tridd forums

*Today In GAY HISTORY*
*WEDNESDAY, January 6th*

*1931* - today's the birthday of *JUAN GOYTISOLO*, the Spanish poet and
novelist. Goytisolo was born in Barcelona in 1931, in an aristocratic
family; two of his brothers José Agustín and Luis are also well known
writers. His father was imprisoned by the Republican government during the
Spanish Civil War while his mother was killed in the first Francoist air
raid in 1938.

After law studies, he published his first novel, *The Young Assassins*, in
1954. His deep opposition to Generalissimo Francisco Franco led him into
exile in Paris in 1956, where he worked as a reader for Gallimard. In the
early 1960s, he was a friend of Guy Debord and Jean Genet was his mentor.
He says of the playwright who could fit all his belongings in a suitcase:
"He was alien to all kinds of vanity. Because of him, I discovered I was
interested in literature, not in literary life. I try to take my work
seriously but not myself." He quotes Genet: "If you know your point of
arrival, it's not a literary adventure, it's a bus journey." Breaking with
the realism of his earlier novels, he published *Marks of Identity* (1966),
*Count Julian* (1970), and *Juan the Landless* (1975). Like all his works,
they were banned in Spain until Franco's death.

Juan Goytisolo was married to the publisher, novelist and screenwriter
Monique Lange, a cousin of novelist Marcel Proust, Emmanuel Berl, and the
philosopher Henri Bergson. Monique Lange died in 1996. After her death, he
is noted as saying their once shared Paris apartment had become like a tomb.
In 1997 he moved to Marrakesh, in part due to the Arab culture's acceptance
of his homosexuality. In Edmund White's view Goytisolo "is an apostle of
the revolutionary, anarchic power of sexuality, of the desiring body, to
break through the sterile confines of class."

*1934 *- on this date the American lyric poet *JOHN WIENERS* was born (d.
2002).
From 1954, when he graduated from Boston College with an A.B. in English, to
1970, when he published *Nerves*, Boston-born poet John Wieners was
thoroughly immersed in the art, culture, and turmoil of the time. He spent
1955-1956 at Charles Olson's experimental Black Mountain College in North
Carolina, studying writing with Robert Creeley and Robert Duncan. Wieners
journeyed to San Francisco where he published his breakthrough *Hotel
Wentley Poems* in 1958, at age twenty-four.

Wieners returned to Boston in 1959 to be institutionalized, in part because
of drug abuse. In 1961 he moved to New York City with the help of a grant
from Allen Ginsberg's Poetry Foundation. He worked as an assistant
bookkeeper at the Eighth Street Bookshop from 1962-1963. Wieners went back
to Boston in 1963 and worked as a subscriptions editor for Jordan Marsh
department stores until 1965. In 1964 Robert Wilson, of The Phoenix
Bookshop, published Wieners's second book, *Ace Of Pentacles*.

In 1965 Wieners moved west, spending time in Los Angeles and at the Berkeley
Poetry Conference where he met up with his old friend, Charles Olson. Olson,
then an endowed Chair of Poetics at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo, invited Wieners to
enroll in the graduate program there, which is where he stayed until
1967. *Pressed
Wafer* (1967) was published chronicling those years.

In 1967 Wieners's lover left him and went to Europe with a mentor of his,
but not before aborting his child first. In late 1967 Wieners, back in
Boston, resorted to further drink and drugs. In the spring of 1969 Wieners
was again institutionalized, resulting in *The Asylum Poems (For my Father)*,
published later that year.

Wieners published *Nerves* in 1970, which contained his work from 1966 to
1970, including all of the *Asylum Poems*. In the early 1970s, despite brief
periods of institutionalization, Wieners taught a course entitled "Verse in
the U.S. Since 1955" at the Beacon Hill Free School in Boston. He was also
involved in the antiwar movement, crusaded against racism, and campaigned
for the rights of women and homosexuals.

