Brad Walsh & Christian Siriano

Christian Siriano (born November 18, 1985) is an American fashion designer. Siriano first gained attention after winning the fourth season of American reality show Project Runway, becoming the series' youngest winner. Shortly after winning Runway, Siriano launched his fashion line, Christian Siriano, which as of 2010 has brought in revenue of over $1.2 million.

Siriano was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland. He has one older sister, and is of Italian and German descent.

Siriano has said that his parents supported the arts and encouraged him and his sister to pursue creative fields. As a child, Siriano studied ballet, and on a March 2008 Ellen appearance, he described himself as a "musical theater kid who loved costumes". Siriano's interest in costume design inspired him to pursue a career in fashion. He began designing clothes at age thirteen, while working as a hair washer and styling assistant at Bubbles Salon in Annapolis, and eventually began sewing clothes for the salon's annual hair shows. Siriano spent a year at Broadneck Senior High School before transferring to Baltimore School for the Arts. The school allowed Siriano to choose fashion design as his course of study.

After being rejected by the Fashion Institute of Technology, Siriano chose to study abroad at American InterContinental University in London, England. Following the recommendation of a teacher during his senior year, he began interning at Vivienne Westwood, and later, at Alexander McQueen, who Siriano has stated is his favorite designer. Siriano moved to New York City after graduating from college.

Siriano is openly gay and lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan with longtime boyfriend, singer-songwriter Brad Walsh.


Christian Siriano (born November 18, 1985) is an American fashion designer. Siriano first gained attention after winning the fourth season of American reality show Project Runway, becoming the series' youngest winner. Shortly after winning Runway, Siriano launched his fashion line, Christian Siriano, which as of 2010 has brought in revenue of over $1.2 million. Siriano lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan with his boyfriend since November 2007, singer-songwriter Brad Walsh.



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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Siriano

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More Fashion Designers at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Art

More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Evelyn Caldwell Hooker (September 2, 1907 – November 18, 1996)

Evelyn Hooker (September 2, 1907–November 18, 1996) was an American psychologist most notable for her 1957 paper "The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual" in which she administered several psychological tests to groups of self-identified homosexuals and heterosexuals and asked experts to identify the homosexuals. The experiment, which other researchers subsequently repeated, demonstrates that homosexuality is not a mental disorder as there was no detectable difference between homosexual and heterosexual men in terms of mental adjustment.

Her work exposed a false correlation between homosexuality and mental illness that had formed the basis of scientific classification of homosexuality as a disorder, by avoiding the use of a sample group that contained homosexual men with a history of treatment for mental illness. It is of critical importance in refuting cultural heterosexism because it shows that homosexuality is not developmentally inferior to heterosexuality. As homosexuality is not an illness, bias against it is irrational from a scientific point of view.

Hooker was born Evelyn Gentry in North Platte, Nebraska, and grew up with eight brothers and sisters in the Colorado Plains. When she was 13, her family moved to Sterling, Colorado.

In 1924 she became a student at the University of Colorado while working as a maid for a rich Boulder family. Her mentor, Dr Karl Munzinger, guided her in her challenge of the then prevalent psychological theory of behaviourism. He invited her to write her own case history. After receiving her Masters degree, she became one of 11 women involved in the PhD program in psychology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, having been refused referral to Yale. She was awarded her PhD in 1932.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Hooker

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Gia Marie Carangi (January 29, 1960 – November 18, 1986)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Cosmo cover girl Gia Marie Carangi caught the eyes of both men and women. Her life story details the tragedy of a beautiful woman battling internal demons. In Gia’s case, the demons won in the end.

Gia was the quintessential supermodel, appearing on the covers of Vogue, Vogue Paris, American Vogue, Vogue Paris, Italian Vogue, and several issues of Cosmopolitan in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

After Gia became addicted to drugs, her modeling career faltered, and in 1981 she dropped out of the fashion world. She then enrolled in a twenty-one-day detox program and started dating a college student called Rochelle (her real name was Elisa Golden), but her main girlfriend was makeup artist, Sandy Linter. Gia’s attempt to quit drugs was doomed when her good friend, fashion photographer Chris von Wangenheim, died in a car accident. Gia locked herself in a bathroom for hours, shooting heroin.

