know, first you live by one set of rules,
and the one day you wake up and have to
learn another just the opposite. And then
you realize that they’re all just as ar—
bitrary. I only have myself to rely on.”
Paul, not surprisingly, approaches com-
ing out like medical school: he reads, he
studies, he measures. In many ways, Paul
strikes one as being much older than his
twenty four years: he has the patient, ob-
serving nature of a mature scientist and
gives this entire work a humorless nar-
rative style. In other ways, he’s in-
credibly immature, but forgivably so, for
there’s universality in his immaturity. “If
I hadn’t known better, I’d have said that
I’d just entered puberty.” This is truth:
for gays and lesbians, there are two pu-
berties, two adolescences, and it’s hard
to decide which is the more traumatic.
It’s an intriguing transformation to be in-
vited to watch, and asks the reader to
compare notes.

In the end, Paul has successfully navigat-
ed coming out to some of his closest
friends in New Haven (people from his
life prior to medical school are absent
from the story), as well as his first male-
male romance. We part with a character
full of promise, a little too analytical,
overenthusiastic, perhaps a little bit a the
poseur, but nonetheless a proudly evolv-
ing individual. As Paul says of his video
work: “There’s no need to say anything.
Anything critical, that is. Just let the ex-
perience wash over you.” Good advice. V

———._——i

 

Name

 
  

 

SAGE

Organizes in Vt

Robert Zeuner

SAGE means Senior Action in a Gay En-
vironment Formed originally in New York
City for the purpose of addressing the issues
and needs of older gay men and lesbians,
SAGE now has a Vermont chapter.

Meeting in October, a small group of gay
men decided that a safe place was needed
in Vermont where mid-life and older gay
men, both in and out of the closet, could
meet and interact. By affiliating with a
wider national movement, the group will
be part of a broad network offering mem-
bers pen pals, newsletters, workshops,
dances, brunches, trips, counselling, and
social events for mature persons across
the United States and Canada. Monthly
social gatherings will be the emphasis of
the local group during the next few
months. Discussions on topics of interest
to mid-life and later-life gay men are
plarmed. Needs of older gay men in Ver-
mont will also be explored through con-
tacts with local gay and non-gay service
organizations.

Contact Robert Zeuner at 658-5136 for
meeting times and places. Age and agil-
ity are irrelevant_V

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11

January 1993

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