01x04 - The Art of a Womon

[bunniefuu]

[lively upbeat music]

- Meet Sue Moreno.

Let's just get to it:
Sue's a badass.

She's a self-described
Chicana l*sbian artist

who fought for women's rights,
g*y rights, and human rights

before it was cool.

Sue also happens to collect
a lot of art.

Like, a lot, a lot.

But there's a fine line
between collecting

and putting things in piles.

Looks like it's time
for a death cleaning.

* *

[soft upbeat music]

This is Ella.

Ella is from Sweden

and she's an organizer.

* *

[engine rumbling]

* *

This is Johan.

Yep, also from Sweden.

Johan is a designer.
[car horn honks]

* *

[indistinct announcement]

And then, there's Katarina,

a Swede, clearly.

She's a psychologist.

[car horn honking]

* *

all: Hej!

[laughter]

- Together, they are a team
of death cleaners.

Yes, you heard me right--
death cleaning.

Cleaning out your crap
so others don't have to

when you're dead.

It's a very Swedish thing.
You'll get it.

* *

[bell chimes]

[lively music]

* *

- I call myself
the Brown unicorn;

Mexican, Chicana, g*y, l*sbian.

Like my mom said,
you beat to a different drum.

[chuckles]

I started collecting art when
I came down here to Kansas City

and I started seeing
all of the artists

that were just like
gold nuggets

that just needed
to be discovered.

Their work was incredible.

But when you wake up and
you look at all this stuff,

it's like, "Oh, my God."
It just weighs on you heavy.

I wouldn't call it messy.

I would call it
organized heaps.

[laughs]

- Sue needs help
organizing her heaps,

and who better
to help organize her heaps

than these peeps?

- Hello.

- Hello.
- Hi.

- Hi. Welcome.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Oh, my gosh.
- We are your death cleaners.

- Oh!

Welcome, welcome, welcome.
[claps] Yes!

- Let us know
what we can do for you.

Why are we here?

- Well, as you can see,

I'm an artist.

And I turn 65 this year,
retired,

and I'm kind of
overwhelmed with

a lot of the different objects
that I've collected.

And also, I had
some tragic things happen

with my partner.
She passed away.

- Oh.
- Mm.

- You see pictures of her
up there.

After Bev passed,
dealing with my house

was really, really challenging.
- Yeah.

- For 25 years,
we were together.

There's always gonna be
memories in here,

but they don't have to be
pulling in on in--yeah.

- Yeah.
- No.

- And so I'm kind of now
reaching the point

where I am--

I need your help.

- When you are in grief,

the energy goes so much,
of course, to that.

So the environment--
it's so easy that it piles up

with stuff around you.

- It's kind of hard to ask
for help, sometimes, because--

"Be a strong woman."
- Yeah, strong and--

yeah, yeah. Yeah.
- And you know,

being a big, old d*ke,
you know, "be strong."

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Used to--"head up."

But I'm--I'm ready to do
this process

with professionals.

- Yeah.
- Mm!

- We will help you carve out

the most problematic areas
and what we can do with them.

Because I think
a common misconception

around death cleaning is that
we're just here to, like,

throw things out and declutter

and, like,
"we're done with it."

But that's not what it's about.

At its heart,
it's about discovering

what's important to you...
- Yeah.

- And what are your hopes
for these things

and what you're longing for
in this space.

And--
- Yes.

- Yes.
- Ooh, I need this.

- We are here for you.
- We are here.

- Thank you so much.
- Yeah.

- This is just gonna be
life changing.

Life changing.
- Yes.

* *

- What would you say
is the worst room?

Do we have a room like that?
- Okay, you--

yes.

- This is the face of
a woman who knows exactly

which room is
the worst room in her house.

And here it is.

These are probably some
of the least-organized heaps

we've ever seen,
and that's saying something.

- What has this room
been used for,

before it ended up like being--

- It was supposed to be
my art room,

but it just didn't work out
that way.

Because, as you see,
I've got heaps of supplies

and all the videotapes there.

I tried to start organizing
pencils and things like that.

And I even kind of have
a little path here so that--

- You have a little,
like, stig.

We call this a stig.
- A stig?

- Stig.
Path, trail.

- Like a little walking path.
- Oh, yes.

- Is there something in here

that you feel like,
"this is trash"?

- Oh, lots.
- A lot.

