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(;l::-;FIUII() ~\ (ll ~RAILBLAZERS
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-----ARTISTS & ENTERTAINERS
CHRISTOPHER BRAI.I Samuel Delany-yet when
AUTHOR. F~ THER OF he put together his wonder·
FRA,VKEHSTEIN lui anthology, Boys Like Us:
"Twenty·two years ago, &ay Writers Tell Their Com·
when he was the editor of ing Out Stories, he pursued
Christopher Street maga· not just the famous but a
line, Patrick Merla pub· wtKIle new set of fresh
lished an unsolicited short voices-Alex Chee, Rodney
story by an unknown kid Cllristopher, and William
from Virginia. He gave me StertingWalker .
my first big break-and "Editors are the
nol just asawrilerbut as chameleons of litera lure:
a gay writer. I've written They are invisible if they
asa gay man ever since," do their job righl. As any·
says Christopher 8ram, au· one who's ever met or
thor of seven books, Includ· worked with Merla will at·
ing Father 01 Frankenstein lest. heisnol invisible in
(lhe basis of the film 60ds person. Yet his personality
and Monsters) and Ihe never shows on fhe page.
recenllypublished The The work he's edited has
Notorious Or, August, nothing in common except
"In his yem at Christo· high quality and Ihe secret
pher Street, then the New fact that it has become
York Native, Merta intro· betlerwhilepassing
ducedscoresofyoungwril · Ihrough his hands.
ers to print, including Doug· "Merta iscurrenlly the
las Sadownick (Sex editor of The lames White
Between Melfi, Sarah ReVIew. He continues to
Schulman (Rat Bohemia), publish younger writers but
and Ed Sikov (On Sunset does not forgellhe old. Re·
Boulmrd: The Life and unt issues were devoted
Times 01 Billy Wi/den. He 10 Ihe fiction of lames
worked with eslablished Punly and the poetry of Ihe
aulhorsaswell ,thebrand ~te Tim Dlugos, For over
names of gay lit-Edmund ~ years now, Merta has
White, Andrew Holleran, been adding the new 10 Ihe old,assemblingapyram id
of books that should enable
us to see the future more
clearly. Gay life would be a
different,smaller,flatter
place without him."
-Michael6i1tz
CHERYL DUNY[
fIWMAKER. THE
IVA TERMELOV ,VO',IAN
"MicheliePar1 trailblazer for a lot of peo·
pie. She's a D.C.·based
documentary ·ficlional film·
makerandanoul African-
American lesbian," says
Cheryl Dunye, who goes
inlo production Ihissum·
meronhersecondfeature .
Stranoer Inside. "Michelle
invenled Ihepolitics that I
believe in for filmmaking
and set me up 10 become
who I am, not just asa
filmmaker but as an
African-American woman.
She's done pieces on drag
kings, Sweet Honey in the
Rock, and recenlly, poel
AudreLorde.
"t firsl saw her work
whenlwasanundergradal
TempleUniversily back in
the mid'SOs.llhought,
Wow, this woman is ~ (
I onto something. I was jusl
figuring out how 10 make
wor1<,but she was aclualty
speaking Ihe words with
herwor1 speat She rose above
queer politic. and lesbian·
gay politics by being out
back in the early '70s and
making documentaries
about the subjecls she
wan led 10 make when no
onewa.doing it or funding
i!.1 always consider her
(opinion) a litmus test on
my work." -M.G.
?' .• "! IOGEL
0,:, .'/PIGHT. HOI'll
_::C',E] roORH'f
"In 1969, as a freshman at
Bryn Mawr College, I mel
Prof. Adrienne Lockhart.
She was an extraordinary
womal>-the mosl popular
tucher on campus; her
classe$ were always
filled.' remembers Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwrighl
Paula Vogel. "(Lockhart(
did many thing>-she
drove a truck across Aus·
traliainthesummer ,she
was the female judo cham·
pion of Australia, and her
classes were standing room
only. She also encouraged
us to ask questions, 10
love W.H. Auden poems,
She cooked curry dinners
for freshmen, And she told
metolakemywritingseri ·
ou.ly. She told me Iwas
meant to be a playwrighl.
