Deaf Woof Barks

A new book imprint?!? Oh, gee!

2012-01-23T17:00:00.005-06:00

I've been so busy with my projects that I hadn't realized how much time had passed me by! In 2011 I finished two novels, so I'm now awaiting word on both of them. To help make my waiting a tad easier, I've decided to create a new LGBT imprint under Handtype Press's aegis: Squares & Rebels. (Go there to learn more about S&R.) And to start things off with a nice kick, I've decided to edit a poetry anthology featuring 20 gay poets from the Upper Midwest. Our call for submissions is below.

A CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Lesbian and Gay Poetry Anthologies

What does it mean to be lesbian or gay and living in the Upper Midwest (MI, MN, ND, SD, or WI)?

If you’re a LGBT poet in the Upper Midwest, we want to hear from you!

Squares & Rebels, a brand-new LGBT imprint of Handtype Press, plans to bring out two poetry anthologies in the fall of 2012. Our goal is to help foster a sense of community among LGBT writers here in the Upper Midwest as well as showcase their work to the rest of the country. Each anthology will feature only 20 writers with approximately four to five poems each.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Some of your work should address the question of what it’s like to be lesbian or gay in the Upper Midwest.

Send us 5 to 7 unpublished original poems as a Word file (either .rtf or .doc, but not .docx). No simultaneous submissions or reprints, please. No print submissions.

In your email, state the city and state where you reside; a short bio would be helpful. If you’d like to have your personal web site listed on www.squaresandrebels.com, please include it!

Lesbians should submit their work to the editor Kate Lynn Hibbard: hibbarka@gmail.com

Gay men should submit their work to the editor Raymond Luczak: squaresandrebels@gmail.com

Those who get their work accepted in either anthology will be compensated with a copy of the anthology in which they appear.

DEADLINE: Friday, May 18, 2012.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Kate Lynn Hibbard's first book of poems, SLEEPING UPSIDE DOWN (Silverfish Review Press 2006), won the Gerald Cable Book Award. A second book, SWEET WEIGHT, is forthcoming from Tiger Bark Press in 2012. A recipient of awards from the McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Astrea Foundation, she teaches writing and women's studies at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Raymond Luczak is the editor and author of 14 books including ROAD WORK AHEAD (Sibling Rivalry Press 2011), MUTE (A Midsummer Night’s Press 2010), and THIS WAY TO THE ACORNS: POEMS (THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) (Handtype Press 2012). He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His web site is www.raymondluczak.com.

ABOUT SQUARES & REBELS

Squares & Rebels is the new LGBT imprint under the aegis of Handtype Press. We are primarily interested in LGBT poets and writers who live in Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. For more information, please check out www.squaresandrebels.com.

An exciting reading on Wednesday October 26th!

2011-09-27T20:23:00.004-05:00

These days I've been working hard on my novels and awaiting word on a few other projects, but in the meantime I'm very excited about this new reading. See below for more info!

a COLLECTIVE BRIGHTNESS reading

Six LGBT writers get together to read from the anthology COLLECTIVE BRIGHTNESS, a first-ever collection of LGBTIQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Questioning) writings on faith, religion and spirituality.

The writers--Oliver Bendorf, James Cihlar, Brent Goodman, Raymond Luczak, John Medeiros, and William Reichard--will also read from their own books.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011
7 p.m.
University Baptist Church
1219 University Avenue SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612-331-1768

The event is free and ASL-interpreted. (Raymond Luczak, the Deaf writer, will be voiced for those who don't know ASL. For more information, please contact Raymond directly at eod2eod2@gmail.com.)

To learn more about the anthology COLLECTIVE BRIGHTNESS, please check out this link.

Hope to see y'all there!

Time to play catch-up!

2011-08-16T14:19:00.003-05:00

Whoa. Almost THREE months has gone by without my dropping a single line on here?!? Time to play catch-up!

It's been a crazy, busy, and amazing summer so far. I've fallen in love with a wonderful guy, and he was sweet enough to alert me to our third-month anniversary recently. (I can imagine you going, "Awwww.") And I've just finished the fourth draft of a new novel that I've been working on and off for a year and half.

But seriously, a few things about yours truly have popped up online in the last few months. Marion Gomez wrote a strong piece about accessibility and the literary community ("Who Has the Key?") for A VIEW FROM THE LOFT. Check out this link!

Then the writer Kathi Wolfe quoted yours truly in her opinion piece ("Two Minority Groups with a Lot in Common") for THE WASHINGTON BLADE. Read this link and ponder.

In the September 2011 issue of SCENE, the Twin Cities LGBT guide, I wrote about why I chose Minneapolis. Unfortunately the link doesn't take you to the actual page, so you'll have to flip through the pages at this link. (At least I've made it to the front cover in the lower right-hand corner! Yayyy.)

I will also appear in a few new anthologies this fall, but I'll write about those when I return from a little getaway with my handsome boyfriend ...

Toodles!

The Same Difference: Writers with Disabilities Reading

2011-05-23T14:16:00.003-05:00

This reading features some of Minnesota's most accomplished writers with disabilities. Featured artists are John Lee Clark, Tara Arlene Innmon, Raymond Luczak, and Lynne Nerenberg. ASL and voice interpreting, open captioning, assistive listening devices, and Braille will be provided, as well as a Q & A and art show featuring members of People Incorporated’s Artability program. Reception to follow.

June 3, 2011 @ 7 p.m.
The Loft Literary Center
1011 Washington Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55415
http://www.loft.org/
612-215-2575

John Lee Clark was born deaf and became blind in adolescence. His poetry has appeared in many publications, including the Hollins Critic, Pif, Poetry, and the Seneca Review. His chapbook of poems is Suddenly Slow (Handtype Press, 2008) and he edited the anthology Deaf American Poetry (Gallaudet University Press, 2009). He is married to the deaf cartoonist Adrean Clark; they run a small press called Clerc Scar that publishes signing community literature. They live in Minnesota with their three sons.

As a young person, Tara Arlene Innmon loved writing almost as much as she loved drawing. She kept an extensive diary. When she started going blind she asked herself, "What will I do when I can't draw anymore?" The answer came down like a bolt of lightning. "You will write." She could have guessed. In 2000, she was a finalist for the SASE Jerome Foundation Fellowship grant. She went to Hamline University, graduating with an MFA in creative writing in 2008. She has published poetry and short prose pieces in numerous literary journals, including Verve, River Image, and Wordgathering. She is writing a childhood memoir.

Raymond Luczak is the author and editor of more than ten books, including Road Work Ahead: Poems (Sibling Rivalry Press) and Mute: Poems (A Midsummer Night's Press). His website is www.raymondluczak.com.

Lynne Nerenberg is a Saint Paul native, holds an MA in media studies from the New School of Social Research, and is a former journalist. She won first place for her creative nonfiction at Artability's 2010 Art Show and attends People Incorporated's Apollo program for people with mental illness and/or brain injury.

Again, the entire event will be VOICE- and ASL-INTERPRETED along with Braille and open captioning for those who need information accessibility!

Dear Mr. Mulvaney ...

2011-05-02T21:52:00.003-05:00

Just wanted everyone to know about this letter that I wrote and appeared in my column "Off the Red Carpet" in the latest print edition of SIGNews. Please pass it on to everyone you know!

Thanks.

===

Dear Mr. Mulvaney:

For those who savor movies on DVD and Blu-Ray (BD), Criterion stands high above everyone else when it comes to giving movies deluxe treatments, right down to achieving the most color- and sound-accurate transfer. (For those who’ve never heard of Criterion, they should check out criterion.com.) I know that when I buy a Criterion title, I know I won’t be disappointed. There’s almost always an insightful print essay or two by film critics who truly know the movie in question and its historical and social context. Thanks to Criterion, I’ve learned a great deal about the literature of cinema. Over the years I’ve bought your laserdiscs, DVDs, and BDs so you could say that I’m a huge fan of Criterion.

Until recently. I’ve realized that I had been too willing to put up with less for too long.

Please allow me to explain what happened that’s left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Last Saturday I watched Orson Welles’s delightfully twisty “essay film” (or “pseudo-documentary”?) F FOR FAKE, about two men in the profession of forgery. I don’t think it’s captioned elsewhere, so as a big fan of Orson Welles’s work as a filmmaker, I forked over money for a two-disc set that cost $49. At the time I didn’t realize that the second disc had a ton of enviable extras that were not subtitled (I quote directly from your web site): ORSON WELLES: A ONE-MAN BAND, an 88-minute documentary from 1995 about Welles’s unfinished projects; ALMOST TRUE: THE NOBLE ART OF FORGERY, a 52-minute documentary from 1997 about art forger Elmyr de Hory; a 2000 60 MINUTES interview with Clifford Irving about his Howard Hughes autobiography hoax; and a 1972 Hughes press conference exposing Irving’s hoax. Imagine my deep disappointment to find that *none* of these substantial extras were made accessible to the Deaf and hard of hearing viewers!

Oh, you do a fantastic job in providing English subtitles for the Deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) for your main features, but considering how expensive your DVD and BD titles are to begin with (usually ranging from $39 and above), the fact that none of the extras spoken in English are subtitled is a very cheap slap in the face to some 28 million Americans who have hearing problems. Such is the stink that pervades what would’ve made for an extravagant box of chocolates.

Please do not be as cheap as other home video distributors. I’ve already paid a fortune for your movie titles over the years. It’s time that I stop deluding myself. Your titles command premium prices. You simply do not want to spend any more money on the extras. I understand that you want to make a profit, but has it ever occurred to you that in an age of movies increasingly streamed online, the very existence of extras is what keeps drawing people to buy DVDs and BDs?

I’m afraid that as long as your extras aren’t subtitled, I’ll have to boycott your Criterion titles. The older I get, I find just the movie-only approach becoming more and more an insult as it says a lot about how you view us. (The number of late-deafened viewers will climb quite dramatically as the baby boom generation hits retirement age. Hearing loss is going to be a huge issue. Hearing aid manufacturers are going to be perversely happy.) I will also encourage Deaf movie lovers everywhere to boycott your titles until Criterion posts a policy online stating their intent to make all of their contents going forward will be accessible for Deaf and hard of hearing viewers, and be consistent in providing subtitles for all content on DVD and BD going forward. I’ll also encourage hearing DVD and BD reviewers to state in their reviews whether the movie and the extras are subtitled. Of course, I won’t object when others online forward this letter to others. I’ll give out your email address (mulvaney@criterion.com) to anyone who wants to chime in.

Mr. Mulvaney, if I were to make a movie about Criterion, I’d call it C FOR CHEAP. I’d have it narrated only in American Sign Language (ASL) without voiceover or subtitles; of course, you’d probably never understand a word of what we’re signing. How else can you truly understand how frustrated we Deaf film connoisseurs are when it comes to your lack of subtitles for extras spoken in English?

Respectfully,

Raymond Luczak
Minneapolis, MN

Oh, no! I'm interviewed again!

2011-05-02T21:37:00.003-05:00

Hi all ...

Stephen Mills, who has been doing a series of interviews with LGBT poets, asked me to discuss all sorts of things, mostly related to poetry and which poet I'd love to sleep with. (Got your attention now? Good. Head over to this and enjoy!)

When's my next appearance? I'll be doing a joint reading with three other writers, including John Lee Clark, at the Literary Loft Center on June 3rd. More information to come as soon as details are finalized.

Like almost everyone in Minnesota, we're all waiting for winter to stop playing games with spring. Hope your spring has a lot of spring in its step!

Ta-dah.

Raymond

My, my, my! I'll be on the road for ROAD WORK AHEAD ...

2011-03-20T17:29:00.015-05:00

Hello all:

Six weeks ago I'd announced the publication of my fourth poetry collection ROAD WORK AHEAD from Sibling Rivalry Press and released a subtitled trailer in which I'd talked about the book. Over on Deaf Echo, I also talked about the peculiar challenges of marketing a book that has nothing to do with my deafness and yet here I am, signing with my hands and not using my voice. (The piece was called "If You're a Deaf Writer, How the Heck Can You Get More 'Famous'?")

To celebrate the official publication of ROAD WORK AHEAD on March 1st, I'd uploaded a YouTube clip of yours truly performing his poem "Jules" from ROAD WORK AHEAD. Please check it out if you haven't already! It was shot outside Marshall, Texas last October. The grungy background of abandoned road signs was a most unexpected find on my friend's lot, so I had to use it.

As I'll be giving readings in New York City (more details are below) and classroom talks in Washington, D.C., I've just uploaded my next clip from ROAD WORK AHEAD. The poem is called "Dupont Circle, 3 A.M."

Not even three weeks old, ROAD WORK AHEAD has already earned two raves--one from Amos Lassen on his reviews blog, and one from Grady Harp via Amazon. Sibling Rivalry Press and I are waiting to hear what other critics have to say. In the meantime, please help support Sibling Rivalry Press in their mission to provide superlative poetry to the masses by buying a copy of my book at this link. You can download a free PDF sampler from the book on SRP's site if you like.

My previous poetry collection MUTE still continues to get attention more than a year after its publication. Moving Poems, a web site focusing on video renditions of poems, chose to feature my poem "Orphans" on their home page a few days ago. I was most surprised and delighted.

Now what's this about my coming to New York this week to give two readings from my books ROAD WORK AHEAD and MUTE? Details are below. Both events will be VOICE-interpreted for those who don't know American Sign Language (ASL).

