-
Description
-
ToC Ten Powerful Lesbians in Film & TV by Shauna Swartz (p30); Bad Girls on Lockdown by LeeAnn Kriegh (p32); Gay Wrestler 'Tex' Green Rocks the Ring by Lori Selke (p54); Cover: The L Word's Papi [Janina Gavankar] by Diane Anderson-Minshall (p56); L Word: Where Are They Now? by Aimsel L. Ponti (p61); Going Off the Rails by Victoria A. Brownworth (p62); Lesbian Chefs by Malinda Lo (p64); Get Your Passport Ready: Coming to Canada, eh? by Aimsel L. Ponti (p34); Double the Fun in Berlin by Laurie Koh (p37); Secret Love in Venice by Rachael Herron (p40); Colorful Curaçao by Angela Watrous (p42); Capital Steps by Renée Westbrook (p44); Drinking Down New Zealand by Karen Loftus (p46); Lonely Planet Lesbians by Sara Seinberg (p48); Easter Island by Carole Terwilliger Meyers (p50); Minneapolis Loving by Holy Dolezaick (p52); Cover photo by Brie Childers.
See all items with this value
-
issue
-
2
-
Date Issued
-
March 2007
-
Format
-
PDF/A
-
Publisher
-
Frances Stevens
-
Identifier
-
Curve_Vol17_No2_March-2007_OCR_PDFa.pdf
-
extracted text
-
25274 80539
6
FranklySpeaking
curve
THE BEST-SELLING LESBIAN MAGAZINE
EverybodyLoves Papi
VOLUME 17 NUMBER 2
1550 Bryant Street, Suite 51 0
San Francisco, California 94103
Phone 415-863-6538 Facsimile 415-863-1609
Advertising Sales 415-863-6538 ext. 10 or 212-446-6700
Subscription Inquiries 818-760-8983
Advertising E-mail advertising@curvemag.com
Editorial E-mail editor@curvemag.com
Letters to the Editor E-mail letters@curvemag.com
In the photo studio during
her cover shoot, Janina'sfun
personalityshined again. She
humored us with half a dozen
wardrobe changes, chatting
animatedlyabout her sex
scene with Leisha Haileyin
the limousine.
Publisher/Editor in Chief
Executive Editor
Associate Editor
Book Review Editor
Music Review Editor
Contributing Editors
Gretchen Lee, Sarah Warn
Laura K. Cucullu
Jaclyn Barcewski,Michelle
Ma, KatherineH. Nelson,
Jocelyn Voo
Editorial Assistants Azania Baker,Sonia Kreitzer,
Lesley Seacrist
Art Director Kas Neteler
Production Manager Ondine Kilker
Production Artist
Kelly Nuti
Web Producer Nikki Woelk
Catalog Manager Holly DeMaagd
Catalog Department Flo Enriquez,
Monier Ziaian
Associate Publisher Sara Jane Keskula
Advertising Sales RivendellMedia
Marketing & PR Manager Bambi Weavil
Marketing Coordinator Amanda Campa
Marketing Representatives Mellissa Domboski,
Tammy Lam, LindseyTaylor
Copy Chief
Proofreaders
Frances Stevens Publisher/Editor
I
Frances Stevens
Diane Anderson-Minshall
Catherine Plato
Rachel Pepper
Margaret Coble
Julia Bloch, Victoria A.
Brownworth, Sheryl Kay,
in Chief
first met Janina Gavankar in Chicago at CURVE s Gay Games VII closing dance party last year. At the
time, The L Word's season four was being filmed in Vancouver but her character, Papi, wasn't yet on
the tips of lesbian tongues everywhere.
1
Gavankar got a few days off from the set to fly home to Chicago to party with us. With her mom and close
friends in tow, she didn't expect much notice from the throngs of women who turned out to dance all night.
She was pleasantly surprised by the exuberant audience of dykes who cheered her on and endlessly clam~
ored for her autograph. It was a small sign of things to come. She embraced the crowd in her fun loving way,
often times sticking her tongue out, making quirky faces and hamming it up for the cameras.
In real life, Gavankar is sweet, comical and animated. As Papi, she is Casanova personified. Her character
is suave and debonair; there's nothing silly about Papi's way with women. In the photo studio during
her cover shoot, Janina's fun~loving personality shined again. Photo assistants and publicists jetted by as
she underwent hair styling and makeup with a smile. She happily suffered through at least half a dozen
wardrobe changes, animatedly chatting to me about Papi's debut, filming the sex scene with Leisha
Hailey (The L Word's Alice) in the limo, and what it's like for her to be the mascot on msdewey.com. We
are extremely proud to have Janina on the cover of this month's issue. To celebrate, we're rolling out the
red carpet for her and inviting you all to join us in Los Angeles and Chicago for another huge bash. Make
sure you subscribe to our free e~mail newsletter (sign up at curvemag.com) so you can be the first to find
out when and where the party will be. January's star~studded release party sold out in one week, so get
your tickets early this time; who knows what women will do to meet Gavankar in person.
This issue is an important one, dedicated to our illustrious (and industrious) art director Kas Neteler,
who has been an instrumental part of the CURVE team for nearly eight years. Kas has helped CURVE grow
by leaps and bounds and under her tutelage, CURVE doubled in size, got a full makeover and went full
color. Talk about making us pretty. We are glad she isn't leaving the CURVE family completely. Her work
as a contributing designer will still grace our pages. Hats off to Ms. Neteler!
P.S. You may notice we no longer have the CURVE boutique in the back of the magazine. We're making
some changes here at the magazine that give us space for more articles, interviews and reviews. Don't fret,
you ~an still buy back issues and other swag in the online CURVE shop at curvemag.com.
Contributing Writers ElizabethA. Allen, Courtney Becks,
Kathy Beige, Heather Boemer,JenniferCorday,
Gina Daggett, Holly Dolezalek,Michele Fisher,
Tracy E. Gilchrist,RachaelHerron,LaurieKoh,
LeeAnnKriegh,Kate Lacey,CharleneLichtenstein,
Malinda Lo, KarenLoftus,KartynLotney,Candace
Moore, Aimsel L. Ponti, Sara Seinberg, Lori Selke,
Ursula Steck, Allison Steinberg, Shauna Swartz,
Carole TerwilligerMyers, AngelaWatrous, Renee
Westbrook,Andy Wright
Contributing Illustrator KatherineStreeter
Contributing Photographers Brie Childers,Sophia
Hantzes, Gabriela Hashun,Linda Kliewer,Jason
Madara, Deb Mosk, Maggie Parker,Kevin Parry,
Robin Platzer,Elisa Shea, VirginiaSherwood,
Pamela Springsteen,Jamie Trueblood,Sophia
Wallace, Kina Williams
Volume 17 Issue 2 Curve (ISSN 1087-867)() is published monthly (except for
January and July) by Outspoken Enterprises,Inc., 1550 Bryant St., Ste. 510,
San Francisco, CA 94103. Subscription price: $49.95/year, $62.95 Canadian
(U.S. funds only) and $71.95 international(U.S. funds only). Returned checks
will be assessed a $25 surcharge. Periodicalspostage paid at San Francisco,
CA 94114 and at additionalmailingoffices (USPS0010-355). Contents of Curve
Magazinemay not be reproducedin any manner,either whole or in part, without
written pennission from the publisher. Publication of the name or photograph
of any persons or organizationsappearing, advertisingor listing in Curve may
not be taken as an indication of the sexual orientation of that indMdual or
group unless specifically stated. Curve welcomes letters, queries, unsolicited
manuscriptsand artwork IncludeSASEfor response.Lack of any representation
only signifies insufficient materials. Submissions cannot be returned unless a
self-addressedstamped envelope is included. No responsibilityis assumed for
loss or damages. The contents do not necessarily represent the opinions of
the editor, unless specificallystated. All magazinessent discreetly.Subscription
Inquiries:Please write to Curve, 1550 Bryant Street, Suite 510, San Francisco,
CA 94103, e-mail shop@curvemag.com, or call 818-760-8983. Canadian
Agreement Number: 40793029. Newsstand Circulation: BigTop Newsstand
Services 415-643-0161 or maire@bigtoppubs.com.Postmaster:
SendCanadian
address changesto shop@curvernag.oom,
Curve,PO Box 122, Niagara Falls, ON
L2E 658. SendU.S.addresschangesto shop@curvemag.com,
Curve,POBox17138,
N. Hollywood,
CA91615-7138.Printedin theU.S.
A..,
~ Keyword: Curvemag Web site: curvemag.com
4
Icurve
z
:::,
:I:
i
:5
w
a:
~
CELEBRATE OUR
MARCH COVER GIRL
THE L WORD'S
JANINA GAVANKAR
IN PERSON
THE NEW ISSUE + L WORD AUTOGRAPHS + DJ DANCING
LOS ANGELES EARLYMARCH
CHICAGO LATEMARCH
TICKETS AT CURVEMAG.COM
Features
March 2007
Volume 17#2
"I wouldn't
. necessarily
say [Papi's]
so butch.
I think she's
got some
masculine
qualities. All
these sort of
stereotypes
about what's
butch and
what's
femme don't
really apply,
especially
on the show,
and that's
why [The
L Word's] so
important."
Janina Gavankar,
page 59
30 Ten Powerful Lesbians in Film & TV Meet the
premier movers and shakers in lesbian
entertainment. By Shauna Swartz
32 Bad Girls on Lockdown British prison babes
(with lesbian leanings) take over our televisions in
Bad Girls. Plus, a little one-on-one with the show's
sexiest star. By LeeAnn Kriegh
54 Gay Wrestler 'Tex' Green Rocks the Ring
This tough Texan introduces us the wild world of
women's wrestling. By Lori Selke
56 COVER: The L Word's Papi On the small
screen, her legendary lesbo character puts even
Shane to shame. In real life, actor Janina Gavankar
drives us just as wild. By Diane Anderson-Minshall
61 L Word: Where Are They Now? A bed check
of of our favorite former stars. By Aimsel L. Ponti
62 Going Off the Rails One woman's mental health
Get Your Passport Ready
34 Coming to Canada, eh? The mountains of Alberta
provide the perfect escape. By Aimsel L. Ponti
37 Double the Fun in Berlin A little secret - two
former halves mean twice the gay fun. By Laurie Koh
40 Secret Love in Venice It's time for the wife to
meet my Italian lover. By Rachael Herron
42 Colorful Cura~ao Whimsical design, sunny skies
and endless dolphins. By Angela Watrous
44 Capital Steps Some places take a while for one
to appreciate, like D.C. By Renee Westbrook
46 Drinking Down New Zealand Some girls go for
the scenery. We get bombed. By Karen Loftus
48 Lonely Planet Lesbians Find out who writes
those lovely guides you can't live without. By Sara
Seinberg
struggles. By Victoria A. Brownworth
64 Lesbian Chefs It's always hot in the kitchen with
50 Easter Island No bunnies needed. By Carole
Terwilliger Meyers
these three cuisine masters. By Malinda Lo
52 Minneapolis Loving Yes, it's cold. It's also beauCover photo by Brie
Childers
6
Icurve
tiful, and the women are fine. By Holly Dolezalck
Departments
March 2007
Throwcautionto
thewind·andget
to knowwhichever
hotbabeseems
interesting.
You
neverknow.We're
allstraightuntil
we'regay.
page 27
4
Frankly Speaking A note from the
woman who started it all.
10 Contributors Gals behind the scenes.
24 Scene It's true, you totally should have
been there. We were. We had a camera.
time strapper from the sexpert herself.
14 Out in Front So a psychiatrist, a
professor and two lesbian priests walk
into a bar ...
27 Lipstick & Dipstick Is she a high
femme or a straight imposter? Also,
when not to take a friend's advice.
66 Sapphic Screen Heather Graham goes
gay for pay, FemaleMisbehavior gets us
hot, and Annabelle Gurwitch shows how
fun it is to dis your boss on camera.
18 Open Studio Texan painter Cheryl
Finfrock tells us her dreams.
20 Lesbofile Just when you thought
Lindsay Lohan had tried it all.
a I curve
James Bond action (minus the man
thing)? Try these geeky spy gadgets.
73 Politics Victoria A. Brownworth tackles
globetrotting from a different perspective.
your answers. Hint: It's all about Virgos.
Football League gets us hot and sweaty.
72 Tech Girl Got a hankering for some
28 Astro Grrl Our trusty astrologer has all
15 Curvatures Barbie fights back, mafia
femmes take over the South, and
Wal-Mart saves face. Plus, the Lingerie
you shake a tailfeather and an interview
with badass bassist Kimberly Dahme.
26 Ask Fairy Butch Confessions of a first-
12 Letters The troops love us, and we love
All the Kings Men.
70 Music Watch Brazilian beats to make
68 In the Stacks Chic geek Rachel
Pepper's recommended reading list.
Plus, a hot new ldahomo tells
treacherous tales of the Gem State.
74 Dyke Drama Has your girl been cheating? Resident dyke dramatist Michele
Fisher's not having it.
80 Top Ten Reasons We Love Heather
Gold She's funny, sexy, smart. She
looks like an egg but thinks like a cookie.
What? Andy Wright finds out.
Contributors
"How stubborn can I bet asks ReneeWestbrook,
author of "A Lesbian
on Capitol Hill" (page 44)."So stubborn that in the mid-1970s, I refused
to go on a family vacation to Washington, D.C. Because of that teenage
temper tantrum, I missed out on one of the greatest cities in the world:'
Thirty years later, she got an opportunity to experience that greatness
firsthand. Westbrook talks about the satisfying experiences she found in
nearly every neighborhood of the cosmopolitan metropolis. From great
theater in t_hesouthwestern area of the city to superb food in the Penn
Quarter, D.C. is more than just the capital of our country.
'J\t the risk of sounding dramatic, the trip to Alberta, Canada, permanently
chang~d me in many ways. From body image to the art of relaxation, which
has always eluded me, this was the experience I didn't know I so desperately
needed until I was having it;' says AimselL. Ponti,who wrote "Oh, Canada!"
(page 34 ). Banff National Park is the closest thing to heaven she's seen in a
long time. The spa treatments were otherworldly moments in time, and Ponti
finally learned how to relax. When she's not basking in the afterglow of the
trip, she covers music for the Portland Press Herald newspaper in Portland, .
Maine. Otherwise, you'll find her out running, watching Red Sox games and
catching as much live music as she can.
Writer LeeAnnKrieghwas surprised to discover the British prison drama
Bad Girls, which she reviews in this issue on page 32. "We're so accustomed
TakeAmerica's
favoriteLGBT
travel
to settling for a little innuendo or the sweeps week kiss;' she says."I couldn't
understand how I'd missed - how we'd all missed - a network TV show
that places a passionate lesbian relationship front and center:' When not dissecting the finer points of Helen and Nikki's relationship, Kriegh writes and
edits for a wide range of clients, including high-tech companies and marketing agencies.You can read more about her and her business at worddoc.biz.
'Tm always on the lookout for women moving and shaking up the art
world;' says Editorial Assistant SoniaKreitzer.
A visual artist and writer,
Kreitzer has been getting her CURVE on since October and penned the
review of Louise J.Kaplan's Cultures of Fetishism on page 69. She currently splits her days between CURVE and office-temp purgatory and her
nights in search of these alleged movers and shakers. Kreitzer (shown
here, right, with her friend Annie) still finds writing in the third person
awkward and is allergic to cats.
10
Icurve
The Official Aqua Girl Host Hotel is the luxurious
Resort.
Surfcomber
Doubletree
ocean-front
RATE CODE: AGUA GIRL
aaa.SE53.02S4
nationalsponsors:
BACARDI.
LIM6N·
cw
OOUILETUE'
SOR.fCOMIU. HOTEL
FDA MORE INFORMATION
VISIT DUA V\/EBSITE
...eORG
....,.,._
AQUA _...
DA CALL
305.576.AQUA
954.◄74.018:t
SHEMAGAZINE
AODESIGN;
Letters
Kiss Us, Kate!
We'vealwayswanted
to beoneof those
magazines
withslavishlydevoted
fanswho
carryusaroundthe
globeandtakephotos
holdingthemagazine
infrontofWisconsin's
biggestcheesewheel
orwhilein attendance
at Montana's
Rocky
Mountain
OysterFestival
(shudder!).
Photographer
DebMoskstartedus
onthepathwiththis
shotof comedian
and
authorKateClinton
(knownto ourreaders
as"ohgreatone")toting
theNovember
issueto
dinner.
Wehaveto start
somewhere,
right?
Sendusa photoof you
andyourcuRvE. If we
printit, we'llsendyou
somekindof freebie:
maybea tee,maybe
a magazine,
maybea
lesbian- whoknows?
-Editor
"I'm a security contractor here in Iraq, and
I just so happen to have two mommies!
I receive your wonderful magazine along
with some other lesbian publications, and
some of the guys in our team room have
been checking them out. ... Needless to say,
you're pretty popular around here."
Model Citizen
I absolutely loved seeing Megan Morris on the cover of the
December issue (Vol. 16, #10) of CURVE. Not only is she beautiful, she's smart and well spoken, which made the interview
with her a fantastic read. She had a lot of interesting stories
and clearly has a very positive take orr life, making her a wonderful role model. I hope to read more about her in the future!
- Nicola Vandorpe,Halifax, N.S., Canada
Crazy for the Kings Men
It was awesome to see All the Kings Men recognized in your
December issue (Vol.16, #10)! Every ATKM show is an awesome experience. I don't even have words to describe it. All I
know is that more people across the U.S. need to know about
them and their shows.
I would love to read more about the Kings in CURVE.
They seem like such a fearless, strong and diverse bunch of
women who aren't afraid to play into social stereotypes, only to
break them all down through comedic, satiric and sometimes
straight-up political theater. In a society where women have
spent so much time waiting in the wings, we need to celebrate
every time some of us are determined enough and courageous
enough to command the spotlight. These drag kings really are
(excuse the pun) women with balls.
- AlexandraBauermeister,Cambridge,Mass.
It was amazing that you guys had a spread dedicated to theater
awards. Gay clubs and bars and similar gathering venues are
great, but performance, music and the arts get overlooked all
the time. In the near future, please give serious consideration
to doing a feature article about All the Kings Men. They are
an amazing, professional bunch and definitely a must-see for
live performance.
- Maria Kogan,via e-mail
I am a New England lesbian, and I love All the Kings Men!
They are the hottest and most creative act I've ever seen.
(Unfortunately, I am a tad too young to have seen Eleanor
Roosevelt speak graphically about her love life at casual parties: That may have topped these ladies.)
I was so blown away by the spot in CURVE; however, I want
12
Icurve
to see more coverage of All the Kings Men. They are great
and deserve more respect than a little blurb! Let's transcend
the norm!
- Ali Zip, via e-mail
Loving Lisa, But Is She Loving You?
Woo! I read my interview ("Top Ten Reasons We Love Lisa
Meye~s;' Vol. 16, #10). I'm so excited. Thanks! I just bought
the last four copies from the Borders down the road. I had been
told that I'd see something in the mail first, but I checked my
MySpace, and some gal sent me an e-mail saying she'd read the
article a week or so ago. So I hightailed it to Borders, and voila!
Anyway, thanks again for giving me space in your magazine. I
love it.
- Lisa Meyers,via e-mail
I give CURVE major props for featuring Lisa Meyers in the
December issue. She makes me smile and, well, anything that
makes me smile is something worthy of praise!
- Erin Burch,via e-mail
In the December 2006 issue, you feature an interview with
comedian Lisa Meyers. In the article, she is quoted as saying,
'Tm not afraid to say Pat Robertson is a fucking lunatic, and
I'm very candid on my feelings about being anti-hate:' Correct
me if I'm wrong, but isn't spewing invectives against another
human being, whether you agree with their convictions or not,
a perfect example of hate?
- SharonChinn, Gladstone,Ore.
Is It All Jenny's Fault?
I just got the new issue (Vol. 17, #1) and am flabbergasted! I
admit, I only skimmed, but a lot of people do that and take to
heart what you say. Albeit, any intelligent person has a mind
of their own and isn't going to take to heart everything your
magazine prints. However, there are tons of women who aren't
that independent and do look to magazines for some guidance. Having said that, I was appalled to read that "Become a
H_:_roinAddict Like Gia" was one of your five dating lessons
from Hollywood. Hey, way to misguide people! What kind of
idiot prints crap like that? There are 15-year-old kids reading
Letters
this. Kids who are messed up enough just trying
to figure out their sexuality. That statement is just
ridiculous.
I'm not saying that you should be responsible for America, but let's not be idiots and say
something completely asinine like that. That's just
stupid and irresponsible! It's people like Jenny
Sherwin who make the planet think that lesbians
are these horrible creatures. Way to contribute to
society! Stupid.
- Tiffany Paterick,Alquippa, Penn.
team room have been checking them out. Keep in
mind we are all Army Special Operations Forces
veterans and some of these guys are the toughest
guys you'll ever meet. Here are some of their comments: "Wow, dykes are cool!" and "I had no idea
they had such a great community:' Tue list goes on.
Needless to say,you're pretty popular around here.
- Marc, via e-mail
More From Kelli Herd?
I have a quick question about something that's
going around the Web concerning Kelli Herd
Editor's Note: Wow Tiffany, we reallygot under and her film, It'.s in the Water. Word has it that
your skin. Wea like to think that cuRvE'.s readers, Herd is working on a sequel to that wonderful
who averagein their 30s, are savvy enought to dis- film and that Keri Jo (Chapman], Teresa [Garrett]
cern that the entire articlewas satire.I'm sorry we and Barbara Lasater have already said they'd do it.
disappointedyou, but I'd like to give queer women, Production is supposed to begin in summer 2007.
Is there any way you can find out about this and
even teenageones,more creditthan you do.
let us know if it is indeed true? I'd love to see what
those gals are up to and how they've grown. Any
Marc Has Two Mommies
just
I
and
help would be deeply appreciated. Big thanks!
Iraq,
in
here
contractor
I'm a security
- Cindy Zimmermann, Bloomington,fll.
your
receive
I
mommies!
so happen to have two
leswonderful magazine along with some other
Editor's Note: Well, egg on our faces. We're huge
bian publications, and some of the guys in our
Kelli Herdfans but hadn't heardabout the newfilm.
We'recertainlygoingtofind out whats up. Watchfor
more coveragein afuture issue. ,
Got Somethingon Your Mind?
E-mail letters@curvemag.com; write to CURVE
Letters, 1550 Bryant St., Ste. 510, San Francisco,
CA 94103; fax to 415-863-1609. Please include
your name, city and state. Letters may be edited
for clarity and length.
Corrections
In January's Sapphic Screen (Vol. 17, #1), we incorrectly said Puccinifor Beginnerswas on DVD.
The film hit theaters in February. The article about
Jadine Louie and the San Francisco Lesbian/ Gay
Freedom Band in the December issue (Vol. 16,
# 10) misspelled their Web address, which is sflgfb.
org. Regarding the Scene section of the same issue,
we incorrectly stated that DJ Gray (photo #11) got
her groove back; it was apparently never lost. And
in the article "Putting on the Cotton" (Vol. 16#8)
the Web address for idgogayfor.com, which sells
"Bring Back Dana''T-shirts, was misspelled.
CuRVEis quite apologetic this issue. ■
March 2007 j 13
Girls on Film
A FamilyAffair
The Girls of God's House
When some people share their life stories with
DeeMosbacher,
the accounts are kept confidential forever. For other people, she turns their
Leave it to the spin doctors.
When asked at age 11 what she wanted to be
when she grew up, Susan
Lowe(above right)
tales into feature-length movies. Such is the
paradox of being a San Francisco-based psychiatrist who's gained international recognition as a
film director-producer.
"Hey, look, I have ADO;' says Mosbacher.
"It's amazing I've only taken on two major
commitments:'
In fact, Mosbacher, 58, says her two endeavors are really intertwined. As a psychiatrist, she
helps people understand how they came to be
where they are and how they feel about it. Her
films, she says, are no different.
Mosbacher is at work on three sportsrelated films. The first looks at homophobia in
the scholastic sports world, the second moves
For the past 15 years, Dr.JudithStacey
has
studied lesbian and gay families. She is perhaps
most recognized for publishing a landmark arti-
knew she wanted to be a priest.
What she could not have possibly foreseen
cle with Tim Biblarz in 2001 titled"(How) Does
the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?" The
was that she would end up sharing her pulpit
with another woman minister, Helene
Loper,
critical analysis covered 21 studies oflesbian
parents compared to heterosexual parents.
Her findings were clear: While there were
who also happens to be her partner. Together
the two have been ministering the roughly 30
some small differences, children with lesbian
parents were turning out at least as well as those
members of God's House, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.,
since 2002 (the same year they had their commitment ceremony).
raised in heterosexual parents' homes.
Enter Focus on the Family,Traditional
Loper, 54, says the two are so well suited to
be partners in life and at work because they are
Values Coalition and the like. Somehow, these
and other right-wing groups have been taking
Stacey's findings, selectivelyciting parts of her
so different. Loper grew up Presbyterian; Lowe,
45, was raised Episcopalian. Loper went on to
marry a man and have two children before entering the seminary, while Lowe was a paramed-
analysis and in some instances twisting her
findings in court to support their opposition to
same-sex marriage and gay adoption laws.
"Often I found out because I was called
ic for a decade before returning to her pastoring
inclinations. Ask Lowe a question and she will
give you a succinct, two-sentence answer, while
upon by journalists or by gay rights lawyers
and activists to respond to this use-abuse of
Loper will go on for minutes. Loper is the social
justice maven volunteering her time to Soulforce
treatment of former Lady Lions' player Jennifer
Harris, but was permitted to keep her job.
my work;' says Stacey, a sociology professor at
New York University. The only positive result
from these court charades is that Stacey has had
Alabama; Lowe is the nurturer, working for
years in the HIV/ AIDS community.
Each bringing her own unique talents,
'The real truth is so much bigger than
just this case;•Mosbacher says. "Once Jennifer
Harris sued, a whole bunch of other women
the opportunity to be called upon as an expert
witness and has rebuffed the mangling of her
findings each time.
together they have created a warm, loving and
accepting church community in the middle of
the rural Deep South.
started coming forward from 20 years ago. This
is about a conspiracy of silence that allows these
Stacey says science may demonstrate clearcut results, but even in advanced society,cultural
things to happen:'
While her filmstouch many lives, some
of her own family members may not be as
perceptions and taboos can leave us sailing toward what some believe is the edge of a flat earth.
"Scary sometimes, wonderful others;' says
Lowe of being lesbian pastors in Alabama. "One
of the greatest realizations for me has been
onto the professional arena, and her pet project,
tentatively titled TrainingRules,highlights Rene
Portland, the Penn State women's basketball
coach. Portland was fined $10,000 by the school
for violating its nondiscrimination policy in her
appreciative. Mosbacher's father, Robert, is a
close personal friend of George H.W. Bush and
served as his secretary of commerce.
"Were really very close, even though we've
agreed to disagree about a lot of things;' she
says. "Ifl didn't look so much like him, I'd
think I was adopted:' - Sheryl Kay
14lcurve
"One could make a case that studies demonstrate that lesbian co-parents are, on average,
somewhat more effective and involved
parents;' says Stacey. "However, stigma has
little to do with social science or with rational
that if I do not act like prey, I am not treated
like prey. Helene and I try to live responsibly,
be good community members and be proud of
what we have accomplished:'
The two are quick to point out that
God's House is not a 'gay only" church. "We
argument. Gay parenting is stigmatized
because homosexuality still carries stigma:'
believe that God loves all people and wants to
include them in the eternal realm;' says Loper.
- Sheryl Kay
- Sheryl Kay
Curvatures
Atlanta's Femme Mafioso
9021 O's Secret
Sapphic
Asfansgathered
at
the BeverlyHills90210
andMelrosePlace:The
Complete
FirstSeasons
DVDlaunchpartyat the
BeverlyHillsHotelthis
winterto celebrate,
we
couldn'thelplookingfor
someredcarpetaction.
Wefoundit withactor
JosieDavis,whoplayed
thedrama'ssexybad
girl,CamilleDesmond.
- JenniferCorday
Not long ago, when Aly Stealey and some fellow femmes donned
sparkly makeup, short skirts and fierce heels to Atlanta's lesbian
hot spot My Sisters' Room, they faced a wall of blank stares.
"The bartenders wouldn't serve us;' she recalls. "No one
would talk to us:'
One patron, unhappy at what she perceived to be a straight
girl invading queer space, threw a lit cigarette at Stealey's dress,
burning a hole in it. "I was like, i\11were trying to do is find
some butches;" she says.
Fast-forward months later, to when Stealey and her girls
were welcomed with open arms at My Sisters' Room and other
bars around the city. Today they march in the gay and black
pride parades. They volunteer in the community. They invade
leather bars where, Rachael Smith says, "the boys love us:'
How did Smith, Stealey and their friends find such sudden femme acceptance - and how can you, too? Simple: Join
the mafia.
The Atlanta Femme Mafia, a 115-member strong group
of femmes of all genders, ages and sexual orientations, was
founded in 2005 to empower femmes within queer communities. When the women were isolated, they appeared to the educated eye to be straight. When they showed up 30 strong, with
their partners and dates in tow, they became a force.
''.Atlanta is a very queer place, but I noticed that there didn't
seem to be a femme presence at all;' explains Smith, founder
and prima donna of the mafia.
Smith, Stealey and other mafia femmes discussed their
femme community at Femme 2006's "The Atlanta Femme
Mafia: Exploring and Creating Our Fabulous Femme
Communities:' Want to create a mafia of your own? Smith says
the group is franchising; there are already mafias forming in
Milwaukee and in Springfield, Mo.
If you'd like to start a homegrown femme gro·up, here are
some tips from femmes who've been there:
• Kill the cliques. To make your femme society a real reflection of the femmes who live in it, you can't discriminate by
gender, race or personality. Invite bi, trans and male-bodied
•
•
•
•
•
folks to join if they self-identify as femme.
Ditch the drama. If Kikiwon't come because Annie is coming,
don't get involved. Invite everyone, and let them work it out.
Get the word out. Grow your femme mafia the oldfashioned way: word of mouth. These days, that can include
everything from MySpace pages, Craigslist announcements
and evites to flyering queers at the grocery store. Print up
business cards to hand out in casual conversations. Get
everyone involved by posting flyers at the queer bars you
don't visit as well as at the ones you do.
Get out the glitter pen and set a date. Regular social events
can give those starved for femme camaraderie something
to look forward to. Plan an event for the same time every
month, and be sure everyone knows about it.
No bois allowed. The Atlanta Femme Mafia found it was
important to have a dinner that was femme-only for the
femmes to bond and talk about "pink and politics;' as one
member said. After dinner, retire to a local bar or another
social place and invite allies, partners and femme lovers to
join the fun at a later time.
Be silly. Keep the group approachable for closeted femmes
or femme lovers by ditching the ice-femme mystique. Got
silliness? Share it with photos and games.
Wasthereanylesbian
dramaontheshow?
Therewas,actually.
I
playeda lesbian.It was
myfirst episode,
beforeI
wasevera regular.
Really?
HowcouldI
missit?
It wasjustoneepisode
of 90210,whenI guest
starred.Wewereabout
to goona doubledate,it
wasat theveryend,and
therewasthismoment
whereit cameoutwhen
[theothercharacter]
said,"A doubledate?I
thoughtyouweregay?"
Soyou'reneverreally
sure.It wasthatkindof
thing.
For more information about joining the Atlanta Femme
Mafia or starting your own franchise, visit femmemafia.com.
- Heather Boerner
March 2007
I
15
Curvatures
Get a Good Night's Sleep
Dykes Can Do That, Ya Know
Spring has sprung and so will our
clocks soon, but losing an hour to pesky
daylight savings time doesn't have to
hurt, not with technology on your side.
Before you hit the bed, brusha brusha
with the Dental Air Force ($240,
dentalairforce.com), a home dental
cleaning system that uses a precisio~
jet of air, oxygen and tooth powder to
clean teeth. It replaces brushing and
flossing and, used with hydrogen peroxide, it whitens teeth like a pro without the hefty price tag. Next, bathe
under the New Wave Enviro Premium
Shower Filter ($32, shop.com), which
eliminates up to 99 percent of the
chlorine from hard water. Chlorine,
organic lovers say,is a toxic gas that affects your skin, hair and lungs.
Kick that achy breaky what-am-I -40-already morning back
with a techno-forward Dux Bed. Made by the Ljung family of
Sweden since 1926, the Dux bed ($5,000, dux.com) is so popular among Euro gays that they might as well call it the banana
hammock. Girls will dig the multi-layered and interconnected
spring system (it has about four times as many springs than
traditional beds) and a custom crank that reduces pressure on
your spine by evenly distributing and supporting your weight,
not just dispersing it. Cover your new bed with Wildbleu
luxury sheets ($125, wildbleu.com), which are designed with
menopausal women in mind but great for anyone who needs
help keeping cool. Wildbleu's sheets and pajamas (my fave: the
Holy Smackdown
According
to the Illinois
PrairieFlame,Sen.
SamBrownback,
R-Ks.,
is gettingthe holy
smackdown
fromthe
UnitedChurchof Christ
for holdingupapproval
onthe nomination
of
JanetT.Neffasa federal
judge.Brownback
(picturedabve)apparently
disapproves
of Nefffor
overseeing
a lesbian
commitment
ceremony
fouryearsago,butnow
the senatoris gettinghis
comeuppance
fromthe
Church:"Allchurches,
regardless
of their
theological
convictions,
shouldbeconcerned
aboutthechillingeffect
of suchan actiononthe
abilityof churchmembersto freelypractice
theirfaithaccording
to thedictatesof their
ownconscience,"
said
Rev.JohnH.Thomas,
president
of the 1.2
millionmemberUCC.
TheUCCbecamethe
first Christian
bodyto
supportsame-sex
marOne of the few lesbian bars in the South, My Sisters' Room
riagein 2005.Hallelujah!
in Atlanta (birthplace of the Atlanta Femme Mafia, previous
- SoniaKreitzer
r~.-...
Peony Sleep Cami) offer heat release technology that wicks
moisture away from the body and then evaporates it; they're
soft and 100 percent cotton too.
Lastly, on your bedside table should be two things: A
custom-made Light Affection Lamp ($40, lightaffection.com),
which turns a personal photograph into a cool carved, framed
image that, when on, offers a stunning, personal, one-of-a-kind
electric art illuminati, and the Peaceful Progression Wake Up
Clock ($50, hammacher.com), which eschews the traditional
jarring noises in favor of gradually increasing ambient light,
aromatherapy (including lavender and coffee) and peaceful
nature sounds such as ocean sur£ thunderstorm and songbirds.
Zzzzz, here we come. - Diane Anderson-Minshall
No Room of Our Own in Georgia
page) has closed its doors. The last business on the block to go,
My Sisters' Room finally had no choice but to vacate it when
developers purchased the property it sat on with plans to replace the 100-year-old building with new condominiums.
Last December, the final month the club was open, My
Sisters' Room offered drag shows and other special nights to
commemorate the end of an era. Though the bar had only been
around since 1996 and at the Decatur location since 1998, My
Sisters' Room provided a venue hard to come by in Georgia
(and much needed in the sometimes hostile, homophobic
South): a lesbian-owned and -operated meeting place.
"A lot of people are emotional about this. Women have
met their life partners there, had weddings there. This drive-S
16
I curve
me harder to get reopened. I want to keep My Sisters' Room
alive as long as I can;' co-owner Susan Musselwhite told the
Southern Voice.
Musselwhite has plans to relocate to another part of town,
but that remains to be seen. Their Web site is currently under
construction, and for the 'interim, lesbians are left to patronize
the small handful of other non-lesbian-owned clubs that offer
lesbian nights.
The bar's closing represents more than the loss of a muchneeded safe space for lesbians; advocates say it marks another
incident of exploitation of the underprivileged. Those whose
voices are already stifled from their minority status are the least
likely to be heard when outsiders come into a city or town and
turn over their land for profit. -Allison
Steinberg
Cheryl Finfrock
IPAINTER I
Influenced by artists like Edward Munch, Rainer Petting and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Texas-based painter Cheryl Finfrock weaves surreally vivid colors
and playful, abstract figures into her dreamscape images, as shown above. In addition to the great Impressionist and Fauvist painters, Finfrock names
Carl Jung as an inspiration. "I studied dream language and Jungian archetypes. I see visual language as a code;' Finfrock explains. The results have
earned her artwork a place in galleries and private collections throughout the United States and Europe. "The international exhibitions are always very
exciting," she says, citing shows in the Czech Republic, Berlin and Paris as some of her proudest professional moments.
Originally a sculptor, Finfrock solidified her plans to become a visual artist while studying at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. These days
it's nearly impossible to pull the impassioned workaholic from her canvas. "I can't even visit a new city without a gallery to-do list;' she admits. "I love
to travel, but it's always back to the galleries again. I'm much more myself when I am in the studio:'
"Studio;' however, has had a pretty broad definition through the course of Finfrock's life."My studio changes depending on where I live;' she says."I
have had studios in a burned-out building in Elroy, Texas; San Francisco Pier 66; an early 20th-century barn in Vallejo [Cali£) and a kind of Londonstyle hotel room in an old Masonic temple:' After spending 16 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Finfrock recently returned to her native Texas for
the larger studio spaces and "more places to swim:' Today she lives in Austin, Texas, with her partner Lynne, aka LC. Messinger, of one-woman band
When Girls Collide and former lead of punk-rock band Unknown Gender.
See and learn more about her, including her upcoming exhibitions, at cherylfinfrock.com. - CatherinePlato
1s
Icurve
Curvatures
South Africa Says "I Do" to Lesbians
and not as husband or
wife anymore:'
'Tm ecstatic;' plaintiff
Marie Fourie, 54, told
South Africa became the fifth major country
in the world to allow same-sex couples to wed,
with its Dec. 1 Parliament vote. The decision
offers equal rights to same-sex couples, who
can now opt for a civil union or a marriage;
the choice is up to the couple.
The decision was met with fierce opposition from tribal leaders and religious groups,
who are trying to pass a line item that would
grant individuals the right to not issue samesex couples marriage licenses if doing so would violate their
religious convictions. At press time, it has yet to be determined
whether this will pass.
"The common law definition of marriage is declared to be
inconsistent with the constitution and invalid to the extent
that it does not permit same-sex couples to enjoy the status
and benefits it accords heterosexual couples;' said Justice Albie
Sachs in his ruling, as reported by the BBC.
Many are embracing the new inclusion, like openly gay
South African pastor Andre Muller, who told Gay City News,
"I am going to address the couple as spouses and I am going to
ask them, are you going to take this person as your legal spouse
the Washington Post after
the ruling. "It is wonderful for the gay society:'
Fourie married Cecelia
Bonthuys, 44, back in
December 2004. They
had been living together for more than a decade when they
decided to wed. Shortly afterward, though, the South African
Department of Home Affairs refused to acknowledge the marriage as legal, thus sparking the fire that drove the couple to
sue and win the right to wed. As South Africa opens up to
same-sex marriage, activists hope this will end discriminatory
practices against the LGBT community. South Africa is considered one of the most progressive countries, perhaps because
of the young age of its constitution, signed in 1994. It includes
a nondiscrimination clause to protect LGBT people, making it
the first and only country to write LGBT people into its founding documents. -
You're a
Homogenius!
was
ThoughtMonopoly
Wondering
toostraight?
whereto getthat
TrivialPursuitLavender
Looknomore,
Edition?
gamefans:
old-school
is the
Homogenius
triviagamethatconfirms
that
oursuspicions
prettymucheveryone
is gay.A
in Hollywood
cocktailpartymusthave.($35,homo
geniusthegame.com)
Allison Steinberg
HERE.
FREEDOMSTARTED
In addition to our famous historical sites and
cultural attractions, Philadelphia and The
Countryside'" boasts a gay neighborhood with
scores of gay-friendly restaurants, clubs, theaters
and shops. You are warmly invited to spend a
few days in the place where all people were given
the freedom to live life as they choose.
To plan your next trip ...
gophila.com/gay
Philly Black GayPride
April 26th - 29th
Equality Forum and Blue Ball Weekend
April 30th - May 6th
andthe GoldenAge
Tutankhamun
Exhibition
of the Pharaohs
presented by Mellon Financial Corporation
at The Franklin Institute
~~=t&
February 3rd - September 30th
PhiladelphiaGay
TourismCaucus
Bucks
*
Chester
*
Delaware
*
Montgomery
*
Philadelphia
Counties
March 2007
I
19
Curvatures
Lesbofile
Going to the Chapel
It's wedding bells for Ellen and Portia, meanwhile Rosie may get a new show. I ByJocelynYoo
Congratulations to Ellen and Portia on the good
news! Maybe Lindsay or Keira will catch the
bouquet?
Wedding Bells
Bust out the champagne and start throwing rice
- EllenDeGeneres
andPortiade Rossiare get,
ting married! The National Enquirer reports that
after a two,year courtship, the talk show host and
actor are prepared to tie the knot. 'They're going
to have a late afternoon outdoor wedding, possibly
catered by Portia's favorite hotel, the San Ysidro
Ranch;' reveals a friend. De Rossi is reportedly
handling the bulk of the arrangements, but wine
and music are DeGeneres' domain: She reportedly
hopes to have Elton John perform at the recep,
tion. "Ellen and Portia have settled into a comfort,
able and loving domestic situation - staying in
(Los Angeles] during the week while Ellen shoots
the show and heading up to their home near Santa
Barbara on the weekends;' says a friend."The com,
mitment ceremony is the next logical step:'
The guyshad Brokeback;it'sour turn now. Lindsay
Lohanand KeiraKnightleyhavesignedon to play
womenwho are sexuallyattractedto each otherin an
upcomingfilmaboutWelshpoet DylanThomas.
Brokeback Fountain
The guys had Brokeback;it's our tum now. Lindsay
LohanandKeiraKnightley
have signed on to play
women who are sexually atttacted to each other in
an upcoming film about Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
"(Knightley] is older than me, but she kind of has a
mysterious relationship with my lover;' Lohan told
MTV News. 'l\nd there's somewhat of a lesbian
undertone:' Oddly, the film was actually written by
Knightley's mother, Shannan
MacDonald.
But, ar,
tisticallyspeaking, after your daughter plays a bounty
hunter and a pirate,obsessed noblewoman, I guess
the next logical step is to make her character go gay.
Baring It All
Last October, RosieO'Donnell
bared close to
all in a love scene with JulianMcMachon
on an
episode of FX's Nip/Tuck. However, O'Donnell's
one,time stint may be extended into a series. Ryan
Murphy, the show's creator, may be writing a spin,
off show for her character, Dawn Budge, a woman
who won the lottery and consequently lost her
family and friends. O'Donnell even writes on her
Web site, "talks r over;' implying that the pilot was
given the green light by all parties.
Sex on the Big Screen
Cynthia
Nixonand the rest of the Sex and the City
20
Icurve
DeniseRichards
in Wild Things.But one block,
buster actually considered adding a Sapphic twist
to an established actor in an equally established
Cattrallwas the one resisting going forward, a film franchise. At Casino Royale'sU.K. premiere
studio insider tells OK! magazine that Catrall,
in November, director Martin Campbellsaid,
Nixon, SarahJessicaParkerand KristinDavis "We came up with all kinds of ideas for M;' one of
have opened negotiations for the project. Ladies,
which just happened to be making JudiDench's
prepare yourselves for sex, up close and personal.
character, M, a lesbian in the new 007 movie. The
idea was nixed after DanielCraig,the latest actor
Movie Twists
to put "James Bond" on his resume, insisted M
Hollywood loves to throw in arbitrary lesbian
stay on the straight and narrow. Leave it to a man_
scenes with random buxom starlets, hoping to
to ruin all the fun. Thankfully Dench got to have
up box office sales. Witness NeveCampbell
and
her sapphic moment in Notes on a Scandal.■
clan may be back on for the feature film version
of the HBO hit series that ended back in 2004.
Though rumors have been swirling that Kim
The Other L--Word:
The Lingerie Bowl
A stripped-down version of the Super Bowl, the Lingerie Bowl
stars some gorgeous women playing a real-deal game of tackle
football in their, well, underwear. As of press time, the game is
set to air on Pay-Per-View Feb. 4, urging football fans across the
nation to flip the channel and indulge in some ferocious feminine
football fun. If it's like last year, it'll be a sold-out affair.
How does a woman get to play in her knickers? Talent
Coordinator Kristen Osborne explains: "We bring in the coaches
and the trainers and they give the girls an agility test. Were looking for basic football skills: How they handle the ball and how
they take direction, and just a basic athletic ability. A lot of the
girls have played college sports and most are very active, doing
yoga, hiking, skiing, et cetera:•
Once signed to the Lingerie Football League (yes, it's the LFL),
girls must attend practices and game days, and they receive a set
i
i
!,en
I~
la
lz'
:w
!:c,~
!~
135
I~
:::E
!cf
pay for the entire season.
"We have 40 girls and they get paid well. It's a coveted job that
a lot of girls want;' says Osborne. There are four teams to begin
with, but only two made it to the Lingerie Bowl. The Lace and
Garter Championship Game aired Jan. 27; it was a playoff to see
which two teams headed to the Lingerie Bowl.
Safety nuts, relax: The girls wear shoulder pads and helmets,
but not much else."No ones been seriously injured;' Osborne says.
"Weve been really blessed so far:'
According to wide receiver Jamie Welsh, it's a pretty serious
game. 'J\bsolutely! It's full-contact football;' she exclaims.
Full of tight ends (pun intended) and fullbacks with not much
padding, I'm amazed at the roughness of the offense and defense
alike. Nicknamed "the ultimate cat6.ght;' the Lingerie Bowl is a
horny dyke's wet dream, with some of the hottest women from
New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles playing in bras and
panties slamming each other into the ground and high-6.ving like
teenagers. It's just delicious.
"Theres nothing pretend about it;' Osborne insists. "If people
aren't familiar with it, or haven't seen an actual game they might
poke fun, but once they check it out, they see that we're the real
deal:'
Nex year, my dyke friends and I want a huge lesbian gathering
on Super Bowl Sunday so we can all tune in. That'll be a damn
good use of $20. If you missed it, check out lingeriebowl.com for
pictures of girls in panties and head gear. Oh my. - Jennifer
Catie Curtis
Ani DiFranco
"With all due respect to Susan [Sontag], we never liked
words like 'companion' or 'partner.' ... Call us
'lovers.' I like 'lovers.' You know, 'lovers' sounds
romantic. I mean, I want to be perfectly clear. I
love Susan. I don't have a problem with that. I
just had a problem with '·partner' or 'companion.'
It just sounds like two little old ladies." >> Annie
Leibovitz to the San Francisco Chronicle
"I don't think there's any such thing as peace within
patriarchy. I think men are great, they have all kinds
of awesome ideas about the individual arid individual rights, and this is very useful stuff for things
like democracy. But individualism leads to hierarchy, which leads to aggression; so I think just the
masculine sensibility is not enough to guide us to
peace." >> Ani DiFranco to About.com
"Earlier on, [being out] pigeonholed me a little bit. But
I actually think things are changing in our culture,
and people are less defined by their sexuality
now.">> Lesbian folk singer Catie Curtis to
Windy City Times
Corday
March 2007
I21
Curvatures
A Career up in Smoke?
After 17 years as a Minneapolis firefighter, Bonnie
Bleskachek knows all about battling the heat.
Brushing aside taunts and abuse from fellow
firefighters because of her gender and sexuality, Bleskachek continued her work undaunted,
eventually achieving what no other woman had
before her: becoming an openly lesbian fire chief
Gays Give Back
Rainbow
WortdFundhas
partnered
withAmerica's in a major U.S. city.
Her numerous accomplishments include
Second
Harvest,
the
country'slargest helping establish the Minnesota Women
charitable
hunger-relief Firefighters Association, a group committed
organization,
to help to creating opportunities for females in a preHurricane
Katrinaevacu- dominantly male profession. During her tenure,
ees.Thusfar,RWFhas the department grew to employ more than
70
donated
$390,000.
"They women in a total of 435
firefighters, the highest
approached
usafter
such ratio in the country.
Hurricane
Katrinahit and
Recently, Bleskachek has come under a whole
said,'Howcanwe help
you?Whatcanwedo?' new type of fire, one that is much harder to extinguish. Three female firefighters in Bleskachek's
Theyputthewordoutto
theirsupporters,"
said department have accused her of various forms
RossFraserofAmerica's of sexual harassment, and a city investigator
Second
Harvest.
It was found indications that the department was givSecond
Harvest's
pre- ing preferential treatment to lesbians in general.
existinginfrastructure Bleskachek has been put on administrative leave
thatmadetheorganiza- while the investigation is ongoing.
tiona naturalchoice.
Two of the suits were settled out of court.
"We'regoingto beconJennifer Cornell, Bleskachek's former parttributingto theirgeneral
ner, and Kathleen Mullen, both of whom had
fundrightnowthatcan
charged
the fire chief with showing bias against
beusedfor everything
them
on
promotions, concluded a hush-hush
andanything.
America's
deal
with
the
Minneapolis Fire Department, and
Second
Harvest
hasan
excellent
reputation," as a result, both will be promoted to the position
RWFExecutive
Director of battalion chief.
JeffCottersaid.Rainbow
Bleskachek is candid about the suits. She argued that both
WortdFundwasfounded women were going to be promoted to batallion chiefs before
in 2000to promote
LGBT the suits, so the city sirytply expedited that process,
and she
humanitarian
philan- admitted there was
money paid to both women because of the
thropy."It'sa platform
"nuisance value:'
forthegaycommunity's
'The process of deposing everyone and going to court would
compassion
to beseen
have
been much more expensive than the settlement paid;' she
throughout
thewortd,"
said.
In
order to settle the two suits, Bleskachek admitted no
Cottersaid."We're
living
fault
and
said that she wished the case had not settled. "If I had
in a timewhensurvival
had any say I would have done everything to not have them
depends
ongivingto
eachother.... We'reone settle;• she said. "I would have preferred to have gone to court
humanfamily.Weneed and have my name cleared:'
to livethatfact."Tofind
The third suit, brought about by Kristina Lemon and
outmoreaboutRainbow charging Bleskachek with making improper
sexual comments
WortdFundor howto
and advances, was settled on Dec. 22, 2006. The City Council
give,goto rainbow
voted 8-5 to demote Bleskachek without severance pay, includfund.org/getinvolved.
ing a $40,000 pay cut. According to Mayor R.T. Rybak, city
- Courtney
Becks
officials decided against firing Bleskachek in order to avoid the
expenses of further court action.
22
Icurve
Bleskachek said that Lemon's suit was based on an alleged
incident that occurred 10 years ago, and that she found it
"ironic" that the charges were not brought forth until she was
named fire chie£
In the end, the drama inferno may be just too intense to
douse. At press time, a fourth firefighter, Elondo Wright, had
filed suit against Bleskachek and her partner, Captain Mary
Maresca. And a fifth, Shanna Hanson, had also filed suit
against Bleskachek and the city.
"It's really kind of unfortunate, because of her position and her
minority status;' said Theresa Glomb, Ph.D., a professor of human
resources and industrial relations at the University of Minnesota.
"I imagine, even if found to be false,it could be very difficult for her
to regain the respect that her achievement deserves:'
"In the court of public opinion, I've already been found
guilty with no facts, no evidence;' Bleskachek said. "I never
thought my kids and my partner would have to be dragged
through anything like this. At this point I'm just trying to keep
my head above water:' - Sheryl Kay
Curvatures
Two Girls and a Dog
When faced with a touch of homophobia from the neighbors,
Dotti Berry responded the only way she knew how, with love.
Having heard some disconcerting comments only one
week after she married her partner, Roby Sapp, Berry bought
dozens of roses and delivered one to each neighbor, along with
an invitation to dinner the following weekend.
Most people came, and Berry says the neighborhood has
never been the same since.
"It was a great opportunity for us to transform ourselves,
giving us a firsthand experience to live out our wedding vow;'
says Berry, referring to a fundamental part of their ceremony
where the two swore, "I come to you with an open heart, vowing to change the world through the expression of our love:'
But that was just the beginning.
The two decided their message of outreach needed to
extend further, so they embarked on a yearlong cross-country
journey they dubbed "Gay Into Straight America:'
In their purple Suburban with poodle Rylee Joy in row,
Berry, a personal coach, and Sapp, a professional photographer, stopped in dozens of towns and cities in 46 states.
Financed through donations, their own resources and a few
honorariums along the way, the two made personal connections in everyday settings as well as appearing on TV and
radio shows, speaking at local PFLAG events, GSA meetings,
and businesses.
"Our mission was to go out into America with the
intention of talking with people who are wrestling with their
understanding of homosexuality, by engaging hearts and
minds, creating authentic connections and dissolving differences that separate us;' says Sapp.
Fifry thousand miles later, the couple says their goals were
met beyond anything they imagined.
"I learned that the majority of people in our country want
equality and justice for all people;' says Berry. "The v~cal and
well-financed minority who don't want this have held our
community hostage through fear, with us often believing the
myths they have perpetuated. It's time to break the silence and
share our lives, our authentic selves, with the movable middle:'
-
Sheryl Kay
Wally'sWorld Takes Baby Steps
(jJ
iii
a:
i
:E
0
0
:i
8
~
Notorious Wal-Mart made the controversial news pages
again - not for bad business practices this time, but actually
for a meritorious act. Wal-Mart, in a small attempt to rectify
its bad rap for mistreatment of employees, donated $60,000
to Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, an LGBTQ organization that works with businesses large and small to end
discrimination in the workplace. Wal-Mart also joined the
National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce this summer with a $25,000 membership fee.
These acts have been met with booming resistance from
conservative groups. 'This has been Christian families' favorite
store and now they're giving in, sliding down the slippery slope
so many other corporations have gone down;' the Rev. Flip
Benham of Operation Save America told The Associated Press.
'They're all being extorted by the radical homosexual agenda:'
The overreaction from Christian groups does pose a threat to
Wal-Mart's bottom line, or should I say its profit margin.
In a press release dated Nov. 21, 2006, the corporate giant
responded to the harsh criticism by stating that, "Wal-Mart
does not have a position on same-sex marriage and we do not
give preference to gay or lesbian suppliers. Wal-Mart does
have a strong commitment to diversity among our associates
and against discrimination everywhere:'
Out and Equal acknowledges that Wal-Mart has only
taken baby steps in the corporate responsibility realm, but
important ones nonetheless. "What struck me about that was
that the culture at Wal-Mart is changing;' Out and Equal
Executive Director Selisse Berry said. "They were eager to
learn and kind of catch up:'
So maybe it's just a public relations ploy on Wal-Mart's
part to project an image of increased tolerance, or an attempt
to simply harness the purchasing power of LGBTQ people.
Regardless, these recent actions send a tangible message to
both queer advocacy groups and conservatives alike: Even
the largest corporate monster is willing to extend itself to
acknowledge our community as a viable entity. We hope
they'll continue the climb toward social responsibility. -
Come on Barbie
Let's Go Party
Toybehemoth
Mattel
continues
to menace
artistswhoseworkdepicts
theimpossibly
busty
blondedoll.Thistime,
it's turningthescrews
onBrazilian
artistKarin
Schwarz,
whosephotographseriesAmazing
Girlsenvisions
Barbie
dollsin lesbiansexual
scenarios.
InAugust2006,
Schwarz
saysthecorporationthreatened
her
withcivilandcriminal
lawsuitsif theexhibit
wasnotremoved.
She
didnotcomply."I interpretedtheattitudeas
homophobic,"
Schwarz
saidviae-mail.
Schwarz
is adamant
thatMattelwasintentionallymisleading
the
American
publicabout
the lawsuit:"Inthe
[U.S.],thecompany
is
sayingtheydon'thave
anyideaonhowthis
'rumor'[thattheywere
suing]started.Herein
Brazil,[Mattel's]subsidiarieshavemadea lot of
declarations
to thepress
aboutthecase."
Mattelrepresentativesdidnotreturncalls
for comment.
AmazingGirls
canbeviewedonline
at Schwarz's
Web
site,karuska.com.br.
- Courtney
Becks
Allison Steinberg
March 2007
I
23
1 Joy O'Donnell, CURVB'soutgoing art director Kas Neteler, associate publisher Sara Jane
Keskula, Cori Duncan and writer Amy Andre at cuRvB's December issue holiday party in
San Francisco 2 Americas Next Top Model contestant Megan Morris celebrates her spot on
cuRvE's December cover at our holiday party 3 ProSuzy.com hosts 30 women kayaking
down the Withlacoochee River in Florida 4 The ProSuzy women starting off at Nobleton
Outpost 5 Stars of Bravos Work Out (from lefr) Jackie Warner, Rebecca Cardon and Jesse
Brune sex it up at Here Bar & Lounge in Los Angeles, in honor of Bravo's Outzone TV.com
first Sexiest Gay 2007 Poll 6 Fauxnique at CounterPULSE's Frolic: CircusDragBurlesque
Festival. A San Francisco first, Frolic combined circus, drag and burlesque to create a ground~
breaking art form
7 Partygoers help CURVE say goodbye to 2006 at our annual holiday party 8 Girls get in line for
Sing Out for AIDS, a benefit for AIDS Partnership on World AIDS Days at St. Petersburg,·
Florida's Palladium 9 Plenary speaker Cuc T. Vu, a Task Force board member, speaks to the
more than 2,000 LGBT folks who attended the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's 19th
Annual Creating Change conference in Kansas City, Mo. 10 Getting sandwiched by performers
at Sing Out makes one dyke very happy 11 Supporters at Sing Out hold up Lesbiannightlife
.corn'subiquitous "U Need Me'' cards 12 St. Pete gets a little sexier with hot performances 13
Dr. Marjorie Hill, CEO of Gay Men's Health Crisis, at Creating Change 14 CURVE board member Kate Alfieri (left) and her partner Julie Frank at the 2nd Annual Latkes & Vodka Chanukah
Party at Medjool, hosted by the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation's LGBT Alliance
Advice
CAN YOU
TRUST HER?
1.Alonewithbooze
anda nakedKatherine
Moennig,
yourgirl:
a)Throwsherselfat
Shanelikea fast-pitched
softball.
b)Grabsaneyefulbut
keepherhandsto herself.
c) Says,if sadly,"I havea
girlfriend."
d) HandsMoennig
a
blanketanda pillow.
2. Inhersparetime,she:
a)E-mailsnakedpictures
of herselfto herex.
b) Hangsoutin gym
lockerrooms,handing
towelsto girlscoming
outof theshowers.
c) Makesmixtapesof
lovesongsandgives
themto that"justa
friend"girl.
d)Writesyoulovenotes
to hidein yourlunchbag.