In 1975 Wieners published *Behind the State Capital, or Cincinnati Pike*, a
book of letters, memoirs, and brief lyric poems. He has published little new
work since 1975 and has remained largely out of the public eye. In 1986 he
produced a retrospective collection, *Selected Poems, 1958-1984* with a
forward written by Allen Ginsberg. In 1996 he appeared with Ed Sanders at
Stone Soup in Boston for what would have been Jack Kerouac's 76th birthday
celebration. Also in 1996, The Sun and Moon Press released an edited and
previously unpublished diary and journal by Wieners documenting his life in
San Francisco around the time of *The Hotel Wentley Poems*. The book, *The
Journal of John Wieners is to be called 707 Scott Street for Billie Holiday,
1959*, contains prose, poetry, and assorted musings from Wieners at age
twenty-four at the dawn of the Sixties.
Wieners died on March 1, 2002 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston,
having collapsed a few days previously after an evening attending a party
with his friend and publisher Charley Shively. *Kidnap Notes Next*, a
collection of poems and journal entries edited by Jim Dunn, was published
posthumously in 2002.* A Book of Prophecies* was published in 2007 from
Bootstrap Press. The manuscript was discovered in the Kent State University
archive's collection by poet Michael Carr. It was a journal written by
Wieners in 1971, and opens with a poem titled 2007.

*1968* - today's the birthday of the Hungarian politician *GáBOR SZETEY*.
Szetey is the former Secretary of State for Human Resources, a role he held
since July 2006. He is a member of the Hungarian Socialist Party.

Szetey publicly declared that he was Gay at the opening night of Budapest's
Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, on July 6, 2007. He is the first LGBT member
of government in Hungary, and the second politician to come out, after Klára
Ungár. Szetey's coming out came at the end of a speech on equality and
tolerance:

“When we can be proud of being Hungarian, Romanian, Jewish, Catholic, Gay or
Straight... If we can be proud of our differences, we will be proud of our
similarities. I believe in God. And I believe that all men and women have
the right to love and be loved. Everywhere. Love has no party preference.
Neither does happiness or choosing a partner. So: I am Gábor Szetey. I am
European, and Hungarian. I believe in God, love, freedom, and equality. I am
the Human Resources Secretary of State of the Government of the Republic of
Hungary. Economist and HR director. Partner, friend, sometimes rival. And I
am gay.”

In the audience was Klára Dobrev, the wife of Prime Minister Ferenc
Gyurcsány, as well as four other members of the Hungarian cabinet. The Prime
Minister supported Szetey on his blog and called for public debate about
same-sex relationships in Hungary. Hungary currently recognises same-sex
registered partnerships. After the coming out of Mr. Szetey, the Parliament
adopted the Registered Civil Union Act, which came into force 1 January
2009.

In a subsequent interview, Szetey declared:

“There is a small but vocal group of right-wing extremists which is intent
on offending everyone... According to a survey, 51 percent of the
respondents thought my speech was courageous and that it would improve the
situation for homosexuals. It's strange that the conservatives, who attach
such great importance to neighboring states giving their Hungarian
minorities equal rights, couldn't care less about equal rights in their own
country."

*1976* - today's the birthday of child actor *DANNY PINTAURO*. Pintauro
played Jonathan Bower, son of Angela Bower in the series 'Who's the Boss'
from 1984 till 1992. He was born as Daniel John Pintauro in Milltown, New
Yersey, USA. Pintauro studied English and drama at Stanford University.

*1993* - the iconic ballet dancer *RUDOLF NUREYEV* died on this date (b.
1938)
Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressives areas of the dance, providing
a new role to the ballet male dancer who once served only as support to the
women.

He defected from the Soviet Union despite KGB efforts. According to KGB
archives studied by his biographer Peter Watson, Nikita Khrushchev
personally signed an order to kill Nureyev. Meow. No means No Nikita.

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Today's Gay Wisdom*
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*
From the 20th Anniversary Issue of *White Crane*

*The Big Two-Oh** by Andrew Ramer
*

**Recently, at a queer gathering I attended, we were asked, “What’s your
favorite number?” As a retired bodyworker I’ve always been fond of the
number twenty. Not that everyone comes this way, but of us most do – with
ten fingers and ten toes. To me twenty is the number of wholeness, not ten,
the number that usually carries that symbolic value. For me ten is
Commandments and a continual reminder that somehow I and we have done it all
wrong, or are about to. But twenty in my private lexicon of life is the
number of embodiment and completion, from top to bottom, earth to heaven.
It’s the number of fullness, of overflowing richness, toes pressing into the
warm earth while curious fingers reach out toward the stars.

