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6 Questions for Author Maurice W. Dorsey, PhD
Author Maurice W. Dorsey was recently nominated for a QBR Wheatley Book Award for Businessman First, his biography of Henry G. Parks, Jr.
I had the pleasure of meeting Maurice at this year’s Rainbow Book Fair – and now the double pleasure of asking him ‘6 Questions.’ His book, Businessman First, tells the story of Henry G. Parks, Jr., a successful African American businessman. Maurice was as nice and engaging as his book is fascinating – a story that both needed to be told, and that Maurice promised to tell. He has, in spectacular fashion.
MM: Congratulations on being nominated for a QBR Wheatley Book Award. Can you describe those awards and how you came to be nominated?MWD: QBR The Black Book Review, the Harlem Book Fair are partnered by the Columbia University, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the New York Public Library, Literacy Partners, Inc. and C-Span Book TV. The Harlem Book Festival is the largest and most respected African American literary festival. I was recommended by a friend in Washington, DC.
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6 Questions for Author Marshall Thornton
Marshall Thornton If you’re a reader of gay mysteries, you’ll inevitably come across the name Marshall Thornton. His Boystown detective series is among the more widely known and admired series in the genre. The series received two honorable mentions and was a runner-up in the Rainbow Awards, and has twice been a finalist for the Lambda Book Award – Gay Mystery. He’s currently re-releasing the series, with Boystown 7: Bloodlines set for release in March.
Marshall’s a prolific writer, with books that include Desert Run, My Favorite Uncle, and The Ghost Slept Over, to name a few. Somehow he found time to answer ‘6 Questions’! And here they are … Mark McNease/Editor
MM: I was looking at your bio. Having lived in Los Angeles in the 1980s, I’m wondering: why Long Beach? What got you there?
MT: Like many decisions in life, moving to Long Beach was a bit random. In my early thirties I decided to go back to college to finish my B.A. I applied at both Cal State Northridge and Cal State Long Beach and got into both. The deciding factor was that the Cal State Long Beach brochure said that you could see the ocean from campus—and, if you go to the top of the tallest building you can. Looking back, that’s a ridiculous reason to choose a college. But I’ve been here about twenty-two years. It’s really a great city. -
6 Questions for Author Jean Ryan
I’ve recently had the pleasure of getting to know Jean Ryan, a gifted writer and generous spirit whose story, Manatee Gardens, opens the collection Outer Voices Inner Lives. Jean has since kept up a correspondence with me and had several of her blog posts featured here at lgbtSr. Her collection, ‘Survival Skills’ (Ashland Creek Press) is available for anyone interested in superb writing and stories with deep insight into the human experience. I couldn’t think of anyone better for a 6 Questions feature. – Mark/EditorMM: It’s been really good to get to know you more since we “met” through the Outer Voices Inner Lives collection. Can you tell readers a little about Jean Ryan? Native Vermonter, now in Napa, CA …
JR: I was born and raised in Vermont. After college I moved to Boston and eventually wound my way to California, drawn by visions of sunny beaches and the freedom to live openly as a lesbian. Berkeley was everything I’d hoped for and more. It is still a treat to drive down from Napa and walk through the colorful neighborhoods of Berkeley, where everyone is accepted and anything goes.
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6 Questions for Olivia Hart, Her Excellency, Royal Countess de Orenburg
Frank, Olivia and Ophelia By Rick Rose
I recently read about Beautiful By Night, James Hosking’s documentary in which he invites the audience into the lives of three older drag performers at Aunt Charlies, a legendary venue in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. Olivia Hart was one of those three veteran performers in what some consider a disappearing art form. You wouldn’t know it from talking to Olivia. I had the pleasure of asking her ‘6 Questions,’ which she graciously answered. – Rick
Miss Olivia Hart
Her Excellency, Royal Countess de Orenburg
“From the Heart, Through the Court, For the Community” -
6 Questions for Author David Lennon
The author in 1975 I learned about author David Lennon a few years ago when I read his first mystery, The Quarter Boys, set in New Orleans. Subsequently, his Michael Doucette and Sassy Jones Mysteries series was nominated for three Lambda Literary Awards and won the 2010 Lammy for Best Gay Mystery. I just finished his newest novel, DeadFall, and had the pleasure of asking him ‘6 Questions,’ which he graciously answered in depth and detail. – Mark McNease/Editor
MM: You have a new book out, DeadFall, that begins in 1975. It made me think a lot of having been a gay teenager, first love, regrets and what-ifs. What inspired you to write that story, and why now?
