Monday, September 7, 2026
Via White Crane Institute \\ GAVIN MAXWELL
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Died  1969 - GAVIN MAXWELL died on this date, (b: 1914) I don't know about you, but I have always loved otters and that love first made itself known to me in the book Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell. So it was with great delight that I discovered that this book was written by a gay man. A Scottish naturalist and author, best known for his work with otters Gavin Maxwell wrote the wonderful book Ring of Bright Water in 1960 about how he brought an otter back from Iraq and raised it in Scotland. Ring of Bright Water sold more than a million copies and was made into a movie starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna in 1969. The title Ring of Bright Water was taken from a poem by Kathleen Raine, who said in her autobiography that Maxwell had been the love of her life. Maxwell's book Ring of Bright Water describes how, in 1956, he brought a Smooth-coated otter back from Iraq and raised it in "Camusfearna" (Sandaig) on the west coast of Scotland. He took the otter, called Mijbil, to the London Zoological Society, where it was decided that this was a previously unknown sub-species of Smooth-coated Otter. It was therefore named Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli (or, colloquially, "Maxwell's Otter") after him. It is thought to have become extinct in the alluvial salt marshes of Iraq as a result of the large-scale drainage of the area that started in the 1960s. In his book The Marsh Arabs, Wilfred Thesiger wrote: [I]n 1956, Gavin Maxwell, who wished to write a book about the Marshes, came with me to Iraq, and I took him round in my tarada for seven weeks. He had always wanted an otter as a pet, and at last I found him a baby European otter which unfortunately died after a week, towards the end of his visit. He was in Basra preparing to go home when I managed to obtain another, which I sent to him. This, very dark in colour and about six weeks old, proved to be a new species. Gavin took it to England, and the species was named after him. The otter became woven into the fabric of Maxwell's life. Kathleen Raines' relationship with Maxwell ended in 1956 when she indirectly caused the death of Mijbil. Raine held herself responsible not only for losing Mijbil but for a curse she had uttered shortly beforehand, frustrated by Maxwell's homosexuality: "Let Gavin suffer in this place as I am suffering now." Raine blamed herself thereafter for all Maxwell's misfortunes, beginning with Mijbil's death and ending with the cancer that took his life in 1969 Maxwell was the youngest son of Lieutenant-Colonel Aymer Maxwell and Lady Mary Percy, fifth daughter of the seventh Duke of Northumberland. His paternal grandfather, Sir Herbert Maxwell, was an archaeologist, politician and natural historian. Maxwell was raised in the tiny village of Elrig, in south-western Scotland. Maxwell's relatives still reside in the area and the family's ancient estate and grounds are in nearby Monreith. During World War II, Maxwell served as an instructor with the Special Operations Executive. After the war, he purchased the Isle of Soay of Skye in the inner Hebrides, Scotland. According to his book Harpoon at a Venture (1952, since republished under various titles), bad planning and a lack of finance meant his attempt to establish a basking shark fishery there between 1945-48 proved unsuccessful. In 1956, Maxwell toured the reed marshes of Southern Iraq with explorer Wilfred Thesiger. Maxwell's account of their trip appears in A Reed Shaken By The Wind, later published under the title People of the Reeds. It was hailed by the New York Times reviewer as "near perfect". Maxwell next moved to Sandaig (which he called Camusfeàrna in his books), a small community opposite Eileen Iarmain on a remote part of the Scottish mainland. This is where his "otter books" are set. After Ring of Bright Water (1960), he wrote The Rocks Remain (1963), in which the otters Edal, Teko, Mossy and Monday show great differences in personality. The Rocks Remain is a sequel to Ring of Bright Water, as it demonstrates the difficulty Maxwell was having, possibly as a result of his mental state, in remaining focused on one project and the impact that had on his otters, Sandaig, and his own life. In 1966, he traveled to Morocco with a male companion, tracing the dramatic lives of the last rulers of Morocco under the French. His account of the trip was published as Lords of the Atlas: The Rise and Fall of the House of Glaoua 1893-1956. During the Moroccan Years of Lead, the regime there considered his book subversive and banned its importation. In The House of Elrig (1965), Maxwell describes his family history and his passion for the calf-country, Galloway, where he was born. It was during this period that he met ornithologist Peter Scott and the young Terry Nutkin, who later became a children's television presenter. A closeted homosexual, Maxwell married Lavinia Renton (née Lascelles) on February 1 1962. The marriage lasted little more than a year and they divorced in 1964. In 1968, Maxwell's Sandaig home was destroyed by fire and he moved to the lighthouse cottage of Eilean Bàn (White Island), another island he owned off the coast of Skye. He invited John Lister-Kaye to join him on Eilean Bàn and help him build a zoo on the island and work on a book about British wild mammals. Lister-Kaye accepted the invitation, but both projects were abandoned when Maxwell died from cancer later that same year.
