Re: Academy Awards
Brian Hall (pp00918@ppp.kcc.edu)
Sat, 10 Jan 1998 19:55:03 -0400
Malcolm Lawrence wrote:
>
> I still can't understand the incredulity my question received. As if I asked
> if he were a serial killer. Or as if this were the Green Bay Packers mailing
> list. I must be safe in assuming there are no gays or lesbians on this mailing
> list, because one of them surely would have spoken up about such a medieval
> response by now.
I, for one, was not incredulous toward your question in the least--it's
a common one I s'pose. However, having straddled that fence for many
years, I think it's silly to say a gay or straight person will have THAT
much of a different opinion on poetry or fiction, whether it is gay or
straight. Alison Baker, a terrific short story author and one of my
favorite contemporaries, writes some stories about lesbian
relationships. Regardless, the emotions she describes in her stories
are very real and easily understood, as well as the difficulties of
relationships, regardless of who is involved.
What I assumed was either you figured if I wasn't gay, I shouldn't even
be able to comment, OR, If I were gay, how could I say such a thing
about a gay poet? Perhaps, even you suspected me for a homophobe that
deliberately knocked Ginsberg for being gay. Certainly, you did not
thing I could enjoy his poetry on a certain level, if I was not gay that
a gay man might be able to. Naturally, I found any of these assumptions
ridiculous. Perhaps you meant something else...who knows?
I hope that eplains things a little bit.
Brian