Jeremy Patrick <jhaeman@hotmail.com>

Stepping Out v. 1, n. 6 September, 2000

In our tense, politically charged times, a little humor is a good thing. Michael Thomas Ford, writer of the syndicated newspaper column My Queer Life, is one of the better-known queer humorists. Ford has authored almost 40 books and has two bestsellers to his credit: Alec Baldwin Doesn’t Love Me and That’s Mr. Faggot To You. In It’s Not Mean If It’s True: More Trials From My Queer Life (Alyson, $12.95 paperback), Ford returns with a third collection of humorous essays covering everything from why bigger is better to why dogs are better than children.

Each essay is short (6 to 10 pages) and breezy. Some are pure farce, such as "The Condensed History of Gay Price" and "Ah-Choo: A guide to the New Hankie Code," while others have a bit more substance, such as "Why I Am Queer" (discussing the choice of labels) and "Test of Faith" (arguing that Christians have exploited Cassie Bernall of Columbine fame). Each of the essays will make you laugh out loud and some are quite funny, but the laughs come mostly from good one-liners; this is not the pure hilarity of Philip Roth or Joseph Heller.

Ford succeeds best when he talks about himself. In probably the funniest essay in the book ("Cheaper by the Dozen"), Ford recounts his experience as an eighth-grader forced to "parent" an egg in the face of "assassination" attempts from fellow classmates. In essays like "Out of Style" and "Along Came a Spider," he talks about his neuroses in a funny but believable way.

Collecting almost 40 essays, something in It’s Not Mean If It’s True should appeal to almost everyone. However, humor like this only works once; this is not the sort of book that bears rereading. I probably wouldn’t shell out $15 on a book like this, but if I had an hour or two to spare at Barnes & Noble, I’d buy some coffee and sit down for a few quick laughs.

(c) 2000 Jeremy Patrick