SpunqDaddy's Beard

2009 Best of Bears

2009-10-07T10:02:11Z

What, no "Best Bear Book" category this year?!? (UPDATE: They added it!)

Please nominate and vote for
Bear of the Year – RON SURESHA
Best Bear Blog/Podcast – BEAR SOUP

2009 Best of the Bears

Got Fur’s fourth annual poll, the very best in all things ursine.

We will take nominations until 11/15. Send your nominations to info@thecompletebear.com

Voting will be from 11/16 -12/31.

Bear of the Year -
Best Bear Website –
Best Bear Blog/Podcast –
Best Bear Porn Site –
Best Bear Video –
Best Bear Porn Star –
Best Bear Business –
Best Bear Publication –
Best Bear Club/Organization –
Best Bear Run –
Best Bear Bar –
Best Bear Fundraiser –
Best Bear Campsite/Accommodations –
Best Bear Resource –
Best Bear Artist –
Best Bear Performer –

Bears on Bears noted in ABL

2009-09-25T22:46:03Z

Bears on Bears, rev. ed., noted in A Bear’s Life

This issue (”Falling in Love” #17) of A Bear’s Life magazine noted the revised edition of Bears on Bears!

Bears on Bears

A revised and expanded edition of the “invaluable book” on Bears

Revealing, challenging, often humorous, Bears on Bears is a groundbreaking book that examines the homomasculine subculture called Bears.
In 30 wide-ranging interviews, 62 men reveal their experiences as gay, bi, and trans Bears and Bear-lovers who find their physical image and personal lifestyle at odds with stereotypically ephebic, effeminate, fashion-obsessed gay male culture. Finding intimate affirmation within the increasingly international Bear brotherhood, they discuss coming-out as and homomasculine Bears and trace the early history of Bear community and subculture.
Contributors include comedian Bruce Vilanch, “Survivor” Richard Hatch, model Jack Radcliffe, and authors David Bergman, Michael Bronski, Jack Fritscher, Wayne Hoffman, Arnie Kantrowitz, Richard Labonté, Dr. Lawrence Mass, Eric Rofes, Mark Thompson, and Les K. Wright.

The revised edition, which is the second title from the Bear Bones Books imprint of Lethe Press, features fresh interviews with filmmakers Kevin Bowe (A Bear’s Story) and Dan Hunt (Bear Run), Sirius OutQ radio personality Larry Flick, Bear Like Me author Jonathan Cohen, and Metropolitan Community Church founder Rev. Troy Perry.
Bears on Bears confronts conventional images of male beauty and contemporary concepts of masculinity in a moving and colorful portrait of a men’s community that makes for fascinating reading on many levels.
328 pages, softbound, $25. ISBN-10: 1590212444, ISBN-13: 978-1590212448

Order your copy now from Amazon of “the invaluable book” on Bears.

RJS @ Celebrate Bisexuality Day, Thursday in Boston

2009-09-23T15:37:58Z

Happy Celebrate Bisexuality Day!

Find out more info about the high holiday.

See what others are doing around the world to celebrate CBD.

GLAAD is dedicating a day of posts on their blog to CBD.

The BRC and Fenway Health's Boundless Program invite you to Celebrate Bisexuality Day on Thursday, September 24th!

Deets:

Thursday, Sept 24

7-10 pm

Club Cafe

209 Columbus Ave, Boston

Hors d'ouevres

Music

Awards

MORE!

P.S.: It's FREE!

Want to help?

If you'd like to help decorate, greet attendees, staff the table, etc. Email brc@biresource.net to find out how.

Visit the BRC table at CBD and check out the fabulous new t-shirts and buttons with our new slogan on it (see above).

Bisexual Resource Center

P.O. Box 1026

Boston, MA 02117

617-424-9595

PSSSSST!

Forward this email to make sure all your friends will be there.

Celebrate Bisexual Books!
Connect with the Local Community!
Have a Great Night Out at Club Café!

GB2: Meet the editors and writers!

Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World is now in its second edition, with 36 new entries, representing 42 countries. You'll get a chance to hear from the editors and local contributors at CBD!

It's a must-have on your bookshelf. Get your copy at CBD for only $15!

What else can you expect?

Becca D'Bus will be our fab-U-lous emcee and will perform as well!
Ron Suresha: Bisexual Perspectives on the Life and Work of Alfred C. Kinsey
The Annual Unsung Hero Awards
And MORE!

photo credit: truthserum.org

Visit www.biresource.net for more info about the Bisexual Resource Center.

Forward email

I'll be presenting some fun material from Bisexual Perspectives on the Life and Work of Alfred C. Kinsey. Please join us tomorrow for CBD at Club Cafe!

Bear Soup runs again!

2009-09-11T13:13:43Z

Bear Soup runs again!

