| “Bear Like Me” an interview with Jonathan Cohen by Ron Suresha |
Jonathan Cohen was born in Toronto, Canada to non-bear parents. It was only when he sprouted body fur, grew a beard, and started to resemble a fuzzy plush toy that he realized his true destiny – as a bear. Jonathan has spent the last few years observing the bear community from the sidelines, making notes, and studying this subculture. He currently lives in Vancouver with his cat, Shadow, and makes his living as a technical writer. His first novel, Bear Like Me, is available from Haworth Press at http://www.haworthpressinc.com now, and will be available from online and retail bookstores by February 2003. Ron: First, Jonathan, how long have you known about bears? Jonathan: I learned about the bear community in 1994. Having been a “conventional twink” for many years, I found myself gaining a lot of weight when I went away to school, and was despondent that my sex life suffered as a result. A kind man that I slept with that year informed me that there was a “bear club” and bear community that would welcome people with my looks and stature – which I thought was pretty crazy. A few years later, 1995-1996, as a longhaired, bearded, hairy fellow, I was looking for other longhaired men and stumbled into the IRC EFnet #bearcave to ask if bears liked longhaired men. The answer was “Some do” – and thus my acquaintance with bears was born. Ron: Your new novel, Bear Like Me, is quite a humorous take on Bear subculture. What initially inspired you to write the book? Jonathan: In 1998, I had been reading the Bears Mailing List (BML) for quite some time. I found the repeated debates over monogamy, shaving, and so on amusing (not trivial, but amusing). At the same time, the Internet was starting to experience the proliferation of bear Web sites, and I saw more and more bear merchandise. Any community that can take itself that seriously, I thought, was ripe for a gentle satire. At the same time, in early 1998, I had had to leave a very difficult job for medical reasons. My fantasy to have revenge on my former employer became a subplot that took on a lot of importance in the book’s storyline. Ron: Did you know initially that you were pioneering the first bear-themed novel? Jonathan: There hadn’t been a novel about the contemporary bear community published, to my knowledge. I wanted to be the first one. I also felt it might be difficult to market a book to publishers that was aimed solely at the bear community. Thus the plotline of a non-bear disguising himself as a bear would appeal to non-bear readers as well, and avoid having a lot of the “in-jokes” go over the non-bear readers’ heads. Ron: Peter, the protagonist, finds himself out of a job and in the position of transforming himself from a twink into a bear and then infiltrating bear community. Jonathan: Yes, in order to write an expose about it. One of the themes of the novel is that changing your external environmental can definitely change your internal environment – he does not remain a twink in a bear’s body. Ron: Do you personally relate to Peter and his transformation into a bearish body, and coming into bear community? Jonathan: In retrospect, I do. Not when I wrote the book, though. As I mentioned, it was a way to turn the story into a crossover novel. Looking back, I can see that it’s very much my story, without the guidance of the bear who assists him in his transformation. The weight gain I went through, and its effects on my personality and perceived place in the gay community, were very difficult to handle, so I think I suppressed how much I related to Peter until a year or two after the book was finished. Ron: In Bear Like Me, you satirize many aspects of Beardom. Do you believe there are many faults to the subculture, or is it just your nature to poke fun at things? Jonathan: As with any culture, I think there’s a group of people who buy into it totally, a group of people who are in it for other reasons and buy into it very little, and the vast majority that fall somewhere in between. The satire comes with taking the worldview of people who buy into it totally and taking it up a notch or two until it’s absurd yet still recognizable. The other way to do it is to take positive statements that “everyone” believes, and show that that’s not necessarily the case. The idea that the bear community is a place where you can express your individuality may be true, but then why do most people dress so similarly? And if the bear community embraces diversity, why do we see so few bears of color? Ron: Excellent question. The title of your novel refers, obviously, to Griffin’s Black Like Me, and your novel also involves someone transforming himself in order to find out how it feels to be a minority type. Do you feel that bears have been discriminated against in the same way as blacks? Jonathan: Not so much discrimination as segregation and invisibility. Bears stick to themselves mostly, just as twinks stick to themselves (mostly). At the same time, I don’t think a twink owner of an underwear store in the gay ghetto would hire a bear as a salesperson. There also seems to be discrimination against men who are large, hairy, and bearded in the general community (large men = slobs, hairy men = not desirable according to media standards, bearded men = suspicious), as well as against men who dress downwardly-mobile – the plaid flannel look. I’ve had experiences with that, and some of that makes it into the novel. For example, the concept of being pulled over for DWB (Driving While Bear). Ron: What influence on bears would you like to see the book have? Jonathan: I’d love to see them recognize themselves, laugh, and feel the emotions I felt when I put the words down on paper. This novel wasn’t meant as a political or philosophical work, but a crazy comic trip. I’d love to see them buy lots of copies, of course! And I’d love for the novel’s slogan (which appears nowhere within the book, actually) to become a catchphrase. Ron: Any plans for a second bear-themed novel? Jonathan: It’d be fun to write a sequel, if there is interest out there by readers. I deliberately left a couple of hidden unresolved plot threads just in case. I am not sure I’d write a novel that was “set in the bear community” without being about the bear community in some way. It’s like writing a book set 30 years from now, that doesn’t use any of the advanced technology in its theme or plot – why do it? Ron: Agreed. Final comments? Jonathan: Interested readers can contact me at <bearlikeme@yahoo.com> – I always enjoy hearing feedback, positive and negative. And remember – “Woof means never having to say you’re sorry.” Originally published in American Bear magazine, December 2002. |
