with floodMghts, and one or another of us talking insistently, angrily, into the camera, tears flowing freely down reddened cheeks, crying for justice. There is an ab solute necessity to know who we are, but the difficulty of self-knowledge also becomes more clear, given this gay-hating world. When the children were taken away from Don Babits and David Jean, I had a sense of these things happening over and over again, the gay community locked into struggle with the straight community--with the gay community going down to predictable defeat each time-unless we can discover why, each time one of us is killed or abused, we feel we have seen it all before, why we feel so trapped by events, frustrated and power^ss, why we feel so disoriented and, in the end, bad about ourselves. We were taken by surprise in Bangor and, I think, taken by surprise in Boston. And we for get things so quick!y--what Charlie looked like, the necessity he felt for earrIngs--that we seem fated to go through these things again if we don't remember how ’t was and find a pattern in these events.

Since Charlie died, the boys who threw him off the bridge have begun serving time in a state facility for juvenile offenders, and the Maine legislature has killed the gay rights bill. Here in Boston, where I moved last Labor Day, the gay rights bill has little chance of passing, two boys have been removed from the care of Don Babits and David Jean, and several days ago, as I walked along the Fenway where five busses coming from a ball game waited for a light, I was treated to repeated waves of kids leaning out of the busses' windows crying "Faggot!" To commemorate Charlie's death, the Bangor Area Gay-Lesbian Coalition celebrated a Day of Freedom on the anniversary of his death.

The shock of Charlie's death, the headlines every day, the sense one had of being exposed, suddenly, to unrriendly eyes, had two effects on us in the gay and lesbian community in Bangor: we wanted to hide, and we wanted to fight, and our distress arose from being trapped between two contradictory impulses. Everybody I knew was doing one or the other and longing for what he or she hadn't done. Sometimes, painfully, couples T knew were split, just outside the pool of light around the cameras, one saying, "I can't go in there if they are going to photograph me," and her lover, letM n g go of her arm, saying, "I can't not go," moving toward the light and the church door, tears in her eyes. I suppose most of us were like me: I alternated

I have, I think, finished grieving for Charlie, "here were tears enough, God knows--Charlie1s death felt like my own--but when I try to remember what he looked like, I can remember only his yearbook pictures, nrinted in newspapers everywhere. Charlie was already ^erhaps four years older when T knew him than he had been in those pictures, and he seemed older still, in his coffin, the last time I saw him. nUr time to gether was too brief, six weeks or so, and too much has happened since then to hold on to these fragile images. 20

These differing views suggest the difficulty we faced last year in establishing the truth about ourselves. Truth is the first casualty of war, I have read, and it occurs to me now that the caricature of Chari ie-that dishonest portrait in the papers--was only one element in a whole scheme of things which we in the gay community saw only barely and did not understand fully.

between hiding and fighting and wasn't comfortable with either. Fighting meant attending all the meetings, talking to reporters, being photographed. I would come home very late and have long, strained phone conversa tions with people who had gone more deeply into the closet than ever. The strain on the gay community was not merely between us and them, but was felt among us. The pressure divided us, and we did not know how to reach out to people not trapped in our prison with us.

In the press, the debate that followed Charlie's death-carried on in editorial columns, letters to the editor, in speeches and conversations throughout the community --much of the focus was on the gay community itself: who we were, what we did, what we were like. The Bangor Daily Mews was profoundly disturbed by the sight of so many of us out and acting together, and we found ourselves spending time and energy explaining ourselves to them all. Something of the same thing happened here in Boston during those weeks in May and June when our part of the debate seemed to be to resort to sociolog ical and psychological treatises which proved that we could be good nurturers and care-nroviders for foster children. Dur choices in Boston seemed no more spa cious than they had been in Maine, and in the end, no more effective, for we found ourselves forced to con tinuously reiterate "We're OK" to a disbelieving city. We tried to answer the old conundrum, "When did you stop beating your wife?" and we lost it the moment It was posed. The truth is that in some very real way, the gay community had been put on trial and we were only dimly aware of the charges.

Our anger came out of the peculiar nature of oppres sion: we had few choices. Recause the oppression was so visibly upon us--on the television screens every night, the front pages in the morning--we seemed un able to escape the necessity of response. It was im possible to concentrate, during those days, on earning a living, cutting the lawn, planning an August vaca tion. Ordinary life, in the awful glare of the tele vision lights, withered like grass, and we became known by our sexual preference. Where before we had been hidden--and spread throughout the commumty--now, on camera, we were herded into a ghetto. My distress was increased by another factor. "The homosexual community" was so thoroughly examined that, at the end of the second week after Charlie's death, it was difficult to find anyone who wanted it who had not had his or her Warholian fifteen minutes as a media superstar. Yet this attention was not accom panied by our sense that we were being understood. In fact, the media seem to have got us all wrong. They called us a community, and we hadn't been until the moment we heard of Charlie's death. They mistook les bian issues for the issues of gay men, confused our motives, misunderstood our goals. They could not fathom why we were so grief-stricken and angry. The straight press, dominated by straight men, knew no thing of earrings, and only one reporter I know bother ed to get it right. They were never able to under stand Charlie's "flamboyance" nor were they able to tell their readers with any precision what "flam boyance" meant. Charlie was trivialized as "gentle Charlie" or made out to be vaguely threatening--!'t was said he had come on to the boys who killed him--but he ■•/as never understood or accepted for what he was. Clur compelling need was to get the press to see him, and so we explained and explained and defended and defend ed, to anyone who would listen.

In a debate, the person who defines the terms, wins. And it is clear to me now that the straight press defined all the terms when Charlie died. It defined the crime, named the victim, reported the punishment, and then it went on to other affairs, leaving the gay community feeling it had stepped on a mine. Why did we feel so desolate, so abused, when the boys were sent to a correctional institution? Would we have felt better about ourselves and our place in the world if the boys had been tried as adults and given long prison terms? Mar>qinally, perhaps, but T think not, in any important way. In the end, their going to the correctiona1 facility healed nothing, brought no clo sure to events. nnd it may be that, by putting so much of our energies into these boys, we were left powerless to translate our needs into action. We had given over to the court system the control of our ability to act. We let them define the crime, and they said the crime was murder and that "justice" was done when the murderers were sent to jail. Having no role in the judicial process, we were confined to spec tator seats at the trial , powerless to influence events, never called upon to testify.

This meant that at the heart of the experience of those weeks in Bangor was a profound confusion: the gays, talking about Charlie to reporters, talked about a living, breathing human being we had known and for whom we grieved. In the press, he was a caricature, sometimes threatening, sometimes funny, always exotic. This disparity might have been the result of mere ig norance on the part of reporters, largely straight men whose leaden intelligence would have prevented them from appreciating the nimble, shimmering personality of Charlie. But there was the same disparity between our understanding and the media’s understanding of the three boys who threw Charlie off the bridge. We found these boys typical of young American manhood: in secure, homophobic, strutting. The straight community, exemplified by the Bangor Dai1y News, largely saw them as misfits--basically decent boys gone inexplicably wrong. But the major difference in our perception lay here: the straight press said that they alone were culpable for Charlie's death, and it was difficult for many of us to see these boys as the root criminals, these ignorant boys, when they live in such a gayhating culture. They simply seemed too insignificant to be the sole cause of so much hurt to so many of us.

I begin to think that, when these events occur--when the straight world rubs up against us in a way in which they cannot avoid acknowledging our presence, when these great abuses come to 1ight— the institutions in the straight world control the outcome by controlling the way the events are seen. In both Maine and Boston, the response of society was to narrowly define what had happened. In Maine, they said it was a matter of murder of one man by three boys. In Roston, they said it was a matter of public policy on placement of foster children, nothing more. The societal response was then to return the issue to institutions--the courts, the Department of Social Services--for resolution. At the same time the immediate problem was being dealt with in an institutional ^ashion, the nay community--our identities, our personhoods, our 1 ifestyl es--'ms put on trial in the media, with the ostensible purpose of -eportina the "news." 21

! told the New York reporter that gay men are regularly killed in our society, and he said, "T don't believe that." Then he said, "’That did Charlie Howard look like?" There it was. I could have said Chariie's appearance is irrelevant to the fact of his murder and the fact of the pervasive gay-hating in our culture. T could have said I am absolutely certain of my own worth and absolutely certain of Charlie's, and the crime that was committed here is a crime committed by Society against all o f us. T could have said I will talk to you about that, and nothing else. Rut T didn't. I told the reporter what Charlie looked like, and my words, and the words of some of my friends in the gay community in Maine, were used over and over •'gain in what finally became a sustained and success ful attempt to make Charlie himself, as he put on his earring, the cause of his own death.

I don't suggest that we are dealing with a conspiracy. T do suggest that this pattern is what happened in Maine and it has happened again in Boston, and it used to happen, over and over anain, when the white estab lishment dealt with black demands in the South in the fifties and sixties. I think it is the way our issues are handled by the straight majority because it works for them: it limits the damage and leaves the enemy-us, the gay community--in disarray. It is effective as a tactic. And it is profoundly dishonest. If we are to survive and be free, we must tell the truth. Mot about ourselves--there is no one truth about us--hut about gay-hating in the society we live in. Many of us in Maine tried to do that. One re porter from Mew York told me he had come to write a story on how such a thing could happen in such a quiet Mew rngland town. I said that wasn't the story. I told him the real story was the typicalness of it, the banality of it. Gay men are killed regularly in this country for being gay, I said. The "story" is about gay-hating. "Why don't you write," I asked, "about the level of homophobia in this country?" Well , he didn't. Me defined the thing narrowly, said the crim inals were the three boys, gave a "balanced" comment from the school principal to the effect that they were "good boys," and then said everyone in Bangor was shocked. **any of us in Maine tried to tell the truth. We said that the crime was gay-hating, of which the murder of Charlie was the evidence. We said that the real criminals were not the three boys--those kids-but the governors who maintain an indifferent silence, ’egislators who refuse to act, pastors and priests and bishops who preach gay-hating, teachers who teach it. We tried to tell the truth--and this, I believe, is the point of the Coalition--hut there were simply not enough o f us and we did not know how to do it, so we were not heard.

To have been able to say the things I think now I should have said, I would have had to be less trusting and more vigilant. I was crazy to have thought that we were all in this together. And I would have had to be willing to speak out every single time my own personhood was questioned. And I would have had to refuse to participate--even by my silence--in things that weren't so. This would have taken courage. And it would have taken an absolutely certain knowledge of who I am. But there is great power and freedom available to us if we tell the truth. Charlie would tell us about standing in line at the grocery story, trying to pay the cashier, rooting around in his purse for change, M s earring flashing, to the accompaniment of laughter from bystanders. "They laughed at me, you see," he said, "and I would turn to them and say, ,T am what I am.' And then I would prance out of there, my head held high." T have always been like that. It's selfevidently true, it begs no questions, seeks no other person's assent. I am what I am. Some people might say Charlie was asking for it with his earring. But who is to say why he wanted to wear it dangling there, ''lashing against his long neck? What he knew was that be was indivisible, and that the person who took him bad to take all of him--his maleness, his Americanness, his youth, his beauty, his gayness, and his ear ring.

T watched this happen in Roston. Gays and lesbians asked the right question of the media and the gover nor and the legislature and the ^enactment of Social Services: "Why don't you deal with your homophobia first’" Rut their voices were swallowed up in the general din, and residents here were treated to the whole dishonest spectacle, as gays set about defending themselves. Gay-hating is the crime which gay people kinow h’as not. merely gone unindicted and untried. It has gone unreported. When we lose sight of the real crime, we focus on the wrong criminals and seek an in adequate remedy for the pain we feel, find ourselves on the defensive, explaining ourselves to people who have already made up their minds. We are victimized even as the judicial system grinds out a trial and a verdict against men who have victimized us. Without truth, the only thing that matters is power, and the greatest danger therein is to ourselves. The truth is sustaining, and when we lose sight of it or don't proclaim it, we lose sight of who we are and what it is we are about, and we are trapped by fear of the enormous power of the other side to do us harm. I wonder, oftentimes now, how we could have handled ourselves better last year. The question seems imoertinent. "e were inexperienced in dealing with the media and the authorities, and most of us were polit ically naive. And, of course, we did the best we could. The fact that there is now a thriving gay com munity with an organization and a structure working towards political and social goals suggests that what we did was very good indeed. Rut I think our time in the spotlight was a time when we were being used--it may be that gays and lesbians are always used against themselves at such times--and I wonder how we could have prevented that.

I have spoken with a friend of mine, Bill Gray, about these things, about Charlie and what happened to all of us in Maine. Bill said, "When we think that the things we do behind closed doors, the things we think of as our private thoughts, are not political, we give up the power to fight homophobia. Charlie Howard was trying to claim that power for himself, and he died doing it. He was a real hero." We are what we are. There is nothing of the victim about it, it doesn1t apologize, doesn'* explain. And it leaves us free to pursue our lives--the care of lawns, August vacations, our lovers and our children-=?nd our sense of community among ourselves and with those of the straight community who care to join us. Tt heals our tendency to fragment at times like these. And it leaves us free and very powerful to pursue and to expose those who don't tell the truth about what is happening amonq us, to ask the question, nf what benefit is it to you, that you should hate gays so? We may yet have a Day of Freedom indeed.

by Buddy May p V \ reetings, Faeries. My name is Buddy May and I'm your new "Kitchen Queen." I live in Burlington, N.C. Recently, I attended my first gathering at Running Water. I have been cooking professionally since 1977, so I volunteered to help out in the kitchen. On Sun day, I prepared squash fritters. Everyone started asking for the recipe. I told Ron I would send it to him and he could put it in the Fall issue of the magazine. The next thing I knew, I was suddenly a writer with a column. So girls, get on that apron and grab that mixing bowl, 'cause here we go.

S Q U A S H F R IT T E R S l k cup Flour (unbleached/wheat) 1 Tbs. baking powder 1 egg 1 Tbs. oil 3/4 tsp. salt cup sour cream nepper to taste Mix all of the above ingredients to make a thick batter. To this batter add:

To start with, I'm going to give you my recipe for those squash fritters. . .

3 cups grated squash (most any kind) 1 onion (grated/minced very fine) Blend the vegetables into the batter. Drop by spoon fuls into hot oil in a frying pan. Brown good on each side and serve.

F R E S H V E G E T A B LE ST U FFED EG G PLANT

A little addition that I made that Sunday up at Run ning Water was some corn. We had some ears of corn on the cob left over from Saturday's marvelous dinner. I cut the kernels off the cob and added them to the bat ter. You may want to try this too.

1 large eggplant 2 Tbs. oil, divided sal t 1 clove garlic, halved 2/3 cup chopped onion 1 apple, cored, pared, and diced k cup chopped green pepper k cup chopped fresh parsley 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped 1 tsp. salt h tsp. dried leaf thyme k tsp. pepper 2 Tbs. butter, melted 1/3 cup wheat germ 1/3 cup parmesan cheese plain yogurt for garnish

NUTRITION Squash is a member of the gourd family. There are two types: summer and winter. The following are per centages of the required daily nutrients. One half cup of summer squash will provide ,81 RDA calories, 1.57 protien, 1.47 carbohydrate, .27 fat, '*.87 thiamine, 5.4" riboflavin, 5.37 niacin, 87 vita min A, 297 vitamin C, 77 potassium, 37 calcium, and 47 iron. Summer squash has a digestion time of ap proximately 0 7/4 hours.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

One half cup of winter squash will provide ?r RDA calories, 2.27 protein, 4.17 carbohydrate, .57 fat, 47 thiamine, 77 riboflavin, 37 niacin, 747 vitamin A, 19v vitamin C, 127 potassium, 3* calcium, and 5"' iron. Tt has a digestion time of approximately 3 hours.

Cut eggplant in half lengthwise; sconn out pulp, leav ing shell V thick. Finely chop the scooped-out pulp and reserve. Brush insides of eggplant shells with 1 Tbs. oil; sprinkle lightly with salt. Place shells in baking dish, cover with foil, and bake fifteen mi nutes.

Three and a half ounces of squash seeds will provide 22.17 RDA calories, 44.6r/ protein, 5V carbohydrate, 83.27 fat, 18.4" thiamine, 11.57 riboflavin, 12.67 niacin, 1.47 vitamin A, 67 calcium, 997 phosphorus, 1017 iron, and 20 grams of linoleic acid.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, over medium heat, saute garlic and onion in remaining oil for three minutes; remove garlic. Add chopped eggplant, apple, green pepper, parsley, tomato, and seasonings; cook five minutes. Spoon half the mixture into each eggplant shell. Melt butter in a small saucepan, stir in wheat germ and cheese; sprinkle mixture over eggplant. Bake twenty to twenty-five minutes, or until topping is browned. Serve with a generous helping of plain yogurt on top. Serves four.

As you see, squash is very low in calories for those who are watching their weight, as well as being nutritious.

23 ■ ■ ■

» m

m m m m

The Brothers Behind Bars Program is an outreach to our gay brothers in prison. It has three major parts: 1) we provide a department in the journal as a forum for literary expression by gay prisoners arid occassionally information of interest and concern to gay prisoners; 2) we encourage pen pals through Joint Venture, which maintains lists of prisoners seeking pen pals, offers some screening and forwarding, and gives advice to people writing prisoners; 3) we offer free subs to prisoners, but we have to limit this offer to what we can afford. We encourage friends to grant gift subs to prisoners. The grantors can remain anonymous. Subs are $12.

BROTHERS BEHIND BARS W A T C H YO UR S T E P by Rick Dean Mental Patients' Liberation Front p .0. Rox 514 Cambridge, MA 02238 Lawyers for Human Rights (California prisoners only) P.0. Box 480318 Los Angeles, CA 90048 USEFUL ADDRESSES: Lawyers for Human Rights (California prisoners only) P.0. Box 480318 Los Angeles, CA 90048 Black and White Men Together (an interracial gay men's net work with chapters in 30 cities; political and educational programs) BWMT 584 Castro St. San Francisco, CA BWMT Box 148 New York, NY

94114

10023

North American Man/Boy Love Association Bulletins (for persons im prisoned for consensual sex with minors) c/o Rock Thatcher Box 10675 Phoenix, AZ 85064 Prisoners Union (for California prisoners) 1315 18th St. San Francisco, CA 94107 Prisoners Rights Project (for New York prisoners) Legal Aid Society 15 Park Row New York, NY 10038 National Gay/Lesbian Task Force 80 Fifth Ave. No. 1601 NY, NY 10011 (?1?) 741-5*90

Just Us, c/o Greene 1001 Wilbur Ct. No. 8 Gretna, LA 70056 ACLU National Gay Rights Project 633 South Shatto Place Los Angeles, CA 90005 ACLU National Prison Project 1616 P St. NW Washington, D.C. 20036 National LawyersdGuild Gay Rights 3501 S. Congress Ave. Lake Worth, FL 33461 (305) 964-9455 Guild AIDS Network c/o Paul Albert 211 Gough St - 3rd San Francisco, CA *4102 Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) Box 218 Boston, MA 02111 Gay Rights Advocates 540 Castro St. San Francisco, CA (415) 863-3624 Lambda Legal Defense 132 W 43rd, NY, NY 10036 (212) 944-9488

No touching allowed, In this macho prison crows, Better watch your step, Or you'll get a faggot's rep. Just one wrong move, And they'll have something they can prove. So never drop your guard, Or they'll come down on you hard. Keep When They (But

your eyes straight ahead, in the shower-stall. might see you sneak a peek, then, don't they all.)

Yeah, you better watch your ass, When the badboys pass, Cause if they label you a punk, Brother, you're really sunk. Just go ahead do your time, Without any reason or rhyme. Just never drop your guard, Or they'll come down on you hard. end.

■ HOMOSEXUAL RAPE CRIMINALIZED Homosexual rape in federal prisons is now a crime. A bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives extends the prohibition against rape on federal property to include all federal dententions, correc tional and penal institutions. It does so in gender-neutral terms.

94114

■ Amnesty International is compiling and analysing case material about people imprisoned on grounds of homosexuality. The project will help provide information for an in Gay Men's Parole Outreach ternal discussion about whether or 1154 Northwestern Ave. No. 202 not homosexuals should be con Los Angeles, CA 90029 sidered as "prisoners of con science." For questionaires and in ACLU Transexual Rights Comm. formation write: George A. J. 31815 Camino Capistrano, Suite L Siemensma, P.0. Box 1473, 1000 BL San Juan Capistrano, CA *2675 Amsterdam, Netherlands

sz jointVenture INSULT TO PREVENT INJURY "I've never been so insulted!" wrote an insider when we questioned him about the inconsistency in statements he'd made to RFD and in his application for a JV listing. Ke don't like "insult ing” insiders, but it's sometimes part of the job we have to do to assure our members of the integrity of correspondence with prisoners. We don't, we can't, check out every man in our listings. But we're alerted when we find an inmate who can't keep his stories straight. And the man who lies once has a helluva time convincing us that he should ever be trusted again. In the president's letter below, Richard tells about the negative experience of his first cor respondence with a prisoner. It's one that no member of Joint Venture is going to duplicate if he follows our guidelines. Richard's enthusiasm for prison penpals has grown in spite of the experience. We know that many of you, who'll be spared the ordeal, may find that the most re warding thing you’ll ever do, as a member of the gay community, is to reach out and touch someone who only wants a friend to help him through the most terrible experience of his life. SURVIVING A RIP-OFF— A PERSONAL LETTER FROT JV'S PRESIDENT Joint Venture has been in operation for seventeen months, and we currently have an active file of nearly a thousand gays and bisexuals behind bars. We don't need to solicit inmates; their applications for our service flow in by the day. What we have found is a group of men with in terests and talents as diversified and rich as any you will find on the outside. We want to introduce them to you. We need more caring men on the outside who are not afraid to correspond with them. I intentionally use the word "afraid” because many of you are suspicious of ripoffs, and rightly so. But I would like to give you the worst possible scenario— my own— with the purpose of demonstrating that one can survive it and go on to find rewards in correspon dence with prisoners. Ny first experience with an inmate penpal ultimately became a rip-off that was both financial and emotional. It took three years for me to get thoroughly enmeshed, and it cost me. In short, I made the first and dumbest mistake common to outsiders: I wrote to only one inmate, so that I never had any point of reference. Moreover, in terms of what we glibly call "the prison system," I could not have been more naive. He was serving a life sentence for murder. There wasn't much immediate hope for his release. But that didn't stop me. I like to write letters; it just felt good writing to him. And I gradually poured hundreds of dollars into court transcripts, appeals, lawyers, TV sets, type writers, postage, magazine subscriptions, stationery, more postage, xeroxing, art supplies, books, and always more postage. It all fell through. It turned out that he wasn't gay at all. He had just pretended that he was. But he wrote letters. Initially friendly letters, then intimate letters, then hot let ters. They were unbelievable. Because they were unbelievable, I believed them. I want to say something in his behalf. He never really asked me for money nor made it a condi tion of our relationship, which got very close. Naive as I was, I just interpreted every "need" that he revealed as important either to his comfort in prison or necessary for his re lease. In the fourth year of this relationship, as it began to disintegrate before my eyes, I gradu ally came to my senses and stopped writing. Six months later I received the classic letter you get from the ex-lover who has ripped you off, the one that ends, "I will always be your friend." Why continue to do this? I could give you the names of three of the most magnificent inmates (mind and body) whom I have met. I'm not going to do that. Carefully and patiently, 1 worked at finding them; and we enjoy our private mutuality of trust and male friendship, whatever this latter means. It means a lot to me. Curiously, some of our members are writing to the same men, and obviously discovering rewards similar to mine or different; in any case, the experiences are all positive. This is the serendipity of JV that so fascinates me. Do not mis understand our motives. Joint Venture denies you nothing of an inmate but what you fail to discover for yourself. It's a kind of half-assed zen, but it works!

