Number 163 Fall 2015 $9.95Issue 164 / Winter 2016 NOT LOSING MY RELIGION Submission Deadline: October 21, 2015 www.rfdmag.org/upload Over the years many of RFD’s pages have been gifted with voices about creating an alternative spiritual path to combat the homophobia often found in the “mainstream” religious traditions but we thought given the shifts in mood and how mainstream queer has become in recent years even within a religious context. So we’re asking you dear readers to consider writing about your experiences which reflect a positive light with reli- gion coming from any of the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) or any of the other traditional faiths which have in the past had a problem with homophobia or queer inclusion. Send your articles, poems, photo- graphs, drawings, paintings, sculpture, performances, snapshots, instagrams, photoshops, sewing projects, musical scores, and other artwork to us at www. rfdmag.org/upload/ Photo: Jere Keys RFD 163 Fall 2015 1 Rearview Focus Deepens Vol 42 No 1 #163 Fall 2015 As we wrap up forty years of RFDs existence we’re struck by the amazing variety of articles and art that has graced our pages. In this issue we asked you our dear readers to share some of your favorite articles and artwork. Many asked for pieces by Harry Hay and James Broughton. But we also heard lovingly of others who have touched the RFD family who have passed on: Crazy Owl, David Baker (Beautiful Dove) and Michael Mason. It’s with interest that this generation of RFD’s Collective members are becoming aware of the deeper heritage and history of RFD and it’s varied readers that we heard from a former collective member, Charles, who worked on RFD during it’s Running Water days about a manuscript of Michael Mason’s poetry which he had all these years! We struck up a conversation with Franklin Abbott, Sister Soami and Michael’s partner, Billy about Michael’s legacy and a note appended to his remembrance in RFD’s pages saying he’d left a manuscript hoping a book could be produced. And now twenty-six years later we’re again considering ways of honoring Michael’s legacy in our lives. We also wanted to show how RFD has touched our readers in a direct way and Randy and Dave’s story of meeting through RFD’s pages and remaining partners all these years later is an inspiration. We chose to share one of their early RFD dispatches as well as them sharing an update. As ever it is the story of connection which makes RFD special and we hope this issue helps you connect to some of our past. Many readers also asked to see photo spreads from the past and we chose two: Ben Fink’s photos from Short Mountain and Keisha Lorraine’s photos from New York City. Sadly, we didn’t have access to Ben’s originals but we hope they come across the page. Sadly, as we were going to press we heard news of Garret (Jackie Bigelow’s passing). Our condolences to friends near and far as we know Jackie touched so many people. In putting together this issue we had to scan the original articles but in some cases were able to find the art work in our files or ask for fresh copies, so we thank our friends for dusting off their files for us. Another thing for us in putting together this issue was the huge amount of retyping we had to do after scanning, it was daunting -- only a flurry of summer parties here in the Upper Valley of Vermont helped with the eye strain. As ever our devoted crew noshing on energy bars, organic chocolate and Newman’s Ginger O’ Cookies make this possible. In the next issue of RFD we’re asking you our beloved readers to share their positive experiences in the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Please share the idea with friends and as ever we’re thankful for your interest & your stories, art and ideas shape RFD. —From the hillards of Vermont at peak fall your devoted RFD crew. Between the Lines2 RFD 163 Fall 2015 RFD is a reader-written journal for gay people which focuses on country living and encourages alternative life- styles. We foster community building and networking, explore the diverse expressions of our sexuality, care for the environment, Radical Faerie consciousness, and nature-centered spirituality, and share experiences of our lives. RFD is produced by volun- teers. We welcome your participation. The business and general production are coordinated by a collective. Features and entire issues are prepared by different groups in various places. RFD (ISSN# 0149-709X) is published quarterly for $25 a year by RFD Press, P.O. Box 302, Hadley MA 01035-0302. Postmaster: Send address changes to RFD, P.O. Box 302, Hadley MA 01035-0302. Non-profit tax exempt #62-1723644, a function of RFD Press with office of registration at 231 Ten Penny Rd., Woodbury, TN 37190. RFD Cover Price: $9.95. A regular subscription is the least expensive way to receive it four times a year. First class mailed issues will be forwarded. Others will not. Send address changes to submissions@rfdmag.org or to our Hadley, MA address. Copyright © RFD Press. The records required by Title 18 U.S.D. Section 2257 and as- sociated with respect to this magazine (and all graphic material associated therewith on which this label appears) are kept by the custodian of records at the following location: RFD Press, 85 N Main St, Ste 200, White River Junction, VT 05001. On the Covers Front : Danny Ferrell Back : Richard Vyse Production Managing Editor: Bambi Gauthier Assistant Editor: Rosie Delicious Art Director: Matt Bucy Submission Deadlines Winter–October 21, 2015 Spring–January 21, 2016 See inside covers for themes and specifics. For advertising, subscriptions, back issues and other information visit www.rfdmag.org Artists in this Issue Danny Ferrell Cover Richard Vyse Back Cover Caffy 2 Jim Hennengen 19, 21 Steve Heselton 20 Kevin Girard 22 Butterfly 24 Hyperion 28, 29 Keith Gemerek 41-45 Ben Fink 50-55 RFD 163 Fall 2015 3 CONTENTS Two Men, The Wilderness & Star Route Hammocks ......................Dave Vegliano & Randy Krahn .....4 Retrospective On All Those Years ...............Dave Vegliano & Randy Krahn .....7 Miso: Food for 100,000 Years ...................Crazy Owl ......................8 Long Live Gaiety ..............................James Broughton ................10 Fairy Purity Committee ......................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Racism Fosters Delusions .......................Gabby Haze ....................14 A Call for Dialog ..............................Will Roscoe ....................16 Step Away from Fantasy ........................Joseph Kramer ..................22 Remarks for the Stonewall Rebellion’s Twentieth Anniversary ......................Harry Hay ......................24 What’s a Radical Faerie .........................John Burnside ..................28 The Man Who Fell in Love with Being; An Interview with Tom Spanbauer ............Jan Nathan Long ................30 Dress Up .....................................Tom Spanbauer .................32 Mazes & Labyrinths: A Personal Journey .........Leopard ........................34 The Labyrinth of Time .........................David Baker ....................39 The Personal Becomes Political Becomes Spritual .Keith Gemerek / Keisha Lorraine .41 Michael Mason ................................Lee Steenhuis ...................47 Poems ........................................Michael Mason .................48 Ben Fink: Photographs .........................Lekker Ding ....................50 Diggers, Free Land and Diablo Canyon: Story of Faeries Reclaiming ..................Covelo .........................57 Rockwalls & Sex ...............................Scott O’Hara ...................60 Garrett Farwell Domina—Jackie Bigelow .........Blue Bayer, Go-Go-Gary, Goatboy 624 RFD 163 Fall 2015 T he valley spreads out before us like a grand wel- coming porch on the house that is our moun- tain. But those wooded buttes and the sweeping valley in the distance can no longer be considered merely our “home”. Rather, they are a part of the totality of our daily lives. The land beneath our feet gives us our food, our play, our work, health and support. It’s the never-ending process of “making it on the land”. What we write here is the story of that “making it”. It is a narration of words to convey the daily work, self-sacrifice and stubborn determi- nation of two men doing it together. And equally important are the words that show the healthy laughter, the solitude to free the mind, and the just plain good feelings that are growing side by side with that work and sacrifice. We grew up believing that our “home” was the house with green shutters and daddy’s car in the driveway. “Play” was the park three blocks away. We saw our “food” as Safeway or A&P once a week and our “health” was a vaccination shot that hurt. “Work” was pumping gas at the Shell station while our “support” was once-weekly trips to that old brick church. But we also grew in the comprehen- sion that this was not to be our destiny. Two men growing up 3,000 miles apart, each separately com- ing to conclude that an alternative had to be sought. And seek we did. Dave wrote the contact letter to RFD and Randy read it. Dave wanted “more than just a caretaker”. Randy wanted more than just a friend. We wrote lots of letters and visited with each other. The love that we both, had to give and needed so badly became very much entwined. The mutu- ally sought self-sufficiency became welded into one determined “let’s do it!” Dave had bought 40 acres in Humboldt County, complete with a house, garden site, and running water. His pursuit of the self-sufficient lifestyle was to include this headstart, included in the price of the land. Randy entered with the experience and power of partnership that was to cement their mutual goal. Randy left 2 1/2 years of working on a 300 acre cattle ranch in southern Oregon to wake up one morning with no income, a 20 x 30 redwood cabin, a lover, and a wide-open opportunity. Dave awoke with the dread of another day of going to work in Eureka. Well, somebody had to pay the bills, at least for that first year. Okay, so we’re on the land. But all is not ethe- real beauty and good feelings. Living on the land is work, bumps and bruises, and