Bernard Mayes
Encyclopedia
Anthony Bernard Duncan Mayes (born October 10, 1929) is a retired teacher, broadcaster, university dean, lecturer and author. Born in Britain
, Mayes is now a citizen of the United States of America. He lives in San Francisco
After studying classical civilizations at Cambridge University, Mayes worked first as a high school teacher of Latin
, Greek
and history. He was then ordained as an Anglican priest. Mayes emigrated to the United States in 1958 and became an Episcopal worker-priest and director of a student house attached to Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village and New York University
(NYU). He then moved to the Diocese of California where he held a parish near San Francisco. While in San Francisco, Mayes founded San Francisco Suicide Prevention, later used as a model throughout the United States. Openly gay himself, Mayes organized a sexuality study center for the Episcopal Diocese of California. This ministry, originally known as the Parsonage, was awarded the Episcopal Jubilee citation and later evolved into the present-day Oasis organization.
During this time he was also a journalist for the BBC
and other networks, and in 1968 he helped organize the public broadcasting system in the United States, becoming first the founder of KQED-FM and Executive Vice President of KQED TV in San Francisco, then a co-founder and first working chairman of NPR National Public Radio. He then became a consultant for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
in Washington, D.C.
, advising universities and communities across the country. During this time he wrote, produced and performed in a variety of books and dramatizations such as Lord of the Rings, Homer's Odyssey
, etc. Invited in 1984 to join the English faculty of the University of Virginia
,(Uva), Charlottesville, Virginia
, in 1991 he was appointed assistant dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, and then chair of the Communications department, finally founding the Program in Media Studies. He was awarded the Sullivan/Harrison award for mentoring and received a commendation by the University Seven Society
. On retiring from the University in 1999 he published his autobiography 'Escaping God's Closet' (University Press of Virginia) which received the national Lambda award for religion and spirituality, and in 2000 University of Virginia alumni named the Bernard D. Mayes award after him. Mayes has been included in Who's Who in America for 1999, Who's Who in Religion, and Who's Who in Entertainment. His papers are to be found in the National Public Broadcasting Archives of the University of Maryland, the Special Collections of the University of Virginia, and in the Library of Congress.
In 1991 he co-founded the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual Faculty, Staff and Graduate Student Association at the University of Virginia, known as UVa Pride, and the Serpentine Society. On his retirement in 1999, the University of Virginia's LGBT alumni association, the Serpentine Society, gave Mayes a lifetime achievement award for his accomplishments and for his contributions to UVA in particular. Each year since then, the Serpentine Society has honored a distinguished graduate of UVA with a Bernard D. Mayes Award for service and leadership in the LGBT community. Mayes also received a lifetime achievement award from San Francisco Suicide Prevention. In 2009 he returned to San Francisco where he now lives. In 2010 he was given a prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service, most notably for his suicide prevention work stiill used as a model nationwide. He now resides in San Francisco.
's Odyssey
, the Agamemnon
of Aeschylus
and Plato
's Phaedo
, each adapted from the original Greek; The Lord of the Rings
a 1979 radio series in which he played the part of Gandalf; and several of Dickens' novels. Mayes received financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts
for a dramatization of the life of Thomas Jefferson
. He has also recorded several books for Blackstone Audio Books and was often heard in The Black Mass
, Eric Bauersfeld's series of dramatic adaptations for Berkeley's FM station KPFA.
An illustrated collection of Mayes's lighter broadcast pieces was published in 1985 under the title This is Bernard Mayes in San Francisco. Mayes has also written numerous articles on topics in history, religion and the media.
The book tells the story of Mayes's life, culminating in his renunciation of both the priesthood and of religion
. After life in the U.K. during the Depression and WWII, Mayes describes his emigration to the U.S. and the founding of several influential organizations, most notably the first suicide prevention service in the U.S (still operational); the non-commercial radio station KQED-FM in San Francisco; the network NPR (National Public Radio); and The Parsonage (an Episcopal-gay think tank. Along the way he gives an account of gay life in San Francisco during the period of the Flower Children and the assassination of Harvey Milk, reporting around the United States for the BBC, and finally his academic life and work in the University of Virginia. To explain his apostasy
, Mayes articulates a philosophy that regards existence as a "soup" (he later dubbed the philosophy "Soupism" in lectures and elsewhere). Mayes argues in Escaping God's Closet that the state of the universe and our planet, together with the history and working of the human body, have now been satisfactorily explained by scientific methods of observation and experience to show that all things are assembled and come into being through the unending interaction, exchange and recyclement of preexisting energy.
According to Mayes, this implies that all things are interdependent and subject to constant, endless change. Mayes's philosophy of "soup" further asserts that that there can be neither a true beginning nor a true end of existence, and that belief in supernatural forces, gods, spirits and the soul is false, being the product of human imagination. To read more about Soupism, go to http://www.soupism.net
Mayes also argues that the interdependence, interaction and endless exchange within existence necessitate a particular ethic. This ethic is derived from the further belief that love for others, egalitarian government, universal education and respect for the planet and all that live upon it are critical for the continued health, well being and survival of the human species.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Mayes is now a citizen of the United States of America. He lives in San Francisco
After studying classical civilizations at Cambridge University, Mayes worked first as a high school teacher of Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and history. He was then ordained as an Anglican priest. Mayes emigrated to the United States in 1958 and became an Episcopal worker-priest and director of a student house attached to Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village and New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
(NYU). He then moved to the Diocese of California where he held a parish near San Francisco. While in San Francisco, Mayes founded San Francisco Suicide Prevention, later used as a model throughout the United States. Openly gay himself, Mayes organized a sexuality study center for the Episcopal Diocese of California. This ministry, originally known as the Parsonage, was awarded the Episcopal Jubilee citation and later evolved into the present-day Oasis organization.