DL: The why now part is easy. I’m at an age where there’s most likely more time behind than ahead, so I’ve begun to reflect on the past. As I mention in the introduction, the summer of 1975 when I was thirteen was one of my favorite times because I was experiencing so much for the first time and it all felt so intense, heightened by hormones and possibly other substances. It was also the time when I first felt like I was leaving childhood. All of that is something I’ve thought about trying to recapture for about five years now.
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6 Questions for Lady Ellen, Founder of Le Femme Finishing School
Last week I shared a recent Aged to Perfection podcast with Lady Ellen, founder of Le Femme Finishing School in New Jersey, the only one of its kind in the state. Talking to Ellen, I quickly realized the deep value of what she offers her clients: a space to be themselves, to explore their identities, express their spirits and use their experiences with Ellen to emerge from the chrysalis into themselves. Following are six additional questions for her about the School, her clients and her mission.MM: What is some of the most common guidance your clients are looking for?
LE: Most clients want to see what they would look like as a female, want to know if they can “pass” in public and wish to learn makeup application techniques. I teach my clients what they would have learned from the women in their lives if they had been raised as a woman. I offer lessons in makeup, deportment, movement, image and style and constantly tell them to keep their knees together when wearing a skirt. That is why clients come to me, but often they thank me the most for lending them a sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on, an understanding heart that makes them feel accepted. I give a lot of advice about accepting one’s self and going forward with confidence and courage. Liking what they see in the mirror helps build that confidence and positive self image.
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Mom worries skinny-dipping will turn her daughter gay
From Redding.com: Dear Straight Talk: My sister and I like to skinny dip in our pool on hot nights. When friends spend the night we invite them to join us since we’re all girls. Our mom recently remarried and we invited our new stepsister to join us, which she did. We’re 16 and 15 and she’s 13. We share our room with her and undress in front of each other. She mentioned it to her mom, who read our family the riot act. She insisted this would make her daughter gay and thinks we must be gay to “corrupt” a younger girl this way. Now our stepsister has to sleep on the couch and change in the bathroom, even though she’d rather share our room. This idea that something will “make” you gay is totally stupid. If girls seeing other girls naked made you gay, we’d all be gay. It’s so sad. — Suzanne in Sacramento]]>
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Dutch military to march in Pride parade for first time
Lesbian and gay service members have served openly in the Dutch military since 1974. I guess you could say they were ahead of the curve.
From AJC.com:
AMSTERDAM — Embracing a policy of “Do Tell,” the Dutch military is joining Amsterdam’s annual Gay Pride parade for the first time this year, with uniformed men and women saluting the crowds from a boat chugging through the city’s canals.
Unlike the United States military, gays have openly served in Dutch units since 1974, and have had a department within the Defense Ministry minding their interests for 25 years.
Former U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi, who was discharged in 2010 after violating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, is a guest on the float.]]> -
Facility in Oakland, CA, launches initiative to raise LGBT eldercare awareness
From Chancing Aginge.com: An Eden Alternative registered facility in Oakland, Calif., has launched a research-based cultural sensitivity initiative targeting the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) elders receiving skilled nursing and long-term care, the Bay Area Reporter reportered this week. Raising awareness of LGBT eldercare-related issues is an important challenge in the culture change movement. Recent surveys have found that a majority of LGBT older adults fear being openly gay in long-term care settings and as a result are among the most invisible and underserved aging populations in the nation. Eden Alternative registered Salem Lutheran Home partnered with Lavender Seniors of the East Bay and the Center for Elders’ Independence to develop a needs assessment and cultural sensitivity training program to improve services and care for LGBT elders. The project — Growing an LGBT Senior Service Community — was launched in February at Salem Lutheran Home.]]>
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Appeals Court rules in favor of transgender inmates
A federal appeals court has struck down a vicious Wisconsin law that prohibits taxpayer dollars paying for hormone (or other) therapy for transgender inmates. As opposed to, say, prohibiting taxpayer dollars for cluster bombs or taxpayer dollars for discriminatory faith-based organizations.
From Fox11:
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling striking down a Wisconsin law banning taxpayer-funded hormone therapy for transgender inmates.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision Friday comes in a case brought by a group of male inmates who identify as female challenging a 2006 state law.
