GANZ NAH
Saw my ultimate guilty pleasure in the the sword & sandles drama Immortals starring the beautiful dark haired, dimunitive British actor Henry Cavill who really can fill out his marching slippers. Poor unfortunate Mickey Rourke was also in the cast that includes beautiful Indian actress Frieda Pinto looking beguiling as a vestal virgin who slips, and Stephen Dorf who has become all hatchet faced and roid rage, our favourite modern day Keanu Reeves mannequin--Miss Kellan Lutz of the Twilight franchise whose mug and swollen chest cavity was beaten ala Way Bandy style to an inch of its very life. When will La Lutz remake Falcon Video Pac number 23? Brian Singer can direct and Zach Efron will be his co-star as insatiable Lil Donny.
Had a photo shoot this morning with Serbian art photog and filmmaker Miona Bogovic for the new film by Janez Jansa aka Davide Grassi the Italian artist and curator who is based in Lubianja, Slovenia. In this documentary film I was interviewed for last year I talked about my male personas Denning Taylor, Kayle Hilliard and Buster Beaute’. Before I had to run off to rehearsal, Ms. Bogovic came by the Cheese Endique Trifecta to photograph several of my old male personas that are part of my studio wall collages.
Yesterday before rehearsal Jan Klesse of Tenderloin and his lovely girlfriend Marie Dorow brought me a delicious breakfast and coffee. It was nice entertaining such charming and sweet young guests. The Doll is really blessed with so many wonderful German friends.
This week Rick Owens sent me a copy of his giant sized coffee table book published by Rizzolli. I have a short essay in the book that is in the form of a letter that talks about our old days hanging out with each other off of Hollywood Blvd in the 1980s where I wax nostalgiac about the infamous Spotlight Bar that is now sadly closed, and a lot of the other neighborhood haunts and personalities that crossed our path like the late drag film star Divine, Fertile La Toyah Jackson, Goddess Bunny, Wanda the Man who is also dead, Mistress Antoinette, incestuous mother and son couple Stephen& Gladys May and the architect of Rock n Roll Little Richard.
The One Institute in Los Angeles also sent me a copy of their new book Cruising The Archive that was published in conjunction with the Getty/Pacific Standard Time citywide eventa. My former Afro Sister Clitoris Turner aka Bud Thomas works at the One Institute. I have a long essay in the book that talks about my biological sister Gracie Taylor who just died in October of cancer. Gracie use to work for Hollywood golden era star Rock Hudson and she was also the main fag hag to Jimmy Morrison the famed black procurer of boy fleshpots back in the 60s and 70s.
Just received a cute emug from one of my Goldsmith College Phd students:
Hi Freakazoids, my shemail as given has been compromised by a large piece of luncheon meat wrapped round a fibreglass Pedalo somewhere under Doggerland hence the rupture... or is it rapture... a thin line between... anyway, thanks to Lewis for contacts and photos and Allie and Rebecca for info. I didn't get chance to say to everyone but Framing was the most warm, friendly, trusting, sharing, inspiring, creative, wonderful experience and I got to have my head in a tight hole again!!! More soon... or sore moon... again, there's a thin line between... iJason! xxxxx
My darling gorgeous, young drag daughter ZacKary Drucker is a part of the Art Fair Miami Basil:
Join Bas Fisher Invitational for the premiere/release of
Zackary Drucker + A.L. Steiner = Before/After
avail. Friday, Dec. 2 @ Miami NADA booth P17
Deauville, 6701 Collins Ave., Miami, FL 33141
http://web.mac.com/basfisher/BFI_website/Home.html
GET YOURS NOW FOR THE HOLIDAYZE OR YOU'LL BE SO SAD!
This enote from my sister Teresa in LA. She just turned 60 years old. Two of my sisters are dead and now I only have Teresa Ray and Shirley Faye who is 69 left. Its quite a surprise to a lotof people that Vaginal Davis actually has a family. She wasn’t hatched.
Hello. I get so depressed when you say you're not coming here for 5 or 10 years! I hope you get some jobs here so I can see you. I had to take from one of my retirement accounts to pay bills and rent this month because the funeral for Gracie broke me. Brian's best friend is selling life insurance. So he bought final arrangement insurance for me and Terri Lynn in case something happens to us. We should have done that for Gracie.