Richard Norton, President If you haven't yet discovered the Joint Venture experience, send us an SASE and we'll tell you

P. O. B O X 2 6 - 8 4 8 4

CHICAGO,

60626

LOVE AMONG THE RUINS by Wesley Johnson

n *unust, 1(>7B T qet sent back to n '/ino, but, well, ■t is a million times better than heath °ow. I spend the next months just watchinq my 1 i*e pass by alono with everyone else. Then, can you believe it, a run ner job, but now on M "in^! f I was on *1 from October l°7B to rebruary, 107Q and thinqs beqin to move right along. I am making a few dollars and doing OK. I came in here when T was ?i, sut now I am 23 and the past years have not been too good when, suddenly, I meet a guy called "New York" or "York" who becomes my friend. He doesn't seem to give t shit about what I did in the past, but was in terested in only what I was doing in the here and now. We talked about everything and anything. Here was a black man who was 5'6" and so damned mean and strong that guards and inmates alike just didn't fuck with him, and to me . . . well , to me he was My Hero! I knew he wanted to fuck me, but he never put ass berore our friendship and so we grew close, damned close. He got me lookinq at myself, my body and my feelings. He started me working out hard. He told me things about people I never saw. He even made a couple of big men bitch it up just to show me that fhey were big, not mean. They were in a cell on the third tier. Every time I went by running chow or oassinq out mops and brooms they started some ra-ra ‘■•hit, runninq their mouths and trying to scare me. They were doing a good job at it, too! After a week o* that I decided to stick one of them to put an end to it. I was getting my knife out of my mattress and ■as turning to walk out when York was standing there. ,,Roy, you think you need to do that?" I said "you seen how these cats been acting. Yeah I think I need to do it." He told me "Put your shit up and come with me. I want to show you something." I kept my knife on me and we went up to the tier. York made me lay back where they wouldn't see me and told me to watch, "s York walks up to the cell they start with big grins and "What’s up York?" They are both at the bars facing York when he says "I want you to leave that white dude alone. Me and him are down." One dude says "Bullshit nigger. You trying to fuck that boy?" Real fast York reaches through the bars and slaps them both and said "You in my business now!" The dude says "God Damn nigger. Ya didn't have to hit me. I ain't no bitch." York tells them "Yeah, just leave that dude alone--Ret?" and the two say "Bet" real loud. Well that was so easy I couldn't believe it. Bo that was my first lesson from York. He showed me so much. 26

every sense he is why I am the person I am. A fag friend asked me a while hack if I was going to compare every man to York. I told him T didn't do that be cause every one of the others came up so damned short. He showed me how to make it, come what may. That means that I am going to win no matter what the situa tion is as long as I am the one to choose the outgame. It kind of means: don't give up, give out. Then if you lose, it isn't because you didn't do all you could to win. It could be said that I must stick my dick out the window and piss in God's mouth if he gets in my business.

but let go and never did it again! That made us even closer, however, and we would talk for hours, t. . .1 I had built up such a big wall I just didn't know how to offer myself to him. Things always have a way of working out. f>ne night the guards were running show ers, had finished and were on the count and popped our doors and we had until 11 PM before locking back in. It was just before 10:00. I put my towel on and went to his cell. He was awake, but laying back smoking a cigarette so I went in and sat on his bed. I was that relaxed with him by now. Usually he was the first one up and out, but this time he just lay there and began to look in my eyes with that dark lust. I stopped talking and it got real quiet, t. . .1 I am sitting on his bed and now, finally, here it is! He came to me putting his hand on my chest and real gently pushed me back on the bed while he was saying real low "don't say anything Champ. Don't say anything."

York was a brown belt in White Crane Gung-Fu. He had done a short bit in Greenhaven, N.Y. and that is where he got into it. In no time he had a brown belt. He was travelling around the East Coast doing exhibitions . . . and jacking! That is how he fell for armed robbery with a 1? year bit. He was at The Hill, too. His Classification Officer sold out to him and told him he was going to kick his ass for re fusing to work. They had switched him from dental lab to gun sguad and he didn't want it. Next day York had a call out to the dentist and had a new guard with him. When they got to the clinic the den tist was out. York went out to the new guard and told him the doc wanted the cuffs off. He went back in, climbed out a window and went to the area when the C.O. was. He put a chair against the door and beat the shit out of him. He ran back to the dentist, climbed back inside, went out to the guard and said he was finished. When the case broke the new pig swore he was with York all the time, but it didn't work out well and York got busted, was given another five years and sent over here.

[. . .] I began to feel lost as he put his arms around me and we held each other. I had not held anyone since 1976 so there was almost three years stored up in me. I just had my lips on his strong chest and the feeling was so good. He was the most beautiful man in the world. He moved my head and his lips met mine. Me kissed so deep I almost lost my breath. [. . . Afterwards] I leave his cell, shower, return to my cell and sleep a wonderful peace ful sleep I have not slept for years now. Neither of us mention it the next day and two more days pass before we talk about it. His words were simple. He said "I love you" and I said "I know." Me fell into a pattern after that just the way most couples develop a pattern of life. Me would discuss business and what seemed like a good move and what didn't. Now he begins to take me to school showing me something new every day. He said "always remember you are a fag, so no matter how right you may be, in this place you are going to be wrong. Mhen the time comes and you have to move, pick you time, pick your place and go at it with death in your heart. Stick anyone who gets in your way or stands too close to you. You will never know if they are for or against you." I applied that to every aspect of my life either in business or anything else. This man showed so much love and tenderness that even as I sit here writing I still love him as much or more than I did then.

York was dark brown with a hairy chest and tattoos on his arms. They were kid tattoos and so thick I could feel the ink under the skin. He had been in a street gang and they did that to each other. Before he left here he had a dude put a rose over one bad one and had my name put over another one. His hands were square shaped, like blocks. They were very hard (or gentle, depending). His arms and chest were out of proportion with the rest of his body. His feet were size and h1s legs were short, but very well mus cled. He was strong beyond any strong I ever knew. He worked out for hours doing stretches, calis thenics and five cantas of Gung-Fu. I used to sit on his shoulders as he would do 15 sets of push ups with 30 to the set! [. . .] When we first were falling in love he never would do anything except stand there looking at me. He would stand so still it seemed as if he had stopped breathing. [. . .] His eyes would be so black that even now it sends chills through me when I remember the dark lust in those eyes. Then, if I looked away embarrassed, he would disappear and go work out.

In here finding love is something to be cherished. I am surrounded by cold cement, cold steel bars and men who try to be as cold as the steel which holds them. To find love, human warmth, some one who really cares how the day went, who will listen to your dreams and hopes and will treat them with respect is rare. A lover is a person who can relate to your fears and sadness and can help bare the burden of the knowledge that you may never live to see freedom again. Love helps you to face the agony and hurt of another day which has nothing in it except the cold of prison. A lover can, with just a smile or a touch, make it a good day, a warm day. To be in love inside this Hell is to change it into a world where you can draw a breath without dead air ripping your lungs and pre vents the cold of prison from freezing your h e a r t . ^

Me? Well I would look up and he would be gone, but I was falling in love with the strongest man I had ever met in my life. He was everything I wished I was, or could be. He was so tender with me at times, and I began to know he was already in love with me, because that is why he never tried tojust rape me. Once he came in my cell and just pinned me to the bed *ace up and held me down while he just looked into my eyes and said nothing, and did nothing until he let no. He did it a few times, but then it got to be a joke with the other prisoners, so I asked him to stop doing it because it humiliated me. He said nothing,

[Editor's note: Unfortunately, we have deleted a n u m ber of the explicitly sexual details from this piece, which, given the present uncertainty of definitions of "pornography", could jeopardize the publication. Our sincere apologies to the author and the readers. RI,] 27

JESSE ■■■■■■■by B a rr y yeoman

But he was unconvincing. While we were talking, Barry Manilow's "Somewhere in the Night" came on the radio. Jesse leapt at the off button. "I hate Manilow," he said.

I he West Side Male Burlesque is dark, intimate, 100 seats crowded around a 25-foot runway with a backdrop of silver tassel. Forty men, most of them middleaqed, sit and watch a half-naked young man dancing to a disco record, throwing his hips in what looks like a pre-copulatory rite. He jumps to a front-row chair and stands with a foot on each armrest, teasing a seat's occupant; a seductive smile never leaves his lips.

His freckled lips turned downward and he added, "'Looks Like We Made It' almost destroyed me. It al most came true for Mike and me. But then— " Hiding red eyes, he turned his back, walked to the dresser, and said, "I think you'll like this." He pulled out a cassette tape and popped it into the tape recorder. With Jim Croce's "Photographs and Memories" in the background, he continued:

The dancer cannot be over five-foot-six, 130 pounds. He is 10, but could easily pass for 14. His face is freckled; his hair, cut youthfully short; his eyes, big and fluid and brown.

"Do you know how a warm breeze blows through your bed room in the afternoon in April?" he asked. I nodded and he went on, "Well, Mike and I were makinq love one afternoon last spring when the sunshine and the breeze started to flow down on us. We both stopped at the same time, turned around, and held each other for two hours, silently. There was more love that day than I had ever felt before."

After the act a stock, bearded man of 45 approaches the dancer in the West Side's lounge. Little needs to be said; they agree to meet in the lounge after the last performance. There is an unspoken under standing that the price will be negotiated later, when there is more privacy. A broad, almost innocent, smile consummates the deal; another client has been wooed by Jesse.

Jesse often spoke of his love for Mike, the boy who made him decide to leave his home town. Mike was ''ounger than Jesse, still impressionable. Yet Mike's effect on Jesse was stronger than any effect Jesse could have had on the boy.

Jesse and I met in 1979, during a critical point in his life. He had moved to New York two months before, and within a week had landed on the stage of the most prestigious male theatre 1n Times Square. Within two weeks, a slick gay entertainment guide had con tracted with Jesse to feature his naked body in its centerfold. He had already built a local clientele: by the time he made his dance debut, thirty men, from 15 to 70 years old, were paying to spend a few hours in Jesse's bed.

We were sitting on his fire escaDe one afternoon, joking about the snarling German Shepherd across the courtyard, when I turned to Jesse. "Let me ask you a question," I blurted out, "Can you still love?" He paused for a long time, keeping his eyes on the growling dog. Finally, he turned and replied, "I'd like to be able to say I can't. And I'd like to be able to believe it. But I'd be lying. I know I can love again and--" he paused--"I could even fall in love, I think."

It was also an emotionally critical time for Jesse. A five-year relationship ended for him when he lost his lover to the heterosexual world, and Jesse had come to New York to forget. He was trying to start again, trying to convince himself that he needed no love.

•Ar ★ ★

"I couldn't get into the lovers scene again," he said as we sat in the hotel room he was sharing with a buddy until he could find an apartment. "To me, sex is all important. I'd rather die than not have sextwo, three times a day. That's more than some people have in a week."

Jesse came from Dittsburgh, a city he spoke little of; when he did, he spoke scornfully. ue was the youngest of five sons in a fatherless home; his mother was a janitor at a local elementary school . 28

During the period that Jesse was discovering his sex uality, he discovered one of his brothers was gay when he entered the brother's bedroom at an embar rassing moment. Throunh a series o c favors designed to ensure that Jesse wouldn't publicize his brother's sexuality, the brother learned that Jesse, too, was gay.

One night, our discussion was interrupted by a phone call to Jesse's hotel room from a friend of his. Jesse told him that he planned to move to an apart ment in the West Village, and dictated his new ad dress. "I don't know the zip code," he said.

But this didn't create a bond between the brothers. Jesse felt he had no use for a family. "Vhy'd I need them?" he said. "I ran away for the first time when I was eight. I managed to live away for three weeks. I haven't lived at home for years. I don't give my mother my address here; she thinks I'm a cook, and that's good enough."

After the call, Jesse asked me how I knew the zip code. "I live only a few blocks away," I said. His eyes opened wide. "You mean--" he started, but didn't finish the sentence. "Hey!" he finally exclaimed, pouncing across the room to hug me. "My first friend on the block! We're going to do all sorts of things this summer!"

Even as a child, he resented his mother for failing to recognize his sexuality. He spoke of his mother's re fusing to let her friend's young son sleep over. "She kept saying, 'Why do you want such a little guy stay ing over here?' What good was she anyway?"

But Jesse never made pretentions of permanence. There were times when I wouldn't hear from him for weeks. He'd always come back, offering explanations and assuring me his disappearances were temporary, "art of the job, and usually spontaneous. He would not leave for good, he said.

★

From across the room, I yelled, "10011."

★

After one particularly long absence, the phone rang late at night. When I answered, Jesse picked up our last conversation as if the weeks hadn't passed. rinally, he got around to telling me that he had gone back to Pittsburgh--didn't I know?--and that he was moving out of Manhattan and finding a quiet apartment in Queens. "The Village has too many--what do you call them--faggots," he said.

Physically, Jesse was a prize on the male market. Childlike yet erotic, his skill, one would think, must have been acguired immaculately. For he looked more like a boy than a man--a boy wearing an over sized crucifix, cowboy boots, and a beret that fell over soft brown eyes. Yet a gleam betrayed his youth, subtly, invitingly.

He said he was quitting hustling, quitting his job at the Burlesque, going back to school and working part time as a salesman. Jesse wanted to make it in the straight world as he did in the gay world. Although he never said why he was making a complete change in direction, only that he saw "evil” in his ways, the tone in his voire betrayed the possibility that his trip to Pittsburgh was a difficult one, even a reve latory one.

Jesse said he did not choose to hustle. "There was a drug raid," he said, recalling his years in Pitts burgh, "and I was closest to the dope, so I hid it. The cops left. As it turned out, the dope was owned by these Mafia guys. They treated me really nice, got me an apartment, protected me." "After a few months," he said, his voice breaking and his tempo slowing, "they started asking favors of me. And I had to give them to them. T was lb at the time."

Jesse didn't make it back to schoo1 r.hat spring. He left New York without saying goodbye, his roommate said that he was gone for good, perhaps to Pittsburgh, perhaps not. The Burlesque pulled his name out of Its ';i11 age Voice ad though the name did appear once or twice in the next few months. Presumably, he had come back to the city a few times, knowing that his regu’^rs would welcome him.

Whenever I asked him about his prostitution, he hid his feelings with anecdotes. "You should see the B0year-old guys in their boxing shorts with the pic tures of elephants on them," he laughed unconvincing ly. "Or the old men who go '7zzzzzz: as I'm going down on them." He was forcing the humor, and [ asked him, "It's hard, isn't it?" He quickly denied my question. "No, it's an easy life." He stopped for a moment. "But I don't like hustling, if you mean that."

Yet his inability to sit still never seemed to de crease his loyalty. One week that he was in New York, ! tracked Jesse down. Though he was noticeably more aloof and would only hint at what happened in the months he was gone, he promised we would see each other, even if we had to squeeze our meeting between every other detail of our lives. As I left, he said, as he had often said before, "I'll call you."

We talked about how different our lives were. "I al ways longed for what you have--senior proms, college, shit like that," he said. "But I wasn't cut out for that type of 1ife."

He hasn't called. But I don't doubt I will see him again, by luck or byplan. It will probably be where our travels briefly Intersec*, be it in Washington, M iami, or any other place where he can dance for a month, two months, no more.

Despite his fame in the gay subculture, Jesse was never secure in his sexuality. He always feared that heterosexual society would alienate him, so he only left the West Village when he had to. Sometimes he went embarrassingly far in his attempts to prove his masculinity. One evenim, when a friend asked Jesse and me to join him for dinner at Paparazzi on the rast Side, the waitress asked him whether he wanted his ravioli stuffed with meat or cheese. "Meat," he replied, and dragging his tongue across his upper lip, added, "I love the meat." When the blushing waitress was out of hearing range, Jesse said, "See, I can play straight too."

And then he will slip again out of my life, because that's how Jesse is. He has a thousand friends in every state, all d o s e enough to touch him, none close enough to hold him.

__ J e t ’s talk about your images. How many times have you taken them while on the road, enjoying the pleasures of your RV or camper, only to realize that they didn't come out the way you planned them to? Listen, it happens to the best of us. Used to happen to me. Until I got "street wise" about films. n f course, camera technique does help; so do filters and lenses.^ Rut the truth to the matter is, if you aren't getting the type of images you really want, you might want to start looking at those films you are buying and exposing your treasured images on. Don't feel alone either. There are thousands of avid shutter bugs who have taken images with the wrong film only to find this out after paying a lot of money on film and developing. You have to know what films will and won't do fo you. You have to know what ASA means from the standpoint of quality as well as speed.

This also involves camera technique as well as having more than one type of film available. A film like Vericolor Professional III can be made into slides and black and white prints from the same negative. This particular type of film has a greater exposure tolerance and is very comparable to moderate-speed color slide films from the viewpoint of reproduction quality and color balance. rrom the camera perspective, the light meter will help you to determine a film's visual capability. By taking a light meter reading of the subject and then one from the surrounding light sources, you will be able to determine if the overall lighting situa tion will expose the film satisfactorily.

Taking impressive images is not as simple as most people think. Instamatic mentality still prevails today. The school of thought being: All you have to do is aim and shoot. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Smart picture takers know the difference be tween taking images that are ho-hum and ones that are eye catchers. rye catchers require more time to take and combine knowledge of films with that of lenses and filters.

Tf there is only one stop difference between the sub ject and the background, chances are good that your overall image will turn out well. If there is more than two stops difference, there is a good chance that you will either compromise the subject or the backnround in order to acquire a good image from this si tuation.

nerhaps the most important aspect of these require ments is the knowledge of films. In essence, they are light sensitive canvases. Sometimes they see more of the light than the eye does, other times they see a lot less. This is especially true of slide films, where critical exposures determine whether the subject is exposed properly but the background is over-exposed or vice versa. Slide films have only *hree-stop exposure tolerance. This also means that if the background is too dark or too light in com parison to the exposure of the subject, you wind up with a washed out background or a blocked up back ground. Yet your eye can sense harmony in the light ing situation. The most important point here is that you definitely need to know what films will and won't do for you during typical and not-so-typical situat ions.

Have I lost you? What is a stop? Well, the easiest way to explain this is by setting your camera up for 'ou. Say you have P5ASA film in the camera. Under normal lighting conditions, you should read 250th of a second on your shutter speed and F-5.6 or F-R on your r-stop. This is the number that determines the amount of light you allow through your lens in order to expose the film properly. If you focus in on your subject--within 10 feet--there is a good chance that the light meter reading will tell you that you either need to open up--go from F-S to F-5.6--or close down--go from F-5.6 to F-8. (The bigger the number, the smaller the iris closes down and the less light is let in to expose your film. 30

You can also determine if the light on the subject is too contrasting by using this subject-to-background technique. With your eye, see where the brightest light on the subject is, then where the lowest area is. Point your light meter at these two areas. If you have a spread of more than two stops, chances are good that one side will either block up--not be as detailed--or the other side will be bleached out-have little or no detail at all. When the light meter reads only one stop difference, you're alright. When it reads more than two, you're facing an exposure problem.

This may very well be an asset rather than a liability as I have mentioned. Consider the artistic rendition of a subject worthy of this style of image. To be more specific, an artist once applied this style to his work. He called it pointilism. I call it moodrendition images. And this technique is best used when the scene is done with some sort of artificial lighting. A lighthouse or a streetlight scene. Or, perhaps, a portrait done with a single household light. You may want to try it with foggy situations as well. That grey-white case scattered through the grain pattern makes for an interesting effect.

There are two very good counter-measures which you can use. If it is the background that you are having pro blems with, have the subject do a 180° turn around and shoot the image from the opposite side. The back ground will be darker while the subject is exposed properly. You can also use your fill in flash or bring along a cardboard square covered with aluminum foil. This will help to even up the light.

A color print film can serve more than one purpose. vericolor Professional III has very pleasing color saturation. Put rate it--tell the light-meter that it has an 80 or 64ASA film inside the camera instead of the standard 100ASA level. This will increase the color saturation and produce finer slides or prints.

Back to films. They come in different speeds as well as color renditions. They also come to you in the form of slide films, color print films and black and white films. All of that sounds pretty simple until you consider what they can and can't do for you into the scheme of things.

As for your black and white images, you will find the films work on exactly the same principles. These range from 32 to 400ASA. But the biggest aspect about these films is the fact that they can be enhanced through the use of color filters. Yes, color films can be effected by them as well, but the results aren't as dramatic as they are with black and white films.

First of all, regardless of what type of film you like to use or want to use, you will find that all films share a basic kinship. They are made of light sen sitive crystals. The size of these crystals deter mines the speed of the film. The faster the film, the larger the crystals must be in order to do their job. Since they take up more space on the film, since they aren't little dots, the faster films don't capture the image as smoothly or as finely as those slower films.

A blue filter will add fog where there wasn't any be fore. You may like this effect when there is a light, fog and you want to intensify it. If you want to add dramatic impact to your sunsets or sunrises or cloud formations, use a red filter. A red filter will also cut through fog. A yellow-orange filter, which can also be used with your color slides, doesn't enhance the effect as dramatically on those sunrises and sunsets, but produces a nice effect. A yellow filter goes one step milder. If you want better skin tones, you will want to use a green filter. This will also enhance cloud formations. Exotic films will require the use of a yellow or K-1? filter. These films are: Infrared color and black and white film, recording film and ortho pan film.

If you like using a 64 or 80ASA film and you use this film speed all the time, you probably won't notice the difference in the quality of the reproductions made by those films. You will notice the difference when you go from a 400ASA film to a slower speed film such as 64ASA. Especially, if you like enlarging your images to 8x10s or larger. In fact, you will actually see the grain pattern in that 400ASA print if the en largement goes beyond a 5x8 size.

Recording film is another 3.200ASA film and will give you the pointilism effect, but only in black and white. Ortho pan film, which is a very slow black and white film, is rated at 25ASA, but best shot at 50ASA if you want subjects to look as though they were pen or pencilled in. If it is shot at 10ASA, it will properly expose buildinqs and ground subjects as well as give you some detail in shadow areas. Otherwise you will wind up with a very high contrast image with this film.

