Posted By Ron Suresha on December 17, 2011

Best of Bears 2011

Yikes. Seems like it was just Halloween, and now the scariest part of the year is right here. It’s that time again.

Yes, it’s The Complete Bear‘s annual poll, comprising a veritable Who’s Who of the fiercest Bearocity across the globe.

This year they’re having folks vote via Facebook questions, so you have to have a FB account in order to vote, which means that it should be less prone to problems.

And check this out, friends and fans! There are two special categories I’m nominated in and would personally appreciate your support for, simply by following the FB links and just clicking to vote for a couple fur-tastic goodies:

Best Bear Blog /  Podcast:

please vote for Bear Soup podcast, with Ron Suresha

you can also Like Bear Soup on FB here.

***

Tales from the Den

Best Bear Publication

please vote for Tales from the Den: Wild & Weird Stories for Bears

edited by R. Jackson (my pseudonym)

published by Bear Bones Books / Lethe Press

you can also Like Tales from the Den on FB here.

***

Thank you, friends, and from our family to yours,

Furry Holidays!

Category: Bear Bones Books, Bear Soup, Blog, Events | Comments Off
Tags: bear books, bear radio, bear soup, best of bear, tales from the den

Posted By Ron Suresha on December 2, 2011

Our very good boy

Rest in peace

Category: Events, News | Comments Off
Tags: announcements, cody

Posted By Ron Suresha on December 1, 2011

My latest article published in the Journal of Bisexuality — just released!

Reflections on the Publication of Journal of Bisexuality, Bi Men: Coming Out

Access the article at Taylor & Francis, www.tandfonline.com

‎(2011). Reflections on the Publication of Journal of Bisexuality, Bi Men: Coming Out.

    Journal of Bisexuality: Vol. 11, 10 Year Anniversary of the Journal of Bisexuality, pp. 518-524.

Abstract
The senior editor for a double issue of the Journal of Bisexuality that centered on coming-out stories of bisexual males, titled in a trade edition as Bi Men: Coming Out, Volume 5, Issues 2/3, reflects on the challenges of putting the collection together. He contrasted the work’s critical success, including being named a Lambda Literary Award finalist, with the lack of accessibility of the journal or book in the popular market due largely to its high retail price. Other major difficulties are noted, including the death of Journal editor Fritz Klein and change of publisher ownership of the work midway in editorial production. Despite the admirable work of the Journal of Bisexuality, the lack of a mainstream periodical marketed to out bisexuals is considered a form of bisexual invisibility and an impediment to the bisexual rights movement. The article concludes with quotes from a few of the author’s favorite passages.

Category: Bi Life, Books, News | Comments Off
Tags: bi men: coming out, bisexuality, Books, essays, glbtiq writing, Journal of Bisexuality, Ron's books

Posted By Ron Suresha on October 25, 2011

Open call for art/photo entries:

FUR  the love of hair

Deadline extended until Dec. 19, 2011!

FUR the love of hair, exposé cover

Following a successful third print run of HAIR—HAIRY MEN IN GAY ART, publisher BRUNO GMÜNDER returns with FUR: THE LOVE OF HAIR in an even larger format!
Authors Ron Suresha and Scott McGillivray, both well-known and respected in the Bear community, team up to offer a guided pictorial tour of the hirsute male physique. As Ron wrote in his introduction to HAIR, “To love hair is human — to fur-give is divine.”
FUR: THE LOVE OF HAIR will further explore the manscape of the hirsute male using dozens of contemporary images. These photographs and illustrations will portray male body hair by the top names in the Bear art world, including many independent and lesser-known artists; giving them a chance to display their outstanding work.
Essays in both English and German, interspersed among the images, will examine various aspects of gay/bi/queer male fur as they are displayed on various parts, and the whole, of the body.
The book will portray a fully diverse range of male images in age, body size and shape, disability, ethnicity and race, and geography.
Fur will be a visually captivating and provocative coffee-table book that celebrates the worldwide cult of the hairy masculine man.
About the authors: Ron J. Suresha is the author of Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions and a three-time Lambda Literary Award Finalist. Scott McGillivray was the Editor, Designer, and Associate Publisher of Bear Magazine 1998 – 2002 and of 100% Beef Magazine 2002 – 2010.
Specifications: 256 pp., 8.25 x 11.5 inches, hardbound and softbound.