3.Yourmostrecent
sexual
encounter
rates:
a)D.O.A.:
A corpsewould
bemoreresponsive.
b)A.D.D.:
Sheseemedto
forgetwhatshewasdoingrightin themiddle.
c)SO/SO:
sameold,
sameold
d) 000: asin,multipleOs
Ask Fairy Butch
Some Like It Hard
Dear Fairy Butch: I hope you can help me. I have had
only one relationship with a woman. I loved her very
much, and I am sure I always will. Since I had no
other lesbian friends, I took all of her words to heart
- like when she told me that if I wanted to know
who was a lesbian, I would have to look for women
who had short hair and always wore men's Levis and
never dresses or makeup.
She's been gone a long while, but I have never
been one to stop believing in love. The problem is
this: I also absolutely love my high heels, my lip gloss
and my long hair. I tried to imagine a life without my
designer dresses, heels and nail polish, and I think
that would kill me as much as being alone forever.
At my church, the pastor has been with her
girlfriend for over 30 years. It makes a part of me
believe it's possible that I could love someone again
someday. I gave up on men years ago because I had
a cool gay male roommate who told me I never had
to be with a man ever again if I didn't want to. I took
it to heart and never looked back.
I would love to find another girlfriend, but should
it be at the cost of cutting my hair and throwing out
my dresses? I don't know if I could do that. Is it really
possible that I could find another girlfriend while still
being me? - Wondering on the West Coast
Dear Wondering: Sugar, don't believe the hype. I understand
the importance your first female lover's words must carry, but
I gotta tell you, they're tired and untrue. The greater part of
the Lesbian Nation lies in wait for you in whatever authentic
expression you care to bring to the table. Sure, there are still
members of outposts in the community who would have you
butch it up in order to express your lesbianism, but these days,
femme awareness and appreciation has spread all over like daisies covering the meadows in springtime. I know it certainly
oozes from my every pore.
There is no reason why you should have to give up any
of your affect that charms you or any of your wardrobe that
delights you. By the same token, you needn't limit your selection of mate or date to some lesbian incarnation of the Marlboro
Man, either. That's all so 1979. Or '82. Or '91. The basic tenet
remains the same regarding my philosophy oflesbian gender and
sexual expression: Everything that's safe, sane and consensual is
to be cherished, even if it makes it a little tougher to pick some
of us out in a crowd. So keep your dresses and your makeup, and
just set about finding one or more of the many who will appreciate them and you.
POINTS:
A=1;8=2;C:3; 0=4
3-5 points:
BOOHOO
Yourgirlgetshercherries
pickedin someother
orchardandleavesno
piefor you.
6-8 points:HOHUM
Yourlovelifewithyour
girlis a bit onthedull
side;whileyou'rehumming,shemaybeho-ing.
9-10 points:
YOUWHO?
A bit flirtatious,your
honeyis stilltrustworthy
for the mostpart.
11-12points:
WOOHOO!
It's almostsickening,
howgoodsheis. ButI
still wouldn'tleaveher Dear Fairy Butch: A few weeks ago, I started datalonewitha nakedTV ing my lovely femme. This is her first lesbian relastar.- KateLacey tionship,
while I've been out since I was around 14
26
I curve
and have had relationships exclusively with girls
and women. I've never been into penetrative sex,
as having a dildo or strap-on inside me doesn't do
much for me. I adore oral, both giving and receiving; previous partners and I have managed to enjoy
each other a lot.
Now for my dilemma. My girl is incredibly special
to me. She loves the idea of screwing with a strapon, and I've told her we can. Can you give me some
options, though? Is there anything we could do to
let her wear it, us play, and then take it off? I don't
want to put her off, but I really have this fear that
she has a fantasy to really fuck hard, which I don't
want. I will talk to her, but I hope you might have
. some friendly advice first. - Strapless in Seattle
Dear Strapless: Howdy, hon! First off, have you ruled out
the obvious possibility of you donning the dildo, as it were~
That would open up a world of play for you both. Another
thing you could do is encourage her to strap herself up, then
divert the focus from vaginal penetration to giving her a blow
job and other forms of dildo adoration, such as holding it between your breasts or caressing it manually. You could also hold
the dildo between your legs - but let it not penetrate you and allow her to pump away. That could give each of you some
good clitoral stimulation without penetration. In any case, be
sure to check out my book, The UltimateGuide to Strap-onSex:
A CompleteGuidefor Women & Men, for information on all
things strap-on! ■
~
E-mail.fb@fairybutch.comwith your queriesregardinglesbianlife,
sexualityand romance.
V5
~
::i
w
Lipstick & Dipstick Advice
Femme or Foe: Honing Your Gaydar
police report? And then I
realized: Every woman is
gay after a bottle of wine.
And after two bottles, everyone is attractive. (That's
before you bow to the porcelain god, of course.) With
that, I'm not saying straightlooking chicks are always relationship material - some
of them are slippery - but
you can have fun with just
about anyone in this day
and age as long as your protect your heart. So, throw
caution to the wind and
get to know whichever hot
babe seems interesting. You
never know. Most all of us
are straight until we're gay.
Dear Lipstick and Dipstick: Help me! I'm
having a problem telling a femme girl from
a straight girl. How do you tell them apart
when they look almost alike? - Confused
in Texas
Dipstick: Confused, I was once in your shoes.
That's why I devised a four-part dyke detector test.
It never fails. a) Does she trim her nails? b) Does
she have a cat? c) Does she like hummus? d) When
you give her a sexy look, does she make eye contact
or look away?This test has never been wrong. If she
has two out of four, she's bisexual. Simple as that!
Lipstick: Dipstick, don't forget Val in Virginia.
Even though she scored a perfect 100 percent on
your test, she was married with six kids. Texas, listen to Lipstick. I had the same problem when I first
came out. Who could I hit on? Who would file a
Lipstick and
Dear
Dipstick: My friend has
had her personal ad
on curvemag.com for
over two years. She
goes online every day
searching for, a longterm relationship but
with very little success. I know for a fact
that she's met a lot of
quality women, so I'm
beginning to wonder if the problem is her.
My question is: When should one decide to
give up the online dating search? Having
an online ad up for two years seems ridiculous. - Mites Away
Lipstick:Never give up on love. It's one of the only
pure and idyllicthings left in this world. Miles Away,
are you asking because you're the one thinking about
throwing in the towel?We get a lot of questions from
women who write in for their "friends:' Either way,
you mustn't lose hope. Whether she's a single mom
in Columbus, Ohio, or an eccentric art dealer in
Detroit, Mich., there are plenty of women out there,
and you - er, your friend- just haven't found her
yet. Trust that you're not ready. When you are, she
will appear. In the meantime, change that ad (new
pies, new verbiage)and reinvent yoursel£ Remember,
we manifest everything in our lives,so don't dwell on
what you're not getting. Instead, focus the power of
your intention on what you want.
Dipstick: Here Lipstick goes again on one of her
new age rants. Pure and idyllic? Please. Dipstick is
more grounded, so here's what I have to say,Miles:
Butt out of your friend's business. Maybe she loves
the idea of dating lots of quality women, shagging
them and cruising for the next hot catch. Even i£like
you suggest, she is being too finicky and won't settle
down with one girl because she hopes that something better isjust a click away,it's her life to live.
Dear Lipstick and Dipstick: My girlfriend of
three years just cheated on me - with a
guy! I've taken her back, but my best fag
friend won't forgive her. Please help me out.
- Friend or Foe?
Dipstick:Dear Friend, it's your choice to take back
a two-timer. But whether she cheated on you with
a man or a woman really shouldn't matter. What
irks me is that your friend won't forgive her. Gay
men, of all sexual beings, should understand that
people sometimes stray. Like Miles Away,he needs
to find a love interest of his own and stay the heck
out of your affairs, even if he's trying to protect you.
Maybe she'll hurt you again, maybe she won't, but
it's your life to live.Tell him to get his own.
Lipstick: Eeeehnt [sound of Family Feud buz;z;er]! Dipstick, it is so different to be cheated on
with a penis! I'm gonna go out on a limb here,
lovely readers, so bear with me. I think it's easier
if it's a dude. I know, I know, you won't all agree,
but for me, imagining my lover in both scenarios,
it's the phallic truth. That's not to say you did the
right thing, Friend, by taking her back, but you
were right to forgive her. You don't have to forget, but holding onto resentment and anger will
only give you cancer. You don't say how old you
are, but I sense you're both baby dykes. A grown
lesbian would've long since worked through the
residual baggage from growing up at Bible camp
and figured out that she was a true blue lezz;ie.
Not to mention, she wouldn't have a problem
trusting her gut even if her fag friend disagreed.
No matter the age, at the very least, keep the
hatchet buried. ■
Ask us anythingaboutsex, loveor lesbiansat lipstick
dipstick.com.
March 2007
I
27
Advice
AstroGrrl
Stars in Her Eyes
Tryto
controlyour
wandering
heart,
Scorpio
sister.
March
bringsa few
shocking
and 'wilde'
romantic
binges.
Prim,proper
Sapphic
Virginsare
hot and
feistythis
March. Sip
from many
cups.You
cannotbe
tied down ...
unlessthat's
yourthing.
Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20)
Sex:Guppies are full of romantic thoughts. Whisper
the words of love, and she will follow you anywhere.
Be sure to pack breath mints. Career:March is the
month to make your grand corporate move! Anything
is possible if you have even a tiny amount of ambition.
Oh dear.
Aries (March 21-April 20)
Sex:Lambda Rams get their wool in a knot over passion
gained and lost. Is love cheap this March? Let's hope it's
both cheap and tawdry! Career:
It is hard to keep your
mind on the job when so much fun is at hand. Looks
like you need a couple of hands. Greedy girl!
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
Sex:A light romance heats up to a torrid love affair
,
that knocks you off your feet. But is that all there is to
life? Hell yeah! Career:
Be careful in your communication at work. You may be misunderstood. Strive to be Miss
Congeniality instead.
nightmare, then wake up and smell the coffee. Career:
Nothing
can be taken for granted on the job. Change is apace. Good.
Plot revolution, not evolution.
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
Sex:Will you begin to date one of your platonic gal pals? This
Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)
March is full of romantic surprises. Look for the jewel among
the trash. Or maybe you're into trash. Career:
Your professional
path may take an unexpected and dramatic detour. Pack a map,
leave a trail of bread crumbs and avoid pigeons.
Sex:Try to control your wandering heart, sister. March brings
a few shocking and "wilde" romantic binges. Are you a glutton
or a connoisseur? Oh, let's hazard a guess. Career:
Co-workers
actually like you around the office now. But they are the ones
who have no power. Manage up, oppress down, retire early.
Cancer (June 22-July 23)
Sex:Don't be surprised if there is someone in your office who
Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22)
has her eye on you. No, it's not for your job performance! Bring
the water cooler chitchat to a boil. Career:
Needless to say, you
will find excuses to hang around the office this month. Burn
the midnight oil and spread it around. Avoid greasy drips.
Sex: You catch a few lucky breaks this March and can meet,
greet, hobnob and rub elbows with the glitterati. Whatever
turns you on. Career:
All types of new beginnings are possible.
If you are annoyed with your current batch of bosses, seek
some new, more appreciative ones.
Leo (July 24-Aug. 23)
Sex:March is a great time to travel. An exotic stranger wends
her way into your life and winds her way into your heart.
Career:
You give the appearance of working hard. The powers
that be actually like your diligence and spunk. Oh, do you have
them fooled!
Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20)
Sex: A secret admirer makes her presence known to you.
Wouldn't it be nice if she made her presents known instead?
Career:
No matter how hard you work, it seems that other folks
control your purse strings. Give them a yank and watch them
topple.
Virgo (Aug. 24-Sept. 23)
Sex: Prim, proper Sapphic Virgins are hot and feisty this
Aquarius(Jan.21-Feb.19)
March. Sip from many cups. You cannot be tied down ... unless
that's your thing. Career:
You seem to have excess energy that
you can pour into your job now. Clear off your desk and make
way for some free time later this month. 'Bout time, sister!
Sex:You can charm just about anyone this March. Why not
use your gifr of gab to lure a certain lady to your lair? Career:
You may clash with a certain colleague at work. Are you coming on too strong or allowing yourself to be a doormat? Take a
vacation instead. ■
Libra (Sept. 24--Oct. 23)
Sex:Do you hanker for a close and warm relationship? This
is the month to make your dream come true. If she is in fact a
28
I curve
For more advice from the stars, visit our astrologer,Charlene
Lichtenstein,online at thestarryeye.com.
®
THE BEST-SELLING LESBIAN MAGAZINE
more
you....... I for
....,
•
and we del N
~~
ti• best-selling lesbian
11,agazineis now published
10 times a year
special offer
you can now~ one
year of ane for
just $24.95.
•~>SCribe now and
get all t11e latest news
on what's impwla1t
in your life.
life I style I travel
adventure I pop culture
celebrity interviews
entertainment & more ...
,n
C
Cl
,n
t)
□
-I
NINA JACOBSON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF
WALT DISNEY MOTION PICTURES GROUP,
ENDURING STUDIO-EXEC EXTRAORDINAIRE
Although she was laid off from Disney in July rather indecorously - when she called from the hospital room where
her partner was about to deliver their third child, hoping
her boss would dispel rumors that her job wasn't safe - and
although this register isn't otherwise ordered hierarchically,
Jacobson still tops our list. The eight-year Disney veteran is
one of the most respected studio heads, popular among executives and talent alike. Expect to see more of Jacobson soon:
In December she signed a three-year production deal with
Dream Works, where she had worked pre- Disney.
CAROLYN STRAUSS, PRESIDENT OF HBO
ENTERTAINMENT
Strauss oversees development and production of HBO's
series, specials and late-night fare, including The Sopranos,Sex
and the City, Six Feet Under,Deadwood,The Wire, Carnivale,
Da Ali G Show and Def ComedyJam. She is also behind doz-
and on screen in season two's cruise episode. Marcus has been
with Showtime for more than 20 years and helped shape their
same-sex partnership benefits well before other companies
explored such issues.
SHARI FRILOT, SENIOR PROGRAMMER FOR
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
Frilot has been programming feature films at Sundance for
eight years running, influencing the exposure and ultimate
fate of thousands of festival entries each year. A complete
account of her honors, awards and accomplishments would
commandeer this entire page, so here are some highlights: As
a Harvard/Radcliffe student, she produced the first Higher
Ground (an African-American religious public affairs show)
episode about AIDS in the African-American community,
the first show of its kind to air in the New England area. In
1992, she co-founded the first LGBT film festival in Latin
America (in Brazil) and in 1996, the first one in Mexico. As
a filmmaker, she has received fellowships from the New York
State Council for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the
□
DITO--□ lliru
::s
'111111
...
t)
Want to know who has power in this country? Lesbians. Hence the reason
for CURVE s new series, Ten Powerful Lesbians, which takes you inside
numerous industries to find out who these power babes are.
1
By Shauna Swartz
ens of comedy specials featuring the likes of Rosie O'Donnell,
Damon Wayans, Sandra Bernhard, Chris Rock and Janeane
Garofalo. She began as an assistant in the network's New
York office in 1986 and then moved to Los Angeles as director of original programming. By 2002, Strauss had worked
her way up to executive vice president of that department and
was promoted to her current position in 2004. Strauss just
might be the highest-ranking lesbian executive in television.
Arts, and the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, and she
was selected for the Whitney Independent Study Program.
She is now developing a feature film, H20, with producer
Effie Brown (But I'm a Cheerleader,Real Women Have
Curves).Phew.
GWEN MARCUS, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
AND GENERAL COUNSEL FOR SHOWTIME
NETWORKS
Kadlec oversees development and production of features
and original series for here! TV. Among the new projects
she is responsible for acquiring, she is especially excited
about Lesbian Sex and Sexuality, a six-part documentary
that debuted in January. The series is described as "a raw and
revealing look into the world of lesbian sexuality and desire"
and features lesbian erotic dancers, lesbian-owned porn
companies, and academic scholars.
"I've never seen anything like it, and I'm sure that lesbians as well as women in general would love to see it;' Kadlec
enthuses. She has also overseen many original feature films
with lead characters "who just happen to be lesbians, but
their main focus is kicking ass and saving the day:' She is
proud to support out lesbians in these films, such as Michelle
Marcus is Showtime Networks' chief legal officer in charge
of the human resources and administration department, but
her influence extends into the creative realm. Her input has
factored into decisions on a variety of programs, including the
groundbreaking hit series QueerAs Folkand The L Word.
"Because I'm a lesbian and live in that world, I also have
outside relationships that are instrumental in programming
decisions;• Marcus says. This came in handy once Olivia
Cruises became an L Word sponsor, as Marcus had already been on several Olivia cruises and gotten to know the
company's founder and CEO. She even got herself on deck
30
I curve
MEREDITH KADLEC, VICE PRESIDENT
OF ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING, HERE!
NETWORKS
Wolff, Alexandra Paul and Jill Bennett. Kadlec attended
Prague's prestigious film and TV school, FAMU, and has
also directed two award-winning short films, both gay
spoofs of Hollywood originals, The Gay Graduate and Gay
on Golden Pond.
MONICA CHUO, VICE PRESIDENT OF
ACQUISITIONS AT PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Chuo studies market trends and growth opportunities
throughout the world and identifies English and foreignlanguage films for distribution by Paramount. She is also
responsible for evaluating each project artistically and
financially throughout the development process. Recent
and upcoming releases she has acquired include Silent Hill,
The Descent and Premonition, the last of which stars Sandra
Bullock and is due for release in spring 2007. Chuo has
held similar posts at Artisan Entertainment and Samuel
Goldwyn Films. As a marketing coordinator for MGM/
United Artists, she led academy campaigns for Leaving
Las Vegas, Get Shorty and Richard III. Chuo is also a board
member of Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian
Film Festival.
CHRISTINE VACHON, INDEPENDENT FILM
PRODUCER; CO-FOUNDER AND PARTNER,
KILLER FILMS
A key player in the new wave of queer films that swelled
in the early 1990s, Vachon is known for producing smart,
independent films - particularly edgy, subversive and
intense ones - that have garnered critical acclaim as well
as commercial success. And she has managed to use her
powers for good and rise to fame with her integrity intact.
Her numerous producing credits include Boys Don't Cry,
Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Party Monster. Vachon has
co-authored two guides to low-budget filmmaking, including Shooting to Kill: How an Independent Producer Blasts
Through the Barriers to Make Movies That Matter.
CLARA KIM, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF
BUSINESS AFFAIRS AND DEPUTY GENERAL
COUNSEL FOR SPIKE TV
Viacom refers to Spike TV as their network for men, and
Kim is the woman in charge of Spike's business and legal affairs. She was at the forefront of the 2003 intellectual property battle with filmmaker Spike Lee, who claimed that the
network was trying to capitalize on his fame and sought to
bar their use of the name "Spike:•Previously, Kim was an entertainment and new media consultant for major entertain-
ment companies, brokering multimillion-dollar deals. She
has also acted as senior vice president and general counsel
for Nickelodeon Online. As vice president of international
development for MTV Networks, she was instrumental
in launching MTV in Russia and Nickel~deon in Japan,
Hungary, the Philippines, Israel and Turkey. She was the
vice president and counsel for original programming at
Showtime in 1993, and Gwen Marcus refers to her fondly
as a former protege.
DANNIELLE THOMAS, SENIOR PARTNER AT
UNTITLED ENTERTAINMENT
Thomas spent seven years as owner of Handprint
Entertainment, managing clients such as Denise Richards
and Megan Mullally (Karen on Will & Grace). Now a partner at Untide4 Entertainment, she represents actors, writers
and directors, including Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kristin
Chenoweth. Thomas is producing Universal Pictures'
Dusty Springfield project that will star Chenoweth (who
plays a bisexual character in the film adaptation of Running
With Scissors). Thomas says she enjoys remaining behind
the scenes.
"I prefer to keep my clients in the spotlight and myself
in the background:' She is excited about a "funny and irreverent" new animated series for Oxygen, Angry Little Girls.
Lela Lee, who created the comic strip Angry Little Asian
Girl, has written the screenplay and co-stars with Hewitt,
who is the executive producer.
STACY CODIKOW, FOUNDER AND
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AND LISA
THRASHER, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, OF
POWER UP
They are two individuals, but business and life partners
Codikow and Thrasher together run a nonprofit dedicated
to promoting the visibility and integration oflesbians in the
arts and entertainment. Working on a volunteer basis well
above 40 hours per week, these activists give voice to lesbian stories, bolster lesbian resumes, create films of genuine
interest to lesbians, and change the industry perspective
that lesbian film isn't profitable. POWER UP functions
as a film studio and grant-making entity. This year, they
will release their first feature, Itty Bitty Titty Committee,
directed by Jamie Babbit and starringJenny Shimizu, The L
Word's Daniela Sea, Tammy Lynn Michaels and Guinevere
Turner. POWER UP also annually awards their list of the
10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz. ■
March 2007
I31
British actor Mandana Jones is an international lesbian icon who portrayed
one of the most beloved lesbian characters in television history. So why is it so
few people in America - gay or straight - know about her, the character she
played, or Britain's hit show Bad Girls, which lasted eight seasons and featured
one of television's most captivating lesbian story lines for three of those?
The answer isn't terribly exciting. It involves difficulties selling the program
in the U.S. and distribution delays for U.S. versions of the DVDs.
What is exciting is that Bad Girls has finally arrived here. The first season
is available on DVD, and Logo began airing the program earlier this year. In
addition, the FX network is developing an American version of the show, with
plans to transfer most of the storylines and all the main characters, including
lesbian inmate Nikki Wade (played by Jones) and the prison official she falls
in love with, Helen Stewart.
32
Icurve
Yes, more than 40 countries around the world saw it first, but it seems
America has, at last, discovered Bad Girls.
Jones says what American viewers have been missing is, quite simply, television history. "We broke down barriers, portraying things the public didn't
normally have in their front room at 9 o'clock on a Tuesday evening. Bad Girls
was really fresh and original. And it was absolutely groundbreaking:'
The network television portrayal of two women falling slowly and madly
in love over three seasons was indeed groundbreaking in Britain in 1999 and, sadly, it remains almost unfathomable for network television stations in
the U.S. almost a decade later.
Bad Girls takes place in Larkhall, a fictional women's prison filled with an
everchanging assortment of "screws" (prison officials) and inmates. Although
the drama sometimes veers into campy humor, most of the story lines hinge
on serious explorations of the treatment and the struggles of women
in prison.
Maureen Chadwick, the lead writer and one of the program's three
lesbian creators, says, "It's a show about survival.... It's a mixture of
women from all different classes and races and ages, all thrown together
in this rather grim institution where they're trying to repair their
wrecked lives:'
Jones describes Nikki as "intelligent, sensitive and fearless;' a complex character who "made people take their notion of what a lesbian is
out of that very, very small box they never dared to look at:'
Nikki eventually falls for Helen, an apparently straight prison official
played by Simone Lahbib. Though they share a commitment to prisoner
rights and reform, Nikki's quick temper and sharp tongue contrast sharply
with Helen's suppressed emotions and rule-abiding ways. The increasing
tension and chemistry between them builds over three seasons, creating
one of the most remarkable slow bums in lesbian TV history.
"It was the first show that went out in prime time that didn't just tip
a hat to the notion of two women being in love;' Jones says."It really ran
a proper storyline that had a slow simmer and took a long time before it
came to a boil:'
Perhaps most importantly, she adds, "They treated the love story with
the same degree of detail they would a heterosexual relationship:'
Much of the credit goes to Chadwick and the other two lesbian creators who, Chadwick says, "set out to make the kind of television we
wanted to watch ourselves, where women were active agents themselves
rather than the objects of men's stories:'
One of the creators' challenges was making a mainstream audience
believe in - and even pull for - Nikki and Helen's relationship. To do
so, they engaged in what Chadwick calls "subversion by seduction:'
The idea, she says, was to lead viewers "on a journey where they
became so interested and engaged with the story, the characters, and the
telling that they would hurdle over their prejudices and hardly notice
their concerns. They would go on an emotional journey and arrive somewhere at the other end of it where they felt differently about the issue:'
The technique worked, as Bad Girls quickly became a nationwide
phenomenon. Along with winning its timeslot, the show won two
National Television Awards and was named the country's best-loved
drama four years in a row.
During her years on the show, Jones says the British media focused
on the inevitable straight-playing-gay questions, such as what it was like
to kiss her beautiful co-star. The sensationalism disappointed Jones,
whose goal was to create a character with such depth and complexity
that her sexuality would be secondary, if not entirely forgotten.
"When I approached it, I thought, I don't want to play this gay love
story. I want to take the gay word and the gay label out;' she says. "I
thought, tell it for what it is, which is just a love story that happens to
be taking place in very bizarre circumstances that intensify things. For it
to be powerful, I thought you have to first get people past their in-built
phobias that it happens to be between two women:'
Jones is proud of the impact the character has had on viewers around
the world. "With most roles, you do your bit, and it doesn't really transfer much beyond the box in the corner of the living room. Nikki Wade is
a character that touched people's lives and changed people's lives, and I'm
honored because there aren't a lot of roles that do that:'
In Britain, Chadwick says Bad Girls was sometimes marketed in a simplistic and demeaning way, as a titillating"babes behind bars" melodrama.
"Some people see the camp side of it rather than the underlying issues;' she
says,"but it doesn't really matter, I suppose, because our fans get it:'
And now, at last, viewers in the U.S. have a chance to 'get it" as well. ■
Oh, Canada!
Too bad the exchange rate isn't what it
used to be, but if you are looking to have some world-class spa treatments,
then look no further than our neighbors up north. By Aimsel L. Ponti
When I set out to book my Alberta vacation, I'll sheepishly
admit that the first thing I had to do was get out a map. Sure,
I knew it was in Canada, and I sort of recalled that k.d. lang
was from there, but other than that I was clueless. Twelve days
later, I found myself in the city of Calgary, about to embark on
a five~dayadventure that would stay with me always.
From top: Don't miss the
Stillwater Spa at the Hyatt
Regency Calgary; one of the
hotel's cushy guest rooms;
sleek decor at the Stillwater
Spa lounge. Opposite: The
Candian Rockies
34
Icurve
Calgary, for my fellow clueless geographers, is in the province of Alberta, which
is essentially above Montana. Surrounded by the Canadian Rockies, it's a major
metropolis with a population of more than 900,000 people. The two days I spent
there included a run along the neverending Bow River and dinner at the exquisite
River Cafe, where I had my first taste of rabbit and pickled beet foam. I enjoyed the
first of four spa treatments at the Stillwater Spa at the Hyatt Regency Calgary. The
Maple Body Glow treatment left my body feeling amazing and smelling like cookies. Part of this treatment includes a wonderful device called a Vichi shower: seven
shower heads provide a fabulous hydro-massage while you lie on a table. That same
evening, I dined at the famous gay-owned restaurant Victoria's, and had a chat with
the two owners, Terrence Skoreyko and Colin Maley. They told me that for the most
part, it's A-OK being gay in Calgary and that there is a huge community, making it a
great place to start your exploration of Canada.
The next stop on the journey was the picturesque ski town of Canmore, where I
met the Three Sisters, just some of the peaks of the never ending Canadian Rockies.
From the Canmore Nordic Centre, I left on a guided mountain bike ride. My New
England lungs were unaccustomed to the altitude, and I had to remind myself that
the thin air was the cause of my extreme huffing and puffing much more than my
being in shape (or not). I spent the afternoon having a divine facial at the Satori
Day Spa and finally shacked up at Canmore's Mystic Springs Chalet. In the lodge's
courtyard area, there was a mineral pool and a hot tub that could have easily fit me
and 20 friends. Suffice it to say, I was quite comfy. But it was the mountains, oh those
mountains, that really won me over.
Sure, I had vaguely heard of Banff and its famous National Park, but I had
absolutely no idea of how exquisite this part of the world is. We drove through the
mountains as a light snow fell and caught sight of some elk, and I was immediately
enamored with everything and everyone in Banff. A ski resort town, Banff offered up
the best shopping of the trip and, again, the majestic mountains. Dinner that night
was at the Maple Leaf Restaurant on Banff Avenue, which is the main drag of the
downtown area. Who knew bison meat tasted so heavenly?
Soon we were whisked off to the internationally known Banff Springs Hotel, and
it was there I reached my zenith of bliss. The Willow Stream Spa at the Fairmont
Banff Springs was luxury and elegance in the form of a Shangri-La wonderland. I
chose the Rockies Rehydration treatment, during which I was scrubbed, wrapped in
potions and lotions, and transported to a dreamlike state. It will set you back about
$125 but is quite worth it.
The Willow Stream also had a pristine, indoor, heated mineral pool surrounded
by three plunge pools of various temperatures, all housed in an arboretum kind of
space with windows that looked out onto the mountains. There I was, floating with
my ears below the surface, listening to relaxing music and thinking that if this were
heaven, I'd be OK with it. Not far from the Banff Springs Hotel is the Banff Upper
Hot Springs and its natural mineral pool, also heated. This pool was outside, and
it was almost an out-of-body experience to be basking in it up to my neck while
Plan Your Trip
Here are some of the many
links out there to get you
on your way.
travelalberta.com
posthotel.com
stillwaterspa.com
hyattregencycalgary.com
tourismcalgary.com
mysticsprings.ca
banffgondola.com
hotsprings.ca
discoveralberta.com
banfflakelouise.com
gaycalgary.com
Kayakingis just one way to
enjoy Alberta's outdoors.
36
Icurve
While a trip likethis may take some planningand certainly
some savingup, the combinationof the scenerywith the
extraordinaryspa treatmentsand the savorycuisineis
worth every nickel.
the outside air was maybe 30 degrees. A light snow was
falling, and indeed, all was right with the world. And
don't you dare go to Banff without taking a ride on its
famous gondola. More lovely views await you up top,
surrounded by a panorama of Mother Nature's best.
Ahh, Banff. But there was still one more stop on this trip
to make.
Lake Louise is quite possibly the most beautiful sight
I've ever seen. I had no idea what the color blue really
was until that day. It's that stunning. A guided hike up to
the Lake Agnes Tea House through the ever deepening
snow afforded several views of the lake where all I could
do was stand there, silent, and commit the image to my
mind and heart's memory. The Fairmont Chateau Lake
Louise hotel, which sits right on Lake Louise, is a sight to
behold in its own right. We checked into the nearby Post
Hotel, where my room was a classy and cozy, two,level
affair with a fireplace and Jacuzzi tub. An afternoon hot,
stone massage in the Post Hotel Temple Mountain Spa
was my final treatment of the week. It was rejuvenating
and my, oh my, did it feel good.
The next morning, I caught sight of more elk as we
drove through Banff National Park on the way to the
airport, as I eased out of my sublime Rocky Mountain
high. While a trip like this may take some planning and
certainly some saving up, the combination of the seen,
ery with the extraordinary spa treatments and the savory
cuisine is worth every nickel. The kind Canadian people,
the gorgeous landscape and certainly the spa treatments
taught me lessons that I didn't realize I desperately
needed: how to relax, how to be present in the moment,
how to close my eyes and breathe deeply. I came back a
calmer and kinder woman. Thanks, Alberta, for that. ■
I
al
:::i
0
·w
0
>
0
~
5
:I:
a.
~
0::
w
CD
...J
~
...J
w
~
t-
u.
0
>[B
b:
::J
0
(.)
PlayingBoth Sides of
the Wall
Berlin'stwo former halvesmean twice the gay fun.
By LaurieKoh
Berlin has experienced a small renaissance. The past hundred years of Berlin's
tumultuous history include the freewheeling 1920s Weimar Republic, the horrors of
World War II and the rise and fall of the infamous Berlin Wall. But what most informs
Berlin's current culture is the dramatic transformation the city has gone through since
1990, when the art-filled punk refuge that was West Berlin officially merged with its
Eastern surroundings. New architecture has sprung up everywhere and neighborhoods
have rapidly evolved, with some of the hippest on the city's former East side.
:I:
~
w
cc
::,
5
>-
~
::,
8
Cl)
~
0
:I:
a..
From left: Some things
always manage to transcend
cultural differences; one of
the city's ubiquitous Vespas
parked downtown; the
graffitied wall of the East
Side Gallery.
During our first twilight stroll through Berlin, my girlfriend and I came upon a scene of incredible cuteness:
A luminous line of young children carrying paper lanterns emerged from the dense foliage of a park escorted
by grown-ups. In our jet-lagged and delirious state, the
simplicity and warmth of this little glowing procession
completely charmed us. To this day, we don't know what
themselves and don't yak loudly on cell phones.
Moreover, reunification has meant that onceseparated East and West LGBT communities are now
part of the same city, and so, rather than one queer district, Berlin has many.
holiday they were celebrating.
Much of Berlin pleased us in small, understated ways:
for instance, our discovery that visiting in autumn is ideal.
It is a tourism off-season, plus you get to experience the
Before setting off in search of the ladies, we stopped
for a little LGBT history at the gay Schwules Museum,
which boasts a well-designed permanent exhibit showcasing 200 years of Berlin's incredibly rich queer history. Archival works on display include photographs,
pamphlets, posters and personal artifacts. We learned
that by the time the 1920s were in full swing, several
gay clubs were thriving, and one could pick up a plethora of gay publications at newsstands. During the '20s,
crisp air and turning leaves while bundled up romantically in scarves. The U-Bahn subway system was also a constant source of delight. The longest we ever waited for the
next train was four minutes, and miraculously, passengers on the U-Bahn talk in whispers, keep their elbows to
A City of Queers
March 2007
I37
war years. It wasn't until the 1970s that unified LGBT communities emerged again.
Our brains overflowing with information, we desperately needed a coffee break. So we plopped down at Melitta
Sundstrom, a hip and laid-back LGBT coffee shop conveniently located at the front of the Schwules. Recaffeinated,
we resumed our quest for the ladies. Boys and girls alike tend
to populate the Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Parkow Berg and
Schoneberg district~ of Berlin. Many younger dykes live and
hang out in affordable Friedrichshain, on the former East side.
Schoneberg was the center of Western gay life and remains a
hub for gay men and women over 35. Kreuzberg, however, is
where much of the girl activity centers today. The area is also
home to a large Turkish community and was historically the
district of West Berlin that the most radical punk rockers and
Girlie kicks aren't hard to find
in Germany. Nightlife and
cuisine are merely two of
Berlin's queer pleasures.
38
I curve
artists inhabited.
We found our girly kicks along OranienstraBe, a lively
street in Kreuzberg dotted with cafes, shops, and bars.
After spending the day poking our heads into hipster clothing shops, a comic book store, a bakery and a knitting shop,
we met up with a Berliner friend of mine who took us to
what became my favorite restaurant of the trip, Rote Harfe.
Many of the watering holes we later visited were also located
in this area. Although we saw plenty of cute, dykey girls in
these parts, all kinds of folks also hang out in this area, and
we never witnessed much overt PDA between women. But
that, I understand, is what the clubs are for.
Nightlife
We were lucky enough to score a tour of lesbian bars from
Manuela Kay, editor in chief of L-Mag, who also graciously
gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of her magazine. We met
up with her and a stylish crew oflesbian journalists at Barbie
Deinhoff's, a popular bar frequented by the young, the punk
and the glamorous. Sporting a decidedly glamorous style,
the energetic owner, Lena Braun, explained that she created
her bar to give queer girls a chill and edgy place to hang out,
as well as a venue for punk shows and other events.
We'd all worked up a slight beer buzz by that time, so it
was time to go more old school at Rose's, a staple of the women's scene. The bar was darker and divier, but what it lacks in
sophistication it amply makes up for in character: disco balls
sparkle, Christmas lights are strung over most surfaces, and the
walls are covered in - I kid you not - red shag carpeting.
Other popular bars include the Himmelreich bar in
Friedrichshain, which features a well-attended Tuesday ladies' night. In the Parkow Berg district, the kitschy '70s-style
Freizeitheim bar features popular nights for women.
If you're itching to dance, head to venue SO36, which hosts
live bands and LGBT club nights including Gayhane (fourth
Saturdays), a mixed night of Turkish dance music; Ladyhane
(third Saturdays), a women's dance party; and Mfs (first
Fridays), a hip-hop night for ladies. For a more old school gay
experience, head to mixed club Die Busche, "Berlin's largest
Playing Both Sides of the Wall continued on page 77
Alerts
flight 1~60Departs
Chicago,ORD
Ontime at 10AM.
Gate Kl
Arrives Miami,MIA
at 1:38PM Gate 61.
Stayintheknow
you'reonthego!
when
andgetfree
withOrbitz
Book
witheverytrip.*
Alerts
OrbitzTLC
Flightdelays
updates
Weather
Gatechanges
• Airportconditions
Alertssenttoyourcellphone,
HaveOrbitzTLC
ore-mail-thechoiceisyours.
PDA
Learn more at
airlinesat www.orbitz.com.
Alertsareavailableonparticipating
*OrbitzTLC
C 2007Orbitz,LLC.All rightsreserved.
roadwarrior.orbitz.com
'IIBITZANDGW
Coming Out to Venice
A loverof all thingsVenice introducesher wife to the city that holds her heart.
By Rachael Herron
The waterwaysof Venice
~eft).The author (far right)
and her wife sit amid one of
the city's many waterside
cafes and contemplateLa
Serenissima.
We've been traveling nonstop for a day and a half, it's 10 at night
and raining, and we're exhausted. Despite this, I still have to greet
Venice the right way, ambling through the night's empty streets,
peering down watery alleyways, to the Rialto Bridge.
I lead my sleepy wife, Lala, up the steps. There is only one couple
already up here, the rain keeping the rest sensibly indoors, so we
cross to the other side.
At any time, day or night, there is much to see from up here: the quintes,
sential and prohibitively expensive gondolas, men unloading boats and push,
ing hand carts of flour and acquaminerale,people eating late dinners near the
colored lights that reflect in the canal, the vaporettichugging by, full of sleepy
looking tourists and locals carrying shopping bags.
"Wow;' says Lala.
"Yep;'I say.
Then I look around, checking for homophobes but having no idea what to
really look for. I give up and kiss my wife.
Nothing happens. No one shouts at us. No one even glances our way.People
hurry over the bridge, late for family dinner, headed home from work in Mestre.
It is perfect. A short kiss, but perfect.
But I'm still not easy in my skin.
I am in love with Venice. Really,I am. It's a deep and passionate love. I adore
everything about it: the people, the canals, the winding back streets that are
little more than shoulder,width, the smell of diesel mixed with salt. Before I
had a mortgage and vet bills, I used to travel to Venice at least once a year, or as
often as I could afford to.
40
Icurve
So when my wife's band books a European tour, I jumped on the chance to
piggyback across the pond, to show her Venice for a few days before her tour
gets underway.
Then I started to worry.
See, I've never been gay in Venice. I pass easily,with low,cut shirts and skirts
and lipstick and '40s eyeliner. When asked out, I explain that I am not inter,
ested, and I don't explain why.
It isn't about shame or anything so ignoble; I'm just lazy. I'm not proud of it,
but it is just easier not to have to explain, especially when my command of the
language is not that great.
And Italy isn't known for being the most gay,friendly country in the world.
ARCI is the biggest gay society, holding dances in large cities including Rome
and Milan, or small, quiet, polite gatherings in student towns such as Padua.
There is not a single gay bar or coffeeshop in all of Venice. The closet in this still
very Catholic country is walk,in sized.
And now I am going to introduce my two loves: Lala, my wife, and La
Serenissima, my city: both female. I am a little worried.
I know enough Italian to get by, but I don't have any specifically gay phrases
in my vocabulary. So I start looking things up. I really don't think Venice will
treat us badly. How can a city made of refracted light and stolen gold treat any,
one harshly? But I am surprised at what my brain does with the vague worry.
In a dictionary, I look up the Italian for "I am gay" and "We are lesbians" and
"We are married to each other:'
Then I look up the Italian· for,"Do you have a problem with that?"
And "What's your problem?"
Then, "Screw you:'
z
~
a:
w
:I:
..J
Then I look up a couple of good, virile swear words.
What is going on? Do I expect to have to defend Lala in a bar fight? Do I
w
~
~
think that people are going to shout slurs at us in the streets, or mutter dark
insults in museum lines?
I put the phrases on a yellow sticky note and tuck it in my journal. I don't
tell Lala about it
After a grueling (but cheap!) 36-hour trip, we finally end up at my favorite
I get that no matter what nebulous fears I came to Venice with, it is really,
truly okay for me to be here with the love of my life. It's okay to be mushy and
romantic and in love.
Something I didn't know I was carrying drops from my shoulders.
Lala says over dinner, "It's like meeting your best friend. Only more
hotel, Bernardi-Semenzato.
This is it, this is the moment of truth: We have one bed reserved.
The desk clerk pokes around in his book and says, "I have no reservation
for you:•
Uh-huh. Sure he doesn't. I start to bristle.
Then he picks up some keys and leads us to the nicest part of the hotel, set
back a few blocks from the primary building. He offers to help us carry our luggage up the steep stairs, but to Lala's dismay, I won't let him. I am preparing to
be offended by the two single beds he will surely offer us, getting my practiced,
important:'
''Andt I ask.
"It's beautiful. I like it for what it is, and even more for what it means
to you:•
"Good answer:•
After dinner, we have a stupid and thrilling spat in front of the Bridge of
Sighs, the very bridge over which Casanova crossed into captivity. We don't
argue that often, so the irony is not lost on us.
We make up quickly and thoroughly, making out like teenagers behind a
colonnade under the Doge's palace. It is now midnight, and we walk into the
great square, which is still packed with people strolling, drinking, dancing.
The orchestra is playing at the Florian, which is in a perpetual musical duel
with the Quadri, on the other side of the square. Couples have been dancing
perfectly accented indignation ready to fly.
Instead, he opens a door to a small, sweet room, occupied by one double
bed, and says,"Buonanotte."
It starts to sink in. Venice is not only the city of Carnevale, but of the Venice
Film Festival and Biennale. It is the home of masks and intrigue and passion.
Venice and her residents are no strangers to gays.
It's just harder to pick out The Gay here. Men kiss each other hello and
goodbye. Women link arms as they walk. Lala points out grade-school boys
who talk with their heads close together, their hands and fingers touching rapidly as they speak.
Realizing this does something amazing for me. Standing in front of Santa
Maria della Salute, looking over the sparkling canal toward what Napolean
called the best drawing room in Europe, I finally get it.
here in front of these two cafes for almost 300 years.
We dance, too. No one notices the two girls mooning into each others'
eyes. No one, that is, except the everpresent flower vendors. We have been
invisible to them all night, just two women walking close together, not sales
targets, but now that we are dancing, we are suddenly not only visible, but
interesting. Four of them gather around us in a circle but seem only curious,
surprised to see us kissing. I pull Lala by the hand, and we run through the
square, laughing.
Venice, La Serenissirna, has welcomed us both. ■
March 2007
I41
A DifferentTake on
bbean·
th• e Car,·
Escape to Curac;ao - before everyone
else does. By Angela Watrous
Top: Cura~ao's Dutch
heritage distinguishes its
architecture from that of
other Caribbean hot spots.
Bottom: Dolphins go for a
42
I curve
During my last sunset in Cura~ao,
I sat on my balcony overlooking the
turquoise Caribbean Sea and lis~
tened to the raucous calls of tropical
birds give way to the evening chirping
of tree frogs. The warm air, cooled
to a perfect 80 degrees by the trade
winds, was what I knew I would miss
most when I returned to winter. And
while my stay had included every~
thing I'd hoped for from a Caribbean
island -
leisurely afternoons on the
beach, unforgettable snorkeling and
swimming
-
in clear, gentle waters
I'd had anything but a generic
island experience.
That's because Curas:ao isn't your typical
Caribbean island. For starters, the 38,mile,long
Dutch Caribbean island resides on the outer
fringes of the hurricane belt, so unless you for,
get the sunscreen and get yourself a wicked bad
burn, the elements aren't likely to ruin your trip.
Because of its southwestern location, Curas:ao
also has an arid landscape that includes a cactus
forest (that's right, it's the American Southwest
in the middle of the Caribbean Sea). And the
island's unique shape, created by over 30 inlets
and bays, results mostly in small, secluded pub,
lie beaches rather than long stretches of heavily
populated sand.
In addition to spectacular snorkeling and div,
ing among its coral re.efs, Curapo also offers an
environmentally aware, animal,friendly aquarium
where you can swim in the ocean with dolphins or
sea lions or have your first scuba experience and
''encounter" sharks, tortoises and some mighty
friendly rays. Just don't make the mistake I did
and schedule your swim with the dolphins first, or
those sharks will harsh the exhilarating high you
get from bonding with Flipper.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of the island,
though, is its history. Its distinctive Dutch archi,
tecture is a relic of Curas:ao's painful colonial past,
when the Dutch West India Company brought
enslaved Africans across theAtlanticandkeptthose
who survived the heinous journey in two camps
on the island. Today, the Museum Kura Hulanda,
an intimate and stunning museum that features
an extensive exhibit on the African slave trade, is
located on the site of the old slave wharf where
more than a half,million people were sold to
wealthy plantation owners from North and
South America.
In addition to being an important adjunct
to our understanding of American history, the
museum also helps visitors put Curas:ao's cur,
rent population into context. The island is an
economically stable, autonomous part of the
Netherlands Antilles, with a long history of
occupiers and visitors. As such, the majority of the
well,educated local population speaks Dutch as
well as English, Spanish and Papiamento, a native
Creole language. This makes a hospitable environ,
ment for tourists from around the world.
Curas:ao'shistory has also created a diverse and
worldly local population that values its home while
also seeing beyond provincial island life. Many
of the youth attend college in the Netherlands,
and their exposure to Amsterdam's liberal cul,
ture means that most of the island's population
is Catholic, though the general attitude toward
lesbian and gay tourists and locals seems to be
largely live and let live. Queer visibility isn't high,
but if you're OK with forgoing a raucous women's
party scene for a romantic getaway or a watery ad,
venture, Curas:ao might just be the perfect island
retreat for your next relaxing vacation.
If You Go:
Good times to go: For nightlife, consider
September's gay,focused Get Wet Weekend; if
you dive, go during the annual Coral Spawning,
which happens about one week after the full moon
in September and October.
Accommodations: Split your stay between
Hotel Kura Hulanda (near the city and connected
to the must,see Museum Kura Hulanda) and the
oceanfront Lodge Kura Hulanda, which boasts
spectacular snorkeling and diving. (kurahulanda.
com, 877,264, 3106)
You also can't go wrong with an ocean,view
room at the Hilton Curas:ao (hiltoncaribbean
.com/ curacao) or the chic design suites at Floris
Suite Hotel (florissuitehotel.com).
Visit: Curas:ao Sea Aquarium (curacao,sea,
aquarium.com, 599,9-461,6666) and MikveIsreal,
Emanuael Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in con,
tinuous use in the western hemisphere (snoa.com).
Nightlife: The island is small, so the night,
life is mostly mixed. Go to gaycuracao.com
ahead of time, log onto the message boards for
tips and connections with the welcoming lesbian
locals, or e,mail the local LGBT organization at
curacaogayplasa@hotmail.com.
Restaurants and Bars: Overall, the
island's dining is consistently good, but it is, ad,
mittedly, rarely great enough to warrant the high
prices. Stick with the fresh local catch and en,
joy the ample ambiance. To catch live musical
acts and great views, try the Blues bar (avila
hotel.com) or De Gouverneur on the Otrobanda
Waterfront. ■
March 2007
I43
A Lesbianon Capitol Hill
You don't need to be elected to enjoy D.C. By Renee Westbrook
Every summer, the church lady forced me to go on those God-awful cross-country driving
trips. You know, the ones
where everyone pretends to be the Partridge family, but they're really more like the Osbourn
es? Well, during the
summer of our nations 200th birthday, I put my foot down and declared my independence:
I claimed my constitutional right to freedom from parental tyranny. 'Tm not going to stupid Washington, D.C.,
I said. "I have better things
to do with my time!" My mutiny proved that teen years exist for one reason only: to fully oblige
the human immaturity
gene. As a mature adult 30 years later, with ~ greater appreciation for travel, I finally made
it to our nation's capitol.
11
I knew I'd be staying at the Hyatt Regency Washington on
Capitol Hill, and that made me a bit nervous, what with the senators
and celebrities who would presumably be staying there. The airport
shuttle driver did nothing to soothe my fears. "Oh yeah;' he added as
he dropped me off, "the concierge might look at you a little strange
because of how you're dressed:' Great. My first trip to D.C., and I'm
going to be judged and leered at by the concierge.
As it turned out, the concierge was professional and welcoming, and I blended in famously with the other guests: vacationing
families, convention goers, government officials and businesspeople.
When I found out the Capitol Hill Hyatt openly markets to the
LGBT community, it immediately became my favorite. The absolute
. best feature of the recently renovated guestrooms wasn't the 27-inch,
remote-controlled color television, the data ports, the hairdryers or
the individual climate controls. It was the Grand Bed. Four huge
down pillows and a pillow-top mattress made me sleep like I had
just finished an epic round of wild honeymoon sex. In fact, I enjoyed
44
Icurve
the Grand Bed so much that I decided to plan my next trip so that I
never have to get out of it.
I did eventually leave the bed though, to explore the fascinating
cityscape. The monuments, memorials and museums have their own
personal brand of beauty,but the outdoor ambiance of the city is equally
attractive. No matter what neighborhood I went to, I found people of all
nationalities eating, living and working in the same space.
Such a cosmopolitan city naturally offers a diverse choice
of restaurants. Hank's Oyster Bar serves up a great lobster roll with fries in a casual beach bar setting. More along
the downtown cafe lines, Belga Cafe offers Belgian-Euro
fusion meals of mussels, grilled tilapia with melted spinach, and
Belgian endive salad with oranges and bleu cheese.
Dining
IndeBleu, on
the
other
hand,
was
an
extraordinary experience. Everything about the French-Indian fusion restaurant's interior screamed sexy and sleek. The Brazilian
cherry steps, linen-covered walls and hand-stitched curtains seduced
me into the belief I was independently wealthy and Naomi
Campbell-sexy. Let's face it, any restaurant that makes me
feel like that while I'm eating is worth a second trip.
Later I hopped on a Tourmobile Sightseeingshuttle. Locals
suggest that firsMime visitors use the shuttle; it's a hassle-free
way to see the monuments. It's also less time-consuming.
Our narrator entertained us with pop quizzes and obscure trivia until we arrived at the Washington Monument.
For years, I had seen it on postcards, on television and in
picture books, and there it was, towering nearly 556 feet
above, the massive obelisk standing in tribute to our nation's first president. I sat directly in front of it, snapping
photos like a madwoman. Looking at it in person made me
feel proud; proud to be an American and proud that I had
finally - with a mature mind and a full awareness of my
constitutional rights - made it to the Capitol.
Three quizzes later, I tuned out the narrator and totally focused my attention on the thousands of people
roaming the National Mall monuments and the stone-carved
behemoths that reminded me of preening rock stars. They
stand proudly self-centered, the wind whipping across their
architectural designs, enjoying every moment of being on display. Their adoring fans stared in awe, pointed gleefullyand
snapped more than enough photographs to rival paparazzi.
Nightlife in D.C. was equally exciting. In addition
to the regular club scene at Phase 1 - the city's oldest
continuously operating lesbian bar, said to also be the
one of the oldest African-American gay bars in the country - theater is a major part of Washington nightlife.
More than 75 professional theater groups produce some
350 productions each season. High-profile venues like
the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
the National Theatre and the Warner Theatre produce a
variety of large-scale original and touring shows. Venues
such as the Source Theatre and the Studio Theatre
produce a significant number of smaller-scale, edgy
urban plays.
The Arena Stage's production of Lady Day at Emerson's
Bar & Grill was a fantastic introduction to the scene. Lanie
Robertson's play,part rap session and part song-driven monologue, summed up the final days oflegendary jazz singer Billie
Holiday's life.The theater was transformed into a 1950s jazz
club with the front rows built to look like cabaret seating.
Arena, which houses both the Fichandler and Kreeger
Theater, has a wonderful history. Nestled in the southwest
quadrant for more than 40 years, it was one of the first
not-for-profit theaters in the United States and the first regional theater to receive a Tony Award. It's best known for
producing American classics and its Audience Enrichment
program, which offers performance extras like post-show
discussions and guest speakers. An extra designed for gay
audiences, Out at Arena, features a catered post-show reception, a mingle session with cast members and a chance
to meet other theater enthusiasts.
There's no way a 16-year-old with a bad attitude could
ever appreciate performance extras or the finer points of
sexy dining. But a mature adult with a newfound appreciation for teenage rebellion understands that some things,
like my first trip to Washington, D.C., only happen when
the time is right.
CHECK OUT:
National Portrait Gallery
& American Art Museum
202-633-1000
www.npg.si.edu
americanart.si.edu
Shakespeare Theatre Co.
202-547-1122
shakespearedc.org
TOURS:
Washington, D.C.
Convention & Tourism
Corporation
800-422-8644
washington.org
Rainbow History Project
202-907-9007
Rainbowhistory.org
These walking tours offer
a great way to witness
the scenic history of
D.C.'s gay community.
■
"Hidden Lake is a diverse and peacefullliving
environmentwhere I can live, laugh and love
the one I want"
A Proud New Owner-
..
►
'
•
~ ··--#~
-· ...
,..
~.I!' .. -
!-.
•... ~ •
..,·,'ft?'
~
~,...
-
.,;.
I'
·\I '
I
• Close to Atlanta, Birmingham & Chattanooga
• Spectacular Sale on select lots with prices starting in the 30's
• Over 80% of the Lakefront Lots already sold
• Beautiful 1+/- acre mountain lots
• Secluded 14 acre private lake
• No time requirement to build
• Owner financing available for qualified buyers
• Discount available on cash purchases
March 2007
I45
DrinkingDown
Under, Kiwi-Style
I assumed when heading to the southern hemi~
sphere, my obvious first stop would be Australia.
But as luck and fate would have it, my first trip
Down Under brought me to New Zealand, to cover
the Cocktail World Cup. New Zealand's signature
vodka company, 42 Below, was having their third
annual Cocktail World Cup in Queenstown, the
adventure capital of the world and New Zealand's
most visited city.
Forty-two of the world's top bartenders from the best bars
around the globe gathered for a week of extreme cocktailing. They,
along with 18 or 20 international journalists, a few judges and the
20 or so iibercool Kiwis from 42 Below were about to embark on
a weeklong adventure together. It was essentially Outward Bound
with a bar or, as I later discovered, band camp with booze.
After a night's layover and a couple of cocktails in Tahiti, I was
off to a good start. I joined several of the competing bartenders, a
few journalists and a judge for our next flight, which finally landed
on the picturesque mountain of Queenstown. For the next week, no
matter where I looked, my eye was forever inspired.
The 42 Below staffers were a force. No matter what your job,
as Ian, our driver and IT of the company, said, "It's one for all and
all for one for the week:' Geoff Ross, the genius behind the Kiwi
Company, and his crew strangely resembled my old camp counselors. They looked after our every need, handling each and every detail
with genuine friendliness and their Kiwi can-do attitude.
After being bullied over breakfast to bungee jump by Gareth and
Rene, two of the 42 Belowers, I - to my surprise - jumped off a
bridge my first day in. The bartenders embarking on their first leg of
the competition had to successfully shake and serve a cosmo while
bungee jumping. I just had to survive.
Barely back on solid ground, crawling up the hill, giddy and
wobbly, I was already being wrangled by the ever-lovely Angela,
our appointed 42 Below staffer, "Come on. Weve got a car waiting.
Were off to parapeunte:' Who are these people? How did I get here?
Within minutes I was being lifted into the sky in a gondola, with
views that silenced us all. With "pilots" on deck, we were assigned
a partner and before I knew it, I was told to walk straight ahead,
off the mountain. Seems normal. "Okay. The wind will pick up and
we'll lift off:' I was airborne twice within the hour. Parapeunting,
or paragliding, is a cross between a kite and an airborne spoon. It
doesn't get any better.
46
Icurve
The bungee wasn't enjoyable; it was exhilarating, enlightening
and a shake-up that I didn't know I needed. In comparison, the parapeunte was pure crazy, blissful joy! I didn't want to land, I wanted
to live up there and have everyone I know and love meet me there. I
totally trusted my pilot, a complete stranger who had my life in his
Oddly enough, extreme
boozingin New Zealand
bringsback fond childhood
memories.By Karen Loftus
hands for a full 15 minutes. Tip to the thrillseekers: If your pilot
asks, 'J\re you up for some fun?" say yes! Like an airborne rollercoaster, we were flipping and spinning. I was screaming in all the
right ways.
That was the day that we, the journalists, in an attempt to
articulate the trip, coined that the week was like high school. "Therell
be cliques, a crush, someone's feelings will get hurt:' A few awkward
moments later, we realized the bartenders were the sexy cheerleaders
and athletes, and we were the band camp kids.
The band marched on through the week's many activities. While
the bartenders competed, we carried our tubas and clarinets and
tipped back, "testing" the many cocktails made. In the Southern Alps,
we were helicoptered to the top of the world, to the Remarkables,
where an ice bar was set up for the bartenders who were given random and odd ingredients and a few minutes to whip up a drink,
name it and serve it to the judges.
Later in the week, we hopped into shotover jets in the water and
spun in 360-degree turns while barely skimming through gorges. We
only had to absorb the experience and possibly the cocktail made by
the bartender who had to mix, garnish and serve successfully while
spinning.
Aside from the cocktail activities, we, the band, took full advantage of the incredible culinary options in town. With clear skies,
crystal-clear blue-green water and edible air, it's no wonder the Kiwis
make the world's most-awarded vodka and some of the world's best
wines. Their fresh produce, oysters, beef, lamb and venison, their
cheeses and growing olive industry made for fine wining and dining
wherever we went.
In Arrowtown, a historic gold-mining town 20 minutes from
Queenstown, the band hit the Postmaster's House Restaurant.
Taking their wines seriously, they set the wine menu first and then
paired the food to match the wines accordingly. Between the venison
and Pinot Noir, and the Red Sheep's Cheese with the Montepulciano,
we had a Kiwi Vodka Green Tea Sorbet to cleanse our palates. It was
truly decadent to the senses.
There are several wine regions within New Zealand. Queenstown
in the Central Otago region is known for their Sauvignon Blancs
and their Pinot Noirs. Johan Small-Smith at the Wine Deli in town
pointed me in all the right wine directions. As per Johan's suggestion,
I made a stop at the famous Amisfield Winery and Bistro in Lake
Hayes, just 10 minutes from town. Having lunch with 42 Below's
own guru, Geoff Ross, we went with the Trust the Chef dish: a mix
oflocal dishes like oxtail, duck and zucchini paired with their awardwinning wines. It was a great way to pass a lazy day. When offered,
which is often~ New Zealand, always go with Trust the Che£
Every night ended with a Queenstown bar crawl. With a mix
of locals and visitors, the bar options were endless. The bars were
as quaint and chic as the city itself, fit with modern amenities, yet
riddled with old-world charm.
