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On Our Short List Haynes et al.: On Our Short List ON OUR SHORT LIST CoME OuT, CoME OuT MicheLangeLo Signorife u caLLing gay men and women out of the cfor:~et. lifestyle, but a life. In his book, pub­ lished this summer by Random House, Signorile argues that it's a painful life w hen lived in the proverbial closet. T hat's w hy h e wants everyone o u t, ready or not. Signorile has long advocated expos­ ing p ublic figures w ho are homosexu­ a ls, a practice dubbed "outing ." Writing primarily for gay and lesbia n m agazines, h e h as outed the late Malcolm Forbes, Hollywood billion­ aire David Geffen, and Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams. No new names are outed in Sig­ norile's book; he didn 't want the con­ troversy to oversha d ow his call to arms. Instead, Signorile wants to help dismantle the closet erected by a pow­ erful American triumvirate: the New York media, Washington politicians, and Hollywood entertainment moguls. "I think there was a perception that the closet was a p lace w here gay peo­ ple went on their own when they real­ ized they were gay, that this was a safe p lace to be," he explains. "But it's destructive." Despite t h e anonymity of many homosexuals, there has been progress in the fight for gay rights, especially in the era of AIDS. "Th ere have been enormous c h anges in the last five years," say s Signorile. Those changes have brought about more media cover­ age, political debate, and a higher gay Michelangelo Signorile, best known for "outing" public figures who are homosexual, chronicles his own gay profile in Hollywood, including the experience in Queer In America. Signorile says the book is a "call to arms" for America's gays and lesbians. upcoming release of Phifa{)efphia, a fJ.m starring Tom Hanks about an A IDS­ s a youngster growing up New Yorker who majored in public infected man. But change has yet to in Brooklyn, Michelan­ relations at SU's Newhouse School of bring about acceptance, says Signorile. gelo Signorile dreamed Public Communications and graduated . "We haven't won anything except A about writing a book. But in 1982. "But at the same time I do the right to have our grievances aired," not this one. Not some­ remember, when I was a teenager, he contends. "That's it." thing as contentious as Queer In America: coming to terms with being gay, hav­ But for Signorile, that's a start. It's Sex, the Meoia, ano the CfoJetJ ofPow er. ing fantasies about speaking to large also the most satisfying aspect of his "I always thought it would be about groups of people and explaining to first book. "Inspiring people," he says, something less controversial," admits them that this was okay ." "that's the real accomplishment." Signorile, a surprisingly soft-spoken Homosexuality, h e says, isn't a - KEVIN HAYNES 6 Published by SURFACE, 1993 S Y RA C USE UN IV ERS IT Y MAG AZ I N E 1 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 10, Iss. 1 [1993], Art. 3 ALLENTOWN OR BUST ELLen Baker Ba lt z ' 73 Char l e.1 Richter '73 n a renovated old brick church in I Allentown, P ennsy lvania, a woman wearing a large cowboy hat greets theatergoers with a friendly "H owdy." E llen Baker Baltz, managing director of t h e Pennsylvania Stage Company (PSC), strives to welcome the commu­ nity into the theater and the theater into the community. She considers the sur­ vival of her company to be at stake. "Many people in the arts take for granted that the arts are a lso funda ­ mental in other people's lives, but that's not so," she says. "The arts are compet­ ing with videotapes, sports, TV, and a whole host of other activities that don't ask you to donate money like we do." R ecently arrived from Texas, w here she started a professional touring/teach­ ing theater company, Baltz now uses some of the same techniques to send actors from PSC, a nonprofit regional company, to visit schools, nursing homes, and other institutions, and to bring groups into her theater for workshops. While the number of regional the­ Charles Richter and Ellen Baker Baltz run the Pennsylvania Stage Company in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Regional aters in the nation h as seriou s ly theater is not only an integral part of the community, says Baltz, but an incubator for what's seen on Broadway. declined in the past decade, w ith many of the remaining ones in debt, th e 60 or so left are vital to the American cul­ tural scene, Baltz says. "Some really exciting theater is Su.1an Micari '7 6 coming out of regional theater," she