Terri Lynn's son Darren Jr. turned 12 on Thanksgiving, 11/24, this year. We went to Chuckee Cheese Saturday. For the first time his grandmother and grandfather of his dad came. They never come to see their grandchildren unless it's a holiday and if they go to their house. They were trying to think of the last time they came to their grandson's birthday and they couldn't remember. But they felt they had to go this time because now Terri Lynn just lost her mom and already lost her dad. So I told them good they came. Darren Jr. got $50 dollars too. His dad will be released from prison this coming January. Terri Lynn really misses her husband.
Hope to see you in January! Love you!!!
A received this notice from Barcelona based artist Carles Congost:
"GNFR" (Guns 'N Fucking Roses) is probably the first exhibition to bring homage to one of the greatest hard rock bands of all times: Guns ‘N Roses. Curated by Jan Van Woensel, an international curator widely known for his itinerant group exhibition Bad Moon Rising (San Francisco, CA; New York City, NY; Saint Louis, MO; Brussels, Belgium; Oslo, Norway), and numerous projects in collaboration with artist, musician, writer, poet, and publisher Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), GNFR is a project in preparation of the curator’s upcoming, ambitious Axl Rose exhibition (TBA).
GNFR is not just another exhibition that illustrates the obvious relation between art and music. Instead, GNFR keeps the middle between an art exhibition and a gloomy teenager’s bedroom. Within this setting, GNFR exposes both the worldwide success and tragic breakdown of the band, and displays a selection of Guns ‘N Roses inspired contemporary artworks amidst an audiovisual chaos of documentary videos, interviews, fan videos, home made recordings of cover bands, amateur artworks, paraphernalia, artifacts and much more…
http://guns-n-fucking-roses.blogspot.com/
Akira The Don & Eddie Argos, Anna Postigo, Brian Woida, Brittany Powell Parich, Carles Congost, Daniëlle Luinge, David Matorin, Factory Pilot Collectiv (not established since 1995), Joris Van de Moortel, Katy Hamer, Matthew Hughes Boyko, Motoko Fukuyama, Nancy Vanwambeke & Stéphanie Yoshiwara, Peggy Wauters, Rachel Rampleman, Saskia de Coster, Stephan Balleux, The Congosound, Steven Sewell, Torreya Cummings.
Curator: Jan Van Woensel
Thursday, December 8th at 6PM
Monty ABN, Montigny St #3,
Antwerp 2018, Belgium
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
THE PUSSY SKEPTIC
Its always a delight to catch up with the latest project of Elly Clark the personable young artist and curator who is just an absolute joy and delight:
Birmingham, November 2011
Twelve months on from its last showing in New York and nearly a year now of my living in Birmingham (with pretty frequent trips back to Berlin!) I am very happy to be able to invite you to the opening of WUNDERKAMMER at the amazing venue that is TROVE in the Jewelry Quarter in Birmingham. Opening on Thursday 8th December, (with A Slide Show by.. Andy Field at 6.30pm) this is the first time this increasingly well-travelled exhibition has been shown in the UK.
More info follows. It would be truly brilliant to see you there.
With very best wishes,
Elly CLARKE GALLERY presents:
WUNDERKAMMER at TROVE
Private view: 6-8.30pm Thursday 8th December 2011 with A Slide Show by… Andy Field at 6.30pm
Exhibition then open on specific days & by appointment until 30th December
12 months on from its last presentation at Franklin Furnace in New York, Clarke Gallery is honoured to unpack the contents of WUNDERKAMMER once again, this time at TROVE in Birmingham, UK.
Translating as Cabinet of Curiosities, WUNDERKAMMER is a travelling show of sixteen small works by artists from Germany, the UK, Canada and the USA that grows and changes as it goes. Incorporating sculpture, photography, painting, (a new) ‘smart phone-dependent art’ (piece by Daniel Sailsbury) and a live presentation of “A Slide Show by… Andy Field” on the opening night, this is the forth stop WUNDERKAMMER has made. Starting out at Clarke Gallery in Berlin the exhibition then travelled to Eastern Edge in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada and Franklin Furnace in New York. For this presentation at TROVE, works by two additional artists are introduced: New York-based Columbian artist Juan Bethancurth (who I met during the last exhibition in NYC) and British Birmingham based artist Daniel Sailsbury.
Works were selected that not only would fit within the confines of a hand-luggage size Wunderkammer but which also referenced story telling, dealt with the idea of the archive or that were traces of or ephemera from an event or a larger piece. The text for the type-written labels was provided by each artist.
WUNDERKAMMER is the first Clarke Gallery exhibition to have travelled beyond the confines of my Berlin apartment, where Clarke Gallery started up. After two years of hosting exhibitions in my space (involving, at different times, sculpture in my bed, performance in my bathroom, video installation in the kitchen, slide shows in my living room; art objects nestling amongst my personal things) – it felt right to branch out and bring the mobility that we as individuals today enjoy, to the gallery. Now, having lived in Birmingham for a year and with plans to find a more permanent setting for Clarke Gallery in the West Midlands, it is a great honour to bring this suitcase of work to TROVE. And also, for the first time, for the exhibition to have so much space to breathe. As well as to be able to remain there for a few weeks.
Artists of WUNDERKAMMER in Birmingham are: Juan Bethancurth, Jessica Brouder, Elly Clarke, Julian Eicke, Liz Fletcher, Alexander Heaton, Sophia New and Dan Belasco / plan b, Terry Piercey, Daniel Sailsbury, Christian Sievers, Vajra Spook, Anna-Myga Kasten, E. Louise Wachler, Kym Ward and Andrea Winkler.
All work is for sale. Sales will make room for new work to be accommodated by artists from each place visited and, crucially, help fund its ongoing journey.
TROVE is an independent contemporary art gallery in Birmingham. For the past two years it has been located in a heritage site in Newhall Square. Its history includes being the original Science and Industry Museum of Birmingham and, prior to that, the Elkington Factory, where metal plating and Parkesine plastic were invented. Directed by Charlie Levine, TROVE works mainly with heritage sites and exciting artists at any stage of their careers. Over the past 12 months TROVE has been keen to offer opportunities to new partners in order to create a thriving and diverse arts venue. Partners include Birmingham Architects Association, Fierce Festival, mac birmingham, Birmingham Jazz Festival, Crowd6, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design and Minnie Weisz Studio.
TROVE at The Old Science Museum, 144 Newhall Street, Birmingham, B3 1RZ // trove.org.uk // mail@trove.org.uk
Next CLARKE GALLERY exhibition is The Mobility Project, which, with the generous support of Arts Council England, is, along with all her artists, travelling in January to The Meter Room in Coventry, opening on 19th with artist talks on Saturday 21st.
www.clarkegallery.de // mail@clarkegallery.de // facebook.com/clarkegallery --
Please add mail@clarkegallery.de to your 'safe list'!
This little emug from one of the smartest, sexiest men alive, Jeffreyland Hilbert of Kustom Creative in Los Angeles:
Hola Querida Vegetable,
I’m very sorry to hear about your sister. I know she’d been battling cancer for quite some time. I hope wherever she is, she’s watching over her extended family, especially her little big baby sister.
Not much going on LA gossip-wise to my knowledge. More and more of the city, especially Silver Lake is becoming gentrified and gross on a weekly basis. You heard that LeBarcito closed on Halloween? The site of one of the world’s first protests against police brutality of gays (The Black Cat) is now turning into a “gastropub”. Ugh. I rarely go out so I haven’t run into anyone, really. Zachary Quinto was at my gym (Body Builders in Silver Lake) last week. Taller and queenier than I imagined, but seemed pleasant enough. The Gold Coast has now become the de facto haunt for all those displaced by the closure of the Spotlight. The Hip Flip and I popped in last weekend and it was lively, but not lovely.
Can’t wait to see you and hostess you for a meal or dwinks or both.
Ciao for now.
Xoxo
jeffreylanded
***
Barney Frank the openly gay congressman is retiring when his term is up in 2013. I met Mr. Frank back in the late 80s or early 90s in Boston when Lia Gangitano of Participant Inc Gallery on the Lower East Side was a curator at the ICA Boston and brought me to perform. Lia and Laura Nix and one of their cute young gay boyfriends took me to a Sunday brunch at a flat in Boston’s Back Bay and Mr. Frank was one of the attendees. As this was over 20 years ago I was much younger then I am now but still too long on the tooth to attract the attentions of Mr. Frank who was all over my youthful companion. I adore unbridled hornpigs with hairy eyeballs that can’t be contained. All the best Mr. Barney on your upcoming retirement .
One of my favorite British film directors of all time died age 84, Ken Russell. Women in Love, Tommy, Salome’s Last Dance, The Devils, The Music Lovers, The Boyfriend, Crimes of Passion, Lair of the White Worm, Altered States, Lisztomania are just a few of his films that I have seen and adore.
Katja von Hellendorf just sent me a link for the Piss Goettin trailer that she made. Please watch and spread the gospel of Piss. Here is the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=310wAtuc1zY
Hector Martinez emugged me from LA where he was hanging out with his younger brother Danny and friends at a Moz show. La Morrisey’s career sprang a renaissance thanks to the youthful worship of urban Latinos – mainly Chicanos in the US.The Mexican American’s that idolize Morrisey are known as Raza Billy’s because of their pinchant for the rockabilly style of dressing from the 1950s. The experimental filmmaker William T. Jones has even made a documentary about this phenomena. I have a history with Moz in that in the 80s my band The Afro Sisters opened up for the Smiths at their first American show at the Hollywood Palladium.
Had breakfast twice recently at More the Nollendorky Platz gay restaurant that I would have never considered eating at in years past, but I find quite pleasant and the food and service quite good for Berlin standards which are notoriously low. Its hard for me to find a good breakfast place as I wake up quite early and trying to get an American style warm breakfast is a bit difficult as the Germans tend to each a lot of bread and cold cuts. Plus when I eat alone I don’t like being someplace too crowded, as I get claustrophobic. For years I would go to the 60’s Café in Nollendorky Platz just because it was empty, but the food is horrible and the service non existent. Some of the waitresses at 60’s Cafe are just too bitchy even for me, and I have a high tolerance for bitchy behavior from wait staff as I realize it’s a very tough job, one that I couldn’t do. But at More Café the waitresses and waiters are very sweet and accommodating, and this is unusual for a gay establishment which are known to give histrionic attitude. More is a bit pricey, but not that expensive. I was surprised at how mixed it was one morning with a large amount of straight couples and single women eating alone at the tables. The décor is a bit dated, but Berlin is a little behind in that regard and I kind of like that. A few days later I visited More and it was more gay men and older sex lizard types but my waiter was young and very charming smiling at me with a fever pitch. I felt like this waiter and another one a slightly older blondine with a bubble butt were fighting over my attentions. I left some Commie Biggie flyers. And speaking of big communists Joseph Stalin’s daughter just died. She was living in rural Wisconsin of all places.
***
I was thinking about well meaning white liberals the other day and what came to my mind was an incident when I was four years old and playing with my nephew Mark Taylor near his apartment in the mid city LA area around Pico and Normandie. Mark Taylor died early this year, we were only nine months apart so I became an uncle while still an infant. For some strange reason my mother and my eldest sister were both having babies around the same time. When I was born up until around 5 years of age I was a blondine yes its true I had sandy blonde hair and grey eyes--my skin was very pale which was very shocking at the time as my mother had a darker complexion. She was maybe a few shades lighter then Oprah Winfrey in the film The Color Purple. My mother is a black Creole from Louisiana, her maiden name is DePlantier so its not extroidinary that she would give birth to a lighter skinned child, but my sisters are all at least four shades darker then I am, but strangely enough they all had long straight hair, and I got the kinky hair. But anyways getting back to my original story. My nephew and I were fighting on the street and an old white lady that looked like the actress Mildrid Natwick interrupts us and starts going into a speech about racial harmony and that we shouldn’t fight because my skin is white and his black. Of course it didn’t even occur to her that we were related and that I was as black. I appeared at first glance with my light colored hair and skin tone to be a white child. My nephew and I being very well behaved for the most part, and polite children listened to her with puzzled looks on our faces. When I told her that I didn’t know what she was talking about and that he was my nephew and that I was also colored---the term used at that time in the mid 1960s. She looked at me like I was criminally insane, and hobbled off thinking she had done her good deed for the day.
Its always a delight to catch up with the latest project of Elly Clark the personable young artist and curator who is just an absolute joy and delight:
Birmingham, November 2011
Twelve months on from its last showing in New York and nearly a year now of my living in Birmingham (with pretty frequent trips back to Berlin!) I am very happy to be able to invite you to the opening of WUNDERKAMMER at the amazing venue that is TROVE in the Jewelry Quarter in Birmingham. Opening on Thursday 8th December, (with A Slide Show by.. Andy Field at 6.30pm) this is the first time this increasingly well-travelled exhibition has been shown in the UK.
More info follows. It would be truly brilliant to see you there.
With very best wishes,
Elly CLARKE GALLERY presents:
WUNDERKAMMER at TROVE
Private view: 6-8.30pm Thursday 8th December 2011 with A Slide Show by… Andy Field at 6.30pm
Exhibition then open on specific days & by appointment until 30th December
12 months on from its last presentation at Franklin Furnace in New York, Clarke Gallery is honoured to unpack the contents of WUNDERKAMMER once again, this time at TROVE in Birmingham, UK.
