As a student, Thomas A. Foster was particularly interested in studying women’s and gay and lesbian history. But when he began his Ph.D. dissertation, he decided to go a different route: “I realized that I wanted to work on masculinity and men’s history because it was not yet being studied,” says Foster, an early-American-history professor at DePaul. While conducting research for his recently released book, “Sex and the Eighteenth Century Man: Massachusetts and the History of Sexuality in America,” Foster was curious about “where sex was coming into conversations and in what areas it was operating.” Nearly 300 years later, these topics are still relevant. “Looking at the way sex figures in constructions of [eighteenth century] manhood gives people a chance to reflect on how that operates in today’s society,” he says. “Manhood is only just beginning to be looked at as socially constructed.” Foster will discuss his work on November 14, 2006, at 7pm at 57th Street Books.
Green Words
“What I am trying to do is draw connections between these art forms,” says Green Lantern director Caroline Picard about the newest project emerging from the Wicker Park art and performance space. Picard’s Green Lantern Press is launching its first book releases with two original fiction pieces, “God Bless the Squirrel Cage” by Nicholas Sarno III and “Urbesque” by Moshe Zvi Marvit. The press will be launched along with the opening of “Out of the Woods,” a collection of original paintings by Mat Daly, who also did the artwork for the books. 500 hand-bound copies will be released in an effort to highlight undiscovered writers, with hopes to lead to a larger distributor. If all goes well, Green Lantern Press plans to release four books over the next year. “Keep your fingers crossed,” says Picard. The launch party is on November 17, 2006 at the Green Lantern space at 1511 North Milwaukee.