Wednesday March 23rd
7 p.m.
Bluestockings
172 Allen Street (Lower East Side)
New York, NY 10002
212.777.6028

Saturday March 26th
2 p.m.
Rainbow Book Fair
208 West 13th Street (Greenwich Village)
New York, NY 10014

Rainbow Book Fair is the largest book festival for the LGBT community in America, and the admission is FREE. If you're in need of ASL interpreters, there will be a pair available all afternoon. Please check out Rainbow Book Fair's web site where they list readings and panel discussions in the right-hand column, and then email me directly (eod2eod2 >at< gmail com). That way I can be sure to forward your request to the interpreters, and they'll contact you to confirm.

Golly. I'm so psyched. Can't wait to come back to New York and catch up with old friends as well as make new friends! Hope to see y'all there! (And yes, my service dog Rocky will be tagging along. That's HIM below, alright!)

Best,

Raymond

P.S. Yes, I'm officially on Twitter: my handle is @deafwoof.
P.P.S. I'm so glad that spring is nipping at my heels! This winter has gone on a wee too long. (Right, Rocky?)

Yowzah!!! A brand-new book trailer on YouTube!

2011-02-01T08:27:00.005-06:00

Hello all:

Yep. You're looking at the cover of my latest book ROAD WORK AHEAD, which comes out on March 1st, 2011! I'm very, very excited about this book, and thrilled that everyone can now view my book trailer on YouTube. (Although I "speak" in ASL, it's subtitled in English with a beautiful classical guitar duet composed by Shanan Estreicher!)

More exciting news to come.

Have a great February, all!

Raymond

P.S. You can preorder your copy here. (Free shipping on domestic orders, and they ship on February 26th.) Thanks again!

Yayyy! NOTES OF A DEAF GAY WRITER: 20 YEARS LATER is out.

2010-11-26T17:32:00.004-06:00

Hello:

Last August my 12th book NOTES OF A DEAF GAY WRITER was published in a very limited edition; I'd said then in my blog that I would have an ebook version out. That has come true today.

If you have an iPad, an iPhone, or an iPod touch, please click on this link to Apple's own iBookstore page featuring my book. Others using different ebook readers are welcome to use this link instead.

A brief video trailer in which I talk about the book will be posted on my YouTube page soon.

May everyone have a most warm holiday season!

Best,

Raymond

My poem "Orphans" and its ASL translation ....

2010-11-02T14:02:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone!

I've uploaded a video of yours truly performing my poem "Orphans" from my book MUTE. The YouTube link is right here, but you know what's even more awesome? I wrote a piece about how I'd come up with its ASL translation and edited its video for Deaf Echo. Please check it out!

And if you haven't voted yet, PLEASE DO. You've probably heard this from other people, but it's truly very important that you do! Even my hearing service dog helped! Just look at the picture below.

Raymond

Whoa! MUTE has made it to #6!

2010-10-21T16:24:00.003-05:00

Hello all:

I'm a bit breathless with excitement. Amos Lassen, one of the most influential reviewers on Amazon and elsewhere, has chosen my book MUTE as #6 in his list of Top 11 Books of 2010.

I feel so honored and flattered that out of the dozens of titles he's had to have reviewed this year, he'd remembered my book!

Sorry but I *just* had to share!

Raymond

Gotta shout this out loud! MUTE is on YouTube ...

2010-10-18T00:27:00.007-05:00

Hello:

I've been very busy with a lot of projects these days, but at least I was able to finish one in particular: My book MUTE has a new trailer in which I talk about why I wrote it. :) You can check it out on YouTube. It's all subtitled in English for the signing-impaired, of course.

Have lots of exciting news in store, but I will share it as soon as details are confirmed!

Have a great week, all!

Raymond

Twitter, twitter ...

2010-09-14T22:53:00.003-05:00

Hello all ...

Now that summer's gone (but only temporarily!), I've signed up for Twitter.

Search for "deafwoof" or my name (Raymond Luczak) on twitter.com, and if you want to sign up, you can do so and "follow" my tweets!

I'll share news and other tidbits as they tumble down my path!

Raymond

A fun photobooth strip of Rocky and me ...

2010-08-26T19:34:00.003-05:00

Click on the picture for a better look. Hope you're having a grand summer!

My twelfth book just came out today!

2010-08-22T22:44:00.010-05:00

NOTES OF A DEAF GAY WRITER: 20 YEARS LATER (published by Hot Off The, as in www.hotoffthe.net) came out earlier tonight. I'm very happy with the way the chapbook (a chapter-length book; in this case, it's 50 pages long) has turned out. It was published as an extremely limited print edition of only TEN copies. These precious few editions are unfortunately sold out already, but I do plan to have it put out as an ebook in the near future. [Noted on 11/26/10: It is now available as an ebook at this link.] (Thanks again, Kevin, for taking a quick snapshot of moi!)

This essay holds a very special place in my heart. As I've said elsewhere before, the piece was written during a very difficult summer of my life—added job responsibilities and stress, lousy love life, doubts about my abilities as a writer, and uncertainties about staying on in New York. I managed to piece together a string of short observations about being a deaf gay writer. After whittling down some 60 pages to a manageable 28 pages, I sent "Notes of a Deaf Gay Writer" off to the magazine CHRISTOPHER STREET. The rest, as one might say, is history, and it eventually inspired my eighth book ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: NOTES FROM A DEAF GAY LIFE some nineteen years later. This time I revisit the original essay with a 20-year hindsight and offer a running commentary on whether things have changed since its initial publication in December 1990.

I'm just very pleased with seeing this back in print, even if for a very short time. Be on the lookout for the ebook edition! Enjoy the rest of your summer, everyone!

I've got a brand-new fan, and I'm still hot and bothered!

2010-07-07T13:48:00.005-05:00

Recently I had experienced one of the greatest pleasures in my writing life: a fan not just telling me how much s/he likes my work but explaining why s/he has enjoyed my work.

Bryan Borland, a young hearing poet in Arkansas whose debut book MY LIFE AS ADAM blew me away, blogged about me in terms that still embarrasses me (in a good way). This literally made my day because writing is such a solitary profession. Sometimes you wonder if it's worth the struggle to craft a better sentence, a better paragraph, and a better book. Then I get something like this. I think I'm more speechless than he is!

He went on to explain why he loved my book MUTE on Amazon in his five-star review: "... in the months since I've read it (several times now, in fact), that crush has blossomed into a full-on love affair, and I can say that Mute ranks as one of my all-time favorite contemporary books of poetry." Wow. How does one say "thank you" to something like that?!?

Yes, you could buy the book directly from Amazon, but my publisher, A Midsummer Night's Press, would be very happy to give you free prompt shipping within the US! Please order directly from A Midsummer Night's Press here.

One other note before I resume researching and rewriting my new novel's second draft (yes, I've been working on a brand-new novel that's very different from my previous works of fiction, which is yet another reason why I'm so excited about it): The CHAUTAUQUA literary journal has brought out a new poem of mine ("Recital") in their "Words & Music" issue (#7).

And there's a brand-new poem ("In Edinburgh Castle") in the latest issue of KISS-FIST! Check it out here.

Stay cool, all!

Two quick things before I vamoose!

2010-06-30T17:54:00.006-05:00

Hello:

Hope everyone's staying cool. I certainly am! :)

Seriously, though, I do want to call your attention to the existence of two new poems in print ("Guesswork" and "Bessie Smith's Advice to a Young Lesbian") in OFF THE ROCKS 14. (The cover is below.) The new edition is not yet mentioned in their web site, but do check it out anyway.

Just as importantly, I got a really thoughtful review of my novel Men with Their Hands by Robb C. Sewell. Please read his review here. If you haven't read my novel, please check it out! (Hint, hint ...)

Thanks, and may you all have a most Happy 4th!

Best,

Raymond

Guess what? I got a new dog!

2010-06-24T23:39:00.005-05:00

... er, no.

My dog Rocky got such a transformative haircut earlier today that I hadn't realized just how big his tongue was in relation to his own body. At least he can cool off for the next few months. Hard to believe it's the *same* dog!

May everyone stay cool all summer long!

A long interview with yours truly at Lambda Literary!

2010-06-01T13:46:00.006-05:00

Hi everyone!

Hope y'all are staying cool and dry these summery days!

Just wanted to drop a quick note about the interview I did about my experiences as a Deaf gay writer.

Check it out!

Thanks again.

Itsy-Bitsy Spider's Got Some Itsy-Bitsy News (and Reviews) ...

2010-05-11T21:38:00.011-05:00

Hello ...

While I continue to await word on my second novel and work on my third novel, I did want to toss out a few shout-outs:

- Verse Daily. My poem "The Elegist," which comes from my book Mute, was chosen as today's poem. It's a huge honor because so many publishers have tried to get them to choose one poem a day. Needless to say, I'm very tickled pink!

- Wilde Oats. They published an old short story of mine called "They Come Crawling." Please enjoy!

- Out in Print. They gave my novel Men with Their Hands a rave review. Check it out!

- Lambda Literary. Mute scores a very thoughtful review. One of the best I've ever gotten for my work as a poet.

- Out in Perth. Over there in Australia, they gave Mute a lovely rave.

- We'll Never Have Paris. They've excerpted my poems "Marenisco Eyes" and "Pitch" for their sixth issue, which also features an interview with yours truly. Check out their cool zine!

- Minneapolis Observer Quarterly. Sharon Parker enjoyed my memoir Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life. While the review isn't posted online, I'll quote Ms. Parker in part: "Books often take us places we would not otherwise go and offer a glimpse of a life we would never experience⎯sometimes imaginary, sometimes real. Raymond Luczak shows us, through a series of vignettes and observations, his very real life, and what it’s like to be twice marginalized.

Luczak takes us through an awkward childhood; a series of awakenings as he realizes that his sexuality must be kept a secret; and the wonderful discoveries that there are others like him, with whom he can communicate more naturally.

Deafness is not just about the physical limitations of hearing loss, but a subculture as well. Luczak gets to know those who would as soon live apart from the society of the hearing, and those who feel compelled⎯as he does⎯to straddle both worlds. He shares some surprising insights on different ways of communicating. “When I translate from ASL to English, I am always struck by the baroqueness of our English language.”

- My web site. It's been slightly updated with a fresh header montage. Thanks again, Ron!

Even though it feels wet and nippy out there right now, I'm glad that spring is here. Let the groovy greenery begin!

Later,

Raymond

Miami, here I come!

2010-04-03T17:23:00.010-05:00

Hello:

As I'm in the final throes of last-minute packing for my week-long sojourn in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, it just occurred to me that in this blog, I haven't mentioned a lovely media moment earlier this week: Time Out New York. For years, when I lived in New York, it was one of my favorite magazines because it had tons of listings, interviews, features, and whatnot to make a culture vulture like myself happy. Well, last Wednesday I found myself appearing in its pages for the first time, talking about my new book of poems Mute. Please, my dear friends, click on THIS and read what else I have to say. (By the way, the photograph should have been credited to Taras J. Dykstra, however; it's my understanding that the magazine reflects his credit properly, but not online.) Still, I felt quite honored to be considered worthy of coverage in such a major New York publication.

My little novel Men with Their Hands has scored two FIVE-star ratings on Amazon! And what do you know, it's also available for the Kindle.

If you can attend my reading as part of the GALLA Festival at the Stonewall Library on Saturday, April 10th at 10 a.m., please come to Fort Lauderdale! I'll be reading (or more accurately, signing) from three deaf LGBT books: Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life, Mute: Poems, and Men with Their Hands: A Novel. The event is FREE and voice-interpreted for those who don't know American Sign Language (ASL). The address (click on this link for the Googled map if you like) is:

Stonewall Library & Archives
1300 East Sunrise Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
(954) 763-8565

And one more thing: If you've *actually* read my entire novel Men with Their Hands, and if you're local to the Twin Cities, please email me privately for the location of a book club discussing the book in depth on Thursday April 15th. It should be very interesting to see what hearing readers think of the book!

Thank you all, and hope to see you on April 10th! Now ... where did I put that dang sunblock lotion?

Hugs,

Raymond

A few tidbits ... MEN WITH THEIR HANDS ...

2010-03-25T07:27:00.005-05:00

Hello ...

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind (play rewrites, rehearsals, two presentations in Columbus, Ohio, performances of three of my plays, etc. to give you a rough idea), but I just had to share a lovely review of my novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS from the web site OUT IN PRINT. Please check it out!

I'll be in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday April 10th (10 a.m. to 11 a.m.; please note this is the NEW time) to give a reading from three of my Deaf gay books: MEN WITH THEIR HANDS, ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, and MUTE. Where, exactly? Stonewall Library, of course! It will be voice-interpreted for those who don't know ASL, of course. If you're in Fort Lauderdale or the nearby Miami, please show up. I'd love to meet y'all!

A few days later, on April 15th, there will be a local book club discussing my novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS right here in the Twin Cities. It's unfortunately not open to the public, so if you want to get in touch with the coordinator and RSVP, please let me know and I'll pass on his email address to you. The only requirement is that you HAVE to have read my novel first because they'll be discussing the book in detail. It should be a fun experience to see what people think of my little tome.

Spring's becoming clearer here in Minnesota every day, but I won't quite believe it until the residue of salt and gravel have been swept away from the streets ... Gotta scoot!

Raymond

What? An interview with moi as a Deaf poet?

2010-03-14T23:42:00.009-05:00

Hello ...

This is an excerpt from a long interview I've done with Wordgathering, a fantastic online journal focusing on disability and literature. (I hope I haven't babbled too much!)

