“By being the curator of our images, we care for our souls.”  Thomas Moore

What a lovely quote for anyone who works with images.  Writers.  Painters.  Photographers.  Musicians.  Others.  The work we do is care for our souls, isn’t it?

This is why it is so important for lesbians (as well as gay men, African-Americans, Asian Americans, people with autism and so on, including everyone who isn’t the mainstream “norm), to represent and be represented in the literature, art, film, theatre, dance, music and other arts.  It’s not just about politics and justice.  It’s about souls.

Saw a lovely movie:  Imagine Me and You (2005).  It’s a light, delightful romantic comedy about two women who–in the typical romantic comedy sort of way–overcome the obstacles that indicate they can never be together and, you guessed it, get to be together.  Romantic comedy = happy ending, so no spoiler there.  And in terms of romantic comedy it was pitch perfect and fun to watch.

In my experience it’s rare to see a pitch perfect romantic comedy about a gay couple and this movie helped me see why I feel that way.  In Imagine Me and You, the lesbians and their relationship woes were presented as completely normal.  “Normal” as in not the focus of the movie; true to genre the film centered on two people trying to be together, family and friend entanglements, crazily comedic scenes, other relationship opportunities.  Never in the movie did the sexuality of the protagonists take over the story.  None of the characters had significant issues with anyone’s sexuality.  The film just focused on character and plot and genre.

No surprise to learn that the film was originally written as a heterosexual romantic comedy.  Wonderful.  Sort of like action movies written for male heroes and then ultimately featuring female kick-butt heroines!  That sort of thing points out:  gender roles simply don’t need to matter as much as we (as a culture) seem to want them to.

Of course, my own books don’t do that.  They focus on a lesbian character and the issues that surround that identity as Lonnie navigates her world and its prejudices.  I write this way because these are issues are very real in my life and the lives of most lesbians I know and I want my books, cozy comedic mystery “fantasies” that they are, to reflect that real world.   But when I want to spend the evening with a bowl of popcorn and a good old-fashioned romantic fantasy movie, well-written and well-acted that shows my kind of relationship as just “normal,” well, I usually can’t find one.  This film is perhaps the best I’ve ever seen.

I’d love to hear others’ recommendations if you have ‘em!

While I was in northern Michigan last week I visted the most fantastic bookstore in Gaylord:  Saturn Booksellers.  The staff eagerly chatted books with anyone who wanted to and left others alone to browse in silence.  I watched as several customers who didn’t know each other picked up a lively conversation over a “staff recommendation” display.  I sat in a comfy chair and browsed.  I visited the coffee shop.  I laughed over hilarious t-shirts and bumper stickers.  I loved the stellar selection of books and marveled at the impressive programs of visiting authors.  In fact, the author signing that night was Wade Rouse,whose memoir At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream chronicles his move with his partner from the city to the “wilds” near Saugatuck, Michigan.

So hear I am in Gaylord, a small town up north known for hunting and fishing and snow machines and the featured visiting author is and openly gay memoirist.  And they were expecting a big crowd!  Wow!  I fell in love with this town, with this bookstore.

I couldn’t find WHACKED on the shelves, not even in the Michigan author section, which was sort of a bummer.  But when I asked, it turned out they did have it, only mis-shelved.  I signed it, promoted TOASTED and then had a good time spending some money.  It’s the kind of place you want to buy stuff just to support them.

And then I noticed what I think is the best marketing approach I’ve ever seen for a bookstore:  “Helping to keep Gaylord interesting . . . “.  Not only do they claim their own value to the local community, but they also remind their customers of their own personal value to the community.  It made me think, “Yeah!  I as a smart, independent reader, am a natural resource for my hometown!”

Cool huh?

We discerning readers, who read beyond the stuff selected by the big chains’ corporate buyers, bring extra value to our worlds by keeping things interesting with our alive minds, the different things we know and have encountered, the unusual connections we can weave between ideas.  We are percolators.  In addition, we keep independent businesses alive– both local independent bookstores and specialty presses like Bella Books.  These are business, voices, and perspectives that could disappear if we weren’t spending our time and money enjoying what they have to offer.  Their presence keeps diverse possibilities open for ourselves and for those who come after us.

It’s a smart marketing campaign because it enlists buyers to be part of an effort to do well for their hometown by purchasing books, but it’s also smart because it’s true.

Just returned from a lovely relaxing trip into the “wilds” of northern Michigan (that’s the northern part of the lower peninsula) that was both vacation and research for the third Lonnie Squires mystery, DITCHED. Mancelona, Gaylord, Topinabee, Cheboygan, Mackinaw City and other wonderful places. I’m not going to say much else about it for now except that the Nun Doll Museum is something quite wonderful, as is the fudge in Mackinaw City, though in a different way. I think Lonnie would be interested in both. Still, who knows where that book will take her? At this point, I still don’t!

The second Lonnie Squires mystery, TOASTED, available September 1!

Cousin Donna Hancock’s Loaves and Fishes Culinary Ministries evangelical cooking school road show–think about it.  Lonnie Squires has to.