Translating as Cabinet of Curiosities, WUNDERKAMMER is a travelling show of sixteen small works by artists from Germany, the UK, Canada and the USA that grows and changes as it goes. Incorporating sculpture, photography, painting, (a new) ‘smart phone-dependent art’ (piece by Daniel Sailsbury) and a live presentation of “A Slide Show by… Andy Field” on the opening night, this is the forth stop WUNDERKAMMER has made. Starting out at Clarke Gallery in Berlin the exhibition then travelled to Eastern Edge in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada and Franklin Furnace in New York. For this presentation at TROVE, works by two additional artists are introduced: New York-based Columbian artist Juan Bethancurth (who I met during the last exhibition in NYC) and British Birmingham based artist Daniel Sailsbury.
Works were selected that not only would fit within the confines of a hand-luggage size Wunderkammer but which also referenced story telling, dealt with the idea of the archive or that were traces of or ephemera from an event or a larger piece. The text for the type-written labels was provided by each artist.
WUNDERKAMMER is the first Clarke Gallery exhibition to have travelled beyond the confines of my Berlin apartment, where Clarke Gallery started up. After two years of hosting exhibitions in my space (involving, at different times, sculpture in my bed, performance in my bathroom, video installation in the kitchen, slide shows in my living room; art objects nestling amongst my personal things) – it felt right to branch out and bring the mobility that we as individuals today enjoy, to the gallery. Now, having lived in Birmingham for a year and with plans to find a more permanent setting for Clarke Gallery in the West Midlands, it is a great honour to bring this suitcase of work to TROVE. And also, for the first time, for the exhibition to have so much space to breathe. As well as to be able to remain there for a few weeks.
Artists of WUNDERKAMMER in Birmingham are: Juan Bethancurth, Jessica Brouder, Elly Clarke, Julian Eicke, Liz Fletcher, Alexander Heaton, Sophia New and Dan Belasco / plan b, Terry Piercey, Daniel Sailsbury, Christian Sievers, Vajra Spook, Anna-Myga Kasten, E. Louise Wachler, Kym Ward and Andrea Winkler.
All work is for sale. Sales will make room for new work to be accommodated by artists from each place visited and, crucially, help fund its ongoing journey.
TROVE is an independent contemporary art gallery in Birmingham. For the past two years it has been located in a heritage site in Newhall Square. Its history includes being the original Science and Industry Museum of Birmingham and, prior to that, the Elkington Factory, where metal plating and Parkesine plastic were invented. Directed by Charlie Levine, TROVE works mainly with heritage sites and exciting artists at any stage of their careers. Over the past 12 months TROVE has been keen to offer opportunities to new partners in order to create a thriving and diverse arts venue. Partners include Birmingham Architects Association, Fierce Festival, mac birmingham, Birmingham Jazz Festival, Crowd6, Birmingham Institute of Art and Design and Minnie Weisz Studio.
TROVE at The Old Science Museum, 144 Newhall Street, Birmingham, B3 1RZ // trove.org.uk // mail@trove.org.uk
Next CLARKE GALLERY exhibition is The Mobility Project, which, with the generous support of Arts Council England, is, along with all her artists, travelling in January to The Meter Room in Coventry, opening on 19th with artist talks on Saturday 21st.
www.clarkegallery.de // mail@clarkegallery.de // facebook.com/clarkegallery --
Please add mail@clarkegallery.de to your 'safe list'!
This little emug from one of the smartest, sexiest men alive, Jeffreyland Hilbert of Kustom Creative in Los Angeles:
Hola Querida Vegetable,
I’m very sorry to hear about your sister. I know she’d been battling cancer for quite some time. I hope wherever she is, she’s watching over her extended family, especially her little big baby sister.
Not much going on LA gossip-wise to my knowledge. More and more of the city, especially Silver Lake is becoming gentrified and gross on a weekly basis. You heard that LeBarcito closed on Halloween? The site of one of the world’s first protests against police brutality of gays (The Black Cat) is now turning into a “gastropub”. Ugh. I rarely go out so I haven’t run into anyone, really. Zachary Quinto was at my gym (Body Builders in Silver Lake) last week. Taller and queenier than I imagined, but seemed pleasant enough. The Gold Coast has now become the de facto haunt for all those displaced by the closure of the Spotlight. The Hip Flip and I popped in last weekend and it was lively, but not lovely.
Can’t wait to see you and hostess you for a meal or dwinks or both.
Ciao for now.