Six days in, the official Cocktail World Cup competition took
!
'
I
•<
place in town for all to see, we, the band, and the many locals in
front of a savvy panel of judges. The U.K. team took top prize with
their medieval concoction and Benedictine performance. It was truly
a spiritual experience, with a hot beverage taking top honors for the
first time. To try this trick at home, use this recipe:
World Cocktail Winner
2 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon of honey
S0mls cream
S0mls 42 BELOW Manuka Honey Vodka
20mls Tahiti Dark
the band, a couple of judges and the producer and host of the TV
show that was filmed all took flight, on our way to Auckland. As we
were about to land, they announced that we lost our landing gear, or
something didn't pull out, or we lost a wheel. We weren't really sure.
My British buddy, the toe,tapper and unofficial leader of our band,
said, "Don't worry. It's completely normal. It's standard. They are cir,
cling the tower to get the okay to land. They do it all the time:'
Now an unofficial extreme, savvy and accomplished athlete, I
sat back and relaxed through our extreme flight as we dipped, spun
5ml Benedictine
1 dash Angostura bitters
Whisk all ingredients and warm on stove, then char all ingre,
dients with a red,hot poker. (Yup, you heard right, a hot poker.)
Garnish with fresh cinnamon and nutmeg, and serve in a teacup and
and circled.
After many circles, the pilot said shakily, "We may land, or we
may land then take off again, right away:' Hmmmm. As we landed,
with several fire engines chasing us down the runway and grown
men wiping tears from their masculine cheeks, I began to think
that maybe it was more serious than I thought or was led to believe.
Leave it to a leader to allay fear in his followers. If that was our last
saucer.
song, it was certainly the note I wanted to leave on. Bliss.
The last night, I was the quintessential American with one too
many gushing goodbyes. I had a crush on the country. My lovely
friend and fellow band member was tapping his exasperated British
toe as we exited each establishment; he was definitely over my good,
byes, all of my gushing and my obvious crush.
With barely a wink, we piled into the busses at 5:45 the next
morning. Heading to the airport, I thought I'd never have that much
fun again, legally. The rambunctious bartenders, a few members of
Don't Forget To Clip This Info
To learn more about 42 Below visit 42below.com
For the Cocktail World Cup see cocktailworldcup.com
How to get there: Air Tahiti (airtahitinui.com)
Where to stay: The Heritage, a hop and a skip from town.
Request a lake view suite in the alpine hotel. You will wake up,
take a look out your window and think you've died and gone to
heaven (heritagequeenstown.nz,hotels.com).
March 2007
I4 7
Queer BroadsAbroad
Since 1973, globetrottinggals have lookedto LonelyPlanetto choose
their next adventure.By Sara Seinberg
Lonely Planet travel guides arrived in the early 1970s amid
a world bedazzled with hip buggers, fat mustaches and
impossibly enormous collars. Founders Tony and Maureen
Wheeler returned from an epicjourney starting in London
and continuing through Asia on to Australia. That expedi~
tion birthed the first ever Lonely Planet guidebook, Across
Asia on the Cheap, and has made the planet a little less lone~
ly for millions of travelers ever since.
from Austin, Texas, where she now works as a freelance writer and editor and
is earning her master's degree in library and information science.
What has been your favorite place to travel?
Well I got to live in Kyoto for a year. I really got to know it and I love that city.
It's the perfect size. You can ride your bike everywhere. And there is a sound
there. The older women still wear those wooden sandals all over. The clip,
pety,clop sandals. Sometimes I'd be by my window and I'd think, "God,
what's that sound? Is it a horse? "So I'd go to look and there would be this
beautiful old lady clopping down the way in her wooden sandals. I loved it.
Were you out in Japan?
Yes, I had a partner there who has since come out as a trans person. At the
In the last 30 years, the Wheelers have built a guidebook company unlike
time, he was read as a mannish woman. He came to Japan to study the
any other, constructed on the principles of authentic human connection, unbri,
gardens. I think it's not as big a deal there in terms of gender. You see
dled curiosity and above all, travel information with integrity. Because Lonely
mannish women and femmey men a lot in Asia. There is less of a macho
Planet has never accepted money from advertisers, their writers are free to give
attitude about masculinity in general, whether it's represented on a man
whole,hearted reviews of businesses without the weight or pressure of finan,
or a woman. People didn't seem to be strange to us in any way.
cial repercussions bearing down on their adventurous reports. Lesbians love You've been traveling
for years. How has that experience changed
'em for their omnipresent LGBT sections and fondness for o.ff,the,beaten path
for you?
adventures.
Before investing in a guide,
book, interested readers can be,
gin cruising the massive Lonely
Planet Web site, lonelyplanet
.com without spending a dime.
The site features podcasts, hostel
reviews, low,cost travel insur,
ance information, and an enor,
mous community of trekkers on
the message boards exchanging
experiences and information
from Seoul to Solvang.
Beth Greenfield and Alex
Hershey are two q_ueer women
among the team of over 500
international writers, who have
written
about
destinations
throughout the U.S. and Mexico
and have traveled extensively around the world.
I would have to say my level of comfort has become more important.
Curve caught up with both of these global gals to ask about lesbian hot,
Like no staying In a squat in Belfast for nine days?
spots, their dream vacations and the joys and pitfalls of penning travel guides
You know, maybe a night or two. As I get older, my awareness of mortality
for a living,
has become more solid. When I was younger, I mean, I'm only 30, but I
used to not care about certain things. Like if someone offered me water
She's a Wanderer: Alex Hershey
anywhere, I would just drink it and think, "Nothing will happen. Who
Alex Hershey (pictured opposite page, on the left) was born in Washington,
cares?" But now I know that certain things will make me sick. And my
D.C., but spent her first few years in London. Bitten by the travel bug early in
body is really important for traveling.
life, she lost her British accent but not the itch to roam. After studying phi,
Do you have plans to travel to other faraway lands?
losophy and Russian at Smith College and spending her junior year studying
Yes. I am dying to do the Trans,Siberian railroad trip across Russia. I stud,
Gaelic in Cork, Ireland, she bought a one,way ticket to Japan and stumbled
ied Russian in school, and I've always wanted to do that huge train trip.
around Asia for several months. She then found herself in the San Francisco
It seems so romantic. Not romantic, like with your lover, but romantic
Bay Area, where she landed a position as publishing assistant at Lonely Planet,
like everyone bundled in parkas and sharing vodka with some crusty
later working as an acting commissioning editor and author. She spoke to us
old guy.
48 curve
I
tii
~
a.
~
UJ
z
g
u.
0
~
w
Ii:
::::>
0
()
Where was your favorite place to be queer?
Chinese restaurant - to see that it used to be a sweet little town before
American sprawl made its mark there. And if they drove just 10 minutes
east, they'd be at the ocean of the awesome Jersey Shore.
Belgium is lightyears ahead of anyone in terms of gay rights. I loved being
there and going to gay bars there because it wasn't such a meat market. It
was like meeting family. People were excited to meet other queers traveling to their home and they were so welcoming. I felt so welcome there that
the language barriers just fell apart.
Where's your favorite queer spot in the world?
The New Yorker: Beth Greenfield
New York City? Small-townish?
New Jersey native Beth Greenfield (above right) has written about New York
- City for the entire 15 years she's lived there. This includes residing in
neighborhoods from Chelsea to Park Slope, the East Village to Boerum
Hill. We talked to her on the Upper West Side, where she is a writer and
editor for Time Out New York,and writes for the New York Times and Out
Traveler.Among her Lonely Planet guides are the previous edition of New
York City as well as Miami and the Keys,Mexico and USA. She lives with
her partner, Kiki, and their fat cat, Elijah.
What came first, writing or traveling?
Writing came first for me. I majored in English, went to grad school for journalism at (New York University].
Are you out when you travel?
I am always out, but sometimes cautiously, depending on the situation .... One
time in Mexico we stopped on a highway to ask directions from a motorcycle cop. He was very intrigued by us and asked if we were sisters. My partner
said, "No, novias[girlfriends J;'and he took off his mirrored sunglasses and
just stared at us. He was like, really:' He was polite, but really fascinated and
was trying to be cool, but we could tell he was a bit thrown. Still, he gave us
an escort to the exit we were looking for.
Where would you send visitors in your hometown?
I don't know how many visitors would find their way to Eatontown, N.J. - a
suburban town that's about an hour and a half outside of New York City!
But I think I'd have to send them first to the massive Monmouth Mall,
and then to what is left of Eatontown's Main Street - a one-block strip
with a magazine shop, a dance shop, an Indian grocery, a really delicious
I'd have to say New York City. There are others very dear to me - especially
Provincetown, where I spend much of each summer - but this city's
queer scene is fun, diverse, huge and small-townish, all at once.
Well the thing I love about queer New York is that you don't need to go
somewhere specific to find it. I love that Kiki and I can hold hands and
show affection practically anywhere, that I can see dyke tourist couples •
on the subway looking really comfortable, that I can talk about my partner at work just like any straight person can talk about theirs, that I can
get cruised in Macy's, see gay daddies in Central Park, Latina lesbians in
Queens, lesbian mommies all over town.
But the big neighborhoods for cool lezzies are still the East Village and
Brooklyn's Park Slope and surrounding ouitskirts, like Kensington.
West Village is mainly where the lesbian bars are, so that has the poolplaying drinkers of all ages much of the time, while East Village and
Brooklyn - Williamsburg, Park Slope, Prospect Heights - get more
tattooed, androgynous folk. Queens is very Latin, with several such
bars and clubs in and around Jackson Heights. I live on the Upper West
Side, where I see mainly older, long-term couples who sort of blend in
- with the exception of my beautifully colorful neighbors, Bitch and
Daniela Sea.
What's the most surprisingly queer-friendly place you've been with
your partner?
I think it would have to be Havana. People there could not have cared less,
which really surprised me. We stayed in a gay-owned casa particular [the
Cuban version of a bed and breakfast] and the guys introduced us to several other gay guys who worked in the arts, and all said that things have
never been better for LGBT folks in Cuba. This was a few years ago; can't
speak for now. ■
March 2007
I49
Easter IslandOffers
Mysteryat the End
of the Earth
This overlookeddestinationmay just
surpriseyou. By Carole TerwilligerMeyers
"Here I am, out in the Pacific, thousands of
miles from anywhere. My souvenir may or
Getting There:
LanChile (LAN.com) flies
to Easter Island
several times a week
from Santiago and
Papeete. Vacation
packages (lanvacations.
com) are also popular.
Where to Stay:
There are no big luxury
resorts or five-star hotels
here - all the more
reason to go now.
Hotel Otai
chile-hotels.com/otai.htm
TahaTai Hotel
hotel-tahatai. co. cl
More
Information:
Easter Island Foundation
islandheritage.org
Easter Island Tourism
netaxs.com/trance/
rapanui.html
Chile Tourism
visit-chile.org
so Icurve
may not be a tattoo. I trekked to the island's
best artist today, and he wasn't in. It is a hit
or miss process here -
no appointments."
Thus read the postcards I sent from Easter
Island's single, tiny post office. I stamped
each with a commemorative depicting the
moai I'd come so far to see, and, further
validating my journey, I paid a dollar more
to have my passport rubber,stamped with
three Easter Island imprints.
Before leaving on this trip, I decided that my souvenir
would be a tattoo on the inside of my ankle. Not too daring, but since I am a woman of a certain age, daring enough
to startle my adult children.
After striking out on the tattoo, I strolled beside the
reconstructed them in the 1960s and '70s, and many of the
giant statues once again face inland atop raised platforms.
Their ancestors originally placed them so they could give
their protective "mana;' or energy, to the community.
dusty street and browsed the Municipal Market of the island's only town, tiny Hanga Roa, and discovered a lovely
hand-carved wooden bowl shaped like a fish. Instead of
purchasing it on the spot, I decided to look around more,
and then return on my last day when, if it was still there,
I'd buy it.
Easter Island's mysterious statues, known as moai
(pronounced "moh-eye"), have intrigued me since I was
an anthropology major in college. I tied in my visit as a
side trip from Santiago, where I was attending a convention. The anticipation of exploring this isolated Polynesian
island located about 2,300 miles off the coast of Chile
thrilled me for months in advance.
Since this speck of an island is accessible by air only
from Santiago, Chile, or Papeete, Tahiti, and since either
Bight takes more than five hours, it isn't easy to reach
(especially if you're seated at the front of the cattle section
next to a teething baby).
Deplaning banana republic-style, directly onto the
tarmac, fed my get-away-from-it-all fantasies. Being
greeted by the near-perfect temperature and a gorgeous lei made of pungent orange-red marigolds and
magenta bougainvillea fed my soul.
More than 800 moai are scattered around the island.
At one point they all were knocked over by warfare.
U.S. anthropologist William Malloy, from Wyoming,
Finding the moai and understanding the historical
implications is easiest with a guided tour, though many
visitors opt to instead rent a four-wheel drive and use a
guidebook for information. Motor scooters are also a
popular way to get around the small triangular island (it
measures only 13 miles long by 10 miles wide, and is only
1,677 feet at its highest point). Many roads are unpaved,
which helps keep traffic slow, and you can literally see forever, making it easier to avoid accidents. Though I took a
guided tour each of the two full days I was on the island,
I recommend taking a tour one day and exploring on your
own with a rented vehicle another day.
I liked that my tour began at the Museo Anthropologico
P.Sebastian Englert, named for an early island priest who
is buried next to the town church. Guide Nena Delgado
relayed helpful facts that put some of what we'd see later in
perspective. We learned that Rapa Nui - as the island is
called in the indigenous language, and which means "fertility" - is the only Polynesian island that created a written
language. Fish-shaped wooden tablets display the carvings
of ancient symbols, undecipherable to anyone alive today.
The only natives who could translate them were captured
centuries ago by invaders and died as slaves in Peru. We
also learned that reported cannibalism was merely an
attempt to capture an enemy's mana.
Over two days, we visited the island's most fascinating
I
3
~
~
w
....
~
<(
(.)
sites: Ahu Nau Nau, a row of seven, reconstructed 15th,
century moai, four with colorful red topknots, located
above spectacular palm,fringed Anakena beach; Ahu
Tongariki, with 15 moai in a striking lineup atop one
platform; and Volcin Rano Raraku, the quarry that is the
island's top sight and where 887 stone statues were carved
into the hill's side. 397 remain here unfinished, and 92 lay
abandoned where they presumably fell as they were being
moved.
Being on the island on a Sunday allowed us to attend
mass at the town's simple lava,rock Catholic church. A
priest visiting from Ireland presented the service in English
as well as in Spanish and Rapa Nui (the local language).
The priests wore leis, the congregation wore jeans and
T ,shirts, and the ceiling fans stirred a breeze as the choir
sang to accordion and drum accompaniment reminiscent
of a Cajun dancehall band. It was mesmerizing.
Further good fortune had us in town when the
Matato'a cultural show was happening (the group often
is on the road around Polynesia). I was convinced it was
going to be a smarmy Polynesian review but found myself
instead wowed by the energetic mix of traditional story,
telling and Rapa Nui dances accompanied by contempo,
rary plugged,in music. Families with young kids, many of
whom obviously knew the performers, were in the audi,
ence along with us tourists. Their legs wrapped in mini
hula skirts, the male dancers stomped hip,hop,style, giv,
ing off an electricity that definitely reached those of us in
the front row. They actually reached out and touched me
and others, and made bold eye contact. According to our
guide, they had plenty of mana and were passing it onto
the audience via this touch and eye contact. And these vir,
ile guys were not afraid to allow a few stray pubic hairs to
show through their decorative body makeup. By the end of
the performance, their bodies glistened with perspiration.
Their lovely female dance partners were much lower key.
Back at the tattoo parlor at around 11 a.m. on the
morning of my departure, I was told that the artist was
still sleeping. I took that as a sign that I must search on
through Polynesia for my tattoo. I headed to the market
and again found that bowl I'd wanted. Bargaining for it got
me at a good price, and it now rests on my glass coffee table
holding sweets and memories.
At one point I asked Delgado if the island welcomes les,
bians and gays, to which she replied, "They are our brothers
and our sisters and are accepted here:' Aside from its beau,
tiful weather and rich cultural heritage, the island's genuine
warmth and acceptance will bring me back soon. ■
Opposite page from left: The
famed and sadly closed tattoo parlor; a moai overlooks
as we explore the island
by ATV.This page: Moai
offer their protective mana,
even to tourists
March 2007
I51
At Home in the Midwest
Just ask a localwhy it's time to visit Minneapolis.By Holly Dolezalek
Your hometown is your hometown, but there's no
city like an adopted one. I moved to Minneapolis
almost 12 years ago, thinking I would stay a year
and then move somewhere new. But there never
seemed to be a better place to live. After almost 12
years here, I can tell you that there are three things
you need to know about Minneapolis: the women,
the water and the winter.
Start With the Babes
As in other cities, gay bars in Minneapolis have a rough time because
the LGBT community is so dispersed. Several bars - the Metro,
Boom!, Over the Rainbow - have closed in the last few years, and
there's no women's bar. Instead, there are monthly events that attract
flocks of the gay ladies. Twilight is on the second Friday of each
month, usually at the Kitty Cat Klub near the University, and so
is Diva Riot, which is usually on the first Saturday. Similar, bigger
events at larger venues usually happen around Pride, which is a solid
festival with plenty of booths and a ton of related events.
Many women go to the Town House, a country music bar in
Minneapolis' twin city, St. Paul. They two-step, watch drag, and
dance to club music (sometimes all on the same night), and then
head to Blanche's Piano Lounge in the back, where they listen to
Lori Dokken, a well-known local player and singer with a fabulously
relaxed and funny patter. She plays piano and sings songs that everybody knows, and she's especially good with Elton John tunes and
Beatles stuff.
For sober fun, the Uptown area is queer-friendly, if yuppified.
Condos and chain restaurants have replaced some of the former
inhabitants, but nobody looks twice at a same-sex couple holding
hands. Many businesses are gay-owned, like Bryant-Lake Bowl, a
restaurant and vintage bowling alley that hosts a·lot of queer events
in its small theater space.
Gay or gay-friendly churches cluster near Uptown and the surrounding area, like the Metropolitan Community Church, Spirit
of the Lakes, St. Joan of Arc (a liberal Catholic church) and the
Unitarian Universalist on Dupont Avenue. There are other lesserknown churches that simply extend their sense of justice to all people instead of just the usual favorites, like Judson Church, a Baptist
congregation that genuinely includes the gay folks without fear
or favor.
If theater is your church, this is the right place to worship. Fun
fact: Minneapolis has more theater seats per capita than any other
U.S. city, second only to New York City. Yes, that New York City.
The internationally known Guthrie theater complex boasts three
stages, not to mention a fantastic nighttime view of the Mississippi
River and the Stone Arch Bridge. The city's Fringe Festival is known
as one of the most queer-friendly in the nation, and 100 other companies round out our year-round theatrical stable.
If shopping is your church, then we've got your megachurch.
52 I curve
Even the shopping-phobic will tell you that Mall of America's 520
stores make it easy - if scary - to get your Christmas shopping
done in one day. Every shoe store, clothing store, jewelry store and
goofball specialty store is here, sometimes more than once. It's laid
out in a circle on four floors, like a huge, round, layer cake of retail.
It's a spectacle, and a surpisingly gay-friendly one; since 1996, the
mall has held an annual gay day called Camp Out, which benefits
District 202, a nonprofit organization for LGBT youth.
All About the Water
Minneapolis' dominant natural feature is found all over the city.
With shoreline almost everywhere you go, the vast, half-mile-wide
swath of the mighty Mississippi divides Minneapolis from St. Paul,
and hundreds of lakes dot the urban landscape.
A river through a city is always romantic, but our country's
greatest river combines romance, history, industry, recreation and
fiction. At the Stone Arch Bridge, which artistically spans the river
near downtown and St. Anthony Falls, you can see why people came
here generations ago. As the sailboats, canoes, kayaks, motorboats,
and swimmers play in the water, you can see why the Minneapolans
stay. And on a crisp fall afternoon, when the thousands of trees lined
up the banks of the river wear their flame-colored September finest
with a Midwestern-blue sky as an accessory, you can see why the
expatriates always come back in the end.
The lakes, sprinkled like fallen pearls all over the metro area or
clustered in chains of three or four, greatly dictated how the city was
planned. Parkways and walkways circle each one so you can drive
or walk (or rollerblade!) around them easily, and most of them are
public property. Athletes who want a 3-mile run can circle Lake
Calhoun, and lovers who want a romantic, woodsy stroll can join
ducks and geese around Lake Harriet. Try an early evening trip on
Lake of the Isles in a kayak, as the turnbuckles on the masts of the
docked sailboats make their accidental music.
Yes, Sure, It's Winter Here
Summer, the shortest and sweetest season here, is a long, crazy party
of festivals and get-togethers. May Day kicks it all off with a parade
and a giant puppet show in Powderhorn Park, the center of the premier lesbian neighborhood (some call it Dyke Heights) in southern Minneapolis. All summer long, it's a festival every weekend:
Aquatennial, Taste of Minnesota, July 4, a dozen others and then
the big blowout at the end of the summer: the State Fair (mnstatefair.org). I can't do it justice here. Butterheads, deep-fried pickles and
seed art. You must see it to believe it.
But after the State Fair, it's a short march to winter. Long
stretches when the temperature is 20 or 30 degrees below zero aren't
as common as they used to be (although they still are in parts of the
state). But even if the winter isn't quite the same old deep freeze,
it's still a long haul. It starts to settle in around mid-November (the
Halloween blizzard of 1991, where 28 inches fell in three days, is an
extreme example) and some years it doesn't really let up until May.The
snow that falls stays around, and you get stir-crazy around February.
But everyone seems oddly cheerful when the winter reaches its
in Powderhorn
May Day kicks it all off with a parade and a giant puppet show
it Dyke
Park, the center of the premierlesbianneighborhood(somecall
every weekend:
Heights) in southern Minneapolis. All summer long, it's a festival
Aquatennial,Taste of Minnesota,July 4, and a dozen others.
worst It's as though people are proud to show that they can
tough it out. Normally taciturn Minnesotans - descen,
dants of the Finns, Swedes and Norwegians who settled here
generations ago - seem to welcome the opportunity to pull
each other out of snowbanks. This seems to be what they
call"Minnesota nice:' Now, in my home state of Colorado, if
it happens near our houses, we'll invite you in and offer you a
glass of wine to settle your nerves. In Minneapolis, they might
do the same, or they might not even make eye contact.
Still, marathon shoveling and nearly seven months of
cold can be dispiriting, and there's no way to sugarcoat
that. But it has its benefits. Spring here is not a season;
it's manna from heaven. I once heard a radio DJ seriously
taking pity on people from San Diego or Jamaica because,
he said, "They will never know the joy of digging out after
a long, cold winter:' Having teared up at the kiss of 70,
degree air on my winter,weary cheek, I could not agree
more. ■
There's a shoreline almost
everywhere you go; the vast,
half-mile-wide swath of the
mighty Mississippi divides
Minneapolis from St. Paul,
and hundreds of lakes dot
the urban landscape.
March 2007
I 53
Guysaren'ttheonlyoneswhocantakeit to themat.
Women's
independent
prowrestlingistougherthanyou
think.ByLoriSelke
"Pro wrestling is tougher than it looks;' says Randy Powell, the founder of the
Professional Girl Wrestling Association. "Not so much that the girls are out
there trying to hurt each other. But it can be very competitive:'
The PGWA is not a league or a federation, but a promotional company:· It sets up
and promotes matches between
independent women wrestlers, videotapes the results and then sells the tapes on the Web
at ladysports.com. Unlike the
WWE wrestlers, Powell's do not sign an exclusive contract and are free to wrestle for
other promoters at any time. And
also, despite the anachronistic "girl" in the title of his outfit, Powell and the PGWA de,emphasi
ze the T&A factor and
the theatrical trappings. ''I've never wanted to promote wrestling that I felt was exploiting
women;' Powell says. He and
the ~omen he showcases consider wrestling a highly competitive, if under,recognized,
sport.
Powell started his career as a writer and pho,
tographer for wrestling fan magazines in the
1970s. "Girls like Judy Martin, Susan Green,
Leilani Kai, they didn't have a lot of publicity
going on, and I wanted to see ifl couldn't do some
publicity ·for them:' In 1992, Powell brought a
people would remember. I hit the mat, and
she spun around to look at me. I was now
212 pounds, and she ended up retiring af,
ter that match. She said, if I was able to get
that big and that strong [that quick], there
wasn't no way she wanted to face any other
video camera to a training session run by Susan
"Tex" Green. 'J\fter the training session was over,
I asked Susan if she and Judy Martin would have
a match and let me videotape it. And when I did
that, it was amazing how the camera picked up
the sounds. The hard slaps, the punches, the
grunts and groans:' The PGWA was born.
Green was not only the PGWA's first feature,
she was their first champion. Born in Corpus
Christi, Texas, she wrestled in her first profes,
sional match on her 15th birthday and lost. Now,
at age 52, she's still active in the ring and runs
her own training gym in South Carolina, a space
she calls "Gym of Pain and Glory:' Both men and
women head there to learn what Green has to of,
fer, although she admits that she ends up train,
ing more men because the women are often sur,
prised at how tough training really is. "There's no
newcomers:'
Soon, Green was touring the world as a
professional wrestler. "I actually had my 16th
birthday in Hong Kong in 1971. I've been in
places I didn't know existed, I've been in some
places I'd love to go back to, and I've been in a
whole lot of places I don't care ifl ever go back
to:' The only thing that affected her choice of
windows, no air conditioning and no heat. I have
all the weights, but I don't stress weight training.
We should be spending most of my time in the
ring:' She trains about 10 people a year, includ,
ing former NFL players, women's rugby cham,
pions and anyone else interested. Her specialty
is one,day "tryout" sessions for $200. "I tell them
as they're leaving, if you wake up in the morn,
ing and you can't wait until you get back in this
ring, then you've got what it takes. If you wake
up and say 'oh my God; then you don't want to
be a wrestler:'
Green started her career as a teen, but she
showed interest in women's wrestling even sooner.
"I went to my first match when I was 5 years old.
My father was a wrestling fan. They announced
that the following week they would have women,
and I asked if we could get tickets reserved. We
did, and from there I was hooked:'
"From the time I was 8 years old, I started
to pester Mr. Blanchard;' she says, referring to
famous Texas wrestling promoter Joe Blanchard.
"I just kept on and on, and when I was 14, he
said, we'll see if you got what it takes:' She
trained for a year before entering the ring as a pro
in Texas, with a special dispensation from Gov.
John Connally, who had to be assured that she
wasn't violating child labor laws.
When she started, Green was only 112
pounds. She faced a competitor who weighed
140 pounds, and"she beat the crap out of me. But
we had a match four years later, and when I came
out, I jumped over the top rope. Joe Blanchard
had told me I needed to make an entrance that
venue? "I don't like cold weather!"
Green even dated another wrestler once.
"She was my tag team partner. She decided to
retire, and she ended up not liking me on the
road, so that didn't work out. I came home
one night from New York City, and she had
moved out:'
How tough can pro wrestling be? ''I've
got a knee that's been blown out and recon,
structed, a shoulder that has to be recon,
structed, I've had my neck and back broke;'
Green reports. ''I've paid my dues:'
Nowadays, "I don't wrestle as much as
I like to;' and she spends most of her time
training in her gym. Green has a sideline gig
as well, performing as a drag king at lesbian
clubs and events. "I was at South Carolina
Gay Pride 2003, and I was crowned a ki_ng
for the whole state:'
Although the WWE is the best,known
pro wrestling outfit, "if you're not 7 ,foot tall,
they don't even think about you;' says Green.
Like Powell, she also finds their emphasis to
be less on athletics and more on showmanship
and telegenic faces. In contrast, the smaller
independent promotions are more welcoming
of variety. "Tall, short, fat, skinny, whatever;'
Powell says, "they will all have fans:' The only
thing that counts is ability and dedication.
Powell says he considers the PGWA "a
serious hobby:' Green has a day job these
days. "There's going to be some places that
you go, and if you even get enough money to
buy you gas and a burger, you're going to be
lucky:' Nonetheless, theirs is a lifelong dedica,
tion to a sport they love.
Powell thinks that the attraction to wres,
ding by women athletes is simple. 'J\fter girls
get out of high school and college, maybe
they've played sports, the only thing left for
them is the little community leagues or some,
thing they have at the Y, there's no other out,
let. And sometimes that's just not enough:' ■
March 2007
I55
By Diane Anderson-Minshall
I Photography
by Brie Childers
Actor Janina Gavankar,The L Word's Papi, has set
tongues wagging, hearts fluttering and loins melting
as the one of the sexiest players on television.We
caught a few moments with the shooting star before
fame goes to her head.
our
Janina Gavankar is walking toward you, all lanky swagger and smoldering eyes, when
it hits you, hard - this is what they mean by "built like a brick shithouse." Gavankar~ a
dark--haired, Indian- Dutch Chicago native, exudes a captivating, whirlwind force such
that within minutes of her arrival, lesbians, nay people, are attracted to her, circling her
like she's a superstar even though they don't know her name. But don't worry, because
by the end of The L Word's fourth season on Showtime they surely will.
Daughter of music producer Pete and sister of Miss D.C. 1997, Sonya, Gavankar
isn't altogether unknown. Roles on TV shows (Strong Medicine, Girlfriends) and films
(Barbershop 2, Cup of My Blood) put her in front of the public, as did her short stint as
part of the musical group Endera, who disbanded after their first album, on a subsidiary label of Universal Records.
As far as TV stars go, she's amazingly unaffected, enough so that she'll talk to women on airplanes about their coming-out stories. She's the kind of girl who still giggles
Hair by
Edward St. George
Makeup by
Dehx
Assistance by
J Mims
just a bit when she tells you why she'd like to jump in bed with Chloe from 24, but at
the same time, she isn't afraid to make on-screen whoopee with most of The L Word
cast. Gavankar, always a knockout, is sweet, smart, funny and, if her fans get their
say, she'll be as big as God (or Kevin Bacon) anytime now. We calmed ourselves long
enough to ask Gavankar about playing gay for pay, being an "all-American" minority
and, of course, her first lesbian kiss.
March 2007
I57
You had fans before you even made your L Word debut.
Yeah, it's a little weird. I was just so excited to (get] the job and come up here
and work with all these amazing actors ... and (at my first appearance]
that's when I really understood how imp?rtant the show was.
Were you a little frightened joining a cast that was so well established?
Yes and no. I came into this thinking, there's so much to learn from these girls,
so many of them have had really long careers and that's what I want for
myself. And to be able to work with people who deserve so much respect
for the work they've done in the past was just really exciting. I just sort of
sat back and really watched everybody and tried to learn as quickly as I
could. It was amazing, though, just to kind of get here and watch everybody do their thing.
Your character meets Alice and Helena first, but you're introduced
to the whole gang during a rousing basketball game. Do you play In
real life?
Oh my gosh, not at all. I'm unathletic, nerdy.... I sort of turn things into
dance moves and try and make sense of it, but basically I suck at any sport.
It's bad. But we had an amazing trainer ... and he really held my hand and
got me through it.
Your character, Papi, Is a butch Latina who is sort of a major player.
Indians than there were for Latinas, and I'm a quarter Dutch and on my
Dutch side there's some Spanish, like a Spanish princess married into my
family or something crazy like this. So, I was like, you know what? Then
I'm going to explore what that means. Because, you know, if you're an actor, you've got to work somehow. And I'm American, I'm all American. I
feel like a mutt. I know that I'm brown. I look in the mirror and I'm brown
so that makes me feel like I apply to anything that's brown, and I'm really
sort of fascinated by all cultures anyway.
Do you come across to casting directors as not Indian enough?
Yeah, that happens.
I think often when the script calls for an Indian actor or a Southeast
Asian actor, they're looking for a particular look that you may not
have because you're mixed race.
Yeah, I would agree with that. But also, if you look at this like, they're casting people who aren't Latina. But it's like, okay, fine then, you can blast
them for casting people who aren't the same age as the character, who
are straight instead of gay, who are this or that. I mean, there's a million
ways you can blast people for not casting what's exactly on the page, but
we're actors for a reason. It's definitely a challenge, and I'm praying that I
do this part justice, and I am worried what people are going to think, but
"I haven'treallythoughtabout what fame means,
the idea of celebrityis sort of odd to me. Like,what
are we celebrating?People?I don't get it."
Did you prepare for that role in any way?
Oh, I did so much research. Yes, I tried to be a player as much as possible. I
wouldn't necessarily say she's so butch. I think she's got some masculine
qualities. All these sort of stereotypes of what's butch and what's femme
don't really apply, especially on the show, and that's why [The L Word's]
so important. I think Showtime really gives us the leeway to do what we
want and be creative and real in these people. I think that's why everybody takes to this show so much, because it's not just about stereotypes,
the whole point is busting all the stereotypes. So I don't think we can
really call Papi anything in particular, and that goes for any character on
the show.
Have you canoodled with girls in real life? Do you have any real life
experience with this?
Not yet, no. [Laughs]
Do you end up having your first lesbian kiss on The L Word?
No. I had my first kiss with a girl onstage in Chicago. Just recently I did a
sketch show. I don't really (think about] is it a lesbian kiss or is it a girlon-girl kiss? It's just what's in the script, what the character does, what's
going on in that character's life. Everybody asks these questions, like, "Is
it weird, you know, kissing a girl?" It's not about kissing a girl. It's weird,
period. There are cameras, there are 50 people, you're worried about your
makeup, you're worried if you look fat in your makeup, you're worried
about all these silly things. It doesn't matter whether (you're kissing] a girl
or a boy, it's just awkward, period, at least to me.
One of the things that's interesting is that you're also playing a
Latina on the show. And this is second time that The L W~rd has
cast a non-Latina to play a Latina.
I feel like I'm going to get this question a lot, but you know •.• here's the
truth, I got to Hollywood and I realized that there were even less roles for
at the end of the day, I'm doing the best that I can, today, at work. And
Showtime has been so wonderful to me and (executive producer] Ilene
(Chaiken] has just given me so much support, and I hope in the future all
minorities will be equally represented so minorities don't have to fight for
what should be a human right.
How do you make Papi feel authentic, then?
That's my job as an actor, because she is pretty much the complete opposite of me. I have this mini sort of dance that I do right before they
say "action:' I sort of have this radio in my head that goes off and ... I
get into the character. She's bigger than I am in real life. You know real
audiences relate to her, so I have to figure out what her music is, in her
body, her physicality, and what her real voice is. So I definitely have a
little rev up before [laughs].
Parminder Nagra had the first recurring female Indian character on
an American TV series, when she joined ER. Are you the first Indian
woman to play a lesbian on television?
I don't know. I've never really thought about it. I don't really think it's that
big of a deal. When I got this show, I don't know if it's because I've been
raised to be really open-minded, but I never really thought about it like it
was some big thing, someone who was gay. And I think maybe that's why
I didn't realize that this show is really leaving its mark in this huge way, in
a bigger way than I really realized.
You know, I was on the plane yesterday. My sister got married on the weekend, and I took the plane back, and I'm sitting next to this woman and I
was reading the (new script] and she said, 'Tm so sorry, I'm nosy. Are you
an actress?" And I said yes, kind of reluctantly, like I didn't know where
the conversation was going to go. And then she saw ·at the top of the page
it said The L Word and she said, "My daughter's a lesbian:' And then she
started telling me how her daughter came out four years ago when she was
March 2007
I59
"I'mextremelyprivate.
And what goes on
in my privatelifeis
so sacredto me.
And when I'm with
someone,they are
veryawareof it and
that bond between
us is no one else's
business,it'sours.
I very much havemy
own littleworldand
my own littlebubble
withthat person.
And that'skindof an
extremeconnection
kindof thing."
16, and she comes from a really Catholic family and she really lost a few years of being close
to her daughter. They just weren't close, and
she didn't know what to do and she and her
husband were having problems with it, and
then she found The L Word in her bedroom
and she said "What's thist And her daughter
said, "Mom, you should watch it:'
And she said she started watching it, and then
they started watching it together. And then
she was kind of quiet for a moment and then
she said, "I guess it opened my eyes to a lot of
her world . . . and how she feels:' It was just
breathtaking to me. I just kept my mouth
shut and listened to her whole story. She said,
"You know, maybe the show is less for lesbians and more for everyone else:' And that's
what I really hope.
Sure.
So, that lesbians are truly represented properly
on TV and film. It's just really hard for The
L Word because everyone wants the show to
incorporate so many avenues. I can't wait until
there can be another show like this 10 years
from now and it doesn't have to be called The L
Word, and it doesn't have to be about lesbians.
You know?
Sure, there's a lot of pressure on The L Word,
being the first of its kind.
It's just one show. Were the only show and because
of that, we understand the pressure and we don't
mind it. But theres only so much we can do.
Some of your ear1ier film roles, such as in
Barbershop 2, had you on sets with a lot of
men. How different was it being on The L
Word set?
Well, it's a different kind of show to work on, too.
Like Barbershop's all comedy. Plus, my roles in
those were much smaller, so I got to sit back
and watch them do their thing. But then I
really have to give it up to Showtime and Ilene
Chaiken. They just let us go for it. We have so
much freedom, and I never really expected to
get what I got here.
That's probably unusual for someone in her
first recurring series role.
For real. This is the big break. I am so pleased,
and I am thanking my lucky stars that I got
this lucky.
And you know, every woman who's been on
The L Word thus far has risen to fame really
quickly. Are you ready for the kind of attention you're probably going to get soon?
I don't know. I guess I'll just take it when it comes.
I haven't re~ly thought about what fame
means, the idea of celebrity is sort of odd to
me. Like, what are we celebrating? People? I
don't get it. So, I don't really think I fit into
that world so much. I just kind of don't want
to be an actor that sucks. That's my big goal: I
don't want to suck.
Let me ask you a couple of fun questions
before you go back to the set. What's the
sexiest thing you do?
The sexist thing I do? I don't know. I'm embar,
rassed. I'm not Do you want to tell me what you find sexy
instead?
You know what, probably the sexiest thing is that
I'm extremely private. And what goes on in my
private life is so sacred to me. And when I'm
with someone, they are very aware of it and
that bond between us is no one else's business,
it's ours. I very much have my own little world
and my own little bubble with that person.
And that's kind of an extreme connection kind
of thing.
In a recent poll, a huge majority of straight
women said that they'd go gay for Angelina
Jolie. What woman in Hollywood would you
go gay for?
Two people. Natalie Portman and Chloe from 24.
Shes the coolest character and chick ever. I
love the nerdy girls, the nerdy smart girls. The
fact that she knows she's really good at her job,
I think she's the greatest character. ■
L WordAlumniBed Check
Where does the time go? Showtime's The L Word is officially in
its fourth season, but it seems like just yesterday when Marina
followed Jenny into Bette and Tina's bathroom for that famous
kiss. And wasn't it last week when the likes of Cherie Jaffe and
Veronica Bloom were shaking things up for Shane? Could it be
that we really 'lost our beloved Dana Fairbanks? Well, the good
news is that all these former L Word ladies and their careers are
doingjust fine.
aka Marina,aka the femme fatale who dis,
KarinaLombard,
mantled Jenny, is still rocking prime time as an alien abductee
on USXs sci,fi fantasy hit, The 4400. The show's fourth season
will air this summer. Her character, Alana Mareva, is a widow
who lost her husband in a car accident and returned from her
abduction with the ability to create alternate realities out of
people's memories. I can think of a few alternate realities that
involve her, that's for sure - who's with me? But hey, good looks
only go so far, and Lombard continues to flourish as an actor,
musician, singer and writer who has collaborated with Cirque
du Soleil. Oh, and then there was the spread in Playboy back in
2005, which I'm sure none of us saw. Yeah, right.
Who can forget Shane's affair with CherieJaffe?Hey, if you're
gonna cross that line, it may as well be with a hottie like actor,
She landed a role in
Arquette.
producer and director Rosanna
the ABC show What About Brian in the role of Nicole Varzi,
Brian's record,producer older sister. The show was renewed
and is in the midst of its second season. But back to Arquette,
both of her documentaries, Searchingfor Debra Winger (about
women in the movie biz) and All We Are Saying (about the mu,
sic biz), are must,sees.
CamrynManheimportrayed the high,maintenance control
Bloomduring the second sea,
freak movie producer Veronica
son. Manheim's rise to fame came during her stint on ABC's
The Practice, where she portrayed defense attorney Ellenor
Frutt for which she won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy.
These days, she's getting spooky alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt
on the CBS drama The Ghost Whisperer, playing antique shop
manager Delia Banks. You can see Manheim next in the film
Slipstream, written by and starring Anthony Hopkins.
Tennis pro, sweet geek, charming goofball and ultimately brave
will be sorely missed. That said,
inspiration, DanaFairbanks
ErinDanielsis very much alive and well on the small screen,
portraying a crackerjack private investigator on Fox's Justice.
Her character, smart, sassy Betsy Harrison, is the girl you'd def,
initely want on your team should you ever end up in hot water.
Betsy is also a likeable woman, unlike the guest role Daniels
played on an episode of the Showtime series, Dexter, where she
was a nasty next,door neighbor with a yappy dog. Point being,
Daniels is certainly versatile and will likely continue her work
in both television and film - check her out in the 2002 movie
One Hour Photo. Though we really wish Dana was still around,
we're tuning into justice now. -Aimsel
L. Ponti
March 2007
I 61
Mental illness haunts my family. My mother was severely mentally
ill. She rarely left her bedroom, let alone our house. Photographs
of my mother from my childhood portray a beautiful, wraith-like
woman with an utterly vacant look. For most of her life, she lived
in a world delineated by depression and punctuated by anxiety so
monumental that she barely functioned. She could not hold a job
or even, at times, a conversation. ~ My mother was not the only
"crazy" person in my family. My grandfather attempted suicide
with a butcher knife to his throat in our house when I was in eighth
grade. The oldest, I was left to clean up the bloody aftermath.
By Victoria A. Brownworth
62
I curve
Editor's note: Becauseof the stigma still associatedwith mental illness,names in
this story have been altered where noted, in order to protect the privacy of those
interviewed;all other details are completelytrue to that individual'sexperience,
includingmy own.
When you live in close proximity to mentally ill people, you adjust your sense
of what normal means. For me, mental illness had always been a familial
norm, yet like a majority of American families, we never called it by its real
name because the stigma was too great. "Nice people" weren't crazy.
Despite the fact that mental illness was part of our daily lives, it remained
a taboo subject. When my grandfather was in a state mental hospital receiving the shock therapy that would alter his creative personality to one monotonous note, he was "away for a while:' My mother was always referred to as "not
well;' as if she were the victim of a mysterious decades-long virus.
Thus, when my parents had me committed to a mental hospital when I was
in high school, it didn't seem the outrageous act of betrayal that I now know it
to have been. It was just family tradition. Some families sent their folks to spas,
ours went to mental hospitals. Was I catatonically depressed like my mother
or brandishing a butcher knife like my grandfather? No. I was a lesbian.
My parents were desperate to fix this abnormality that seemed somehow
much more egregious than my mother's catatonic state or my grandfather's
suicidal state.
In the 1970s, minors had no rights and parents retained ultimate authority. When children became "incorrigible;' as I had been deemed because of my
out lesbianism, which had already gotten me expelled from my all-girls high
school, outsiders were brought in to "help:'
Until 1973, the Diagnostics and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders
classified homosexuality as a mental illness. Thus, the "cure"for my lesbianism
would be an indefinite stay in a mental hospital with a long-term psychotropic
drug chaser.
I was never big on drugs. My mother took enough medications to stock
a pharmacy, and despite the era in which I came of age, drugs scared me. In
a household where everything seemed terribly out of control, I wanted to be
sure of what was going on at all times.
And I was adept at sleight of hand. The drugs never had a chance with me;
the pills went everywhere but in my system. I became the model patient. My
sentence was commuted early.
It Starts Young
Fast forward a year to a New Year's Eve party at the house of my best friend,
Lara Johnson*. We had been juvenile delinquents together for close to two
years and had other things in common, like lesbianism. But I never got to
count down the New Year with Johnson because we discovered that another
dyke friend of ours, 16 like us, had chosen that night to end her life. Amy
Smithson* had taken every pill she could find in her parents' medicine chest
before she came to Johnson's house. She left little notes around the party to be
opened at midnight. She crawled into an empty bedroom, waiting to die.
Thankfully, I read my note before midnight. So Johnson and I spent that
night in the emergency room watching what it looks like when someone gets
their stomach pumped and then gets hauled off for a 72-hour hold while
screaming, "Just let me die:'
A year later,Johnson took a razor blade to both wrists and ended up on her
own 72-hour hold. I went to see her at the very hospital where I had been. Her
thin wrists were thickly bandaged, and her long hair was a tangled mess. I explained to her that the route to an early release lay in literally playing straight.
My adolescence seems like an unpleasant meld of Girl, Interrupted and
One Flew Over the Cuckoo'sNest, except the part where my lesbian friends
kept ending up in the loony bin, as we called it, was "normal" in that it happened to many of our queer friends.
Are lesbian teens more likely to be mentally ill than their straight peers?
There's little evidence either way, as queers have yet to merit any serious health
studies aside from suicide studies, but it does seem true that LGBT teens do
end up in the mental health system more often than their nongay counterparts. The reasons for this are varied and complex, oftentimes because the
parents of LG BT adolescents still think their children can be "cured" through
psychiatric intervention.
The situation for adults is equally compelling. For some adults, depression and anxiety are directly linked to their oppression and the stresses that
accompany being queer. Most mental health professionals now agree that
oppression - around gender, race, sexual orientation, religion - can make
people depressed and even suicidal.
Jennie Goldenberg, MSS, is a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma
for Council for Relationships in Philadelphia. Goldenberg, also an adjunct
professor at Bryn Mawr College, treats many LGBT clients.
"From my work with lesbian clients, I have seen a great deal of depression and substance abuse;' she explains. "The macro environmental stressors,
like our society's homophobia, contribute to internalizing the projections of
society. Just as people of color can internalize racism, so do lesbian, gay and
transgendered people in our society internalize homophobia and heterosexism. They swim in a sea of heterosexuality, where everything around them
forces them to camouflage their sexuality and attachments to people of the
same gender:'
While Goldenberg is quick to note that this is "not true in every case, of
course;' she adds that it can have a profound impact on queers, particularly
those just identifying their sexuality. "It's what W.E.B. DuBois called 'doubleconsciousness: GLBT people have to develop a false sel£ in a sense, in order
to move in the straight world, and hide their true self in many cases, including within the more micro environment of their respective families. It means
they have to lie to everyone: themselves, their families, their classmates or
colleagues. The pressure is extraordinary:•
Goldenberg argues that homophobia, like racism and sexism, can cause a
level of self-loathing that feeds depression and anxiety and can lead to substance abuse as well as suicide.
Johnson and I were simply ahead of the curve.
When FamiliesAre to Blame
At 23, Stephanie Masters* graduated from a prestigious East Coast college,
yet she's currently on disability because a few months into her senior year of
college, Masters tried to kill herself She hasn't quite recovered enough from
that experience to hold down a job or apply to graduate school.
"I wasn't thinking suicidal thoughts;' she explains, sitting in the cozy,
book-strewn room she rents in a lesbian household with two other women
also coping with mental illness. "What happened was, I was very stressed
about my final semester, and I was going through an awful breakup. I
decided I needed to come out to my parents. I was going to have to move
before graduation. So I had to explain why, because I had to ask them for
money for a new place to live:'
Masters comes from an evangelical Christian family."I had avoided telling
them because I knew I would get the 'burn in hell' lecture, and I just couldn't
face it. Plus, it wasn't like they didn't really know - Max and I were pretty
obviously queer. I think at first, my parents thought Max was a guy. I just told
them it was a college thing, this was how we dressed:'
The breakup with Max and the painful revelation to her parents - which
led to her being ostracized from her family - turned Masters' depression
dangerously dark. One night, she drank excessively with friends, went home
and took an overdose of prescription medication. When she didn't arrive for
an early morning appointment, a friend went to her apartment, found her
Staring Down the Demons continued on page 76
March 2007
I 63
What's Cooking?
Lesbian chefs are all the rage
these days. Just ask TV viewers.
By Malinda Lo
Food is a hot commodity these days. Television shows like Fox's Hell'sKitchen
and Bravo's Top Chef brought the cutthroat world of the restaurant business
into living rooms in a way that Julia Child never could. But while the real
world of professional cooking does indeed draw in people who are passionate
about food, it also is skewed undeniably toward men.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, female head chefs and cooks
comprise only 20 percent oflead kitchen positions, but women hold more than
half of the lower,end food preparation jobs. So what should you do if chef's
whites are in your future? Three successful,openly queer female chefs - Tantra
Restaurant's Sandee Birdsong, Saffron Hill's Preeti Mistry and Top Chefs
Tiffani Faison - give us the inside scoop on making a career out of cuisine.
The Self-Taught Chef
Sandee Birdsong got her first job in a restaurant kitchen by making a simple
but ballsy maneuver. With no professional cooking experience beneath her
belt, she went to Tantra Restaurant and Lounge, one of the hippest restau,
rants in Miami's South Beach, and asked for a job.
"I knocked on the door, and the chef happened to be in a meeting at that time
with a vendor, and he didn't want to be, so he said,'Come on in;" she recalls in her
Southern accent. After she admitted that she had never worked in a kitchen but
loved cooking, the chef decided to give her a job. "He threw me in the fire right
away;'she says, and "within two months, they made me head che£''
Before she knocked on Tantras, Birdsong, now 38 years old, held a variety
of jobs, ranging from working at Del Taco to being the owner of Florida,
based lesbian magazine She.''I've done all kinds of crazy stuff all my life;'
she admits. "Everything else was just kind of bouncing all over the place 'til I
found this. This has been absolutely amazing:• In 2006, she took on a second
job as chef de cuisine at Afterglo, a South Beach restaurant specializing in
"beauty cuisine;• which "centers on foods which have elements that contain
beautifying powers:•
Birdsong, who grew up in Georgia, says she is entirely selftaught and
fondly recalls family reunions where the tables were loaded down with food,
including up to a dozen varieties of macaroni and cheese. Because mac and
cheese was her favorite, she was determined to concoct her own variety to
beat all the others and tasted each different dish before creating "one hell of a
macaroni and cheese dish:'
She admits, though, that her experience as a chef has changed her signa,
ture dish: "Now my macaroni and cheese dish has come from just a regular
cheddar cheese and Colby cheese and longhorn to [include) cave,aged gruyere
and ... truffies and onions and all kinds of things:•
Birdsong - who sports a Mohawk and says that being openly lesbian
has never been a stumbling block in her career - agrees that the restaurant
business is a harsh one. She explains: "Being a chef, nothing is ever the same.
64
I curve
" No matter if you're screaming your
head off at the back of the kitchen,
and you've gone through three line
cooks in the last two hours, and
you've fired all three of them ...
whatever it takes, we do that, and
that's what makes a great chef."
You have to be able to multitask, you have to be able to problem solve at the
drop of a hat .... There's a certain type of person that can do that, and it usu,
ally is a ... person that is very, very passionate about what they do:•
Despite the competitive nature of the industry, Birdsong prefers to not run
her kitchen in such a confrontational manner. 'There are a lot of chefs with huge
egos, and they feel it's necessary to run their kitchens that way.... I just don't:'
She stresses, though, that a chef's management style is less important
than his or her skill. "Ultimately, it's the diner we're pleasing;• she says, "no
matter if you're screaming your head off at the back of the kitchen, and you've
gone through three line cooks in the last two hours, and you've fired all three
of them. We're trying to get the food right for the person that's dining ... and
whatever it takes, we do that, and that's what makes a great chef versus some,
body that doesn't really care about it:'
The Culinary Student
In 2005, Ann Nadeau and Preeti Mistry, a lesbian couple who have been
together for more than a decade, opened Saffron Hill in San Francisco to of,
fer high,end catering and event planning that features Mistry's modern Indian
cuisine. Saffron Hill eschews the typical catering decor of chafing dishes in
favor of deeply personalized party planning. Mistry, 29, and Nadeau, 32, cur,
rently undertake two to three events, limiting the size of each event to 150
guests in order to maintain a high quality of food. They have also recently
launched a line of jarred curries that can be purchased at Bay Area grocery
stores such as Rainbow Grocery and Bi,Rite.
But although the two say they had always wanted to go into business
together, a catering gig was not what they first expected. Nadeau is a former
consultant, and Mistry says that she never knew she was going to become
a chef: "I wanted to be a filmmaker:' When Nadeau was offered the oppor,
tunity by her company to work in Europe, Mistry went with her to London
and, with the encouragement of many friends who had tasted her home cook,
ing, went to culinary school at London's Le Cordon Bleu academy in 2002.
Culinary school taught her a lot about knife skills and building flavors in
foods, and it prepared her to begin cooking at a restaurant but, says Mistry,
"Working in restaurants teaches you so much more than culinary school can
ever teach you:' In particular, the pressure of working in a professional kitchen
is missing from school, where it's "not like people are paying 11 pounds for
this appetizer in this really fancy restaurant, like I cannot screw this up:'
She says she misses the intensity of the restaurant kitchen at times, but
"it's nice to not do it every day. It's nice to do different things and to build your
own business and be cooking your own food:'
She describes her culinary creations as "Indian,inspired California cui,
sine. It's really just inspiration from all of the flavors, spices and techniques of
Indian food and then also of California cuisine, pretty much a seasonal, local,
European,based cuisine .... What modern Indian to me is, is giving both of
them equal footing at the table, in terms of both flavor and technique:'
Saffron Hill's emphasis on working with the best extends to its attitude
with its employees. "Most of our staff - we don't have parties every single
day, we're not a huge company, obviously they all have other jobs;' Mistry
says."I don't know how many of them will say, 'I just want to get somebody to
cover my shift so that I can work for you guys,' because they want to work for
us, because it's always like a fun, quality environment. We have a good time,
and that's definitely part of the Saffron Hill ethos:'
The Reality TV Star
Chef Tiffani Faison leapt into the culinary spotlight last year when she
became the runner,up on Bravo's reality series Top Chef,where she gained
a reputation as the series' calculating villainess. 'Tm not good at hiding my
emotions;' she freely admits. "If I don't like it, it will come our:'
Though the 29,year,old, whom Bravo promoted early on as their "bisexu,
al Bostonian;' did not take home the $100,000 prize, her stint on reality TV
has not dampened her career, either. She spent the summer of 2006 cooking
at the Straight Whar£ a much,praised restaurant in Nantucket, Mass.
Faison first began working in the food business as a soda fountain girl
when she was 14, then moved on to bartending in college and opened two
bars for the Ritz Carlton in Boston. She shifted over to the kitchen after a
stint as an inside expediter ( the liaison between the dining room and kitchen)
at Todd English's Boston restaurant Bonfire. Her resume also includes time
at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas before she answered a craigslist advertise,
ment to audition for Top Chef.
She says she was drawn to the program because it came from the producers
of ProjectRunway, and she enjoyed the challenges of "having such limited re,
sources, limited time:' Faison won two of the challenges, including one in which
she had to create a gourmet meal that could be reheated in a microwave.
Faison agrees that the restaurant industry is a high,stress one: "It defi,
nitely is. I'm not gonna lie. You know, everything has to be ready to go at 5
o'clock, and you want people to walk away happy. If you don't sell what you
have, you don't have the opportunity of closing the door at the Gap and hav,
ing the clothes sit there until tomorrow:'
Despite the stress, she says that cooking is the right job for her. "I enjoy
communicating a vision and creativity to people through food;' she says."It con,
sistently satisfies me, but it always still challenges me in some way every day:'
Now that she's wrapped up her moment of reality TV fame, Faison says
that she is considering her options, including possibly opening her own restau,
rant, but she emphasizes that she's not in a rush.
"I want to do it right. You really only get so many shots to ... open a
restaurant ... so it's important to me to not just have great food, but to also
be a good business owner in terms of business practices and continuity of
staff, everything. I've worked for a lot of people who have taught me not
just how to do it, but ... how I don't want to do it. And I don't want to be
that employer:' ■
March 2007
----
------
----------~
I 65
---
Reviews
Sapphic Screen
Who Makes the Rules?
And why are they so much fun to break: I By Candace Moore
EDITOR'S
PICK
FemaleMisbehavior
(FirstRun):German
lesbianwriter-director
MonikaTreut'slegendaryc~llection
of five
filmsaboutthe limits
of femalesexuality,
FemaleMisbehavior,
is finallyon DVD,and
it's asoutrageous
and
compelling
todayas
it was15yearsago.
Mostnotableamongthe
storiesof nonconformist
womentearingdown
sexualtaboosis Annie,
an insidelook(inmore
waysthanone)at famed
queerpornstarand Three new films tackle ladies falling in love outside convenperformance
artistAnnie tions, whether with much younger co-workers, sisters-in-law
Sprinkle.
Worththe or simply more than one gal at once.
rentalaloneis theone
feature-length
film in the Notes on a Scandal (Fox Searchlight)
collection,
Didn'tDoIt
When "artfully disheveled" Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) arrives
for Love,whichexplores to teach art at a London secondary school, acerbic Barbara
thefascinating
lifeof
Covett (Judi Dench), a disciplinary fixture, remarks that it is
EvaNorvind,
the blond "hard to read the wispy novice:' But
read her Covett does, and
Norwegian
bombshell with
literary relish. Diary entries in voice-over praise Hart's
whowasMexico's
"beguiling" psyche and ·document their friendship through a
MarilynMonroein the
pulpy Victorian lens: "In a different, better age we would be
1960sandNewYork's
leadingdominatrix ladies of leisure, lunching together;' Covett purrs. "We would
turnedtherapistin the be companions!" Covett wrests intimate truths out of Hart,
1980s,andwhopassed excited in the "novice confessing to the mother superior;' but it's
awayrecently. not exactly the Inquisition; Hart is like a soft cashmere sweater,
(firstrunfeatures.com)- constantly shedding. When Hart admits to shagging a 15-yearDianeAnderson-Minshallold schoolboy, Covett is palpably jealous. So she uses her inside
66
I curve
Gray Matters (Strand Releasing)
A cute coming-out story starring Heather Graham as Gray,
a neurotic advertising exec who takes solace in her persistent
singleness, assuming she just hasn't found the right guy. Gray
is "closed for repairs;' as she finally confides to her shrink
(Sissy Spacek) in a session over bowling; besides, her brother
and roommate Sam (Tom Cavanagh) hasn't found a life partner yet either, and both are over 30. The two siblings spend
days and nights jogging, cooking, taking dance lessons and
being generally codependent. Sparks finally fly with a gorgeous
zoologist Charlie (Bridget Moynahan), whom Gray meets in
the dog park, but she sets Sam up with her instead. Her brother not only gets the girl, he proposes. It doesn't dawn on Gray
how much she likes to see Charlie in lingerie (and exactly what
that means) until the night before Sam and Charlie's wedding.
