Sinister Wisdom 84$6.00

Winter 2012

Sinister Wisdom

Humor

85

Publisher: Sinister Wisdom, Inc.

Sinister Wisdom 85/Youth
Winter 2012

Editors: Liz Bradbury & Merry Gangemi
Layout and Design: Julie R. Enszer
Book Review Editor: Robin ní Catáin
Board of Directors: Shaba Barnes, Susan Levinkind, Joan Nestle, Rose
Provenzano, Judith K. Witherow,% ' Susan Levinkind
Proofreaders: Merry Gangemi
Web Design: Sue Lenaerts
Special thanks to: All of the womyn who contributed work in its many
forms, our readers, and our supporters in the journey.
Front Cover Art: Happy/L.A. Hyder © 2011, l.a.hyder@att.net
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Winter 2012 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Notes For a Magazine

2Youth Dossier
Notes for a Magazine - Youth

4

Where To Find Sinister Wisdom

5

Sunburned

6

Sea Fairy
Sarah Kersh

8

My Lover
Sarah J

9

Truth or Love
Hannah Mesouani

11She, Her, and the Spaghetti Sauce

22

Trailer Trash

23

Vibrations
A’Ja Lyons!!

25

Why Bloodroot is Vegan/Vegetarian
Selma Miriam & Noel Furie

31

Barbara Grier, 1933-2011

35“We had a wonderful time.”
Joanne Passet
Reviews

41

Contributors

48

Advertisements50

2 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth

Notes For a Magazine
We are pleased to present two dossiers within this issue ofSinister Wisdom. When we took on the editorship of Sinister Wisdom,
we realized that there were many talented editors in ourcommunity who couldn’t take on the responsibility of producing
a full issue of the journal, as had been the guest editor practice inthe past. So, we agreed to approach people about editing special,
topical “dossiers.” We envisioned these between twenty-five andsixty pages in length. We are thrilled with the outcome of thisapproach and present a dossier on humor, edited by Chocolate
Waters, and a dossier on youth, edited by Liz Bradbury andMerry Gangemi.
The dossier of writing from young lesbians, edited by Liz
Bradbury and Merry Gangemi, contains seven exciting pieces byfour young lesbians. One of our goals when we assumed theeditorship of Sinister Wisdom was to reenergize the magazine byintroducing new voices and finding new readers to enjoy the workof lesbian art and culture. We believe that this dossier is one stepin that direction, but more importantly we hope you will enjoy
the fine writing included in this section of Sinister Wisdom. We
were thrilled to collaborate with Liz Bradbury to make thisdossier a reality and thank her profusely for sharing her editorial
gifts with the Sinister Wisdom community.
The other dossier is on humor and edited by theinestimable Chocolate Waters. This dossier is filled with newvoices and returning voices to Sinister Wisdom. Humor is a tricky
subject, of course. We found ourselves disagreeing about what isfunny and what isn’t in reviewing submissions and enjoyed many
provocative conversations about pieces included in this section ofSinister Wisdom. We hope that you as readers find in the humor
dossier items that are funny, delightful, provocative, ticklish, andchallenging. We have come to appreciate how humor helps us tounderstand our world and define our values by editing this issue.
You’ll find a few other gems in this issue of Sinister
Wisdom in addition to its unusual layout. Selma Miriam andNoel Furie weigh in on vegetarianism and veganism in response
to a book review we ran last year, Joanne Passet contributes a
powerful essay about the life and work of the legendary Barbara

Winter 2012 3

Grier, and Ruth Mountaingrove returns with reviews of recent
lesbian books.
We have a special and exciting issue planned for thesummer, with more information about it when it arrives in yourmailbox, and an open issue planned for the fall. We already havesome fantastic writing and artwork for that issue, but willcontinue to read for it through July 1, 2012. Feel free to send
submissions to us for the fall issue.
Finally, volunteers stepping up to assist with the work ofSinister Wisdom bless us. In the past few months, we have been
thankful for the assistance of Grace Sikorski and Joanna Cattanor
in a variety of editorial tasks and Maggie Schleich in fundraising.
We continue to be grateful for the work of Susan Levinkind as
our office manager. Susan's work and commitment to Sinister
Wisdom is extraordinary and we treasure her friendship. Sue
Lenearts deftly manages the Sinister Wisdom website and our
PayPal account. Susan and Judith Witherow recently celebrated
the first anniversary of their legal marriage and their partnershipof thirty-six years. We are grateful to both of them for theircontributions to Sinister Wisdom. Many of our readers madegenerous contributions to Sinister Wisdom at the end of 2011. We
appreciate your financial support. Subscriptions are one smallpart of our financial support for the magazine and we appreciate
your confidence in Sinister Wisdom as a project for lesbian art andculture.
Do you want to get involved with Sinister Wisdom? We
particularly need graphic designers to assist with the productionof the magazine as well as designing graphics for advertising andthe website. We are also looking for someone to help us set up
online sales of Sinister Wisdom. We welcome all contributions oftime and energy to Sinister Wisdom, so if you want to join in thefun, email us and let us know. We appreciate your involvement.
In Sisterhood,
Julie R. Enszer
Merry Gangemi
March 2012

4 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth

Notes for a Magazine - YouthMore than a year ago, I asked Liz Bradbury if she would beinterested in editing a youth dossier for an issue of Sinister Wisdom.
I asked her because I had a window into the work Liz does with
Pennsylvania Diversity Network, an amazing and powerfully
dynamic organization that directly serves the queer communities
of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley and Berks County, and by virtueof the internet, reaches the entire state (and beyond).
The work in this issue is dynamic and incredibly courageous, andthe letters and words of these young lesbians reflect back theblood, sweat, and tears of our successful march closer to full equal
rights. Created within the context of diversity and personal
practices, the work offers us opportunities to throw the doors andwindows of lesbian experience wide open to new and different
perspectives and ideas. I am thrilled that Liz solicited thesenarratives and poems, dramas, and essays. And I’m thrilled withthe result.

Photo Credit: Liz Bradbury

In Liz’s own words: “The fouryoung women writing about
Lesbian themes in this issue arefrom remarkably diverse racial,international, religious,
educational, cultural, and regional
backgrounds. These writers arefrom places as fundamentallydifferent as Cairo, Egypt; Madison,
Wisconsin; Houston, Texas; andTangier, Morocco. They havereligious sensibilities as divergent asAtheist, Catholic, and Muslim. Yetin their unique voices, these writers
offer a unifying vision of theirmultifarious Lesbian experience,
expressed in joy, fear, humor,
bravery, lust, and love. This
microcosm of young Lesbian
writers shows not only theirWinter 2012 5

individual skill, but the inspiring collective voice of theirgeneration.”
Merry Gangemi
March 2012

Where To Find Sinister Wisdom
Antigone Books (Tucson, AZ)
Bear Pond Books (Montpelier, VT)
Bloodroot (Bridgeport, CT)
Bluestockings Bookstore (New York, NY)
Giovanni’s Room (Philadelphia, PA)
Galaxy Books (Hardwick, VT)
In Other Words (Portland, OR)
Goddard College Library (Plainfield, VT)
Laurel Book Store (Oakland, CA)
Dartmouth Barnes and Noble (Hanover, NH)
Wild Iris Books (Gainesville, FL)
Our list of places to find Sinister Wisdom is growing! Join the Sinister
Wisdom Community Distribution Network and help spread thework of Sinister Wisdom. More information is available atwww.SinisterWisdom.org and on our Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/SinisterWisdom.

6 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthSunburned
Sarah Kersh
I keep my hands knotteddeep inside my sweater,
feeling like a skinned knee slowly turning red.
Red like the sun through my eyelids.
The sun in whose rays I soak,
lying in the backyard at seventeen
touching skin, looking for pinkturning white, turningpink again.
I can’t wait for you
to move with me.
I don’t know how to be still—
I know motion
like tides which suck away the sands and then bring them back tothe shore
where we inspect each other’s shoulders
for tan lines.
Loving the simple slope of your back as you lie with your face in abook,gently being ravished by the sun.
In this cold I wear layers to hidewhite skin— fish belly white.
Fish like those whose carcasses we ran from as girls,
pinching our noses, looking
instead for sand dollars,
bleached by the sun.
The two of us bending and standing
bending and standing
Moving down the beach and back again.

Winter 2012 7

Inside, our eyes adjusted to the artificial light,
We move around the table inspecting our finds.
My sweater falls open and you notice
how red I am.

8 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthSea Fairy
Sarah Kersh
On two bicycles—
forgotten
and rusted—
we circled the island.
Your hair,curled beach grassand sun,streaming behind you.
And I,
a love-struck
Apollo, straining
to catch you.

Winter 2012 9

My LoverTranslated from Arabic
Sarah J
I turned, I saw him running towards me.
Running, and running, eager to kiss me.
His view of the treasure of love and longing,His voice, desperate for his sweetheart.
Frozen, sinking in a dream of sadness...
I felt his warm love and I felt grief...
I was saddened and said to him:
"I do not love you! I'm not your lover!"He heard me, his face showed shock
he frowned under its weight.
He approached. Nearer. He stared into my soul.
Everything in his mind changed forever and he went away.
And in that night ...
Committed suicide ...
I loved him with all my senses
But ...
With all my heart
But ...
Our conversations, The companionship
But ...
I respected him
But ...
But I ... I loved her!
Rainbow of my life
She raised me up to life.
She colored away the boredom and sorrows of my days.
Accepted and exploded ...
The Sky opened at the sound of her voice,
The Sea rose from her passion
My Universe exploded!

