Unique Title Reflects Author's Most Intriguing Life

There is little about Carol Sherman-Jones' life that one could characterize as normal. How many other sixth graders do you know who would hire the playground bully to break her arm just so she could get some attention? How many people do you know who have wrestled a midget in lime Jell-O to earn some rent money? How many people do you know who have purchased a rundown bar for one dollar and then, with no business experience whatsoever, turned it into wildly successful gay bar?

Carol Sherman-Jones has done all that and a lot more. With an irrepressibly irreverent wit, she shares all in her autobiography titled My Life as a Gay Man in a Straight Woman's Body. In what she describes as an extremely cathartic experience, Sherman-Jones bares her most painful secrets as well as her most incredible highs.

'I'm still waiting for the reaction from some members of my family and from some of my closest friends,' she admits with a laugh. 'My life has always been an open book, but now it really is!'

She says it wasn't until she opened Carol's Corner Café in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, that she felt that she had 'arrived.' It was there that she created a microcosm of a utopian world where everyone was welcome without prejudice, herself included. And it was there with a sense of utter helplessness that she watched friend after friend succumb to the fatal complications resulting from AIDS.

Through laughter and tears, the author shares her search for acceptance and how she eventually found it in the gay community. Hers is a message of tolerance, hope, and inspiration.