Suresha, Ron 1958- (Ron Jackson Suresha)

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Suresha, Ron 1958- (Ron Jackson Suresha)

PERSONAL:

Born October 8, 1958, Detroit, MI; son of Jack and Naomi Suresha; partner of Rocco Russo, October 10, 2004. Ethnicity: "Native American, Spanish, Jewish." Education: Attended the University of Michigan and Vista College. Politics: Green.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New London, CT.

CAREER:

Proofreader. Worked variously as a signmaker, calligrapher, publicist, landscaping assistant, and plumbing assistant, 1979-1989; typographer, 1982-1993; freelance proofreader, 1993—. Also works as a yoga meditator; formerly distribution manager and member of the board of directors for Harvard University's Gay & Lesbian Review.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Bearotica: Hot, Hairy, Heavy Fiction, Alyson (Los Angeles, CA), 2002.

Bears on Bears: Interviews and Discussions, Alyson Books (Los Angeles, CA), 2002.

(Editor) Bear Lust: Hot, Hairy, Heavy Fiction, Alyson Books (Los Angeles, CA), 2004.

(Editor, with Pete Chvany) Bi Men: Coming Out Every Which Way, Harrington Park Press (Binghamton, NY), 2005.

(Editor) Bi Guys: Firsthand Fiction for Bisexual Men and Their Admirers, Southern Tier Editions (New York, NY), 2006.

Guest editor for the Journal of Bisexuality. Contributing writer to American Bear magazine, 1999—. Contributor to a number of periodicals and journals, including Art & Understanding, Lambda Report, Gay Community News, White Crane Journal, RFD, Southern Voice, In Newsweekly, Between the Lines, Jamaica Plain Gazette, Darshan, GayHealth.com, Advocate. com, and Visionary. Contributor to anthologies. Also author of Mugs o' Joy: Delightful Hot Drinkables.

SIDELIGHTS:

Ron Suresha is a writer and freelance proofreader. Born in Detroit, Michigan, on October 8, 1958, Suresha had an accomplished childhood, including exhibiting his art at a children's museum, editing his high school newspaper and literary magazine, and winning writing awards in the Detroit area. He also expanded his educational background by hitchhiking across the country, a feat he did four times within the period of several years. He studied at the University of Michigan and Berkeley's Vista College, learning American Sign Language in the process. After finishing his studies, he underwent major lifestyle changes, including becoming an ovo-lacto-pesco vegetarian (the diet includes fish, eggs, and dairy but excludes meat) and living in cooperatives and yoga ashrams. He worked various jobs to support himself during this time, including as a signmaker, a calligrapher, a publicist, a landscaping assistant, a plumbing assistant, a typographer, and a yoga meditator. In 1993 he began working as a freelance proofreader.

Suresha contributed articles to a number of journals, periodicals, and anthologies. He served on the board of directors for Harvard University's Gay & Lesbian Review, in addition to working as its distribution manager. He did not publish his first book, however, until 2002. That year he published Bears on Bears: Interviews and Discussions and edited Bearotica: Hot, Hairy, Heavy Fiction. In 2004 he edited a second fiction collection, Bear Lust: Hot, Hairy, Heavy Fiction. A third fiction collection, Bi Guys: Firsthand Fiction for Bisexual Men and Their Admirers, was published two years later.

Collaborating with Pete Chvany, Suresha published Bi Men: Coming Out Every Which Way in 2005. The book, a 2007 Lambda Literary Foundation award finalist, is a nonfiction collection of stories about bisexual men relating their stories of coming out through personal essays. Stories are included from a wide range of contributors, including those in marriages, teens, and a man incarcerated at the time of publication. They cover topics that range from adapting to becoming members of their local gay communities to self discovery and overcoming the hurdle of accepting oneself before sharing that with loved ones already in your life.

William Burleson, writing in the Lambda Book Report, commented that the book "tells us not only about being male and bisexual, but also about being proud," as well as being "self-actualized." Burleson found the book's four sections to be quite "logical" in their divisions. He pointed out that "while it remains to be seen if it reduces bi invisibility," the authors "certainly succeeded in the ‘powerful, proud bisexual men's voices’ department." Burleson mentioned that "while several of the essays are … reprints from past books, Bi Men nonetheless is a valuable addition to the canon of bi literature." Jim Nawrocki, writing in the Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, noted that the story selections included in the book "present a broad cross-section of the male bisexual experience." While discussing a segment from one of the stories of a man discussing the liberating feeling for having shared his story in a public domain, Nawrocki stated: "No doubt many bisexual men will find the essays in this book a similar affirmation."