Herland Sister Resources : v.6: no.2(1989)
- Title
- Herland Sister Resources : v.6: no.2(1989)
- Description
- The Herland Sister Resources newsletter is the monthly publication of Herland Sister Resources, a womanist organization with a strong lesbian focus based in Oklahoma City.
- Date Issued
- 1989-02
- Rights
- All rights reserved by Herland Sister Resources. Contact UCO Archives & Special Collections for the permission policy on the use, reproduction or distribution of these materials.
- Is Part Of
- Herland Sisters Resources
- Creator
- Herland Sister Resources
- Contributor
- Lewis, Karen
- Date
- 2017-09-02T17:02:23Z
- Date Available
- 2017-09-02T17:02:23Z
- Subject
- Oklahoma
- Type
- application/pdf
- extracted text
-
VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2
FEBRUARY, 1989
HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
2312 N.W. 39TH, OKC 73112 • (405) 521-9696
ALIX DOBKIN AND
LINDA WATERFALL:
A GOOD OMEN
By Mary Reynolds
I think it's an orrien. A good omen.
You see, I have this book that I keep
on top of the water tank of my toilet.
It's called The Hundredth Monkey. And
here's the story: there are a hundred
monkeys living on an island in the
Pacific. Some of the monkeys - monkey
children - pick up the idea of washing
their food just before eating it. They
teach their parents to wash their food,
too. This goes on until 99 of the
monkeys in the community have the
habit of washing their food. Then,
finally, monkey number 100 washes its
food. At that moment, inexplicably, all
of the monkeys of that species on the
surrounding islands begin to wash their
food. It's a true story - it really happened.
And the implication is that when a
certain critical mass of humans learns
the habit of living together in peace and
treating each other with respect, the
human race will make a dramatic
revolutionary step into the next stage of
humanity. One can only hope so,
looking at the headlines.
And I think I've seen an omen that
the day is coming. Because here in
Oklahoma City, in the short span of
three weeks in November and December, we listened as two prophetesses of
a brighter day sang to us their visions of
the other side. As powerful as Old
Testament sages they decried the staleness and lethargy of the status quo.
They challenged us to do better, they
chided us for complacency and then
comforted us and upheld our spirits
with music and good fellowship. Then
they told us to get ready for the
promised land, 'cause we women are
going to be leading the way.
For you young kids who missed the
50's and 60's, I'd like to explain something about Alix Dobkin. She's an oldfashioned folk singer. In those ancient
times before Bob Dylan turned folk
Alix Dobkin and signer "Zyra Shelley"
singers into a cult object, to be a folk
singer was to be a communicator, someone who listened as well as sang, one
who was a practitioner of culture without trying to be #1 on the "hip" parade.
Yes, that's what it was like in those
days, and Alix gave us all the classic
elements of the form: The Talking Lesbian Blues (see Woody Guthrie), The
Typical American Chicken song (see
Falderal String Band) and of course,
that ancient tradition, the Women's
concert sing-along.
All the parts were there, and as a .
whole, they drove home the message:
Lesbians are a planet-wide manifestation. Women have a power unto themselves which is mystical, inescapable
and indestructible. Male violence is not
a fairy tale but a tangible enemy not
only of women but of all life. She
moved and delighted us with stories,
and she reached us in song where mere
prose fears to tread. And perhaps most
memorable was the way Alix revealed
herself, "The Woman in Your Life," to
all of us in her performance. In fact, this
reviewer has never witnessed a performer
who was more at ease in front of an
audience.
Alix told of the many faces of Lesbian culture that exist around the
worl~. How different from the many
1
entertainers we've seen who can only
tell us about Lesbian culture in California! She affirmed our idiosyncratic
contribution to the world Lesbian picture. She spoke to us in Yiddish, Australian and signed for us in American
Sign Language. I can stilt see the beauty
of her hands and the warmth in her eyes
as she signed the words "so easily."
There is something about watching and
listening to a woman who is both
signing and singing that gets into my
brain and just sticks-I love it.
Alix was assisted in signing by Zyra
Shelley, who is not just an interpreter
but a consummate artist of sign. Alix's
standard contract requires that all of her
performances be signed by a woman
versed in women's culture. Signing is
not just for the deaf, you-all. It is a vital
brick in the foundation of women's
culture, and it is also important in
Native American culture.
Next item. OK, I'll admit it. Linda
Waterfall is one of my own personal
heroines. There. I've said it. Look, I listen
to the woman's music constantly. In the
car, driving, wherever. Her albums stay on
my turntable for months at a time. I just
keep turning them over and listening
again. I know every note on three of her
albums. 1.' m totally familiar with the
Continued on page 2
Continued from page 1
niceties of technique, songcraft, musical
skill, all the things that are sleight-ofhand to the average listener are old hat
to me. But I was still amazed , moved,
thrilled and totally captivated by Linda's
performance here on December 2nd.
The Linda Waterfall concert was not
promoted as a quote-unquote women's
concert, as it was advertised to the
general public as well as to the women's
community. Certainly Linda's music
deals with some things that are not
normally approached in women's concerts, such as dealing with men as
lovers. But thanks to the women who
supported the concert so enthusiastically, her music was able to touch on a
new direction for the community here
in central Oklahoma: that a woman
doesn't have to be a Lesbian to make
"women's music." There's a lot to
recommend that idea. That's why Ladyslipper distributors (that handle Alix
Dobkin's music) are so cool, because
they make available all music that has a
woman's sweat a,nd blood on it, and
affirm it as woman-identified music.
Right on! I mean, didn't we all grow
up singing "you make me feel like a
natural woman?" Oh, I forgot. Some of
us are younger. One song in particular
Linda explained, Love Song, expresses
her independence, her Room of One's
Own, her Woman in Your Life - becausse
she earns her own living and makes her
own way. She is free to love whomever
she chooses . . . She included several
examples of one of my favorite devices
in her performances-the "sex as food"
metaphor. There was Cherry Tomato,
Coconut Milk, and the classic blues
item, Jelly Roll. "No-one," she sang,
"can make sweet jelly roll like mine."
Oh, that stuff is just so good when a
woman does it.
Why, you'd think that the whole
concert was about sex! Please! Linda
sang us songs written by children. She
sang songs about coping with the dayto-day insanities we all face . And most
of all, more important than sex, she
sang us songs about how to make peace
with our human companions, with our
own hearts, and with our Mother Earth,
that 0-riginal Right-On woman.
There I go, talking about peace again.
These two concerts, so close together,
so much alike. And what a surprise East Coast, old style folk poetess; New
Age songstress. So different, yet so
alike in that Alix and Linda both told
the story of the wide world of women,
and the bright future of this wonderful
planet.
ANNOUNCES
FRIDAY NITE VIDEOS
February 10 - Lesbianage
February 24 - Personal Best
COFFEEHOUSE - FEBRUARY 11th
FEATURING PEGGY JOHNSON
8:00 to 9:30 p.m.
SIGNING CLASS
2 Separate 10-week sessions
Thursdays, 7 to 8, from Feb. 16 to April 20
Sundays, 2:30 to 3:30, from Feb. 18 to April 23
COST $25 in advance, no refunds
Classes limited to 25 people each
'V
'
During the month of February, Her·
land will be open on Thursday even·
ings from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in addition to
the regular weekend hours. We hope
this will accommodate those of you
who have to work weekends.
THE NEW HERLAND CENTER IS NOW OPEN:
SATURDAYS 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. & SUNDAYS 1 p.m. - 6 p.m.
at 2312 N.W. 39th St.
HERLAND BOARD MEETINGS ARE HELD THE 3RD
SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH AT 2312 N.W. 39TH
4:30 p.m.
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PUBLISHED BY: Her/and Sister Resources, Inc.
2312 NW 39th, Oklahoma City, OK 73112
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2
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DEADLINE on all advertising and submissions is
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SUBSCRIPTIONS to this Newsletter are free
upon request.
ALIX DOBKIN:
THE DAY AFTER
by Sondra Metzger
If you attended the Alix Dobkin
concert last Nov. 18, you were one of
the few who were fortunate enough to
experience a remarkable woman.
What makes her remarkable isn't the
fact that she spent two hours on stage
entertaining us with songs and stories
about her travels and her life. What
makes her remarkable is the fact that
she cares about women and made time
to get to know us, our community,
what's going on within it and educate us
about our culture. Most performers fly
in, perform, fly out.
The last time Alix was in Oklahoma
City was in November 1963. Her most
vivid memory of that time was of oil
wells in everyone's backyard.
"It was a week after Kennedy's
assassination,'' Alix said. "This time,
the mood here is on the upswing. There
seems to be a renewed energy for community events. Women are paying by
going through programs like Al-Anon
and AA. It seems like a lot of this
attention is being directed back to the
lesbian community, too. I am delighted
to notice this because I feel we can't live
without our culture. You are all doing
great. You have good spirit and you
have fun. That's important because
we're not going to survive unless we
have a good time with each other."
Her latest album/tape, Never Been
Better, includes two songs produced
and arranged by Diane Lindsay and by
Sue Fink, who performed in Norman
last April.
"I hired Diane and Sue because I
wanted their sound,'' Alix said. "I knew
them and respected them both. So, I
hired them to produce Pitfalls of True
Love and Never Been Better because I
wanted Diane's sound and sensibility on
Never Been Better and Sue's on Pitfalls of
True Love. I knew exactly what I wanted
to hear from the arrangements and knew
I couldn't do it, so I asked them and they
did exactly what I had in mind."
The album/tape is a good example
of Alix's determination to instill variety
in her music.
"I have to be very careful of getting
into a pattern,'' she said. "I write songs
in different keys and each key has its
own sound. When I write a song in D,
it's going to sound .a certain way
because that's just the way I play after
all these years of playing. I'm very
aware of the key that I write a song in
because that to me determines how it's
going to sound and I'm very careful not
to have the songs sound too much alike.
They do to a point because everyone
has a style, and there's nothing wrong
with that. But I'm very aware of variety
in my concerts and have been ever since
I started performing in 1962. I'll do a
song acappella, I'll do some show tunes,
but I do try to mix it up a lot because I
want to do a show that I would like if i
was in the audience."
Alix goes into a concert giving 110%.
She feels that she only has one chance a
year to do that and wants to take
advantage of the opportunity to maximize every moment.
"When I'm tired or sick," she said,
"I really notice how much work it is.
One time in Dallas I forgot the words to
Big Girls and a woman in the audience
helped me out until I finally figured out
that I wasn't supposed to do that particular song. So I stopped and started
into another one. The women didn't
mind. I don't like to look back and
think, 'Well, I didn't really do as well as
I could,' because I do look back. It's not
that I didn't put the effort out. It's just
that I forgot to say something or forgot
the words."
Her present tour is two weeks long,
but during her career Alix has been on
the road for 10 weeks at a time.
Although she loves the road, Alix finds
it necessary to touch base with her
home in Woodstock, NY, where her
favorite exercise is walking a 2~-mile
route every day.
But when she's on the road, her main
interest is educating. Alix feels that her
primary job is to pass along what she
learns - that educating is even more
important than entertaining. She feels
music is the most effective way to get
the message out to women.
"Women, lesbians, and other musicians inspire me to perform," she said.
"It's the universality of our culture. It's
the appreciation I get from women
wherever I go. It's interesting after a
concert when women say 'We really
needed this here.' This is everywhere I
go. I don't know of any other performers who do what I do."
Alix enjoyed learning about the
women in OKC, that they actually
participated in making music and didn't
just listen to it. She feels it's a great
resource for the community, that it's a
wonderful way to bond women and
bring everyong together.
"We're lesbians because we discriminate,'' she said. "That's what makes us
lesbians, a quality that is very important
to us. Relationships are a skill we have
to learn, so we practice on eacJ"i _other
until we get it better and better. ~hd ~e
do get it better. We don't usuallly
repeat the exact same mistakes. Sometimes we do because we haven't learned
the lessons. On the whole, women are
being much smarter in relating t<;> each
other. You don't expect the moon because
you know that that's not real. You learn
that, and you learn the kind of compromises or whatever you have to do. The
older you get, the pickier you are. We
only take what's good for us. We don't
engage in anything that i~really unhealthy
or does not contribute to our wellbeing. We learn how to recognize these
things after awhile, after we go through
relationships."
After 26 years of performing, Alix
remembered one bad experience that
happened while she was performing in
Australia.
"I had wonderful concerts there,''
she said, "but one was located in a
town nearest the women's land. There
are women there who own thousands
of acres, and one of the parcels of land
is open womens' land where any woman
can live free of charge. As a result, it
attracted a lot of drug addicts and
alcoholics; sad, wasted women. It's a
very depressing scene."