Wordgathering: Raymond, you are such a Renaissance person – a poet, playwright, translator, film maker, novelist and essayist – that it is hard to know exactly just where to begin, but one thing that I find particularly interesting is your work in translating the work of Clayton Valli [an ASL poet] and making it accessible to the non-ASL public. Can you talk a little bit about what that experience was like?

RL [Raymond Luczak]: When I first saw Clayton, I was an 18-year-old student in the New Signers Program (NSP) which I took for three weeks at Gallaudet University prior to becoming a freshman there. By this point I had been writing uninformed (and uniformly) bad poetry for seven years. I had never questioned the unspoken assumption that poetry was the domain of hearing people until our ASL teacher informed us that an ASL poet was coming to our class that afternoon. "ASL poet"? I knew ASL, and I knew poetry (or so I'd thought at the time), but together? How would that work?

Wanna read more? The rest of this interview is at this link.

They also have a very thoughtful review of my memoir Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life at this link.

Please check it out, and let me know what you think! Have a great week, all!

Raymond

Hey! I'm coming to Ohhhh-hi-o! (Two appearances.)

2010-02-26T15:11:00.005-06:00

Wanna help celebrate the publication of my first novel Men with Their Hands and my third poetry collection Mute?

Then come on down to Columbus, Ohio! I'll be giving a presentation at the Ohio State University on Thursday, March 4th. Here's the info extracted from their PDF flyer:

The OSU American Sign Language Program and the Dorothy E. Ann Fund (D.E.A.F.) of the Columbus Foundation
proudly present

RAYMOND LUCZAK
deaf. author. editor. playwright. director. filmmaker. poet. gay.

Thursday, March 4, 2010, 7 – 9 p.m.
OSU Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Rd.
Free parking! Directions available at www.fawcettcenter.com/directions.asp

Free and open to the public!
Book signing and light reception to follow
Interpreting and real time captioning services provided

www.asl.osu.edu

=====
On Saturday March 6th, I will appear at the 10th anniversary bash celebrating the first decade of Buckeye Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf (BRAD). I will be selling books in the afternoon, and then I will share some Deaf LGBT stories with everyone after dinner. Please come join us for fun and friendship. For more information, please check out BRAD's web site.

=====

Hope to see y'all there! It's been years since I've been to Ohio.

Mwah mwah, everybody!

Holy-moly! Three of my plays performed the same weekend?

2010-02-26T15:00:00.008-06:00

Hi everyone ...

Still busy with the rewrites of my new play The Darkest Room in the House, but I thought you should be aware of this. The ASL-interpreted performance of my three plays (the comedies Jackhammer and Unhappily Ever After are also performed) is on Saturday March 13th only. The ASL-interpreted performance of Mahmoud Hakima's Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon is on Saturday March 20th only.

NOW HEAR THIS! Second Annual One-Act Festival
by Raymond Luczak, Stanley Toledo, Mahmoud Hakima.
Performed by: Bridge Productions.

Location: Lowry Lab Theater, 350 St. Peter Street, St. Paul, Minnesota (inside Lowry Bldg.).

Darkest Room in the House, Jackhammer, Unhappily Ever After by Raymond Luczak:
ASL: Saturday, March 13, 8:00 PM.
Interpreters: Mary Catherine, CI/CT, & Gretchen Toay, NIC; Krystal Riordan & Renee Kerrigan.

Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon by Mahmoud Hakima:
ASL: Saturday, March 20, 8:00 PM.
Interpreter: Heather Ortiz, CI/CT.

Tix: Reduced to $8 for ASL patrons; (regular $10-18). phone: 651-501-9273; email: plays@bridgeproductions.info
Website: www.bridgeproductions.info

Description: Festival featuring five new and developing works by three emerging playwrights. Scripts available upon request prior to performances. Three staged readings of Raymond Luczak's plays: The Darkest Room in the House: An intimate family drama about a long lost father. What is faith's nature and how do we hold on? Adult language and situations. Jackhammer: Two competing office workers blackmail and bribe their way to the top in this David Mamet parody. Unhappily Ever After: A Cinderella spin on gay marriage! A full production of Mahmoud Hakima’s Two Bowls of Cereal and Some Bacon: The product of a fractured and violent household, boy Mahmoud finds innocent joy in the attentions of a lovely, older Mystery Girl in his gifted and talented class. A moving and original one-man show.

There's also a workshop reading of Stanley Toledo’s Better Than a Good Beginning and other works from Disabilityland: A place everyone wants to go. A place where no one wants to go. Visit Disabilityland, the dark side of “the happiest place on earth.”

Run: one to two hours (varies according to show; see website); March 12-21, 2010.

Hope to see y'all there!

Raymond

I shouldn't shout ... but MUTE is coming out!

2010-02-08T16:48:00.015-06:00

Hello, everyone!

While I've been busy rewriting my new play The Darkest Room in the House for Bridge Productions these days for its performance in March 2010, I got word that my newest book of poems, Mute, will be shipping within two weeks. (OMG.)

Here's what A Midsummer Night's Press had to say about my book:

"Do not be afraid of your face.
Move into a beam of light
in the bar. Smile openly.
Watch his hands move
quicker than strobe lights
as he surveys the crowd with his friends.
Do not think of how hard
it might be to have a casual
conversation.

-- From “How to Fall for a Deaf Man”

Silence is always a powerful statement, but even more so in the hands of Raymond Luczak, who demonstrates in his third collection what it’s like to navigate between the warring languages of confusion and clarity.

As a deaf gay man in the hearing world, he lends an unforgettable voice to his reality of ache and loss beyond the inadequate translation of sound."

Kinda flattering, no? I have absolutely no idea who those two sexy guys on the cover are, but I like how they seem to be listening for each other's silence. Heck, you can "listen" to my new poems by preordering a copy of Mute at this link. (Yep, shipping is FREE within the U.S.!)

If you want the book's ISBN number for ordering through your favorite bookstore, please copy the product information from here. You can also preorder the book from Amazon, but it won't likely ship as quickly.

In a week or so, I will post a few samples and a trailer for the book on YouTube and elsewhere online. I've also consolidated all my book trailers into one place on YouTube. Check them all out!

Thanks again for your continued support. May your toes stay warm and toasty!

Hugs,

Raymond

Hey, I'm back!

2010-01-27T20:57:00.012-06:00

The first month of 2010 is almost over, and I still feel like I've been on a whirlwind between a number of projects that will see fruition later this year. (I'll share more details in due time when they're ready.)

For now, I've uploaded a brand-new clip promoting my novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS which I'd taped on January 10th, and yes, I've also included a new PDF sampler from the book as well. Go to this link for the PDF and check out the video below. (The look is a bit different as I'm using a new Flip video camera that does hi-def.)

If you don't know American Sign Language (ASL), relax. The clip is subtitled in English, and there is no soundtrack. Give your ears a break!

My next book of poems, MUTE, is practically good to go. Within the next two weeks or so, I'll post a copy of the cover for your enjoyment. A Midsummer Night's Press is publishing it in April. I don't have a page about the book on my web site yet, but as soon as you can preorder the book, I'll create a page (or two) with a few poem samples.

And what other projects have been keeping me out of trouble these days? A few new books, including two non-Deaf novels in search of a publisher, and a renewed interest in cooking new recipes, making breads, and baking cookies. Yum yum yum!

So it isn't just my poor addled brain that I've been pushing hard lately. I'm feeding it with exciting new flavors. Here's hoping (however belatedly) that 2010 will be an exciting new year!

Tidbits and some WHISPERS OF A SAVAGE SORT ...

2009-12-17T16:25:00.005-06:00

Hello:

When I first learned that the LGBT bookstore Lambda Rising, my "home away from home" when I lived in DC during the 1980s and always merited a visit each time I visited DC ever since, was closing, I actually cried. That place had truly meant so much to me, providing "voices" I wouldn't have "heard" otherwise in all their books I'd consumed so hungrily as a young deaf gay man, so I was glad to have given a reading there last month. I suppose it's a sign of progress when LGBT titles such as my novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS can be easily had at bn.com and Amazon. Of course, I'd prefer that you support independent bookstores whenever possible!

It might interest you to read this thoughtful--and very first--review of my play collection WHISPERS OF A SAVAGE SORT AND OTHER PLAYS at Wordgathering, a disability-oriented web site that features poetry and book reviews.

Later this month, when I have time, I will collate *all* the reviews of my book ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: NOTES FROM A DEAF GAY LIFE (currently available only from RID.org) and update my web site. They are among truly the best raves of my career; that the book is now nominated for a Lambda Literary Award is a nice bonus. (Winners will be announced in late May.)

These days I'm in the middle of going through the poems in my next book MUTE (which A Midsummer Night's Press will bring out in April 2010) and writing the first draft of a new novel. My life may be a bit quiet at the moment, but that's totally fine by me. 2009 was a head-spinning year: three new books, three world premiere productions, and lots of readings and reviews. And of course, I have many more irons in the fire for 2010, so we'll see what transpires in the new year!

May everyone have a most Happy Holiday season!

*jingles bells*

Raymond

On ordering MEN WITH THEIR HANDS on Amazon ...

2009-12-03T20:47:00.005-06:00

Hey ...

A few of you have asked me about why it seems so hard to find my new deaf gay novel on Amazon.

Simply put, Suspect Thoughts Press had planned to publish it, and that listing hasn't been removed from Amazon's database. (No hard feelings between Suspect Thoughts Press and me; they just didn't have the money to publish it, which was why I went with a new publisher.) Now that Rebel Satori Press (under their Queer Mojo imprint) is publishing the book, you'll need to search Amazon using the ISBN number for my new novel (978-1-60864-024-9). The correct edition will pop up. Or you can click on this link and order a copy! The Amazon situation should be resolved in a few days, so I thank you for your patience.

Better yet, save a few bucks by ordering it directly from Rebel Satori! (The sale price is in effect until 12/31/09.)

For more information about the book, scroll down to the post below. :-)

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Hugs,

Raymond

My first novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS ... is coming out.

2009-11-24T22:03:00.005-06:00

The book is coming out ... NEXT week! Okay, okay--what's it about? I'll quote my publisher on this one:

Sometimes your own family isn't enough.

"Growing up different is never easy, but Michael, a deaf young man from a small town, knows that he must find his true family beyond his biological one. He struggles and fails to find others of his kind until he attends college in New York City.

There, we meet a variety of people from a deaf gay family of sorts: Eddie, an older accountant aching for love; Lee, an effeminate dishwasher with a pronounced weakness for red-haired men; Vince, a charismatic dancer who lives intensely no matter the state of his health; Neil, a brooding woodcarver who becomes a deaf woman’s obsession; Stan, a lanky stock boy at the A&P on Christopher Street; Ted, a hard-of-hearing college student with ambivalent feelings about the deaf community; and Rex, an ASL interpreter who avoids his own emotions during the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

It is through these people that Michael, no longer a smalltown boy, begins to create a new family of his own. Taking place from 1978 to 2003, his story will open your eyes and heart to what it means to be different in an indifferent world."

Over 20 years in the making, the novel was also a first-place grant recipient from the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation for Full-Length Fiction 2003. Since 1991, fourteen of its chapters have appeared in various journals and anthologies such as BLOOM and Men on Men 4: Best New Gay Fiction. One of its chapters, "Interpretations," was chosen as one of the Best Gay Stories 2008 (Lethe Press). Two of its chapters were also adapted and performed as stage monologues.

The novel will be available from Rebel Satori Press via their QueerMojo imprint. A video clip in which I talk about the book will be posted sometime in December 2009, and of course, I will give a bunch of readings around the country in April 2010. Stay tuned!

While you could order the book from Amazon, chances are very good that you'll get it much quicker via my publisher's web site HERE.

I will add a PDF sampler and a video clip soon, but if you can't wait to read this book, please order a copy for yourself and let me know what you think!

Thanks, and have a most wonderful Thanksgiving!

Quick newsflash: I NEVER SLEPT WITH HELEN KELLER postponed!

2009-10-29T14:07:00.002-05:00

Hello:

Deaf Blender Theatre has decided to postpone its production of my play I NEVER SLEPT WITH HELEN KELLER to the spring of 2010. We want to make our show even better! Go to deafblender.org for information about your tickets (if you'd ordered them already).

Once the spring dates are confirmed, I'll let everyone know! We're still excited about the show. Thanks for your understanding.

Now I must focus on the rewrites for my novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS and the preparations for my big book tour next week. Hope to see some of you at my readings!

Hugs,

Raymond

My magical (BOOKS!) mystery tour!

2009-10-27T16:03:00.003-05:00

Just a quick note to repeat what I've been sending out to friends everywhere. (I have more exciting news up my sleeve, which I will share later on.)

I will be giving readings from my books ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: NOTES FROM A DEAF GAY LIFE (RID Press) and EYES OF DESIRE 2: A DEAF GLBT READER (Handtype Press). All events will be sign- and voice-interpreted for everyone!

Wednesday November 4th, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Lambda Rising Bookstore
1625 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 462-6969
www.lambdarising.com

Sunday, November 8th, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Bluestockings
172 Allen Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 777-6028
www.bluestockings.com

Monday, November 9th, 2009
7:00 p.m.
The College of New Jersey
Mildred & Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall
2000 Pennington Road
Ewing, NJ 08628-0718

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Queer Voices: A GLBT Reading Series
Writers: James Cihlar and Raymond Luczak
Hamline University
Klas Center, Kay Fredericks Ballroom
1535 Taylor Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55104
www.intermediaarts.org

Hope to see you there. Thank you so much!

And another clip about my new book WHISPERS OF A SAVAGE SORT ...