And here we are, celebrating *White Crane* and its twentieth birthday. As
far as I’m concerned there’s nothing quite like this magazine. Each issue is
another gift come in the mail, another window onto the world. What I can
always count on from *White Crane* is that I’ll get words and images to help
me stay alive and aligned, encountered, engaged, and encouraged to go on. It
may not be the *New York Times* – but I can’t help quoting Sappho:

let me tell you this:
someone in some future time
will think of us

We are all a part of that us, the family of *White Crane* and twenty is five
times around the cosmic wheel of the four directions. That’s a lot of
traveling and twenty is a time to pause and review. Franklin Abbott’s poem
“Self-Help” contains useful directions for reviewing a long and honorable
history:
review your notes
the ones you took
on your life
ponder
old photographs
read letters
written to you
cycles ago
recount your blessings
one by one
two by two
repeat

repent
of any doubt
or shame
that you are not worthy
whole
nothing short
of a miracle

Others have reviewed and recounted far better than I. I wasn’t here at the
beginning. I can only vaguely recall something folded in half as my first
introduction to the miracle that is *White Crane*. What I do remember are
the many many hours I’ve spent in private intimate time (in the tub and on
the toilet) with the writers and artists whose work has filled the pages of
this magazine. Timothy Liu, in his poem, “Leaving the Universe,” points me
in the direction of what I want to say:
Can’t go back
to his body. That wilderness.
At times he would let me
rest there, no other place to go.
A bedroom
full of star charts, planets tearing
free from orbit, a belt
of asteroids flying apart.
In that space
between us, the gravity
of my bed unable
to keep his body from floating
out the door.

Can’t go back to retell my top twenty favorite articles. The carton of back
issues in my closet will remain there, for now. What I can say is that the
star charts of our inner lives were recorded in this magazine when almost no
one else was paying attention. And the deep gravity of our encounters with
the world and with each other, all those toes and fingers of back issues,
include every element of our queer lives, the good, the bad, and the
frightening.

Twenty is also a number that’s useful for looking ahead. I can’t say where
this gift of a quarterly is going, but the community found here, the wisdom,
the culture, all add up to something that Assotto Saint understood:
birds of a feather coo
spread their wings
at the edge of the world
they soar
stretching themselves
to god

We are birds of a feather, we readers and writers and artists and editors of
this communal treasure. The play-work of *White Crane* is a kind of offering
to that which some of us might call God. And as the guardian of one corner
of this yummy little world, called “Praxis,” I offer twenty spiritual
practices to help you celebrate our many journeys around a star. Each
practice is tied to one of the four cardinal directions and to the center.
Pick one, or as many as call out to you.

*East:*

Think back on your 20th birthday if you’ve already celebrated it
Think ahead to your 20th birthday, if you haven’t gotten there yet
Think about the 20th anniversaries of significant events in your life
Think about 20th anniversaries that are waiting for you in the future

*South:*

Draw a picture of something that has 20 elements in it
Draw a picture that uses 20 colors
Draw the same picture 20 times and compare each version
Draw 20 different pictures and compare them to each other

*West:*

Cook a meal with 20 ingredients in it
Cook a meal for 20 friends
Cook a meal for 20 people and give the meals away
Cook a meal that you dedicate to *White Crane*’s 20th anniversary

*North:*

Meditate for 20 minutes on what *White Crane *has meant to you
Meditate in 20 different place on what *White Crane* means to you
Meditate for 20 days in a row on the future of *White Crane*
Meditate in 20 different positions on what you offer/can offer *White Crane*

*Center:*

Write something about *White Crane* and send it to the editors
Send a gratitude check to *White Crane* as a donation
Give the gift of *White Crane* to a person or institution, perhaps your
local library
Thank whatever Force/energy/Being/beings/god/Goddess/God/gods you believe in
for *White Crane* having reached its 20th birthday, and wish it 20 more.

*Andrew Ramer* is a writer and educator. He is the author of numerous books
including Revelations for a New Millennium, *Little Pictures: Fiction for a
New Age* and the Gay classic Two Flutes Playing: A Spiritual Journeybook for
Gay Men from White Crane Books. Ramer lives in San Francisco. Praxis is
a regular feature of White Crane.

More Excerpts From this Issue are Available at www.gaywisdom.org**

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** COMMUNITY NEWS*
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*

*BECOME A LEADER!
GAY HEALTH = GAY POWER*

*GAY MEN'S HEALTH LEADERSHIP ACADEMY*

You are invited to participate in a groundbreaking *Leadership Academy *that
will provide you with the skills and support needed to lead pioneering work
to improve the health and well being of Gay men's communities and
subcultures.

Open to men and women of all sexual and gender orientations who are seeking
to make a difference in the future of Gay men's health, at the local and
national level.

