Official site of poet James Schwartz, author of The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America
Chicago Review of Books reviews Sweeter Voices Still: An LGBTQ Anthology from Middle America: A Midwestern LGBTQIA+ Book a Day for Pride Month! There will also be a Pride Month virtual reading from the anthology June 23, which you can register for here!
Happy Pride Month everyone! If you missed our season premiere, "Kicking Off Pride Month", you can watch it on YouTube (above) or on the Plain Rainbows FB Page!
We would like to take a moment and thank all the Plain Rainbows out there for supporting the podcast and our fabulous guests for sharing their stories and wisdom and showing us there is life beyond the Amish / Mennonite / Anabaptist closet!
Happy Pride Month!! I am looking forward to the PLAIN RAINBOWS: LGBTQ AMISH & ANABAPTIST STORIES premiere via FB & YouTube!
My co-host Mary Byler and I are bringing you weekly episodes through Pride Month with a season of special guests discussing LGBT Amish and Anabaptist issues!
Consider making a donation here. Mary Byler spends time and resources in her Amish advocacy work and the LGBTQ Amish podcast would not be possible without her (thank you on behalf of us all, Mary)!
A few #PlainRainbows highlights thus far:
Publication date for Good Cop/Bad Cop: an anthology will be 05/25/2021
— FlowerSong Press (@FlowerSongPress) May 24, 2021
One year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.https://t.co/axcp4My7Ei
The GOOD COP/BAD COP anthology is now available, click here & here.
Important conversations on abuse within the Amish and Plain communities are taking place on several podcasts including THE PLAIN PEOPLE'S PODCAST & THE AMISH MISFIT. We also have a conversation on abuse within Plain communities on a forthcoming episode of the #PlainRainbows podcast.
Please consider buying merch or making a donation to support!
Attendees at the recent Amish Abuse Awareness conference included The Plain People's Podcast and Plain Rainbows!
I came across the (above) film on writer Gore Vidal which speaks to our present as well. Having read a few of his novels and many of his essays, I am still Team Capote but anyone who wishes to understand American politics should certainly read Vidal!
Spring sale! Including SWEETER VOICES STILL: AN LGBTQ ANTHOLOGY FROM MIDDLE AMERICA from Belt Publishing!
A groundbreaking nonfiction collection about queer life in the Midwest.
The middle of America—the Midwest, Appalachia, the Rust Belt, the Great Plains, the Upper South—is a queer place, and it always has been. The queer people of its cities, farms, and suburbs do not exist only to serve as “blue dots” within “red states.” Every story about a kid from Iowa who steps off the bus in Manhattan, ready to “finally” live, is a story about a kid who was already living in Iowa. Sweeter Voices Still is about that kid and has been written by people like them. This collection features queer voices you might recognize—established and successful writers and thinkers—and others you might not—people who don’t think of themselves as writers at all. You’ll find sex, love, and heartbreak and all the beings we meet along the way: trees, deer, cicadas, sturgeon. Most of all, you'll find real people.
If you're seeking fully realized stories about the nuanced, joyous complexity of queer identity in the Midwest, Sweeter Voices Still is the book for you.
Tonight was my first (virtual) poetry reading in 5 years at Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative's May Open Mic (reading a love poem from PUNATIC)!
At the 3rd annual Amish Heritage Foundation (virtual conference)
Are you of Amish heritage and an artist?
It was an honor to serve as the first Artist Ambassador for the AMISH HERITAGE FOUNDATION. During the 3 month progam I gave a talk on LGBTQ Amish issues for AHF's 3rd annual (virtual) conference.
This gave me an oppurtinity to address LGBTQ+ Amish issues in an academic space for which I am grateful. Thank you TORAH BONTRAGER and to Lars for participating. I remain a supporter moving forward, now accepting applicants for new Artist Ambassadors, see AmishHeritage.org for details!
Check out the podcast below for more on AHF and Torah Bontrager's writing tips!
Ross Murray from GLAAD, Yass, Jesus! podcast and the Naming Project is back on the pod! His new book ”Made, Known, Loved” shows congregations how to create a program that affirms LGBTQ youth. How can we transform religious spaces into more welcoming environments and guide future leaders?
Hello / goodbye #NationalPoetryMonth!
I have teamed up with THE FORBIDDEN APPLE PODCAST to celebrate! Above: "Satan's Inches" was originally published in "Michiana's Rainbow Gazzette" (2007) & below: "Slundered" from "The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America" (2011).
Weekend vibes. For #NationalPoetryMonth I was going through some early poetry I had written & found this previously unpublished poem:
***
"Love Letter (Fragment)"
Thinking about the men throughout my life: they always left. Dear Brother, Dear Father, Dear Man in the shadows outside the disco...
Thinking about letters unsent and dreams undreamt. Blame everyone or no one.
They left to find God, to run the streets, to go to war with themselves.
The cityscape at nightfall in his muscular arms...
The way the moonlight could be mistaken for tears...
Men leaving in cars for new lives,
Beginning with my absence.
Au revoir.
The city shines in his eyes.
Always the years go by and shadows call...
The Amish are a closed community: not just a religion but a lifestyle, culture and people, descendants of Medieval radical heretics fleeing persecution from the Catholic church and yes, other Protestant Christians during the Reformation era before colonizing ceded Native lands.
Photo: Kapoho 2017
Happy birthday to Harry Jim!
During my time in Puna I was honored to meet HARRY UHANE JIM, author, teacher and healer. A mutual friend introduced me to Harry and his wife one morning at the park in Kapoho. I will always treasure that memory!
A PODCAST INTRODUCTION:
I finally found my way home after 5 years! It was good to see the Amish farm where I grew up.
"Morning in Michigan"
His stubbed jaw in the dawn.
His sleepy, knowing smirk.
Empty bottles, echoes of laughter.
Pinnacle and piercing positions.
The sounds of humming vending machines and maids.
Drift down dim hallways.
Outside semis lumber onto I80/90.
Factory workers and farmers breakfast.
Alone, driving home.
Drive-through coffee, and miles to go.
"Christ in Ukraine"
Out of the closet, into the street.
Vladimir Putin is coming for you.
Tonight Christ walks in Ukraine.
Tonight revolution after the rain.
My lover’s ass shifts under his jeans.
Resolution in his gaze.
He is so fine in the candle-light.
My savior with his whiskey breath.
Behind his balaclava.
"ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE" (WRITING KNIGHTS PRESS) 2014
“On the road and on the prowl, James Schwartz delivers an explosive manifesto of personal liberation and revolution, from the Amish communities of Michigan to Putin’s bloody regime in Russia.”
– CHER GUEVARA, poet / freelance journalist
April is my 5 year anniversary of attending Centers for Spiritual Living! Grateful for all of my friends made along the way! A lovely reading of Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" (15:12 mark) at today's East Hawaii Center for Spiritual Living service:
Promo Art: BJK "KICKING OFF PRIDE MONTH" Happy Pride Month!! I am looking forward to the PLAIN RAINBOWS: LGBTQ AMISH & ANA...
