Sydney Pokorny

Sydney Pokorny (23 December, 1965 - 1 September, 2008) was a lesbian writer, editor, columnist and activist based in New York. She graduated from Vassar College in 1988 with a degree in art history. The author of numerous articles on topics ranging from "Madonna Studies" to art criticism and the AIDS epidemic; she also cowrote the Lambda Literary Award nominated [ [http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/previous_winners/paw_1996_1999.html www.lambdaliterary.org - Awards from 1996 - 1999] ] "So You Want to be a Lesbian?" with Liz Tracey.

ACT-UP and the Women's Caucus

In 1989, she joined the newly formed [http://www.actupny.org/documents/cron-90.html Women's Caucus] of ACT-UP after nearly a year in the group protesting housing issues, governmental policy, and lack of action by city and state agencies. As part of the Women's Caucus of ACT-UP she and other Caucus members put together a "teach-in" on the politics and problems faced by women with AIDS. This was the first public forum to specifically address the spectrum of issues faced by women living with AIDS. Her contribution, an essay on the epidemiological differences observed by researchers studying the presenting symptoms and progression of AIDS in men and women was included in the Women and AIDS Handbook that documented the teach-in. The Handbook was, until the early 90s, the only document to focus on all the issues faced by the growing number of women infected with HIV and living with AIDS. The Handbook was translated into nearly 90 different languages. Later published in a revised and expanded form as Women, Aids & Activism by South End Press in 1990 [Women, Aids & Activism by the Women's Caucus (South End Press 1992)] , Pokorny's essay provided the impetus for a lengthier treatise on the subject of epidemiological issues and her essay, while not appearing in the book provided the research for the expanded and revised essay on the issue that did appear. She was given credit in the book's introduction.

"Obsess Yourself"

Pokorny published numerous articles in Boston's Gay Community News. One of her contributions, cultural criticism on Madonna and "the lesbian gaze" called "Obsess Yourself" [Pokorny, Sydney (1989) "Obsess yourself! The root of my obsession with Sandra and Madonna is unbridled lust." "Gay Community News" (30 July – 5 August), pages 9-10.] was published in the Gay Community News in 1989. It became an oft-cited work in the then growing field of "Madonna Studies." "Obsess Yourself" attempted to blend autobiography, cultural studies, minority cultures, issues of identity and Madonna. Quotations from "Obsess Yourself" may be found in essay collections as diverse as: AIDS and the National Body by Thomas E. Yingling and Robyn Wiegman, Acting Out: Lesbian Performances by Lynda Hart and Peggy Phelan, The Madonna Connection: Representational Politics, Subcultural Identities, and Cultural Theory, edited by Cathy Schwichtenberg and I Dream of Madonna, edited by Kay Turner. It was also part of the syllabus used in the University of Liverpool's course on Voice, Fragmentation, and Subjectivity in Popular Music. [ [http://www.liv.ac.uk/music/downloads/FJI%20research Dr Freya Jarman-Ivens: Research, University of Liverpool School of Music] ]

Collaborations with Liz Tracey, "Outweek" and "So You Want to be a Lesbian"

Following her contributions to the Gay Community News, Pokorny began contributing articles on gay and lesbian culture to the fledgling publication, Outweek. There she wrote humorous articles about everything from her passion for Coco Chanel to her admiration for drag queens. Eventually, she teamed up with writer Liz Tracey to contribute a weekly nightlife column called "Out on the Town." [ [http://www.beatrice.com/interviews/tracey/ Liz Tracey interviewed by Ron Hogan, BEATRICE Magazine, 1996] ]

In 1995, Pokorny and Tracey published "So You Want to be a Lesbian?" (St.Martin's/Griffin), a tongue-in-cheek guide to late 90's lesbian culture. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_n1_v61/ai_18980775 Article from "The Progressive" January 1997 referencing "So You Want to be a Lesbian?"] ] The book was heralded in an article in Publisher's Weekly as the beginning of a trend in humorous "how-to" books that included "Lesbianism Made Easy" by Helen Eisenbach, "The History of Lesbian Hair" by Mary Dugger, and "The Homo Handbook" by Judy Carter. "So You Want be a Lesbian" was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award [ [http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/previous_winners/paw_1996_1999.html www.lambdaliterary.org - Awards from 1996 - 1999] ] the year it was released, losing out to "The History of Lesbian Hair".