2009-09-21T18:05:00.002-05:00

This is the other clip I'd completed earlier today. In it, I talk about the four full-length plays in my collection WHISPERS OF A SAVAGE SORT AND OTHER PLAYS ABOUT THE DEAF AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, which Gallaudet University Press brought out recently. The clip is silent but subtitled in English for those who don't know American Sign Language (ASL). Enjoy!

A new clip about being a Deaf playwright ...

2009-09-21T16:24:00.007-05:00

Today I finally completed two short clips to celebrate the publication of my new collection WHISPERS OF A SAVAGE SORT AND OTHER PLAYS ABOUT THE DEAF AMERICAN EXPERIENCE (Gallaudet University Press). The first one below is about how I got into Deaf theater. (It's silent but subtitled in English in case you don't know American Sign Language.)

What do you mean, I NEVER SLEPT WITH HELEN KELLER?

2009-09-04T23:00:00.006-05:00

WHAT IF A STATUE KNEW YOUR SECRETS?

Ah yes, rumors are indeed true! Rehearsals for my next play I Never Slept with Helen Keller have already begun. Albert Walla directs Galinda K. Goss-Kuehn and Pamela Wright Meinhardt, so I'm very excited about the show finally happening. (About time!) Of course, Andrew J. Oehrlein is the producer. Deanna Fischer and Tarra Grammenos will voice Galinda and Pamela in this show.

Performances run from November 12 through November 22. And yes, Virginia, there's such a thing called ordering your tickets online. Check out the Deaf Blender Theatre's web site and reserve your tickets! I'll talk a bit more about the show in the weeks ahead, but I did want to start a very *true* rumor about my play right here, right now!

What?!? Summer's over already?

2009-09-04T22:52:00.007-05:00

Oh, gee.

The summer of 2009 has proven to be a strange one in recent memory; I've never had this much theater injected into my veins.

My Fringe Festival play That Chair was My Wife came and went. My next play I Never Slept with Helen Keller has already started rehearsals, and audition notices for my 18th play, The Darkest Room in the House, have been posted, which opens on March 12, 2010. (Yep, that one is a hearing-only play directed by a hearing director and produced by a hearing producer; the show has nothing to do with deafness or disability. I'm very excited about this production because it means that I've proven that I don't have to write all the time about Deaf and/or GLBT issues in order to get produced. And the director Brian Columbus did a truly fine job with his show The William Williams Effect at this year's Minnesota Fringe Festival, so I'm very pleased that he's running the show. And just as delightful is the producer Michelle Storm, who's frighteningly organized. I feel in such good hands with these two people and look forward to working with them. Of course, I will babble about the show later on.)

Gallaudet University Press just informed me that copies of my ninth book, Whispers of a Savage Sort and Other Plays about the Deaf American Experience, have arrived at their offices. I'm supposed to get my copies real soon. Can't wait! (Of course, I will create a book trailer for it and post it online soon. I know I've promised to do this before, but having the actual book in hand is a great impetus!)

A friend alerted me to this link in which a bookstore owner helped a Deaf lesbian customer who wanted to buy a book of mine. I'm very flattered that *any* bookstore owner would know my name, simply because in America, approximately 50,000 titles are published every year. That I'm able to stand out a bit in any bookstore is good news indeed. This is yet another reason why it's so important to support independent bookstores because that's where little folks like me have a chance to shine a bit (and sell a few copies)!

I've said this before, but please do check out my new Thursday column "Which Reminds Me" over at CLERC SCAR. What am I writing about every Thursday? As my editor John Lee Clark says, "Readers are invited to suggest a thing, person, place, event, or concept for Raymond Luczak to write about. You can suggest anything up to three words and send it to editor@clercscar.com and Raymond will pick one to respond to each week." (Yes, the web site has archived my columns, so please sign up and check out the latest creative efforts by the Deaf and signing communities all over the country!) I think you will enjoy the diversity of opinion and creative work from "out there."

So what am I working on next? A new ten-minute play, and then I need to resume working on that little magnum opus of mine. Have a great Labor Day weekend, all!

Oh, gee! A lovely rave for my new play THAT CHAIR WAS MY WIFE!

2009-08-01T18:03:00.003-05:00

Now that my new show's opened, I was starting to feel in a bit of a slump ... until I read this amazing review. (Suddenly: WOW!) Please check out what he has to say RIGHT HERE, so if you're close to the Twin Cities (as in Minneapolis or St. Paul), please come see the show! There are only FOUR performances left.

Wanna order your tickets? Go to the Fringe Festival's order page for the show.

Thanks, and I hope to see more of you there!

Lateh, dahlinks!

Hey! I got a new column!

2009-07-21T18:15:00.004-05:00

Before I forget again, please check out my new Thursday column "Which Reminds Me" over at CLERC SCAR. What am I writing about every Thursday? As my editor says, "Readers are invited to suggest a thing, person, place, event, or concept for Raymond Luczak to write about. You can suggest anything up to three words and send it to editor@clercscar.com and Raymond will pick one to respond to each week." So far, I've covered Paris, blueberries, Sean Penn, and peak experiences (that's coming up on Thursday). (Yes, the web site has my columns archived, so please sign up and check out the latest creative efforts by the Deaf and signing communities all over the country!) I think you will enjoy the diversity of opinion and creative work from "out there."

Did I just "hear" a rumor? WHISPERS OF A SAVAGE SORT AND OTHER PLAYS ABOUT THE DEAF AMERICAN EXPERIENCE ...

2009-07-15T00:13:00.010-05:00

FINALLY. I am now able to post the cover of my next book Whispers of a Savage Sort and Other Plays about the Deaf American Experience, which Gallaudet University Press (GUP) will bring out by early September. I'm very grateful to Orkid Sassouni for her wonderful photographic contributions to the cover (and the back). Check out her web site orkidsfotography.com!

Instead of trying to explain what this book is about, I'll quote what the kind GUP folks have written about it (I'm feeling a tad tired at this late hour):

“Oh, why can’t the deaf community be more like a family?” is the plaint of a character in Raymond Luczak’s title play, Whispers of a Savage Sort. It also aptly characterizes the main thread that runs through the remarkable collection of work offered here. Luczak presents a progression of plays that depict Deaf people in situations well known by the community’s members. Written to be signing-driven, each play features Deaf characters from various strata of Deaf society and centers on different yet equally familiar issues.

Snooty brings to life the difficulties of surviving the social pecking order in a deaf program at a hearing school. The main character’s only escape is a rich fantasy life in which he is in control. Doogle confronts its characters with the intrusion of technological communication devices parallel to the virtually forced intimacy in a Deaf residential high school. Brought into stark focus by the specter of AIDS, Love in My Veins explores how trust, betrayal, and, ultimately, forgiveness can transform a Deaf couple’s love for each other. The collection’s eponymous Whispers of a Savage Sort reveals the relentless damage that rumor and innuendo can do to a diverse group of Deaf individuals. The emotions, identities, and consequences created by Luczak in these dramas illuminate the Deaf American community in fascinating detail rarely seen in any medium today."

The book's ISBN-13 number is 978-1563684203. Will I have an online trailer for this collection? Of course! I hope to post it sometime next week or early next month. (I'll post it on YouTube, Facebook, and here, so look out for it! And no, I don't tweet on Twitter. I have more than enough distractions in my life.) And one last thing ...

The actor Christopher Smith is a renowned performer from Chicago, so I'm very happy to have him come here and do the show for us. He previously appeared in my play This some years ago; before that, he was always--and still is--one of my favorite people ever since we met in 1984. And of course, I'm delighted to have the lovely Michael La Rocca on board to voice Christopher's character who is a furniture salesman who develops a very unhealthy obsession with chairs ... need I say more? Tickets are now on sale at the Minnesota Fringe Festival's web site! YAYYYY. And please do check out Deaf Blender Theatre as well!

Happy Birthday, Rocky!

2009-07-07T15:13:00.005-05:00

Hello all:

While Rocky tries his best to act like an old man at the tender age of three today, I was told that he's made his first appearance on YouTube! At this link, look for him at the 5:47 mark and after. The clip is a long montage of different things and people who made this year's Chicago Pride Fest such a blast! (Yes, I was wearing a T-shirt that said: INTELLIGENT HOMO SEXUAL, a visual takeoff on Tony Kushner's latest title THE INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL'S GUIDE TO CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM WITH A KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES. Quite a few people smiled when they saw the shirt. I felt I had to wear it that day because it was my own quiet way of saying, "Hey, we're not deaf and dumb!" And of course, it's a most appropriate thing to wear if you're autographing Deaf GLBT books on a hot summer day.)

A number of friends at the Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf conference also snapped quite a few pics of Rocky so I'm waiting for them to email me those. :) I want to thank everybody for making my stay in Chicago so incredibly enjoyable (and exhausting in a good way). I'm definitely interested in going to RAD 2011 in Denver!

I have lots more exciting news coming up soon. Just need to confirm a few details first; be prepared for an avalanche soon. Having an enjoyable summer so far. Ta-da!

Hugs,

Raymond

A new show, a new novel ....

2009-06-05T13:17:00.004-05:00

I've been overwhelmed with a lot of projects over the last few months, but a few of them have come to fruition.

One involved the rewrites for my new show That Chair was My Wife. I thought you'd be interested in checking out the new logo for the show, which Deaf Blender Theater will get sometime next week. (Yayyy!)

What's the show about? A furniture salesman struggles in his extremely unhealthy obsession with chairs. This play explores a few themes: sexual addiction, power, and the all-consuming need to connect. I was inspired when an actor friend who, one day at breakfast, slid into a chair opposite me and jokingly cooed, "Oooh, this chair makes me feel so sexy!" News reports of people arrested for having sex with objects (a patio table, a bicycle, etc.) published over the years indicate that the show's premise hadn't been too far removed from reality. And yes, it's got its share of funny moments. Of course, if you want to check out the full postcard, please check out my home page here. Tickets will go on sale on July 1st.

On June 3rd, I celebrated the 25th anniversary of my high school graduation by talking with a few of my former classmates on Facebook. That was really nice.

When I found myself unable to get started on the third--and final--section of my huge novel (the one I'd started last November), I decided to try my hand at writing a brand-new short story as a warmup exercise. Well, five weeks later, that short story became quite a detour into a novel all its own. I'm very happy that I finished its first draft (about 70K words) two days ago. It's based entirely in the city of Minneapolis, so I will need to do a bit of historical research for its subsequent drafts. While I won't give away its title, I'll share its opening gambit: "One can feel lonely just long enough to feel the fatal punch of a single glance. On January 18, 1967, this is exactly what happened."

Over the next few weeks I will focus on this novel's research and rewrites. Hopefully by then I'll feel more able to finish that other novel.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Rocky on those infamous steps ...

2009-04-27T18:25:00.010-05:00

When one of my friends heard that I was going to take my dog Rocky to Philadelphia, he immediately suggested that I take him to those "Rocky steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I groaned at the idea. (For the record, I wasn't the one who named my dog "Rocky." He was already Rocky when I got him.) In any case, a dear friend (you know who you are, T!) came down from New York to catch my reading in Philadelphia so before we headed over to the library, he snapped a few lovely shots of Rocky and moi. Here's two from him, and one of the statue that I took. Please enjoy!

Wow! EYES OF DESIRE 2: A DEAF GLBT READER scores a rave!

2009-04-26T12:39:00.003-05:00

It's always gratifying when book critics take a note of your work even if it's 18 months after its publication. Please check out the writeup about the book over at Rainbow Reviews.

Rocky Poses for His First Professional Photographer ...

2009-04-25T19:23:00.009-05:00

Phillip Ward, one of my favorite photographers, has taken a nice one of Rocky and me at his apartment in New York. (Of course, I've tweaked it in Photoshop for a more distinctive look. Phillip, I hope you didn't mind!)

Even though he'd been around the country with me before, it was quite a different experience for him to walk all over the cities of Washington, Philadelphia, and New York, all within the space of one week! I had a blast introducing him to some of my friends in all three cities, and he got along with everyone just fine. :-)

And yes, I will post more pictures of Rocky later on. Have a great weekend, all!

There's a big piece on moi in PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS!

2009-04-16T17:30:00.007-05:00

Hello gang:

*gulps*

Please click on this link PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS, and scroll down a little bit to the right column where there's a "print edition" that's viewable online. Go to page 19 and go from there! OMG. This is the biggest write-up on yours truly in years!

I talk about Deaf LGBT issues, cochlear implants, and the nature of ASL among other things. ;-)

Toodles!

Raymond

P.S. Some people have said that they can't seem to find the issue I'm talking about. Look in the archives for the week of April 17-23, 2009. (Thanks!)

OMG! My hearing service dog's lost a lot of weight!

2009-04-14T17:48:00.015-05:00

Today I took Rocky to his groomer's for the first time in many months, simply because I had wanted him to keep his coat thick and warm for winter. Well, spring's indeed arrived, so it was time for him to shed his woolly mammoth look. The transformation was so shocking that when I emailed this picture of him to one of my friends, he said: "I don't recognize that dog. What have you done to Rocky? Where is he?"

I'm sure that some of you have paid close attention to the brouhaha over how Amazon.com had "de-ranked" books by GLBT writers this past weekend, so I decided to check whether my books were ranked at all. I was very pleased to see that EYES OF DESIRE 2: A DEAF GLBT READER was still ranked, along with ... what? My novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS now has its own ISBN number and its publication date of October 2009 listed there. Yayyy! Some folks have asked me when ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: NOTES FROM A DEAF GAY LIFE would be available on Amazon. I'm not even sure when, but for the time being, please support RID Press directly at this link here and get your copy sooner than later! (Thanks.)