About 50 women attended the concert in the town hall who were interested
in hearing what Alix had to say, but a
handful of others were very hostile and
started disrupting the concert. Alix continued her show. Other women asked
Continued on page 4
3
Continued from page 3
them to leave, so they did, only to go
outside and throw rocks onto the tin
roof of the hall.
"l was very afraid of violence," she
said. "It was averted. The women there
were very angry that their evening had
been ruined. They didn't get to experience the kind of energy that we did
with other audiences in Australia. They
were robbed by those women. It's been
an issue for a long time, and it really
came out for my concert. I have a way
of bringing things out when I travel.
Things happen.
On the lighter side, Alix found no
other experience as memorable as her
fortieth birthday when 8,000 women
sang Happy Birthday to her at the
women's music festival in Michigan.
Alix loved doing the concert here and
spending time with the women of Oklahoma City. Her advice to several of us is
invaluable. She wanted to make sure
that anyone interested in our lesbian
culture or lesbian cultures music knew
about the Association of Women in
Music and Culture. Anyone wishing to
have more information may write to
Olivia Records, 4400 Market St., Oakland, CA 93608.
For our local performers or those
aspiring to be performers, Alix recommends that you just do it.
"It's important that you have a place
to do that," she said, "because there's
nothing that substitutes for experience.
My advice would be, don't settle. Don't
settle for a cheap laugh, don't settle for
second best, don't make a sex joke just
because it has sex in it. If you're going
to talk about sex on stage or make a sex
joke, it's better be really great and
original. Don't fall for the old cliches. If
you've heard it before, why bother.
That's always my advice for songwriters.
I'm looking for originality. I'm looking
for something unique. I'm looking for
something that only you can do, nobody
else. If I've heard it before, I'm not
interested. Work on whatever it is
unique in your own perspective and
your own sensibility, your own performance. Whatever is only you. That's
what I want to hear."
"Also, love women or die."
4
UNITY IS THE KEY
Potpourri
WHO'S ON YOUR BACK?
By Sondra Metzger
Valentine's Day is upon us, which
means that someone out there will
notice the sale ads from the local
furriers and buy their sweetheart a fur
coat to show them how much they love
them. Maybe another local store will
give away mink teddy bears with a
specified purchase amount.
Although I love animals, this article
is not the rantings and ravings of a
radical. I do belong to an animal welfare
organization, and my dog is spoiled
rotten (ask anyone). But, I still enjoy a
good hamburger or steak once in a
while, and I have work gloves that are
made out of pigskin and cowhide,
byproducts of death for food. Guilty?
Yes, I do feel some guilt. But the sad
truth of the matter is, animals are
always going to be killed for food
whether I b~come a vegetarian or not.
Only so many can be spared. I had to
draw a line somewhere, and have
decided to exclude using any product
obtained from an animal who was
abused for the sake of vanity. The
perfect example of that is fur coats.
The ways animals are killed for their
skins or pelts are listed in a report
released by the Humane Society of the
United States. Some animals are raised
on ranches just to provide a vain public
with fur coats. Small animals, such as
minks and chinchillas, die when their
necks are broken either manually or by
a mechanical device. Some animals die
when a rancher hooks up a hose to the
tailpipe of a running vehicle and connects the other .e nd to an animal enclosure. The carbon monoxide in the
exhaust burns the animals' eyes and
lungs. Because the dosage is so hard to
monitor, not all of the animals die.
Some regain consciousness under the
shock of being skinned.
Sound pretty gruesome? How about
the fox that is electrocuted when the
rancher puts a copper cable in its
mouth and forces a screwdriver-like
device up its rectum. All for the sake of
vanity or that cuddly little teddy bear.
Traps are a common way of catching
wild creatures. Sometimes the animals
bite off their trapped limbs to get away.
A neck snare slowly strangles an animal
over a period of hours or days. If they
don't die from starvation, exhaustion
or dehydration while caught in the trap,
some animals are beaten to death with a
blunt instrument or their heads are
slammed against a tree or rock. Another
popular method of killing wildlife is to
stand on the animal's chest and neck
and slowly suffocate it or crush its
heart.
On top of all that, 5 million animals
have accidentally ended up in traps,
including millions of domestic animals
and thousands of others that are considered endangered species.
It's ironic that all these cuddly
animals die to provide someone with a
cuddly fake animal; that the warmth of
their unconditional love is destroyed to
provide someone with temporary, external warmth.
ls all their suffering really wprth it?
'...
,/
"FOR LOVE & FOR LIFE"
On March 17, JEB will be in
Norman at OU for an hour-long
presentation of the October 1987
march on Washington. For more
information time call Herland.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS?
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BEFORE you move. For your protection the
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Herland will not change your address without
your authorization. Therefore, to ensure
receipt of the Newsletter, fill out and mail us
this change-of-address form BEFORE you
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name to the mailing list.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS FORM
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Herland Sister Resources, Inc.
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Oklahoma City, OK 73106
Around the Country
DOCTORS FIND
KOWALSKI CAN
UNDERSTAND AND
COMMUNICATE
Kowalski to be Moved
to Rehabilitation Facility
DELUTH, MN - Three doctors affiliated with the Miller-Dwan Medical
Center here have found that Sharon
Kowalski can clearly and consistently
communicate her needs and wishes, and
that she understands the communications of others.
The 32-year-old Kowalski, rendered
paraplegic when a drunk driver slammed
into her car in late 1983, has been kept
in a nursing home since 1985. She has
received little rehabilitation there and
has not been allowed to see visitors of
her choice. She has been under the legal
guardianship of her father, Donald
Kowalski, since 1984. This was her first
full evaluation for competency, although
the guardianship order required such
testing at least annually.
The tests were ordered in July by St.
Louis County, Minnesota, district court
judge Robert Campbell, over the strenuous objections of the guardian. In
September 1987, attorneys for Karen
Thompson filed a motion for restoration of Kowalski to capacity, and the
tests were ordered as part of the proceedings on that motion.
Thompson, Kowalski's partner, has
been pursuing legal action since 1984
for proper medical care for Kowalski,
as well as for the right to visit and help
care for her.
At a five-hour private hearing on
December 12, 1988, Judge Campbell
presented the results to the Kowalskis,
Thompson and her attorneys, and Gary
Pagliacetti, court-appointed attorney
for Sharon Kowalski. He declared that
by order of the court the contents of
the doctors' reports are personal and
confidential to Sharon Kowalski, and
shall not be released to the press. However, he released a statement based
upon a cover letter from Clyde Olson,
the psychiatrist on the evaluation team,
which read, in part:
"The evaluation stated that Ms.
Kowalski's level of mental functioning
is adequate but untested. She is able in a
closed but secure setting to express her
needs directly. However, communication skills are not adequate at present
time to determine her true level of
mental functioning. The evaluation further stated that Ms. Kowalski's level of
social and psychological well-being is
quite low related to the difficulty of the
social situation as well as the chronic
nature of her placement in a nursing
facility (sic.). At present time it is
recommended that Ms. Kowalski be
placed into a long-term rehabilitative
facility to look particularly at her communication skills and to also assess the
situation concerning her family and
significant other relationship. With
increased communication skills in a safe
setting Ms. Kowalski could reliably
express her wishes concerning visitation."
Judge Campbell said he will order
Kowlaski moved to Miller-Dwan from
the Leisure Hills nursing home in
Hibbing after the holiday season, to
receive intensive communication rehabilitation. She can reliably express her
wishes concerning visitation, he said,
and her visitation there will be determined by himself, in consultation with
the professionals working with Kowalski,
based upon her own wishes.
Thompson has not seen Kowalski
since August 19, 1985 when Donald
Kowalski gained complete guardianship
and immediately barred Thompson
from visiting her companion. Thompson and her attorneys were elated about
the full contents of the evaluation.
"The results are better than I ever dared
expect,'' Thompson said. "They have
validated everything I said in my book,
that Sharon should have been receiving
much higher quality rehabilitation this
entire time, and that Sharon can clearly
understand, and can express her wishes.
How heartbreaking it is that so many
years have been wasted and so many
opportunities lost."
Thompson's book, Why Can't Sharon
Kowalski Come Home?, was published in
September. It provided extensive documentation that Kowalski wanted to see
Thompson and her other friends, that
her cognitive and social skills were high,
and that because she cannot walk or
communicate in traditional ways, her
many other abilities are overlooked and
discounted.
When the judge asked Donald
Kowalski what he thought after reading
the reports, he reportedly stated that
they validated what he has said al
along, that Sharon was helpless anc
needed constant care.
The Kowalskis' attorney, Jack Fena .
resigned from the case one month after
the final personal injury settlement was
made in July, a settlement which netted
him over $50,000 and yielded only
$20,000 for the estate of Sharon
Kowalski.
"The results really open the door to a
future for Sharon," said Tade Dejanikus,
co-chair of the National Committee to
Free Sharon Kowalski. "We're thrilled."
The National Committee represents a
coalition of seventeen committees nationwide.
Press Release
ABC TV'S SERIES
HEARTBEAT UNDER ATIACK
ABC TV'S SERIES HEARTBEAT,
which features an openly lesbian character, is under postal attack by fu~qamen
talists to the tune of 1,800 le'ttel's a
week. Those who favor the program's
positive treatment · of lesbianism are
urged to write: Aaron Spelling Productions, Warner/Hollywood Studios,
1041 Formosa Avenue, Los Angeles,
CA 90046.
WOMEN ARE MAKING
POLITICAL STRIDES
By Pamela Porter
Washington Bureau
:/
WASHINGTON - The 1988 election produced gains for women candidates on all levels, but women's assimilation into politics has proven to be
slow evolution rather than the quick
revolution activists once hoped for.
"Overall, 1988 was another good
year for incremental gains,'' National
Women's Political Caucus Chairwoman
Irene Natividad said in a news briefing
with a coalition of other women's
groups here yesterday.
Twenty-three incumbent women
House members were re-elected, and
two new women won House seats
Tuesday. The newcomers are both
Democrats-Jolene Unsoeld, of Washington, and Nita Lowey, of New York.
"We were able to break our logjam in
our numbers in the House of Representatives which have remained constant
for several years,'' Natividad said.
On the state level the number of
women governors remained steady at
Continued on page 6
5
S. AFRICA PRISONER
NEEDS HELP
Continued from page 5
three. Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin
became the first woman in U.S. history
to win a third term as governor.
Natividad's group also counted four
lieutenant governors, two attorneys
general, 12 state treasurers, 15 secretaries of state and numerous other state
offices held by women.
Jane Danowitz, chairwoman of the bipartisan Women's Campaign Fund,
applauded the gains by women but
noted at the rate women are moving
into Congress, it will take 410 years for
women to catch up to men. In addition
to the 25 women representatives, there
are two women senators.
"We haven't done enough,'' Danowitz
said. "We want a future for our women.
The demon is clearly incumbency."
Challengers have trouble beating
incumbents because political action committees and other big donors pour most
of their money into incumbents' campaigns. To even the playing field,
Danowitz urged stricter limits on campaign contributions. She also called for
an end to negative campaign advertising, which she said is particularly damaging to women candidates because they
are considered (to be) weak if they
don't respond or "bitches" when they
fight back.
Janet Small, 26, a field worker for the
Black Sash human rights organization in
Grahamstown, South Africa, was held
in a prison notorious for its poor
conditions from June 13 to September
16. There were no charges filed against
her - ever!
The Security forces are empowered
under the State of Emergency regulations, to detain people indefinitely at
the discretion of the Minister of Law
and Order who said at one time that
Small's detention would be extended
indefinitely, and gave no reason for this
decision.
At the time of her detention, Janet
Small was assisting detainees and their
families in her capacity as regional representative for the Black Sash in the
Eastern Cape. A trained social worker,
she has held this position for the past
18 months. A former student from
Rhodes University in Grahamstown,
Janet was also previously active with the
National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), which was prohibited
from receiving overseas funding after
being declared an "affected" organization in the 1970's. In 1986 she was
elected NUSAS National General
Secretary.
Under worldwide pressure, Small
was released after 3 months in the
North End Prison. However, those
three months of total isolation (she was
segregated from all other detainees
because she is white and the others are
Black) has taken a terrible toll.
Since her release, the vindictive
regime has continued their harrassment
of Janet Small: she is not permitted to
return to her job; she is not permitted
to leave her mother's house after a
certain time each day.
Readers are urged to send cables or
letters to express concern about the
continuing punishment of Janet Small
without trial and without charge. Call
for the immediate lifting of a!lfrestrictions on her right to move freeW within
her own country, and on her right to
return to work to' support herself and
her family.
WREE - View of Women
No~.-Dec. 1988
11 -13-88
The Washington Post
HAVE YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO LEARN SIGN LANGUAGEl
Rebekah H. will be offering two separate class sessions in Sign Language at Herland Sister
Resources. The sessions will run for 10 weeks. Cost is $250° in advance - no refunds. Classes are
limited to 25 people each.