Yeah, yeah? A lot?
[both laugh]

- It's just like overwhelming.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- It's like, where do I start?
- Yes.

- I don't even know
what's in those bins.

- Yeah, that was the question.
- I know.

- Do you know what is
in all these boxes?

- So I have my photographs
over there.

- Yeah?
- 35, 40 years--

Womontown's mixed in here,
somewhere.

- What's Womontown?

Tell me a little more
about that.

- Well, Womontown,
when I first moved here,

my partner and I,
we weren't able to get a house

because being a woman,
you couldn't get a loan

during that time period.
- Oh, oh.

- And so some friends
had advertised

an intentional neighborhood,

and they called it "Womontown."
- Mm-hmm.

- It was, like, about 80
of us lesbians

from all over
the United States.

- The same community.
- Yeah.

Womontown, in the beginning,
was exciting.

[soft reflective music]

Meeting all of the women
was really, really powerful,

because we were all lesbians
in a time period

where you really couldn't
come out professionally.

I have all those photographs
and history

of not only my life,

but a lot of people
that have passed away.

I just want to make sure that
that gets to the g*y Archives

here in Kansas City.
- Yeah, yeah.

That sounds like
a really good plan then.

- Yeah.
- Because it could easily

be mixed up,
when it's like this.

Also that you maybe could
think, "Ah, this is trash."

No one knows
that it's worth a lot.

- It's history.
- Yeah, it's history.

- It's good history. Yeah.

- History, indeed.

Amazing women who paved
their own trail, orstig.

- Yeah, we have some work
to do then.

- [laughs]
- We can really say so.

Sue's Womontown collection
is a perfect example

of why you should death clean.

So this could be
enjoyed by others

instead of collecting dust
here at her place.

We are gonna look at some
furniture now, the big stuff,

and do, like, a thing that
we call "red dot, or not."

Is there something here
that you don't like so much,

or that you think someone else
can enjoy more?

Then we put the red dot
and then we make sure

that we can donate
that as well.

- Definitely.

This giant table is too big.
- Yeah?

- This is taking up
the whole room.

And then, it turned
into the art.

Then it turned into the pile.
- Yeah.

Yeah, so you want--
- It's gotta go.

- [imitating whip crack]

- That dresser's gotta go.
- Yes.

- Yeah, red dot.
- Okay.

Let's get rid of this
little box down here.

I don't even know
what's in there.

- This little chest.
- Let's get rid of that chest.

* *

This is the spare bedroom

that I'd love to use
as my art studio.

- Yeah.
- Hooray.

What a good idea.
- It's a big room.

- I can move around,
paint here.

This has to go.

Red dot, red dot.
- Red dot.

- I'm ready for this to go.
- Yes, mm-hmm.

- I mean, I love it, but what's
loved has to be released.

* *

- Something else that needs
to be released:

the content of the boxes
in Sue's junk room.

- Look what I found.

[chuckling]

This is really nice.

- Meanwhile, Johan and Kat
are starting to tackle

the piles and piles
and piles of art.

- We were just looking
at your art here.

- Oh, my gosh.
I have so much different art.

- Have you made all this?

- Well, it's a lot
of my art up here.

And I also collect art from
local artists from Kansas City.

- You know, I worked at a art
museum when I was a teenager.

And I can tell you one thing;

this is not the way
to archive art.

[laughter]

- I know, especially
if I spilled something on it.

- Sue has
an amazing art collection.

But it freaks me out that
everything is on the floor,

everywhere,
in stacks, in piles.

She needs to take care of it
properly.

Entering your house should be
like entering a gallery.

- See? That's--

that's what I'm talking about.

Yes, I agree.
I want people to enjoy it,

like I did when
I first brought it home.

- Have you thought
anything about

what you're going to do
with the art,

like if we actually
start to edit?

- So I want to donate some to
the Mexican museum in Chicago

for my Latino collection.
- Ah.

- And I want to give some away
to friends and relatives.

And I just want to keep
some pieces

so that they're showcased here.

- I'm gonna teach you
a word now, a Swedish word:

lagom.

- Oh, yes, lagom.

- Lagom,can you say it?
- Log on?

- Lagom,with an M.

- Lagom.
- Lag--perfect.

- What's it mean?
- It means--

- [laughs]
You're teaching me cuss words.

- No, it's--
- [laughs]

- It's not too little
and not too much,

just the right amount.

And that's what I think
you need in your space.

- Well, let's lagom.