Trying to redeem her good name in the little town of Middelburg, Lonnie volunteers as additional security for Cousin Donna’s traveling program.  Her ultimate goal is supporting her own sanity with her beloved soccer.  But she can’t play by herself and no one will play with her if people are trash talking behind her back.  A good deed might just restore social harmony.

It’s a good plan, until someone partakes of Cousin Donna’s Tasty Toast Points with Sunny Spirit Salmon Spread and ends up decidedly deceased.  People in high places decide it’s Lonnie’s job to prove that the toast wasn’t tainted.

Cousin Donna and her entourage are hiding secrets, but is one of them the secret recipe for murder?  Is Lonnie right to be suspicious of every morsel she eats, wondering if it will be her personal last supper?

Sleuth Lonnie Squires once again discovers that doing the right thing can go very wrong.  This the second title in Josie Gordon’s Lambda Literary Award-winning mystery series combines culinary mayhem with big politics in a small town.

Whoo hoo!  It is exciting to hold a new book in your hands, though I have to confess I’m always a little mystified:  “did I really write that???”  Especially when I’m so embroiled in the next book.

You can order your copy now  from  your local independent bookstore.  Be sure to tell them this is the second in a series and that the first, WHACKED, won a Lambda Literary Award for best Lesbian mystery of 2008.

Can wait to get a taste of the new story?  Read more about it, including the first two chapters to whet your appetite.

The book is Asterios Polyp by Dave Mazzucchelli. 

I love graphic novels and this one got a great write-up in Entertainment Weekly, so I grabbed a copy as soon as I could.

Almost everyone who writes about it says read it, then read it again.  I agree.

There’s a lot to like about this novel which tells the story of a middle-aged man whose life falls away to literally nothing and who sets out to rebuild it and himself in whole new ways.  I particularly loved the visual depiction of the two main characters’ ways of seeing the world–one in a precise, architectural, controlled format depicted largely in blue, and the other a more free-flowing, synchronistic, emotional worldview depicted in pink.  As their worlds come together or split apart, the colors and visuals represent a complexity not conveyed by words alone.   And when the words and the visuals each add more to the other, then a graphic novel is really working its magic.   This one goes even farther with nuanced characterization, terrific humor, and an eye-popping sense of irony.

Scott McCloud blogged on the book as well.  He’s an expert on graphic novels and offers more to think about in terms of medium than I can, so check it out.

I think all of us “non-graphic’ writers can learn a lot from reading graphic novels.  The best dialogue is compact, multi-layered.  Scenes can change with the simplest of cues.  Time spent helping a reader “see” a person or setting or perception clearly is time well spent.  In particular, this reminded me of the importance of understanding and conveying not only how different my characters are but how different the entire world is for each of them, as they move through it, experiencing it and creating it from their own unique perspectives.  Part of what can make mystery novels work is the fact that no two characters see the same thing in the same way.  It was good to be reminded how that extends not just to witness reports of an event, but to every single aspect of life.

I’m off to read the book again. . .

The House of Deputies passed the legislation passed the other day by the bishops to allow for “generous pastoral response to meet the needs of the members of this Church” and to “honor the theological diversity of this Church in regard to matters of human sexuality.”

Hooray.  Convention ends in a few hours.

Nice wrap-up from Integrity here.

Just saw this great piece by Irene Monroe in the Huffington Post.

She gives a fascinating overview of the global and racial issues so entangled with the treatment of LGBT people both in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

A snippet:

By pitting marginalized groups like gays and Africans against each other, the Church masks the geopolitics of race and power while bating homophobia.

Worth the read.

Last evening the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church’s General Convention passed legistation on church rites for blessing same sex unions.  Even better, it passed with a strong majority:  104 bishops yes, 30 no, and 2 abstentions.  It goes to the House of Deputies today, where it seems likely to pass, but you never know.

As I understand it, this is a formalized stating of what is already a sort of “don’t ask, don’t tell” practice of the church, allowing individual bishops to decide if they will do this or not in their diocese.

Passage of this is a huge step; as we know from watching the situation regarding the U.S. military, it can be hard for an institution to publically claim the values it actually practices.  I bet many of us can think of examples from our own lives–I know I can.

What will the ripple effects of all this be–not only in the Anglican Communion–but for LGBT rights (and rites) everywhere?  It will be interesting to see!

The Lead at Episcopal Cafe lists various press sources.  Here’s the New York Times.

The Walking with Integrity Blog calls it “generous pastoral response.”

They did it!  This from an Integrity press release:

ANAHEIM, CA (July 14, 2009)–The House of Deputies reiterated its overwhelming support for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all orders of ministry by concurring with resolution DO25 as amended by the House of Bishops.

“Today’s action put the ‘Amen’ at the end of one of the prayers we have prayed for an inclusive church–ending the BO33 ’season’ by stating unequivocally that the LGBT baptized can and will have equal access to ordination processes in the Episcopal Church,” said the Reverend Susan Russell, president of Integrity USA.

Today they are on to allowing for same-sex blessings.  This had early popular support and as I understood it, folks thought this would sail through.  But the bishops sent it to committee yesterday.

It can be hard to do more than one brave thing at a time.  Trust us–we GLBT people know.  Here’s hoping the Bishops stick with it, keeping their eye on mission and not on what the rest of the Communion is threatening.