Hijinks ensue (as they often do), and it takes the affirmations
of a saucy Scottish cab driver (Alan Cumming) and a sophisticate in a power suit (The L Word's Rachel Shelley) to help Gray
develop pride in herself and her sexuality. (strandreleasing.com)
knowledge to blackmail Hart into being stroked by her like a
'good girl:' Director Richard Eyre's unflinching psychological
thriller undoes its odd characters before our eyes and is made
nearly compulsively watchable by the finesses of Ms. Blanchett
and Dame Dench. Thankfully, the film doesn't equate lesbian
desire with perversion, but Covett's particular predatory brand
is villified, if only because she doesn't know how to express it
consensually. Covett should be schooled in the fact that there
are plenty of ladies out there pining away for a witty, seasoned
domme! But that would be an altogether different movie.
Karen ·Everett's autobiographical documentary, which centers
around her long-term commitment to primary partner Erin and
their agreed-upon practice of ethical nonmonogamy, is brave,
indulgent and ultimately endearing. This film is a self-reflective rumination on one queer woman's attempt to balance multiple loves: for the wry-humored Erin, for the camera (Everett's
obsessive filming even warrants an on-screen intervention), for
(foxsearchlight.com)
Who Makes the Rulcsf continued on page 75
Women in Love (Outcast Films)
OTHER PICKS
(summerstorm-thecharacters.
com)- US
movie.
FortheLoveof Dolly(Pleasant
Itwouldbetooeasy
Pictures):
to dismissthefiveultradevoted
DollyPartonfansin thisdocuHammer
LoverOther(Barbara
But
mentaryascrazyeccentrics.
of
a bricolage
Films):Through
thefilm givesa morevulnerarchivalfootage,still photoableandhumanperspective,
graphs,talkingheadinterviews
showingthe needsandinjuries
legendary
andreenactment,
andthe
thatdrivetheobsession
Hammer
filmmakerBarbara
healingpowerthatarisesfroma
piecestogethertheenduring
religiouslovefor Dolly.Director
loveaffairof ClaudeCahun
is herselfa fan(and
TaiUhlmann
andMarcelMoore,bornLucie
her
outlesbian)andapproaches
Malherbe
SchwabandSuzanne
and
subjectswithtenderness
Thecouplemoved
respectively.
thereare
Nevertheless,
empathy.
houseonEngland's
to a secluded
painful
sceneswhereit becomes
Isleof Jerseyin the1930s,
to seeto whatlengthspeople
ona
wheretheyembarked
goforjusta secondof attention
and
journeyof self-discovery
fromtheiridol,andwatching
genderplaythroughportraiture.
thembeginsto feelweirdlyvoywitha closelyshaven
Cahun,
euristic.(fortheloveofdolly.com)
blondhaircutthatmustsurely
- UrsulaSteck
AnnieLennox's
haveinspired
look,oftenposed
androgynous
asthesubject,whileMoore
wasbehindthecamera.Hailed
circlesat thetime,
in surrealist
CahunandMoorearehistorically
to collaborate
thefirst lesbians
honors
in makingart.Hammer
it into
theirworkby incorporating
using
lives,
their
of
narrative
her
SummerStorm(Regent
of
movie theirartasa manifestation
A coming-out
Releasing):
making
them,
of
memory
others'
that is greatfunevenif you
thewomenindistinguishable
yourselfcameoutmanyhot
fromtheirartisticcontribuago.A rowingteam
summers
takesa cuefrom
Hammer
tions.
travelsto a
fromruralBavaria
artwork
Moore's
and
Cahun's
regattacloseto Berlinto take
~
that
collage
filmic
a
creates
and
a:
Queer
ontheirarchrivals,the
and
at
look
to
beautiful
both
is
youngerand
~a: Strokes.Portraying
fascinating.
endlessly
w
gayand
female,
and
male
older,
~
.com)
(barbarahammertilms
~
withhumor
straightcharacters
::,
Gilchrist
E.
Tracy
!a.
Storm
Summer
andgentleness,
(!)
z
Yes,there'sa
is sureto please.
TheDevilWearsPrada(Fox):
testosterone
lot of adolescent
..J
w
theDVDwasreleased
Sure,
a:
pulsingthroughtheplot,and
butsinceMeryl
lastDecember
!z
thetwo largestfemaleroles
w
(!)
a hotover-50
as
turn
Streep's
w
functionmostlyasextrasforthe
a:
powereditorhasall butreplaced
LL
boys.Buttheoverallsweetspirit
0
in ourhome,I still
pornography
>of thefilm buffersthegoofball
it. Enough
haveto recommend
andlets
teenageboybehavior
::,
(fox.com)-DAM
said.
0
rootfor itsyoung
youcompletely
(.)
!
~
AnnabelleGurwitch
IACTORAND PRODUCER I
Being fired and viciously insulted by the iconic Woody Allen was perhaps the best
career move actor Annabelle Gurwitch could have made. After the requisite vodka and
ice cream binge, Gurwitch's harsh dismissal inspired Fired,a documentary that explores
the plight of the involuntarilyjobless. Speaking with once-canned showbiz folksand corporate minions alike, Gurwitch entertains and comforts us with tales of hellishjobs, idiot
bosses and the eventual bounceback to working life. - CatherinePlato
I loved the scene where you reenact your final talk with Woody Allen.
It was horrible shooting the Woody Allen scene.... I asked [actor Ed Crasnick]
to say the actual things I had written down that Mr. Allen said. Being a comedian, Ed improvised and was cracking up the crew, but I instantly was transported back into that moment and began sweating and thinking, this is a huge
mistake!
Were you inspired by Christopher Guest-style mockumentaries at all?
I love documentaries. I thought Super Size Me was great, and I was
attempting to do something in that vein. Of course, I love Christopher Guest's
films, but I wouldn't dream of talking about my film in the same sentence ...
My goal for the film was to ask the question: Is being fired the worst, or is it
possibly one of the best things that can happen in your professional life, and I
thought by bracketing it with comedy it would be more enjoyable than asking
people to come to the theater and see a movie about labor issues in America.
What's been your favorite piece of feedback so far?
I've continued this project because the feedback has been so satisfying. One
of my favorite nights was when I screened the film at the Loft Cinema in
Tucson, Ariz. Several people came on stage and told their fired stories: One
had been fired for his inability to stop crying at work in a factory on the day
John Lennon was killed, the second person had been fired for being a whistle
blower in a government job, and the third was a Sikh with anger management
problems. The film seems to give people permission to speak about situations
they have carried with them shamefully, and I am thrilled that this one incident in my life has resonated in this way. It was the most unanticipated consequence from being told Mr. Allen "wanted to go in a different direction:• ■
March 2007
I67
Reviews
In the Stacks
She'sa Very Geeky Girl
Science and history books grab our attention this month. IBy Rachel Pepper
Haven't cracked a science or history book since your baby dyke
schoolgirl days? Our favorite reads this month tackle these topics from a feminist or queer perspective.
She's Such a Geek: Women Write About Science,
Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff, Eds. Annalee
Newitz and Charlie Anders (Seal Press)
EDITOR'S
PICK
Since I have a young daughter who proudly proclaims her
intent to become a scientist, I thought it best to read She's Such
BoweryWomen: a Geek before she hits middle school, so I could encourage her
Poetry,
Eds.Marjorie to take on a subject I hold little aptitude in. The book promises
lesserandBobHolman to explain how to encourage
a girl to excel in the subjects that
(YBKPublishers):
Pick are usually
boys' domain:
a poem,anypoem.
math, science, and all
That'stheessence
of
their related fields.
this lively,street-worthy
The writers in the colcollectionof poetry
lection
are all veritable
from76 womenpoets
nerds
and
geeks, though
whohavedelighted
andshockedaudiences some, like sex writer
whileperforming
their Violet Blue, are of the
workat the legendary more seductive and wily
BoweryPoetryClubin
sort. The authors tend
NewYorkCity.Witha
to break down into two
vastarrayof contribubasic camps. First are the
tors,somequeer,some
girls that were encournot- including
Sapphire,
AnaCastillo, aged early by their parSuheirHammad
and ents to excel in math and
lshleYiPark- this continued on this path. As Jessica Dickinson Goodman writes
multi-ethnic,
multi- in "High School Politics;'"Because I grew up around computgenerational
tomereads ers, I never really had to separate my geek identity from my
likea greatesthitscol- identity as a girl. I see no conflicts between loving baking and
lectionof thewordsof
loving open source programs .... To me, a geek is someone who
the people. is passionate about som~thing:'
(ybkpublishers.com)Then there are the women who had so much natural ability
DianeAnderson-Minshall
that their destiny as geeks could not be denied, but who had
to fight for every grain of respect they earned along the way.
In Jenn Shreve's "Geek Interrupted;' she writes about growing
up in a fundamentalist Christian home where she was primed
to serve God and a future husband, not program computers.
"In spite of all this;' she writes, "my inner geek managed to
shine through .... If the consistently high test scores in science
and math weren't obvious enough, my addiction to Pac-Man,
Moon Patrol, Centipede, Space Invaders . . . were dead giveaways:' Both camps of women know they're smart, but repeatedly have to prove it to high school teachers, male classmates,
college professors in esteemed schools like MIT and Harvard,
and employers. Not many of them have an easy time of it.
Though I found most of the essays in the collection highly
enjoyable, as well as educational, the book is strongest when
it sticks to its main theme: an exploration of the struggles
and choices facing women as they either succeed in or leave
tuff
68
Icurve
their fields of choice. Excellent essays by Suzanne E. Franks
("Suzy the Computer versus Dr. Sexy"), Roopa Ramamoorthi
('J\11Our Boys Go to the IT Industry in America") and Nina
Simone Dudnick's "Sex and the Single (Woman) Biologist"
are some of the book's finest. Others, by Kristin Abkemeier,
Aomawa Shields and Elisabeth Severson, show the heart-stopping passion that some women have for math and science, even
if they don't pursue it professionally. Less successfully integrated into the text were selections dealing with gaming, comic
books and cybersex.
Still, I came away from reading She's Such a Geek with profound respect for the women included in this anthology. These
women, mostly born after 1970, prove that the feminist movement has indeed improved the fields of math and science. Most
of these women, all exceptionally smart and driven, have far
exceeded anyone's expectations. Which is of course very good
news for my own little astronomy buff, regardless of whether
she actually becomes a scientist.
Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power
Politicians, and Lipstick Lesbians, Lillian Faderman
and Stuart Timmons (Basic Books)
It's rare that a history book
is so compelling that it not
only captures the time and
place depicted but encapsulates the entire history of
a liberation movement in
one thrilling tome. Such is
the case with Gay L.A., an
almost 500-page overview
of Los Angeles and its gay
and lesbian, trans, queer
and "unstraight" populations from the early 1800s
until the year 2000. The
book begins with the history of Native American
peoples in the area, who originally inhabited a village named
Yang-na, and the white settlers who arrived and persecuted
them for the same-sex relations in their "two-spirit" traditions.
The narrative then follows the history of Los Angeles through
waves of growth, liberation and suppression.
Topics included are the birth of the Hollywood film industry, women's suffrage, Prohibition, sodomy laws, the Mattachine
Society, L.A:s Daughters of Bilitis, ONE Magazine, police
entrapment and brutality, a bar culture that thrived despite constant harassment and arrests, exclusive star-studded gay house
parties, the blacklists of the '50s, Anita Bryant and the Briggs
Initiative, activism by people of color, the forming of GLAAD,
She's a Very Geeky Girl continued on page 75
Looking
for a
PAGE TURNERS
A Studyof
Women:
Whistling
theLivesof OlderLesbians,
Ph.D.(The
CherylClaassen,
HaworthPress):Anthropology
ventures
Claassen
professor
territory
intolargelyuncharted
withthis studyof lesbiansborn
between1917-1938,examiningthe women'sexperiences
dating,
andviewson marriage,
families,careers,politicsand
readers
feminism.Younger
will be mostfascinatedbythe
stories
women'scoming-out
illegal
andtalesof navigating
Villagegaybarsin
Greenwich
the 1950s.Thoughthe relatively
(44
smallpoolof interviewees
women)makesthestudyineffectiveat makinganydefinitive
claimsaboutlifefor the aging
lesbian- andit doesn't
aimto - the
neccessarily
women'sindividualstoriesmake
andenjoyfor a compelling
ableread.(haworthpress.com)
Plato
- Catherine
J.
Louise
of Fetishism,
Cultures
Macmillan):
Kaplan(Palgrave
If thetitleof thisworkevokesa
of dingybasements,
montage
in EyesWide
nudistsparading
Shutmasksandthesilhouette
Kaplan
of DavidCronenburg,
invitesyouto lookcloser.Inthis
strikingtext,shearticulately
commonpercepdeconstructs
theuseof highly
tionsregarding
fetishobjects
mythologized
thatthe
andinsteadproposes
of fetishismpermeates
ideology
ourculturecomprehensively,
considered
in manysituations
Kaplanargues
"commonplace."
thatfetishobjectsareoften
asa meansto silence
employed
thevirilityof femalesexuality,
pastmisogydirectlychallenging
theoryonthetopic.
nist-tainted
of fetishism
Pluckingexamples
Dutch"prank"
from17th-century
to TheReal
to androids
paintings
World,Kaplandepictsa psychologicalhistoryof fetishismthat
to anycontemporary
is germane
Exceptionally
culturaldiscourse.
insightfulstuff.(pa/grave.com)
- SoniaKreitzer
Page Turners continued on page 75
travel mate?
Joan Opyr
IAUTHOR I
Humor columnist and northern Idaho editor of New West Magazine,
Joan Opyr is still basking in the acclaim for her first mystery novel,
Idaho Code: Where Family Therapy Comes With a Shovel and an
Alibi. This cheery tale of murder set in small-town Idaho made it
to the hard-to-crack ReviewingTheEvidence.com's Top Ten list and
garnered a rare glow from Val McDermid: "Joan Opyr is the most
entertaining new voice in lesbian mystery:' We caught up with Opyr
to discuss love, life and liberty in a "state that values individuality
more than common sense:' -
Diane Anderson-Minshall
Idaho Code is the first in a series. Did you know it would be
an ongoing series when you started it?
I had no idea. The first person who told me it should or rather would be a series was the owner of the local bookstore.
Now I say trilogy, and he says quartet. He's probably right.
I've grown very attached to the characters.
When is the sequel out?
The sequel, FromHell to Breakfast,should be out in March ....
I've gotten a bit behind schedule because the characters have
again grown and developed in ways I didn't anticipate, and
subplots have threatened to take over.... In some ways, From
Hell to Breakjastis a continuation of Idaho Code;in others, it's
a very different book. I've got a morbid sense of humor, and I
think that's even more evident in FromHell to Breakfastthan
in the first book. In this one, I have a family coping with profound grie£ but they're each doing it in their own weird way.
Some, like Bil, have fallen to pieces. She's an emotional
wreck. Emma, by contrast, has gone all prairie stoic. The
humor lies in the tension between them. This is a very functional dysfunctional family. They're all crazy, and in a place
like Idaho, that serves them well.
How did you feel to be praised by Val McDermid?
Thrilled to bits. I feel very grateful and very lucky. I've been
reading Val's work for years. I had no idea that she would ever
blurb one of my books. It was a jackpot moment, better than
winning the lottery. I should tell you, though, that Val threatened to write, "Joan Opyr put the 'ho' in Idaho:• I was nervous
for a bit there. She's got a wicked sense of humor. ■
March 2007
I69
Reviews
Music Watch
New Sounds for Spring
Shake your thang to Brazilian beats or chill out to acid jazz.
IBy Margaret Coble
EDITOR'S
PICK
It's NotFun.Don'tDo
It! (VaporRecords):
It can'tbeeasyto bea
duoof Canadian,
lesbian,
rockstartwinsister
- really,reallyfreakin'
cutetwinsisters- and
still getpeopleto take
yourmusicseriously,
but
TeganandSarasomehowpullit off,without
takingthemselves
too
seriouslyin the meantime.Concerts,
tourbus
trialsandtribulations
andhilariousmusic As we start to thaw out from the winter cold and our thoughts
videoscomprise
the bulk
turn to the sun-filled adventures that await us in summer, new
of thefilm,with plenty
albums by Incognito, The Bird and the Bee, and Badi Assad
of surprisesalongthe
way.Puppets,
animated can help set the scene and get you in the mood, with their upmonkeys
andgoodsolid beat grooves, positive vibe and airy global-pop sounds.
rock'n' roll makethis
musicdoclotsof fun bees+things+f/owers, Incognito (Narada Jazz}
for unsabered
repeat From the opening cover of Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves the
late-nightviewings.Did Sunshine;' this 11-track album by the renowned U.K. acid jazz
I mentionhowcutethey band (25 years and counting!) is the perfect soundtrack to your
are?(vaporrecords.com)soaking-up-the-sun-on-the-beach daydreams. A mostly acous-CatherinePlato tic jazz-based affair, the set includes stripped-down, soulful
reworkings of several of the band's biggest hits: 'J\lways There;'
"Still A Friend of Mine;"'Everyday" and "Deep Waters:' There's
also some perfect-fitting covers, like the aforementioned Ayers'
track, the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer In The City;' and Earth,
Wind & Fire's"That's The Way Of The World;' plus the unlikely but surprisingly compelling "Tin Man'' by America. There's
a few new cuts, too: "Raise;' "Crave" and "You Are Golden;' all
penned by the band's co-founder and enduring leader, JeanPaul "Bluey" Maunick. One of the main reasons I've dug this
band so hard over the years has been their impeccable lineup of lead singers - divas in their own right - and many of
them make appearances here again, including the fierceJocelyn
Brown, versatile Maysa and smokin' Carleen Anderson, among
others. I can't say enough good things about this collection. Put
it in and just feel the glow. (incognito.org.uk)
Self-titled, The Bird and the Bee (Metro Blue}
Though the lyrics to some of the songs on this disc don't exactly fall into the shiny-happy category - for instance, 'Tm A
70
I curve
Broken Heart" - their poppy, slightly psychedelic electro-jazz
sound can make anything sound like fun-in-the-summertime
beach music. (Think the Mosquitos with heavier electronic
instrumentation and even more pop gloss.) The duo of Inara
George (daughter of Little Feat frontman Lowell George) and
Greg Kurstin makes sweet, glistening pop music that pays
great tribute to the Brazilian T ropicalia movement, but in their
own ironic, new-millennial, electro-tinged way. "(Would you
ever be my) Fucking Boyfriend" is a snappy, bouncy dance floor
ditty that takes on that angsty crush feeling all lovers' hearts
can identify with, while the album opening'J\gain and Again'' is
a soaring, melodic, hand-clapping feel-good singalong. Overall,
it's a dreamy, breezy collection that'll be hard to take off of
repeat. ( thebirdandthebee.com)
Wonderland, Badi Assad (Edge Music/Universal)
Nothing conjures summertime as well as Brazilian rhythms,
and acclaimed singer-guitarist Badi Assad offers up a gorgeous, exotic blend of classic Brazilian sounds and contemporary instrumentation on this second solo effort. That she
manages to sound so light and whimsical while asking some
hard-hitting questions about taboo topics like rape, prejudice
and child prostitution is a testament to her skill as an artist and musician. On this bilingual 13-track release she covers the likes of Tori Amos ("Black Dove"), the Eurythmics
("Sweet Dreams") and the Asian Dub Foundation ("1000
Mirrors") and offers a few of her own Portuguese originals
("O Que Seriat and"Zoar"), creating a magical, poetic soundscape that accurately mirrors Alice's rabbit hole, as the title
suggests, much like the topsy-turvy world in which we live.
(badiassad.com) ■
OTHER LICKS
of
themomentum
that maintains
lastyear'sself-titleddebut,with
perky,janglyanthemslike"We're
ComingOut"and"YellowTaxi."
com)
(tralalatheband.
La
SafeHaven(Cherchez
A benefitcompilation
Femme):
for theSexualMinorityYouth
Centerin Portland,
Resource
Ore.,this20-trackdiscis chock
MakeThis,BreakThis,Bitch
full of localandnationaltalent,
(KillRockStars):It's hardto
frombignameslikeLeTigre,
but
sumupBitchin a one-liner,
andIndigoGirls
Sleater-Kinney
thisdebutsoloefforteffectively
localfavesAshleigh
to Portland
allthatsheis:a
encompasses
FlynnandSneakin'Out.(smyrc.
carrierofthewomen's
fearless
of sparse org,cherchezlafemmeprojects.
musictorch,aninnovator
com)
music,a wickedacoustic-roots
a radical
poetandsinger,
tongued
feministactivistandanall-around
hipdykeicon.TheB is mostdefinitelyback.(bitchmusic.com)
e
Dahm
rly
Kimbe
I
I
BASSIST, SINGER, SONGWRITER
SlowTrainSoul
Santimanitay,
OutdykeLadyZ is
(Quango):
thevibrantvoiceof this U.K.
duowhose
urbanelectro-pop
their
albumcontinues
sophomore
vibewithtrackslike
hipster-hop
"Mississippi
theslowly-loping
HelloLove,BeGoodTanyas
thehousetrack
favorite Freestylin,"
Everybody's
(Nettwerk):
andthesultry,
"Goldiggah,"
porchswingplayers
Canadian
TheCherry."
"Sexing
jazzier
returnwiththeirthirdstudio
com)
(slowtrainsoul.
12-trackcoleffort,a cohesive
lectionof nostalgia-dripping,
NanciGriffith
Ruby'sTorch,
blues
string-filledalt-country,
a lifelong
Fulfilling
(Rounder):
andfolkthatblanketsyourears
folkabilly
eccentric
the
dream,
likea well-wornaudioquilt
staroffersan 11-tracksetof
- eventhe bonuscutcover
torchsongs,bothoriginalsand
of Prince's"WhenDovesCry."
covers,includingherown"Late
com)
(begoodtanyas.
Hotel,"Jimmy
NightGrande
Webb's"If TheseWallsCould
Talk"andTomWaits'"Grapefruit
Moon."(nancigriffith.com)
Goldfrapp
WeAreGlitter,
offering,this
(Mute):A U.S.-only
12-trackremixdisccullsthe best
dancefloortakesfromtheU.K.
duo'slaststudioeffort,
electronic
featuringmixesby
Supernature,
Lips,CarlCraig,
Flaming
the
DFA,
Tralala
Is ThattheTralala,
(gold
others.
and
K
Francois
sevenBrooklyn's
(Audika):
piececo-edpop-punksensation frapp.co.uk)
set
is backwitha sophomore
Other Lickscontinuedon page 75
As an established country singer-songwriter, mother of two, and bassist for the
'70s rock anthem band Boston, buxom blonde Kimberly Dahme is lovin' life.
- Jennifer Corday
I read that you didn't know how to play bass when Boston first asked you
to join them. How did you learn so quickly?
I was just so hungry for the chance! I went to the nearest pawn shop and I
didn't have enough money, so I put a bass on layaway for $20. Two months
later I was playing in front of 80,000 people at the Fiesta Bowl! I was numb.
That's amazing! And then you continued performing with them?
Yes. Well, actually, I was taking a lot of lessons after that to prepare for the
upcoming tour when I got pregnant. But the guys totally stood by me and
put off the debut of the album. Two weeks after I had my baby girl, I was
performing with them at the CD release party.
What are your plans to play with Boston in the future?
Well, I just played a show with Boston at Symphony Hall with the Boston
Pops, a tribute to Doug Flutie and all benefits went to autism. It was covered
on most all TV stations and radio stations around the world. It was amazing!
There are rumors of a summer tour .... I keep it posted on my Web site and
you can also check out Boston's Web site.
Tell me about Girls With Guitars.
We did a series of monthly or bi-monthly shows on Saturday nights. There
would be 10 or 11 of us girls, all singer-songwriters living in Nashville,
[Tenn.,] and whoever was not on the road would attend. Everyone was just
unbelievable in their talent! It's really nice to have that kind of camaraderie.
Is it competitive between the women?
It definitely pushes you, but in a positive way. I'm a procrastinator, so it pushes
me to pull out a song and bring it to the table.
Speaking of girls, you seem to have a large female following.
Yeah, it's crazy, but I've had bras thrown at me, and girls flash me. Whenever
I get a bra thrown at me I just think, I wonder if it will fit? [Laughs]I have a
decent one, I guess. ■
March 2007
I 71
Reviews Tech Girl
Ready to PlayJane Bond?
Less stalking, more spying. I By Diane Anderson~Minshall
OK, OK, sometimes it's not cool to spy on your girlfriend. Or your ex-girlfriends or even your exes' exes
as the case may be in the lesbian world. After all, you're no longer a moony 14-year-old singing'J\ll Out of
Love" while you drive around the block again and again to see if she's come home from school yet. But every
dyke likes to let out the green-eyed monster and feel like James Bond now and then. These gadgets will get
you halfway there.
Write It Down, Write It Up
With this cool little carbon-fiber and stainless-steel lnka Pen, you can can write upside
down, underwater, in space and under extreme temperatures. It's the first pen of its kind,
it's refillable (and in enviromentally friendly packaging) and comes with a handy keychain.
It works for teary stakeouts as well as for surf journaling in Bermuda. And if you're a new
media type, you can use it as a stylus for your PDA, too. ($90, inkacorp.com)
Is That a Camera in Your Pocket?
Clockwisefrom top
right: CaptureView's
Waterproof PictureTaking Binoculars,
Heated Vest,
TinyTekBlackdigital
audio recorderand
lnka's do it all pen
Why, no, it's not. It's the Waterproof Picture-Taking Binoculars with LCD Screen, which
are 8X magnification, 3.0-megapixel, waterproof, digital camera binoculars that let you take
pictures from as far away as 50 feet. With the color LCD screen combined with a snazzy
video flashback feature that records the last 20 seconds of viewing, you can catch anyone doing almost anything without missing a beat. The 16MB internal memory stores 40 pictures
with a l,600xl,200 resolution or 90 seconds of video. Photos and videos can be downloaded to your computer via the included USB cable. ($200, hammacher.com)
Bundle Up on Those Long, Cold Nights
Whether you're sleeping out overnight at Ticketmaster trying to score those Fall Out Boy
tickets or in front of the girl you're secretly still in love with and too shy to mention it, you'll
want to keep warm. The Heated Vest uses carbon-fiber technology powered by rechargeable batteries so small you won't feel like the Hulk wearing it. It then transmits infrared rays
that send heat into the carbon fiber and then into you. ($130, hammacher.com)
World'sTiniest DigitalAudio Recorder
A picture is worth a thousand words, but if you just have to be a part of the conversation
(or you absolutely have to know what your co-workers really think about you) try the
TinyTekBlack, the World's Smallest Digital Audio Recorder. It's the size of a lighter and can
record up to 130 hours, depending on the setting. It plugs directly into a phone jack and can
work with cell phones and cordless phones without making a beep. The TinyTek is a must
for mystery novelists, gumshoes and anyone who's a bit too suspicious. ($160 and up, pimall
.com/nais/ zippy.html)
Just Don't Lie to Me
Got an evil backstabbing co-worker? A cheating wife? A rousing game of Truth or Dare?
Weve got your back with the DeFIBulator, a miniature lie detector that uses voice tension technology to measure varying degrees of vibration in your voice. And yes, it can
be connected to your cell phone. Cat got her tongue? Uh, no, the DiFIBulator does.
($40, gadgetuniverse.com)
72
I
curve
VictoriaA. Brownworth Politics
Taking the Road Less Traveled
To experience a new culture means digging below the surface ecently, one of my students who is contemplating
graduate school asked my advice. I told her to forget
grad school for now and travel instead. Traveling, I told
her, would expand her world as a writer far more than
any graduate seminar. It would give her images and ideas
that would populate her work throughout her life. And, I
R
added, she would never be as unencumbered as she is
now: no partner, no mortgage, no children, no constraints.
"Travel;' I declared. "It's a choice you will never regret:'
It's advice I would give to anyone; there's nothing more
exciting and valuable than travel, no matter what your
career or vocation. Plus, travel is actually accessible to most
Americans, an option we have that a majority of people in
the world do not share.
Travel is not just about seeing the usual prescribed sites:
Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon or
the Colosseum. It's not even about seeing the less-traveled
places like Red Square or the Taj Mahal. Travel is about
entering another culture, however briefly,and comparing and
even when it's painful.
taken advantage:'
Choosing not to travel to countries where
women and queers face brutal violence ·and
oppression would mean limiting one's travel to
a mere handful of countries. There are currently
194 independent countries on earth today, yet in
fewer than 20 are the conditions for women and
queers acceptable. In most, being a woman means
constant danger, and being queer can be tantamount to a death sentence.
I had a close friend from Mumbai who has not
returned to India since she came to the U.S. for
college in the 1980s. (She has since become a naturalized American citizen.) She feared that if she
returned, her middle-class merchant family would
denounce her lesbianism, force her to marry and she
would never be free to leave again.
A Lebanese friend married a man at 19, had a
child, and then wanted to leave when she fell in love
contrasting it to your own. Travel is also about going to the
proscribedsites and getting a glimpse of a part of the world that most of us are
fortunate not to inhabit.
There are thrilling places to go if you're queer or lesbian. Who wouldn't want
to live in Amsterdam or Copenhagen after experiencing the freedom of being
with another woman, an American she met while
teaching in Beirut. The two women 'plotted how to leave the country together.
As the U.S. State Department warns: "In many Islamic countries, even those that
give tourist visas and do not require sponsorship, a woman needs the permission of her husband and children need the permission of their father to leave the
openly queer there?
But there's the dark side of travel as well. The side most tourists never see,
either because they do not go to those places or because if they do, they stay
away from the real culture and suffuse themselves with the culture promoted
country. If you travel or allow your children to travel, be aware of the laws of the
country you plan to visit. Once overseas, you are subject to the laws of the country
where you are; U.S. law cannot protect you:'
For a Lebanese woman, leaving the country with her child is impossible with-
for tourists.
The Caribbean and Mexico are popular destinations for Americans this time
of year. Winter is almost over, but not quite. Who wouldn't want to lie in the
sun drinking mojitos and watching the perfect waves lap the perfect beaches?
But in those tourist hot spots, the lives of women and queers are less than stellar. Throughout Mexico, for example, women remain chattel, and lesbians are
frequent targets of physical and sexual violence.Although Mexico City recently
passed a law allowing civil unions, this action has actually increased the lawlessness against queers in that city and the surrounding areas. Machismo still rules
in many countries south of our border, and the confluence of poverty, corruption
and that machismo make it difficult for women and lesbians to lead safe, open
out the permission of the husband. My Lebanese friend had to flee under an
assumed name to a neighboring country, apply for asylum and try and maneuver
her way out of the Middle East from there. She has never been able to return.
In the Eastern bloc and former Soviet nations, the Palestinian territories,
and independent lives.
In many island nations of the Caribbean, things are equally grim. In December
2006, an investigation was begun into a pandemic of sexual assaults on Haitian
girls and women by U.N. peacekeepers. The BBC began the investigation
after human rights groups brought the matter to their attention. The U.N. has
been uncharacteristically reticent on the issue, even dismissive, but Haitian girls
interviewed by BBC reporters told tales of being forced to trade sex for food.
(Haiti is one of the world's most poverty-stricken countries.) Girls as young as 6
were asked to lift their skirts and show their genitals, while girls 12 and up were
expected to give oral, anal and vaginal sex for as little as a half-eaten sandwich. As one girl explained, bitterly, "We were hungry. They should not have
Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Saudi Arabia, Latin America,
Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, China, India and many other nations, the conditions for women and lesbians run the gamut from difficult to dangerous.
Thus, travel is a complex adventure for lesbians. Do we merely skim the surface of the nations we visit, or do we attempt to delve deeper and uncover what
the lives of women like ourselves are like in these places that are so seemingly
magical and breathtakingly beautiful?
Travel educates. How we choose to be educated by our travels, however,
defines not just our individual trips to this or that exotic locale,but also illumines
who we are as women and queers in a world that is, for the most part, hostile to
our very existence.As difficult as life can be in America for us, we have protections
that are not afforded to our counterparts elsewhere.
Everyone travels and brings back the obligatory reel of videotape and panoply
of photos to the groans of friends and family.But perhaps next time you go somewhere, you can look beneath the surface and tell that story on your return. Your
travels will not merely enrich your own life, but could very well begin to save and
empower the lives of other women and girls, as well. ■
March 2007
I
73
Dyke Drama
Michele Fisher
Your Cheatin' Heart
Sometimes it happens to the best of us, but why?
W
hy are you cheating:'
I am not here to judge you, I am just
trying to understand.
Please, before you start, I really must insist that
you be original. Being cheated on is bad enough
without being humiliated by a complete lack of
creativity. The fact that you got caught means that
you didn't put nearly enough thought into your
treachery. I hope you'll be more cunning when it
comes to justifying it.
For example, I would find it unacceptable for
you to claim that we had 'grown apart:' We are
q
not a couple of blades of grass residing in the same
crack in the sidewalk. Obviously, you grew tired of
your old crack and found a new one, so I wouldn't
try 'grown apart" if I were you. Just as uninspired
would be claims that we had "lost touch'' or "moved
in different directions:' How could you possibly be
expected to keep in touch with me while you were
groping someone else:'You apparently were making
all types of moves and none were in my direction,
so your emotional compass is way off, not mine.
After the investment I have made in this relationship, you can understand why I cannot allow
myself to settle for some trite, worn-out phrase as
the reason that you would disrespect me to this
degree. What I hate most about those uninspired
excuses for infidelity is that they all implicate the
victim: me. I am supposed to take on some guilt
for not growing or moving the right way. It takes
two to dance, not three; you and your other tango
partner did this. Long after this thing is over, I will
blame myself and wonder what I could have done
to make this awful thing happen to me, so I really
don't need your help beating myself up today.
Maybe you are going to surprise me and spare
me the platitudes and blame and just go right to the issue of your deserved
happiness. Perhaps you will be bold and belligerent and let me know that
this relationship just wasn't making you happy and that life is just too short
to waste on relationships that don't work. Not only will you not apologize,
you will repeatedly contend that you have nothing to atone for. You just did
what you had to do.
I think I would rather hear some moronic excuse than listen to you blather on about what a maverick you are. If a relationship isn't making you happy,
you get out or you make it better, you don't hold me hostage while you search
in other women's vaginas for your lost joy. You don't have to be sorry, because
you are sorry.
But you weren't going to make me suffer through a few verses of "My
Way;' were you:' You seem more like an "oops" girl. Never heard of an 'oops"
girl:' She's the one who tells you with a shrug and a grimace that she thought
she wanted to be in a committed relationship, but - oops! - realizes now
74
I curve
that a committed relationship is not what she wanted at all. The "oops" girl
comes with a no-fault clause. This emotionally clumsy creature would never
take responsibility for an affair; in fact, she would never call it an affair, it
would just be an unfortunate accident. She would earnestly explain the extramarital sex away by claiming that while she was tripping over the fact that
she didn't want to be with you, she must have fallen into some other woman's
crotch. "Oops!"
You are too clever, dear, to try the clueless approach.
I know you had a past before we met, but that was supposed to be behind
you. I don't really want to hear about how one woman just can't be everything
to you. Oddly enough, I am not flattered to hear that if you could be satisfied
with just one woman, it would be me. We are already in a relationship, so
your fidelity was a foregone conclusion. What would have been really swell
would have been for you to tell me all of this before you moved in with me
and cheated on me.
a:
w
G
w
a:
~
w
z
a:
w
I
~
I don't think you are cheating because you can't be with one woman, I
think you are unfaithful because you have ADD (Another Dyke Disorder).
You only stay with one woman until you find the next woman you're going to
stay with until the next woman comes along. At ·some point in this dumping,
you are likely to give me some hokey metaphor about life being a journey and
traveling with different companions at different stages of the trip.
What you really do is drive up behind an unsuspecting female, trick her
into your scarymobile, lock the doors, rob her blind, suck her dry and then
dump her out over an embankment when she fails to entertain you. Someday,
somebody is going to take you to the junkyard, Christine.
I'm sorry, you're right. I keep interrupting. I'm sure you have a perfectly
logical reason for cheating on me.
You know that boredom is one of the most tedious excuses cheaters can
give for their actions. Boredom is a great reason to take a class or start a new
hobby, but it is a piss,poor reason to bump naughty bits with a woman who
is not yours. You're right, crying and going for days without sleep sure can be
exciting. If you think I am having all of the fun, just wait until you try to col,
lect your belongings from a 10,mile stretch of superhighway.
I just hate it when a girl I am with tells me that she is "in love" with an,
other woman. If you try to tell me you are in love with anybody but me, I will
stick an index finger in each of my ears and hum so as to drown out the sound
of your pathetic drivel.
When you catch a woman cheating on you, you are entitled to be showered
with apologies and flooded with buckets of teary remorse. The cheater is sup,
posed to pledge her life to righting the wrong and the victim can pretend to
ponder whether or not this relationship is worth the pain and effort. That is
how things are supposed to go. A scoundrel shouldn't be allowed to break a
girl's heart and then take a crap on the little bleeding pieces by telling her how
in love she is with somebody else. In that situation, you don't just feel wronged,
you feel idiotic. Everybody wonders how come you didn't see what was going
on. You feel so foolish that all you can do is yell and cry, which only makes you
feel worse, which only makes you yell louder and cry harder. You are stuck in the
mindset of saving the relationship, and your girl is already calling you an ex.
Well, you can wipe that phony sympathetic look off of your face, because
you are not going to turn me into an emotional wreck.
And don't bother giving me that"confused" defense, either. You are not the
least bit confused, you just got caught, and you are trying to figure out how
to weasel out of facing your actions. "Confused" is lesbian code for "I want a
wife, but I want to screw everybody else in the world, too. How about waiting
for me until I get tired of sleeping around, or I get tired of you waiting for me
to stop sleeping around?"
Besides, the cheater never chooses the wife in the end - anybody with
Lifetime TV knows that - so I won't even pretend to fall for the confused bit.
I just had a terrible thought. What if it isn't a girl at all?What if you are one
of those gals who feels she hasn't given dick a fair shake? What is it about me
that makes women want to get chummy with chimichangas? There is nothing
mysterious about a penis, Nancy Drew, so I hope you get over it quick.
But you better not be rolling around with one of your ex,girlfriends. I am
not up to the challenge of the undead relationship. I think I'd rather deal with
a new dick than an old puss.
If it isn't an ex or a boy or a wrong turn on the road oflife, then I give up.
Please tell me: Why are you cheating? ■
She'sa Very Geeky Girl continued from page 68
Page Turnerscontinued from page 69
Who Makes the Rulesi continued from page 66
the country's actual first gay rights riot (years
before Stonewall), religious oppression, the
founding of the MCC Church, the L.A. Gay
Community Center and its position as the first
gay entity to be granted nonprofit status by the
IRS, Gay Liberation and the Lavender Left,
AIDS, ACT UP, Queer Nation and much more.
It's all here, exhaustively researched and docu,
mented into a thorough history of one the most
dynamic American cities and, by extension, a
reflection of the entire U.S. LGBTQ civil rights
forLIFE,Eds.LoriL.LakeandTara
Romance
Thiscollection
Young(BoldStrokesBooks):
gathers25 romanticshorts,manyby BoldStrokes
from
for a goodcause- all proceeds
regulars,
the book'ssaleswill bedonatedto breastcancer
If youneedevenmorereasonto buythis
research.
bookandsupportyourfellowwomen,consider
bya fairy-talemoodof
this:Whiledominated
storiesdifferfromyour
short
these
bliss,
heartfelt
byofferingyousomecharacter
averageromance
andwry humoralongwithtruelove.
development
- EM
(boldstrokesbooks.com)
her best friend Phyllis Christopher (a famous
photographer oflesbian sex arid the film'smost en,
grossing character), for close friends Jackie Strano
and Shar Rednour (the frank and funny lesbian
couple who filmed How to Fuck in High Heels and
Bend Over Boyfriend),for those women and men
who grace Everett's life for a few dates or more, and
for the ecstatic, confounded state of being in love
itself, an often fleeting phenomenon she sets out to
movement.
Faderman, an award,winning historian, and
Timmons, an accomplished journalist, combine
forces here in true partnership, sniffing out thou,
sands of enticing details from L.A:s various gay
and lesbian archives and interweaving all the
voices that helped shape that great gay metropo,
lis. And best yet, the book is thoroughly enjoy,
able, told in engaging prose interspersed with
quotes from original interviews and research.
Even if you don't generally read history, do read
Gay L.A. to understand more about the forma,
tion and growth of not only a city, but the hopes,
dreams and accomplishments of our entire
Fire,EllisAvery(Riverhead
TheTeahouse
orphan
Toldthroughthevoiceof 9-year-old
Books):
thedevastaAveryEllis'first novelrecounts
Aurelia,
Aurelia's
Fire.Following
tionof the KyotoTeahouse
thereadercancatchan insideglimpse
adventures,
timesin
of Kyotoduringoneof the mostfascinating
history,the late19thcentury.Throughthe
Japanese
Aureliafindsherself
highlychargedsocialsituations
the politicaland
in,the readercanunderstand
socialeffectsof the refusalto observeJapanese
suchas blackening
traditionalritualisticcustoms,
in the highlyritualized
one'steethor participating
(riverheadbooks.com)
teaceremony.
Japanese
- KimFujioka
■
LGBTQ community. (perseusbooksgroup.com)
capture, if only on video.
Everett whittled down more than 200 hours of
personal footage into what now stands as an hour,
long piece de resistance on lesbian polyamory.
(outcast-films.com■)
Other Licks continued from page 71
Music):Sisters
MusicFest2006(GoGirts
GoGir/s
onthis17-trackcompilaaredoin'it for themselves
tionputtogetherbytheoldestandlargestonline
of indiewomenin music,featuring
community
Ellis,DivineMAGgees
JenFoster,
SarahBettens,
andmanymore.(gogirlsmusic.co-m)MC
byTheLWord
MusicFromandInspired
L Tunes:
Whocan't
Kelis,NinaSimone.
Peaches,
(Columbia):
- DAM
to love?(sonybmg.com)
findsomething
March 2007
I 75
Staring Down the Demons continued from page 63
unconscious and called paramedics. Stephanie was comatose for several days
but fortunately didn't suffer permanent brain damage. Nearly a year since her
suicide attempt, Masters still suffers from acute depression.
'Tm just not sure when I will feel like 'myself' again;' she says, sadly. "I
know I was a different person before, self,assured and comfortable with who
I was. I felt supported in my queer life by the community I was living in.
Now;' she gestures at het; cozy room, "even here I question whether I belong,
whether I will ever feel a part of something again:'
Kat Collins*, a 40,year,old writer from New England, doesn't think
her lesbianism was connected to the psychotic break that landed her in a
mental hospital on a 72,hour hold placed by her former partner, Miranda
Black*. What Collins does think is that her
lesbianism kept her from getting appropriate
treatment for what has since been diagnosed as
bipolar disorder.
"Two years ago, I came home from work after
having worked very long hours for weeks. I hadn't
been sleeping much. I was on anti,depressants and
anti,anxiety medication prescribed by my doctor,
but they didn't seem to be working. I remember
almost nothing of four days when I was appar,
ently in a manic state. My ex came over because
ing for her, but couldn't find her:'
Hours later, Collins returned. The situation had become dire, and Collins had
turned violent. When police arrived, she took off with the police in pursuit
"I am convinced that if I hadn't called the police earlier and filed a report,
if the officers who had taken that report hadn't been the ones to get the later
call, she might have been shot by the police;' asserts Black. "You see this all
the time on the news, they call it suicide by police. I think if Kat hadn't been
white, a woman, and I hadn't been there, she'd be dead now:'
It took 12 police officers to subdue the 5,footA,inches Collins. Black had
her committed involuntarily."It was the hardest thing I have ever done;' Black
says."But she was not Kat, she was some altered, dangerous version of hersel£
When I went to the hospital to see her the next day, she didn't even know me:'
Black and Collins explain that it took almost a year to get Collins a diagnosis,
during which time she was unable to work and Black was forced to support her.
Black argues that just being a lesbian can make mental health profession,
als distrustful of your impressions. "Kat was someone I knew well, we had
been together for 10 years and had remained family. I saw her every single
day. I knew her better than anyone and something was very wrong that day,
something had snapped. But the doctors seemed to connect her lesbianism,
and mine, to her psychosis, as if one thing caused the other.
It made it very difficult to get a proper diagnosis and care. Everything kept
coming back to her being a lesbian and my being a lesbian:'
In her novel 72 Hour Hold, African,American writer Bebe Moore
Campbell tells the story of mother whose young lesbian daughter has been
diagnosed as bipolar and the mother's desperate search for treatment. The
book details the confluent issues of denial of mental illness and homophobia
in the black community and in the mental health industry. Del Rogers* says
she didn't need to read Moore Campbell's book to know what it was like to be
Icurve
be straight and normal:'
Rogers explains, ';\ll I ever heard from my family and my church - and
everything about my family revolved around my church - was that I would
grow out of these'white people' things, like being a dyke and being depressed.
Except I didn't. This wasn't any'phase;' this was my life:'
It's been nearly 10 years since Rogers took an overdose of pills while in
college. "It wasn't enough to kill me, fortunately, but it was enough to let me
know I needed to change my life. It was a real wake,up call. But I think a lot
of queers don't get it until it's too late:'
Rogers credits "a really good dyke doctor" at a
student health service connected to her university
with saving her life. "She made me see that it was
not only okay for me to be a dyke, but it was also
okay for me to be a black dyke. She got me into
therapy with a queer,friendly shrink, and it just
"Was I catatonically
depressed like my
motheror brandishing
changed my life, saved my life:'
a butcherknife like
Rogers adds, soberly, "But I know I was just
My best friend in graduate school wasn't
lucky.
my grandfather?
- he had one of those 'single car accidents: He just
No. I was a lesbian." couldn't deal with the pressures:'
weweresupposedtogosomewhereandfoundme
apparently pretty psychotic:•
According to Black, Collins left the house that hot summer day wearing
heavy sweats and just disappeared, after taking an entire bottle of pills.
"I called the doctor first, and then the police;' Black explains. "I was totally
freaked out and very afraid for her. In almost 20 years of knowing her, I had
never seen her in such an irrational state. She was crying hysterically, she'd
ripped all the phones out, she'd taken apart the computer. I drove around look,
76
a black lesbian with mental illness. She had lived it for years.
"I never want to hear the word 'phase' again as long as I live;' Rogers says,
wryly. The 31,year,old musician from Atlanta now lives in Brooklyn, far
away from her family and what she calls "the unbearable, killing pressure to
According to the more enlightened mental
health professionals, LGBT patients need more specialized care than straight
patients because "such patients are largely an ignored or invisible subgroup in
long,term psychiatric programs and in the gay and lesbian community itself;'
asserts Goldenberg. ''The mental health system is just totally heterosexually
acculturated and often unaware of their needs. Since most lesbian, gay and
transgendered people have experienced homophobia, when they add stigma,
tizing effects of mental illness, it's too much. So it's really a double,edged
sword for a lot of GLBT clients because these different stigmas really make it
hard for them to seek treatment and find appropriate treatment:'
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in fiveAmericans
will suffer from serious depression requiring treatment in her or his lifetime. In
addition, about 10 percent of the population suffers from other, more severe and
lifelong forms of mental illness, like bipolar and anxiety disorders. And we all
know lesbians aren't exempt from suffering this same range of mental illnesses.
Roberta L. Hacker, executive director of Women in Transition Inc.,
a counseling agency specializing in substance abuse and domestic violence
among women, says that help is available, but both the LGBT and straight
communities must prioritize mental illness.
"There is a lot of help out there for anyone in the queer community who
is suffering from depression or other mental health issues;' insists Hacker.
"There are a sufficient number of feminist therapists available that no one
should feel so trapped that she cannot reach out for help. Anyone who feels
troubled or in danger can find the help they need, it is available. But it's impor,
tant to resist fears of seeking help in the first place:•
Hacker emphasizes the need for supportive care from the community.';\ lot
of lesbians and other GLBT people feel cut off from family and sometimes so,
ciety as a whole. So it's important that anyone feeling dark thoughts or sadness
seek out help and that their friends be supportive. Looking in the right places
for help is key, but the right help is there and can make all the difference:'
Rogers agrees. "If there is any message I want to send to other queer peo,
ple experiencing what I did, it's this: Your life is valuable, much more valuable
than the prejudice of others, even if those people are in your own family. I
found the help I needed and it saved my life. You can find it, too:' ■
Playing Both Sides of the Wall continued from page 38
gay disco;' in Friedrichshain. Finally,check out Cafe
Fatal, also at SO36, where every Sunday, couples
do their best waltzes, rumbas and tangos (samesex ballroom dancing is very popular in Germany).
For up-to-date info on Berlin nightlife, check the
English language Web site out-in-berlin.de or pick
up the free local publication Siegessaule,from the
same company that publishes L-Mag.
Dining Delights
Prior to our trip, I imagined German food to be
one big meat parade, which in many cases it is.
But I never even considered what breakfast would
be like - turns out, it's the best meal of the day.
Every morning my vegetarian girlfriend and I were
delighted to feast on yogurt, muesli, delicious
brown breads with sunflower seeds on them, and
full-on sandwich fixings.
Berlin, like every modern city in Europe, now
sports a full range of international eating options.
But traditional staples remain, such as wurst, stuffed
cabbage, and wiener schnitzel. Our favorite place
for traditional food was Rote Harfe in Kreuzberg.
There I ate a delicious dish ,called wirsingkohlroulade, which is like tender meatloaf stuffed in cabbage and bathed in a tangy tomato sauce.
Vegetarians, take heart; there is one meal served
in even the most traditional restaurant that will
sustain you through it all: spatzle. The most common way of preparing these simple noodles is with
cheese, bread crumbs and onions; the result is mac
and cheese taken to a whole new level.
We dined 1920s-style at speakeasy bar-cafe
Joseph Roth Diele located in the Schoneberg district. This small, cozy place reeks of literary debate,
which is rather the point, as it is themed on the life
of journalist Joseph Roth. A couple of euros buys
you simple breads, cheeses and pickles to accompany your beer and conversation. The atmosphere
is nice; however, this was also the only restaurant
where a waitperson made an unwelcome comment
about my Asian identity.
For eating on the cheap, you can't beat
currywurst, which Berliners are as raAmerican
as
about
opinionated
bidly
urbanites are about where to find the best cup of
coffee. Served at walk-up stands, currywurst is
a tender pork sausage cut up into slices, dusted
with curry spices and lathered with ketchup. It's
prepared in many styles, and every Berliner has a
favorite stand they swear by.
An even more popular take-away food is the
doner kebab, which reflects the culinary influence of
Berlin's large Turkish population. After World War
II, Berlin invited Turkish citizens to be guest workers to help with reconstruction, prompting the arrival
of a wave of immigrants. Decades later,Turkish food
and music is now a major part of the city's culture.
The yummy doner kebab is a pita cone filled with
shaved, roasted lamb, beef or chicken, and lettuce
and yogurt sauce.
We made a hugely entertaining excursion to
the world famous fifth-floor food emporium at the
KaDe We department store, the grand dame of the
Kurfiirstenstra& shopping district. As we stepped
off the escalator, we walked into a wonderland for
foodies. Think of the most amazing items in your
favorite gourmet grocery store and multiply the selection by 1,000. We browsed aisles and aisles of teas,
pickles,pastas, chocolates, cookies, salts, cheeses, you
name it. If you need a little refresher, several little sitdown stands serve fresh fish, champagne, espresso
and caviar,among other treats. You can buy all your
souvenirs for loved ones here in one fell swoop. Ride
the escalator up to a rooftop cafe that offers an incredible view of Berlin.
A Cocktail or Two Can't Hurt
True to reputation, the most popular drink in
Germany is beer, and the Berliner ladies we hung
out with certainly put us through the paces. It was
none of that precious microbrewery stuff, either.
Lagers, as opposed to ales, are the most popular
and come in a variety of styles, from pale pilsner to
dark and malty bock. I learned that we Americans
know only half the story when it comes to weizens,
or wheat beers. The "hefe-" prefix means "yeasty;'
and that's all we yanks ever order. But there is a
whole other class of weizens called "kristall:' These
lighter, fruitier filtered brews are very refreshing,
and it's a shame they have not made it across
the Atlantic yet. When we could drink no more
alcohol, we occasionally refreshed ourselves with
apfelschorle, a cheerful blend of apple juice and
sparkling water.
Accommodating Ourselves
To get a fair sampling of the city's different accommodations, we tried out three different hotels. First
up was the 'a.esign hotel" Arcotel Velvet. Located
in the trendy Mitte district, the sleek yet comfortable hotel sported a preponderance of oddly
shaped furniture and decorative references to Andy
Warhol. Next we stayed at the Clarion hotel in the
Schoneberg disctrict. This is your average global
chain hotel, but it is a good budget option.
Finally, we ended up at our favorite spot: the
Artemesia Women's Hotel, the only all-women hotel
in Berlin. Our room in the small, homey guest house
was dean and bright. We also enjoyed the garden balcony and the charming breakfast room stocked with
feminist books. The other guests were friendly,and if
you are traveling solo, you will probably meet fellow
lesbian travelers here. The Artemesia is located at the
outskirts of town in a quiet residential neighborhood
in the Wilmersdorf district, but a U-Bahn stop is
right near by.
On our last evening in Berlin, we ate an enormous meal at a wonderful trattoria around the
corner from the Artemesia. Filled with wine and
food, we strolled down a side street back to our
cozy room. Maybe it was the evening autumn air,
or maybe it was the leaves swirling in the yellow
lamplight, but somehow we found ourselves kissing in a fair impression of some old Hollywood
film. And wouldn't you know it: We decided that
we love Berlin. ■
For morevisitorinfo seecurvemag.com.
March 2007
I77
Looking
for a
design
for
web
• Identity
• print
al
I
eyea
• branding
travel mate?
~ seed
n6uveau
www. seed nouveau. com
Best Lesbian Erotica 1007
Edited by Tristan Taormino
Selected and Introduced
by Emma Donoghue
A fire-eater, a voluptuous masseuse,and
a naked game of tag in a forest at twilight
- it could only be Best Lesbian Erotica
2007, the latest, boldest edition of the
best-selling lesbian erotica
series in America.
$14.95, 248 pages ISBN 1-57344-259-3
Call to Order! (800) 780-2279
or order onllne -.clelspress.com
Free Shipping
READYFORA
NEWHOME?
LGBT REALTORS
IN YOURCITY!
Whole Lesbian Sex Book
A Passionate Guide
for All of Us
by Felice Newman
All-new second edition completely revised and
updated throughout
$24.95, 300 pages ISBN 1·57344·199-6
Call to Order! (800) 780-2279
or order online: www.cleispress.com
free Shipping
1
SexTbys
DVDs
BDSM
Calendars
Posters
Massage
Dils
Diversity
ide Events
We Do It Different!
for GLBTs/PFLAGs
inEure~a
Sprin~s,
Ar~ansas
Valentine's,
Spring
&Fall
@I LGBT
DIVERSWEEKE
ITY
NDS
Special
Concert
and
s
otherPride
Events
Homes.com
Toll Free: 866-397-LGBT
A Randolph-Hagley
78
I curve
Company
forGa,fo!R
andtheirStraif
ht
friends
cffamilftoenjoy
toeether!
www.DiversityPride.com
517.B96.4842
Gay and lesbian
travel specialists
• Eco adventure
• Sightseeing
• History
• Culture
• Events
+
Yukon Pride.ca
T. 867 .668.2932
Yakoaadvtntures- In comfortandstyle
CastOIII
11111
I
st. Croix,U.S.VirginIslands
ch
eom
.sandcastleonthebea
www
800.52l.2018
----~--
A~§
~
to"(
steeltoestudios.com
We Are The Worlds Largest
Adult Novelty 5uperstont
www.v1brator.com
800. 831 · 1618
Take10%Off!
UsecodeCURVEIO
buckles
Hand-forged
leatherbelts
Hand-dye~
offerendsMarch1,2007
March 2007
I79
Top Ten ReasonsWe Love Heather Gold
Heather Gold's business card could easily be its own
Top Ten. She's a comedian, talk show host, lawyer,
baker, blogger and workplace reformer, among other
things. Gold left a Silicon Valley career to pursue
her passion for performance. In her award,winning
interactive play,I Look Like an Egg,but I Identifyas a
Cookie,she baked over 20,000 cookies with her audi,
ences. She hosts a live talk show, The HeatherGold
Show,discussing everything from hip,hop to how to
make a crowd of several thousand dance the Hora.
Her quirky Web site, subvert.com, features videos in
which the charming Gold subverts cleaning among
other things and muses about what it would take to
impeach President Bush. - Andy Wright
1.She'sversatile.
'The'Net and liveperformance have
both taught me that connection with our true selves
and between people is everything. I am interested in
creating for many mediums, but there is nothing like
people in a room together sharing themselves and an
experience:'
2. Shehasan enlightened
viewonwork."Work is
the religion of our time. Eight hours a day is a drag
for most people. All Americans need to come out as
themselves at work. People will be more creative and
the businesses will run better:•
3. She'sthemarrying
type."I love being engaged. It's
fun. We haven't yet set a date, but when we do, I'm
definitely inviting President Bush and Mel Gibson:•
4. Everyyearat theSanFrancisco
DykeMarchshe
askswomen:
When'sthefirsttimea girlmadeyou
feelsquishy?
"One woman dreamt about walking on
a giant breast when she was 7. I feltso squishy lying
on the grass with a next,door neighbor when I was 5.
that I put my arm around her. She moved it and told
"Workisthe religion
of ourtime.Eighthoursa day is a
5. Sheoncerefereed
a boxing
matchbetween
Barney dragfor mostpeople.AllAmericans
needto comeout
the Dinosaur
and Star Trelc's
WesleyCrusher(Wil
as themselves
at work."
Wheaton.)
"It was pretty damn geeky, but I don't
me that that was something a boyfriend would do:'
know if it can compare to the effort I put into decon,
structing the lyrics to 'Summer Loving' in grade six:'
late-nightshows?I love the chance to have meaningful
conversation in publiC:'
10.WeaskedGoldwhoinspired
her,andthisiswhat
shesaid:"People who live their lives with integrity
8. She'sfunny.On quitting her fast,paced tech job:
and people willing to tell the truth even when it's not
popular .... People who aren't afraid to be genuine
"It was really hard to give up all those free Diet Cokes
and extra,large T,shirts:'
and kind. People who live fully and without apology.
People who make work that is so beautiful and cap,
9. She'sgoingto saveus all a tonof moneyonstudentloans."(I'm working on] my next interactive
comedy, The Law Project,in which I teach all of law
tures the contradictions and heartbreak and delight
of the human experience. ... So many people I don't
know who keep their families and neighborhoods
together and cook for everyone and are nurturing,
loving, enlightened witnesses for those who haven't
6. She'sdamcute.See the accompanying picture
as evidence.
