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A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION! |
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THE QUENTIN CRISP ARCHIVES
MIKE SCHWAGER
Publicist and writer
 It was 1988, and I interviewed Quentin on my WOR talk show, Mike Talk. It wasn't so much what Quentin said during the hour interview as much as my sense of the man that was worth noting. What I saw, sensed and experienced was a man who had become one with his style, and with this was both a sense of realness — he was an authentic person — and an unattachment to what others thought and yet an interest in what others thought and an interest in being seen.He was an amazing paradox. I also recognized his sadness, and that he was a man who had lived through much discrimination and struggle, but had overcome this struggle to the degree that he was calm, centered and indefatigably his own man. Quentin was in touch with his own Being, and the Being — his inward connection to the Universal Life Force — had a uniquely crafted Form — the Form of Quentin Crisp. Quentin had heart and passion — yet they were contained and controlled — like the Englishman he truly was. He and I once sat in a cab together as I drove him home from the interview. In the cab he said to me, paraphrasing, "I'm so bored with conventionality and mediocrity — the masks that people wear that are just about conformity and acceptance. So many people haven't really looked into themselves to find the treasure!" Quentin Crisp was a walking genius. He was like a finely crafted living sculpture or painting. His life was triumphant because he had shaped it at a conscious level to become what he chose it to become: independent, individualistic, nonconformist, rebellious, courageous, outspoken, intensely curious, gentle and above the fray. His life was his art, and his art was his life. He was non-materialistic. He was wise. He was both a student and master teacher of life. People, both gay and straight, had much to learn from him. I think another name for a book by Quentin might have been entitled, "Life and The Courage To Live Authentically." Quentin Crisp was an extraordinary individual and an extraordinary Man. Mr. Schwager is founder of Enrichment and president of Media Mavens. |
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