Ben Patrick Johnson changes direction
You may remember Ben Patrick Johnson from his stint on the entertainment news show EXTRA in the early 1990s. And the controversy that ensued when he was demoted from co-host to on-air correspondent after coming out. You likely have heard his voice promoting network shows and products as one of Hollywood’s leading voice-over actors. And in his chiseled good looks and buff physique has graced the covers of gay and fitness magazines and advertising campaigns.
What you likely don’t know about Johnson is his career as a political activist and writer. He’s been on the board of Equality California, a gay rights organization, and started a podcast in 2004 -- Life on the Left Coast - where his commentaries has raised the ire of conservative Christian groups.
In 2006 he launched the Ben Patrick Johnson Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to "sustain and promote human rights and civil liberties for all, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities, people with AIDS and HIV, and those whose voices often go unheard, such as the elderly, the socio-economically challenged, and those with non-mainstream religious beliefs."
Amongst his published novels are In and Out In Hollywood, which was based on his experiences coming out in Hollywood and its effect upon his career, and One Size Fits All, about a young fashion designer whose clients include three actresses up for the Best Actress Oscar.
His latest novel If the Rains Don’t Cleanse marks a major change of pace. Set in the strife-torn Congo in the late 1950s, it follows the experiences of missionaries running educational programs. He based his story on his parents’ experiences.
EDGE correspondent Gus Klein spoke to Johnson recently about his latest novel. Here is his interview:
His family’s past
In a world removed from what most of us have ever experienced are missionaries spreading the word of their savior, whose newest disciples think Jesus lives somewhere in America.
At least, that’s part of the imagery in Ben Patrick Johnson’s fourth title, If the Rains Don’t Cleanse. Johnson’s new book chronicles 14 years of research he’s vested in looking to his family’s past. Part biographical, part fiction and fully visual, this book takes you back into late 1950s Africa where Disciples of Christ set up schools to teach the local tribes about the Lord, while providing them an education.
Johnson takes the reader through the seasons and challenges of Central Africa as he channels the voice of Eva, who narrates the story, examining her personal struggles with morals, and lifestyle challenges, while delivering the word of God. Eva and her husband begin to raise a family just as revolt and turmoil begin to take hold outside their community, which ends in climactic events that dig one’s nails into the hardcover.
Most striking about this book are the visual elements that are placed in the reader’s mind, which so effortlessly weave their way into the dialog; whether it’s mention of a delicate old fabric, the sounds bugs make in the night, the taste of cooking exotic foods, or the smell from the monsoon rains. All the visual elements are in place to make this story into a movie.
Both humble and arrogant characters alike make this book rich with content while delivering a small history lesson that will make for last minute summertime reading or early holiday stocking stuffers for all family alike.
We posed a few questions to Johnson:
