LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth

May 21, 1999 Issue Index

Acknowledgments: LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth relies on the support of readers and members for many of our articles, photographs, poetry, illustrations, and production assistance.

The Way I See It: Commentary by Steve Elkins, Editor. This is the Memorial Day issue of LETTERS from CAMP Rehoboth, and once again I find myself scratching my graying head and wondering how it could possibly be time to start a new season. But it is, and as I look at the eighty-eight pages of this issue it reminds me that it has been a busy and exciting year in CAMP and I know that the excitement will continue to grow as we move into the summer.

Speak Out: Letters that we have received over the past few weeks from our loyal readers.

On the Cover: Washington, D.C. area photographer Judy Rolfe captures the 1999 CAMPsafe Lifeguards. Click here to view this cover in full size (640 px wide x 842 px high).

In Brief: Study links youth suicide attempts to isolation...Independent film festival to grow in November...Tony Awards party to benefit AIDS Delaware.

Have a CAMPsafe Season! Summer Teas to Autumn Retreat: You're Invited to Join the Fun: It’s going to be an exciting season in Rehoboth Beach, and Project CAMPsafe will be doing its part to make the final months of the 1900s action-packed and healthy ones for you. In addition to our three summer SAFE-Tea Dances, we hope you will make plans now to attend our first-ever men’s weekend retreat in the early fall. Following are a few highlights of this year’s CAMPsafe campaign.

CAMP Out: Fay's Rehoboth Journal - Change is Good; Transition Sucks: by Fay Jacobs. It was rewarding to hear Troy Watson, writing in the last issue, say that he enjoyed my column. He also offered some ideas, should I run out of material. Hey, send them along! But, in the meantime, the frustration of relocating my entire life is inspirational stuff. Hell, just arranging phone service is life’s work. What are there now, twenty thousand phone companies? And they all called me tonight during dinner. "Hi, this is a courtesy call from MCI." If they were courteous they wouldn’t call at 6 o’clock.

Capital Letters: by Hastings Wyman. Can Bradley gain gay support?... Stonewall convening in Atlanta... Michigan gays: stark choice in senate race...Feinstein for Senator - and Veep?...Gay clout grows in city elections...Las Vegas: Oscar night...Denver: Rawhide and raw.

Summer Love 1999 (or deep in the heart of CAMP): by Murray Archibald. It’s summer...again. And on top of that it’s the last summer of the nineties, and the 20th century and the millennium. We live in a time of enormous change. A time when we as gay and lesbian people are more than ever called to "come out, come out, wherever you are," and ask ourselves who we are as gay people, as human beings. I love the summer. It is a time when everything grows. Creatively it is an especially rich time for me and I feel myself growing like a vine in the warm sunshine and moist air of the season.

Past Out: What were the White Night Riots?: by David Bianco. On the morning of November 27, 1978, Dan White, a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, came into the office of the city’s liberal mayor, George Moscone, through a side door, argued with the mayor, and then shot him two times in the chest. When Moscone fell, White shot him twice more in the head. After reloading his .38, White rushed across the hallway to the office of Supervisor Harvey Milk, the city’s first openly gay elected official, and shot him a total of five times—like Moscone—in the chest and then through the head. Both Moscone and Milk died instantly of their execution- like wounds.

CAMP Town: And the (Business) Beat Goes On: by Barry Becker. As we slip into another summer season of smiling visitors, we’ve added some new columns to Letters, and are giving some others a new look. One such new look is this column, which has been appearing under the [some would argue drab] heading of Business Beat for the past 2 years or so. We’re now recasting it as CAMP Town. While the name is changing, this column’s mission remains the same: we’re committed to letting you, our gentle readers, know all about the fabulous restaurants, unique shops and other businesses that serve our area and support the work of CAMP Rehoboth.

Band News: Yum Yum Summer Singer Showcases...Red Letter Day Comes Home.

CAMP Talk - The Graying of Gay Rehoboth: Time for a 'Queer Sun City'?: by Bill Sievert. Whenever it crosses my mind, the realization puts a lump in my throat. I am not the same young man who first came to Rehoboth Beach a few short years ago—in 1979. The evidence is apparent in my behavior. Instead of long afternoons of basking on the blistering beach as John and I once did, we now stretch out on chaise lounges on our backyard deck. Our sunning usually lasts only a few minutes until some overzealous bee buzzes us back indoors. We often wish we had built a screened porch rather than a deck and, as I check my face for deepening wrinkles, I regret that I hadn’t been wiser about protecting myself from so much exposure to the sun earlier in life.

CAMP Shots - Memorial Day Weekend Approaches: Businesses and residents gear up for a new CAMP season...check out these pre-season photos.

Some Small Notes on Refinancing: by Cheryl Normandeau. The refinance market is booming, with interest rates at 20-year lows in the industry. Before you begin the refinance process, do a little research to save yourself some time and money down. When should you re-finance? Traditionally, the decision on whether or not to refinance has meant balancing the savings of a lower monthly payment against the costs of refinancing. In recent years, lenders have introduced "no cost" and "low-cost" refinancing packages that minimize or eliminate the out-of-pocket expenses of refinancing. (These refinancing packages compensate usually with either a higher interest rate, or by including some or all of the costs in the amount that is financed.)

Q Scope: by Jill Dearman. Horoscopes for people like us. May 21 - June 3, 1999.