*BECOME A LEADER IN THE CUTTING-EDGE WORK
OF THE GAY MEN'S HEALTH MOVEMENT**
*
*March 26-29, 2010*
Wildwood Retreat Center
*Guerneville, California*

*About the Leadership Academy*

A growing Gay men's health movement has achieved major achievements over the
past ten years, including: the birth of new organizations that are
shepherding innovative approaches to the broad range of issues faced by Gay
men's communities and subcultures the organizing of a new generation of men
and women to fight for Gay health and build community nationwide the
creation of a new model of health promotion, focused on supporting Gay
men's commitment to one another the development of exciting new programs and
campaigns to promote the assets of our strong Gay communities.

*BECOME A LEADER!*

This growing movement requires a new generation of leaders of all ages who
are willing to go back to their home communities and lead the fight for
innovative strategies, organizing, and programs. With the skills you develop
at the LEADERSHIP ACADEMY you can become part of a national movement to
create programs that build upon the strong strengths and assets of Gay men
toss out shame and fear and panic as central strategies for health promotion
celebrate the strategies that work!

All registrations and payments must be received in full one week prior to
the scheduled academy.

Only 40 participants are allowed for each academy, so please register early.

You can register by filling out our registration form, printing it out and
mailing it in. The form is at www.Gaywisdom.org <http://www.gaywisdom.org/>

Scholarships are available.

The Leadership Academy is a sponsored project of the White Crane Institute.

Please find out more about the White Crane Institute at www.gaywisdom.org

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*
*

*DO YOU THINK IT'S TIME
YOU PUT YOUR MONEY
WHERE YOUR IDEAS ARE?
*

*White Crane is in need of financial assistance. *

In the current economy, donations are down drastically and we have extended
ourselves in various ways that,
while fully justifiable, now imperil our continued existence. You get this
Daily Gay Wisdom every day.

The magazine comes out every quarter. It takes money to make these and the
other programs happen.

Visit www.gaywisdom.org to see the complete listing of everything White
Crane does.

We have always made White Crane pay for itself through subscriptions and
book sales, but that has also entailed some expenses
-- advertising, travel and some PR costs -- that have *not* been in the "pay
for itself" model we have survived on for so long.

For example, we put out a challenge grant of $1000 for the Harvey Milk
Memorial in SF that ended up bringing in
another $1000 for a total of $2000 that was given in White Crane's name,
honoring Harry Hay.

We have continued to publish books, though the return on those books has
been minimal (but steady.) We have put these books out there, and it is
incumbent on us to advertise them. This is a recurring cost of around $350 a
quarter (with discounts we have received from publications such as The *Gay
& Lesbian Review*). We are not taking on any more books at this time.

We continue to bring the *Fellow Travelers* photography exhibit by author
Mark Thompson, to six cities now, at no cost to those places
(NY, Philadelphia, Portland, Modesto, Humboldt and later Washington D.C.)
and have absorbed the shipping costs for this in every city.

And we are now in the third year of the *Gay Men's Leadership Academy*, held
on both coasts as well as sponsoring the
Queer Spirit Project in Salt Lake City and a documentary film about Gay
elder, queer poet and filmmaker, James Broughton.

No one who works on *White Crane* full time, part time, or in any way shape
or form, and basically that
would be Dan and Bo, are paid a penny for their work. No monies are spent on
salaries.

*Every penny that comes in is devoted to program.*

We have recently lost our fulfillment (mailing) house that had been donating
the mailing of the magazine for the last two years. They went out of
business with the last issue we sent out and we will now have to absorb
mailing costs and we don't know what that will be with the new company. We *
are* able to take advantage of nonprofit mailing status, but it is an added
expense, and we are still mailing to 23 countries and overseas postage is
through the roof.

Therefore, in the spirit of asking for what we need, we are asking that if
you haven't contributed to the organization that brings you this daily Gay
Wisdom mailing, that you consider making a contribution *now*. Even better,
subscribe to the magazine. $20, $50, $100, $1000, every donation helps. We
don't take advertising money because we *respect* Gay men as something more
than a mere marketing niche

So now we need a little from you. And it's tax deductible. We're a 501(c)3)
educational corporation. If every reader of this Daily Gay Wisdom mailing
were to send $20, we would be out of the woods.

But this is a critical moment for *White Crane*, and without your support
we will not be able to continue for much longer.

*Please visit our website at www.gaywisdom.org and contribute either through
*

PayPal or use the NYCharities.com link you will find there.

*HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT WHITE CRANE*

1. Subscribe. Your subscription gives you *White Crane* four times a year,
and enables White Crane Institute to publish classics of Gay Wisdom, and
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2. Invite friends and colleagues to learn about preserving Gay wisdom,
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3. Get a friend to subscribe! Give a gift subscription. Expand the circle.

4. Make a financial gift to support the ongoing work on
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Click on the "Make A Gift" box in upper left corner of the page. Your
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Join the global conversation.
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*GAY WISDOM for Daily Living...*

from *White Crane* a magazine exploring
Gay wisdom & culture *www.Gaywisdom.org* <http://www.gaywisdom.org/>
*
Share this with your friends...

*Today In GAY HISTORY*
*THURSDAY, January 7th*

*1130* - on this date the medieval poet *BALDRIC OF DOL* died (b. 1050). He
was abbot of Bourgueil from 1079 to 1106, then bishop of Dol-en-Bretagne
from 1107 until his death.
Balderic's poetic oeuvre was written almost entirely while abbot at
Bourgueil. The 256 extant poems are found almost exclusively in a single
contemporary manuscript which is most likely an authorized copy. They
consist of a wide range of poetic forms ranging from epitaphs, riddles and
epistolary poems to longer pieces such as an interpretative defense of Greek
mythology. In his collection *My Dear Boy:Gay Love Letters through the
Centuries*, the scholar Rictor Norton publishes Baldric's many letters to
male lovers.

*1891* - on this date the great American novelist and folklorist *ZORA NEALE
HURSTON* was born (d. 1960). An author during the time of the Harlem
Renaissance, of Hurston's four novels and more than 50 published short
stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her 1937 novel *Their Eyes
Were Watching God*.

Hurston graduated from Morgan Academy (high school division of what is now
Morgan State University) in 1918. She lived in Washington, DC and attended
Howard University and received her B.A. in anthropology from Barnard
College, Columbia University in 1928.

Her father was a Baptist preacher, tenant farmer, and carpenter. At age
three her family moved to Eatonville, Fla., the first incorporated black
community in America, of which her father would become mayor. In her
writings she would glorify Eatonville as a utopia where black Americans
could live independent of the prejudices of white society.

A novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston was the
prototypical authority on black culture from the Harlem Renaissance. In this
artistic movement of the 1920s black artists moved from traditional
dialectical works and imitation of white writers to explore their own
culture and affirm pride in their race. Zora Neale Hurston pursued this
objective by combining literature with anthropology. She first gained
attention with her short stories such as "John Redding Goes to Sea" and
"Spunk" which appeared in black literary magazines. After several years of
anthropological research financed through grants and fellowships, Zora Neale
Hurston's first novel *Jonah's Gourd Vine* was published in 1934 to critical
success. In 1935, her book *Mules and Men*, which investigated voodoo
practices in black communities in Florida and New Orleans, also brought her
kudos.

The year 1937 saw the publication of what is considered Hurston's greatest
novel *Their Eyes Watching God*. And the following year her travelogue and
study of Caribbean voodoo *Tell My Horse* was published. It received mixed
reviews, as did her 1939 novel Moses, Man of the Mountain. Her autobiography
*Dust Tracks on a Road* was a commercial success in 1942, despite its
overall absurdness, and her final novel *Seraph on the Suwanee*, published
in 1948, was a critical failure.

Hurston was a utopian, who held that black Americans could attain
sovereignty from white American society and all its bigotry, as proven by
her hometown of Eatonville. Never in her works did she address the issue of
racism of whites toward blacks, and as this became a nascent theme among
black writers in the post World War II ear of civil rights, Hurston's
literary influence faded. She further scathed her own reputation by railing
the civil rights movement and supporting ultraconservative politicians. She
died in poverty and obscurity.

An article, "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston", by Alice Walker was published
in the March 1975 issue of *Ms.* magazine. This article revived interest in
her work. The reemergence of Hurston's work coincided with the emergence of
authors such as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Walker herself, whose works
are centered on African American experiences and include, but do not
necessarily focus upon, racial struggle.
Biographies of Hurston include *Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography* by
Robert Hemenway, *Wrapped in Rainbows* by Valerie Boyd, and *Speak So You
Can Speak Again* by Hurston's niece, Lucy Anne Hurston.

1899 - on this date the French composer *FRANCIS POULENC *was born (d.
1963).
Poulenc was one of the first openly Gay composers. His first serious
relationship was with painter Richard Chanlaire to whom he dedicated his
Concert champêtre: "You have changed my life, you are the sunshine of my
thirty years, a reason for living and working." He also once said, "You know
that I am as sincere in my faith, without any messianic screamings, as I am
in my Parisian sexuality."

