You Spell it Wimmin

The universe answers serious requests when you think no one is listening. Just the other day I was bemoaning the loss of women’s bookstores—and women’s music. I missed the pulp novels— many of doubtful literary value. I missed the buttons, posters, sweatshirts, car stickers. Yes, you can get all that in Provincetown— the Mecca.

And just after my nostalgia, my walk backwards in time— I read about Butch Heroes by Ria Brodell and published by MIT Press. It’s a queer history from the fifteenth century to the present. I was looking for lesbian books— this book unearths stories of trans people whose stories are buried in arcane books or in a few scholastic and academic books. Her point is that throughout history there have been trans people and non-binary folks. 

Since she is an artist she not only wrote a book, but did a series of twenty paintings of some of the people found in her book. I’ve ordered it from our library system. Any serious study published by a mainstream press is valuable. 

I’ll wait until we get down to Provincetown to walk into a lesbian bookstore, buy a button, and maybe even find a pulp romance. Meanwhile I’ll listen to music of some of my favorite singers over a Bluetooth connection and an app. Margie Adam I hear you playing, Lucie Blue I hear you singing, Alix Dobkin I dig your lyrics.