Briefly Summerrnby Constance Rowell MastoresrnI like the wild formality,rnthe strict order that survives.rnDune grass, beach rose;rna spindly yarrow. In rivuletsrnby the roadside, watercressrnand vines of morning glory.rnCloser to the sea, a strugglingrnpine; or tea tree bent by winter,rnits muted foliage rustlingrnas the wind passes to the east —rnpeacock feathers of palestrngreen. No ardent colorrnuntil you breach the dunesrnand tumble into summer:rnvolleyball players in orangernand neon green. A ConeyrnIsland of umbrellas. Yet soonrnthe season closes, its colorrnspent. The beach resumesrnitself bleached, shucked,rnstrewn with shell; in brownsrnand olive greens, kelp tautensrnon the shore and turns to salt.rnForward into autumn the egretrnstretches. Left to themselvesrnon sandy shoals, the harborrnseals growl and mumble, earthrntones blending and breathingrnas they shift about. Pelicans,rnin silent flight, cross over.rnSteady as a line of patriarchs,rnthey move from sunset into dusk.rnagenda,” “special rights,” “gay Mafia,”rn”gay communitv,” “drag queen,” “nonstraight,”rn”homosexual culture,” “heterosexualrnagenda,” “capitalist agenda,”rn”family,” “gay market,” “Disney discourse,”rn”gay gene,” “homosexuality,”rn”masculine,” “butch,” “fernme,” “ideologicalrnstate apparatuses,” “other,” “sexuality’,”rn”the homosexual consumer,” “liberation,”rn”lesbian,” “gay,” “queer,”rn”smoking gun,” “gay sensibility,” andrn”out of the closet”—all these in the introductionrnalone! Imagine how I thrilled,rnrealizing that such “expression” awaitedrnme for another 290 pages of sheer bliss!rnThis book is better than a Richard SimmonsrnSweatin’ to the Oldies videotape orrnanything you care to mention, and inrncase you don’t “get” the “picture,” I spellrnthis review Fah-U-lMs\rnOnly lack of space and a Glenn Closetyperneditor could force me to move on sornbrutally to “nuance.” Griffin excels atrn”nuance.” And what is a “nuance”? Arn”nuance” is a “distinction” about “queerrntheory.” For example: “Gav culture” toornoften merely denotes “gav white malernculture,” and not “lesbian culture,” orrn”black gay male culture,” or “transgender”rnor “bisexual culture.” The encompassingrnterm is “queer culhire,” not “gayrnculture,” and theories about that are subsumedrnunder the term “queer theory.”rnThat last sentence reminds me that myrnb — (rhymes with “witch”) editor has leftrnme only a few more words to cover “theory.”rnAs far as I’ve been able to understand,rnSean Griffin has shown how capitalismrnhas driven the Disney Company tornbe friendly to “the gav community.”rnAlong the way, he’s told the story of gayrnactivism at the company, while in hisrn”nuaneed” manner, he’s insisted that cooptationrnbv the corporations is a trap thatrnwill never lead to “liberation.” Finally,rnGriffin has rejected, on theoreticalrngrouirds, any “post-gay” complacencv:rnVarious unpleasant episodes have suggestedrnthere’s no basis for feeling thern”struggle” is over.rnSanctioned by the academy, Griffinrnhas presented himself as threatened —arnneat trick, if you can “pidl it off.” But justrnin today’s newspaper, I noticed a picturernof the chortling trio of Bill Clinton, AlrnGore, and David Geffen, which suggestsrnthat maybe Sean should, like, lighten up.rnThe battle is over, and “we” must havern”won”—otherwise, why would a “universityrnpress” publish a “work” of such completern”self-absorphon?”rnÂ¥an-tast-ic[ crn28/CHRONICLESrnrnrn