A new online exhibition provides a pathbreaking look at LGBTQ lives and culture in the Japanese American community in the United States. Curated by Stan Yogi and Amy Sueyoshi, a frequent GLBT Historical Society collaborator, Seen And Unseen: Queering Japanese American History Before 1945 is a project of J-Sei, a Japanese American community organization in Emeryville.
The show draws on a variety of sources, including some of our archival collections, to unearth a hidden past when same-sex relationships and female impersonation were accepted parts of nikkei (Japanese American) immigrant culture. The exhibition also explores how, over time, the nikkei community’s atittudes came to mirror white American fears of same-sex intimacy and gender nonconformity. We interviewed Stan and Amy to learn more about how they curated Seen and Unseen.
Q: The theme of “kinship” among issei (first-generation Japanese immigrants) is an important one. What does it mean in the greater context of nikkei?
Stan: Generational identity has been a defining factor of the nikkei community in the U.S. As we move farther away in time from the issei generation, we run the risk of forgetting that early immigrants were overwhelmingly male. There’s evidence that some had emotionally (not necessarily physically) intimate relationships. Many of us who identify as queer Japanese Americans have been unaware of ancestors who were involved in intimate same-sex relationships or defied gender roles. We hope that our exhibition reveals and informs the larger nikkei community, and queer-identified Japanese Americans specifically, about the rainbow branches of our collective family tree.
Amy: Issei arrived in the U.S. during a time of intense anti-Japanese sentiment. Before the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907, which allowed more Japanese women to enter the country as wives, the community was overwhelmingly male. One cannot adequately underscore how much these men relied on each other for companionship and comfort as they made their way in a new land, in a new language, under the brutality of immense animus from whites. Immigrant poet Yone Noguchi wrote that when he tramped to Los Angeles, he was welcomed along the way at any Japanese person’s home for a meal or a night of lodging.
Q: The show uses a lot of literary and newspaper sources; can you tell us about how you located and interpreted these?
Stan: Literary scholar Andrew Leong, a contributing curator to the exhibition, shared his research about issei leaders who urged compatriots, many of whom led vagabond lives, to settle in America, marry and raise families. He has revealed the queer subtext in creative literature written by issei authors, several of whom depicted men who rejected the call to enter heterosexual marriages and maintained emotional intimacy with other men.
Amy: In the absence of oral histories, written texts are often the only sources we have, and they are often sparse since many queers could not afford to leave such materials. Literary sources and newspapers are among the few available materials. When I first started my dissertation in 1996, I had to read each newspaper day-by-day, page-by-page to find a queer nugget. Now many of the newspapers are digitized—even the Japanese American press—so it was easier to put together this exhibition, particularly in the context of the ongoing shelter-in-place.
Q: How does the exhibition change our understanding of LGBTQ history in the United States through 1945?
Stan: Our exhibition helps audiences understand that early Japanese immigrants came from a culture in which male same-sex relationships and female impersonation were accepted. Their children, the nisei, came of age when white Americans’ harshly negative judgements of homosexuality and gender nonconformity were crystallizing. Nisei adopted those attitudes and beliefs. Although issei weren’t necessarily celebrating what today we consider queer sexuality and gender expression, they were more accepting than subsequent generations. The incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II accelerated the community’s desire to prove itself “American,” which included conformity to rigid gender roles and condemnation of same-sex intimacy.
Amy: A number of scholars, such as Siobhan Somerville, have shown that racism breeds homophobia and transphobia, even within marginalized groups themselves. Many Japanese Americans are terrified of coming out to their families, and postwar Japanese immigrants or shin issei think being queer is an American phenomenon. Most are unaware that our grandparents or great-grandparents were likely more queer-friendly than our parents. Learning about this might reshape how queer Japanese Americans think of themselves.
Amy Sueoyoshi is dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University.
Stan Yogi is a writer who has coauthored numerous books and essays, which have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Daily Journal and academic journals and anthologies.
