interview with julie...=)

The subject of my interview is Julie, a 30-year-old lesbian who grew up and came “out” in a small town in Southeastern Massachusetts.  She came out to her family at the young age of 13, after meeting her first girlfriend. Julie received a positive response from her family despite their thought that her sexuality was just “a phase”. Her family was also very supportive of her when she began getting harassed in high school as a response to her openness regarding her sexuality.

Julie mostly associated with older lesbians who eagerly introduced her to the underground lesbian community that existed in the greater Worcester area. She recalls two lesbian radio shows, one that was punk run by her friend “Aunt Judy” and the other run by her friend “Sage” that played folk music. She excitedly recalls the lesbian bookstore that she discovered while in North Hampton with Sage. When reflecting on the books store Julie says “It was a thrill. I was about 14, it was winter and we were a few hours west of my parent’s place. I had never been to North Hampton, never been to a lesbian book store, so it was a thrill. I was really glad to see that we had our own stores, our own books, our own music.  After the bookstore we went up north a little to visit a friend of Sage, I forget her name but, she had been into publishing in the 1980’s and she had some boxes of lesbian authored poems that she gave me. I still have them. I wanted to be a writer back then so it was inspiring.”

 Talking to this 30 year old now while sitting outside Java stop drinking a coffee and watching the rain, one gets the feeling that they were sitting with someone much older. Julie talks about community and says that even though she has been transient, she mourns the loss of the lesbian sub-culture that once was a part of her life. She feels that the integration of certain aspects of the lesbian sub-culture that she grew up with and was exposed to be other lesbians, into the mainstream culture,  leaves a void for the younger generations coming out today.

Julie, or “Johnny” as she was referred to during her late teens and early 20’s also traveled extensively. Her traveling began with a visit to North Hampton, which she describes as a “lesbian version of P-town”. There she purchased a “black and white zine” that had advertised a bus trip to the 25^th anniversary of stonewall in the back pages. At this time, Julie wasn’t sure what Stonewall was.

This advertisement had stuck out to her because she had been looking to become more involved in the community. She found out what Stonewall was and why its anniversary was celebrated though today she doesn’t recall how she came across that information. Julie describes her reaction to finding out as one of excitement and surprise. This would turn into one of her first journeys. At age 15 she took a bus trip to New York  to be at the 25^th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots. ”I was hip to be a part of things, I was eager” she recalls.  When asked about her family’s feeling about her going away to New York for a week on her own she said “I had already been to two countries in Europe with no drinking age and came back in one piece, I guess they figured I’d do the same going only six hours away”.

A few years later at the age of 19, she saw a flyer posted at the inner city commune house she had been staying at for a place called Owl Farm. This was a large chunk of land set aside as women only land in Oregon and owned by the Oregon Woman’s Land Trust. Julie wasn’t sure how she was going to get there but knew she wanted to. Her opportunity came when the 1997 National Rainbow Gathering was hosted in the Ochoco Forest of Oregon. Through a combination of hitchhiking, riding with friends, and the greyhound bus, Julie and a straight friend, Beth from the commune got to the gathering. After several weeks of living in the woods with a mass gathering of hippies, Julie hitchhiked toward Owl Farm.

There, Julie met “Cotton” another older lesbian who had been living alone on the land.  She says “Cotton was a unique character. Totally seperatist. She didn’t like men, didn’t want to talk to them or befriend them in anyway. This was new to me. I had been friends with men, most of my friends were guys. I have brothers and a father all of whom I get along well with so the seperatist thing didn’t sit with me. I could get it, from Cotton’s point of view, from the way her life had been with nothing but trouble from men, I could see her way of thinking. She was a cool woman. I think seperatism is not possible as a way of life for me but I see the value in women only spaces. I see the value of being just with women learning to do things together, work together, create together. I think we made things in those days and in the decades leading up to those days, we made community and culture in a way that we don’t anymore. Maybe we do, maybe I’m just out of the loop but something feels gone.” The two of them spent most of their time tending the land, hiking and volunteering at a local food pantry on Saturdays. One of Julie’s more vivid memories is of the collection of books had at the main house. She says ”there wasn’t much to do on the mountain in the winter. We’d play dice and read books.”

While at Owl Farm Julie was introduced to Lynde, a neighbor of Cotton’s who lived nearby on the mountain. The two became close and Julie eventually left Owl Farm and traveled with Lynde across the country for about two years. After this extended hiatus Julie returned to her parent’s house and started work on the degree she finishing with a masters in English from O.S.U. Her story touches me because, after hearing it I can’t help but question if I missed out on the culture that once existed.