YES! I'm inte rested. Please register me for:
0 SESSION A: . Thursdays, 7-8 p.m. from Feb. 16 to April 20
D SESSION B: Sundays, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. from Feb. 18 to April 23
I am enclosing my $25°0 registration fee. D
Name ~----------------------------------~
City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STATE _ _ __
Phone __________
Contact Laura at 672-4141 for more information.
Sliding scale and limited scholarships are available.
6
ZIP _ _ _ _ __
February 17, 1989. Five finalists in each
category will be announced nationally
on March 1, 1989.
A panel of 60 judges from across the
country, representing a broad crosssection of the entire lesbian and gay
literary community, will select a single
book in each category from among the
finalists.
"The Annual Lambda Literary Awards
program is a tremendous opportunity
for the book industry to work together
in recognizing the valuable contribution
it makes to gay culture," said Deacon
Maccubbin, publisher of the Book
Report. "The movies have their Oscars,
Broadway has it Tonys. It's time for the
lesbian and gay community to honor its
literary stars."
A gala awards banquet will be held
June 2nd, 1989, at the Hyatt Regency
Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to coincide with the American
Booksellers Association Convention.
At that time, the recipients of the 1st
Annual Lambda Literary Awards will
be announced. Tentative emcees for the
gala event are authors Armistead Maupin
(Tales of the City) and Florence King
FIRST ANNUAL LAMBDA
LITERARY AWARDS
ANNOUNCED
Gala Awards
Program Planned
WASHINGTON, DC-The publisher
and the editor of the Lambda Rising
Book Report, a bi-monthly review of
contemporary gay and lesbian literature, announced plans on Dec. 15,
1988, for a new annual awards program
to recognize excellence in gay and
lesbian writing and publishing.
"The time has come for the literary
excellence of the lesbian and gay community to be recognized," said Jane
Troxell, editor of the Book Report. "1988
has been a tremendous year for the
writers, editors and publishers of gay
and lesbian literature. As a result, all
lesbian and gay people have benefitted
from this unparalleled growth in both
substance and quality."
The public is invited to participate in
the Lambda Literary Awards by nominating their favorite gay and lesbian
books of 1988. Nominations are accepted in twelve categories: Lesbian
Fiction, Gay Men's Fiction, Lesbian
Non-fiction, Gay Men's Non-fiction,
Lesbian Mystery/Science Fiction, Gay
Men's Mystery/Science Fiction, Gay
and Lesbian Poetry, Lesbian First Novel,
· Gay Men's First Novel, Lesbian Small
Press Book Award, Gay Men's Small
Press Book Award, and AIDS (a special
category).
A nominating ballot is in this newsletter. The deadline for nominations is
I
BOOK REPORT
1625 Connecticut Avenue, NW,.
Washington, DC 20009-1013
or phone (202) 462 -6965.
Press Release
Lambda Rising
BOOK REPORT"'
A Contemporary Review
of Gay and Lesbian
Literature
Ple~~end~( )i 21s~;;- $~is
( ) 24 issues - $28
( ) check/m.o. ( ) credit card
Card# .
Exp _ _
( )AmEx ( )VISA ( )MasterCard
(Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady).
"Not only is this an opportunity for
greater visibility for gay and lesbian
writers, it is a chance to recognize the
editors and publishers whose commitment and unfailing support helped
make 1988 a truly memorable year for
outstanding new books," Troxell said.
For further information about the
awards program or the banquet, please
contact Will Guilliams:
Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
BOOK REPORT DEPT# 257
NW
Washington, DC 20009
Phone Orders: (202)462-6969
~ 1625 Connecticut Ave.,
'fi"
----------------------------------,
Nominations for the 1.988 Lambda Lite~ary Awards
Lesbian
Submit nominations to: Lambda Literary Awards, 1625 Connecticut Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20009-1013. Nominations must be received by February 17, 1989.
Fiction Title _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Gay Men's Fiction Title
_ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __
Lesbian Nonfiction Title
-
-
1
I
Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Gay Men's Nonfiction Title - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lesbian Mystery /Science Fiction Title _ __ _ __ __ __
Author
Gay Men's Mystery /Science Fiction Title _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _
Gay and Lesbian Poetry Title
Author _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _
- - - - - - - - --
-
-
-
-
Au thor _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __
Lesbian First Novel Title - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - Gay Men•s First Novel Title _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Author _ __ _ __ _ _ __
Lesbian Small Press Book Award Title-- - - - - - - - - Gay Men's Small Press Book Award Title
Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Author _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __
Author _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _
AIDS (Special Category) Title
Author
·
=..J
~----------------------------------
I
~
Signature _ _ __ _ _ __
Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
City
State __ Zip _ __ _
7
Around the Corner
HERLAND HAS
GOT A PHONE!
Herland Resource Center now
has a telephone! The number is
(405) 521-9696 or 521-WMYN.
Thanks to an anonymous pledge
covering the monthly telephone
expense and to a local attorney who
dropped by the center one Saturday offering a $60 donation for
the purpose of installing a telephone, communication is now a
reality.
For information on what's happening about town or what's available at Herland Center call 521WYMN. Hours are 6 - 8:30 p.m.
Thurs.; 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday;
and 1 - 6 p.m. Sunday.
COFFEEHOUSE
Herland's next coffeehouse will
be held Feb. 11 from 8-9:30 p.m.
Entertainment will be provided
by Peggy Johnson. Peggy is this
month's featured artist in this
issue's Spotlight On column.
Although admission is free,
donations to Herland and tips for
Ms. Johnson will be appreciated.
Refreshments will be provided.
Stop in, catch the talent of
Peggy Johnson and enjoy a great
entertainer. Herland is located at
2312 NW 39th Street.
PROJECT REACHES
FIRST GOAL
The January 15 fundraiser at the HiLo for Friendships United raised over
$400 for the organization. This put the
total raised over the goal of $1,000 set
by the group.
For those of you who are new readers
or are new to the area, Friendships
United is a nonprofit organization that
is raising money to produce a tape
consisting of songs performed by local
performers. The first goal was to make
the $1,000 needed to buy studio time
and blank cassettes. The second goal is
to sell the tape and give all proceeds to
the local AIDS hospice, the Winds.
Coordinator Palmira Campos said
the group is considering another fundraiser to ensure enough money is available should any unexpected costs arise
during taping.
"I was overwhelmed by the turnout
at the Hi-Lo," she said. "We were
collecting money at the door and people
just kept coming in. It was great. We
really appreciate it."
Although the goal was reached sooner
than expected, the group won't be
charging into the studio until March 1.
"We want to do this right," Palmira
said. "Now that we know the money is
there, we will use this time to fine-tune
and let the artists get ready. We've been
looking at studios, but haven't picked
one yet. We'd like to see the tape go
farther than just the community."
Palmira also announced that two
more acts have signed on as contributors to the project. The band Desert
Hearts and singer Joan Richardson will
be adding their talent to the tape.
The HSR Newsletter is offered as an open forum
for community discourse. Materials printed herein
reflects the beliefs and opinions of the authors of
the articles or letters, and not necessarily those of
the Newsletter 01 the Herland Board.
Letters to the Editor
Sisters:
I would like to thank your organization
for the support you have given us during the
year 1988. It is gratifying to see the
community come together as a whole.
We will soon be in contact with you
concerning the activities for 1989. This year
is going to be a very special year for the Gay
Community. The 20th Anniversary of the
Stonewall uprising as well as the 10th
Anniversary of the Washington March will
be celebrated this year.
Unfortunately, our community has been
divided for a long time. Last year, we saw a
positive beginning. However, that was but
only a start. We need to nurture this start to
a complete and flowing unity, undaunted
by petty differences.
It is my sincere hope and desire to see
more unity as well as growth in 1989 and
the coming years as well.
Sincere thanks,
Darlene Burgess, Chairperson
Oasis Community Center
Dear HSR1
I was writing to ask about a subs cription to your magazine. I got an October
issue from a friend of mine and enjoyed it
very much.
I'm doing time here in OKC and I'm
not a game player, I'm for real but I'm
going to be here for awhile and I'd sure
like to maybe meet somebne out there I
can have come visit and write to, to keep
in touch with the things in the free world.
I can be written to at:
Cindy Johnson 110615
Box 11492 M.B.C.C. -E.H.U.
OKC, Okla. 73136
Thanks.
Cindy
FEBRUARY DATELINE
HERLAND IS ...
A non-profit corporation composed of a collective of wimmin - open to any womyn who
wants to be a part of it - which works to maintain a feminist library and bookstore, sponsors
workshops, retreats, concerts and other events for YOU. Herland's reason for being is to
provide a framework for a variety of projects for the support and enjoyment of the area
wimmin's community. It is a place to learn and grow, meet other wimmin, develop lasting
friendships, receive support and nurture the positive self-image that societal attitudes
sometimes make illusive to us. Herland exists to serve YOU.
Your donations are used to pay the mortgage and utilities on the resource center, and
printing and postage for the monthly HSR Newsletter and Friend of Herland cards.
All of Herland's services are free, including the Newsletter. This is why your donation is so
important. It is Herland's lifeblood.
8
February 15, 1820: Susan B. Anthony
was born.
February 22, 1983: Army Pvt. Valerie
J. Randolph accepts the U.S. Army
decision that she be discharged because she married another WAC.
February 27, 1973: The official style
book of the U.S. Government Printing
Office now includes "Ms." as an acceptable prefix, calling it "an optional
feminine title without marital designation."
VIDEO NIGHT A SUCCESS!
LEGISLATIVE DAV SET
Women's organizations around the
state are gearing up for the upcoming
Legislative Day at the state capitol on
Wednesday, March 1.
The national chair of the Women's
Political Caucus, Irene Natividad, will
be the keynote speaker.
Workshops will be conducted and
will cover women's legal rights, progress
reports of economic development, family
leave and child care, Oklahoma's prison
dilemma and whether abortion is a state
issue.
A seminar will be offered on current
legislative priorities with separate sessions
for beginners and advanced. Luncheon
discussions will be conducted by various
organizations and individuals and will
cover such topics as Superfund Cleanup
Sites, mammograms, a possible Constitutional Convention in 1990, legislative
process reform and a panel discussion
on AIDS.
The opening session will convene at 9
a.m. with a welcome by Gov. Henry
Bellmen. Some of the participating organizations and individuals are the League
of Women Voters; Women's Political
Caucus; the Family Community Leadership Group; Planned Parenthood; Dian
England, master social worker; Representatives Freddye Williams and Cal
Hobson; Attorney General Robert Henry;
Harlan Powell, Dept. of Human Services;
and Don Paulsen, Dept. of Commerce.
Pre-registration fees are $5 per person
for the workshops, $4 per person for
the luncheon. The workshops will be
$6 at the door. The luncheon must be
reserved ahead of time.
NOTICE: to organizations, businesses, production companies,
etc: Events and happenings
planned for the first week or two
of any given month should be
advertised in the previous month's
edition of the HSR Newsletter.
By getting your information into
the newsletter a month prior to
the event it reaches more readers
and more people will know about
it before it happens. So, when
planning an activity or event you
hope to share with the women's
community keep this in mind
and get the word out early-for a
happy turnout.
HSR's first two video nights turned
out to be quite a success with a packed
house of women lounging in various
degrees of recline before the TV screen
watching Desert Hearts, Liana, and
various shorts. Free soda and freshlypopped popcorn were enjoyed, along
with unsolicited comments from certain
members of the viewing audience (who
shall remain nameless) which provided
an abundance of comic relief.
HSR thanks Ginger for the idea of
Friday Night Videos at Herland Center
and for coordinating the bi-weekly
event.
February 10 will feature Lesbianage,
and Feb. 24 will present Personal Best. A
donation is requested but not required.
So what are you doing next Friday
night? Join in the affordable fun at 7:30
at Herland, 2312 N.W. 39th Street.
FRE-RffiISIRATim FOOM
IH;ISIATIVE DAY AT '!HE CAPI'IDL
Wednesday I March 1, 1989
PLFASE ClIOCK ACl'IVITIES YOU PIAN 'ID ATI'END:
~
w:::RKSEl'.)PS -
10:30-11:30
A.M.
IIJOCHEm DISClJSSIOOS -
11:45-1 P.M.
Manlll:JC3LdlllS at 35
- - Constitutional Convention in
- - 1990
--
!Bgislative Process Refonn
~ Sites:L in Oklahana
- - Can further legislation help
- - curb the AIDS dilemna?
AFl'ERNXN w:::RKSEl'.)PS -
If planning to attend, please fill in the
registration form which can be found in
this newsletter and mail to the address
listed at the bottom of the form with
the proper registration fees.
All are invited to meet Irene Natividad
at a reception Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the
Embassy Suite Hotel, 2101 S. Meridian,
OKC, from 5:30-7 p.m.