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Via Daily Dharma: Be Kind to Your Mind
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Via Fb \\ Oscar Wilde
Bisexual Visibility Month!In London, if you are leaving Charing Cross Station and heading toward Leicester Square or Covent Garden, you might cross the Strand and cut behind St. Martin’s in the Fields on Adelaide Street, which is a pedestrian walkway at the south end. It is a place where people rest or talk or hurry on by. There, in the middle of the crowd, rests a wonderful sculpture. It’s a grey/green sarcophagus-like box with upturned ends. Rising up at the north end is head and shoulders and one hand holding a cigarette. The hair is long. There is a frilly collar and a cravat. The face is alive and laughing, as if the owner is having a wonderful time. The name of the sculpture is “A Conversation with Oscar Wilde”. Looking at it you feel this would be a rare and fun conversation.
Oscar Wilde, the playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet was a most unusual man. He was born in Dublin in 1854. His father was an ear and eye surgeon who was knighted for his work in medicine. The father was also a noted philanthropist and writer. His mother was a poet who instilled in Oscar a love of poetry and art. Wilde learned Greek, Latin, and French as a child. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin in 1871 and won another scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford in 1874. At Magdalen, Wilde was part of the aesthetic and decadent movements which stressed beauty and art for arts sake. Two of his tutors were Walter Pater and John Ruskin, the essayists and art critics. #BannedBooksWeek
In the 1880s, Wilde married, and he and his wife had two sons. His wrote primarily poetry and stories and essays for journals. He also edited and managed journals. By 1886 Wilde’s marriage was coming apart, and he was involved in gay relationships.
Most of Wilde’s work was published in the period of 1890 to 1895. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde’s only novel, came out in 1890. The plays Salome, Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest came out in 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1895 respectively.
In 1891, Wilde met Lord Alfred Douglas, an Oxford undergraduate, and the two began an affair. Soon they were involved in the Victorian underground of gay prostitution. In 1895, the Marquis of Queensberry, the father of Douglas, publicly accused Wilde of being gay. Although his friends advised him to ignore the public outing, Wilde decided he couldn’t let it go. He took the Marquis to court for libel and lost. Wilde was then charged with gross indecency. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years at hard labor, 1895 to 1897.
Prison ruined Wilde’s health. He never recovered from the hard labor, the diet, and the harsh treatment. While Wilde was in jail, he wrote a 50,000-word letter to Douglas that reflects on his earlier life, his relationship with Douglas, and what he learned during his time in jail. This work is called De Profundis. When Wilde left jail, he immediately left England and lived in poverty in France for his last three years. In 1897 he wrote “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” about life in prison.
