LOS ANGELES BOOK LAUNCH...

... for The Pilgrim's Staff on Sunday, at the mid-town home of some wonderful old friends.  We had a good crowd in attendance, with more than enough to eat and drink for a festive party, and many old friends to visit with. My reading from the book went over well, I think, to judge from the discussion afterwards; and was helpful in bringing me to the realization that I need to be more selective in the passages I choose, find shorter pieces, and allow more breathing space in between them.  This will be useful in preparing for the next event, a reading/discussion/book signing at Laguna Art Museum on Sunday, January 4, at 2PM.

If you're in the area that day, please join us.  It should be fun.  And let your friends know about it.  I'm realizing that the gender issues the book raises are something people really want to talk about right now.  Masculine sexuality has something of a bad rap, what with campus rapists, power-hungry politicians, NFL bullies and abusive priests... among others.  When channeled in inappropriate ways, it can even lead to global dysfunction, with ungrown little boys in positions of power everywhere--from our own country to the Middle East.  It goes almost without saying that the mistreatment and suppression of women in too many parts of the world (including our own?) has much to do with the emotional and psychic immaturity of men.

We need to talk about these things, much more than we have done to date.  Women here, in the country especially, have been highly successful in drawing attention to inequalities and injustices and in empowering themselves in a good way.  It's time for men to raise their consciousness in similar ways.