AF1'ERNX.N 'VmKSllJPS -
1:15-2:30 P.M.
.Ad Valorem Tax Refonn: Impact on
- - Fducation
Wellen and the I.aw: Your Rights
- - and Responsibilities
Price Wiiterhouse Study I "'What' S
- - Ahead for Families in Oklahana"
~s
2:45-4 P.M.
Teen-"nP ~cy (video)
- - Familyleave and Child care
- - Oklahana' s Prison Dilemna:
- - Is There Jqie?
Roe vs wade: Abortion, A
- - State Issue?
report an eoonanic
- - developnent
PRE-REX;ISIRATim FEES:
$5 PER PERS'.:N for workshops only ($6 at the door)
$4 PER PERS'.:N for luncheon only (IIJOCHEmS MUST BE FRE-RffiISTERED BER:RE
FEB. 15, 1989)
CALLING
ALL MUSICIANS!
The Oasis Community Center, 2135
NW 39th Street, is looking for people
who play band instruments to form a
band for this coming summer's Lesbian
& Gay Pride Day March.
So dust off and polish up the old high
school horn and join in the fun by
calling Darlene at 525-2437.
Number of persons far workshops: _ __
Total anount enclose:i: _ _ __
Number of persons for luncheon: _ _ __
Total
This luncheon is for lllY legislator:
yes__
anoun~.~lose:i:
no
IF REX;ISTER1Ni MEE '1HAN mE Pms:N, PLEASE INCUJDE A
TAGS CAN BE PREPARED.
_ _ __
Lisr
OF NAMES 00 NAME
Return registration fODn with registration fees by FEBRUARY 15, 1989 to:
IH;ISIATIVE DAY AT '!HE CAPI'IDL
OKIAlDlA iO!E:N' S roLITICAL CAUCUS
P.O. EOX 25212
OKIAlDlA CITY, OK
73125
9
SPOTLIGHT ON:
PEGGY JOHNSON
by Sondra Metzger
This month's spotlight shines on
Georgia native Peggy Johnson, who has
generously given of her time and talent
for Herlarid whenever called upon, and
has recently joined the board of directors.
The 31 -year-old moved to Oklahoma
City six years ago after an abrupt discharge from the Navy.
"I got kicked out of the Navy for
being a lesbian," Peggy said, "and the
woman I was seeing was from here. We
left Philadelphia, where we were discharged, and drove to see my family in
Macon, GA, then came here to see hers.
We were on our way to New Orleans
but ended up staying here."
Peggy looks back at the time of her
discharge as a rough time in her life.
"The ironic thing about it was, I was
awarded Sailor of the Month the month
before I got kicked out. I had a good job
and was highly respected in the work
force."
She received an- honorable discharge,
but the whole experience forced her to
think about what being a lesbian meant
to her and work to improve her level of
self esteem.
When Peggy was a child her maternal
grandmother was her first real musical
influence. "My grandmother played the
piano and when I'd go to her house I'd
tinker around on it," she said. At 13,
Peggy was given a beat-up electric guitar
& amplifier. Thus began her singer/
songwriter I guitarist journey.
My first song," she said, "was in the
key of G and was something serious
about people showing they cared about
each other in public but really didn't
once they got home. That was just how
I felt about the whole deal. I was sitting
up on a hill watching a softball game
and somebody got hurt and everyone
ran over to see how the person was. The
cynical little 13-year-old that I was
thought 'Yeh, they're showing it now
but they won't care later.' That tells
quite a lot about my character."
The guitar isn't the only instrument
Peggy can play. She plays piano a little,
and played clarinet while in high school.
Early on she bought a harmonica at the
Top Value Stamp Store. After satisfying
a longing to play the trumpet, Peggy
moved on to the banjo.
"I played old folk songs on the
banjo,'' she said. "I didn't pursue it
much; I'm not a real traditionalist. But I
10
did start with the old ones like Pretty
Boy Floyd."
Her first performance in public
occurred the first week she had the
guitar. She and three others formed a
band and performed a commercial
during the seventh grade variety show.
"We learned the BC Powder song,''
she laughed. "I learned G-C-D chords
the first three days I had the guitar and
have been using them ever since.
A performance at summer camp
followed with talent shows while she
was in junior high. All the performances
came as a great surprise to Peggy's
mother because Peggy was a shy, introverted child.
"I played on the band bus," she said,
"and even took the guitar to Latin class.
I just always played."
The first time Oklahoma City heard
Peggy Johnson was in 1982 when she
took the stage at the Long Branch
Saloon and sang Me and Bobbie McGee.
"I did that at the top of my best Janis
Joplin imitation lungs,'' she said. "Even
though it was quite well received, I
didn't do it again for quite a few years. I
· did back porch parties where I started
to meet a few people. The very first
professional Peggy Johnson performance
was at the Samuri in 1984. I just got up
in between somebody's set and the
owner came up afterwards and asked if
I wanted a job. Then the Second Fret
opened a few months later and that was
really when I became known."
Like Donna DeSalvo, Peggy doesn't
know how to classify her music either.
"Some people think it's country,''
she said, "but that's because of my
Georgia accent. I like to call it folk
music because that's music about stufflesbian folk music, in a way, which is a
valid thing. It has a different style to it
than your standard folk music."
When she's not doing the singing,
Peggy likes to listen to the sounds of
Joan Armatrading, Jackson Browne,
Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan and Ferron.
Peggy's favorite songs that she has
written are the most recent one (whatever it may be), Pistol At My Door, and
Creedy's Song, which is dedicated to one
of her two cats. Her favorite place to
perform was the Second Fret until it
closed.
"That was a music place,'' she said.
"People went there to hear whoever
was performing. They didn't go just to
drink and talk. It was a music colony. It
was small enough to be warm. It wasn't
so big you couldn't feel the people."
One of Peggy's fondest memories of
the Second Fret happened in February
1986. Snow was falling and she wasn't
expecting anyone to show up l,tpr her
performance. Instead, Peggy found herself facing a packed house that stayed
later than usual eyen with the deepening
accumulation of snow.
Her funniest moment onstage occurred
a year and a half ago when she {vore a
tail in her hair, which she cut off and
raffled off to raise money to go to the
Women's Music Festival in Michigan.
"I thought it would be okay,'' she
said, "but when my friend came on
stage to cut it off, I wanted to change
my mind. Several peo6le told me later
that they weren't going to cash in their
tickets so I could keep it."
Each time Peggy performs, someone
in the audience usually requests Blender
Blues. Some of you might not know that
Peggy did not write the entire song.
"That song came from a bluegrass
festival I went to in 1979," she said. "I
had been listening to Bonnie Raitt for a
year. Finding her music just changed my
life and I knew quite a few of her songs.
She doesn't tend to be a big writer. I
was playing in the campgrounds at the
festival by the firelight and this guy
came up to me and said that he had a
great song of hers that she did on a
bootleg tape and then wrote the words
down on a brown paper bag with a fat
magic marker. I didn't think anything of
it because people are always giving me
lyrics to put music to. I carried it
around for a year in my satchel until
one day when I had nothing to do and
got it out."
Continued on page 11
Continued from page 10
When Peggy read the first line, Let me
be your Blender, baby, she eagerly deciphered the rest of the song. After putting
chords to it, she had a clever song that
is loved by all.
During the day, Peggy works at an
artistic foundry that casts bronze sculpture. By the time you read this article,
she will be working part-time and
attending school at Central State where
she is majoring in political science.
The day I took the picture accompanying this article, Peggy was performing before the lunch-time crowd at Kerr
Park. At one point, she performed a
lesbian folk song. Being in what I consider mixed company, it surprised me
when no one reacted negatively to the
song.
"Part of it is because you know my
music," she said. "I think someone who
doesn't know me either does not hear it
or they are not sure what they heard. I
don't so much try to prove a point like I
used to. I just sing songs the way they
go for me. It's harder for me to sing the
songs in a heterosexual context than it
is to put up with anybody giving me a
hard time because I sing them as a
lesbian. To me, it's lying. It's harder to
lie than to be prepared if anybody
should be upset."
Peggy has lost one job because of her
sexual preference (the navy job). She
feels she is not considered for some
music jobs more because of her limited
musical style than her lesbianism.
Her dream is to do for people what
other musicians have done for her.
"My hope is that I can give that back
to some people like it has been given to
me," she said. "People like Jackson
Browne, Bob Dylan, Joan Armatrading
and Ferron have literally saved my life
with what they've done with their
talent. There have been years when all I
could relate to was an album."
Although Peggy performs solo, she is
also a member of the Three of Hearts,
whose other members are Mary R.,
Elyse A. and Cindy B. She advises
aspiring performers to practice.
"Just do it," she said. "Show up
everywhere there is to show up and play
your songs."
During Herland's December board
meeting, Peggy became a member of the
board. Up to this point, her involvement with Herland has been through
her musical talents in fundraising efforts.
"A woman I met at the Long Branch
Saloon told me about one of the gay
bars when I first moved here," she said.
"I guess I found out about
Herland from reading something posted
there. The first time I played for
Herland was in 1983 at a women's
camp-out at Lake Thunderbird. It was
quite an honor to be asked to join the
board."
When she has time, our latest board
member likes to refinish wood furniture
for her house. Peggy is also involved in
another nonprofit organization, Friendships United, which is raising money to
make a cassette tape of different local
musicians. Proceeds from the sale of the
tape will go to the AIDS hospice, the
Winds.
I think it's a neat project," she said,
"because it will give the musicians a
chance to use their talents to benefit a
good cause over a period of time instead
of just having benefit performances. It
will be more of a long range thing. The
only thing the organization is allied with
is the AIDS Support Program. It's really
a blend of different people throughout
the community. It's not a religious or
political organization. It's a group of
people who got together to make a tape
and any implication that it might be a
religious thing is too limiting. Individual
beliefs are that it is a good, worthy
project for their time."
Peggy joined Herland's board because
she wanted to be more helpful to the
community through some type of membership on a board or steering committee to share ideas and then find a
way to make them happen. Although
she felt good helping out with her
musical ability, she wanted something
more practical.
"My first impression of Herland in
1983 was that it was well-organized,"
she said. "I didn't know at that time
that it was just starting. I thought it had
been around for years. I'm looking
forward to learning from the experience
of the older board members."
Peggy feels that the newsletter has
become more political in recent months
because it has reported more national
news. She had to get a newspaper from
Macon, GA, to read the story about
Rosa Parks retiring. Parks was the black
woman who refused to sit in the back of
the bus in the 1950s. The story wasn't
found in the Daily Oklahoman. Not
surprising
"I really like the shape the newsletter
has taken," she said. "That's not to cut
down what it has been; it's just grown.
It's been going for six years and has
11
gone through changes and transitions
and is still alive. It's the main thing for
Herland. Next is the retreats."
Peggy is scheduled to perform at a
coffeehouse at Herland on Feb. 11 and
is looking forward to it because she has
done only one Oklahoma women's
event in a year and a half and feels it's
an experience everyone should have.
Plus, it's for Herland.
"Herland isn't a building," she said.
"Herland is a gathering place for a
whole bunch of different types of
women. From the strength gained as a
group, we can branch out into the
individual things we like to do. We gain
strength by coming together. The other
things can get done from the strength of
our unity. I still see Herland as a central
place or attitude for people to get that
strength to go out on their own."
When asked what her personal ambitions are for Peggy, she said she wanted
to grow old with a good attitude.
"I just want to grow old gracirfully,"
she said. "I don't want to be a bitl!Jr oJd
woman. I try to live my life with an
open heart. It's not always easy. I'm not
always able to do it. I try to have an
open mind about people and how they
view life . . . . Whatever I do I )lope
I'm very active because I think that's
the key. But I can't tell you specifically
what I'm gonna do with my life. Just
keep busy."
QUOTE OF THE MONTH .•.
"Last year, after I went on the march on
Washington, people said to me, 'What are
you doing? They're gonna' think you're gay.'
People think that already, because I hang out
with a lot of women. There hasn't been a
studio head I've worked for who hasn't come
out and asked me if I'm a lesbian . . . . I say,
'Normally, this would be none of your business. However, I will answer you.' And I say,
'It's possible. I'm not practicing at the
moment, but I will not say it will never
happen or hasn't happened in my past."
ACTRESS WHOOPI GOLDBERG,
in The AdllOCllte
HOUSECLEANING, Pet Sitting and Grooming, House-
Classifieds
sitting, Odd Jobs. Affordable rates. References on request.
Call Sheila Castro at 842-4225.
STEP BACK IN TIME! PLUMS B&B for women only,
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HOUSE FOR RENT. 3-bed house, 1Yz bath, rent, sell or
lease. Financing availbable, newly decorated, 2 stories with
fenced yard. Phone Jan at 848-9463.
antiques, private baths, full breakfast, parking. For brochure: 160 Bradford St, Provincetown, MA 02657. (508)
487-2283.