Poulenc also had a number of relationships with women. He fathered a
daughter, Marie-Ange, although he never formally admitted that he was indeed
her father. He was also a very close friend of the singer Pierre Bernac for
whom he wrote many songs; some sources have hinted that this long friendship
had sexual undertones; however, the now-published correspondence between the
two men strongly suggests that this was not the case.

Poulenc was profoundly affected by the death of friends. First came the
death of the young woman he had hoped to marry, Raymonde Linossier. While
Poulenc admitted to having no sexual interest in Linossier, they had been
lifelong friends. Then, in 1923 he was "unable to do anything" for two days
after the death from typhoid fever of his twenty year old friend, novelist
Raymond Radiguet. However, two weeks later he had moved on, joking to
Sergei Diaghilev at the rehearsals he was unable to leave, about helping a
dancer "warm up". In 1936, Poulenc was profoundly affected by the death of
another composer, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, who was decapitated in an
automobile accident in Hungary. This led him to his first visit to the
shrine of the Black Virgin of Rocamadour. Here, before the statue of the
Madonna with a young child on her lap, Poulenc experienced a life-changing
transformation. Thereafter his work took on more religious themes, beginning
with the* Litanies à la vierge noire* (1936). In 1949, Poulenc experienced
the death of another friend, the artist Christian Bérard, for whom he
composed his *Stabat Mater* (1950). Other sacred works from this period
include the *Mass in G* (1937), *Gloria* (1959), and *Sept répons des
ténèbres* (1961–2).

*1919* – on this date the American poet *ROBERT DUNCAN *was born (d: 1988).
A student of H.D. and the Western esoteric tradition, Duncan spent most of
his career in and around San Francisco. Though associated with any number
of literary traditions and schools, Duncan is often identified with the New
American Poetry and Black Mountain poets. Duncan's mature work emerged in
the 1950s from within the literary context of Beat culture and today he is
also identified as a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance. Duncan's
name figures prominently in the history of pre-Stonewall gay culture,
particularly with the publication of "*The Homosexual in Society*." While
in Philadelphia, Duncan had a relationship with a male instructor he had
first met in Berkeley. In 1941 he was drafted and declared his homosexuality
to get discharged. In 1943, he had his first heterosexual relationship. This
ended in a short, disastrous marriage. In 1944, he published *The Homosexual
in Society*, an essay in which he compared the plight of homosexuals with
that of African Americans and Jews. From 1951 until his death, he lived with
the artist Jess Collins. Before then, Duncan began a relationship with *Robert
De Niro Sr*., the father of famed actor Robert De Niro Jr., shortly before
DeNiro Sr. broke up with his wife, artist Virginia Admiral.

Duncan was the first poet to use the word "cocksucker" in a print, and the
first to strip to the buff during a reading. Nevertheless, he is in spirit,
if not in fact, a modern romantic whose best work is instantly engaging by
the standards of the purest lyrical traditions.

*1921* – on this date the American poet and great love of W.H. Auden's life
*CHESTER KALLMAN *was born (d: 1975).
Born in Brooklyn, Kallman received his B.A. at Brooklyn College and his M.A.
at the University of Michigan. He published three collections of
poems,*Storm at Castelfranco
* (1956), *Absent and Present* (1963), and *The Sense of Occasion* (1971).
He lived most of his adult life in New York, spending his summers in Italy
from 1948 through 1957 and in Austria from 1958 through 1974. He moved his
winter home from New York to Athens in 1963.

Together with his lifelong lover* W.H. Auden*, Kallman wrote the libretto
for Stravinsky's *The Rake's Progress* (1951). They also collaborated on two
librettos for Henze, *Elegy for Young Lovers *(1961) and *The
Bassarids*(1966), and on the libretto of
*Love's Labour's Lost* (based on Shakespeare's play) for Nicolas Nabokov
(1973). They also wrote a libretto "*Delia, or, A Masque of Night*" (1953),
intended for Stravinsky, but never set to music. They were commissioned to
write the lyrics for *Man of La Mancha*, but Kallman did no work on the
project, and the producers decided against using Auden's contributions.