During this time he was also a journalist for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and other networks, and in 1968 he helped organize the public broadcasting system in the United States, becoming first the founder of KQED-FM and Executive Vice President of KQED TV in San Francisco, then a co-founder and first working chairman of NPR National Public Radio. He then became a consultant for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, advising universities and communities across the country. During this time he wrote, produced and performed in a variety of books and dramatizations such as Lord of the Rings, Homer's Odyssey
Homer's Odyssey
"Homer's Odyssey" is the third full length episode of The Simpsons, that originally aired on the Fox network on January 21, 1990. In this episode Homer becomes a crusader for citizen safety in Springfield, and is promoted to his current position as Nuclear Safety Inspector for the entire power plant...
, etc. Invited in 1984 to join the English faculty of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
,(Uva), Charlottesville, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, in 1991 he was appointed assistant dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, and then chair of the Communications department, finally founding the Program in Media Studies. He was awarded the Sullivan/Harrison award for mentoring and received a commendation by the University Seven Society
Seven Society
The Seven Society is the most secretive of the University of Virginia's secret societies. Members are only revealed after their death, when a wreath of black magnolias in the shape of a "7" is placed at the gravesite, the bell tower of the University Chapel chimes at seven-second intervals on the...
. On retiring from the University in 1999 he published his autobiography 'Escaping God's Closet' (University Press of Virginia) which received the national Lambda award for religion and spirituality, and in 2000 University of Virginia alumni named the Bernard D. Mayes award after him. Mayes has been included in Who's Who in America for 1999, Who's Who in Religion, and Who's Who in Entertainment. His papers are to be found in the National Public Broadcasting Archives of the University of Maryland, the Special Collections of the University of Virginia, and in the Library of Congress.
In 1991 he co-founded the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual Faculty, Staff and Graduate Student Association at the University of Virginia, known as UVa Pride, and the Serpentine Society. On his retirement in 1999, the University of Virginia's LGBT alumni association, the Serpentine Society, gave Mayes a lifetime achievement award for his accomplishments and for his contributions to UVA in particular. Each year since then, the Serpentine Society has honored a distinguished graduate of UVA with a Bernard D. Mayes Award for service and leadership in the LGBT community. Mayes also received a lifetime achievement award from San Francisco Suicide Prevention. In 2009 he returned to San Francisco where he now lives. In 2010 he was given a prestigious Jefferson Award for Public Service, most notably for his suicide prevention work stiill used as a model nationwide. He now resides in San Francisco.
Radio adaptations and commentaries
Mayes's dramatic works include: HomerHomer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
, the Agamemnon
Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...
of Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
and Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's Phaedo
Phaedo
Plato's Phaedo is one of the great dialogues of his middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium. The Phaedo, which depicts the death of Socrates, is also Plato's seventh and last dialogue to detail the philosopher's final days .In the dialogue, Socrates...
, each adapted from the original Greek; The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
a 1979 radio series in which he played the part of Gandalf; and several of Dickens' novels. Mayes received financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
for a dramatization of the life of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. He has also recorded several books for Blackstone Audio Books and was often heard in The Black Mass
The Black Mass
The Black Mass was a horror-fantasy radio drama produced by Erik Bauersfeld, a leading American radio dramatist of the post-television era. The series aired on KPFA and KPFK from 1963 to 1967, on an irregular schedule...
, Eric Bauersfeld's series of dramatic adaptations for Berkeley's FM station KPFA.
An illustrated collection of Mayes's lighter broadcast pieces was published in 1985 under the title This is Bernard Mayes in San Francisco. Mayes has also written numerous articles on topics in history, religion and the media.
Escaping God's Closet
In 2001, the University of Virginia Press published Bernard Mayes's autobiography, Escaping God's Closet: The Revelations of a Queer Priest, which won the national Lambda Literary Award in the spirituality category.The book tells the story of Mayes's life, culminating in his renunciation of both the priesthood and of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
. After life in the U.K. during the Depression and WWII, Mayes describes his emigration to the U.S. and the founding of several influential organizations, most notably the first suicide prevention service in the U.S (still operational); the non-commercial radio station KQED-FM in San Francisco; the network NPR (National Public Radio); and The Parsonage (an Episcopal-gay think tank. Along the way he gives an account of gay life in San Francisco during the period of the Flower Children and the assassination of Harvey Milk, reporting around the United States for the BBC, and finally his academic life and work in the University of Virginia. To explain his apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
, Mayes articulates a philosophy that regards existence as a "soup" (he later dubbed the philosophy "Soupism" in lectures and elsewhere). Mayes argues in Escaping God's Closet that the state of the universe and our planet, together with the history and working of the human body, have now been satisfactorily explained by scientific methods of observation and experience to show that all things are assembled and come into being through the unending interaction, exchange and recyclement of preexisting energy.
According to Mayes, this implies that all things are interdependent and subject to constant, endless change. Mayes's philosophy of "soup" further asserts that that there can be neither a true beginning nor a true end of existence, and that belief in supernatural forces, gods, spirits and the soul is false, being the product of human imagination. To read more about Soupism, go to http://www.soupism.net
Mayes also argues that the interdependence, interaction and endless exchange within existence necessitate a particular ethic. This ethic is derived from the further belief that love for others, egalitarian government, universal education and respect for the planet and all that live upon it are critical for the continued health, well being and survival of the human species.