15% off gift certificate or your first
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IN OKLAHOMA CITY
HSR would like to thank the women of DWL for their generous
donations of signs for our new building.
MAILING ADDRESS
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OR JANIE (405) 755-7259
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Gift certificat.es also
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VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2
FEBRUARY, 1989
HERLAND SISTER RESOURCES, INC.
2312 N.W. 39TH, OKC 73112 • (405) 521-9696
ALIX DOBKIN AND
LINDA WATERFALL:
A GOOD OMEN
By Mary Reynolds
I think it's an orrien. A good omen.
You see, I have this book that I keep
on top of the water tank of my toilet.
It's called The Hundredth Monkey. And
here's the story: there are a hundred
monkeys living on an island in the
Pacific. Some of the monkeys - monkey
children - pick up the idea of washing
their food just before eating it. They
teach their parents to wash their food,
too. This goes on until 99 of the
monkeys in the community have the
habit of washing their food. Then,
finally, monkey number 100 washes its
food. At that moment, inexplicably, all
of the monkeys of that species on the
surrounding islands begin to wash their
food. It's a true story - it really happened.
And the implication is that when a
certain critical mass of humans learns
the habit of living together in peace and
treating each other with respect, the
human race will make a dramatic
revolutionary step into the next stage of
humanity. One can only hope so,
looking at the headlines.
And I think I've seen an omen that
the day is coming. Because here in
Oklahoma City, in the short span of
three weeks in November and December, we listened as two prophetesses of
a brighter day sang to us their visions of
the other side. As powerful as Old
Testament sages they decried the staleness and lethargy of the status quo.
They challenged us to do better, they
chided us for complacency and then
comforted us and upheld our spirits
with music and good fellowship. Then
they told us to get ready for the
promised land, 'cause we women are
going to be leading the way.
For you young kids who missed the
50's and 60's, I'd like to explain something about Alix Dobkin. She's an oldfashioned folk singer. In those ancient
times before Bob Dylan turned folk
Alix Dobkin and signer "Zyra Shelley"
singers into a cult object, to be a folk
singer was to be a communicator, someone who listened as well as sang, one
who was a practitioner of culture without trying to be #1 on the "hip" parade.
Yes, that's what it was like in those
days, and Alix gave us all the classic
elements of the form: The Talking Lesbian Blues (see Woody Guthrie), The
Typical American Chicken song (see
Falderal String Band) and of course,
that ancient tradition, the Women's
concert sing-along.
All the parts were there, and as a .
whole, they drove home the message:
Lesbians are a planet-wide manifestation. Women have a power unto themselves which is mystical, inescapable
and indestructible. Male violence is not
a fairy tale but a tangible enemy not
only of women but of all life. She
moved and delighted us with stories,
and she reached us in song where mere
prose fears to tread. And perhaps most
memorable was the way Alix revealed
herself, "The Woman in Your Life," to
all of us in her performance. In fact, this
reviewer has never witnessed a performer
who was more at ease in front of an
audience.
Alix told of the many faces of Lesbian culture that exist around the
worl~. How different from the many
1
entertainers we've seen who can only
tell us about Lesbian culture in California! She affirmed our idiosyncratic
contribution to the world Lesbian picture. She spoke to us in Yiddish, Australian and signed for us in American
Sign Language. I can stilt see the beauty
of her hands and the warmth in her eyes
as she signed the words "so easily."
There is something about watching and
listening to a woman who is both
signing and singing that gets into my
brain and just sticks-I love it.
Alix was assisted in signing by Zyra
Shelley, who is not just an interpreter
but a consummate artist of sign. Alix's
standard contract requires that all of her
performances be signed by a woman
versed in women's culture. Signing is
not just for the deaf, you-all. It is a vital
brick in the foundation of women's
culture, and it is also important in
Native American culture.
Next item. OK, I'll admit it. Linda
Waterfall is one of my own personal
heroines. There. I've said it. Look, I listen
to the woman's music constantly. In the
car, driving, wherever. Her albums stay on
my turntable for months at a time. I just
keep turning them over and listening
again. I know every note on three of her
albums. 1.' m totally familiar with the
Continued on page 2
Continued from page 1
niceties of technique, songcraft, musical
skill, all the things that are sleight-ofhand to the average listener are old hat
to me. But I was still amazed , moved,
thrilled and totally captivated by Linda's
performance here on December 2nd.
The Linda Waterfall concert was not
promoted as a quote-unquote women's
concert, as it was advertised to the
general public as well as to the women's
community. Certainly Linda's music
deals with some things that are not
normally approached in women's concerts, such as dealing with men as
lovers. But thanks to the women who
supported the concert so enthusiastically, her music was able to touch on a
new direction for the community here
in central Oklahoma: that a woman
doesn't have to be a Lesbian to make
"women's music." There's a lot to
recommend that idea. That's why Ladyslipper distributors (that handle Alix
Dobkin's music) are so cool, because
they make available all music that has a
woman's sweat a,nd blood on it, and
affirm it as woman-identified music.
Right on! I mean, didn't we all grow
up singing "you make me feel like a
natural woman?" Oh, I forgot. Some of
us are younger. One song in particular
Linda explained, Love Song, expresses
her independence, her Room of One's
Own, her Woman in Your Life - becausse
she earns her own living and makes her
own way. She is free to love whomever
she chooses . . . She included several
examples of one of my favorite devices
in her performances-the "sex as food"
metaphor. There was Cherry Tomato,
Coconut Milk, and the classic blues
item, Jelly Roll. "No-one," she sang,
"can make sweet jelly roll like mine."
Oh, that stuff is just so good when a
woman does it.
Why, you'd think that the whole
concert was about sex! Please! Linda
sang us songs written by children. She
sang songs about coping with the dayto-day insanities we all face . And most
of all, more important than sex, she
sang us songs about how to make peace
with our human companions, with our
own hearts, and with our Mother Earth,
that 0-riginal Right-On woman.
There I go, talking about peace again.
These two concerts, so close together,
so much alike. And what a surprise East Coast, old style folk poetess; New
Age songstress. So different, yet so
alike in that Alix and Linda both told
the story of the wide world of women,
and the bright future of this wonderful
planet.
ANNOUNCES
FRIDAY NITE VIDEOS
February 10 - Lesbianage
February 24 - Personal Best
COFFEEHOUSE - FEBRUARY 11th
FEATURING PEGGY JOHNSON
8:00 to 9:30 p.m.
SIGNING CLASS
2 Separate 10-week sessions
Thursdays, 7 to 8, from Feb. 16 to April 20
Sundays, 2:30 to 3:30, from Feb. 18 to April 23
COST $25 in advance, no refunds
Classes limited to 25 people each
'V
'
During the month of February, Her·
land will be open on Thursday even·
ings from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in addition to
the regular weekend hours. We hope
this will accommodate those of you
who have to work weekends.
THE NEW HERLAND CENTER IS NOW OPEN:
SATURDAYS 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. & SUNDAYS 1 p.m. - 6 p.m.
at 2312 N.W. 39th St.
HERLAND BOARD MEETINGS ARE HELD THE 3RD
SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH AT 2312 N.W. 39TH
4:30 p.m.
r::-- - .- ---------,
0 YES! I want to be a Friend of Herland. My minimum
PUBLISHED BY: Her/and Sister Resources, Inc.
2312 NW 39th, Oklahoma City, OK 73112
donation of $12 allows me use of the Herland Library and
a 10% discount on store purchases over the next 12
months. (My $12 is enclosed.)
0 YES! I want to help Her/and with a donation to the
New Building Fund.
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EDITOR: Karen Lewis
CHIEF REPORTER: Sondra Metzger
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Oklahoma City, OK 73112
2
GENERAL INFO: (405) 794-7464 or 672-4141
VOLUNTEER INFO: 528-0604
ADVERTISING: 672-4141
DEADLINE on all advertising and submissions is
the 15th of each month.
SUBSCRIPTIONS to this Newsletter are free
upon request.
ALIX DOBKIN:
THE DAY AFTER
by Sondra Metzger
If you attended the Alix Dobkin
concert last Nov. 18, you were one of
the few who were fortunate enough to
experience a remarkable woman.
What makes her remarkable isn't the
fact that she spent two hours on stage
entertaining us with songs and stories
about her travels and her life. What
makes her remarkable is the fact that
she cares about women and made time
to get to know us, our community,
what's going on within it and educate us
about our culture. Most performers fly
in, perform, fly out.
The last time Alix was in Oklahoma
City was in November 1963. Her most
vivid memory of that time was of oil
wells in everyone's backyard.
"It was a week after Kennedy's
assassination,'' Alix said. "This time,
the mood here is on the upswing. There
seems to be a renewed energy for community events. Women are paying by
going through programs like Al-Anon
and AA. It seems like a lot of this
attention is being directed back to the
lesbian community, too. I am delighted
to notice this because I feel we can't live
without our culture. You are all doing
great. You have good spirit and you
have fun. That's important because
we're not going to survive unless we
have a good time with each other."
Her latest album/tape, Never Been
Better, includes two songs produced
and arranged by Diane Lindsay and by
Sue Fink, who performed in Norman
last April.
"I hired Diane and Sue because I
wanted their sound,'' Alix said. "I knew
them and respected them both. So, I
hired them to produce Pitfalls of True
Love and Never Been Better because I
wanted Diane's sound and sensibility on
Never Been Better and Sue's on Pitfalls of
True Love. I knew exactly what I wanted
to hear from the arrangements and knew
I couldn't do it, so I asked them and they
did exactly what I had in mind."
The album/tape is a good example
of Alix's determination to instill variety
in her music.
"I have to be very careful of getting
into a pattern,'' she said. "I write songs
in different keys and each key has its
own sound. When I write a song in D,
it's going to sound .a certain way
because that's just the way I play after
all these years of playing. I'm very
aware of the key that I write a song in
because that to me determines how it's
going to sound and I'm very careful not
to have the songs sound too much alike.
They do to a point because everyone
has a style, and there's nothing wrong
with that. But I'm very aware of variety
in my concerts and have been ever since
I started performing in 1962. I'll do a
song acappella, I'll do some show tunes,
but I do try to mix it up a lot because I
want to do a show that I would like if i
was in the audience."
Alix goes into a concert giving 110%.
She feels that she only has one chance a
year to do that and wants to take
advantage of the opportunity to maximize every moment.
"When I'm tired or sick," she said,
"I really notice how much work it is.
One time in Dallas I forgot the words to
Big Girls and a woman in the audience
helped me out until I finally figured out
that I wasn't supposed to do that particular song. So I stopped and started
into another one. The women didn't
mind. I don't like to look back and
think, 'Well, I didn't really do as well as
I could,' because I do look back. It's not
that I didn't put the effort out. It's just
that I forgot to say something or forgot
the words."
Her present tour is two weeks long,
but during her career Alix has been on
the road for 10 weeks at a time.
Although she loves the road, Alix finds
it necessary to touch base with her
home in Woodstock, NY, where her
favorite exercise is walking a 2~-mile
route every day.
But when she's on the road, her main
interest is educating. Alix feels that her
primary job is to pass along what she
learns - that educating is even more
important than entertaining. She feels
music is the most effective way to get
the message out to women.
"Women, lesbians, and other musicians inspire me to perform," she said.
"It's the universality of our culture. It's
the appreciation I get from women
wherever I go. It's interesting after a
concert when women say 'We really
needed this here.' This is everywhere I
go. I don't know of any other performers who do what I do."
Alix enjoyed learning about the
women in OKC, that they actually
participated in making music and didn't
just listen to it. She feels it's a great
resource for the community, that it's a
wonderful way to bond women and
bring everyong together.
"We're lesbians because we discriminate,'' she said. "That's what makes us
lesbians, a quality that is very important
to us. Relationships are a skill we have
to learn, so we practice on eacJ"i _other
until we get it better and better. ~hd ~e
do get it better. We don't usuallly
repeat the exact same mistakes. Sometimes we do because we haven't learned
the lessons. On the whole, women are
being much smarter in relating t<;> each
other. You don't expect the moon because
you know that that's not real. You learn
that, and you learn the kind of compromises or whatever you have to do. The
older you get, the pickier you are. We
only take what's good for us. We don't
engage in anything that i~really unhealthy
or does not contribute to our wellbeing. We learn how to recognize these
things after awhile, after we go through
relationships."
After 26 years of performing, Alix
remembered one bad experience that
happened while she was performing in
Australia.
"I had wonderful concerts there,''
she said, "but one was located in a
town nearest the women's land. There
are women there who own thousands
of acres, and one of the parcels of land
is open womens' land where any woman
can live free of charge. As a result, it
attracted a lot of drug addicts and
alcoholics; sad, wasted women. It's a
very depressing scene."