When Isherwood and Auden came to America in the late `30s, Kallman and
fellow Brooklyn College student and poet *Harold Norse* – both young, blond
and handsome – attended an Isherwood/Auden reading to flirt with the
celebrated writers. Only Isherwood flirted back; Auden was near-sighted.
When, two days later, 18-year-old Kallman showed up at Auden's apartment,
Auden, apprised of the young hunks by Isherwood, answered the door and
exclaimed "But it's the wrong blond!" Isherwood, it seems, had particularly
hankered after Norse. Chester Kallman entered Auden's apartment and, in a
manner of speaking, didn't leave until the great poet's death 34 years
later. They were deeply in love for the rest of their lives together.

*1950* - today's the birthday of Mexican singer and performer *JUAN GABRIEL*.
Born in Paracuaro, Michoacan, his real name is Alberto Aguilera Valadez.
In 1971, he landed a recording contract with RCA Records. He has written and
recorded over 1000 songs in a variety of music genre. Changing his name to
Juan Gabriel - Juan in honor of a schoolmaster for whom he held great
admiration and adopting the stage surname of Gabriel in honor of his own
deceased father, Gabriel Aguilera, he gradually established himself as
Mexico's leading commercial singer-songwriter, penning in many diverse
styles such as rancheras with mariachi, ballads, pop, rock, disco, with an
incredible string of hits for himself and for leading Latin singers
including International star José José, Angélica María, Gualberto Castro,
Aida Cuevas, Enriqueta Jiménez, Lucha Villa, Ana Gabriel, Luis Miguel and
Rocio Durcal.

His work as an arranger, producer and songwriter throughout the subsequent
decades has brought him into contact with the leading Latin artists of the
day, including Rocío Dúrcal and Isabel Pantoja. In addition to recording
numerous hits on his own, Gabriel has produced albums for Rocio Durcal,
Lucha Villa, Lola Beltran and Paul Anka. In 1984, he scored what is
considered by many of his fans to be his greatest hit, "Querida" ("My Dear")
which stayed for over a year on the top of the hits chart.

When asked whether he was Gay, Gabriel replied "What is seen is not asked
about, young man. I have no reason to tell you, nor others, things that are
none of your concern, dear. I feel I am an artist who has contributed much
with my songs." Most of his fans know better but like many musicians of his
generation, Gabriel keeps mum.

*1969* - today's the birthday of Korean-American actor *REX LEE*. Best
known for his role as "Lloyd" on the HBO series *Entourage, *Lee was born in
Warren, Ohio. His parents emigrated from Korea to the United States. He grew
up in the states of Massachusetts and California and graduated from the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Prior to landing the role on "Entourage" he
had various jobs including working as a casting assistant and he was the
casting director for the TV movie The Cure for a Diseased Life. Lee has also
played roles on a variety of TV shows, including Twins, What About Brian and
Zoey 101.
In *Entourage* Lee plays Lloyd, the openly Gay assistant to Ari Gold, the
bombastic agent character played by Jeremy Piven. Lee began his role in the
first episode of the show's second season, "The Boys Are Back in Town,"
which introduced Lloyd as the replacement to Ari's previous assistant.

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Today's Gay Wisdom*
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*
The 20th Anniversary Issue of *White Crane*
is now online.
Read excerpts from the issue at www.gaywisdom.org**

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** COMMUNITY NEWS*
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*

*BECOME A LEADER!
GAY HEALTH = GAY POWER*

*GAY MEN'S HEALTH LEADERSHIP ACADEMY*

You are invited to participate in a groundbreaking *Leadership Academy *that
will provide you with the skills and support needed to lead pioneering work
to improve the health and well being of Gay men's communities and
subcultures.

Open to men and women of all sexual and gender orientations who are seeking
to make a difference in the future of Gay men's health, at the local and
national level.

*BECOME A LEADER IN THE CUTTING-EDGE WORK
OF THE GAY MEN'S HEALTH MOVEMENT**
*
*March 26-29, 2010*
Wildwood Retreat Center
*Guerneville, California*

*About the Leadership Academy*

A growing Gay men's health movement has achieved major achievements over the
past ten years, including: the birth of new organizations that are
shepherding innovative approaches to the broad range of issues faced by Gay
men's communities and subcultures the organizing of a new generation of men
and women to fight for Gay health and build community nationwide the
creation of a new model of health promotion, focused on supporting Gay
men's commitment to one another the development of exciting new programs and
campaigns to promote the assets of our strong Gay communities.

*BECOME A LEADER!*

This growing movement requires a new generation of leaders of all ages who
are willing to go back to their home communities and lead the fight for
innovative strategies, organizing, and programs. With the skills you develop
at the LEADERSHIP ACADEMY you can become part of a national movement to
create programs that build upon the strong strengths and assets of Gay men
toss out shame and fear and panic as central strategies for health promotion
celebrate the strategies that work!