10 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth

What more beautiful than a woman?
What is superior to a virgin?
What is greater than Eve?
She loves me! Unbearable joy!
She loves me and I love her.
She is my rose ... And I am hers!
But ...
But she is a woman...
Is it a sin loving a woman?
I may be jailed and hated because of my love for her.
I will kill this love, or be killed?
Why should I die for the crime of love?
I deserve hell because she is a woman?
I changed myself, I froze my feelings.
The silent screams of my heart cut off my breath...
My own soul, denied the right to life!
Because I had committed an unforgivable sin.
Not just a crime, but blasphemy.
Although I loved
But ... love
But it was a woman.
Many before me have died for love.
But ...
For the world, my family, and my Lord,
I buried my love ...
Yet, it tears me inside,in the deepest part of my soul.
She has gone...
But ... she stays in my hear.
In my mind, in my memories, and my fantasies ...
She has gone but she stays inside me.
And...
She stays in my pen.

Winter 2012 11

Truth or Love
Hannah Mesouani"Love and Truth" by Mother, Mother plays whilst the audience
enters and fades as the lights rise.
Scene 1: Outside a prison in Ksar el Kbir, Morocco.
Bare sand-coloured stage, large brown door with metal handles
downstage centre. A young woman in a bright orange kaftan
struggles with a crowd of three police officers dressed in light blue
uniforms. One of them wields a baton and strikes her once thecurtain rises; she falls.
Layla:

I did NOTHING wrong!! Let me go, in thename of Allah, you have no right to touch me letalone strike me!
Police Officer 1: (wielding baton again) Silence! Filth. You
have not only violated the sacred laws of Allah
but have violated Article 489 of the Moroccan
Penal Code.
Police Officer 2: (kicking Layla as she attempts to stand up)
Unnatural animal, did God not make woman forman? You disgrace your people and your gender.
Layla:
I love Nour! There is no disgrace in love! Allahteaches compassion— (she is struck again)
Police Officer 3: You are in no position to speak of Islam,infidel. Did Allah show compassion to the peopleof Lot? Sodomites, male or female, shall berightly punished. As shall you.
Police Officer 1: Adam was for Eve, and she for Adam. One
sex is for the other. What you have done isdisgusting! (spits)
Layla:I am not! I'm in love, we're in love, more thansisters, more than I could ever love any man—
Police Officer 2: Any man? What does your father have to say
to this?
Police Officer 1: Has he been notified?

12 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth

Police Officer 3: I shall fetch him. Take her inside until thejudge has come. She will learn nothing crawlingon the streets. (to Layla) Your fun has ended, youwill see how we deal with those that taint ourfaith and corrupt our people. Go!
Police Officer 3 exits stage right as the others drag Layla throughthe centre stage door.
Scene 2: (transition music for all scenes is "I know I love I see I
go" by Rainbow Arabia)
Inside a quiet, dimly-lit prayer room of a mosque.
Two women, dressed in an orange kaftan and jeans and a T-shirt
respectively, are embracing passionately near one of the prayer
mats.
Layla:(pulling away from Nour, the other girl) No, weshouldn’t, you said we came here to just “hang
out.”

Nour:

(grinning, pulling Layla closer) Well, Layla, we’re“hanging out” aren’t we?
We can’t….you know, in the mosquethough…it’s…
(pushing Layla back, frowning) It’s what? Don’t
tell me you’re going to buy all their “sinner” talk.
I thought you loved me for me, naughty bits andall, eh?
No, I mean, well, of course I do, love, it’s
just….you know, a mosque, even heterosexuals
shouldn’t….you know….
Of course not, you’re right. (an awkward silence)
NOT! (laughs and jumps on top of Layla, kissing
her again.)(abandoning her religious stance and giving in)
You’re perfect you know that?
Nope, that’s only God, remember?
You know what I mean.

Layla:
Nour:

Layla:
Nour:
Layla:
Nour:
Layla:

Winter 2012 13

Nour:
Layla:
Nour:
Layla:
Nour:
Layla:

Nour:

Layla:

Nour:

Layla:
Nour:
Layla:
Nour:
Layla:(smiles) Yeah. You’re not half bad yourself. I love
you, you know.
I do…it’s just….
(cynically raising an eyebrow and folding herarms) Quoi? Dare I ask?
Nour, I want to be with you. For real. Forever.
You’re going all gooey on me again, aren’t you?
If I was a man I would have married you
already—or vice versa. But how can we? Ever?
We’d be stoned or something before we wereeven heard out...
You remember last year, those two men caught
at their own marriage ceremony. Arrested.
Assaulted. We can’t be stupid and publicize this.
I’m not dressing up like a man or anything either
or changing my name or growing out my beardor scratching myself in public or—(they laugh)(pulling Nour closer to her) One day they’ll all
get it. If they could see us together like those
couples on your television…America and all
those other places are letting gay people marry.
Women, too.
Well, sweetheart, I wouldn’t hold your breath.
(they snuggle) My father’s Spanish ambassador,and deals with gay like it was his business. (Nourplays with Layla as she describes the following)
You know those Spanish boys—greased up hair,tight shirts, orange skin...holding hands andkissing (they kiss)...and Papa smiles through it all
daily... but I’d still never dream of telling him I
like girls.
I know…(sighs)…I suppose we’ll just have to wait
it out. We have each other though.
You’re straight out of Disney, aren’t you?
Out of what?
Never mind, it’s one of my Spanish-things.
You’re so wise. You know what it’s like outside ofthis dusty town with it’s broken milk pails andgoat farms and all the rest of it.

14 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth

Nour:
Layla:

Nour:

Layla:
Nour:

Layla:
Nour:

Layla:(laughing) Hey, never underestimate the goat—(earnest) No, really. Take me out of here. *beat*Can’t you, please? The next time you have toaccompany your father to Spain on business. Just
say I'm your companion, or your mai—(still laughing) I love your optimism. It’s not thateasy even over there. Plus what would I say?
“Salaam dad, here’s my girl, she and I want to
do it on the other side of the Med, see how theother half live”? I don’t think so, lovie. (kisses heron the forehead)(brushes kiss aside) But why not? I could work or
something. Or what if I…*sighs*….oh, I don’t
know…
We’ve been through this. Getting across theStraits requires a skillset you don’t have, money
you’ll never see, and connections that won’t get
you skinned alive if made public.
(openly frustrated) I know, I know, I KNOW!
(tense silence as Layla shuffles moodily to theother end of the prayer mat)(inching tentatively towards Layla) Baby,
Layla…..cherie…you know I’d get you out ofhere if I could….(Layla remains
silent)…Sweetie…come on, being upset won’tchange the future or the past, all that does is spoil
the here and now. C’mon, (she takes of her Tshirt revealing a sexy lace bra) look what I got on
my last trip out of here….(Layla does not turnaround) I’ll get you one next time around…who
knows? Maybe you’ll be there to pick it out withme, eh?
(turning) Whatever, yeah, ri—(stops short seeing
the bra, smiles)—get over here, you. (Theyembrace again. Lights dim.)

Scene 3: Bare courtroom. Judge’s podium, defendant’s chair,lawyer’s chair and a half dozen wooden chairs for witnesses andpolice officers.

Winter 2012 15

Judge:

Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:

Layla:

Judge:
Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:

Layla Bensouda, this court, in the name of Allah,
Most Gracious, Most Merciful, finds you guilty ofacts of lewdness and homosexual perversity. You
are thus facing a chance of 3 years of
imprisonment. You were found in a sacred placeof worship with a partially undressed member ofthe same sex, with whom you were engaging in
unnatural sexual acts ... against her will.
(shocked) Against her will?! WHAT??
Do you deny that at the time of intervention by
the imam, you were on top of the victim, Nour
Al-Harsha?
It wasn't against anybody's will, she LOVES me.
According to this statement, made by Miss AlHarsha, who I need not remind you is thedaughter of a much respected ambassador to
Spain, she says that you lured her into themosque under the false pretenses of prayer andthen proceeded to undress her and force her tomodel a disgusting example of Western
perversity in the form of exhibit A, a lacebrassiere that you somehow, most probably,
illegally acquired.
What?? No—that was HERS. She already had iton, she willingly undressed herself, (smiles toherself briefly) not for the first time—Shi—I
mean— (stops herself realizing her mistake as thecourtroom erupts into shouts of outrage)
Aha! So you wish to confirm that this was not thefirst time you—
Stop it! Give me time, Let me think—
Give you time to think of lies?
No, fine! You want the whole story? I’ll tell—
Silence, woman! You will listen to what—
That’s unfair, it’s my neck on the line. Surely I—(ignoring Layla) Moving on, Miss Bensouda. Do
you deny that your intent upon entering themosque was to perform sexual acts with the lady
in question? Limit your responses to a strict “yes”

16 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth

Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:
Layla:

Judge:
Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:
Layla:

Judge:or “no”, if you will.
*beat* No.
Do you have feelings of a sexual nature for theambassador’s daughter?
I LO—“Yes” or “No.”(defeated) Yes.
Had you not been interrupted, would you havecarried out your intended acts.
Yes.
You are aware, are you not, that it is not only
religiously condemned, but legally forbidden formembers of the same sex to interact thus.
(sighing) Yes, I am.
Do you have anything to say in your defense.
*pause* ...You need four witnesses. Yes! If you’reabiding by the Qu’ran, it says you need four
witnesses to adultery, only one imam walked in,
you can't touch me! In the name of Allah, andHis law, you cannot prosecute me.
But as a woman, your testimony is only worth
half that of a man.
Unfair! You're twisiting His words as you always
do! It clearly states that I am more than allowed
to def—(louder) Miss Al-Harsha clearly states that you
were attempting to force yourself upon her.
SHE DID NOT!
I’m afraid it says so (holding up Nour’s statement
sheet) right over here.
Well, she wouldn’t. She couldn’t have! She told
me just today that she loved me and she wasgoing to get me out of here—away from sexist,
close-minded morons like—you mutilate theQu'ran for your own
MISS BENDSOUDA. Do you really think you
are helping your case any by insulting me? I’m
the only man who stands between you and 3
years for sodomy, and infinitely longer for rape.

