GLR July-August 2024

ESSAY

Find Your Muse Here A NNE C HARLES

R OSE NORMAN’S The Pagoda: A Lesbian Community by the Sea is the most recent book in the Sapphic Classics Series, published by the journal Sinister Wisdom: A Multicultural Les bian Literary & Art Journal. The series’ mis sion is to reproduce key lesbian texts that have fallen out of print and to resurrect other material from the past that may be of interest to current readers. (Disclaimer: I am an enthusiastic supporter of the journal and applaud the important work of its editor, Julie R. Enszer.) In keeping with this mission, The Pagoda is just such a work. The book is a well-researched account of a women’s land

founded, the event’s organizer turned down a photographer’s offer to take pictures, arguing that “photography that would lead to publicity after the fact would undermine my aim.” Nor man explains that aim as “in line with the Pagoda philosophy of providing a space where lesbians could safely share their creative work and each other’s company.” The relatively ob scure position of the Pagoda in the annals of lesbian herstory (here I employ the language of the women’s archival move ment) gives Norman’s undertaking particular urgency. In fact, by the time of publication thirteen of the women profiled in the book’s pages had died. The story of the Pagoda begins in 1977 with Terpsichore, a

dance theater troupe composed of two St. Augustine lesbian couples touring Florida with original shows celebrating women. When they discovered some beach cottages that had once comprised a seaside motel called the Pagoda, they seized the opportunity to buy four of them, leased the two-story house in front of them, and began performing feminist plays and concerts. By 1988, what began as a resort or retreat had expanded into a residential community with twelve cot tages, a duplex, and three beachfront lots. There was also a cultural center and a swimming pool with an adjacent space called Persephone’s Garden. Norman ex plains that the Goddess Church—the Pagoda Temple of Love, which owned and managed the cultural center—was a distinguishing feature of the Pagoda in that “it anchored the community while also drawing visitors from far and wide.” A second characteristic that sets the Pagoda apart from other lesbian back-to nature ventures is that members weren’t

Aerial view of the Pagoda Motel in the 1970s.

community that flourished near St. Augustine, Florida, for 22 years. Surprisingly, information about The Pagoda rarely ap pears in academic literature about women’s communities, and many contemporary lesbian scholars haven’t heard of it. This circumstance is due in part to the intentional secrecy of the community itself. Early in the book, scholar-archivist Rose Norman reports that the Pagoda founders “avoided publicity that would draw undesirable attention to their private enclave.” In a similar vein, when poet Adrienne Rich conducted a writ ing workshop there four years after the community was Anne Charles lives in Montpelier, VT. With her partner and a friend, she co-hosts the cable-access show All Things LGBTQ.

necessarily interested in country living. Rather, as Norman clar ifies, “the founders were looking for theater space, not a lesbian land collective, and grew into communal living by various turns of events.” The theatrical component waxed and waned depend ing on what playwrights were involved and when, but concerts re mained a relatively constant artistic expression. Legendary lesbian musicians and singers like Alix Dobkin, Kay Gardener, and Ferron appeared along with local figures. One such musi cian, Elaine Townsend, recalls that during her concerts, one at tendee in particular would talk back and challenge her politics during the concert, shouting from the darkness things like: “I have a problem with that!” Of course, political differences weren’t always worked out

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