Bear Soup #52

Bear Soup podcast, episode #52, streams online, Monday, September 7th, at 10:00pm Eastern & Pacific on BearRadio.net. Repeats on Wednesday, same times. Bon appetit!

"Hello, my name is WOLF BEAR"

My debut (”Hello! My Name Is Wolfbear”) as an extra for Bear City, the movie; meeting the director and writer Doug Langway; and bear-cinema aficionado / exec producer Lewis Tice. Look for Bear City out in 2010! More on this next show too!
An interview with filmmaker Kevin Bowe (A Bear’s Story), one of five new interviews in BoB2
A fine review of Bears on Bears, revised edition, by polarbear Wayne Courtois, in “Out in Print“
Appearances: I AM Festival in New London Saturday, Sept. 12th; Celebrate Bisexuality Day in Boston Sept. 24th.
Shoutouts!

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Bear Soup #51

Bear Soup podcast, episode #51, will stream online, Monday, August 24, at 10:00pm Eastern & Pacific on BearRadio.net.

My interview with Dan Hunt, director/producer of the documentary film Bear Run, which ran on the Logo channel last year. The interview originally appeared in Bear magazine #66 and is featured in full in the new edition of Bears on Bears: Interviews and Discussions

Casting call for bears in the NYC area for the new feature-length movie, Bear City. Lunch provided!

My open letter to the President: Obama, Free the Gays!

The end of the e-group, Bears Against Bush. Bears Who Hate Bush is still cranking.

Satire from Roman Hans and SD: Bu$h’s horrible terrible awful no-good BF. Original on YouTube here — 3,000+ views!

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Bear Soup #50a

The two-year hibernation is over! Bear Soup podcast, episode #50a, will stream online again tonight, Monday, August 17, at 10:00pm Eastern on BearRadio.net.

Joining us in the Bear Soup hot tub this week:

Jeff Heiskell

Interview with singer/songwriter/musician, former Judybats lead man, now solo artist and all-around cool Knoxville dude, Jeff Heiskell.Check out Bearotic’s excellent article on Heiskell. Check out Heiskell’s MySpace page. Buy the Heiskell album Clip-On Nose Ring at Amazon.

tribute to Northeast Ursamen, BCOTY 2008, and good wishes for Daddy Mike

a Turkish bear joke from the collection of folktales I compiled this year

Disclaimer: Clothing and rubber duckies optional. No rubber duckies were harmed in the making of this audio. Some wrinkling, shrinkage, or discoloration may occur. Check with your doctor to see if you’re healthy enough to sit in the hot tub for a half-hour or longer.

Reading at CBD Boston Sept. 24th

2009-09-02T19:04:29Z

I'll be presenting from Bi Perspectives on Kinsey at CBD Boston this year!

BRC Marks Celebrate Bisexuality Day (CBD) for 11th Year

On Thursday, September 24, 7-10 pm, at Club Cafe, 209 Columbus Ave., the Bisexual Resource Center of Boston (BRC) and the New England bi community will be celebrating bisexuality and honoring books about bisexuals. This is the 11th year that BRC will observe Celebrate Bisexuality Day (CBD). The listening party will include hors d'oeuvres, music, great bi community, bi-positive products, plus entertaining readings from the new second edition of Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World and Ron Suresha's anthology, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, Bisexual Perspectives on the Life and Work of Alfred C. Kinsey.

Fenway Health's Boundless program co-sponsors again.

Info: http://www.biresource.net

Map: http://www.clubcafe.com/map/

A men's health survey

2009-09-02T14:11:58Z

Gay/Bi Men Anal Cancer Survey

A men's health announcement from The National LGBT Cancer Network. Please participate!

The National LGBT Cancer Network wants to do something about the
increasing prevalence of anal cancer in our community.

First, we need to find out what people know about anal cancer. We are
asking gay and bisexual men to complete a brief (5-minute) anonymous
online survey to assess their knowledge of anal cancer. We are
particularly interested in hearing from men of color and hope that you
will publicize this request through your blog, listserves, website and
mailing lists. The more respondents we have, the more we learn.

In the general population, anal cancer is a rare disease, but among men
who have sex with men (MSM), the incidence of anal cancer is 40% higher
and increasing annually. However, the majority of gay men know little
about the disease, have ever been tested for it, or even know that
screening tests exit. Health care professionals, too, remain divided on
how and whether to screen for it. In fact, a standardized screening
protocol for anal cancer does not yet exist.

To participate, click here
<http://thenationallgbtcancernetwork.cmail1.com/t/r/l/jltkki/l/r> .

THANK YOU.

To learn more about cancer in the LGBT community and the work of the
National LGBT Cancer Network, please visit our website,
www.cancer-network.org <http://www.cancer-network.org/>

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!

