Kevin Sutton writes:

>Given the high numbers of gay men and women who are also great artists,
>it would seem to be more of a gift than a curse!

It's not a matter of being gifted or cursed.  It's a matter of being
*poised* to execute any talent or genius one may have.

For anyone growing up that feels "different," or, for whatever reasons,
finds themselves an ill-fitting or unwelcome cog in a vast and preordained
socio-economic framework, (college, job, marriage, children, house,
retirement, death); it is these people who may feel invaluable, and
therefore feel the need to overcompensate.  Mahler, as an outsider in
Vienna always felt as though he had to swim faster and harder than the
pack, just to maintain a modicum of respect.

Look at me Mom!

A person can be talented, or even be a genius, but it takes risk and
single-minded determination to get the stuff from the mind to the world.
How much genius gets squashed by the intimidation of a 30yr mortgage and
a business that saps all one's intellectual energy? I would imagine that
outsiders, such as homosexuals, are more poised than "those who follow the
standard paths" to execute any genius and talent that he or she might have.
Let me also say that those who do maintain a house, business, and take
care of children and *still* make an intellectual or artistic mark in the
world have my utmost respect.

To more clearly understand my point of view, it's helpful to look at
societies that have destablized.  Typically, what looks like a free for
all, (such as the Dark Ages), was actually a hotbed for trying, or being
free to try, different roles, or enjoying the luxure of free thinking, and
most importantly for us, artistic experimentation.  Risk and reinventing
one's self and one's surrounding world becomes necessity for everyone.
Some of the greatest thinkers of ancient Greece came *after* the Pelop.
War and plague--when Athens went from 80,000 to 21,000 people.

A word about Religion--Where would Western Art and Music be without all the
necessary patronage of Europe's religious men? It almost makes me forget
all the burnings at the steak!

And now something you don't see too often around here--I'm backing up my
statements with books!  Seriously--for some hugely enlightening, nerd-free
reading that touches upon social history, philosophy, and the arts, which
I find vastly increases my appreciation of music, try Daniel Boorstin's,
"The Creators," and his latest, "The Seekers," (a broad and fascinating
survey of Philopophy); and Barbara Tuchman's, "A Distant Mirror," which
focuses on some of the unseen benefits of having Mongels take over your
suburban neighborhood.

John Smyth