Another Queer Jewish Buddhist

In Memoriam: Eddie Eisenberg's 15th Yahrtzeit

Sometimes the universe sends you a message. Today, as I was de-cluttering my flat and shredding miles of files, I came across the obituary for Edward Eisenberg, who died on August 31st, 1997, making today his 15th yahrtzeit.

I knew Eddie from Gay Youth, and from Gay Activist Alliance. And then I lost touch with him when I went to Japan. Though I saw him at a Gay Youth reunion at the LGBT Center in the mid 90s — somewhere there is a photo of me with him and Michael Knowles from that day.

Is this some odd psychic propinquity? Things like this don't feel like just chance to me. Meaning however, is more difficult.

Substituting Homoeroticism For Health Claims: The New POM Wonderful Advertising

Actor Erik Fellows wanders through the desert without a care how the sun will damage his skin. Why? Because he has the anti oxidant power of POM Wonderful. Ahem.

Okay, let me say I have been a customer. I actually seed pomegranates every week and put them on my cereal (along with blueberries). I drink pomegranate juice. I do this because there is anecdotal evidence for prostate health. However, last week the FTC finally woke up to its responsibilities and came down on POM for what they said were unsubstantiated claims. And heaven knows, POM does do its best to have people believe that their product will help protect men from prostate cancer. That it's 40% as effective as Viagra. Well, I think Erik Fellows on my TV screen (or anywhere in my home) would obviate the need for Viagra.

Now that POM is having trouble with their health claims, they've created some videos that get to the sexual potency claims without saying anything directly. Though in one ad they allude to the fruit's mythical status as an aphrodisiac. They also allude to the claims they can't make by saying "backed by modern science," but they don't say what claim is being backed up. This is classic weasel wording.

When I first started as a copywriter, I remember working on Cascade dish detergent. You know, it gets dishes VIRTUALLY spotless. Not spotless, virtually spotless. Almost. Because they can't make the full claim legally. UNSURPASSED is another weasel work: it means that the product being sold is equal to the competition — it's a parity product. The POM videos are beautiful examples of weasel wording.

These videos are beautifully shot. They use mythic imagery and eroticism to make the emotional association to the claims they can no longer say legally. And I suspect if POM had introduced their product with these video spots they would have become award winners, and given POM a classy image. They may yet do so. The spots certainly have what it takes to win some awards. 

But nowadays, I get Marco Polo brand pomegranate juice. It costs a lot less, and isn't as sweet. And I know that unlike Persephone, even though I consume hundreds of pomegranate seeds in a week, I'm no prisoner of Hades.

You can see the full POM ad below, and you can read about the FTC complaint against POM here.

Surprising thought balloons and condoms

Taking off from a porn film fantasy, this print ad for condoms from Switzerland plays with the convention that appears in comic books — the thought balloon or bubble. WIkipedia calls the thought bubble a "the almost universal symbol for thinking in cartoons. It consists of a large, cloud-like bubble containing the text of the thought, which is connected to the area next to a character by a chain of increasingly smaller circular bubbles"

In this ad however, the thought does not appear in the balloon — the condom/balloon/bubble is the thought! And the headline then encourages to go beyond thought into action: "Don't just think about it." Or as Rocky Horror would say it: Dont' dream it, be it.

Hilarious. Attention getting. Playful. Proud. Love it.

As often the case, ad grabbed from adsoftheworld.com

Groping for words: An awareness campaign for testicular cancer — and the risk factors for gay men and cancer

The local office of McCann Erickson ran this very funny (and I am sure homophobia inducing) campaign for awareness among men of how to check for testicular cancer. Using guerilla tactics of die-cut hands placed strategically on seats and elsewhere to grope the family jewels of men in gyms, sports stadiums, car washes, pool halls...this campaign, at least according to the agency led to an 11% increase in doctor visits where men asked about the disease and examination. And to get any man to go to the doctor, much less ask about something like this is no easy feat. Now add to the fact that this campaign ran in Macedonia, where the macho ethic of hyper-masculinity is quite alive and well in the culture, and the success of the campaign is all the more praiseworthy.

Of course, gay men who were watching Queer As Foik several years back got the low down on this when in season 4, Brian was diagnosed with testicular cancer. While prostate cancer (which I've written about previously) is something more worrisome over the age of 50, testicular cancer has a higher risk of occurring in white men between the ages of 15 and 40.

Gay men don't always have gay doctors. Or aren't always out to their doctors. Or their straight doctors aren't always aware of certain risk factors.

