Colin has dabbled in writing and journalism for several years although it's only recently he's tried to make a living out of it.
His first big enterprise was the establishing of Gay East Midlands (GEM), a local gay community newspaper in England. For most of the 80's and 90's he also wrote for a range of HIV/AIDS publications. Now he writes mainstream stories (usually about the Internet) for the mainstream Press. And he's just completed a self-help book that's available online. Click on any of the items below to find out more.
- How GEM Got Started
- What GEM Was
- Our Achievements and Our Demise
- The People Who Made GEM Happen
- A Comprehensive List of Contents (Including examples of our work)
In 1982 Britain's only national gay and lesbian paper, Gay News, started to fall apart. This left us without a voice or an information source at the worst possible time - the middle of the Thatcher era.
At that time I still hadn't got over my belief that if anything had to be done I should be the one to do it. So I set up a working party and, ultimately, Gay East Midlands (GEM) hit the streets in June 1983. It seemed like a good idea at the time!
GEM was a 16-page monthly publication targeting the gay and lesbian population of England's East Midlands. The whole thing was put together by a group of gay and lesbian volunteers in their spare time.
No one had any relevant experience such as media, journalism or marketing but we managed to get nine issues out. We wrote it, sold advertising, laid it out for printing, collated and folded it when it came back from the printers, distributed it to outlets and sold it in pubs and clubs. (And bitched and argued, of course!)
We began with a print run of 1,000 then increased it to 1,500 and on one occasion printed 2,000 copies. We did this because we thought we were in such huge demand. In fact many copies came back unsold the following month so the print run was lowered again.
Our Achievements and Our Demise
In it's short life span we did manage to achieve a few things. Firstly, our circulation area grew from the cities of Nottingham, Leicester and Derby to as far afield as London and Edinburgh (an over-stretch that ultimately contributed to our demise).
Secondly, we covered issues that weren't being discussed elsewhere, even in the gay press. Things like paedophilia, male prostitution, black gays, misogyny in gay men and lesbian health. This probably also contributed to our demise because this simply wasn't mainstream entertainment. People just didn't want to know about a lot of this stuff.
And thirdly, we got the message out about AIDS at an early stage in the crisis. In so doing we, hopefully, made a difference to a few people's lives.
We ran a series of stories on AIDS. Initially we presented the few clinical facts that we had (symptoms, lack of treatments and possible prevention strategies - "Avoid the direct exchange of bodily fluids"). We listed sources of information and in one issue we included an AIDS information leaflet from the Gay Medical Association.
Then we looked at the wider issues. We did an interview with a San Francisco AIDS worker on the response in San Francisco. And we ran an article about the need for gay men to communicate about AIDS - their fears and their sexual practices.
And, of course, we were attacked by some sections of the gay community for 'scaring people' by talking about AIDS too much!
Ultimately our good intentions and lack of experience got the better of us. We were ripped off by some gay advertisers (who wouldn't pay for their ads). And whilst distribution so far and wide was a big ego trip for us it was also completely uneconomical. So we shut down less than a year after we started.
But I still believe that we reached a few people and changed a few lives for the better.
Ironically we got more media coverage once we'd gone than we did when we were still circulating. I know of at least two gay papers that described us as the best model for a gay community newspaper. And I've also heard a rumour - which I cannot substantiate no matter how hard I try - that GEM was actually given an award for being 'The Best Community Newspaper'. If anyone is reading this and knows anything about it I'd certainly be grateful for more information.
The People Who Made GEM Happen
The people who established the GEM collective were: Dave Pitt, Nigel Leach, Bob Emerton, Cathy White, Michael ('Mitzi') and me.
Along the way we were joined by Denise Rooney, Karen Buckley, Simon Shepherd and Mick Wallis. Richard McCance provided moral and practical support as required.
