Memory Lane on a Monday morning

After Friday’s first Reading List, I found myself this morning with a few more interesting links to share.

I’ve always been a fan of history.

When I came out to myself in the mid-’90s, I spent as much time as I could digging through every possible trove of queerness: you read certain books, you watched certain movies, you talked to certain people. I wanted to feel a sense of continuity, both forward and back.

Recently, two separate collections of images on two separate coasts are doing just that.

In New York City, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art is holding an exhibition called The Piers: Art and Sex Along the New York Waterfront. The show is about the people, the art and the sex that was found along “the piers” in New York. David Wojnarowicz and Peter Hujar were two artists who were known to frequent the piers. The exhibition also collects candid images of the artists, as well as other men who were part of the scene.


Sunners, by Frank Hallam (part of The Piers exhibition).

Over on the other side of the US, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation has curated a collection of images about the beginning of AIDS in San Francisco: how it changed the lives and the character of the gay community. From images of a small office where the Kaposi’s Sarcoma Foundation (later to become the SFAF) to posters to images of early AIDS walks, it’s a strong collection to remind people of their own history.

***

On a more local tip, there are a couple of interesting events happening this week in Halifax.

NSRAP is hosting a Trans Health and Policy Symposium planning committee meeting at Just Us Coffee House on Spring Garden Rd this Tuesday. According to a message posted on GayHalifax:

NSRAP has been presented with the opportunity of some direct funding
from the department of justice to put on a trans positive agenda
themeed conference. This will be aimed at influential public
servants/community members/academics and politicians regarding trans
positive/negative policies including those in health. We need lots of
help from the groud up to organize this even in its entirety! Come one
come all if you’re keen to pitchin with ideas and participation,
tentatively the conference will be planed for the fall or winter of
2012.

 

To RSVP or for more information, contact lucas@dal.ca.

Also coming up this week, the Youth Project and Dalhousie are hosting an information/training session on how to become an ally to the queer community. The event is this Thursday, in Room 224 at the Dalhousie Student Union building, 6136 University Ave. The session is for individuals interested in reaching out to and supporting others in the queer community. Contact the Youth Project for more information.

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