Notes on Drag:

GOAT BROTHERS (ADVERTISEMENT COPY NYT BOOK REV 4/4/93)

A. Military/Suit/Uniform Text: "What A Drag"

THE BROTHERS PLAYED ALL DAY AND PARTIED ALL NIGHT AND THOUGHT LIFE WOULD BE ONE LONG WINNING STREAK. BUT THE REAL WORLD BROUGHT SOME PAINFUL SURPRISES FOR THE HEROES OF THIS TRUE-LIFE SAGA.

IT TOOK TOO MANY DRINKS AND TOO MANY WOMEN FOR HIM TO GROW UP.

A MAN'S MAN ON CAMPUS, AND A MARINE'S MARINE IN VIETNAM, HE PAID THE PRICE FOR TAKING ONE RISK TOO MANY.

GIFTED WITH CHARM AND CHARISMA, HE HAD LITTLE LUCK WITH RELATIONSHIPS--OR WITH THE LAW.

HE HAD SO MANY TALENTS, AS AN ATHLETE AND AN ARTIST, AND ONE PAINFUL SECRET HE COULD NEVER SHARE.

HE SPENT SO MUCH TIME STUDYING, HE NEVER QUITE FIT IN --

"A FASCINATING AND REVEALING SLICE OF ALL-AMERICAN PIE. . . ABSORBING AND TOUCHING." - SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"REMEMBERING DENNY" (BY CALVIN TRILLIN FARRAR, STRAUS, & GIROUX, NYC 210 PGS.) SEE MUSIC: SOPHISTICATED. . . X P.E.

HE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO END THIS WAY (NYT BOOK REVIEW 4/4/93)

BY MICHAEL DORRIS

B. "Female" Drag Text: "B All U Can Be"

AN ELOQUENT, HEARTFELT PROTEST AGAINST DISAPPOINTMENT AND STUNTED OPPORTUNITY THAT REVEALS AS MUCH ABOUT HIS GENERATION'S OBSTINATE INSISTENCE ON CONVENTIONAL DEFINITIONS AS IT DOES ABOUT THE SAD, ENIGMATIC HERO.

WAS THE VAUNTED PUBLIC PERSONA THE HERO'S OWN SELF-CONSCIOUS CREATION, OR WAS IT THE FICTIONAL CONSTRUCT OF THOSE WHO REQUIRED HIM TO BE A SHINING ROLE MODEL, AN ANTIDOTE TO GRIM HISTORIES?

THE HERO'S FAILURE TO ACHIEVE GREATNESS AS A GROWN-UP BOTH PIQUES THE AUTHOR'S CURIOSITY AND OFFENDS HIS INTRINSIC SENSE OF THE WAY THINGS OUGHT TO HAVE EVOLVED.

HE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO END THIS WAY

Video: "It Makes No Difference. . ." (He's Just A Nigger With A Problem)

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He's Still Black.)

THE PASSAGE OF TIME SHEARS AWAY SOME DETAILS AND HIGHLIGHTS OTHERS, YIELDING A RETRIEVED, SUBJECTIVE OVERVIEW THAT IS EDITED AND NEAT, PRESERVED IMMUTABLY BEHIND MENTAL PLEXIGLAS.

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He's Still A Man)

HE WAS "THE BEST, VERY LIKELY THE BEST EVER." HANDSOME, A SPORTS CHAMPION, A YALE SUPERSTAR, A RHODES SCHOLAR, HE SEEMED A PERSON OF "STUNNING COMPLETENESS." BRIGHT, FUNNY, ENGAGING AND POSSESSED OF A "MILLION-DOLLAR SMILE," HE WAS HALF-JOKINGLY LOOKED ON BY HIS CONTEMPORARIES AS A FUTURE PRESIDENT. INSTEAD, OUR HERO DEVELOPED INTO AN INCREASINGLY ISOLATED, CRANKY MIDLEVEL HACK, A DIFFICULT, COMPLAINING, LONELY MAN WHO FINALLY AND WITH LITTLE FANFARE TOOK HIS OWN LIFE.

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He'll Never Be White)

OUR HERO DIED THE WAY HE INCREASINGLY CHOSE TO LIVE -- PRIVATELY, EMBITTERED, ON HIS OWN TERMS.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He'll Never Be A Woman)

FOR FRIENDS, LIKE THE AUTHOR, OUR HERO'S DEMISE IS "AN EXTREMELY COMPLICATED TRAGEDY" ONLY PARTLY EXPLAINED BY THE BELATED AWARENESS THAT HE, UNBEKNOWN TO ANY OF THEM, WAS GAY.

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He'll Never Be A Black Man)

LURKING BENEATH THE CAREFUL PROSE, THE STUDIOUS RESEARCH AND THE EXHAUSTIVE THOUGH SELECTIVE INTERVIEWS IS A PASSIONATE QUESTION: DID OUR HERO BETRAY HIS FRIENDS BY SHOWING THEM ONLY A FACADE OF SEAMLESS BONHOMIE AND ACCOLADE? OR DID THOSE WHO PROFESSED TO LOVE HIM DO HIM A TERRIBLE DISSERVICE BY DISALLOWING ANY ROLE OTHER THAN THAT OF ALL-AMERICAN HERO?

