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reviews_and_ramblings
Thomas LaMar Young was born in Wood River, Illinois, on May 14, 1947, and received his undergraduate degree from Illinois Normal Teacher's College. In 1975, he came to Minneapolis to seek treatment for alcohol abuse and became an activist in the gay community. He joined COMPAS (Community Programs in the Arts and Sciences) as an Artist in the City in 1978, and founded the Howling Wolf Puppet Troupe.
Young contributed poetry to the first issue of The James White Review (October 1983), named after his friend and mentor, and subsequently become an associate editor of the periodical. From time to time he also contributed pen and ink drawings for the Review's cover. He later explored drawing in chalk and construction of complex collages. In the late 1980s, the corporate offices of Radisson Hotels purchased a number of his works for their collection.
Young's poetry was also published in The Evergreen Chronicles, No Apologies, Seattle Gay News, and PWAlive, a journal by, for, and about persons affected with AIDS. He was creator of the comic strip Perky's Dad, and a founder of PWAlive. He moved between Minneapolis, Sacramento, and Seattle, and while in the latter city he collaborated on a screenplay concerning Stonewall. Thomas Young died on February 20, 1989.
His papers are held at ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives: photographs, photographic negatives, slides, graphic works, published and draft writings, and other materials relating to the life and literary and artistic career of Tom Young (1947-1989), author, artist, and assistant editor of The James White Review .
Source: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt029023t7/
Further Readings:
Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality by Patrick Moore
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press (January 14, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 080707957X
ISBN-13: 978-0807079577
Amazon: Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality
The radical sexuality of gay American men in the 1970s is often seen as a shameful period of excess that led to the AIDS crisis. Beyond Shame claims that when the gay community divorced itself from this allegedly tainted legacy, the tragic result was an intergenerational disconnect because the original participants were unable to pass on a sense of pride and identity to younger generations. Indeed, one reason for the current rise in HIV, Moore argues, is precisely due to this destructive occurrence, which increased the willingness of younger gay men to engage in unsafe sex.
Lifting the'veil of AIDS,' Moore recasts the gay male sexual culture of the 1970s as both groundbreaking and creative-provocatively comparing extreme sex to art. He presents a powerful yet nuanced snapshot of a maligned, forgotten era. Moore rescues gay America's past, present, and future from a disturbing spiral of destruction and AIDS-related shame, illustrating why it's critical for the gay community to reclaim the decade.
More LGBT History at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Gay Classics