In the meantime, I'm getting psyched and ready for my week-long trip back to the East Coast. It'll be so great to catch up with friends in Philadelphia, DC, and New York. I know that I may be a little sad knowing that I won't be seeing Elsa again, but at the same time, I know I'll get to introduce Rocky to all my friends! (And yes, Tom and Jonathan have their own dear miniature daschund named Wendy. I can't wait to meet her!)

Are you subtitled? I sure am.

2009-04-13T23:24:00.003-05:00

Hello:

In my previous blog entry, I apologized for the lack of subtitles for the clip that Signcasts.com had done with me. I decided to rectify that situation. Enjoy!

Thanks for your patience.

Raymond

Who said that Deaf people aren't newsy? I sure am!

2009-04-12T17:52:00.030-05:00

Hello gang!

I've been far too busy lately, but I wanted to give y'all a quick summary of what mischief I've been up to lately.

DEAF BLENDER THEATRE
My show UN: 2 SHORT PLAYS ABOUT LOVE was a huge success. Signcasts has uploaded two videos of the director Evonne Bilotta-Burke and me talking about Deaf Blender Theatre. Both videos are unfortunately not subtitled, but if you do happen to know ASL (or just wanna see what we look like), please check out both videos at Signcasts.com!

Andrew J. Oehrlein is producing and directing Deaf Blender Theater's next show, D. L. Coburn's THE GIN GAME, featuring Douglas Bahl and Leslie Yount. The show runs from April 23 to April 25. Please go to Deaf Blender's web site for ticket information (and yes, you can actually order tickets online!). How 21st Century.

Deaf Blender Theatre won a slot to present my new play THAT CHAIR WAS MY WIFE as part of the Minnesota Fringe Festival, which opens on Thursday July 30th. Tickets will go on sale on July 1st at www.fringefestival.org, so please come see us! In the meantime, more information about the show will be posted in a month or so. It should make for an exciting summer!

WHISPERS OF A SAVAGE SORT: AND OTHER PLAYS ABOUT THE DEAF AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
You may recall reading about my next book PLAYING IT BY EYE: STAGE PLAYS ABOUT THE DEAF AMERICAN EXPERIENCE earlier on this blog. Well, the book is still on track to be published in September 2009; however, Gallaudet University Press has decided to change its title to WHISPERS OF A SAVAGE SORT: AND OTHER PLAYS ABOUT THE DEAF AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Its cover is being finalized for the Fall 2009 catalog, so once it's confirmed, I will post it on here with more juicy details. I'm really looking forward to its publication!

Reviews for ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: NOTES FROM A DEAF GAY LIFE
I scored one of the best reviews of my career recently. Please read Robb C. Sewell's review of my newest book here. One other review can be found here (by Amos Lassen); I've been told that Richard Labonte and Kathi Wolfe will have their reviews of the book posted soon. I'll link them from here when they're available. And of course, you're more than welcome to purchase your own copy of the book at this link.

That infamous episode of LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT ...
You know how urban legends and rumors propagate all over the Internet? I had to laugh when I saw an email forwarded from friends of friends of . . . oh, gee. The email said that there was going to be a brand-new episode of LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT. The problem? The email said it would air on Tuesday, April 3rd, which it did in 2007. This year it fell on a Friday, but I've been told by a few people that it's supposed to air on Tuesday, April 14th on the USA Network. If so, please doublecheck your local listings and see the show if you haven't done so already! I still find it hard to believe that more than two years have passed since I shot my big scene with Deanne Bray. And yes, as much as I'd enjoyed being on the show, I'm happily retired from acting! (Below is a snap of my most shamelessly notorious moment on national television.)

DEAF AMERICAN POETRY
I want to congratulate my friend John Lee Clark on the publication of his brand-new book DEAF AMERICAN POETRY. Ever since I met him in August 2001, he'd always talked about the need for an anthology featuring the work of Deaf poets, and by golly, he's finally pulled it off after so many years of researching and assembling what I'm sure will be a fine collection. I haven't seen the actual book itself, but I know that I have six poems in it ("The Crucifixion," "Spelling Bee 1978," "Learning to Speak I," etc.). I can't wait to read the work of other Deaf poets because that's what we need more of these days. Yes, Deaf poetry still matters. So get your own copy!

LAMBDA BOOK REPORT
Before I forget again, I believe that LAMBDA BOOK REPORT, a national quarterly that focuses on LGBT books and authors (or as they say, "the country’s most established review of contemporary LGBT literature"), will run an interview with yours truly later this month. I don't remember what I told the reporter last November, so guess I'll have to refresh my memory by picking up a copy when it comes out. ;-) At least I scored a mention in John Morgan Wilson's "Book Buzz" column for the month of April and Jameson Currier's "Queertype" blog. (Use the Web browser's find function to search for my last name "Luczak" if you check either link!)

Philadelphia Freedom? You bet!
On Saturday April 18th, I will give a rare reading from my book ST. MICHAEL'S FALL and my first public talk about ASSEMBLY REQUIRED as part of the Free Library Festival in Philadelphia. Please come on up and say hello if you're nearby. I promise not to bite, especially if you have a book for me to autograph. (Hint, hint.)

Ah, spring's definitely here! Yayyy.
I was most pleased when SOUTHWEST JOURNAL, a local neighborhood newspaper here in Minneapolis, chose my poem "Winter's Ex-Girlfriend" as part of their Spring Poetry section. To help celebrate spring's arrival, please read the first poem at this link. Enjoy welcoming spring! We've all earned it.

Okay. Anything else?
So yeah, what other mischief am I up to these days? WRITING, since I don't have any book contract after my first novel MEN WITH THEIR HANDS, which is to appear in October 2009. You'll "hear" more about the fruits of my labors when I nab book contracts for 'em. Which I hope will be soon.

Sorry if this blog entry feels like an April downpour, but this is what happens when you're busy and forget to inform the world what mischief you've been up to lately. *glances down at my dog resting his head on his front paws* Right, Rocky? Let's go for a walk around the neighborhood! It is spring.

Toodles, everyone!

Raymond

In case anyone wants my new YouTube link ...

2009-02-25T10:43:00.002-06:00

No one gives you a manual on how to be a Deaf gay man.

Enjoy. (Thanks!)

OMG! I've got a new video clip about my new book!

2009-02-24T19:02:00.009-06:00

As promised, here's my new clip about my new book Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life! Please enjoy.

Thanks!

No one gives you a manual on how to be a Deaf gay man.

2009-02-24T00:16:00.010-06:00

Yes, my dear friends, my eighth book Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life is coming out in a few days! I've waited almost twenty years for this book to see the light of day, so I'm very, very happy that it'll be in my hands by early next week.

RID Press will start promoting this book next week and on, so you can say you "heard" it here first! ;-) Heck, if you're as excited as I am, please do yourself a small favor. Order it now! RID Press won't be using Amazon for a while yet, which is why I encourage all to order directly from the publisher for prompt service.

Here's the publisher's description of the book:

"Raymond Luczak shares stories from his days growing up as a deaf gay man in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and learning signs in secret, trying to follow the music on the radio in order to be cool like his hearing classmates, and feeling clueless whenever gay cultural icons like the Village People, Queen, and Bette Midler were promoted in his small hometown. After he graduated from high school and enrolled at Gallaudet University, the world’s only university for Deaf people, he discovered gay literature and came out soon after. He eventually got involved with Deaf theater collaborators, educators, and sign language interpreters, from which his worldview is substantially reshaped on issues of identity, literacy, technology, and family.

Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life offers a rare in-depth glimpse into what it means to be a Deaf gay man who lives between the Deaf and hearing worlds."

Chapter titles include "Little Winks Everywhere," "The Night the Bee Gees Changed My Life," "Daggers in Our Hands," "My Technological Evolution as a Deaf Person," and "Lousy Show with Great Production Values." Most of the chapters in the book were published as essays in various periodicals over the last two decades. The book was actually inspired by my essay "Notes of a Deaf Gay Writer," which first appeared in the Christopher Street magazine in December 1990. That piece was my first national appearance as a Deaf gay writer, and eventually led to my editing Eyes of Desire: A Deaf Gay & Lesbian Reader a few years later.

Anyway, I will upload a clip about the book to YouTube later this week. (I'll announce the direct link to the video in this blog when I do.) But for now, you can download a PDF excerpt from the book right here and think of it as a tasty appetizer!

God, it's great to be back with a brand-new book! :-) Woo-hoo!

*hands shaking up in the air*

UN-notes on UN: 2 SHORT PLAYS ABOUT LOVE

2009-02-24T00:02:00.004-06:00

As is the case with my life at times, a lot can happen all at once. Happily, it's all good. (More on that soon in my next blog entry.)

For now, you should be aware that tickets are going fast in the last week's run of UN: 2 SHORT PLAYS ABOUT LOVE, and so far everyone have told me how much they love the plays and how excited they are to see Deaf theater return to the Twin Cities. I couldn't be more pleased! (Wanna go see the show? Order tickets here! Better yet, join us for the UNvalentine Cast Party on Saturday the 28th!) I have been so lucky to have worked with the wonderful Evonne Bilotta-Burke as director (I'd work with her again in a heartbeat!) and the fabulous Erin McGovern, and of course, the delightful Andrew Oehrlein. The voice actors James Gardner and Shelly Lehner were great as were JoAnn Schinderle and Jon Bigelow.

Now, I'd like to share the longer version of my "UN-notes" that appeared on the back of the show's program. We couldn't fit everything that we needed to fit in, so my playwright's notes were trimmed in half to fit:

Un-Notes on UN: 2 SHORT PLAYS ABOUT LOVE
by Raymond Luczak

Love is a hurricane that changes everyone’s lives once they experience it. How they deal with it says so much about them as human beings.
•
When the producer Andrew Oehrlein asked me for a script for his new theater company last spring, I’d undergone a devastating breakup some months before, so love⎯or, rather, the loss of it⎯was foremost in my mind. I knew I didn’t want to write an autobiographical play, but what? There’s an old trick that some dramatists use to make their plays more exciting⎯have two people very different from each other who struggle over the same thing in question⎯so I thought it’d be interesting to pit a Deaf murder suspect not care whether he was found guilty against a hearing lawyer with a perfect winning track record who did not want to lose. Murder and DNA test results, okay. But unconditional love? Hmm. Did it have truly a place in our world?
•
Sometimes I write in order to discover how I feel about something. Talking with a friend about something is one thing, but writing in order to find out how I truly feel about that same something becomes an act of self-confrontation. I didn’t realize how I’d felt about the expectations that one might have about a long-term relationship until I finished the first draft of UNCONDITIONAL MURDER in June 2008. Even though what the characters in that play had nothing to do with my breakup, I zeroed in on what had gone wrong.
•
Love will always endure, but only if we let it grow on its own terms. We cannot shoehorn love into a shoe that doesn’t fit. Love can be large as an elephant or tiny as a hummingbird. It’s not the law or blood that matters, but whether we are capable of loving anyone does.
•
Deaf friends have often told me that when the Deaf community gets together, it often feels like a family reunion even if they are not related by marriage or biology.
•
Fairy tales have always fascinated me not because of what they say but because of what they never say. I don’t mean to say that I don’t believe in those “happily ever after” endings, but I thought it would be fun to offer a twist on the Cinderella story. Did Cinderella and Prince Charming ever have children? None of the fairy tales say. But I just didn’t know where to go with the idea until I saw the intense debate on Proposition 8 in California rage on last summer.
•
Is UNHAPPILY EVER AFTER about a Deaf royal couple? No, not at all. They just happen to sign. What they go through has nothing to do with their ears.
•
In this world, which seems so filled with hatred and misunderstanding, I find that one mustn’t ever diminish one’s own capacity to love even if it may not always be traditional. There isn’t enough compassion to go around, so please be tender with each other regardless of how different we seem. The world’s mean enough already.

Thanks again to everyone who's seen the show, and to those who plan to see the show. Remember: We have only THREE more performances left! Please do come see it.

UN: 2 SHORT PLAYS ABOUT LOVE

2009-01-12T23:19:00.008-06:00

My, my! A new year's already here. (I'm just so glad that 2008 is over!)

Right now I don't have much exciting news lately (other than the fact that I'm still slaving away on the first draft of my new little magnum opus, which has entered six figures in terms of its word count) and that I have quite a few irons in the fire, but I did want to announce that UN: 2 SHORT PLAYS ABOUT LOVE (as in the one-acts UNCONDITIONAL MURDER and UNHAPPILY EVER AFTER) will open on February 18th, 2009 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Evonne Bilotta-Burke directs Erin McGovern and Andrew Oehrlein in both plays, with Albert Walla as our ASL signmaster. I'm so grateful to them (and Deaf Blender Theatre) for their understanding of my desire to focus on writing my new novel. (Of course, I'll continue to rewrite both plays as needed!)

In UNCONDITIONAL MURDER, Fiona, a hearing trial lawyer, has never lost a case in court. But this time she’s stuck with Griff, a deaf man who’s been accused of murdering his girlfriend. The problem? He doesn’t care whether or not he’s found guilty, and Fiona doesn’t want to blemish her perfect trial record. And in UNHAPPILY EVER AFTER, Cinderella realizes how truly unhappy she is in her nine-year marriage to Prince Charming, so she challenges both her husband and royal protocol when she finally sets out to find happiness.

Check out the nifty postcard below! We'll be distributing it all over the Twin Cities.

Hope you can join us in the fun onstage! Happy New Year to all!