How to get your vaccine if you’re still searchingA friend recently gave me an insight into how to better your chances of getting a shot soon. A greater supply of vaccine seems to be becoming available so hopefully more people are being notified by their provider that they can schedule their shots. In addition to signing up with your regular provider, you might consider signing up with several drugstores who offer vaccine shots. After signing up, you’ll likely find “no apppointments available” when you go to the site unless you search for them soon after midnight when they make more appointments available. (Hint, hint…)If you know of a senior who isn’t online and having trouble getting their shots, they can call a State Vaccine Hotline at 833/422-4255.If you need further assistance, I’ll try to help: Bill at 415/450-5339 or bblackburn@thespahrcenter.org How to Master Vaccine Appointment Confusions The Washington Post has created a guide to navigating the many ways the vaccine rollout can be approached. Five strategies to increase the chances of getting a free shot for yourself or someone you care about, click here. Sign up now to be informed of when you can be vaccinated. Marin County has a form online where you can sign up to be notified when vaccine is available for you. Since supplies of vaccine are limited, people 75 and over as well as healthcare workers and those in residential facilities are prioritized. As more becomes available, additional populations will become prioritized. Sign up for notification here. The best place to get Coronavirus updates and vaccine updates for Marinhere and here, respectively. California Covid Vaccine Update. The latest California-wide information on the vaccine rollout, safety and more:here. Free, pop-up Covid testing sites in seven cities around the county: Bolinas, Larkspur, Novato, San Anselmo, San Geronimo, San Rafael, and Sausalito. You can see a schedule for each site and read more here. A new allotment of Rental Assistance comes to Marin for those economically impacted by the pandemic. Read about it here and the new Eviction Moratoriumhere.
To join the Spahr Senior GroupMondays, 7 to 8 pm, &Thursdays, 12:30 t0 2 pm,click the purple button below the Butterfly Heart or here:
March 4Nancy Facilitates! What have you learned this past year?Particularly about yourself, but also about other people, about our LGBT community, about life, about the world? March 11People who influenced your life Who were your mentors and models? Who provided the space to become yourself? Who lifted you up when you were down? Sometimes it was our parents, sometimes a teacher or counselor, an aunt or uncle, a great friend. Possibly a professional in a career you followed, or a writer or simply someone who saw you for who you could be. Who helped make you you? Coming soon: Beyond the Binary: Gender and Pronouns II
Check-in Mondays7 to 8 pm We catch up with each other on how we’re doing and have unstructured conversations focused on listening and deepening community.
Thank you Wing, Debbie, Terry, Beth and Lolma for the Red Envelope Campaign! We’re deeply grateful to Wing and the Social Committee for this generous support of our senior program! And to all our donors! They – and you, the community – have raised over two thousand dollars to ensure the Spahr Senior Program and our new Friendly Visitor Program are sustained. The Social Committee has been consistently offering fun events to offset the boredom of the pandemic. They want to celebrate your birthday if you’ll let them know when it is. They offer a women’s coffee plus a number of times to gather on zoom over games and conversation. To sign up for their emails, click here. There’s a Birthday Celebration for everyone born in March on March 9, Scattegories on March 16, How the Zoom Are You One Year Later?on March 17 (St. Patrick’s!), and much more in the Social Committee’s March Calendar here.
You are invited to join with your community in watching people (and an animal!) offer their gifts to entertain you. By showtime, click the button below:
California Department of AgingThe CDA has a website that is packed with information and resources relevant to the lives of seniors in our state. From Covid-19 updates to more general care for age-related health issues, access to legal assistance to getting home-delivered meals to help with housing, you may well find answers to your questions by clicking: here.
Also in this email (below):Spahr has skilled therapists ready to work with seniors on a sliding-scale basis.Nutrition ResourcesBisexual Support zoom group forming through The Spahr Center.
Building Community in the Midst of Sheltering-in-PlaceSee old friends and make new ones! Join us!The Spahr Center’s LGBT Senior Discussion Groupscontinue everyMonday, 7 to 8 pm& Thursday, 12:30 to 2 pm on zoom
To Join Group by Video using Computer, Smart Phone or TabletJust click this button at the start time, 6:55 pm Mondays / 12:25 pm Thursdays:Join GroupAlways the same link! Try it, it’s easy!