I was surprised how many answers I had to just guess.

RJS on TaLL Show, 7/8/09

2009-08-13T15:11:30Z

RJS on TaLL Show, 7/8/09: Note to Task Force

Thanks again to the TaLL gals for letting me talk on their show again Wednesday, July 8th to share my open letter to Rea Carey, executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Task Force. I sent two voicemails, email, and a posted letter, but Ms Carey did not respond.

On the TaLL Show, July 8, 2009

Local author, anthologist, and activist, Ron Suresha returns to our show to read on air the letter he wrote to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to address the national trend of bisexual erasure. We also talk about the on-going disparity at the federal level for same sex marriages thanks to DOMA, even when your local state allows it (Federal Tax rates and benefits, healthcare access when you travel, social security benefits for your same sex spouse, etc) and how to appeal to the hearts and minds of the rest of the country. http://ronsuresha.com

Ron on The TALL Group Show, 7/8/09

wolfbear @ 2009-08-05T18:13:00

2009-08-05T18:13:07Z

SF Examiner on Bi Perspectives on Kinsey: “eccentric, excellent”

Best bisexual books of 2008: non-fiction

Posted using ShareThis

"The wolf is shaved..."

2009-07-19T14:47:55Z

Query: Cult of the Wolf

The wolf / Is shaved / So neat and trim / Red Riding Hood / Is chasing him / Burma-Shave

This 1952 Burma-Shave slogan, one of hundreds of roadside advertising signs posted by a shaving cream company, seems to refer to the very popular fairy tale of a young girl by the name of Little Red Riding Hood, and an adult male wolf.

The “Wolf” the advertising refers to is a two-legged man, not a four-legged mammal, lupus. In trying to sell shaving cream to their primary market, the ad sign writers were making a cultural reference to an ostensibly heterosexual erotic male type known as the wolf.

“Wolf” was not just parlance but likely an adult code for men as a sexual type, regardless of sexual orientation. This might have been a primarily heterosexist term that included heteros, bis, and gay men, possibly even a term of self-identification.

G. Legman’s epic book on humor, Rationale of the Dirty Joke (New York: Grove Press, 1968) refers to a “male wolf” type several times heterosexually (boldface added):

One of the strictest items of sexual folklore, of the type that adolescent boys confide to each other, is that “Talking dirty heats girls up.” This is made crucial to the plot in Norman Krasna’s sex-comedy, Sunday in New York (movie version, 1963), in which:

The seducer tries to warm up the virginal heroine by telling her dirty jokes, but her brother has warned her to be on the lookout for wolves like this. She pretends she has to go to the toilet (!) and slips away. But this wolf is fangless, and later refuses to lay her when he learns, in bed, that she is authentically a ‘beginner.’ (p. 696)

Legman identifies similarly hetero-oriented wolves in the companion volume, No Laughing Matter (New York: Grove Press, 1975, p. 35) discusses a anti-patriarchical reversal in which playboys are told an offensive necrophiliac sex joke by a woman:

Aside from the obvious advantage in turning off a would-be ‘wolf’ or seducer, it seems clear that a woman’s telling a man repulsive sex-jokes of this kind, whether privately or publicly, is intended further as a sort of turnabout rape, in which it is she who outrages and humiliates the man — her own secret assessment of what sexual intercourse amounts to, from the woman’s position. She is also effectively also denying her own sex as a woman.

Yet Legman names a distinct wolf type, which he typifies here as deeply repressed homosexuals with flat-tops who wear aviator jackets. Also from Rationale, p. 526:

… The hair problem is, in fact, very old: at least as old as the Nazarite sect of Samson and Jesus. It the Levant it particularly centers around the beard, and the respect due it, naturally involving also insults to the beard. (Motif P672.) The breaking of the spirit of the Russian boyars by Peter the Great by forcing them to cut their beards in insulting fashion is a most significant and historic instance. This is sometimes entirely reversed, especially among unconscious or unavowed homosexuals of the aggressive and athletic ‘wolf’ type, who cut their hair as short as possible (‘hairbrush’ or German aviator style) and reject all outward softness of clothing and body-stance, or femininity of manner: the ‘James Bond’ or body-as-phallus type.

I’m querying modern literary, cultural, or folkloric references to wolves as human male sexual type, especially before Legman early 20th Century. This would include folks now in their 50s and older. Did you encounter a male sexual type “Wolf,” when and where, and in what context? Wolf Blitzer and other correspondents are welcome to confidentially send a message here. Permalink here.

Query: Muscle Men

Canadian Überbear Richard Labonté is circulating another CLS for a Cleis anthology, forwarded by Lawrence Schimel, and which I encourage all my writerly friends to consider.

