:1?:.._..———..——-._—_:.__.——_—__...—..—...-—......-—.-———_————-_—-—.——...————.-un--.-——.-.._.--———.———.o-—-—u..—-2.-—-—-—-————-.n——.—-—..-u--——-—--ugj;

Author Charles Kaiser Comes
to Support Ed Flannigan.    

BY BENNETT LAw—.---—-7-----—--— ————— --—-—

The respected ioumalist and writer Charles Kaiser, author of The Gay
Metropolis (1940-1996), pubtished last fall by Houghton llrliftlin. will ,tr,a\_r_e| around
Vermont this month in support of Edward Flanagan's 1998‘ campaign torre-
election as Vermont State'Audi1or. . V -

Kaiser's Metropolis begins its social and political history with World War
II, during which, he argues, the United StatesArmy acted asthe“great, secret,
unwitting engine of gay liberation in America" by bringing gays and lesbians
from around the country together to discover others who were "other" in the
same ways as themselves. From this initial contact, Kaiser believes, sprang
the development of a sense of homosexual community, in New ‘fork City and
ultimately beyond, into “every place where gay people have found the courage
and the dignity to be free."

Kaiser states in the book's forward, “No other group has ever trans-
formed its status more rapidly or more dramatically than lesbians and gays" in
a telephone interview from his home in New York City, Kaiser noted that “it’s an
extraordinary history, one we should take great pride in.“ In developing the
history, which melds the personal stories of the rich and famous with those of
lesser knowns, Kaiser developed relationships with many of the central fig-
ures in the book. “I gained extraordinary candor and openness,” he said, “and
tried to give people the opportunity to tell their story asfully and as honestly as
they can."

The Gay Metropolis was generously reviewed nationwide Publisher's
Weekly found it “at once expansive and specific, willing to draw cultural, his-
torical and judicial correspondences previous reporters and historians avoided,
given the traditional distaste for linking people and events homosexually.“

Charles Kaiser has lived in New Ybrk City since attending Columbia
University in the 1970's. He came out as a gay man during the year following
the Stonewall riot. Kaiser spent five years as a reporter on the Metro staff of
The New York Times, and was then press critic at Newsweek before ‘embark-
ing on a stint covering the media and publishing at The Wall S1reefJouma_l. His
first book, 1968 in America, was published in 1988 and later used asthe basis
for a CBS documentary.

“ Kaiser has also written for New fork, the New iork Observer, Vanity Fair,
Vogue, and The Washington Post, among others, and has taught journalism at
Columbia and Princeton. He is currently a member ofthe board of the National
Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association_, and wasa founder and former presi-
dent of its New York chapter. M _ y . 3 I ' _ ,

Kaiser has-been a friend of Edward Flanagan since 1976. -Onstinday
evening, June 14, Kaiser will be reading from We Gay Metropolis andleading

 

A&Ejune98

On the Other Hand...

(of Arts and Entertainment)  

BY KIMBERLY A. VVARD

I Local DJ Seduces
Chilean Diplomat’s
Daughter!

ince moving to Montpelier in

S the fall, I have been quietly
going about the life of a writer
working full time and attending
graduate school. Nights end early
here in Washington county, even
more-so than in outlying towns near
Burlington. The idea of social life is

limited. And I like itthat way. In the

morning, I have often turned my radio
dial to WNCS, or The Point as they
have taken to callingthemselves in the
last year. I have liked the station since
it started, though found it not always
so ‘alternative’ as it was at its
inception. One morning this winter, I
was lucky enough to turn to The Point
and hear a wonderfully deep, smoky
voice accompanying another voice
known well to many Vermonters as
Chris Griffin. It was relatively new DJ,
Alexa Bauer. Her voice, being in that
Kathleen Turner range, and full of the
sound of BBC 1, hooked me instantly.
After that, her humor kept me. As a
sometimes-actor myself, I was
impressed with the way she could
move from one thing to the next with
ease, even when that first thing was
reading the scores to a game wrong
by accident. ( You must remember
that , as a native Vermonter who grew
up with the hapless likes of Marselis
Parsons on channel 3 news, this was
pretty new for me. ) So, It was with
great pleasure that I called up her bio
on The Point's web site, created a list

of questions and gave the station a.

call to request an interview. The paper
had informed me that Alexa was Bi

interviewing her" on any tid,bita3;abultl
being bi at WNCS? Naturally, I said I
would. We met at Mcgillicuddy's over
a drink and talked for an hour. What
struck me during the interview first, as
usual, was her sense of humor and
storytelling. Alexa Bauer began life in
England, where her parents were
actors (meeting in a classic romantic
moment when her father came from
the States during a West Side Story
tour, fell in love with her mother ‘and
stayed.') and from the start Alexa
decided, as many children of actors
do, that she did NOT want to be one.
The idea of living hand to mouth as
she’d seen them do did not appeal.
Yet, her penchant for people, talking
and creating seemed bound to lead
her into some sort of performance
work She came to the United States
in 1986, “escapingThatcherite Britain”
and entering the wonderfully open
queer community of Key West. This
was where she got into radio, after a
half-hour tour and interview with the
station manager ofWEOW, she went
home to listen to one of the shows,
the manager sat down to listen to her
demo, and the rest is rapid history, for
Alexa did not even get a chance to
hear the station's show that night
before the manager called her at
home to say she liked her work and
didn't care if Alexa liked the show or
not, “I want you" for the job. Thus
began her career in radio. But, more
than a new career was opened up for
Alexa in Key West. Not only was there
the poverty of Thatcherite England
from which to escape, but the inner
personal phobias. Though Alexa had
experimented sexually with one of her
girl friends before the age of eleven,
she had not gotten into a relationship
with a woman until she got to the
States, And although she's never
been one to care what people thought