Sunday, September 6, 2026
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - September 6, 2026 🌅
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“Every role, every label you have, is just another sombodiness.” |
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Source: Ram Dass – Here and Now – Ep. 156 – Dying Into What Is |
Via White Crane Institute \\ SYLVESTER
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| This Day in Gay History | |||
1947 -
SYLVESTER, American Cockette superstar and disco singing queen, born (d: 1988); A superstar, Sylvester represented the Black and Gay cultural origins of disco to mainstream America and made the success of RuPaul's possible. His body of work includes crucial contributions to the disco songbook, but his ballads proved he was a versatile stylist who brought an immediacy and depth to all material.
Sylvester James was born in Los Angeles to a family that included the blues singer Joan Morgan. After moving to San Francisco, where he was one of the stars of the gender-fuck drag street troupe The Cockettes, Later in the 1970's, Sylvester put together the rock-oriented Hot Band. He began recording for the Blue Thumb label but sales were disappointing. Returning to San Francisco, he began to build up a loyal audience with his outrageous stage shows.
Harvey Fuqua, one-time producer at Motown but now a scout for Fantasy Records saw Sylvester and signed him to begin work on an album. In a stroke of luck, Izora Whitehead and Martha Wash were discovered singing background vocals at a concert and Sylvester jumped at the chance to hire them. Renaming the hefty pair the Two Tons of Fun, they were an integral part of Sylvester's success, adding stage presence as well as reminders of his gospel roots.
The self-titled Fantasy debut, Sylvester, dropped in 1977 without much fanfare but gained cult status via the remake of the Ashford and Simpson's "Over and Over."
His greatest achievement would be Step II. As the LP was being recorded, Sylvester let Patrick Cowley, then an up and coming remixer, hear an early version of "You Make Me Feel Mighty Real." Cowley's synth overlays transformed the former ballad into a disco tour de force. The driving beat and keyboard flourishes reflected the intensity of Gay disco at its best, while Sylvester's impassioned vocals communicated the anticipation of sex. Arriving at the height of discomania, the combination proved irresistible and much to the horror of disco haters and homophobes (who were largely one and the same), he was launched into the mainstream. The accompanying video made a mockery of Fuqua's attempts to tone down his flamboyance, as Sylvester strolled around a disco in full drag.
"Mighty Real" won several Billboard disco awards, establishing Sylvester in disco's pantheon. The other single from the album, "Dance (Disco Heat)," featured the Tons on lead vocals and their pure gospel was so spirited, so powerful that all Sylvester could do was come in halfway through the song with a scream that anybody familiar with the black church will recognize as the "happy shout."
Despite the obvious magic he had with dance material, Sylvester never viewed himself as a disco act. You see, he really wanted to be Patti Labelle. Therefore, he announced that Stars would be his only pure disco album. A celebration of nightlife, the four tracks dared you to sit down as he and the Tons worked the hell out of "I Who Have Nothing."
Although most disco acts avoided live albums, Sylvester was at his strongest on stage. Taking advantage of his exciting stage performance, the live album Living Proof was released in late 1979 to the delight of fans. Recorded at San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House, the album is a tour de force. Ranging from his disco hits to an interpretation of Billie Holliday's Lover Man, it is a powerful statement of Sylvester's talent.
Sylvester began the 1980's on the Disco chart with Can't Stop Dancing, a track from Living Proof. Midway through the year, Two Tons O' Fun branched off on their own and topped the Disco chart with their first album. Late in the year Sylvester released the album, Sell My Soul. Harvey Fuqua had suggested he branch out into a wider variety of music as Disco's popularity began to fade. Recorded without Patrick Cowley, the single I Need You failed to make the Disco Top 5.
By 1981, Sylvester returned to working with Patrick Cowley and contributed vocals to Cowley's Disco hit Menergy. He also contributed vocals to Herbie Hancock's top 10 Disco hit Magic Number. One of his last collaborative efforts with Patrick Cowley was Do You Wanna Funk, a Top 3 Dance hit in the fall of 1982. The album All I Need in 1983 kept Sylvester's voice prominent in dance clubs. Unfortunately, Patrick Cowley became one of the first victims of the AIDs epidemic and Sylvester's music never completely recovered. 1984's Call Me suffered from lack of strong production.