Winter 2012 17

Layla:
Judge:

No, no...no! You have no power over me. You
have to abide by the Shari’a , the law—our
RELIGION—all of whi—
All of which condemn you, as shall I.

Scene 4: Back in the mosque with Layla and Nour.
Nour is topless and has just finished “going down on” Layla
underneath her kaftan.
Nour:
Layla:
Nour:

Layla:
Nour:
Layla:
Nour:

Layla:

Nour:
Layla:
Nour:(smiling) Who wants virgins in paradise, right?
(laughing hesitantly) You can’t say things likethat in here. (she looks concernedly around her)
Just like you can’t moan your heart out on aprayer mat, right? Speaking of which, I should
probably not be naked right now, it’s almost
dusk, the men will be in to pray maghrib in alittle while.
Don’t you want me to return the favour?
Hell yeah, but I want a cigarette first. (shereaches into her pockets for a packet and lighter)
Oh God, Nour! They’ll smell that! And it’s
disgusting women aren’t supposed to smoke!
Hey, you can smell sex, too. And “women aren’t
supposed to...” Really? You’re such a little village
girl. I don’t care how many girls you end up
doing, that’ll never change. *smiles*
I know…I’m sorry. I’m just not as experienced
or worldly as you. Besides, I won’t be “doing
girls”, only you—I’m with you, forever, right?
That’s what we said.
Yeah, forever. *lights up a cigarette* You know
though, I’m leaving back to Spain tomorrow. I
told you that right?
Oh... but you’ll be back thought, right? I’ll just
wait for you my darling. *reaches for her hand*
I’m sure you’ll find other distractions. A nicevillage boy for a change, maybe? (playfully
shoves Layla and puts on bra with the cigarette18 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth

Layla:

Nour:
Layla:
Nour:

Layla:
Nour:

Layla:
Nour:
Layla:
Nour:
Layla:
Nour:

between her lips)
God forbid, no! Not after….well, you know.
(tense silence) Anyway, I don’t need“distractions”….You won’t be… “distracted” inSpain...*beat* will you?
Er, not at all. You know me. I love you, you
know. We’re good.
But…..?
Well, see….here’s the thing, sugar, I’m going to
be straight with you…haha, “straight”. Anyways,
I don’t know how long I’m going to be in Spain
this next time exactly, you know, my dad and allthat ambassador stuff he’s always doing. He
needs me there.
How do you help him? I wish you could train me
so I could join you….
No training, I just fulfill the role of obedientdaughter, you know, make him look like therespectable Muslim dad he isn’t. It’s a sweet deal,
really, except for all the skeevy men he’s tellingme to marry. Boost his image and all that. Scary
thing, marriage, eh? (mutters) Can’t believe it’shappening.
Happening?
Oh, I mean, you know, all the talk of…who hethinks I should be with….
You wouldn’t though….you love me….me,right?
Heck yeah, all the way. Now less of this talking
business, and let’s get down to some fun before
maghrib and all that hijab-ness, eh?
Nour...don't mock my—shhh....get over her *they kiss*

Scene 5: Back in the courtroom.
Judge:

It is now time for you to make a statement, Miss

Winter 2012 19

Layla:
Judge:

Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:
Layla:
Judge:

Layla:
Judge:

Layla:

Bensouda. You have 5 minutes, please make itquick as I don’t see what you could possibly say.
Also be aware that anything slanderous said
against the ambassador’s daughter will no doubt
increase the length of the already substantial jailsentence at which you are currently looking.
Well…Nour and I are together. We’re engaged.
(laughing) Miss Bensouda, really. I think it more
fitting for you to appear before a judge of mental
health, perhaps a witch doctor to remove
whatever it is that has possessed you to say suchidiocies.
I’m not just saying it, it’s true! We’re in love!
(impatiently sighing) Go on then, lie more if you
must.
It’s the truth. I swear in the name of all the is
Hol—
ENOUGH! I will not have you lie in the name ofpurity itself. Speak your lies but do not swear tothem!
Nour and I were to be married.
Really? If that is so, then explain to me why
Nour and the French ambassador’s son are to be
married in three weeks time? What have you to
say to that?
(stunned into silence)Yes. *laughs* I see that this actuality did not
figure into the delusions of your mind. The
marriage was arranged no less than a month ago,
before her previous visit to our country and thisvery town. However, in light of your attempt atsullying her virtue and your previous attacks
upon Miss Al-Harsha’s person, the Frenchambassador has put a hold on all marital
procedures. You do realise, your vain attempts atsome twisted Western romance, may well havejeopardised one of Morocco’s most important
political unions? Have you any remorse?
She was to be married…? She lied to me? She

20 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youthtold me she was like me, that she could
never…(is disgusted)...surely this is against her
will?!
Judge:
Layla:

Judge:

Layla:
Judge:
Layla:

Judge:Are you in any position to decide what is andisn’t against Nour al-Harsha’s will? This
statement here confirms it.
Well, I don’t believe you! It can’t be true! You’ve
forged it! I know you have! It’s all because of
those men last year who wanted to be married
and you wouldn’t let them. You’re repeating it,
to warn others, aren’t you? You take what you
want by force and corrupt anything pure—
Silence, you babbling idiot of a woman,corruption has spread, this much is true. But it isno fault of mine. Nour Al-Harsha has left thistown with her father, away from you and yourevils. She has condemned you with her words,
just as you damn yourself with your own words.
Face up to the fact at hand. You have gone
against the will of Allah and will suffer for it inprison for a term no less than 5 and no morethan 25 years. You will no longer be in any
position to rape—
WHO ARE YOU TO TALK ABOUT RAPE??
Silence in the court!!!
NO! The women of this village have suffered at
the hands of-of-deluded...self-righteous men for
too long. Why don’t you charge them with theseaccusations. You turn a blind eye to the womenon the street who run past abuse, who hide fromharassment and you turn away from the all theworse deeds that take place behind close doors.
You’re just one of them. THIS IS NOTCONDONED IN ANY QU’RAN THAT I’VE
EVER READ.
What are you saying, girl? You are no scholar,
learn your place!

Winter 2012 21

Layla:

This is NOT my place. This is not my country, itbelongs to no woman. You’re them. You’re
twisting everything I’ve said, everything theProphet, peace be upon him, has said. I’m notlying here. You are. All of you. You’re the lie andI don’t know what’s true anymore. I don’t care toknow. Just take me away, do with me what you
will, it’s not like you all haven’t already. You've
taken something so beautiful, and made it evenuglier than you are.

Scene 6: Back in the mosque, couple exactly as they were in
Scene 4.
Layla:

I can’t wait for you to come back. I’m going tomiss you when you’re gone.
Nour:(smiles) Me too.
Layla:
I love you, you know.
Nour:
I know.
Layla:
I feel safe with you....and happy...
(inch closer together to kiss)
Nour:(pause) I know…
(Hear Mother, Mother as the lights dim with their faces an inch
apart)
Curtain.

22 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth

She, Her, and the Spaghetti Sauce
A’Ja Lyons
She awoke to Her movement. The familiar stirring of thestart of Her morning ritual was like a gentle alarm. Like
clockwork, She followed Her into the bathroom and joined into
Their routine.
It was a divine silence between them. Their relationshiphad grown to where no words were needed. The clothes fell tothe same spot on the tile. The shower was always the same
temperature. Their lovemaking was always beautiful. It was notalways the same, but always beautiful. She knew Her body; every
freckle, ever bruise, every scar and every birthmark. She greeted
every single one, and Her body was welcoming.
As they left the bathroom, they soothingly stroked andnudged each other, communicating more than any remark couldsay. The way She ran her hand over Her stomach spoke volumes.
They then walked into the kitchen and saw the broken
jar and the spilled sauce on the floor and wall, the remnant of
their fight last night. And then the lovely calm was broken andthere were only words.