To Join Group by Phone CallIf you don’t have internet connections or prefer joining by phone,call the following number at the start time,6:55 pm Mondays / 12:25 pm Thursdays:1-669-900-6833The Meeting id is 820 7368 6606#(no participant id required)The password, if requested, is 135296# If you want to be called into the group by phone, notify Bill Blackburn at 415/450-5339
Spahr’s skilled therapists are available to work with seniors on a sliding-scale basis. Write toinfo@thespahrcenter.org. A Bisexual Support Group is forming with The Spahr Center, facilitated by a therapist. Let Bill Blackburn know if you are interested. Whistlestop, renamed Vivalon, provides access to resources including rides for older adults. Please note: there is a 3-week registration process for the ride program so register now if you think you may need rides in the future. They also offer free classes on zoom including zumba, yoga, chair exercises, & ukulele! Click here. Adult and Aging Service’s Information and Assistance Line, providing information and referrals to the full range of services available to older adults, adults with disabilities and their family caregivers, has a new phone number and email address: 415/473-INFO (4636) 8:30 am to 4:30 pm weekdays473INFO@marincounty.org
The Spahr Center has opened its Food Pantryto seniors who need support in meeting their nutrition needs. We want to help! Items such as fresh meats, eggs and dairy, prepared meals, pasta, sauces, and canned goods are delivered weekly to people who sign up. Contact The Spahr Center for more information: info@thespahrcenter.org or 415/457.2487
Marin Center for Independent Living is offering various kinds of support to people with disabilities as well as older adults to prepare them for possible Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS).Click here: MarinCIL Has your employment or business been impacted by COVID-19? Check out these local resources…click here: WorkForce Alliance
Questions? Assistance? We have resources and volunteers for:grocery deliveryfood assistancehelp with technology issues such as using zoomproviding weekly comfort calls to check in on youtherapy with Spahr therapists on a sliding scale basisplus more!
Today (4 March) marks the World Book Day 2021 celebration.
The day aims to promote reading to children across the globe as well as offering every young person the opportunity to have a book of their own.ADVERTISING
Both World Book Day and schools will be promoting and recommending different books for children to read in celebration of the day.
So with this in mind we’ve decided to join in and recommend a handful of LGBT+ inclusive books that can be enjoyed by kids and young adults.
From picture books, to fairy tales and titles that aim to educate both adults and children about gender identity, there’s loads of great ones out there.
Below you can find 14 LGBT+ books that every child deserves to read and how to get them.
1. And Tango Makes Three
World Book Day 2021: And Tango Makes Three. (Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell)
And Tango Makes Three is based on a heartwarming true story which follows two penguins named Roy and Silo. They live in the penguin house at Central Park Zoo, and although they’re a little different from the others their desire for a family is the same. With the help of a kindly zookeeper they get the chance to welcome a baby penguin of their very own.
After its release in 2005 it became one of the first LGBT+ inclusive books in the mainstream market and has since become a classic read.
The book is available on hardback or Kindle edition from Amazon here.
Don’t even talk to me until I’ve had my coffee! When I first heard about the Keurig…
The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived. (Daniel Errico/Shiloh Penfield)
It might be a while before the likes of Disney ever decide to do an alternate version to the dragon-slaying, princess-saving knight story so until then you can get books like The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived.
The story follows Cedric on his journey from a humble pumpkin farm to the adventures that lead him to become a fully fledged knight. Using his cleverness and courage to vanquish a fire-breathing dragon he rescues a beautiful prince and princess only to discover his most difficult challenge yet. Will Cedric follow his heart and prove that sometimes the bravest thing a person can do is choose for yourself how your fairy tale ends…
The LGBT+ fairy tale is available on hardback or Kindle edition from Amazon here.
3. Prince & Knight
World Book Day 2021: Prince & Knight. (Daniel Haack/Stevie Lewis)
Another modern fairy tale for all ages is Prince & Knight. The story is the usual setting: Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away there’s a prince in line for the throne who needs to find a bride. However when the prince and his parents travel to find a princess, he doesn’t quite find what he’s looking for.
When their kingdom is under threat from a dragon and the prince returns to save the land from the beast he’s met by a brave knight in a suit of shining armour. Together they slay the dragon and the prince discovers that special something he had been looking for all this time. OK we’re going to need the animated adaption of this…
The book is available on hardback or paperback from Amazon here.
4. Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress. (Christine Baldacchino/Isabelle Malenfant)
Clothing is an important aspect for many LGBT+ people as a way to express themselves in ways that words sometimes don’t work. This story, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress highlights that as it follows Morris, a little boy who enjoys bright orange dress to school until he is bullied for it.
The book is inspired by a four-year-old boy the author, Christine Baldacchino, knew while she was working as a nursery teacher. After the boy’s mother saw him wearing a dress and complained to the school, she decided to write this book which is a triumphant tale about non-conformity and acceptance alongside bright and colourful illustrations for children to enjoy.
World Book Day 2021: Annie’s Plaid Shirt. (Stacy B. Davids/Rachael Balsaitis)
Another story that focuses on clothing is Annie’s Plaid Shirt. It focuses on Annie who loves her plaid shirt and wears it everywhere. But one day her mother tells her that she has to wear a dress to her uncle’s wedding, and despite Annie’s protests her mother insists on buying her a fancy new dress. After feeling miserable and weird in dresses Annie has an idea that she hopes her mother will understand and agree to in a story of being true to yourself, gender norms and identity as well as tolerance and self-esteem.
The book is available on hardback from Amazon here.
6. Julián Is A Mermaid
Julián Is A Mermaid. (Jessica Love)
Julián Is A Mermaid is the celebratory story of Julián who, after noticing three women dressed up spectacularly on the subway, wants to emulate their fabulousness. The women’s hair billow in brilliant hues, their dresses end in fishtails and their joy fills the train carriage.
Julián can’t stop daydreaming about the magic he saw on the subway and wants to make his own fabulous mermaid costume, but while he does he’s also worrying about what his Nana might make of his outfit…
The feel-good book is available on paperback, hardback and Kindle from Amazon here.
7. It Feels Good to Be Yourself
World Book Day 2021: It Feels Good to Be Yourself. (Theresa Thorn/Noah Grigni)
It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity is less of a story book and more informational. The book aims to teach children about all forms of gender in a straightforward way, helping them with a fuller understanding of themselves and others. It provides young readers and parents alike with the vocabulary to discuss important topics with sensitivity and it’s been by the mother of a transgender child and illustrated beautifully by a non-binarytransgender artist.
My Footprints follows Thuy who feels ‘doubly different’ to everyone else. She’s Vietnamese-American and has two mums and has to regularly deal with school bullies. Fed up during a walk home in winter a bird catches Thuy’s attention and sets her on an imaginary adventure. She images she could fly like a bird, sprint like a deer and roar like a bear as she continues her walk home which eventually leads her into the arms of her mums who help Thuy find the courage she’s been seeking.
World Book Day 2021: Stella Brings the Family. (Miriam B. Schiffer/Holly Clifton-Brown)
Stella Brings the Family follows the story of a class who’s getting ready to have a Mother’s Day celebration, but Stella has two dads so she isn’t sure what to do. Her Papa and Daddy help her with her with everything from homework to tucking her in at night along with a whole group of other loved ones who make her feel special and supported every day. Although she doesn’t have a mum to invite to the part she finds a unique solution to her problem. The story explores the true meaning of family as well as love and acceptance.
The book is available on hardback or Kindle via Amazon here.
10. Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow
Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow. (Benjamin Dean)
Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow is a book ideal for more confident young readers. The story follows Archie Albright, who’s life isn’t going great. All he wants is for everything to go back to normal, because three months before his parents were happy and still lived together.
When he sees a colourful, crumpled flyer fall out of his dad’s pocket he thinks he’s found his answer that might lie at the end of the rainbow. He teams up with his best friends Bell and Seb to set off on a journey to try and fix his family, even if he has to break a few rules to do it.
World Book Day 2021: The Flower Girl Wore Celery. (Meryl G. Gordon/Holly Clifton-Brown)
This cute story follows Emma who’s going to be flower girl for her cousin Hannah’s wedding, and she is very excited. Emma is asked to wear a celery-coloured dress and walk alongside the ring bearer, but she assumes that means she has to wear actual celery and walk alongside a real life bear! On the wedding day nothing turns out to be quite what she was expecting including the fact that her cousin Hannah is marrying a woman.