They say they need the hormones to treat their gender identity disorder, and not having them would lead to severe health problems.
A federal judge struck down the law last year and the state appealed. On Friday a three-judge panel on the federal appeals court upheld the ruling.]]> -
Mark's Cafe Moi: Ghosts that sell memories
I don’t know where that line comes from, “Ghosts that sell memories.” A song, I think, or at least a song whose lyrics I vaguely remember.
I came across a letter Larry Kramer wrote to Randy Shilts (via The Petrelis Files, via Andrew Sullivan) in which Kramer tells Shilts that he’s going to Los Angeles to see a production of “The Normal Heart” starring Richard Dreyfuss. I saw that production. I was there to review the play for EDGE, a long-defunct gay newspaper I wrote stories and reviews for. My late partner Jim was with me. He died in 1991, spending the last three days of his life comatose in a hospice. Prior to the very end he’d been in a tight fetal position, but for some reason he relaxed that last day. A very kind nurse shaved him and combed his hair; he was looking good for the first time in many months, though he had always been handsome to me.
Jim will be dead 20 years this November. I very rarely encounter him in dreams – maybe once every five years – but the last week or so I’ve met him again after all this time. He seems content; his sense of humor is intact, he’s easygoing, and speaking with him now, there is none of the pain and fear that was such a thick, oppressive part of our days and nights.
So much has been written about the 30th anniversary of the AIDS plague (and I do prefer to call it a plague, as Kramer calls it; “epidemic” is both an understatement and a sanitization of its horror). It wasn’t that I wanted to throw in my two sentimental cents, just that I suddenly recalled, after reading Larry Kramer’s letter, sitting in a theater in 1985 with a man I would lose six years later. And those dreams so recent, and the peace I felt seeing him again.
I’ll be marrying Frank, my partner of nearly five years. Maybe Jim just wanted to give us his blessing. Ghosts that sell memories I’m happy to buy.]]> -
Interview: Michael Fairman from Michael Fairman On-Air On-Soaps
By Rick Rose
Michael Fairman has been in the soap opera business for well over half his life. Our Rick Rose met Michael when Rick was a journalist for several soap magazines. Michael has seen his life and that of this great American institution change over those couple decades. From growing up in “small town Wisconsin” (like Rick), then moving to LA, from living in the closet to living out, from Lucci winning the Emmy (finally) and ONE LIFE TO LIVE breaking the spell of canceled soaps by moving from network TV to the internet, Michael has informatively and humorously rolled with the changes on his daily website called Michael Fairman On-Air On-Soaps (www.michaelfairmansoaps.com). Here he candidly tells lgbtSr all! RR: How, why and when did you start your website? Did it grow with hits fast or take time? MF: I started SoapCity.com for Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment in 1997. It was the first online portal for soaps ever. With this, I could bring all my talents together to connect worldwide fans closer to their stars. I have this insane knowledge of daytime and was able to parlay it into this successful model. In 2001, when the higher-ups wanted to make money off the site with $1.99 downloads of episodes, it was like watching your baby changing into someone else. I stepped away and went into producing and writing TV. In 2008, I wanted to create my own web platform with my own brand. In 2009, I did a 100% overhaul of that site which is what you see today. Coming back into it, (after so many years away) I saw how online had blossomed, but of course with that came a lot of online soap site competitors which made me want to make my video, interviews and presentation be very modern to stand out from the bad wrap of a soap’s traditional “grandma” feel. It launched with a big benefit for AIDS Walk Los Angeles as I have always believed in the social responsibility of the soap genre. We have increased traffic and hits by 100% in the last year. RR: Why your ongoing fascination with soaps and hasn’t the passion for them dwindled in general over the years? MF: Ricky Paul Goldin, Emmy-nominated again this year for his lead role on ALL MY CHILDREN which was recently canceled just asked me that same question, Rick. He commented that I have never abandoned my soap friends. I believe that you have to follow your heart and your passion even though it may not always seem to be the right decision at times. Look, it is human nature to be fascinated by doom and gloom. So while soaps seem to be dying due to lack of interest, their cancelations have conversely made folks want to look online and see where the genre is headed. My relationship with the actors and fans who I love has been for 23 years. Is it time for me to move on? It is a tough call. RR: The Michael who first started watching soaps as a young boy in Wisconsin vs. the Michael today living in Los Angeles…what was life like then vs. now? MF: As a kid I had huge dreams and aspirations. I wanted to leave Wisconsin really bad and pursue a career in acting and singing in NYC or