Stevie by Novaslim, 2004.
In 1994 I penned “Heroines of Daybreak: Straight from Black Woman Land,” a children’s play that (briefly) highlights the accomplishments of three pioneers, Bessie Coleman (pilot), Marian Anderson (opera singer) and Lorraine Hansberry (playwright). It was performed only once at Mott Branch Library in Toledo, Ohio, where I worked as a children’s librarian for three years. Twelve years later I decided to pull the damn thing out, cut the long corny title and sharpen the language. On February 19, “She Did It” was performed to an appreciative audience at a church in Brooklyn. Now don’t go asking me the name of the church, because I honestly do not know. Never did. A co-worker of mine directed it as a part of a black history celebration for her church, and since I was out of town on business, I missed my chance to see it.
The business I happened to be that day, however, was extremely important to me. Dr. Ron Simmons, Executive Director of Us Helping Us, a DC-based wellness center, donated his papers to the Schomburg Center’s Black Gay and Lesbian Archive. I went to Washington DC to pack his collection. Dr. Simmons has long been an inspiration to me in many ways. A long time activist, writer and visionary, his involvement in the black LGBT renaissance of the 1980s is impressive. Dr. Simmons was a member of the Committee of Black Gay Men, a pioneering black gay men’s organization. He also served as the principal photographer for Marlon Riggs’s ground-breaking documentary “Tongues Untied.” His talents were also enlisted by Sidney Brinkley, editor and founder of two seminal periodicals, Blacklight and BGM, as a layout editor. Dr. Simmons also wrote a column called “Faggotales” which appeared in his college school newspaper, and was a successful freelance journalist. Many scholars know Dr. Simmons’s “Some Thoughts on the Challenges Facing Black Gay Intellectuals,” an insightful essay which appeared in the anthology, “Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men.” The essay posits that the most daunting task before black gay intelligentsia is the development of a progressive view of homosexuality in the community. He was a professor of communications at Howard University before leaving to work with Us Helping Us, the only black gay organization in history to own its own building. The wonderful Charles I. Nero, another scholar whose essay, “Toward a Black Aesthetic: Signifying in Black Gay Literature,” which also appeared in “Brother to Brother,” was the catalyst in bringing Dr. Simmons and I together. For years I had spoken to Dr. Simmons about the possibility of donating his papers, but we never sat down and made a plan. With Dr. Nero’s help, we finally did.
My own writing has been keeping me busy as well. Professionally I have been packing in the book reviews. In the last two months I have had the pleasure of reviewing Thomas Glave’s new book, “Words to Our Now: Imagination and Dissent,” in addition to Pulitzer-prize-winning New York Times cultural critic Margo Jefferson’s first book, “On Michael Jackson,” both for Black Issues Book Review. Currently I am putting the touches on a short, but sweet review of “My Life in France,” by the late Julia Child for Library Journal. I plan to post snippets of each review once they are published.
Fortunately I have learned that I have to make time to work on personal writing projects. And so I have. Currently I am drafting a memoir about my mother Elaine Houston entitled “Mother Hunger.” As I have intimated in previous posts, she passed of breast cancer in 1997, and I miss her so. This book is a way to “re-member” her, so to speak, a way to recall and rethink the most enduring figure in my life. It has become vital that I capture and embody the many memories of her in text, regardless if I ever publish this work or not.
I am also knee-deep in a writing exercise designed to track the way that I think. I am driven to know, down to the detail, why I think the way that I do. My process of capturing, absorbing, saving and crunching information, and how I use that information to craft who and what I think I am, and who and what I think you are. Inspiration for this particular project springs from many sources. In addition to taking in films like “What the Bleep Do We Know,” and the director’s cut, “What the Bleep: Down the Rabbit Hole,” and “Donnie Darko,” I am also reading a book given as a gift to Larry called “The Secret Dowry of Eve: Woman’s Role in the Development of Consciousness,” by Glynda-Lee Hoffman. Additionally, I also refer to “The Seat of the Soul,” by Gary Zukav often, as well as “The Hidden Messages in Water,” by Masaru Emoto and other “thought-provoking” texts to provide fodder for this particular journey into my brain. The main text, however, is Carl Jung’s autobiography, “Memories, Dreams and Reflections.” Jung’s interrogation of his inner life is fascinating and extremely inspiring as I chronicle my intellectual life, as I currently know it. Jung understood very intimately why it was important for him as a psychiatrist to “dive into his own wreck”— his unconscious—to improve and shape his perspective as a healer. How could he ask anybody else to do something he had not done? Immersing himself in the depths of his interior life gave him a clarity I find particularly illuminating and affirming, and offered him a comfort that has allowed him the sensibility to connect to a more open way of seeing and being in the world. Here is a book that feeds the mind and the soul.
Have been hanging out with friends more frequently these days, which is always nice. Mingus and I took on Greenwich Village a few weeks ago. We supped on vegetarian cuisine, shopped for music, then headed to Chi Chis where Mingus gave a very nice karaoke performance of Prince’s “Raspberry Beret.” And then we headed to Fat Cat for several games of ping pong. Don’t fuck with the Mingus. He will beat your sorry ass in ping pong. He certainly put a hurting on me. The next week I was eating dinner with Heru, who received confirmation of his PhD from the Fielding Graduate University. Very happy for him. Our time was spent over a dinner at BBQs and catching up. I ate fried chicken wings and he had a big old ½ chicken, I think. It was good to connect with him and share all of my, well, I can’t say troubles: maybe gossip. Can you gossip about yourself? Years ago Heru and I formed a business called One Step Further, a sexual education company specifically targeting black and Latino men who have sex with men. While that company no longer exists, his new company Black Funk, a sexual cultural center for people of color, does and it is remarkable. Here’s a link to the website which serves as a portal and community space for people of color who are interested in learning more about sexuality from a non-Eurocentric (white), culturally-competent perspective.
My buddy Phil and I had lunch two Saturdays ago. During the course of our visit he pulled a copy of FUNNY out of his bag and asked me for an autograph. Immediately I wondered where he got the book. Later he told me he got it from Harlemade, the coolest souvenir store in Harlem. I was like, okay, I thought I had given him one and didn’t sign it, which struck me as an odd thing not to do. Hope he likes it.
Carla wrote the sweetest thing about me for my birthday on her blog, in addition to knitting me two washcloths. She constructed a self-care package replete with fragrant soap, bath tea and a tonic for old geezers like me. And Larry got me something very special, but I can’t tell you what it is. Trust me though, it’s something that I needed and wanted and desired and ensconce myself in each every day since I turned forty.
Soon to come: information about art in harlem: star struck.
Wanted
People
Looking for contact information for Valerie Griffith. She used to live Toledo, Ohio. She’s a writer and we were friends, oh so long ago in Toledo. Would love to connect with her. Also searching for Ife Modupe (a.k.a. Toni Sullivan) who also lived in Toledo at one time, then Washington DC, and now I think she lives in Michigan with her mom, and her daughter Nia. Contact me at bglanyc@yahoo.com with any information about Valerie or Ife.
Archive Project Volunteers
I am looking for volunteers for the Black Gay and Lesbian Archive Project. Two to four hours a week. Email me at bglanyc@yahoo.com for more information.
Selling books, CDs and other things
My list of sale items will be up on the website sometime before the end of the month. Bargain basement prices. If you live in New York City, you owe it to yourself to check out my goodies. If you are out of town and see something you like, let me know. I will gladly mail items to you—for the right price, of course.