gay

At 95, Ned Rorem Is Done Composing. But He’s Not Done Living

Martin Kelley — Wed, 24 Oct 2018 03:38:41 +0000

The Times has a nice profile of the not-dead Pulitzer Prize composer and gay icon. The piece doesn’t mention his Quaker roots (he was born in Richmond, Indiana and raised as a Friend) but an embedded playlist includes “Mary Dyer did hang as a flag,” a piece from his 1976 composition A Quaker Reader.

I don’t know much about Rorem or the extent or ongoingness of his Quaker identity (if anyone wants to share more in the comments that would be great). I keep a list I call “Surprising Unexpected Unlikely Quakers” for names people give me of famous’ish people with Quaker connections. Who’s your favorite unlikely Quaker?

At 95, Ned Rorem Is Done Composing. But He’s Not Done Living. (Published 2018)

As the composer, writer and gay icon lives quietly on the Upper West Side, his music and books…

www.nytimes.com

YouTube star Jessica Kellgren-Fozard on her Quakerism

Martin Kelley — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 11:38:08 +0000

Jessica Kellgren-Fozard is a disabled TV presenter with 266,000+ followers on YouTube. She’s also a lifelong Friend from the UK. She’s just released a video in which she talks about her understanding of Quakerism. It’s pretty good. She occasionally implies that some specifically British procedural process is intrinsic to all Quakers but other than that it all rings true, certainly to her experience as a UK Friend.

I must admit that the world of YouTube stars is foreign to me. This is essentially a webcam vlog post but the lighting and hair and costuming is meticulous. Her notes include affiliate links for the dress she’s wearing ($89 and yes, they ship internationally), a 8 1/2 minute video tutorial about curling you hair in her vintage style (it has over 33,000 views). If you follow her on Instagram and Twitter you’ll soon have enough details on lipstick and shoe choices to be able to fully cosplay her.

But don’t laugh too much, because in between the self presentation tips, Kellgren-Fozard tackles really hard subjects–growing up gay in school, living with disabilities–in ways that are approachable and intimate, funny and instructive. And with a quarter million YouTube followers, she’s reaching people with a message of kindness and inclusion and understanding that feels pretty Quakerly to me. Margaret Fell liked herself a red dress sometimes and it’s easy to argue George Fox would be a YouTuber today.

Bonus: Jessica Kellgren-Fozard will host a live Q&A chat on her Quakerism this coming Monday. If I’m calculating my timezones correctly, it’ll be noon here on the U.S. East Coast. I plan to tune in.

White House smear campaign: Gay and Canadian

Martin Kelley — Fri, 18 Jul 2003 17:32:03 +0000

This would be funny if it weren’t serious. This would be serious if it weren’t pathetic. A few days ago ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman ran a story about low morale among U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. The next day someone in the White House tipped off gossip king Matt Drudge that Kofman was openly gay and (maybe worse) a Canadian. Lapdog Drudge complied with the headline “ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINT STORY IS CANADIAN.” It’s amazing what tidbits the White House thinks are newsworthy. You’d think the milestone that U.S. casulties in Iraq have surpassed those of the 1991 War might just get the President’s attention.