Wednesday, June 29, 2005
a little more BLUE here...
Since the EVERYTHING I HAVE IS BLUE anthology webpage has been up I have been plastering it all over the place. This is something of a banner I want to wave while it's here, and new, because it's something ready for the fight.
It's the first queer anthology I've submitted work to.
Actually, that's NOT true. I DID send to another, years ago, but only because Jim Cory suggested that I do so. And I wasn't JUST rejected, but told by the editor that my work was too angry, too crazy, and that it did NOT celebrate being gay, whatever the fuck that meant. Oh yes, and the editor's name of that one was Gavin Dillard, who used to be a porn star or something. Anyway, I don't give a shit what he thinks.
But EVERYTHING I HAVE IS BLUE was the first queer anthology I really WANTED to send my work to. It was completely Out where No One seemed to be. Seemed to be, and that's the point, because I know for a fact it's really where MOST are, as most queers are working class, just as most hetero folks are working class.
So anyway, I've been sending out my rant with website link included, and have received ALL KINDS OF MAIL in response, much of it interested, but some of it pissed off. Pissed off that women are not included, or pissed off that class has anything to do with anything. And the class issues are easy, it seems to me, to deal with.
What I have been saying in response about women not being included is that the dykes already have been working on these issues. They are way ahead, so to speak, and seriously so.
When sharing some of this with anthology editor Wendell Ricketts, he wrote me and said, "I mean to ask legitimately: Is there no space where working class men can simply talk to and about themselves?"
Thanks for that Wendell. Enough of the apologies, enough of the explaining outside of this simple, golden need spoken for here.
Furthermore, please check out Wendell's essay, "Passing Notes In Class." His insights are ready to incite. I am so happy with what he's up for with all this. It's the beginning of a growing knot on the old gay tree. Working class queers are tired, bored and pissed off with what's going on, and it's really, seriously time for shit to change!
CAConrad
It's the first queer anthology I've submitted work to.
Actually, that's NOT true. I DID send to another, years ago, but only because Jim Cory suggested that I do so. And I wasn't JUST rejected, but told by the editor that my work was too angry, too crazy, and that it did NOT celebrate being gay, whatever the fuck that meant. Oh yes, and the editor's name of that one was Gavin Dillard, who used to be a porn star or something. Anyway, I don't give a shit what he thinks.
But EVERYTHING I HAVE IS BLUE was the first queer anthology I really WANTED to send my work to. It was completely Out where No One seemed to be. Seemed to be, and that's the point, because I know for a fact it's really where MOST are, as most queers are working class, just as most hetero folks are working class.
So anyway, I've been sending out my rant with website link included, and have received ALL KINDS OF MAIL in response, much of it interested, but some of it pissed off. Pissed off that women are not included, or pissed off that class has anything to do with anything. And the class issues are easy, it seems to me, to deal with.
What I have been saying in response about women not being included is that the dykes already have been working on these issues. They are way ahead, so to speak, and seriously so.
When sharing some of this with anthology editor Wendell Ricketts, he wrote me and said, "I mean to ask legitimately: Is there no space where working class men can simply talk to and about themselves?"
Thanks for that Wendell. Enough of the apologies, enough of the explaining outside of this simple, golden need spoken for here.
Furthermore, please check out Wendell's essay, "Passing Notes In Class." His insights are ready to incite. I am so happy with what he's up for with all this. It's the beginning of a growing knot on the old gay tree. Working class queers are tired, bored and pissed off with what's going on, and it's really, seriously time for shit to change!
CAConrad