Hollywood. I knew I didn’t fit in with where I was from at a very young age. Now, having lived a full fifty years, the spirit is still there, but what is real isn’t exactly what I dreamed. You get kicked down, you get up again. You must persevere. At times I questioned whether or not I was strong enough to handle it all. Then I look at it and see how much I have survived, and realized, I am strong and a survivor to boot! I have handled a lot of issues and kept on going. As an older gay man living in WEHO (West Hollywood, CA), I am surprised as I never thought I would be living in the Mecca for our gay community, in the thick of it. When I was in my 20s and 30s it was about my looks, something that is true for gay men in LA. It is superficial. I have always been out in a large city, so there has always been that “high school” pressure. I feel that the Gay community is often harder on itself and I wish we were more supportive of one another. And now at 50, I am looked at differently, as a Daddy. It drives me up a wall. (Laughs)
RR: Are the situations one faces growing up in a city in Wisconsin the same as those we see on air in a soap city like Genoa City on THE YOUNG AND RESTLESS which is also set in Wisconsin? MF: No. Where is the poor family on Y&R? Where is the character from the inner city of Milwaukee? Soap people are all beautiful and no one works at a brewery. (Laughs) Soaps are too glamorous for what it is really like out in America. But every soap at its center, and why it relates to people from the South to West to Midwest, is that it is about core family relationships, bringing kids up, falling apart, losing loved ones…it is an amped up version of what we may experience in Anywhere, USA on a daily basis. That was the successful formula of soaps for years. We could relate, and we could watch as a family….it became an extended family for many viewers. My moral values and the people I meet from the Midwest are salt of the earth. I get along best with them. Generally there is something to be said about moral values and backbones. They know what is right and wrong. You don’t find that in other parts of the country, and not always on soaps either. (Laughs)
RR: ONE LIFE TO LIVE and ALL MY CHILDREN are perfect examples of a recent slew of soaps that have been canceled. Why? Have they stayed current and real? MF: This didn’t just happen overnight. It is a domino effect. Networks have made decisions years ago which are making a difference today. When televising the OJ trial, the public fascination with that came into play. Now, TV executives see they can create a similar sensation at 40% less of the cost with reality/makeover shows in the daypart, or at least they think they can. Before that back in the 80s and 90s, they would use the large soap revenues and pour them into primetime shows. Coupled with that is the internal disappointment that soap producers and designers never really modernized the look and feel. GUIDING LIGHT tried to do this too late in the game with almost all location shooting yet they had no budget. It was too late for America’s oldest soap/TV series. Right now, OLTL is on a creative high. It has been riveting for months. It is number 3 in the ratings! On AMC, the results of bringing in its creator Agnes Nixon to fix the big mistakes from recent years of bad writing is just showing on-screen now. The decision to wipe out both shows at the same time is shocking. To put on two reality/ talk shows at once as replacements is crazy versus trying one to see how it does. ABC tried to breathe new life into an older art form with creative marketing campaigns but some of the audience was already gone. SOAP OPERA DIGEST may go out of circulation next year, but its numbers were dwindling for years. No one saw this? RR: An Entertainment Media/ internet company, Prospect Park, has signed licensing agreements with ABC to carry OLTL and AMC on the internet. As an expert in these two areas (web and soaps), will they succeed and will a new era for soap operas begin? MF: Rick, I wish I could tell you the answer. I am seeing positive things happening very fast. There are a lot of discussions happening, but it is shrouded in secrecy because of negotiations. The networks, the shows and the actors are all interested and excited, but when it comes down to it, it is all about how will they make money and will they be protected by their specific unions. Prospect Park is coming in as a player with a lot of cash and capital, so that brings hopes. Some variables that could make it problematic though are: What is the production model? They are saying they want the shows to be the same length and quality and have the same cast and studios. But will viewers watch on line for that long? They should. How will the budgets change? Can they afford the high salaries of veterans like Susan Lucci and Erika Slezak to allow them to move from TV to internet? And above all, will fans be okay with video on demand and subscription? In other words, will the soaps be sponsor driven with advertising or will the fans pay for them. It is all very interesting and fast paced right now. RR: DAYS OF OUR LIVES has shaken things recently by replacing its executive producers and headwriters, resolving to tell contemporary stories using characters who viewers have loved