Look, I'm Famous!

[queerbychoice]

Um, does anybody here read the Utne Reader? They just contacted me to inform me that they mentioned me in the latest issue of it, and they're going to send me a copy, but now I'm dying of impatience to find out what they said. They never tried to contact me ahead of time; in the past when people have wanted to write about me they've asked for an interview. Maybe this was such a brief passing mention that it didn't call for any level of depth.

The longest-lasting former love of my life, Christine, used to read the Utne Reader back when we were in high school. If by any chance she still reads it, perhaps she'll read about me in it. I don't know for sure whether she even knows about my website's existence; we stopped speaking a month before I got the idea of founding the mailing list in 1999. She'd definitely recognize me, though, if she saw any mention of it - even despite the name change. I actually suspect she's already discovered me though, because I got instant messaged my an anonymous person two years ago who spoke with her speaking patterns.

Anyway, I want to know what the Utne Reader said immediately. I'm technically a member of Cafe Utne, but I don't actually participate; I just made a few posts there about two years ago and haven't been back since, and I don't think whatever mention they made of me in the latest issue would be posted on there anyway.

Comments

[the-moonshiner.livejournal.com]

Okay, now I'm desperately curious too.

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

I guess I have to subscribe again now...

[ex-digitalis869.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I used to read Utne Reader, but they got a little "light" lately, so i let my subscription lapse when i became unemployed. I'll have to pick up the latest issue though because now i'm curious!

[princesswitch.livejournal.com]

I searched for both "Gayle Madwin" and "Queer by Choice" at the website, but couldn't find anything. So I'll have to stop at Borders tonight.

I wanna read more about this!

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose they mentioned what page it was on, did they?

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Nope, they just said, "We mentioned you and now we want to send you a copy. Please give us your address."

[sarianna.livejournal.com]

Hm, I'd never heard of it. A quick poke on their website led me to here (http://www.utne.com/pub/), and I suspect this article may be it:
The Unbearable Lightness of Choosing
By Jon Spayde
Talking about choice is, for most of us, a special way of talking about freedom. And freedom, the bedrock American idea, is very much on our minds these days.

I'll hit up B&N or Borders sometime later this week to find out.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

how odd - they seem to have several different articles just about choices in general. There's also these:

Too Many Choices?
By Karen Olson
Americans are often told that we are the world’s freest people—and our government claims to be on a crusade to extend that freedom to nations afflicted by “evil” regimes. Freedom is an inspiring ideal, but in the real world it’s a matter of choices—where to live, how to love, whom to vote for. And even in America, choices get tangled up in problems. Why does limitless consumer choice end up exhausting us? What does it mean that many things that used to be facts of life—from sexuality to religion—are choices today? And where’s the balance between the unchosen realities that anchor us (race, geography, history) and choices that liberate us? In these pages, we explore choice, and how we might turn it into real freedom.


Decisions, Decisions
By Jon Spayde
Making important choices is never simple, but it can be a lot easier and more fulfilling if you pay attention to “where the choice is coming from.” That’s the advice of personal coach Henry Kimsey-House, co-founder of the Coaches Training Institute in San Rafael, California (www.thecoaches.com). Kimsey-House is the co-inventor of the “co-active” approach to personal coaching, which adapted techniques from the kind of coaching commonly used in business settings to the needs of people in all walks of life.

[violin.livejournal.com]

I read some of an oldish copy that was lying around the place we stayed in Omaha. Later, I bought one or two copies at bookstores, since they caught my interest as I flipped through them. However, I don't think I got around to reading them-- this was while I was buying 6 magazines everytime I walked into a book store.

[donutgirl.livejournal.com]

Guess I'll just have to flip through, then. Congrats, by the way.

[sarianna.livejournal.com]

perhaps I'm a bit biased, but I would imagine one of those is it...
you + choice = ljusername...err, article? :)

you ARE a STAR!

[joannasatana.livejournal.com]

I think I just tinkled on myself from excitement! Hee Hee! I THINK we sell the Utne Reader at our store, so I'll grab a copy first thing in the morning.....so can I say, "I knew her/him when she was still a her/him?" Hee hee....anyhoo, I'm thrilled for you sweetie! One day we'll catch up! ACK! I read ya all the time, but rarely get to respond. Im still creepin around tho' and still your number one fan!

always, joannasatana

[exterra.livejournal.com]

the boy has a subscription but i can't seem to find the latest issue, i'll have to dig around and see if i can find it and let you know what it says :)

[sarianna.livejournal.com]

Copy in hand. I'm sleepless, though, so I'll poke through it tomorrow. Did you find yourself in it already?

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Nope, I've just been patiently waiting for my free copy to arrive in the mail.

[sarianna.livejournal.com]

Aha! Found it. Page 68. I'll type it, or would you prefer to wait?
I have a knack for knowing things... the abstract that I mentioned in my original comment ("The Unbearable Lightness of Choosing") turned out to be the article. Heh.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Hmm . . . well, I guess I'll wait, then.

[violin.livejournal.com]

p68, unbereable lightness etc.

If you don't want the surprise ruined......
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.
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You're not mentioned by name-- at least not there-- but the website is. It's a brief mention, about half the paragraph. None of this should be taken to mean that I don't think it's super-cool. Cause it is. ::smile::

[exterra.livejournal.com]

Yup, here's the paragraph from the article where your website is mentioned (article title: "The Unbearable LIghtness of Choosing" by jon spayde, p 68):

"The idea that homosexuality is not a choice -- that it is in some sense "hard-wired" -- is a major tenet of much gay liberation theory, a counter to the conservative view taht gayness is "mere" choice of lifestyle. But, of course, for conservatives the choices of the marketplace (big suburban house, gas-guzzling car, luxury goods) are reasonable, even sacred, while deepr and more self-defining choices (to change one's sex, to come out of the clloset, to leave a failing marriage) represent irresponsible behavior that ought to be curtailed in defense of "the family" or some other supposedly changeless traditional entity. But some gay groups like Queer By Choice are unwilling to abandon the falt of choice that has flown over so much liberationist thinking in our time, unwilling to give the field over to determinism. On their Web site, they insist that gay people (and all other people) can choose even their emotions."