Sylvester didn't return to the Dance top 10 until 1985 with Take Me to Heaven and Sex from the album M1015. For his next album, 1987's Mutual Attraction, Sylvester finally signed with a major label, Warner Brothers. His remake of Stevie Wonder'sLiving For the City and Someone Like You were major Dance hits. The latter became his second chart-topping Dance hit. Sadly, this was to be his only full-length studio album recorded for Warner Brothers. Sylvester succumbed to AIDs in December 1988.
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Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute
"With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson
Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989!
www.whitecraneinstitute.org
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Via White Crane Institute \\ JANE ADDAMS
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| This Day in Gay History | ||||||||
September 06Born  1860 - JANE ADDAMS, born; American social worker, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1935) Although she would not have used the word Lesbian, she did have lasting intimate and romantic relationships with women throughout her life. After returning from a Grand Tour of Europe, Jane resumed friendship with Ellen Gates Starr, now a teacher. A female love of Starr's had moved away and she was heartbroken. She wrote to Jane, "The first real experience I ever had in my life of any real pain in parting came with separating from her. I don't speak of it because people don't understand it. People would understand if it were a man." Soon Addams would become the object of Starr's affection. It is not clear whether Jane returned the affection. In 1889 she and Starr co-founded Hull House in Chicago, Illinois, one of the first settlement houses in the United States. At its height, Hull House was visited each week by around two thousand people. Its facilities included a night school for adults, kindergarten classes, clubs for older children, a public kitchen, an art gallery, a coffeehouse, a gymnasium, a girls club, a swimming pool, a book bindery, a music school, a drama group, a library, and labor-related divisions. She was probably most remembered through the institution of her adult night school which set the stage for the continuing education classes offered by many community colleges today. Hull House also served as a women's sociological institution. Addams was a friend and colleague to the early members of the Chicago School of Sociology, influencing their thought through her work in applied sociology and, in 1893, co-authoring the Hull-House Maps and Papers that came to define the interests and methodologies of the School. She worked with George H. Mead on social reform issues including promoting women’s rights, ending child-labor, and the mediating during the 1910 Garment Workers’ Strike. Although academic sociologists of the time defined her work as "social work", Addams did not consider herself a social worker. The term Lesbian was coined in 1890, one year after Addams founded Hull House. Although she would not have used the term to define herself, by today's standards, Jane Addams would be a Lesbian. Mary Rozet Smith arrived at Hull House one day in 1890, the daughter of a wealthy paper manufacturer. Over the years she became Jane's devoted companion, virtually playing the role of a traditional wife: tending to her when she was ill, handling her social correspondence, making travel arrangements. Unfortunately, we will never know the full extent of Jane's relationship with Mary Smith. Toward the end of her life, Jane destroyed most of Mary's letters to her. Perhaps she was trying to cover up a sexual component of their relationship. "I miss you dreadfully and am yours 'til death," Addams wrote to Smith. Smith wrote back, "You can never know what it is to me to have had you and to have you...I feel quite a rush of emotion when I think of you." Perhaps the most challenging aspect of Addams's life and the one which won her the most notoriety was her involvement in the peace movement. Addams declared herself a pacifist and spoke out against World War I. Although she would eventually win a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts, it was an unpopular stance to take in 1914. Addams believed women had a social responsibility to work for peace because working men would never be against war. She took on a leadership role in the Woman's Peace Party. In March 1915 Addams was invited to speak at an International Congress of Women in the Netherlands. Addams presided over the event and one participant said, "She towered above all the others and again and again when she rose to speak and when she closed the audience would stand and applaud...She led without dominating and with extraordinary parliamentary skill clarified and interpreted for the polyglot congress of women." Jane Addams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. True to her cause, Jane gave all her prize money away.
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Via Daily Dharma: Navigating Contexts
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