But as all rules go, knowledge of what the film will or won't do for you also adds an air of creativity as well. Perhaps you 1ike the grain pattern and want an image to look as though it was shot through some sort of stained glass. Shooting that 400ASA film at the 1 ,600ASA setting and developing it as such will pro duce that kind of effect. The use of fine-grain films will give you enlargements with very fine reproduction qualities. It will also produce slides with very fine color qua!ities.

When you have tried all of these films, you will be armed with many more tricks of the trade as well as be aware of what these films will do for you. When vou feel comfortable with all of them, you will begin making conscious decisions. When these decisions become part of your travels with your camera equip ment, you will find your images to come out the way you want them to. And when you have this kind of con scious control you will know, way before you take the pictures, that what you see is what you are going to get back from the developer when the trip is over and the memories are remembered on film and on the

The use of moderate film speed, running 100 to 25QASA, will give you the most latitude in regards to adverse lighting situations. These are, in essence, the work-horse films used by most photographers through out this country. The high-speed films offer you the chance to take images under very diverse lighting situations. Kodak has an Ektachrome that can be pushed up to 200ASA. Further, this film can be enlarged to 8x10 with pleas ing results. However, you can still find the grain popping up rather than the image itself. 31

Illustrations and titles by Ric Talbot r ------------------------------------------------------------------------ q

1AKÂŁA #Re:A71( I left a message for death today. He had left a message for me in the body of one whose body was not responding as we'd hoped. He'd written the message in the names of far too many written fiercely into the chest and deep in one lung. !''ith doubt watching, I pull up the long arm of Steven and whisper, "Take a breath."

X/ICE-YEfiMEDj^OVER Twice-termed lover Wants another/ Two rings around No wedding found, First one fingered Temptings lingered/ What's passion's shout Was reason's doubt,

by John Calvi

Second's choker Stayed by poke*:/ The rise and fall Suggested all,

Cow e OYS

Thrice-tried cock-tease Himself will please/ What heartache pained The vital gained. by Winthrop Smith

many of me went to the gay Halloween party that night in the country--the most visible me wore a brown jogger's suit as a costume, though only men were invited, more girls than I'd ever seen walked in. but Mike from New York with his clone mustache & half-zipped jeans contradicted the queens, he disapproved of me drinking my wine out of a coffee mug. it was the jogger who agreed to a walk outside, the little kid who was steered past the veranda, the jilted lover whose pants came down, the Ann Landers reader who almost said no-so many of me made it an orgy, a dream of playing cowboys with cocks & not guns, we snuck back in the house separate ways, later he took my mug & brought back a wineglass, pinching its stem the way he'd pinched my nipple in the dark. by Michael J. Emery

ietnam W ar

M emorial

Some angel demands an end to my dreams

eiping

Planes of onyx its stark reality leaving no space for fantasy in its mind

ouch

Planes of anthracite etched in even lines catalogued numbered panelled moving east and west from the apex

I knew you'd be at the party, Checked, in fact, to see your car was there Before I went into the house.

Planes of granite panel W-2 line thirty-nine just low enough to trace my index finger from the first letter to the last of his name just enough time to do it before I'm sucked into it

You ignored me totally, Put on a show of how much you could Enjoy yourself without me. I barely drank enough beer to be polite, Left my friends to find their own rides home, And stroked your car as I passed it on my way.

Planes of dark memory like the sea at night.

by D. S. Lawson 32

by Howard Thornton

LYING ON A TWIN BED

VAITIMG FORA KNOCK YOU KNOW IS N 'T COMING

I love him I really do and I'll be satisfied to be his friend but always this secret, the jagged edge of lust pokes through I jacked off into a condom and every drop of sperm was a wish dying

I am afraid to say I love him that way Physical still seems too dirty next to crystalled beauty of love of comrades I want to be his comrade confidante damn it I want to be his friend still all I think of is what does he look like naked

Pink and green co-mi ngling: summertime is sun that sets and rises. Different hues contrast by chance yet balance by design. by Scott Humphries

NS&) PRACTICE; We need practice discovering ourselves like the rain needs practice in raining.

I feel like a piece of shit at a banquet table It feels honest it hurts like death but I want to be close to him and I endure it I will

Ripeness follows rain and sun but mostly rain. The pollen is in the air; I dance all around you.

Fear that's what it is he will hate me for pouring salt into the freshwater well of brothers he will hate me because it is only one-way that way physical again he doesn't want me that way Could I tell him "Take risks," they say here but who's going to hold me when it's all over? It's all over. I want to be his friend forever but I don't know how He couldn't want me that way Spoils it pouring pepper into coffee spreading sand between the sheets

ORNINGVIEW

We need practice in going away. Watching the machinery of ourselves dissolve into the perfect air. by George Gott

Unoffical S tatue, of L iberty

?OEH

We gave that hundred-year-old queen a new gown, new torch, new pumps, gave her forty thousand fireworks and an almost pock-free face--hell, even the earth gets pimples: Fire, Governors, Ellis Island, Guam.

by Mike Dittmer We should've given Lad Liberty an overhaul too, a new nose, no zits, a Risky Business G-string, given Junior a head-to-toe spit bath that would light him up like daddy's laser, like a nude beach sunset in Guam. Forty thousand fireworks from Fire to Ellis Island, but the first bang is what we remember. by Randy Brieger 33

WPJtETEND tote ASLEEP

i ÂŤ

by Michael Cadnum

You pretend to be asleep, while I creep, pretending to be a lion

'U M t Q . by Bill Gouge

sniffing over you until you convulse and say stop. Stop it.

don't write that way because i think in bongos, banging clanging carillons, beating a blue blare through the airi just don't write that way, say what is said about going down and giving head i'm only dancing, i'm banging on my bongos, i've drawn on my tango brows put on my tussy perfume and my tangerine pumps, blowing off steam banging on a skin drum, playing my bongos baby, that's the way i sing.

And I leave, not playing, and slip into the rooms which by night seem interrupted: they are 1ike this without us, complete, empty, as we are without them complete and learn contempt for things: even words even beautiful books of words, pages the aphid scurries along too small to be alive, alive and perfect, the color of paper.

"Try not to move," he said, Swabbing my ass gently. In bed-What did you say? "I'm sorry I hurt you Kissing the small of my back. I turned and eased my legs to your shoulders, Trying once again. Your cold careless cock! a white balloon in a forest pines so quietly pearl

Better--the slow warmth of his needle. Bent over a table, pigeon-toed. Pants down. I'd started to roll up my sleeve and he'd smiled, A simple white-clad lover. "Not there," he'd said.

morning wind & shadow scurry barefoot where the salamander roots

Cross-legged, watching for my cab in the waiting room, I think of you in your loft: Radio playing, Television on the floor, The dogs skidding from wall to wall. I've come home with my clothes to Long Island.

damp cocoons are waking a man can't name the deep deep sting of a thrush & twig mist becomes a special leaf to drink & silver mouthe mint grows in a dark heart

And to these spare, white rooms, Where he told me I'm the best he's ever had Because I didn't move. Not even when I smeared those last drops of you Over his cool glass slide.

there's hunger in the green green tender shoots & the brass bed under the willows 34

T I

i L

AND

by Raeburn Mi 11er Phone freaks can hang up, Their conscience like a dial tone. Rind. Petals. Water seeks its own level. Blood seeks its own level. Smooth as a cloudless sky. Smooth as the round sun. Smooth as sunburn. Painful, temporary. The sinful have clear skin. The sinful have soft hands. In their wing pits Angels sweat. T am floating far out at sea. The love of things curves down everywhere. The noise of the sea Is like the noise of a seashell.

******************* *

NO SOLICITING

*******************

In the middle of the night A telephone rings. I can hear every tree That falls in every forest. My hand breaks grass stalks And draws back bloody.

by Louie Crew

How many years ago! I wait for the tone.

Knock, knock. Who's there? You. You who? Hi there. Yoo-hoo to you too. Knock, knock. Who's there? God. God who? God knows, and She's not telling. Knock, knock. Who's there? All the straight clergy. Straight clergy who? Both of them.

J o h nny A s H e W alks A Lord, he cannot know how once I loved him, does not feel the power he exudes, the spell that sways me still

â&#x20AC;˘>

I watch him turn to go, memorize the small slight frame, the tender mouth and glittering brown eyes,

Knock, knock. Who's there? Who wants to know? The one who might let you in The one-who-might-let-you-in whom? Anyone you please.

the angle of his hips and their delicious sway, the curve of ass that gleams like ripened fruit: I saw Johnny yesterday

Knock, knock. Who's there? Knock, knock. Knock, knock. Knock, knock.... f

way

by Ron Mohring

V i # J

he oins /jfcnkin<L

by James Broughton

In all my born days up from the cradle wherever I have wandered or sat me or slept it was always apple pie to meet any sweet fellow who shook my hand heartily or shook my heart handsomely and gave a fresh pinch to the sloth of the world. 0 the clasp of fond friendship is life's greatest collision! Things I most treasure come with sweat and rude glee in the buzzing of boys and the itching of men for despite the top notions that brain waves can spin no theory can radiate me like the reek of a guy who has run up a hill and jumped into my arms. 0 what fits a bed neater than a find pair of lusts? 1 have always been partial to the bang a gang makes when ready for romping and ripe to be raucous. Are the bunks godsize in the chambers of Hereafter? My own mansionly heaven includes room for much rumpus with guffaws in the heart and long cuddles for snore. 0 the loins of mankind love the secrets of God!

ROJAN/OTIOlb

'A n a l y s is Subject: Friendship by j.w.m. Status: Uncertain Cause: Unsure Course: Examine & Expunge Recourse: Purge & Submerge Revise & Deny Emotion: Cry Correction: Why? Emotion: Because Correction: But why? Action Plan: Uncertain Answer Plan: The course is the cause

bright yellow by ric meacham blue finger fringed green glow in the dark for those coyote nights when no amount of booze can convince you to leave the lights on with armor in hand i'm off to see a man about a horse 36

LOUISIANA WOODS ALIVE WITH FAERY MAGIC by Gwydion W yngick

After a short play and a meditation while hugging the tree, another circle formed, this one even closer than the last. One by one each of us removed our clothes and stepped into the center. Each of us became a living maypole, serving as the focus for an immense energy of love and trust, making ourselves vulnerable and open to that energy, being surrounded by a group of brothers making spiritual love, having our bodies, minds, and ideas fertilized and energized. When my time came, I entered into the center and felt com fortable, at ease, calm within myself. I felt as one feels in a flotation chamber; visions of the earth, myself, wombs, and my brothers passed within my mind. I felt a oneness, a vitality, a union with the forces of creation. The energy made me light, my legs no longer held me, I swayed, I was supported. I leaned back, someone lifted my shoulders, then my back, then my buttocks, then my legs. I was airborn, floating, held above the ground by the strength and spirit of my fellow gentle sprites. Upon returning to the earth, I sent some of this energy to my lover back in New Orleans. How I wanted him and everyone to share the experience--a new meaning of perfect love and perfect trust.

1 V beautiful cool Louisiana spring day had become a1 dreamy, pleasant evening. We gathered about in a cir cle surrounded by a special grove of oak trees. There were thirteen of us in all, from far and near--Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Washington, D.C. Together once again, a gathering of gentle folk, a gathering of faery spirits, we stood and witnessed the rising of the spring moon in her fullness. Beneath her light, we held our own candles before us. We issued greetings and pledges of love, trust, sup port, and brotherhood. And bringing our candles to gether in the center, the individual flames merged and became one--our gathering the Lousiana Affaery journey had begun. Throughout the course of the weekend, we talked and held workshops, watched films and discussed our lives, gave and received massages, played music, sang, and danced. And each day we grew as a community. We learned through workshops and brotherhood about touch ing with massage and touching through meditation, about Louisiana Gay and Lesbian history, about the joys and compromises of planning a larqe faery gather ing, and about techniques for support of AIDS victims and recovery from AIDS.

Another gathering, another Louisiana Affaery is planned for the fall on ths weekend of October 16, 17, 18. Again it will be held at the Briarpatch--David's farm near Alexandria, Louisiana. For information and registration forms write either: Gwydion-Wyngick , 110 S. Salcedo, New Orleans, LA 70119, or David & Russ, Route 1, Box 614, Pollock, LA 71467.

In response to personal needs and the calling of the season, a large circle ritual was held. One by one each of us thirteen stepped through sage smoke, puri fied, into the circle where a wonderful magic ritual '/as to occur. Having focused energy of loved ones and acquaintances since gone into stones and other objects, a procession meandered to a mystical and wise beech tree (a tree known for its wisdom and the source of the word faggot). The tree was consecrated as a special place of remembering in honor of those whom we loved, who live on in spirit. This tree is a power ful reminder of the spirit of the community. It will be a place of radiant energy.

Please give us input concerning workshops or topics vou'd like addressed. This is an open invitation to all to come and join with us in celebration. Please bring your knowledge, experiences, and love. Please bring a memorial object for our place of honor. Volunteers for giving workshops are welcome.

I often wonder about you, about what your life has been like. Lately, I wonder whether I wouldn't have been better off negating the part of me that yearned for the big city and bright lights, the part of me that needed another man. But this wondering is merely an exercise to help me through the long days of hos pitalization. The truth is that I made the right choice, in fact the only choice, and even now despite the heart ache of the last two years, I regret nothing. No, that isn't quite the truth. We all have regrets. Among mine are never having known the pleasure of children. Never living beyond the next party. And of course, the cheap thrill which I am now paying for with my life. Don't misunderstand. This is not the curse of God on me for being a bad boy. It is a con sequence of being in the wrong place and the wrong time. A twist of fate. But I question whether I didn't increase my chances by staying too long at the fair. I'm sorry I left without saying goodbye to you. I'm sorry you didn’t know that I loved you. Maybe not in the way that you wanted me to, but sincerely none the less. I'm sorry I let you think you were unattractive. In 1966, that was much easier than dealing with the truth. And, I had yet to face my homosexuality. Looking back, I see how cruel I was. Lots of time with nothing to do has given me ample opportunity to regret what seemed in my own best interests at the time. It's funny the things we choose to remember. And sad what we choose to forget. How has your marriage worked out? Mother sent me a picture from the newspaper (along with a strong note about what I might have had). Poor mother. She went through the fire over her son the homosexual. Once she accepted my life there was so little time until the ending of it began. So little time to get to know each other this second time around. She has been wonderful. My whole family has. But for years they blamed themselves for sending me to prep school. In their minds, it was Andover that instilled my sexual orientation. Obviously, that was untrue. But old ideas die hard and they needed something to blame for a lifestyle that only now can they accept as justified inherently within itself. Anyway, I always go back to that June night. You in your Prom dress wearing the tacky wrist corsage I gave you. God, I was condescending that night, wasn't I? I had just received my letter in football and I was sure we were a cinch to win the title senior year. lost eight out of ten games. I threw a lot of completed passes. They were caught by the opposing team. I still have the picture. The one where we're stand ing under the simulated rose arbor with class of sixtyseven printed on a bright red banner. David likes it. He says I have a rather Scott Fitzgerald look. He used to take it out often. He even captioned it: 'Days of Roses, Nights of Wine'. Evocation, he claims, of our lost innocence. David and I, we talked about you one night. I'd been drinking and feeling sorry for myself (it was right after my initial diagnosis) and there, in the middle of dozens of brochures and articles, was the picture. David whispered, 'Days of Innocence, Nights of Wine' and, between sobs, I told him the story of our last night together. I thought that reminiscing over the past would somehow obliviate the inevitable future. Do you remember? The bottle of Tango, the all night

No doubt there is good reason for this need to regain some form of contact with my youth. Why I am address ing it to you is uncertain. Perhaps because when I was five I promised to marry you. Perhaps because I couldn't bring myself to seduce you in the back seat of my father's car on Prom night. It's hard to believe that was twenty years ago. 38

bonfire, the look on your face when you realized I did not want the gift of your virginity. The silence that fell over us. When I got back up to school, I went to the local house of ill repute. I was still years away from the realization that masculinity is not vaginally connected.

T have had news o f you on occasion. There is little that goes on that we don't hear about in a small town like this. And I see your sister at the market often. At first, I asked about you all the time. Now, your name is rarely mentioned.

David will be here soon. He comes everyday, like clock work. And everyday I watch my deterioration in his eyes. That scares me more than the mirrors I am no longer allowed to have. It's funny, isn't it? I mean that life is such a cir cle, that in the end we go around to where we started. I hope that your life has been good. To me, you were always Scarlett O'Hara, Marlene Dietrich and Joan of Arc. And I have invented a future for you that pro bably has little to do with reality. David is outside in the corridor talking with one of the nurses. Wouldn't you know, he's brought me choco lates again. I don't eat them but it gives him the hope that I don't know the truth. As if I have lost my awareness of him. As if I can no longer sense his fear. Well, my childhood Guinevere, your no-longeryoung Lancelot gets tired easily these days. I hope that this letter will bring back plesant memories for you, I hope it will recall the 'Days of Roses, Nights of Wine'. Mostly, I hope you have been blessed with your own David. We are known by those with whom we share our love.

*11 this time and you suddenly feel compelled to ex plain something that happened so long ago. Twenty years, Jonathan, and you write to tell me that the captain of the wrestling team would have been more along your lines. Why? Do you really think that it matters to me anymore? Do you really believe that a husband and three children haven't blotted all of that out? Why have you bothered to write to me at all? Are you looking, in absentia, for my blessing of a lifestyle you must surely know I condemn wholehearted•y? Maybe you people have succeeded in making the big cities believe that what you do isn't dirty or dis gusting but in this town we still believe in religion and we still believe in decency. We still know what is right and what is wrong. In other words, I don't care about what happened twen ty years ago, I don't care about your degenerate friend writing on my picture. In short, I have no sym pathy for your unnatural activities and their dire consequences. Maybe you should have told me about your little "prob lem.” Better yet, maybe you should have talked to a professional, a minister or psychiatrist, although I understand most of them have given up on your kind. I thank God every night that my children are healthy, well-adjusted and normal. I don't know if I could live with the idea that one of them was "that way."

Love,

Well, I better be going. Jason and I always go to the church hall to play bridge on Wednesday night (pro ceeds go to the suffering souls in Africa). Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. Your family must feel enough shame for your condition without knowing that the people at the club are privy to their embar rassment . Dear Jonathan,

Yours,

Your letter came as quite a shock to me. I would have written sooner but I needed to re-aquaint myself with the girl who sat questioning herself in the back seat of your father's car so many years ago. I needed time to allow the memories to live again.

Catheri ne

May 15th Dear Catherine,

At first, I had no intention of even answering you. Twenty years have passed and my life has built a wall between my adolescence and my maturity. Then, one day, in the few free moments I had, the bricks came apart slowly, and the present receded like a sunset. I read somewhere that forgetting is a gradual process, punctuated by periodic backtracking and slow in its heal ing.

I am taking the liberty of answering your letter of the 21st. I hope you will excuse my encroachment on what was a private communication between Jonathan and you but unfortunately the situation warrants it. Jonathan never had the chance to read your letter him self. He died on the morning that it was delivered. I am extremely grateful for that. I would hate to have seen the man I loved hurt by the .truth about a beautiful, fictionalized memory. Jonathan was too much of a romantic to have been able to see that some times the beautiful duckling turns into an ugly swan. It is for us who have not been given rose colored glasses to sift through the squalor or reality. It is for the blessed like Jonathan to see only the pearls. Tn a way that you could never understand, that picture (degenerate caption and all) was Jonathan's link to a past which he remembered tenderly. No doubt it was meant that he would die before the harsh truth of time passing broke his heart. He deserved no less.

When you left me that night I had no way of knowing that I would never see you again. For months I planned our reunion, my absolution (as it were) for whatever I had done wrong. The fantasy was always there and it carried me through my years, carried me, honestly, right up to my wedding day. But I was not Katherine Ross, you were not Dustin Hoffman and there was no bus outside of the Church. My marriage is pleasant. Jason is a good provider and a qood father. If drama has been forced to a back burner, I have learned that it is better situated for television than for my bedroom. 39

If I come across as a bitter man I hope that you will try to understand that "our kind" is not immune to pain. I have lost the light in my life and in the darkness I cannot find the pity and tolerance I at tempt to extend to those as sad as you are.

I would not have told you of Jonathan's illness if he had chose to be buried in his hometown. But in the end, he chose to be buried here among us, among, as you would say, his own kind. Enclosed is the infamous picture. I hope that it can help you to remember the young woman he remembered. The girl who, to Jonathan, was (and always will be) the "girl with the wonderful smile." Perhaps in time it will heal the wounds of your insecure self-right eousness. Perhaps in time you will come to understand that many roads lead to peace and all of them are traveled. There may even be one or two as good as Jonathan on the path you have elected to take. I hope you find them. I will leave you with the wish that you someday learn to recognize your own value. When you do, you will recognize mine. Until then, not a million of you can take away my self-respect, the memory of my love, or the dignity and decency that was Jonathan.

Jonathan died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. I'm sure even your little town is aware of this deadly disease. Those of us who are "that way" seem to be bearing the brunt of this deadly virus. That will change in time. Until then, men like Jonathan will continue to show us by example that the quality of a person's life is so much more important than the quan tity. He devoted the few years he had left to teaching us that and we are better people for having known him. You see Catherine, there are heroes even among "our kind." You have probably seen some of them on the news, picketing the hospitals so that they might die in some kind of comfort, standing out on the street because "good" people like you forget that charity be gins at home. If you were to look closely enough, you might even see Jonathan in the faces of those who are dying. But then, you never really had rose colored glasses, did you? It was only Jonathan holding your hand that enabled you to fly above your mediocrity for the short time you did.

David Lowell Prescott

» philosopny wnere natural phenomena and both animate and inanimate things possess innate intelligence. Animism is a basic cornerstone of Shamanism as well as a common principle through which many of the Pagan religions are linked.

First published in Circle Network News (Winter 1984) . Reprinted by permission of the author.

(Note: 'Man' and 'he' are used for literal convenience by the author and includes both female and m a l e .}

Strictly speaking, Shamanism is a mystic system native to Northern Asia. In a general sense, it is any animistic system that brings about changes in everyday reality through actions in another reality or dimension. In this general sense, Shamanism is now, or was sometime in the past, common to most cultures. The North American Indian Medicine Person, the European Witches, the African Witchdoctors, and even many of the high Gods of the old Norse/Germanic religion were, in the general sense, all Shamans. Don Juan, the Mexican Sorcerer described by Carlos Castenada, and the makers of the cave paintings of Europe and the pictographs of North America and Australia can be added to what could grow to be a very long list of Shamanistic examples. Trace even the most sophisticated religious traditions back to their roots and there in the misty past you will find the character of the Shaman.