Hugs,

Raymond

SUDDENLY SLOW: POEMS is finally published!

2008-12-06T19:33:00.018-06:00

Sorry for my unusually long silence in this blog, but I've been very busy finishing one book after another as well as preparing a pair of new one-acts that will open in February 2009. (Yes, my office assistant Rocky is still very much in my employ even though he sleeps an awful lot on the job. When he's awake, he loves to supervise even though I'm supposed to be his boss [heh!], though, so of course, he's a wee bit too good at that. I don't mind, though. Such a fantastic dog, though.)

These past eight months have been amazingly creative, not only in terms of quantity but (if I may say so) more importantly of quality. I haven't seen this much inspired stuff since the summer of 1990 when I wrote St. Michael's Fall: Poems, This Way to the Acorns: Poems, and most of Mute: Poems (finished that one after 20 years of working on it), half of Sylvia Plath Made Me Do It: A Fiction in Verse, and most of my first novel Men with Their Hands--all within an eight-month period! Now, in the past eight months alone, I've written three one-acts and two full-length collections of poems, finished two more long-standing unfinished books of poems, and began my first brand-new novel in well over a decade. (No, Lansel doesn't quite count because it's not even halfway completed, but don't worry--I intend to finish it in 2009. In fact, one of my New Year's resolutions is to write more fiction.) In any case, I'm very pleased with the way my new novel is going, as it's certainly taking me into new directions I never thought I'd take in my own writing. I wish I could be more specific here, but I'm afraid that I dislike talking about my works in progress as long as it's still an unfinished first draft. But this novel is definitely one that I was born to write, which is why I know I will finish it. It may take me a few months of constant rewriting once I finish its first draft; even though the book is already 82K words (and still counting), I feel that I'm only halfway there with its story; maybe not. Only time will tell. I'm just very excited about this novel.

Speaking of books, I will have three titles coming out in 2009. RID Press will publish Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life in the spring; Suspect Thoughts Press may also bring out Men with Their Hands: A Novel around the same time. Then Gallaudet University Press will bring out a collection of my full-length plays called Playing it by Eye: Stage Plays about the Deaf American Experience in the fall of 2009. I'm not too worried because I'm already looking forward to working with my new director Evonne Bilotta-Burke and her wonderful actors in my show Un: 2 short plays about love, which will open in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 19, 2009. The one-acts are called Unconditional Murder and Unhappily Ever After; since both titles begin with the letters "Un," the show is called Un. More details on the show and actors as soon as they are confirmed. They'll have a web site (but of course!) to promote the show as well, so please be on the lookout here for such salivating details!

More importantly, I am proud to announce that Handtype Press has finally brought out the first title of its limited edition chapbook series: John Lee Clark's Suddenly Slow: Poems. This collection of poems opens with a stumble: "It was not there / until I tripped over it."

But this is fitting because John Lee Clark bounces back, as he always does, artfully and unexpectedly, to make an astonishing statement. Snowballs, his long white cane, pears, Braille, bedsheets, sign language, and even morning light come alive in this deaf-blind poet's hands like they have never before.

Thanks to his sparkling language, his intellectual playfulness, and his capacity for wonder, together with his unique perceptions of life, his poems add a much-needed new wrinkle to the lexicon of imagination. What he reflects on, others cannot see in the same way again, and that includes the poet himself: We understand that he is like the rest of humankind in all the most important ways.

Better yet, read more about what others have to say about the book here and read a sample poem ("Something to Sleep On")! Sure, you can get the book via Amazon, but if you order directly from Handtype Press, you will naturally get your copy a lot faster. Actually, a lot faster!

I'll blog more later this month. Until then, may you all have a most Happy Holiday season!

Rocky Off-Duty: 22 June 2008

2008-06-22T17:14:00.008-05:00

It's been a while since I've blogged here, but the good news is that I've signed an agreement with Gallaudet University Press to publish a collection of my full-length plays Playing It by Eye: Stage Plays about the Deaf American Experience, which is slated to appear in the fall of 2009. (That should be my tenth book; I'll talk more about it once its cover is ready for all to check out, probably next spring.) I'm also working on a pair of one-acts which I hope will be produced in St. Paul this September. (More information to come as soon as they're confirmed, of course.) And yes, Rocky and I have been enjoying this gorgeous weather. Our buddy Steven Wilhelm shot a number of us romping around on the field next to the Walker Art Center earlier this morning, so please feel free to enjoy this very short film of slides, which I've called Rocky Off-Duty: 22 June 2008. There is so much sunshine and goodness in my life, for which I am eternally grateful.

Breathing Me ...

2008-05-10T23:58:00.012-05:00

Friday afternoon I took the elevator down from my apartment to my trusty bicycle. When I unlocked my bike, I realized that I’d forgotten to bring down my helmet and gloves. I debated going back upstairs, but I decided that I would do what I’d always done when I was growing up in Ironwood and biking on my second-hand ten-speed all over town: no helmet or gloves would do. I hadn’t done that in years. I had long waited for the weather to warm up enough for a leisurely bike ride around the Chain of Lakes (Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, and Lake Harriet are all linked via continuous bike trails), and the sun’s warmth seemed fortuitous, precious even. Earlier that morning I had taken the last of my things from my ex-boyfriend's duplex. That chapter of my life was indeed over.

With Sia’s song “Breathe Me” on my old iPod nano blaring into my ears (I have enough residual hearing to enjoy music albeit at a louder volume), I burst into an explosion of sunshine onto Aldrich Avenue South. These days I’ve been thinking a lot about the extraordinary last nine minutes of the TV series Six Feet Under’s finale, particularly because of the way Sia’s song “Breathe Me” was integrated perfectly with the visual edits, such that it was not just another musical coda. It was literally a goodbye to end all codas!

Sia sang helplessly and yet tenderly in the beginning of “Breathe Me” (the full lyrics are easily available online elsewhere):

“Help, I have done it again.
I have been here many times before.
Hurt myself again today,
And the worst part is there’s no one else to blame.”

As I pedaled south on Aldrich, I saw the apartment building where my brother Kevin once lived before he met his wife Holly. The windows of his garden-level apartment were blinded. I wondered about the squirrels that once came up to his windows. They were certainly in evidence, chasing each other up and down the tough trees lining the block. They, and full-grown rabbits brazen enough to sit upright and openly on front lawns before bouncing away, are the main reason why my dog Rocky loves walking around this neighborhood. His ears perk alive, his nose licked with anticipation and his paws poised to break free should I ever drop his leash. I thought about Rocky as I pushed my bike up West 22nd Street. Yes, I thought, I myself should strive to be alert and alive as he is whenever he is outside.

I turned left onto Bryant, swept at last of its winter gravel. With its parked cars gone for the day, it was as if the hard crystals of tears had finally caked and fell off my face. People on the sidewalk waved at me as I sped past. As I turned right again up on West 24th Street for Colfax, I saw the artist John Largaespada’s house where I met him for a ride to his preferred frame shop where I chose the frame for his brilliant digital photograph homage “New York Movie,” a vast improvement on Edward Hopper’s painting of the same title, a month after I moved to Minneapolis. It still hangs next to my desk.

There, ahead of me, were a block-long artillery of tree branches already filling out with the plumage of bud and bloom standing guard as I felt the blood of wanting to be alive again in my calves as I spun my pedals. Not just a mere “alive,” but the never-afraid-of-life alive.

At the corner of Colfax and West 25th Street, I saw Mueller Park. I thought of my ex-partner Tom’s mother, whose married last name was also Mueller. I hadn’t seen her in a few years, but Tom had told me that she was struggling with cancer, and that he would be with her in Ohio this weekend. I felt happy that I was able to bring a smile to her face when she learned that my film Ghosted, in which she appeared as a ghost, would be dedicated to her memory.

As I had Sia’s song on repeat, she continued to sing:

“Be my friend.
Hold me, wrap me up.
Unfold me.
I am small.
I’m needy.
Warm me up
And breathe me.”

Up on West 25th Street, I looked up at my old apartment on the third floor, which I’d loved so dearly and left for a man who eventually ended the relationship five months later. (We had been together for 15 months.) A young woman lives there in that apartment now, and her blinds looked a bit uneven. I thought of the slightly eccentric caretakers there, and how they’d turned very cold towards me once I left the building for the last time. It was almost as if I’d betrayed their faith and trust in me, as if I’d become flesh against blood.

I sailed west, past Emerson Avenue for Hennepin. As cars whizzed past, I waited for the lights to change and looked at the bus stop where I’d frequented for my buses downtown. Cars and trucks slowed down to a grudging stop. I zipped across Hennepin and headed over to the gas station where they offered free air. My tires had become flabby after sitting quietly in the dark of garages all winter. I pressed the tiny notch in the air pressure valve against the tiny tube of each tire, and felt the tire's plumpness turn solid. I was good to go.

I restarted my iPod and continued on West 25th Street. The houses became tonier as I flew down and turned left for the Lake of the Isles. I looked both ways as I glided onto the bike trail. There was almost no one out even on this bright and sunny day, so I glanced at the expansive (and expensive) houses which faces I’d memorized ever since I’d made the mistake of walking past the Euclid Street turnoff when I walked around the lake for the first time. (This happened at night.)

The tiny islands on my right had already starting to flesh out from their dull wintry grays. I wondered what they were truly like but they were completely off-limits as they were wild life habitats. They were the sort of places I loved exploring as a child back in Ironwood; their private nooks and crannies stoked the ashes of my imagination back to life and again. I recalled the priceless look of fear and exhilaration on my friend Paul’s face when he and I dared to walk across its frozen surface one February.

Up and down the incline, I stood on my pedals to coast over the jaggy bumps under the greenway for Lake Calhoun. Once past the bridge the path suddenly became an unbroken ribbon, repaved at last. I exulted in its smoothness by sitting fully in my saddle. The sun lathered its kisses all over my face.

I coasted into the wide mouth of the bridge holding up West Lake Street, watching the narrow path in the dark and glancing behind whenever possible to ensure that there weren’t any bike speed freaks zooming up from behind. Even on hot summer days when I biked around those three lakes, I adored the bracing coolness whenever I went from Lake Calhoun to the Lake of the Isles. It always felt like a splash of water on my body.

Up and around I reached for the start of Lake Calhoun’s regular bike path; the lake has long been renowned for people watching and people walking and running to be watched. As I passed its boathouse, I ducked and nearly lost my balance when I saw a hummingbird flounce seemingly at me but turned away for blooms unknown. To say that I felt startled by the hummingbird was an understatement.

Dogs of all kinds and sizes, panting, bounced along with their owners, and I thought again of Rocky, how fortunate I was to have him in my life. One of the reasons why I’d loved dogs so much growing up was their unconditional love and acceptance of what I was at a time when no one at school wanted to be my friend. I was this deaf ugly duckling boy with ungainly hearing aids. Dogs never cared about any of that; they were simply there. They wagged in the now, and more so if I stroked their heads. I’ll never forget how Rocky leaped onto my lap on the sofa, which I’d expressly forbidden (and still do), when I unexpectedly broke into tears while trying to apologizing to him for letting him down during the chaos earlier this year. He kept licking at my face until I had to stop crying and start laughing when he leaped off and returned with a stuffed squeaky toy that he wanted me to throw so he could fetch. The eagerness in his eyes made me remember that I had a life before the man who’d left me, and that I would do so after him. In fact, Rocky was demanding that I throw that dang toy across the long living room again! And again! And again. Dogs are so wonderful in the sense that they are a constant reminder of how life must go on, and a celebration of the seemingly mundane. Just ask their noses.

I slowed to a stop for a few gulps of water from my bottle. The walls of my insides, once parched, felt almost doubled in joy. As I inhaled the spritely lake air, I looked up at Lakewood Cemetery where I once zipped about on my scooter before getting caught the summer before. I truly had no idea that scooters were not allowed in the cemetery, but then again, I suspect the dead never liked noise too much anyway. Then I thought about how the cemetery had inspired a poem I’d written of love lost for the gardener-artist I’d fallen for a month after I moved into my new apartment, and how incredibly steadfast he had become as a friend. It had taken an unusually long time to compose each line; I had to prove to myself that in spite of my struggles, I still had the chops to craft a strong and memorable poem.

Sia sang again in my ears:

“Ouch, I have lost myself again.
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found.
Yeah, I think that I might break.
I’ve lost myself again and I feel unsafe.”

As I started again, I vowed to keep moving without stopping. I pushed my pedals with gusto on the flat trail before turning left for the steep hill leading up to Lake Harriet. As I allowed the melodic thrusts of Sia’s song to influence the timbre of my pedaling, I reflected on how Claire Fisher, the Six Feet Under character who was driving away to the ebbs and flows of the song like I was, had to deal with the demons of doubt as an artist in the making. Was she self-centered? Of course. All artists are. How could they not be? It is their very perspective that enables them to stand out and remind everyone else that conformity is a curse. Artists are true warriors. They fight conventionality so that others don’t have to.

I was surprised by how little effort it took me to conquer the hill, which was always the most difficult part of my three-lake ride. Perhaps I needed to feel solidarity with someone who truly understood what I had gone through, even with a fictional character filled with far more truth than some people I’ve met in my life, in order to feel inspired.

As I crossed the bridge, I caught sight of the empty trolley tracks. I reminded myself yet again that riding the trolley between the lakes was one of the things I must do, however seemingly trivial, if only to say that I’d done it. I did not want to die on a bed of regrets. I must keep trying new things I'd never done before.