This picture book tells the story of a young unicorn who was born under the sea to a family of narwhals. After growing up in the ocean, Kelp has always assumed that he was a narwhal like the rest of his family. One night an extra strong current sweeps Kelp to the surface and he spots a mysterious creature that looks exactly like him, discovering that he and the create are actually unicorns.
This revelation leaves him stuck: is he a land narwhal or a sea unicorn? Or perhaps Kelp can find the best of both worlds. Although its not explicitly an LGBT+ storyline the heartwarming story explores identity, standing out and the love of family.
Not Quite Narwhal is available on hardback, paperback and Kindle from Amazon here.
13. Pink Is For Boys
World Book Day 2021: Pink Is For Boys. (Robb Pearlman/Eda Kaban)
Pink Is For Boys rethinks and reframes the stereotypical blue/pink gender binary that many LGBT+ are familiar with, and empowers both kids and grownups to express themselves in every colour of the rainbow. It features a diverse group of characters and invites everyone to enjoy what they love from racing cars to baseball and unicorns to dressing up. It’s accompanied with vibrant illustrations to help younger readers learn and identify the myriad of colours that surround them every day.
Another book exploring the stereotypes of colour is My Shadow is Pink. It’s inspired by the author, Scott Stuart’s own son and touches on gender identity, equality and diversity. It follows the journey of a young boy who has been born into a family with a long history of blue shadows. The boy wants to be like his father who is big and strong, with a defined blue shadow. However he loves ponies, princesses, fairies and other things ‘not for boys’, so he has an irrepressible pink shadow. With the love and acceptance of his father, he learns that everyone at times, has a shadow they wish was different and he must embrace his shadow just the way it is.
The book is available on hardback, paperback and Kindle from Amazon here.
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A senior cop in Sydney, Australia has admitted to fighting and arresting a transgender woman because she didn’t say hi to him.
Senior Constable Mark Follington, 61, and his junior colleague were on a patrol in Liverpool’s Golden Fleece Hotel in May 2019 and were asking customers at the pub for their IDs. But Anya Bradford, a trans woman, got up and walked out of a gaming room. The two police officers confronted Bradford as she left the building.×
According to Australia’s 7News, Bradford told Follington to “f**k off” when he asked for her name. She also told the police that she didn’t have an ID and that she had a meeting to get to.
CCTV footage showed Follington grabbing Bradford’s arm to prevent her from leaving which led to the cop shoving Bradford’s head into an ATM. Bradford then kicks Follington and runs off. She is pursued by the cops, and another officer used pepper spray on her before she was eventually handcuffed.https://www.youtube.com/embed/-iIDitykqR0?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1
When asked by the Downing Centre Local Court what had brought Bradford to his attention, Follington admitted it was her “attitude”. He said: “When I was in the room, you could see I was focusing within the room, she had no eye contact with myself.
“People normally come up and say hello.
“She was keeping her eyes down.
“To me, that starts to send a signal to me that this person is trying to hide from me.”
Follington pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence with intent to mislead a court and four other offences over the 2019 arrest. He also denied deliberately concocting a false story that was used to charge Bradford with assaulting police, saying he filled out police and court documents to the best of his ability.
But he admitted to the court that the story he wrote after violently arresting Bradford was very different to what occurred. Follington said: “At the time of writing this narrative, I did it to the best of my knowledge without having viewed the [CCTV] footage.”
In closing arguments on Tuesday (2 March), prosecutor Claire Robinson said Follington had written “fiction” to justify his actions, knowing he’d been part of an unlawful arrest.
Even if you consider yourself to be in good health, it’s important to keep up with…
She suggested the senior constable had viewed the hotel’s CCTV footage shortly after the arrest and “sought to charge the complainant before anyone else had the opportunity” to also view it.
But Ray Hood, the officer’s barrister, argued Follington hadn’t watched the footage and said his client sent a junior officer back to retrieve the CCTV footage. He said: “That doesn’t in any way fit with a person who has an understanding he has done the wrong thing and wants to cover it up.”
Madison Cawthorn has once again been accused of sexual harassment, this time by his former college classmates.