Our Place is Open on Baltimore Avenue!: The cozy, delightful Our Place Restaurant & Garden Patio is now open at 37 Baltimore Avenue. While the rest of us will consider it "our place" once we get to know the great menu and comfortable, homey atmosphere, for the owners, Deb Ivanor and Maryanne Miller, "Our Place" is much more than just a name—it’s a labor of love—including not just a little "sweat equity."

Student CAMP: by Kristen Foery. Memorial Day has come upon us. Imagine that. My father, God bless him, is a veteran. Because of this, I respect Memorial Day as a solemn, respectful holiday. That doesn’t stop my mind from wandering to the fact that school is almost out. (Yay!) If anyone, and I do mean anyone, gives me a lecture on how high school years are "the best years of my life," I will personally feed their spleens to lemurs. Let’s see… no money, restricted privileges, two parents (albeit wonderful ones) to be accountable to, and high school at large.

Eating OUT: by Barry Becker. Espuma: Where Everything is Art! ESPUMA (First St. & Wilmington Ave.) is one of those rare restaurants that just walking in the door you know you’re in for a special night. Kevin Reading, who also owns the Fox Point Grill in Wilmington, has transformed this space into a delicious and inviting melange of color, sound and light, that only foreshadows the food experience you are about to enjoy.

Beyond Our Borders: International news compiled by Rex Wockner. Belfast City Hall welcomes gay pride...Alberta OKs gay adoption...MET Life runs provocative ad...Museum pays $2.9 million for homo cup.

Booked Solid: New Release by Queer Life Writer: Michael Thomas Ford, whose "My Queer Life" column is a regular feature in LETTERS, wants to be Wynonna Judd. "Yes, it’s true. I want to have big jouncing breasts and masses of thick red hair. I want full, pouty lips that curl up in an Elvis sneer. I want to caress my guitar while thousands of lesbians squeal in delight as they watch me totter across the stage in tight cowboy boots. I can’t help it."

Being Scene: by Tom Minnuto. John Klenert is reprising his role as ruler of 3 Country Club this season and has revealed his plans for the production of Squirt Gun Party 5, also known as Squirt Gun Wars: The Phantom Menace. King Klenert is currently casting the part of the Young Queen, a role most insiders predict will go to Chris Riss, a seasoned performer who gave us last year’s creepy-crawly Catwoman. The big question: Can the renowned Riss pass as a Young Queen? Answer: He’s got half the battle beat.

Response to Verdict in Jenny Jones Civil Suit: Earlier this month, in a civil suit in Oakland County, Michigan, a jury ordered the producers of The Jenny Jones Show to pay $25 million in damages for the 1995 murder of Scott Amedure by Jonathan Schmitz. Amedure and Schmitz appeared on an episode of The Jenny Jones Show taped on March 6, 1995, at which time the 32-year-old Amedure revealed his "secret crush" on the then 24-year-old Schmitz. Three days later, Schmitz purchased a shotgun and bullets and killed Amedure at his home in Orion Township, Michigan.

Discriminators are like Batterers: by Larry Ray. "Employer discriminators are like batterers," declared Attorney Mickey J. Wheatley. "In their minds, they perceive weak people such as minorities or those with chronic illnesses such as HIV+/AIDS and pursue them. To combat this, you need to put yourself in a strong situation. If you must, come up front with your HIV+/AIDS status." "Don’t think of your employer like family," warned Attorney Mindy A. Daniels. "When it comes down to you and them, they will choose their jobs. Even the so-called best witnesses, if they are still employed by the defendant employer, sometimes will cease to remember or suddenly see things differently, giving the benefit of the doubt to the employer."

My Queer Life: Not What the Doctor Ordered: by Michael Thomas Ford. What is it with straight people thinking they have it so good? In a recent broadcast of her popular radio show, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, known to her legions of fans as simply Dr. Laura, uttered the now-infamous line, "Hear it one more time, perfectly clear; if you’re gay or lesbian, it’s a biological error that inhibits you from relating normally to the opposite sex."

Quote Unquote: by Rex Wockner. "I have quite a few really, really close gay friends. In fact maybe most of my friends." —Diana Ross to The Advocate, May 11.

Stepping OUT: by Tricia Massella. It’s that time of year when there is never a dull moment. You need to carry a social calendar just to keep up with all the happenings. The community is getting bigger and better every season. The support from all our advertisers and volunteers has been phenomenal. With your help, CAMP Rehoboth, a nonprofit community service organization, is able to accomplish its mission of creating a more positive environment with room for all.

Can't Stop the Music: by Jeffrey L. Newman. Music reviews of Celeda/This is it...Soundtrack/Go...Adam Guettel/Myths and Hymns.

CAMP Poet: Hope and The Color of Sticks, by Hiram Larew.

CAMP Fitness: News Tidbits: by Rick Moore. OK, here we go with the summer season! The weather has changed for the better and it’s beach time. The water may still be "cold as ice," but it’s wonderful to sit on the sand with a cool drink (non-alcoholic, of course) enjoying the pleasures of reading. Every now and then, I come across some health info, whether it’s online, in a magazine, or in a newspaper article, that I find exceptionally interesting. Some of these tidbits are shocking, while others just make you go "hmmmmm." So, just sit back, relax, and see if you find them as interesting as I did.

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 9, No. 5, May 21, 1999