7. She'snotBillO'Reilly.
"I wanted to fix the things
that always bugged me about talk shows, like why
is that personsittingon the couchnot allowedto talk?
And whyam I listeningto a whitemiddle-class
guyfrom
Baltimorewho'san academictalkaboutgreatbluesmenof
theMississippiDeltainsteadof thebluesmenthemselves?
And, of course, why are thereno womenhostingthese
soIcurve
school in 90 minutes:'
had them:' ■
gome people see their
namein lights.
Mine'son a bag of Pita_Chips.
See all items with this value
-
25274 80539
6
FranklySpeaking
curve
THE BEST-SELLING LESBIAN MAGAZINE
EverybodyLoves Papi
VOLUME 17 NUMBER 2
1550 Bryant Street, Suite 51 0
San Francisco, California 94103
Phone 415-863-6538 Facsimile 415-863-1609
Advertising Sales 415-863-6538 ext. 10 or 212-446-6700
Subscription Inquiries 818-760-8983
Advertising E-mail advertising@curvemag.com
Editorial E-mail editor@curvemag.com
Letters to the Editor E-mail letters@curvemag.com
In the photo studio during
her cover shoot, Janina'sfun
personalityshined again. She
humored us with half a dozen
wardrobe changes, chatting
animatedlyabout her sex
scene with Leisha Haileyin
the limousine.
Publisher/Editor in Chief
Executive Editor
Associate Editor
Book Review Editor
Music Review Editor
Contributing Editors
Gretchen Lee, Sarah Warn
Laura K. Cucullu
Jaclyn Barcewski,Michelle
Ma, KatherineH. Nelson,
Jocelyn Voo
Editorial Assistants Azania Baker,Sonia Kreitzer,
Lesley Seacrist
Art Director Kas Neteler
Production Manager Ondine Kilker
Production Artist
Kelly Nuti
Web Producer Nikki Woelk
Catalog Manager Holly DeMaagd
Catalog Department Flo Enriquez,
Monier Ziaian
Associate Publisher Sara Jane Keskula
Advertising Sales RivendellMedia
Marketing & PR Manager Bambi Weavil
Marketing Coordinator Amanda Campa
Marketing Representatives Mellissa Domboski,
Tammy Lam, LindseyTaylor
Copy Chief
Proofreaders
Frances Stevens Publisher/Editor
I
Frances Stevens
Diane Anderson-Minshall
Catherine Plato
Rachel Pepper
Margaret Coble
Julia Bloch, Victoria A.
Brownworth, Sheryl Kay,
in Chief
first met Janina Gavankar in Chicago at CURVE s Gay Games VII closing dance party last year. At the
time, The L Word's season four was being filmed in Vancouver but her character, Papi, wasn't yet on
the tips of lesbian tongues everywhere.
1
Gavankar got a few days off from the set to fly home to Chicago to party with us. With her mom and close
friends in tow, she didn't expect much notice from the throngs of women who turned out to dance all night.
She was pleasantly surprised by the exuberant audience of dykes who cheered her on and endlessly clam~
ored for her autograph. It was a small sign of things to come. She embraced the crowd in her fun loving way,
often times sticking her tongue out, making quirky faces and hamming it up for the cameras.
In real life, Gavankar is sweet, comical and animated. As Papi, she is Casanova personified. Her character
is suave and debonair; there's nothing silly about Papi's way with women. In the photo studio during
her cover shoot, Janina's fun~loving personality shined again. Photo assistants and publicists jetted by as
she underwent hair styling and makeup with a smile. She happily suffered through at least half a dozen
wardrobe changes, animatedly chatting to me about Papi's debut, filming the sex scene with Leisha
Hailey (The L Word's Alice) in the limo, and what it's like for her to be the mascot on msdewey.com. We
are extremely proud to have Janina on the cover of this month's issue. To celebrate, we're rolling out the
red carpet for her and inviting you all to join us in Los Angeles and Chicago for another huge bash. Make
sure you subscribe to our free e~mail newsletter (sign up at curvemag.com) so you can be the first to find
out when and where the party will be. January's star~studded release party sold out in one week, so get
your tickets early this time; who knows what women will do to meet Gavankar in person.
This issue is an important one, dedicated to our illustrious (and industrious) art director Kas Neteler,
who has been an instrumental part of the CURVE team for nearly eight years. Kas has helped CURVE grow
by leaps and bounds and under her tutelage, CURVE doubled in size, got a full makeover and went full
color. Talk about making us pretty. We are glad she isn't leaving the CURVE family completely. Her work
as a contributing designer will still grace our pages. Hats off to Ms. Neteler!
P.S. You may notice we no longer have the CURVE boutique in the back of the magazine. We're making
some changes here at the magazine that give us space for more articles, interviews and reviews. Don't fret,
you ~an still buy back issues and other swag in the online CURVE shop at curvemag.com.
Contributing Writers ElizabethA. Allen, Courtney Becks,
Kathy Beige, Heather Boemer,JenniferCorday,
Gina Daggett, Holly Dolezalek,Michele Fisher,
Tracy E. Gilchrist,RachaelHerron,LaurieKoh,
LeeAnnKriegh,Kate Lacey,CharleneLichtenstein,
Malinda Lo, KarenLoftus,KartynLotney,Candace
Moore, Aimsel L. Ponti, Sara Seinberg, Lori Selke,
Ursula Steck, Allison Steinberg, Shauna Swartz,
Carole TerwilligerMyers, AngelaWatrous, Renee
Westbrook,Andy Wright
Contributing Illustrator KatherineStreeter
Contributing Photographers Brie Childers,Sophia
Hantzes, Gabriela Hashun,Linda Kliewer,Jason
Madara, Deb Mosk, Maggie Parker,Kevin Parry,
Robin Platzer,Elisa Shea, VirginiaSherwood,
Pamela Springsteen,Jamie Trueblood,Sophia
Wallace, Kina Williams
Volume 17 Issue 2 Curve (ISSN 1087-867)() is published monthly (except for
January and July) by Outspoken Enterprises,Inc., 1550 Bryant St., Ste. 510,
San Francisco, CA 94103. Subscription price: $49.95/year, $62.95 Canadian
(U.S. funds only) and $71.95 international(U.S. funds only). Returned checks
will be assessed a $25 surcharge. Periodicalspostage paid at San Francisco,
CA 94114 and at additionalmailingoffices (USPS0010-355). Contents of Curve
Magazinemay not be reproducedin any manner,either whole or in part, without
written pennission from the publisher. Publication of the name or photograph
of any persons or organizationsappearing, advertisingor listing in Curve may
not be taken as an indication of the sexual orientation of that indMdual or
group unless specifically stated. Curve welcomes letters, queries, unsolicited
manuscriptsand artwork IncludeSASEfor response.Lack of any representation
only signifies insufficient materials. Submissions cannot be returned unless a
self-addressedstamped envelope is included. No responsibilityis assumed for
loss or damages. The contents do not necessarily represent the opinions of
the editor, unless specificallystated. All magazinessent discreetly.Subscription
Inquiries:Please write to Curve, 1550 Bryant Street, Suite 510, San Francisco,
CA 94103, e-mail shop@curvemag.com, or call 818-760-8983. Canadian
Agreement Number: 40793029. Newsstand Circulation: BigTop Newsstand
Services 415-643-0161 or maire@bigtoppubs.com.Postmaster:
SendCanadian
address changesto shop@curvernag.oom,
Curve,PO Box 122, Niagara Falls, ON
L2E 658. SendU.S.addresschangesto shop@curvemag.com,
Curve,POBox17138,
N. Hollywood,
CA91615-7138.Printedin theU.S.
A..,
~ Keyword: Curvemag Web site: curvemag.com
4
Icurve
z
:::,
:I:
i
:5
w
a:
~
CELEBRATE OUR
MARCH COVER GIRL
THE L WORD'S
JANINA GAVANKAR
IN PERSON
THE NEW ISSUE + L WORD AUTOGRAPHS + DJ DANCING
LOS ANGELES EARLYMARCH
CHICAGO LATEMARCH
TICKETS AT CURVEMAG.COM
Features
March 2007
Volume 17#2
"I wouldn't
. necessarily
say [Papi's]
so butch.
I think she's
got some
masculine
qualities. All
these sort of
stereotypes
about what's
butch and
what's
femme don't
really apply,
especially
on the show,
and that's
why [The
L Word's] so
important."
Janina Gavankar,
page 59
30 Ten Powerful Lesbians in Film & TV Meet the
premier movers and shakers in lesbian
entertainment. By Shauna Swartz
32 Bad Girls on Lockdown British prison babes
(with lesbian leanings) take over our televisions in
Bad Girls. Plus, a little one-on-one with the show's
sexiest star. By LeeAnn Kriegh
54 Gay Wrestler 'Tex' Green Rocks the Ring
This tough Texan introduces us the wild world of
women's wrestling. By Lori Selke
56 COVER: The L Word's Papi On the small
screen, her legendary lesbo character puts even
Shane to shame. In real life, actor Janina Gavankar
drives us just as wild. By Diane Anderson-Minshall
61 L Word: Where Are They Now? A bed check
of of our favorite former stars. By Aimsel L. Ponti
62 Going Off the Rails One woman's mental health
Get Your Passport Ready
34 Coming to Canada, eh? The mountains of Alberta
provide the perfect escape. By Aimsel L. Ponti
37 Double the Fun in Berlin A little secret - two
former halves mean twice the gay fun. By Laurie Koh
40 Secret Love in Venice It's time for the wife to
meet my Italian lover. By Rachael Herron
42 Colorful Cura~ao Whimsical design, sunny skies
and endless dolphins. By Angela Watrous
44 Capital Steps Some places take a while for one
to appreciate, like D.C. By Renee Westbrook
46 Drinking Down New Zealand Some girls go for
the scenery. We get bombed. By Karen Loftus
48 Lonely Planet Lesbians Find out who writes
those lovely guides you can't live without. By Sara
Seinberg
struggles. By Victoria A. Brownworth
64 Lesbian Chefs It's always hot in the kitchen with
50 Easter Island No bunnies needed. By Carole
Terwilliger Meyers
these three cuisine masters. By Malinda Lo
52 Minneapolis Loving Yes, it's cold. It's also beauCover photo by Brie
Childers
6
Icurve
tiful, and the women are fine. By Holly Dolezalck
Departments
March 2007
Throwcautionto
thewind·andget
to knowwhichever
hotbabeseems
interesting.
You
neverknow.We're
allstraightuntil
we'regay.
page 27
4
Frankly Speaking A note from the
woman who started it all.
10 Contributors Gals behind the scenes.
24 Scene It's true, you totally should have
been there. We were. We had a camera.
time strapper from the sexpert herself.
14 Out in Front So a psychiatrist, a
professor and two lesbian priests walk
into a bar ...
27 Lipstick & Dipstick Is she a high
femme or a straight imposter? Also,
when not to take a friend's advice.
66 Sapphic Screen Heather Graham goes
gay for pay, FemaleMisbehavior gets us
hot, and Annabelle Gurwitch shows how
fun it is to dis your boss on camera.
18 Open Studio Texan painter Cheryl
Finfrock tells us her dreams.
20 Lesbofile Just when you thought
Lindsay Lohan had tried it all.
a I curve
James Bond action (minus the man
thing)? Try these geeky spy gadgets.
73 Politics Victoria A. Brownworth tackles
globetrotting from a different perspective.
your answers. Hint: It's all about Virgos.
Football League gets us hot and sweaty.
72 Tech Girl Got a hankering for some
28 Astro Grrl Our trusty astrologer has all
15 Curvatures Barbie fights back, mafia
femmes take over the South, and
Wal-Mart saves face. Plus, the Lingerie
you shake a tailfeather and an interview
with badass bassist Kimberly Dahme.
26 Ask Fairy Butch Confessions of a first-
12 Letters The troops love us, and we love
All the Kings Men.
70 Music Watch Brazilian beats to make
68 In the Stacks Chic geek Rachel
Pepper's recommended reading list.
Plus, a hot new ldahomo tells
treacherous tales of the Gem State.
74 Dyke Drama Has your girl been cheating? Resident dyke dramatist Michele
Fisher's not having it.
80 Top Ten Reasons We Love Heather
Gold She's funny, sexy, smart. She
looks like an egg but thinks like a cookie.
What? Andy Wright finds out.
Contributors
"How stubborn can I bet asks ReneeWestbrook,
author of "A Lesbian
on Capitol Hill" (page 44)."So stubborn that in the mid-1970s, I refused
to go on a family vacation to Washington, D.C. Because of that teenage
temper tantrum, I missed out on one of the greatest cities in the world:'
Thirty years later, she got an opportunity to experience that greatness
firsthand. Westbrook talks about the satisfying experiences she found in
nearly every neighborhood of the cosmopolitan metropolis. From great
theater in t_hesouthwestern area of the city to superb food in the Penn
Quarter, D.C. is more than just the capital of our country.
'J\t the risk of sounding dramatic, the trip to Alberta, Canada, permanently
chang~d me in many ways. From body image to the art of relaxation, which
has always eluded me, this was the experience I didn't know I so desperately
needed until I was having it;' says AimselL. Ponti,who wrote "Oh, Canada!"
(page 34 ). Banff National Park is the closest thing to heaven she's seen in a
long time. The spa treatments were otherworldly moments in time, and Ponti
finally learned how to relax. When she's not basking in the afterglow of the
trip, she covers music for the Portland Press Herald newspaper in Portland, .
Maine. Otherwise, you'll find her out running, watching Red Sox games and
catching as much live music as she can.
Writer LeeAnnKrieghwas surprised to discover the British prison drama
Bad Girls, which she reviews in this issue on page 32. "We're so accustomed
TakeAmerica's
favoriteLGBT
travel
to settling for a little innuendo or the sweeps week kiss;' she says."I couldn't
understand how I'd missed - how we'd all missed - a network TV show
that places a passionate lesbian relationship front and center:' When not dissecting the finer points of Helen and Nikki's relationship, Kriegh writes and
edits for a wide range of clients, including high-tech companies and marketing agencies.You can read more about her and her business at worddoc.biz.
'Tm always on the lookout for women moving and shaking up the art
world;' says Editorial Assistant SoniaKreitzer.
A visual artist and writer,
Kreitzer has been getting her CURVE on since October and penned the
review of Louise J.Kaplan's Cultures of Fetishism on page 69. She currently splits her days between CURVE and office-temp purgatory and her
nights in search of these alleged movers and shakers. Kreitzer (shown
here, right, with her friend Annie) still finds writing in the third person
awkward and is allergic to cats.
10
Icurve
The Official Aqua Girl Host Hotel is the luxurious
Resort.
Surfcomber
Doubletree
ocean-front
RATE CODE: AGUA GIRL
aaa.SE53.02S4
nationalsponsors:
BACARDI.
LIM6N·
cw
OOUILETUE'
SOR.fCOMIU. HOTEL
FDA MORE INFORMATION
VISIT DUA V\/EBSITE
...eORG
....,.,._
AQUA _...
DA CALL
305.576.AQUA
954.◄74.018:t
SHEMAGAZINE
AODESIGN;
Letters
Kiss Us, Kate!
We'vealwayswanted
to beoneof those
magazines
withslavishlydevoted
fanswho
carryusaroundthe
globeandtakephotos
holdingthemagazine
infrontofWisconsin's
biggestcheesewheel
orwhilein attendance
at Montana's
Rocky
Mountain
OysterFestival
(shudder!).
Photographer
DebMoskstartedus
onthepathwiththis
shotof comedian
and
authorKateClinton
(knownto ourreaders
as"ohgreatone")toting
theNovember
issueto
dinner.
Wehaveto start
somewhere,
right?
Sendusa photoof you
andyourcuRvE. If we
printit, we'llsendyou
somekindof freebie:
maybea tee,maybe
a magazine,
maybea
lesbian- whoknows?
-Editor
"I'm a security contractor here in Iraq, and
I just so happen to have two mommies!
I receive your wonderful magazine along
with some other lesbian publications, and
some of the guys in our team room have
been checking them out. ... Needless to say,
you're pretty popular around here."
Model Citizen
I absolutely loved seeing Megan Morris on the cover of the
December issue (Vol. 16, #10) of CURVE. Not only is she beautiful, she's smart and well spoken, which made the interview
with her a fantastic read. She had a lot of interesting stories
and clearly has a very positive take orr life, making her a wonderful role model. I hope to read more about her in the future!
- Nicola Vandorpe,Halifax, N.S., Canada
Crazy for the Kings Men
It was awesome to see All the Kings Men recognized in your
December issue (Vol.16, #10)! Every ATKM show is an awesome experience. I don't even have words to describe it. All I
know is that more people across the U.S. need to know about
them and their shows.
I would love to read more about the Kings in CURVE.
They seem like such a fearless, strong and diverse bunch of
women who aren't afraid to play into social stereotypes, only to
break them all down through comedic, satiric and sometimes
straight-up political theater. In a society where women have
spent so much time waiting in the wings, we need to celebrate
every time some of us are determined enough and courageous
enough to command the spotlight. These drag kings really are
(excuse the pun) women with balls.
- AlexandraBauermeister,Cambridge,Mass.
It was amazing that you guys had a spread dedicated to theater
awards. Gay clubs and bars and similar gathering venues are
great, but performance, music and the arts get overlooked all
the time. In the near future, please give serious consideration
to doing a feature article about All the Kings Men. They are
an amazing, professional bunch and definitely a must-see for
live performance.
- Maria Kogan,via e-mail
I am a New England lesbian, and I love All the Kings Men!
They are the hottest and most creative act I've ever seen.
(Unfortunately, I am a tad too young to have seen Eleanor
Roosevelt speak graphically about her love life at casual parties: That may have topped these ladies.)
I was so blown away by the spot in CURVE; however, I want
12
Icurve
to see more coverage of All the Kings Men. They are great
and deserve more respect than a little blurb! Let's transcend
the norm!
- Ali Zip, via e-mail
Loving Lisa, But Is She Loving You?
Woo! I read my interview ("Top Ten Reasons We Love Lisa
Meye~s;' Vol. 16, #10). I'm so excited. Thanks! I just bought
the last four copies from the Borders down the road. I had been
told that I'd see something in the mail first, but I checked my
MySpace, and some gal sent me an e-mail saying she'd read the
article a week or so ago. So I hightailed it to Borders, and voila!
Anyway, thanks again for giving me space in your magazine. I
love it.
- Lisa Meyers,via e-mail
I give CURVE major props for featuring Lisa Meyers in the
December issue. She makes me smile and, well, anything that
makes me smile is something worthy of praise!
- Erin Burch,via e-mail
In the December 2006 issue, you feature an interview with
comedian Lisa Meyers. In the article, she is quoted as saying,
'Tm not afraid to say Pat Robertson is a fucking lunatic, and
I'm very candid on my feelings about being anti-hate:' Correct
me if I'm wrong, but isn't spewing invectives against another
human being, whether you agree with their convictions or not,
a perfect example of hate?
- SharonChinn, Gladstone,Ore.
Is It All Jenny's Fault?
I just got the new issue (Vol. 17, #1) and am flabbergasted! I
admit, I only skimmed, but a lot of people do that and take to
heart what you say. Albeit, any intelligent person has a mind
of their own and isn't going to take to heart everything your
magazine prints. However, there are tons of women who aren't
that independent and do look to magazines for some guidance. Having said that, I was appalled to read that "Become a
H_:_roinAddict Like Gia" was one of your five dating lessons
from Hollywood. Hey, way to misguide people! What kind of
idiot prints crap like that? There are 15-year-old kids reading
Letters
this. Kids who are messed up enough just trying
to figure out their sexuality. That statement is just
ridiculous.
I'm not saying that you should be responsible for America, but let's not be idiots and say
something completely asinine like that. That's just
stupid and irresponsible! It's people like Jenny
Sherwin who make the planet think that lesbians
are these horrible creatures. Way to contribute to
society! Stupid.
- Tiffany Paterick,Alquippa, Penn.
team room have been checking them out. Keep in
mind we are all Army Special Operations Forces
veterans and some of these guys are the toughest
guys you'll ever meet. Here are some of their comments: "Wow, dykes are cool!" and "I had no idea
they had such a great community:' Tue list goes on.
Needless to say,you're pretty popular around here.
- Marc, via e-mail
More From Kelli Herd?
I have a quick question about something that's
going around the Web concerning Kelli Herd
Editor's Note: Wow Tiffany, we reallygot under and her film, It'.s in the Water. Word has it that
your skin. Wea like to think that cuRvE'.s readers, Herd is working on a sequel to that wonderful
who averagein their 30s, are savvy enought to dis- film and that Keri Jo (Chapman], Teresa [Garrett]
cern that the entire articlewas satire.I'm sorry we and Barbara Lasater have already said they'd do it.
disappointedyou, but I'd like to give queer women, Production is supposed to begin in summer 2007.
Is there any way you can find out about this and
even teenageones,more creditthan you do.
let us know if it is indeed true? I'd love to see what
those gals are up to and how they've grown. Any
Marc Has Two Mommies
just
I
and
help would be deeply appreciated. Big thanks!
Iraq,
in
here
contractor
I'm a security
- Cindy Zimmermann, Bloomington,fll.
your
receive
I
mommies!
so happen to have two
leswonderful magazine along with some other
Editor's Note: Well, egg on our faces. We're huge
bian publications, and some of the guys in our
Kelli Herdfans but hadn't heardabout the newfilm.
We'recertainlygoingtofind out whats up. Watchfor
more coveragein afuture issue. ,
Got Somethingon Your Mind?
E-mail letters@curvemag.com; write to CURVE
Letters, 1550 Bryant St., Ste. 510, San Francisco,
CA 94103; fax to 415-863-1609. Please include
your name, city and state. Letters may be edited
for clarity and length.
Corrections
In January's Sapphic Screen (Vol. 17, #1), we incorrectly said Puccinifor Beginnerswas on DVD.
The film hit theaters in February. The article about
Jadine Louie and the San Francisco Lesbian/ Gay
Freedom Band in the December issue (Vol. 16,
# 10) misspelled their Web address, which is sflgfb.
org. Regarding the Scene section of the same issue,
we incorrectly stated that DJ Gray (photo #11) got
her groove back; it was apparently never lost. And
in the article "Putting on the Cotton" (Vol. 16#8)
the Web address for idgogayfor.com, which sells
"Bring Back Dana''T-shirts, was misspelled.
CuRVEis quite apologetic this issue. ■
March 2007 j 13
Girls on Film
A FamilyAffair
The Girls of God's House
When some people share their life stories with
DeeMosbacher,
the accounts are kept confidential forever. For other people, she turns their
Leave it to the spin doctors.
When asked at age 11 what she wanted to be
when she grew up, Susan
Lowe(above right)
tales into feature-length movies. Such is the
paradox of being a San Francisco-based psychiatrist who's gained international recognition as a
film director-producer.
"Hey, look, I have ADO;' says Mosbacher.
"It's amazing I've only taken on two major
commitments:'
In fact, Mosbacher, 58, says her two endeavors are really intertwined. As a psychiatrist, she
helps people understand how they came to be
where they are and how they feel about it. Her
films, she says, are no different.
Mosbacher is at work on three sportsrelated films. The first looks at homophobia in
the scholastic sports world, the second moves
For the past 15 years, Dr.JudithStacey
has
studied lesbian and gay families. She is perhaps
most recognized for publishing a landmark arti-
knew she wanted to be a priest.
What she could not have possibly foreseen
cle with Tim Biblarz in 2001 titled"(How) Does
the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?" The
was that she would end up sharing her pulpit
with another woman minister, Helene
Loper,
critical analysis covered 21 studies oflesbian
parents compared to heterosexual parents.
Her findings were clear: While there were
who also happens to be her partner. Together
the two have been ministering the roughly 30
some small differences, children with lesbian
parents were turning out at least as well as those
members of God's House, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.,
since 2002 (the same year they had their commitment ceremony).
raised in heterosexual parents' homes.
Enter Focus on the Family,Traditional
Loper, 54, says the two are so well suited to
be partners in life and at work because they are
Values Coalition and the like. Somehow, these
and other right-wing groups have been taking
Stacey's findings, selectivelyciting parts of her
so different. Loper grew up Presbyterian; Lowe,
45, was raised Episcopalian. Loper went on to
marry a man and have two children before entering the seminary, while Lowe was a paramed-
analysis and in some instances twisting her
findings in court to support their opposition to
same-sex marriage and gay adoption laws.
"Often I found out because I was called
ic for a decade before returning to her pastoring
inclinations. Ask Lowe a question and she will
give you a succinct, two-sentence answer, while
upon by journalists or by gay rights lawyers
and activists to respond to this use-abuse of
Loper will go on for minutes. Loper is the social
justice maven volunteering her time to Soulforce
treatment of former Lady Lions' player Jennifer
Harris, but was permitted to keep her job.
my work;' says Stacey, a sociology professor at
New York University. The only positive result
from these court charades is that Stacey has had
Alabama; Lowe is the nurturer, working for
years in the HIV/ AIDS community.
Each bringing her own unique talents,
'The real truth is so much bigger than
just this case;•Mosbacher says. "Once Jennifer
Harris sued, a whole bunch of other women
the opportunity to be called upon as an expert
witness and has rebuffed the mangling of her
findings each time.
together they have created a warm, loving and
accepting church community in the middle of
the rural Deep South.
started coming forward from 20 years ago. This
is about a conspiracy of silence that allows these
Stacey says science may demonstrate clearcut results, but even in advanced society,cultural
things to happen:'
While her filmstouch many lives, some
of her own family members may not be as
perceptions and taboos can leave us sailing toward what some believe is the edge of a flat earth.
"Scary sometimes, wonderful others;' says
Lowe of being lesbian pastors in Alabama. "One
of the greatest realizations for me has been
onto the professional arena, and her pet project,
tentatively titled TrainingRules,highlights Rene
Portland, the Penn State women's basketball
coach. Portland was fined $10,000 by the school
for violating its nondiscrimination policy in her
appreciative. Mosbacher's father, Robert, is a
close personal friend of George H.W. Bush and
served as his secretary of commerce.
"Were really very close, even though we've
agreed to disagree about a lot of things;' she
says. "Ifl didn't look so much like him, I'd
think I was adopted:' - Sheryl Kay
14lcurve
"One could make a case that studies demonstrate that lesbian co-parents are, on average,
somewhat more effective and involved
parents;' says Stacey. "However, stigma has
little to do with social science or with rational
that if I do not act like prey, I am not treated
like prey. Helene and I try to live responsibly,
be good community members and be proud of
what we have accomplished:'
The two are quick to point out that
God's House is not a 'gay only" church. "We
argument. Gay parenting is stigmatized
because homosexuality still carries stigma:'
believe that God loves all people and wants to
include them in the eternal realm;' says Loper.
- Sheryl Kay
- Sheryl Kay
Curvatures
Atlanta's Femme Mafioso
9021 O's Secret
Sapphic
Asfansgathered
at
the BeverlyHills90210
andMelrosePlace:The
Complete
FirstSeasons
DVDlaunchpartyat the
BeverlyHillsHotelthis
winterto celebrate,
we
couldn'thelplookingfor
someredcarpetaction.
Wefoundit withactor
JosieDavis,whoplayed
thedrama'ssexybad
girl,CamilleDesmond.
- JenniferCorday
Not long ago, when Aly Stealey and some fellow femmes donned
sparkly makeup, short skirts and fierce heels to Atlanta's lesbian
hot spot My Sisters' Room, they faced a wall of blank stares.
"The bartenders wouldn't serve us;' she recalls. "No one
would talk to us:'
One patron, unhappy at what she perceived to be a straight
girl invading queer space, threw a lit cigarette at Stealey's dress,
burning a hole in it. "I was like, i\11were trying to do is find
some butches;" she says.
Fast-forward months later, to when Stealey and her girls
were welcomed with open arms at My Sisters' Room and other
bars around the city. Today they march in the gay and black
pride parades. They volunteer in the community. They invade
leather bars where, Rachael Smith says, "the boys love us:'
How did Smith, Stealey and their friends find such sudden femme acceptance - and how can you, too? Simple: Join
the mafia.
The Atlanta Femme Mafia, a 115-member strong group
of femmes of all genders, ages and sexual orientations, was
founded in 2005 to empower femmes within queer communities. When the women were isolated, they appeared to the educated eye to be straight. When they showed up 30 strong, with
their partners and dates in tow, they became a force.
''.Atlanta is a very queer place, but I noticed that there didn't
seem to be a femme presence at all;' explains Smith, founder
and prima donna of the mafia.
Smith, Stealey and other mafia femmes discussed their
femme community at Femme 2006's "The Atlanta Femme
Mafia: Exploring and Creating Our Fabulous Femme
Communities:' Want to create a mafia of your own? Smith says
the group is franchising; there are already mafias forming in
Milwaukee and in Springfield, Mo.
If you'd like to start a homegrown femme gro·up, here are
some tips from femmes who've been there:
• Kill the cliques. To make your femme society a real reflection of the femmes who live in it, you can't discriminate by
gender, race or personality. Invite bi, trans and male-bodied
•
•
•
•
•
folks to join if they self-identify as femme.
Ditch the drama. If Kikiwon't come because Annie is coming,
don't get involved. Invite everyone, and let them work it out.
Get the word out. Grow your femme mafia the oldfashioned way: word of mouth. These days, that can include
everything from MySpace pages, Craigslist announcements
and evites to flyering queers at the grocery store. Print up
business cards to hand out in casual conversations. Get
everyone involved by posting flyers at the queer bars you
don't visit as well as at the ones you do.
Get out the glitter pen and set a date. Regular social events
can give those starved for femme camaraderie something
to look forward to. Plan an event for the same time every
month, and be sure everyone knows about it.
No bois allowed. The Atlanta Femme Mafia found it was
important to have a dinner that was femme-only for the
femmes to bond and talk about "pink and politics;' as one
member said. After dinner, retire to a local bar or another
social place and invite allies, partners and femme lovers to
join the fun at a later time.
Be silly. Keep the group approachable for closeted femmes
or femme lovers by ditching the ice-femme mystique. Got
silliness? Share it with photos and games.
Wasthereanylesbian
dramaontheshow?
Therewas,actually.
I
playeda lesbian.It was
myfirst episode,
beforeI
wasevera regular.
Really?
HowcouldI
missit?
It wasjustoneepisode
of 90210,whenI guest
starred.Wewereabout
to goona doubledate,it
wasat theveryend,and
therewasthismoment
whereit cameoutwhen
[theothercharacter]
said,"A doubledate?I
thoughtyouweregay?"
Soyou'reneverreally
sure.It wasthatkindof
thing.
For more information about joining the Atlanta Femme
Mafia or starting your own franchise, visit femmemafia.com.
- Heather Boerner
March 2007
I
15
Curvatures
Get a Good Night's Sleep
Dykes Can Do That, Ya Know
Spring has sprung and so will our
clocks soon, but losing an hour to pesky
daylight savings time doesn't have to
hurt, not with technology on your side.
Before you hit the bed, brusha brusha
with the Dental Air Force ($240,
dentalairforce.com), a home dental
cleaning system that uses a precisio~
jet of air, oxygen and tooth powder to
clean teeth. It replaces brushing and
flossing and, used with hydrogen peroxide, it whitens teeth like a pro without the hefty price tag. Next, bathe
under the New Wave Enviro Premium
Shower Filter ($32, shop.com), which
eliminates up to 99 percent of the
chlorine from hard water. Chlorine,
organic lovers say,is a toxic gas that affects your skin, hair and lungs.
Kick that achy breaky what-am-I -40-already morning back
with a techno-forward Dux Bed. Made by the Ljung family of
Sweden since 1926, the Dux bed ($5,000, dux.com) is so popular among Euro gays that they might as well call it the banana
hammock. Girls will dig the multi-layered and interconnected
spring system (it has about four times as many springs than
traditional beds) and a custom crank that reduces pressure on
your spine by evenly distributing and supporting your weight,
not just dispersing it. Cover your new bed with Wildbleu
luxury sheets ($125, wildbleu.com), which are designed with
menopausal women in mind but great for anyone who needs
help keeping cool. Wildbleu's sheets and pajamas (my fave: the
Holy Smackdown
According
to the Illinois
PrairieFlame,Sen.
SamBrownback,
R-Ks.,
is gettingthe holy
smackdown
fromthe
UnitedChurchof Christ
for holdingupapproval
onthe nomination
of
JanetT.Neffasa federal
judge.Brownback
(picturedabve)apparently
disapproves
of Nefffor
overseeing
a lesbian
commitment
ceremony
fouryearsago,butnow
the senatoris gettinghis
comeuppance
fromthe
Church:"Allchurches,
regardless
of their
theological
convictions,
shouldbeconcerned
aboutthechillingeffect
of suchan actiononthe
abilityof churchmembersto freelypractice
theirfaithaccording
to thedictatesof their
ownconscience,"
said
Rev.JohnH.Thomas,
president
of the 1.2
millionmemberUCC.
TheUCCbecamethe
first Christian
bodyto
supportsame-sex
marOne of the few lesbian bars in the South, My Sisters' Room
riagein 2005.Hallelujah!
in Atlanta (birthplace of the Atlanta Femme Mafia, previous
- SoniaKreitzer
r~.-...
Peony Sleep Cami) offer heat release technology that wicks
moisture away from the body and then evaporates it; they're
soft and 100 percent cotton too.
Lastly, on your bedside table should be two things: A
custom-made Light Affection Lamp ($40, lightaffection.com),
which turns a personal photograph into a cool carved, framed
image that, when on, offers a stunning, personal, one-of-a-kind
electric art illuminati, and the Peaceful Progression Wake Up
Clock ($50, hammacher.com), which eschews the traditional
jarring noises in favor of gradually increasing ambient light,
aromatherapy (including lavender and coffee) and peaceful
nature sounds such as ocean sur£ thunderstorm and songbirds.
Zzzzz, here we come. - Diane Anderson-Minshall
No Room of Our Own in Georgia
page) has closed its doors. The last business on the block to go,
My Sisters' Room finally had no choice but to vacate it when
developers purchased the property it sat on with plans to replace the 100-year-old building with new condominiums.
Last December, the final month the club was open, My
Sisters' Room offered drag shows and other special nights to
commemorate the end of an era. Though the bar had only been
around since 1996 and at the Decatur location since 1998, My
Sisters' Room provided a venue hard to come by in Georgia
(and much needed in the sometimes hostile, homophobic
South): a lesbian-owned and -operated meeting place.
"A lot of people are emotional about this. Women have
met their life partners there, had weddings there. This drive-S
16
I curve
me harder to get reopened. I want to keep My Sisters' Room
alive as long as I can;' co-owner Susan Musselwhite told the
Southern Voice.
Musselwhite has plans to relocate to another part of town,
but that remains to be seen. Their Web site is currently under
construction, and for the 'interim, lesbians are left to patronize
the small handful of other non-lesbian-owned clubs that offer
lesbian nights.
The bar's closing represents more than the loss of a muchneeded safe space for lesbians; advocates say it marks another
incident of exploitation of the underprivileged. Those whose
voices are already stifled from their minority status are the least
likely to be heard when outsiders come into a city or town and
turn over their land for profit. -Allison
Steinberg
Cheryl Finfrock
IPAINTER I
Influenced by artists like Edward Munch, Rainer Petting and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Texas-based painter Cheryl Finfrock weaves surreally vivid colors
and playful, abstract figures into her dreamscape images, as shown above. In addition to the great Impressionist and Fauvist painters, Finfrock names
Carl Jung as an inspiration. "I studied dream language and Jungian archetypes. I see visual language as a code;' Finfrock explains. The results have
earned her artwork a place in galleries and private collections throughout the United States and Europe. "The international exhibitions are always very
exciting," she says, citing shows in the Czech Republic, Berlin and Paris as some of her proudest professional moments.
Originally a sculptor, Finfrock solidified her plans to become a visual artist while studying at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. These days
it's nearly impossible to pull the impassioned workaholic from her canvas. "I can't even visit a new city without a gallery to-do list;' she admits. "I love
to travel, but it's always back to the galleries again. I'm much more myself when I am in the studio:'
"Studio;' however, has had a pretty broad definition through the course of Finfrock's life."My studio changes depending on where I live;' she says."I
have had studios in a burned-out building in Elroy, Texas; San Francisco Pier 66; an early 20th-century barn in Vallejo [Cali£) and a kind of Londonstyle hotel room in an old Masonic temple:' After spending 16 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Finfrock recently returned to her native Texas for
the larger studio spaces and "more places to swim:' Today she lives in Austin, Texas, with her partner Lynne, aka LC. Messinger, of one-woman band
When Girls Collide and former lead of punk-rock band Unknown Gender.
See and learn more about her, including her upcoming exhibitions, at cherylfinfrock.com. - CatherinePlato
1s
Icurve
Curvatures
South Africa Says "I Do" to Lesbians
and not as husband or
wife anymore:'
'Tm ecstatic;' plaintiff
Marie Fourie, 54, told
South Africa became the fifth major country
in the world to allow same-sex couples to wed,
with its Dec. 1 Parliament vote. The decision
offers equal rights to same-sex couples, who
can now opt for a civil union or a marriage;
the choice is up to the couple.
The decision was met with fierce opposition from tribal leaders and religious groups,
who are trying to pass a line item that would
grant individuals the right to not issue samesex couples marriage licenses if doing so would violate their
religious convictions. At press time, it has yet to be determined
whether this will pass.
"The common law definition of marriage is declared to be
inconsistent with the constitution and invalid to the extent
that it does not permit same-sex couples to enjoy the status
and benefits it accords heterosexual couples;' said Justice Albie
Sachs in his ruling, as reported by the BBC.
Many are embracing the new inclusion, like openly gay
South African pastor Andre Muller, who told Gay City News,
"I am going to address the couple as spouses and I am going to
ask them, are you going to take this person as your legal spouse
the Washington Post after
the ruling. "It is wonderful for the gay society:'
Fourie married Cecelia
Bonthuys, 44, back in
December 2004. They
had been living together for more than a decade when they
decided to wed. Shortly afterward, though, the South African
Department of Home Affairs refused to acknowledge the marriage as legal, thus sparking the fire that drove the couple to
sue and win the right to wed. As South Africa opens up to
same-sex marriage, activists hope this will end discriminatory
practices against the LGBT community. South Africa is considered one of the most progressive countries, perhaps because
of the young age of its constitution, signed in 1994. It includes
a nondiscrimination clause to protect LGBT people, making it
the first and only country to write LGBT people into its founding documents. -
You're a
Homogenius!
was
ThoughtMonopoly
Wondering
toostraight?
whereto getthat
TrivialPursuitLavender
Looknomore,
Edition?
gamefans:
old-school
is the
Homogenius
triviagamethatconfirms
that
oursuspicions
prettymucheveryone
is gay.A
in Hollywood
cocktailpartymusthave.($35,homo
geniusthegame.com)
Allison Steinberg
HERE.
FREEDOMSTARTED
In addition to our famous historical sites and
cultural attractions, Philadelphia and The
Countryside'" boasts a gay neighborhood with
scores of gay-friendly restaurants, clubs, theaters
and shops. You are warmly invited to spend a
few days in the place where all people were given
the freedom to live life as they choose.
To plan your next trip ...
gophila.com/gay
Philly Black GayPride
April 26th - 29th
Equality Forum and Blue Ball Weekend
April 30th - May 6th
andthe GoldenAge
Tutankhamun
Exhibition
of the Pharaohs
presented by Mellon Financial Corporation
at The Franklin Institute
~~=t&
February 3rd - September 30th
PhiladelphiaGay
TourismCaucus
Bucks
*
Chester
*
Delaware
*
Montgomery
*
Philadelphia
Counties
March 2007
I
19
Curvatures
Lesbofile
Going to the Chapel
It's wedding bells for Ellen and Portia, meanwhile Rosie may get a new show. I ByJocelynYoo
Congratulations to Ellen and Portia on the good
news! Maybe Lindsay or Keira will catch the
bouquet?
Wedding Bells
Bust out the champagne and start throwing rice
- EllenDeGeneres
andPortiade Rossiare get,
ting married! The National Enquirer reports that
after a two,year courtship, the talk show host and
actor are prepared to tie the knot. 'They're going
to have a late afternoon outdoor wedding, possibly
catered by Portia's favorite hotel, the San Ysidro
Ranch;' reveals a friend. De Rossi is reportedly
handling the bulk of the arrangements, but wine
and music are DeGeneres' domain: She reportedly
hopes to have Elton John perform at the recep,
tion. "Ellen and Portia have settled into a comfort,
able and loving domestic situation - staying in
(Los Angeles] during the week while Ellen shoots
the show and heading up to their home near Santa
Barbara on the weekends;' says a friend."The com,
mitment ceremony is the next logical step:'
The guyshad Brokeback;it'sour turn now. Lindsay
Lohanand KeiraKnightleyhavesignedon to play
womenwho are sexuallyattractedto each otherin an
upcomingfilmaboutWelshpoet DylanThomas.
Brokeback Fountain
The guys had Brokeback;it's our tum now. Lindsay
LohanandKeiraKnightley
have signed on to play
women who are sexually atttacted to each other in
an upcoming film about Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
"(Knightley] is older than me, but she kind of has a
mysterious relationship with my lover;' Lohan told
MTV News. 'l\nd there's somewhat of a lesbian
undertone:' Oddly, the film was actually written by
Knightley's mother, Shannan
MacDonald.
But, ar,
tisticallyspeaking, after your daughter plays a bounty
hunter and a pirate,obsessed noblewoman, I guess
the next logical step is to make her character go gay.
Baring It All
Last October, RosieO'Donnell
bared close to
all in a love scene with JulianMcMachon
on an
episode of FX's Nip/Tuck. However, O'Donnell's
one,time stint may be extended into a series. Ryan
Murphy, the show's creator, may be writing a spin,
off show for her character, Dawn Budge, a woman
who won the lottery and consequently lost her
family and friends. O'Donnell even writes on her
Web site, "talks r over;' implying that the pilot was
given the green light by all parties.
Sex on the Big Screen
Cynthia
Nixonand the rest of the Sex and the City
20
Icurve
DeniseRichards
in Wild Things.But one block,
buster actually considered adding a Sapphic twist
to an established actor in an equally established
Cattrallwas the one resisting going forward, a film franchise. At Casino Royale'sU.K. premiere
studio insider tells OK! magazine that Catrall,
in November, director Martin Campbellsaid,
Nixon, SarahJessicaParkerand KristinDavis "We came up with all kinds of ideas for M;' one of
have opened negotiations for the project. Ladies,
which just happened to be making JudiDench's
prepare yourselves for sex, up close and personal.
character, M, a lesbian in the new 007 movie. The
idea was nixed after DanielCraig,the latest actor
Movie Twists
to put "James Bond" on his resume, insisted M
Hollywood loves to throw in arbitrary lesbian
stay on the straight and narrow. Leave it to a man_
scenes with random buxom starlets, hoping to
to ruin all the fun. Thankfully Dench got to have
up box office sales. Witness NeveCampbell
and
her sapphic moment in Notes on a Scandal.■
clan may be back on for the feature film version
of the HBO hit series that ended back in 2004.
Though rumors have been swirling that Kim
The Other L--Word:
The Lingerie Bowl
A stripped-down version of the Super Bowl, the Lingerie Bowl
stars some gorgeous women playing a real-deal game of tackle
football in their, well, underwear. As of press time, the game is
set to air on Pay-Per-View Feb. 4, urging football fans across the
nation to flip the channel and indulge in some ferocious feminine
football fun. If it's like last year, it'll be a sold-out affair.
How does a woman get to play in her knickers? Talent
Coordinator Kristen Osborne explains: "We bring in the coaches
and the trainers and they give the girls an agility test. Were looking for basic football skills: How they handle the ball and how
they take direction, and just a basic athletic ability. A lot of the
girls have played college sports and most are very active, doing
yoga, hiking, skiing, et cetera:•
Once signed to the Lingerie Football League (yes, it's the LFL),
girls must attend practices and game days, and they receive a set
i
i
!,en
I~
la
lz'
:w
!:c,~
!~
135
I~
:::E
!cf
pay for the entire season.
"We have 40 girls and they get paid well. It's a coveted job that
a lot of girls want;' says Osborne. There are four teams to begin
with, but only two made it to the Lingerie Bowl. The Lace and
Garter Championship Game aired Jan. 27; it was a playoff to see
which two teams headed to the Lingerie Bowl.
Safety nuts, relax: The girls wear shoulder pads and helmets,
but not much else."No ones been seriously injured;' Osborne says.
"Weve been really blessed so far:'
According to wide receiver Jamie Welsh, it's a pretty serious
game. 'J\bsolutely! It's full-contact football;' she exclaims.
Full of tight ends (pun intended) and fullbacks with not much
padding, I'm amazed at the roughness of the offense and defense
alike. Nicknamed "the ultimate cat6.ght;' the Lingerie Bowl is a
horny dyke's wet dream, with some of the hottest women from
New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles playing in bras and
panties slamming each other into the ground and high-6.ving like
teenagers. It's just delicious.
"Theres nothing pretend about it;' Osborne insists. "If people
aren't familiar with it, or haven't seen an actual game they might
poke fun, but once they check it out, they see that we're the real
deal:'
Nex year, my dyke friends and I want a huge lesbian gathering
on Super Bowl Sunday so we can all tune in. That'll be a damn
good use of $20. If you missed it, check out lingeriebowl.com for
pictures of girls in panties and head gear. Oh my. - Jennifer
Catie Curtis
Ani DiFranco
"With all due respect to Susan [Sontag], we never liked
words like 'companion' or 'partner.' ... Call us
'lovers.' I like 'lovers.' You know, 'lovers' sounds
romantic. I mean, I want to be perfectly clear. I
love Susan. I don't have a problem with that. I
just had a problem with '·partner' or 'companion.'
It just sounds like two little old ladies." >> Annie
Leibovitz to the San Francisco Chronicle
"I don't think there's any such thing as peace within
patriarchy. I think men are great, they have all kinds
of awesome ideas about the individual arid individual rights, and this is very useful stuff for things
like democracy. But individualism leads to hierarchy, which leads to aggression; so I think just the
masculine sensibility is not enough to guide us to
peace." >> Ani DiFranco to About.com
"Earlier on, [being out] pigeonholed me a little bit. But
I actually think things are changing in our culture,
and people are less defined by their sexuality
now.">> Lesbian folk singer Catie Curtis to
Windy City Times
Corday
March 2007
I21
Curvatures
A Career up in Smoke?
After 17 years as a Minneapolis firefighter, Bonnie
Bleskachek knows all about battling the heat.
Brushing aside taunts and abuse from fellow
firefighters because of her gender and sexuality, Bleskachek continued her work undaunted,
eventually achieving what no other woman had
before her: becoming an openly lesbian fire chief
Gays Give Back
Rainbow
WortdFundhas
partnered
withAmerica's in a major U.S. city.
Her numerous accomplishments include
Second
Harvest,
the
country'slargest helping establish the Minnesota Women
charitable
hunger-relief Firefighters Association, a group committed
organization,
to help to creating opportunities for females in a preHurricane
Katrinaevacu- dominantly male profession. During her tenure,
ees.Thusfar,RWFhas the department grew to employ more than
70
donated
$390,000.
"They women in a total of 435
firefighters, the highest
approached
usafter
such ratio in the country.
Hurricane
Katrinahit and
Recently, Bleskachek has come under a whole
said,'Howcanwe help
you?Whatcanwedo?' new type of fire, one that is much harder to extinguish. Three female firefighters in Bleskachek's
Theyputthewordoutto
theirsupporters,"
said department have accused her of various forms
RossFraserofAmerica's of sexual harassment, and a city investigator
Second
Harvest.
It was found indications that the department was givSecond
Harvest's
pre- ing preferential treatment to lesbians in general.
existinginfrastructure Bleskachek has been put on administrative leave
thatmadetheorganiza- while the investigation is ongoing.
tiona naturalchoice.
Two of the suits were settled out of court.
"We'regoingto beconJennifer Cornell, Bleskachek's former parttributingto theirgeneral
ner, and Kathleen Mullen, both of whom had
fundrightnowthatcan
charged
the fire chief with showing bias against
beusedfor everything
them
on
promotions, concluded a hush-hush
andanything.
America's
deal
with
the
Minneapolis Fire Department, and
Second
Harvest
hasan
excellent
reputation," as a result, both will be promoted to the position
RWFExecutive
Director of battalion chief.
JeffCottersaid.Rainbow
Bleskachek is candid about the suits. She argued that both
WortdFundwasfounded women were going to be promoted to batallion chiefs before
in 2000to promote
LGBT the suits, so the city sirytply expedited that process,
and she
humanitarian
philan- admitted there was
money paid to both women because of the
thropy."It'sa platform
"nuisance value:'
forthegaycommunity's
'The process of deposing everyone and going to court would
compassion
to beseen
have
been much more expensive than the settlement paid;' she
throughout
thewortd,"
said.
In
order to settle the two suits, Bleskachek admitted no
Cottersaid."We're
living
fault
and
said that she wished the case had not settled. "If I had
in a timewhensurvival
had any say I would have done everything to not have them
depends
ongivingto
eachother.... We'reone settle;• she said. "I would have preferred to have gone to court
humanfamily.Weneed and have my name cleared:'
to livethatfact."Tofind
The third suit, brought about by Kristina Lemon and
outmoreaboutRainbow charging Bleskachek with making improper
sexual comments
WortdFundor howto
and advances, was settled on Dec. 22, 2006. The City Council
give,goto rainbow
voted 8-5 to demote Bleskachek without severance pay, includfund.org/getinvolved.
ing a $40,000 pay cut. According to Mayor R.T. Rybak, city
- Courtney
Becks
officials decided against firing Bleskachek in order to avoid the
expenses of further court action.
22
Icurve
Bleskachek said that Lemon's suit was based on an alleged
incident that occurred 10 years ago, and that she found it
"ironic" that the charges were not brought forth until she was
named fire chie£
In the end, the drama inferno may be just too intense to
douse. At press time, a fourth firefighter, Elondo Wright, had
filed suit against Bleskachek and her partner, Captain Mary
Maresca. And a fifth, Shanna Hanson, had also filed suit
against Bleskachek and the city.
"It's really kind of unfortunate, because of her position and her
minority status;' said Theresa Glomb, Ph.D., a professor of human
resources and industrial relations at the University of Minnesota.
"I imagine, even if found to be false,it could be very difficult for her
to regain the respect that her achievement deserves:'
"In the court of public opinion, I've already been found
guilty with no facts, no evidence;' Bleskachek said. "I never
thought my kids and my partner would have to be dragged
through anything like this. At this point I'm just trying to keep
my head above water:' - Sheryl Kay
Curvatures
Two Girls and a Dog
When faced with a touch of homophobia from the neighbors,
Dotti Berry responded the only way she knew how, with love.
Having heard some disconcerting comments only one
week after she married her partner, Roby Sapp, Berry bought
dozens of roses and delivered one to each neighbor, along with
an invitation to dinner the following weekend.
Most people came, and Berry says the neighborhood has
never been the same since.
"It was a great opportunity for us to transform ourselves,
giving us a firsthand experience to live out our wedding vow;'
says Berry, referring to a fundamental part of their ceremony
where the two swore, "I come to you with an open heart, vowing to change the world through the expression of our love:'
But that was just the beginning.
The two decided their message of outreach needed to
extend further, so they embarked on a yearlong cross-country
journey they dubbed "Gay Into Straight America:'
In their purple Suburban with poodle Rylee Joy in row,
Berry, a personal coach, and Sapp, a professional photographer, stopped in dozens of towns and cities in 46 states.
Financed through donations, their own resources and a few
honorariums along the way, the two made personal connections in everyday settings as well as appearing on TV and
radio shows, speaking at local PFLAG events, GSA meetings,
and businesses.
"Our mission was to go out into America with the
intention of talking with people who are wrestling with their
understanding of homosexuality, by engaging hearts and
minds, creating authentic connections and dissolving differences that separate us;' says Sapp.
Fifry thousand miles later, the couple says their goals were
met beyond anything they imagined.
"I learned that the majority of people in our country want
equality and justice for all people;' says Berry. "The v~cal and
well-financed minority who don't want this have held our
community hostage through fear, with us often believing the
myths they have perpetuated. It's time to break the silence and
share our lives, our authentic selves, with the movable middle:'
-
Sheryl Kay
Wally'sWorld Takes Baby Steps
(jJ
iii
a:
i
:E
0
0
:i
8
~
Notorious Wal-Mart made the controversial news pages
again - not for bad business practices this time, but actually
for a meritorious act. Wal-Mart, in a small attempt to rectify
its bad rap for mistreatment of employees, donated $60,000
to Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, an LGBTQ organization that works with businesses large and small to end
discrimination in the workplace. Wal-Mart also joined the
National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce this summer with a $25,000 membership fee.
These acts have been met with booming resistance from
conservative groups. 'This has been Christian families' favorite
store and now they're giving in, sliding down the slippery slope
so many other corporations have gone down;' the Rev. Flip
Benham of Operation Save America told The Associated Press.
'They're all being extorted by the radical homosexual agenda:'
The overreaction from Christian groups does pose a threat to
Wal-Mart's bottom line, or should I say its profit margin.
In a press release dated Nov. 21, 2006, the corporate giant
responded to the harsh criticism by stating that, "Wal-Mart
does not have a position on same-sex marriage and we do not
give preference to gay or lesbian suppliers. Wal-Mart does
have a strong commitment to diversity among our associates
and against discrimination everywhere:'
Out and Equal acknowledges that Wal-Mart has only
taken baby steps in the corporate responsibility realm, but
important ones nonetheless. "What struck me about that was
that the culture at Wal-Mart is changing;' Out and Equal
Executive Director Selisse Berry said. "They were eager to
learn and kind of catch up:'
So maybe it's just a public relations ploy on Wal-Mart's
part to project an image of increased tolerance, or an attempt
to simply harness the purchasing power of LGBTQ people.
Regardless, these recent actions send a tangible message to
both queer advocacy groups and conservatives alike: Even
the largest corporate monster is willing to extend itself to
acknowledge our community as a viable entity. We hope
they'll continue the climb toward social responsibility. -
Come on Barbie
Let's Go Party
Toybehemoth
Mattel
continues
to menace
artistswhoseworkdepicts
theimpossibly
busty
blondedoll.Thistime,
it's turningthescrews
onBrazilian
artistKarin
Schwarz,
whosephotographseriesAmazing
Girlsenvisions
Barbie
dollsin lesbiansexual
scenarios.
InAugust2006,
Schwarz
saysthecorporationthreatened
her
withcivilandcriminal
lawsuitsif theexhibit
wasnotremoved.
She
didnotcomply."I interpretedtheattitudeas
homophobic,"
Schwarz
saidviae-mail.
Schwarz
is adamant
thatMattelwasintentionallymisleading
the
American
publicabout
the lawsuit:"Inthe
[U.S.],thecompany
is
sayingtheydon'thave
anyideaonhowthis
'rumor'[thattheywere
suing]started.Herein
Brazil,[Mattel's]subsidiarieshavemadea lot of
declarations
to thepress
aboutthecase."
Mattelrepresentativesdidnotreturncalls
for comment.
AmazingGirls
canbeviewedonline
at Schwarz's
Web
site,karuska.com.br.
- Courtney
Becks
Allison Steinberg
March 2007
I
23
1 Joy O'Donnell, CURVB'soutgoing art director Kas Neteler, associate publisher Sara Jane
Keskula, Cori Duncan and writer Amy Andre at cuRvB's December issue holiday party in
San Francisco 2 Americas Next Top Model contestant Megan Morris celebrates her spot on
cuRvE's December cover at our holiday party 3 ProSuzy.com hosts 30 women kayaking
down the Withlacoochee River in Florida 4 The ProSuzy women starting off at Nobleton
Outpost 5 Stars of Bravos Work Out (from lefr) Jackie Warner, Rebecca Cardon and Jesse
Brune sex it up at Here Bar & Lounge in Los Angeles, in honor of Bravo's Outzone TV.com
first Sexiest Gay 2007 Poll 6 Fauxnique at CounterPULSE's Frolic: CircusDragBurlesque
Festival. A San Francisco first, Frolic combined circus, drag and burlesque to create a ground~
breaking art form
7 Partygoers help CURVE say goodbye to 2006 at our annual holiday party 8 Girls get in line for
Sing Out for AIDS, a benefit for AIDS Partnership on World AIDS Days at St. Petersburg,·
Florida's Palladium 9 Plenary speaker Cuc T. Vu, a Task Force board member, speaks to the
more than 2,000 LGBT folks who attended the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's 19th
Annual Creating Change conference in Kansas City, Mo. 10 Getting sandwiched by performers
at Sing Out makes one dyke very happy 11 Supporters at Sing Out hold up Lesbiannightlife
.corn'subiquitous "U Need Me'' cards 12 St. Pete gets a little sexier with hot performances 13
Dr. Marjorie Hill, CEO of Gay Men's Health Crisis, at Creating Change 14 CURVE board member Kate Alfieri (left) and her partner Julie Frank at the 2nd Annual Latkes & Vodka Chanukah
Party at Medjool, hosted by the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation's LGBT Alliance
Advice
CAN YOU
TRUST HER?
1.Alonewithbooze
anda nakedKatherine
Moennig,
yourgirl:
a)Throwsherselfat
Shanelikea fast-pitched
softball.
b)Grabsaneyefulbut
keepherhandsto herself.
c) Says,if sadly,"I havea
girlfriend."
d) HandsMoennig
a
blanketanda pillow.
2. Inhersparetime,she:
a)E-mailsnakedpictures
of herselfto herex.
b) Hangsoutin gym
lockerrooms,handing
towelsto girlscoming
outof theshowers.
c) Makesmixtapesof
lovesongsandgives
themto that"justa
friend"girl.
d)Writesyoulovenotes
to hidein yourlunchbag.
3.Yourmostrecent
sexual
encounter
rates:
a)D.O.A.:
A corpsewould
bemoreresponsive.
b)A.D.D.:
Sheseemedto
forgetwhatshewasdoingrightin themiddle.
c)SO/SO:
sameold,
sameold
d) 000: asin,multipleOs
Ask Fairy Butch
Some Like It Hard
Dear Fairy Butch: I hope you can help me. I have had
only one relationship with a woman. I loved her very
much, and I am sure I always will. Since I had no
other lesbian friends, I took all of her words to heart
- like when she told me that if I wanted to know
who was a lesbian, I would have to look for women
who had short hair and always wore men's Levis and
never dresses or makeup.
She's been gone a long while, but I have never
been one to stop believing in love. The problem is
this: I also absolutely love my high heels, my lip gloss
and my long hair. I tried to imagine a life without my
designer dresses, heels and nail polish, and I think
that would kill me as much as being alone forever.
At my church, the pastor has been with her
girlfriend for over 30 years. It makes a part of me
believe it's possible that I could love someone again
someday. I gave up on men years ago because I had
a cool gay male roommate who told me I never had
to be with a man ever again if I didn't want to. I took
it to heart and never looked back.
I would love to find another girlfriend, but should
it be at the cost of cutting my hair and throwing out
my dresses? I don't know if I could do that. Is it really
possible that I could find another girlfriend while still
being me? - Wondering on the West Coast
Dear Wondering: Sugar, don't believe the hype. I understand
the importance your first female lover's words must carry, but
I gotta tell you, they're tired and untrue. The greater part of
the Lesbian Nation lies in wait for you in whatever authentic
expression you care to bring to the table. Sure, there are still
members of outposts in the community who would have you
butch it up in order to express your lesbianism, but these days,
femme awareness and appreciation has spread all over like daisies covering the meadows in springtime. I know it certainly
oozes from my every pore.
There is no reason why you should have to give up any
of your affect that charms you or any of your wardrobe that
delights you. By the same token, you needn't limit your selection of mate or date to some lesbian incarnation of the Marlboro
Man, either. That's all so 1979. Or '82. Or '91. The basic tenet
remains the same regarding my philosophy oflesbian gender and
sexual expression: Everything that's safe, sane and consensual is
to be cherished, even if it makes it a little tougher to pick some
of us out in a crowd. So keep your dresses and your makeup, and
just set about finding one or more of the many who will appreciate them and you.
POINTS:
A=1;8=2;C:3; 0=4
3-5 points:
BOOHOO
Yourgirlgetshercherries
pickedin someother
orchardandleavesno
piefor you.
6-8 points:HOHUM
Yourlovelifewithyour
girlis a bit onthedull
side;whileyou'rehumming,shemaybeho-ing.
9-10 points:
YOUWHO?
A bit flirtatious,your
honeyis stilltrustworthy
for the mostpart.
11-12points:
WOOHOO!
It's almostsickening,
howgoodsheis. ButI
still wouldn'tleaveher Dear Fairy Butch: A few weeks ago, I started datalonewitha nakedTV ing my lovely femme. This is her first lesbian relastar.- KateLacey tionship,
while I've been out since I was around 14
26
I curve
and have had relationships exclusively with girls
and women. I've never been into penetrative sex,
as having a dildo or strap-on inside me doesn't do
much for me. I adore oral, both giving and receiving; previous partners and I have managed to enjoy
each other a lot.
Now for my dilemma. My girl is incredibly special
to me. She loves the idea of screwing with a strapon, and I've told her we can. Can you give me some
options, though? Is there anything we could do to
let her wear it, us play, and then take it off? I don't
want to put her off, but I really have this fear that
she has a fantasy to really fuck hard, which I don't
want. I will talk to her, but I hope you might have
. some friendly advice first. - Strapless in Seattle
Dear Strapless: Howdy, hon! First off, have you ruled out
the obvious possibility of you donning the dildo, as it were~
That would open up a world of play for you both. Another
thing you could do is encourage her to strap herself up, then
divert the focus from vaginal penetration to giving her a blow
job and other forms of dildo adoration, such as holding it between your breasts or caressing it manually. You could also hold
the dildo between your legs - but let it not penetrate you and allow her to pump away. That could give each of you some
good clitoral stimulation without penetration. In any case, be
sure to check out my book, The UltimateGuide to Strap-onSex:
A CompleteGuidefor Women & Men, for information on all
things strap-on! ■
~
E-mail.fb@fairybutch.comwith your queriesregardinglesbianlife,
sexualityand romance.
V5
~
::i
w
Lipstick & Dipstick Advice
Femme or Foe: Honing Your Gaydar
police report? And then I
realized: Every woman is
gay after a bottle of wine.
And after two bottles, everyone is attractive. (That's
before you bow to the porcelain god, of course.) With
that, I'm not saying straightlooking chicks are always relationship material - some
of them are slippery - but
you can have fun with just
about anyone in this day
and age as long as your protect your heart. So, throw
caution to the wind and
get to know whichever hot
babe seems interesting. You
never know. Most all of us
are straight until we're gay.
Dear Lipstick and Dipstick: Help me! I'm
having a problem telling a femme girl from
a straight girl. How do you tell them apart
when they look almost alike? - Confused
in Texas
Dipstick: Confused, I was once in your shoes.
That's why I devised a four-part dyke detector test.
It never fails. a) Does she trim her nails? b) Does
she have a cat? c) Does she like hummus? d) When
you give her a sexy look, does she make eye contact
or look away?This test has never been wrong. If she
has two out of four, she's bisexual. Simple as that!
Lipstick: Dipstick, don't forget Val in Virginia.
Even though she scored a perfect 100 percent on
your test, she was married with six kids. Texas, listen to Lipstick. I had the same problem when I first
came out. Who could I hit on? Who would file a
Lipstick and
Dear
Dipstick: My friend has
had her personal ad
on curvemag.com for
over two years. She
goes online every day
searching for, a longterm relationship but
with very little success. I know for a fact
that she's met a lot of
quality women, so I'm
beginning to wonder if the problem is her.
My question is: When should one decide to
give up the online dating search? Having
an online ad up for two years seems ridiculous. - Mites Away
Lipstick:Never give up on love. It's one of the only
pure and idyllicthings left in this world. Miles Away,
are you asking because you're the one thinking about
throwing in the towel?We get a lot of questions from
women who write in for their "friends:' Either way,
you mustn't lose hope. Whether she's a single mom
in Columbus, Ohio, or an eccentric art dealer in
Detroit, Mich., there are plenty of women out there,
and you - er, your friend- just haven't found her
yet. Trust that you're not ready. When you are, she
will appear. In the meantime, change that ad (new
pies, new verbiage)and reinvent yoursel£ Remember,
we manifest everything in our lives,so don't dwell on
what you're not getting. Instead, focus the power of
your intention on what you want.
Dipstick: Here Lipstick goes again on one of her
new age rants. Pure and idyllic? Please. Dipstick is
more grounded, so here's what I have to say,Miles:
Butt out of your friend's business. Maybe she loves
the idea of dating lots of quality women, shagging
them and cruising for the next hot catch. Even i£like
you suggest, she is being too finicky and won't settle
down with one girl because she hopes that something better isjust a click away,it's her life to live.
Dear Lipstick and Dipstick: My girlfriend of
three years just cheated on me - with a
guy! I've taken her back, but my best fag
friend won't forgive her. Please help me out.
- Friend or Foe?
Dipstick:Dear Friend, it's your choice to take back
a two-timer. But whether she cheated on you with
a man or a woman really shouldn't matter. What
irks me is that your friend won't forgive her. Gay
men, of all sexual beings, should understand that
people sometimes stray. Like Miles Away,he needs
to find a love interest of his own and stay the heck
out of your affairs, even if he's trying to protect you.
Maybe she'll hurt you again, maybe she won't, but
it's your life to live.Tell him to get his own.
Lipstick: Eeeehnt [sound of Family Feud buz;z;er]! Dipstick, it is so different to be cheated on
with a penis! I'm gonna go out on a limb here,
lovely readers, so bear with me. I think it's easier
if it's a dude. I know, I know, you won't all agree,
but for me, imagining my lover in both scenarios,
it's the phallic truth. That's not to say you did the
right thing, Friend, by taking her back, but you
were right to forgive her. You don't have to forget, but holding onto resentment and anger will
only give you cancer. You don't say how old you
are, but I sense you're both baby dykes. A grown
lesbian would've long since worked through the
residual baggage from growing up at Bible camp
and figured out that she was a true blue lezz;ie.
Not to mention, she wouldn't have a problem
trusting her gut even if her fag friend disagreed.
No matter the age, at the very least, keep the
hatchet buried. ■
Ask us anythingaboutsex, loveor lesbiansat lipstick
dipstick.com.
March 2007
I
27
Advice
AstroGrrl
Stars in Her Eyes
Tryto
controlyour
wandering
heart,
Scorpio
sister.
March
bringsa few
shocking
and 'wilde'
romantic
binges.
Prim,proper
Sapphic
Virginsare
hot and
feistythis
March. Sip
from many
cups.You
cannotbe
tied down ...
unlessthat's
yourthing.
Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20)
Sex:Guppies are full of romantic thoughts. Whisper
the words of love, and she will follow you anywhere.
Be sure to pack breath mints. Career:March is the
month to make your grand corporate move! Anything
is possible if you have even a tiny amount of ambition.
Oh dear.
Aries (March 21-April 20)
Sex:Lambda Rams get their wool in a knot over passion
gained and lost. Is love cheap this March? Let's hope it's
both cheap and tawdry! Career:
It is hard to keep your
mind on the job when so much fun is at hand. Looks
like you need a couple of hands. Greedy girl!
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
Sex:A light romance heats up to a torrid love affair
,
that knocks you off your feet. But is that all there is to
life? Hell yeah! Career:
Be careful in your communication at work. You may be misunderstood. Strive to be Miss
Congeniality instead.
nightmare, then wake up and smell the coffee. Career:
Nothing
can be taken for granted on the job. Change is apace. Good.
Plot revolution, not evolution.
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
Sex:Will you begin to date one of your platonic gal pals? This
Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 22)
March is full of romantic surprises. Look for the jewel among
the trash. Or maybe you're into trash. Career:
Your professional
path may take an unexpected and dramatic detour. Pack a map,
leave a trail of bread crumbs and avoid pigeons.
Sex:Try to control your wandering heart, sister. March brings
a few shocking and "wilde" romantic binges. Are you a glutton
or a connoisseur? Oh, let's hazard a guess. Career:
Co-workers
actually like you around the office now. But they are the ones
who have no power. Manage up, oppress down, retire early.
Cancer (June 22-July 23)
Sex:Don't be surprised if there is someone in your office who
Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22)
has her eye on you. No, it's not for your job performance! Bring
the water cooler chitchat to a boil. Career:
Needless to say, you
will find excuses to hang around the office this month. Burn
the midnight oil and spread it around. Avoid greasy drips.
Sex: You catch a few lucky breaks this March and can meet,
greet, hobnob and rub elbows with the glitterati. Whatever
turns you on. Career:
All types of new beginnings are possible.
If you are annoyed with your current batch of bosses, seek
some new, more appreciative ones.
Leo (July 24-Aug. 23)
Sex:March is a great time to travel. An exotic stranger wends
her way into your life and winds her way into your heart.
Career:
You give the appearance of working hard. The powers
that be actually like your diligence and spunk. Oh, do you have
them fooled!
Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20)
Sex: A secret admirer makes her presence known to you.
Wouldn't it be nice if she made her presents known instead?
Career:
No matter how hard you work, it seems that other folks
control your purse strings. Give them a yank and watch them
topple.
Virgo (Aug. 24-Sept. 23)
Sex: Prim, proper Sapphic Virgins are hot and feisty this
Aquarius(Jan.21-Feb.19)
March. Sip from many cups. You cannot be tied down ... unless
that's your thing. Career:
You seem to have excess energy that
you can pour into your job now. Clear off your desk and make
way for some free time later this month. 'Bout time, sister!
Sex:You can charm just about anyone this March. Why not
use your gifr of gab to lure a certain lady to your lair? Career:
You may clash with a certain colleague at work. Are you coming on too strong or allowing yourself to be a doormat? Take a
vacation instead. ■
Libra (Sept. 24--Oct. 23)
Sex:Do you hanker for a close and warm relationship? This
is the month to make your dream come true. If she is in fact a
28
I curve
For more advice from the stars, visit our astrologer,Charlene
Lichtenstein,online at thestarryeye.com.
®
THE BEST-SELLING LESBIAN MAGAZINE
more
you....... I for
....,
•
and we del N
~~
ti• best-selling lesbian
11,agazineis now published
10 times a year
special offer
you can now~ one
year of ane for
just $24.95.
•~>SCribe now and
get all t11e latest news
on what's impwla1t
in your life.
life I style I travel
adventure I pop culture
celebrity interviews
entertainment & more ...
,n
C
Cl
,n
t)
□
-I
NINA JACOBSON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF
WALT DISNEY MOTION PICTURES GROUP,
ENDURING STUDIO-EXEC EXTRAORDINAIRE
Although she was laid off from Disney in July rather indecorously - when she called from the hospital room where
her partner was about to deliver their third child, hoping
her boss would dispel rumors that her job wasn't safe - and
although this register isn't otherwise ordered hierarchically,
Jacobson still tops our list. The eight-year Disney veteran is
one of the most respected studio heads, popular among executives and talent alike. Expect to see more of Jacobson soon:
In December she signed a three-year production deal with
Dream Works, where she had worked pre- Disney.
CAROLYN STRAUSS, PRESIDENT OF HBO
ENTERTAINMENT
Strauss oversees development and production of HBO's
series, specials and late-night fare, including The Sopranos,Sex
and the City, Six Feet Under,Deadwood,The Wire, Carnivale,
Da Ali G Show and Def ComedyJam. She is also behind doz-
and on screen in season two's cruise episode. Marcus has been
with Showtime for more than 20 years and helped shape their
same-sex partnership benefits well before other companies
explored such issues.
SHARI FRILOT, SENIOR PROGRAMMER FOR
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
Frilot has been programming feature films at Sundance for
eight years running, influencing the exposure and ultimate
fate of thousands of festival entries each year. A complete
account of her honors, awards and accomplishments would
commandeer this entire page, so here are some highlights: As
a Harvard/Radcliffe student, she produced the first Higher
Ground (an African-American religious public affairs show)
episode about AIDS in the African-American community,
the first show of its kind to air in the New England area. In
1992, she co-founded the first LGBT film festival in Latin
America (in Brazil) and in 1996, the first one in Mexico. As
a filmmaker, she has received fellowships from the New York
State Council for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the
□
DITO--□ lliru
::s
'111111
...
t)
Want to know who has power in this country? Lesbians. Hence the reason
for CURVE s new series, Ten Powerful Lesbians, which takes you inside
numerous industries to find out who these power babes are.
1
By Shauna Swartz
ens of comedy specials featuring the likes of Rosie O'Donnell,
Damon Wayans, Sandra Bernhard, Chris Rock and Janeane
Garofalo. She began as an assistant in the network's New
York office in 1986 and then moved to Los Angeles as director of original programming. By 2002, Strauss had worked
her way up to executive vice president of that department and
was promoted to her current position in 2004. Strauss just
might be the highest-ranking lesbian executive in television.
Arts, and the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, and she
was selected for the Whitney Independent Study Program.
She is now developing a feature film, H20, with producer
Effie Brown (But I'm a Cheerleader,Real Women Have
Curves).Phew.
GWEN MARCUS, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
AND GENERAL COUNSEL FOR SHOWTIME
NETWORKS
Kadlec oversees development and production of features
and original series for here! TV. Among the new projects
she is responsible for acquiring, she is especially excited
about Lesbian Sex and Sexuality, a six-part documentary
that debuted in January. The series is described as "a raw and
revealing look into the world of lesbian sexuality and desire"
and features lesbian erotic dancers, lesbian-owned porn
companies, and academic scholars.
"I've never seen anything like it, and I'm sure that lesbians as well as women in general would love to see it;' Kadlec
enthuses. She has also overseen many original feature films
with lead characters "who just happen to be lesbians, but
their main focus is kicking ass and saving the day:' She is
proud to support out lesbians in these films, such as Michelle
Marcus is Showtime Networks' chief legal officer in charge
of the human resources and administration department, but
her influence extends into the creative realm. Her input has
factored into decisions on a variety of programs, including the
groundbreaking hit series QueerAs Folkand The L Word.
"Because I'm a lesbian and live in that world, I also have
outside relationships that are instrumental in programming
decisions;• Marcus says. This came in handy once Olivia
Cruises became an L Word sponsor, as Marcus had already been on several Olivia cruises and gotten to know the
company's founder and CEO. She even got herself on deck
30
I curve
MEREDITH KADLEC, VICE PRESIDENT
OF ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING, HERE!
NETWORKS
Wolff, Alexandra Paul and Jill Bennett. Kadlec attended
Prague's prestigious film and TV school, FAMU, and has
also directed two award-winning short films, both gay
spoofs of Hollywood originals, The Gay Graduate and Gay
on Golden Pond.
MONICA CHUO, VICE PRESIDENT OF
ACQUISITIONS AT PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Chuo studies market trends and growth opportunities
throughout the world and identifies English and foreignlanguage films for distribution by Paramount. She is also
responsible for evaluating each project artistically and
financially throughout the development process. Recent
and upcoming releases she has acquired include Silent Hill,
The Descent and Premonition, the last of which stars Sandra
Bullock and is due for release in spring 2007. Chuo has
held similar posts at Artisan Entertainment and Samuel
Goldwyn Films. As a marketing coordinator for MGM/
United Artists, she led academy campaigns for Leaving
Las Vegas, Get Shorty and Richard III. Chuo is also a board
member of Outfest, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian
Film Festival.
CHRISTINE VACHON, INDEPENDENT FILM
PRODUCER; CO-FOUNDER AND PARTNER,
KILLER FILMS
A key player in the new wave of queer films that swelled
in the early 1990s, Vachon is known for producing smart,
independent films - particularly edgy, subversive and
intense ones - that have garnered critical acclaim as well
as commercial success. And she has managed to use her
powers for good and rise to fame with her integrity intact.
Her numerous producing credits include Boys Don't Cry,
Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Party Monster. Vachon has
co-authored two guides to low-budget filmmaking, including Shooting to Kill: How an Independent Producer Blasts
Through the Barriers to Make Movies That Matter.
CLARA KIM, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF
BUSINESS AFFAIRS AND DEPUTY GENERAL
COUNSEL FOR SPIKE TV
Viacom refers to Spike TV as their network for men, and
Kim is the woman in charge of Spike's business and legal affairs. She was at the forefront of the 2003 intellectual property battle with filmmaker Spike Lee, who claimed that the
network was trying to capitalize on his fame and sought to
bar their use of the name "Spike:•Previously, Kim was an entertainment and new media consultant for major entertain-
ment companies, brokering multimillion-dollar deals. She
has also acted as senior vice president and general counsel
for Nickelodeon Online. As vice president of international
development for MTV Networks, she was instrumental
in launching MTV in Russia and Nickel~deon in Japan,
Hungary, the Philippines, Israel and Turkey. She was the
vice president and counsel for original programming at
Showtime in 1993, and Gwen Marcus refers to her fondly
as a former protege.
DANNIELLE THOMAS, SENIOR PARTNER AT
UNTITLED ENTERTAINMENT
Thomas spent seven years as owner of Handprint
Entertainment, managing clients such as Denise Richards
and Megan Mullally (Karen on Will & Grace). Now a partner at Untide4 Entertainment, she represents actors, writers
and directors, including Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kristin
Chenoweth. Thomas is producing Universal Pictures'
Dusty Springfield project that will star Chenoweth (who
plays a bisexual character in the film adaptation of Running
With Scissors). Thomas says she enjoys remaining behind
the scenes.
"I prefer to keep my clients in the spotlight and myself
in the background:' She is excited about a "funny and irreverent" new animated series for Oxygen, Angry Little Girls.
Lela Lee, who created the comic strip Angry Little Asian
Girl, has written the screenplay and co-stars with Hewitt,
who is the executive producer.
STACY CODIKOW, FOUNDER AND
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AND LISA
THRASHER, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, OF
POWER UP
They are two individuals, but business and life partners
Codikow and Thrasher together run a nonprofit dedicated
to promoting the visibility and integration oflesbians in the
arts and entertainment. Working on a volunteer basis well
above 40 hours per week, these activists give voice to lesbian stories, bolster lesbian resumes, create films of genuine
interest to lesbians, and change the industry perspective
that lesbian film isn't profitable. POWER UP functions
as a film studio and grant-making entity. This year, they
will release their first feature, Itty Bitty Titty Committee,
directed by Jamie Babbit and starringJenny Shimizu, The L
Word's Daniela Sea, Tammy Lynn Michaels and Guinevere
Turner. POWER UP also annually awards their list of the
10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz. ■
March 2007
I31
British actor Mandana Jones is an international lesbian icon who portrayed
one of the most beloved lesbian characters in television history. So why is it so
few people in America - gay or straight - know about her, the character she
played, or Britain's hit show Bad Girls, which lasted eight seasons and featured
one of television's most captivating lesbian story lines for three of those?
The answer isn't terribly exciting. It involves difficulties selling the program
in the U.S. and distribution delays for U.S. versions of the DVDs.
What is exciting is that Bad Girls has finally arrived here. The first season
is available on DVD, and Logo began airing the program earlier this year. In
addition, the FX network is developing an American version of the show, with
plans to transfer most of the storylines and all the main characters, including
lesbian inmate Nikki Wade (played by Jones) and the prison official she falls
in love with, Helen Stewart.
32
Icurve
Yes, more than 40 countries around the world saw it first, but it seems
America has, at last, discovered Bad Girls.
Jones says what American viewers have been missing is, quite simply, television history. "We broke down barriers, portraying things the public didn't
normally have in their front room at 9 o'clock on a Tuesday evening. Bad Girls
was really fresh and original. And it was absolutely groundbreaking:'
The network television portrayal of two women falling slowly and madly
in love over three seasons was indeed groundbreaking in Britain in 1999 and, sadly, it remains almost unfathomable for network television stations in
the U.S. almost a decade later.
Bad Girls takes place in Larkhall, a fictional women's prison filled with an
everchanging assortment of "screws" (prison officials) and inmates. Although
the drama sometimes veers into campy humor, most of the story lines hinge
on serious explorations of the treatment and the struggles of women
in prison.
Maureen Chadwick, the lead writer and one of the program's three
lesbian creators, says, "It's a show about survival.... It's a mixture of
women from all different classes and races and ages, all thrown together
in this rather grim institution where they're trying to repair their
wrecked lives:'
Jones describes Nikki as "intelligent, sensitive and fearless;' a complex character who "made people take their notion of what a lesbian is
out of that very, very small box they never dared to look at:'
Nikki eventually falls for Helen, an apparently straight prison official
played by Simone Lahbib. Though they share a commitment to prisoner
rights and reform, Nikki's quick temper and sharp tongue contrast sharply
with Helen's suppressed emotions and rule-abiding ways. The increasing
tension and chemistry between them builds over three seasons, creating
one of the most remarkable slow bums in lesbian TV history.
"It was the first show that went out in prime time that didn't just tip
a hat to the notion of two women being in love;' Jones says."It really ran
a proper storyline that had a slow simmer and took a long time before it
came to a boil:'
Perhaps most importantly, she adds, "They treated the love story with
the same degree of detail they would a heterosexual relationship:'
Much of the credit goes to Chadwick and the other two lesbian creators who, Chadwick says, "set out to make the kind of television we
wanted to watch ourselves, where women were active agents themselves
rather than the objects of men's stories:'
One of the creators' challenges was making a mainstream audience
believe in - and even pull for - Nikki and Helen's relationship. To do
so, they engaged in what Chadwick calls "subversion by seduction:'
The idea, she says, was to lead viewers "on a journey where they
became so interested and engaged with the story, the characters, and the
telling that they would hurdle over their prejudices and hardly notice
their concerns. They would go on an emotional journey and arrive somewhere at the other end of it where they felt differently about the issue:'
The technique worked, as Bad Girls quickly became a nationwide
phenomenon. Along with winning its timeslot, the show won two
National Television Awards and was named the country's best-loved
drama four years in a row.
During her years on the show, Jones says the British media focused
on the inevitable straight-playing-gay questions, such as what it was like
to kiss her beautiful co-star. The sensationalism disappointed Jones,
whose goal was to create a character with such depth and complexity
that her sexuality would be secondary, if not entirely forgotten.
"When I approached it, I thought, I don't want to play this gay love
story. I want to take the gay word and the gay label out;' she says. "I
thought, tell it for what it is, which is just a love story that happens to
be taking place in very bizarre circumstances that intensify things. For it
to be powerful, I thought you have to first get people past their in-built
phobias that it happens to be between two women:'
Jones is proud of the impact the character has had on viewers around
the world. "With most roles, you do your bit, and it doesn't really transfer much beyond the box in the corner of the living room. Nikki Wade is
a character that touched people's lives and changed people's lives, and I'm
honored because there aren't a lot of roles that do that:'
In Britain, Chadwick says Bad Girls was sometimes marketed in a simplistic and demeaning way, as a titillating"babes behind bars" melodrama.
"Some people see the camp side of it rather than the underlying issues;' she
says,"but it doesn't really matter, I suppose, because our fans get it:'
And now, at last, viewers in the U.S. have a chance to 'get it" as well. ■
Oh, Canada!
Too bad the exchange rate isn't what it
used to be, but if you are looking to have some world-class spa treatments,
then look no further than our neighbors up north. By Aimsel L. Ponti
When I set out to book my Alberta vacation, I'll sheepishly
admit that the first thing I had to do was get out a map. Sure,
I knew it was in Canada, and I sort of recalled that k.d. lang
was from there, but other than that I was clueless. Twelve days
later, I found myself in the city of Calgary, about to embark on
a five~dayadventure that would stay with me always.
From top: Don't miss the
Stillwater Spa at the Hyatt
Regency Calgary; one of the
hotel's cushy guest rooms;
sleek decor at the Stillwater
Spa lounge. Opposite: The
Candian Rockies
34
Icurve
Calgary, for my fellow clueless geographers, is in the province of Alberta, which
is essentially above Montana. Surrounded by the Canadian Rockies, it's a major
metropolis with a population of more than 900,000 people. The two days I spent
there included a run along the neverending Bow River and dinner at the exquisite
River Cafe, where I had my first taste of rabbit and pickled beet foam. I enjoyed the
first of four spa treatments at the Stillwater Spa at the Hyatt Regency Calgary. The
Maple Body Glow treatment left my body feeling amazing and smelling like cookies. Part of this treatment includes a wonderful device called a Vichi shower: seven
shower heads provide a fabulous hydro-massage while you lie on a table. That same
evening, I dined at the famous gay-owned restaurant Victoria's, and had a chat with
the two owners, Terrence Skoreyko and Colin Maley. They told me that for the most
part, it's A-OK being gay in Calgary and that there is a huge community, making it a
great place to start your exploration of Canada.
The next stop on the journey was the picturesque ski town of Canmore, where I
met the Three Sisters, just some of the peaks of the never ending Canadian Rockies.
From the Canmore Nordic Centre, I left on a guided mountain bike ride. My New
England lungs were unaccustomed to the altitude, and I had to remind myself that
the thin air was the cause of my extreme huffing and puffing much more than my
being in shape (or not). I spent the afternoon having a divine facial at the Satori
Day Spa and finally shacked up at Canmore's Mystic Springs Chalet. In the lodge's
courtyard area, there was a mineral pool and a hot tub that could have easily fit me
and 20 friends. Suffice it to say, I was quite comfy. But it was the mountains, oh those
mountains, that really won me over.
Sure, I had vaguely heard of Banff and its famous National Park, but I had
absolutely no idea of how exquisite this part of the world is. We drove through the
mountains as a light snow fell and caught sight of some elk, and I was immediately
enamored with everything and everyone in Banff. A ski resort town, Banff offered up
the best shopping of the trip and, again, the majestic mountains. Dinner that night
was at the Maple Leaf Restaurant on Banff Avenue, which is the main drag of the
downtown area. Who knew bison meat tasted so heavenly?
Soon we were whisked off to the internationally known Banff Springs Hotel, and
it was there I reached my zenith of bliss. The Willow Stream Spa at the Fairmont
Banff Springs was luxury and elegance in the form of a Shangri-La wonderland. I
chose the Rockies Rehydration treatment, during which I was scrubbed, wrapped in
potions and lotions, and transported to a dreamlike state. It will set you back about
$125 but is quite worth it.
The Willow Stream also had a pristine, indoor, heated mineral pool surrounded
by three plunge pools of various temperatures, all housed in an arboretum kind of
space with windows that looked out onto the mountains. There I was, floating with
my ears below the surface, listening to relaxing music and thinking that if this were
heaven, I'd be OK with it. Not far from the Banff Springs Hotel is the Banff Upper
Hot Springs and its natural mineral pool, also heated. This pool was outside, and
it was almost an out-of-body experience to be basking in it up to my neck while
Plan Your Trip
Here are some of the many
links out there to get you
on your way.
travelalberta.com
posthotel.com
stillwaterspa.com
hyattregencycalgary.com
tourismcalgary.com
mysticsprings.ca
banffgondola.com
hotsprings.ca
discoveralberta.com
banfflakelouise.com
gaycalgary.com
Kayakingis just one way to
enjoy Alberta's outdoors.
36
Icurve
While a trip likethis may take some planningand certainly
some savingup, the combinationof the scenerywith the
extraordinaryspa treatmentsand the savorycuisineis
worth every nickel.
the outside air was maybe 30 degrees. A light snow was
falling, and indeed, all was right with the world. And
don't you dare go to Banff without taking a ride on its
famous gondola. More lovely views await you up top,
surrounded by a panorama of Mother Nature's best.
Ahh, Banff. But there was still one more stop on this trip
to make.
Lake Louise is quite possibly the most beautiful sight
I've ever seen. I had no idea what the color blue really
was until that day. It's that stunning. A guided hike up to
the Lake Agnes Tea House through the ever deepening
snow afforded several views of the lake where all I could
do was stand there, silent, and commit the image to my
mind and heart's memory. The Fairmont Chateau Lake
Louise hotel, which sits right on Lake Louise, is a sight to
behold in its own right. We checked into the nearby Post
Hotel, where my room was a classy and cozy, two,level
affair with a fireplace and Jacuzzi tub. An afternoon hot,
stone massage in the Post Hotel Temple Mountain Spa
was my final treatment of the week. It was rejuvenating
and my, oh my, did it feel good.
The next morning, I caught sight of more elk as we
drove through Banff National Park on the way to the
airport, as I eased out of my sublime Rocky Mountain
high. While a trip like this may take some planning and
certainly some saving up, the combination of the seen,
ery with the extraordinary spa treatments and the savory
cuisine is worth every nickel. The kind Canadian people,
the gorgeous landscape and certainly the spa treatments
taught me lessons that I didn't realize I desperately
needed: how to relax, how to be present in the moment,
how to close my eyes and breathe deeply. I came back a
calmer and kinder woman. Thanks, Alberta, for that. ■
I
al
:::i
0
·w
0
>
0
~
5
:I:
a.
~
0::
w
CD
...J
~
...J
w
~
t-
u.
0
>[B
b:
::J
0
(.)
PlayingBoth Sides of
the Wall
Berlin'stwo former halvesmean twice the gay fun.
By LaurieKoh
Berlin has experienced a small renaissance. The past hundred years of Berlin's
tumultuous history include the freewheeling 1920s Weimar Republic, the horrors of
World War II and the rise and fall of the infamous Berlin Wall. But what most informs
Berlin's current culture is the dramatic transformation the city has gone through since
1990, when the art-filled punk refuge that was West Berlin officially merged with its
Eastern surroundings. New architecture has sprung up everywhere and neighborhoods
have rapidly evolved, with some of the hippest on the city's former East side.
:I:
~
w
cc
::,
5
>-
~
::,
8
Cl)
~
0
:I:
a..
From left: Some things
always manage to transcend
cultural differences; one of
the city's ubiquitous Vespas
parked downtown; the
graffitied wall of the East
Side Gallery.
During our first twilight stroll through Berlin, my girlfriend and I came upon a scene of incredible cuteness:
A luminous line of young children carrying paper lanterns emerged from the dense foliage of a park escorted
by grown-ups. In our jet-lagged and delirious state, the
simplicity and warmth of this little glowing procession
completely charmed us. To this day, we don't know what
themselves and don't yak loudly on cell phones.
Moreover, reunification has meant that onceseparated East and West LGBT communities are now
part of the same city, and so, rather than one queer district, Berlin has many.
holiday they were celebrating.
Much of Berlin pleased us in small, understated ways:
for instance, our discovery that visiting in autumn is ideal.
It is a tourism off-season, plus you get to experience the
Before setting off in search of the ladies, we stopped
for a little LGBT history at the gay Schwules Museum,
which boasts a well-designed permanent exhibit showcasing 200 years of Berlin's incredibly rich queer history. Archival works on display include photographs,
pamphlets, posters and personal artifacts. We learned
that by the time the 1920s were in full swing, several
gay clubs were thriving, and one could pick up a plethora of gay publications at newsstands. During the '20s,
crisp air and turning leaves while bundled up romantically in scarves. The U-Bahn subway system was also a constant source of delight. The longest we ever waited for the
next train was four minutes, and miraculously, passengers on the U-Bahn talk in whispers, keep their elbows to
A City of Queers
March 2007
I37
war years. It wasn't until the 1970s that unified LGBT communities emerged again.
Our brains overflowing with information, we desperately needed a coffee break. So we plopped down at Melitta
Sundstrom, a hip and laid-back LGBT coffee shop conveniently located at the front of the Schwules. Recaffeinated,
we resumed our quest for the ladies. Boys and girls alike tend
to populate the Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Parkow Berg and
Schoneberg district~ of Berlin. Many younger dykes live and
hang out in affordable Friedrichshain, on the former East side.
Schoneberg was the center of Western gay life and remains a
hub for gay men and women over 35. Kreuzberg, however, is
where much of the girl activity centers today. The area is also
home to a large Turkish community and was historically the
district of West Berlin that the most radical punk rockers and
Girlie kicks aren't hard to find
in Germany. Nightlife and
cuisine are merely two of
Berlin's queer pleasures.
38
I curve
artists inhabited.
We found our girly kicks along OranienstraBe, a lively
street in Kreuzberg dotted with cafes, shops, and bars.
After spending the day poking our heads into hipster clothing shops, a comic book store, a bakery and a knitting shop,
we met up with a Berliner friend of mine who took us to
what became my favorite restaurant of the trip, Rote Harfe.
Many of the watering holes we later visited were also located
in this area. Although we saw plenty of cute, dykey girls in
these parts, all kinds of folks also hang out in this area, and
we never witnessed much overt PDA between women. But
that, I understand, is what the clubs are for.
Nightlife
We were lucky enough to score a tour of lesbian bars from
Manuela Kay, editor in chief of L-Mag, who also graciously
gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of her magazine. We met
up with her and a stylish crew oflesbian journalists at Barbie
Deinhoff's, a popular bar frequented by the young, the punk
and the glamorous. Sporting a decidedly glamorous style,
the energetic owner, Lena Braun, explained that she created
her bar to give queer girls a chill and edgy place to hang out,
as well as a venue for punk shows and other events.
We'd all worked up a slight beer buzz by that time, so it
was time to go more old school at Rose's, a staple of the women's scene. The bar was darker and divier, but what it lacks in
sophistication it amply makes up for in character: disco balls
sparkle, Christmas lights are strung over most surfaces, and the
walls are covered in - I kid you not - red shag carpeting.
Other popular bars include the Himmelreich bar in
Friedrichshain, which features a well-attended Tuesday ladies' night. In the Parkow Berg district, the kitschy '70s-style
Freizeitheim bar features popular nights for women.
If you're itching to dance, head to venue SO36, which hosts
live bands and LGBT club nights including Gayhane (fourth
Saturdays), a mixed night of Turkish dance music; Ladyhane
(third Saturdays), a women's dance party; and Mfs (first
Fridays), a hip-hop night for ladies. For a more old school gay
experience, head to mixed club Die Busche, "Berlin's largest
Playing Both Sides of the Wall continued on page 77
Alerts
flight 1~60Departs
Chicago,ORD
Ontime at 10AM.
Gate Kl
Arrives Miami,MIA
at 1:38PM Gate 61.
Stayintheknow
you'reonthego!
when
andgetfree
withOrbitz
Book
witheverytrip.*
Alerts
OrbitzTLC
Flightdelays
updates
Weather
Gatechanges
• Airportconditions
Alertssenttoyourcellphone,
HaveOrbitzTLC
ore-mail-thechoiceisyours.
PDA
Learn more at
airlinesat www.orbitz.com.
Alertsareavailableonparticipating
*OrbitzTLC
C 2007Orbitz,LLC.All rightsreserved.
roadwarrior.orbitz.com
'IIBITZANDGW
Coming Out to Venice
A loverof all thingsVenice introducesher wife to the city that holds her heart.
By Rachael Herron
The waterwaysof Venice
~eft).The author (far right)
and her wife sit amid one of
the city's many waterside
cafes and contemplateLa
Serenissima.
We've been traveling nonstop for a day and a half, it's 10 at night
and raining, and we're exhausted. Despite this, I still have to greet
Venice the right way, ambling through the night's empty streets,
peering down watery alleyways, to the Rialto Bridge.
I lead my sleepy wife, Lala, up the steps. There is only one couple
already up here, the rain keeping the rest sensibly indoors, so we
cross to the other side.
At any time, day or night, there is much to see from up here: the quintes,
sential and prohibitively expensive gondolas, men unloading boats and push,
ing hand carts of flour and acquaminerale,people eating late dinners near the
colored lights that reflect in the canal, the vaporettichugging by, full of sleepy
looking tourists and locals carrying shopping bags.
"Wow;' says Lala.
"Yep;'I say.
Then I look around, checking for homophobes but having no idea what to
really look for. I give up and kiss my wife.
Nothing happens. No one shouts at us. No one even glances our way.People
hurry over the bridge, late for family dinner, headed home from work in Mestre.
It is perfect. A short kiss, but perfect.
But I'm still not easy in my skin.
I am in love with Venice. Really,I am. It's a deep and passionate love. I adore
everything about it: the people, the canals, the winding back streets that are
little more than shoulder,width, the smell of diesel mixed with salt. Before I
had a mortgage and vet bills, I used to travel to Venice at least once a year, or as
often as I could afford to.
40
Icurve
So when my wife's band books a European tour, I jumped on the chance to
piggyback across the pond, to show her Venice for a few days before her tour
gets underway.
Then I started to worry.
See, I've never been gay in Venice. I pass easily,with low,cut shirts and skirts
and lipstick and '40s eyeliner. When asked out, I explain that I am not inter,
ested, and I don't explain why.
It isn't about shame or anything so ignoble; I'm just lazy. I'm not proud of it,
but it is just easier not to have to explain, especially when my command of the
language is not that great.
And Italy isn't known for being the most gay,friendly country in the world.
ARCI is the biggest gay society, holding dances in large cities including Rome
and Milan, or small, quiet, polite gatherings in student towns such as Padua.
There is not a single gay bar or coffeeshop in all of Venice. The closet in this still
very Catholic country is walk,in sized.
And now I am going to introduce my two loves: Lala, my wife, and La
Serenissima, my city: both female. I am a little worried.
I know enough Italian to get by, but I don't have any specifically gay phrases
in my vocabulary. So I start looking things up. I really don't think Venice will
treat us badly. How can a city made of refracted light and stolen gold treat any,
one harshly? But I am surprised at what my brain does with the vague worry.
In a dictionary, I look up the Italian for "I am gay" and "We are lesbians" and
"We are married to each other:'
Then I look up the Italian· for,"Do you have a problem with that?"
And "What's your problem?"
Then, "Screw you:'
z
~
a:
w
:I:
..J
Then I look up a couple of good, virile swear words.
What is going on? Do I expect to have to defend Lala in a bar fight? Do I
w
~
~
think that people are going to shout slurs at us in the streets, or mutter dark
insults in museum lines?
I put the phrases on a yellow sticky note and tuck it in my journal. I don't
tell Lala about it
After a grueling (but cheap!) 36-hour trip, we finally end up at my favorite
I get that no matter what nebulous fears I came to Venice with, it is really,
truly okay for me to be here with the love of my life. It's okay to be mushy and
romantic and in love.
Something I didn't know I was carrying drops from my shoulders.
Lala says over dinner, "It's like meeting your best friend. Only more
hotel, Bernardi-Semenzato.
This is it, this is the moment of truth: We have one bed reserved.
The desk clerk pokes around in his book and says, "I have no reservation
for you:•
Uh-huh. Sure he doesn't. I start to bristle.
Then he picks up some keys and leads us to the nicest part of the hotel, set
back a few blocks from the primary building. He offers to help us carry our luggage up the steep stairs, but to Lala's dismay, I won't let him. I am preparing to
be offended by the two single beds he will surely offer us, getting my practiced,
important:'
''Andt I ask.
"It's beautiful. I like it for what it is, and even more for what it means
to you:•
"Good answer:•
After dinner, we have a stupid and thrilling spat in front of the Bridge of
Sighs, the very bridge over which Casanova crossed into captivity. We don't
argue that often, so the irony is not lost on us.
We make up quickly and thoroughly, making out like teenagers behind a
colonnade under the Doge's palace. It is now midnight, and we walk into the
great square, which is still packed with people strolling, drinking, dancing.
The orchestra is playing at the Florian, which is in a perpetual musical duel
with the Quadri, on the other side of the square. Couples have been dancing
perfectly accented indignation ready to fly.
Instead, he opens a door to a small, sweet room, occupied by one double
bed, and says,"Buonanotte."
It starts to sink in. Venice is not only the city of Carnevale, but of the Venice
Film Festival and Biennale. It is the home of masks and intrigue and passion.
Venice and her residents are no strangers to gays.
It's just harder to pick out The Gay here. Men kiss each other hello and
goodbye. Women link arms as they walk. Lala points out grade-school boys
who talk with their heads close together, their hands and fingers touching rapidly as they speak.
Realizing this does something amazing for me. Standing in front of Santa
Maria della Salute, looking over the sparkling canal toward what Napolean
called the best drawing room in Europe, I finally get it.
here in front of these two cafes for almost 300 years.
We dance, too. No one notices the two girls mooning into each others'
eyes. No one, that is, except the everpresent flower vendors. We have been
invisible to them all night, just two women walking close together, not sales
targets, but now that we are dancing, we are suddenly not only visible, but
interesting. Four of them gather around us in a circle but seem only curious,
surprised to see us kissing. I pull Lala by the hand, and we run through the
square, laughing.
Venice, La Serenissirna, has welcomed us both. ■
March 2007
I41
A DifferentTake on
bbean·
th• e Car,·
Escape to Curac;ao - before everyone
else does. By Angela Watrous
Top: Cura~ao's Dutch
heritage distinguishes its
architecture from that of
other Caribbean hot spots.
Bottom: Dolphins go for a
42
I curve
During my last sunset in Cura~ao,
I sat on my balcony overlooking the
turquoise Caribbean Sea and lis~
tened to the raucous calls of tropical
birds give way to the evening chirping
of tree frogs. The warm air, cooled
to a perfect 80 degrees by the trade
winds, was what I knew I would miss
most when I returned to winter. And
while my stay had included every~
thing I'd hoped for from a Caribbean
island -
leisurely afternoons on the
beach, unforgettable snorkeling and
swimming
-
in clear, gentle waters
I'd had anything but a generic
island experience.
That's because Curas:ao isn't your typical
Caribbean island. For starters, the 38,mile,long
Dutch Caribbean island resides on the outer
fringes of the hurricane belt, so unless you for,
get the sunscreen and get yourself a wicked bad
burn, the elements aren't likely to ruin your trip.
Because of its southwestern location, Curas:ao
also has an arid landscape that includes a cactus
forest (that's right, it's the American Southwest
in the middle of the Caribbean Sea). And the
island's unique shape, created by over 30 inlets
and bays, results mostly in small, secluded pub,
lie beaches rather than long stretches of heavily
populated sand.
In addition to spectacular snorkeling and div,
ing among its coral re.efs, Curapo also offers an
environmentally aware, animal,friendly aquarium
where you can swim in the ocean with dolphins or
sea lions or have your first scuba experience and
''encounter" sharks, tortoises and some mighty
friendly rays. Just don't make the mistake I did
and schedule your swim with the dolphins first, or
those sharks will harsh the exhilarating high you
get from bonding with Flipper.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of the island,
though, is its history. Its distinctive Dutch archi,
tecture is a relic of Curas:ao's painful colonial past,
when the Dutch West India Company brought
enslaved Africans across theAtlanticandkeptthose
who survived the heinous journey in two camps
on the island. Today, the Museum Kura Hulanda,
an intimate and stunning museum that features
an extensive exhibit on the African slave trade, is
located on the site of the old slave wharf where
more than a half,million people were sold to
wealthy plantation owners from North and
South America.
In addition to being an important adjunct
to our understanding of American history, the
museum also helps visitors put Curas:ao's cur,
rent population into context. The island is an
economically stable, autonomous part of the
Netherlands Antilles, with a long history of
occupiers and visitors. As such, the majority of the
well,educated local population speaks Dutch as
well as English, Spanish and Papiamento, a native
Creole language. This makes a hospitable environ,
ment for tourists from around the world.
Curas:ao'shistory has also created a diverse and
worldly local population that values its home while
also seeing beyond provincial island life. Many
of the youth attend college in the Netherlands,
and their exposure to Amsterdam's liberal cul,
ture means that most of the island's population
is Catholic, though the general attitude toward
lesbian and gay tourists and locals seems to be
largely live and let live. Queer visibility isn't high,
but if you're OK with forgoing a raucous women's
party scene for a romantic getaway or a watery ad,
venture, Curas:ao might just be the perfect island
retreat for your next relaxing vacation.
If You Go:
Good times to go: For nightlife, consider
September's gay,focused Get Wet Weekend; if
you dive, go during the annual Coral Spawning,
which happens about one week after the full moon
in September and October.
Accommodations: Split your stay between
Hotel Kura Hulanda (near the city and connected
to the must,see Museum Kura Hulanda) and the
oceanfront Lodge Kura Hulanda, which boasts
spectacular snorkeling and diving. (kurahulanda.
com, 877,264, 3106)
You also can't go wrong with an ocean,view
room at the Hilton Curas:ao (hiltoncaribbean
.com/ curacao) or the chic design suites at Floris
Suite Hotel (florissuitehotel.com).
Visit: Curas:ao Sea Aquarium (curacao,sea,
aquarium.com, 599,9-461,6666) and MikveIsreal,
Emanuael Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in con,
tinuous use in the western hemisphere (snoa.com).
Nightlife: The island is small, so the night,
life is mostly mixed. Go to gaycuracao.com
ahead of time, log onto the message boards for
tips and connections with the welcoming lesbian
locals, or e,mail the local LGBT organization at
curacaogayplasa@hotmail.com.
Restaurants and Bars: Overall, the
island's dining is consistently good, but it is, ad,
mittedly, rarely great enough to warrant the high
prices. Stick with the fresh local catch and en,
joy the ample ambiance. To catch live musical
acts and great views, try the Blues bar (avila
hotel.com) or De Gouverneur on the Otrobanda
Waterfront. ■
March 2007
I43
A Lesbianon Capitol Hill
You don't need to be elected to enjoy D.C. By Renee Westbrook
Every summer, the church lady forced me to go on those God-awful cross-country driving
trips. You know, the ones
where everyone pretends to be the Partridge family, but they're really more like the Osbourn
es? Well, during the
summer of our nations 200th birthday, I put my foot down and declared my independence:
I claimed my constitutional right to freedom from parental tyranny. 'Tm not going to stupid Washington, D.C.,
I said. "I have better things
to do with my time!" My mutiny proved that teen years exist for one reason only: to fully oblige
the human immaturity
gene. As a mature adult 30 years later, with ~ greater appreciation for travel, I finally made
it to our nation's capitol.
11
I knew I'd be staying at the Hyatt Regency Washington on
Capitol Hill, and that made me a bit nervous, what with the senators
and celebrities who would presumably be staying there. The airport
shuttle driver did nothing to soothe my fears. "Oh yeah;' he added as
he dropped me off, "the concierge might look at you a little strange
because of how you're dressed:' Great. My first trip to D.C., and I'm
going to be judged and leered at by the concierge.
As it turned out, the concierge was professional and welcoming, and I blended in famously with the other guests: vacationing
families, convention goers, government officials and businesspeople.
When I found out the Capitol Hill Hyatt openly markets to the
LGBT community, it immediately became my favorite. The absolute
. best feature of the recently renovated guestrooms wasn't the 27-inch,
remote-controlled color television, the data ports, the hairdryers or
the individual climate controls. It was the Grand Bed. Four huge
down pillows and a pillow-top mattress made me sleep like I had
just finished an epic round of wild honeymoon sex. In fact, I enjoyed
44
Icurve
the Grand Bed so much that I decided to plan my next trip so that I
never have to get out of it.
I did eventually leave the bed though, to explore the fascinating
cityscape. The monuments, memorials and museums have their own
personal brand of beauty,but the outdoor ambiance of the city is equally
attractive. No matter what neighborhood I went to, I found people of all
nationalities eating, living and working in the same space.
Such a cosmopolitan city naturally offers a diverse choice
of restaurants. Hank's Oyster Bar serves up a great lobster roll with fries in a casual beach bar setting. More along
the downtown cafe lines, Belga Cafe offers Belgian-Euro
fusion meals of mussels, grilled tilapia with melted spinach, and
Belgian endive salad with oranges and bleu cheese.
Dining
IndeBleu, on
the
other
hand,
was
an
extraordinary experience. Everything about the French-Indian fusion restaurant's interior screamed sexy and sleek. The Brazilian
cherry steps, linen-covered walls and hand-stitched curtains seduced
me into the belief I was independently wealthy and Naomi
Campbell-sexy. Let's face it, any restaurant that makes me
feel like that while I'm eating is worth a second trip.
Later I hopped on a Tourmobile Sightseeingshuttle. Locals
suggest that firsMime visitors use the shuttle; it's a hassle-free
way to see the monuments. It's also less time-consuming.
Our narrator entertained us with pop quizzes and obscure trivia until we arrived at the Washington Monument.
For years, I had seen it on postcards, on television and in
picture books, and there it was, towering nearly 556 feet
above, the massive obelisk standing in tribute to our nation's first president. I sat directly in front of it, snapping
photos like a madwoman. Looking at it in person made me
feel proud; proud to be an American and proud that I had
finally - with a mature mind and a full awareness of my
constitutional rights - made it to the Capitol.
Three quizzes later, I tuned out the narrator and totally focused my attention on the thousands of people
roaming the National Mall monuments and the stone-carved
behemoths that reminded me of preening rock stars. They
stand proudly self-centered, the wind whipping across their
architectural designs, enjoying every moment of being on display. Their adoring fans stared in awe, pointed gleefullyand
snapped more than enough photographs to rival paparazzi.
Nightlife in D.C. was equally exciting. In addition
to the regular club scene at Phase 1 - the city's oldest
continuously operating lesbian bar, said to also be the
one of the oldest African-American gay bars in the country - theater is a major part of Washington nightlife.
More than 75 professional theater groups produce some
350 productions each season. High-profile venues like
the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
the National Theatre and the Warner Theatre produce a
variety of large-scale original and touring shows. Venues
such as the Source Theatre and the Studio Theatre
produce a significant number of smaller-scale, edgy
urban plays.
The Arena Stage's production of Lady Day at Emerson's
Bar & Grill was a fantastic introduction to the scene. Lanie
Robertson's play,part rap session and part song-driven monologue, summed up the final days oflegendary jazz singer Billie
Holiday's life.The theater was transformed into a 1950s jazz
club with the front rows built to look like cabaret seating.
Arena, which houses both the Fichandler and Kreeger
Theater, has a wonderful history. Nestled in the southwest
quadrant for more than 40 years, it was one of the first
not-for-profit theaters in the United States and the first regional theater to receive a Tony Award. It's best known for
producing American classics and its Audience Enrichment
program, which offers performance extras like post-show
discussions and guest speakers. An extra designed for gay
audiences, Out at Arena, features a catered post-show reception, a mingle session with cast members and a chance
to meet other theater enthusiasts.
There's no way a 16-year-old with a bad attitude could
ever appreciate performance extras or the finer points of
sexy dining. But a mature adult with a newfound appreciation for teenage rebellion understands that some things,
like my first trip to Washington, D.C., only happen when
the time is right.
CHECK OUT:
National Portrait Gallery
& American Art Museum
202-633-1000
www.npg.si.edu
americanart.si.edu
Shakespeare Theatre Co.
202-547-1122
shakespearedc.org
TOURS:
Washington, D.C.
Convention & Tourism
Corporation
800-422-8644
washington.org
Rainbow History Project
202-907-9007
Rainbowhistory.org
These walking tours offer
a great way to witness
the scenic history of
D.C.'s gay community.
■
"Hidden Lake is a diverse and peacefullliving
environmentwhere I can live, laugh and love
the one I want"
A Proud New Owner-
..
►
'
•
~ ··--#~
-· ...
,..
~.I!' .. -
!-.
•... ~ •
..,·,'ft?'
~
~,...
-
.,;.
I'
·\I '
I
• Close to Atlanta, Birmingham & Chattanooga
• Spectacular Sale on select lots with prices starting in the 30's
• Over 80% of the Lakefront Lots already sold
• Beautiful 1+/- acre mountain lots
• Secluded 14 acre private lake
• No time requirement to build
• Owner financing available for qualified buyers
• Discount available on cash purchases
March 2007
I45
DrinkingDown
Under, Kiwi-Style
I assumed when heading to the southern hemi~
sphere, my obvious first stop would be Australia.
But as luck and fate would have it, my first trip
Down Under brought me to New Zealand, to cover
the Cocktail World Cup. New Zealand's signature
vodka company, 42 Below, was having their third
annual Cocktail World Cup in Queenstown, the
adventure capital of the world and New Zealand's
most visited city.
Forty-two of the world's top bartenders from the best bars
around the globe gathered for a week of extreme cocktailing. They,
along with 18 or 20 international journalists, a few judges and the
20 or so iibercool Kiwis from 42 Below were about to embark on
a weeklong adventure together. It was essentially Outward Bound
with a bar or, as I later discovered, band camp with booze.
After a night's layover and a couple of cocktails in Tahiti, I was
off to a good start. I joined several of the competing bartenders, a
few journalists and a judge for our next flight, which finally landed
on the picturesque mountain of Queenstown. For the next week, no
matter where I looked, my eye was forever inspired.
The 42 Below staffers were a force. No matter what your job,
as Ian, our driver and IT of the company, said, "It's one for all and
all for one for the week:' Geoff Ross, the genius behind the Kiwi
Company, and his crew strangely resembled my old camp counselors. They looked after our every need, handling each and every detail
with genuine friendliness and their Kiwi can-do attitude.
After being bullied over breakfast to bungee jump by Gareth and
Rene, two of the 42 Belowers, I - to my surprise - jumped off a
bridge my first day in. The bartenders embarking on their first leg of
the competition had to successfully shake and serve a cosmo while
bungee jumping. I just had to survive.
Barely back on solid ground, crawling up the hill, giddy and
wobbly, I was already being wrangled by the ever-lovely Angela,
our appointed 42 Below staffer, "Come on. Weve got a car waiting.
Were off to parapeunte:' Who are these people? How did I get here?
Within minutes I was being lifted into the sky in a gondola, with
views that silenced us all. With "pilots" on deck, we were assigned
a partner and before I knew it, I was told to walk straight ahead,
off the mountain. Seems normal. "Okay. The wind will pick up and
we'll lift off:' I was airborne twice within the hour. Parapeunting,
or paragliding, is a cross between a kite and an airborne spoon. It
doesn't get any better.
46
Icurve
The bungee wasn't enjoyable; it was exhilarating, enlightening
and a shake-up that I didn't know I needed. In comparison, the parapeunte was pure crazy, blissful joy! I didn't want to land, I wanted
to live up there and have everyone I know and love meet me there. I
totally trusted my pilot, a complete stranger who had my life in his
Oddly enough, extreme
boozingin New Zealand
bringsback fond childhood
memories.By Karen Loftus
hands for a full 15 minutes. Tip to the thrillseekers: If your pilot
asks, 'J\re you up for some fun?" say yes! Like an airborne rollercoaster, we were flipping and spinning. I was screaming in all the
right ways.
That was the day that we, the journalists, in an attempt to
articulate the trip, coined that the week was like high school. "Therell
be cliques, a crush, someone's feelings will get hurt:' A few awkward
moments later, we realized the bartenders were the sexy cheerleaders
and athletes, and we were the band camp kids.
The band marched on through the week's many activities. While
the bartenders competed, we carried our tubas and clarinets and
tipped back, "testing" the many cocktails made. In the Southern Alps,
we were helicoptered to the top of the world, to the Remarkables,
where an ice bar was set up for the bartenders who were given random and odd ingredients and a few minutes to whip up a drink,
name it and serve it to the judges.
Later in the week, we hopped into shotover jets in the water and
spun in 360-degree turns while barely skimming through gorges. We
only had to absorb the experience and possibly the cocktail made by
the bartender who had to mix, garnish and serve successfully while
spinning.
Aside from the cocktail activities, we, the band, took full advantage of the incredible culinary options in town. With clear skies,
crystal-clear blue-green water and edible air, it's no wonder the Kiwis
make the world's most-awarded vodka and some of the world's best
wines. Their fresh produce, oysters, beef, lamb and venison, their
cheeses and growing olive industry made for fine wining and dining
wherever we went.
In Arrowtown, a historic gold-mining town 20 minutes from
Queenstown, the band hit the Postmaster's House Restaurant.
Taking their wines seriously, they set the wine menu first and then
paired the food to match the wines accordingly. Between the venison
and Pinot Noir, and the Red Sheep's Cheese with the Montepulciano,
we had a Kiwi Vodka Green Tea Sorbet to cleanse our palates. It was
truly decadent to the senses.
There are several wine regions within New Zealand. Queenstown
in the Central Otago region is known for their Sauvignon Blancs
and their Pinot Noirs. Johan Small-Smith at the Wine Deli in town
pointed me in all the right wine directions. As per Johan's suggestion,
I made a stop at the famous Amisfield Winery and Bistro in Lake
Hayes, just 10 minutes from town. Having lunch with 42 Below's
own guru, Geoff Ross, we went with the Trust the Chef dish: a mix
oflocal dishes like oxtail, duck and zucchini paired with their awardwinning wines. It was a great way to pass a lazy day. When offered,
which is often~ New Zealand, always go with Trust the Che£
Every night ended with a Queenstown bar crawl. With a mix
of locals and visitors, the bar options were endless. The bars were
as quaint and chic as the city itself, fit with modern amenities, yet
riddled with old-world charm.
Six days in, the official Cocktail World Cup competition took
!
'
I
•<
place in town for all to see, we, the band, and the many locals in
front of a savvy panel of judges. The U.K. team took top prize with
their medieval concoction and Benedictine performance. It was truly
a spiritual experience, with a hot beverage taking top honors for the
first time. To try this trick at home, use this recipe:
World Cocktail Winner
2 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon of honey
S0mls cream
S0mls 42 BELOW Manuka Honey Vodka
20mls Tahiti Dark
the band, a couple of judges and the producer and host of the TV
show that was filmed all took flight, on our way to Auckland. As we
were about to land, they announced that we lost our landing gear, or
something didn't pull out, or we lost a wheel. We weren't really sure.