All registrations and payments must be received in full one week prior to
the scheduled academy.

Only 40 participants are allowed for each academy, so please register early.

You can register by filling out our registration form, printing it out and
mailing it in. The form is at www.Gaywisdom.org <http://www.gaywisdom.org/>

Scholarships are available.

The Leadership Academy is a sponsored project of the White Crane Institute.

Please find out more about the White Crane Institute at www.gaywisdom.org

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*
*

*DO YOU THINK IT'S TIME
YOU PUT YOUR MONEY
WHERE YOUR IDEAS ARE?
*

*White Crane is in need of financial assistance. *

In the current economy, donations are down drastically and we have extended
ourselves in various ways that,
while fully justifiable, now imperil our continued existence. You get this
Daily Gay Wisdom every day.

The magazine comes out every quarter. It takes money to make these and the
other programs happen.

Visit www.gaywisdom.org to see the complete listing of everything White
Crane does.

We have always made White Crane pay for itself through subscriptions and
book sales, but that has also entailed some expenses
-- advertising, travel and some PR costs -- that have *not* been in the "pay
for itself" model we have survived on for so long.

For example, we put out a challenge grant of $1000 for the Harvey Milk
Memorial in SF that ended up bringing in
another $1000 for a total of $2000 that was given in White Crane's name,
honoring Harry Hay.

We have continued to publish books, though the return on those books has
been minimal (but steady.) We have put these books out there, and it is
incumbent on us to advertise them. This is a recurring cost of around $350 a
quarter (with discounts we have received from publications such as The *Gay
& Lesbian Review*). We are not taking on any more books at this time.

We continue to bring the *Fellow Travelers* photography exhibit by author
Mark Thompson, to six cities now, at no cost to those places
(NY, Philadelphia, Portland, Modesto, Humboldt and later Washington D.C.)
and have absorbed the shipping costs for this in every city.

And we are now in the third year of the *Gay Men's Leadership Academy*, held
on both coasts as well as sponsoring the
Queer Spirit Project in Salt Lake City and a documentary film about Gay
elder, queer poet and filmmaker, James Broughton.

No one who works on *White Crane* full time, part time, or in any way shape
or form, and basically that
would be Dan and Bo, are paid a penny for their work. No monies are spent on
salaries.

*Every penny that comes in is devoted to program.*

We have recently lost our fulfillment (mailing) house that had been donating
the mailing of the magazine for the last two years. They went out of
business with the last issue we sent out and we will now have to absorb
mailing costs and we don't know what that will be with the new company. We *
are* able to take advantage of nonprofit mailing status, but it is an added
expense, and we are still mailing to 23 countries and overseas postage is
through the roof.

Therefore, in the spirit of asking for what we need, we are asking that if
you haven't contributed to the organization that brings you this daily Gay
Wisdom mailing, that you consider making a contribution *now*. Even better,
subscribe to the magazine. $20, $50, $100, $1000, every donation helps. We
don't take advertising money because we *respect* Gay men as something more
than a mere marketing niche

So now we need a little from you. And it's tax deductible. We're a 501(c)3)
educational corporation. If every reader of this Daily Gay Wisdom mailing
were to send $20, we would be out of the woods.

But this is a critical moment for *White Crane*, and without your support
we will not be able to continue for much longer.

*Please visit our website at www.gaywisdom.org and contribute either through
*

PayPal or use the NYCharities.com link you will find there.

*HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT WHITE CRANE*

1. Subscribe. Your subscription gives you *White Crane* four times a year,
and enables White Crane Institute to publish classics of Gay Wisdom, and
sponsor workshops, retreats and programs. We're more than a magazine, but
your subscription to the magazine is the ticket to building stronger
communities across the country.

2. Invite friends and colleagues to learn about preserving Gay wisdom,
spirituality, and culture by forwarding them this newsletter or refer them
to *www.gaywisdom.org* <http://www.gaywisdom.org/>

3. Get a friend to subscribe! Give a gift subscription. Expand the circle.

4. Make a financial gift to support the ongoing work on
*www.gaywisdom.org*<http://www.gaywisdom.org/>.
Click on the "Make A Gift" box in upper left corner of the page. Your
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5. Write an article! Tell your story. *White Crane* is read in 22 countries.
Join the global conversation.
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