Winter 2012 23

Trailer Trash
A’Ja R. Lyons
I sat by the highway, waiting, just waiting. I normallywasn’t one for patience, but I knew I wouldn’t have to wait long.
I slapped at the skeeters at the edge of my cutoffs and wiped thesweat off my face with my brother’s muscle shirt.
Before I could blink a car came zooming across the way
and ran over a raccoon. I waited until the traffic slowed, ran andgot the coon, then ran down the hill. I held it by the tail. It hadn’t
been dead long enough to start stinking, so I guess it was justdirty. I wasn’t too eager to have to wash the fur before I skinnedit.
As I ran down the hill, I knew what the people in the cars
were sayin;“There goes that hilljack.”“Another one of them no-good lazy trailer trash bastards
wasting tax payer money.”
Some people were bold enough to yell it out theirwindow.
I walked all the way down to Mama’s trailer, and likealways, my sister Mindy was sitting in Mama’s chair watching thet.v. She sickened me something horrible.
“That all you could you find?” she sneered.
“If you don’t like it get your lazy ass up and get your own
damn self some food.” The only time Mindy ever left the trailer
park was to find a guy to screw or get a new tattoo or some shit
pierced. I’d bet my last five dollars that I didn’t have that she had
her cunt pierced. The thought made me want to hurl worse than
the nasty raccoon that was in my hand. ‘Damn, I am my sister’skeeper’ I thought.
I cleaned the coon, skinned it, and then chopped theparts up so I could fry them. We only had one skillet and it was
just the two of us, so I went to put the rest in the tiny fridge in thecorner.
When I opened the fridge, it was full of beer. We had solittle money there was no way she had enough to buy a case of

24 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youthbeer.
“Where the hell did you get beer from? You stealin
again?” I asked Mindy.
“No I didn’t steal again! And it’s none of your damnbusiness where I get my shit!” she yelled.
“You don’t have any shit! This is Mama’s trailer,everything in here Mama bought! Your fat, lazy, hillbilly ass
don’t do shit.”“I’m sick of you ridin’ on my ass like you’re better!” She
threw the raccoon tail at me.
I grabbed a beer from the fridge and threw it at her. I
knew that’d piss her off something royal, and piss her off it did.
Her eyes filled with hate and she ran at me like an angry pit-bull.
She dug her Lee Press-On Nails into my skin and I
screamed as she clawed at my face. I kicked her in the stomach,and as she doubled over I pushed her out of the trailer. As she
went down, she pulled me down with her.
We hit the ground and her nails dug into my shoulders. I
grabbed her by the hair with my left hand, and slapped her withmy right. The next thing I knew we were being pulled apart by
the sheriff and his deputies and hauled into county.
“Trailer trash”, the deputies called us as they locked us inwith ten other people. Half of them lived in the same trailers as
me and Mindy. I now had become what I so despised.

Winter 2012 25

Vibrations
A’Ja Lyons!!

assured.!!

“I don’t feel like dancing,” Leah moaned.
“Sure you do,” Mari asserted.
!“My feet hurt,” Leah exaggerated.
!“You’re wearing flats,” Mari sighed.
!“These bangs are not a good look,” Leah whined.
!“Your eyes are popping, you look awesome,” Mari

Leah glanced around The Scratching Post, the newest
lesbian bar in town, and saw the same old thing she’d seen atother bars—ladies dancing, cliques chatting, and drinking. Why
she allowed Mari to continue dragging her to bars was an
unknown. Mari was looking for love in all of the wrong places
and every night her feelings got hurt, and Leah was always theone to pick up the pieces. Beat pounding, drinks pouring, all she
could do was wonder which heartbreaker Mari would pick.
!“I’m going to go talk to that redhead in the corner. Wishme luck!” Mari giggled. !
Leah sighed and wondered when Mari would grow out ofher masochistic tendencies. Two years and she’d yet to develop
good taste in women or learn how to approach them. Mari soon
returned with a familiar brooding expression.!!
“How’d it go?” Leah asked.
!“I forgot I hate redheads,” Mari sulked.!!
Leah pulled her into a one armed hug and suggested theycall it a night.!
!“What? No! Oh come on, Leah, there has to be one
woman in here you might like!” Mari begged.!
!Leah shook her head and examined her options.
Weeding out the smooching couples, grinding girls, haughty
plastics, hipster wannabes, and bad haircuts; she spotted a massof brown curls flying around the corner next to the floorstanding
speakers.
She elbowed Mari and pointed towards the corner. Leah
fluffed her bangs and squeezed between the writhing bodies andbogarting conversationalists.

26 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth!Leah didn’t realize how loud and strong the bass was so
close to the speakers and could hardly keep her focus on thebrunette’s gentle yet intense movements. Her feet appearedplanted, but her body moved as though the sound waves wentright through her. Leah eased next to her and tried to project
over the thundering music.
!“Can I dance with you?” she smiled.!!
The brunette’s massive curls whipped back and forth likespinning ribbons. Leah’s heart slowly began to drop to her
stomach, and then the brunette turned her head towards Leah
and returned the smile.
Leah found the beat and tried to follow the brunette’s
moves – and she had some pretty good ones. Her boots never left
the floor, but her hands made it to Leah’s waist and kept her insync. Often she’d reach out towards the speakers as if to pull thebass right out and into her own body. Though her curls covered
most of her head and neck, beneath the spiral shades were a pairof glistening Carolina blue eyes. In the immense darkness of theclub, her eyes sparkled and shone like gemstones. Leah couldn’t
take her eyes off of her. In half an hour she realized they wereboth pouring with sweat.!!
“Hey, can I buy you a drink?” Leah asked.!!
The brunette brought her index finger to ear and shook
her head. They were still very close to the booming speakers.
Leah took her hand and guided her to the bar, which was
fortunately the farthest from the speakers. !
“Can I buy you a drink?” Leah repeated.!!
Again the brunette tapped her ear with her index finger.
Confusion spread across Leah’s face.
Was this a new hip way of rejecting someone? People
these days….!!
“So that’s a ‘no’?” Leah asked.!
The brunette furrowed her brows and squinted as hereyes scanned the dance floor. She found her targets and waved
them over. Was Leah’s humiliation to become a main event?
!Four women emerged from the crowd. A portly woman
sporting a pixie cut, black dress shirt, and bright green suspenders
squeezed to the front of the group. The brunette lifted her hands

Winter 2012 27

and made soft and elegant movements, as though she wasmanipulating space and time. Leah was thoroughly confused. !
“She can’t hear you, she’s deaf,” Green suspenders
sighed as though she’d spoken this sentence for the umpteenth
time to the umpteenth person.!
!All Leah could say was, “Oh. Well….would she still like adrink?”
Green suspenders made hurried movements with her
hands and the brunette locked eyes with Leah and smiled. She
pulled out her phone and tapped the buttons with her thumbs,
eyeing Leah. Leah pulled out her phone and the brunette
reached for it while giving hers to Leah. Leah wasn’t sure if sheunderstood what the brunette was conveying, but took a chance
anyway and added her name and number to her contact list.
The brunette held Leah’s phone outward, showed the
newly added contact info, and pointed at herself. Leah did thesame. Phones went back to their respective owners and Leah gave
her another smile before walking away to find Mari to spill every
detail.
“Her name is Stella,” Leah gushed, staring at the
number on her phone. The next afternoon Leah drove to Mari’s
to tell her about the previous evening. Every detail her mind
could retrieve flowed from her mouth like a river. Mari
speculated as to how they would communicate in person andLeah had yet to figure that out as well.
“Should I text her now? I think she meant for me to text
her. I certainly can’t call, right? Of course not. What should I
say? How will we communicate? Can she read my lips? Will wewrite on paper? Won’t she get bored with me?” Leah pondered,turning her phone over and over between her hands.
“I’m not sure what you were thinking, but this might not
be a good idea,” Mari informed her.
“You didn’t see her.”
Barnes & Noble – ole reliable for literary needs. Rows
and rows of American Sign Language books….Leah picked theone with the most pictures. Where better to start than with thealphabet – nowhere Leah could think of. Twenty minutes into
her fingerspelling practice, she thought of Stella. Though fullcommunication with Stella would be light-years away, she could

28 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youthget a few messages through. Text messaging really does pay foritself.
Hey, it’s Leah from the club the other night. Hope you’re having agreat day. Maybe you would like to have some coffee with me?
Hi! Coffee yes. When? Where?
Is tomorrow at 3 okay? Do you know where the Barnes & Nobleon Jackson and Cohen is?!!Think so. See you tomorrow!
Is this a date? Did I just ask her for a date? Or is it justcoffee? What the heck am I getting myself into? Not sure, but she
looks damn good…..’
Leah twisted so in her seat that her khaki pants becamebunched in her crotch. This was so unlike her. That Stella wasten minutes late wasn’t helping, though it wouldn’t be the firsttime Leah was stood up. Ten more minutes and that’ll be it.
“Chicken Soup for the Loveless” was just a few aisles from thecoffee shop inside the bookstore.
Hope rose inside her like a soaring leaf in a windstorm as
she saw Stella maneuvering through the throngs of prepubescent
girls surrounding the Teen Paranormal Romance aisle, to reachthe coffee shop. There was a light bead of sweat along her
hairline; her abundance of curls pulled back into a ponytail
resembled a restrained animal fighting to be unleashed. The snug
tyrian purple tank top nicely complimented her light olive skin.
Her blue jean shorts and black yoga sandals gave the appearanceof ultimate comfort.
Leah smiled and it was returned. This was their main
form of communication, yet what it said between them lacked afull and accurate translation.
“H-I,” Leah fingerspelled.
Stella’s expression turned to surprise. With her pointerand middle finger, she made a motion at her chin. Confusion
spread across Leah’s face and she reached into her sling bag andpulled out a notebook and pen.
Cute, Stella wrote.
Leah pulled the American Sign Language book out ofher bag and showed it to Stella. Stella made a petting motion on
her chin.
Sweet, Stella wrote.
Thank you for coming, Leah wrote.