And I believed her,
"But most importanl, gen·
lIy,quietlyshe letme know
that.he was gay by intro·
ducing me to her lover, an·
other intense and brilliant
woman, when I was 19. I
wasgrapplingwilhlh,tor·
ment. of lesbian sexual
identity at the end of Ihe
'60s. When I saw the way
these two coltege profes·
sors looked at each other
across the room, the floor
opened under my feet. I reo peated It as a mantra in the
years ahead: 'Adrienne
Lockhart, this brilliant,
beautiful woman, is ales·
bian!' That Quiet courage,
thai role· modeling for
me- could wrile, one could drive
lrucks and compele and be
admired and giving and bea
lesbia~avemeanel'
ample to follow. I enlered
graduale school In t974,
del ermined to leach, the
year Ihat she succumbed to
breasl cancer." -M.6.
RH~ i,lA[ aRO,'1'1
lUHOR. RJ81FRUIT
:VoLE
"My inspiration was Aris·
tophanes, The quality of
his work, the outrageous·
ness of it,rnade me realize
thai Irue comedy is much
more difficult and glorious
10 do than lragedy. And
that was Ihe path t wanted
to follow," says Brown,
who has had 24 books pub· lishedsince her saucy les·
bian debul novel, Rubylroit
lungle,in 1973. "As for gay
influences," says Brown,
"lhere weren't any. Not
Ihat I knew. Not at that
time. The only lesbian I
knew was Sappho. Nobody
was out, so why bother
with Irying to find a
model? You jusl had togo
do what you had to do. And
I wanted to write, so Ihat's
where my energieswenl.
"Rubylroit lunglowas Ihe
only book I could write at
thai time. Thai's where my
skill level was. And I was
very younll-I was 27.1
don't remember how long it
tookmetowrite .lremem· berit took the summer,
maybe four months. I Just
remember wishing I had
air-conditioning ,"
-Anne Stockwell
',I.RCUS HU
COfOUNDER.
STRlJIO RELE\SlNG
'Back in the '70s and 'Sos
there were few out Asian
men," says Marcus Hu, co·
founder of Strand Releas·
ing, which since 19S9has
been a leader in distributing
gay and lesbian indepen·
dent fi\ms."1 remember
being in high school and
Hipping channels on the TV,
and I saw this handsome
Asian man, Arthur Dono,
who idenlified himself as
gay. He was at·
tractive, and even
though I hadn't
seenh isfilm~1
soughllhemout
and was tolally in
awe of him. Arthur
hasbecomebotha
friend and a col·
league. He gave
me the inspiration
lodowhallw anl·
edtodo,which
was pUrsue film
and not be afraid
or ashamed of
what I al!1---;l film nerd.
"But my mentor is defi·
nitelyGregg Araki,anolher
Asian role model,whowas
gay back when we first mel
butis now decidedly
slraighl. Gregg laughl me
everything I know aboul
no·budgel filmmaking; he
hooked me up with the Sun·
dance Institule; he taughl
me and legions of other
filmmakers how to get
things done cheaply and ef·
ficiently. Most of altheis
completely a filmmaker in
Ihe real sense: He is capa­
bleofwriling,direcl ing,
shooting, and editing his
work.lameternallygra te·
fulto Gregg."-M .G.
TKE ADVOCATE 118 I AUIiU$T 15, 2000 SSamKtlER
Pll'ITER
"Unfortunately for many
gay people, there really
was no one/'says painter
RossSleckner. "Gay men
from previous generations
never thought of it as their
responsibility to create
role models of themselves
to make il easier for
younger gay people,
"The historical figures
who were known to be gay
weren't much comfort ei·
Iher. You couldn't glean
who Ihey were as political
and social entities through
theirsexuality ,ltwashlnt·
ed ai, but you had to read
between the lines. And
reading belween Ihe lines
is discouraging. Thai's the
social model most gay peo·
pie had 10 deal with. Hope·
fully, the generation Ihat is
eslablished now will feel
Ihe responsibilily 10 be out
so lhat younger gay people
don'l have 10 do Ihat any·
more,"-M.G.
• ,r'G OlOH,\,',l
c '~,' 'j r E~II~IE~
'The directors lohn Waters
and Gus Van Sant have been
really important tome,"
says designer and director
Todd Oldham, who's work·
ing on a script he plans 10
shoot next year. "I saw
(Waters'sl Female Trouble
in a movie theater in Dallas,
and my jaw was on my lap
the entire time. It inspired
the first five years of my
design career, And Van
Sanl's Mala Nocheis so
beautiful,sopretty -it'sa
fairy tale broughl to life, in
an intriguing way." Oldham
particularly admires how
bothdireclors lackle gay
subject matter without
being boxed Inbyi!. "The
gay parts are just includ·
ed," says Oldham. "The
movies are never defined
bylhem."-M.6. I
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