Merril Mushroom

Colorful mushroom in a field

Merril Mushroom: I am an old, Ashkenazi, rural, feminist dyke, and many other things as well. I was born 1941, in Miami, Florida; and I came out in the 1950s in the Miami Beach gay bar scene.

I’ve worked for a paycheck as schoolteacher, taxi-driver, motorcycle courier, waitress, construction worker, educational consultant, and training-materials writer. My community service focuses on poverty, foster care, public health, special-needs kids.

Fun and recreation for me include involvement with lesbian organizations, working in my gardens, maintaining the land where I live, putting up food, making botanicals, cooking for friends, playing bridge, doing word games, zooming with lesbians, reading, writing, and noticing what’s around me.

My publications include two out-of-print novels; two one-act plays; and more than 100 stories and articles in a wide variety of existing and defunct periodicals and anthologies. You can find my article about the Charlie Johns Investigations of lesbians and gay men in Florida in the 1950s through the 1960s at www.olderqueervoices.com and in Crooked Letter i: Coming Out in the South (ed. Connie Griffin, NewSouth Books, 2015).

See also:

“Dykes to the Rescue,” Sinister Wisdom 93 (Spring 2014): 95-99.

“The Womankind Support Project in Nashville,” Sinister Wisdom 93 (Spring 2014): 100-101.

“Irene,” Sinister Wisdom 93 (Spring 2014): 105-106.

“Womonwrites,” coauthored with Rose Norman. Sinister Wisdom 93 (Spring 2014): 127-132.

“Landyke in a Strange Land, Rural Middle Tennessee,” Sinister Wisdom 98 (Fall 2015): 127-132.

“Arkansas Land and the Legacy of Sassafras,” Sinister Wisdom 98 (Fall 2015): 36-42.

“Pagoda, Temple of Love: Lesbian Paradise (1977-Present),” Sinister Wisdom 98 (Fall 2015): 53-61.

“A Great Big Women of Color Tent,” Sinister Wisdom 98 (Fall 2015): 150-156.

“Where are the Young Ones to Take our Place?,” Sinister Wisdom 98 (Fall 2015): 165-168.

“Elaine Kolb: Singer, Songwriter, Activist,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 78-81.

“Southern Lesbian Feminist Artists and Craftswomen,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 95-97.

“Sue Parker Williams, aka Rainbow,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 103-106.

“Lofty Notions,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 111-112.

“Lesbian Theatre,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 125.

“Pagoda Playhouse: The Glory Days,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 126-129.

“Red Dyke Theatre,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 135-138.

“Durham’s Lesbian Thesbian: Dale Wolf,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 148-150.

“Jacqui Singleton: Singer, Songwriter, Playwright,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 151-152.

“Virginia Artist Patricia R. Corbett,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 153-155.

“Social Dancing,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 165-167.

“Rhythm Fest: Women’s Music, Art & Politics,” coauthored with Rose Norman. Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 188-195.

“Anita Bryant, Florida 1978,” Sinister Wisdom 109 (Summer 2018): 14-16.

“Knoxville, 1974: the Prom, the Coffeehouse, and the Network That Failed,” Sinister Wisdom 109 (Summer 2018): 35-40.

“The Great Nashville Organizational Meeting, May 1978,” Sinister Wisdom 109 (Summer 2018): 41-43.

“The Unfinished Revolution at WIT’s End Farm: Three Views,” Sinister Wisdom 109 (Summer 2018): 44-50.

“Joan E. Denman’s Rubyfruit Books, Tallahassee,” Sinister Wisdom 116 (Spring 2020): 54-57.

“Knoxville Writers and the Beginning of Sinister Wisdom,” Sinister Wisdom 116 (Spring 2020): 102-104.

“Feminary: A Feminist Journal for the South Emphasizing the Lesbian Vision,” Sinister Wisdom 116 (Spring 2020): 133-136.

“Sports Dykes,” Sinister Wisdom 117 (Summer 2020): 68-71.

“Jewdyke in Shicksaville,” Sinister Wisdom 124 (Spring 2022): 121-124.

“Felicia and Barb and Bork: Lesbian-Feminist Activism in Alabama,” Sinister Wisdom 124 (Spring 2022): 147-152.