Winter 2012 29

Thank you for asking, Stella wrote.
Where are you from?
Gibraltar
Leah’s jaw dropped and Stella became puzzled.
That’s incredible! Is it nice there?
Beautiful. Everyone loves football. Leah explained. Where areyou from?
Born and raised right here. Not as interesting as Gibraltar, but I’ve
still had some good times.
Time seemed to melt. Not disappear, but slip and melt
away into an unknown, ungraspable, foreign substance. Minutes
and hours passed, but were completely disregarded as Leah andStella found the words to come to know each other. Every now
and then Leah would stop and fingerspell a word and Stella
would show her how to sign it, how to hold her hand, the proper
movements…Leah was a willing student.
When they weren’t together, they began texting eachother from sunup to sundown. Leah told Stella about her longdays working at First National Bank of Woodcrest, and Stella ofher many interesting clients at the hair salon where Stella was oneof the most popular stylists. While communicating was often aslow and tedious process, as time went on it slowly becamesmoother and more efficient. The more they conversed, the moresimilarities were discovered. Both were fond of children, avid
cyclists, horror film addicts, and passionate about Italian food.
Soon enough, pen and paper were retired as Leah began to grasp
the basic usage of Stella’s language.
Though one day Leah’s curiosity got the better of her...
“Do you ever speak?” she asked.
“No,” Stella responded.
“Why not?”“Because I don’t want to or have to.”Communication with those in the other’s life wasn’t sosmooth. Stella’s friends signed at the speed of light, Leah
struggled to follow what was going on. And with Leah’s friends,
patience was needed to get everyone’s message across throughLeah. Stella was worth the cramped hands, eye strains, andheadaches. Her hands to Leah’s eyes were the keys to an infinite

30 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youthtreasure. Stella showered Leah with love like she’d never known;
if only every other woman in the world could know the same.
Late one night Leah woke from a dream. Her alarm
clock said it was 2:30 in the morning and the repeated knocking
she heard had to have been pipes or a wild party. However, thesound of pipes knocking doesn’t turn into banging or screaming.
Leah rolled out of bed and followed to noise to her front door.
“Leah!” Bang. “Leah!” Slam.
Leah opened the front door. Mari was there, her face abright tomato red. Mari stormed into Leah’s place, her hands
balled into tight fists, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Four months you’ve been with this deaf chick and it’s
like I don’t even exist anymore!” Mari screamed, her voice barely
intelligible through the spit and tears.
“Sweetie, that’s not true. My time is just a little moredivided now. Let me call you in the morning,” Leah attempted tosoothe her.
“Why do you love her? I know you! I love you! Why
can’t you love me back!?!”Mari grabbed Leah into a firm embrace and kissed her
deeply. As Mari’s lips touched Leah’s, an enormous wave ofconfusion rolled through Leah’s body.
“BITCH!” yelled an unfamiliar voice behind her.
Leah and Mari turned to see Stella standing in the
bedroom doorway. Whirling curls framed her fury-filled face.

Winter 2012 31

Why Bloodroot is Vegan/Vegetarian
Selma Miriam & Noel Furie
Authors’ Note: A recent issue of Sinister Wisdom carried a short review of
Lierre Keith's book, “The Vegetarian Myth.” The review was a rave. We
found it to be as abhorrent to us as was the time years ago, when a lesbian
magazine sent us copies of lesbian S&M. We could not stomach carrying
such in our bookstore and at the time we returned the copies, just as we
returned the copies of Sinister Wisdom.
Sinister Wisdom responded with a gracious request for us to discuss ourbeliefs about vegetarianism relative to Keith's book. This is our answer.
I. How we came to start a vegetarian restaurant 35
years ago, and why our menu is increasingly vegan.
In 1977, several friends and I started Bloodroot. Why?
Because my change from housewife and mother to lesbian
feminist meant that I needed to lead a life outside patriarchal
morality away from husband and societal expectations. I wanted
a community with shared values (not all, but most), and I wanted
to think and put into practice what was feminism for me. Thishas been my 35-year work in progress shared by Noel Furie, andothers who have been with us at Bloodroot.
So my “coming out” was not about a sexual choice,though it included that; it was not about getting married to a
woman instead of a man and going on to lead a couple's life
similar to that of heterosexuals.
It meant trying to lead a life that was better. Better for
people and creatures and the earth itself as well as for myself.1
We hoped for community. And while of course there have beenchanges, mostly this choice, these choices have made thatpossible.
But how could we, Noel and I, keep doing this for 35
years? We can because it is so deeply satisfying to us. We like thepeople who come to be fed by us, very much. We still like1

Jonathan Safran Foer (Eating Animals) became a vegetarian when hebecame a father. It seemed critical to him that fatherhood required him
leading a moral life.

32 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youthcooking very much. We can't imagine a different life. Perhaps itis because it evolved slowly, and perhaps it is because we neverchose deprivation. We never went "cold turkey" (except on meat,
fish, and poultry!). Gradually our menu became more vegan,since we admire the animal rights activists who come to us andwe want very much to please them. I want the food they eat here
to be delicious and diverse. We love the idea of eating what is in
our gardens or at the farmers' market this minute, totally glutting
on strawberries in June and apples in September.
But we are also thrilled to explore traditional people's
comfort foods, and so will search out imported Haitian or
Jamaican or Mexican or Greek or Korean ingredients to makethe dishes of which our workers and friends have shared recipes.
The result is that we can look forward to each season's menus
with many more options than those whose plates center on meat.
Our customers don't have to be vegetarians, and many
are not. But where can they get homemade bread like ours, orsoups as satisfying? We want to seduce them with delicious vegan
food, and to encourage them to eat less or no meat.
II. The Vegetarian MythWe can't help but be disgusted when someone like
Michael Pollan who writes so well about the harm caused byindustrial agriculture, then writes of hunting and slaughtering awild (female) pig and how it was the best meal of his life. (The
Omnivore's Dilemma). We're disappointed when someone like
Barbara Kingsolver convinces her 10 year old daughter to notname her "pet" chickens so that she won't mind them being killed
to sell so that the daughter can then buy a pony (Animal, Vegetable,
Mineral). As you can imagine, we had no interest in reading Lierre
Keith's “Vegetarian Myth” – but since I was asked to write about
why we didn't want to carry Sinister Wisdom copies with a plug forher book in our bookstore, it became necessary to read it, andwhat an unpleasant couple of days it was! Full of half-truths andoutright lies, I would have had to spend too much of my preciousWinter 2012 33

days picking it apart sentence by sentence. Luckily some folks
have done a more than adequate job on the internet.2
But in general, Keith makes these claims: First, that theadvent of agriculture has gradually destroyed the earth's
ecosystems and creatures. Of course, Jim Mason's An Unnatural
Order3 (1993, Simon and Schuster) discussed just this, and further
that the rise of agriculture and religion made dominion over
women, children, animals, slaves acceptable and right. He
contends that animal husbandry in particular created patriarchal
rule with these forms of oppression. His book expresses theparadigm of what we, as feminists believe in. So of course hecame to a very different conclusion from Keith's.
Keith repeatedly speaks of her own ignorance andarrogance when she was a vegan. Now that she is enlightened,
the rest of us vegetarians and vegans must be ignorant andarrogant, since we have not learned from her pantheon of deniersof the benefits of vegetarianism. She seems to blame
vegetarianism for the huge monocultures of grain and soy (raised
to fatten animals), and makes little or no distinction between this"agriculture" and small farms growing broccoli and carrots.
III. Political Ups and Downs
Secondly, Keith blames her bad health on her 20-year
vegan diet. It would seem that every movement wanting tochange things for the better contains individuals who at first are
the truest believers and who become angry at any slippage. Thenthey suddenly become the backlash and despise all that they once
believed. The impossibility of perfectionism can be very
disappointing.
We don't know whether Keith was a junk food vegan ornot. There are certainly lots of them, just as there are lots of junkfood carnivores, and we know junk food can make us sick. We
also know that there are lots of folks (most often women) who feelvirtuous about deprivation: fasting – omitting fats from their diets
2

Lierre Keith's elaborate, self-congratulatory excuse for abandoning
veganism:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/06/12/18601536.php
3
Re-released in 2005 by Lantern Books, NYC. Mason is also theauthor, with Peter Singer, of Animal Factories.

34 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youth– omitting all carbohydrates. Whatever. It would seem that
extreme mortification turns into extreme rejection. Well, we
don't do that. We love food. We don't want any deprivation.
We want our food to be sensuous and diverse and delicious. We
just don't want it to be made from members of our family . . . andthat goes all the way down (down?) to fish.
IV. Antidote
Anyway, as an antidote to Keith's book, I reread
Jonathan Foer's Eating Animals. It was healing.
Then I spoke to Jim Mason. He talked about relative
justice. We can't do everything we might wish to do to make theworld a better place. Maybe it is a hybrid car instead of a
Hummer. Maybe it is supporting a local farmer by joining a
CSA. Maybe it's eating meat once a week instead of three times aday. Maybe it's not buying bottled water or not using plasticbags. Something. None of us can do it all, but for our own sakes
and health, we should try to do something. As Jim says, “Justiceis what equals least harm.” And we need to consider which gurus
we listen to. If your need to eat meat is so great that you will takeany justification, there are plenty of carnistic gurus out there.
I also talked to Lagusta Yearwood, who has been vegan
for 18 years, and Stephanie Zinowski, vegan for at least that.
Lagusta and Stephanie used to work here. Lagusta makes andsells fabulous vegan chocolates and Stephanie runs Wesleyan
University's Vegan Cafe. Their vegan friends are healthier thantheir carnivore counterparts.4 I am about to be 77 years old and I
seem to be physically in better shape than meat-eating peers myage. Many customers come into our restaurant assuming we area health place. I know our food is healthy, but we are notinterested in the latest health fads. We are animal rights
vegetarians and our intention and pleasure is to prepare and eat
delicious diverse meals that change every season, and to sharethem with our friends.
We really are lucky!
4

As Colin Campbell's' China Study documents thoroughly. The
statistics in his book were collected in the 1980's and the diet and disease
information therein not relevant to China today, but to a China wherelarge groups of people ate very little or no meat.