Show us your finest FUR

We want to offer as many artists as possible the opportunity to be featured in FUR: THE LOVE OF HAIR. To prepare, please review Hair: Hairy Men in Gay Art on the BG website http://tinyurl.com/3v7fafu to see what sort of images we seek. To participate, select between six and ten pieces of your best work, and submit them according to the technical specifications below. Every featured artist and every piece will be credited in the book’s overview and in the artist index. Please inform us if the pieces have titles you want to list alongside the artwork.

Remuneration
Your artwork will be showcased in one of Bruno Gmünder’s most popular publications, following the successes of these art anthologies: Stripped, Stripped Uncensored, Hair, Kissed, Jewels, Porn: from Andy Warhol to XTube, and Big Love: Sexy Bears in Gay Art.
Furthermore, all artists will receive two (2) copies of the publication shipped cost-free to their home address.

Closing date for submissions:
Wednesday, December 14, 2011  Monday, December 19, 2011

Download the Exposé for FUR here.

We require that all artists submit with their materials a completed and signed contributor agreement (Fur Our Consideration) form. One part of the form grants BG permission to print the artist’s materials in the book and for book promotion and press releases only, and the other part verifies the originality of the artwork and the age of any photographic models.

Submitting your FUR artwork

Please completely fill out and sign the Fur Our Consideration submission form and include it with your submission.
Page size: 21,5 x 28,5 cm (8.25 x 11.5 inches plus bleed)
We require that final artwork submissions be high-resolution, print-ready digital in one of the following formats: TIF, PSD, EPS, uncompressed JPG. Color format RGB preferred, no embedded color profile.
Artwork should be: 600 dpi (maximum), 300 dpi (ideal), or 220 dpi (minimum).
Artists may either upload their artwork online or mail us by post a digital copy and form.

To submit digitally
Upload your artwork online to the Bruno Gmünder FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server: 92.79.136.6. Case-sensitive: Username: FURLOVE – Password: Fur2012
At the same time, email a scanned copy (JPG, TIF, or PDF only) of your completed, signed Fur Our Consideration form to photo@brunogmuender.com
To submit postally
Mail your artwork on a CD/DVD ROM with your completed, signed Fur Our Consideration form:

USA / North America:
R.J. Suresha
137 Danbury Road, PMB 123
New Milford, CT 06776 USA
Europe / Everywhere else:
Bruno Gmünder Verlag GmbH
Attn: Photobook Dept.
Kleiststr. 23 – 26
10787 Berlin GERMANY

To submit interrogatively
We would be happy to answer any questions you may have by email:
photo@brunogmuender.com or via Facebook: brunogmuenderphotobooks.

FUR our consideration: fill out and sign this form and send it to us pronto!

Summary

Authors Ron J. Suresha and Scott McGillivray are preparing a men’s art anthology for Bruno Gmünder entitled FUR: the love of hair.
If you are interested in contributing to the volume, which will be published midyear 2012 and made available in Europe, North America, and worldwide, please send the authors your entries by December 14th, 2011.
Check the technical specifications for your digital files. Ideal: 8.25 x 11.5 inches at 300 dpi, RGB. Indicate the titles of any of the works submitted and if certain of the pictures are to be presented together in a special manner (e.g., three-in-a-row as a triptych). Carefully read, complete, sign, and date the Fur our Consideration form.

