Reichen Lehmkuhl's book..- Page 2

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:12pm

"He's not using the book for attention..."

Not even just a little?

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:30pm

Well, by contrast, we'd have to say EVERYONE writing a book might just want a "little" attention.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:31pm

Or everyone speaking out for a cause they believed in. Isn't that the point? Drawing attention to injustice?

[DG]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:37pm

"Not even just a little?"

He better be trying a LOT! He's trying to carve out a niche for himself in the entertainment industry, not become the next best accountant. And if he uses the awareness to also speak on issues that matter to him, so much the better for him - and those who benefit from the issue being raised.

There are many who use their noteriety to shed light on things that matter to them - I don't think that diminishes the importance of the cause, or makes them less of an individual for playing the game they need to within their chosen field.

[Kalimba]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:45pm

I'm upset that Reichen and Chip are no longer together. I know it's been for some time, but I thought they made a nice couple.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 4:11pm

Kalimba....they've moved on dear, so should you.......

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 7:41pm

Just received this in an email from my aunt - first review:

"DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"--Hide Instead

Lehmkuhl, Reichen, “Here’s What We’ll say: Growing Up, Coming Out, and the U.S. Air Force. Carroll & Graf, 2006.

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

Of late everyone knows who Reichen Lehmkuhl is. Winner of the grand prize on the CBS reality show, “The Amazing Race”, his intelligence and athletic ability seem to make him a shoo in to win. (His good looks also helped the viewers root him on). After that win he became a household name especially when his boyfriend Lance Bass came out. But Reichen, on his own, has had great success as an actor on both television and on the silver screen. We saw his genius on “The Amazing Race, now we can read about him in his—dare I say autobiography? (He is so young—new book, “Here’s What We’ll Say”. The story of his life in the American Air Force, when he had to hide the fact that he was gay, is
perhaps the greatest role he will ever play. The fact that he had to subscribe to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is the meat of his book.

Reichen goes back into his youth to relate the hard times he had fitting in as a child and to explain his feelings when he first realized that he was attracted to other boys. He tells how he managed to deal with the bullies who made fun of him because he was not one of them. He finally takes us to his college life at the Air Force Academy. The main thrust of the book deals with the issue of what happens to cadets who have committed themselves to serving their country come to the realization that they are gay. This is a dead end street for most and what happens becomes a question of being able to survive. In America, a new Code of Conduct came into being and new gay leaders were to make sure it worked.

Reichen’s experiences in the Air Force Academy centered around his position as one of the leaders whose job it was to protect a group of men and women from what could happen if they did not follow the policy of the U.S. government—the horrible “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Fear ruled the cadets he protected and they were forced to lie and to live a lie. Instead of living proudly they had to live deceitful lives which were tinged with jealousy because they could not be who they really were. Within the elite Academy, there existed an underground based upon non truths. Reichen’s story is one of difficult, seemingly impossible decisions as well as secret promises. In fast the promise they made was so “sacred, that the group had it inscribed on the inside of their class rings”.

All of us have had to act secretly at times in our lives but it does seem unreasonable to have to do so because our government demands us to do so. This wonderful book is a scathing attack on an inhuman policy fostered by a government which we profess to love.

This book is quite simply wonderful. It answered a lot of questions I have had and made clear for me the inhumanity that exists that demands that we lie and that we cannot be who we are. With all of the progress that has been made in the field of gay rights, this policy should be an embarrassment to our government and it IS NOT. Reichen has given us a picture of a world that many of us had no idea existed and he does so in clear concise language which is a pleasure to read. What is not a pleasure, however, is the pain we should feel upon reading about it. There were times that I had to stop and say “This is not America”. But it is—a terrible scar on what has been called the greatest democracy in the world.

With this book, I would venture to say that Reichen will become the new spokesman for gay rights. At least he is clear, he is brilliant and he is proud. He does not hold back and he tells it as he sees it. He is not one to shy from the truth and this book is a credit to his intelligence, his bravura and his fortitude. He can speak for me anytime and I hope he will speak for all of us. I, personally, thank him for having written such an erudite study of a system that I find unbearable. Let us hope that he will be able to make others see what he has seen.
_________________
Amos Lassen

Updated On: 10/12/06 at 07:41 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 9:26pm

For those who don't know, and I certainly didn't until I looked into it, "Literary Pride" is a reading group in Arkansas. Amos Lessen is a member of the reading group who posted this review on the blog for "GLBT Resources in Eureka Springs, AR."

Kudos, Richard!

[DG]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 9:42pm

The first question in this thread was whether or not anybody is reading the book - and I guess that answers that.

And if it's making its way to Arkansas, I hope a few more pick it up - they could use the message.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 9:44pm

It gives an overview of the book's contents, isn't that what we were looking for?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 10:47pm

It'd be great if Carrol & Graff could get it into Oprah's Book Club. Today Arkansas, tomorrow the world!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 10:54pm

Here's the MySpace page for Reichen's book.



The book already has 391 friends.
Here's What We'll Say: "Reichen's New Book--A Must Read"

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 10:56pm

Have any friends given the book a friendship ring?

[Kringas]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 10:57pm

One of the pictures in his myspace photo wheel really threw me.

[DG]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 10:58pm

"It'd be great if Carrol & Graff could get it into Oprah's Book Club. Today Arkansas, tomorrow the world!"

That would be great - not only for him, but for her show to try and make up for the Ex-Gov debacle.

At least he got published - thousands don't. And if it was the pop noteriety he had for a bit, then good for him. The Academy doesn't just hand out degrees, so if he has one, then there's obviously a brain behind that pretty face. And that means he has a better chance than some to tell a story that, at least in my mind, deserves to be told.

You just ballyhooed the memory of Sgt. Malcovich - I think he'd be supportive of someone trying to keep the awareness public.
Updated On: 10/12/06 at 10:58 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:00pm

Can you X-post the picture here, Kringas?

[Kringas]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:02pm

I don't know what X-post means. It was on the myspace page. It looks like Amelia Earhart, perhaps.

[DG]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:04pm

It doesn't look like Amelia - his mother, perhaps?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:05pm

He sure would, DG.

Anybody know if he dedicated the book to Lance?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:05pm

One of the comments asks if that's his mother. Rath--is that your aunt?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 11:12pm

Myspace should totally offer spell check, you know how Rath can be about that stuff!

"The book chronicals my coming out of the closet..."

[RobbO]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 7:45am

"Some of the events of this book that are portrayed as having happened to me actually happened to others. I integrated their stories into my own to ensure that their stories were told...This story, although based on true events, should not be considered a memoir or an accurate account of events, or a true story."

-From the author's note to 'Here's What We'll Say,' a book by gay Air Force Academy grad/'Amazing Race' winner Reichen Lehmkuhl (Entertainment Weekly, issue #901/902, page 136, October 13, 2006)

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 9:05am

Thanks, Robb. That's an important disclaimer.

I don't have a MySpace account, so can't see his page and any pics.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 9:11am

All I want to know is ... are there pictures? Updated On: 10/13/06 at 09:11 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/13/06 at 9:17am

"Some of the events of this book that are portrayed as having happened to me actually happened to others. I integrated their stories into my own ..."

Oh dear. This is what angers me so much about a culture that has come to dismiss intellectual prowess as "elitism." One of the byproducts is the collapse of the fiction market so that writers think they have to package their fiction as memoir in order to sell. It's like I told my brother Prince Charles last night, well, at least that disclaimer on Reichen's book will prevent him from being treated like James Frey. And Charles asked me what I was talking about.*

*some of the events in the above post are fiction, or may have happened to somebody other than myself.

Updated On: 10/13/06 at 09:17 AM