from years ago, steeped in tradition. The gay love story between Sonny and Will being the first story to launch and the first same sex story since DAYS inception in the mid 1960’s. Is this working? Is that story real? MF: They had to make the shift. It was at the bottom of the ratings. It lost 350,000 viewers in a matter of months. The stories were clearly off kilter. DAYS fans are diehard; the most loyal out there. They want to see their beloved favorites but yet get excited about fresh stories and characters. Fans are often fickle. They complain when certain characters are on air, then complain when they are off. DAYS cut its budgets to survive and canned Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn. Now they are both coming back as Marlena and John. But how long will they stay? As far as the gay storyline on DAYS it is just getting started. It is great because Sonny is the son of long time fan favorites Justin and Adrienne and Sonny has been gay from the getgo, so thank God it is not another coming out story. We have seen that a hundred times. And longtime favorite Sami’s son Will is who we are hearing will be the love interest for Sonny. We need to see more normal, everyday stories for LGBT characters. Why doesn’t THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL have a gay character? After all it is set in the fashion industry. There are fan bases for the gay couples that exist on daytime, yet this is an oxymoron still today. When I interviewed Y&R’s headwriter, Maria Arena Bell for PRIDE MAGAZINE she shared that people wrote and said, “We have no problem with gay characters, we just don’t want to see them on our show.” Maria said, “So what do I do as a headwriter with that? But, I would love to tell a gay story that is character driven and makes sense for our canvas.” Sadly, a few years ago, there were five gay stories on soaps, now there will be only one when AMC leaves the airwaves, and that will be on DAYS. The internet will allow us to explore and show more. Crystal Chappell’s LGBT themed web series, VENICE, regularly had lesbian characters kissing and in bed. So far, there aren’t the broadcast standards to uphold, which is great! It’s about time everybody got on the bandwagon because the TV and web convergence is here. RR: Then why haven’t we seen modern world conveniences like Grindr and Scruff enter into storylines making them more real? MF: App’s like these are so popular and so branded, and are used for dating and sex hook-ups more than any other outlet now. There are news stories that they are killing the “gay bar” as we know it. So sure, they will come into play as the “new soap” uses more product placement. Convergence is here…between TV and internet and soon between real world and reel world. It is finally all coming together. Social networking is all new territory to explore. Will these stories work? Do they work in our life, Rick? I don’t even have Gridnr, by the way, because I have a Blackberry! Unfortunately, once again, I can’t come to the party. If I get an iPhone, will my dating options be better? Would I have more fun? Does anyone date a fifty year old senior anymore? Ha! RR: How is your dating life? MF: It’s funny. When I do go out, it always comes down to the question of what one does for a living. They usually answer that they are an executive banker at Wells Fargo. Or recently, a date told me that he produced this show on CBS called CSI or something like that, and asked if I ever heard of it. Then it is my turn, and it is hard to explain what I do to begin with. So I simplify and say that I am a journalist for daytime drama who has my own website. “Ohhhhhhh,” they respond. Then dead silence, and I think back to high school, and all that I have done to keep in shape and be desirable at 50 and it all just slinks away on me at that moment. But, for those that don’t run, and do look at my website, they see how modern and legit it is, so that makes me feel good. There is hope! RR: So why aren’t you creating and producing the first majorly successful
internet soap, Michael? MF: I do know the platform, you are right; and I know the formula. When new actors or publicists, or show producers for the Daytime Emmys, and sometimes marketing outfits in the mainstream, come into the soap world, they always call Fairman! They don’t know the characters, the histories. They admittedly don’t know what works, what fans long for, and they feel safe and comfortable with me. It is both a unique and wonderful position to be in. I provide a voice for the fans and the actors which they can trust. It is that Midwestern integrity. I have never been a TMZ journalist, and the one time I did leak a secret, I got scolded so bad that I will never do that again. RR: So just one secret for our readers, please? MF: Well I do have vision. I do know the bigger picture. And I’m keenly watching what is going on here. Last month was our biggest to date….we had over 6 million hits on the site. Maybe the next step for Michael Fairman On-Air On-Soaps will be to do my own soap. I wonder if Andy Cohen at BRAVO who launched the REAL HOUSEWIVES series is single and uses Grindr? Now there is a gay man who really needs to be producing a soap. Do you know him? Let’s hook me up with him. A true soap on BRAVO or bravo.com? It’s time!]]>
