Keep Singing: Two Mothers, Two Sons, and Their Fight Against Jesse Helms
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.23 (998 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1555835724 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 216 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-08-31 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Full of suspense and pathos, the book reads like an engaging novel. She now lives in Blowing Rock, N.C., and remains active in AIDS causes.An Excerpt: How I Learned to Love LiberalsHarry Clarke had our kitchen table custom-made so that it would be large enough to accommodate our whole family on a regular and comfortable basis. I found myself in tears one minute, then furious five minutes later."-Lee Smith, author of Saving Grace and Fair and Tender LadiesOn June 5, 1994, Patsy Clarke sat down and wrote a long letter to her friend Jesse Helms. She failed. His callous and self-serving reply, in which he said, "I wish Mark had not played Russian roulette in his sexual activity," first broke Patsy's heart-and then it made her furious. Keep Singing is the inspiring true story of two women, driven by the desire that even in death their children would be given the simple human respect that is due everyone, and who gave a new face to the fight against bigotry and hatred.Patsy Clarke is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a degree in Drama and Literature. "Keep Singing is about as moving a document as I have ever read, a real testament to the human spirit. She had hoped to touch the heart of the notoriously homophobic senator, to ask him to soften his antigay stance, and to end his opposition to AIDS research funding. Together with her friend Eloise Clark who had also lost a
Love Conquers All Patsy Clark and Eloise Vaughn would probably be the first persons to say that they are not professional writers; yet theirs is a story that touches our hearts. After the deaths of both their sons from AIDS, they took on Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina in an effort to upseat him. We all know they did not succeed in their efforts; nevertheless, they are winners of the highest sort. Althought the two women had led very different lives-- one was a Democrat, the other a Repu. The inspiration of mother love. The two mothers who lived the story of _Keep Singing_, Patsy Clarke and Eloise Vaughn, personify the essence of parental love that mothers and fathers ought to strive for. When each was a widow, she learned that her son was homosexual and faced imminent death from AIDS. The story of how each mother loved, accepted, and supported her son through difficult times is extremely moving, and would certainly be a compelling story in itself -- but there's a lot more.These women of pol. ""Keep Singing" Will Keep You Singiing, Crying, and Laughing" according to Robert Nordan. Heroes aren't limited to battlefields and burning builldings; they can be down the street or just across town. Witness these two writers, Patsy Clarke and Eloise Vaughn, who took on the task of fighting the "senior senator" from N.C. in the 1996 election. Grandmothers both,widows who had lost their husbands early, they were faced with the "double whammy" of finding out that their dear sons were gay and had AIDS as well. In those days before the "cocktail" they cared for their
Conservative women liberalized by the loss of their sons, Clark and Vaughn tackle anti-gay politics in the way that we all hope our mothers will stand up for us in our absence.--Jack Connolly. We were just driven by primal emotions." Although Mothers Against Jesse in Congress failed to convince Jesse Helms to tone down his anti-gay rhetoric or alter his stance on funding for AIDS research, Patsy and Eloise did get to present their case to the 1996 Democratic convention, appear in People magazine (garnering a huge pile of mail both for and against their cause), and experience enormous personal growth. Angry talk started to flow, someone wrote a check, and Clarke ran to get a clean pickle jar from the kitchen for donations: "We didn't really know what we were doing. When Patsy Clarke and Eloise Vaughn brought together a group of North Carolina women mourning their sons' dea