The Amazing Dorothy Allison
 

I wanted to start this thread to talk about Dorothy Allison's writing, impact on LGBT politics, and Feminism. If you have not read any of Dorothy Allison's work, please get to your local library or book store and pick up any of her books.

Also, feel free to share your thoughts on pieces of her writing, your favorite snippets or anecdotes, or general stories of how her writings have affected your life.

Dorothy will be at our Reunion party in October and many of you will get the chance to meet her in person and hear her speak live. It will change your life. No, I'm not kidding.

Dorothy-love goes here!

Dorothy's Portfolio:

She Who. A novel, forthcoming (Penguin Putnam)

Trash, A Collection of Short Stories, 2002, Plume.

Cavedweller. Dutton, 1998.

Two or Three Things I know for Sure. Dutton, Fall, 1995.

Skin - Talking about Sex, Class & Literature, Firebrand Books, 1994. A collection of narrative essays.

Bastard out of Carolina, Dutton, 1992. A finalist for the National Book Award, a selection of the B. Dalton Discovery program, and winner of both the Ferro Grumley and Bay Area Book Reviewers Awards for fiction, Bastard Out of Carolina has been translated into more than a dozen languages and published in more than a dozen countries. In 1995, it was made into a movie directed by Angelica Huston and premiered on Showtime.

The Women Who Hate Me, Poetry 1980-1990. A chapbook. Firebrand Books, Ithaca, New York, 1991.

My most favorite Dorothy Allison quote:

Two or three things I know for sure, and one is that I would rather go naked than wear the coat the world has made for me.

And some of her best advice for writers:

"I need you to do more than survive. As writers, as revolutionaries, tell the truth, your truth in your own way. Do not buy into their system of censorship, imagining that if you drop this character or hide that emotion, you can slide through their blockades. Do not eat your heart out in the hope of pleasing them. "

I read her book "Bastard out of Carolina," must have been almost 20 years ago. I need to see if I still have my copy... I should read it again. Thank you for reminding me. How blessed we are to have her speaking at the reunion. She is a brilliant writer and poet.

Word. It's a hard, HARD book to read.

I told her a couple of years ago that I stopped writing my memoirs because of her. She got all indignant when I told her that she had already told my story and popped off with some of her hysterical Southern wit with something along the lines of "well, quit being lazy and tell it again." LOL!

"Two or Three Things I Know for Sure" is a lot easier to read and reminds me of the vignette style of "Women Who Run With the Wolves". Lots of short stories and pieces of prose there that will talk to your heart.

"Trash" is just as good. It really speaks to class issues and growing up working class.

Be on the lookout. I'm going to donate a set of her books here on the Planet and get folks to put their name in for a drawing!!

I feel for me finding her work was eye opening and liberating all in one, then one day I met her, I was like a kid at Disney and then she spoke. Let me tell you, when she spoke it is as if she's reaching into your mid section and it's as is she knows the path you've walked. She's amazing, warm, kind and a pure force of nature.

I feel blessed, thankful, and lucky to hear her speak in person not only once but TWICE in my lifetime. I could listen to her for years.

Thanks BFP for that!

And she's funny!

History Is A Weapon
 

A Question of Class
by Dorothy Allison

http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/skinall.html

"I think I would have died, if there hadn't been the women's movement"

YES, MA'AM.

Her Feminism is so unapologetic. She doesn't "iron and take it up the ass at the same time". ;)

I loved loved loved when she pointed at the audience at FC and told the guys to NEVER forget or deny their herstory, that is and always will be important...

Snowy - Do you have your photo with her? I am digging through mine because I have photos of a few folks (looking for yours right now~!)

This a terrible one of me but her smile makes up for it:
http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/t...t/IMG_2322.jpg

This was her keynote speech at the 2008 Femme Collective conference.
It is one of the most amazing things I have ever been witness to.
It's about an hour long but SO worth the time. If I had a way to make this video "required watching" for every Femme on this site, I would.

http://www.femmecollective.com/index...2008&Itemid=31

Please excuse me for a moment while I go squeee like a little fanboi. Oh wait, I'm not going to be at the Reunion. Crap. Still, I squeee for all of you who will be.

Many years ago when I worked for the Lesbian Resource Center and we were planning our 25th Anniversary celebration, I desperately wanted to get Dorothy as a speaker. I sent requests out every which way, hoping one would find its way to her in time. All of them did. She wasn't able to attend because of a scheduling conflict be she wrote me a very nice personal letter congratulating us and sending her regrets and all that. Let's just say that not every prominent lesbian we contacted about the event was quite so personable (although Lily Tomlin did leave us a nice voicemail).

Just a few weeks ago I ran across the video of Dorothy at the Femme Conference and I was thinking I need to re-read some of her stuff because it's been so long (I never did make it through Bastard though). I loved her essays and I learned a ton from them too.

I love Dorothy Allison. I mean looooooooooooove her. Back when I was in undergraduate school and was taking a Southern Literature course (and the only African American and out queer student in the class), I recommended that the instructor add Bastard out of Carolina to the curriculum the next time she taught the class. Imagine my surprise when she did!

I can't remember which of her short story collections this story was in, but she has this one story about being in charge of the kitchen at a women's music festival, where she and another woman, faced with a mountain of tofu and vegan cooking, flirted with each other by discussing the kinds of forbidden, heart-attack inducing, rib-sticking, lip-smacking southern food they really like to cook. The thing that stuck with me most was the other woman saying to Dorothy "I'm gonna feed you, girl." Just thinking about that makes my heart go pitter pat.

Does anyone else remember that story or the collection it's in?