The freshman House representative and toadying Donald Trump supporter is facing fresh allegations after being previously accused of sexual misconduct last year.×
Several people who knew the North Carolina Republican during his days studying at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, in 2016 alleged that he touched them inappropriately, among other claims.
BuzzFeed Newsspoke with more than three dozen people who accused Cawthorn of or corroborated reports of sexual harassment and misconduct on the leafy Christian college campus. He was known on campus for his aggressive and misogynistic behaviour, they claimed.
Classmates shared haunting allegations – Cawthorn referring to women as “slutty”, grabbing their thighs and touching them without consent.
His Dodge Challenger, the women said, was a vehicle for his sexual misconduct, being used to “entrap and harass”.
Madison Cawthorn addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“His MO was to take vulnerable women out on these rides with him in the car, and to make advances,” Caitlin Coulter, one of Cawthorn’s former classmates, told the outlet.
Resident advisers even warned women in their dorms to steer clear of Cawthorn and not to go in his car, it was alleged.
Cawthorn’s representatives did not comment directly on the allegations, instead referring to remarks the young Republican made amid similar accusations during his campaign trail.
“I have never done anything sexually inappropriate in my life,” Cawthorn saidin September.
“If I have a daughter, I want her to grow up in a world where people know to explicitly ask before touching her.
Even if you consider yourself to be in good health, it’s important to keep up with…
“If I had a son, I want him to be able to grow up in a world where he would not be called a sexual predator for trying to kiss someone.”
Who is Madison Cawthorn?
Considered by colleagues as a rising Republican star – the youngest elected lawmaker ever sworn into Congress at 25 – Cawthorn’s bid for the solidly conservative North Carolina seat was rumbled by similar accusations of sexual misconduct last year.
Madison Cawthorn speaks to Trump supporters from the Ellipse at the White House in Washington on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
As much as Cawthorn presented himself as a fresh face and a new voice for the Republican party, he soon began spouting Trump-lite rhetoric. There were reports of him referring to Hitler as “the Fuhrer“, his tweet announcing his win with “cry more, lib” and his creating a website to attack a reporter for working “for non-white males, like Cory Booker, who aims to ruin white males running for office.”
During his campaign he positioned himself as a defender of religious freedom, saying: “I’m running because our faith, our freedoms and our values are under assault from coastal elites and leftists like Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” his website states. “I will be a strong voice for faith, family and freedom.
One of the country’s largest adoption and foster care agencies, Bethany Christian Services, announced Monday that it will begin providing services to L.G.B.T.Q. parents nationwide effective immediately, a major inflection point in the fraught battle over many faith-based agencies’ longstanding opposition to working with same-sex couples.
The Michigan-based evangelical organization announced the change in an email to approximately 1,500 staff members signed by Chris Palusky, the organization’s president and chief executive.
“We will now offer services with the love and compassion of Jesus to the many types of families who exist in our world today,” Mr. Palusky wrote. “We’re taking an ‘all hands on deck’ approach where all are welcome.”
I suppose it makes sense that when I sat at my desk to write about Pretend It’s a City, Martin Scorsese’s hugely entertaining series on Fran Lebowitz, I stared at the screen most of the afternoon without pressing a key. After all, Lebowitz has made an entire career out of having writer’s block. After her highly successful Metropolitan Life and Social Studies, she went on to write only one book, a children’s book called Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas, over the next three decades. Her celebrity has been marked as much by what she hasn’t been able to do as much as what she has.
This is just one of the contradictions that surfaces in Scorsese’s series, which was dedicated to Lebowitz’s dear friend, Toni Morrison. (Lebowitz eulogized Morrison at her memorial service.) Or maybe it isn’t that Lebowitz contradicts herself, but that she defies labels. Her sold-out appearances have the feel of a stand-up comedy act, but she often performs in a chair, being interviewed or soliciting questions from the audience. She might be the world’s first sit-down comedian. She’s also a critic, public speaker, social commentator, and (sometimes) writer.