Call for submissions:
MUSCLE MEN, edited by Richard Labonte for Cleis Press
Were you the kind of scrawny queer kid who ogled Steve Reeves and never missed a TV wrestling match, or the buff young man who fantasized about entering strongman contests and cherished his first weight bench? I’m looking for original, erotic stories or web-only reprints of up to 7,500 words for an anthology of fiction and memoir based on muscle and desire. Consider: built Daddies, burly bears, body worship, bodybuilding, wrestling from backyard and collegiate to motel and TV pro, mixed martial arts, weightlifting, arm wrestling, colt model porn fantasies, muscle voyeurism, big guys attracted to the twinklike … “muscle” in all its forms, big and beefy or lean and wiry, as a starting point for *authentic*, well-crafted stories by, for or about men and muscle – writing with a solid narrative arc in which characters connect emotionally as much as physically. Deadline is Oct. 1, 2009; publication date is Spring, 2010; payment is $50-$75, depending on length, plus two copies; submissions in .doc or .rtf format to <cleismuscles@gmail.com>.

New edition of Getting Bi shines

2009-07-14T13:21:58Z

New edition of Getting Bi shines with diversity

At Boston Pride this year, I acquired one of the first copies available of the new edition of Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals around the World. I knew that the editor, Robyn Ochs, would have copies and asked her to sign mine. Her sweet inscription: "For Ron, my co-conspirator in changing the world with words."

This groundbreaking book, an anthology of short real-life stories of diverse bi persons around the world, was enlightening, poignant, and valuable the first time around.

Still, editor-activists Robyn Ochs and Sara Rowley have outdone themselves in updating the work, making it even more inclusive and expansive, with more fascinating voices of international bi activists.

Readers with limited contact with bisexual persons will encounter many different kinds of actual bi people who tell their own stories, discovering themselves and struggling for acceptance as bisexuals, and considering the many facets of bisexuality as expressed around the world.

For bisexuals and the people who love them, bi-curious and questioning, bi-trans genderqueers, and GLBTIQ activists of all stripes, solids, and variegated patterns, this new edition of Getting Bi is a must-read.

It's not on Amazon yet, but you can order it directly from the Bisexual Resource Center.

: Getting Bi / BRC banner

This new edition has a sharp new cover and interior design, and 36 new pieces. 10 new countries (including Iceland, Iraq, Kenya, Pakistan, Portugal, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe) are represented, bringing the total to 42.

All proceeds from this book support the work of the BRC, which is planning a listening party with Robyn, myself, and another bi author for September 24th in Boston.

Bi Media Summit audio highlights

2009-06-27T13:53:31Z

Bi Summit Audio Highlights Broadcast Online

Highlights from the National Summit on Putting the "B" in LGBT in April at the NYC LGBT Center were broadcast Mon June 15 by the Out FM program on WBAI. You can listen to excerpts from the "Exploding the Myths About Bisexuality" panel with Ron Suresha, Dennis Slade, and Ignacio Rivera by clicking here: http://archive.wbai.org/files/xml/outfm.xml then click on June 15th. The bisexual segment starts about halfway through the broadcast. More segments will be broadcast on following Mondays 11am.

More pix and info here at: http://biwriters.livejournal.com/81598.html. Thanks to Brad Taylor of Out FM and Barbara Fortune who took the photos.

Ron on the TALL Show

2009-06-17T13:49:52Z

RJS on The T.A.L.L. Group Show

Posted By Ron Suresha on June 16, 2009

Ron had a great time last month as a guest on The TALL (Transitioning and Loving Life) Group Metrocast cable access show, and will be on again tonight at 8:00pm to talk about the Lammies, and Trans and Bi Lit! Check out the previous show: http://thetallgroup.org/archives/76.

nlcTrans May 20, 2009

We welcome local author, activist, and anthologist of books centering on gay and bisexual men’s subcultures, Ron Suresha, to the show. We talk about bear identity, gay and bisexual stereotypes, the Kinsey scale, and how Ron met his husbear, Rocco. Ron has been twice [sic] nominated for Lambda Literary Awards for Bisexual Literature including his forthcoming book Bisexual Perspectives on the Life and Work of Alfred C. Kinsey.
http://ronsuresha.com/

Ron with Lionel on DADT

2009-06-09T11:15:07Z

I called at the end of the 1st hour of Lionel about DADT:

"We train our soldiers to be killers in war, but they can't tolerate another man looking at them with desire: this is a true perversion of masculinity."

http://snurl.com/jreb4

The Lionel Show

Obama: Free the Gays

2009-06-08T18:15:46Z

Obama: Free the Gays

Dear President Obama,

According to some GLBTIQ historians, President Abraham Lincoln had a male companion, Joshua Speed, with whom he shared a bed for several years. Doubtless this extended male contact informed Lincoln’s understanding of the essential humanity of those persons whose only fault is to be hated by everyone.

