Thanks to all the new contributors to this
issue
of TIGW newsletter, I thought it would be interesting to illustrate our
diversity by including their biographical sketches on this page.
Earl Colvin getting acquainted with his godson,
Wyatt. Earl says to know which one of the two he is, Wyatt is
the cute one.Earl Colvin is a 70 year old gay rights advocate. He lives in Syracuse, NY with his lover of 28 years, Joel. He is very active in politics and serves on the Onondaga County Democratic Committee as well as several gay rights organizations. He recently retired from a printing business he and Joel owned since 1976. In 1976 he made history by becoming the nation's first openly gay candidate for a voting seat in congress on a major party line. He still enjoys acting as a burr under bureaucratic saddles. One of the burrs he recently placed under a saddle was at the Onondaga Public Library. You can read about that, here. |
 Mark
Kendrick
lives in a century old home in Chicago, IL with his partner and their
two
Westies. Mark is not originally from the Midwest, but rather grew
up
in Texas. Regardless, there is very little of his Texas past that
influences
his writing or his writing style.Although trained in information technology, Mark's first and foremost passion is writing. His first attempts at the literary arts began as a pre-teen, but were one and two page short stories and vignettes, the likes of which only a child could write or enjoy. He wrote his first viable play in 6th grade, which he directed and acted in. At 16 he began to write poetry, volumes even, most of which is relegated to the bookshelf. Shortly thereafter, he was co-editor of a poetry and short-story anthology, which was sold as an adjunct to the yearbook, for the student body in his high school. One of the highlights of his senior year in high school was acting in a humorous version of Hamlet, which he co-wrote. He was thrilled to wear tights on stage. Acting was not his forte by any means. Despite the plays and poetry, his inner desire had always been to write novels. But could a teenager who had virtually no life experience properly flesh out characters? He didn't think so. It wasn't until several decades later that Mark discovered he had sufficient experience and the resources to begin the long and involved process of actually writing the novels he had ideas for so many years earlier. His first published novel is entitled Desert Sons. It follows Scott Faraday, sixteen, and Ryan St. Charles, seventeen, who meet, form a relationship, and work out how to be themselves, as gay boys, in an isolated desert town in Southern California. Originally written solely because he needed to finally get it out of his head and onto paper, it became an almost instant bestseller. Ron Donaghe, author of Common Sons, contacted him shortly after its debut and insisted that a sequel was in order. Mark said, 'What? A sequel? I can't write a sequel!' Well, he was wrong. Six months later, Into This World We're Thrown was published. It introduces new characters and resolves lingering conflict left over from Desert Sons. Stealing Some Time, an extended single sci-fi novel told in a two-volume set, was the novel he originally set out to write. Science Fiction is Mark's favorite genre; specifically time travel stories. But there's a conspicuous absence of gay characters in not only sci-fi, but also time travel stories. Mark set out to rectify that issue. The story traces the lives of his two main gay characters, Kallen Deshara and Aaric Utzman, one from the 25th century and the other from the 19th. The story traces how they meet, their relationship, and how all of history was altered because of their love for each other. Why did Mark write those books? Because they weren't there. Mark writes what he wants to read. The books he wrote simply didn't exist, so he put them into existence. There are other books out there that are missing and he intends to write them, too. In the coming years you'll see more. |
 I am Jeremy
James Laugan. My other half is Jason T. Bird. We are L.A.
refugees
and this is our 30th year together. (He came over for dinner one night
and
never left.) In our escape from Los Angeles, I'm afraid we went a
little
too far.We built the main house on 5 acres up in the Sierra's back in "90", and then a house for my mother 2 years later. She died 2 years ago so now we have a beautiful guest house with all amenities included. Only problem is, we know absolutely no one up here who’s gay, and there are no gay bars—yet—so we get a little lonely for our own kind now and then. We have some really nice str8 friends from where I used to work who we dine with occasionally, but it's just not quite the same, y'know? I was a printing press operator for 37 years. My last employment of 13 years was as first pressman on a 40" Heidelberg 6 color press, which is like running a big ol'e freight train that doesn't go any where (I know, how butch!), but am now disabled due to too many broken necks etc. I led a very reckless youth and am now paying for it. I have peripheral nerve damage (can't feel hands and feet), so I'm really slow and careful now because of all the messes I make and damage I do to myself because I can't feel it. Jason is in the medical profession. He's a Cytotechnologist (he prevents people from getting cancer). Loves his job—hates the commute. But, luckily, medschool has paid off for both of us. His hobbies are guitar, running, weights, planting things, and his favorite—finding more for me to do. My hobbies are buying sprees on the computer, lots of reading, running all of Jason's errands, and my all time favorite— harassing all my favorite authors. |
 Gary H PhillipsBorn May 29, 1959 I was born in Paterson, NJ, in Saint Joseph's Hospital. My family lived in Paterson for the next 2-plus years, then moved to a house in the suburbs to Pompton Lakes, NJ. I grew up in Pompton Lakes, NJ leaving for Rhode Island in 1986. I lived in the same house in Pawtucket, RI, until 2001 when we moved to Cumberland, RI. I have lived with my life-partner or Husband, Tim, since 1987 so we'll be going into the 17th year this July. I have a high school education. I've worked in many mechanical fields from an industrial wood shop when I was in high school, to a high-precision prototype machine shop. I even spent some time working in the envelope business during the-mid 80's before moving to RI. I worked in the building contracting/restoration field when I moved to RI in 1986. I learned some of the finer points of carpentry and high quality restoration during this time. I went into business for myself around 1988, and went to just about totally concentrating on pipe organ work around 1990. I still dabble in high quality finish carpentry now and then, as it's very rewarding to see the finished project. We occupy about 6000 square feet of space in a mill in Seekonk, Mass. I'm interested in most things mechanical, from the art of bridge building to that of furniture and cabinet making, and just about everything in between. I have settled on a subject that covers most of my interests and uses many skills, one that involves metal working, woodworking, leather working and a host of others; pipe organ restoration. My partner, Tim, and I run this business. I also love to write and have really taken off with it, working on many short stories from my life which, might become a book at some point. I'm thankful for the computer, as I already knew how to type quite well, but the addition of being able to move paragraphs around, makes it much easier. This summer, I'm planning on working out an outline for a gay-theme story. This involves rowing, an eccentric great-grand and grand mother and a bit of mystical—somewhat ghost-like magic, and a house / farm in Cumberland, RI… I enjoy writing about many things, but the art of describing a situation to a point where the reader can feel, touch and smell, what you are writing about is what really grabs me. This is what I feel makes writing so interesting.  My other interests are almost anything that involves
exercise. I love
the sport of Rowing and our club, the Narragansett Boat Club in
Providence,
RI, is the oldest in the nation, established and active since March
1838.
You can visit the site, www.rownbc.org. I'm also the Captain of this
club,
which is a bit of a chore, but fun, none the less. We have had
many
very good rowers, some of whom were gold medal Olympians, pass through
the
portal of our club.I like biking or just plain weight training. I find the exercise keeps the weight off and makes me feel good. I love music with a passion, which is one of the reasons I love the business of restoring the pipe organ. I play the organ myself, sitting at the Hammond C-3 just about every night with my evening cocktail. In enjoy taking care of our property, a 3+acre chunk of very interesting land which is mostly trees. We have many huge trees on the property, another love of mine, those that stand tall and see so much during their lifetimes, the mighty Oaks! I can be reached at gary@ghpassociates.com. I look forward to hearing from you. |
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