The essays in this volume represent dozens of places in New York including the five boroughs and each speaks to the author's feelings about being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered in New York City.

Leys are as elusive as beams of starlight. They are everywhere, you just can't see them. They may be compared to the hidden knowledge of a secret tradition. On public display and freely available to those in the know. Invisible and unsuspected by those who aren't. Thus the ancient wisdom at the basis of leys is encoded within the land for future generations to discover anew, if they possess the vision. London's leys can lead you to magical places, to the soul of the city and to an understanding of the hidden unity which connects our ancient sacred sites to each other and also links our spiritual dimensions to theirs. To our ancestors these locations were places of the gods, places of healing, places of power, places of vision initiation, inspiration and revelation. They still are.

The stairwell of New York photographer Mark Seliger may be unadorned, decidedly offstage, and very small, but the creativity of so many talented people jammed into one space is enormous. Each artist, dancer, and writer brings a different personality to the room, and Seliger captures that spirit in each photograph. From Paul McCartney to Susan Sarandon, from Tom Wolfe to Lou Reed, all of the participants in this project demonstrate the greatest integrity and highest creativity in their crafts. Other memorable portraits include those of Tony Hawk, Richard Serra, Bill Irwin, Laurie Anderson, and Lenny Kravitz. All 75 photographs were printed with a turn-of-the-century platinum palladium photographic process, a procedure that results in a highly detailed, rich texture. The images are printed in tritone. Fred Woodward, the prominent New York designer of Rolling Stone and such ground-breaking books as Crazy, Sexy, Cool, is the mastermind behind the book's cutting-edge design.

With captions by Allen Ginsberg and a preface by William S. Burroughs, this text celebrates and chronicles the gay parade in NYC during its heyday. It provides a unique and personal look into the roots of one the city's most vibrant traditions.