sometimes disap- pointment. It’s never enough money. It’s day to day planning that may not go as planned. The land demands skills, lots of skills, that you had better learn ahead or be ready to learn quickly upon mak- ing the move. Living on the land is not just sunny mornings and skinny-dipping. The weather and flowing water greatly influence your life, while you may naively believe that you are the master over nature. Making it on the land is really making it WITH the land. It is giving and taking, you and the Two Men The Wilderness & Star Route Hammocks By Dave Vegliano & Randy Krahn RFD 31 RFD 163 Fall 2015 5 land becoming best of friends. The 40 acres that is our best friend is mostly north-sloped, wooded with oak and fir, gravity flow water and a Bureau of Land Management access road winding through it. Electricity and phone service stop several miles down the valley to the west. The state highway and our mailbox are one mile down the mountain and the fog rarely reaches our 3,000 foot elevation where the house sits. The garden site is level and the orchard and pond is nearby. Blueberries will soon be moved to a terraced area below the pond. Living with such a place can easily be a full-time occupation for two men. Up until last December, Dave had been driving 120 miles round-trip daily to work, It was like “visiting on weekends”, he used to say. So it seemed. Little time was left to become friends with the land, when 12 hours a day was spent in “working” for a living. The break had to be made because it was nearly costing more to go to work than to stay at home. Working for a living can certainly be done at home. It’s not 9 to 5 and in no way guaranteed, but it is possible. We had to take stock of ourselves. It has become an exciting and healthy challenge for our minds (and bodies too). We took an inventory. What do we have that others don’t? What do other folks want that we can give? A most obvious first on that list is firewood, With 40 acres of hardwood and a few thousand acres of BLM forest within a few miles, the potential of selling firewood is there. Dan, a logger who has grown up in the valley, showed us how much wood is grown yearly on an average acre. We saw we had hundreds of cords of potential firewood just in thin- ning our forest to let remaining trees grow faster. Larry, who truck gardens on the valley floor, told us of the firewood orders he has trouble filling from his sparse woodlot. And with all those woodstoves be- ing sold in town, we knew there was a market. We listed our rototiller as a potential source of income, Troybuilt offers a good “How to” book- let on custom tilling and we have been able to .pick up some good cash and trades this spring with that service. Here in the Northwest there is a big demand for fir cones for seed. This August we will be picking cones and (hopefully) getting $15/bushel selling them to the forest service and timber companies. Larry also suggested we grow warm weather crops up here on the mountain. The cool valley floor can be rough on melons and corn whereas up here our temperature is always several degrees warmer. We will sell the produce to Larry’s regular vegetable customers. By asking around (it never hurts to ask!) we found a large ranch that would rather hire local help than pay a contractor and machinery to do the job. Accurate record keeping is vital, we keep records of everything produced and consumed. It helps for next year to know how many eggs, potatoes, cans of tuna, or whatever, we consume each month or how much dog and rabbit food we have purchased. And for that rabbit food, how many pounds of rab- bit meat or how many rabbit diners did we get in return? With this knowledge of our own consump- tion, we can go in with our neighbor to buy in bulk the flour, canning lids, etc. that we all will need. If you have your own pasture for clover for rabbit, or you are growing your own wheat to grind into flour, the money saved is another step towards indepen- dence from the grocery store. Also, nature’s garden is there if you know how to use it. We have never considered ourselves as trash- mongers, but people in this country throw away so many useful items it’s terri- ble. Every dump should have a way to recycle those useful or fixable items so they can be freely redistrib- uted to those who can use them. We bring home from the dump at least 10 times what little we throw away. Cans, bottles, and metals all get reused over and over. Tin cans can be used as planting pots by using a can opener on them to allow for drainage. Those old lids can be strung up as noisemakers to keep birds away from the young tender seedlings, Bottles have many uses. One use can be hot caps for seedlings. A piece of tin or an opened up tin can can be used as a sign to label what is planted where. These instantly come to mind because it’s spring and we are getting the garden into shape. It helps that the nearest store is 10 miles away, so everything purchased should have at least two purposes. We don’t just hop into the car to go get a loaf of bread. Barter is always a good source of survival income. Always be ready