Xoxo
jeffreylanded
***
Barney Frank the openly gay congressman is retiring when his term is up in 2013. I met Mr. Frank back in the late 80s or early 90s in Boston when Lia Gangitano of Participant Inc Gallery on the Lower East Side was a curator at the ICA Boston and brought me to perform. Lia and Laura Nix and one of their cute young gay boyfriends took me to a Sunday brunch at a flat in Boston’s Back Bay and Mr. Frank was one of the attendees. As this was over 20 years ago I was much younger then I am now but still too long on the tooth to attract the attentions of Mr. Frank who was all over my youthful companion. I adore unbridled hornpigs with hairy eyeballs that can’t be contained. All the best Mr. Barney on your upcoming retirement .
One of my favorite British film directors of all time died age 84, Ken Russell. Women in Love, Tommy, Salome’s Last Dance, The Devils, The Music Lovers, The Boyfriend, Crimes of Passion, Lair of the White Worm, Altered States, Lisztomania are just a few of his films that I have seen and adore.
Katja von Hellendorf just sent me a link for the Piss Goettin trailer that she made. Please watch and spread the gospel of Piss. Here is the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=310wAtuc1zY
Hector Martinez emugged me from LA where he was hanging out with his younger brother Danny and friends at a Moz show. La Morrisey’s career sprang a renaissance thanks to the youthful worship of urban Latinos – mainly Chicanos in the US.The Mexican American’s that idolize Morrisey are known as Raza Billy’s because of their pinchant for the rockabilly style of dressing from the 1950s. The experimental filmmaker William T. Jones has even made a documentary about this phenomena. I have a history with Moz in that in the 80s my band The Afro Sisters opened up for the Smiths at their first American show at the Hollywood Palladium.
Had breakfast twice recently at More the Nollendorky Platz gay restaurant that I would have never considered eating at in years past, but I find quite pleasant and the food and service quite good for Berlin standards which are notoriously low. Its hard for me to find a good breakfast place as I wake up quite early and trying to get an American style warm breakfast is a bit difficult as the Germans tend to each a lot of bread and cold cuts. Plus when I eat alone I don’t like being someplace too crowded, as I get claustrophobic. For years I would go to the 60’s Café in Nollendorky Platz just because it was empty, but the food is horrible and the service non existent. Some of the waitresses at 60’s Cafe are just too bitchy even for me, and I have a high tolerance for bitchy behavior from wait staff as I realize it’s a very tough job, one that I couldn’t do. But at More Café the waitresses and waiters are very sweet and accommodating, and this is unusual for a gay establishment which are known to give histrionic attitude. More is a bit pricey, but not that expensive. I was surprised at how mixed it was one morning with a large amount of straight couples and single women eating alone at the tables. The décor is a bit dated, but Berlin is a little behind in that regard and I kind of like that. A few days later I visited More and it was more gay men and older sex lizard types but my waiter was young and very charming smiling at me with a fever pitch. I felt like this waiter and another one a slightly older blondine with a bubble butt were fighting over my attentions. I left some Commie Biggie flyers. And speaking of big communists Joseph Stalin’s daughter just died. She was living in rural Wisconsin of all places.
***
I was thinking about well meaning white liberals the other day and what came to my mind was an incident when I was four years old and playing with my nephew Mark Taylor near his apartment in the mid city LA area around Pico and Normandie. Mark Taylor died early this year, we were only nine months apart so I became an uncle while still an infant. For some strange reason my mother and my eldest sister were both having babies around the same time. When I was born up until around 5 years of age I was a blondine yes its true I had sandy blonde hair and grey eyes--my skin was very pale which was very shocking at the time as my mother had a darker complexion. She was maybe a few shades lighter then Oprah Winfrey in the film The Color Purple. My mother is a black Creole from Louisiana, her maiden name is DePlantier so its not extroidinary that she would give birth to a lighter skinned child, but my sisters are all at least four shades darker then I am, but strangely enough they all had long straight hair, and I got the kinky hair. But anyways getting back to my original story. My nephew and I were fighting on the street and an old white lady that looked like the actress Mildrid Natwick interrupts us and starts going into a speech about racial harmony and that we shouldn’t fight because my skin is white and his black. Of course it didn’t even occur to her that we were related and that I was as black. I appeared at first glance with my light colored hair and skin tone to be a white child. My nephew and I being very well behaved for the most part, and polite children listened to her with puzzled looks on our faces. When I told her that I didn’t know what she was talking about and that he was my nephew and that I was also colored---the term used at that time in the mid 1960s. She looked at me like I was criminally insane, and hobbled off thinking she had done her good deed for the day.
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