- Let's make it--
let's make it normal again.

[laughter]

[lively music]

* *

- Death cleaning
is a gentle art,

and there's no one
more gentle than Johan.

- I'm getting rid of the crap,
it seems like, right?

- Hey, hey, it's art.

- It's art!
[laughter]

- That's a good, like, thing
to say about everything,

if you want to keep it.
Like, "it's art!"

I'm not going to buy it
every time.

* *

- Clearly ready
to get down to business,

it's time
for full-time designer

and art enthusiast Johan

to help Sue tackle
her art collection.

- We're gonna make a pile
of what you keep

and a pile of what you donate.

And then, we're gonna see
in your keep pile

what connects you
to these different items.

Because of course,
we want to, like,

downsize this
and make this into

a cool, little lagomgallery
of art.

- There's that word again,
lagom.

- Lagom.

My theory about sorting art
is that

the wall space is the limit
of how much you can keep.

So identify the pieces
that you are really

emotionally connected to.

The rest can be donated.

- Donate, keep?

- [sighs] That's one
of my Mexican women.

She's got to go.

- She's gotta go?
- Yeah.

Somebody else needs to see her.

- To the adoption center.

[laughter]

- It's like giving away
some of your children.

- Yeah. You're a vicious mom.

[laughter]

- You must go, child.
- You must go, child.

- You have to live on your own.

Oh, my gosh.
That's me with my passport.

- You look fierce!
- I am.

I wanted to make a statement.

That's with the immigration

and being second-generation
Mexican,

Chicano, l*sbian,
and the whole thing--

I just was making a statement.

- You serve it all here.
[laughter]

- That's the idea!

- I want to keep it for you.

- Yeah.
- Thank you, thank you.

'Cause sometimes, you just kind
of need somebody to say it.

Thank you.

That's when Bev and I went
to San Francisco.

- I think we should frame
this one.

- Yes.

- Oh, yeah, that'd be great.

- I mean, isn't that
a sweet memory for everyone

who comes to the house, right?
- Yeah.

- And then we have this one.
Keep? Donate?

Quick, quick,
quick, quick, quick!

- Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

Let's donate.
- Donate, donate!

Good!
- So many nice pieces.

- I know, but I have more
than--

- Quite a lot is gonna be
donated.

- But someone's gonna
enjoy them more now.

- Sue's art collection is
really collected with passion.

And some of it
will go to museums

and the g*y and l*sbian
Archives.

- Donate.

- This is death cleaning
at its best,

because she has amazing pieces

that needs to be shared
with people.

- That poster was so cool.

And that was back in the day,
the '80s, so--

- "These women are afraid

"you'll find out
they are lesbians.

But underneath the masks,

lesbians are just people."
- Preach it.

- That's what I've always said.

Lesbians are the backbone
of the community!

- Whoo!
- Yes!

- We are the foundation.
- High five.

- I love it.
- God.

- We're everywhere, everywhere!
- To the archives.

- Yay!
- Yay!

- Give me high--give me, yeah.

[grunts]

- Is that a l*sbian thing?
[both laughing]

- No, really, if we were doing
a l*sbian thing,

we'd be doing the bump.
- Oh, yeah?

- We'd be doing the--look.

Hey!
- Hey.

- Like this.
[both grunt]

[laughs]
- [grunts]

- While Johan is working
on his chest bump,

our psychologist, Kat,

gets to work on her specialty,
the heart.

- It's crazy how big
this space is.

- Oh, I love it.
It's like having

an outdoor living room.
- Yeah.

As a psychologist,

I believe
we always have good reasons

to behave the way we do.

We don't let our houses go
without a good reason.

With Sue, I think this is
probably tightly knit together

with losing Bev.

I guess I wanted to talk about

lean into the discomfort.

Because it really is
an important part

of doing
the death cleaning process.

We, most of the time,
have very good reasons

for why we don't want to look
into our piles and our things.

Because everything is
a doorway to an emotion,

to a--to a memory from
our previous life.

- Yes.

- I'm really, really interested
in hearing

about your relationship to Bev.

You really had something
very special together.

- That was my soulmate.
- Mm.

- We were both teachers.

I met her at a baby shower,

a friend of ours.
- Oh.

[both laugh]

- Through a mutual friend.
- Yeah.

I said, I'd like to get to know
that person.

[soft reflective music]

She had the most beautiful
honey brown eyes

that were just clear

and just the most infectious
smile.