+

http://ronsuresha.com/?p=3256 • CFE 25Oct2011 rev23Nov

Category: Books, News | 1 Comment »
Tags: announcements, bear art, bear books, bear photography, bears, fur: the love of hair, hair, masculinities, Ron's books, scott mcgillivray

Posted By Ron Suresha on October 24, 2011

Immortal Mullah Nasruddin reading, New Milford Library, 10/25

Front cover, Immortal Mullah Nasruddin

The New Milford Public Library invites everyone to an
Author reception, Reading & Book signing
of an acclaimed collection of Turkish folktales,

The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin
with local author Ron Suresha

Tuesday, October 25th
6:00 – 7:30 pm
New Milford Public Library
Memorial Hall, 24 Main Street
Free and open to the public.

Please join us as we hear the humorous stories, jests, and donkey tales of the Turkish folk hero, Mullah Nasruddin, retold by New Milford author Ron Suresha.
A question-and-answer session after the reading will precede the author reception.
Refreshments provided courtesy of NM Public Library.
Books will be available for purchase and autograph before and after the reading, $18. Local booksellers Bank St. Book Nook and The Book Cove in Pawling also carry copies.
FB event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140713569349194

Category: Books, Events | Comments Off
Tags: Books, Events, mullah nasruddin, New Milford

Posted By Ron Suresha on September 2, 2011

Bear Necessities: An insider’s look at an atypical gay culture and community

by Bo Shell, GA Voice, 9/2/11

http://www.thegavoice.com/index.php/community/features/3183-bear-necessities-an-insiders-look-at-an-atypical-gay-culture-and-community

* * *

“It was really in such contrast to the stereotype of gay men,” said Ron Suresha, author of “Bear on Bears” and another founding member ― if one could call it that ― of bear culture. “We’d known that leather men or BDSM guys were really butch and such, but this group of guys was a different breed. To be able to improvise and adopt an alternative identity that seemed valid is part of what drove the coalescing of bear identity.”

* * *

“Bears don’t fit the normal look of what gay men are supposed to look like,” Beck added. “I never experienced it to be honest, but a lot of us have been chastised or mocked for that, so they tend to do that less and tend to be more inclusive.”

This shared experience and mutual acceptance, along with Suresha’s theory of valuing maturity, is perhaps the other common thread weaving bear culture’s generation gap together.

There’s a strange danger in that acceptance, though, as Suresha points out that perhaps the “fairest criticism” of bear culture is its implied fetishization of fatness.

“You can’t say that as much now, maybe when there was a greater component of Girth & Mirth men in the bears when they started assimilating in the ‘90s,” said Suresha. “It’s a fair enough criticism that you’re not being as healthful and careful with your body, but you have to consider your sources.”

So what?

Let’s be clear. There are as many kinds of bears as there are people.

Though predominantly white and middle class, there are bears of all races and socio-economic backgrounds. There are no rules as to who can claim the bear as their totem, though there are still questions of body image and being “bear enough,” however inclusive bear culture’s unspoken bylaws may be.

For Suresha, who has known Wright since the early days at the Lone Star Saloon, the exchange of ideas about the bear culture isn’t always intellectual, but is nonetheless essential.

“There’s a political component, an artistic component, a visual component and the development of the community and culture has benefitted from different kinds of advances and they do engage people,” Suresha says.

“If you have a musician who identifies as a bear, writes music for bears and wants to perform for bears and interact with bears in a bar for bears, that’s not done at an intellectual level, but when this kind of thing take places, there’s a thoughtfulness that helps coalesce the bear community further.”

So there is meaning, then, in this gathering of Southern Bears. The guys here are different from each other, but they celebrate their differences with a collective acceptance that exists proudly outside the mainstream.

Human nature tells us that we are attracted to people who are more similar than dissimilar, but in the bear community, the moment one finds a common strand of truth, it’s accidentally broken with one proverbial clutch of the pearls.

“Flannel?” exclaims Brett, a Southern Bear who happens to be Burcl’s partner of eight years. “I would never wear flannel.”