Winter 2012 35

Barbara Grier, 1933-2011“We had a wonderful time.”
Joanne Passet
A mistress of hyperbole, Barbara Grier once told me that
“if you can convey excitement with your voice, you can sell
anyone anything.”1 As the public face and voice of Naiad Press,
she uttered enough cogent, “hilariously funny,” and sometimes
explosive comments to ensure that her beloved company would
receive ample free publicity. People might at times question her
veracity and intentions, but never her commitment to the causeof lesbian literature. Best known for her work as editor and thenpublisher of The Ladder, and as co-founder and co-publisher ofNaiad, the world’s largest lesbian press, she pushed and prodded
authors, publishers, and bookstores in order to ensure that any
lesbian, anywhere, could walk into a library or bookshop and findlesbian books.
Born November 4, 1933, the Midwestern native acquired
her flamboyant promotional skills, pragmatism, and indefatigable
work ethic during a childhood that included frequent moves in
the Midwest and West, an open-minded mother with a theatricalbent, and a loving and strong female-centered household. Herparents Phillip and Dorothy Grier separated when their daughter
was ten and divorced four years later. By that time Grier had
already come out to her mother who, because of interactions withgays and lesbians in the theater, was neither shocked nor
appalled. The precocious young girl consulted medical textbooks
and then proceeded to the Detroit Public Library to request
books on homosexuals at a time when few dared to speak theword aloud. Unable to afford a college education, Grier beganwork immediately following high school and helped her motherand younger sisters Diane and Penni financially. The autodidact’s
desire for knowledge, however, knew no bounds and she soaked
up information like a sponge for the remainder of her life.
In retrospect, it seems natural that the young bibliophilewould fall in love with librarians. At eighteen, Grier met Helen
1Barbara Grier, email to the author, October 11, 2007.

36 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthBennett, sixteen years her senior. Together for the next two
decades, the couple made their home in Kansas City, Kansas,
except for a few years spent in Denver, where Helen attended
library school. In 1967 Grier had a fateful encounter with Donna
McBride at the Kansas City Public Library, and by 1972 the two
had formed a loving partnership that spanned nearly forty years.
They married on September 5, 2008, in Van Nuys in a double
ceremony with friends during the brief period when California
sanctioned same-sex marriage.
As someone who came of age during the homophobic
McCarthy era, Grier was indelibly marked by the dearth of
positive examples of lesbians in print and while still a teenager
embarked on a lifelong quest to ferret out fictional examples of
lesbian themes and characters. When Grier went to order a copyof Jeannette Howard Foster’s Sex Variant Women in Literature (1956),
she learned that the pioneering bibliographer also resided in
Kansas City, Kansas. After an initial meeting, the two became
warm friends and, under Foster’s tutelage, Grier refined hertechnique for decoding lesbian characters and themes inliterature. In 1992 the avid collector of lesbian literature and herpartner donated a lifelong accumulation of an estimated 15,000
books plus archival material and memorabilia to the San
Francisco Public Library’s James C. Hormel Gay and LesbianCenter. They also gave numerous issues of lesbian periodicals to
the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives in Los Angeles.
Grier’s association with The Ladder began in the spring of
1956 when she and Foster discovered the first issue andimmediately subscribed. A regular reviewer using such pen
names as Gene Damon, Lennox Strang, and Vern Niven(primarily derived from her family tree), she went on to compile a“Lesbiana” column and to serve as poetry and fiction editor
beginning in 1966. Assuming the role of editor two years later,
she dropped the subtitle “A Lesbian Review” from the cover andattempted to transform The Ladder into a more mainstream
feminist periodical. As editor, Grier worked tirelessly to expand
The Ladder in size, circulation and distribution, and she took
delight in knowing that there was at least one issue for which she
wrote every item including letters to the editor on both sides of anissue. In the late 1960s Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) leadersWinter 2012 37

increasingly debated the organization’s agenda and relationshipto male gay rights groups and the women’s movement.2 Internaldissension led DOB president Rita LaPorte to develop a plan forliberating The Ladder from its parent organization, and with
Grier’s enthusiastic approval she took the DOB mailing list fromthe printer’s office in the summer of 1970. Without its primarymeans of reaching membership, the DOB’s national board
dissolved, while The Ladder continued as a bimonthly publication
under Grier’s ambitious editorship until it ceased with theAugust/September 1972 issue. Subscribers like Anyda Marchantappreciated her efforts to publish such talented writers as Rita
Mae Brown, Judy Grahan, Dolores Klaich, Lee Lynch, Isabel
Miller, Jane Rule, and Valerie Taylor. “It is obvious to me,”Marchant wrote in July 1972 upon learning that The Ladder was
about to cease, “that a great deal of the quality of The Ladder has
been due to your judgment and dedication.”3
Grier is perhaps best known as the co-publisher and cofounder of Naiad Press, which began in 1974 when Marchantcontacted Grier for assistance in publishing her novel, The
Latecomer.4 Deciding to self-publish her book under the imprint
The Naiad Press, she asked if Grier and McBride would promote
the book using The Ladder’s mailing list of 3,850 names and thenserve as distributor. With that, Naiad Press was born, and two
years later it incorporated under the direction of Marchant, herpartner Muriel Crawford, Grier, and McBride. From their rural
Bates City, Missouri, home, and later from Tallahassee, Grierand McBride slowly and steadily developed their publishingcompany from a mail-order business into the world’s largest
lesbian press and, in the process, shaped public perceptions oflesbian literature and contributed to widespread availability and
2For more on the history and politics of the Daughters of Bilitis, see

Marcia Gallo, Different Daughters : a History of the Daughters of Bilitis and theRise of the Lesbian Rights Movement (New York: Carroll and Graf, 2006).
3Anyda Marchant to Barbara Grier, July 6, 1972, Barbara Grier-Naiad
Press Collection, San Francisco Public Library, Series I, Box 1.
4Marchant and Grier’s correspondence in spring 1974 contradict
published accounts that date Naiad’s founding to January 1973. See
Marchant to Grier, March 29, 1974, Grier-Naiad Press Collection,
Series I, Box 1.

38 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youthacceptance. Best known for the hundreds of light romances it
published, Naiad Press also reprinted such classic lesbian authors
as Ann Bannon, Jane Rule, Renee Vivien, and Gale Wilhelm andalso introduced new voices like Katherine Forrest, Karin
Kallmaker, Lee Lynch, Claire McNab, Jaye Maiman, Diane
Salvatore, and Lauren Wright Douglass. Naiad published fewer
non-fiction works, with some of the more notable titles including
a reprint edition of J. R. Roberts’ Black Lesbians: An Annotated
Bibliography (1981), Anita Cornwall’s Black Lesbian in White America(1983), Rosemary Curb and Nancy Manahan’s bestselling LesbianNuns: Breaking Silence (1985), Jeannette Howard Foster’s Sex Variant
Women in Literature (1985), Claire Potter’s The Lesbian Periodicals
Index (1986), and three editions of Grier’s bibliography Lesbian in
Literature (1967, 1975, 1981).
The techniques and skills that Grier acquired whileworking for banks, retail stores, and collection agencies prepared
her to become the consummate promoter of lesbian literature
and, at times, the publisher that people loved to hate. She knew
how to get things done, was willing to do the work it took, and set
out to organize people around her agenda. Recognizing thenecessity of cultivating and sustaining relationships with authors,customers, and her peers in the publishing business, Grier wrote
countless letters each week, many of them filled with witty, and attimes flirtatious, repartee. She also spent countless hours on thephone each day, and knew most of her booksellers by the soundof their voices. Persistent in her promotion of Naiad titles, anddriven to increase lesbian visibility, Grier’s intensity sometimes
led her to cross the line from promotion to harassment. As
someone who came of age before second wave feminism swept
the nation, she remained “a bit wary of the collective [way of]functioning,” and was at times at odds with the priorities andmethods of her younger counterparts in lesbian and feminist
publishing.5 Pragmatic rather than politic, she in 1985 sold serial
rights to several of the essays from Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence toForum, an adult magazine published by Bob Guccione’s
Penthouse, Ltd. Contributors to the anthology had envisioned
5Grier to Women of Conditions, May 19, 1977, Grier-Naiad Press

Collection, Series I, Box 1.