About 50 women attended the concert in the town hall who were interested
in hearing what Alix had to say, but a
handful of others were very hostile and
started disrupting the concert. Alix continued her show. Other women asked
Continued on page 4
3
Continued from page 3
them to leave, so they did, only to go
outside and throw rocks onto the tin
roof of the hall.
"l was very afraid of violence," she
said. "It was averted. The women there
were very angry that their evening had
been ruined. They didn't get to experience the kind of energy that we did
with other audiences in Australia. They
were robbed by those women. It's been
an issue for a long time, and it really
came out for my concert. I have a way
of bringing things out when I travel.
Things happen.
On the lighter side, Alix found no
other experience as memorable as her
fortieth birthday when 8,000 women
sang Happy Birthday to her at the
women's music festival in Michigan.
Alix loved doing the concert here and
spending time with the women of Oklahoma City. Her advice to several of us is
invaluable. She wanted to make sure
that anyone interested in our lesbian
culture or lesbian cultures music knew
about the Association of Women in
Music and Culture. Anyone wishing to
have more information may write to
Olivia Records, 4400 Market St., Oakland, CA 93608.
For our local performers or those
aspiring to be performers, Alix recommends that you just do it.
"It's important that you have a place
to do that," she said, "because there's
nothing that substitutes for experience.
My advice would be, don't settle. Don't
settle for a cheap laugh, don't settle for
second best, don't make a sex joke just
because it has sex in it. If you're going
to talk about sex on stage or make a sex
joke, it's better be really great and
original. Don't fall for the old cliches. If
you've heard it before, why bother.
That's always my advice for songwriters.
I'm looking for originality. I'm looking
for something unique. I'm looking for
something that only you can do, nobody
else. If I've heard it before, I'm not
interested. Work on whatever it is
unique in your own perspective and
your own sensibility, your own performance. Whatever is only you. That's
what I want to hear."
"Also, love women or die."
4
UNITY IS THE KEY
Potpourri
WHO'S ON YOUR BACK?
By Sondra Metzger
Valentine's Day is upon us, which
means that someone out there will
notice the sale ads from the local
furriers and buy their sweetheart a fur
coat to show them how much they love
them. Maybe another local store will
give away mink teddy bears with a
specified purchase amount.
Although I love animals, this article
is not the rantings and ravings of a
radical. I do belong to an animal welfare
organization, and my dog is spoiled
rotten (ask anyone). But, I still enjoy a
good hamburger or steak once in a
while, and I have work gloves that are
made out of pigskin and cowhide,
byproducts of death for food. Guilty?
Yes, I do feel some guilt. But the sad
truth of the matter is, animals are
always going to be killed for food
whether I b~come a vegetarian or not.
Only so many can be spared. I had to
draw a line somewhere, and have
decided to exclude using any product
obtained from an animal who was
abused for the sake of vanity. The
perfect example of that is fur coats.
The ways animals are killed for their
skins or pelts are listed in a report
released by the Humane Society of the
United States. Some animals are raised
on ranches just to provide a vain public
with fur coats. Small animals, such as
minks and chinchillas, die when their
necks are broken either manually or by
a mechanical device. Some animals die
when a rancher hooks up a hose to the
tailpipe of a running vehicle and connects the other .e nd to an animal enclosure. The carbon monoxide in the
exhaust burns the animals' eyes and
lungs. Because the dosage is so hard to
monitor, not all of the animals die.
Some regain consciousness under the
shock of being skinned.
Sound pretty gruesome? How about
the fox that is electrocuted when the
rancher puts a copper cable in its
mouth and forces a screwdriver-like
device up its rectum. All for the sake of
vanity or that cuddly little teddy bear.
Traps are a common way of catching
wild creatures. Sometimes the animals
bite off their trapped limbs to get away.
A neck snare slowly strangles an animal
over a period of hours or days. If they
don't die from starvation, exhaustion
or dehydration while caught in the trap,
some animals are beaten to death with a
blunt instrument or their heads are
slammed against a tree or rock. Another
popular method of killing wildlife is to
stand on the animal's chest and neck
and slowly suffocate it or crush its
heart.
On top of all that, 5 million animals
have accidentally ended up in traps,
including millions of domestic animals
and thousands of others that are considered endangered species.
It's ironic that all these cuddly
animals die to provide someone with a
cuddly fake animal; that the warmth of
their unconditional love is destroyed to
provide someone with temporary, external warmth.
ls all their suffering really wprth it?
'...
,/
"FOR LOVE & FOR LIFE"
On March 17, JEB will be in
Norman at OU for an hour-long
presentation of the October 1987
march on Washington. For more
information time call Herland.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS?
If you are planning to move, and you don't
want to miss any issues ,.of the HSR Newsletter, please let us know you new address
BEFORE you move. For your protection the
Post Office wil not forward the Newsletter, and
Herland will not change your address without
your authorization. Therefore, to ensure
receipt of the Newsletter, fill out and mail us
this change-of-address form BEFORE you
move. The form may also be used to add your
name to the mailing list.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS FORM
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Mail to:
Herland Sister Resources, Inc.
2312 N.W. 39th
Oklahoma City, OK 73106
Around the Country
DOCTORS FIND
KOWALSKI CAN
UNDERSTAND AND
COMMUNICATE
Kowalski to be Moved
to Rehabilitation Facility
DELUTH, MN - Three doctors affiliated with the Miller-Dwan Medical
Center here have found that Sharon
Kowalski can clearly and consistently
communicate her needs and wishes, and
that she understands the communications of others.
The 32-year-old Kowalski, rendered
paraplegic when a drunk driver slammed
into her car in late 1983, has been kept
in a nursing home since 1985. She has
received little rehabilitation there and
has not been allowed to see visitors of
her choice. She has been under the legal
guardianship of her father, Donald
Kowalski, since 1984. This was her first
full evaluation for competency, although
the guardianship order required such
testing at least annually.
The tests were ordered in July by St.
Louis County, Minnesota, district court
judge Robert Campbell, over the strenuous objections of the guardian. In
September 1987, attorneys for Karen
Thompson filed a motion for restoration of Kowalski to capacity, and the
tests were ordered as part of the proceedings on that motion.
Thompson, Kowalski's partner, has
been pursuing legal action since 1984
for proper medical care for Kowalski,
as well as for the right to visit and help
care for her.
At a five-hour private hearing on
December 12, 1988, Judge Campbell
presented the results to the Kowalskis,
Thompson and her attorneys, and Gary
Pagliacetti, court-appointed attorney
for Sharon Kowalski. He declared that
by order of the court the contents of
the doctors' reports are personal and
confidential to Sharon Kowalski, and
shall not be released to the press. However, he released a statement based
upon a cover letter from Clyde Olson,
the psychiatrist on the evaluation team,
which read, in part:
"The evaluation stated that Ms.
Kowalski's level of mental functioning
is adequate but untested. She is able in a
closed but secure setting to express her
needs directly. However, communication skills are not adequate at present
time to determine her true level of
mental functioning. The evaluation further stated that Ms. Kowalski's level of
social and psychological well-being is
quite low related to the difficulty of the
social situation as well as the chronic
nature of her placement in a nursing
facility (sic.). At present time it is
recommended that Ms. Kowalski be
placed into a long-term rehabilitative
facility to look particularly at her communication skills and to also assess the
situation concerning her family and
significant other relationship. With
increased communication skills in a safe
setting Ms. Kowalski could reliably
express her wishes concerning visitation."
Judge Campbell said he will order
Kowlaski moved to Miller-Dwan from
the Leisure Hills nursing home in
Hibbing after the holiday season, to
receive intensive communication rehabilitation. She can reliably express her
wishes concerning visitation, he said,
and her visitation there will be determined by himself, in consultation with
the professionals working with Kowalski,
based upon her own wishes.
Thompson has not seen Kowalski
since August 19, 1985 when Donald
Kowalski gained complete guardianship
and immediately barred Thompson
from visiting her companion. Thompson and her attorneys were elated about
the full contents of the evaluation.
"The results are better than I ever dared
expect,'' Thompson said. "They have
validated everything I said in my book,
that Sharon should have been receiving
much higher quality rehabilitation this
entire time, and that Sharon can clearly
understand, and can express her wishes.
How heartbreaking it is that so many
years have been wasted and so many
opportunities lost."
Thompson's book, Why Can't Sharon
Kowalski Come Home?, was published in
September. It provided extensive documentation that Kowalski wanted to see
Thompson and her other friends, that
her cognitive and social skills were high,
and that because she cannot walk or
communicate in traditional ways, her
many other abilities are overlooked and
discounted.
When the judge asked Donald
Kowalski what he thought after reading
the reports, he reportedly stated that
they validated what he has said al
along, that Sharon was helpless anc
needed constant care.
The Kowalskis' attorney, Jack Fena .
resigned from the case one month after
the final personal injury settlement was
made in July, a settlement which netted
him over $50,000 and yielded only
$20,000 for the estate of Sharon
Kowalski.
"The results really open the door to a
future for Sharon," said Tade Dejanikus,
co-chair of the National Committee to
Free Sharon Kowalski. "We're thrilled."
The National Committee represents a
coalition of seventeen committees nationwide.
Press Release
ABC TV'S SERIES
HEARTBEAT UNDER ATIACK
ABC TV'S SERIES HEARTBEAT,
which features an openly lesbian character, is under postal attack by fu~qamen
talists to the tune of 1,800 le'ttel's a
week. Those who favor the program's
positive treatment · of lesbianism are
urged to write: Aaron Spelling Productions, Warner/Hollywood Studios,
1041 Formosa Avenue, Los Angeles,
CA 90046.
WOMEN ARE MAKING
POLITICAL STRIDES
By Pamela Porter
Washington Bureau
:/
WASHINGTON - The 1988 election produced gains for women candidates on all levels, but women's assimilation into politics has proven to be
slow evolution rather than the quick
revolution activists once hoped for.
"Overall, 1988 was another good
year for incremental gains,'' National
Women's Political Caucus Chairwoman
Irene Natividad said in a news briefing
with a coalition of other women's
groups here yesterday.
Twenty-three incumbent women
House members were re-elected, and
two new women won House seats
Tuesday. The newcomers are both
Democrats-Jolene Unsoeld, of Washington, and Nita Lowey, of New York.
"We were able to break our logjam in
our numbers in the House of Representatives which have remained constant
for several years,'' Natividad said.
On the state level the number of
women governors remained steady at
Continued on page 6
5
S. AFRICA PRISONER
NEEDS HELP
Continued from page 5
three. Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin
became the first woman in U.S. history
to win a third term as governor.
Natividad's group also counted four
lieutenant governors, two attorneys
general, 12 state treasurers, 15 secretaries of state and numerous other state
offices held by women.
Jane Danowitz, chairwoman of the bipartisan Women's Campaign Fund,
applauded the gains by women but
noted at the rate women are moving
into Congress, it will take 410 years for
women to catch up to men. In addition
to the 25 women representatives, there
are two women senators.
"We haven't done enough,'' Danowitz
said. "We want a future for our women.
The demon is clearly incumbency."
Challengers have trouble beating
incumbents because political action committees and other big donors pour most
of their money into incumbents' campaigns. To even the playing field,
Danowitz urged stricter limits on campaign contributions. She also called for
an end to negative campaign advertising, which she said is particularly damaging to women candidates because they
are considered (to be) weak if they
don't respond or "bitches" when they
fight back.
Janet Small, 26, a field worker for the
Black Sash human rights organization in
Grahamstown, South Africa, was held
in a prison notorious for its poor
conditions from June 13 to September
16. There were no charges filed against
her - ever!
The Security forces are empowered
under the State of Emergency regulations, to detain people indefinitely at
the discretion of the Minister of Law
and Order who said at one time that
Small's detention would be extended
indefinitely, and gave no reason for this
decision.
At the time of her detention, Janet
Small was assisting detainees and their
families in her capacity as regional representative for the Black Sash in the
Eastern Cape. A trained social worker,
she has held this position for the past
18 months. A former student from
Rhodes University in Grahamstown,
Janet was also previously active with the
National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), which was prohibited
from receiving overseas funding after
being declared an "affected" organization in the 1970's. In 1986 she was
elected NUSAS National General
Secretary.
Under worldwide pressure, Small
was released after 3 months in the
North End Prison. However, those
three months of total isolation (she was
segregated from all other detainees
because she is white and the others are
Black) has taken a terrible toll.
Since her release, the vindictive
regime has continued their harrassment
of Janet Small: she is not permitted to
return to her job; she is not permitted
to leave her mother's house after a
certain time each day.