For example, gay men who have contracted HPV (the human papilloma virus, less likely in these days of safer sex) anally, are at a higher risk for anal cancer. Just as women who have contracted HPV are at a higher risk for cervical cancer and get a Pap test regularly, gay men who have been on the receiving side of anal sex and have had HPV should certainly be getting a DRE from the doctor every year (certainly as part of a prostate exam) since this can help detect anal cancer as well. A more recent development is the "anal pap smear" which takes a swab to look for anal intraepithelial neoplasia. This was not something that was talking about much, but the death of Farrah Fawcett from anal cancer made it a little more top of mind — so if you're a bottom at risk, consider regular testing. 

You can get more information about the particular cancer risks faced by gay men from the American Cancer Society in a downloadable brochure.

As gay men, we spend a lot of time focused on HIV, and rightly so given how many we have lost, and how many continue to become infected. But there are other health issues that need to be spoken of. If the men of Macedonia can get over their squeamishness and having a doctor squeeze their balls, the gay men of the US can arm themselves with the right information to live healthier lives.

Just what was Colonel Mustard doing in the Library with the Candlestick?

Here's a clue, from the Begood Ad Agency in Italy, which is running a campaign for condoms and HIV prevention:

 

The campaign is drive to web print for a site that has an amazing array of condoms on sale: www.comodo.it

Obama's HRC Speech and the National Equality March — Words Vs. Deeds

Over at Joe. My. God. today JJ quoted Dan Savage on the endless blathery speeches given at the National Equality March:

"People don't go to demonstrations or marches to be talked to death, they don't go to be harangued, they don't go to listen—God forbid—to poetry. They show up because they want to do something, they want to do something themselves, they want to take symbolic action. Part of what made ACT-UP so successful back before it was overrun by the same sorts of fuckwits and yahoos who ran yesterday's rally and march was that ACT-UP didn't waste your time."

Savages words have generated a very heated discussion in the comments section. But of course, the blathery speeches weren't only given on the Mall. There was Obama's speech, which actually referenced an activist who didn't go in much for speeches — Morty Manford. Obama talked about Morty in passing as part of the story of his mother co--founding PFLAG. In an article today in the L.A. Times, David Ehrenstein writes about Morty and his history in NYC in GAA, which was the spiritual father of Act-Up, and where the "zap" — a political action meant to generate publicity and public support by pushing the forces of bigotry to show themselves in all their ugliness — was first developed.

Ehrenstein writes of the GAA Media Committee, of which he was a member with Vito Russo, Morty and others:

"It was our job to make sure the local newspapers and pre-cable television covered our protest demonstrations, which we called zaps. Getting coverage was no easy task in an era when the New York Times, under Abe Rosenthal, avoided homosexual issues like the plague.

Morty proved to be well-suited to fighting. In 1968, he had helped found Gay People at Columbia University, one of the nation's first gay campus groups. In 1972, he took on Michael Maye, president of New York City's Uniformed Firefighters Assn., who was accused of beating Morty during a GAA zap of the Inner Circle -- New York City big shots who got together for homophobic skits and partying. Several city officials testified that Maye threw Morty down an escalator, then kicked and stomped him. Maye was acquitted, but the gay-rights law the GAA wanted the muckety-mucks to pass was signed soon afterward."

Not everyone is willing to get stomped. That's the risk of taking non-violent and theatrical protest. But as Ghandi and King proved, it takes time, but it works. It takes the moral high ground. Ehrenstein's point is that had Morty been in the room he would have interrupted Obama with cries of "WHEN?" He would have demanded specific action, because the time for words is past. It's time for action.

GAA understood this. Act-Up understood this. The organizers of the Equality March? They understood neither the lessons of GAA and Act-Up or the lessons of Harvey Milk: Get attention for the cause in a way that exposes the hate and bigotry of the opposition, and organize at the grass roots level in communities to win elections. There was a lot of talk from NEM about going home to do just that — no one needed to go to DC for this, the groups are there. This was I believe truly wasted effort at a time when if just 10% of these people had gone to MAINE to defend marriage equality it would make a real difference.

And on that subject of organizing on the community level. In the last year I have seen the same young men on the street on the UWS soliciting funds for HRC. They've stopped soliciting me though because I let them know not only my opinions of HRC, but also of them asking people on the UWS for support. I mean, next to Berkeley, this is about as liberal as it gets in the United States. They should be on the street in Astoria. Or in the district of Ruben Diaz in the Bronx. This is preaching to the converted. And a waste of time. But that is HRC. And that's my Monday morning queer rights grumbling.

William "Wolf" Agress, who would have been 54 today...

Bill was my first serious relationship, when I was in college. We met at a meeting of Gay Youth — he started coming as a regular when I was president in 1971. He was aggressively snobbish about language and intelligence and used it as a defense since he was hit on by lots of guys of all ages. It made him hard to get to know. In fact, I didn't even like him when we first met. And he was never easy. But he was an original — and he was always an activist. I loved him a lot. And I miss him to this day.

When we first began our relationship, he was still smooth and free of chest hair. And he knew it was a look I preferred, this being the androgynous '70s. He asked me once, "Will you still love me when I'm hairy?" I told him yes, and I did. Even when he grew a wild beard. His wild heart took him to traveling the country — he lit out for the territories. We were each other's first — and the memories I share of him to this day with my friend Marion, who was there, leaves us both laughing and crying at the same time.

At his memorial service I was weeping uncontrollably — and then the rabbi came out to speak of him. The rabbi was cute, and I turned to Bill's brother and said, with a moment of lightness in the grief, "Bill would have said this rabbi was cute." His brother said, "He did, he me the rabbi before he died, and that's just the first thing he said to the rabbi — 'you're really cute.'" And then we laughed and cried at the same time.

Bill was one of the first to be diagnosed with HIV, and he was a founding member of the PWA coalition. He wrote for their magazine — articles like "THE CONDOM CONNOISSEUR"  — and he hosted their cable TV show. 

If you're a regular reader, you will know I've written about the Tupelo tree in the Ramble's Tupelo Meadow in Central Park. Bill and I used to climb that tree together. And when I took this photo out to scan it, underneath it I found a poem written for Wolf (he was always Bill to me even though he changed his name to Wolf, which was in fact the English translation of his Hebrew name, Z'ev) by Eric Thorndale, one of the original members of GAA who we were friends with and worked with as part of GAA's AgitProp committee. Eric, like me, was interested in medieval and renaissance English literature. The difference is that he regularly wrote poems in the style of the period. The poem below, that he wrote for Bill, mentions the Tupelo tree in the first line.

For Sweet William:

Thou comely Swain    by Trysting Tree,
I sought in Words    a looking Glass
That long undimm'd    might shine of thee
But as I laid me    on the Grass
And watch'd the lighted Morning shine,
I thought how Words    might wane and pass,
Which Thought    the while was woeful Tine.

What Words need I    when all's behight?
I'd bed in Burrs    could I but cleave
To thee    in blazing Bliss unstight —
How would that Joy     me speechless leave

How would my leaping Heart be blithe
When wordless    in thine Arms I writhe!

Gay men and prostate cancer: A good reason to bend over.

According to the National Cancer Institute, one out of every six men will develop prostate cancer. And while for gay men, AIDS is the health scourge that must be addressed, prostate cancer affects many of us and should not be ignored. In fact in the last year, two friends of mine were diagnosed — one of them  has been HIV+ for more than 20 years and when he got a diagnosis of prostate cancer it was a real crisis. Not merely because of the risks he faced being positive, but because the treatment of prostate cancer can radically change a man's sex life. The prospects are physically, emotionally and psychologically daunting to say the least. So what do you need to know, and what are the resources available to you?

First thing to know: if you're over 50, your doctor should be giving you a PSA test every year, not to mention a digital rectal exam. Many straight men are squeamish about this. Even some doctors are squeamish about it. Too bad. It's necessary if you want to save your life.

Next thing to know: if you're diagnosed with prostate cancer you probably don't have to act right away. It is often a rather slow growing cancer, and you should wait at least six weeks before making a decision about what to do, since you have many options depending on your particular diagnosis. You need to learn all about your options and get the facts. If you are in NYC, you are very lucky because there is a Gay Men's Prostate Cancer Support Group that meets at St. Vincent's once a month. You can learn a lot from these men, and get the emotional support you need. For more information, you can also email [email protected]   

There are two important books to read:

• Dr. Patrick Walsh's Guide To Surviving Prostate Cancer
• A Gay Man's Guide to Prostate Cancer, by Gerald Perlman, PhD and Jack Drescher, MD

There are things gay men will want to know or think about that aren't part of the experience or thought process of a straight man or doctor. So the queer resources mentioned above can be very useful.

I bring all this up because even though September is about to end, this is prostate cancer awareness month. And as it turns out, there's a new novel about a gay man dealing with the effects of prostate cancer on his life. I haven't read it yet, but I wanted to share the information with you..

Benediction is a new novel by Jim Arnold, the author/director of feature film screenplays and teleplays

including the documentary short "Our Brothers, Our Sons," about generational differences around HIV/AIDS in gay men.

For general information, the sites at Johns Hopkins, Memorial Sloan Kettering and the Cleveland Clinic are full of good information.

Christopher Isherwood died of prostate cancer at a time when it couldn't bet detected until it was too late to do anything. No gay man need face that fate today. Get the facts, get tested. And pay attention to your diet — there are very specific things you can do to reduce your risk by eating right. The sites mentioned above have information about this as well.

To paraphrase the song: take good care of yourself, we belong to each other.