to trade something for 6 RFD 163 Fall 2015 something i.e. make a habit of dragging home “goodies” from the dump that could be potential trade items. One or both of us can help Dan, the logger, in the woods in exchange for land clearing on our own place. We have been raising rabbits for a while now, We don’t sell too many for cash but those fryers are good trade items, Barter is the “cash” of the future, It is definitely a necessary tool. Our biggest (and most risky) venture in self- sufficient living was begun last year. We started a mail order/local sales business called STAR ROUTE HAMMOCKS. A few years ago Randy had brought several of these beautiful handmade hammocks from the Yucatan (in southern Mexico) which were immediately snatched up by friends, so why wouldn’t they be “snatched up” by the general pub- lic? We hoped so. We have also learned a lot about starting a business and mainly that you must read everything you can on the subject to avoid mistakes. We have also learned that it takes capital to start a business like this. Even though our overhead is very low, there is the substantial costs for the wholesale product, importing and shipping fees, brochure and envelope costs, and especially advertising costs. Unfortunately, barter hasn’t worked with the government yet. The artwork for the brochure, however, was designed in exchange for one of our “Banquet” (four person) hammocks. (Friends joked about naming it the “Orgy” since it was designed for four people! Also when the first shipment arrived we wanted to wet up and try each and every ham- mock). Well, it took a lot of personal savings and we have established a very tight personal budget for ourselves. We know that under-capitalization will kill the small business sooner than anything else. An RFD article that inspired us in the mail order busi- ness was “Country Survival by Mail Order Retail- ing” by Pieter Bach in the Winter 1979 issue. One thing we both believe is that knowledge should be passed on. We have willingness to learn as well as pass on our knowledge. We have also al- lowed our attitudes to be molded by the land, this will in turn help wean us from those hassles in life that slow us down from living. Our mountain wilderness with its views, thick- forested peacefulness and outdoor hammock grove is a sanctuary that some city folks can’t seem to relate to yet. There is a great deal of activity, a whole life’s worth as a matter of fact. The go-go-go pushy people sometimes can’t seem to “plug in” to the reality of living without disco bars or electric living. As the days go by it’s hard to express into words how that reality has and continues to shape us. The ideas mentioned here are few so as to not go on too long. Everyone out there has so many good ideas to offer and we are just a part of it. What the future holds for Star Route Hammocks and this mountain no one has told us yet. We aren’t miracle men: we’re just two men living with the land. RFD 163 Fall 2015 7 Editor’s note: They have been reading and continuously subscribing to RFD magazine since its beginning in the early 70’s. Dave (66 yrs.) and Randy (65 yrs.) met through the Spring 1979 RFD and settled in as partners shortly thereafter. In their own words: We would like to take a retrospective look at why we are still together after all this time! It has been over thirty-six years now, and there is something to be said about “experience.a” There has been a lot to learn, like in those first few years moving from being self-centered individu- als to being partner and relationship centered. We learned to grab onto our mutual goals, long- term or short, that keep both of us on our individual tracks. In the beginning it was a shared love of our land and homesteading. Lately it has involved such age-related events as a new single-story house on the land and winding down for retirement. Our many and varied independent paths are respected and supported. Each is allowed to parallel the other in mutual support as our years and experi- ences accumulate. Reflecting upon our differences shows that we certainly do have a lot! We can look back and see how those differences were brought together into one relationship. Our mutual lives have been al- lowed to stretch and grow and “blossom” into what is today a very healthy and fun partnership. Basi- cally, we are “each picking up our own end of the board,” with a lot of love and respect. Our thirty-six-year collection of calendars dating back to our first meeting (all fully inscribed with daily info) remind us of the muscular youth of our thirties. Now today we are learning to accept our growing older, to embrace the power of all our years together. Yes, that smaller garden and afternoon nap are most comfortable! We can’t close without mentioning that we were officially married on November 27, 2013. Yahoo! It just made things better, really. It is hard to put into words, but that loving feeling was definitely enhanced. So here’s a hearty toast to the next twenty or thirty years, both for RFD and Dave and Randy!! Retrospective On All Those Years.... By Dave Vegliano and Randy Krahn Next >