says. "Even your Stephen Sondheims are using them as an incubator." hen Susan Micari created a literacy program for New W Baltz, a 1973 speech communica­ York City's Women in Need shelter system five years tion graduate, was recommended for ago, she realized everything did not begin "once upon a h e r job by PSC's a rtistic director, time." An actress, Micari uses multicultural folktales, acting Charles Richter, also a 1973 graduate improvisation, and storytelling to enhance the reading and of the College of Visual a nd critical-thinking skills of homeless women and children. Performing Arts. T he two h ave kept "One thing I know from acting is that you can in tou ch since they m et on their first be free in your imagination in a way that you · day at Syracuse University, w h e n might never be able to be free in life, depending they wer e pair ed as acting p artners in on your circumstances," says Micari, a 1976 the­ a dra ma class. ater graduate. "But if you can give yourself Richter, chairman of theater arts experiences through your imagination, it at Pennsylv ania's Muhlenberg can really help you to overcome hardship College, strongly supports region­ in your life." al theater. Some of her students have left the "We can do plays that ar e not shelter and moved on to attend primarily commercial, " h e says, college or enter the work force "plays of significance and mean­ with their new skills. Perhaps ing, in high-quality productions fairy tales sometimes do with honesty and artistry." come true. -KERRY L. RYAN - MARGARET B LOCH EISEN 7 S E PTEMB E R 1993 https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol10/iss1/3 2 Haynes et al.: On Our Short List therapy as a child and was briefly mistaken for a developmentally dis­ abled student. Tumors were removed from both Winter's ears, leaving him 90 percent deaf on his right side. He >MichaelS. Shapiro, who received his became a football star in high school bachelor's degree in American studies from the but wasn't highly recruited by col­ College of Arts and Sciences in 1970, was appointed leges. He received the last available by President Clinton as general counsel for the National scholarship from Syracuse in 1980, Endowment for the Humanities. Shapiro, a former historian and and then only because another player museum director, was a senior attorney with the Washington, D.C., decided to go elsewhere. H e eventual­ ly b ecame a co-capta in dur ing his law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges before his appointment. senior season in 1983. ''I've alway s felt I have to work > Barbara D. Living.Jton, a 1984 graduate in experimental every day t o prove my worth and photography from the College of Visual and Performing Arts, overcome the labels put on me," says received the Eclipse Award for outstanding photography for her pho­ Winter. "I enjoy prov ing p eople tograph of three-year-old filly Turn back the Alarm. Eclipse awards wrong." - B oB HILL are given annually to honor outstanding horses and people involved in the racing world. A free-lance photographer, Livingston resides in Saratoga Springs, New York. As a defensive tackle with the San Diego Chargers during the Edward H. 0 'Neil, executive director of the Pew Health > 1992 season, Blaise Professions Commission and co-director of the University of Winter fortified one California at San Francisco Center for the Health Professions, wrote of the better defens­ a policy paper for the White House on the future of es in the National the primary care work force at the request of Football League. Hillary Rodham Clinton. O'Neil, who has been at the forefront of health care reform, earned his doctorate in American studies from the Maxwell School in 1984. Diego, due in large IN HIS OWN DEFENSE part to his association B laiJ e Wint e r ' 8 5 with George O 'Leary, a n assistant coach with the life seems to have been a Chargers and Winte r's position MIs eries of overcoming c ha l­ coach during his day s at Sy racuse enges," says Blaise Winter, University. whose seven-year career as a football "I think people looked at him as a player app eared to be over w hen he kid w ho would give you everything he was released by the Green B ay had but was not really good enough," Packers after the 1990 season. Unable says O'Leary. "S o m etimes coach es to latch on with another team, Winter need to look beyond a person's height, was forced to sit out the 1991 season w eight, and speed stats and see w hat's and was ad vised by ma ny p eople to inside." retire.
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