Afterward, Gia’s life entered a downward spiral of drugs and prostitution. She became infected with HIV and was among the first widely publicized cases of death from AIDS-RELATED complications.


Gia and Sandy Lister


AIDS Quilt

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Stern, Keith (2009-09-01). Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals (Kindle Locations 5345-5354). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

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Mike Connolly (1914 – November 18, 1966)

Mike Connolly (1914 – November 18, 1966) was an American magazine reporter and primarily a Hollywood columnist.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where, in 1937 and 1938, he was the city editor of the Daily Illini, the independent student-run newspaper.

From 1951 to 1966, Connolly was a gossip columnist for The Hollywood Reporter, a daily entertainment newspaper dealing with film and television productions, located in Los Angeles, California.

The screenplay for the biographical film I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955) was based on the autobiography of actress Lillian Roth, that was written in collaboration with Connolly and Gerold Frank.

He was described by Newsweek as "probably the most influential columnist inside the movie colony," the one writer "who gets the pick of trade items, the industry rumors, the policy and casting switches." Indeed, he was a witness to and participant in more than a decade of sometimes tumultuous Hollywood history, and he was privy to most of Hollywood's secrets during those years.

Actress and writer Shirley MacLaine devoted several pages in her first memoir, Don't Fall Off the Mountain (1970), to an incident in which she had marched into the offices of The Hollywood Reporter and punched Connolly in the mouth. She was angry about what he had said about her career in his column. The incident garnered a headline on the cover of the New York Post in June 1963.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Connolly_(columnist)

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Clifford Wright & Ralph Pomeroy

Ralph Pomeroy (1926 - November 18, 1999) was an American poet.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in Winnetka, Illinois. He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Illinois. At eighteen he had already published poems in "Poetry", which was one of the leading poetry magazines in America at the time. He pursued painting in Paris, France, in the 1940s, and then worked as an editor, art critic, curator and exhibiting artist in New York City. In the 1950s he was active in San Francisco's poetry scene, although he was not a Beat poet. The New York Times published his poetry on five separate occasions in 1968 and 1969. He taught at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in the late 1980s and '90s.

Many years later, he was stabbed in the chest by a "fag basher", and also suffered a broken wrist while engaged in what a friend described as "S&M games with a trick."

Pomeroy died of cirrhosis of the liver in San Francisco in the fall of 1999.

Throughout his writing career he published essays, monographs, catalogs, three poetry collections and an illustrated book of poems with Andy Warhol entitled "A La Recherche du Shoe Perdu". One of his books was about painter Theodoros Stamos. His friend, Edward Field, discusses his life in his book: The Man Who Would Marry Susan Sontag and Other Intimate Portraits of the Bohemian Era (2007, University of Wisconsin Press). In an article for the "The Gay & Lesbian Review," (July-August, 2005, Volume 11 Issue 4), Field notes that the openly gay Pomeroy was accepted by Yaddo 1955, "where he scandalized the sedate arts colony by having an open affair with painter Clifford Wright." There was a scandal involving poet Robert Lowell who is said to have been seduced by Charles Sebree and caused a federal raid on Yaddo at the height of the Senator Joseph McCarthy witch hunt. Clifford was arrested in the raid and feared that the names of his homosexual friends would be exposed. When Clifford returned to Yaddo he had an affair with Ralph Pomeroy.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Pomeroy_(poet)

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Richard DeFabees (May 30, 1947 - November 18, 1993)

Richard DeFabees (May 30, 1947, Englewood, New Jersey - November 18, 1993, Lakehurst, New Jersey), was an actor who appeared in productions on Broadway and off. He died on November 18, 1993. He was 46.

The cause was AIDS, said Norman Rothstein, a friend.

Mr. DeFabees appeared in the original Broadway production of "Torch Song Trilogy," alternating in the lead role, as Arnold, with the play's author, Harvey Fierstein. His Broadway credits also include "Whose Life Is It Anyway?," "The Skin of Our Teeth" and "Summer Brave." Off Broadway, he won praise for his work in the plays "Monsters" and "Creeps." He also appeared in "36," a comedy presented by the Jewish Repertory Theater in 1980, and acted in the films "Short Eyes," "A Chorus Line" and "City Out of Wilderness."



Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/01/obituaries/richard-defabees-actor-46.html

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New Release Excerpt: The Seventh Pleiade by Andrew J. Peters

The Seventh Pleiade by Andrew J. Peters
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (November 19, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602829608
ISBN-13: 978-1602829602
Amazon: The Seventh Pleiade
Amazon Kindle: The Seventh Pleiade

Atlantis is besieged by violent storms, tremors, and a barbarian army. For sixteen-year-old Aerander, it’s a calamitous backdrop to his Panegyris, where boys are feted for their passage to manhood.

Amid a secret web of romances among the celebrants, Aerander's cousin Dam goes missing with two boys. With the kingdom in crisis, no one suspects the High Priest Zazamoukh, though Aerander uncovers a conspiracy to barter boys for dark spiritual power. Aerander's proof— an underground vault that disappears in the morning—brings shame on his family and charges of lunacy. The only way for Aerander to regain his honor is to prove what really happened to the missing boys.

Tracking Dam leads Aerander on a terrifying and fantastical journey. He spots a star that hasn’t been seen for centuries. He uncovers a legend about an ancient race of men who hid below the earth. And traveling to an underground world, he learns about matters even more urgent than the missing boys. The world aboveground is changing, and he will have to clear a path for the kingdom’s survival.

From Kirkus Reviews (10/2/2013): “A marriage of equality among fantasy, mythology, action and same-sex love. Varied, vivid landscapes will entice discerning fantasy readers, and beefy vocabulary keeps the narrative hearty.”

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About the author:

Andrew J. Peters likes retold stories with a subversive twist. He is the author of the paranormal e-novelette series Werecat. The Seventh Pleiade is his first novel. A former Lambda Literary Foundation Fellow, Andrew has written short fiction for many publications. He lives in New York City with his husband Genaro and their cat Chloë.

Rainbow Awards pre-party and 7th anniversary (Day 18)

November 2013 marks the 7th anniversary since I opened my first journal (and yes, I have an itch, but I will scratch it!), on LJ, and the 5th anniversary of the Rainbow Awards. So, of course I decided for a big bash party. 188 authors, all of them in the 2013 Rainbow Awards, have donated or an ebook, or a print book, and I will use them for a Treasure Hunt. Every day, for all November, I will post 6 excerpts (a random page of the book). No reference to title, or author, or publisher. You have to match it with the book ;-) comment on the blog (do not leave anonymous comments, if you post as anonymous, leave a contact email (comments are screened)), you can comment 1 time for more matchings (you can even try for all 6 books if you like, so 6 chances to win every day). Until the end I will not say which matching is right, so you will have ALL month to try. No limit on how many books you can win, the more you try the better chance you have to win. End of November, among the right matchings, I will draw the winners. So now? let the game start!

Be aware that these previous excerpts: 11, 23, 25, 86 have not yet been matched, so if you go back there is good chance to win them!

The books are (Author - Title - Format of prize):

( The books are (Author - Title - Format of prize) )

Previous Post: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3929957.html

Today excerpts are:

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Sweet & Sour by Astrid Amara

First of all, let start with the point that I liked this novel, sex scenes and all, and this was odd for two reasons, one that I usually don’t care much for the sex, unless is good, and second, the sex happens between two men who aren’t the intended romance of the story. Miles is in a dying relationship with Itai, and that is clear, and he meets Nic, who could be the right man. But Miles is not a cheater, and so, while he is still committed to Itai, he will not betray him, if not with the feelings that he is starting to develop for Nic. But Miles and Itai are also young, and they like sex, Miles in particular, and they are healthy young men, and so, during the development of the story, there are intercourses between them, and as I said, they are good, even if unfulfilling from an emotional point of view. Here the odd, I usually don’t care for unemotional sex, but this time it was so natural, that I did, saving sharing the same disappointment as Miles, when, in the aftermath of the sex, he realized that good sex wasn’t enough to satisfy him.

Sweet & Sour is an Hanukkah story, and the Jewish heritage of Miles is an important element of the story, from the more evident aspect, being Miles the owner of a kosher deli, to the little details like the tradition of lighting a candle for each night of the Hanukkah and sharing little gifts with your beloved.

I have always enjoyed these seasonal romances by Astrid Amara, they are now a longed for yearly appointment.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18663280-sweet-and-sour
Expected publication: November 26th 2013 by Loose Id

Updates: http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/2156728?key=011e4dd0a1ff993d8c2322e691d6229ed9bbf74b