The Pridelets Files for October 2

According to statistics released by the Gill Foundation on this day in 1998, nearly 10% of the GLBT population in Colorado Springs, Colorado (home to Focus on the Family) have been "the victims of violence because of their sexual orientation." In other news, water is wet.

BIRTHGAYS (and the occasional straights)
* 1926 - English trans-journalist Jan Morris
* 1939 - Critic Rex Reed
* 1949 - photographer Annie Leibovitz
* 1957 - Haitian-born author, publisher, and activist Assoto Saint (Yves Lubin)

Q.UOTE
"Years and years I have fear'd the shame
And the cruel speech of the world.
But over our heads in the darkness now
Is the banner of love unfurl'd,
(Lean closer, cling to me, kiss my lips,
Our love can despise the world.)"
-- Gabriel Gillet

THE COFFEE TABLE
"A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005" by Annie Leibovitz

"I don't have two lives," Annie Leibovitz writes in the Introduction to this collection of her work from 1990—2005. "This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it." Portraits of well-known figures–Johnny Cash, Nicole Kidman, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Keith Richards, Michael Jordan, Joan Didion, R2-D2, Patti Smith, Nelson Mandela, Jack Nicholson, William Burroughs, George W. Bush with members of his Cabinet–appear alongside pictures of Leibovitz's family and friends, reportage from the siege of Sarajevo in the early Nineties, and landscapes made even more indelible through Leibovitz's discerning eye. The images form a narrative rich in contrasts and continuities: The photographer has a long relationship that ends with illness and death. She chronicles the celebrations and heartbreaks of her large and robust family. She has children of her own. All the while she is working, and the public work resonates with the themes of her 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.