"Dead Jackie Susann Quarterly"

When Outweek ceased publication, Tracey and Pokorny continued their writing collaboration and produced a self-published zine called [http://www.stardustlanes.com/deadjackie "Dead Jackie Susann Quarterly"] which was heavily influenced by the house balls and the way that fame and celebrity was lived out in the ball rituals. Dedicated to Jackie Susann, whom Pokorny called "a prophet of pop culture," [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_bio/ai_2419201184/pg_2 St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture article quoting Pokorny] ] two issues of the zine were produced by Pokorny and Tracey in 1992-93 and two more were published by Pokorny and other collaborators online [ [http://www.stardustlanes.com/deadjackie Dead Jackie Susann Quarterly Online] ] . Pokorny's work in the publication was cited in The New York Times in 1997. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E2DB153AF934A15754C0A961958260 Carvajal, Dorothy, "Camp and Glam and Still Badly Dressed, Jacqueline Susann Stages a Comeback," "The New York Times," July 27, 1997] ] One issue of the zine is also in New York University's Fales Collection of Papers by Contemporary writers. The issue is contained in a collection of papers donated by Dennis Cooper [ [http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/fales/cooper_content.html The Guide to the Dennis Cooper Libraries New York University Libraries 2002] ] . The zine gathered press attention, for its humor and wit which was aimed at everything from pop culture to the election of Bill Clinton. The zine was mentioned in the Village Voice, was selected as an editor's choice in the 'zine guide Factsheet Five [ [http://www.streettech.com/bcp/BCPgraf/CyberCulture/newfactsheetfive.htm Fact Sheet Five web page mentioning Dead Jackie Susann Quarterly as an editor's choice pick] ] , and written up in People magazine.

"Artforum", "Bookforum", and later art and cultural criticism and editorial work

She has contributed art reviews, topical essays, film reviews and record reviews for numerous publications such as the British art journal Frieze, [ [http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/between_past_and_future Pokorny, Sydney, "Between Past and Future," "Frieze" November-December 2004] ] [ [http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/doug_aitken Pokorny, Sydney, "Doug Aitken," "Frieze" November-December 2004] ] [ [http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/christian_jankowski Pokorny, Sydney, "Christian Jankowski," "Frieze" June-August 2004] ] the Boston Phoenix [ [http://bostonphoenix.com/archive/music/97/08/21/GERALDINE_FIBBERS.html Pokorny, Sydney "Strange Fruit: Heart of the Geraldine Fibbers' Darkness," "Boston Phoenix" August 21-27, 1997] ] , Artforum, [Review of Kerri Scharlin's "Diary," ArtForum April 1993, pages 110-111; referenced in "Art After Appropriation by John Welchman, Routledge 2001] [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_5_11/ai_13905156 "Things that go bleep - the art world takes on cyberspace," ArtForum April 1993] ] Bookforum, Time Out, LGNY, and ROCKRGRL. [Pokorny, Sydney, "Books! Books! And More Books!" "ROCKRGRL" September/October 1995, pp. 16-17.] Her review of the work on Lisa Yuskavage's work in 1996 was cited in a critical work by Maria Elena Buszek on feminism and sexuality in pop culture. [Pin-up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality and Pop Culture, Duke University Press 2006, pages 355-356] Pokorny also worked for Artforum as an associate editor in charge of coordinating book reviews, during which time she edited writers such as Greil Marcus [Marcus, Greil, Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads, 2006, page 167] [Marcus, Greil, Double Trouble: Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley in a Land of No Alternatives, 2001, page 250] and Thomas E. Crow [Crow, Thomas E., Modern Art in the Common Culture", 1998, page 265] and as editorial coordinator of the magazine's spin-off publication, a quarterly review of books related to art and culture, called Bookforum.

Other work

Pokorny worked as a production assistant on the film "Paris is Burning" and is credited as "Sidney Porknoy." Through her work on the film, she became interested in some of the ideas raised in the film and attempted to work them out in her writing.

Sydney Pokorny passed away on 1 September 2008 in Park Ridge, NJ. She is survived by her mother. [Communication with Wendy Pokorny, 1 September 2008]

References