Readers are urged to send cables or
letters to express concern about the
continuing punishment of Janet Small
without trial and without charge. Call
for the immediate lifting of a!lfrestrictions on her right to move freeW within
her own country, and on her right to
return to work to' support herself and
her family.
WREE - View of Women
No~.-Dec. 1988
11 -13-88
The Washington Post
HAVE YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO LEARN SIGN LANGUAGEl
Rebekah H. will be offering two separate class sessions in Sign Language at Herland Sister
Resources. The sessions will run for 10 weeks. Cost is $250° in advance - no refunds. Classes are
limited to 25 people each.
YES! I'm inte rested. Please register me for:
0 SESSION A: . Thursdays, 7-8 p.m. from Feb. 16 to April 20
D SESSION B: Sundays, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. from Feb. 18 to April 23
I am enclosing my $25°0 registration fee. D
Name ~----------------------------------~
City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STATE _ _ __
Phone __________
Contact Laura at 672-4141 for more information.
Sliding scale and limited scholarships are available.
6
ZIP _ _ _ _ __
February 17, 1989. Five finalists in each
category will be announced nationally
on March 1, 1989.
A panel of 60 judges from across the
country, representing a broad crosssection of the entire lesbian and gay
literary community, will select a single
book in each category from among the
finalists.
"The Annual Lambda Literary Awards
program is a tremendous opportunity
for the book industry to work together
in recognizing the valuable contribution
it makes to gay culture," said Deacon
Maccubbin, publisher of the Book
Report. "The movies have their Oscars,
Broadway has it Tonys. It's time for the
lesbian and gay community to honor its
literary stars."
A gala awards banquet will be held
June 2nd, 1989, at the Hyatt Regency
Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to coincide with the American
Booksellers Association Convention.
At that time, the recipients of the 1st
Annual Lambda Literary Awards will
be announced. Tentative emcees for the
gala event are authors Armistead Maupin
(Tales of the City) and Florence King
FIRST ANNUAL LAMBDA
LITERARY AWARDS
ANNOUNCED
Gala Awards
Program Planned
WASHINGTON, DC-The publisher
and the editor of the Lambda Rising
Book Report, a bi-monthly review of
contemporary gay and lesbian literature, announced plans on Dec. 15,
1988, for a new annual awards program
to recognize excellence in gay and
lesbian writing and publishing.
"The time has come for the literary
excellence of the lesbian and gay community to be recognized," said Jane
Troxell, editor of the Book Report. "1988
has been a tremendous year for the
writers, editors and publishers of gay
and lesbian literature. As a result, all
lesbian and gay people have benefitted
from this unparalleled growth in both
substance and quality."
The public is invited to participate in
the Lambda Literary Awards by nominating their favorite gay and lesbian
books of 1988. Nominations are accepted in twelve categories: Lesbian
Fiction, Gay Men's Fiction, Lesbian
Non-fiction, Gay Men's Non-fiction,
Lesbian Mystery/Science Fiction, Gay
Men's Mystery/Science Fiction, Gay
and Lesbian Poetry, Lesbian First Novel,
· Gay Men's First Novel, Lesbian Small
Press Book Award, Gay Men's Small
Press Book Award, and AIDS (a special
category).
A nominating ballot is in this newsletter. The deadline for nominations is
I
BOOK REPORT
1625 Connecticut Avenue, NW,.
Washington, DC 20009-1013
or phone (202) 462 -6965.
Press Release
Lambda Rising
BOOK REPORT"'
A Contemporary Review
of Gay and Lesbian
Literature
Ple~~end~( )i 21s~;;- $~is
( ) 24 issues - $28
( ) check/m.o. ( ) credit card
Card# .
Exp _ _
( )AmEx ( )VISA ( )MasterCard
(Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady).
"Not only is this an opportunity for
greater visibility for gay and lesbian
writers, it is a chance to recognize the
editors and publishers whose commitment and unfailing support helped
make 1988 a truly memorable year for
outstanding new books," Troxell said.
For further information about the
awards program or the banquet, please
contact Will Guilliams:
Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
BOOK REPORT DEPT# 257
NW
Washington, DC 20009
Phone Orders: (202)462-6969
~ 1625 Connecticut Ave.,
'fi"
----------------------------------,
Nominations for the 1.988 Lambda Lite~ary Awards
Lesbian
Submit nominations to: Lambda Literary Awards, 1625 Connecticut Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20009-1013. Nominations must be received by February 17, 1989.
Fiction Title _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Gay Men's Fiction Title
_ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ __
Lesbian Nonfiction Title
-
-
1
I
Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Gay Men's Nonfiction Title - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lesbian Mystery /Science Fiction Title _ __ _ __ __ __
Author
Gay Men's Mystery /Science Fiction Title _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _
Gay and Lesbian Poetry Title
Author _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _
- - - - - - - - --
-
-
-
-
Au thor _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __
Lesbian First Novel Title - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - Gay Men•s First Novel Title _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Author _ __ _ __ _ _ __
Lesbian Small Press Book Award Title-- - - - - - - - - Gay Men's Small Press Book Award Title
Author _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
Author _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __
Author _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _
AIDS (Special Category) Title
Author
·
=..J
~----------------------------------
I
~
Signature _ _ __ _ _ __
Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
City
State __ Zip _ __ _
7
Around the Corner
HERLAND HAS
GOT A PHONE!
Herland Resource Center now
has a telephone! The number is
(405) 521-9696 or 521-WMYN.
Thanks to an anonymous pledge
covering the monthly telephone
expense and to a local attorney who
dropped by the center one Saturday offering a $60 donation for
the purpose of installing a telephone, communication is now a
reality.
For information on what's happening about town or what's available at Herland Center call 521WYMN. Hours are 6 - 8:30 p.m.
Thurs.; 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday;
and 1 - 6 p.m. Sunday.
COFFEEHOUSE
Herland's next coffeehouse will
be held Feb. 11 from 8-9:30 p.m.
Entertainment will be provided
by Peggy Johnson. Peggy is this
month's featured artist in this
issue's Spotlight On column.
Although admission is free,
donations to Herland and tips for
Ms. Johnson will be appreciated.
Refreshments will be provided.
Stop in, catch the talent of
Peggy Johnson and enjoy a great
entertainer. Herland is located at
2312 NW 39th Street.
PROJECT REACHES
FIRST GOAL
The January 15 fundraiser at the HiLo for Friendships United raised over
$400 for the organization. This put the
total raised over the goal of $1,000 set
by the group.
For those of you who are new readers
or are new to the area, Friendships
United is a nonprofit organization that
is raising money to produce a tape
consisting of songs performed by local
performers. The first goal was to make
the $1,000 needed to buy studio time
and blank cassettes. The second goal is
to sell the tape and give all proceeds to
the local AIDS hospice, the Winds.
Coordinator Palmira Campos said
the group is considering another fundraiser to ensure enough money is available should any unexpected costs arise
during taping.
"I was overwhelmed by the turnout
at the Hi-Lo," she said. "We were
collecting money at the door and people
just kept coming in. It was great. We
really appreciate it."
Although the goal was reached sooner
than expected, the group won't be
charging into the studio until March 1.
"We want to do this right," Palmira
said. "Now that we know the money is
there, we will use this time to fine-tune
and let the artists get ready. We've been
looking at studios, but haven't picked
one yet. We'd like to see the tape go
farther than just the community."
Palmira also announced that two
more acts have signed on as contributors to the project. The band Desert
Hearts and singer Joan Richardson will
be adding their talent to the tape.
The HSR Newsletter is offered as an open forum
for community discourse. Materials printed herein
reflects the beliefs and opinions of the authors of
the articles or letters, and not necessarily those of
the Newsletter 01 the Herland Board.
Letters to the Editor
Sisters:
I would like to thank your organization
for the support you have given us during the
year 1988. It is gratifying to see the
community come together as a whole.
We will soon be in contact with you
concerning the activities for 1989. This year
is going to be a very special year for the Gay
Community. The 20th Anniversary of the
Stonewall uprising as well as the 10th
Anniversary of the Washington March will
be celebrated this year.
Unfortunately, our community has been
divided for a long time. Last year, we saw a
positive beginning. However, that was but
only a start. We need to nurture this start to
a complete and flowing unity, undaunted
by petty differences.
It is my sincere hope and desire to see
more unity as well as growth in 1989 and
the coming years as well.
Sincere thanks,
Darlene Burgess, Chairperson
Oasis Community Center
Dear HSR1
I was writing to ask about a subs cription to your magazine. I got an October
issue from a friend of mine and enjoyed it
very much.
I'm doing time here in OKC and I'm
not a game player, I'm for real but I'm
going to be here for awhile and I'd sure
like to maybe meet somebne out there I
can have come visit and write to, to keep
in touch with the things in the free world.
I can be written to at:
Cindy Johnson 110615
Box 11492 M.B.C.C. -E.H.U.
OKC, Okla. 73136
Thanks.
Cindy
FEBRUARY DATELINE
HERLAND IS ...
A non-profit corporation composed of a collective of wimmin - open to any womyn who
wants to be a part of it - which works to maintain a feminist library and bookstore, sponsors
workshops, retreats, concerts and other events for YOU. Herland's reason for being is to
provide a framework for a variety of projects for the support and enjoyment of the area
wimmin's community. It is a place to learn and grow, meet other wimmin, develop lasting
friendships, receive support and nurture the positive self-image that societal attitudes
sometimes make illusive to us. Herland exists to serve YOU.
Your donations are used to pay the mortgage and utilities on the resource center, and
printing and postage for the monthly HSR Newsletter and Friend of Herland cards.
All of Herland's services are free, including the Newsletter. This is why your donation is so
important. It is Herland's lifeblood.
8
February 15, 1820: Susan B. Anthony
was born.
February 22, 1983: Army Pvt. Valerie
J. Randolph accepts the U.S. Army
decision that she be discharged because she married another WAC.
February 27, 1973: The official style
book of the U.S. Government Printing
Office now includes "Ms." as an acceptable prefix, calling it "an optional
feminine title without marital designation."
VIDEO NIGHT A SUCCESS!
LEGISLATIVE DAV SET
Women's organizations around the
state are gearing up for the upcoming
Legislative Day at the state capitol on
Wednesday, March 1.
The national chair of the Women's
Political Caucus, Irene Natividad, will
be the keynote speaker.
Workshops will be conducted and
will cover women's legal rights, progress
reports of economic development, family
leave and child care, Oklahoma's prison
dilemma and whether abortion is a state
issue.
A seminar will be offered on current
legislative priorities with separate sessions
for beginners and advanced. Luncheon
discussions will be conducted by various
organizations and individuals and will
cover such topics as Superfund Cleanup
Sites, mammograms, a possible Constitutional Convention in 1990, legislative
process reform and a panel discussion
on AIDS.
The opening session will convene at 9
a.m. with a welcome by Gov. Henry
Bellmen. Some of the participating organizations and individuals are the League
of Women Voters; Women's Political
Caucus; the Family Community Leadership Group; Planned Parenthood; Dian
England, master social worker; Representatives Freddye Williams and Cal
Hobson; Attorney General Robert Henry;
Harlan Powell, Dept. of Human Services;
and Don Paulsen, Dept. of Commerce.
Pre-registration fees are $5 per person
for the workshops, $4 per person for
the luncheon. The workshops will be
$6 at the door. The luncheon must be
reserved ahead of time.
NOTICE: to organizations, businesses, production companies,
etc: Events and happenings
planned for the first week or two
of any given month should be
advertised in the previous month's
edition of the HSR Newsletter.
By getting your information into
the newsletter a month prior to
the event it reaches more readers
and more people will know about
it before it happens. So, when
planning an activity or event you
hope to share with the women's
community keep this in mind
and get the word out early-for a
happy turnout.
HSR's first two video nights turned
out to be quite a success with a packed
house of women lounging in various
degrees of recline before the TV screen
watching Desert Hearts, Liana, and
various shorts. Free soda and freshlypopped popcorn were enjoyed, along
with unsolicited comments from certain
members of the viewing audience (who
shall remain nameless) which provided
an abundance of comic relief.
HSR thanks Ginger for the idea of
Friday Night Videos at Herland Center
and for coordinating the bi-weekly
event.
February 10 will feature Lesbianage,
and Feb. 24 will present Personal Best. A
donation is requested but not required.
So what are you doing next Friday
night? Join in the affordable fun at 7:30
at Herland, 2312 N.W. 39th Street.
FRE-RffiISIRATim FOOM
IH;ISIATIVE DAY AT '!HE CAPI'IDL
Wednesday I March 1, 1989
PLFASE ClIOCK ACl'IVITIES YOU PIAN 'ID ATI'END:
~
w:::RKSEl'.)PS -
10:30-11:30
A.M.
IIJOCHEm DISClJSSIOOS -
11:45-1 P.M.
