#lucy winer

[ourhistorytoo]

Maria Yemarianfere & family

Maria's daughter and granddaughter discuss what it was like learning their mother/grandmother was lesbian.

Lucy Winer profiles gay senior citizens (eight men and women) living diverse lives. Released in 1985, Silent Pioneers, shows people discussing their lives as out gay people in the 1980s.

Watch the full documentary on youtube.

[onenakedfarmer]

Currently Watching - 30 Days of The Gays™ Edition

GREETINGS FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. Lucy Winer USA, 1981

[thickdumplingskin]

On Our Radar: Kings Park

Full disclosure - Lucy Winer is my cousin.  But I felt our Thick Dumpling Skin readers would get a lot out of her story.  For more than a decade I've watched her make "Kings Park," a documentary about her experience in the mental institution as a suicidal teenager in the late 60's.  I've also seen the finished product, and it is powerful.

Her recent interview with PBS really struck a chord with me, as an artist.  

Overall, I think it’s important to ask yourself, “Why did I do this? And what is it that I’m hoping to achieve?” In 1985, as a young filmmaker, I thought that if we could ever get a great review in The New York Times, I would be satisfied for the rest of my life. Sad but true. Well, we got two great reviews in the Times, and the very next day my only thought was, “Now what?” It’s not that it didn’t make a difference to get this kind of positive feedback – it did, of course. But on the level that sustains you, it really didn’t. So what are you really after? What’s really going to carry you through?

I can relate - I too, have experienced career highs that left me feeling shockingly unfulfilled once they were over.  My binge eating was at its very worst following the success of Saving Face at Sundance, and later, theatrically.  

There was a time when being a goal-oriented perfectionist seemed to work for me - as a teenager trying to get into my dream college, and as a young actress wanting my first role in a major motion picture.  But the truth that I've discovered is that the goal is never the prize.  And being perfect is fucking exhausting.

I'm blessed that I truly love acting, and that I sometimes have the opportunity to do so, but the connection I feel to others - like Lucy, and you - our readers - is what makes this journey all worthwhile.  Whether we know it or not, we are all storytellers, and the experience of sharing pieces of ourselves with others is constantly shifting/changing/evolving.  It's really lovely to witness. 

Knowing my cousin - what she went through, who she was, who she is now, and who she will be - is so incredibly moving and inspiring to me.  Kings Park will continue to screen at Festivals and Special Events.  

- Lynn

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