By jmb
This was originally posted on facebook.
I’ve been sick this weekend (bad allergies/hay fever, but thankfully not COVID! (EDITORS NOTE: It turned out it was covid.) so I felt too crummy to do much in the way of law work, so instead I created the start of a long-contemplated fan blog that will be providing commentary on the Tales of the City series of books (and other media) by Armistead Maupin.
If you have never read Tales of the City, I would strongly recommend the series. It began as a serialized novel in the SF Bay area in the mid-1970’s, but later became much more. It would also be later famous as the first major book series to discuss the AIDS epidemic. It also was famous for creating one of the most memorable and beloved transgender characters of literature (the incomparable Anna Madrigal, the landlady and mother of the flock at 28 Barbary Lane) and for outing Rock Hudson (in a not very coded way).
My own passion for the book series is probably because I relate so strongly to the author (like him, I was also once a Southern conservative who broke out of the worldview in my 20’s), but also the characters in the book — Mary Ann Singleton’s wonder as a new San Franciscan reminded me of my early days in Austin in 1997. Brian Hawkins was a burned out activist lawyer (the difference being that I didn’t quit, but instead tried to do it differently), and of course Michael Tolliver (the hopeless romantic and great platonic best friend of two women in the story, which reminded me of my long history of forging great platonic cross-gender friendships).