My British buddy, the toe,tapper and unofficial leader of our band,
said, "Don't worry. It's completely normal. It's standard. They are cir,
cling the tower to get the okay to land. They do it all the time:'
Now an unofficial extreme, savvy and accomplished athlete, I
sat back and relaxed through our extreme flight as we dipped, spun
5ml Benedictine
1 dash Angostura bitters
Whisk all ingredients and warm on stove, then char all ingre,
dients with a red,hot poker. (Yup, you heard right, a hot poker.)
Garnish with fresh cinnamon and nutmeg, and serve in a teacup and
and circled.
After many circles, the pilot said shakily, "We may land, or we
may land then take off again, right away:' Hmmmm. As we landed,
with several fire engines chasing us down the runway and grown
men wiping tears from their masculine cheeks, I began to think
that maybe it was more serious than I thought or was led to believe.
Leave it to a leader to allay fear in his followers. If that was our last
saucer.
song, it was certainly the note I wanted to leave on. Bliss.
The last night, I was the quintessential American with one too
many gushing goodbyes. I had a crush on the country. My lovely
friend and fellow band member was tapping his exasperated British
toe as we exited each establishment; he was definitely over my good,
byes, all of my gushing and my obvious crush.
With barely a wink, we piled into the busses at 5:45 the next
morning. Heading to the airport, I thought I'd never have that much
fun again, legally. The rambunctious bartenders, a few members of
Don't Forget To Clip This Info
To learn more about 42 Below visit 42below.com
For the Cocktail World Cup see cocktailworldcup.com
How to get there: Air Tahiti (airtahitinui.com)
Where to stay: The Heritage, a hop and a skip from town.
Request a lake view suite in the alpine hotel. You will wake up,
take a look out your window and think you've died and gone to
heaven (heritagequeenstown.nz,hotels.com).
March 2007
I4 7
Queer BroadsAbroad
Since 1973, globetrottinggals have lookedto LonelyPlanetto choose
their next adventure.By Sara Seinberg
Lonely Planet travel guides arrived in the early 1970s amid
a world bedazzled with hip buggers, fat mustaches and
impossibly enormous collars. Founders Tony and Maureen
Wheeler returned from an epicjourney starting in London
and continuing through Asia on to Australia. That expedi~
tion birthed the first ever Lonely Planet guidebook, Across
Asia on the Cheap, and has made the planet a little less lone~
ly for millions of travelers ever since.
from Austin, Texas, where she now works as a freelance writer and editor and
is earning her master's degree in library and information science.
What has been your favorite place to travel?
Well I got to live in Kyoto for a year. I really got to know it and I love that city.
It's the perfect size. You can ride your bike everywhere. And there is a sound
there. The older women still wear those wooden sandals all over. The clip,
pety,clop sandals. Sometimes I'd be by my window and I'd think, "God,
what's that sound? Is it a horse? "So I'd go to look and there would be this
beautiful old lady clopping down the way in her wooden sandals. I loved it.
Were you out in Japan?
Yes, I had a partner there who has since come out as a trans person. At the
In the last 30 years, the Wheelers have built a guidebook company unlike
time, he was read as a mannish woman. He came to Japan to study the
any other, constructed on the principles of authentic human connection, unbri,
gardens. I think it's not as big a deal there in terms of gender. You see
dled curiosity and above all, travel information with integrity. Because Lonely
mannish women and femmey men a lot in Asia. There is less of a macho
Planet has never accepted money from advertisers, their writers are free to give
attitude about masculinity in general, whether it's represented on a man
whole,hearted reviews of businesses without the weight or pressure of finan,
or a woman. People didn't seem to be strange to us in any way.
cial repercussions bearing down on their adventurous reports. Lesbians love You've been traveling
for years. How has that experience changed
'em for their omnipresent LGBT sections and fondness for o.ff,the,beaten path
for you?
adventures.
Before investing in a guide,
book, interested readers can be,
gin cruising the massive Lonely
Planet Web site, lonelyplanet
.com without spending a dime.
The site features podcasts, hostel
reviews, low,cost travel insur,
ance information, and an enor,
mous community of trekkers on
the message boards exchanging
experiences and information
from Seoul to Solvang.
Beth Greenfield and Alex
Hershey are two q_ueer women
among the team of over 500
international writers, who have
written
about
destinations
throughout the U.S. and Mexico
and have traveled extensively around the world.
I would have to say my level of comfort has become more important.
Curve caught up with both of these global gals to ask about lesbian hot,
Like no staying In a squat in Belfast for nine days?
spots, their dream vacations and the joys and pitfalls of penning travel guides
You know, maybe a night or two. As I get older, my awareness of mortality
for a living,
has become more solid. When I was younger, I mean, I'm only 30, but I
used to not care about certain things. Like if someone offered me water
She's a Wanderer: Alex Hershey
anywhere, I would just drink it and think, "Nothing will happen. Who
Alex Hershey (pictured opposite page, on the left) was born in Washington,
cares?" But now I know that certain things will make me sick. And my
D.C., but spent her first few years in London. Bitten by the travel bug early in
body is really important for traveling.
life, she lost her British accent but not the itch to roam. After studying phi,
Do you have plans to travel to other faraway lands?
losophy and Russian at Smith College and spending her junior year studying
Yes. I am dying to do the Trans,Siberian railroad trip across Russia. I stud,
Gaelic in Cork, Ireland, she bought a one,way ticket to Japan and stumbled
ied Russian in school, and I've always wanted to do that huge train trip.
around Asia for several months. She then found herself in the San Francisco
It seems so romantic. Not romantic, like with your lover, but romantic
Bay Area, where she landed a position as publishing assistant at Lonely Planet,
like everyone bundled in parkas and sharing vodka with some crusty
later working as an acting commissioning editor and author. She spoke to us
old guy.
48 curve
I
tii
~
a.
~
UJ
z
g
u.
0
~
w
Ii:
::::>
0
()
Where was your favorite place to be queer?
Chinese restaurant - to see that it used to be a sweet little town before
American sprawl made its mark there. And if they drove just 10 minutes
east, they'd be at the ocean of the awesome Jersey Shore.
Belgium is lightyears ahead of anyone in terms of gay rights. I loved being
there and going to gay bars there because it wasn't such a meat market. It
was like meeting family. People were excited to meet other queers traveling to their home and they were so welcoming. I felt so welcome there that
the language barriers just fell apart.
Where's your favorite queer spot in the world?
The New Yorker: Beth Greenfield
New York City? Small-townish?
New Jersey native Beth Greenfield (above right) has written about New York
- City for the entire 15 years she's lived there. This includes residing in
neighborhoods from Chelsea to Park Slope, the East Village to Boerum
Hill. We talked to her on the Upper West Side, where she is a writer and
editor for Time Out New York,and writes for the New York Times and Out
Traveler.Among her Lonely Planet guides are the previous edition of New
York City as well as Miami and the Keys,Mexico and USA. She lives with
her partner, Kiki, and their fat cat, Elijah.
What came first, writing or traveling?
Writing came first for me. I majored in English, went to grad school for journalism at (New York University].
Are you out when you travel?
I am always out, but sometimes cautiously, depending on the situation .... One
time in Mexico we stopped on a highway to ask directions from a motorcycle cop. He was very intrigued by us and asked if we were sisters. My partner
said, "No, novias[girlfriends J;'and he took off his mirrored sunglasses and
just stared at us. He was like, really:' He was polite, but really fascinated and
was trying to be cool, but we could tell he was a bit thrown. Still, he gave us
an escort to the exit we were looking for.
Where would you send visitors in your hometown?
I don't know how many visitors would find their way to Eatontown, N.J. - a
suburban town that's about an hour and a half outside of New York City!
But I think I'd have to send them first to the massive Monmouth Mall,
and then to what is left of Eatontown's Main Street - a one-block strip
with a magazine shop, a dance shop, an Indian grocery, a really delicious
I'd have to say New York City. There are others very dear to me - especially
Provincetown, where I spend much of each summer - but this city's
queer scene is fun, diverse, huge and small-townish, all at once.
Well the thing I love about queer New York is that you don't need to go
somewhere specific to find it. I love that Kiki and I can hold hands and
show affection practically anywhere, that I can see dyke tourist couples •
on the subway looking really comfortable, that I can talk about my partner at work just like any straight person can talk about theirs, that I can
get cruised in Macy's, see gay daddies in Central Park, Latina lesbians in
Queens, lesbian mommies all over town.
But the big neighborhoods for cool lezzies are still the East Village and
Brooklyn's Park Slope and surrounding ouitskirts, like Kensington.
West Village is mainly where the lesbian bars are, so that has the poolplaying drinkers of all ages much of the time, while East Village and
Brooklyn - Williamsburg, Park Slope, Prospect Heights - get more
tattooed, androgynous folk. Queens is very Latin, with several such
bars and clubs in and around Jackson Heights. I live on the Upper West
Side, where I see mainly older, long-term couples who sort of blend in
- with the exception of my beautifully colorful neighbors, Bitch and
Daniela Sea.
What's the most surprisingly queer-friendly place you've been with
your partner?
I think it would have to be Havana. People there could not have cared less,
which really surprised me. We stayed in a gay-owned casa particular [the
Cuban version of a bed and breakfast] and the guys introduced us to several other gay guys who worked in the arts, and all said that things have
never been better for LGBT folks in Cuba. This was a few years ago; can't
speak for now. ■
March 2007
I49
Easter IslandOffers
Mysteryat the End
of the Earth
This overlookeddestinationmay just
surpriseyou. By Carole TerwilligerMeyers
"Here I am, out in the Pacific, thousands of
miles from anywhere. My souvenir may or
Getting There:
LanChile (LAN.com) flies
to Easter Island
several times a week
from Santiago and
Papeete. Vacation
packages (lanvacations.
com) are also popular.
Where to Stay:
There are no big luxury
resorts or five-star hotels
here - all the more
reason to go now.
Hotel Otai
chile-hotels.com/otai.htm
TahaTai Hotel
hotel-tahatai. co. cl
More
Information:
Easter Island Foundation
islandheritage.org
Easter Island Tourism
netaxs.com/trance/
rapanui.html
Chile Tourism
visit-chile.org
so Icurve
may not be a tattoo. I trekked to the island's
best artist today, and he wasn't in. It is a hit
or miss process here -
no appointments."
Thus read the postcards I sent from Easter
Island's single, tiny post office. I stamped
each with a commemorative depicting the
moai I'd come so far to see, and, further
validating my journey, I paid a dollar more
to have my passport rubber,stamped with
three Easter Island imprints.
Before leaving on this trip, I decided that my souvenir
would be a tattoo on the inside of my ankle. Not too daring, but since I am a woman of a certain age, daring enough
to startle my adult children.
After striking out on the tattoo, I strolled beside the
reconstructed them in the 1960s and '70s, and many of the
giant statues once again face inland atop raised platforms.
Their ancestors originally placed them so they could give
their protective "mana;' or energy, to the community.
dusty street and browsed the Municipal Market of the island's only town, tiny Hanga Roa, and discovered a lovely
hand-carved wooden bowl shaped like a fish. Instead of
purchasing it on the spot, I decided to look around more,
and then return on my last day when, if it was still there,
I'd buy it.
Easter Island's mysterious statues, known as moai
(pronounced "moh-eye"), have intrigued me since I was
an anthropology major in college. I tied in my visit as a
side trip from Santiago, where I was attending a convention. The anticipation of exploring this isolated Polynesian
island located about 2,300 miles off the coast of Chile
thrilled me for months in advance.
Since this speck of an island is accessible by air only
from Santiago, Chile, or Papeete, Tahiti, and since either
Bight takes more than five hours, it isn't easy to reach
(especially if you're seated at the front of the cattle section
next to a teething baby).
Deplaning banana republic-style, directly onto the
tarmac, fed my get-away-from-it-all fantasies. Being
greeted by the near-perfect temperature and a gorgeous lei made of pungent orange-red marigolds and
magenta bougainvillea fed my soul.
More than 800 moai are scattered around the island.
At one point they all were knocked over by warfare.
U.S. anthropologist William Malloy, from Wyoming,
Finding the moai and understanding the historical
implications is easiest with a guided tour, though many
visitors opt to instead rent a four-wheel drive and use a
guidebook for information. Motor scooters are also a
popular way to get around the small triangular island (it
measures only 13 miles long by 10 miles wide, and is only
1,677 feet at its highest point). Many roads are unpaved,
which helps keep traffic slow, and you can literally see forever, making it easier to avoid accidents. Though I took a
guided tour each of the two full days I was on the island,
I recommend taking a tour one day and exploring on your
own with a rented vehicle another day.
I liked that my tour began at the Museo Anthropologico
P.Sebastian Englert, named for an early island priest who
is buried next to the town church. Guide Nena Delgado
relayed helpful facts that put some of what we'd see later in
perspective. We learned that Rapa Nui - as the island is
called in the indigenous language, and which means "fertility" - is the only Polynesian island that created a written
language. Fish-shaped wooden tablets display the carvings
of ancient symbols, undecipherable to anyone alive today.
The only natives who could translate them were captured
centuries ago by invaders and died as slaves in Peru. We
also learned that reported cannibalism was merely an
attempt to capture an enemy's mana.
Over two days, we visited the island's most fascinating
I
3
~
~
w
....
~
<(
(.)
sites: Ahu Nau Nau, a row of seven, reconstructed 15th,
century moai, four with colorful red topknots, located
above spectacular palm,fringed Anakena beach; Ahu
Tongariki, with 15 moai in a striking lineup atop one
platform; and Volcin Rano Raraku, the quarry that is the
island's top sight and where 887 stone statues were carved
into the hill's side. 397 remain here unfinished, and 92 lay
abandoned where they presumably fell as they were being
moved.
Being on the island on a Sunday allowed us to attend
mass at the town's simple lava,rock Catholic church. A
priest visiting from Ireland presented the service in English
as well as in Spanish and Rapa Nui (the local language).
The priests wore leis, the congregation wore jeans and
T ,shirts, and the ceiling fans stirred a breeze as the choir
sang to accordion and drum accompaniment reminiscent
of a Cajun dancehall band. It was mesmerizing.
Further good fortune had us in town when the
Matato'a cultural show was happening (the group often
is on the road around Polynesia). I was convinced it was
going to be a smarmy Polynesian review but found myself
instead wowed by the energetic mix of traditional story,
telling and Rapa Nui dances accompanied by contempo,
rary plugged,in music. Families with young kids, many of
whom obviously knew the performers, were in the audi,
ence along with us tourists. Their legs wrapped in mini
hula skirts, the male dancers stomped hip,hop,style, giv,
ing off an electricity that definitely reached those of us in
the front row. They actually reached out and touched me
and others, and made bold eye contact. According to our
guide, they had plenty of mana and were passing it onto
the audience via this touch and eye contact. And these vir,
ile guys were not afraid to allow a few stray pubic hairs to
show through their decorative body makeup. By the end of
the performance, their bodies glistened with perspiration.
Their lovely female dance partners were much lower key.
Back at the tattoo parlor at around 11 a.m. on the
morning of my departure, I was told that the artist was
still sleeping. I took that as a sign that I must search on
through Polynesia for my tattoo. I headed to the market
and again found that bowl I'd wanted. Bargaining for it got
me at a good price, and it now rests on my glass coffee table
holding sweets and memories.
At one point I asked Delgado if the island welcomes les,
bians and gays, to which she replied, "They are our brothers
and our sisters and are accepted here:' Aside from its beau,
tiful weather and rich cultural heritage, the island's genuine
warmth and acceptance will bring me back soon. ■
Opposite page from left: The
famed and sadly closed tattoo parlor; a moai overlooks
as we explore the island
by ATV.This page: Moai
offer their protective mana,
even to tourists
March 2007
I51
At Home in the Midwest
Just ask a localwhy it's time to visit Minneapolis.By Holly Dolezalek
Your hometown is your hometown, but there's no
city like an adopted one. I moved to Minneapolis
almost 12 years ago, thinking I would stay a year
and then move somewhere new. But there never
seemed to be a better place to live. After almost 12
years here, I can tell you that there are three things
you need to know about Minneapolis: the women,
the water and the winter.
Start With the Babes
As in other cities, gay bars in Minneapolis have a rough time because
the LGBT community is so dispersed. Several bars - the Metro,
Boom!, Over the Rainbow - have closed in the last few years, and
there's no women's bar. Instead, there are monthly events that attract
flocks of the gay ladies. Twilight is on the second Friday of each
month, usually at the Kitty Cat Klub near the University, and so
is Diva Riot, which is usually on the first Saturday. Similar, bigger
events at larger venues usually happen around Pride, which is a solid
festival with plenty of booths and a ton of related events.
Many women go to the Town House, a country music bar in
Minneapolis' twin city, St. Paul. They two-step, watch drag, and
dance to club music (sometimes all on the same night), and then
head to Blanche's Piano Lounge in the back, where they listen to
Lori Dokken, a well-known local player and singer with a fabulously
relaxed and funny patter. She plays piano and sings songs that everybody knows, and she's especially good with Elton John tunes and
Beatles stuff.
For sober fun, the Uptown area is queer-friendly, if yuppified.
Condos and chain restaurants have replaced some of the former
inhabitants, but nobody looks twice at a same-sex couple holding
hands. Many businesses are gay-owned, like Bryant-Lake Bowl, a
restaurant and vintage bowling alley that hosts a·lot of queer events
in its small theater space.
Gay or gay-friendly churches cluster near Uptown and the surrounding area, like the Metropolitan Community Church, Spirit
of the Lakes, St. Joan of Arc (a liberal Catholic church) and the
Unitarian Universalist on Dupont Avenue. There are other lesserknown churches that simply extend their sense of justice to all people instead of just the usual favorites, like Judson Church, a Baptist
congregation that genuinely includes the gay folks without fear
or favor.
If theater is your church, this is the right place to worship. Fun
fact: Minneapolis has more theater seats per capita than any other
U.S. city, second only to New York City. Yes, that New York City.
The internationally known Guthrie theater complex boasts three
stages, not to mention a fantastic nighttime view of the Mississippi
River and the Stone Arch Bridge. The city's Fringe Festival is known
as one of the most queer-friendly in the nation, and 100 other companies round out our year-round theatrical stable.
If shopping is your church, then we've got your megachurch.
52 I curve
Even the shopping-phobic will tell you that Mall of America's 520
stores make it easy - if scary - to get your Christmas shopping
done in one day. Every shoe store, clothing store, jewelry store and
goofball specialty store is here, sometimes more than once. It's laid
out in a circle on four floors, like a huge, round, layer cake of retail.
It's a spectacle, and a surpisingly gay-friendly one; since 1996, the
mall has held an annual gay day called Camp Out, which benefits
District 202, a nonprofit organization for LGBT youth.
All About the Water
Minneapolis' dominant natural feature is found all over the city.
With shoreline almost everywhere you go, the vast, half-mile-wide
swath of the mighty Mississippi divides Minneapolis from St. Paul,
and hundreds of lakes dot the urban landscape.
A river through a city is always romantic, but our country's
greatest river combines romance, history, industry, recreation and
fiction. At the Stone Arch Bridge, which artistically spans the river
near downtown and St. Anthony Falls, you can see why people came
here generations ago. As the sailboats, canoes, kayaks, motorboats,
and swimmers play in the water, you can see why the Minneapolans
stay. And on a crisp fall afternoon, when the thousands of trees lined
up the banks of the river wear their flame-colored September finest
with a Midwestern-blue sky as an accessory, you can see why the
expatriates always come back in the end.
The lakes, sprinkled like fallen pearls all over the metro area or
clustered in chains of three or four, greatly dictated how the city was
planned. Parkways and walkways circle each one so you can drive
or walk (or rollerblade!) around them easily, and most of them are
public property. Athletes who want a 3-mile run can circle Lake
Calhoun, and lovers who want a romantic, woodsy stroll can join
ducks and geese around Lake Harriet. Try an early evening trip on
Lake of the Isles in a kayak, as the turnbuckles on the masts of the
docked sailboats make their accidental music.
Yes, Sure, It's Winter Here
Summer, the shortest and sweetest season here, is a long, crazy party
of festivals and get-togethers. May Day kicks it all off with a parade
and a giant puppet show in Powderhorn Park, the center of the premier lesbian neighborhood (some call it Dyke Heights) in southern Minneapolis. All summer long, it's a festival every weekend:
Aquatennial, Taste of Minnesota, July 4, a dozen others and then
the big blowout at the end of the summer: the State Fair (mnstatefair.org). I can't do it justice here. Butterheads, deep-fried pickles and
seed art. You must see it to believe it.
But after the State Fair, it's a short march to winter. Long
stretches when the temperature is 20 or 30 degrees below zero aren't
as common as they used to be (although they still are in parts of the
state). But even if the winter isn't quite the same old deep freeze,
it's still a long haul. It starts to settle in around mid-November (the
Halloween blizzard of 1991, where 28 inches fell in three days, is an
extreme example) and some years it doesn't really let up until May.The
snow that falls stays around, and you get stir-crazy around February.
But everyone seems oddly cheerful when the winter reaches its
in Powderhorn
May Day kicks it all off with a parade and a giant puppet show
it Dyke
Park, the center of the premierlesbianneighborhood(somecall
every weekend:
Heights) in southern Minneapolis. All summer long, it's a festival
Aquatennial,Taste of Minnesota,July 4, and a dozen others.
worst It's as though people are proud to show that they can
tough it out. Normally taciturn Minnesotans - descen,
dants of the Finns, Swedes and Norwegians who settled here
generations ago - seem to welcome the opportunity to pull
each other out of snowbanks. This seems to be what they
call"Minnesota nice:' Now, in my home state of Colorado, if
it happens near our houses, we'll invite you in and offer you a
glass of wine to settle your nerves. In Minneapolis, they might
do the same, or they might not even make eye contact.
Still, marathon shoveling and nearly seven months of
cold can be dispiriting, and there's no way to sugarcoat
that. But it has its benefits. Spring here is not a season;
it's manna from heaven. I once heard a radio DJ seriously
taking pity on people from San Diego or Jamaica because,
he said, "They will never know the joy of digging out after
a long, cold winter:' Having teared up at the kiss of 70,
degree air on my winter,weary cheek, I could not agree
more. ■
There's a shoreline almost
everywhere you go; the vast,
half-mile-wide swath of the
mighty Mississippi divides
Minneapolis from St. Paul,
and hundreds of lakes dot
the urban landscape.
March 2007
I 53
Guysaren'ttheonlyoneswhocantakeit to themat.
Women's
independent
prowrestlingistougherthanyou
think.ByLoriSelke
"Pro wrestling is tougher than it looks;' says Randy Powell, the founder of the
Professional Girl Wrestling Association. "Not so much that the girls are out
there trying to hurt each other. But it can be very competitive:'
The PGWA is not a league or a federation, but a promotional company:· It sets up
and promotes matches between
independent women wrestlers, videotapes the results and then sells the tapes on the Web
at ladysports.com. Unlike the
WWE wrestlers, Powell's do not sign an exclusive contract and are free to wrestle for
other promoters at any time. And
also, despite the anachronistic "girl" in the title of his outfit, Powell and the PGWA de,emphasi
ze the T&A factor and
the theatrical trappings. ''I've never wanted to promote wrestling that I felt was exploiting
women;' Powell says. He and
the ~omen he showcases consider wrestling a highly competitive, if under,recognized,
sport.
Powell started his career as a writer and pho,
tographer for wrestling fan magazines in the
1970s. "Girls like Judy Martin, Susan Green,
Leilani Kai, they didn't have a lot of publicity
going on, and I wanted to see ifl couldn't do some
publicity ·for them:' In 1992, Powell brought a
people would remember. I hit the mat, and
she spun around to look at me. I was now
212 pounds, and she ended up retiring af,
ter that match. She said, if I was able to get
that big and that strong [that quick], there
wasn't no way she wanted to face any other
video camera to a training session run by Susan
"Tex" Green. 'J\fter the training session was over,
I asked Susan if she and Judy Martin would have
a match and let me videotape it. And when I did
that, it was amazing how the camera picked up
the sounds. The hard slaps, the punches, the
grunts and groans:' The PGWA was born.
Green was not only the PGWA's first feature,
she was their first champion. Born in Corpus
Christi, Texas, she wrestled in her first profes,
sional match on her 15th birthday and lost. Now,
at age 52, she's still active in the ring and runs
her own training gym in South Carolina, a space
she calls "Gym of Pain and Glory:' Both men and
women head there to learn what Green has to of,
fer, although she admits that she ends up train,
ing more men because the women are often sur,
prised at how tough training really is. "There's no
newcomers:'
Soon, Green was touring the world as a
professional wrestler. "I actually had my 16th
birthday in Hong Kong in 1971. I've been in
places I didn't know existed, I've been in some
places I'd love to go back to, and I've been in a
whole lot of places I don't care ifl ever go back
to:' The only thing that affected her choice of
windows, no air conditioning and no heat. I have
all the weights, but I don't stress weight training.
We should be spending most of my time in the
ring:' She trains about 10 people a year, includ,
ing former NFL players, women's rugby cham,
pions and anyone else interested. Her specialty
is one,day "tryout" sessions for $200. "I tell them
as they're leaving, if you wake up in the morn,
ing and you can't wait until you get back in this
ring, then you've got what it takes. If you wake
up and say 'oh my God; then you don't want to
be a wrestler:'
Green started her career as a teen, but she
showed interest in women's wrestling even sooner.
"I went to my first match when I was 5 years old.
My father was a wrestling fan. They announced
that the following week they would have women,
and I asked if we could get tickets reserved. We
did, and from there I was hooked:'
"From the time I was 8 years old, I started
to pester Mr. Blanchard;' she says, referring to
famous Texas wrestling promoter Joe Blanchard.
"I just kept on and on, and when I was 14, he
said, we'll see if you got what it takes:' She
trained for a year before entering the ring as a pro
in Texas, with a special dispensation from Gov.
John Connally, who had to be assured that she
wasn't violating child labor laws.
When she started, Green was only 112
pounds. She faced a competitor who weighed
140 pounds, and"she beat the crap out of me. But
we had a match four years later, and when I came
out, I jumped over the top rope. Joe Blanchard
had told me I needed to make an entrance that
venue? "I don't like cold weather!"
Green even dated another wrestler once.
"She was my tag team partner. She decided to
retire, and she ended up not liking me on the
road, so that didn't work out. I came home
one night from New York City, and she had
moved out:'
How tough can pro wrestling be? ''I've
got a knee that's been blown out and recon,
structed, a shoulder that has to be recon,
structed, I've had my neck and back broke;'
Green reports. ''I've paid my dues:'
Nowadays, "I don't wrestle as much as
I like to;' and she spends most of her time
training in her gym. Green has a sideline gig
as well, performing as a drag king at lesbian
clubs and events. "I was at South Carolina
Gay Pride 2003, and I was crowned a ki_ng
for the whole state:'
Although the WWE is the best,known
pro wrestling outfit, "if you're not 7 ,foot tall,
they don't even think about you;' says Green.
Like Powell, she also finds their emphasis to
be less on athletics and more on showmanship
and telegenic faces. In contrast, the smaller
independent promotions are more welcoming
of variety. "Tall, short, fat, skinny, whatever;'
Powell says, "they will all have fans:' The only
thing that counts is ability and dedication.
Powell says he considers the PGWA "a
serious hobby:' Green has a day job these
days. "There's going to be some places that
you go, and if you even get enough money to
buy you gas and a burger, you're going to be
lucky:' Nonetheless, theirs is a lifelong dedica,
tion to a sport they love.
Powell thinks that the attraction to wres,
ding by women athletes is simple. 'J\fter girls
get out of high school and college, maybe
they've played sports, the only thing left for
them is the little community leagues or some,
thing they have at the Y, there's no other out,
let. And sometimes that's just not enough:' ■
March 2007
I55
By Diane Anderson-Minshall
I Photography
by Brie Childers
Actor Janina Gavankar,The L Word's Papi, has set
tongues wagging, hearts fluttering and loins melting
as the one of the sexiest players on television.We
caught a few moments with the shooting star before
fame goes to her head.
our
Janina Gavankar is walking toward you, all lanky swagger and smoldering eyes, when
it hits you, hard - this is what they mean by "built like a brick shithouse." Gavankar~ a
dark--haired, Indian- Dutch Chicago native, exudes a captivating, whirlwind force such
that within minutes of her arrival, lesbians, nay people, are attracted to her, circling her
like she's a superstar even though they don't know her name. But don't worry, because
by the end of The L Word's fourth season on Showtime they surely will.
Daughter of music producer Pete and sister of Miss D.C. 1997, Sonya, Gavankar
isn't altogether unknown. Roles on TV shows (Strong Medicine, Girlfriends) and films
(Barbershop 2, Cup of My Blood) put her in front of the public, as did her short stint as
part of the musical group Endera, who disbanded after their first album, on a subsidiary label of Universal Records.
As far as TV stars go, she's amazingly unaffected, enough so that she'll talk to women on airplanes about their coming-out stories. She's the kind of girl who still giggles
Hair by
Edward St. George
Makeup by
Dehx
Assistance by
J Mims
just a bit when she tells you why she'd like to jump in bed with Chloe from 24, but at
the same time, she isn't afraid to make on-screen whoopee with most of The L Word
cast. Gavankar, always a knockout, is sweet, smart, funny and, if her fans get their
say, she'll be as big as God (or Kevin Bacon) anytime now. We calmed ourselves long
enough to ask Gavankar about playing gay for pay, being an "all-American" minority
and, of course, her first lesbian kiss.
March 2007
I57
You had fans before you even made your L Word debut.
Yeah, it's a little weird. I was just so excited to (get] the job and come up here
and work with all these amazing actors ... and (at my first appearance]
that's when I really understood how imp?rtant the show was.
Were you a little frightened joining a cast that was so well established?
Yes and no. I came into this thinking, there's so much to learn from these girls,
so many of them have had really long careers and that's what I want for
myself. And to be able to work with people who deserve so much respect
for the work they've done in the past was just really exciting. I just sort of
sat back and really watched everybody and tried to learn as quickly as I
could. It was amazing, though, just to kind of get here and watch everybody do their thing.
Your character meets Alice and Helena first, but you're introduced
to the whole gang during a rousing basketball game. Do you play In
real life?
Oh my gosh, not at all. I'm unathletic, nerdy.... I sort of turn things into
dance moves and try and make sense of it, but basically I suck at any sport.
It's bad. But we had an amazing trainer ... and he really held my hand and
got me through it.
Your character, Papi, Is a butch Latina who is sort of a major player.
Indians than there were for Latinas, and I'm a quarter Dutch and on my
Dutch side there's some Spanish, like a Spanish princess married into my
family or something crazy like this. So, I was like, you know what? Then
I'm going to explore what that means. Because, you know, if you're an actor, you've got to work somehow. And I'm American, I'm all American. I
feel like a mutt. I know that I'm brown. I look in the mirror and I'm brown
so that makes me feel like I apply to anything that's brown, and I'm really
sort of fascinated by all cultures anyway.
Do you come across to casting directors as not Indian enough?
Yeah, that happens.
I think often when the script calls for an Indian actor or a Southeast
Asian actor, they're looking for a particular look that you may not
have because you're mixed race.
Yeah, I would agree with that. But also, if you look at this like, they're casting people who aren't Latina. But it's like, okay, fine then, you can blast
them for casting people who aren't the same age as the character, who
are straight instead of gay, who are this or that. I mean, there's a million
ways you can blast people for not casting what's exactly on the page, but
we're actors for a reason. It's definitely a challenge, and I'm praying that I
do this part justice, and I am worried what people are going to think, but
"I haven'treallythoughtabout what fame means,
the idea of celebrityis sort of odd to me. Like,what
are we celebrating?People?I don't get it."
Did you prepare for that role in any way?
Oh, I did so much research. Yes, I tried to be a player as much as possible. I
wouldn't necessarily say she's so butch. I think she's got some masculine
qualities. All these sort of stereotypes of what's butch and what's femme
don't really apply, especially on the show, and that's why [The L Word's]
so important. I think Showtime really gives us the leeway to do what we
want and be creative and real in these people. I think that's why everybody takes to this show so much, because it's not just about stereotypes,
the whole point is busting all the stereotypes. So I don't think we can
really call Papi anything in particular, and that goes for any character on
the show.
Have you canoodled with girls in real life? Do you have any real life
experience with this?
Not yet, no. [Laughs]
Do you end up having your first lesbian kiss on The L Word?
No. I had my first kiss with a girl onstage in Chicago. Just recently I did a
sketch show. I don't really (think about] is it a lesbian kiss or is it a girlon-girl kiss? It's just what's in the script, what the character does, what's
going on in that character's life. Everybody asks these questions, like, "Is
it weird, you know, kissing a girl?" It's not about kissing a girl. It's weird,
period. There are cameras, there are 50 people, you're worried about your
makeup, you're worried if you look fat in your makeup, you're worried
about all these silly things. It doesn't matter whether (you're kissing] a girl
or a boy, it's just awkward, period, at least to me.
One of the things that's interesting is that you're also playing a
Latina on the show. And this is second time that The L W~rd has
cast a non-Latina to play a Latina.
I feel like I'm going to get this question a lot, but you know •.• here's the
truth, I got to Hollywood and I realized that there were even less roles for
at the end of the day, I'm doing the best that I can, today, at work. And
Showtime has been so wonderful to me and (executive producer] Ilene
(Chaiken] has just given me so much support, and I hope in the future all
minorities will be equally represented so minorities don't have to fight for
what should be a human right.
How do you make Papi feel authentic, then?
That's my job as an actor, because she is pretty much the complete opposite of me. I have this mini sort of dance that I do right before they
say "action:' I sort of have this radio in my head that goes off and ... I
get into the character. She's bigger than I am in real life. You know real
audiences relate to her, so I have to figure out what her music is, in her
body, her physicality, and what her real voice is. So I definitely have a
little rev up before [laughs].
Parminder Nagra had the first recurring female Indian character on
an American TV series, when she joined ER. Are you the first Indian
woman to play a lesbian on television?
I don't know. I've never really thought about it. I don't really think it's that
big of a deal. When I got this show, I don't know if it's because I've been
raised to be really open-minded, but I never really thought about it like it
was some big thing, someone who was gay. And I think maybe that's why
I didn't realize that this show is really leaving its mark in this huge way, in
a bigger way than I really realized.
You know, I was on the plane yesterday. My sister got married on the weekend, and I took the plane back, and I'm sitting next to this woman and I
was reading the (new script] and she said, 'Tm so sorry, I'm nosy. Are you
an actress?" And I said yes, kind of reluctantly, like I didn't know where
the conversation was going to go. And then she saw ·at the top of the page
it said The L Word and she said, "My daughter's a lesbian:' And then she
started telling me how her daughter came out four years ago when she was
March 2007
I59
"I'mextremelyprivate.
And what goes on
in my privatelifeis
so sacredto me.
And when I'm with
someone,they are
veryawareof it and
that bond between
us is no one else's
business,it'sours.
I very much havemy
own littleworldand
my own littlebubble
withthat person.
And that'skindof an
extremeconnection
kindof thing."
16, and she comes from a really Catholic family and she really lost a few years of being close
to her daughter. They just weren't close, and
she didn't know what to do and she and her
husband were having problems with it, and
then she found The L Word in her bedroom
and she said "What's thist And her daughter
said, "Mom, you should watch it:'
And she said she started watching it, and then
they started watching it together. And then
she was kind of quiet for a moment and then
she said, "I guess it opened my eyes to a lot of
her world . . . and how she feels:' It was just
breathtaking to me. I just kept my mouth
shut and listened to her whole story. She said,
"You know, maybe the show is less for lesbians and more for everyone else:' And that's
what I really hope.
Sure.
So, that lesbians are truly represented properly
on TV and film. It's just really hard for The
L Word because everyone wants the show to
incorporate so many avenues. I can't wait until
there can be another show like this 10 years
from now and it doesn't have to be called The L
Word, and it doesn't have to be about lesbians.
You know?
Sure, there's a lot of pressure on The L Word,
being the first of its kind.
It's just one show. Were the only show and because
of that, we understand the pressure and we don't
mind it. But theres only so much we can do.
Some of your ear1ier film roles, such as in
Barbershop 2, had you on sets with a lot of
men. How different was it being on The L
Word set?
Well, it's a different kind of show to work on, too.
Like Barbershop's all comedy. Plus, my roles in
those were much smaller, so I got to sit back
and watch them do their thing. But then I
really have to give it up to Showtime and Ilene
Chaiken. They just let us go for it. We have so
much freedom, and I never really expected to
get what I got here.
That's probably unusual for someone in her
first recurring series role.
For real. This is the big break. I am so pleased,
and I am thanking my lucky stars that I got
this lucky.
And you know, every woman who's been on
The L Word thus far has risen to fame really
quickly. Are you ready for the kind of attention you're probably going to get soon?
I don't know. I guess I'll just take it when it comes.
I haven't re~ly thought about what fame
means, the idea of celebrity is sort of odd to
me. Like, what are we celebrating? People? I
don't get it. So, I don't really think I fit into
that world so much. I just kind of don't want
to be an actor that sucks. That's my big goal: I
don't want to suck.
Let me ask you a couple of fun questions
before you go back to the set. What's the
sexiest thing you do?
The sexist thing I do? I don't know. I'm embar,
rassed. I'm not Do you want to tell me what you find sexy
instead?
You know what, probably the sexiest thing is that
I'm extremely private. And what goes on in my
private life is so sacred to me. And when I'm
with someone, they are very aware of it and
that bond between us is no one else's business,
it's ours. I very much have my own little world
and my own little bubble with that person.
And that's kind of an extreme connection kind
of thing.
In a recent poll, a huge majority of straight
women said that they'd go gay for Angelina
Jolie. What woman in Hollywood would you
go gay for?
Two people. Natalie Portman and Chloe from 24.
Shes the coolest character and chick ever. I
love the nerdy girls, the nerdy smart girls. The
fact that she knows she's really good at her job,
I think she's the greatest character. ■
L WordAlumniBed Check
Where does the time go? Showtime's The L Word is officially in
its fourth season, but it seems like just yesterday when Marina
followed Jenny into Bette and Tina's bathroom for that famous
kiss. And wasn't it last week when the likes of Cherie Jaffe and
Veronica Bloom were shaking things up for Shane? Could it be
that we really 'lost our beloved Dana Fairbanks? Well, the good
news is that all these former L Word ladies and their careers are
doingjust fine.
aka Marina,aka the femme fatale who dis,
KarinaLombard,
mantled Jenny, is still rocking prime time as an alien abductee
on USXs sci,fi fantasy hit, The 4400. The show's fourth season
will air this summer. Her character, Alana Mareva, is a widow
who lost her husband in a car accident and returned from her
abduction with the ability to create alternate realities out of
people's memories. I can think of a few alternate realities that
involve her, that's for sure - who's with me? But hey, good looks
only go so far, and Lombard continues to flourish as an actor,
musician, singer and writer who has collaborated with Cirque
du Soleil. Oh, and then there was the spread in Playboy back in
2005, which I'm sure none of us saw. Yeah, right.
Who can forget Shane's affair with CherieJaffe?Hey, if you're
gonna cross that line, it may as well be with a hottie like actor,
She landed a role in
Arquette.
producer and director Rosanna
the ABC show What About Brian in the role of Nicole Varzi,
Brian's record,producer older sister. The show was renewed
and is in the midst of its second season. But back to Arquette,
both of her documentaries, Searchingfor Debra Winger (about
women in the movie biz) and All We Are Saying (about the mu,
sic biz), are must,sees.
CamrynManheimportrayed the high,maintenance control
Bloomduring the second sea,
freak movie producer Veronica
son. Manheim's rise to fame came during her stint on ABC's
The Practice, where she portrayed defense attorney Ellenor
Frutt for which she won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy.
These days, she's getting spooky alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt
on the CBS drama The Ghost Whisperer, playing antique shop
manager Delia Banks. You can see Manheim next in the film
Slipstream, written by and starring Anthony Hopkins.
Tennis pro, sweet geek, charming goofball and ultimately brave
will be sorely missed. That said,
inspiration, DanaFairbanks
ErinDanielsis very much alive and well on the small screen,
portraying a crackerjack private investigator on Fox's Justice.
Her character, smart, sassy Betsy Harrison, is the girl you'd def,
initely want on your team should you ever end up in hot water.
Betsy is also a likeable woman, unlike the guest role Daniels
played on an episode of the Showtime series, Dexter, where she
was a nasty next,door neighbor with a yappy dog. Point being,
Daniels is certainly versatile and will likely continue her work
in both television and film - check her out in the 2002 movie
One Hour Photo. Though we really wish Dana was still around,
we're tuning into justice now. -Aimsel
L. Ponti
March 2007
I 61
Mental illness haunts my family. My mother was severely mentally
ill. She rarely left her bedroom, let alone our house. Photographs
of my mother from my childhood portray a beautiful, wraith-like
woman with an utterly vacant look. For most of her life, she lived
in a world delineated by depression and punctuated by anxiety so
monumental that she barely functioned. She could not hold a job
or even, at times, a conversation. ~ My mother was not the only
"crazy" person in my family. My grandfather attempted suicide
with a butcher knife to his throat in our house when I was in eighth
grade. The oldest, I was left to clean up the bloody aftermath.
By Victoria A. Brownworth
62
I curve
Editor's note: Becauseof the stigma still associatedwith mental illness,names in
this story have been altered where noted, in order to protect the privacy of those
interviewed;all other details are completelytrue to that individual'sexperience,
includingmy own.
When you live in close proximity to mentally ill people, you adjust your sense
of what normal means. For me, mental illness had always been a familial
norm, yet like a majority of American families, we never called it by its real
name because the stigma was too great. "Nice people" weren't crazy.
Despite the fact that mental illness was part of our daily lives, it remained
a taboo subject. When my grandfather was in a state mental hospital receiving the shock therapy that would alter his creative personality to one monotonous note, he was "away for a while:' My mother was always referred to as "not
well;' as if she were the victim of a mysterious decades-long virus.
Thus, when my parents had me committed to a mental hospital when I was
in high school, it didn't seem the outrageous act of betrayal that I now know it
to have been. It was just family tradition. Some families sent their folks to spas,
ours went to mental hospitals. Was I catatonically depressed like my mother
or brandishing a butcher knife like my grandfather? No. I was a lesbian.
My parents were desperate to fix this abnormality that seemed somehow
much more egregious than my mother's catatonic state or my grandfather's
suicidal state.
In the 1970s, minors had no rights and parents retained ultimate authority. When children became "incorrigible;' as I had been deemed because of my
out lesbianism, which had already gotten me expelled from my all-girls high
school, outsiders were brought in to "help:'
Until 1973, the Diagnostics and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders
classified homosexuality as a mental illness. Thus, the "cure"for my lesbianism
would be an indefinite stay in a mental hospital with a long-term psychotropic
drug chaser.
I was never big on drugs. My mother took enough medications to stock
a pharmacy, and despite the era in which I came of age, drugs scared me. In
a household where everything seemed terribly out of control, I wanted to be
sure of what was going on at all times.
And I was adept at sleight of hand. The drugs never had a chance with me;
the pills went everywhere but in my system. I became the model patient. My
sentence was commuted early.
It Starts Young
Fast forward a year to a New Year's Eve party at the house of my best friend,
Lara Johnson*. We had been juvenile delinquents together for close to two
years and had other things in common, like lesbianism. But I never got to
count down the New Year with Johnson because we discovered that another
dyke friend of ours, 16 like us, had chosen that night to end her life. Amy
Smithson* had taken every pill she could find in her parents' medicine chest
before she came to Johnson's house. She left little notes around the party to be
opened at midnight. She crawled into an empty bedroom, waiting to die.
Thankfully, I read my note before midnight. So Johnson and I spent that
night in the emergency room watching what it looks like when someone gets
their stomach pumped and then gets hauled off for a 72-hour hold while
screaming, "Just let me die:'
A year later,Johnson took a razor blade to both wrists and ended up on her
own 72-hour hold. I went to see her at the very hospital where I had been. Her
thin wrists were thickly bandaged, and her long hair was a tangled mess. I explained to her that the route to an early release lay in literally playing straight.
My adolescence seems like an unpleasant meld of Girl, Interrupted and
One Flew Over the Cuckoo'sNest, except the part where my lesbian friends
kept ending up in the loony bin, as we called it, was "normal" in that it happened to many of our queer friends.
Are lesbian teens more likely to be mentally ill than their straight peers?
There's little evidence either way, as queers have yet to merit any serious health
studies aside from suicide studies, but it does seem true that LGBT teens do
end up in the mental health system more often than their nongay counterparts. The reasons for this are varied and complex, oftentimes because the
parents of LG BT adolescents still think their children can be "cured" through
psychiatric intervention.
The situation for adults is equally compelling. For some adults, depression and anxiety are directly linked to their oppression and the stresses that
accompany being queer. Most mental health professionals now agree that
oppression - around gender, race, sexual orientation, religion - can make
people depressed and even suicidal.
Jennie Goldenberg, MSS, is a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma
for Council for Relationships in Philadelphia. Goldenberg, also an adjunct
professor at Bryn Mawr College, treats many LGBT clients.
"From my work with lesbian clients, I have seen a great deal of depression and substance abuse;' she explains. "The macro environmental stressors,
like our society's homophobia, contribute to internalizing the projections of
society. Just as people of color can internalize racism, so do lesbian, gay and
transgendered people in our society internalize homophobia and heterosexism. They swim in a sea of heterosexuality, where everything around them
forces them to camouflage their sexuality and attachments to people of the
same gender:'
While Goldenberg is quick to note that this is "not true in every case, of
course;' she adds that it can have a profound impact on queers, particularly
those just identifying their sexuality. "It's what W.E.B. DuBois called 'doubleconsciousness: GLBT people have to develop a false sel£ in a sense, in order
to move in the straight world, and hide their true self in many cases, including within the more micro environment of their respective families. It means
they have to lie to everyone: themselves, their families, their classmates or
colleagues. The pressure is extraordinary:•
Goldenberg argues that homophobia, like racism and sexism, can cause a
level of self-loathing that feeds depression and anxiety and can lead to substance abuse as well as suicide.
Johnson and I were simply ahead of the curve.
When FamiliesAre to Blame
At 23, Stephanie Masters* graduated from a prestigious East Coast college,
yet she's currently on disability because a few months into her senior year of
college, Masters tried to kill herself She hasn't quite recovered enough from
that experience to hold down a job or apply to graduate school.
"I wasn't thinking suicidal thoughts;' she explains, sitting in the cozy,
book-strewn room she rents in a lesbian household with two other women
also coping with mental illness. "What happened was, I was very stressed
about my final semester, and I was going through an awful breakup. I
decided I needed to come out to my parents. I was going to have to move
before graduation. So I had to explain why, because I had to ask them for
money for a new place to live:'
Masters comes from an evangelical Christian family."I had avoided telling
them because I knew I would get the 'burn in hell' lecture, and I just couldn't
face it. Plus, it wasn't like they didn't really know - Max and I were pretty
obviously queer. I think at first, my parents thought Max was a guy. I just told
them it was a college thing, this was how we dressed:'
The breakup with Max and the painful revelation to her parents - which
led to her being ostracized from her family - turned Masters' depression
dangerously dark. One night, she drank excessively with friends, went home
and took an overdose of prescription medication. When she didn't arrive for
an early morning appointment, a friend went to her apartment, found her
Staring Down the Demons continued on page 76
March 2007
I 63
What's Cooking?
Lesbian chefs are all the rage
these days. Just ask TV viewers.
By Malinda Lo
Food is a hot commodity these days. Television shows like Fox's Hell'sKitchen
and Bravo's Top Chef brought the cutthroat world of the restaurant business
into living rooms in a way that Julia Child never could. But while the real
world of professional cooking does indeed draw in people who are passionate
about food, it also is skewed undeniably toward men.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, female head chefs and cooks
comprise only 20 percent oflead kitchen positions, but women hold more than
half of the lower,end food preparation jobs. So what should you do if chef's
whites are in your future? Three successful,openly queer female chefs - Tantra
Restaurant's Sandee Birdsong, Saffron Hill's Preeti Mistry and Top Chefs
Tiffani Faison - give us the inside scoop on making a career out of cuisine.
The Self-Taught Chef
Sandee Birdsong got her first job in a restaurant kitchen by making a simple
but ballsy maneuver. With no professional cooking experience beneath her
belt, she went to Tantra Restaurant and Lounge, one of the hippest restau,
rants in Miami's South Beach, and asked for a job.
"I knocked on the door, and the chef happened to be in a meeting at that time
with a vendor, and he didn't want to be, so he said,'Come on in;" she recalls in her
Southern accent. After she admitted that she had never worked in a kitchen but
loved cooking, the chef decided to give her a job. "He threw me in the fire right
away;'she says, and "within two months, they made me head che£''
Before she knocked on Tantras, Birdsong, now 38 years old, held a variety
of jobs, ranging from working at Del Taco to being the owner of Florida,
based lesbian magazine She.''I've done all kinds of crazy stuff all my life;'
she admits. "Everything else was just kind of bouncing all over the place 'til I
found this. This has been absolutely amazing:• In 2006, she took on a second
job as chef de cuisine at Afterglo, a South Beach restaurant specializing in
"beauty cuisine;• which "centers on foods which have elements that contain
beautifying powers:•
Birdsong, who grew up in Georgia, says she is entirely selftaught and
fondly recalls family reunions where the tables were loaded down with food,
including up to a dozen varieties of macaroni and cheese. Because mac and
cheese was her favorite, she was determined to concoct her own variety to
beat all the others and tasted each different dish before creating "one hell of a
macaroni and cheese dish:'
She admits, though, that her experience as a chef has changed her signa,
ture dish: "Now my macaroni and cheese dish has come from just a regular
cheddar cheese and Colby cheese and longhorn to [include) cave,aged gruyere
and ... truffies and onions and all kinds of things:•
Birdsong - who sports a Mohawk and says that being openly lesbian
has never been a stumbling block in her career - agrees that the restaurant
business is a harsh one. She explains: "Being a chef, nothing is ever the same.
64
I curve
" No matter if you're screaming your
head off at the back of the kitchen,
and you've gone through three line
cooks in the last two hours, and
you've fired all three of them ...
whatever it takes, we do that, and
that's what makes a great chef."
You have to be able to multitask, you have to be able to problem solve at the
drop of a hat .... There's a certain type of person that can do that, and it usu,
ally is a ... person that is very, very passionate about what they do:•
Despite the competitive nature of the industry, Birdsong prefers to not run
her kitchen in such a confrontational manner. 'There are a lot of chefs with huge
egos, and they feel it's necessary to run their kitchens that way.... I just don't:'
She stresses, though, that a chef's management style is less important
than his or her skill. "Ultimately, it's the diner we're pleasing;• she says, "no
matter if you're screaming your head off at the back of the kitchen, and you've
gone through three line cooks in the last two hours, and you've fired all three
of them. We're trying to get the food right for the person that's dining ... and
whatever it takes, we do that, and that's what makes a great chef versus some,
body that doesn't really care about it:'
The Culinary Student
In 2005, Ann Nadeau and Preeti Mistry, a lesbian couple who have been
together for more than a decade, opened Saffron Hill in San Francisco to of,
fer high,end catering and event planning that features Mistry's modern Indian
cuisine. Saffron Hill eschews the typical catering decor of chafing dishes in
favor of deeply personalized party planning. Mistry, 29, and Nadeau, 32, cur,
rently undertake two to three events, limiting the size of each event to 150
guests in order to maintain a high quality of food. They have also recently
launched a line of jarred curries that can be purchased at Bay Area grocery
stores such as Rainbow Grocery and Bi,Rite.
But although the two say they had always wanted to go into business
together, a catering gig was not what they first expected. Nadeau is a former
consultant, and Mistry says that she never knew she was going to become
a chef: "I wanted to be a filmmaker:' When Nadeau was offered the oppor,
tunity by her company to work in Europe, Mistry went with her to London
and, with the encouragement of many friends who had tasted her home cook,
ing, went to culinary school at London's Le Cordon Bleu academy in 2002.
Culinary school taught her a lot about knife skills and building flavors in
foods, and it prepared her to begin cooking at a restaurant but, says Mistry,
"Working in restaurants teaches you so much more than culinary school can
ever teach you:' In particular, the pressure of working in a professional kitchen
is missing from school, where it's "not like people are paying 11 pounds for
this appetizer in this really fancy restaurant, like I cannot screw this up:'
She says she misses the intensity of the restaurant kitchen at times, but
"it's nice to not do it every day. It's nice to do different things and to build your
own business and be cooking your own food:'
She describes her culinary creations as "Indian,inspired California cui,
sine. It's really just inspiration from all of the flavors, spices and techniques of
Indian food and then also of California cuisine, pretty much a seasonal, local,
European,based cuisine .... What modern Indian to me is, is giving both of
them equal footing at the table, in terms of both flavor and technique:'
Saffron Hill's emphasis on working with the best extends to its attitude
with its employees. "Most of our staff - we don't have parties every single
day, we're not a huge company, obviously they all have other jobs;' Mistry
says."I don't know how many of them will say, 'I just want to get somebody to
cover my shift so that I can work for you guys,' because they want to work for
us, because it's always like a fun, quality environment. We have a good time,
and that's definitely part of the Saffron Hill ethos:'
The Reality TV Star
Chef Tiffani Faison leapt into the culinary spotlight last year when she
became the runner,up on Bravo's reality series Top Chef,where she gained
a reputation as the series' calculating villainess. 'Tm not good at hiding my
emotions;' she freely admits. "If I don't like it, it will come our:'
Though the 29,year,old, whom Bravo promoted early on as their "bisexu,
al Bostonian;' did not take home the $100,000 prize, her stint on reality TV
has not dampened her career, either. She spent the summer of 2006 cooking
at the Straight Whar£ a much,praised restaurant in Nantucket, Mass.
Faison first began working in the food business as a soda fountain girl
when she was 14, then moved on to bartending in college and opened two
bars for the Ritz Carlton in Boston. She shifted over to the kitchen after a
stint as an inside expediter ( the liaison between the dining room and kitchen)
at Todd English's Boston restaurant Bonfire. Her resume also includes time
at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas before she answered a craigslist advertise,
ment to audition for Top Chef.
She says she was drawn to the program because it came from the producers
of ProjectRunway, and she enjoyed the challenges of "having such limited re,
sources, limited time:' Faison won two of the challenges, including one in which
she had to create a gourmet meal that could be reheated in a microwave.
Faison agrees that the restaurant industry is a high,stress one: "It defi,
nitely is. I'm not gonna lie. You know, everything has to be ready to go at 5
o'clock, and you want people to walk away happy. If you don't sell what you
have, you don't have the opportunity of closing the door at the Gap and hav,
ing the clothes sit there until tomorrow:'
Despite the stress, she says that cooking is the right job for her. "I enjoy
communicating a vision and creativity to people through food;' she says."It con,
sistently satisfies me, but it always still challenges me in some way every day:'
Now that she's wrapped up her moment of reality TV fame, Faison says
that she is considering her options, including possibly opening her own restau,
rant, but she emphasizes that she's not in a rush.
"I want to do it right. You really only get so many shots to ... open a
restaurant ... so it's important to me to not just have great food, but to also
be a good business owner in terms of business practices and continuity of
staff, everything. I've worked for a lot of people who have taught me not
just how to do it, but ... how I don't want to do it. And I don't want to be
that employer:' ■
March 2007
----
------
----------~
I 65
---
Reviews
Sapphic Screen
Who Makes the Rules?
And why are they so much fun to break: I By Candace Moore
EDITOR'S
PICK
FemaleMisbehavior
(FirstRun):German
lesbianwriter-director
MonikaTreut'slegendaryc~llection
of five
filmsaboutthe limits
of femalesexuality,
FemaleMisbehavior,
is finallyon DVD,and
it's asoutrageous
and
compelling
todayas
it was15yearsago.
Mostnotableamongthe
storiesof nonconformist
womentearingdown
sexualtaboosis Annie,
an insidelook(inmore
waysthanone)at famed
queerpornstarand Three new films tackle ladies falling in love outside convenperformance
artistAnnie tions, whether with much younger co-workers, sisters-in-law
Sprinkle.
Worththe or simply more than one gal at once.
rentalaloneis theone
feature-length
film in the Notes on a Scandal (Fox Searchlight)
collection,
Didn'tDoIt
When "artfully disheveled" Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) arrives
for Love,whichexplores to teach art at a London secondary school, acerbic Barbara
thefascinating
lifeof
Covett (Judi Dench), a disciplinary fixture, remarks that it is
EvaNorvind,
the blond "hard to read the wispy novice:' But
read her Covett does, and
Norwegian
bombshell with
literary relish. Diary entries in voice-over praise Hart's
whowasMexico's
"beguiling" psyche and ·document their friendship through a
MarilynMonroein the
pulpy Victorian lens: "In a different, better age we would be
1960sandNewYork's
leadingdominatrix ladies of leisure, lunching together;' Covett purrs. "We would
turnedtherapistin the be companions!" Covett wrests intimate truths out of Hart,
1980s,andwhopassed excited in the "novice confessing to the mother superior;' but it's
awayrecently. not exactly the Inquisition; Hart is like a soft cashmere sweater,
(firstrunfeatures.com)- constantly shedding. When Hart admits to shagging a 15-yearDianeAnderson-Minshallold schoolboy, Covett is palpably jealous. So she uses her inside
66
I curve
Gray Matters (Strand Releasing)
A cute coming-out story starring Heather Graham as Gray,
a neurotic advertising exec who takes solace in her persistent
singleness, assuming she just hasn't found the right guy. Gray
is "closed for repairs;' as she finally confides to her shrink
(Sissy Spacek) in a session over bowling; besides, her brother
and roommate Sam (Tom Cavanagh) hasn't found a life partner yet either, and both are over 30. The two siblings spend
days and nights jogging, cooking, taking dance lessons and
being generally codependent. Sparks finally fly with a gorgeous
zoologist Charlie (Bridget Moynahan), whom Gray meets in
the dog park, but she sets Sam up with her instead. Her brother not only gets the girl, he proposes. It doesn't dawn on Gray
how much she likes to see Charlie in lingerie (and exactly what
that means) until the night before Sam and Charlie's wedding.
Hijinks ensue (as they often do), and it takes the affirmations
of a saucy Scottish cab driver (Alan Cumming) and a sophisticate in a power suit (The L Word's Rachel Shelley) to help Gray
develop pride in herself and her sexuality. (strandreleasing.com)
knowledge to blackmail Hart into being stroked by her like a
'good girl:' Director Richard Eyre's unflinching psychological
thriller undoes its odd characters before our eyes and is made
nearly compulsively watchable by the finesses of Ms. Blanchett
and Dame Dench. Thankfully, the film doesn't equate lesbian
desire with perversion, but Covett's particular predatory brand
is villified, if only because she doesn't know how to express it
consensually. Covett should be schooled in the fact that there
are plenty of ladies out there pining away for a witty, seasoned
domme! But that would be an altogether different movie.
