Eighty-nine-year-old Regina and ninety-year-old Jackie met in 1955, an era when women were rounded up and jailed simply for dancing together or dressing like a man. On a cold winter day they manage to get themselves out of the house with the help of TJ and Ramon, two young men from their working-class neighborhood in Western Massachusetts. They tie their long-dead Christmas tree to the top of their car and, using a screwdriver in place of a broken gearshift, slowly make the drive to the dump. This is also the day when everything changes. During the course of their adventure, memories are triggered. Their history as a passionate and devoted, but troubled couple at the intersection of historic cultural and political change unfolds via scenes from the past—including their first meeting during a police raid on a bar and Regina's epiphany that she could truly love another woman. In the early years, they often live apart as they flee landlords who discover their secret. As their journey leads them to seek jobs and a sustainable life, they are sometimes separated—but always find their way back to each other. Combining the pathos and social significance of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café and the humor of The Golden with a cast of diverse characters worthy of the musical Rent, Fishwives chronicles a lifetime through the eyes of two old women behaving badly.
This book continues the exploration of themes either neglected or devalued by others working in the field of philosophy and culture. The authors in this volume consider the domain of travel from the broadest and most diverse of philosophical perspectives, covering everyday topics ranging from commuting and vacation travel to immigration and forced relocation. Our time in transit, our being in transit, and our time at rest, whether by choice or edict, has always been at issue, always been at play (and has always been in motion, if you will), for our species. The essays collected here explore the possibilities of the material impact of being able to move or stay put, as well as being forced to go or prevented from leaving.
Alfonso Rutherford Berry III--son of a city councilman, grandson of the state's first African American legislator--believes that history has ordained for him but one life, and it ain't his first love: dancing. But after a series of tragedies, starting with the death of his fierce, out cousin Carlton, his assumptions explode in his face along with his closet door. Alfonso emerges into the life on a blanket of the jazz and blues he shared with Carlton. He hangs on Carver Street, the queer Northside of his largely black neighborhood. There, he is befriended by Carlton's familiars: Sammy, a local storekeeper and neighborhood den mother, Bingo, a leather queen and nurse practitioner, Vera, a transgender activist and photographer, and Charlotte, his father's political rival. At college, he becomes tight with two freshmen: Roy, an aspiring actor and acquaintance from high school and Bill, a new member of his church. He also finds love (and peril) in the form of Jameel, a long-time crush. His new life sets him on a collision course with his father, his church, and the family legacy established by his revered late grandfather. Written in taut prose steeped in history and current events--and seasoned with the blues--Sin Against the Race follows the coming-of-age journey of a young black gay man as he progresses from an invisible councilman's son to a formidable presence in his community.
On the Upper East or West Side of Manhattan, Lasante's would be considered a gourmet grocery store. Its tin ceiling and hanging cast-iron fans seen as retro. But at the cross of 91st Avenue and 104th Street in Glenhaven, Queens, it was a vestige for the few Italians who remained in the neighborhood, and for their adult children who drove in from Long Island before holidays and special occasions to reclaim some remote flavor of ethnicity.
Led by Peter Octavian, the Shadows continue their battle against the ruthless Hannibal and his vampiric minions, who mean to enslave humanity-and devour all in their path.