DTWOF: The Blog

This morning I went to church! I was invited to do a book signing at a big LGBT church in Dallas, the Cathedral of Hope. Frankly, as a godless heathen recovering Catholic crypto-Buddhist, I was a little apprehensive. But boy, did I get my blue state socks blown off. First of all, I haven’t seen such a huge, diverse crowd of gay people all in one place since…well, since the Halloween parade the night before. But here they were all sober and fully clothed. This place is amazing. It’s a buzzing hive of activity. There’s a bookstore, there are people tabling about the state anti-gay marriage amendment, there’s a Day of the Dead altar with candles and skeletons, there’s a whole kids’ wing, there’s a choir and musicians and big video screens and the joint is packed. Four hundred at the early service, six hundred at the later one. Plus they have a very politicized, progressive mission. As it says in their bulletin, “Jesus was the ultimate liberal.” I hung out for a while as the first crowd left and the second one assembled. In between meeting lots of lovely people and signing books, I looked on slack-jawed at the stunning spectacle of community. Then I stayed for the beginning of the second service. And when the processional began, with people in robes and the organ booming and the stained glass and everyone singing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” I was ready to crawl to the altar. The pastor was very moving. She talked about the church as a refuge from the busy activity of our daily lives, and from our inevitable suffering, and I almost wept. I think the guy next to me DID weep. At the end of the Lord’s Prayer, he definitely gave his boyfriend a loud kiss. Then I had to leave for the airport, and in the lobby I ran into Lucie Blue Tremblay, who was there to promote The Breast Exam Project. Who knew that all this stuff was going on? I have to get out more.

This afternoon I did a slide show at the Dallas Public Library about my cartoons. And now I’m blogging about it. Because I can. I was part of an LGBT authors series that the library produces. Here’s Karyn and Leonardo, two of the lovely librarians who made the event happen. Here’s Nicole, who gave me this hand-painted Texas flag on recycled barnboard. After my presentation I went and signed books at the Crossroads Café, where I met this lovely gentleman in the poodle skirt and had a nice time hanging out and talking to people. It’s Halloween here, and I’m staying in the gay neighborhood. There’s some kind of giant parade/block party explosion about to happen. It’s not quite dark yet but the streets are barricaded off, thundering bass emanates from a sound system somewhere, and there are portable toilets everywhere. Looks like it should be a good time.

Attention DTWOF fans deep in the heart of Texas: Alison will be in Dallas this weekend and next. On Saturday, Oct. 29, she'll be speaking at the Oak Lawn Branch Library from 2-4 p.m. Afterwards, she'll be doing a booksigning for Invasion of the Dykes To Watch Out For at Crossroads Market Bookstore and Cafe. On Sunday, October 30, she's doing a signing from 10:15-11:30 at Cathedral of Hope. Then, on November 3-4, she's appearing at the University of North Texas, where she'll be speaking at a seminar called "Developing Multicultural Leaders: Woman who are Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and their Allies." The keynote speaker at that conference is none other than Lupe Valdez. Never heard of her? Here's a snippet about Valdez from an article in Salon.com: In an upset brought about by local scandal, demographic evolution and personal chutzpah, Lupe Valdez, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant farmworker, became the first-ever Democrat and woman to head the county's sole law enforcement office, which includes Texas' second largest city. "Since I won, every time I go to a Democratic meeting, they go crazy," Valdez, 57, told the New York Times. The story's sub-head also notes that the pioneering copper is a lesbian. But you Texans probably already know that.

If, like me, you’re having a little trouble wrapping your mind around the details of this case, here’s a very educational illustrated account.

also known as the Cardboard Cobbler, is artist of the day at Gothtober.com. Open up the October 19th door to see her animated cardboard sailor suit, and listen to her song “The Handsome Cabin Boy.” It loaded kind of slow for me, but was well worth the wait.

This woman Kerrie from the excellent lesbian blog Hothouse interviewed me last week about my new book. Alarmingly, she seems to have written down everything I said, and quite accurately. If you have several hours to kill, check out the interview.

Well, Invasion of the Dykes to Watch Out For is hot off the press. I'm holding a lovely, inky smelling copy in my hands, but a cursory search of the web indicates that it's not on the shelves yet. Nor, inexplicably, is it on my publisher Alyson Books' website. But hopefully it will be soon. If you've been following the strip recently, you will have learned that both Toni and Sydney have engaged in some extramarital activities at some indefinite point in the recent past. If you'd like to see the very definite details of their indiscretions, you have to buy my book! Isn't that a clever marketing device? I rather thought so.