Note: This short reflection is airing worldwide this week on This Way Out(TWO), the syndicated LGBT radio show in honor of its anniversary of fifteen hundred episodes. Click here to hear the entire show.
This is Janet Mason.
I’ve been writing and recording commentary for This Way Out for almost two decades. I’ve long been intrigued by the intimate nature of radio. I have memories of being shaped by the radio — whether in the car, in the house or early in my life as an adolescent, alone in my room in my parents’ house but connected to the world through the magic power of radio.
It was through radio that I heard the voices of my favorite writers — often people I would come to read, and sometimes — when I was lucky — people I would later meet and on at least once occasion take classes with. As a child, I discovered the world through books. It makes sense that I would want to keep those worlds alive by writing and recording commentary on literature, particularly literature that reflects queer life.
When I first came out — or a few years before — I would listen to my local lesbian-feminist radio show. Yes, I said lesbian-feminist. It was that long ago. A lot has changed. But some would say the more things change, the more they stay the same. Occupying queer space on the radio airwaves is as important now, as ever, to the LGBT community.
It has been my privilege to work with This Way Out, to provide you with queer literary commentary over the years. Every now and then I hear from a listener and always I am moved. Not only do I get to be part of a very important worldwide LGBT news wrap and vehicle for queer culture, but I get to be part of the listener’s world also. In being connected to the world-wide LGBTQ movement, I feel larger than myself. In the words of the great gay bard Walt Whitman, “I am large, I contain multitudes.”
Janet Mason, author 
Reflecting on TWO Decades (plus 10) of #Queer Radio Commentary — #amreading #lgbtqbooks #queerradio
Posted in This Way Out lgbtq radio, tagged Barney Frank, Feminism, Gay and Lesbian writers, International radio show, Janet Mason, Janet Mason author, lesbian commentary, lesbian feminism, lgbt rights, LGBTQ rights, LGBTQ visibility, LGBTQ writers, Philadelphia Writing Classes, Philadelphia writing instructor, queer activism, queer lives, queer radio, Queer radio commentary, Queer Writers, Tea Leaves, Tea Leaves a memoir of mothers and daughters, Tea Leaves by Janet Mason, THEY, THEY a biblical tale of secret genders, THEY by Janet Mason, This Way Out, TWO, TWO internation LGBT radio syndicate, TWO program 1500, Walt Whitman on April 17, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Note: This short reflection is re-airing worldwide this week on This Way Out (TWO), the syndicated LGBT radio show in honor of its thirtieth anniversary. Click here to listen to the entire show.
(TWO is the first international LGBTQ radio news magazine.)
This is Janet Mason.
I’ve been writing and recording commentary for This Way Out for almost two decades. I’ve long been intrigued by the intimate nature of radio. I have memories of being shaped by the radio — whether in the car, in the house or early in my life as an adolescent, alone in my room in my parents’ house but connected to the world through the magic power of radio.
It was through radio that I heard the voices of my favorite writers — often people I would come to read, and sometimes — when I was lucky — people I would later meet and on at least once occasion take classes with. As a child, I discovered the world through books. It makes sense that I would want to keep those worlds alive by writing and recording commentary on literature, particularly literature that reflects queer life.
When I first came out — or a few years before — I would listen to my local lesbian-feminist radio show. Yes, I said lesbian-feminist. It was that long ago. A lot has changed. But some would say the more things change, the more they stay the same. Occupying queer space on the radio airwaves is as important now, as ever, to the LGBT community.
It has been my privilege to work with This Way Out, to provide you with queer literary commentary over the years. Every now and then I hear from a listener and always I am moved. Not only do I get to be part of a very important worldwide LGBT news wrap and vehicle for queer culture, but I get to be part of the listener’s world also. In being connected to the world-wide LGBTQ movement, I feel larger than myself. In the words of the great gay bard Walt Whitman, “I am large, I contain multitudes.”
To learn more about Janet Mason’s new novel THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders click here.
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