* *

We loved to laugh.

* *

I don't know if you've ever
experienced that before,

but it just keeps getting
stronger and stronger.

* *

We were just on cloud nine.

* *

Ooh.

- Would you care to tell me
a little bit about her passing?

What happened?
- Oh.

That COVID was--
you see it on TV.

- Yeah.
- We saw the news.

- Yeah.
- It was all around us.

But until it actually hit here,

it was like, surreal.
- Yeah.

- A surreal dream.
- Yeah.

* *

- Bev was really weak and shaky
and had lost a lot of weight.

I was real concerned how fast
she was slowing down.

- Mm.
- I thought, "This is weird."

I just knew it wasn't Bev
'cause she would always be up.

And she was sleeping a lot
and things like that,

and wouldn't get out of bed,
and I was like, "Wow."

So her sister took her
to the emergency room.

And, uh, she never came back.

You couldn't go visit.

She'd call me and say,
"Oh, I'm gonna be fine."

And I was like, "Okay, Bev."

You know, you couldn't go visit
people in the hospital.

And I kept checking
and checking and--

Then they said, uh...

that her organs were starting
to shut down.

They put her in a coma.

Her sister called and said,

"We gotta go up
to the hospital."

And they wouldn't let us
up into her room,

'cause I wanted to say goodbye.
- Yeah.

- And--

[sighs]

It's just
the hardest news ever.

- How do you feel

that your life
kind of shifted after--

after Bev's passing?

- Major.
- Yeah?

- I needed help.

I needed to talk to somebody.

- So it was a lonely time.
- Very lonely.

Just--[whooshes]
- Yeah.

- She was gone.

- You never got a chance
to say goodbye to her.

- [sniffles]

It's hard to release
all those layers of feelings.

- Of course, some days and some
moments, it's about releasing.

And sometimes, it's just
about sitting with it.

Like, sitting
with those frozen feelings,

or whatever might show up
that day.

- I'm so glad to hear you say--

'cause that--I think
that's been the hardest part.

- Yes.
- I might be just driving,

and all of a sudden,
I'll see something.

- Mm.

- [whooshes]
- Yes.

And to remember that
it's just waves.

- Yes, and that it's okay
to release that.

It's like a pressure cooker.
- Yeah.

- I've always been
a big crybaby but, you know,

it's just different

when it's
a different kind of level of--

- Yeah.

Of pain.

* *

When you lose someone,
the pain that comes with that,

if we would imagine it being
kind of a tiny rucksack,

the rucksack doesn't become
lighter by time.

But we become better
at carrying the weight.

- I like that.

- Yeah, I think--
- I like that.

Because it doesn't have
to weigh you down,

but you just adju--balance.
- Mm.

- Like we were talking about
earlier today about balance.

- Yeah, and that--
- That Swedish word.

- Yeah, lagom.
- Yeah.

[both chuckle]

- Mm.
- Can I get a hug?

- Of course.
- Oh, my God.

- I love hugs.
- I do too.

- Mm.

[steady heartbeat thumping]

* *

[lively music]

- As a lifelong artist,
it's no surprise

that Sue has collected
a ton of art supplies

for our death cleaners
to wade through.

Ooh, let's see
what's in this green box.

- That's an insane
amount of rubbers.

I just gotta say.
- Oh, is it--

- "Rubbers"?

- Rubbers, yeah.

- Uh--
- Is it?

No, rubbers. That's--
- Erasers.

- Erase--
- [laughing]

- Rubbers!

- I was like,
"Wait a minute, girl."

No rubbers here.

- We're gonna go out on a limb
and guess

there were never
any rubbers here.

- 'Cause in Sweden,
you say, erase rubber.

Yeah.
- Yeah.

Not so safe to use this

as a protect--
- Yeah.

[Claude Debussy's
"Clair De Lune"]

* *

- Now that the Swedes
have learned

the English slang for condoms,

it's time forfika.

[bell chimes]

* *

- What are you doing?

- I have so much inspiration,
I'm drawing Johan.

- I'm starting
to get itchy here.

- Ah, it's gonna be so--
[laughter]

- Come on.

- It's so good. [laughs]

- Oh, my God!

I'm looking
like my grandmother.

Gonna draw you now.
- [laughs]

- Oy, oy, oy, oy.

- Ah.
[laughter]

- This is your soul.
I'm a soul drawer.

