I/Porn
I'm a period piece junkie. I watched all the episodes of the recent PBS adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Little Dorrit" and was riveted. When Nicholas Nickelby was on Broadway I sat through both sections, totally 7 hours, in one day and came out smiling. AND watched it on TV. Dickens is able to create a kaleidescope of quirky characters in that soap opera way but with enough class consciousness that it feels more real than 'Days of Our Lives.'

Still when I think about it I'm disturbed that in this endless flow of PBS re-enactments so few of the stories are by women. I've watched every Agatha Christie there is...twice! And every adaptation of Jane Austen there is...and I didn't even get diabetes.

A couple of years ago I was browsing in a second hand bookstore (that's my equivalent of being in a crack den, in fact it's more like scouring than browsing) and came across a novel, "Cranford," by Elizabeth Gaskill, a writer I didn't know who was popular back in the day. It was originally published in 1851 (in a magzine edited by Dickens) so who could resist. Then, next thing you know, it was on TV. Loved it!!!

Only two of Sarah Waters five novels---"Tipping the Velvet" and "Fingersmith"---have been filmed so there's still hope there...and she's not dead!

I'd love to see Emma Donaghue on the big screen...yes, I have a big flat screen.

But what about Angela Carter? All those short stories are waiting to be opened up!

And how about the US...I have an affinity for British accents but I'm not chauvinistic. And I'm well aware that period material often leaves people of color off stage.

Barbara Hambly has a fantastic series of novels that take place in New Orleas in the 1800s that starts with "A Free Man of Color" and features people of all shades.

There's a recent biography of the wives of U.S. presidents (I apologize my mind and my Google have gone blank) that could be a great jumping off point for a series.

There was a wonderfully dramatic TV movie about early Suffragist, Alice Paul, called 'Iron Jawed Angels,' starring Hillary Swank. How could women not get the vote with Hillary Swank doing battle!?

In 1984, Nevada Barr (famous for her contemporary mystery series featuring a woman Park Ranger...each one makes you want to go camping!), published "Bittersweet" about two women in the old west. What about that? I can see a series: "Adventures of Miss Kitty," all about what she did when Marshal Dillon was on the road.

Any stories that will give more dimension to women in the world makes me happy.

Why the title above? As I was going to work this morning I passed a flatbed truck labeled I/Porn outside of the convention center. A half dozen young women in black bikinis gyrated to blaring disco music to the delight of the (mostly) men who stood in line waiting for the tech convention to open.

I have nothing against half-clad women (even though there are too few half clad men except at gay pride) dancing in freezing temperatures on a truck like they're being delivered along with the bottled water. I'm glad they're getting paid and maybe they like dancing.

But we need those historical stories too so when we look in the mirror someone else's fantasy of us is not all we see of ourselves; so that's not all the world thinks of us. And so they know we didn't just arrive on the scene in an outfit named for a nuked tropical island, an object delivered for the pleasure of someone else.

And I keep wanting these literary delights to make it to TV because a lot of young people watch TV. No fighting that. In the mean time I'll just use my DROP EVERYTHING AND READ DAY hour to keep up with the great books about women that would make great TV adaptations.

Dr.George Tiller was murdered yesterday (5.31.09) in his Wichita church where he was serving as an usher and his wife was singing in the choir. He was one of only three (known) doctors in the US who would risk his life to perform late term abortions.

All the people expressing shock over this murder are being hypocritical! The fanatical hate that the right wing spews over the airwaves and at rallies is designed to encourage radical action and murder has been one of those actions. These are the same people who were standing on the California Supreme Court steps gloating that the court upheld the discriminatory Prop 8, taking away our right to marry.

They would have killed us too if they thought they could get away with it.

To paraphrase an early civil rights leader: Women have no rights that men need respect. And a woman's right to choose puts not just her life in peril but the life of anyone who would support her.

That women in this country ever got the right to vote (not so long ago) is still a miracle. And if Rush Limbaugh has hosted a radio show in the early 1900s we probably would never have gotten it.

Wake up women! We are all in their rifle sites...if not today...tomorrow. And when we express shock it is disingenuous. That silly naivete makes us all guilty. Dr. Tiller's murder, whether you believe in abortion or not, is an attempt to kill democracy and make sure women stay in our place.

When we don't act to protect our rights we are as guilty of sexism and hatred as the man who put a bullet in Dr. Tiller's brain.

I finally watched the You Tube clip with Susan Boyle singing on Britain's Got Talent. First let's just say that show is way better than American Idol. Clean production, no frou frou, so you can actually vote on their voice rather than the razzle dazzle singers use to cover their formulaic, Pop 40 voices.

Susan Boyle can sing! And it was annoying how shocked everyone was. She didn't look like she'd been poured out of a can of Britney look-a-like sauce.

What was more upsetting than the smirks of the judges when they saw her middle aged, plainness (they get paid to be obnoxious) were the scornful looks from the young women in the audience. I wanted to smack them! It was like they were looking at their mothers and spitting in her face.

I thought Susan Boyle looked like me---middle aged, plump and plain. At least the me that I know lurks inside, left over from before I stole a fashion sense from Ntozake Shange and Alexis DeVeaux. And she had those bushy eyebrows...just like mine before I moved to San Francisco and had electrolysis.

Sexism is a mental illness and I don't know if the world will ever be cured. Happily it didn't keep Susan Boyle from being upbeat and funny. She mocked them all with a playful sway of her hips as she came on stage and didn't shrink at their embarassing dismissal...embarassing to them since she was above them all.

Now they won't stop talking about the fact that she plucked her eyebrows. Why is the culture so obsessed w/how women look? Why do women collaborate with that hate? Maybe we should have a reality show evaluating men's penises. If we did they would shrivel up (literally) and die. Or have us killed.

Oh, right they're already doing that.

So here we are a week before the National Lesbian Health Summit! Has everyone registered???? I hope so because it's a first of its kind and promises some amazing discussions including a panel featuring Dr.Sandra Hernandez who's the executive director of the San Francisco Foundation.

I'll be talking and reading with Elana Dykewomon (below) and Dorothy Allsion on Sunday March 8th, International Women's Day @ UCSF! It'll be the first time we've read together in a looooong time. We decided to represent the older generation, survivors and fomenters of the feminist revolution.

Old dykes never die we just keep writing poetry. And that's how we stay healthy. It's true. Lesbian culture, named or not, is one of the reasons we made it through the dark ages...that would be the most of the 20th century. We are still the queer people who dare not speak our name! Come participate enjoy.

We may be old but we're sparky!

http://www.lesbianhealthinfo.org/NationalLesbianHealthSummit/aboutthesummit.html