drag kings, moving and lesbian feminism part III

now before i talk about lesbian feminism, i want to talk about the men in new york.
see, i have made friends with this car service guy named tommy. he always calls me "beautiful" or "sweetheart" and the cable guy called me "sweetheart" and then today when we got our membership at the YMCA, the membership guy kept calling me and jes "sweetheart." I have to say each time this happens I am taken aback. There is this old school feminist in me that wants to be like "look DUDE i am not your sweetheart OR your beautiful." But I am not sure they mean it with disrespect, I think that is what the young guys say around here. I still don't know what to do with it. I mean I could say it back but then I feel like they would think I am flirting with them, which I am not. Anywho, if any of yall have any suggestion or analysis of this phenomenon, please let me know.

i am very excited about being part of the Y. I think it is a great organization. I mean i *know* this, but after the tour mr. sweetheart gave us, I felt even better about being a part of it. Of course it is an affordable place for folks to live, and there are all these great kids' classes and one can workout and be healthy there, so I love that. But I also love that there is a FREE computer room with FREE printing for community folks. That is some good shit in my humble opinion. On my walk home from the Y I stopped to get a cup of decaf coffee at Tea Lounge and then headed to the dollar store on the corner to buy some Halloween candy. It all sucked so I got jes some fruit waters instead. And now I am home, watching PBS and finishing my blogging.

So about lesbian feminism. I went to this event in the city sponsored by CLAGS (the center for lesbian and gay studies). This is an organization that offers these fellowships for queer work. I applied last year and did not get one. I may apply again this year. My friend Sarah also applied last year and wouldn't you know it, she got one! Go Sarah! Go Sarah! Anywho it was this set of panels about the history and present of lesbian feminism from 1970-2005. The afternoon was broken into four parts. Part 1: Culture, Part 2: Culture, Part 3: Sex and Part 4: Movement Building. I was nervous to go b/c this is the academic/ social community I would love to be a part of. There is all kinds of great queer and feminist work coming out of the center and I would just love to have a working relationship with the folk. So the first thing I worried about is what to wear. I knew I couldn't rock my pyjamas though they are my favorite. I wanted to wear jeans but I also want these folks to not see me as a graduate student so much, but more as a future faculty member or future post doc/fellow. So I just wore some casual courdroy like pants and a black turtleneck sweater. I was also nervous b/c I didn't know anyone and would have no one to talk to or be friends with. And then there is always the worry of getting lost when I travel into the city.

Well, I made it to the building with only one wrong turn and as I was getting onto the elevator to go to the ninth floor I felt a tap on my shoulder and who did I see? Jennifer Terry. Yeah, that Jennifer Terry, the rock star academic who is now at U of California-Irvine. She edited this book Deviant Bodies and authored another book called An American Obsession. She was at Ohio State when I was there and was very supportive of the drag king activity there. She had just flown into NYC that morning b/c her sweetie was on the panel. So it was nice that I got to chat with her. She is very generous with her time b/c I know a bunch of folks wanted to chat with her at this event.

The event itself was interesting. First of all, there was all these old lesbians there. I mean like 70 and 80 years old. There were these lovely old butches with silver flat tops and buzz cuts. And everyone had such histories to tell. I felt honored to be in their presence. I mean there were these lesbians that were my mom and my gramma's age. It's so weird b/c I just don't have too much exposure to older queer folks really. I mean I have one committee member who is a lesbian and is maybe in her fifties but that is really it. That makes me a bit sad really. I know I can learn a lot from them, but they also have their little groups and I feel like they don't necessarily agree with all my politics or just think I am some young whippersnapper who doesn't know better. And when you are 32 years old, that can get frustrating. I was excited to see what Cheryl Clarke and E.Francis White looked like. I didn't really know of any of the other folks. I also chatted with two women who were more my age. One was a history graduate student from Columbia University and the other, whose name is Mandy I think facilitated the panel on the Body. She is a first year law student at NYU. Her blog is www.bananarchist.com
Check it out-she is smart and very funny. I want Jes to meet her b/c I think they could be lawyer friends.

So overall, I am glad I went b/c I need to get back into an academic community. Being here is great b/c I have the time to write and all, but I do feel a bit isolated. It was also great to see Jenny Terry. Lastly, it was educational to hear what older lesbians think about young lesbian or queer feminist activists. Some think there is no movement (this of course frustrated me) while others are so overwhelmed or have been out of the movement for a while and want to get reconnected. It became clear to me that somehow us younger activists MUST connect with these older activist. I am sure it is happening somewhere in this city. I just gotta find it.

Ok Larry has already begun his incessant "where is jes" meowing. It makes me a little nuts. It may also be his "i want dinner" meow. Yeah its almost 5pm so that must be it.