From: MPetrelis@aol.com
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 19:51:49 EST
Subject: Book review by Jim Provenzano


The author of this review is a friend of mine.  If you're an editor, I hope
you'll publish it.--mp

[Dear Media folks: I rarely write reviews of books written or edited by
friends, but this one is special. Please feel free to use it free of
charge. Thanks. 
Jim Provenzano
email: homeo@pacbell.net]


Imagine That: Letters From Russell, edited by Lydia Stux
Lambda Publications
1115 West Belmost
Chicago, Illinois 60657
ISBN 0-9667306-7-4
$12.00 US

Twenty years ago, when I was a fledgling theatre queen at Kent State, one
of the more ebullient of my fellow students was Lydia Stux. As I came out
in those early years, Lydia frequently mentioned her friend Russell, who
had moved to San Francisco to become a writer and playwright, and that I
should someday meet him.

Sadly, that never happened, even after moving to the Bay Area, as Russell
died of AIDS-related illnesses. Lydia, his straight friend, now living in
Chicago, kept years worth of letters with the struggling writer, and has
put them together in a book that makes for some sweet, simple and highly
personal reading. It's like re-discovering an old friend.

Reading the journals and letters of people can be a harrowingly revealing
experience, but Stux has edited the works to showcase their personal
debates on social issues (anti-semitism, the use of the term "fag hag"),
and the ups and downs of a wistful gay Everyman trying to make his mark in
the years just before the AIDS pandemic.

Along with the gradual encroachment of AIDS into Russell's life and body,
"Imagine That" offers a daily account of the often-forgotten early 80s,
years of misinformation and ignorance.

What is more touching is watching Russell's development as a writer and man
of letters, how his growth as an artist was cut down by the daily burden of
his failing health.

His long-term relationship with his lover, his pets and his dear friend
displays a sincerity and directness that avoids the cliquishness of
celebrity journals, and serves as a simple testament to the bonds between
friends that transcend geography and sexuality.

- Jim Provenzano


Jim Provenzano  homeo@pacbell.net
http://members.tripod.com/~homeo/index-3.html