Epochalips is a new website primarily targeted toward lesbians 40 and over and their friends and allies. Some of the best names in lesbian culture contribute to the site including comedian Kate Clinton, filmmaker Nicole Conn and author Jewelle Gomez. We spoke with Robin Lowey founder of the site.
Robin, tell me a little about your background and why you wanted to start Epochalips.com.
After the break-up of a long-term partnership (27 years!) that included 2 kids and many satisfying years together, I found myself alone without an intact family. On top of that, my best friend died and I lost my job. So, instead of crawling in a hole, I did something cathartic for myself that has helped keep me sane. I started Epochalips as a way to reach out to our underserved community. We aren’t young but we aren’t old either. There is no shame in being a bit older and wiser. And without the community-based women’s coffeehouses and bookstores to help promote our various endeavors, I felt we needed a virtual space to share our successes and inspirations with each other.
Where did the name come from? (Love it!)
Epochalips (pronounced apocalypse) is all about the next chapter of our interesting, exciting lives. The word epoch means a moment in time chosen as the origin of a particular era. This is our time. Lips is a good lesbian word. And Epochalips is….well….its just our name, OK? I needed a domain I could own that wasn’t already taken,
Who is the intended audience of Epochalips?
Lesbian baby-boomers. Mostly gals over 40 and their friends. There are plenty of sites that skew super young, and they will have stories about women my age every now and then as an afterthought. Epochalips is for us, with the youngsters as an afterthought. I mean—we are the ones with the interesting stories to tell, right? It amazes me that the queer kids don’t know that it wasn’t always so easy to be ‘out’. We paved the way for the current generation of queer, bi, transgender youth. We are tired of being dismissed, its time to be worshiped and revered.
You’ve got some of the best lesbian writers to contribute to the site. Jewelle Gomez, Kate Clinton, Nicole Conn, Margie Adam, Eleanor Palacios and Marga Gomez. How did you get such a stellar line-up of writers?
You know, each case is different. Marga, Eleanor and Monica Palacios have been dear friends for 25 years. Eleanor (The Battle Axe) has basically been my partner at Epochalips, and Monica (the Queer Senorita) is my favorite funny person to bounce ideas off of. Eleanor knows EVERYBODY and steers me toward people I can trust. I guess I was subconsciously prowling the dyke march for prominent lesbians when I spotted Margie Adam and begged her to join our ranks. I contacted her no less than 10 times before she agreed to meet me for lunch. Margie suggested I reach out to Jewelle Gomez, who is my most prolific and dedicated contributor to date. Nicole Conn found me on Facebook and I visited her and partner Marina Bader on the set of their new movie, A Perfect Ending. They are genuinely nice human beings who are committed to helping others. It’s so awesome when we all help each other and play nice rather than competing. Eleanor introduced me to Kate Clinton at an NCLR event. Her publicist, Michele Karlsberg is a total sweetheart and helps keep me in the loop about Kate.
What kind of experience do you hope people will have on the site? What do you hope to do that other sites are not?
I want lesbians to read about themselves and their lives in a positive forum. Besides promoting lesbians various endeavors, I like to shake things up with posts about unexpected topics. What’s it like to be a genderqueer person getting breast reduction surgery? How does it feel to fall in love with someone 30 years your senior? Is menopause an excuse for homicide? Who has restless leg syndrome and why is your dog in your FB profile photo? I want people to laugh, cry and be able to relate on a personal level to our site. I’m pretty sure no one else is talking about this stuff.
I know you and many of your contributing writers have been a part of the LGBT community for many years. What was it like to organize a lesbian event before the age of Facebook, Twitter, cell phones and even email?
Eleanor (The Battle Axe) says: Back in the day, we made flyers and distributed them to bars, bookstores and any business that would allow us to do so before someone ripped them down. We also shoved them into the hands of lesbians wherever we could find them. We even snail mailed some and actually dialed telephones to call people to make sure they were really coming. With those limited means, we tried to create a buzz.
How has the internet changed things for lesbians of your generation?
Well, considering that everyone’s attention span gets shorter and shorter every day with all the distractions, I think moving magazine forums like this online and providing byte sized tidbits of interesting stories is the way of the future. We are ON it.
What can we expect from Epochalips in 2012?
More fascinating content and increased frequency of the e-magazine html email. If you aren’t already signed up for our e-magazine, click here to get in the loop.
Specifically, we have in the works an interview series that highlights the top 20 baby boomer lesbians who have made a real difference and helped changed our world. We are headed to the final four in Denver this coming Spring to party and will have some awesome giveaways. We are growing by leaps and bounds.
Anything else you want to add about Epochalips.com?
YES! We are always looking for contributors. Right now you are probably thinking:
I want to contribute a story to Epochalips. What do I do?
First, hug yourself. Because you’re helping to make Epochalips (and our world) a better place. Then write to us for contributor guidelines. Email: info@epochalips.com.
