Blog Posts for Jewelle Gomez

Celebrating Judy Grahn

Jewelle Gomez — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:21:39 -0700

This Friday, October 30th, the work of Judy Grahn (and her new collection/selection from Aunt Lute Books) will be celebrated at an All Hallows' Eve Extravaganza. If we went on just the titles of her poems and stories alone we'd want to show up! Mention "A Woman is Talking to Death" or "The Psychoanalysis of Edward the Dyke" and I'm there. But her substance is more than ...

Are You Really Watching the Today Show or Just Trying to Annoy Me?

Jewelle Gomez — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:23:46 -0700

Few moments stand out so clearly in my mind as the moment I saved the life of my best friend and most favourite poet, Cheryl Clarke. We used to live together in the good old days and were like two peas in a pod except she got up really early and I did not.She'd get ready for work at what felt, to me, like dawn as I tried to rouse myself to enough coherence to say "Have a good ...

What Have We Lost When We Lose Civility?

Jewelle Gomez — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:43:39 -0700

The ability to speak; the right to speak; the skill of articulating what we care about; civil rights; human rights; discovery of new ideas; fresh ways of looking at a problem; solutions to problems; human contact; value for the lives of others; respect for ourselves; ability to curb violence; chance to teach our young an anti-violence way of being; honesty; the past century of human rights ...

If Ted Kennedy had known Del Martin...

Jewelle Gomez — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:05:58 -0700

...everything would be just fine by now. It's the one year anniversary of Del's passing. She was one of the foremost activists in the lesbian feminist movement and she finally married (twice) her partner, Phyllis Lyon, after 52 years, before conservatives stole our rights back. Her book written with Phyllis, "Lesbian Woman" saved the lives and shaped the politics of an entire ...

Oh yeah...sex

Jewelle Gomez — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:51:25 -0700

I don't know if it's being a Bostonian or being a Virgo but sometimes I forget the sex. Not in my personal life (my spouse is happy to report) but in writing. At the Q & A session after a campus reading I did some years ago one of the students said they were surprised there was no sex in my novel. I guess because it was a vampire novel or maybe because the primary characters are ...

History written not by the victors

Jewelle Gomez — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:52:34 -0700

Since my first novel, THE GILDA STORIES, was published in 1991 I have had amazing success with it. The book remains in print and is used in a number of different types of college classes especially fantasy lit. It still has a great fan following among vampire enthusiasts and it doesn't hurt that the TV series, "True Blood," is spawning new ones every week!One thing I regret about ...

Waiting for Giovanni

Jewelle Gomez — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:02:05 -0700

The Annual AfroSolo Arts Festival will do a public reading of my new play, "Waiting for Giovanni," at the African American Arts and Culture Center, (August 8th, 762 Fulton Street, San Francisco, 3 PM). It's free and the lovely intimate theatre seats a nice number of people...enough to create a real theatre experience but small enough to facilitate post-reading discussion.The ...

I/Porn

Jewelle Gomez — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:41:37 -0700

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 ...

Saints & Sinners & Marriage

Jewelle Gomez — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:26:56 -0700

The Civic Center Plaza here in San Francisco was bristling with energy when we waited on the steps of the Supreme Court on Tuesday to hear what the Justices had to say about Proposition 8. They ultimately let it and it's anti-equal marriage change to our constitution stand although in a wierd turn the Court validated the 18,000 marriages that had taken place...mine included. Now we have ...

National Poetry Month

Jewelle Gomez — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:23:34 -0700

National Poetry Month always makes me happy. So many poets...so few days in the month! I'll mention just a couple of finds:Aaron Shurin teaches at University of San Francisco and used to teach at San Francisco State, which is where we met in the mid-90s. His sparkling eyes are a hint at his major intelligence. He's written a number of collections of poetry since 1993 as well as two ...