Shamanism is a phenomenon almost as old as Humankind and nearly as widespread. While it has formed the base for most religions, it is not a religion in it self. It is more a discipline than a form of worship. The Shaman manipulates. He puts himself at risk to perform, for his worlds are as full of danger as they are of beauty. As a warrior and a person of know ledge, he dares to explore other worlds and bring back the knowledge necessary to balance this plane of reality. Although there are dangerous counter-trends, the once powerful Judeo-Christian religion is being rapidly abandoned by many. Its magic has gone, and its dog matic threats of damnation and community pressure no longer intimidate an increasingly sophisticated pub lic. Many now realize that they need a philosophy that puts them in harmony with life. This can be seen in the trends that continue to appear in this country, e.g. the counterculture, the anti-war move'■ont, the ecology philosophy, and the energy consec ution ethic. These trends call out against the raterialistic, competitive lifestyle of the present culture. Their virtues consist of living lightly on *he land, of respecting nature and fellow living be ings, and of doing more with less in terms of impact on the environment. For many people, this longing for harmony eventually develops into an animistic

To the Shaman, all things are alive. Everything has spirit. The Shaman can speak not only with anybody but also with anything. Examples of this Shamanistic way of thinking appear even in modern America, for it is not unusual for many Americans to talk to their pets, to wild animals, or even to plants. Carrying this further, although few would likely admit it, most also talk to their cars, bicycles, or other machinery--!'f for no other reason, to threaten them if they won't work. Why do people try to communicate with these "things" although their "rational" world view tells them that it is impossible and upsetting 40

to the reality established by their modern culture? It is because these Shamanistic acts are a basic part of Human nature.

Today's ecological/naturalistic movements are like the ocean waves of the incoming tide. They advance to a high water mark and then seem to retreat only to ad vance again to an even higher point in the salty rein carnation of a new wave. The next wave in Humankind's relationship to Nature will be the return of Shamanic philosophy. Like the seventh wave of the Pacific, which is always the largest, this wave will be stronger and will drive the evolutionary process even further than the waves that preceded it.

The very knowledge that the Shaman possesses makes him different. He doesn't care about society's approval. Being labeled crazy or eccentric does not trouble him because he knows that the society itself is insane. By living in many worlds, he has the perspective to help others who are trapped by their narrow viewpoint. He understands that there is a proximate cause, i.e. a driver, in another dimension for happenings in this reality. This does not mean that scientific laws are invalid, but only that modern society has less than the complete picture. By using his superior vision, the Shaman can make sense of "senseless" happenings. He can find the drivers on other planes and modify or reverse their influence. Different Shamans may picture a particular driver in different manners, e.g. as a bear, a human deity, a great storm. The vision does not matter as long as the ability to communicate and interact with the driver is present. Through these means, the Shaman is able to heal the sick, discover the location of game, control the weather, find lost articles, and act as a general diviner of events.

No matter what their tradition, Pagans have both the sensitivity to Nature and the grounding in Shamanic ways to be able to lead this wave. They can provide the driving spirit needed for this new evolutionary direction by giving Americans the insight that they need to comprehend the values at stake in today's world. Americans appear confused in what seems to them a very hostile world. The individual feels he has not power, and therefore he's on the defensive. Shamanism can help open his eyes to the fact that he's not anywhere near as alone as he thought, for everything is more alive and less hostile than he ever imagined. This insight will not only tend to relieve the stress he and the nation have accumu lated from living in what they assumed to be an unfriendly world, but it will also show them their re sponsibilities to the other creatures of creation. So-called scientific/technical progress doesn't have to stop. Man doesn't have to return to the stone age. All he has to do is open his spiritual eyes so he doesn't blindly tread upon his neighbors.

The Spirits of the land speak to the Shaman. The Spirits that spoke to the Indian are now speaking to those who have the sensitivity to hear them. The ecology movement didn't happen by chance. It is part of the very fabric of this American land. The fusion of our ancestral traditions, be they European, Asian, or African, with the Spirits of this land is producing a strong synthesis that is changing western culture's current relationship with the planet. Although it seems strange, the new American, no matter what his racial or cultural background, is becoming in part an Indian.

to be known fondly as "bedroom eyes." The textile industry could jump out of its current slump by manu facturing special apparel for these operators who would have to look as inconspicuous as possible and who will almost certainly need any number of outfits to effectively blend in with the decor of the room so as not to interfere with approved sexual activ ities and still be close enough to the action to stop and apprehend those who may deviate from what is legal. And think of the commissions that could be reaped by interior decorators, a profession that is linked so completely with the very activity which caused the ruling in the first place.

ihere are those unpatriotic souls who object to the recent SuDreme Court decision which, in effect, states that it's alright for the government to inter fere with private consensual sexual activities be tween adults. These short-sighted opponents have ob viously given no thought to the tremendous economical gains we can achieve as a population by implementing the Supreme Court decision and carrying it to its logical conclusion. If done correctly, whole new opportunities will open up to enterprizing persons, and careers in covert bedroom gazing could certainly benefit any number of existing industries currently suffering economic hard times.

Technological industries are almost guaranteed for tunes with the creation of this specialization since an agent in the field, as it were, would be greatly assisted in making a determination with the use of instant replay, sound monitoring and some sort of infrared lighting which would allow spectating with out the occurence of spotlighting, thereby eliminat ing the possibility of affecting the performance of the active participants. Certainly photography will play an important part in accumulating visual evidence against persons charqed with sexual wrong i n g and would be of great assistance to a jury in coming to a decision on those cases which are not as clearcut as they could be.

The possibilities are endless. Unemployment would be virtually wiped out by the end of this century. Training centers could begin teaching the skills required almost immediately. Specialty seminars (on the art of remaining quiet but vigilant) could put some sorely needed extra money into the pockets of teachers. Tests, along the lines of the SATs, could be ad ministered to ferret out those who are not by nature inclined to the voyeurism and detection skills need ed to effectively perform in a career which, with a media blitz advertising campaign, would probably come 41

Of course there is always the chance that Japan will come along and blow the whole thing by thinking up some technological gimmick that will be able to suc cessfully monitor all bedrooms, without the aid of human resources. Still, with the right restrictions on importing and the great American appetite for anything new, consumers will, no doubt, go running to the stores to get the best and most advanced models for their bedrooms and the revenue will almost certainly start pouring in.

The publishing industry would be in for a boom too. Orwell's 19*14, no longer vilified as a book of government interference, could now be re-issued and take its place proudly beside the Bible and one or two books on clean living by Ronald Reagan. It might also be resurrected as a textbook manual if some of the original material were rewritten and tightened up. Finally, on a social level, the concept of bedroom monitoring would put to sleep forever speculation on a person's sex life and at the same time supply an endless source of story material to the weekly tabloids which currently can only speculate as to the "real" lifestyles of the rich and famous.

The government will also be able to cash in on this new craze once it picks up steam and gets rolling. It could set up registration bureaus for the systems and issue yearly certificate-of-proficiency licenses (for a small fee) to all homes, which when suitably framed, can be proudly displayed alongside pictures of the Supreme Court that originally sent down the decision and other important documents which not only show the "we play by the rules" caliber of these families, but add such a nice air to any home where the occupants are not afraid to stand up and be counted, and more importantly, lie down and be cer tified legal.

Let's stop being so selfish about privacy as an in alienable right and start getting into the spirit of an idea whose time has come, an idea that has a potential limitlessness in scope and, more impor tantly, an idea that has the capability of finally letting us in on the real reason heterosexual women claim to have so many headaches.

David Thorstad is a New York City activist who has worked hard for passage of the gay and lesbian rights bill during past years.

small (about 100), unsurprisingly self-congratulatory, but virtually devoid of serious content. Andy Humm, a principal gay engineer of the bill's passage, got carried away and enthusiastically asked the crowd how it felt to be "free and gay" in New York. Many cheered without reflecting on the fpct that they are still a long way from freedom. But at least they came--it was a chilly night, which no doubt kept many fickle queens away. Still, for most New York homo sexuals the gay bill was a kind of ho-hum sideshow. After all, people are dying of AIDS, and gay rights bills do nothing to increase the budget for AIDS re search, and do not make criminal the Reagan Admini stration's cutbacks in an already inadequate research budget.

Reprinted with permission from Gay Community News,

May 24, 1986. A f t e r 15 years of continuing struggle, the New York City Council finally passed a gay rights bill (Intro 2) on March 20, by a vote of 21-14. Two weeks later, on April 2, Mayor Edward Koch signed it into law. The event was an important symbolic victory for the gay movement, though passage will not change much in the day-to-day lives of most citizens, homosexuals in cluded. The City Council, which, like all government in New York, is controlled by the Democratic Party, kept gay lobbyists focused on the bill by refusing annually to pass it ever since it was first intro duced by the Gay Activists Alliance in 1971--the first such bill in history.

Several factors might explain the bill's passage at this point in time. One is weariness by the Permanent Government at the prospect of discrediting the System by its persistent failure to support even symbolic equal rights for all citizens. Clearly, it was an issue that was not going to go away. As columnist Murray Kempton wrote (Newsday, March 21), "the man agers of the New York City Council finally recognized it as an idea whose time has come."

Meanwhile, some 50 cities and the state of Wisconsin have already passed gay bills, and one can wager that in every one of them heterosexual supremacy still reigns. Recognition of equal rights under the law for homosexuals is a minimum measure that any civilized society out to take. And as years go by without any perceptible threat to heterosexual domination, or even an increase in budgetary spending (by and large gay rights costs nothing), the arguments for passage of such largely symbolic measures are likely to be strengthened.

Tronically, AIDS helped as well: supporters were able to marshall impressive figures demonstrating increases in physical harassment and violence against homo sexuals, as well as discrimination in housing, because of bigotry and fear of AIDS. Moreover, it must.have become clear to all but the most blind--0rthodox Jewish groups, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, and scattered fundamentalist Bible-thumpers--that New York cannot function without its homosexuals. Several in-

n "victory celebration" in Sheridan Square in Green wich Village the night the bill passed was quite 42

ctitutions and industries — teaching, fashion, res taurants, theatre, and the arts, even religions like Roman Catholicism--would go under without them. Naturally, if all homosexuals would come out, gay rights would be achieved overnight. But without even bare-bones legislative protection from discrimination, few can be expected to do so--a kind of Catch-22 peculiar to the gay movement. On the other hand, whether passage of gay rights results in more people coming out is debatable as well. More came out in view of the threats to their survival from Anita Bry ant in 1977 than ever came out from mere legal reform. Derhaps a main reason the bill passed this time around was that it was watered down by proponents to ease its way past perennial objections. Even the Daily News, long an opponent of the legislation, supported it this time. Its wording was changed to explicitly state that the bill would not require "affirmative-action quotas based on sexual orientation" (something the gay movement has never demanded!); not override any current exemptions to the human-rights law (such as those applying to concerns with fewer than four employees, religious institutions, owner-occupied dwellings); "endorse any particular behavior or way of life"; or "make lawful any act that violates the penal law of the State of Mew York." This last was a gratuitous item designed to allay concern that maybe boy-lovers might have rights if the bill passed--a patent ab surdity, since the age-of-consent law and the penal code remained untouched by the legislation. Yet the "clarifications" showed how far gay and lesbian pro ponents were prepared to go to show that they were respectable citizens who were not challenging the heterosexual dictatorship and who deserved its public recognition. Writing in the New York Times the day of the vote (March 20), Joseph Berger rephrased the "antiboylove" clarification to say that the bill "does not make lawful such conduct as child molestation." Apparently the New York ruling class the Times speaks for is determined to keep its ridiculously high age of consent (17) at any cost, even if it has to resort to inappropriate scare phrases like "child molestation." At least Mayor Koch used the more accurate phrase "sex with minors" in reference to the section. Still, the gratuitous groveling of the gay movement in inserting such caveats is bound to have predictable effects. One reporter said that gay and lesbian proponents at the hearing on March 20 looked like Yuppies--meaning that a vote for the bill was a vote for the system. The sanitization of gay liberation. The willingness of gay activists to weaken the phrase ology of the bill is also a signal to opponents to further attempt to weaken it. The mayor himself (a long-time backer of the bill) has stated his intention to introduce two amendments to further "clarify" its intentions (to reiterate that affirmative-action quotas will not result, and that public or private schools will not be required to teach the nature of homosexuality!) If the schools were doing their job, they would be teaching homosexuality, as well as other sexualities. Government leaders have their heads so far in the sand that their toes are showing. Why shouldn't all workers and citizens be required to attend at least one day of workshops and study on homosexuality? If politicians were not so full of hot air, they would know that children--at least by the time they enter kindergarten— ought to be given sex education. Instead of capitulating to anti-sex medievalists in the Catholic Church and Orthodox Jew

ry, public officials ought to be implementing the com plete separation of the church from the state and the schools from the church (a sensible demand, incident ally, that appeared as early as 1904 in the program of the Russian Bolsheviks). The New York Arch diocese's spokesman a+ the hearing in opposition to the bill appeared, by the way, to be gay and a victim of self-hatred--another pathetic irony since the hier archy of the Catholic Church ranges somewhere between 50 and 99 percent gay. A representative of the Council for Community Con sciousness, who also came off as a closet case, warned that passage of the bill would require landlords to rent to "members of the Man-Boy Lovers Association." Horror of horrors! As if landlords do not already rent to them! Does he think we all live on the street? A study might actually show that boy-lovers make good tenants, who knows? Most gay activists — including some of the bill's loud est proponents--believe that society should accept homosexuality as being on a par with ITeterosexual ity. What's wrong with expecting heterosexuals to do that? The sooner society recognizes the damage of hetero sexual domination, the better off everyone will be. Tronically, the only speaker I heard at the hearinq openly state that gay people deman full societal ac ceptance and describe the bill as only a small step toward that was a Yuppie-looking woman from Lesbians in City Government! I guess the radicals of yesterday have all gone back into their closets. Opponents tried to use the existence of NAMBlA to frighten the Council into scrapping the bill. They repeatedly accused the mayor of "supporting NAMBLA child molesters." To his credit, Koch did not go all the way into their gutter--but the handling of the issue by gay proponents was spineless and far from honorable. Nevertheless, the fact that the bill passed means that man/boy love was not an effective trump card in the hands of the reactionary bigots. It also means that gay upwardly mobile types will not be able to use man/boy love as a scare tactic to fool the public at large into thinking that they are any better. Opponents threaten to amend the bill into oblivion, and may succeed in introducing weakening provisions. They also threaten to challenge it in court, and, if that fails, to take it to a referendum. But this is mostly bluster for the benefit of their backward con stituency; a successful court challenge appears high ly unlikely, and referendums in ^ew York City are allowable only asamendments to the City Charter fthe gay bill amends the human-rights code). Last year, the court threw out a referendum on a nuclear port in Staten Island on grounds that would seem to require it to do the same with any referendum on the gay bill. An interesting question that remains to be answered is whether the gay rights legislation will protect gay people from discrimination by other gay people, or a gay priest from discrimination by the Catholic hier archy. Future cases will no doubt answer this ques tion. If the answer is yes, gays can discriminate against other gays, it will demonstrate the extreme limitations of such legislation. If the answer is no, the bill will have performed a service beyond those envisaged by its proponents.

Sebastian Venables Icon for the G a y by Michael Swift

Sunday morning when I was at Flmcrest I came down from my second-floor bedroom in Marlborough House and announced to the crowd of patients gathered at the medicine room door to get their tranqui1izers and antidepressants, that I was the ghost of Sebastian Venable. Carl, the heroin addict and intellectual stud from Greenwich, sardonically said, "You know, Michael, you really are Sebastian Venable." I felt like such a fool. The attempt at a witty, grand ges ture had once again failed. Dr. Stein had to increase my Trilafon that afternoon.

(though partially obscured) not really be "true" at all. If the dining on poor Sebastian was "symbolic," than what about the rest of the movie? Was Liz Taylor truly molested at Dwelling Oaks after the Mardi Gras Ball, or was this merely another symbol? Were there really plants that ate flies the way the Venus Fly Traps did in Violet Venable's steamy Garden District garden? I had never seen Venus Fly Traps in my grandmother's immense gardens on Eighth Street in Ashtabula. Did an exotic island where gigantic sea turtles climbed up out of the ocean to deposit their eggs on the beach actually exist? Were the newborn offspring of these giant sea turtles eaten alive by carnivorous birds? Did Sebas tian see the face of God? Was it possible to see the face of God? I was bewildered. It all was far, far removed from Ashtabula.

When I was at the Cleveland Clinic after an overdose, there was a fifteen year old girl from Shaker Heights who had been watching the movie version of Suddenly Last Summer on TV the night before she was admitted to the psychiatric ward. "I thought it would happen to me the way it happens to Liz Taylor, when she's walk ing on the bridge over the room filled with real, ob vious loonies, rocking away in their rocking chairs, dribbling and everything, and they tried to grab her ankles and pull her down and probably rape her or something worse, and I thought it would be like that here." "Are you disappointed, dear?" an alcoholic woman from Toledo asked. "No," Kathy replied. "This is just like summer camp when I was twelve."

The next time I saw the movie was at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. I went with my dyke friend Linda, and we giggled over the theatrical outrageous ness of the film, but savored it too. I enjoyed the screenplay touches of Gore Vidal. The part when Katharine Hepburn came down in an elevator, or on a "throne" as the Ryzantine emperors had done, must have been Vidal's clever addition due to his well-known in terest in history, Byzantine or otherwise. But then, maybe Tennessee himself added the elevator bit; some body told me once that he too worked on the screen version. Linda and I agreed that shaky Montgomery Clift was the proper candidate for a prefontal lobotomy, instead of the unfortunate, exploited Miss Taylor. I was then living on Fast Sixty-first Street, a block away from Clift's white, white townhouse. I don't re member if he was dead at the time, or alive but sinking fast in a pool of Demorol and alcohol.

I was mostly-innocent sixteen when Suddenly Last Summer, the film, came to Shea's Theatre in Ashtabula, ffivTo. I took my eleven year old sister, and I wonder what she thought of it. It must have "gone over her head," because most of it went directly over mine. I knew this movie was supposed to have something to do with homosexuality the way the movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was supposed to have something to do with homosexuality, but it didn’t when you got down to it. I knew a little about homosexuality and what homosexuals did with and to each other--I had shoplifted Gore Vidal's The City and the Pillar from Cozzad's Magazine Shop because I was too ashamed to actually buy it-but I wasn't one hundred percent sure such "strange" goings-on really, truly did go on, and Suddenly Last Summer didn't shed much light on this subject of my pressing concern. I thought it might exist in New York or Hollywood, but I didn't think homosexuality had made 1t to Ashtabula yet.

Some of the camp speeches Violet Venable made became part of the repertoire with which I entertained lads who congregated at my Bleeker Street apartment later on. My little parodies of Williams--I also did the speech in which Alexandra del Largo converses with Walter Winchell on the phone--were always well-received by my audiences. An actor can never go wrong with Tennessee Williams at his fingertips. Tennessee, you were hip. From time to time I read the play version of Sudden!y Last Summer, and, Ten, you really did it per fect: not a n ‘extraneous moment nor an unnecessary limpid line. It's a glorious gem in a sparkling col lection, perhaps your true masterwork.

Every seat at Shea's was filled, and it wasn't even a Saturday night. I wonder if the men's room in the basement was hot that evening. I wonder if Sam Spiegel took in a lot of money on the picture. I fhink I read in Memoirs that Williams made a pile off the film and invested in real estate, with a good return.

Sometimes I think of Sebastian's relationship with Violet when I dine with my mother here in Connecticut. Sebastian counted on his mother's emotional strength when he found himself trembling with fear*.fear of time passing, fear and loathing of the devouring creation we are caught in. Violet would simply look deep into Sebastian's liquid eyes, extend her aristocratic hand across the table to Sebastian's fine poet's hand, and hold him with the fortitude of the worldly and very rich, and soon Sebastian would regain peace and serenity. Sometimes I wish I had a mother who under stood, really understood, about the trembling of the hand and the heart, the cruel face of God, baby sea turtles being ripped apart by foul birds of prey, young men eating each other up in gay bars in the dark cities of our crucifixion. -— 7

No, I didn't understand the film. I couldn't believe that the boys or whatever they were had actually eaten Sebastian alive and uncooked at the top of the white, white hill. Of course, I'd heard of cannibals in Africa, but I didn't think there were any cannibals residing in modern Spain or Italy or wherever. Dorothy Kilgallen had written in her twice-a-week syn dicated column in the Ashtabula Star Beacon that the cannibalism in the film was supposed to be "symbolic," and we had studied symbols in Miss Betty Jean O'Dell's Engl ish class. But how could something you actually saw happening before your eyes on the silver screen 44

-j^Y yJQE-i-

Ke The rain lets up a little. We are sitting on the sloping porch of my childhood home. The foundation is slipping. Another few winters and the cabin will be sitting in the middle of the single lane township road that runs nearby.

t Is a rainy October day. I trek 400 miles into the country with my lover to connect in some obscure way with my c.hildhood. We are city people who are tired of living on the edge of a building four stories over a noisy street. The tree outside our window has barely started to change. Its leaves have faded from summer green to the dusty shade of unripe fruit.

Across from the broken porch is a line of tall pines that marks the forest's edge. I remember a photo taken of me there when I was seven years old. I was standing between two of the evergreens, smiling, hold ing in my hands a single rock. There were many times throughout my life when I looked at that photo and wondered why the hell I was so happy about finding a rock.

In the country the last leaves of autumn cling stub bornly to the trees. They turn belly up, unashamed, yellow and red in the heavy October air. The reason for this journey is not clear. An abstract though had been brewing in my mind all summer -- the concept that nostalgia is a tonic for spiritual growth. In reality, nothing has changed since I was a child here. It all seems smaller than I remember. But that makes sense. The last time I ‘saw this highway I was at ten years of age from the back seat of my parent's station wagon.

Now, of course, I understand. As children we are closest to the gods. In an unlearned way we under stand clearly the elements from which we are created. As a boy on the edge of the wilderness I could not have possibly seen the muddled roads that lay ahead of me. But, I could see, more clearly than at any other time in my life, the roads that led within.

I had expected some psychological thunder and light ning. The revelation that arrives is much less drama tic. Life is a straight line. We keep moving -- like it or not — shooting up out of our boyhood sneakers into the nine-to-five apparel of responsible adulthood. We can never go back and start over. If we're lucky, or blessed with special power -- or both -- there are moments, blank spaces, when it is possible, like a television offer, "for a limited time only", to double back. There are rules however. The most obvious is that only the conditions change. The in dividual is locked forever onto a course like an angry missle.

My lover sits quietly beside me. We are sheltered from the rain by the eaves of the old roof. He is content to whittle a broken branch into an arrow or wand or magic sword, tolerant of my silence, unable to share the memory of a boy who woke early one morn ing before the mist started to rise. The boy who slipped out of his jeans on the edge of the forest and ran naked into the thin morning light. The boy who knew nothing about growing up but everything about rocks and sticks and the special magic of danc ing proudly in the spaces between the trees. 45

AK ID

D /E S , OR

A (jR O W N -iJ p

D,.... 1

drawing by Light after Kate Kollwitz

not there anymore, minute by minute, all year, a1! years. A fond friend dies, and you learn then how much love there was. Hr one at the center of a life pool, making many love flows easy, is gone, and much that was good is magically no longer possible. Two deaths like that in a year, and it's a very bad /ear. A thousand deaths like that in a week, and it's a war.