You so greatly honored Lincoln during your inauguration by taking your oath holding his Bible. Consider what it would mean for your legacy as the first black President of the USA to repay the favor for his abolishing slavery of African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities, by enacting a nondiscrimination bill that would protect gender and sexual minorities and grant them full status as American taxpayers?

The full version of this letter to the whitehouse.gov comment line went out this afternoon. Thanks to Dr Jeff jnshaumeyer for his insightful comments on an early draft!

This letter was sent to President BHO, care of Whitehouse.gov. Join the Facebook group OBAMA, FREE THE GAYS at: http://snurl.com/k6020

Lammies, Bi advocacy conference

2009-06-01T15:08:18Z

Ron at Lammies, Bi Lines reading, NYC

Lambda Literary Awards

Roc and I had a grand time at the Lambda Literary Awards on Thursday in NYC. We rode in on Amtrak and stayed for a long weekend at the Lammies host hotel, the W Tuscany.

Just minutes before the ceremony, I was informed that a grant I’d applied for researching male triads went to someone else. So that was a disappointment going in.

At the cocktail hour before the event, while hanging out with Felice Picano and his sister, one of the judges in the Anthology category whom I happened to meet totally brightened my evening, telling me that she loved and had nominated Bi Perspectives on Kinsey as a finalist (presumably she was the only one of the four judges in that category who did so) and that she was keeping it for her personal library, rather than selling or donating as she planned to do for most of the other books.

We were supposedly assigned seats somewhere in the Proshansky Auditorium at CUNY, but wandered around looking for the chair signs until almost the start of the ceremony until Charles Flowers pointed to two seats and we sat down.

And the Lammy went to . . . not my book. It went to Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage, written by Jenny Block (whom I finally met at the Bi Lines reading). Oh well, third time wasn’t the charm in my case this time around, but let me just add my response to another finalist who asked me as we chatted after the ceremony, What do we do now after not winning the Lammy? “Go home and write a better book than the last one.”

National Bi Media Summit

In advance of the National Bi Media Summit held at the LGBT Center on Saturday, for which I served as a panelist, TimeOutNY asked several folks to debunk some bi myths. My response seems at this point somewhat off-topic as per the headline/myth they ended up using. Oh well.

Still, my parts on the panels on Bi Myths and Bi Community went quite well, and I got very positive feedback on my comments.

TimeOutNY RJS bi myth quote

Bi Lines

My “intriguing” reading on Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey at the Bi Lines performance on Saturday evening was kindly mentioned by the handsome & charming Father Tony of Bilerico blog.

Where's Gramma Roberta?

2009-04-16T14:41:16Z

Where's Gramma?

I've been squeezing in time between projects this past year for research on all sides of my family roots. Ancestry.com was quite helpful, I admit, up to a point.

They alerted me in January of a Social Security Death Index listing for my paternal grandmother, Roberta Esther Gunsaulus, whom I never met, and who apparently just died the month before in December. The SSDI listed her birth date as 31 May 1915 in Detroit, and death on 20 Dec 2008 in New Hampshire.

The 1920 US census from Detroit has Roberta Gunsaulus at 4 years and three months (born 1915 in Michigan).

My father's birth certificate states her residence as Houston and her birthplace as Detroit, Mich. Roberta was 19 as of 1/6/35, making her birth year 1915.

But Detroit Vital Statistics doesn't have her listed in their 1915 records, nor in their 10-year index, and suggested I try the state vital statistics bureau in Lansing.

They do have my birth certificate, however.

I'm the grandson of Roberta Esther Gunsaulus, born in Detroit, MI 12 May 1915 (or Oct?).

Roberta Esther married Lewis Calvin Gray of Terre Haute, IN.

They gave birth to my father in 1935, b. Jack Lewis Gray, adoptive name Jack Lee Gunsaulus, and in 1937 a sister Julia Ann Gray.

In January ancestry.com alerted me to the SSDI listing for my grandmother, Roberta Esther Gunsaulus, who just died the month before. I have requested her birth certificate from Detroit Vital Records, but it hasn't come back yet.

Does anyone have any information about either:
Roberta Esther Gunsaulus / Gray, or
Julia Ann Gray (likely adopted as Gunsaulus or Gonzales) ?

I would so appreciate any leads or suggestions where to turn in researching.

Amazon de-ranks several RJS books

2009-04-13T20:03:47Z

Amazon de-ranks several RJS books

Several of my books, including Bears on Bears, Bearotica, and Bear Lust, have been de-ranked on Amazon.

