Talkin' About Rainbow Legends

Newspaper Articles

note: jadon was formerly known as joyce.

Talking About A Revolution

By Brian Jewell | Thursday Nov 15, 2007

Oral history project offers "Chicken Soup for the Gay Soul"

"Do have a story you’d like to share?" I’m usually the one conducting the interview, but it’s not far into my conversation with publishers Amanda and Joyce Cascio before they’re trying to turn the tables on me. It figures; the partners, in business and in life, didn’t get their new book Dragonfly Stories from concept to launch in four months by beating around the bush. The first in what they hope will be a long series, Dragonfly is a collection of stories that celebrate the LGBTQ community in its - our - own words. "This is really activism," explains Joyce. "It’s just done differently. It’s a way to give voice to stories that have been silenced. I just want our whole community to know what incredible people we are. It’s kind of a Chicken Soup for the Gay Soul."

read the rest of the article here...

Dragonfly Stories Promote Understanding

By Jason Kuiper | World-Herald Staff Writer | Omaha.com

After the end of her 23-year marriage, Cindy Collins of Omaha needed information.

She had two kids. And she loved her husband, but not in a physical way.

Collins was coming to terms with the fact that she was gay.

She said it was difficult finding resources on the gay community, especially those geared toward a middle-aged woman.

Collins now works in public relations for Rainbow Legends, a Missouri-based group aiming to change perceptions about gay, bisexual and transgender people.

In October, Rainbow Legends released "Dragonfly Stories," the first of two volumes of stories about real people and issues like self-acceptance, love, family and activism.

Until this fall, Collins and her partner, Angela Keyes, operated the Reading Grounds, an Omaha bookstore that specialized in resources for the gay community. A number of people sat for interviews this summer at the bookstore after the Rainbow Legends' founders heard about it at the Nebraska Pride Parade in Omaha.

About 50 people told them, "You have to go to the Reading Grounds," Collins said.

Collins' own story concerns activism and coming out as a middle-age woman.

Now 49, she recalled how relieved her mother was when she came out. Collins said her mother knew something was troubling her and feared her daughter had cancer.

"I'm so relieved that you're gay," Collins writes in the book, recalling what her mother said. "I could see that you've been struggling with something and I knew it was very serious . . . Thank God, you're gay."

Collins' mother now looks at Collins and her partner as having two daughters. Collins said her children have been equally supportive.

Stories, she said, are an effective way to change attitudes.

"Once you know that person and know their story, you can empathize with who they are," Collins said. "It's a form of activism. It's about doing something positive and making a change in the world."