Tell me about American interests. Sometimes we kill her lover and the feel of his spine under her hand and the feel of his hand running down her rib cage and rounding her buttocks and reaching between her legs to quiver her hair before touching her wetness ourselves, and sometimes we hire it done. Sometimes the bomb that removes one and a half of the legs of her child who just learned to walk comes from a plane that says U.S. on the side and sometimes we just paid for it from too far away to hear the child screaming so loudly and intensely that it seems to her, who can't help hugging him though that may hurt him more, that he may scream himself to death choking before his heart dies of havinq no more blood to pump. Sometimes we obliterate 75T of the people he ever loved from the face of the rarth because the president needs to be re-elected and we need to think about how to get new school clothes for the kids and whether the car will last the winter, and sometimes we de stroy every person, place, and thing he ever cared for because we sincerely believe he needs our help getting democracy. Then we forget. Years later we briefly notice what's left of the coun try, of the group of families and friends and neigh borhoods where we once bought many murders. We say, "They are not being good. They are not being killed. They are not being logical. We don't know why. At least we tried to help." I don't know how they live pain in their culture. I don't know how they keep going with such overloaded hearts, but somewhere in their hearts, there is no thing to do but cry. As to what we can do when we wake up to what we have Hone, T don't know.

1____________________________________________________________ l^ y

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It. is clear that a majority of the Supreme Court Jus tices are homophobic or are being pressured by the Reagan administration to be so. Yet, the 5-4 decision is close and the dissent is clear, opening the way for the Court to reverse itself should another similar case be brought before it in the future. And there will be another case, this time from a heterosexual, unmarried couple that will be a more clear-cut case of violation cf privacy. Now the Court will have to rule, providing it agrees to hear the case, that hetero sodomy is not protected by the Constitution or else the Court violates its own decisions on equal treatment for all people.

SODOMIZE FOR FREEDOM by Stuart Norman

The Supreme Court is being politically stacked by the Reagan administration toward staunch conservatives. The confirmation hearings for Chief Justice Rhenquist and Antonin Scalia, no friend of gay people, are a case in point. But not in fifty years have appoint ments been made so blatently without a sense of fair ness to balance the Court, opinion-wise. Even conservative judges can make solid, constitution ally based, unbigoted decisions against the wishes of an administration, demonstrating the traditional in dependence of the judiciary still lives. The Court has recently ruled progressively on abortion rights and on affirmative action, contrary to the wishes of the Reagan administration.

c. 1986

Twenty-five states still have sodomy laws with various interpretations of the "Crime against Mature" and vary ing penalties. Two states, Texas and Montana, specifically state only homosexual sodomy is prohibited, a clear-cut case of discrimination. The ramification of the sodomy decision may not change anything immediately. States still have the right to have sodomy laws or repeal them. Our best move now is to go back to grassroots activism to repeal the sodomy laws in those remaining 25 states and to ensure that the free 25 will not reinstate such laws. In most of those 25 states sodomy is oennea as oral and anal intercourse, thus mutual masturbation or body rubbing (frottage) may be legal if the law is narrowly interpreted.

|his is a day that will live in infamy," was spoken by President Franklin Roosevelt when he announced to the nation the Japanese attack on Pearl Haroor on December 7, 1941. Then on June 30, 1986 another war was launched on sexual freedom by the Supreme Court. In the decision on Bowers vs. Hardwick, the court ruled 5-4 by a default of principle to allow state sodomy laws to stand -- not on the grounds of viola tion of privacy but according to traditional Christ ian morality. This decision is a great blow to the time-honored concepts of privacy, separation of church and state, and to gay rights. It made the following July 4th weekend celebrating the refurbishing the Statue of Liberty and all the media hoopla surrounding it ring hollow. Lady Liberty should have been crying.

It is also highly probable that law enforcement of ficials will not want to spend time and money investi gating the private lives and the activities in the bedrooms of citizens. Only if the political climate becomes conducive to such raids are we likely to ex perience such totalitarian actions. On top of the nastiness over sodomy, the Meese Com mission on Pornography released its report in June, linking violence and pornography; a foregone conculsion what with the commission stacked with biased conserva tives who only sought information upholding their views. Two female commission members renounced the report findings in disgust and lambasted the commiss ion's tactics handling witnesses. Even under the con servative Nixon administration twenty years ago a pornography commission could find no connection be tween violence and porn.

The court's majority decision written by Justice White is a bigoted and cowardly way out. And recent polls, such as in Newsweek, show a majority of Americans op pose the decision. They understand that it affects everyone. Other polls demonstrate that tolerance for the gay lifestyle has grown in the past few years to a majority, but acceptance as a valid and equal life style has not grown. The dissenting opinion by Justice Blackman was unequiv ocally a devastating criticism of the majority decision chiding the Court for not addressing the right to pri vacy and ignoring equal protection for minorities. 47

What is so dangerous about this conclusion of the Meese Commission is that some feminists have joined with the New Right and conservative attempts to define and prohibit pornography as inciting violence toward women.

This anti-sex pose will hamper and tend to stiffle debate and protest over rape, spouse abuse, child abuse, teenage pregnancy and contraception. It will promote sexual censorship and the ignorance that has kept women in inferior power relationships to men. And still the issue of violence in our society has not been addressed, but that would indite the very struc ture or beliefs and behaviors which conservatives and fundamentalists wish us to return. Then, in California there is an AIDS quarantine in itiative by the followers of Lyndon LaRouche on the November ballot. Were this ultra-right-wing measure to pass, anyone testing positive for the AIDS anti bodies, as well as those having AIDS or ARC, could leagally be quarantined indefinitely, fired from jobs -- in short, a prison sentence. It would also send a message nationwide that such discrimination would be tolerated and would be the beginning of a reign of terror not seen since H itlerian Germany in the late 30's. It is fortunate that most politicians, Democratic and Republican, are coming out against the measure. These decisions against us may tend to repoliticize our movement just as Anita Bryant's campaign in Flori da did in 1977. It is again time for civil disobedi ence and non-violent protest. Perhaps we had become too comfortable with our gains of the late 70's and early 80's, making the assumption that we had won our rights and we would move steadily forward, knocking down discrimination everywhere. Not so; bigotry lies deeply in the American soul. Yet, our movement is well-established, entrenched, out of the closet too long to be easily forced back in. Some of us have never experienced the closet. So, now it is the time to again be active whether 1t means to support the political institutions of our society and change them or to oppose them altogether. Each of us needs to become involved in some group working for our rights. It gives us a feeling of strength and ac complishment, the support of like-minded people in trying times. And, we must make the commitment to make ourselves known as openly gay to all who know us. That in itself can change minds. They will see our strength and solidarity and perhaps realize since they have known us as people rather than a stereotyped gay image that we are just like them, only different, but not a difference to be feared and hated.

The gay agenda must be wider than the specific inter ests of our own community. Gay men and lesbians need to work out their differences and seek coalition with heterosexuals who support humane behavior and laws, now that heterosexuals have a stake in working with us for their sexual freedom as well. We will need the persistance of New Right groups not to be disheartened, ’/hat we must do is learn to love each other, love hete rosexuals. But, we don't need their acceptance. We have our own and our own inner strengths. We can't be just like them.

W e have made mistakes in our movement. We were politi cally naive, but we have learned much in the past few years. Yet, we should realize that ours is not really a political movement as political movements are general ly defined. Ours is a moral movement which can be stronger than any political movement and can encompass justice for all people. That is our greatest strength and will potentially unite us with others to increase our combined power. Why this growing conservatism? There are several rea sons. Natural political swings occur when a prevalent ideology runs out of answers or when people who support the ideology tire of promoting it. When problems aren't solved, when a power group becomes complacent, then a disenfranchised group may become sufficiently motivated to promulgate its ideas and gain strength. Or, fear is a great motivator. This scenario is occuring now. It seems that the gay movement and other progressive movements ran out of practical ideas, became demoral ized and tired with energies no longer focused. And, the American people were ready for a change, wanted new ideas. There is dissention among us and a clear agenda hasn't been brought forward. But, when conser vative solutions no longer work or cause more problems, then other groups will be listened to. Also, this new conservatism is rising alongside declin ing expectation for the current generation to be eco nomically better off than their parents. That know ledge can be of no comfort to anyone. The economy is not good even under pro-business Republicans. And, the national debt is at an all time high despite the bud get-cutting measures enacted by Congress at the behest of the Reagan administration. "his administration has been seen as anti-environment, anti-poor, anti-abortion, pro-military, pro-big busi ness, war mongering and interventionist, having con tempt for the World Court over aid to the Contras in Nicaragua and El Salvador. It is almost surprising that it has taken anv anti-apartheid stance at all towards South Africa. Our society has a war mentality. If not real war, then a war on poverty or a war on drugs, etc. Or, a war on disease is our medical model. War is a sympton of social illness by which only force is seen to solve problems. But the real illness is a refusal to examine the basis for our broblems. That is what this con servative administration represents -- a turning back of the clock to simpler, clearer values no matter how wrong they are.

If that isn't the anti-Christ, what is? Yet, they prey on people's guilts and fears to gain their power. 'rhose are their fears, too. The fundamentalists fear cultural change and want to turn our society back to known, established values. "ut, it is those values, the very cultural premises, which are the problem. And, our culture is disintegrat ing around us. No one can stop it. Values must change for a culture to grow.

W e live in an economic climate in which feudal fiefdoms of power are being created by conglomerates, holding companies, by mergers, takeovers, buyouts. The middle class and poor are being forced out of the economic picture, losing power to control their lives. Is it a conspiracy or just blind economic forces? Family farmers going out of business and their land being taken over by big agri-business is a good ex ample. And our intervention in South America is prim arily to protect our business interests, not to protect their people from communist totalitarianism. Yet, we might ask if there is a conspiracy behind the Reagan administration. The President appears to be senile. Tf so, who is the power behind him? And why are there such high pressure tactics to force their beliefs onto the entire nation? Theirs is not an .American way and represents an ominous erosion of freedoms.

To achieve certain goals every culture promotes and limits some behaviors. We are educated by example, by religion and morals and guilting to conform. This works, but the goals may be too much of a trade-off, too costly in terms of human life. Such is the history of Western culture. The fundamentalists may have their day, but it will be short. How many innocent people vill have to suffer for that day? This November we have a chance to vote. The question is whether more conservatives will be elected or if there will be a swing towards the Democrats. Will the U.S. Senate return to a Democratic majority? Will the LaRouchies use more of their chameleon techniques to get on ballots? And, what further political disrup tion will they attempt to cause? Americans vote for the lesser evil more often than for the best candidate. Often it Is the only choice we have considering those who survive in the political arena — a survival that is often accomplished by less than honorable means. Politics defies facts as is ex pedient for power. That is the game. Principle is out. Yet, most Americans don't agree with the Reagan admin istration's policies, but they will go along with them if they are not too adversely affected. There needs to be an incentive for them to commit to poli tical involvement. The Reagan image apparantely ful fills a need in the American psyche. Why else could he have such a high popularity rating? But what happens after his lame-duck Presidency? Political winds can change quickly. The climate may get worse before 1t gets better. Political backlashes always occur sooner or later. That may seem a platitude. But, there will be a 1iberal/progressive backlash when this political cli mate goes too far. Mark my words, the Reagan admin istration will be seen infamously in historical per spective. In the meantime, assert your right to sodo mize for freedom!

W e must watch the fundamentalists closely. TV evangel ists such as Pat Robertson of the 700 Club, watched by 16,000,000 viewers, may run for President in the Re publican primary. He is a Yale Law School graduate and very sly. What would his election hold for this nation? Another TV evangelists, Jimmy Swaggart, is wagging a one-man war against liberal bias in the news media. This is his attempt to develop censorship and mind control. Some 'gorilla' tactics can be used against them. We gays have been credited with putting Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority 800 line out of busi ness by calling and using up valuable time for which he received no contributions. We can do the same for the 700 Club. The fundamentalist bigotry is coming out in the open. It will be seen for what it is, and most Americans won't tolerate it. 'Fundamentalist' is becoming a derogatory word. They are turning people against them by their intolerance. And, they are associated with vazis, the Ku Klux Klan, bomers of abortion clinics.

Our hopes lie in that someday the patriarchy/war men tality of power/force/might-makes-right will only be a nightmare from which we have awakened.

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Quatrefoil, by James Barr 17795----Reprinted 1986 by Alyson Publications, 40 Plympton Street, Boston, MA 02118 Deviewed by Allen Smalling In Quatrefoi1 , rn$ign Phillip Froehlich comes to terms with' his own homosexuality and must decide between taking his preordained place as his town's leading citizen (and enduring a sham heterosexual existence) or remaining in the navy under the guidance of a stronger, older mentor (and sharing a closet homo sexual life with him). Undoubtedly these options seem restrictive and somewhat arbitrary to modern readers, but Quatrefoi1 was written in 1950, before modern gay life had evolved. Phillip's dilemma is therefore characteristic of the immediate post-'.lorld War II era, and he resolves it with courage and dignity, earning him a place among the relatively few non-stereotyped gay figures in literature of that period. Quatrefoil is invaluable in portraying a time which is now (mercifully) lost to us, and for that reason alone deserves the reader's attention. Moreover, there is much to like in Quatrefoi1 besides historic realism. Tn particular, I appreciated the way the author created characters who communicate abstract ideas intelligently and with wit and cogency, somewhat in the style of the Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. This is a novel of ideas more than of sexual awaken ing, and if some of those ideas seem quaint or un palatable today, consider the time in which they were written. Because of its credibility, incisiveness, and considerable literary merit, Quatrefoil belongs

Beyond Happiness: The Intimate Memoirs of Billy Fee "Belle --- i ByTeter McGehee Stubblejumper Press, P.0. Rox 1 ?0 3 , Station F, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 2VR ^7.00 ($1.00 for postage) Reviewed by Thomas Hopkinson Billy Lee Belle's story is about the search for true happiness. At an early age his mother is acutely aware of her son's orientation and it becomes a con stant source of embarrassment for her. "My mother's biggest fear was that I'd turn out gay. Her second biggest fear was that I'd write a book about it," says Billy. His memoirs take him through his South ern heritage and an assortment of rival relatives. When of age, he flees Little Rock and the limitations of his family to pursue an acting career. After various affairs he settles in San Francisco where he meets a Canadian named Dennis. But what Billy wants most is acceptance by his family and that desire keeps bringing him back to Little Rock. It's an elusive goal that always brings disappointment of the narrow-minded people he loves. Only upon meeting an elderly gay relative, does Billy realize that true happiness had been right under his nose. He quickly returns to Canada to be with Dennis.

St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth ave., New York, NY 10010 195 pp., $13.95

An intimate theater piece, now in book form, Beyond Happiness is a delight to read, full of a positive awareness and insight into growing up gay in the '7ns and '80$. That insight is never more apparent than when he meets his distant relative and learns of the man's devotion, years later, to a friend he lost dur’ng the war. Rilly finds more than just happiness; he discovers a gay heritage and direction in his life.

Reviewed by Raphael Sahatini For those of you who have loved and ^or those who have loved and lost, ngristopher Davis has spun a tale that will warm your heart. He has told us a romantic love story not unlike that of 7eus and Ganymede, the Greek god and his young lover. Joseph, a young history student at Yale, takes a course from the venerable (and old) processor of creative writing and extensively published novelist Oswald Stevenson. Joseph is brash, young, attractive, and determined to go to bed with the professor. The pro cessor, wise with age, throws caution to the wind and invites the young man to his apartment. Their romanfic relationship spans 10 years, including an angry exchange with Joseph's parents very early on. Fach grows in understanding and love for themselves and for each other during their 10-year romance.

Playwright McGehee's work might be familiar to read ers of The James White Review. His short story Sur vival , TrT the "Tall issue, Ts~a stunning account of personal stagnation in Southern California. In the planning is a collection of McGehee's short stories for release in 1986. Look for some good things from this Canadian press in the next few years. 50

Joseph has to return to the City from Fire Island to prepare for the upcoming school year (he is currently teaching history). On the way to the ferry he pur chases a bunch of birds of paradise (to remind the Old Man of their visits to the South Pacific) and when asked if he wants a card, informs the florist, "He'll know who sent them." What happens from here on out is a deeply sad and inspiring story of loss and commit ment .

shine Interview with Maugham. The first story, Testament: Cairo 1898, is worth the price of the volume alone and concerns a wounded soldier recuperat ing in a military hospital in Cairo. One night after failing to get close to a fellow soldier he allows a poor Arab boy of 14 to lead him into a brothel and there they fall in love. The stories center on themes of love and affection and are full of an exotic sensuality that I found very en joyable. In The Senussi Soldier, for example, a young Egyptian away from his small tribe for the first time has trouble sleeping alone. In Dieter, '-augham re calls a magical night on a hillside in 1936 with a re markable 17 year old. In the title story, a strong statement is made against cruelty to animals.

This Christopher Oavis's first published novel and it is a masterpiece. He writes from a romantic perspec tive that is indeed refreshing in these chilling times. Joseph and the Old Man is highly recommended.

The interview with Maugham by his partner, Peter Bur ton, allows us to peek into the Mauqham legend. In cluded are Maugham's travels with such close friends as writer Michael Davidson, and some insights behind the publishing of his works. His first fully homo sexual novel, The Wrong People, ms published under a pseudonym in tFe li.*1. in”19677 It was to become one of many books with gay themes or characters that Robin was to explore. Burton writes about Maugham showing the manuscript to his famous (and gay) Uncle Somerset: "His Uncle read the book through at a sitting and then told Robin that he thought it was the best thing he had yet written."

160 pp., <7.95

"But I think it would ruin your reputation," Maugham told his nephew. And he went on to say that though he thought the book "extremely well done," publication in England would cause an "outcry in the press." Thanks to Robin's persistence the book was later issued in England and the U.c>. under his real name, paving the way formany writers wanting to explore gay sensibilities and loves.

Published by Gay Sunshine Press, Box 403p7, San Francisco, CA 04140 Reviewed by Thomas Hopkinson Robin Maugham: traveler, writer, correspondent, bovlover and nephew of writer W. Somerset Mauqham, d^'ed in looi. extensive collection of works over 66 years have included Escape from the Shadows, The Servant, and The Wrong Peoplp, as well as numerous short stories, travelogues, memoirs, and biographies.

Peter tells us, "It is difficult to separate the in fluences of father and uncle, difficult to tell who influenced him most, impossible to gauge if either In fluenced him wholly. For Robin Maugham has a strange dual personality: Part of him was rigidly conserva tive-^ dislike of most music after Tchaikowsky, an aggressive antipathy towards the drug scene, a belief in protocol, correctness in appearance . . . the other side of him was bohemian--a congenital inability to conform, a love of entertaining on a grand scale any one from world celebrities to street-corner hustlers, an honesty about his own sexuality and problems which could somehow shock . . . ’’obin Maugham was still try ing to work out who he was and what he wanted to be. The conflict could sometimes be seen writ on his face."

Publisher Winston Leyland's working relationship with Maugham and his partner Peter Burton began in 1076 with the Gay Sunshine Interviews (No. 13/34, Summer/ Fall 1977), which led to his publishing The Boy from Beirut in 1982, a memorial volume of selected gay stories; and Enemy, Maugham's last novel. Enemy stems from an incident that happened to Robin 42 years ago. The story centers around the meeting be tween an English soldier and a German soldier in the Western Desert. Separated from their units, they con front each other at a deserted tank, and for a few days find a refuge from the rages of battle. Dis regarding the conventions of war, they soon grow to like each other, discovering personal motivations and secrets. paul , the gay German, is mourning the loss of his Jewish lover, wanting again to become close to someone, ken, the rnglish tank driver, only wants to escape the restrictions of the military and the three years of desert suffering. Distant, yet sympathetic, Ken is reassuring while he listens to the younger man, even reminiscing about his own experience of first 1ove. ’-'anting to escape from the restrictions around them they both plan to walk into neutral territory. By highlighting the gentler side of men, Maugham makes a strong statement on the absurdity of war.

When writing the sequel to his autobiography rscape from the Shadows, Maugham isolated himself on thetiny island of Taprobane, off the coast of Sri Lanka. "I plan this book to be rather like a pearl necklace," "augham explained, "a continuous thread with a series of pearls hanging on it. The narrative•thrust will be the thread. The various stories I have to tell will be the pearls." Maugham's career was at first hampered by his father's disapproval. The success of his first play was enough to encourage the young Maugham to continue writing; and with the vision of publishers like Winston Leyland, his passion will always be with us. Like pearls on Robin's long-forming necklace, Enemy and The Boy from Beirut are jewels to behold.

The Boy from Beirut and Other Stories is a delightful offering of eight gay stories, as well as the Gay Sun 51

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'W Adonis Garcia: by Luis Zapata 207 pp., $7.95

A Picaresque Novel

V Black Men/White Men:

A Gay Anthology Michael J. Smith, editor 231 pp., $8.n5

The City of Sodom and Homosexuality in Western ReTfcJous Thou girt to 630T F (vol . 39 of the Woman Tn History series) by Arthur Frederick Ide

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My Deep Dark Pain Is Love: A Collection of Latin American Gay Fiction Winston Ley!and, editor, and E.A. Lacey, translator 383 pp., $10.00 Published by Gay Sunshine Press, Box 40397, San Francisco, CA Q414n

Monument Press, Dallas (order from P.o. Box 160061, Las Colinas, Texas 75016-0998) $10.95 softcover, 88 pages

Reviewed by Meg Umans

Reviewed by Brad Key

If you read all of these in the same few days, as I did, your mind will never be the same. The cumulative effect may be less overwhelming if you're Latin Amer1can and/or black and/or gay and/or male, but even then, I doubt it. These men--the editors and the writers--nake no concessions to readers who may be new to what they talk about and think about and live with and do. We're immersed--at least I was--in parallel universes, and we absorb and adapt and learn because there's no other way to get through this experience. Like learning another language by living in another country on your own. Go for it.

Different groups of Christians interpret biblical passages about homosexuality in several ways. Upset over the way Bryant and Falwell twist these texts, Arthur Frederick Ide concludes: "In short, there are no biblical references which condemn homosexual ity T f it is a mutually responsive and active ex pression of love, action, and interpersonal commit ment and compassion." Though Ide devotes a few pages to New Testament texts, the main focus is on the story of Lot's family and the city of Sodom. Some of Ide1s best writing explains that issues of hospitality, registering strangers, and threats to community survival deserve more emphasis, with less attention to be given to the sexual implications in Genesis 19.

Black Men/White Men includes reminiscence, philosophy, biography, poetry, and fiction . . . and beautiful and/or erotic photos and line drawings. All writers were born in this century, most of them in the 1940’s and 1950's , so you'll recognize some backgrounds and some news events. I was able to do enough superficial identifying to feel comfortable in this strange new world . . . and was blasted out of my complacency a rew times by descriptions of unconscious racism that were too close to home.

