About Callen Harty
Originally from Shullsburg, Wisconsin Callen Harty is the author of four books and numerous published essays, poems, and articles. His most recent book is The Stronger Pull, a memoir about coming out in a small town in Wisconsin. His first book was My Queer Life, a compilation of over 30 years worth of writing on living life as a queer man. It includes essays, poems, speeches, monologues, and more. Empty Playground: A Survivor's Story, is a memoir about surviving childhood sex abuse. His play, Invisible Boy, is a narrative with poetic elements and is also an autobiographical look as surviving child sex abuse. All are available on Amazon.com (and three of them on Kindle) or can be ordered through local bookstores,
He has written almost two dozen plays and 50 monologues that have been produced. Most of them have been produced at Broom Street Theater in Madison, Wisconsin where he started as an actor, writer, and director in 1983. He served as the Artistic Director of the theater from 2005-2010. Monologues he wrote for the Wisconsin Veterans’ Museum won him awards from the Wisconsin Historical Society and the American Association of State and Local History.
He has also had essays, poems, and articles published in newspapers and magazines around the country and has taken the top prize in several photo contests. His writing has appeared in Out!, James White Review, Scott Stamp Monthly, Wisconsin State Journal, and elsewhere. He has had several essays published online for Forward Seeking, Life After Hate, and The Progressive.
Callen has also been a community activist for many years. He was the co-founder of Young People Caring, UW-Madison’s 10% Society, and Proud Theater. He served as the first President of Young People Caring and as the Artistic Director for Proud Theater for its first five years. He is still an adult mentor for the group. In 2003 he won OutReach’s Man of the Year award for his queer community activism. OutReach is Madison, Wisconsin’s lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender community center. He also won a Community Shares of Wisconsin Backyard Hero award for his sex abuse survivor activism work. He has been invited to speak before many community groups, at a roundtable on queer community theater in New York City, and has emceed several events. In 2016, Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault named him their annual Courage Award winner for his activism, writing, and speaking on sexual assault.
This morning, Wisconsin State Representatives Chris Taylor and Melissa Sargent and State Senator Lena Taylor introduced two bills at a press conference at the State Capitol. The first was the Child Victims Act, which eliminates the statute of limitations … Continue reading →
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Tagged abuse, adult survivor, alcohol, bipartisan support, child sex abuse, child sexual assault, Child Victims Act, Chris Taylor, civil suits, clergy, compassion, drugs, emotions, exemptions, flashbacks, helping professions, innocence, Legislature, male survivors, mandatory reporters, Melissa Sargent, recovery, secret, State Capitol, State Senator Lena Taylor, statute of limitations, suicide, survivors, trust, victims, Wisconsin State Representatives
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Rounding hills, we drove into Ardmore town, down a street lined with walls of alternating colors, a post office, small shops, a tavern, and the wild waters of the Atlantic splashing upon the windshield. I came searching for connection and … Continue reading →
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Tagged America, ancestry, Ardmore, Atlantic, Biddy Harty, Cliff walk, death, dust, earth, generation, graves, great-great-grandfather, great-great-grandmother, Harty, legends, life, ocean, saints, sea, Siobhan, song thrush, tower, town historian, water, Waterford City
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Representative Vos, It has been reported on the news, both locally and nationally, that you are upholding rules to prevent my representative, Jimmy Anderson, from calling in to meetings. The rule in question was established by the Assembly and can … Continue reading →
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Tagged Assembly, Badger, Capitol, cell phones, chair, citizens, committee meetings, communication, disability, e-mail, health issues, Jimmy Anderson, media, paralyzed, power politics, public testimony, Republican, Robin Vos, Rojo's Popcorn, rule, Senate, speakerphone, testify, videoconferencing, Wisconsinites
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Sometimes the loss of a person you don’t know that well can affect you as deeply or more as the loss of someone with whom you are closer by blood or love. So it is with the loss … Continue reading →
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Tagged advocate, America, anti-American, Beloit, civil rights, David Soumis, Denmark, Famers Market, genuineness, gun violence, hero, hugs, immigrant, Iran, justice, Lars Prip, loss, love, Madison, Marines, memorial, Nazis, peace, protests, rallies, rally, Scott Walker, twin, Veterans for Peace, Viet Nam, vigil, war, West Allis, Wisconsin, workers
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Two years after Before you were gone you were gone. Your eyes, already looking toward heaven, could not look at me and know who I was, though love still glimmered in those deep brown orbs. Before you passed your past … Continue reading →
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Tagged abstractions, ancestors, being, breath, children, dead, essence, Heaven, images, joy, life, love, memories, memory, mysteries, passed, past, secrets, wonder
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