Category Archives: Scholarship

Ahhh…Sand! Microphotographer sees a Universe of Small, Hard Beauty Underfoot

photo: Gary Greenberg

Sand…those little rocks on the beach. Sand…in the 19th century, it was just one more slang term for testicular fortitude. Because you can never have too many ways to say it! Rocks, gravel, sand, guts, nuts…he’s got some set of balls on him! But back in the day, they used to say: “He’s got sand!”

Gary Greenberg, a biomedical researcher from University College London, has recently published A Grain of Sand, a book of close-up photographs of sand. He sees the big picture in the little picture. He’s not the only one.  Way back in the 18th century, proto-homosexual poet William Blake wrote:

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

More on Dr. Greenberg’s microphotography  here. More on seeing the Universe in unexpected places here.

Running The Gauntlet – Jim Ward Book Event at Mr. S Leather

Jim Ward at LDG, May 2011. Photo: Gay Highwaymen

Friend of this site Jim Ward founded The Gauntlet, and is widely regarded as the grand-daddy of the modern body piercing phenomenon. Now he has published a history. In May, he spoke to a packed room at The Leathermen’s Disscussion Group in San Francisco. Running the Gauntlet—An Intimate History of the Modern Body Piercing Movement tells the detailed story of “how Jim discovered his own fascination with body piercing and went on to found the industry.” Full of wonderful and terrible stories and amazing photographs, it includes details of his friendship with the heavily pierced and very gay Louis Rove – the adoptive father of the notorious Carl Rove. Other interesting bits include how the color purple came to signify piercing in the hanky code, and how he was collared to his long-term partner and Master, Drew Ward.

On Saturday, July 16th, 2011, from 1 to 5 pm, Jim will be at Mr. S Leather , signing books and chatting. Mr. S is at 385 8th St at Harrison in San Francisco, four blocks south of the Civic Center BART Station. If you can’t make it to the book event, and you want a copy, you can order one at the Running The Gauntlet website, here. Jim will even sign it for you.

Cute boys graduating Stanford…

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…including this site’s own Aidan Abroad. Congratulations to you and to all your classmates! Pictured here: graduation ceremonies in the departments of Religious Studies and American Studies. Aidan wrote his honors thesis on the response of the Metropolitan Community Church to the AIDS crisis. Photos: Gay Highwaymen.

Hide/Seek in San Francisco with Curator Jonathan D. Katz

Hide/Seek Curator Jonathan D. Katz

Last October, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery opened Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, the first major museum exhibition showing how the questions of gender and sexual identity have dramatically shaped the creation of modern American portraiture.

For background on the censorship scandal that ensued, click here, here, and here.

On June 3rd, Jonathan D. Katz, director of the doctoral program in visual studies, State University of New York at Buffalo, will discuss his role as co-curator and will consider such themes as sexual difference in depicting modern Americans; how artists have explored the definition of sexuality and gender; how major themes in modern art-especially abstraction-were influenced by this form of marginalization and how art reflected society’s changing attitudes. -via QCC

The program is at The LGBT Community Center at Market and Octavia. It begins at 8pm and costs $10. Want to get more of Katz? Want to give more to regional arts and humanities? Come to the Pre-party!

From 6pm until the lecture starts, enjoy a reception for Dr. Katz to benefit the Queer Cultural Center‘s Queer Conversations on Culture and the Arts: a series of lectures co-presented by QCC and the California College of the Arts. QCCA brings together locally and nationally renowned artists, writers, filmmakers, and scholars for a series of conversations to discuss a broad range of topics in the humanities and the arts. Reception tickets are $25-$100 donation and include wine, hors d’oeuvres, and preferred seating at the lecture.

How Stanford students pass their days

Sidewalk chalking, seen today on the Stanford campus near the post office.
-AidanAbroad

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Masculine Gay Pop Culture Doc Jack Fritscher

Jack Fritscher, Ph.D

Lots of Docs in the world of Leather. At least it seems that way. Medical doctors, but especially Ph.Ds. Jack Fritscher is a “specialist in American Literature, Creative Writing, Criticism, and American Pop Culture, including the History of Masculine-Identified Gay Pop Culture.” No mere academic, Dr. Fritscher has published non-fiction, fiction, erotica and is also an accomplished photographer. Among his many books are Mapplethorpe: Assault with a Deadly Camera and Some Dance to Remember. Find out more about him at his website, here.

Cinema taught me how to become the person I wanted to be…

Mickey Chen, center, poses with the two leading actors from the director’s 2007 short film Fragile in Love.

Author, gay activist and documentary filmmaker Mickey Chen is a friend of a friend of this site. Thanks to Guo-Juin Hong of Duke University for this one! Chen’s best-selling book Taipei Father New York Mother is coming out as a film. Both are semi-autobiographical and based on Chen’s difficult family background. Chen recently talked to the Taipei Times. He has described cinema as his “mother” and explains: “Children from dysfunctional families have different ways of licking their wounds. My brother is addicted to gambling, my older sister died of an overdose, and my younger sister spends her life in the frantic pursuit of love. I choose to hide in the abstract world of literature and the arts. I became parentless at the age of 10. Cinema taught me how to become the person I wanted to be.” Good stuff. For the rest of the interview, click here.

Homeboy Art! Hector Silva at Tom of Finland Fair in WeHo

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Friend of this site Hector Silva will be showing and selling his erotic “Homeboy Art” at the Tom of Finland Foundation’s 16th annual Art Fair. The Gay Highwaymen recently had dinner with Hector and his partner Napoleon at La Casita restaurant in Bell. Of course, snaps were shot. On our next LA trip, we will make a studio visit. Hector is a remarkable artist who is beginning to get the critical attention his work deserves, and collectors should pick up his work while it is still affordable. The Fair takes place Saturday, March 26th at the West Hollywood Park at 647 N. San Vicente Blvd. West Hollywood, California. Noon until 6pm.

InMediaRes presents the works of John Cameron Mitchell. Hedwig, Shortbus, Rabbit Hole. Future of the Book.

John Cameron Mitchell. Photo: Jack Pierson

InMediaRes is a Media Commons project that provides a forum for on-line scholarship and critical engagement with the emerging media reformulations of the Book. Each week, a scholar or team curates a short video clip or slide show of still images and presents it with a short, critical, impressionistic response. Other scholars respond with commentary.

This week, Michael O’Rourke and Karin Sellberg of The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh curate the Work of John Cameron Mitchell. With three feature films to his credit, Mitchell is finally generating the volume of critical response he has long deserved. To read the commentary and join the conversation, click here.

Flagging Yellow at Harvard: Vandal Soaks Library’s Gay Books Collection in Urine

photo: Parul Agarwal for The Harvard Crimson

About 40 books “dealing with LGBT issues” have been pulled from the shelves at Harvard University’s Lamont Library. The piss-soaked volumes will most likely have to be destroyed. According to The Harvard Crimson, an empty bottle found near the scene of the crime may have contained urine. Harvard University Police Department is calling the incident “a bias crime.” No word yet about whether they intend to use DNA analysis to identify the perpetrator, or whether surveillance cameras captured any evidence of the incident.