The New York Times once described Lebowitz as a present-day Dorothy Parker, but even this attempt at categorizing her feels off. Can you imagine Parker writing a children’s book that you’d actually let your children read? Sure, they are both New York City satirists. Parker, who produced many short story and poetry collections as well as eight screenplays, is known as a member of the famous Algonquin Round Table, meeting for lunch almost daily with writers, journalists, and actors. Lebowitz would most likely prefer to spend that time reading. (She ended up spending three times her limit on an apartment because it needed to house her 10,000 books.) You don’t have to wait until in the sixth episode when she proclaims, “I hate my fellow man,” to understand that she agrees with Sartre when he said, “Hell is other people.” In each episode, Scorsese makes sure we see her grumpily walking the streets of New York, giving the finger to a cyclist who cuts her off in a crosswalk or sneering at a pedestrian who brushes up against her on the subway stairs. But even this presents us with another contradiction: for someone who hates to be with people, her personal anecdotes are peppered with a Who’s Who of often queer glitterati: John Waters, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol. While she may boast that Ayatollah Khomeini has hosted more parties than she has, Lebowitz certainly has gone to a great many of them herself. “I love parties,” she says, adding that many people find that hard to believe. Who can blame them?
Her misanthropy is undeniable, though. When she tells Scorsese that there’s no room on her shelves because throwing out a book is like throwing out a human being, I wondered why that didn’t make it easier for her to do so. Sometimes her disconnect with people – be it real or an exaggerated aspect of her persona – feels like a disconnect with the cultural life of one of the world’s great cities. She describes the night she went to see Phantom of the Opera (which she pans as “unbelievably horrible”) and hadn’t heard about the falling chandelier. She screamed, disrupting the performance, thinking a real chandelier was about to land in the audience. When she is bewildered at why the Tenement Museum exists (“What’s there? TB?”) it’s clear she’s never visited it, else she would have known that actors performing as real-life tenants are part of the immersive experience. It’s actually theater as much as it’s a museum. Lebowitz suggests that kids just read a book on immigration instead.
Scorsese’s role here is one of congenial host rather than a probing documentarian. No less congenial but far more interesting is Spike Lee, who asks follow-up questions that get beneath the surface of Lebowitz’s comic façade. The two have an especially interesting exchange about athletes as artists. When Lee argues that some of the greats have the talents of Michelangelo, Lebowitz insists that athletics are in a category by itself because once you find out how a game ends, there’s little incentive to watch it again. It’s over. Fair enough, but can’t you say the same about re-watching a movie or rereading a book?
Scorsese’s amiable style does allow for Lebowitz’s frequent and often fascinating anecdotes about New York, especially in the ‘70s. She doesn’t feel the need to be consistently witty when she tells these stories, some of which are a reminder not just of how far we’ve come but also how far we have to go regarding issues of equity and justice. It’s haunting when she talks about how it was nearly impossible to get a waitressing job without sleeping with the restaurant manager, knowing now that the Me Too movement would take forty years to materialize. (Lebowitz never waited tables, instead opting to be one of New York City’s lone female taxi drivers at the time.) She also acknowledges that she wasn’t part of the movement for women’s rights, nor the movement for gay rights, because she simply didn’t think things could change.
In some ways Pretend It’s a City is about the complicated, unnerving, and sometimes mystifying marriage between Lebowitz and New York where there are, in her words, “a billion awful people on the street.” It’s no wonder she seems more at ease answering Scorcese’s questions while walking around Robert Moses’ giant unpeopled model of the city. Yet despite all her complaints, it’s hard to see Lebowitz anywhere else. When an audience member asks her why she still lives in New York, she answers, “Okay. Where would you suggest?” Fran Lebowitz is a professional New Yorker. Now into her seventies, there’s little reason for her to change careers.
A trans inmate is taking legal action against the Michigan Department of Correction after she was allegedly thrown into a cell with a male rapist who sexually assaulted her less than a day later.
In a lawsuit filed to the US District Court Tuesday (2 March), seen by The Detroit News, corrections staff are accused of ignoring the trans inmate’s pleas for help, accusing her of lying and mocking her claims.
The prisoner, identified in the lawsuit only as Jane Doe, says she was forced to share a room at the G Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson with “a known rapist and murderer imprisoned for life for killing a woman during sexual intercourse”.
She was raped hours later, the lawsuit stated.
According to the report, the victim had a medical order that should have prohibited her from being housed with a cisgender inmate.
