the bull-jean stories
by Sharon Bridgforth
na/i’s a wo’mn
what’s Lovved many wy’mns.
me/they call bull-dog-jean i say
that’s cause i works lik somekinda old dog trying to git a bone or two
they say it’s cause i be sniffing after wy’mns
down-low/begging and thangs
whatever.
Using traditional storytelling and nontraditional verse to chronicle the course of love returning in the lifetimes of one woman-loving-woman named bull-dog-jean, the bull-jean stories give cultural documentation and social commentary on African-American herstory and survival. Set in the rural South of the 1920s, the bull-jean stories herald the spirit of African-American people.
“for my daughter/myself and all my mothers
i
need a witness that we were here and our Lives mattered...”
— sharon bridgforth
Paperback: ISBN-10: 0-9656659-1-7 $12.00
ISBN-13: 978-0-9656659-1-9
AudioCD: ISBN
0-9656659-2-5 $12.99
ISBN-13: 978-0-9656659-2-6
© 1998 by sharon
bridgforth
Cover art, design copyright © 1998 by Juarez Hawkins
Also Available on CD!
More samples are available for listening at CDBaby.
Written, arranged and performed by Sharon Bridgforth
Music by Deacon John
Vocals by Sonia Perryman
Produced by Lisa C. Moore
Praise for the bull-jean stories
“the bull-jean stories are a passionate tribute to a fierce woman-loving woman. Sharon Bridgforth vividly captures the poetic language of everyday Southern speech. She writes with such emotional honesty that you can almost hear bull-jean singing the blues, feel her opening up her arms and her heart to the ones she loves. Heartbreakingly sad and laugh-out-loud funny, these unforgettable stories put a spell on me.”
— SHAY YOUNGBLOOD, author of Soul Kiss
“Sharon Bridgforth is vibrant, bodacious (!), an important voice in Black lesbian writing. Her language, ripe with mother wit and mother tongue, performs on the page.”
— MICHELLE PARKERSON, filmmaker, A Litany for Survival: The Life & Work of Audre Lorde
“the bull-jean stories are a tantalizing blend of poetry and performance art that sings and dances across the page. The oral tradition that has kept Black culture alive informs the phrasing, melody and rhythms of each of these pieces and invites the reader to listen as well as read. Surrender to the jazzy/bluesy riffs here and you’ll come away singing.”
— JEWELLE GOMEZ, author of Don’t Explain
“To hear her tell it, Bridgforth is simply preserving the oral history of the elders. Perhaps, but what is immediately evident is the artist’s deft touch with the nuance and pace of language. It is this skill that turns a potentially coarse diatribe into a romantic soliloquy.”
—Hector Saldaña, San Antonio Express-News
“Perhaps the brilliance of the work is the way Bridgforth infuses historical data into humor, sentiment, and lyrical prose, illuminating what it meant to be an African-American butch lesbian living in the South. Every detail about her style of dress, to the poetic way bull-dog jean talks, is written carefully with authenticated exactness of stories told to us by our stonewall sisters and their sisters before them.”
—C.C. Carter, Lambda Book Report
“Bridgforth created the bull-dog-jean character ‘in celebration of the fierce Black bulldaggas that have gone before.’ Set in the rural South of the 1920s, these stories are infused with a mother tongue that will work its magic on you, transporting you in time and place. …Here the rhythm and the flow of the words and the dialect come together as if in song. These jazzy poetic riffs need to be read aloud… Bridgforth’s language begs to be heard.”
—Debra Hiers, Southern Voice
“the bull-jean stories are meant to be performed. Read out loud as a testimony of life marginalized yet well-lived. …The book is fun and light and, at times, sexy reading. …the characters come to life with all their bravado and down home style.”
—Debbie Douglas, Siren magazine
“the bull-jean stories by Sharon Bridgforth isn’t a book that you read, it’s a book that you hear. …The language…is sweet and intense, as are the thoughts and exploits of bull-dog-jean. Every passage sings…”
—Feminist Bookstore News
“The book brings to life the sights and sounds of the rural South in the 1920s with stories that leap to you from the well of love and life, untangling open heart wounds with words and uncovering the strength of the author in pure character. [Bridgforth’s] style of writing in vignettes is a testament to oral language, something rare in literature…”
—Sandra Beckmeier, Austin Downtown Arts