Ide's book resembles a sandwich more than an entree; separate articles seem to be slapped together (in cluding repetitions and diversions), instead of a smooth flow of thought for the reader to follow. As a result, his thesis is diluted. From the first page, the reader wonders for whom Ide is writing. Is he trying to convince scholars that fundamentalists are not fairly interpreting the Bible? Since the author chooses to quote at length from the Hebrew and the Greek (even the Koran is quoted in its original language), one might assume Ide speaks to those well-educated in such languages, "hese people, however, will be disappointed to see that Ide refers to Norman Pittenger, as well as Noth and Smith, without explication in footnotes. Ide also fails to provide a bibliography. On the other hand, if Ide is writing for gays and lesbians with a college education, his quotation of Ezekiel 16 and Romans 1 would be better understood if he used a commonly-accepted modern translation, rather than the original languages. This reviewer concludes that the people who will most likely appreciate Ide's message will be (1) gays and lesbians, (2) who have Unitarian or similar liberal leanings. People from a conservative or liturgical Christian persuasion will prefer a more thorough, balanced, Christ-cen tered approach, as in Tom Horner's Jonathan Loved David. --------------

My Deep Dark pain Is Love hurts (me) with a different weapon. Not racism, but the premise accepted by so many of the writers that respectable people don't even talk about homosexuality. Many o* the writers are contemporary, and much o^ the work has a contemporary setting, but some of it is from earlier centuries, either chronological or sociological, five countries are represented by 24 writers; the quality of writing and level of interest vary. Translation from Spanish and Portuguese is smooth, but the translator's ex planations are more disruptive than helpful. So on to a placid and happy survivor of hard times. Zapata is magnificent . . . I can't praise this one enough . . . and the character Adonis Garcia is right there talking to you. He's a hustler, from a poor and screwed-up family, in a treacherous society, and he's pragmatic and optimistic and quick to recoqnize opportunities. Adonis Garcia is written in the form of tape-recorded interviews, with spaces to show pauses, and other radical liberties of punctuation and structure; the form may get in the way of the content for the first page or two, but then it becomes as natural as a conversation with Adonis.

Ide needs a better editor. Too many omissions, errors and misspelled words irritate the reader and cause confusion.

(The reviewer, Meg, is a counselor in private pr a c tice in Phoenix, and the owner of Humanspace Books, Tnc. These three books are available from Gay Sun shine and from Humanspace, 2401 N. 32nd St., #5, Dhoenix, AZ 85008.)

In spite of these weaknesses, Ide deserves credit for his insights into biblical literature. 52

fter a tim e of decay comes

THE POINT. THE TURNING POWERFUL LIGHT THAT HAS BEEN BANISHED RETURNS [THE IS THERE AGE OF DAY]. MOVEMENT BUT IT IS NOT BROUGHT ABOUT BY FORCE. IS CHRAC(THE MOVEMENT] TERIZED BY DEVOTION, THUS THE MOVEMENT IS NATURAL, ARISING SPONTANEOUSLY. FOR THIS REASON THE TRANSFORM ATION OF THE OLD BECOMES EASY. THE OLD IS DISCARDED AND THE NEW IS INTRODUCED. BOTH MEASURES ACCORD WITH THE TIME, THEREFORE NO HARM RESULTS. SOCIETIES OF PEO PLE SHARING THE SAME VIEWS ARE FORMED. BUT SINCE THESE GROUPS COME TOGETHER IN FULL PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE AND ARE IN HARMONY WITH THE TIME, ALL SELFISH SEPARA TIST TENDENCIES ARE EX CLUDED, AND NO MISTAKES ARE MADE. --RETURN ALWAYS CALLS FOR AN ACT OF SELF- MASTERY IT 15 MADE EASIER IF A MAN IS IN GOOD COMPANY..

HIS 15 A CALL TO Al l OF YOU WHO HAVE DREAMT OF A COMMUNITY OF THE ARTS, GROUNDED IN PRINCIPIFS OF -PLANETARY HEALING-WORLD CITIZEN5HIP-SELF AWARENESS AND ACTUALIZATION* — A COMMUNITY, FOUNDFD IN HOLISM WHERE ALL FACTORS ARE CONSIDERED IN DECISION MAKING, NOT JUST THE HUMAN FACTOR-- WHERE NON-AGRESSIVE, ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF FARMING, BUILDING, TRANSPORTING, ETC ARE STUDIED AND PUBLISHED— WHFRE ALL CONSCIOUS BEINGS ARE CONSIDERED DIVINE. AND ARE TREATED ACCORDINGLY-- WHFRE THE HEALING AND EMPOWERMENT OF SELF AND OTHERS, THE REDEFINITION AND TRANSLATION OF BEAUTY, AND THE SYMBIOTIC POSSIBILITIES OF MAN/NATIJRE ARE EXPLORED AND PROCI AIMFD With this between operation thoughts,

announcement I hope to begin a network of dialogue faeries of sim ilar vision on the formation and of such a community Please w rite down your desires, dreams and send them to &Q0Gm

<003 O Q

CLSo

C JIM m D o C3Q3 B0BQTO ” 1 INVITF YOU TO THE GREAT ADVENTURE. WE ARE EOR A NEW CREATION ENTIRELY NEW. CARRYING IN IT ALL THE UNTORSEFN. All RISKS, ALL HAZARDS- A TRUE ADVENTURE, Of WHICH THE WAY IS UNKNOWN AND HAS TO BE TRACED OUT STEP BY STEP IN THE UNEXPLORED.. IF THAT INTERESTS YOU, WEIL, EMBARK." ■ 53

-The Mother. Auroville. India

LJii/

P « ia f o l k s : I tu'c in , and op erate. a sm all mountain Hedge in t h e heart. o f New' V o lk '6 A dirondack M ountain*. L ife h ere is s im p le . The s e t t in g m a g n ific e n t. Veer biotase the year 'lou n d . C anoeing, fis h in g , h ik in g , cam ping, steam ing in th e summer; w in ter sp o r ts g a lo r e in season ju s t en ded. 1 am Hooking fo r c o r r e s p o n d e n ts , qat/ and le s b ia n from aHH o v e r . I hope th a t in p a r t , ou t o f the c o r resp on d en ce can c.omc r e l a t io n s h ip s ''f a t ( k in d s , C asting and en during, 'laybe T w i l l fin d my m ate. 1 am 37, 5'10" dark b lu e ey es w ith r e d -b lo n d h a i r . I am open to e x changing p h oto s i f you send you rs. H onesty and s i n c e r i t y a p p r e c ia t e d and ex ten d ed in re turn. I have no s e t req u irem en ts fo r the men who m ight w ish to w r i t e - - I have r e l a t e d w e ll to teen s to g o l den a g e r s . With r e s p e c t to the women who m ight ch o ose to r e p ly , I am not a s e x i s t , but g en u in ely in t e r e s t e d in lis t e n in g to your p o in t o f view , i p *iofe r p e o p le who have c u r io u s i t y , a r e warm and lo v in g , and e n jo y sh a rin g , w ith an oth er fe llo w - p a s s e n g e r on t h is s p a c e s h ip ea rth . Tn h o p e fu l fr ie n d s h ip , G erry o f New York c / o RFV ▼

RFD prints contact letters free of charge. We also provide a free forwarding service for readers who wish to remain anonymous. Just give your address as "c/o RFD", and we will forward your mail. Of course, donations are always welcome! Please condense your letter to 200 words or less. Spelling and punctuations will be corrected as needed for clarity unless you specify otherwise. It helps to be positive in stating your in terests and preferences. Saying "no" to any particular trait or characteristic may unnecessarily offend a brother. The Brothers Behind Bars pen pal program is a separate ser vice provided for our readers to make contact with prisoners. You may want to write us for suggestions regarding writing to prisoners before responding to prisoner responses to your 1etters. d ea r RFV e rs,

Dear F rien d , Here 7 am, farm born and c i t y l i v ing (p a r t o f th e t im e ) , a m ature b lu e -e y e d d i r t y b lon d , width, that, scru b bed lo o k . I can u se a p i t c h fo r k , s c y t h e , p en , o r ty p e w r it e r ; T’m good a t clim b in g medium moun ta in s or in t o h a y s t a c k s , fond o f w eeding and o t h e r w ork, l i t e r a t e , kind to an im a ts, and I ' v e been kn om to sm ite now and th en . I'm som etim es in s p ir e d at. co o k in g and o f t e n good a t l i s t e n i n g . I'm 5 ’5", I5S*, 5S, and lo o k in g fo r som eone l i v e l y w ith som ething to s a y . May be St a c k or. maybe W hite but n ot M artian, and not someone in t o drugs o r d r in k in g . I t ' s more fun ( e s w c i a l l u the n ex t day) g e t t in g h igh on fr e s h a i r , t r e e s , b i r d s ; t h a t s o r t o f th in g . I know a p la c e in the woods w here th e moss i s a fo o t d eep , and n eeds to be t e s t e d . I even have an e x t r a s le e p in g bag.

P r o fe s s io n a l sin g er Hooking fo r 1i a n i s t ( s ) and p ro m otio n a l p e r s o n (s ! i n d i f f e.r e n t c i t i e s , tow ns, e t c . , dio want to p a r t i c i p a t e in brin g in g n program o f o r i g i n a l s o n g -s e ttin g s o f poems from RFD to t h e ir l o c a l e s . This tour is e n v is io n e d as a fundr a is in g ev en t fo r Running Water. C o n ta c t:

I'm n ot as hom ely as a mud fe n c e ; ne o p le do c r u is e me on t h e s t r e e t s , but I n ev er was any good at. t h a t s o r t o f games. A p h otog rap h s u r e h e lp s round ou t a l e t t e r i f you w r it e .

R ichard S tran g e (H eartsin g er) f I K in n iard S t. ra m b rid g e, MA 021-9 ♦

Geo age-M urray 2 1 C lev ela n d P la ce New Vork, W 10012 ♦

Vours w ith f r i e n d l i n e s s , a f f e c t i o n , lo v e , (p ic k on e or more)

d e a r RFVers, My name. I s J o e , and 7 am c u r r e n t ly a stu d e n t a t t h e s t a t e u n iv e r s it y in Bingham ton, Metc Vo>ik. I am 21 as of, l a s t November, though 7 mubt adm it 7 poo k m ote L ik e 25 on 26. Fon th o s e o f you who on e - in te n e tte d , my hatn c o lo n i t v a r i a b l e , a t T lo v e t o ex p erim en t. (Mo, no b lu e t , q n een t, p ; n k t, e t c . ) T am bean ded, have b lu e /g n e y e y e s , and btan d a b o u t f i v e t o o t e le v e n . My w eig h t t o o i t v a r i a b l e , though 7 would c l a t t i f y m y self a t " bu tty"--m ean in g t h a t I'm o v e r weight. bu t n ot o b e s e . Mow t h a t I ' v e f i n i t h e d th e t a c k y b ateb p i t c h , 7 can t e l l you what I ’m r e a lly l i k e . Though p h y t ic a l app ean an ce i t w here mo&t f i n t t im p r e s sio n s on e made, T fin d t h a t i n t e r e s t and a f f e c t i o n fon a penton a c q u ir e m ore than m eatu rem en tb. 7 am studtying C r e a t iv e W ritin g, though my i n t e r e t t t l i e t o l i d l y in w ritin g f i c t i o n and p o e tr y . Though l i t t l e o f my work hat t e e n p r in t , my g o a l rem ains p u b lic a t io n and c i r c u la t io n , throu ghou t ou r community. Tm somewhat f i c k l e a b o u t what. 7 rea d , ju s t a t my t a s t e s in m utic a r e broad (though n o t a l l - ; n c l u t i v e ) . 7 e n jo y w alkin g (and jo g g in g i f accom p an ied ) , and would lo v e t h e o p p o r tu n ity to tp en d tim e camping a n d /o r b ack p ackin g though I am in e x p e r ie n c e d . My i n t e r e t t t in c lu d e t h e p o l i t i c o o f the gay movement, though 7 am more l i k e l y t o w r it e than sp eak my v ie w s , 7 have a l t o s p e n t tim e in su p p o rt s e r v i c e ! f o r my l o c a l le s b ia n / g a y community, and would l i k e to con tinu e t o do to in th e c a r e e r I c h o o s e . But even though 7'm un d o t e t e d d oes n ot make me i n t o l e r a n t on l a d i n g in com passion fon gay p e o p le who rem ain " c l o s e t e d ." A o n e-o n -o n e r e l a t i o n s h i p (no pun in te n d ed ) i t b a s i c a l l y what 1 would l i k e to grow in t o . 7 am lo o k in g f o r a man who i s d o t e to mi/ a q e , though p r e f e r a b l y a l i t t l e o l d e r and more e x p e r ie n c e d . D a n k-h aired men w ith m u staches c a tc h my ey e f i r s t , though 7 am a t t r a c t e d t o o t h e r men who d o n ’ t f i t in t o s t e r e o t y p i c im ages. Though I ' d r e a d i l y f a l l fo r an i n t e l l i g e n t man b u i l t l ( h e S c o t t Mad sen , 7 would n ev er e x p e c t on l i m i t

m y se lf t o b e a u t i fu l b o d ie s . A R om antic, caning, affectionate man who i s n ot a f r a i d t o "camp" and i s n ' t too butch fon h i t o m good i s someone I ' d love to meet. So i f any man who i t rea d in g my t e t t e r f e e l s th a t he and 7 m ight s t r i k e som ething up from what s c a r c e i n form ation I ’ ve g iv e n , T d a p p r e c ia t e h ea rin g from him. But p l e a s e w r it e soon . Livin g a lo n e in a c i t y l i k e Binghamton i s a k in t o m en tal m astu r b a t io n , and my r i g h t hand i s e x trem ely t i r e d .

HELLO new fr ie n d s ! Mu name is Ken and 7 am a mature gay " hi te m ale, I ’ m v ery n ic e lo o k in g and 7 am a s in c e r e , fr i e n d l y , and ca rin g guy. 7 stan d 5' 11" t a l l , " it h brown e y e s , and toeigh 160 rounds. And, Tm s t r a i g h t a c tin g and a p p ea rin g . 7 s e e k neio fr ie n d s from w h erev er fo r there, i s no d is t a n c e where good fr ie n d s a r e c o n c e r n e d .. . A fter a l l , we a l l n eed p e o p le , fr i e n d s , and lo v e . ..

S in c e r d y , J o e C o llin s 48 Court S t. Binghamton, MV

13901

▼

So, why n ot w r it e and l e t ' s begin t o grow in new fr ie n d s h ip t h a t w ill h o p e fu lly be la s t in g and ' s p e c ia l' iii Send your l e t t e r and p ix and y ou ’l l r e c e i v e m ine— r e a l l y soon ! Keep smiling---keep sh in in g ! My c a rin g fr ie n d s h ip , Ken P .0 . Box 42392 P ittsb u rg h , PA

Vean R eaders 7 l i v e on an o r g a n ic v e g e t a b le farm in MY, on t h e M O.' t i d e o f t h e A di rondack Mtns. My dau g h ter and 7 a r e on e o f t h r e e h o u s e h o ld s . 7 ivork o f f th e farm as a n u rse. RFVers, e s p e c i a l l y g a t h e r in g - ty p e s a r e welcome to v i s i t o r s t a y a w h ile . Work can be exchanged fo r room and b oa rd . T here a r e ca rp en t r y p r o j e c t s and o r g a n ic gardening and m a rketin g . Someone i n t e r e s t e d in s ta y in g throu gh the sea so n co u ld a l s o earn a sm a ll incom e. T his a r e a o f f e r s h ik in g and c a n o e in g , s k iin g (in s e a s o n ) , fo u r c o l l e g e s , and an a c t i v e p o l i t i c a l com munity. The ME f a i r y g a th e r in g s a t t h e end o f summer a r e h e ld n earby . My p u rp ose i s t w o fo ld : 1) 7 w ish to m eet g e n t l e , la v in g men who can a p p r e c ia t e th e v a lu e o f s i m p l i f i e d r u r a l l i v i n g ; and 2) 7 hope t o m eet som eone who m ight im.nl t o s t a y and s h a r e my home. The i d e a l som eone would be.: 1) o ld enough t o have h is head f a i r l y t o g e t h e r up t o mid'o r i l e s ? 2) young in h e a r t , 3) fr e e o f m ajor hangups, 4) p o l i t i c a l l y l e f t , 5) and s p i r i t u a l l y in q u ir in g . 7 am 37 y . o . , s lim , t a l l , f a i r , in t o : C rate.fu l Vead, s o f t r o c k , b lu e s , d an cin g , m assag e, cu d d lin g , and ou td o o rs in a l l s e a s o n s . My cou n try I s th e w o rld . My r e l i g i o n i s to do g ood . P eace. Cavid P fau tz S ta r Route Box 138 Canton, MV 13617

15203

G en tle-m en : 1 r e c e n t lu moved to the non thea& tern P en n sy lv a n ia/w estern New J e r s e y b o rden a f ten 6 yeans In San Vi eg o. '■'he.ne ane a l l the F a e r ie s In t h i s a r e a l I ’ d lik e , to meed a l o c a l gay man/men in t e r e s t e d in w eekend camp ing, national fo o d s , h ik in g , eXc. I'm 28, a non smo ken , n o n -d r in k e r , n cm -drugger, m a c n o b io tlc -v e g e ta n ia n and I'm in t o n atu re and thin gs ■ sp iritu a l. I'm lo o k in g fon some. In ten d s w ith s im it a r in te n .est s . S c o t t Humphries 7 Maacft s t n e e t ’ a s t o n , pA 18042

HE L L O FOLKS!

To RFV Readers,

We ane a couple, o f gags w ith cou n try 'ie.an.tyS who L iv e in a s p iA lt e d home in N orth -E astern P en n su lvan ia. Oun g o a l i s to retu rn it. t o i t s form er alon g oven th e n ex t s e v e r a l y ean s. S at t i k e u s, i t n eeds T .L.C . and b e ca u se we t n a v e l a good d e a l, oun home can g e t lo n e l y and cnanky. What we n eed i s a handyman/house s i t t e n , p o s s ib ly a c o u p le , to make our home youn home w hole we t n a v e l. ne can o f fen fn ee noom and p ea c e o f mind and tilts i s an e x c e l l e n t o p p o r tu n ity fon an a n .tis t, w a it e r , on oth er s e l f- s u ff ic ie n t p e r s o n a litie s . We an e se e k in g e a s y -g o in g , r e s p o n s i b l e , c le a n c u t , fun and s p in it e d p e o p le who, l i k e o u r s e lv e s , ane a l t r u i s t s and o p t im is t s . We would e v e n tu a lly t i k e to make f u l l u se o f oun home's s h e l t e r i n g p o t e n tia l, and i f you have any s u g g e s t io n s , we would c e r t a i n t y a p p r e c ia t e i t . If Xu's pocono pa n a d is e i n t e r e s t s , \ ie a s e w r it e to me at.:

1 am a GWM, ag e 26, blon d h a i r , blu e e y e s , 140 l b s . , 5 ’ 7", v ir g in who q u it fig h t in g bein g gag l a s t g e a r .

S teve pn Box 772 Hones d a l e , PA 18431 on c a l l (717) 226-3794 $

Tm an a g n o s t ic l i b e r t a r i a n , but I ’m sy m p a th etic to paganis>m. I don't, smoke, d rin k on u se drugs at. a l l . I e n jo y b ein g f i t , m assage, l i f e ex t e n s io n , m usic (some nock, a t i t t l e ja z z and c l a s s i c a l , but n e a t ly l i k e T an g erin e Vneam), s c i e n c e , and an t. S o, I ' d l i k e t o co rresp o n d w ith coun tr y m a les, a g es 18-27. You d o n ’t have to b e brawny (I'm le a n m y s e lf! ) , but 1 en jo y s e e in g a h e a lth y body. (My o n ly f a n t a s i e s an e Tom C ru ise and Matthew B r o d e r ic k ) . I f you d rin k a t i t t l e , t h a t ' s ok ay , bu t no smok in g on d ru g s. (Drugs o p p r ess t h e immune sy stem , among o t h e r t h i n g s ). Even though I'm t i r e d o f bein g a v ir g i n , I l i k e hugs a s w ell., and th e id e a o f good fr i e n d s h i p . A photo i s lin e , i f you w ant. Hope to h ea r from you, r haA les Jo n es 315 Cedar Lane A n n apolis, MV 21403

F o lk s , T his secon d C on tact L e tte r from me is ten d er ed in the hope th a t I mag <ind th e man 1 n eed to know and a v o id o n ly d isa p p o in tm en t to oth en s. To be v ery d i r e c t , I'm som ething o f a lo n er and a homebody toho s e e k s a n o th er to make l i f e more co m p lete fo r the both o f u s. Long a lo n e , n on -prom iscuous and monogamous by n a tu re, I'm fu r r y , m ascu lin e and b ea rd ed w ith a te u to n ic tem peram ent and a b i b l i c a l ap p earan ce.. At 40, r th in k t i k e 60 and dream l i k e 20. H appily u n derem ployed, I need t i t t l e ; b u t in lo v e , I n eed and can g iv e so much. L o y a lty , monogamy, s t a b i l i t y and a m u tu ally n urturing a t t it u d e are my s u it s and n eed s. A fu r t h e r c o m p lic a tio n is the f a c t th a t I d o n ' t d rin k o r use drugs and have d i f f i c u l t y f e e l i n g c l o s e to anyone who d o e s . I'm j u s t hoping th a t t h e r e is a n o th er c l e a n - l i v i n g , slo w -/x ic ed , in -s h a p e guy ou t th e r e who Mints to lo c k up r e a l t ig h t w ith someone l i k e h im s e lf, under God and d e s p i t e the tim es. Bob P.O. % x $V 61 P h ila d e lp h ia , PA

19102

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Dean RFV B r o th e r s , on w h atev er I ' v e come to th e c o n c lu s io n thaX b o ld Gay farm hands, boy s, la d s and exchange, stu d en ts in South E ast P en n sylvan ia, N orthern Maryland and Delaware d o n 't r e a d t h i s p u b lic a t io n b eca u se n in e ou t o f ten re s p o n s e s have been from inm ates o f F e d e r a l P r is o n s . Now, b eca u se I'm i n t e r e s t e d in t h e r e a l th in g , in t h e f l e s h , I ’d l i k e to h ear from young 18+, s lim , conse n tu a ts who want to g e t naked on a r e g u la r b a s is w ith th e same faben d who is a n o n - r a c is t w h ite m ale on your t u r f o r mine on a completely safe-sex basis. My goal is to please you w ith no r e c ip r o c a t io n . O th erw ise, to th o s e f r e e men who have w r it t e n , o v e r the c o u n tr y s id e , l say than ks and wish you w e ll.

INFORMING THE GAY COMMUNITY SINCE 1973 Accommodations. AA groups, bars, baths, book stores. businesses, counselors, dentists, doctors, hotels, law yers, m ail order, media, publications, organizations, religious groups, services, social groups, switchboards, therapists, travel agents, etc , e tc .. etc. (area codes & zip codes too ')

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SOUTHERN EDITION S3.50; Alabama. Arkansas, N & S Carolina. Florida. Georgia Kansas. Ken tucky. Louisiana. Mississippi Missouri, New Mexico. Oklahoma, Puerto Rico Tennessee, Texas, Virginia NORTHEAST EDITION S3.50; Connecticut, Delaware. District ol Columbia. Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts. New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsyl vania. Rhode Island, Vermont, W. Virginia SPARTACUS INTERNATIONAL GAY GUIDE for men $20; The rest of the world does not include USA or Canada: men's coverage onty

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GAYELLOW PAGES

19899 \ y 56

VcaJi RFV'ers,

Vear R F V e r s ,

V e ar RFV'ers,

7 am s e e k in g a b u tc h , h a ir y , a g g r e s s iv e , G r e e k - a c t iv e man who wants to s e t t l e down. Someone who is com< o r ta b le r o l e p la y in g " th e hus band” . Someone 4 0 - is h p erh a p s.

I am a woodworker in R a leig h , MC w ith d e g r e e s in I n t e r io r Design and C r a fts D esign, but have found i t n e c e s s a r y to icork in a l i b r a r y fo r the l a s t s ix y ea rs in o r d e r to m aintain a s te a d y incom e. L ib r a ry "-ork s t i f l e s the c r e a t iv e p r o c e s s es and I d e s p e r a t e ly need a change to g e t back on t r a c k and want to m eet o th e r gay w oodieorhers who sh a re a need to make b e a u t i fu l y e t u s e fu l th in g s fo r the p e r s o n a l satisfaction th a t i t g iv e s and th e p le a s u r e i t b rin g s to t h o s e who a p p r e c ia t e and count t o l i v e w ith h a n d c r a fte d Item s. I f you t r a v e l th e c r a f t f a i r c i r c u i t , a l l th e b e t t e r as I need g u id an ce g e t tin g started . I have a s tu d io and I u se on w eekends and some w eekdays but the am bitio n and p r o d u c t iv it y a r e n ot t h e r e . I'v e found t h a t my en erg y and c r e a t i v i t y is fe d through c o n t a c t w ith p e o p le who ix is sess th o se t r a i t s .

I am a trim , young lo o k in g man of th ir ty -fiv e . I am an a r t i s t , and a g r e a t lo v e r o f an im als and n a tu re. 7 own a sm all farm In r u r a l V ir g in ia and seek th e w ig h t kin d o f man to S h a m i t iv ith .

I am a s le n d e r , young lo o k in g , 34 y e a r - o ld w ith a b r ig h t , a c t i v e m n d , d o m estic I n c l i n a t i o n s , and a c h a t t y , w it t y p e r s o n a l i t y . 7 am d e f i n i t e l y G r e e k - p a s s iv e , lon g in g fo r a stro n g "an im at-of-a-m an t o brin g some p h y s ic a l s e c u r it y in t o my l i f e .

Ho. must ho a b la h a ir y h au te, Ip refa r a b h t c o v e r e d in win ten p e l t ) who is French p a s s iv e to th e max! The on ly Aoat req u irem en t is th a t ho o u s t have th e macho a t t r i b u t e s o f a s t r a i g h t man, h o p e fu lIn n eedin g someone like to me to be sub so rv ie n t to him.

7 am l iv i n g c o m fo r ta b ly , though humbly, on f o r t y a c r e s o f r e n te d land In t h e m id d le o f a sm a ll town, w ith ea sy a c c e s s to a b ig g e r c i t y . At p r e s e n t 7 am v ery c o n te n te d liv in g in the s t a t e o f V ir g in ia , but t h e thou g h t o f A u s t r a lia i s appealing.

T his t e t t e r is prom pted by t h e end o f an e ig h t yeaA a f a c i a I ' v e had w ith a s t r a i g h t , m arjiied man.

sincerely, J. P.O. Box 81 C h e s te r , VA

23831

My lo v e r is an a u d ito r and d oes n ot u n d erstan d the c r e a t iv e psyche a t a l l , thus my fr u s t r a t io n s m u ltip ly . I coould l i k e to hear from o th e r gay w oodworkers o r cra ftsm en w ith in ea sy commuting d is t a n c e o f th e Ra te ig h a r e a who a r e in t e r e s t e d in id ea and in fo r m a tio n ex ch an g e.

P le a s e send any answcAS to Ronnie o f VA c / o o f RF'O

----------------------------------------5 Z Once t i n g s ! fI'c a r e two gays who have r e c e n t ly p u rch ased 5 a c r e s o f land in the co u n try . A fte r moving we found ou t t h a t ou r c i t y f a t ends w ere j u s t s h e l l s o f p e o p le who p re te n d e d to be fr i e n d s . We a re now trying to make fr ie n d s who have the same i n t e r e s t as o u r s e l v e s . We en jo y cam ping, g a r d en in g , w orking on c a r s , m u sic, c o l l e c t b o o k s, r e c o r d s , t r a in s . And 1 r a i s e an im a ls.

S in c e r e ly , 1 am a gay w h ite m ale, ag e 48, l i v ing in the r u r a l sou th ern W. Va. near th e town o f Blue f i e l d . 7 am 'rn elu fo r some gay 5ex. T c o n s id e r m y se lf in h o n est and s in c e r e p e r s o n . 7 l i v e a lo n e , so 7 can have v i s i t o r s any tim e. I am a c le a n , d i s e a s e - f r e e p erso n . I ’ d lo v e t o hear from you guys. ’" H I answ er a l l who w r it e .

We a l s o en jo y having w eekend com pany. Age makes no d i f f e r e n c e . [,o u ' r e as o ld as you l e t y o u r s e l f b e. F ish in g and h ik in g , t r a v e lin g a r e some more o f our i n t e r e s t s .

S in c e r e ly

S te v e i s 6 ' , 190, :rcwn h a i r , H airy, brown e y e s , m o u stach e. ".it s e l f : b lo n d e , b lu e e y e s , M 5 lb s , H’ s".

P ear RFV R ead ers:

I f you a r e in t e - c : f ed in making new fr ie n d s p l e a s e w r it e . Maybe we can g e t t o g e th e r and form la s t in g fr ie n d s h ip s .

Mason C r o s ie r Rt. 81 Box 12 M allard, WV 24918 ^

1 am a W l in th e sou th w est o f V ir g in ia . 7 am an h o n e s t, d e c e n t , ra rin g and lo y a l p e r s o n , p r a c t i c e s a fe sex , d e s i r e a s in c e 1 to 1 fr ie n d s h i p fr c l a t i o n sh l p . P le a s e l e t me h e a r .

Looking forw ard t o your res p o n s e .

Pe p ly t o :

Landir and S te v e P.O. Sox 2800 P e te r s b u r g , VA 23804

Box h o ld e r P.O. Box 1416 H onaker, UA 24260 57

7 am lo n e ly .

Vouq B. o f NC c / o RFV

WANTED: A s in g le man w ith good b u ild in g r e p a i r s k i l l s to work w ith me managing apartm en t b a i l ding A. 7 n eed Someone w ith some plum bing, c a r p e n tr y , e t e c t .z ie .a l, r o o f , s e c u r i t y and p a in tin g expedience. 7 can o f f e r a fu r n is h e d zoom w ith hou se p r i v i l e g e s p lu s $30 a week f o r 12 hours oh work each week f o r s u r e . nood p o t e n t i a l fo r much more p a id wont and a p a r tn e r s h ip in the b u s i n ess f o r the >lig h t p erso n . Must have own t o o ls and t r a n s p o r ta tio n and be a b le to r e l a t e e a s i l y w ith ten a n ts. Hast be w it tin g to r e l o c a t e to the b e a u t i f u l mountains o f '‘'estern North C a r o lin a . Send name, a d d r e s s , phone number, ivork ex p e r ie n c e and r e f e r e n c e s . Onto s e r io u s r e p l i e s an sw ered. Send t o : Al Bouchard P.O. Box 1668 ‘s h e v i l t e , NC

* 28802 ▲

Vear friends,

Pca-t Brothers,

7 am a 38 y ear o l d w h ite m ale who •vuld l i k e to r e c e iv e l e t t e r s from anyone anyivhere. 1 l i v e in the cou n try o u t s id e the c a p i t a l o f Ken tu cky. 1 was born and r a i s e d on a to b a cc o farm . T now work in town, but m iss th e p ea ce and t r a n q u i l i t y o f cou n try l i f e . L ife fo r me I s lo n e l y , though T manage to m eet a teie fr ie n d s in L o u i s v i l l e som e tim es. I am k in d , u n d ersta n d in g , and lo v in g . 7 e n jo y m u sic, m o v ies, s a f e sex , stim u la tin g c o n v e r s a t io n , la u g h s, a f f e c t i o n , q u ie t lo v in g tim es t o g e t h e r , and t r a v e l . 7'm n ot t o o bad lo o k in g , v ery c le a n , d o n ’t sm oke, d rin k m o d era tely , and u se no d ru g s. Your lo o k s a r e n ot im p ortan t; your h e a r t and b ra in are. I m u ld lo v e t o h ea r from anyone w anting a tmrm p en p al and maybe even to m eet. I p rom ise to ackn ow ledge e v e r y l e t t e r s e n t to me.

1 am s e e k in g s p i r i t u a l u n fold m en tem o tio n a l growth in c e n t r a l Ohio. 1 w ish to c o n n ect w ith o t h e r men to s h a r e . Same o f my i n t e r e s t s a r e neto age v a lu e s , p h ilo s o p h y , ou td oo r a c t i v i t y , sh a rin g in an open lo v in g icay.

40602

■ ■

1 am 45, 5 ’ 10", 765*, and co n s id e r e d to be v e r s a t i l e , and i n t u i t iv e . P lea se d rop me a l in e i f you would l i k e a p en p al or c a r e to m eet in th e fu tu r e . Dennis V elpape 1000 V enetian Wan *1302 Miami, Ft 33139-1008

We a r e a co u p le o f gay guys (32 and 64} who w ould l i k e to c o rresp o n d and m eet o t h e r s . We a r e in v o lv e d in a monogamous r e l a t i o n s h i p but neto fr ie n d s w ould be n ic e . 7f v u ld be e s p e c i a l l y n ic e to have c o n t a c t w ith f o l k s in th e g e n e r a l area. (Portsm outh i s in th e v ery ''outhern t i p o f O h io.) We have a wide v a r ie t y o f i n t e r e s t s in clu d in g th e o u td o o r s , rea d in g , ' h o l i s t i c h e a lt h , rain bow s, f o r r c a l p e o p le , lo w -k ey ed f o l k s , coun try m u sic, B lu eg ra ss and m ost forms o f m u sic, m o v ies, r u r a l a r e a s , t r e e s , our b e a u t i f u l p la n e t , e t c .

Anyone n eed in g som eone to be w ith? 7 w ould l i k e t o h ea r from anyone in t e r e s t e d . 7 w i l l answ er a l l who w r it e .

Sincerely V.E. C u ster 8079 Meek S t. Masury, Ohio 44438

NORTH CAROLINA: DISCOVER

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So l e t s c o n n e c t and s h a r e some tig h t.

GWM, lo o k in g fo r l o v e r s , pen p a l s , and r e l a t i o n s h i p s . 7'm e a r l y 4 0 ’ s, l i v e a lo n e , 5 ’ 7", 155 l b s , ban h a i r , s lim b u ild . I ’m an a c t i v e guy, w a lk in g , r i d e a b i c y c l e . 7 en jo y k i s s in g , hugging, and long hours o f t o g e t h e r n e s s .

One o f us is a New Age C h r is tia n (U nity, R e lig io u s S c ie n c e ) and th e o t h e r i s a g n o s t ic . We a r e v ery a c c e p t in g o f o t h e r s .

Would l i k e to c o n t a c t Radha Soami b r o t h e r s on Vancouver I s la n d , B r it is h C olum bia, Can. M iddle aged Venny P erry Box 72 S c o t t s b c r c , AL

I ’m tr y in g t o b r e a k down o l d b a r r i e r s l i m i t a t i o n s w ith in m y se lf and b e open t o new ways o f l e a r n ing and grow ing.

Hi A ll,

Dear R ead ers,

f o r th o se o f uou who a r e s e e k in g a s in c e r e , h o n e s t, ed u c a ted fr i e n d , 1 w ould l i k e to ex ten d m y s e lf to and sh a re wi th you.

7 t i k e to t r a v e l fo r f e s t i v a l s , g a t h e r in g s , camping e t c . . . when tim e a tlo w s .

B i l l y o f C e n tra l Ohio c / o RFV m m

S in c e r e ly , Bob P.O. Sox 885 F r a n k fo r t , KV

J am 25 y z s . o l d 6' t a l l about. 1 7 0 lb s. b lo n d is h /b z n h a ir h a z e l ey es.

Box *7063 vor tsm cu tk, Ohio

45662 58

P.O Box 25642 Raleigh, NC 27611 (919) 829 0181

Santa Ciuz,

dean RFd R ead ers,

Dear R e a d e r , T he6 GWM i s lo o k in g fo n MS F fr ie n d s li v i n g n earb y . I'm 5'70V, w eigh a b o u t 170 l b s , 36, b lu e -g r a y e y e s , med. b>i. h a ir (th in n in g on top , f a l l on s i d e s ) , trimmed b ea rd , l i g h t l y h a ir e d t o r s o . In sh o u t, w i t h e r hom ely non. g o rg eo u s, musculaA non fla b b y , bu t e a sy on t h e ey es S r a t h e r d i s t i n c t i v e in ap p ear a n ce. I e n jo y i d e a s , la u g h t e r , g r a s s r o o t s p o l i t i c s , m u sic, t h e o u td o o r s , n o v e ls , a n t , q u ie t tim es, sm a ll g a t h e r in g s , m assage, g e n t le S s a f e s e x , m o v ies, w holesom e fo o d s . d o n ’ t u se t o b a c c o on d o p e ; l i g h t dn ln ken . R e lig io u s l y , I ’m a t h e i s t i c human i s t ; p o lit ic a lly , a L e ftis t-L ib e r a l; s o c i a l w orker by t r a d e . P sycho l o g i c a l l y 7 p r e f e r th in g s p la n n ed , s e t t l e d , d e c i s i v e ; bu t r a r e l y am d is tu n b e d by t h o s e mone t e n t a t iv e S o p en -en d ed . 7 v a lu e im a g in a t iv e n ess, in t e llig e n c e , s o litu d e , p rac tic a lity . In r e l a t i o n s h i p s 7 d e s i r e d e p th , fa n , empathy, s i n c e r i t y 6 dynamic harmony. d o n ’ t s e e th in g s as b la c k on w h it e , good on bad , and f a d u n co m fo rta b le w ith t h o s e who do. P le a s e nespon d o n ly if, you have a com p atible, o u t lo o k 6 shone some o f t h e same i n t e n e s t s . Sonny, h a v en 't th e tim e , tempenament on t a l e n t fan lo n g - d is t a n c e co n n espon den ce. H aven't t h e funds on i n c l i n a t i o n fa n lo n g - d is t a n c e t r a v e l on phone c a l l s . So i t i s n ecessa n y t h a t you b e a r e s i d e n t - - o r fr e q u e n t v i s i t o r - - o f N orthern M ichigan/ M iddle O ntanio an ea 6 e a sy t o g e t t o by can. I f i n t e r e s t e d , p l e a s e sen d d e t a i l e d in tn o to dan donan v .O. Box 120 S i t . S t e . M anic, M7

497S3.

7 w ould l i k e t o u se t h is c o n t a c t s p a c e t o m eet p e o p le . 7 am a 41 yean o ld man who has l o s t h is 600 acn e c a t t l e fann due to t h e c u rren t a g n ic u ltu n a l c n i s i s . 7 am n ot pant ic u la n ly b i t t e n . A l o t o f my pnoblem was ca u sed by my own g r e e d . 7 d id n ot need t h a t much la n d . 7 ’•ave enough to s l a n t oven ag a in but 1 don’t leant, to do i t a lo n e t h is tim e. I d e a l l y 7 w ould l i k e t o m eet a man a g en en a tio n o ld en than my s e l f t h a t n eeds h e lp on h is fanm on a man a g en en a tio n youngen than my s e l f t h a t would b e w illin g to iconk to buy and pay fan a fanm iome"hen e. 7 ten d towand th e m a g m a tic but am open to id e a lis m . 1 am uncom f o r t a b l e w ith h u g g y -k is s y n e s s . 1 pn efen to show a f f e c t i o n in mone s u b t le ways. My g o a t i s long tenm fr ie n d s h ip . Mad passionate sex m ight n ot be. p o s s i b l e due t o th e f e a r s o f the 8 0 ’ s . I ’ ve t r i e d c i t y liv in g . I ’ ve t r i e d w orking in a p r o fe s s io n . 7 w ould nathen be p oor in the co u n try . A cou n try boy can s u r v iv e . I f any one i s i n t e r e s t e d in fu r t h e r c o n v e r s a tio n p l e a s e io n ite •* A lfen d von Scow Box 66 H arpers F erry , Iowa

52146

UTTERLY MASCULINE G E N T --V efin itely n ot a ’r e n a is s a n c e man,' firm p r a c t i t i o n e r o f o l d - f a s h io n e d v a lu es such a s v ir t u e , i n t e g r i t y , wisdom, p e r s o n a l c o n fid e n c e , p e a c e o f mind, and s e l f d i s c i p l i n e . F le x ib le lea th erm a n . D e f i n i t i v e p r e f e r e n c e in Bfo n d a g e ), D l i s c i p l i n e ) and E In d u ran ce). V ir t u o s it y in fo o t s la v e r y . V i r i l e a r t s o n ly . S a fe sex m an datory. Sports e n t h u s ia s t . A b s o lu te ly r e l i s h w r e s t lin g and f o o t b a l l {n ot to m ention w r e s t l e r s ) 'W e ig h t-liftin g , running and b i c y c lin g a l s o a v i d ly p u rsu ed . Con s i d e r p e r s o n a l s p i r i t u a l i t y t o be. o f v i t a l im jx r ta n c e . S eed o f Abraham w i l l r e c e i v e s p e c i a l co n s id e r a t io n . S eek in g newt c lo se, fr ie n d s and s i g n i f i c a n t o t h e r . Warning: Vo n ot resp o n d i f you are. in any way e f f e m i n a t e . Respond t o : Randy o f W isconsin d o REV 59

C a l i f o r n i a Area Men,

I ’ m plann in g on moving to th e Santa Cruz an ea in th e Spring o f 1987. 7 need to make fr ie n d s t o h e lp me g e t s e t t l e d . T his may in c lu d e p u ttin g me up fan a w eekend in the w in ter fo h e lp me s c o u t ou t the jo b m arket and finding a place to live in th e sp rin g . 1 am a c o n s i d e r a t e , a p p r e c i a t i v e , a t t r a c t i v e , 25 yean o ld M in n eapolis man who d e s i r e s to esc a p e th e c o ld . 7 on ce l i v e d in Santa Cruz a f t e r high s c h o o l . 7 was to o in e x p e r ie n c e d in l i f e to make i t work o u t. P r e s e n t ly , a r e s t a u r a n t m anager, 7 w ould l i k e to rem ain in t h e p r o fe s s io n but in a more l i b e r a l , fun a tm o sp h ere. 7 lo v e the cou n try and n atu re but p r e f e r to o b s e r v e i t from h o r s e b a c k . My h o b b ie s i n c lu d e h o r t i c u l t u r e , la n d s c a p in g , aquarium s, p a in t in g , m ovies and c a t b r e e d in g . 7 a l s o l i k e d an cin g , s o c i a l i z i n g and p a rty in g w ith fr ien d s. I have a r n s s io n fa r music o f a l l k in d s , m o stly music th a t i s n ’ t top fo rty -m a in strea m s t u f f . My f a v o r i t e s in clu d e Kate Bush, L au rie A nderson, T alkin g Heads and Jo n i M itc h e ll. 7 ’m n ot lo o k in g fo r a l o v e r , ju s t fr i e n d s . One must s t a r t som ew here. Mark Falkeytrath 2546 NT. U n iv ersity ‘U n n e a p o lis , MN 55418

MASCULINITY FATHERING MILITARISM MEN'S HEALTH

MEN &VIOLENCE SPORTS S"

ANTI-SEXIST POLITICS MALE SEXUALITY CAY ISSUES FEMINIST ANALYSIS SPIRITUALITY GAY/STRAIGHT INTERACTIONS ANTI SEXIST MENS HISTORY Interested? Head all about it in Changing Men — a nationwide journal o f the antrseusl m en ‘s movement. K<jutftr stjhWtVJWton $|A

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Vear R F V ers,

G reetin g s

■

T * lo o k in g fa t a l o v e r / f r i e n d / b u s i n ess p a r tn e r to b u ild a fu tu r e w it h . I'm plann in g on $ t a t t in g my own g a r dening and la n d scap e b u sin ess a g a in , as w e ll as a move to 10 a c r e s in the q u ie t countt.tjsi.de a b o u t an hou t from the c i t y in c a t t y '<57. I ’m a la n d sc a p e a r c h i t e c t w ith edu c a t io n and e x t e n s iv e e x p e d ie n c e , w ith p le n t y o f en erg y , a t o t a l b a c k ground, and a ttu n ed +o t h e e c o lo g y . I n t e r e s t s in c lu d e w ild e r n e s s camp<ng, v e g e t a r ia n c u is in e , stay in g f a t , a g r ic u lt u r e , h o r s e s , and bein g c r e a t iv e w ith m u sic, painting, crafts, poetry, and dance. I tty to a v o id d ru g s, smoke, a l c o h o l , v io le n c e , and lou d or m a n ip u la tiv e p e o p l e - b a s i c a l l y I'm a g e n t l e , n a t u r a l, o r g a n ic , p r im a l, Mother F a tih o r ie n t e d , Vew Aqo type p e r s o n , try in g to e x pand and connect, w ith cosm ic and c e l e s t i a l w h o le n ess . I try to s t a y op en , s e n s i t i v e , in t e g r a t e d , to touch so u rce by li s t e n i n g to th e d e e p e r v o i c e s , to c o n n ect w ith th e stream o f lo v e , and to be p r a c t i c a l . 1 v a lu e h o n esty , com m unication, and a f f e c t i o n in a r e l a t i o n s h i p . 7 'm 56, 6'1", s le n d e r , w ith s h o r t d ark h a ir and b ea rd , and most draim to men w ith f a c i a l h a ir and le a n b u ild . P le a s e w r ite i f the v ib e s seem r ig h t , or i if we have som ething to s h a r e . P eace . . . H yperion P .0 . Box 191211

Hi Bud’ s,

H th ere a r e o t h e r s t i k e me th ey a r e bound to be r e a d e r s of, RFV. As a 43 y ear o l d mate 7 have, long been in t e r e s t e d in a s e l f s u f f i c i e n t 1ife . s t y le ,. U n til now 7 have done, a c i t y v e r s io n , spen din g 10 y ea rs r e s t o r in g a 100 y ea r o l d home. My g e n e r a l i n t e r e s t s in c lu d e : non e l e c t r i c a l t e r n a t i v e s , wood ranges and h o t w a ter, k e r o s e n e r e f r i g e r a t o r s and r a n g es, e a r ly m ech an ica l rec o r d s and p la y e r s , c l a s s i c a l m u sic, a r t , a n t iq u e s . A lso en jo y "'atks, g a rd en in g , cann in g, home r e p a irs. Would en jo y h ea rin g from o t h e r s e x p e r ie n c e s a t s e l f s u f f i c i e n c y . Perhaps co u ld h ear from o t h e r s in th e M issouri a r e a t h a t a r e making i t in t h e cou n try f o r p o s s i b l e fr i e n d s h i p , m ee tin g s. 1 am a f a i r l y a t t r a c t i v e , slim non-sm oking n on -d rin k in g man. Maybe t h e r e i s a 2 5 -3 5 ’ is h man who i s s t a b l e , s e n s i t i v e and canin g fo r p o s s i b l e common sh a rin g and i n t e r e s t . An ev en tu a l home a t p e a c e w ith i t s su rrou n dings i s h o p e fu l g o a t. Someone to s h a re i t u it h rem ains a dr earn L arry L. H o llen b erq 2418 S. 13th S t. * t . L ou is, M issouri.

