ROBERT FORD: 'SHE KNOWS WHO SHE IS'
by Owen Keehnen




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The fall 1992 issue of Thing.


Earnest Hite (left) with Robert Ford at the June 1994 Chicago tribute to the late African-American gay filmmaker Marlon Riggs. Ford died soon after. Hite, a prominent AIDS activist and writer who lived for two decades with HIV, died in a car accident Jan. 14, 2008, at age 53. Photo by Tracy Baim.

Chicago writer and publisher Robert Ford received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College. He wrote pieces for various publications such as Planet Roc, Jazzgram, and Babble. Ford's first venture into publishing was Think Ink, which he described as “very Black, not very gay, but queer-friendly.” He considered it a great learning experience. Soon after, Ford hit his stride in the 'zine world with the legendary Thing, the “she knows who she is” publication.

Thing began in 1989 when three friends ( Ford, Trent Adkins and Lawrence Warren ) decided to start a 'zine that would chronicle, celebrate and recognize the underground world of African-American gay men. He also joked that Thing was a way to “do something with his Macintosh [ computer ] .” It started with a couple of hundred copies.

The 'zine struck a chord. The third issue was sent to the printer for a run of 1,000. Sales continued to climb. The style and layout became graphically slicker, but the content remained hip, urban and sassy. The sixth issue had a print run of 2,000, and in just the last couple of issues Thing rose to a printing of 3,000 per. Those numbers may be relatively small in the magazine world, but for a 'zine ( which Ford defined as “any magazine not put out by a corporate entity” ) it is huge.

In August 1993, Robert Ford, the publisher, editor, co-art director and primary driving force behind Thing, announced that newly released issue No. 10 would be the final one. Thing had come to an end, but it consistently displayed a quality and style nothing short of superb. It helped to set the standard for underground 'zines, and it is often seen as among the format's greatest success stories.

There were several reasons for the end of Thing. The work level of publishing it was dominating Ford's life and taking a toll on his health. “It was too small to generate a lot of funding and too large to run without a staff,” he told this writer in an August 1993 interview. It also frustrated him that the demands of Thing were causing him to turn down other projects.

After the final issue, Ford was able to devote more time and energy to his weekly music column in Babble as well as his groundbreaking African-American bimonthly AIDS column in Plus magazine, among other projects. In 1993 Ford was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. He died in 1994 at the age of 32.

Trent Adkins, co-founder of Thing, was born in 1958. He died of AIDS complications in April 2007. His sister Barbara Walters wrote that he had many passions, including literature, fashion, the arts, music, dancing and much more.

From Out and Proud in Chicago: An Overview of the City's Gay Community, edited by Tracy Baim, Surrey Books, 2008.

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