Winter 2012 39

their stories being read by a small circle of lesbian feminists, notby prurient males, and the fury over this decision prompted
widespread censure and a threatened boycott of Naiad Press.
Surfing over waves of controversy, she remained steadfastly andintensely focused on her end goal, which was the integration oflesbian literature into the mainstream, and by the following year
the controversy had subsided although embers of rage smoldered
for years. During the next fifteen years Naiad continued to growand flourish. After years of working 80-hour weeks, Grier and
McBride scaled back their operation in late 2000 by giving Kelly
Smith of the newly founded Bella Books the rights to most of
Naiad’s existing books and contracts. They retired from thepublishing business completely in 2003.6
Barbara Grier pursued and published lesbian literature
with a passion, but she also believed in the importance of play. As
the many guests who visited their homes, “Simple Pleasures” and“Simple Addition,” in Florida can attest, she practiced what she
preached and enjoyed the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.
Her letters and interview transcripts, which are peppered with thewords “wonderful” and “fun,” portray a highly positive, if
complex, woman. Our images of Barbara Grier depend on when
we knew her and under what circumstances—was it as editor of
The Ladder, co-founder of Naiad Press, or a formidable presence atmeetings of the Women in Print movement and National
Women’s Studies Association? Was it as an enthusiastic
participant of the gay and lesbian publishers’ aisle at theAmerican Booksellers Association annual convention? Was it as amentor who encouraged us to write or to embark upon new
ventures, or as the voice on the other end of an early morning
phone call? Was it as the dedicated fan of Tennessee women’sbasketball who traveled to Knoxville in a car bedecked withmagnetic Lady Vols emblems, or was it as the lover of cats (whosometimes preferred them to people)? Was it as the “good sport”
who Donna McBride fondly recalls was “willing to go along withanything I wanted to do.”7 As those who knew Barbara Grierwould agree, she was outspoken, blunt, direct, and honest, a
6 Etelka Lehoczky, “Turning the Page,” The Advocate, October 24, 2000,

pp. 101-2.

7Donna McBride, email to the author, January 17, 2012.

40 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youthwoman on a mission. She rejected the lesbian invisibility andnegativity of her youth and set out to displace it with positive
images because she wanted to change “the ways in which young
women grow up and see themselves.”8 Along the way, she had awonderful time.

8Grier to Dear Friends, July 24, 1983, Grier-Naiad Press Collection.

Winter 2012 41

Reviews
We’Moon 2012 , Gaia Rhythms for Women, Chrysalis(Mother Tongue Ink and We’Moon Company, 2011), paperback,
200 pages, $18.95.
Reviewed by Ruth Mountaingrove
I’ve been brooding over the idea of chrysalis. When you
see an orange and black caterpillar creeping along the sidewalk
you know it has no idea that it will wrap itself with strands of its
own making and hang it self from a branch. I am no longer in thetwentieth century and not yet in the twenty- first emotionally, along way from being a butterfly. As the writers of We’Moon tellme, the process won’t be easy. On the other hand, it is inevitable.
We who are apart of the earth are experiencing off the scale
earthquakes, floods, fires, famines.
Where is our chrysalis? To make it more interesting, thisis the year of the dragon, a powerful symbol for the Chinese andfor all of us. “Dragon’s influence inspires, passion, drive anddaring.” We are in for a ride.
Astro-view tells us to “stay alert, awake, aware, andinvolved as a new era grows in its chrysalis, breaks open andbegins to take flight.” We are beginning a new cycle, moving into
the age of Aquarius. The time astro-view was written, back in
2011, we saw destruction of the status quo and people marchingin the streets all over the United States and all over the world. We
have no idea what will result from the Egyptian Spring.
Each year We’Moon dedicates a portion of their proceedsof their sales to a woman’s organization and this year it is Circleof Health (COHI). They work with grass roots groups andprofessionals who take care of women in times of disaster andcrisis, working with new born, maternal and reproductive
rights. Every day a woman dies of related pregnancy
complications. COHI words in many countries: Tibet, Sri Lanka,
Louisiana, Tanzania, Israel, Palestine, Haiti and Sudan. I
wondered about Louisiana and then I remembered hurricane
Katrina. If you want to get in contact with Circle of Health their
URL is www.cohintl.org.

42 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthIn We’Moon, Musawa is exploring “retirement.” Not
complete “retirement,” she tells us she would hope that with thedeterioration inside and outside, known as the aging process, ouryounger women, who have benefited by our work, will reverethat work and those of us who have pioneered this evolution.
That’s not how she puts it but reading between the lines that’s
what I see.
My “retirement” came in 2002 when I earned my second
MA, this time in Theatre Arts in playwriting. Because of a minor
car accident (no one was hurt, lost my license to the state ofCalifornia), I decided at eighty to give up driving. At eighty, they
are just waiting to take your license away. While I did not retire
completely, I still write reviews for the L-Word and am part of apoetry group, I don’t live as I used to. I’m in my chrysalis where
I’m still hanging from a branch, waiting.
We’Moon also has horoscopes. Who could resist a glimpseof looking into one’s future? That’s probably what most every one
does before reading all of the valuable other pages. And there is
the ephemeris, a building block for those astrologers who areamong us. Musawa says “I am looking forward to the prospect ofmore freedom from external circumstances, as in a Chrysalis: aprotective creative state of being, resourced from within, thatallows deep-rooted transformation to take place.”
To get you through this next year We’Moon has acalendar with excerpts from the date book. There also aregreeting cards, We’Moon’s Celebration of Thirty-years of We’Moon Art
and Writing, the Last Wild Witch written by Starhawk and a
Matriotism poster. You can see all this and the call for contributors
for 2013 at www.wemoon.ws.
We’Moon is also mobile! It is available for the iPhone,
iPad, iPod Touch and Android Phones.
Shaken and Stirred by Joan Opry (Bywater Books, Ann
Arbor, MI, 2011) paperback, 301 pages, $14.95
Reviewed by Ruth Mountaingrove
The publishers at Bywater Books say, “Bywater Books
represents the coming of age of lesbian fiction. We are committed

Winter 2012 43

to bringing the best of contemporary lesbian writing to adiscerning readership.” This recent novel by Jean Opry lives up
to that promise.
We meet Poppy Koslowski, a writer of instruction
manuals for children’s games living in Seattle, who, after
struggling with the decision, decides to have a necessary
hysterectomy. Her recovery time is interrupted by the news that
her alcoholic, often abusive, but sometimes endearing
grandfather Hunter, is actively dying in a hospital ICU. So,
Poppy, accompanied by best friend Abby, travels back home to
Raleigh, North Carolina, where we meet parents, friends, andother related characters from Poppy’s past. The author delivers
vivid location details and uses the return home as an opportunity
for our heroine to reminisce to bitter-sweet memories about her
childhood and adolescence.
Poppy flashes back to being a tomboy trying to put a
motorcycle together with her pal Jack. She recalls moving toRaleigh when her parents separated and enduring the pressure
from her maternal grandmother to be a lady. She conceded towear a dress, but only on one special occasion. Issues of racism
and classism come up as she recounts her experiences with herfamily. She also tells us the origin of her name: a self-inflictedaccident had given her a permanent enlarged iris in her left eye,so her grandfather Hunter called her “popeye” after the comic
strip character. Her friends called her Poppy. And we also learn
that Poppy and Abby had been friends in high school when the
geeky and lanky Poppy first began her love affairs with other girls.
One girl in particular stands out in her memory. The girlnext door, Susan, had a mother who was also a drunk though she
did her drinking off the premises. Susan and her father sometimes
had to pick her up in sleazy hotels. It seems natural that Susan
and Poppy would bond. Susan was two years older than Poppy
and was dating young men, which made Poppy jealous until shelearned they were gay. She also learned that Susan was a lesbianwhen Susan seduced her. Although Poppy was ecstatic, she soon
wanted to be the seducer, being a natural born butch.
Poppy went away to college to earn a graduate degree inEnglish and Susan became a doctor, working with Doctors
without Borders in Yugoslavia. While Poppy is visiting her

44 Sinister Wisdom 85 – Youthgrandfather, Susan is home as well. They clear the air about thereason their relationship failed.
This novel depicts family dynamics, grief, alcoholism,
friendship, and love lost with honesty and humor. Well worth theread.
Keeping Up Appearances by Ann Roberts, 2010 Spinsters,
Inc. 214 pages, $14.95
Reviewed by Ruth Mountaingrove
Ann Roberts’ ninth novel follows A.J, an autistic
teenager, through one year of his experience as a student in an
Arizona middle school special education program. AJ has
difficulty controlling his emotions. For example, when he isagitated, he has been known to take off his clothes and run
screaming through the halls. And now that he is coming intoadolescence and acting out his interest in girls, he has become
even more disruptive and the school, fearing a lawsuit fromparents, urges AJ’s mother, Constance Richardson, a highpowered attorney, to move him to a special school for autistic
children. She refuses, and in fact insists that he be mainstreamed
into non-special education classes. She resorts to blackmailing theprincipal to get her way.
The district’s new special education director, thebeautiful Andi Loomis, convinces the school’s butch lesbian
principal, Faye Burton, to keep their affair secret, even though
Faye is already out to all her teachers and administrators. This
sort of secrecy makes them vulnerable to Constance’s blackmailscheme. Constance hires a detective to shadow them but, except
for a few photos of them looking fondly at each other at the mall,she doesn’t have much ammunition, although she keeps thesephotos in reserve. Faced with the homophobic climate of theeducation system and an administration that does not support
lesbian couples, in an act of self-preservation, Andi betrays Faye.
The reader is left to contemplate the impact of homophobia,
which leads some people to remain closeted and others to suffer
injustices at the personal and professional levels.

