"Preserving All of Our History", Nancy Manahan, Middleton, Wisconsin, 2018/07/08
[caption: “Preserving All of Our History”, Nancy Manahan]
Manahan: Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence went on to be published in eleven countries and in seven languages, and then eventually it went out of print. But in 2012 my co-editor Rosemary Curb Keefe died, and a new edition was brought out when people who were writing her obituary–Tracy Baim for The Windy City Times in Chicago–realized that this seminal, very important book was out of print, and she couldn’t stand that. And so she helped me get the balls rolling to put it back into print. Tracy Baim’s obituary is also included in the new edition, and I’m so glad because it indicates what an incredible feminist, activist, scholar, academic, and amazing human being my co-editor was. Rosemary Curb–I miss her terribly.
The most recent thing we have been doing is we discovered The Resort on Carefree Blvd, a community of approximately 500 lesbians who live in North Fort Myers, Florida, in homes in a gated community, plus a few RVs. These are lesbians in their mainly 50s, 60s, and 70s, a few that are older than that and a few that are younger than that. And in March of this year, 2018, we bought a home at Carefree, and we’re planning on spending half the year in Minnesota, our home in Minneapolis, and probably half the year at Carefree. So we’re very active in the community there, in the sports part of it, and Becky’s part of the writers group, I’m part of the band–I’m a percussionist.
And we are planning to make a documentary film about the Carefree Band, which has been going on now for eight years and has never been documented. And as some of the women get older–our conductor, Dorothy Kunkle, is 83–we need to get this on film while these women are still able to share their stories of how they got involved in the Carefree Band. It’s just a wonderful concert band.
There’s also a chorus, a Carefree Lesbian Chorus, and the concerts that are given are so inspiring, and we feel very, very lucky to have found our tribe at this time of our lives–feminist, activist, fun lesbian community demonstrating every single day that, to be a lesbian in your older years doesn’t have to be miserable and lonely. These women are active and engaged and involved and having parties and dances all the time at Carefree. And lectures and films and marvelous artwork, and it’s just such an inspiring community.
[caption: To keep telling stories]
[caption: The June L. Mazer Archives needs your support]
Brinskele: Thank you so much.
Manahan: I’m just happy to contribute to this incredible institution in Los Angeles that’s preserving all of our history.
[caption: Donate at mazerlesbianarchives.org]
[END OF VIDEO]
Nancy Manahan, author of Lesbian Nuns, discusses her newest project and the importance of preserving our history and supporting queer archives.
Interview: Nancy Manahan
Videography: Angela Brinskele
Editing: Julie Botnick
Interviewee: Nancy Manahan
Interviewer: Angela Brinskele
Transcriber: Janice C.
Formatter: Serena R.
Recording Date: Unknown
Release Date: December 31, 2018
Location: Unknown
Interview Length: 00:03:36