I propelled myself even faster towards Lake Harriet. As I turned left onto its bike path, I suddenly remembered meeting a straight couple late one cold January night on the same spot when my ex-boyfriend and I were out on a walk. They were walking a huge Wheaton terrier. Rocky hadn’t come into my life then, but the tenderness in their eyes was apparent when I took off my mitts and petted their dog. His jaw was caked with ice clumps of snow. I had been worried about how things would work out between Rocky and me, but they said not to worry. How so right they were! As I pedaled on, more and more people came out with their dogs; the afternoon sun had cranked up a few degrees.

Up ahead on my left was Lake Harriet's bird sanctuary. I had to smile at the memory of stealing an incandescent kiss with a handsome date one morning, and how comforting it was to embrace him, there, alone amidst the din of birds calling out to each other. It was a déjà vu moment from 1989 when I was dating a Republican lobbyist who’d moved from Washington DC to San Francisco. He took me up to the Muir Redwoods Forest. The giganticness and tallness and majesty of these trees took my breath away, and he nuzzled my neck as the mists dropped angelic sighs all around us. He thought he himself could take my breath away too, at least enough to convince me to relocate to San Francisco, but I eventually chose to stay put in New York.

I glanced at the infamous rose garden in the short distance where on one summer day I took my DeafBlind friend John on a rented tandem bike around the three lakes. The roses were in full bloom then, and it was both touching and wonderful to see how my friend could detect by nose whether a rose was natural or a hybrid. I simply brought his hand to a new rose, and he’d bend down to sniff it. I’d look at the sign next to the bush, and he was always right which kind of rose it was. But right now the roses were not out in full force yet, but I made a mental note to myself that I would bring Rocky there when the roses bloomed. It is always a joy to see his tail wag.

Of the three lakes I biked, Lake Harriet with its far more tree shade was always the coolest. As I slid into the cocoon of buds ahead, I suddenly saw a flashback of my friend James from behind, how simply he pedaled without moving much of his upper body, the week I didn’t know I’d see him last. He was happy with all those trees surrounding him as Dallas didn’t have a whole lot of trees on the magnitude of Minnesota’s.

I imagined James lying there in his casket, buried back in Dallas, and how I never got to give him a proper goodbye. Wasn’t he supposed to stay around forever? All I kept thinking of was the last time I saw him: He stood still, his bearded jaw jutting out, rising up on the escalator at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport for his flight back to Texas. I didn’t know it then, but if one wishes to believe that Heaven is above us, then he was already headed for parts unknown.

“Be my friend.
Hold me, wrap me up,
Unfold me.
I am small.
I’m needy.
Warm me up
And breathe me.”

Yes, I wanted to breathe him, as I had wanted to breathe in all that I loved. I kept pedaling, not dwelling on how thirsty I was or how much I’d ached for all those people whom I knew and who had died. I’d shed enough tears, damn it! As I headed closer to the Lake Harriet Bandstand on my right, I saw a Basset hound puppy roll over on her back and rub it against the grass, chortling all the while as her owner laughed at her antics. I thought of Elsa, too, but then I chuckled at how Rocky had always done the exact same thing on the carpet in my apartment once I took off his neon orange vest. It was startling yet true how life does give you many gifts in such moments of clarity. It’s a matter of finding them in the most unexpected places. Those make for the best gifts, because they remind you of the continuity between life and death. Seeing that Basset puppy, I also saw both Elsa and Rocky flailing about happily in the same moment; just as Elsa had died, so will Rocky. (I do not believe that it’s a cosmic accident when, in less than 48 hours of Elsa’s death, I got my first email about Rocky along with his picture.) I embrace the eventual certainty of his death as much as I accept his feisty joy and energy into my own being. I accept that he will one day die as much as he is, every day, living. I must enjoy and love him now even though I know full well that I will be truly inconsolable for a long time whenever he goes. In order for me to be strong, I must also be weak. They are the two sides of the same coin. One cannot appreciate strength without weakness.

I pushed up the short hill from the Lake Harriet Bandstand, which led to my favorite part of the ride around the three lakes: the coasting from top to bottom back to Lake Calhoun. In that moment of letting go of my pedals, I forgot all about everything that had come before but the sheer motion of my body flying through space and time down that steep hill. I thought nothing else but the wings of my bicycle carrying me forward to parts unknown, imaginary or not, beyond Lake Calhoun. When will I ever finish Ghosted? What other new city would Rocky and I visit? Who would become my next love? Would I have a great summer? How would I get my creative mojo back again? Why bother being an artist in the first place? The answers to these nagging questions of my life didn’t matter so much anymore, because I knew I would rediscover what it means to be an artist, and that I would learn to trust my heart again. Breathing in all of life itself, I simply had to enjoy its questions more.

Ah, San Francisco!

2008-04-29T00:18:00.007-05:00

Getting away to San Francisco last week was truly restorative to my spirits. I was there to moderate a very successful panel discussion about the Deaf GLBT community at the SF Public Library. It was so great to meet some of the writers from Eyes of Desire 2: A Deaf GLBT Reader in person!

It was so delightful to see Rocky break into a sudden fit of mad joy, leaping bouncing and prancing once he touched the shores of Pacific Ocean. He really loved the sand there. He accompanied me all through the art museums and he was so patient whenever I paused to drink in visually the work of art before me; I think he was quite bored with the empty walls at his height. I particularly enjoyed the Gilbert & George show at the De Young. (Granted, that show is not for everyone, as it's so in-your-face, far more than Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorpe ever were, if you can imagine such a combination.) He has proven to be a great companion. Planes, trains, and buses all seem the same to him. :-) We did a lot of walking over these five days, so he was quite exhausted by the end of the day. In fact, he got into the habit of drinking a lot of water whenever I gave him some and grabbing a power nap when I wasn't moving!

On one of my many walks throughout the city, I stopped by the San Francisco Conservatory. They had nothing but orchids everywhere, so it was so soothing. I was very happy that no one was around, as it was just what I needed. I used my cell phone to take a few pictures there (I'd forgotten my regular Canon camera), and this is my favorite one. (No, I swear, I didn't Photoshop this one!) Enjoy.

These days I'm waiting for the weather to warm up again and resume an active walking schedule. I think Rocky would be too happy to sniff the pores and wafts of spring opening up everywhere!

Honestly I had no idea ...

2008-04-14T10:44:00.003-05:00

In the days since I posted my long entry about what I'd been going through in the last six months, I've gotten a small deluge of videophone calls and emails from friends who've basically said, "FINALLY! I've been checking your blog from time to time." It's been truly great to reconnect.

I honestly had no idea that people checked my blog from time to time. I thought no one cared anymore. :-/ I'll have to do better with blogging more often!

So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading. Yes, my dear friends, winter seems to be gone ... finally. And Rocky *wagging his tail* couldn't be happier!

Just a quick shot of Rocky ...

2008-04-09T01:16:00.007-05:00

Instead of typing a few pithy lines here, I've decided to offer my favorite picture of Rocky and me. (Thanks again, Kevin!)

When it rains, it truly POURS .... ah, spring!

2008-04-07T15:42:00.012-05:00

You know how life sometimes operates? When it rains, it truly POURS?

That's what the past six months have felt like. I'm only finally beginning to feel that the sun is finally shining here in my new apartment off Hennepin Avenue. To recap these past six months of my life:

Eyes of Desire 2: A Deaf GLBT Reader. The anthology has gotten some really nice reviews lately. I plan to post a new vlog about the book soon. I've also traveled to Monmouth, OR; Seattle, WA; Marquette, MI; and Fairmont, WV to give talks about the Deaf GLBT community. Meeting so many people from all walks of life has been truly enriching. My next trip? The evening of April 23rd at San Francisco Public Library, where I will moderate a panel discussion featuring the Bay Area writers from the anthology. I can't wait!

The gallbladder removal surgery. I feel great. There are now very minor surgical scars on my chest.

Elsa. I still miss her every day, but I'm very happy to report that Tom and his partner Jonathan has gotten a miniature daschund named Wendy through a friend of a friend. She's apparently a doll. I can't wait to meet her the next time I visit New York! (Still don't know when but I'm very tempted by the low plane fares between Minneapolis and New York ...)

James Sharer. I was quite devastated when he died, and in some ways I am still grieving for him. Who knew that a good friend could go so quickly, and without warning? He died about ten days after Elsa died, so the month of December turned out to be a time of grief. There have been moments in which I wanted to email him and ask for his advice about this or that, only to be struck with, "Damn, I can't." He was like a human Google machine. But more than that, he was a truly great friend.

Rocky. This peppy terrier mix, a hearing service dog, is now in my life. Even though I've had dogs adore me from the first time I petted them, his devotion to me is utter and total, it's almost scary! He simply won't leave me out of his sight, even when I'm giving a presentation onstage. But he is truly a wonderfully spirited dog who turns out to be incredibly well-behaved in restaurants, on planes, and so on. He's truly extraordinary. Dogs have always enriched my life, and Rocky happily proves to be no exception.

Lou. To make a long story short, we are unfortunately no longer a couple; the 15-month relationship ended late January. I feel sad about that, but I will venture this much: I will never date a newly out man again. (He had been out for only two months when we first met.) Yes, I'm single. :-/

Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life. I'm in the final stages of rewriting this collection of pieces for RID Press, so I expect to see RID Press bring it out sometime this year. (More information to come as soon as details are finalized.) Yes, Assembly Required will be my eighth book! Of course, I have a few other titles in the pipeline, but this is a definite. Can't wait!

My new apartment. Only in the past week did I feel truly settled in, and happier to be back in my old neighborhood. I feel much clearer now, particularly now that spring has indeed arrived. I look forward to having my spirit opening up to all the flowers that will soon bloom everywhere amidst birds and bees flitting about the grass, plants and trees shaking off the dull coat of winter for an endless sea of green. (Yes, I can be quite purplish with my prose, but enough with the gloom of winter already!)

Yes, my dear friends, it's that time to feel young once again! Look, the sun is shining . . . . *Straps on my cherry red helmet, revs up my scooter, and zips off into the distance*

Never enough time ...

2008-01-04T12:57:00.000-06:00

What a year, and it's barely begun!

These past few days have been a bit nerve-wracking in preparation of my first panel discussion tonight about the Deaf GLBT community, which I will moderate in support of my anthology Eyes of Desire 2: A Deaf GLBT Reader. But I'm very grateful to the Loft Literary Center for being so supportive of my efforts to make the event truly accessible to all. Minneapolis is so lucky to have such a cool place to call their own.

Tomorrow I will meet my new dog's trainer whom I will be working with next week, so I'm looking forward to that. (Yes, it's truly hard to believe that I will have a new service dog a week from tonight.) Lou will no doubt take a few pictures of my new dog when he arrives; I'm sure he will post some online then.

After meeting my new trainer, I will then go to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to take in the Georgia O'Keeffe show before it closes on Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon Lou and I will go see the sign-interpreted performance of the hit Broadway musical AVENUE Q. All in all, it should be a fun weekend, but there's never enough time to have more fun. :-/

Still, I wish you all a most Happy New Year!

A panel discussion about the Deaf GLBT community!

2007-12-18T08:23:00.001-06:00

Discuss. That's exactly what ten Minnesotan writers, both Deaf and hearing, from my new anthology Eyes of Desire 2: A Deaf GLBT Reader will do on the night of January 4th, 2008. (For those who haven't "heard" about the book yet, it is a collection of stories, interviews, and poems about and by members of the Deaf gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender [GLBT] community. It is also the first such book to focus on the Deaf GLBT experience in fourteen years.)

The writers include Karen Conway, Jessica Eggert, Jessalyn Frank, C J Hetle, Elise Knopf, John Kowalczyk, Michael La Rocca, Barry R. Segal, Canae Weiss, and Patricia White.

I will moderate the lively discussion, which will be ASL- and voice-interpreted for all. The event will also have CART captioning for those who are late-deafened and hard-of-hearing. It’s also wheelchair-accessible! (Participants will receive .2 CEUs from RID at the beginning level.)

The event is FREE. Hope to see you there!

Friday, January 4th, 2008 — 7 to 9 p.m.
The Loft Literary Center
1011 Washington Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55415
612-215-2571 (voice)

James Thomas Sharer 1964 - 2007

2007-12-17T23:43:00.001-06:00

On the morning of December 11th, I got a video relay call from my friend James's boyfriend. He told me that James had passed away the night before. I couldn't quite believe that he could be gone. He was exactly one year and two months older than I was!

The freaky thing was that I'd set up an accounting program per his recommendation a few minutes before, and that the night before my boyfriend and I talked about him. I always felt that he was one of the most reliable and knowledgeable people I'd ever met, and how lucky I was to have him as a close friend. I knew that some people had issues with him, partly because he seemed so inscrutable and hard to read at times, and partly because he could be so stubborn beyond belief. But he was the type of person who, once he'd decided that you were worthy, could be a friend of yours for life.

The very next day I got this forwarded email from James's boyfriend (apparently his family had written it because James told me himself that he never liked being called "Jim"):

"On Monday 12-10-07 at 12:55 James T. Sharer finally was reunited with his brothers and mother. He was born Sept. 24, 1964 in Dallas to the late Polly Jean Pringle Sharer and Jack B. Sharer. He was a lifelong Dallas resident. Jim attended the National Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, NY. He worked for the Sorenson Company as a regional manager.

Jim was preceded in death by his mother, Polly Sharer; and by his three brothers, Tommy, Jack Jr., and Robert Sharer. He is survived by his father, Jack B. Sharer of Dallas; uncle, David Sharer of Texarkana; nephew, Eryk Sharer and wife, Michelle; and two great-nephews.