Winter 2012 45

True love never runs smooth especially when one of you
is in the closet. The lovers are discrete though this is hard on theout lesbian who finds the closet to be suffocating. I remember
when I was in Philadelphia working at the Women’s Center. I
was out to my coworkers although not to the company for whom
I was working. And my lover was in the closet at her commune.
That made things difficult for both of us, so I can empathize withthe principal. Some might say my lover was right to keep her
sexuality a secret, as it turned out, because we were evicted when
our lesbian feminist life was revealed.
The author of this novel also explores how homophobia
affects adolescents as well. Middle school is one of the mostdifficult times for teenagers, and it is no coincidence that Roberts,
who has worked as a teacher and an administrator for grades K –12, chose to set her novel in a middle school in contemporary
America. She says the quickest way to start a fight in middle
school is to call a boy a “fag” or a “queer.” According to Roberts
despite all the progress made in public schools “Homophobia istruly the last form of accepted prejudice in public education.” In
this novel, she shows us bullying and harassment between
students when “jocks” attack a boy and throw him in a dumpster.
In this way, the novel tackles a very current issue.
The novel is timely and relevant; Roberts shows us layersof the disease of homophobia in middle school students, gangmembers, school administrators, parents, and teachers and how
homophobia permeates our society.
The Girls Club by Sally Bellorose, Bywater Books, 2011,
paperback, 287 pages, $14.95
Reviewed by Ruth Mountaingrove
When I first heard of The Girls Club I thought it was about
pre-pubescent girls who had a clubhouse, maybe in a tree. I was
surprised to learn that the novel gives us a look into the life of ayoung woman with ulcerative colitis who is facing life’s challenges
in the 1960s and 1970s when things were beginning to open up
for feminists and lesbians.

46 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthCora Rose is 14 at the beginning of the novel. Herdisability confines her to bathrooms most of the time, and for thisreason the girls in her 9th grade class are not kind, finding her
gross. But Cora finds a love interest: her friend Stella. They begin
to experiment and fall in love, but Stella’s family moving out of
the neighborhood breaks up this friend/lovership.
Spanning eight years, the novel shows us formative
moments in Cora’s life such as this one that shape and alter her
perception of herself.
Cora is very different from her two older sisters, withwhom she has a complicated relationship. Marie is the rulebreaker: she gets pregnant, refuses to have an abortion or to getmarried, and becomes a single parent. Her choices shock her
working-class, Catholic family. In contrast, Renee, theresponsible one, succeeds in nursing school and becomes an RN,
much to her father’s delight. It may be surprising that Renee
offers Cora so much support later in the novel.
Cora Rose takes a different path from her sisters’. She
also graduates from high school, but on prom night, drunk andeager to lose her virginity, she gets pregnant, even though Joe
uses a condom. 99% is not 100%. Caving to pressure from her
grandmother, Cora marries Joe in church and together they set
out to raise their son, Sammy. Cora Rose gets restless. She neverwanted to marry Joe, and she feels trapped in her marriage. She
begins to remember Stella and her attraction to women and she
longs for a way to escape. Eventually, she tells Joe she wants a
divorce and seeks out the company of women at a local lesbian
bar called The Girls Club. The topic of lesbianism keeps popping
up around Cora Rose; on TV shows, casual conversations, andher neighbors are lesbian too. Cora Rose explores her attraction
to women, having affairs, and coming to a new awareness of her
sexuality and her gender.
At the same time, she is managing her son Sammy’s
asthma and her own health concerns. The doctors finally decideto operate on Cora Rose, but this means she will have to wear an
ostomy bag since the surgeon has to cut out most of the diseased
intestinal tract. Finally she will be free to live a normal life except
for the bag. On scholarship, she attends nursing school, and her
relationship with her sisters develops.

Winter 2012 47

The book is divided into 4 sections: the first is Cora
Rose’s adolescence; the second is Cora Rose’s wedding and thefirst four years raising Sammy; he third is her ostomy operation;and the fourth is coming to accept her gayness and discovering
she is a butch.
The story is very well written. It is a warm recounting of
the three sisters – how they support each other and how they
fight. Renee and Maria have their own lives apart from Cora
Rose but the book revolves around our heroine. And we get tosee her relationship with herself, her body, her sexuality and her
gender evolve over time. The book was met with positive reviewsfor obvious reasons.

48 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthContributors
Liz Bradbury has written over 350 nonfiction published articles,
columns, and essays. She founded the Valley Gay Press newspaper in1998 and has published and edited the paper for 14 years. She and her
spouse Patricia Sullivan own Boudica Publishing Inc. which has
published books under the imprints Lesbian Mystery Books, Wildfire
Poetry Press, and Purple Kites Children’s Books, since 2004. Bradbury
is the author of the critically acclaimed Maggie Gale Mystery
Series. Bradbury also founded Pennsylvania Diversity Network withPatricia Sullivan in 2004, it is now the largest GLBT advocacy
organization by membership, in Pennsylvania. As Executive Director of
Pennsylvania Diversity Network Bradbury works on advocacy and civilrights issues directly effecting the Queer community through a series ofprograms, legislative efforts, and on a case by case basis. Bradbury also
created and works continuously on the national award winning, evergrowing, PA Diversity Network Photo Project—Hundreds of Same-sex
Couples: Facing Inequality, which currently features photos of over 700
rural and small city Pennsylvania same-sex couples - and is labeled with
their names, professions, years together, and number of children (if any).
The Photo Project has been shown in dozens of venues including theCapitol Rotunda in Harrisburg, next to the entrance of the State Senate.
Bradbury has been a Lesbian activist since the 1970s when sheorganized events in her graduate school’s Gay/Straight Alliance.
Happy/L.A. Hyder is a self-taught American-Lebanese photographer,assemblage and installation artist whose photos of architectural details
are intended to engage the viewer to see with a different eye. As founderand Director of LVA: Lesbians in the Visual Arts, she travels frequently;
opportunities to photograph the details of various cities. She has
exhibited her work in solo and group shows, locally and nationally. Her
photos have appeared in numerous newsletters, catalogs and books
including The Color Purple, author photo, Visionary Voices: Women on Power
and Anything You Love Can Be Saved essays and letters of Alice Walker.
Sarah J. is 26, lesbian, and lives in Cairo, Egypt, where it is illegal to begay.
Sarah Kersh studied poetry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville,
Tennessee, and before that, in Muhlenberg College in Allentown,
Pennsylvania. Currently, she lives, writes, and throws pottery inMadison, Wisconsin.

Winter 2012 49

A'Ja Lyons is an African-American, Lesbian native Houstonian withdeep East Texas roots. She has had a book review column in the Valley
Gay Press newspaper since 2008. She is currently at work on a series ofshort stories that deal with the personal experiences of all kinds ofpeople, that explore a variety of issues, particularly, race, religion,
sexuality, and the deaf community. She will marry her fiancée of four
years in Niagara Falls this coming winter.
Hannah Mesouani is a Moroccan national who currently lives andworks as a film projectionist in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She graduatedfrom the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ and went on to be aFilm Studies and Media & Communications major at Muhlenberg
College. As a practicing Muslim and out member of the LGBTQ
community, Mesouani serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Diversity
Network and continues to write and make films about the issues thatmove her most.
Selma Miriam and Noel Furie have been owners of Bloodroot
Vegetarian Restaurant and Feminist Bookstore since 1977, and havecarried Sinister Wisdom since its inception. In 2010 Yale University
requested and has acquired the personal, political, and business papers
of Bloodroot. All are archived in the Sterling Library and are available
to scholars. A more condensed history is in the cookbook set: The Best of
Bloodroot, Volumes I and II, which also contain vegetarian and vegan
recipes, respectively; both are arranged by the seasons.
Ruth Mountaingrove has published two chapbooks: Rhythms of Springat twenty-two and For Those Who Cannot Sleep at fifty-four, the latter being
influenced by Carl Jung and Gurdjieff before discovering the Women’s
Movement. Co-editor with Jean Mountaingrove of WomanSpirit and The
Blatant Image. Reach her at mountaingrove@suddenlink.net
Joanne Passet, Ph.D., is a Professor of History at Indiana University
East, in Richmond, Indiana. The path to this position included publicschool teaching, working as a librarian and archivist, teaching in several
schools of library and information science, and directing a college
library. Her publications include Cultural Crusaders: Women Librarians in theAmerican West, 1900-17, Aspirations and Mentoring in an Academic Environment(co-authored with Mary Niles Maack), Sex Radicals and the Quest for
Women’s Equality, Sex Variant Woman: The Life of Jeannette Howard Foster,and a number of articles on the power of print to create communities
and transform lives. She first met Barbara Grier while doing research
for the Foster biography.

50 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthAdvertisements

Winter 2012 51

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52 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthWinter 2012 53

54 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthWinter 2012 55

Where To Find Sinister Wisdom
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56 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthWinter 2012 57

58 Sinister Wisdom 85 – YouthPublisher: Sinister Wisdom, Inc.
Sinister Wisdom 85/Humor
Winter 2012
Editor: Chocolate Waters
Layout and Design: Julie R. Enszer
Book Review Editor: Robin ní Catáin
Board of Directors: Shaba Barnes, Susan Levinkind, Joan Nestle, Rose
Provenzano, Judith K. Witherow,% ' Susan Levinkind
Proofreaders: Merry Gangemi
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Special thanks to: All of the womyn who contributed work in its many
forms, our readers, and our supporters in the journey.
Front Cover Art: “Raindance” by Janice Perry © 2011 founded 1976. Former editors and publishers:
Harriet Ellenberger (aka Desmoines)
and Catherine Nicholson (1976-1981)
Michelle Cliff and Adrienne Rich (1981-1983)
Michaele Uccella (1983-1984)
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