Regional History Project Oral Histories

Carter Wilson was interviewed on the afternoon of the 14th of March 2002, in his home in Aptos, California. He was a professor of community studies at UCSC from 1972 to 2002.

I am graduating from UCSC in the spring of 2002 with a degree in women's studies. Through the course of my studies, my interest in oral history has grown. Alan Sable was a professor at UCSC from 1970 to 1977; he was the first openly gay faculty on campus, and was denied tenure. Alan is now a therapist specializing in queer issues and lifestyles; he runs his practice out of his home in San Francisco. Alan and I first agreed to conduct the interview in my apartment in Santa Cruz. We had a great visit, and ended up having a long conversation where we got to know each other better. Yet, when I went to transcribe, I realized that due to technical problems more than half the interview was not properly recorded. We rescheduled a time to meet, and the second half of this interview was done weeks later in Alan's home in San Francisco. It was interesting to conduct the interview in Santa Cruz and in San Francisco; both locations are very important places in the narrative. The second opportunity to meet gave Alan and me a chance to think about the previous interview and discussion. This provided Alan with more time to re-visit what had happened in the past, and led to a more in'depth discussion about his feelings around his case and experience teaching at UCSC.--Michelle Espino

Tchad Sanger was interviewed on February 27, 2002 in the Regional History office at McHenry Library. Tchad was a UCSC student from 1989 to 1993, and a staff member from 1993 to present. He currently works at Stevenson College as an academic adviser. Tchad has been a member of the GLBT Concerns Committee and co-chair of the UCGLBTA. He has been a webmaster for both groups since 1994. He was co-organizer of the UCGLBTA 'Exposed' conference in 1998. Tchad has also been honored by a Mayor's proclamation for his service to the Santa Cruz community.

Rahne Alexander was interviewed on February 11, 2002 and February 25, 2002 in Santa Cruz, California. Erin is a theorist and activist dedicated to transgender, feminist, anti-racist and anti-classist issues, and a personal friend of Rahne Alexander's. Rahne has been a student, activist, and workshop leader at UCSC and in Santa Cruz since the mid- to late-1990s. She is a tranny femme, MTF [Male to Female] activist.

Alison Kim, a Chinese-Korean lesbian, graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Women's Studies/Art in 1989. As the women's studies librarian at McHenry Library, UCSC, I met and worked with Alison on her research about Pacific/Asian lesbians. I recommended she submit her essay to the library's Book Collection contest; she won second place. In 1987, she edited and published an anthology of Asian/Pacific Islander lesbians' writings entitled, Between the Lines, which included an early version of her bibliography. In the same year, with a UCSC Chancellor's Undergraduate Fellowship, she traveled across the United States gathering Asian/Pacific Islander lesbian newsletters, writings, and other memorabilia. The entire collection, with her finding aid and bibliography was donated to the University Library in 2001. Alison now resides in San Francisco with her partner, Christiane, and their twins. She is, in her words, a 'double virgo, proud mama, and always a UC Slug.' This oral history was conducted December 20, 2001 at Alison Kim's home.

Scott Brookie was interviewed on August 27, 2002 at UCSC, at Scotty's Santa Cruz home. Scotty and I sat at his kitchen table, drank apple juice and talked for a couple hours. It was a relaxed and, at times, quite entertaining interview. Despite working on the same campus for a year, I didn't know Scotty prior to interviewing him. I had worked for the past year as the Program Coordinator at UCSC's GLBT Center, but our paths had not crossed. Before coming to UCSC, I worked as a freelance writer, a counselor, and an interviewer on AIDS studies, so I was comfortable turning on a tape recorder and asking him lots of questions. Scotty seemed to enjoy the process as well. He was generous with his time and his work: I left that night with an armload of Lavender Readers that he retrieved from a back closet. They are a treasure I have since passed on to the GLBT Center

John Laird came to UCSC in 1968, and graduated in 1972. In 1983, Laird was elected mayor of Santa Cruz, and became the first openly gay mayor in the United States. He was also a founding member of the Santa Cruz AIDS Project (SCAP). In 2002, Laird was elected to the California State Legislature as one of two of the first openly gay men to be elected to the Assembly. Laird was interviewed on September 13, 2001 in his office at the Santa Cruz County building. The timing of this interview was significant because it took place two days after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Robert Imada was interviewed on March 18, 2002 in the Regional History office at McHenry Library. Imada was a student from 1998 to 2002. He was a organizer for Queers of Color and the GLBT Network, as well as a Queer CUIP [Chancellor's Undergraduate Internship Program] intern. He was a recipient of a Queer Youth Leadership Award in 2000. He was a co-chair of the UCGLBTA and a member of the GLBT Campus Concerns Committee. Imada is a workshop leader, activist, and writer. He is also a color guard dancer.

William Shipley was interviewed on September 25, 2001 at his home in the Santa Cruz Mountains. At age eighty, he was the oldest person interviewed for the Out in the Redwoods project, and his experience of gay life extends back to the 1930s.

Shipley was a professor of linguistics at UCSC from 1966 to 1991. He was a student of Alfred Kroeber's at UC Berkeley and is well known for his pioneering work with the Mountain Maidu Indians of California.

Gwendolyn Morgan came to UCSC as a re-entry student in 1989. She graduated in 1991 with a B.A. in classics. She then worked at campus housing, and afterwards was chosen as one of four multicultural outreach facilitators in affirmative action for one year, and then was appointed coordinator of the Diversity Education Program for staff until 2000. I first met Gwendolyn in the McHenry Library, where I was the women's studies/reference librarian. She and I became friends. We also worked together on many diversity events about women's issues and gay/lesbian issues when she was the coordinator of diversity education. I did this interview on January 5, 2002, at her home in Castro Valley, California, where she lives with her partner Gail, and their dog and bird.'Jacquelyn Marie