Posts by Dennis Orlov

"Is that what we are: libertines?"

"It's what I am," Jack said, "and what you aspire to be."

Jack Holmes and His Friend.

Joe Brainard was born in 1941 in Salem, Arkansas and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A gentle, unathletic stutterer, Joe exhibited artistic talent from an early age. It was his way of dealing with the outside world of the public school in a working-class neighborhood. “Artistic” was a wide range of things, including designing his mother’s dresses. He won practically every art contest he entered.

“Things have made you what you are... What you are will make you what you will become.”

—Samuel R. Delany, Dahlgren

Hello, all. Thank you for keeping an eye on what's going on at the LGBT initiative at The New York Public Library. 

My name is Dennis Orlov, I am a 30-year old recent transplant from Portland, Oregon. I am fascinated by this city, its history, and its people, especially when it comes to the LGBT community. I am not a specialist on LGBT issues or history, neither am I a writer. I'm just an avid reader, trying to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of the history of "my people."

As part of my volunteer experience at NYPL, I will take it upon myself to keep you up-to-date on the happenings, as well as dig through the gems of the collection and post some thoughts