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Heaven, health, history, hung
Learn cruising etiquette; meet a modern-day town
crier; come of age; avoid shallow bisexuals
T he C omplete G u id e t o G ay M en ’ s
S exual , P hysical and E motional
W ell -B eing
by Daniel W olfe. Ballantine Books, 2000;
$24.95 softcover.
lthough gay men’s health for the past 15
years largely has been defined by HIV and
AIDS, a new book details the vast com
plexity of the subject. The Complete Guide to
Gay M ens Sexual, Physical and Emotional
Well-Being empowers men to take charge of
their body, mind and soul.
1 liked reading this book. It’s smart and
informative and provides just enough useful
information without becoming cumbersome.
This guide will be especially helpful for guys
who just are coming out or want more
detailed information on health issues specific
to gay men.
Author Daniel Wolfe covers so much infor
mation— from anal pleasure to skin care basics.
One area that jumped out at me reveals how to
have male multiple orgasms. (I always have
been jealous of my female friends who are pros
at this.)
A fun section covers cruising and commu
nication. It gives both bad and good examples
of how to respond while hooking up with a
person you met online.
Bad No. 1: You walk in, decline to sit down
and say: “Swimmer’s body? I don’t think so.”
Bad No. 2: You walk by the coffee shop, see
your man waiting, as agreed, and keep on
walking.
Good: Spend a minute in conversation. If
it’s not happening, explain politely that
you’re sorry it’s not going to work, and excuse
yourself.
If you’re going to meet in person, the
truth— or something very close— is vital.
Describing yourself unrealistically, or leaving
out a major detail of your physical appearance,
is a setup for both of you.
This hook is a wonderful contribution to
the growing body of knowledge and insights in
the field of gay men’s health. — Dean Siduiell
A
Wicker that's guaranteed outdoors I
A natomies : A N ovella and S to ries
by Anndee Hochman. Picador, 2000;
$18 hardcover.
A
The Cripple of Imshmaan
by Martin McDonagh
O c t o b e r 31 - N o v e m b e r 26
GALA Night November 7
A Christmas Carol \
Antigone
D e c e m b e r 3 - D e c e m b e r 24
F e b r u a r y 20 - M a r c h 18
adapted by David McCann
adapted by Nancy Keystone
*GALA Night December 5
♦ GALA Night February 27
Closer
A New Brain
J a n u a r y 1 6 - F e b r u a r y 11
M a r c h 27 - A p r i l 22
by Patrick Marber
GALA Night January 23
music & lyrics by William Finn
♦ GALA Night March 3
And, our premiere Second Stage production
The Gimmick
by Dael Orlandersmith
A p r i l 25 - M ay 19
ju s im I
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f production sponsor»: | F f t d M < y iT
g ala
is the 6ay & lesbian
Audwnto S*rto*
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4 6 *
AmencanAjrlines
natomies, Anndee Hochman’s sparkling fic
tion debut, is divided into four sections:
Flesh, Blood, Heart and Nerve.
After finishing each story, the reader feels
her own flesh, blood, heart and nerve stirred by
the author’s beautifully constructed language
and vivid imagination. Hochman proves her
self as promising a fiction writer as she did a
nonfiction writer with her first book, Everyday
Acts & Small Subversions: Women Reinventing
Family, Community and Home.
In most of the stories, the central characters
are girls and women (lesbian, bisexual and
straight) negotiating the complex terrain of
adolescence or womanhood. Although “Liabili
ty” is not the strongest story in the collection,
readers will enjoy the novella for its local con
tent and universal theme of the search for love,
family and community.
But more satisfying are the short stories,
which display Hochman’s often haltingly beau
tiful language and occasional borderline magical
realist style. In “Aggiomamento," she deploys
this style— and her wonderful imagination— in
the story of a girl who can’t stop crying.
So pronounced and constant is Claudia Mi-
celi’s weeping, she is hired as a professional crier
by a funeral home. Claudia’s crying works as a
metaphor for centuries of women’s grief and sacri
fice, particularly within the Catholic Church. A
wonderful twist at the end of the story builds
cleverly on Hochman’s metaphor and offers a
message of women’s resistance and hope.
If any critique is to be made of this collec
tion, it’s that some of her stories suffer from too
much hope. It’s as if Hochman is uncomfort
able with the dark side of her imagination
when she too quickly rescues her characters
from their islands of pain and loss.
But therein lies her strength, too. She
paints her characters in their rich complexity,
showing their large capacities for experiencing
devastating loss, redemptive hope and the will
to simply carry on.
Only days after In Other Words Women’s
Books and Resources opened its doors Oct. 29,
1993, Hochman read from her first book. More
than 100 people packed the store, eager to hear
from a writer who had touched their lives,
imaginations and hearts.
W ith Anatomies, Hochman treats old fans
to her growing talent and inevitably will culti
vate many, many new fans across the country.
This old fan wishes her continued success.
— Catherine Sameh
V illage E lders
by Penny C olem an. University o f Illinois Press,
2000; $24.95 hardcover.
ou’ve got to love the 85-year-old man who
calls himself a “broken-down bitch" or the
9 2 -year-old lesbian whose first encounter
with a gay person was the 20-year-old James
Baldwin and who remarks that "the only differ
ence between me now and me 30 years ago is I
ain’t getting laid. G o find me another 92-year-
old lesbian who wants to go to bed with me!"
These tales about regular people open a
peephole into the larger gay history of the 20th
century and resound with displays of resistance
Y