A Comprehensive List of Contents
Unfortunately I can't reproduce the whole of the paper online but I have scanned in some of the most interesting/significant ones. They're underlined in the list below so if you want to read them just click on the title. PLEASE NOTE: In order to get the text of readable quality, some of these pages may take up to a minute to download (if you've got a slow modem). Please bear with me.
GEM 1 - June 1983
* Local news * AIDS * Interview with Tom Robinson * The Police Bill * Local Gay Info * Dykes About Town (Cartoon strip) * Reviews * Diary
GEM 2 - July 1983
* Local news * AIDS * Local
Gay Info * Gay Youth * Lesbian Teachers
* Dykes About Town * Reviews * Diary
GEM 3 - August 1983
* Local news * Interview
with Peter Tatchell * Local Gay Info * Black Gays
* Coming Out * Dykes About Town
* Reviews * Diary
GEM 4 - September 1983
* Local news * Gays in Prison * 'Time to start talking?' (AIDS) * Local Gay Info * Dykes About Town * Reviews * Diary
GEM 5 - October 1983
* Local news * AIDS * Perspectives on Paedophilia * Local Gay Info * Dykes About Town * Reviews * Diary
GEM 6 - November 1983
* Local news * GEM - to
be or not to be? * A look at Derby * Local Gay Info
* Police Raid Local Bookshop * Paying the Rent (Male prostitution)
* Dykes About Town * Reviews * Diary
GEM 7 - December 1983/January 1984
* Local news * Gay Welfare
Workers National Conference * Equal Opportunities for the Lesbian
and Gay Community in Nottingham * The Gay (o)Press(ion) (The
Gay Press) * Gay Conference Demands (Report on conference on
gay and lesbian rights organised by Nottingham City Council)
* Local Gay Info * Personal View (Into '84)) * Dykes About Town
* Reviews * 'Gossip' and 'Gems' (Lesbian poems)
* Diary
GEM 8 - February 1984
* Local news * Personal
View (Men and militarism) * Personal View (Direct Action Against
Nuclear Weapons) * Local Gay Info * Triumph of the Willy (Misogyny
In Gay Men) * Gay Self-Defence * Glad
to Be Gay? (Self-esteem)
* Dykes About Town * Reviews * Diary
GEM 9 - March 1984 (Final issue)
* Local news * Gays and the police * Lesbians and health * "1984 What is to be done" Labour Party Fringe Meeting * The Greatest Gay Films of All Times * Blue Larla (Lesbian poem) * Local Gay Info * Interview with an AIDS Worker (Mitch Bart of the San Francisco AIDS/Kaposi's Sarcoma Foundation * Personal View (Direct Action Against Nuclear Weapons) * Reviews * Holiday Ideas * Diary
This book is based on my personal experience of trying to change careers and also my professional experience in counselling, mentoring and training.
After nearly two years the book is finished and available for download on the Internet (from my commercial Web site www.onlineachievers.com ).
The complete list of chapters is as follows:
- AN OVERVIEW
- HOW CHANGE AFFECTS US - The positives and the negatives.
- WHAT DO WE WANT TO ACHIEVE? - Issues around goal setting.
- MEETING OUR NEEDS - What do we need to make our plans work?
- PERSONAL SUPPORT NETWORKS - Whatever we're trying to do is easier if we have support.
- PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ENERGY - How we waste it, how to save it.
- THE ABILITY TO MANAGE STRESS - The effects of stress and how to overcome them.
- TIME MANAGEMENT - Matching our time to our priorities.
- GETTING STARTED - What holds us back - and how to overcome it.
- STAYING FOCUSED - Strategies for staying motivated and on track.
- HOW OUR BELIEFS AFFECT OUR ACTIONS - We may be undermining ourselves before we even start.
- TAKING RISKS - Understanding risk and learning to control it.
- HOW WE SABOTAGE OUR PLANS - The many obstacles we put in our own way.
- ARE WE THERE YET? - How and when to evaluate our progress.