Wednesday--Pride Week Book--"Peyton Place," by Grace Metalious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Face it, darlings, every one of us has a copy hidden somewhere in their dwelling.  This is where it all began.  Though there are no conspicuously gay characters in the novel--but Norman Page in the novel is open for discussion--this is the novel that slapped small-town America in its face, and motivated burgeoning gays to leave it as soon as possible.

                                          When this title is mentioned, I always hear from people like me who came from small towns, "That is where I grew up."  "Peyton Place" is not just Gilmanton, New Hampshire, which Metalious based it on, it is universal!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               Where would the gay community be, were it not for "Petyon Place?"  I can tell you I might have by now been confined to a mental institution.  Then, I could do my act, just like Baby Jane Hudson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                   Thankfully, I made it out of that ennui and to New York, where I carved out a life for myself.  As did others who flocked there, or Chicago, or San Francisco. Any urban center with a high gay population!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                     Those too young or lacking, having not discovered "Peyton Place," I say there is no better time than Pride Week to read it.  What discoveries there are to be made.

                                                       Or, to quote Dr. Seuss, "Oh, The Places You Will Go!"

                                                       Happy Pride, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!