Category Archives: Arts
Two Spirits
This documentary, reviewed in the most recent issue of White Crane is a MUST SEE.
Bea Arthur: Hero
The Ali Forney Center in New York City, received a gift of $300,000 today, from the Estate of
legendary actress Bea Arthur.
The Ali Forney Center, the nation's largest organization dedicated to homeless
LGBT youth, announced at Bea Arthur's Memorial Service on September 14th that
they planned to purchase a building to house 12 youths and name it her honor.
"We work with hundreds of young people who are rejected by their families
because of who they are. We are overwhelmed with gratitude that Bea saw that
LGBT youth deserve as much love and support as any other young person, and that
she placed so much value in the work we do to protect them, and to help them
rebuild their lives." says Executive Director Carl Siciliano.The Ali Forney Center offers emergency shelter and transitional housing in seven residential sites in NYC
and operates two drop-in centers offering food, clothing, medical and mental health treatment, HIV testing,
treatment and prevention services, and vocational and educational assistance. It provides
services to over 1000 young people each year.
RISE UP & SHOUT… RISES AGAIN!
Well…they're doing it again. If you're anywhere near Los Angeles, Rise Up & Shout! is a wonderful, feel-good evening. This is sponsored by The Gay Men's Medicine Circle in Los Angeles.
Tickets are $25 and vailable at BGTix.com
GO! RISE! SHOUT!
Emile Norman 1918 – 2009
Emile Norman (pictured here, front, with his late life partner, Brooks Clement), a sculptor, jewelry artist, and mosaicist whose most well-known work is the massive mosaic and sculpture adorning the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, died in Monterey last Thursday. He was 91.
Since 1946, Norman lived and worked at his studio-home in Big Sur on Pfeiffer Ridge — where he lived and worked with his partner Brooks Clement until Clement’s death in 1973 from cancer. Up to the end of his life, Norman lived and worked at his ranch in Big Sur, along with his managers who helped take care of him.
Norman is the subject of a 2008 PBS documentary, Emile Norman: By His Own Design, a wonderful tribute to this eccentric and lovely artist.
WE’RE #37! USA! USA! USA! Woo Hoo!
His Dark Materials
Philip Pullman, the irrepressible agnostic author who scandalized Christians for portraying the church as evil in his His Dark Materials series and for bragging that his books are about "killing God," is, thankfully, at it again.
He tells the Guardian this week that the title of his next release is The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ and it will explore "the dual nature of Jesus." Scoundrel Christ will "provide a new account of the life of Jesus, challenging the gospels" by charging that the apostle Paul's large influence on the New Testament was mostly a bad thing: "Paul was a literary and imaginative genius of the first order who has probably had more influence on the history of the world than any other human being, Jesus certainly included," says Pullman. "I believe this is a pity."
And best of all, he intends to right this grievous error by releasing his promising-sounding book next Easter. Pullman, who last year pronounced himself delighted that the His Dark Materials trilogy was one of the most "challenged" series in America's libraries, boasts that thee most requests for removal from the shelves are because of its "religious viewpoint".
We imagine you'll be hearing more about this.
Top Chef
Like any self-respecting Gay Foodie, I’m a long time fan of Top Chef…and I must admit to a crush on Tom Colicchio (both a culinary crush and a flat he’s-hot-crush). Now I have another reason. An upcoming episode of the show has one of the Lesbian chefs balking at a “wedding challenge”. Kudos to her. But to add complement to spine, Colicchio had this to say in a blog post of his own:
I don’t think I’ve seen it expressed quite so well, anywhere, by anyone else. Bravo, indeed.
In Case You Needed A Reason to Be In Love with Brad Pitt
Looking for a Map
Our friend, White Crane contributor, and author of Stonewall: The Riot That Sparked The Gay Revolution, David Carter sends this…
Dear Friends, The first rough cut of the full-length PBS film on the Stonewall Riots — now one and a half hours long
— is close to being assembled and we are looking for era maps of Greenwich Village to use in the film.
I will make inquiries at the usual and obvious archives and collections, but we all know that one can't assume that one will find the best such map in any one collection … and that any friend who either lived in New York at the time or has moved here since and who loves the Village might have a much better map than even New York's most famous archives might own: so if any of you happen to own a map that was made in the late 1960s or early 1970s of Greenwich Village, especially one that is detailed or features the area around the Stonewall Inn, and you would be happy to share it with the world in an American Experience documentary … please let me know. The filmmakers are on deadline for submission of the rough cut to a film festival and need a PDF of such a map ASAP … they'd like to receive the PDF this coming week if possible.
If you have a map that they can use and can help, please contact David at History69@aol.com or the editors at White Crane at editors@gaywisdom.org