Proud Authors Read

Thank you to my friends and supporters who came to hear Rachel Spangler and me read at the Church of the Holy Trinity. This was a special Pride Sunday, because it was exactly 40 years ago, in the early hours of June 28, 1969, that the modern gay rights movement began at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. Police, enforcing the discriminatory laws of that time, raided the Stonewall, and gay men, lesbians, and people who would be described today as bisexual and transgendered fought back. For three days. Those were some angry queers!

One measure of the progress we have made, at least in some countries like Canada, is the massive number of police officers who marched today in the Pride Parade, along with proud members of the armed forces. None of this don't ask, don't tell %$#! The Pride theme was reflected in our audience, a wonderfully diverse group in terms of age, ethnicity, ability, orientation and gender. The more readers, the better is what I say!

Now, unbeknownst to me when I planned this event was that the service would be joined on Sunday by our Spanish-speaking congregation. Which meant that our reading had to follow a sacred salsa dance. Rachel bravely plugged away through the bilingual chaos, and all was well. I especially appreciate the support of my fellow writers: Carol Lawlor, an original member of my writing group who helped me with Arusha for years; and Jeffrey Round, author of The P-town Murders and Death in Key West, whom I met just a couple of months ago at another reading. Toronto writers are the best!

Thanks to the people of the church for hosting this event. They have welcomed me from the first days I ever spent in Toronto. As our new Pride banner says, "Every day is Pride Day at Holy Trinity."

Uniting American Families

UPDATE: This morning a Senate committee is actually hearing couples speak on this issue. Which has never been addressed in Congress before.

Meanwhile, President Obama has proclaimed June Pride Month.

The Uniting American Families Act, which would enable gay and lesbian Americans to sponsor their partners for immigration (as married people can), has just been endorsed by the Washington Post.

There are an estimated thirty-five thousand same-sex couples in the United States who are of different nationalities. Who knows the number of us who had to leave the country because we fell in love with a foreigner?

The American Bar Association has also endorsed the UAFA.

"I shall hear in heaven!"

These are reputedly the last words of Ludwig von Beethoven, who composed some of the greatest works in music while completely deaf. Fifth Symphony, anyone?

Buying Books? You Have Choices!

**Additions to my independent bookstore "Hall of Fame":

Women & Children First, Chicago, Illinois

Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville, Kentucky

Now Voyager, Provincetown, Massachusetts

Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, Asheville, North Carolina

Many of you have probably heard by now of the Easter weekend “glitch” at Amazon.com that caused sales rankings to be dropped from thousands of books, by authors including James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, and E. Annie Proulx. The arbitrary (and, it now seems, reversed) classification of these titles as “adult” kept readers from searching for them, and therefore buying them, while books with graphic violence and heterosex were curiously not affected.

I’m not saying not to buy from a certain online bookseller (whose name originally belonged to an independent women’s bookstore in Minneapolis). But I was reminded of something useful: We do have choices in where we buy books.

(1) We can go to a local bookstore and browse. Many independent bookstores have unfortunately closed, but in Toronto we are still blessed with several: This Ain’t the Rosedale Library, Toronto Women’s Bookstore, Glad Day Bookshop. Whenever I am in another city, I try to visit theirs: the Seminary Co-op Bookstores in Chicago; Lambda Rising in Washington, D.C.; Left Bank Books in St. Louis. Independent bookstores focus on readers first, so if they don’t have the book you want on the shelf, they will special order it for you, usually any book in print.

(2) We can try the chain bookstores. Many of the staff are book lovers too, and happy to help by stocking the books customers want. You never know until you ask!

(3) We can shop online. Sure, everybody knows the biggest names but what about Powells.com? Powell's Books is independent, unionized, and in addition to all the new books you can buy elsewhere, has the widest selection of used and out-of-print titles. So you can buy your favorite author’s new book, and at the same time, pick up something she published years ago that you might miss otherwise.

And you don’t have to give them your credit card number; you can use PayPal. Other online booksellers specialize, like their “bricks and mortar” counterparts. BellaBooks.com, which sells Spinsters Ink and other titles, explicitly does not track or monitor any information about what their customers order.

Just remember what I, myself, had temporarily forgotten: You have choices. Exercise them, and enjoy!

Lost Souls

This is a new novel just published by Carol Lawlor. Set in 1960s Montreal, Lost Souls is about Tanya Kowalski, a psychiatric nurse who suspects that the great Dr. Strachan is abusing his patients. When she turns journalist and teams up with Max Callaghan to investigate Strachan, she uncovers the use of LSD, links to the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency, and psychiatric survivors who are determined to bring Strachan to justice.

I've had the privilege of reading Carol's work in draft form, and I can vouch for the quality of this story. The atmosphere is vividly realized, the characters are well drawn, and the tension is nonstop. I also laughed a lot reading it--comic relief is very important for me.

I'm not a reviewer and rarely plug books in a public forum, but you will not be disappointed if you pick up Lost Souls.

The Handle of Faith

"Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith."

--Dwight D. Eisenhower, accepting the Republican nomination for President of the USA, 1956

Ride a Wild Horse

This is a poem that has stuck with me for more than twenty years. The poet, Hannah Kahn, is worth reading about too. "Ride a Wild Horse" is at the Web site of the Hannah Kahn Poetry Foundation.