GLR November-December 2022
Correspondence
Anyone who has had the pleasure of see ing the matachín come into the plaza knows that they are accompanied by one or more boys, each dressed in a sky-blue frock. It’s a fast, uplifting dance step that all the men do in unison, which someone more knowledge able than I might be able to interpret. Be that as it may, the gender transgression of young males in feminine attire is unmistak able. Clearly Harry Hay did his homework when naming the Mattachines. Alex Kouvel, Tucson, AZ A Poet’s Choice To the Editor: I read with interest the review of the late Jim Nawrocki’s collection House Fire: Sto ries and Poems [in the Sept.-Oct. ’22 issue]. First of all, I was saddened to learn of his passing in 2018. I write now to fill in some information from my perspective as former editor of White Crane Journal. The review states that “A manuscript of his poetry was selected as the winner of the 2009 James White Poetry Prize, but for some reason it was never published.” Jim was indeed named as the winner of the prize, which was offered by White Crane in celebration of its 20th anniversary. The judge for the prize was the esteemed poet Mark Doty. The main prize was publication of the winner’s work as a book, along with a cash award. The reason the book never came out is that Jim declined to have it pub lished when he learned that White Crane was a print-on-demand publisher. Appar
ently he believed this method of publication was unsuitable for his work. Fair enough, but I wanted to make the point that it was Jim’s decision not to go forward with the book at that time. I am pleased to learn that his work has at last seen the light of day. Bo Young, Granville, NY The Night I Met James Kirkwood To the Editor: Regarding the Art Memo “Welcome to the ‘70s!” (July-August 2022) about James Kirkwood: when I was in high school in the early 1970s, my mother brought home two of James Kirkwood’s books: Good Times/Bad Times and There Must Be a Pony . (What was she thinking?) I barely re member them, and the online descriptions of them don’t sound promising, but they had a profound effect upon me as an up and-coming lesbian. I was moved to write to Mr. Kirkwood, and we had an infrequent twelve-year correspondence. Around 1974, when I was in college, there was a production of P.S. Your Cat Is Dead in Buffalo, NY, so I arranged for four of us college kids to meet up with Mr. Kirk wood prior to a performance. He was very gracious, funny, and kind. I’d like to think he is remembered that way, and, according to a brief article from 2012 in The East Hampton Star, he is: ”He was vital, witty, and intelligent, loyal and generous to friends and family.” I particularly liked the quotations at the end of the book—this one from a fellow playwright, Terrence Mc Nally: “People will still say out of the blue, ‘God, I miss Jimmy.’ ... When people say ‘Jimmy,’ they don’t have to say ‘Jimmy Kirkwood’—and it’s a pretty common name. But he was Jimmy and people still miss him and I can’t think of many people that you can say over fifteen years after they’ve left, ‘Oh God, I miss Jimmy.’” Diane Hamer, Georgetown, MA The Times Owes It to C. A. Tripp To the Editor: The history of C. A. Tripp by Martin Du berman was very interesting, especially Mr. Duberman’s description of his personal con nection with several of the people he in cluded in “When C. A. Met Alfred, Part 1” [Nov.-Dec. 2021]. I was shocked to read about the sneering reception that Mr. Tripp’s book, The Homosexual Matrix , re ceived in the New York Times (though not at all surprised at that reaction in 1975). I subscribe to The International New York Times , which also furnishes online access. I
Where Harry Hay Found ‘Mattachine’ To the Editor: We read often in these pages that Harry Hay was a seminal voice and organizer in the “homophile” movement of the 1950s. In reference to the mention of him in the July August 2022 issue, in the essay titled “Sex and Gender in Native America,” I felt that one important detail was left out. It con cerns the derivation of the very word “Mat tachine,” which we recognize as the moniker attached by Hay to his nascent or ganization but often without understanding its significance. I am hardly an expert in this area, but I do live and work among a community here in what is now southern Arizona, that includes among its diverse population a sizeable mi nority of people affiliated with the Yaqui, also known as the Yoeme, tribe. With a long and rich tradition in neighboring Sonora, Mexico, these indigenous communities were seeking refuge in the U.S. to escape an op pressive regime to the south in the early to mid-20th century. They were finally granted full legal protections and (limited) land rights here in the 1970s. Among the traditions shared by these tribes is a set of elaborate ceremonies lead ing up to Easter in which a number of the dances are performed, including those of Los Matachines. Each group has distinc tive costumes and movements that tell the Passion narrative in a uniquely syncretic fashion.
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