 

Key West, she found that since the
wider world didn't seem to care, it was
easier to feel the same. And when
she met Claudia, at age 20, she felt it
was “like coming home. That's the
only way I can describe it, like coming
home.” Still, as is often the case when
a person discovers part of their
sexuality and begins to nurture the
freedom that comes with that
discovery, she didn't really talk to
anyone about it until much later. When
I asked what it was like to actually get
to that point and come out she told
me it was “liberating.” and although
she felt when she was younger she'd
had an idealistic image of having a
relationship with a woman, as it once
two women were in love it would be
like having both ‘best friends and
lovers’ together, she admitted that as
she got older she didn't see that
exactly as the case. As the discussion
moved on, we found ourselves
agreeing on that ever-present idea
that we are all people with issues and
power struggles in any relationship.
But what about the Chilean diplomat's
daughter? Well, she was one of the
first diplomat's daughters Alexa was
to seduce, (when they were eleven);
The Diplomatic Father forbade them
to see each other after that and, well,
at eleven, what can one do? One
thing that was clear as we spoke is
that, as with many women in Vemiont,
she has found the ‘women's
community’ to often times be
standoffish. And as with many people
I meet while in my travels in'Bi
activism, it seemed that being a fem
did not bode well for her. The
atmosphere at many women's events
can often be cold, reserved and
cliquish, and Alexa made it clear she
had not escaped that gauntlet while

AU-mcnl pm and asked “would I be interested in of her, she still had found‘ herself LOCAL, p17

_ ' !«
Rhombus Gallery at 186 College St., 865- Di°"°_wm f°°"s °" the spir_"_"°'v °sP°°ts °fTh° G55! M°“°P°ll~°~ lTW9l3l° S‘-Albfifls
SUNDAY 3144. r of social change and the spiritual burden for a fundraiser in support of Edward
THURSDAY placed on families who are denied basic Flanagan's 1993 reelection as state Au-

Burlington - Choir Rehearsal for Interfaith

Burlington — GLITTER film presentation: ,
Pride 98 Worship Service 7 - 9 PM at

All About Eve. Rhombus Gallery, located

at the intersection of College & Church
Streets in downtown Burlington,Vermont.
Enter on College St and the gallery is on
the 2nd floor. All events begin at7:30 PM.
For more information,call Steven Kopstein
on 802-434-5653 or
email:Glittenrt@aol.com. Or contact the
Rhombus Gallery at 186 College St., 865-
3144.

MoNDAY

Burlington - GLITTER film presentation:
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy Rhombus
Gallery, located at the intersection of Col-
lege 8. Church Streets in downtown Burl-
ington, Vennont. Enter on College St and
the gallery is on the 2nd floor. All events
begin at 7:30 PM. For more information,
call Steven Kopstein on 802-434-5653 or
emai|:G|ittervt@ao_|.com. Or ‘contact the

Christ Church Presbyterian in Burlington.
Singers who read at least some pleae join
in. For more information call Chris Leslie
at 802-860-7106.

D TUESDAY

Camels Hump - Hike with fire Ame|ia's.
FMI 802-439-5777

WEDNESDAY

St. Albans - Youth Dance sponsored by
St. Albans H.S. Gay/Straight Alliance.
8pm-12am, St. Albans Hockey Rink FMI,
tracker@vyo.org

Hyde Park - Rainbow Business Associa-
tion mixer at the Fitch Hill Inn, 258 Fitch
Hill Road, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. $10 in-
cludes hors _d'oeurves, cash bar.

Westminster West, Vermont Freedom to
Marry Task Force meeting. Follow up on
Gay Bingo, planning for future events and
updates on happenings throughout the
state. At the home of Bari Shamas FMI
387-5788

Burlington - Bygone Books, 7-9 pm. A
Natural History Evening with Gale
Lawrence, author of Beghning Naturalist,
Field Guide to the Familiar, and The In-
door Naturalistwill share her observations
of the natural world and sign books. Free
and open to the public; refreshments
sewed. 31 Main St. 862-4397

SATURDAY

Westminster West - VFMTF representa-
tives, Bari and Diane Shamas, have been
invited to discuss same gender civil mar-
riage with members of Congregational

.Church of Westminster West. Bari and

civil rights Discussion begns at 7:30. FMI
387-5788 or 387-2501

E} SUNDAY

Burlington - GLITTER film presentation:
Bound. Rhombus Gallery, located at the
intersection of College & Church Streets
in downtown Burlington, Vennont. Enter on
College St and the gallery ison the 2nd
floor. All events begin at 7:30 PM. For
more information, call Steven Kopsbin on
802-434-5653oremail:G|ilteNt@aoI.com.
Or contact the Rhombus Gallery at 186
College St., 865-3144.

Burlington - Choir Rehearsal for Interfaith
Pride 98 Worship Service 7 - 9 PM at
Christ Church Resbyterian in Burlington.
Singers who read at least some pleae join
in. For more infonnation call Chris Leslie
at 802-860-7106.

St. Albans - Charles Kaiser, noted author,

ditot At Jeff's Maine Seafood, 65 North
Main Street Call 524-6135 for more infor-
mation.

MONDAY

Burlington - GLITTER film presentation: v

Lalin Boys Go To Hell. Rhombus Gallery,
located at the intersection of College &
Church Streets in downtown Buiiington,
Vennont Enter on College St and the gel-
lery is on the 2nd floor. All eventsbegn at
7:30 PM. For more information, call Steven
Kopstein on 802-434-5653 or
email:GlittenIt@aol.oom. Or contact the
Rhombus Gallery at 186 College St., 865-
3144.

Burlington - Dyke Talk at Fight Back Of-
fice on North Winooski.Topic: Gender and
Body image.