Manlll:JC3LdlllS at 35
- - Constitutional Convention in
- - 1990
--
!Bgislative Process Refonn
~ Sites:L in Oklahana
- - Can further legislation help
- - curb the AIDS dilemna?
AFl'ERNXN w:::RKSEl'.)PS -
If planning to attend, please fill in the
registration form which can be found in
this newsletter and mail to the address
listed at the bottom of the form with
the proper registration fees.
All are invited to meet Irene Natividad
at a reception Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the
Embassy Suite Hotel, 2101 S. Meridian,
OKC, from 5:30-7 p.m.
AF1'ERNX.N 'VmKSllJPS -
1:15-2:30 P.M.
.Ad Valorem Tax Refonn: Impact on
- - Fducation
Wellen and the I.aw: Your Rights
- - and Responsibilities
Price Wiiterhouse Study I "'What' S
- - Ahead for Families in Oklahana"
~s
2:45-4 P.M.
Teen-"nP ~cy (video)
- - Familyleave and Child care
- - Oklahana' s Prison Dilemna:
- - Is There Jqie?
Roe vs wade: Abortion, A
- - State Issue?
report an eoonanic
- - developnent
PRE-REX;ISIRATim FEES:
$5 PER PERS'.:N for workshops only ($6 at the door)
$4 PER PERS'.:N for luncheon only (IIJOCHEmS MUST BE FRE-RffiISTERED BER:RE
FEB. 15, 1989)
CALLING
ALL MUSICIANS!
The Oasis Community Center, 2135
NW 39th Street, is looking for people
who play band instruments to form a
band for this coming summer's Lesbian
& Gay Pride Day March.
So dust off and polish up the old high
school horn and join in the fun by
calling Darlene at 525-2437.
Number of persons far workshops: _ __
Total anount enclose:i: _ _ __
Number of persons for luncheon: _ _ __
Total
This luncheon is for lllY legislator:
yes__
anoun~.~lose:i:
no
IF REX;ISTER1Ni MEE '1HAN mE Pms:N, PLEASE INCUJDE A
TAGS CAN BE PREPARED.
_ _ __
Lisr
OF NAMES 00 NAME
Return registration fODn with registration fees by FEBRUARY 15, 1989 to:
IH;ISIATIVE DAY AT '!HE CAPI'IDL
OKIAlDlA iO!E:N' S roLITICAL CAUCUS
P.O. EOX 25212
OKIAlDlA CITY, OK
73125
9
SPOTLIGHT ON:
PEGGY JOHNSON
by Sondra Metzger
This month's spotlight shines on
Georgia native Peggy Johnson, who has
generously given of her time and talent
for Herlarid whenever called upon, and
has recently joined the board of directors.
The 31 -year-old moved to Oklahoma
City six years ago after an abrupt discharge from the Navy.
"I got kicked out of the Navy for
being a lesbian," Peggy said, "and the
woman I was seeing was from here. We
left Philadelphia, where we were discharged, and drove to see my family in
Macon, GA, then came here to see hers.
We were on our way to New Orleans
but ended up staying here."
Peggy looks back at the time of her
discharge as a rough time in her life.
"The ironic thing about it was, I was
awarded Sailor of the Month the month
before I got kicked out. I had a good job
and was highly respected in the work
force."
She received an- honorable discharge,
but the whole experience forced her to
think about what being a lesbian meant
to her and work to improve her level of
self esteem.
When Peggy was a child her maternal
grandmother was her first real musical
influence. "My grandmother played the
piano and when I'd go to her house I'd
tinker around on it," she said. At 13,
Peggy was given a beat-up electric guitar
& amplifier. Thus began her singer/
songwriter I guitarist journey.
My first song," she said, "was in the
key of G and was something serious
about people showing they cared about
each other in public but really didn't
once they got home. That was just how
I felt about the whole deal. I was sitting
up on a hill watching a softball game
and somebody got hurt and everyone
ran over to see how the person was. The
cynical little 13-year-old that I was
thought 'Yeh, they're showing it now
but they won't care later.' That tells
quite a lot about my character."
The guitar isn't the only instrument
Peggy can play. She plays piano a little,
and played clarinet while in high school.
Early on she bought a harmonica at the
Top Value Stamp Store. After satisfying
a longing to play the trumpet, Peggy
moved on to the banjo.
"I played old folk songs on the
banjo,'' she said. "I didn't pursue it
much; I'm not a real traditionalist. But I
10
did start with the old ones like Pretty
Boy Floyd."
Her first performance in public
occurred the first week she had the
guitar. She and three others formed a
band and performed a commercial
during the seventh grade variety show.
"We learned the BC Powder song,''
she laughed. "I learned G-C-D chords
the first three days I had the guitar and
have been using them ever since.
A performance at summer camp
followed with talent shows while she
was in junior high. All the performances
came as a great surprise to Peggy's
mother because Peggy was a shy, introverted child.
"I played on the band bus," she said,
"and even took the guitar to Latin class.
I just always played."
The first time Oklahoma City heard
Peggy Johnson was in 1982 when she
took the stage at the Long Branch
Saloon and sang Me and Bobbie McGee.
"I did that at the top of my best Janis
Joplin imitation lungs,'' she said. "Even
though it was quite well received, I
didn't do it again for quite a few years. I
· did back porch parties where I started
to meet a few people. The very first
professional Peggy Johnson performance
was at the Samuri in 1984. I just got up
in between somebody's set and the
owner came up afterwards and asked if
I wanted a job. Then the Second Fret
opened a few months later and that was
really when I became known."
Like Donna DeSalvo, Peggy doesn't
know how to classify her music either.
"Some people think it's country,''
she said, "but that's because of my
Georgia accent. I like to call it folk
music because that's music about stufflesbian folk music, in a way, which is a
valid thing. It has a different style to it
than your standard folk music."
When she's not doing the singing,
Peggy likes to listen to the sounds of
Joan Armatrading, Jackson Browne,
Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan and Ferron.
Peggy's favorite songs that she has
written are the most recent one (whatever it may be), Pistol At My Door, and
Creedy's Song, which is dedicated to one
of her two cats. Her favorite place to
perform was the Second Fret until it
closed.
"That was a music place,'' she said.
"People went there to hear whoever
was performing. They didn't go just to
drink and talk. It was a music colony. It
was small enough to be warm. It wasn't
so big you couldn't feel the people."
One of Peggy's fondest memories of
the Second Fret happened in February
1986. Snow was falling and she wasn't
expecting anyone to show up l,tpr her
performance. Instead, Peggy found herself facing a packed house that stayed
later than usual eyen with the deepening
accumulation of snow.
Her funniest moment onstage occurred
a year and a half ago when she {vore a
tail in her hair, which she cut off and
raffled off to raise money to go to the
Women's Music Festival in Michigan.
"I thought it would be okay,'' she
said, "but when my friend came on
stage to cut it off, I wanted to change
my mind. Several peo6le told me later
that they weren't going to cash in their
tickets so I could keep it."
Each time Peggy performs, someone
in the audience usually requests Blender
Blues. Some of you might not know that
Peggy did not write the entire song.
"That song came from a bluegrass
festival I went to in 1979," she said. "I
had been listening to Bonnie Raitt for a
year. Finding her music just changed my
life and I knew quite a few of her songs.
She doesn't tend to be a big writer. I
was playing in the campgrounds at the
festival by the firelight and this guy
came up to me and said that he had a
great song of hers that she did on a
bootleg tape and then wrote the words
down on a brown paper bag with a fat
magic marker. I didn't think anything of
it because people are always giving me
lyrics to put music to. I carried it
around for a year in my satchel until
one day when I had nothing to do and
got it out."
Continued on page 11
Continued from page 10
When Peggy read the first line, Let me
be your Blender, baby, she eagerly deciphered the rest of the song. After putting
chords to it, she had a clever song that
is loved by all.
During the day, Peggy works at an
artistic foundry that casts bronze sculpture. By the time you read this article,
she will be working part-time and
attending school at Central State where
she is majoring in political science.
The day I took the picture accompanying this article, Peggy was performing before the lunch-time crowd at Kerr
Park. At one point, she performed a
lesbian folk song. Being in what I consider mixed company, it surprised me
when no one reacted negatively to the
song.
"Part of it is because you know my
music," she said. "I think someone who
doesn't know me either does not hear it
or they are not sure what they heard. I
don't so much try to prove a point like I
used to. I just sing songs the way they
go for me. It's harder for me to sing the
songs in a heterosexual context than it
is to put up with anybody giving me a
hard time because I sing them as a
lesbian. To me, it's lying. It's harder to
lie than to be prepared if anybody
should be upset."
Peggy has lost one job because of her
sexual preference (the navy job). She
feels she is not considered for some
music jobs more because of her limited
musical style than her lesbianism.
Her dream is to do for people what
other musicians have done for her.
"My hope is that I can give that back
to some people like it has been given to
me," she said. "People like Jackson
Browne, Bob Dylan, Joan Armatrading
and Ferron have literally saved my life
with what they've done with their
talent. There have been years when all I
could relate to was an album."
Although Peggy performs solo, she is
also a member of the Three of Hearts,
whose other members are Mary R.,
Elyse A. and Cindy B. She advises
aspiring performers to practice.
"Just do it," she said. "Show up
everywhere there is to show up and play
your songs."
During Herland's December board
meeting, Peggy became a member of the
board. Up to this point, her involvement with Herland has been through
her musical talents in fundraising efforts.
"A woman I met at the Long Branch
Saloon told me about one of the gay
bars when I first moved here," she said.
"I guess I found out about
Herland from reading something posted
there. The first time I played for
Herland was in 1983 at a women's
camp-out at Lake Thunderbird. It was
quite an honor to be asked to join the
board."
When she has time, our latest board
member likes to refinish wood furniture
for her house. Peggy is also involved in
another nonprofit organization, Friendships United, which is raising money to
make a cassette tape of different local
musicians. Proceeds from the sale of the
tape will go to the AIDS hospice, the
Winds.
I think it's a neat project," she said,
"because it will give the musicians a
chance to use their talents to benefit a
good cause over a period of time instead
of just having benefit performances. It
will be more of a long range thing. The
only thing the organization is allied with
is the AIDS Support Program. It's really
a blend of different people throughout
the community. It's not a religious or
political organization. It's a group of
people who got together to make a tape
and any implication that it might be a
religious thing is too limiting. Individual
beliefs are that it is a good, worthy
project for their time."
Peggy joined Herland's board because
she wanted to be more helpful to the
community through some type of membership on a board or steering committee to share ideas and then find a
way to make them happen. Although
she felt good helping out with her
musical ability, she wanted something
more practical.
"My first impression of Herland in
1983 was that it was well-organized,"
she said. "I didn't know at that time
that it was just starting. I thought it had
been around for years. I'm looking
forward to learning from the experience
of the older board members."
Peggy feels that the newsletter has
become more political in recent months
because it has reported more national
news. She had to get a newspaper from
Macon, GA, to read the story about
Rosa Parks retiring. Parks was the black
woman who refused to sit in the back of
the bus in the 1950s. The story wasn't
found in the Daily Oklahoman. Not
surprising
"I really like the shape the newsletter
has taken," she said. "That's not to cut
down what it has been; it's just grown.
It's been going for six years and has
11
gone through changes and transitions
and is still alive. It's the main thing for
Herland. Next is the retreats."
Peggy is scheduled to perform at a
coffeehouse at Herland on Feb. 11 and
is looking forward to it because she has
done only one Oklahoma women's
event in a year and a half and feels it's
an experience everyone should have.
Plus, it's for Herland.
"Herland isn't a building," she said.
"Herland is a gathering place for a
whole bunch of different types of
women. From the strength gained as a
group, we can branch out into the
individual things we like to do. We gain
strength by coming together. The other
things can get done from the strength of
our unity. I still see Herland as a central
place or attitude for people to get that
strength to go out on their own."
When asked what her personal ambitions are for Peggy, she said she wanted
to grow old with a good attitude.
"I just want to grow old gracirfully,"
she said. "I don't want to be a bitl!Jr oJd
woman. I try to live my life with an
open heart. It's not always easy. I'm not
always able to do it. I try to have an
open mind about people and how they
view life . . . . Whatever I do I )lope
I'm very active because I think that's
the key. But I can't tell you specifically
what I'm gonna do with my life. Just
keep busy."
QUOTE OF THE MONTH .•.
"Last year, after I went on the march on
Washington, people said to me, 'What are
you doing? They're gonna' think you're gay.'
People think that already, because I hang out
with a lot of women. There hasn't been a
studio head I've worked for who hasn't come
out and asked me if I'm a lesbian . . . . I say,
'Normally, this would be none of your business. However, I will answer you.' And I say,
'It's possible. I'm not practicing at the
moment, but I will not say it will never
happen or hasn't happened in my past."
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