Amazon de-ranks so-called adult books, including National Book Award winner

Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

This was posted on LJ (http://community.livejournal.com/brutal_honesty/3168992.html)

I hope something good comes out of this. This has been all very confusing and sad. Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions is nonfiction – not erotica – but could easily be screened as adult material.

Update 4/14/09 7am EST:

The books are re-ranked. It’s majick!

Bears on Bears

#85,481 in Books

Popular in these categories:
#24 in     Books > Nonfiction > Education > Special Education > Ethnic Minorities
#29 in     Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Gay Men
#64 in     Books > Nonfiction > Education > Multicultural

Bearotica

#1,608,388 in Books

Bear Lust

#334,911 in Books

#47 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Erotica > Gay & Lesbian > Anthologies

Is Michael Musto for Real?

2009-04-10T11:45:52Z

Is Michael Musto for Real?

What is this nonsense about Michael Musto saying he doesn't believe in bisexuals, based on his frustrated attempts at relationships with married men on Manhunt or Craig's List or wherever he meets these closet cases?

I know the Village Voice columnist, Michael Musto, or at least I thought I knew the dude. But how could it possibly be Michael Musto saying those horrible, ignorant, misleading things about bi men?

OK, I've seen Michael Musto on TV and read his column in the Voice, so I think I should know Michael Musto. But it couldn't really be the same Michael Musto I met at the Lammies two years ago. The kinda cute clean-shaven short Jewish guy to whom I introduced myself that evening? I thought I met the real Michael Musto there, but apparently it was someone else who looked and talked a whole lot like him.

Either that, or I made zero impression on the guy. Because the guy I chatted with was wearing a badge saying "Michael Musto," and he asked about my work, and I told him I was the editor of two books named as finalists for the first ever Lambda Literary Award given for Bisexual Literature. I know I was there, for sure — I still have my name badge from the event.

Because how could the smart, charming person I chatted with that memorable evening write such a thoughtless and hurtful diatribe against married bi men under Michael Musto's imprimateur?

I can only surmise that Michael Musto is not real. He's a fake.

This so-called Michael Musto has somehow replaced the real Michael Musto, and whoever is impersonating Michael Musto is doing an amazing job.

Perhaps the real Michael Musto was kidnapped by the Russian mafia, and replaced by an undercover operative who's a ringer, pretending to be a brilliant journalist.

Otherwise, I just can't believe that the real Michael Musto would know absolutely nothing about the existence of actual bisexual men, being a supporter of the Lambda Literary Foundation, which for the third year in a row now is presenting an award for excellence in the area of bisexual literature.

Or maybe more likely, aliens abducted the real Michael Musto, cloned him, and took the original back to their planet for further "research" (and he went willingly, anticipating one if not many of those thrilling anal probes he's heard so much about), leaving the duplicate in the real Michael Musto's place.

Let's set aside the conspiracy theories and the point that he offers no explanation for the existence of bi women and consider this serious matter for a moment.

Because you would think that the real Michael Musto would have the common sense to do some sort of actual research about the topic before he declared the complete nonexistence of bisexuals and bisexuality, based on his assertion to have never personally met a real bisexual man.

Wasn't that Michael Musto I met, who was at the awards ceremony in May 2007 in NYC? Because if the real Michael Musto had actually been there, he surely would have seen Mike Szymanski (who is a real bisexual man) and Nicole Kristal (a real bi woman) accept the Lammy for their delightful book, The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe.

I guess he could have gone out for a smoke or a drink or something and have missed that part of the awards ceremony, but what about the two years since then? Was Michael Musto living in a complete intellectual vacuum that whole time?

I find it impossible to believe that, given his exposure to bisexuality as part of the accepted fabric of queer literature, the genuine Michael Musto would question the existence of bisexuality.

I can't possibly accept that Michael Musto would be so shallow and stupid, and so that inevitably leads me to this conclusion: Michael Musto, or whoever wrote that column and signed it Michael Musto, can't be real.

And if Michael Musto isn't real, he cannot said to exist. Michael Musto must be, therefore, a nonbeing. Not only that, anyone named Michael Musto probably never is or ever has been for "real."

I feel sad for Michael Musto. He seemed like someone whom I could believe.

Or then again, maybe not so much.

Blogged on my site here.

Real benefits for real same-sex couple in DC

2009-04-08T15:03:42Z

Congratulations to Jim and Nick!

Last month, I conducted a same-sex marriage ceremony for Jim M and Nick A of Washington DC. We held it out on Ocean Beach boardwalk, bounding out from the parking lot with their two dogs to perform the ceremony in view of Long Island Sound and the mouth of Thames (pronounced thaymz) River.

Yesterday the DC Council voted unanimously to offer benefits to same-sex couples with marriage licenses from other states.

The measure is not yet law - the mayor has to sign the bill and Congress has to pass it - but this will certainly affect couples such as these newlyweds, who have been together for more than 25 years.

