Little District Books move update

Following up on my earlier post, Little District Books has just announced that it will close on Monday, Oct. 6, and reopen in its new location, 631 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, on Saturday, Oct. 11.

Background viewing for Kureishi

The Buddha of Suburbia, which we'll be discussing this Wednesday, takes place during the short prime ministership of James Callaghan (who is mentioned by name in the novel). Accordingly. our friend Mike Mazza suggests this video as a good reference for understanding the cultural and political backdrop of the story: "U.K. Prime Ministers: James Callaghan," from the channel Politicoteacher. It's about 11 minutes long. Thanks, Mike!

My 25 Years Before the Mast

In late September 2000, I attended my first meeting of what was then the Potomac Gay Men's Book Group. I remember we met in a restaurant on Connecticut Avenue NW, a couple of blocks up from Lambda Rising, and I felt welcome, but the rest is lost in the mists of time.

I've looked through the "Books We Have Read" section of our blog (at the bottom) to refresh my memory on what we discussed that night, but there's no entry for the third week of that month, alas. (If any of you old-timers happen to remember, let me know.) So my guess is that the group returned to an anthology already in progress, for which our blog only gives the date when we start it.

I was still working full-time in those days, so I didn't make it to all that many BookMen meetings initially. But I always enjoyed the discussions and the camaraderie, and in May 2009 I took over as facilitator from Tim Walton (and as blogmaster, eventually). It's been a great quarter-century, and I hope to be around for many more BookMen gatherings!

Little District Books is moving

Little District Books has outgrown its current space on 8th Street SE, so in October (exact date TBD) it will move to 631 Pennsylvania Avenue SE. Stay tuned!

James Kirchick at Barnes & Noble

My thanks to Richard Schaefers for the tip that James Kirchick will give a Secret City book talk at the Georgetown Barnes and Noble on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m., on the occasion of National Coming Out Day.

Outage vs. outing

In Chapter 37 of Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington, part of the section we'll discuss tomorrow night, James Kirchick discusses what he calls "outage": disclosing the homosexuality of individuals without their consent. We know that practice much better today as "outing," so I find it strange that Kirchick never uses that term in this chapter. (I haven't looked ahead yet to determine whether he does so later in the book; neither term appears in his index.)

The Wikipedia entry on the subject goes into more detail about the history, but here is the "money quote": "It is hard to pinpoint the first use of outing in the modern sense. In a 1982 issue of Harper's, Taylor Branch predicted that "outage" would become a political tactic in which the closeted would find themselves trapped in a crossfire. The article "Forcing Gays Out of the Closet" by William A. Henry III in Time (January 29, 1990) introduced the term "outing" to the general public."

One more appetizer for our Reagan discussion

Presumably, many of you have watched or read coverage of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's recent threat to punch out a fellow Trumplican. Mike Mazza kindly sent me a link to this Queerty article on the flap, which asks the $64,000 (or $64 million, in this case) question: "Is Scott Bessent overcompensating for something?"

Mike comments: "I think this would be another great appetizer for the "Reagan" chapters of Secret City. Reading these gay-themed Trump 2.0/MAGA stories after having finished Secret City really gives me that "everything old is new again" feeling!" Me, too, Mike!