Written by:
Susan Jodon
Photographer:
Tom Kimmell Photography
» Order
this Issue of Curve:
Vol. 14#5
Just being a former-soldier-turned-musician would be enough of a career twist for most women, but not Juliet Draper. The singer, who had a giant club hit with a remake of Grace Jones’ classic “I Need a Man,” is also a World Firefighter Combat Challenge champion. Draper broke the world record by completing the course in two minutes and three seconds, beating 800 of the country’s fittest firefighters (most of whom are men). Now she’s teamed with filmmaker partner Pam Jones (yes, Grace’s sister) to write, produce and star in Camille’s Magic, a film they hope will bring awareness to the oppressions within the gay community.
“When a group of people feel very oppressed, it’s hard for them to look at how they oppress others within the community,” explains Jones.
Their own struggles with racism and homophobia led the couple to develop the characters in a realistic manner. Jones moved to Colorado in the ’70s in hopes of opening her own business, only to be faced with the denial of financial support because of her race. Determined, she borrowed money from family and friends and opened her own fabric store. Jones later married a white man and gave birth to their biracial daughter. A few years after her divorce in 1988, Jones fell in love with Draper.
“I was out from the moment I was in love,” she recalls.
Draper’s path couldn’t have been more different.
“There are not many places I can be in, actually,” she laughs. “I am the epitome of Amazon. You know, we go to Taco Bell and people think I’m her son. That’s what allows me to do my job really well.”
Draper (above left) attended the Cleveland School of the Arts, joined the Army, won the World Firefighter Combat Challenge and numerous bodybuilding competitions, and became a respected firefighter, a role she fills today. Soon after the women met, Jones began producing the couple’s work (“She’s management; I’m labor,” laughs Draper) under their Rogue Amazon company name.
Seven years later, Camille’s Magic is in rehearsal, and the couple is dreaming of opening a queer film company in Colorado Springs.
“I think when certain people are so powerful and you are not so powerful,” says Jones, “art is something that matches that power in a sense to get your voice heard.”
I read that you had a lot of trouble starting your own business, being a woman?
Jones: The truth is, it was more related to race. When I came here in the late ’70s, in old Colorado City, where I still am, they started this new development and were practically handing out loans to everyone. The guy that was running that organization actually told me that there was no place for me in the neighborhood. It was because I am black and they still may only have … one other black business owner in that neighborhood. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. So I had to borrow money from family and friends and buy out this other woman. That was the only way I could get a store. I actually had to buy someone else out. I couldn’t get a loan. I couldn’t get any support.
How did the two you get into film and music production?
Draper: I remember as a youngster wanting to be a performer and pushing the picnic tables together in the back yard. I ended up going to a performing arts high school in Cleveland, Ohio — Cleveland School of the Arts. Then I left high school, didn’t graduate and ended up attending what I like to call the “hard knocks university.” [I] commenced to partying, raising all kinds of heck and disappointing my parents. You know. I kind of put all that artist stuff on hold and joined the Army, then came out here and became a military firefighter and met Pam.
And she was the air to my fire and kind of relit the performance stuff inside of me. I can remember telling her that I wanted to grow up to be an entertainer and she was like, “I’m glad you said that. I like to produce things.” So we produced a play and we did a CD and things just kind of went on from there. She’s management and I’m labor.
The new movie you’re working on —
Jones: I actually wrote [a film] before. My daughter is wonderful, but very high-maintenance, so I needed her to grow up so I could focus on something else. So about seven years ago, a friend of mine, we were looking for a project, and this friend of mine that owns a restaurant called Ritchie’s Restaurant started telling me about a character he was developing. It was about a black woman that was magical that came into this white community and it took place in his restaurant, and he’s a gay guy and she’s a lesbian woman and we loved the story. So for the past seven years, we’ve been working on the characters and writing the screenplay.
Tell me more.
Jones: It’s Camille’s Magic. Juliet plays Camille, so she plays a performance artist who comes into not only a very white community but also a gay, white community, and falls in love with the chief at this restaurant. But the head waitress and partner of the restaurant is also in love with her, so it brings out some of the racial issues that we deal with in the gay community that don’t get talked about very much because when a group of people feel very oppressed already, it’s hard for them to look at how they oppress others within the community. So this is a way of showing … what it is that happens in communities that are mostly white and also what are Camille’s issues with being a black lesbian. I don’t know if you know how very homophobic people of color can be.
When does this movie come out?
Jones: We are actually in rehearsal now and since none of us have done this before, we have put together stage actors and the three main characters are actually lesbian women, so we have stage actors but no one has done film before. It’s a community film project that has gay people, straight people, and white people, black people and Asian people, we hope. So we are in rehearsal and we start actual shoot in August. We hope to be finished by November; then we will edit and we want to try and edit this in six months. We hope to finish and submit it to film festivals in July if we’re miracle workers. We say it’s coming in 2005.
When you two first started out, were you out to friends and family already?
Jones: Yes, we have both been totally out. I was married for 12 years to a man, a white man, so my daughter is biracial. I fell in love with this woman in 1988, so I was out from the moment I was in love.
Draper: There are not many places I can be in, actually. I’m what they call 100 footers; I am the epitome of Amazon. I’m tall, muscular, have a deep voice and all that sort of stuff, so you know I’m just kind of out there. I’m just Juliet. You know, we go to Taco Bell and people think I’m her son. That’s just the story of my life. That’s OK; that’s what allows me to do my job really well. I feel very fortunate to have the physical ability that I have because of that, so I feel very empowered by that.
How were you treated when you first started the competition with mostly men?
Draper: Oh, great. There’s something about fire folk and people in those public safety positions that we can be in life-threatening situations any minute, and our major concern is weather or how our co-workers can save us when the chips are down. When I walk into a fire station, all 5’9, 180 lbs of me, it is very clear that I can handle my position. I have had the good fortune of a positive attitude and sense of humor. That goes a long way. Being a black person in the firefighter business is more remarkable than being a woman in the business. Firefighting is pretty white. How can anyone complain about this big friendly girl that can do her job? And, you know, I won the military body building competition and such things, and that brings a lot of prestige to the station and city.
What are your next big plans?
Draper: More movies! (She laughs.)
Jones: Part of what I want to do here is [find] a creative way of dealing with prejudges because I think when certain people are so powerful and you are not so powerful, it is my idea that art and something that creative … matches that power in a sense to get your voice heard. So my thought is to start a GLBT film company right here in Colorado Springs, and have great movies. And one day I’d like to have a gay and lesbian television station. That’s what I want to see happen.
What advice do you want to give younger lesbians?
Draper: Come out, come out, wherever you are!
Jones: Never delay joy. If you want to do something, do it. If it’s jumping from a plane, jump. If it’s riding a motorcycle, ride a motorcycle. At 50, I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do for 25 years. I’m seeing 50 as not much time left. Don’t ever delay your joy.
|