[laughter]

I was also very inspired
by Sue.

- Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, she has so much things.

- Oh, yeah.

- What do you think
about the plan for her place?

- It's a beautiful flat with--

it's a beautiful architecture.

But it's impossible to see
right now.

So it's actually about, like,
decluttering, editing.

- Her losing her partner that--
that recently...

- Yeah.

- Sometimes, like, grief
can take so much energy

and you become a bit stagnant.
- Yeah.

I think that's why it looks
like it does up there.

- Her whole life is, like,
on pause.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Let's make a toast to Sue.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, toast to Sue.

- Yeah.

- And remember, less is less.
both: More is more.

- Yeah.
- Yes.

- And lagomis--
- The Swedish way.

- [chuckling]
- Yes.

[upbeat music]

- Freshly caffeinated
and armed with bad portraits,

it's time for
the death cleaners to tackle

the seemingly endless mounds
of photographs

that Sue has taken
over the years.

- So I'm giving you
this box here, right now,

for you to dig in.

Scrapbook with, also,
old family images.

- Ah, you have a lot of photos.

- It's not a good idea
to start with photos

when you're death cleaning,

because it takes you down
memory lane.

So keep the photos for last.

Hello, Madam Secretary.
[laughter]

- Is it you?
- Look at that old phone.

It was, like, the desk...
[imitating rotary dial]

- Yeah.

- Wow.
- I love this image.

So how old were you here?
- Oh, my gosh. I was 17.

- When you go
through photographs,

you can simply see, like,
on the quality,

that this is from
a certain decade.

You see that?
- Yes.

- This is from
a certain decade.

- Yes.

- And this was very specific.

This was portraits.

So that's a very easy way
to just, like,

make it into stacks
really quickly,

without actually looking
at the images.

Now, when we have this pile
from probably, like,

the late '80s, early '90s,

then you can start to sort out
those images.

- Fotosortering,
or in English, photo sorting.

- Oh, my gosh.
Look at this one.

That's when Jo went
to barber school and came in,

was giving every woman
that wanted a free haircut.

She was practicing on them.

- A l*sbian buzz cut.
- Yeah.

[laughter]

Yes, yes. She was practicing.

Everybody had the same hairdo.
- Yeah, exactly.

Are they from Womontown?

"Yeah, look at their hair."

[laughter]

- Exactly.
- The trademark.

Oh.
- Ooh.

* *

- It's a new day,
and Sue's been hard at work

clearing and sorting.

Oh, wow, we can see
the table now.

Just in time for company.

- Hey. What's up?
- Hey, Janae.

- How have you been?

- Oh!

My favorite.

- Knock, knock.

- Yay!
- Look at this!

- Hi, Connie!
- Look at you!

- Oh, my favorite sister.

Yay, my other family.

Oh, it's so good to see you.

It's is just wonderful
to have you all here.

But here's what we're gonna do.
- Okay.

- I have been going through
things.

And I want you guys
and need you guys to help me

go through these photographs.

- You love to take pictures.

Oh, my goodness.
- I know.

- "Put that camera down!"
I was like, no.

- Memories are good to have.

- Well, I need you guys
to help me sort through

because it's time to pass them
on to the next generations.

And you are--
that's what I love about

the hope of the generation
of you all.

And I'm a little emotional,
but that's okay.

That's what it's about.
This is our history.

- It is.
- This is our history.

- Yeah, it really is.

- And I want you guys
to have these, too,

but help me sort through them.

Ritz and Sylvia from--

Japan, Judy.

That's the Blakes
and your Aunt Belinda.

Morenos--
pass that down, Morenos.

- That's a nice thick--
- Yeah.

More Morenos and
Richie and Carly.

- Oh, wow.
- I know.

- So many pictures.

- All right,
so let's go ahead.

Let's dig in.
- Okay.

- Oof, this is like
history in the making.

- Oh, my goodness.

Oh, that's a good one
of Grandpa.

- That's a really good one
of Grandpa.

- Oh.

- Oh, look at Bev.

Aw.
- That's a good picture.

- You know,
Bev had a pretty smile.

- She was so photogenic.

- She was so photogenic.
- Oh, my goodness.

- Remember that shirt
she loved?

- Oh, my gosh.
Yeah, the Texas shirt.

- Yeah, she wore that shirt
everywhere.

- Oh, I remember that.

- She loved that shirt.

