Happy Birthday To Us!

WC1 TWENTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

Bob Barzan

the founder of our magazine, published the first issue of the "White Crane Newsletter."

The year was 1989 and Barzan was leading a Gay Men's discussion group in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The newsletter was a way to share more information about the historical and cultural roots of Gay people. 

The newsletter was distributed to members of the group, who passed it along beyond the group and this blossom that grew into a quarterly that is now the twenty year old magazine known as White Crane.

Barzan chose the name because in the ancient traditions of China and Japan, the white crane is a symbol of happiness and wholeness. Suggesting high-flying aspiration and convention-defying independence, it is an appropriate symbol for the Gay spiritual quest for meaning and wholeness. In that first issue Barzan described White Crane's mission:

"The driving force behind this newsletter is my belief that as gay men we have a unique and wonderful spirituality to share with each other. A spirituality that is, in part, due to our gayness but also because we have all experienced oppression of who we are as gay men…This has forced us to drink from our own wells, exploring new ways that lead to our authenticity."

To see a copy of that first issue of White Crane (in PDF form) download the first issue of White Crane.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *