Comments On the Introduction, Plus_

It’s been an eventful week of reaction to the last blog post which fills me with both joy and trepidation. Thought I’d share some more wonderful responses to the Intro post that only appeared on my private fb page or messages. So with permission copying here:

_From Judith Gallman Schenck; “I remember the wonderful sub-culture we had when we went out for breakfast at Common Womon private women’s club, shopped at Womonfyre bookstore, practiced karate at Nutcracker Suite, went to events at Lesbian Gardens, and hung out at the Gala lesbian backroom bar. There were prices to pay – violence against the community, etc. – and it seems like such a long time ago. Ah, there are stories to tell!”

_Judith Gallman Schenck; “My favorite RECENT story is about the movies Out For Reel used to show. After a show at the Academy of Music, we, along with about 300 other lesbians, were walking toward City Hall and our car when we passed a group of male college students. One of them looked at all of us and said to his mates, “I told you Northampton was a great place to meet girls.” We fell over laughing.” Judith has promised to share one account of some of that “violence against the community”_ previously published in a Lesbian magazine.

_From Beth Bellavance-Grace (who is featured with Karen in the tabloid photo); “I just want to state for the record, I coined the word ‘Lesbianville’ and unfortunately handed it to the Enquirer. Did you know there was an article in the L.A. Times about Northampton? It came out after our engagement was finally posted in the [Hampshire] Gazette. That’s how the slimy Enquirer got on to the story. Then they came and lied about who they were; we were told they were from a paper in Plymouth writing an article about how different Northampton was to Ptown. Ah youth. We were so naive then. But certainly not for long.” The LA Times article is available as a synopsis or full text (pay-per-view) ; http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/281489467.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+19%2C+1991&author=Mehren%2C+Elizabeth&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&edition=&startpage=&desc=A+Place+to+Call+Home+A+Small+Massachusetts+College+Town+Has+Become+a+Haven+for+Women%2C+Especially+Lesbians I am urging Beth to find and share some of her fine documentary photographs.

_And Fern Spierer (who is featured in the graffiti on the railroad bridge) shared the National Enquirer clipping with the daily blog Only in Northampton who posted it Dec. 27, garnering 150 likes, 16 comments and 35 shares in a flash. I think that’s lesbian power, or at least a measure of the interest in this part of the town’s past. I used the opportunity to credit Wicked as the source of the clipping and OiN later graciously posted about the blog, as well as using the press clipping as their cover photo. Many thanks to Fern and OiN for pushing this blog a little further out of the closet, or as I replied to Fern, the turtle sticks her head out a little further from the shell. Try linking here to their post for more comments to the “lesbianville” clipping: https://www.facebook.com/OnlyInNorthampton/photos/a.175072409338756.1073741828.173832649462732/371353086377353/?type=1″

Coming up next on this blog; I’ve asked myself how does one approach and enter a stream of over three centuries of history? And do so in a way that carries others along into this great, evolving story? Stay tuned to see if I manage to figure it out.