T1‘,

Tr." n.!‘C‘-"l‘l"‘-CF‘-fl B“lsi'l‘ IITI 'j'n."u . ‘«.‘:I\ C-“».'l\ 5.‘\ '. ‘I 

20 out in the mountains I NOVEMBER 2006 I MOUNTA|NPRlDEMED|A.ORG

IF YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TESTED. OR ll? YOU'VE HAD UNPROTECTED SEX OR SHARED A N

It's better to Imow

 
 

vnu em an mun mm: mm
rnrnmrnr If You rrsr rosmvr.

Ԥ

.§

8

Z

"5.

[J

E

E!

E

£3‘

E

%‘

§

8

E

Q

E!

2

In

15.

§

8

E For information on HIV testing:
§ 1- call toll-free from in Vermont

E 800-882-AIDS (800-882-24-37)*
§ 4- for hearing impaired.TTY access
g 800-319-3141*

9.
3
5
§
E
5
E
s
6
if:
Q
‘:2.
S
8‘.
§
Q
E
3
§

I or visit us on-line at ,
http:IIwww.hea1thyvermonters.inio ~

'Cl3.‘l.S3.I. N335 HEIAZN EIAAIOK all ‘LSEII. AIH NV .1130 OJ. Ell/TIJ. SIHJ. SI MON '.I.S8J. J.$V'I HDOA ILONIS 31033

* The Vermont AIDS Hotline is open weekdays, 8:30-4:30.
(For information 24/'7,cali the National AIDS Hotline
800-3%2-2437.)

Take the TEST. Take GDNTBDI.

 XliRM91\E

DEPARTMENT or ti-ETALTH

51 80 'CIEl.LflJ. N338 HHAEIN 3A.flO}. Ll] ’.T.SZ.L Alli NV L39 0.1. HWIJ. EH3’. SI MON ‘LSZZL LS

V1 HIIOA sows ma:-:«:au V Graves no xas azmgmugun avg zmnoz :1! no

 

BY "LYNN MARTIN

he Brattleboro Literary Fes-
tival happens every year in
October. It brings writers
from as far away as Iran and as
close as Putney, Vermont, to-
gether to read their works back‘ '
to back for an entire weekend.
The readings are flee to the
public. It is three days of pure‘
heaven for a poet (with a twinge
of hell, because why am I not
reading?). This year I was taken
with all those fresh, young faces.
Here they were, some of them
not yet 30 years old and with a
book, if not two, already pub-

 

lished. Many of them are women.

Truly life has changed for the
better in the literary world, pro-
viding mentors so these writers
knew at an early age that writing
could be a profession open to
them.

I never wrote a poem until I
was in my mid-40s. I was a tene-
ment kid who grew up in a sub-
urb of Newark, N .J . As a child
in the 1930s and ’40s, I thought-
books miraculously appeared on
library shelves delivered from
the hands of the gods. Certainly
no one ever revealed to me they

    ll lute Start

were written by human hands
no different from my own. No
author ever visited the school I
attended and talked about what
it was like to be a writer. I was

men; also transsexuals, bisexu- »
als and people questioning gen-
der and sexuality definitions.

In the midst of the year 2006,
when civil liberties are in such

I need to remind myself that to put

would have to go.

being groomed in those days to
get married or sit in front of a

typewriter, whicheverrcame first.

NONE of the books in the
library or in my classroom were
written by lesbians or gay men.
How could they be? They didn’t
even exist.

By the time I looked up from
raising three kids, I was 42 years
old. It was now 1977. The femi-
nist‘ movement was just stirring.
So was I. I still had to search
out books by lesbians and gay
men. The Well of Loneliness was
the first I found. Patience and
Sarah, followed.

Today I can walk into the
Brattleboro Library and carry
out an armful of books, each
one written by out lesbians, gay

' me back in the closet, whole libraries

jeopardy here and around the
world, I find it crucial to remind
myself how far we have come
and thus, how much we have
to lose. I need to remind myself
that to put me back in the closet,
whole libraries would have to
go. That I don’t stand alone,
because all those wild liberals
- who, like me, might have had
a late start - are not about to be
silenced. Every civil liberty that
is eroded brings it closer to the
possibility we are next. '
Keep writing, everybody. And
come and read what you write at
next year’s Literary Festival.V

Lynn Martin lives in
Brattleboro.

T