Nevertheless, officials reportedly ignored it – and the facility’s own policy directives to protect trans prisoners – when she was housed in January 2020.
Corrections staff “acted with deliberate indifference by knowingly and recklessly disregarding the excessive risk to plaintiff’s health and safety”, the suit said.
It adds that when she protested being put in a cell with the rapist, who she said was hostile towards her, corrections officers threatened to write her a misconduct ticket and place her in disciplinary segregation. One staffer laughed, the suit added.
She stressed to several staffers that the prisoner was “intimating that he was going to harm” her and “that it would be better for her to go to the hole”, referring to solitary confinement.
Hours later, she was raped by the man “with forcible penetration”, the suit said. “That night, plaintiff awoke to her cellmate sexually assaulting her.”
Only after he fell asleep did the victim seek help and medical treatment. Yet she found two prison officers watching movies on a computer and another half-asleep.
One deputy warden reportedly accused her of lying about the incident.
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Moreover, even though single-person cells were available, staffers still reportedly refused to move her to protective custody – she was returned to the same cell she was allegedly raped in.
The prisoner was re-located days later, “assigned to a cell with another cellmate who self-identified as a rapist and was incarcerated for first-degree criminal sexual conduct.”
“Shortly thereafter plaintiff transferred from the facility,” her lawyers wrote. “Plaintiff, having suffered rape and sexual assault, became depressed and suicidal.”
To the victim’s attorney, Nakisha Chaney, the saga signals the depth of indifference towards trans inmates and the sexual assault they face in a penal system that sees them treated like “prey”.
“The fact is, prisoners have a constitutional right to be protected from sexual abuse,” Chaney explained.
“And it is not good enough that a guard or a staff member can just laugh off someone’s request for help. These are people’s lives that we’re talking about.
“Prison rape and sexual assault are still a very prevalent part of prison culture.
“And there are particular populations that are especially at risk — the young, the transgender. They are prey.”
PinkNews contacted the Michigan Department of Correction for comment.
Dan Reynolds, professional tall man and Imagine Dragons singer, has donated his childhood home worth $1 million for it to become an LGBT+ youth centre.
As part of LGBT+ advocacy group Encircle’s ‘$8 Million, Eight Houses’ campaign, the 34-year-old reflected on the difficulties queer youth face.×ADVERTISING
Reynolds, an outspoken LGBT+ ally, and his wife Aja Volkman are to donate the Las Vegas, Nevada, property to be converted into one of Encircle’s new facilities, which will offer vulnerable queer youth a crucial lifeline.
Both Reynolds and Volkman will serve as honorary co-chairs of Encircle’s new campaign, according to NME.
Dan Reynolds: ‘I’ve watched throughout my life the difficult path that LGBT+ youth have’
“Encircle is about bringing young LGBTQ+ people and their families together, by including the community and strengthening the bonds that connect us,” Reynolds and Volkman said in a joint statement.
“Being a part of this organization means so much to both of us and we know the house Dan grew up in will be a loving and supportive home to every young LGBTQ+ person who crosses the threshold.”
Appearing on daytime talk show Good Morning America Thursday (25 February), Reynolds, alongside fellow donators Apple CEO Tim Cook and Utah Jazz basketball team owner Ryan Smith, discussed the campaign.
“I’ve watched throughout my life the difficult path that LGBT+ youth have, especially coming from homes of faith,” he said.
Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons. (Jerod Harris/Getty Images for LOVELOUD Festival)
“Now to know, with my mum and dad’s blessing, I was able to purchase the home for them and it’s going to be the first Encircle home in Las Vegas – that’s powerful for me.”
Encircle operate various safe houses in Utah in Salt Lake City, Provo and St George, and a fourth in Heber on the way. The campaign being part of an effort to expand to Arizona, Idaho and Nevada.
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“Studies repeatedly have shown that LGBT+ youth across the country struggle with depression and suicidality far more than their heterosexual peers, and the pandemic has made that sense of isolation so many feel harder than ever before,” Encircle CEO Stephanie Larsen said in a statement to the press.
“We strive to give these kids a positive and loving environment that builds support within their communities where they can realize their full potential, and it works — we have not lost a single youth to suicide.”