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He's Still Black)

WAS THE VAUNTED PUBLIC PERSONA THE HERO'S OWN SELF-CONSCIOUS CREATION, OR WAS IT THE FICTIONAL CONSTRUCT OF THOSE WHO REQUIRED HIM TO BE A SHINING ROLE MODEL, AN ANTIDOTE TO GRIM HISTORIES?

"I BEGAN TO WONDER WHETHER, WHEN WE WERE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THE WE WERE MORE OR LESS IN CONTROL OF OUR FUTURES, WE MIGHT HAVE MADE UP A LIFE FOR HIM TO LIVE."

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He's Still A Man)

WE CLOSE THIS BOOK WITH THE SENSE THAT SOMETHING ESSENTIAL HAS BEEN LEFT UNEXPLORED. MISSING IS OUR HERO'S REBUTTAL TO THE AUTHOR'S ADMISSION: "I WAS AWARE THAT I WAS DELVING INTO AREAS THAT HE AND I WOULD PROBABLY NEVER HAVE DISCUSSED IN PERSON," MISSING IS OUR HERO'S POST-MORTEM CHANCE TO EMERGE FROM THE CONFINING CLOSET OF SOCIAL POSITION AND BE ACCEPTED IN ALL HIS MANY AND CONTRADICTORY FACETS.

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He'll Never Be White)

IF OUR HERO WAS LESS ACCOMPLISHED THAN HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN, WHO IS MORE ULTIMATELY TO BLAME THAN THOSE WHO EARLY CONSTRAINED HIS FREEDOM, WHO WORDLESSLY STIFLED HIS COMPLEXITY BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN TERRORS OR UNTESTED PREJUDICES?

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He'll Never Be A Woman)

WHY DID HE OBVIOUSLY FEEL IT IMPOSSIBLE TO REVEAL HIS "UNSPEAKABLE SECRET" TO HIS FAMILY AND COMMUNITY? WHERE IS THE CULPABILITY HERE, AND WHO ULTIMATELY AND MORE LAMENTABLY DISAPPOINTED WHOM?

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He'll Never Be A Black Man)

THE AUTHOR DEVOTES DISPROPORTIONATE SPACE TO THE WOMEN OUR HERO ESCORTED, WHETHER TO DANCES, COLLEGE PROMS OR ADULT DINNERS AND PARTIES -- THOUGH IN NO CASE IS THERE EVIDENCE OF ACTUAL ROMANTIC INVOLVEMENT. THE AUTHOR IS ODDLY SHY ABOUT REFLECTING ON HIS FRIEND'S CONCEALED SEXUALITY. HE SEEMS RELUCTANT TO DELVE TOO FAR INTO THE CONFLICTS OUR HERO MIGHT HAVE EXPERIENCED AS A GAY MAN IN A TIME AND PLACE WHERE THE WORD "HOMOPHOBIC" DID NOT EXIST BECAUSE "NEARLY EVERYBODY, AT LEAST PUBLICLY, WAS ASSUMED TO BE HOMOPHOBIC."

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He's Still Black)

THE AUTHOR, WHO IS JUSTIFIABLY RENOWNED AS A JOURNALIST FOR HIS INCISIVE ABILITY TO DOG ANY PROMISING TRAIL OF EVIDENCE, SEEMS SIMPLY TO ACCEPT THIS ROADBLOCK. IT'S ALMOST AS IF HE'S RELIEVED NOT TO HAVE TO KNOW THE SPECIFICS.

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He's Still A Man)

MUCH OF OUR HERO'S LIFE REMAINS DISCRETELY DRAPED. IT SEEMS AS IF THERE ARE CERTAIN TOPICS THE HERO STILL CAN'T BROACH OR CELEBRATE, CERTAIN KINDS OF HONESTY FROM WHICH EVEN A CONSUMMATELY LIBERAL OLD FRIEND, WHO CLEARLY GRIEVES DEEPLY FOR HIM, POLITELY BUT UNAPOLOGETICALLY TURNS AWAY.

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He'll Never Be White)

OUR HERO, IN DEATH AS IN LIFE, IS BOTH MORE AND LESS THAN THE AUTHOR NEEDS HIM TO BE, THE BOOK GOES A LONG WAY TOWARD CLARIFYING THE DISCONTINUITIES OF ONE MAN'S TRANSFORMATION, BUT IT STOPS SHORT OF RESOLVING THEM WITHIN A FULL AND CANDID PERSPECTIVE. IN THE END WE KNOW THE HERO LESS WELL THAN WE'D LIKE.

"It Makes No Difference. . ." (He'll Never Be A Woman. He's Just A Nigger With A Problem.)