Please join me in offering your blessings for their union.

Kinsey 60 named Lammy finalist

2009-03-15T21:13:59Z

Kinsey Zero through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey
has been named a finalist in the Bisexual Literature category of the 2008 Lambda Literary Awards!

Congrats to all the wonderful contributors to the Kinsey retrospective, and all the excellent nominees!

See the entire list of finalists: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/current_finalists.html#bisexual

WARbear on the rise and fall of bear culture

2009-02-23T22:00:07Z

In his penetrating new interview on emerging homomasculinities in Männer magazine, Warbear critiques bear culture.

WARBEAR on the Bear Cult
WABEAR über den Bärenkult
Courtesy of Männer & Bruno Gmünder Editor

Männer: Do you think the "bear" as fetish and role model gained more popularity with the gay scene recently, and if so why?

Warbear
WB: I think the bear community, defined as gay male subculture, had been part of the L.g.b.t. community development in the last 20 years, expanding it in a questioning process of identity proliferation toward the calcification of its own languages. This means that nowadays we can witness the end of its cycle if we think about the l.g.b.t. community as an expression of a normalised, gentrified, pacified, western-world universalised identities where power dynamics are not discussed anymore. ...

Warbear then proceeds to rip a large segment of biobears hyperidentified with gay/bi bear culture a new one for their dumb masculinist gynophobia.

There is even a worse dynamic in which bear identity as gay male expression is based on a dialectical process by the refusal of femininity. We can see a proliferation of expressions
of inner misogyny, homophobia and transphobia between the bear community as a need for a counter-identification. To me this just an expression of weakness and homofascism that has nothing to share with the experience of being a bear, especially because masculinity can be often performed in a much stronger way by biological women and transmen better than by a gay [man] with a flannel shirt.

And concluding with a thoughtful tip of the paw:

Researchers like Ron Suresha or writers like Jeff Mann are doing a strong critical work to open new spaces of thought and narrative. And I am personally working on all of these frontiers especially focusing on masculine representation inside netporn with a strong accent on Transbears and the evolution of the f-to-m culture.

Thank you, Warbear!

Nasruddin Turns 800

2009-02-16T12:37:48Z

The following piece was published in a somewhat different form in the Winter 2008-9 issue of Hearsay, the Connecticut Storytelling Center quarterly newsletter. Reprinted on the new ronblog here.

THE IMMORTAL MULLAH NASRUDDIN TURNS 800
by Ron Jackson Suresha

When the wise old fool Mullah Nasruddin was a child, he had the habit of distracting his classmates with antics, jokes, and stories, much to the dismay of his teacher. Once, when the young Nasruddin was being particularly troublesome, his irate teacher uttered a curse: “Wherever you go, people will laugh at you.”

Now, eight centuries later, people everywhere are still laughing at Nasruddin, one of the world’s most beloved folk characters.

Mullah (teacher, learned man) Nasruddin (”MULL-ah nas-rrh-DEEN”), whose hundreds of tales, anecdotes, and jokes are often told in the tradition of wisdom stories, may or may not be an actual historical figure born in the town of Ak-sehir, Turkey, but some sources believe Nasruddin’s birth year is 1208, which made 2008 his 800th birthday.

Regardless of origin or age, Nasruddin is known throughout the Middle East, indeed throughout the world, as a comic figure of endless exploits and a sage fool who always has some pearl of wisdom to teach everyone — even if the lesson is not to act like Nasruddin.

While many countries lay claim to Nasruddin, few go as far as the city of Ak-sehir in south-central Turkey, which boasts his gravesite and holds an annual Nasruddin festival in July, where folks dress in costumes and reenact the many exploits of the character. This year the town plans a Nasruddin symposium and many other events to celebrate his 800th birthday.

The oldest Nasruddin manuscript dates from 1571 CE. While Nasruddin is known mostly as a character through pithy anecdotes, whole novels and stories have been written about him, and an animated feature film in Turkish was almost made. In the 1980s, Sufi writer, Idries Shah, published three collections of Nasruddin stories by Octagon Press (now out of print), which have proved the most popular English-language editions.

The themes in Nasruddin anecdotes are woven into the oral tradition and folklore of a number of nations and express the national imaginations of a variety of cultures. While there are dozens of published collections of the many jokes attributed to him, today most people encounter his tales in the context of their daily lives. In many regions across the Far and Middle East and the Turkish diaspora, the tales of Nasruddin are told and retold endlessly in the teahouses and caravanserais, can be heard in every home and on the radio, and are still quoted or alluded to frequently in daily conversation, whenever a quick injection of humor and/or wisdom is necessary.

In Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling novel of modern Afghani life, The Kite Runner, we find two allusions to Nasruddin. “There wasn’t an Afghan in the world who didn’t know a few jokes about the bumbling mullah,” the main character observes. Then a tale is told:

Did you hear about the time the Mullah had placed a heavy bag on his shoulders and was riding his donkey? Someone on the street said, “Why don’t you put the bag on the donkey?” And he said, “That would be cruel, I’m heavy enough already for the poor thing.”

Although most Nasruddin stories depict an early small-village setting, the tales (like Aesop’s Fables) deal with timeless concepts of the human condition. They purvey a pithy folk wisdom that triumphs over all trials and tribulations. The anecdotes attributed to Nasruddin reveal a satirical personality with a sharp tongue that spared no one, not even the most tyrannical Sultan of his time. He is the symbol of Middle-Eastern satirical comedy and the rebellious feelings of people against the dynasties that once ruled that part of the world.

Superficially, many Nasruddin tales are presented as jokes or humorous anecdotes told by one party when another party makes the kind of boneheaded error that Nasruddin parodies. Inherent in a Nasruddin story, however, is its purpose of pointing out the way not to act, the way not to think and behave and treat others. Its moral, played out in literary form, could be portrayed as a man riding his little gray donkey only facing his donkey’s rear end, literally ass-backwards. One should, of course, know better than to ride backwards, or to do the many foolish things that Nasruddin does, but in real life often one does not always “know better.”

While it is true that most people who tell Nasruddin stories in bazaars and around dinner tables use them for the pleasure of an enjoyable tale, many Nasruddin jokes and anecdotes are also used as teaching stories in the Sufi, Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern and Western mystic traditions. Often the humor of a Nasruddin tale contains a paradox or conundrum whose illogic occupies the rational mind with its surface meaning while more spiritual concepts – the intuitive, gestalt mentality that the mystic is attempting to engage – are awakened in the subconscious. Contemplation of the enigma propels the consciousness of the student, and the mystic, a little further along the long, dusty road to spiritual realization. And by opening the listener’s heart with laughter, the tales create a space for a wise thought to enter.

Because of his teacher’s “curse,” tradition dictates that at least seven Nasruddin tales be told at one sitting so that his humor can infect one properly, thus allowing the listeners enough time to relax and see the humor even in an otherwise extremely stressful situation. Thus paradox, unexpectedness, and unconventional wisdom are all expressed in the irrepressible humor and inspirational humanity of the immortal Mullah Nasruddin, who at the venerable age of 800, proves himself a timeless literary character.

Ron Suresha, author or editor of seven books, is a new member of the CSC, and lives in New London. www.suresha.com

Kinsey Zero though Sixty nominated for Lammies

2009-01-26T06:18:57Z

The Lambda Literary Foundation has announced the nominees for their 21st annual awards "for excellence in literature" — commonly known as the Lammies.

Kinsey Zero Through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey, edited by Ron Jackson Suresha, published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis Journals, was nominated in two categories: Bisexual Literature, and GLBTQ Anthologies.

According to the LLF website, "A shortlist of finalists will be chosen for their achievement," most likely by the end of March. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in NYC in May.

Journal of Bisexuality (8:3-4): Kinsey Zero through Sixty

2009-01-13T22:33:14Z

Cover for Kinsey Zero through Sixty

You might be interested in checking out my written contributions to the Journal of Bisexuality special Kinsey retrospective, now available individually from Informaworld:

Kinsey Zero through Sixty, Journal of Bisexuality 8:3-4
	*Commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the 1948 publication of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, by Alfred C. Kinsey, et al.* 169 – 172 Author: Ron Jackson Suresha DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501355

	Bisexuality in the Kinsey-Klein Continuum: An Interview with Kinsey Institute Scholar Dr. John Bancroft 191 – 195 Authors: Jonathan Alexander; Ron Jackson Suresha DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501488
	Kinsey and the Case for Bisexual Civil Rights: An Interview with Yale Legal Scholar Kenji Yoshino 197 – 202 Authors: Ron Jackson Suresha; Jonathan Alexander DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501496
	“Properly Placed before the Public”: Publication and Translation of the Kinsey Reports 203 – 228 Author: Ron Jackson Suresha DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501520

Let's Read about (Bi)Sex: A Kinsey Bisexuality Reading/Viewing List

333 – 336

Author: Ron Jackson Suresha

DOI: 10.1080/15299710802501983

Bear of the Year

2009-01-06T14:17:51Z

Ron was voted
Bear of the Year
in The Complete Bear's 2008 "Best of the Bears" contest!

No, this is not an illustration of Ron, though there is a resemblance.

Thanks to Jeff for the nomination and to everyone who voted!

Check out the complete list of other categories here.

Check out The Complete Bear's interview with Ron!