Burial will be at 1:30 P.M. on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007, in Restland Memorial Park, followed by a Memorial Service at 2:30 P.M. at John Calvin Presbyterian Church, 4151 Royal Lane, Dallas."

When I read that, I felt waves of sadness overtake my being for the rest of the week. He was really, really gone. All week prior to Saturday I couldn't stop thinking about him, and what he'd generously done for so many people over the course of his all-too-brief life; he was also involved with deaf GLBT organizations (Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf, Deaf GLOW, etc.) and the hearing bear community. (He also ran BearyClean Services.) I was a bit disappointed to see that no one seemed to have talked about him via Deafread.com, so I simply wanted to say, "James, may the Big (Bear) Guy Upstairs bless you forevermore!"

The picture of him above was our last night together when he visited with Lou and me last August. I continue to miss him terribly.

Fingerspelling in the Operating Room (and other stuff)

2007-11-28T20:18:00.000-06:00

I know it's been a while since I've blogged in here, but a lot's happened earlier this month. I didn't want to worry anyone about my laparoscopic gallbladder removal surgery until I was more or less recovered. Lou took this picture of me moments after I'd woken up from my surgery. I was spaced out, naturally, but what really touched me was the fact that the hospital made sure that all my interpreting needs were met. I almost didn't have to ask for one! And weirder--but in a good way--was the fact that when I was wheeled into the operating room, I saw a bunch of orderlies wearing those masks, which meant I couldn't lipread anyone. But a few of them did know how to FINGERSPELL so while they prepped me, they would ask me things like, "You O-K?" I had to blink my eyes twice to make sure that I wasn't dreaming under their warm glare of lights. Still, that made me feel a lot better even though I was rather scared of "going under the knife." The removal of my gallstones along with my gallbladder happened on the Thursday before Elsa died. (See my previous entry about her for more information.) I'm looking forward to my followup appointment with my surgeon on Friday and showing off how quickly the four scars on my chest have healed. Truly, medicinal technology can be so amazing at times. I've had conversations with folks who had their gallbladders removed fifteen to twenty years ago, and they were all so jealous that I had such a minimally invasive procedure (in their time, they had to stay overnight and endure a single cut of 10 centimeters alongside the bottom of their ribcages), and that I was only an outpatient. I went in just before noon and left the hospital at 5 p.m. the same day. The next two days were full of pains in my belly, but the pain that had been caused by the gallstones was completely gone. Miraculous!

If that wasn't enough, Elsa's death was one more thing, but it was quite another to learn only two days later that I would be getting a hearing service dog in January, which I'd applied for back in August when Lou and I moved in together. (For one thing, our apartment is way too large for me to hear the buzzer, which was rather quiet, and what's more, our office is quite a ways from the buzzer.) It was a truly bizarre timing, but one I'm most grateful for. It was really hard for a few days whenever I thought about Elsa. (Tom said the very same thing, but I would imagine it was a lot harder for him as she was his "office assistant" as he also worked from home. Tom and I used to have this running joke about Elsa: "She's the worst office assistant ever lived. Look at how lazy she is! Why doesn't somebody just fire her?" Then she'd open one eye while dozing on her end of the sofa and give us a look that always made us laugh.) Anyway, I just couldn't believe that she was gone. But what the trainer said about the new dog that he's training for me ("He is a terrific dog and a lot of fun to be around.") has made me feel rather hopeful and excited, as I'm such a major dog lover. It will be an interesting new chapter in my life when the new dog arrives on January 11th. I will share more along with pictures in January, but you stand forewarned. ;-)

Then a week after my surgery, Lou and I joined my family for a big Thanksgiving dinner at my sister Carole's house. It was the first time in 24 years that I was able to eat turkey with my family (there were 22 of us there), so it was a really nice homecoming of sorts. I was really worried about how my digestive system would react to the food I ate. (For those who don't know what the gallbladder does, it's a reservoir of bile for those times we eat too much fat all at any one time. We need bile in our stomachs to help break down the fats in our food. If we don't have enough bile in our system, we might get temporary cramps. So far I haven't had problems which means I've sufficient bile in my stomach all along. I sure hope so!

A few days later, Lou and I celebrated my 42nd birthday. We first ate out at Cafe Maude, an absolute favorite of mine here in the Twin Cities, and then we checked out the Museum of Russian Art. Who knew that Minneapolis would be home to the only museum in America completely devoted to Russian art? Then later that night Lou and I had some Peking duck. (Yes, Peking duck. I wanted to eat something totally different for my birthday.) It was a most wonderful day.

On that same day I got an unexpected email from Suspect Thoughts Press. They wanted to push the publication of my Deaf gay novel Men with Their Hands until later in 2008. I was a bit bummed about that, but I am still happy that my book will come out later than never at all. :-) Just around the same time I got offered a new contract for a new book of mine (my ninth!), so I'm just waiting for the finalized changes in our agreement before I announce anything specific about the project. Once the ink of my signature dries on the bottom line, I will be working very quickly with my editor. Hopefully, my rewrites will be done by the end of next month so that the book can come out sometime in 2008, maybe at the same time as Men with Their Hands. Wouldn't that be so cool? Either way, 2008 promises to be a thrilling year.

These days I have been working on sending copies of Eyes of Desire 2: A Deaf GLBT Reader to customers, bookstores, and whatnot, and trying to get the book reviewed. The book scored its first review in The Washington Blade last week. I've been told that there's going to be a review in SIGNews soon, but I have no idea what it's going to say about the book or even who wrote it. But either way I'm most grateful for book reviews because not only do we writers have to compete with the idea of competing to be among the 50,000 titles that are published a year in America (and unfortunately not all of us make it to the top of the New York Times bestseller lists), we also have to push newspaper and magazine editors to review our books once they come out; more often they won't because there are way too many high-profile books coming out of New York. Getting your own book reviewed has proven far tougher than it was back in the 1990s mainly because many periodicals no longer carry book reviews. (What?!? Yep. The business of being a writer has gotten even tougher.)

When not taking care of orders for Eyes of Desire 2, I've been editing the new ASL storytelling DVD collection featuring Manny Hernandez. Some of you may recall that he and I worked together on his first DVD called Manny ASL: Stories in American Sign Language five years ago, which was a huge hit at Deaf Way II and beyond. Over the next few years Manny and I shot a wealth of strong material for a sequel DVD. It's truly a joy to edit his work not just because he's one of the great ASL storytellers out there but because I can truly *see* how much he's matured in his craft as a storyteller. When his new DVD's good to go out in the world, I'll let you know here, there, and everywhere! I know fans of his work will drop their jaws at his new stories on Manny: ASL for a Better Life. As you can tell, I'm very, very excited. :-)

When not working or watching movies, I've been slowly improving my skills as a cook. I'm finally grasping most of the instructions in those recipes. I think the part of my brain that's designed for cooking was wayyyy out of shape from underuse so I needed to nudge it slowly into shape so that I can become a better cook. It's not as intimidating as I'd always thought it would be, so I'm learning a great deal. It's been a fun journey so far. And of course, I'd have to thank Lou for his patience (and help along the way)!

A few more things. Quite a few people emailed me to say that they were so sorry to have missed my book launch party for Eyes of Desire 2 at the Blue Moon Coffee Cafe earlier this month (November 2nd, to be exact); they'd heard a lot about the event. It was truly a great party. About 50 people came, and it was so great to see nine Minnesotan writers from Eyes of Desire 2 meet and greet their new fans. It was rather funny to see some people bringing their copies of the book to all of them and asking them for their individual signatures, and some of them bumped into each other on the way to get all their signatures in their copy! In any case, the Loft Literary Center has agreed to host a panel discussion about the Deaf GLBT community with the Minnesotan writers from Eyes of Desire 2 on Friday, January 4th (7 to 9 p.m.). Interpreters in Minnesota should be aware that "participants will receive .2 CEUs from RID at the beginning level." I will post a flyer about the event soon.

Oh yes: I'll be giving a short speech in honor of Deaf people and World AIDS Day at St. Paul College Auditorium (1 pm to 4 pm) this Saturday, so please join us if you're local to the Twin Cities! (Yes, I will be selling and autographing copies of Eyes of Desire 2, of course.) After that I expect to go into hiding until January 4th.

Sorry that my entry today was unusually long, but as you can tell, I haven't been sitting around idly and pigging out on peppermint bon-bons while watching the latest episode of As the World Turns.

Have a most Happy Holiday season, everyone!

Hugs,

Raymond

Elsa 1994 - 2007 (May she rest forever in peace)

2007-11-18T20:14:00.000-06:00

Our much-beloved Basset hound Elsa died today. For those of you who knew me when I lived in New York, you know how much I doted on her. She was a beautiful dog with lots of sparkling personality to match; like her namesake Elsa Maxwell, she had the innate gift of befriending anyone, including those who claimed to dislike dogs. I cast her as herself in my not-yet-released feature film GHOSTED, so it's going to be hard for me to see her in the movie when I return to editing its final cut. As my former partner Tom said in his email, "We had to put Elsa to sleep this morning. She developed what appeared to be lung cancer, and was beginning to suffer. She was nearly blind, couldn't walk very well, and had been panting for about a week. She virtually stopped eating and had lost about 10 pounds over the course of a week. [My sister] Marcia and [her wife] Lynn took her to the vet for us--we couldn't do it. There was much crying on all our parts, but it really was time. She didn't suffer at all at the end, they gave her a sedative and off she went, very peacefully." She was thirteen years old. The picture of her above is the last time I was with her in February 2007; the one below is when she was an adorable puppy in June 1994 who bounced right into our lives and earned our great love and affection. It was so hard to leave her back in 2005 when I moved from New York to Minneapolis, so it's even harder to let her go now. It may take me yet another box of kleenex before I can talk about her without emotion in my voice. No words can convey how much I will miss her.

On a safari with Shelfari!

2007-10-28T12:32:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine alerted me to this social networking site that revolves around books. I thought it quite lovely, and what's more, they do make it easy to add your shelf of favorites (and a wishlist) to your blog. (No, they're not paying me to shill their web site.) I also think it's great to give a sense of what I enjoy reading so that if there are others who enjoy more or less the same things, it'd be great to connect and make new friends that way.

Anyway, I'll try to update my favorites with short comments about why I liked some of these books from time to time. My list is on the lower right-hand column of this blog.

My sister Mary

2007-10-25T17:26:00.000-05:00

Today I went over to the hospital where my sister Mary, who's one year older than I am and who's hearing, held a lovely party to celebrate the fact that it was her last chemotherapy treatment. (She had breast cancer surgery earlier this year, and her tumor was successfully removed. The chemo is basically preventative medicine.)

It was so nice to see her surrounded by her loved ones and friends. I stayed with them for a few hours, so as far as parties in hospitals go, it was a great one. (Yes, I had a bon-bon or two.)

Sleep well, Mary! I'm very happy to know that you'll be around for many years to come! Love ya.

Marginalia

2007-10-21T15:47:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note about the fact that my poem "Creeping to the Shortest Day of the Year" just got accepted for publication in MARGINALIA, an annual literary review published and edited by the English Department of Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. I wrote this poem a few years ago on the train back from Washington, DC to New York when I owned a laptop. This is particularly sweet because all this year I didn't try very hard to submit my poems to various literary journals. I need to try harder and submit my work "out there" more often. Ah, the joys and the drags of being a writer! :-/

The launch party for EYES OF DESIRE 2 . . . announced!

2007-10-18T12:56:00.000-05:00

For those of you who haven't "heard" already, the very first book launch party for my newest book has been announced. If you're local to the Twin Cities, please come on over to Blue Moon Coffee Cafe (3822 East Lake Street, Minneapolis 55406) on Friday, November 2nd from 7 to 9 p.m. If you want to look at just who the eleven Minnesotans are in the book, please look no further than http://www.handtype.com/media/EOD2BookLaunch.pdf!

I want to thank Lou for taking pictures of my new book from a variety of angles. The one above is probably my favorite shot of all.

Hope to see ya all at the party! Can't wait to meet and greet everyone.

My new book is in . . . my hands!

2007-10-09T22:59:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone--

Very few people have seen this blog but I did want to let out a tiny peep of joy that my seventh book, EYES OF DESIRE 2: A DEAF GLBT READER, is finally out. I'm just shocked by how good it really looks. I guess I had low expectations or something, but wow! I'm just very happy about the fact that my three-year journey is actually over.

You would think that I can finally go to bed and rest. (Hah! I'm giving a short presentation in White Bear Lake tomorrow evening.)

And of course, I'm now waiting for a shipment of padded bubble envelopes so I can ship those lovely babies to their new parents who can't wait to read all about the Deaf GLBT community from all over the world! (Sorry about that, but we're all just gonna have to wait.)

Hugs,

Raymond

I've been YouTubed!

2007-10-07T14:37:00.000-05:00

Check it all out ....

Thanks to Ocean's insistence (and enthusiasm for the book), I've had my first YouTube uploading experience. But more than that, I hope you will see what she has to say about my new book at http://deafpagan.com/2007/10/07/eyes-of-desire-2-the-video/

Who knew how wonderful some Deaf pagans can be? ;-) Thanks again, Ocean!

Pah! About time!

2007-09-28T11:36:00.001-05:00

I've been keeping a pseudo-blog of sorts for a long while, but it didn't have a place for reader comments. Now that I'm finally coming out of hibernation with my new book EYES OF DESIRE 2: A DEAF GLBT READER, it's also time to reconnect with the world out there.

More to come out ... soon!