From: Bluestockings Bookstore
Subject: Dear Friends of Bluestockings,

October 15, 2002

Dear Friend of Bluestockings,

I am writing this letter to inform you of the
challenges and future directions facing our bookstore. Bluestockings has grown in leaps and
bounds since its inception in June of 1999. We
continue to rely heavily on you, our community, customers, and partnerships, to support our mission as a bookstore.

Earlier this year in an attempt to meet coming needs and wanted growth, we explored two possible directions. Our first idea was to re-structure as
a not-for-profit (501c3) bookstore. Our financial
situation and the commitment levels required makes this transition impossible right now.
This left us with the second option of transitioning in ownership. Thus, over the next few months, we will be expanding our leadership by reaching out to other people and organizations to take over the ownership of the bookstore.
Right now, though, we need to get to a more solid
financial place in order to make this necessary shift. Survival of this project is our ultimate
goal.

Since September of 2001, the Lower East Side has
suffered a tremendous loss in shoppers and tourist travel and we have seen a serious reduction in our sales. The government gave immediate assistance last December to
Bluestockings in the form of a "recovery" grant that barely covered one month's rent. We suffered well over $15,000 in losses by the end of last
year, and that amount now has snowballed to double
that.

We are reaching out to you, as a community member,
customer and ally for your help during this trying time in the life of Bluestockings. You can
show this support in many ways:

Buy your books from us. The best way to support
Bluestockings is to buy a book from us! We are holding a "Buy-In" the week of Halloween, October
28 - November 3. If each person on our mailing list buys one book from us during this week, our sales will total over $30,000! You can buy the book in-store, or you can buy any book in print on our website:
www.bluestockings.com.
Donate spare change. Donations of money are not tax deductible, but are greatly appreciated. Donations of money will be applied to our building
publicity campaign of print advertising and
newsletters, used to purchase Bluestockings merchandise, and will be put towards improvements in the in-store appearance (such as better lighting, larger bookshelves, new flooring, and better chairs).

Organize a fundraiser. You can organize or we can
organize a fundraiser if you are willing to be a speaker, performer, etc. Last year, the band
Le Tigre raised close to $10,000 for us in one night of performance!

Volunteer your time. We need assistance with
customer service this fall. Come be a bookseller for one day out of each month.

Give us suggestions/feedback. We are always taking
the suggestions of the community in order to serve it better. If you have brilliant marketing
ideas or stellar book selection suggestions, we'd love to hear them!

Many of our books speak to the very real intensities of our time, making appropriate and moving gifts of strength, courage, and thought. We hope that this holiday, you will support Bluestockings by buying your gifts from us. We will be holding numerous sales over the next few months, and we would like to offer you a 15% discount on every book in the store, in addition to any sale price, with mention of this letter.

Please feel free to contact me or any other staff
member of Bluestockings if you would like to donate, discuss or have questions about any of the above.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and for the continued support to take us into 2003 and beyond.

Sincerely,
Kathryn Welsh

PS: Don't forget the "Buy-In" Fundraiser. Please buy one book in-store or online the week of Halloween: October 28 - November 3.

Bluestockings Women's Bookstore
172 Allen St. between Rivington and Stanton Sts
Lower East Side
New York, NY 10002
212-777-6028 (ph)
212-777-6042 (fax)
www.bluestockings.com

Bluestockings Mission Statement
Bluestockings, an independent women's bookstore,
promotes the empowerment of women through words, art and activism. We work to be an intersection
of dialogue and information exchange, providing
women-focused books, events, workshops, and a meeting and gathering place.
Recognizing the links between oppressions, our goal is to be trans-inclusive, multi-lingual, open to all sexualities and spiritualities, intergenerational and to challenge racism,
classism, ablism, sexism, ageism and sizism. We strive to be an organizing site in the struggle for social, economic, and environmental justice.

Managers of New York's Oscar Wilde Bookshop, the first gay and lesbian book store in the world, have blamed complacency among the homosexual community for pushing it towards bankruptcy.

The shop is facing closure because gay rights campaigns have worked too well and made people forget the importance of spending money with gay
companies, manager Kim Brinster said.

They can now get the books from websites like Amazon while mainstream chains have improved their selections since the Oscar Wilde Bookshop opened in 1967, Ms Brinster said.

When she arrived in the city in 1980, it was "drummed into" the gay community that it was important to "spend gay dollars in gay businesses",she said.

People are less aware of that 'buy gay' concept now," she said. "Young members of the community tend to take things for granted.

"They forget the origins that now allow us to walk down the streets of many neighbourhoods in New York, hold hands and not necessarily get the
crap beaten out of us."

The Oscar Wilde Bookshop has long operated at a loss and saw a further 30% drop in business after 11 September because it is a fixture in gay and lesbian tourist guides.

During its early days, it endured bomb threats, smashed windows and swastika graffiti with the words "kill fags" written on the walls.

There was little gay and lesbian fiction and non-fiction being published when the shop appeared, and many people credit such stores with
opening up the market.

Deacon Maccubbin, founder of the Lambda Rising chain of gay and lesbian bookstores, said current writers were not helping by putting links to Amazon on their websites instead of urging readers to go to specialist shops.

"I wonder if they really think they would have been published at all if not for the gay bookstores that sprang up around the country in the 1980s and 1990s?" he said.

"In the 1970s, that literature barely existed."

BBC News, November 11, 2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2440885.stm

In the midst of reading Mikhail Bakhtin's RABELAIS AND HIS WORLD, I found a quote from Goethe that has finally eased my perennial existential anxiety:

"And as long as you do not possess
This: die and become,
You are but a gloomy guest
On the dark earth."

Wow. If that doesn't put the ambivalent joy of being alive into the proper perspective, I don't know what does.

Awed by the dark carnival,
Jonathan Warman

If you have any interest in 70's or 80's Brit Music you really should pick up a copy of "Liverpool Wonderous Town" by Paul du Noyer ...Its a fab, funnny, factual account of all the many amazing talents that have come out of my home town - Liverpool. Everyone from Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Flock of Seagulls, OMD to other talents like the writers Clive (Hellraiser) Barker and Willy (Shirley Valentine/Educating Rita) Russell.... Its written with the same sense of humor as the local people have...but quite interesting to be reminded about just how crazy it all was... even the account of Courtney Love when she used to couch surf (I remember nobody wanted her to stay with them!!)....good gossip...but incredibly factual too...reminds me just how fab it was back then!

It's full of fibs, but it's still a good read. Pretty old now, came out about 6yrs ago, but still would be of interest to anyone wanting to kno about the Les Girls, and drag history of Australia.

check out vintage jackie collins.....the bitch, the stud and love head...her acounts of seventies parties/clubs/clubbers are fabulous......so much more bitchy and sexier than her recent pulp

Just came across a vintage paperback of VOTD, you know, the sixties one with the pills on the front cover and the glam Jackie Susann portrait on the back. Anyway, still a good read, especially the Neely parts. Highly recommended.

James Baldwin's collection of essays from the 1950's, (he was living in Europe as an expat) are brilliantly lucid, and painfully relevant, right now...this moment...stopping for a second to read something, anything.

His essay essay, "Discovery of What it Means to Be an American" is eerie. If you happen to read any newspaper, watch any newscast, or read any of the political posts on this Website, and then read Baldwin's essay, you'll be stunned -- looking then, looking now -- knowing we're stuck on a social-coil we can never leave.

Read it while drinking coffee, not while trying before sleep.

He writes a lot about New York, identity, exile from the mainstream. Relevant themes for many here.

And, if nothing else, he's a brilliant wordsmith.

Fantastic, short, easy read of a book.... delish hauting tales based on Marguerites childhood relationship in Indochina colonial period - she an adolescent French girl, he a wealthy older Chinese man..... Its a real beautiful, erotic yet repressed autobiography... really beautiful, yet also real sad.... another fab thing about this book is its very slim (easy for pocket subway reading!!) and simple to read....yet so very beautiful and sad.... sort of almost like the hetro version of Death in Venice....
The Lover - the movie version is also quite terrific too, Jane March / Jean-Jaques Annaud ...

I'll be reading from Brian Malloy's "The Year of Ice," which is a very well-written story of a gay kid in his senior year of high school in 1978. Anyway, check out some of these nominated books, and let me know if you want to be on the guestlist for the reading. xxoo J.B.

-------------------------------------

Please Join Us For


"Books That Drive Culture"


A Reading from the Work of the Six Finalists for the 2003 Ferro-Grumley Literary Awards for Lesbian and Gay Fiction

Sunday, March 16, 2003, 7 P.M. at Dance Theater Workshop, 219 West 19th Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues)

Curated by the Ferro-Grumley Awards for Lesbian and Gay Fiction
Co-presented by Dance Theater Workshop¹s Outer Edge Series, Out Professionals, and the Publishing Triangle

The work of six distinguished authors will be presented at DTW¹s beautiful new Chelsea theater:

- Carol Anshaw¹s Lucky in the Corner (Houghton Mifflin) Read by Emma Wilson
- Jane Eaton Hamilton¹s Hunger (Oberon Press) Read by the author
- Michael Lowenthal¹s Avoidance (Graywolf Press) Read by David Drake
- Brian Malloy¹s Year of Ice (St. Martin¹s) Read by Garrett Domina
- Jamie O¹Neill¹s At Swim, Two Boys (Scribner) Read by Anne Maguire
- Zoe Valdez¹s Dear First Love (Harper Collins) Read by Lizzie Simon

Hosting will be Stephen Greco, co-founder and executive director of the Ferro-Grumley Awards for Lesbian and Gay Fiction.

A New Lesbian/Gay Literary SeriesŠ

This reading is the third event in this season¹s series of literary events curated by the Ferro-Grumley Awards and co-presented by Dance Theater Workshop¹s "Outer Edge" series, Out Professionals, New School University¹s Vera List Center for Art and Politics, and the Publishing Triangle. The first event, an historic, retrospective reading of fifteen years of Ferro-Grumley Award-winning work, took place last November at DTW and included Edmund White, Sarah Schulman, Andrew Holleran, Emma Donoghue, and ten other authors and readers. The second, in January, was a lively panel on "the state of lesbian and gay fiction," with Eileen Myles, Sarah Van Arsdale, David Drake, and Michael Lowenthal.

"The January panel was about a hundred times more informed than the recent Times piece on gay publishing," said a literary agent who attended. "The Ferro-Grumley has been doing the best lesbian/gay literary events in the city."

The Culmination: The Annual Triangle AwardsŠ

The winners of the Ferro-Grumley Awards will be announced at the annual Triangle Awards, presented by the Publishing Triangle, the organization of lesbians and gays in publishing, on Thursday, May 8, 2003, at 7 P.M., at The New School¹s Tischman Auditorium (66 West 12th Street). Also to be announced are the winners of the Shilts-Grahn Awards for non-fiction, the Triangle Awards for lesbian and gay poetry, the Robert Chesley Award for playwrighting, and the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement.

About the Ferro-Grumley AwardsŠ

The Ferro-Grumley Awards for lesbian and gay fiction were established 1988, to recognize, promote excellence in, and give greater access to fiction writing from lesbian and gay points of view. The Awards honor the memory of authors Robert Ferro (The Blue Star, Second Son, etc.) and Michael Grumley (Life Drawing, etc.), who were life partners and died that year of AIDS within weeks of each other. Two awards are given each year, each carrying an honorarium of $1000. A new committee of six judges is formed each year‹three women and three men. Judges are selected from throughout the U.S. and Canada, from the arts, media, publishing, bookselling, and related fields.

I just finished reading Volume 2 of Peter Guralnick’s biography of Elvis Presley, which is fascinating and sad. Drugs, sex, karate, insanity. And music, some of it very beautiful. Elvis was capable of conveying so much emotion with his voice, before he got so fucked up that he couldn’t remember the words. And even then he had his moments.

Also, Victor Bockris' biography of Andy Warhol. All the dirt and much more.

I LOVED Pricilla Presleys book... (probably out of print now) Elvis and Me..... LOVED that book..

Currently readin a Biog on OLIVER REED..... my all time hero....

My fella worked with him on the movie Gladiator and each morning on set as Russell arseyCrowe was being all arrogant git ..Oliver would march on set and shout each day "MMMMMMMMMORNIN' WANKERS!"
Ahhhh bless 'im

I have read both volumes of Peter Garulnick's Elvis bio, they are both GREAT.

Recently the Sci-Fi network has gotten me back into the Dune series by Frank Herbert. I read the original in high school, but re-read it again a couple of months ago. It really is a masterpiece, so complex with its multiple plots and social, political, spiritual and ecological intrigue.

(Separately I had the David Lynch 1984 film playing continuously on the VCR. At the time it was a box office bomb and much-maligned by critics and Dune fans alike but personally I don't understand how anyone with any regard for cinematic artistry could not like it. Granted Dune the film might seem confusing to those who haven't read the book, but the actors are gorgeous and charasmatic, the sets extravagent and wildly imaginative, the whole production design over the top, the costumes GENIUS. Far superior to the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel mini-series. I consider Lynch's Dune, along with Ridley Scott's Bladerunner, to be THE quintessential 80s sci-fi cult classics)

Now I'm reading Book 2 in the Dune series, Dune Messiah. So far I like it, though less action-oriented than the original Dune. After I finish it I'll tackle Book 3, Children of Dune.

[This message was edited by Luxury Lex on 04-09-03 at 04:49 PM.]

I'm looking to buy a real idiot guide to Jacques Derrida.... where should i start (or even online stuff)....

Chi Chi... this I think is defo for you.... There's a whole host of new books out (from Blighty) all about the courtesans of late... some fab new books, "Virgina Roundigns -Grandes Horizontales:The lives and legends of gour 19th Century courtesans", "Dennis Friedmans Ladies of the Bedchamber: the royal mistress" and Kate Hickmans: Daughters of Britannia.... tawdry tales from days gone by... all get rave reviews in the Brit press... thought you might like em!?

hi!

Justin Bond turned me on to this author. I read "the Nephew" and liked it but then I found a copy of "In a Shallow Grave". It was fantastic. Justin actually had not read that one yet so I was happy to turn him on to it. We both agree it's one of his best. Really beautiful. It's quite a quick read too. Which was a great antidote for all the Ayn Rand I read this summer! Check it out if you get a chance.

Sweetie turned me onto it. It's called "An Evening at the Garden of Allah." it's a bout a Seattle drag club in the 1940's! You'll just love the stories, the dishing, and especially the photos!

"Low Life" by Luc Sante (thanks Barbara Jean!). Can't believe I hadn't picked this up before...it's fascinating! Downtown NYC from mid-19th Century through the Depression. Long live Maggie the Hellcat! Oh, and it gives The Slide's orginal location (157 Bleecker - that address is now Kenny's Castaways - if only those Bleecker tourists knew what went on in that hallowed place). Sex, drugs, politics, gambling, displacement, criminals of every ilk, carnivals and creeps in every nook and cranny.

Also, last week I read "Blindness" by Jose Saramago. The man is one of the most articulate storytellers of our time. One by one, an entire city is stricken with a "white blindness." I also recommend "Baltasar y Blimunda", also by Saramago. Beautiful love story set during the Inquistion with incredible characters - a girl who can see inside people, a boy with a hook for a hand, and a man trying to invent a flying machine (powered by people's souls) behind the Church's back, and who knows the couple's secret.

I am reading " Young Man From The Provinces" by Alan Helms.The back of the book blurbs as follows: Young, intelligent, and handsome, Alan Helms left a brutal midwestern childhood for New York City in 1955. Denied a Rhodes scholarship because of his sexual orientation, he soon became an object of desire in a gay underground scene frequented by, amoung many others,Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstien, Rudolph Nureyev,Rock Hudson and Marlene Dietrich. In this unsually vivid and sensitive account, Helms describes the business of being a sex object and its psychological and physical toll.
and: " Alan Helms was the most famous piece of ass of my generation. We called him " Scandle boy" and construed endless gossip around him. What Denham Fouts was to Truman Capote and Christopher Isherwood, Alan Helms was to us. When Casanova was too old to pursue his amorous career, he became a librarien and wrote his memoir. Alan became a professor and has written his autubiography, every bit as riviting as
Casanova's"
- Edmund White

He is an extremely smart and clever writer and is poetic in his usage of words. I haven't read anything as insightful in forever. Plus this history of gay life in NYC before Stonewall should be required reading for this generation of gay boys. And the cover photo of Mr.Helms in his prime is worth the price of the book alone.