63104*I

Hi: I am s t i l l i n t e r e s t e d in fin d in g p e o p le to j o i n me on my lan d o r e ls e w h e r e , o r in jo in in g an e s t a b l i s h e d community, even a sm a ll u r ban on e, i f t h e p e o p le a r e i n t e r e s t e d in growing in to a f u l l fle d g e d "com prehen sive" community. Perhaps th e ATVS d i s a s t e r w i l l have, some good e f f e c t by maturing some " f a i r i e s " In to s e n s i b l e men. 7 am not i n t e r e s t e d in h ea rin g from p r is o n e r s lo o k in g f a r m arks. But I ' d tik e , to h ea r from t h o s e , even i f th ey have la n d , icho want to com bin e so t h a t e v e n t u a lly s u f f i c i e n t food,' some f a b r i c s , s h e l t e r can be fu r n is h e d r i g h t on t h e la n d by t h e members bu t a l s o o t h e r need th a t now m ight be c o n s id e r e d by th e ‘.youngster who b e fo r e thou ght o f him s e l f as im m o rta l--in su ra n c e, m ed ica l c a r e (on th e la n d w ith e v e n tu a lly a a h o s p i t a l manned by m em bers), s c h o o lin g from c h ild h o o d to u n iv e r s i t y , from a g r ic u lt u r e to h ig h tec h c o m p u t e r iz a tio n . L et me h e a r , ya h ea r! Sun-cerety, Marvin Talmadge Manning p.O. Box 3884 Longview, TX 75606

Hy name i s K e lly and I ’ ve, been a "V isco-V ropou t" fo r o v er 2 y ea rs now. A ft e r 10 y ea rs in th e su in g ; b a r s , b a th s , te a -r o o m s , e t c . , e t c . , 7 d e c id e d t o l e a v e t h e g lo r y o f Sou thern C a lif o r n ia and retu r n to t h e p la c e o f my b i r t h . 7 am now c o n t e n t ly s e t t l e d in e a s te r n Utah in t h e h ig h d e s e r t (C a s t le C ountry). 7 am em ployed as a G rap h ics A r t is t and t y p e s e t t e r fo r a sm a ll a d v e r t is in g t a b l o i d . The jo b s u it s i t s p u rp o se, bu t 7 am in th e p r o c e s s o f c o n d itio n in g m y s e lf and my land (abou t 3 a c r e s ) f o r a co m p lete s w itc h -o v e r to the. s e l f - s u f f i c i e n t l i f e s t y l e . 7 hope to have t h i s a c c o m p lish ed by n ex t S p rin g . To h e lp w ith t h e t a s t o f becoming s e l f - s u f f i c i e n t , 7 p u rch ased a nice, b ig too y ea r o l d Q uarter H orse f i l l y l a s t f a l l . 7 r e tir e d h er from t h e r a c e t r a c k and s t a r t ed h e r as a u sin g h o r s e . I am hoping to have h er c o m p le t e ly broken t o h arn ess by f a l l . S in c e " two heads a r e b e t t e r than one.," 7 am p lan n in g on b reed in g h er t o a Mammoth J a c k e a r l y n ex t S p rin g . Along w ith t h e h o r s e s , 7 p la n on a c q u ir in g a m ilk g o a t , c h ic k e n s and a few s t e e r s . 7 liave mofie th an enough s u i t a b l e ground fo r a garden and a lr e a d y h ave a p a r t i a l o r c h a r d . 1 d o n 't know how f a r tlvis l i t t l e ad v en tu re w i l l ta k e me, but 7 have le a r n e d to make l y e s o a p , dry fo o d s , can and p la n on b u ild in g my own lo g home. I f anyone ou t t h e r e has s im ila r i n t e r e s t s o r a s p ir a t io n s 7 loould a p p r e c ia t e h ea rin g from you. Any t ip s on s e l f - s u f f i c i e n c y w ould be u sed u it h th a n k s . C orresp on d en ce w ould be g la d ly an sw ered . Hope to fe a r from you soon ! P eace o f Mind, K e lly C. C h risten sen P.O. Box 251 H elp er, UT 84526 <4 M

IcpicKbuMif) ECOLOGY - EARTH RELIGION - TAO o f f i c i a l p u b l i c a t i o n of E . L . F . P.O. Box 1 0 8 2 , Bloomington, IN 47402 - $ 5 / 4 i s s u e s - in clud es 25 word or l e s s l i s t i n g of any p r o d u c t / s e r v i c e s you may o f f e r CONTAX, PROJEX, EVENTS, & more FSI-LINKS, CLASSES, FESTIVALS!

M oha Countny Hunks Evenywhene!

H elp :Here it> a GWM in a quandry. P eo p le l i k e me and sa y good th in g s a b o u t me a l l t h e tim e bu t I t i s n ot enough. 7 n eed a h e lp -m a te . Yard and garden and hou se and my p e r s o n a l s e l h o h ho r t y - n ln e need somewhat oh an a tte n d a n t. 7 am hoping Ion a s lim , h aln y , younger man t o be my h elp -m a te and lo v e n and s o hon th. M l l e t t e r s w i l l t h i s lo w ly on e an sw er. Photos on e w elcom e. 7 u se no drugs on b o o z e and 7 am tr y in g t o Atop smokIn g . 7 d o n ' t t h in k t h a t 7 am k in k y .

This hunky Kona can p en ten would l i k e to shon e h is p a n a d is e e s t a t e w ith one on mone a t t r a c t i v e , m ascu lin e men I n t o hand ivonk, h e a lth y hun, and a l l t h e good th in g s In l i h e . L ive in my tw o -sto n y nound home, j u s t two sh o n t b lo c k s h^om a s e clu d ed b la c k p e b b le and sand b ea c h , w h ile we wonk and p la y In t h e sun. Leann a l l ty p es oh home c o n s tr u c t i o n , h^om d e s ig n t o h om in g to h in tsh c a b in e t ivork--m aking ca sh on n earb y p r o j e c t s and h elp in g me f i n i s h t h e nound hou se In exchange hon bein g h e r e . S t a r t a home b u s i n e s s , go w indsunhlng, swimming, and h e lp me h a r v e s t t h e hAults oh t h i s sunny so u th w est c o a s t oh t h e is l a n d oh Hawaii. At a v ery young 40, w e ll b u i l t , e n e r g e t ic , a t t r a c t i v e , p o s i t i v e , c r e a t i v e , I n to c u lt u r e , d a n ce, a r t , m u sic, l i v e hood s, v e g e ta r ia n is m , swimming, s a llb o a n d ln g , Tm roman t i c , v e r s a t i l e , and v ery a t t r a c t e d t o m u scu lar, a t t r a c t i v e , rom an tic younger men who a r e rea d y t o c a r e and l o v e . Are you r e a d y h0* t h i s , sen d a p h o to , p l e a s e , a b ig p lu s hon b lo n d e s , bu t a ll- m ascu lin e men m i l l be an sw ered . And, y e s , I'm re a d y hofL a ° n °ne oxith t h e n ig h t man!

7 am a one man man but any c u tle w ill tunn my head. MoAt people do not know th a t 7 am gay ao p reh er to hind th e Aame.

Jo s e p h p .O. Sox 1789 K ea la k ek u a , HI

7 l i v e In a Amall town on a t ig h t budget on th e west coaAt In Onegon. 7 have an ex-been b e lly th at 7 h ate. 7 c a n 't wonk any mone. 7 am h all oh lo v e going to waAte, honeAt Alncene lo v e.

lean B ro th ers •*

7 am a b i t s p i r it u a l and need to hind Aame lh 7 can. 7 am a good cook and baker when 7 can. 7 love to cane h0/l and thane with othen people. 7 b e lie v e In l ih e - - lo v e plantA and animals, youn god lh you have one and 7 l i k e bathing and cnabbing. 7 have a Atnalght b est buddle th a t 7 have to apend aome time with now and th en . He needs i t oa 7 do.

96750

I'm newly hound ( th e p a s t y e a r ) ; sandy b lo n d e, brown e y e s , 5' 7", 140 pounds. I'm t e r r i b l y s i c k oh h?JT who t h in k i t ' s " co o l" t o be gay . I s n ' t t h e r e som ethin g e l s e t o i t ?

7 s e e k som eone who i s s in c e r e and I n t e r e s t e d In open com m unication w ith a d e s i r e t o b e h o n est and t r u s t w orthy. Who i s down t o e a r t h , I n t e l l i g e n t , a g ood p erso n . 7 c o n s id e r m yselh a t t r a c t i v e , s e n s i t i v e , r e s p o n s iv e , a good fr i e n d , a b le t o dream and go ah ten th ose dream s. 1 am a l s o c r e a t i v e and somewhat q u ie t . S it t in g in h^ont oh a h ir e w ith th e s e c u r it y oh a n o t h e r ’ s arms around me knowing t h a t he wants t o be n ear me hontom om ow 's ad v en tu re however humble is ex c item en t to me. 7 lo v e swim ming, ca n o ein g , b ic y c l in g , h ik in g , n otch in g s u n s e ts , th e w ild e r n e s s , ocean s and r i v e r s b e s id e s a h h e c tio n and the c lo s e n e s s oh a n o th e r p erso n . 1h you have t h e d e s i r e and need as 7 do t o t a k e a ch a n ce , th e w i l l i n g n ess t o open youn h e a r t p le a s e w r it e t o me s o t h a t we can d ecid e, what we have g oin g hon u s, what we can s h a r e t o g e t h e r and maybe e x change p i c t u r e s , lih e . h i s t o r i e s and th o u g h ts, p lan a v i s i t on two and p u ll I t t o g e t h e r . Don't w a it t o o lon g t o w r it e , 7 know you a r e ou t t h e r e , blow you know 7 am h e r e w a itin g . Tony Young P.O. Box 23126 B e a t t i e , WA 98122

7 e n jo y w ritin g im ag ery p r o s e and am tn yln g t o w r it e a n o v e l. And Tm S c o t t i s h by r a is in g (Clan Ma c V ou g all, anyone s p e a k t h e G a e lic ? ) . Love cin em a, ant., paganism , and ex tra v a g a n t b ath room s.

S in c e r e ly ,

Looking \for som eone in t h e Puget Sound a r e a ; m a scu lin e, any r a c e (I'm w h ite , but you p r o b a b ly g u essed t h a t ) , n o t t o o much body h a i r , and u nder 2.5, <u 7 'm q u it e young. Ho b o o z e , d ru g s, sm okes, p l e a s e . Sex n o t a n e c e s s i t y ; j u s t hnlencLshlp w ith a r e a l gay p erso n , n ot a te e n a g e h p o s e u r .

A lb en t by t h e S ea In Onegon c / o PFV

P e t le r oh W ashington d o RFV

P en -P als on e a l s o w elcom e ao p le a s e w n ite t o me In can e oh RFV. 7 w ish t o th an k my h^oie-nd in Salem hon s e e in g t o i t t h a t 7 have RFV in my home. Thanks CW.

7 would l i k e t o c o rresp o n d w ith someone who would l i k e a fr i e n d , companion and lih e m a t e . 7 would l i k e t o l i v e In a countny e n v iro n ment on a t t h e m ost a sm a ll town s e c u r e in i t s sm a lln e s s w ith no i l l u s i o n s o t h e r w is e . 7 am w illin g t o p u t my en erg y t o wonk and s h a r e n'hat 7 h av e. 7 am In my e a r ly t h i r t i e s and anyone w ritin g t o me sh o u ld k e ep In mind t h a t 7 am a v e g e t a r ia n . 7 am 5 ’ 8" t a l l , 140 l b s , e x c e l l e n t h e a lt h , brown h a ir and h a z e l e y e s .

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Dean F ello w RFV r e a d e r s , Th t i e l e t t e r s one neve a ea s y f o r me t o m i t e as I t i s v i r t u a l l y im p o s s i b l e to a c c u r a t e ly p o r tr a y o n e s e l f in a l e t .t e a . How doe.s one. con vey humour, i n t e l l i g e n c e , f e e l ings o f lo n e l i n e s s and s e x i n e s s . 7 am a 29 yean o l d , f i t ( fnom T 'a i Chi and farm ivork) p a in t e r liv i n g on my fa m ily ' s h o r se farm in A lb e r t a . My n o t - q u i t e - f i n i s h e d s tu d io oven lo o k s (in t h i s o r d e r ) the gas ta n k s, the m ighty P addle r iv e n , bushes and a f i e l d p r e s e n t ly f i l l e d w ith h o r s e s . A b e a u t i f u l p la c e r e a l l y . h i many ways I am v ery happy heAe a f t e r my ten yean s t i n t in T oron to. (7 s t i l t lo v e m ovies and s t u f f l i k e th a t--so m e things n ev er ch a n g e.) 7 fin d how ever th a t 7 am t i r e d o f being single and am a f r a i d t h a t 7 w i l l become too r i g i d in my b e h a v io r and d e s e n s i t i z e d w ith ou t someone n ear me to lau gh a t my f o i b l e s and sm ile when 1 s t a r t to tak e m y se lf too s e r i o u s ly .

P a in ters have a r e p u ta t io n of being selfish people. 7 won’ t deny that my work tends to make me somewhat in s u la r and self-centered, but 7 am anxious to start g iv in g and c h a l len g in g m y s e lf to conquer the fe a r 7 have o f bein g in v o lv e d w ith som e on e. R e s id e s , paintings make lo u sy d a l e s .

7 wai born in S r i Lanka and now 7 live on S t. Maarten in t h e C a r ib bean . 7 am 28 y e a r s , 5 ’ 6k", 135 lb s . 7 wear. a m oustache and 7 am h a ir y . 7 h av e b la c k h a ir and d ark black-brow n e y e s . 7 am h o n e s t, s i n c e r e , tru stw o rth y , humourous, lo v a b l e , cu rin g and ro m an tic. My h o b b ie s a r e v a r ie d , 7 co u ld l i s t them bu t t h is l e t t e r would sim p ly g e t h o r r ib ly lo n g . Would lo v e to h ea r from in t e r e s t in g and s in c e r e p eo p le from ev er w h e r e w ith a d e c e n t p ic t u r e .

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Vours in a d v e n tu re ,

TOE lHO

L i f e i s a song o f lo v e ev ery o n e has to sin g som eday; l i f e i s a l s o a r i v e r o f h a r d sh ip and s t r u g g le ev ery o n e has t o swim a c r o s s to s u r v iv e . So what i f t h e g o a ls seem fa r away and t h e jo u rn ey seem s d i f f i c u l t , lon g and w eary. I f you d on ’ t fin d m o o n lit n ig h ts w ith s t a r s t o show and l e a d t h e way, you must t i g h t t h e flam e w ith in your, h e a r t and s o u l in o r d e r to c a r r y on.

Thanks f o r takin g th e tim e to rea d t h is and fo r r e c ip r o c a t in g .

At any r a t e T i l s t o p a l l t h is n on sen se and w ish you w e ll. 7 w elcom e any and a l l t e t t e r s as 7 e n jo y " ta lk in g " to new p e o p le .

Matt Gould Box 688 H a u erth o rp e, AS, Canada

The b eau ty o f n a tu re's dusk seem s so grand a t t h i s moment 7 can n ot bu t adm ire id s b eau ty in f u l l g lo r y . The b e a u t i f u l mountai.ns a c r o s s from h e r e lo o k l i k e a shadow as t h e sun b eg in s to s e t from b eh in d ; t h e oran g e c o l o r seems s o f u l l as i t ov erg low s n a tu r e 's g r e e n e r y . T ired and r e s t l e s s m o to r is t s h ead f o r t h e on ly way a c r o s s t h e mountains im p a t i e n t l y pounding on t h e i r h orn s. W ithin t h e shadows o f t h e mountains th em selv es s h e e p and c a t t l e g ra z e th e la n d s u n d istu rb ed by t h e n o is e and t h e happenings around. What a p e r f e c t p ic t u r e f o r an a r t i s t t o p a in t : t h e two s id e s o f l i f e and r e a lity

_ A Q u a rte rly N ew sletter

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To the an cie nt Greeks and for c e n turie s later it has represe nted the FORCE OF LOVE: or THE POWER OF LOVE OVER FORCE. What an a p p ro p ria te exp re ssio n for all of us today!

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GayCommunityNews

"The Jam es W hite Review's

editors and their contributors together are producing a

jT h e

GayCommunity News

valuable contribution not only

lames AWhite lleview

Cay Community News is the national politic al new sw eekly on the cutting edge nt sexual politics and liberation.

to the American literary scene, but to our self-affirmation and eventual survival as a people.”

In times such as these, issues such as the direction which our movement takes, its ac tions and rea< tions, who makes the decisions and tor what reasons, art' critical. For over ten years (,a\ Community News has been dedicated to the principle that an informed community is our greatest asset.

a gay mens literary quarterly Annua! subscription: S 14, two years ^ Sample issue: $2

Each w eek, (,( V b rings y o u current, inc i s i u - n e w s and analysis ab out lesbian and gay liberation. Stay informed about

The James White Review PO Box 3356, Traffic Station Minneapolis, MN 55403

the issues affecting you. Subscribe today. "The gay movement's newspaper of record." — The Village Voice Subsc riptions are available for $24.00 for 50 issues (1 year) and $17.00 for 25 issues. Special introductory offer: 12 weeks/$8.00. Send check or money order to Cav Commumt\ News 16" Fremont Street, Suite 5 Boston M A 02 111. <■( \ is published by the non-protit tax-exempt Brumfield Street Educational Foundation

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P,pnv" em,'r a nn<- year 14 issuel subscription as follows Regular 12nd class mail)

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O A D D R E S S A D V E R T IS IN G R A C K

IS S U E S

C O P Y R IG H T D U IE D A 7 IE

M A IL IN G

N A M IE S S U B M IS S IO N S

Mail all correspondence (advertising, subscriptions, business, submissions, feature-related material, or letters) to: RFD, Rt. 1 Box 127-E, Bakersville, NC 28705. Contributors and editors can be reached through this address as well. We welcome advertising - especially from gay-owned enterprises. for our Ad Rate Card.

Please write

Sample copies (current issue when available) are $4.25 (post-paid). Back issues are $3.50 unless they are over 12 months old. Anything older than that. 1s $1.00 each (except those issues we are out of: Us 1, 2 , 4, 6 f> 32). Please add postage at $1.00 for each five issues or any portion therof. RFD itself is not copyrighted. However, each accredited contribution pubTished (photo, drawing, or written material) remains the property of those contributors,and nothing of theirs may be reused In whole or part without their permission. Contributors can be reached through RFD. Any non-credite) mater ial may be republished freely. Mention of source would be appreciated. Due dates for submissions to receive full consideration are: Winter 1986/7 Issue #49 Feature: "Communities" Nov. 1, 1986 Spring 1987 Issue #50 Feature: Wiggansnatch Feb. 1, 1987 Summer 1987 Issue #51 Feature: Adirondacks May 1, 1987 Some material can be used if received after these dates, so try anyway. Issues are mailed around the Solstices and Equinoxes, and second class mall can take up to three or four weeks for delivery. If you don't receive your issue within a month of the publishing dates, please check with us. The num ber of your last issue is on your mailing label. If you move, please let us know as second class mailings are not forwarded by the P0; they destroy them, and it costs us about $3 to mail out another copy. We publish the names of all contributors, but other than for the contact letters, we generally do not include the addresses. All contributors can be reached through RFD. We will NOT give out the names of subscribers (except where specified by them) to anyone, but we will forward mail to them through this address. Please share your knowledge and vision through RFD. This is a reader written journal, so it ts YOUR forum. It helps if you can type (double space) your written material, but please do send in your gems even if they are "rough". RFD prefers to wield the editor's pencil lightly, so please send in your sub missions pretty much as you would have them appear. We generally do correct spellings and minor punctuations, so please indicate any intentional varia tions from standard English. Photos: Black and white photos reproduce better than color. If possible, send us an expendable print. If you wish to send us a treasured photo which is the only copy, please indicate this so we can take care of it. We can't use negatives. Drawings: Again, black and white reproduces better than color. Pencil draw ings should be as dark and of as high a contrast as possible. Yellow #2 pencil washes out easily; blues do not print at all. Occasionally, part of a drawing or photo, or collage of various artists will work well with an article. Please indicate if you wish your artwork to be printed in its entirety only, or if there are any other considerations you wish us to respect. We try to report as soon as possible on selections, but we sometimes hold material for another issue, and it may be some time before the final decision is made. Please bear with us. You might want to set an expiration date so we'll know how much time we will have. A self-addressed, stamped envelope will insure the return of your originals. Multiple submissions are fine with us. RFD will send contributors two copies of the issue in which their work appears as payment.

From hands that have learned to scratch the soil like another skin, the seed slips into the wounded earth. Like the prophet who lays down by water and begins to dream . . . the seed begins to take on new life.

WE ARE ALL SEEDS! A piece of grain between the forefinger and the thumb of God. The cold fire of night that gives life to the soul of dying wood. And the voice of rain, as light, as it enters and makes love to the earth. How wonderful that this small round seed could grow into the majesty of a great tree! Into the face of a flower. Or the sweet taste of something to eat.

WE ARE ALL SEEDS! Circles reflecting rainbows 'round the sun. Where a smile is brother to a sister's kiss. And prayer is the lodge we will one day know as peace. Growing trom the prophet's dream of the garden. Becoming the forests and fields. Infecting the old mountains with life! C o p y r ig h t ÂŠ

1985

THOMAS RAIN CROWE