Photo: Self-identified cubs Michael Knoles and Chris Tripp met at a bear event in 2007. (by Bo Shell)

Category: Blog, News | Comments Off
Tags: bear community, bear music, interviews, masculinities

Posted By Ron Suresha on August 25, 2011

Once Ridiculed, Male Bisexuals Are for Real
By Susan Donaldson James
Aug. 25, 2011, ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/male-bisexuals-ridiculed-gays-straights-find-comfort-study/story?id=14372385

First, there was the time that Kenneth Minick was turned away from a nightclub when word got out that he was bisexual. Then, a co-worker, assuming he was gay, jeered, “I hear you’re coming out of the closet.”
His gay friends were just as bad. They, too, were baffled, making him feel as if something was wrong with him because he couldn’t “pick a team” — Minick was attracted to both men and women.
Now, Minick, a 36-year-old heating and air conditioning specialist from Laguna Niguel, Calif., is an advocate as part of the It Gets Better Campaign, and said he feels vindicated.
Just this week, the journal of Biological Psychology published a Northwestern University study that contradicted 2005 research questioning whether male bisexuality even existed. It was the second of two such papers that finds that it does.
“Bisexuality is an orientation among men, just like heterosexuality and homosexuality,” said Allen Rosenthal, a doctoral student in the university’s psychology department and lead author of the study.
The study included 100 men who were bisexuals, heterosexuals and homosexuals.
***
An estimated 1.8 percent of all Americans are bisexual, according to the Williams Institute of the University of California Los Angeles Law School, which focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.
An estimated 8.2 percent of Americans report that they have engaged in same-sex sexual behavior, and nearly 11 percent acknowledge at least some same-sex sexual attraction, according to its 2011 report.

Ron J. Suresha, a bisexual and senior editor of the 2006 anthology Bi Men Coming Out, said there is much variation in the bisexual community.
“People come to bisexuality from both the homosexual and heterosexual perspective,” said Suresha, 52, of New Milford, Conn. “I am married to a man and primarily gay in terms of my sexual orientation, but I identify as bisexual.”
Suresha said he had made out with girls in high school and still has fantasies about women, though he does not act on them. Like Minick, he believes he’s been misunderstood by the gay community.
“So many gay men I knew were misogynistic and never understood this,” he said.
“I had always felt attraction to both sexes, but primarily to other men,” he said. “I was involved in gay life from a fairly early age, basically from puberty on. I was always had a very strong, not just sexual urge, but curiosity.”
“But I heard from everybody as I grew up that you really can only be gay or straight — you can’t be both things.”
Many like Suresha, who is a former board member of the Bisexual Resource Center of Boston, worried that there are few resources and support for bisexuals.
This new study is a step forward, he said.

In the 2005 study, participants were recruited through ads in gay and lesbian publications. But the new study relied on Craig’s List ads for men who sought a “threesome” with another couple, the assumption being that they were bisexuals.
The study also required that participants had sexual experiences with at least two people of each sex and a romantic relationship that lasted at least three months with at least one of each sex.
But not all advocacy groups were happy about the study. “This unfortunately reduces sexuality and relationships to just sexual stimulation,” Ellyn Ruthstrom, president of the Bisexual Resource Center in Boston, told the New York Times.
“Researchers want to fit bi attraction into a little box — you have to be exactly the same, attracted to men and women, and you’re bisexual. That’s nonsense. What I love is that people express their bisexuality in so many different ways.”
But Minick, who is writing a book on the topic, titled “I Am the Fence,” believes the research validates his own experience.
***
“From the beginning, we understood that we are not to ignore our sexuality,” said Minick. “We are in a polyamorous relationship, but we are not swingers. … It’s hard to find other bisexual people that are open and out and we can get along with.”
Still, Minick said he cannot speak for other bisexuals, and believes many can be monogamous. As for having a preference for male or female, he said, “I prefer both — the beauty of being bisexual is I don’t have to choose.”

Category: Blog, News | Comments Off
Tags: bi men: coming out, bisexuality, GLBTIQA, interviews