Looking for Sheville

the long version

Looking for Sheville is a coming out story and a very personal look at the early formation of the lesbian community in the small Southern Appalachian city of Asheville, North Carolina, during the 1970s. Matty, an aspiring singer-songwriter with a predilection for stage fright, finds her way into the clandestine gay subculture through the only gay bar in town, a dark, back-alley hole-in-the-wall in a seedy part of town. From this inauspicious beginning, she finds other lesbians, starts to discover the wider lesbian culture, and joins with other like-minded women to create lesbian community. Matty travels to other cities and expands her horizons. She and her friends explore all that lesbian culture has to offer--literature, Women's Music, spirituality, conferences, festivals, marches, softball, politics, and more. If you were part of the lesbian world of the 1970s, Matty's story will resonate poignantly because this is your story, too. -- Cover.