Southern Fried Pride

In Southern Fried Pride writer and journalist Art Greenwald shares his best of a collected works of comical serious and sometimes bittersweet essays in-depth features and thought-provoking interviews. Part autobiographical the ex-Pennsylvanian showcases some of the legends personalities places and events that have transformed South Florida into a thrilling thriving and vibrant gay mecca. Greenwald serves up a mixed bag of stories first chronicling his life in Tales from the Gayborhood. He reveals his hormone-drenched player days in the ever-changing gay club scene while coping with aging in a youth-centric culture. He takes readers on a wild nostalgic trip with his candid Club Copa confessional and tribute to a bygone era. Toss in an endless love story among friends a horrifying dance with death at a stripper bar a cocaine addict's struggle to stay clean and a famed collector with his lifelong love and devotion for Judy Garland. The author also profiles community activists and leaders who have carved out powerful legacies making a difference and inspiring pride with their courage sacrifice and perseverance. Greenwald additionally pens his chaotic struggle for the self-acceptance of his sexuality from his time in his native Altoona Pennsylvania through his college days at Penn State and then as he finally settles in Fort Lauderdale Florida. His opinion pieces and gay-intensive quotes tackle taboo topics with straight in-your-face honesty shattering stereotypes while exposing rank hypocrisy. Reading his quirky tongue-in-cheek pieces will sometimes lighten your daily load and other times provoke you but will always invigorate you. Southern Fried Pride will leave both gay and straight readers laughing smiling feeling nostalgic and occasionally sad though hopefully with a more humane understanding of the gay experience and its joys triumphs heartbreaks and struggles.