pridelets

Friday, October 20, 2006

The Pridelets Files for October 18

On this day in 1997, lobbyist Dr. James Dobson tells ABC News reporter John Hockenberry that he doesn't regret sending out a fundraising letter from his Focus on the Family group/(industry) saying that women who insist on becoming college educated will likely become lesbians.

Hockenberry: "But can it cause lesbianism?"
Dobson: "I think it can encourage it, yeah."

BIRTHGAYS (and the occasional straights)
* 1660 - Duchess of Marlborough, Sarah Jennings Churchill (and lover of Queen Anne)
* 1663 - Lusty Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy
* 1753 - French revolutionary Jean Jacques Regis De Cambaceres
* 1777 - German author Heinrich von Kleist
* 1947 - Folk singer/songwriter goddess Laura Nyro (Laura Nigro)
* 1950 - Tony and the Pulitzer prize winning playwright and Cornell University professor-at-large Wendy Wasserstein
* 1953 - philanthropist Tim Gill
* 1956 - Tennis diva Martina Navratilova

Q.UOTE
"Did you read Holly Near's book? Let me save you the trouble. This is the most exciting sentence in the book: 'I feel like a lesbian when I'm making love to a woman.' Good, Holly! Well, the major difference between me and Holly Near is that I feel like a lesbian when I am BREATHING!" -- Lea DeLaria

THE BEDSIDE TABLE
"I Celebrate Myself: The Somewhat Private Life of Allen Ginsberg" by Bill Morgan

Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Howl, the first full biography of Allen Ginsberg—from birth to death
Allen Ginsberg was America’s most influential poet since World War II, a figure who was in the vanguard of every popular movement of that time, from the emergence of the Beat generation to the countercultural revolution to the interest in Eastern spirituality. In this new biography, the first since the poet’s death in 1997 and the only one to cover his entire life, Bill Morgan creates the most complete portrait to date of Ginsberg.
Drawing on his unparalleled access to Ginsberg’s inner circle as well as on the poet’s journals and correspondence, Morgan offers a revealing portrait of a complicated and flamboyant character. Ginsberg was a tenacious man who was driven by ambition and curiosity; he was plagued by self-doubt and always longed for acceptance and recognition. He also had a genius for living and networking and for expressing himself candidly; his love for freedom and equality was uncompromising. Morgan examines Ginsberg’s life and his tremendous impact on society from many different angles: his political views, his battles with censorship, and his approach to drugs. He also provides a more accurate picture than previously told of Ginsberg’s search for love (including his complex relationship with his lifelong partner, Peter Orlovsky) and of his involvement with Tibetan Buddhism. This definitive and engaging life of Ginsberg also includes a unique feature—it lists the titles of Ginsberg’s poems in the margins so that the reader can see exactly what he was writing at any point in his life.

This work is copyright© 2006 Thomas Allen Heald, all rights reserved. Contact the author at tom@idontgetit.org and the latest column are always available at www.Pridelets.com.

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