"The 'Les Mesdemoiselles Federation' Affair": Installment one

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Originally uploaded by Randuwa.

Some things have come to mind as I have re-typed and prepared this story for posting. And most of them are not complimentary to it. And so I offer them to you now for your consideration and grace.

1) Written in the mid-seventies, this story reeks with many things that any open-minded, evolving, and progressive person these 30 years hence would find repugnant. The chauvinism (misogyny?) alone is cause for alarm. But hey, wait, it predates so much enlightenment. It’s, in fact, written by a woman, an important reminder of just how far we've all come.

2) I found myself wishing that the whole thing had been written as a parody! Because there's enough high camp to fill a hundred gay & lesbian film festivals in this baby. And while I am Gay, I have NO idea whether my collaborators are, as I lost track of both of them in the early 80's. The author of this story is one member of our trinity, Ms. H. Happily married at the time.

3) The drawings are scans of the originals, which were done directly on the thinly waxed screens for the mimeographs using a special stylus that scraped away the wax to allow the ink to bleed through and print. The whole production was done via mimeograph and this first issue was produced on the mimeograph of the First Congregational Church in my hometown. (None of us were members. The connection was a classmate who was also the minister's daughter and his wife who was my 3rd grade teacher, the Reverend and Mrs. B.) Produced in this way, the illustrations are a little sketchy -- but I like that as it offers historic authenticity to the work.