Karen ·Everett's autobiographical documentary, which centers
around her long-term commitment to primary partner Erin and
their agreed-upon practice of ethical nonmonogamy, is brave,
indulgent and ultimately endearing. This film is a self-reflective rumination on one queer woman's attempt to balance multiple loves: for the wry-humored Erin, for the camera (Everett's
obsessive filming even warrants an on-screen intervention), for
(foxsearchlight.com)
Who Makes the Rulcsf continued on page 75
Women in Love (Outcast Films)
OTHER PICKS
(summerstorm-thecharacters.
com)- US
movie.
FortheLoveof Dolly(Pleasant
Itwouldbetooeasy
Pictures):
to dismissthefiveultradevoted
DollyPartonfansin thisdocuHammer
LoverOther(Barbara
But
mentaryascrazyeccentrics.
of
a bricolage
Films):Through
thefilm givesa morevulnerarchivalfootage,still photoableandhumanperspective,
graphs,talkingheadinterviews
showingthe needsandinjuries
legendary
andreenactment,
andthe
thatdrivetheobsession
Hammer
filmmakerBarbara
healingpowerthatarisesfroma
piecestogethertheenduring
religiouslovefor Dolly.Director
loveaffairof ClaudeCahun
is herselfa fan(and
TaiUhlmann
andMarcelMoore,bornLucie
her
outlesbian)andapproaches
Malherbe
SchwabandSuzanne
and
subjectswithtenderness
Thecouplemoved
respectively.
thereare
Nevertheless,
empathy.
houseonEngland's
to a secluded
painful
sceneswhereit becomes
Isleof Jerseyin the1930s,
to seeto whatlengthspeople
ona
wheretheyembarked
goforjusta secondof attention
and
journeyof self-discovery
fromtheiridol,andwatching
genderplaythroughportraiture.
thembeginsto feelweirdlyvoywitha closelyshaven
Cahun,
euristic.(fortheloveofdolly.com)
blondhaircutthatmustsurely
- UrsulaSteck
AnnieLennox's
haveinspired
look,oftenposed
androgynous
asthesubject,whileMoore
wasbehindthecamera.Hailed
circlesat thetime,
in surrealist
CahunandMoorearehistorically
to collaborate
thefirst lesbians
honors
in makingart.Hammer
it into
theirworkby incorporating
using
lives,
their
of
narrative
her
SummerStorm(Regent
of
movie theirartasa manifestation
A coming-out
Releasing):
making
them,
of
memory
others'
that is greatfunevenif you
thewomenindistinguishable
yourselfcameoutmanyhot
fromtheirartisticcontribuago.A rowingteam
summers
takesa cuefrom
Hammer
tions.
travelsto a
fromruralBavaria
artwork
Moore's
and
Cahun's
regattacloseto Berlinto take
~
that
collage
filmic
a
creates
and
a:
Queer
ontheirarchrivals,the
and
at
look
to
beautiful
both
is
youngerand
~a: Strokes.Portraying
fascinating.
endlessly
w
gayand
female,
and
male
older,
~
.com)
(barbarahammertilms
~
withhumor
straightcharacters
::,
Gilchrist
E.
Tracy
!a.
Storm
Summer
andgentleness,
(!)
z
Yes,there'sa
is sureto please.
TheDevilWearsPrada(Fox):
testosterone
lot of adolescent
..J
w
theDVDwasreleased
Sure,
a:
pulsingthroughtheplot,and
butsinceMeryl
lastDecember
!z
thetwo largestfemaleroles
w
(!)
a hotover-50
as
turn
Streep's
w
functionmostlyasextrasforthe
a:
powereditorhasall butreplaced
LL
boys.Buttheoverallsweetspirit
0
in ourhome,I still
pornography
>of thefilm buffersthegoofball
it. Enough
haveto recommend
andlets
teenageboybehavior
::,
(fox.com)-DAM
said.
0
rootfor itsyoung
youcompletely
(.)
!
~
AnnabelleGurwitch
IACTORAND PRODUCER I
Being fired and viciously insulted by the iconic Woody Allen was perhaps the best
career move actor Annabelle Gurwitch could have made. After the requisite vodka and
ice cream binge, Gurwitch's harsh dismissal inspired Fired,a documentary that explores
the plight of the involuntarilyjobless. Speaking with once-canned showbiz folksand corporate minions alike, Gurwitch entertains and comforts us with tales of hellishjobs, idiot
bosses and the eventual bounceback to working life. - CatherinePlato
I loved the scene where you reenact your final talk with Woody Allen.
It was horrible shooting the Woody Allen scene.... I asked [actor Ed Crasnick]
to say the actual things I had written down that Mr. Allen said. Being a comedian, Ed improvised and was cracking up the crew, but I instantly was transported back into that moment and began sweating and thinking, this is a huge
mistake!
Were you inspired by Christopher Guest-style mockumentaries at all?
I love documentaries. I thought Super Size Me was great, and I was
attempting to do something in that vein. Of course, I love Christopher Guest's
films, but I wouldn't dream of talking about my film in the same sentence ...
My goal for the film was to ask the question: Is being fired the worst, or is it
possibly one of the best things that can happen in your professional life, and I
thought by bracketing it with comedy it would be more enjoyable than asking
people to come to the theater and see a movie about labor issues in America.
What's been your favorite piece of feedback so far?
I've continued this project because the feedback has been so satisfying. One
of my favorite nights was when I screened the film at the Loft Cinema in
Tucson, Ariz. Several people came on stage and told their fired stories: One
had been fired for his inability to stop crying at work in a factory on the day
John Lennon was killed, the second person had been fired for being a whistle
blower in a government job, and the third was a Sikh with anger management
problems. The film seems to give people permission to speak about situations
they have carried with them shamefully, and I am thrilled that this one incident in my life has resonated in this way. It was the most unanticipated consequence from being told Mr. Allen "wanted to go in a different direction:• ■
March 2007
I67
Reviews
In the Stacks
She'sa Very Geeky Girl
Science and history books grab our attention this month. IBy Rachel Pepper
Haven't cracked a science or history book since your baby dyke
schoolgirl days? Our favorite reads this month tackle these topics from a feminist or queer perspective.
She's Such a Geek: Women Write About Science,
Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff, Eds. Annalee
Newitz and Charlie Anders (Seal Press)
EDITOR'S
PICK
Since I have a young daughter who proudly proclaims her
intent to become a scientist, I thought it best to read She's Such
BoweryWomen: a Geek before she hits middle school, so I could encourage her
Poetry,
Eds.Marjorie to take on a subject I hold little aptitude in. The book promises
lesserandBobHolman to explain how to encourage
a girl to excel in the subjects that
(YBKPublishers):
Pick are usually
boys' domain:
a poem,anypoem.
math, science, and all
That'stheessence
of
their related fields.
this lively,street-worthy
The writers in the colcollectionof poetry
lection
are all veritable
from76 womenpoets
nerds
and
geeks, though
whohavedelighted
andshockedaudiences some, like sex writer
whileperforming
their Violet Blue, are of the
workat the legendary more seductive and wily
BoweryPoetryClubin
sort. The authors tend
NewYorkCity.Witha
to break down into two
vastarrayof contribubasic camps. First are the
tors,somequeer,some
girls that were encournot- including
Sapphire,
AnaCastillo, aged early by their parSuheirHammad
and ents to excel in math and
lshleYiPark- this continued on this path. As Jessica Dickinson Goodman writes
multi-ethnic,
multi- in "High School Politics;'"Because I grew up around computgenerational
tomereads ers, I never really had to separate my geek identity from my
likea greatesthitscol- identity as a girl. I see no conflicts between loving baking and
lectionof thewordsof
loving open source programs .... To me, a geek is someone who
the people. is passionate about som~thing:'
(ybkpublishers.com)Then there are the women who had so much natural ability
DianeAnderson-Minshall
that their destiny as geeks could not be denied, but who had
to fight for every grain of respect they earned along the way.
In Jenn Shreve's "Geek Interrupted;' she writes about growing
up in a fundamentalist Christian home where she was primed
to serve God and a future husband, not program computers.
"In spite of all this;' she writes, "my inner geek managed to
shine through .... If the consistently high test scores in science
and math weren't obvious enough, my addiction to Pac-Man,
Moon Patrol, Centipede, Space Invaders . . . were dead giveaways:' Both camps of women know they're smart, but repeatedly have to prove it to high school teachers, male classmates,
college professors in esteemed schools like MIT and Harvard,
and employers. Not many of them have an easy time of it.
Though I found most of the essays in the collection highly
enjoyable, as well as educational, the book is strongest when
it sticks to its main theme: an exploration of the struggles
and choices facing women as they either succeed in or leave
tuff
68
Icurve
their fields of choice. Excellent essays by Suzanne E. Franks
("Suzy the Computer versus Dr. Sexy"), Roopa Ramamoorthi
('J\11Our Boys Go to the IT Industry in America") and Nina
Simone Dudnick's "Sex and the Single (Woman) Biologist"
are some of the book's finest. Others, by Kristin Abkemeier,
Aomawa Shields and Elisabeth Severson, show the heart-stopping passion that some women have for math and science, even
if they don't pursue it professionally. Less successfully integrated into the text were selections dealing with gaming, comic
books and cybersex.
Still, I came away from reading She's Such a Geek with profound respect for the women included in this anthology. These
women, mostly born after 1970, prove that the feminist movement has indeed improved the fields of math and science. Most
of these women, all exceptionally smart and driven, have far
exceeded anyone's expectations. Which is of course very good
news for my own little astronomy buff, regardless of whether
she actually becomes a scientist.
Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power
Politicians, and Lipstick Lesbians, Lillian Faderman
and Stuart Timmons (Basic Books)
It's rare that a history book
is so compelling that it not
only captures the time and
place depicted but encapsulates the entire history of
a liberation movement in
one thrilling tome. Such is
the case with Gay L.A., an
almost 500-page overview
of Los Angeles and its gay
and lesbian, trans, queer
and "unstraight" populations from the early 1800s
until the year 2000. The
book begins with the history of Native American
peoples in the area, who originally inhabited a village named
Yang-na, and the white settlers who arrived and persecuted
them for the same-sex relations in their "two-spirit" traditions.
The narrative then follows the history of Los Angeles through
waves of growth, liberation and suppression.
Topics included are the birth of the Hollywood film industry, women's suffrage, Prohibition, sodomy laws, the Mattachine
Society, L.A:s Daughters of Bilitis, ONE Magazine, police
entrapment and brutality, a bar culture that thrived despite constant harassment and arrests, exclusive star-studded gay house
parties, the blacklists of the '50s, Anita Bryant and the Briggs
Initiative, activism by people of color, the forming of GLAAD,
She's a Very Geeky Girl continued on page 75
Looking
for a
PAGE TURNERS
A Studyof
Women:
Whistling
theLivesof OlderLesbians,
Ph.D.(The
CherylClaassen,
HaworthPress):Anthropology
ventures
Claassen
professor
territory
intolargelyuncharted
withthis studyof lesbiansborn
between1917-1938,examiningthe women'sexperiences
dating,
andviewson marriage,
families,careers,politicsand
readers
feminism.Younger
will be mostfascinatedbythe
stories
women'scoming-out
illegal
andtalesof navigating
Villagegaybarsin
Greenwich
the 1950s.Thoughthe relatively
(44
smallpoolof interviewees
women)makesthestudyineffectiveat makinganydefinitive
claimsaboutlifefor the aging
lesbian- andit doesn't
aimto - the
neccessarily
women'sindividualstoriesmake
andenjoyfor a compelling
ableread.(haworthpress.com)
Plato
- Catherine
J.
Louise
of Fetishism,
Cultures
Macmillan):
Kaplan(Palgrave
If thetitleof thisworkevokesa
of dingybasements,
montage
in EyesWide
nudistsparading
Shutmasksandthesilhouette
Kaplan
of DavidCronenburg,
invitesyouto lookcloser.Inthis
strikingtext,shearticulately
commonpercepdeconstructs
theuseof highly
tionsregarding
fetishobjects
mythologized
thatthe
andinsteadproposes
of fetishismpermeates
ideology
ourculturecomprehensively,
considered
in manysituations
Kaplanargues
"commonplace."
thatfetishobjectsareoften
asa meansto silence
employed
thevirilityof femalesexuality,
pastmisogydirectlychallenging
theoryonthetopic.
nist-tainted
of fetishism
Pluckingexamples
Dutch"prank"
from17th-century
to TheReal
to androids
paintings
World,Kaplandepictsa psychologicalhistoryof fetishismthat
to anycontemporary
is germane
Exceptionally
culturaldiscourse.
insightfulstuff.(pa/grave.com)
- SoniaKreitzer
Page Turners continued on page 75
travel mate?
Joan Opyr
IAUTHOR I
Humor columnist and northern Idaho editor of New West Magazine,
Joan Opyr is still basking in the acclaim for her first mystery novel,
Idaho Code: Where Family Therapy Comes With a Shovel and an
Alibi. This cheery tale of murder set in small-town Idaho made it
to the hard-to-crack ReviewingTheEvidence.com's Top Ten list and
garnered a rare glow from Val McDermid: "Joan Opyr is the most
entertaining new voice in lesbian mystery:' We caught up with Opyr
to discuss love, life and liberty in a "state that values individuality
more than common sense:' -
Diane Anderson-Minshall
Idaho Code is the first in a series. Did you know it would be
an ongoing series when you started it?
I had no idea. The first person who told me it should or rather would be a series was the owner of the local bookstore.
Now I say trilogy, and he says quartet. He's probably right.
I've grown very attached to the characters.
When is the sequel out?
The sequel, FromHell to Breakfast,should be out in March ....
I've gotten a bit behind schedule because the characters have
again grown and developed in ways I didn't anticipate, and
subplots have threatened to take over.... In some ways, From
Hell to Breakjastis a continuation of Idaho Code;in others, it's
a very different book. I've got a morbid sense of humor, and I
think that's even more evident in FromHell to Breakfastthan
in the first book. In this one, I have a family coping with profound grie£ but they're each doing it in their own weird way.
Some, like Bil, have fallen to pieces. She's an emotional
wreck. Emma, by contrast, has gone all prairie stoic. The
humor lies in the tension between them. This is a very functional dysfunctional family. They're all crazy, and in a place
like Idaho, that serves them well.
How did you feel to be praised by Val McDermid?
Thrilled to bits. I feel very grateful and very lucky. I've been
reading Val's work for years. I had no idea that she would ever
blurb one of my books. It was a jackpot moment, better than
winning the lottery. I should tell you, though, that Val threatened to write, "Joan Opyr put the 'ho' in Idaho:• I was nervous
for a bit there. She's got a wicked sense of humor. ■
March 2007
I69
Reviews
Music Watch
New Sounds for Spring
Shake your thang to Brazilian beats or chill out to acid jazz.
IBy Margaret Coble
EDITOR'S
PICK
It's NotFun.Don'tDo
It! (VaporRecords):
It can'tbeeasyto bea
duoof Canadian,
lesbian,
rockstartwinsister
- really,reallyfreakin'
cutetwinsisters- and
still getpeopleto take
yourmusicseriously,
but
TeganandSarasomehowpullit off,without
takingthemselves
too
seriouslyin the meantime.Concerts,
tourbus
trialsandtribulations
andhilariousmusic As we start to thaw out from the winter cold and our thoughts
videoscomprise
the bulk
turn to the sun-filled adventures that await us in summer, new
of thefilm,with plenty
albums by Incognito, The Bird and the Bee, and Badi Assad
of surprisesalongthe
way.Puppets,
animated can help set the scene and get you in the mood, with their upmonkeys
andgoodsolid beat grooves, positive vibe and airy global-pop sounds.
rock'n' roll makethis
musicdoclotsof fun bees+things+f/owers, Incognito (Narada Jazz}
for unsabered
repeat From the opening cover of Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves the
late-nightviewings.Did Sunshine;' this 11-track album by the renowned U.K. acid jazz
I mentionhowcutethey band (25 years and counting!) is the perfect soundtrack to your
are?(vaporrecords.com)soaking-up-the-sun-on-the-beach daydreams. A mostly acous-CatherinePlato tic jazz-based affair, the set includes stripped-down, soulful
reworkings of several of the band's biggest hits: 'J\lways There;'
"Still A Friend of Mine;"'Everyday" and "Deep Waters:' There's
also some perfect-fitting covers, like the aforementioned Ayers'
track, the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer In The City;' and Earth,
Wind & Fire's"That's The Way Of The World;' plus the unlikely but surprisingly compelling "Tin Man'' by America. There's
a few new cuts, too: "Raise;' "Crave" and "You Are Golden;' all
penned by the band's co-founder and enduring leader, JeanPaul "Bluey" Maunick. One of the main reasons I've dug this
band so hard over the years has been their impeccable lineup of lead singers - divas in their own right - and many of
them make appearances here again, including the fierceJocelyn
Brown, versatile Maysa and smokin' Carleen Anderson, among
others. I can't say enough good things about this collection. Put
it in and just feel the glow. (incognito.org.uk)
Self-titled, The Bird and the Bee (Metro Blue}
Though the lyrics to some of the songs on this disc don't exactly fall into the shiny-happy category - for instance, 'Tm A
70
I curve
Broken Heart" - their poppy, slightly psychedelic electro-jazz
sound can make anything sound like fun-in-the-summertime
beach music. (Think the Mosquitos with heavier electronic
instrumentation and even more pop gloss.) The duo of Inara
George (daughter of Little Feat frontman Lowell George) and
Greg Kurstin makes sweet, glistening pop music that pays
great tribute to the Brazilian T ropicalia movement, but in their
own ironic, new-millennial, electro-tinged way. "(Would you
ever be my) Fucking Boyfriend" is a snappy, bouncy dance floor
ditty that takes on that angsty crush feeling all lovers' hearts
can identify with, while the album opening'J\gain and Again'' is
a soaring, melodic, hand-clapping feel-good singalong. Overall,
it's a dreamy, breezy collection that'll be hard to take off of
repeat. ( thebirdandthebee.com)
Wonderland, Badi Assad (Edge Music/Universal)
Nothing conjures summertime as well as Brazilian rhythms,
and acclaimed singer-guitarist Badi Assad offers up a gorgeous, exotic blend of classic Brazilian sounds and contemporary instrumentation on this second solo effort. That she
manages to sound so light and whimsical while asking some
hard-hitting questions about taboo topics like rape, prejudice
and child prostitution is a testament to her skill as an artist and musician. On this bilingual 13-track release she covers the likes of Tori Amos ("Black Dove"), the Eurythmics
("Sweet Dreams") and the Asian Dub Foundation ("1000
Mirrors") and offers a few of her own Portuguese originals
("O Que Seriat and"Zoar"), creating a magical, poetic soundscape that accurately mirrors Alice's rabbit hole, as the title
suggests, much like the topsy-turvy world in which we live.
(badiassad.com) ■
OTHER LICKS
of
themomentum
that maintains
lastyear'sself-titleddebut,with
perky,janglyanthemslike"We're
ComingOut"and"YellowTaxi."
com)
(tralalatheband.
La
SafeHaven(Cherchez
A benefitcompilation
Femme):
for theSexualMinorityYouth
Centerin Portland,
Resource
Ore.,this20-trackdiscis chock
MakeThis,BreakThis,Bitch
full of localandnationaltalent,
(KillRockStars):It's hardto
frombignameslikeLeTigre,
but
sumupBitchin a one-liner,
andIndigoGirls
Sleater-Kinney
thisdebutsoloefforteffectively
localfavesAshleigh
to Portland
allthatsheis:a
encompasses
FlynnandSneakin'Out.(smyrc.
carrierofthewomen's
fearless
of sparse org,cherchezlafemmeprojects.
musictorch,aninnovator
com)
music,a wickedacoustic-roots
a radical
poetandsinger,
tongued
feministactivistandanall-around
hipdykeicon.TheB is mostdefinitelyback.(bitchmusic.com)
e
Dahm
rly
Kimbe
I
I
BASSIST, SINGER, SONGWRITER
SlowTrainSoul
Santimanitay,
OutdykeLadyZ is
(Quango):
thevibrantvoiceof this U.K.
duowhose
urbanelectro-pop
their
albumcontinues
sophomore
vibewithtrackslike
hipster-hop
"Mississippi
theslowly-loping
HelloLove,BeGoodTanyas
thehousetrack
favorite Freestylin,"
Everybody's
(Nettwerk):
andthesultry,
"Goldiggah,"
porchswingplayers
Canadian
TheCherry."
"Sexing
jazzier
returnwiththeirthirdstudio
com)
(slowtrainsoul.
12-trackcoleffort,a cohesive
lectionof nostalgia-dripping,
NanciGriffith
Ruby'sTorch,
blues
string-filledalt-country,
a lifelong
Fulfilling
(Rounder):
andfolkthatblanketsyourears
folkabilly
eccentric
the
dream,
likea well-wornaudioquilt
staroffersan 11-tracksetof
- eventhe bonuscutcover
torchsongs,bothoriginalsand
of Prince's"WhenDovesCry."
covers,includingherown"Late
com)
(begoodtanyas.
Hotel,"Jimmy
NightGrande
Webb's"If TheseWallsCould
Talk"andTomWaits'"Grapefruit
Moon."(nancigriffith.com)
Goldfrapp
WeAreGlitter,
offering,this
(Mute):A U.S.-only
12-trackremixdisccullsthe best
dancefloortakesfromtheU.K.
duo'slaststudioeffort,
electronic
featuringmixesby
Supernature,
Lips,CarlCraig,
Flaming
the
DFA,
Tralala
Is ThattheTralala,
(gold
others.
and
K
Francois
sevenBrooklyn's
(Audika):
piececo-edpop-punksensation frapp.co.uk)
set
is backwitha sophomore
Other Lickscontinuedon page 75
As an established country singer-songwriter, mother of two, and bassist for the
'70s rock anthem band Boston, buxom blonde Kimberly Dahme is lovin' life.
- Jennifer Corday
I read that you didn't know how to play bass when Boston first asked you
to join them. How did you learn so quickly?
I was just so hungry for the chance! I went to the nearest pawn shop and I
didn't have enough money, so I put a bass on layaway for $20. Two months
later I was playing in front of 80,000 people at the Fiesta Bowl! I was numb.
That's amazing! And then you continued performing with them?
Yes. Well, actually, I was taking a lot of lessons after that to prepare for the
upcoming tour when I got pregnant. But the guys totally stood by me and
put off the debut of the album. Two weeks after I had my baby girl, I was
performing with them at the CD release party.
What are your plans to play with Boston in the future?
Well, I just played a show with Boston at Symphony Hall with the Boston
Pops, a tribute to Doug Flutie and all benefits went to autism. It was covered
on most all TV stations and radio stations around the world. It was amazing!
There are rumors of a summer tour .... I keep it posted on my Web site and
you can also check out Boston's Web site.
Tell me about Girls With Guitars.
We did a series of monthly or bi-monthly shows on Saturday nights. There
would be 10 or 11 of us girls, all singer-songwriters living in Nashville,
[Tenn.,] and whoever was not on the road would attend. Everyone was just
unbelievable in their talent! It's really nice to have that kind of camaraderie.
Is it competitive between the women?
It definitely pushes you, but in a positive way. I'm a procrastinator, so it pushes
me to pull out a song and bring it to the table.
Speaking of girls, you seem to have a large female following.
Yeah, it's crazy, but I've had bras thrown at me, and girls flash me. Whenever
I get a bra thrown at me I just think, I wonder if it will fit? [Laughs]I have a
decent one, I guess. ■
March 2007
I 71
Reviews Tech Girl
Ready to PlayJane Bond?
Less stalking, more spying. I By Diane Anderson~Minshall
OK, OK, sometimes it's not cool to spy on your girlfriend. Or your ex-girlfriends or even your exes' exes
as the case may be in the lesbian world. After all, you're no longer a moony 14-year-old singing'J\ll Out of
Love" while you drive around the block again and again to see if she's come home from school yet. But every
dyke likes to let out the green-eyed monster and feel like James Bond now and then. These gadgets will get
you halfway there.
Write It Down, Write It Up
With this cool little carbon-fiber and stainless-steel lnka Pen, you can can write upside
down, underwater, in space and under extreme temperatures. It's the first pen of its kind,
it's refillable (and in enviromentally friendly packaging) and comes with a handy keychain.
It works for teary stakeouts as well as for surf journaling in Bermuda. And if you're a new
media type, you can use it as a stylus for your PDA, too. ($90, inkacorp.com)
Is That a Camera in Your Pocket?
Clockwisefrom top
right: CaptureView's
Waterproof PictureTaking Binoculars,
Heated Vest,
TinyTekBlackdigital
audio recorderand
lnka's do it all pen
Why, no, it's not. It's the Waterproof Picture-Taking Binoculars with LCD Screen, which
are 8X magnification, 3.0-megapixel, waterproof, digital camera binoculars that let you take
pictures from as far away as 50 feet. With the color LCD screen combined with a snazzy
video flashback feature that records the last 20 seconds of viewing, you can catch anyone doing almost anything without missing a beat. The 16MB internal memory stores 40 pictures
with a l,600xl,200 resolution or 90 seconds of video. Photos and videos can be downloaded to your computer via the included USB cable. ($200, hammacher.com)
Bundle Up on Those Long, Cold Nights
Whether you're sleeping out overnight at Ticketmaster trying to score those Fall Out Boy
tickets or in front of the girl you're secretly still in love with and too shy to mention it, you'll
want to keep warm. The Heated Vest uses carbon-fiber technology powered by rechargeable batteries so small you won't feel like the Hulk wearing it. It then transmits infrared rays
that send heat into the carbon fiber and then into you. ($130, hammacher.com)
World'sTiniest DigitalAudio Recorder
A picture is worth a thousand words, but if you just have to be a part of the conversation
(or you absolutely have to know what your co-workers really think about you) try the
TinyTekBlack, the World's Smallest Digital Audio Recorder. It's the size of a lighter and can
record up to 130 hours, depending on the setting. It plugs directly into a phone jack and can
work with cell phones and cordless phones without making a beep. The TinyTek is a must
for mystery novelists, gumshoes and anyone who's a bit too suspicious. ($160 and up, pimall
.com/nais/ zippy.html)
Just Don't Lie to Me
Got an evil backstabbing co-worker? A cheating wife? A rousing game of Truth or Dare?
Weve got your back with the DeFIBulator, a miniature lie detector that uses voice tension technology to measure varying degrees of vibration in your voice. And yes, it can
be connected to your cell phone. Cat got her tongue? Uh, no, the DiFIBulator does.
($40, gadgetuniverse.com)
72
I
curve
VictoriaA. Brownworth Politics
Taking the Road Less Traveled
To experience a new culture means digging below the surface ecently, one of my students who is contemplating
graduate school asked my advice. I told her to forget
grad school for now and travel instead. Traveling, I told
her, would expand her world as a writer far more than
any graduate seminar. It would give her images and ideas
that would populate her work throughout her life. And, I
R
added, she would never be as unencumbered as she is
now: no partner, no mortgage, no children, no constraints.
"Travel;' I declared. "It's a choice you will never regret:'
It's advice I would give to anyone; there's nothing more
exciting and valuable than travel, no matter what your
career or vocation. Plus, travel is actually accessible to most
Americans, an option we have that a majority of people in
the world do not share.
Travel is not just about seeing the usual prescribed sites:
Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon or
the Colosseum. It's not even about seeing the less-traveled
places like Red Square or the Taj Mahal. Travel is about
entering another culture, however briefly,and comparing and
even when it's painful.
taken advantage:'
Choosing not to travel to countries where
women and queers face brutal violence ·and
oppression would mean limiting one's travel to
a mere handful of countries. There are currently
194 independent countries on earth today, yet in
fewer than 20 are the conditions for women and
queers acceptable. In most, being a woman means
constant danger, and being queer can be tantamount to a death sentence.
I had a close friend from Mumbai who has not
returned to India since she came to the U.S. for
college in the 1980s. (She has since become a naturalized American citizen.) She feared that if she
returned, her middle-class merchant family would
denounce her lesbianism, force her to marry and she
would never be free to leave again.
A Lebanese friend married a man at 19, had a
child, and then wanted to leave when she fell in love
contrasting it to your own. Travel is also about going to the
proscribedsites and getting a glimpse of a part of the world that most of us are
fortunate not to inhabit.
There are thrilling places to go if you're queer or lesbian. Who wouldn't want
to live in Amsterdam or Copenhagen after experiencing the freedom of being
with another woman, an American she met while
teaching in Beirut. The two women 'plotted how to leave the country together.
As the U.S. State Department warns: "In many Islamic countries, even those that
give tourist visas and do not require sponsorship, a woman needs the permission of her husband and children need the permission of their father to leave the
openly queer there?
But there's the dark side of travel as well. The side most tourists never see,
either because they do not go to those places or because if they do, they stay
away from the real culture and suffuse themselves with the culture promoted
country. If you travel or allow your children to travel, be aware of the laws of the
country you plan to visit. Once overseas, you are subject to the laws of the country
where you are; U.S. law cannot protect you:'
For a Lebanese woman, leaving the country with her child is impossible with-
for tourists.
The Caribbean and Mexico are popular destinations for Americans this time
of year. Winter is almost over, but not quite. Who wouldn't want to lie in the
sun drinking mojitos and watching the perfect waves lap the perfect beaches?
But in those tourist hot spots, the lives of women and queers are less than stellar. Throughout Mexico, for example, women remain chattel, and lesbians are
frequent targets of physical and sexual violence.Although Mexico City recently
passed a law allowing civil unions, this action has actually increased the lawlessness against queers in that city and the surrounding areas. Machismo still rules
in many countries south of our border, and the confluence of poverty, corruption
and that machismo make it difficult for women and lesbians to lead safe, open
out the permission of the husband. My Lebanese friend had to flee under an
assumed name to a neighboring country, apply for asylum and try and maneuver
her way out of the Middle East from there. She has never been able to return.
In the Eastern bloc and former Soviet nations, the Palestinian territories,
and independent lives.
In many island nations of the Caribbean, things are equally grim. In December
2006, an investigation was begun into a pandemic of sexual assaults on Haitian
girls and women by U.N. peacekeepers. The BBC began the investigation
after human rights groups brought the matter to their attention. The U.N. has
been uncharacteristically reticent on the issue, even dismissive, but Haitian girls
interviewed by BBC reporters told tales of being forced to trade sex for food.
(Haiti is one of the world's most poverty-stricken countries.) Girls as young as 6
were asked to lift their skirts and show their genitals, while girls 12 and up were
expected to give oral, anal and vaginal sex for as little as a half-eaten sandwich. As one girl explained, bitterly, "We were hungry. They should not have
Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Saudi Arabia, Latin America,
Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, China, India and many other nations, the conditions for women and lesbians run the gamut from difficult to dangerous.
Thus, travel is a complex adventure for lesbians. Do we merely skim the surface of the nations we visit, or do we attempt to delve deeper and uncover what
the lives of women like ourselves are like in these places that are so seemingly
magical and breathtakingly beautiful?
Travel educates. How we choose to be educated by our travels, however,
defines not just our individual trips to this or that exotic locale,but also illumines
who we are as women and queers in a world that is, for the most part, hostile to
our very existence.As difficult as life can be in America for us, we have protections
that are not afforded to our counterparts elsewhere.
Everyone travels and brings back the obligatory reel of videotape and panoply
of photos to the groans of friends and family.But perhaps next time you go somewhere, you can look beneath the surface and tell that story on your return. Your
travels will not merely enrich your own life, but could very well begin to save and
empower the lives of other women and girls, as well. ■
March 2007
I
73
Dyke Drama
Michele Fisher
Your Cheatin' Heart
Sometimes it happens to the best of us, but why?
W
hy are you cheating:'
I am not here to judge you, I am just
trying to understand.
Please, before you start, I really must insist that
you be original. Being cheated on is bad enough
without being humiliated by a complete lack of
creativity. The fact that you got caught means that
you didn't put nearly enough thought into your
treachery. I hope you'll be more cunning when it
comes to justifying it.
For example, I would find it unacceptable for
you to claim that we had 'grown apart:' We are
q
not a couple of blades of grass residing in the same
crack in the sidewalk. Obviously, you grew tired of
your old crack and found a new one, so I wouldn't
try 'grown apart" if I were you. Just as uninspired
would be claims that we had "lost touch'' or "moved
in different directions:' How could you possibly be
expected to keep in touch with me while you were
groping someone else:'You apparently were making
all types of moves and none were in my direction,
so your emotional compass is way off, not mine.
After the investment I have made in this relationship, you can understand why I cannot allow
myself to settle for some trite, worn-out phrase as
the reason that you would disrespect me to this
degree. What I hate most about those uninspired
excuses for infidelity is that they all implicate the
victim: me. I am supposed to take on some guilt
for not growing or moving the right way. It takes
two to dance, not three; you and your other tango
partner did this. Long after this thing is over, I will
blame myself and wonder what I could have done
to make this awful thing happen to me, so I really
don't need your help beating myself up today.
Maybe you are going to surprise me and spare
me the platitudes and blame and just go right to the issue of your deserved
happiness. Perhaps you will be bold and belligerent and let me know that
this relationship just wasn't making you happy and that life is just too short
to waste on relationships that don't work. Not only will you not apologize,
you will repeatedly contend that you have nothing to atone for. You just did
what you had to do.
I think I would rather hear some moronic excuse than listen to you blather on about what a maverick you are. If a relationship isn't making you happy,
you get out or you make it better, you don't hold me hostage while you search
in other women's vaginas for your lost joy. You don't have to be sorry, because
you are sorry.
But you weren't going to make me suffer through a few verses of "My
Way;' were you:' You seem more like an "oops" girl. Never heard of an 'oops"
girl:' She's the one who tells you with a shrug and a grimace that she thought
she wanted to be in a committed relationship, but - oops! - realizes now
74
I curve
that a committed relationship is not what she wanted at all. The "oops" girl
comes with a no-fault clause. This emotionally clumsy creature would never
take responsibility for an affair; in fact, she would never call it an affair, it
would just be an unfortunate accident. She would earnestly explain the extramarital sex away by claiming that while she was tripping over the fact that
she didn't want to be with you, she must have fallen into some other woman's
crotch. "Oops!"
You are too clever, dear, to try the clueless approach.
I know you had a past before we met, but that was supposed to be behind
you. I don't really want to hear about how one woman just can't be everything
to you. Oddly enough, I am not flattered to hear that if you could be satisfied
with just one woman, it would be me. We are already in a relationship, so
your fidelity was a foregone conclusion. What would have been really swell
would have been for you to tell me all of this before you moved in with me
and cheated on me.
a:
w
G
w
a:
~
w
z
a:
w
I
~
I don't think you are cheating because you can't be with one woman, I
think you are unfaithful because you have ADD (Another Dyke Disorder).
You only stay with one woman until you find the next woman you're going to
stay with until the next woman comes along. At ·some point in this dumping,
you are likely to give me some hokey metaphor about life being a journey and
traveling with different companions at different stages of the trip.
What you really do is drive up behind an unsuspecting female, trick her
into your scarymobile, lock the doors, rob her blind, suck her dry and then
dump her out over an embankment when she fails to entertain you. Someday,
somebody is going to take you to the junkyard, Christine.
I'm sorry, you're right. I keep interrupting. I'm sure you have a perfectly
logical reason for cheating on me.
You know that boredom is one of the most tedious excuses cheaters can
give for their actions. Boredom is a great reason to take a class or start a new
hobby, but it is a piss,poor reason to bump naughty bits with a woman who
is not yours. You're right, crying and going for days without sleep sure can be
exciting. If you think I am having all of the fun, just wait until you try to col,
lect your belongings from a 10,mile stretch of superhighway.
I just hate it when a girl I am with tells me that she is "in love" with an,
other woman. If you try to tell me you are in love with anybody but me, I will
stick an index finger in each of my ears and hum so as to drown out the sound
of your pathetic drivel.
When you catch a woman cheating on you, you are entitled to be showered
with apologies and flooded with buckets of teary remorse. The cheater is sup,
posed to pledge her life to righting the wrong and the victim can pretend to
ponder whether or not this relationship is worth the pain and effort. That is
how things are supposed to go. A scoundrel shouldn't be allowed to break a
girl's heart and then take a crap on the little bleeding pieces by telling her how
in love she is with somebody else. In that situation, you don't just feel wronged,
you feel idiotic. Everybody wonders how come you didn't see what was going
on. You feel so foolish that all you can do is yell and cry, which only makes you
feel worse, which only makes you yell louder and cry harder. You are stuck in the
mindset of saving the relationship, and your girl is already calling you an ex.
Well, you can wipe that phony sympathetic look off of your face, because
you are not going to turn me into an emotional wreck.
And don't bother giving me that"confused" defense, either. You are not the
least bit confused, you just got caught, and you are trying to figure out how
to weasel out of facing your actions. "Confused" is lesbian code for "I want a
wife, but I want to screw everybody else in the world, too. How about waiting
for me until I get tired of sleeping around, or I get tired of you waiting for me
to stop sleeping around?"
Besides, the cheater never chooses the wife in the end - anybody with
Lifetime TV knows that - so I won't even pretend to fall for the confused bit.
I just had a terrible thought. What if it isn't a girl at all?What if you are one
of those gals who feels she hasn't given dick a fair shake? What is it about me
that makes women want to get chummy with chimichangas? There is nothing
mysterious about a penis, Nancy Drew, so I hope you get over it quick.
But you better not be rolling around with one of your ex,girlfriends. I am
not up to the challenge of the undead relationship. I think I'd rather deal with
a new dick than an old puss.
If it isn't an ex or a boy or a wrong turn on the road oflife, then I give up.
Please tell me: Why are you cheating? ■
She'sa Very Geeky Girl continued from page 68
Page Turnerscontinued from page 69
Who Makes the Rulesi continued from page 66
the country's actual first gay rights riot (years
before Stonewall), religious oppression, the
founding of the MCC Church, the L.A. Gay
Community Center and its position as the first
gay entity to be granted nonprofit status by the
IRS, Gay Liberation and the Lavender Left,
AIDS, ACT UP, Queer Nation and much more.
It's all here, exhaustively researched and docu,
mented into a thorough history of one the most
dynamic American cities and, by extension, a
reflection of the entire U.S. LGBTQ civil rights
forLIFE,Eds.LoriL.LakeandTara
Romance
Thiscollection
Young(BoldStrokesBooks):
gathers25 romanticshorts,manyby BoldStrokes
from
for a goodcause- all proceeds
regulars,
the book'ssaleswill bedonatedto breastcancer
If youneedevenmorereasonto buythis
research.
bookandsupportyourfellowwomen,consider
bya fairy-talemoodof
this:Whiledominated
storiesdifferfromyour
short
these
bliss,
heartfelt
byofferingyousomecharacter
averageromance
andwry humoralongwithtruelove.
development
- EM
(boldstrokesbooks.com)
her best friend Phyllis Christopher (a famous
photographer oflesbian sex arid the film'smost en,
grossing character), for close friends Jackie Strano
and Shar Rednour (the frank and funny lesbian
couple who filmed How to Fuck in High Heels and
Bend Over Boyfriend),for those women and men
who grace Everett's life for a few dates or more, and
for the ecstatic, confounded state of being in love
itself, an often fleeting phenomenon she sets out to
movement.
Faderman, an award,winning historian, and
Timmons, an accomplished journalist, combine
forces here in true partnership, sniffing out thou,
sands of enticing details from L.A:s various gay
and lesbian archives and interweaving all the
voices that helped shape that great gay metropo,
lis. And best yet, the book is thoroughly enjoy,
able, told in engaging prose interspersed with
quotes from original interviews and research.
Even if you don't generally read history, do read
Gay L.A. to understand more about the forma,
tion and growth of not only a city, but the hopes,
dreams and accomplishments of our entire
Fire,EllisAvery(Riverhead
TheTeahouse
orphan
Toldthroughthevoiceof 9-year-old
Books):
thedevastaAveryEllis'first novelrecounts
Aurelia,
Aurelia's
Fire.Following
tionof the KyotoTeahouse
thereadercancatchan insideglimpse
adventures,
timesin
of Kyotoduringoneof the mostfascinating
history,the late19thcentury.Throughthe
Japanese
Aureliafindsherself
highlychargedsocialsituations
the politicaland
in,the readercanunderstand
socialeffectsof the refusalto observeJapanese
suchas blackening
traditionalritualisticcustoms,
in the highlyritualized
one'steethor participating
(riverheadbooks.com)
teaceremony.
Japanese
- KimFujioka
■
LGBTQ community. (perseusbooksgroup.com)
capture, if only on video.
Everett whittled down more than 200 hours of
personal footage into what now stands as an hour,
long piece de resistance on lesbian polyamory.
(outcast-films.com■)
Other Licks continued from page 71
Music):Sisters
MusicFest2006(GoGirts
GoGir/s
onthis17-trackcompilaaredoin'it for themselves
tionputtogetherbytheoldestandlargestonline
of indiewomenin music,featuring
community
Ellis,DivineMAGgees
JenFoster,
SarahBettens,
andmanymore.(gogirlsmusic.co-m)MC
byTheLWord
MusicFromandInspired
L Tunes:
Whocan't
Kelis,NinaSimone.
Peaches,
(Columbia):
- DAM
to love?(sonybmg.com)
findsomething
March 2007
I 75
Staring Down the Demons continued from page 63
unconscious and called paramedics. Stephanie was comatose for several days
but fortunately didn't suffer permanent brain damage. Nearly a year since her
suicide attempt, Masters still suffers from acute depression.
'Tm just not sure when I will feel like 'myself' again;' she says, sadly. "I
know I was a different person before, self,assured and comfortable with who
I was. I felt supported in my queer life by the community I was living in.
Now;' she gestures at het; cozy room, "even here I question whether I belong,
whether I will ever feel a part of something again:'
Kat Collins*, a 40,year,old writer from New England, doesn't think
her lesbianism was connected to the psychotic break that landed her in a
mental hospital on a 72,hour hold placed by her former partner, Miranda
Black*. What Collins does think is that her
lesbianism kept her from getting appropriate
treatment for what has since been diagnosed as
bipolar disorder.
"Two years ago, I came home from work after
having worked very long hours for weeks. I hadn't
been sleeping much. I was on anti,depressants and
anti,anxiety medication prescribed by my doctor,
but they didn't seem to be working. I remember
almost nothing of four days when I was appar,
ently in a manic state. My ex came over because
ing for her, but couldn't find her:'
Hours later, Collins returned. The situation had become dire, and Collins had
turned violent. When police arrived, she took off with the police in pursuit
"I am convinced that if I hadn't called the police earlier and filed a report,
if the officers who had taken that report hadn't been the ones to get the later
call, she might have been shot by the police;' asserts Black. "You see this all
the time on the news, they call it suicide by police. I think if Kat hadn't been
white, a woman, and I hadn't been there, she'd be dead now:'
It took 12 police officers to subdue the 5,footA,inches Collins. Black had
her committed involuntarily."It was the hardest thing I have ever done;' Black
says."But she was not Kat, she was some altered, dangerous version of hersel£
When I went to the hospital to see her the next day, she didn't even know me:'
Black and Collins explain that it took almost a year to get Collins a diagnosis,
during which time she was unable to work and Black was forced to support her.
Black argues that just being a lesbian can make mental health profession,
als distrustful of your impressions. "Kat was someone I knew well, we had
been together for 10 years and had remained family. I saw her every single
day. I knew her better than anyone and something was very wrong that day,
something had snapped. But the doctors seemed to connect her lesbianism,
and mine, to her psychosis, as if one thing caused the other.
It made it very difficult to get a proper diagnosis and care. Everything kept
coming back to her being a lesbian and my being a lesbian:'
In her novel 72 Hour Hold, African,American writer Bebe Moore
Campbell tells the story of mother whose young lesbian daughter has been
diagnosed as bipolar and the mother's desperate search for treatment. The
book details the confluent issues of denial of mental illness and homophobia
in the black community and in the mental health industry. Del Rogers* says
she didn't need to read Moore Campbell's book to know what it was like to be
Icurve
be straight and normal:'
Rogers explains, ';\ll I ever heard from my family and my church - and
everything about my family revolved around my church - was that I would
grow out of these'white people' things, like being a dyke and being depressed.
Except I didn't. This wasn't any'phase;' this was my life:'
It's been nearly 10 years since Rogers took an overdose of pills while in
college. "It wasn't enough to kill me, fortunately, but it was enough to let me
know I needed to change my life. It was a real wake,up call. But I think a lot
of queers don't get it until it's too late:'
Rogers credits "a really good dyke doctor" at a
student health service connected to her university
with saving her life. "She made me see that it was
not only okay for me to be a dyke, but it was also
okay for me to be a black dyke. She got me into
therapy with a queer,friendly shrink, and it just
"Was I catatonically
depressed like my
motheror brandishing
changed my life, saved my life:'
a butcherknife like
Rogers adds, soberly, "But I know I was just
My best friend in graduate school wasn't
lucky.
my grandfather?
- he had one of those 'single car accidents: He just
No. I was a lesbian." couldn't deal with the pressures:'
weweresupposedtogosomewhereandfoundme
apparently pretty psychotic:•
According to Black, Collins left the house that hot summer day wearing
heavy sweats and just disappeared, after taking an entire bottle of pills.
"I called the doctor first, and then the police;' Black explains. "I was totally
freaked out and very afraid for her. In almost 20 years of knowing her, I had
never seen her in such an irrational state. She was crying hysterically, she'd
ripped all the phones out, she'd taken apart the computer. I drove around look,
76
a black lesbian with mental illness. She had lived it for years.
"I never want to hear the word 'phase' again as long as I live;' Rogers says,
wryly. The 31,year,old musician from Atlanta now lives in Brooklyn, far
away from her family and what she calls "the unbearable, killing pressure to
According to the more enlightened mental
health professionals, LGBT patients need more specialized care than straight
patients because "such patients are largely an ignored or invisible subgroup in
long,term psychiatric programs and in the gay and lesbian community itself;'
asserts Goldenberg. ''The mental health system is just totally heterosexually
acculturated and often unaware of their needs. Since most lesbian, gay and
transgendered people have experienced homophobia, when they add stigma,
tizing effects of mental illness, it's too much. So it's really a double,edged
sword for a lot of GLBT clients because these different stigmas really make it
hard for them to seek treatment and find appropriate treatment:'
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in fiveAmericans
will suffer from serious depression requiring treatment in her or his lifetime. In
addition, about 10 percent of the population suffers from other, more severe and
lifelong forms of mental illness, like bipolar and anxiety disorders. And we all
know lesbians aren't exempt from suffering this same range of mental illnesses.
Roberta L. Hacker, executive director of Women in Transition Inc.,
a counseling agency specializing in substance abuse and domestic violence
among women, says that help is available, but both the LGBT and straight
communities must prioritize mental illness.
"There is a lot of help out there for anyone in the queer community who
is suffering from depression or other mental health issues;' insists Hacker.
"There are a sufficient number of feminist therapists available that no one
should feel so trapped that she cannot reach out for help. Anyone who feels
troubled or in danger can find the help they need, it is available. But it's impor,
tant to resist fears of seeking help in the first place:•
Hacker emphasizes the need for supportive care from the community.';\ lot
of lesbians and other GLBT people feel cut off from family and sometimes so,
ciety as a whole. So it's important that anyone feeling dark thoughts or sadness
seek out help and that their friends be supportive. Looking in the right places
for help is key, but the right help is there and can make all the difference:'
Rogers agrees. "If there is any message I want to send to other queer peo,
ple experiencing what I did, it's this: Your life is valuable, much more valuable
than the prejudice of others, even if those people are in your own family. I
found the help I needed and it saved my life. You can find it, too:' ■
Playing Both Sides of the Wall continued from page 38
gay disco;' in Friedrichshain. Finally,check out Cafe
Fatal, also at SO36, where every Sunday, couples
do their best waltzes, rumbas and tangos (samesex ballroom dancing is very popular in Germany).
For up-to-date info on Berlin nightlife, check the
English language Web site out-in-berlin.de or pick
up the free local publication Siegessaule,from the
same company that publishes L-Mag.
Dining Delights
Prior to our trip, I imagined German food to be
one big meat parade, which in many cases it is.
But I never even considered what breakfast would
be like - turns out, it's the best meal of the day.
Every morning my vegetarian girlfriend and I were
delighted to feast on yogurt, muesli, delicious
brown breads with sunflower seeds on them, and
full-on sandwich fixings.
Berlin, like every modern city in Europe, now
sports a full range of international eating options.
But traditional staples remain, such as wurst, stuffed
cabbage, and wiener schnitzel. Our favorite place
for traditional food was Rote Harfe in Kreuzberg.
There I ate a delicious dish ,called wirsingkohlroulade, which is like tender meatloaf stuffed in cabbage and bathed in a tangy tomato sauce.
Vegetarians, take heart; there is one meal served
in even the most traditional restaurant that will
sustain you through it all: spatzle. The most common way of preparing these simple noodles is with
cheese, bread crumbs and onions; the result is mac
and cheese taken to a whole new level.
We dined 1920s-style at speakeasy bar-cafe
Joseph Roth Diele located in the Schoneberg district. This small, cozy place reeks of literary debate,
which is rather the point, as it is themed on the life
of journalist Joseph Roth. A couple of euros buys
you simple breads, cheeses and pickles to accompany your beer and conversation. The atmosphere
is nice; however, this was also the only restaurant
where a waitperson made an unwelcome comment
about my Asian identity.
For eating on the cheap, you can't beat
currywurst, which Berliners are as raAmerican
as
about
opinionated
bidly
urbanites are about where to find the best cup of
coffee. Served at walk-up stands, currywurst is
a tender pork sausage cut up into slices, dusted
with curry spices and lathered with ketchup. It's
prepared in many styles, and every Berliner has a
favorite stand they swear by.
An even more popular take-away food is the
doner kebab, which reflects the culinary influence of
Berlin's large Turkish population. After World War
II, Berlin invited Turkish citizens to be guest workers to help with reconstruction, prompting the arrival
of a wave of immigrants. Decades later,Turkish food
and music is now a major part of the city's culture.
The yummy doner kebab is a pita cone filled with
shaved, roasted lamb, beef or chicken, and lettuce
and yogurt sauce.
We made a hugely entertaining excursion to
the world famous fifth-floor food emporium at the
KaDe We department store, the grand dame of the
Kurfiirstenstra& shopping district. As we stepped
off the escalator, we walked into a wonderland for
foodies. Think of the most amazing items in your
favorite gourmet grocery store and multiply the selection by 1,000. We browsed aisles and aisles of teas,
pickles,pastas, chocolates, cookies, salts, cheeses, you
name it. If you need a little refresher, several little sitdown stands serve fresh fish, champagne, espresso
and caviar,among other treats. You can buy all your
souvenirs for loved ones here in one fell swoop. Ride
the escalator up to a rooftop cafe that offers an incredible view of Berlin.
A Cocktail or Two Can't Hurt
True to reputation, the most popular drink in
Germany is beer, and the Berliner ladies we hung
out with certainly put us through the paces. It was
none of that precious microbrewery stuff, either.
Lagers, as opposed to ales, are the most popular
and come in a variety of styles, from pale pilsner to
dark and malty bock. I learned that we Americans
know only half the story when it comes to weizens,
or wheat beers. The "hefe-" prefix means "yeasty;'
and that's all we yanks ever order. But there is a
whole other class of weizens called "kristall:' These
lighter, fruitier filtered brews are very refreshing,
and it's a shame they have not made it across
the Atlantic yet. When we could drink no more
alcohol, we occasionally refreshed ourselves with
apfelschorle, a cheerful blend of apple juice and
sparkling water.
Accommodating Ourselves
To get a fair sampling of the city's different accommodations, we tried out three different hotels. First
up was the 'a.esign hotel" Arcotel Velvet. Located
in the trendy Mitte district, the sleek yet comfortable hotel sported a preponderance of oddly
shaped furniture and decorative references to Andy
Warhol. Next we stayed at the Clarion hotel in the
Schoneberg disctrict. This is your average global
chain hotel, but it is a good budget option.
Finally, we ended up at our favorite spot: the
Artemesia Women's Hotel, the only all-women hotel
in Berlin. Our room in the small, homey guest house
was dean and bright. We also enjoyed the garden balcony and the charming breakfast room stocked with
feminist books. The other guests were friendly,and if
you are traveling solo, you will probably meet fellow
lesbian travelers here. The Artemesia is located at the
outskirts of town in a quiet residential neighborhood
in the Wilmersdorf district, but a U-Bahn stop is
right near by.
On our last evening in Berlin, we ate an enormous meal at a wonderful trattoria around the
corner from the Artemesia. Filled with wine and
food, we strolled down a side street back to our
cozy room. Maybe it was the evening autumn air,
or maybe it was the leaves swirling in the yellow
lamplight, but somehow we found ourselves kissing in a fair impression of some old Hollywood
film. And wouldn't you know it: We decided that
we love Berlin. ■
For morevisitorinfo seecurvemag.com.
March 2007
I77
Looking
for a
design
for
web
• Identity
• print
al
I
eyea
• branding
travel mate?
~ seed
n6uveau
www. seed nouveau. com
Best Lesbian Erotica 1007
Edited by Tristan Taormino
Selected and Introduced
by Emma Donoghue
A fire-eater, a voluptuous masseuse,and
a naked game of tag in a forest at twilight
- it could only be Best Lesbian Erotica
2007, the latest, boldest edition of the
best-selling lesbian erotica
series in America.
$14.95, 248 pages ISBN 1-57344-259-3
Call to Order! (800) 780-2279
or order onllne -.clelspress.com
Free Shipping
READYFORA
NEWHOME?
LGBT REALTORS
IN YOURCITY!
Whole Lesbian Sex Book
A Passionate Guide
for All of Us
by Felice Newman
All-new second edition completely revised and
updated throughout
$24.95, 300 pages ISBN 1·57344·199-6
Call to Order! (800) 780-2279
or order online: www.cleispress.com
free Shipping
1
SexTbys
DVDs
BDSM
Calendars
Posters
Massage
Dils
Diversity
ide Events
We Do It Different!
for GLBTs/PFLAGs
inEure~a
Sprin~s,
Ar~ansas
Valentine's,
Spring
&Fall
@I LGBT
DIVERSWEEKE
ITY
NDS
Special
Concert
and
s
otherPride
Events
Homes.com
Toll Free: 866-397-LGBT
A Randolph-Hagley
78
I curve
Company
forGa,fo!R
andtheirStraif
ht
friends
cffamilftoenjoy
toeether!
www.DiversityPride.com
517.B96.4842
Gay and lesbian
travel specialists
• Eco adventure
• Sightseeing
• History
• Culture
• Events
+
Yukon Pride.ca
T. 867 .668.2932
Yakoaadvtntures- In comfortandstyle
CastOIII
11111
I
st. Croix,U.S.VirginIslands
ch
eom
.sandcastleonthebea
www
800.52l.2018
----~--
A~§
~
to"(
steeltoestudios.com
We Are The Worlds Largest
Adult Novelty 5uperstont
www.v1brator.com
800. 831 · 1618
Take10%Off!
UsecodeCURVEIO
buckles
Hand-forged
leatherbelts
Hand-dye~
offerendsMarch1,2007
March 2007
I79
Top Ten ReasonsWe Love Heather Gold
Heather Gold's business card could easily be its own
Top Ten. She's a comedian, talk show host, lawyer,
baker, blogger and workplace reformer, among other
things. Gold left a Silicon Valley career to pursue
her passion for performance. In her award,winning
interactive play,I Look Like an Egg,but I Identifyas a
Cookie,she baked over 20,000 cookies with her audi,
ences. She hosts a live talk show, The HeatherGold
Show,discussing everything from hip,hop to how to
make a crowd of several thousand dance the Hora.
Her quirky Web site, subvert.com, features videos in
which the charming Gold subverts cleaning among
other things and muses about what it would take to
impeach President Bush. - Andy Wright
1.She'sversatile.
'The'Net and liveperformance have
both taught me that connection with our true selves
and between people is everything. I am interested in
creating for many mediums, but there is nothing like
people in a room together sharing themselves and an
experience:'
2. Shehasan enlightened
viewonwork."Work is
the religion of our time. Eight hours a day is a drag
for most people. All Americans need to come out as
themselves at work. People will be more creative and
the businesses will run better:•
3. She'sthemarrying
type."I love being engaged. It's
fun. We haven't yet set a date, but when we do, I'm
definitely inviting President Bush and Mel Gibson:•
4. Everyyearat theSanFrancisco
DykeMarchshe
askswomen:
When'sthefirsttimea girlmadeyou
feelsquishy?
"One woman dreamt about walking on
a giant breast when she was 7. I feltso squishy lying
on the grass with a next,door neighbor when I was 5.
that I put my arm around her. She moved it and told
"Workisthe religion
of ourtime.Eighthoursa day is a
5. Sheoncerefereed
a boxing
matchbetween
Barney dragfor mostpeople.AllAmericans
needto comeout
the Dinosaur
and Star Trelc's
WesleyCrusher(Wil
as themselves
at work."
Wheaton.)
"It was pretty damn geeky, but I don't
me that that was something a boyfriend would do:'
know if it can compare to the effort I put into decon,
structing the lyrics to 'Summer Loving' in grade six:'
late-nightshows?I love the chance to have meaningful
conversation in publiC:'
10.WeaskedGoldwhoinspired
her,andthisiswhat
shesaid:"People who live their lives with integrity
8. She'sfunny.On quitting her fast,paced tech job:
and people willing to tell the truth even when it's not
popular .... People who aren't afraid to be genuine
"It was really hard to give up all those free Diet Cokes
and extra,large T,shirts:'
and kind. People who live fully and without apology.
People who make work that is so beautiful and cap,
9. She'sgoingto saveus all a tonof moneyonstudentloans."(I'm working on] my next interactive
comedy, The Law Project,in which I teach all of law
tures the contradictions and heartbreak and delight
of the human experience. ... So many people I don't
know who keep their families and neighborhoods
together and cook for everyone and are nurturing,
loving, enlightened witnesses for those who haven't
6. She'sdamcute.See the accompanying picture
as evidence.
7. She'snotBillO'Reilly.
"I wanted to fix the things
that always bugged me about talk shows, like why
is that personsittingon the couchnot allowedto talk?
And whyam I listeningto a whitemiddle-class
guyfrom
Baltimorewho'san academictalkaboutgreatbluesmenof
theMississippiDeltainsteadof thebluesmenthemselves?
And, of course, why are thereno womenhostingthese
soIcurve
school in 90 minutes:'
had them:' ■
gome people see their
namein lights.
Mine'son a bag of Pita_Chips.
See all items with this value