- Oh, I love that.
- [chuckles]

- Passing on photos is such
a great part

of death cleaning.
It's like a gift from the past

that you didn't even know
you had.

And also,
it's such a nice way

to reconnect
with your loved ones.

- That's Womontown.
- Mm-hmm.

I know.
I like Womontown, too.

- Okay. Yes, you were--

- I was there.

I remember all of these women.

I didn't even realize
that I was, like,

the little girl in Womontown

growing up with
all of these amazing women.

Amazing women.

- I want you guys to have
these memories.

I want you to take them home.

- Oh, I'd be happy
to have them.

- Yeah, they're treasures.
They're gold.

They're gold.
- They are. They are.

- Ah, isn't death cleaning
beautiful?

Now the kids have something
to post on Instagram

for Throwback Thursday.

- Wow. Oh, my gosh.

[gentle music]

- It was a land ahead
of its time,

a land where women
reigned supreme,

a land with no man
in its title:

Womontown.

- This is the original block
of Womontown.

This is it.
- Wow.

* *

- Most of these houses were
abandoned and unkempt.

- Yeah?
It's very hard to imagine.

- I know!

It's changed so much.
- Yeah.

What was it like to be
a q*eer woman back then,

during the '80s in the US?

- It was like
living a dual life.

Because at work, it was kind of
like that

"don't ask, don't tell,"
kind of similar to that.

- Okay, okay, okay, yeah.

- But when you came home,
you took your mask off.

And then, you were at home
and you could just be you.

[soft music]

* *

At that time period,

it was really hard
to get a loan as a woman.

They'd say things like,
"bring your husband in."

And it was like, no,
we were professional teachers.

And so we started
purchasing houses

and rehabbing them
in Kansas City.

The intention was
to allow women to have

economic power and ownership.

And the idea of working
with a pack of lesbians

was really exciting, but scary.
[chuckles]

We were community.

We were part
of building something,

not only for ourselves,

but for the neighborhood.

To be a part of that history
was so cool.

The houses that we bought
back in the '80s,

one, we bought for $7,000,

because it was such
a blighted area

and it was during
Kansas City's crack epidemic.

But we just saw the opportunity
to purchase a house.

And we knew
we would work on it together.

This is the Bev house.
- Ah, wow.

- It was so cool.
- It's big.

- And that front porch,
if it could talk, whoo!

[upbeat music]

We were in the prime
of our life, that age--

young, sexy.
- Yeah.

- And our careers beginning,
in love,

and in a new adventure.

* *

I consider them my family here
in Kansas City 'cause,

you know, as a g*y person,

we sometimes select
our families.

We're unique, we're different,

but we still have
the same love in our heart,

the same needs for shelter,
community.

We were saying
that we belong at the table.

There's a place for us.

- Can you still find lesbians
in this area?

- Oh, yeah, yeah, plenty.

But now, with l*sbian bars and
that, there's not that many--

people just go
and it's more accepted

because people just are
part of the community.

- So if I type Womontown into
my phone, is it on the map?

- You know,
that's a good question.

No, I wish it were.
- Uh-huh.

- No, because it really is
a part of Kansas City history,

but nobody
had ever heard of it.

- That's strange.

So it was never properly
recognized, then,

like, officially?
- No. It still has not been.

- And you just photographed
and documented all of this?

- I did. I loved it.
I loved it 'cause it was fun,

'cause there were
so many cool women.

- And this is all in
your house right now?

- Yeah, it's all there.

- This is such
a remarkable chapter

of your life and Bev's life.

It's a story
that needs to be told.

Sue is so modest.

And maybe she doesn't
really understand

that this is a legacy
that she created

with so many other women.

And just letting
that legacy end up

in a dusty corner in her home,

that's no way of respecting

the things that
she actually created

that carries a great value.

[lively music]

- The g*y and l*sbian Archive
of Middle America,

or GLAMA for short,

is a four-story archive
in Kansas City

containing LGBTQ+
historical materials,

like photographs, memorabilia,
magazines, and newspapers.

Curator Stuart Hinds
has perfected a system

for organizing
historical materials.

And much like Sue,

he's also perfected a tone
of voice that's silky smooth

and makes you feel
like you're meditating.

- Well, welcome.
- Hi.

- Hello.
How are you both?

- Hi.

- It's wonderful
to see you both.

I'm excited to see your stuff.

- Yeah, we are also
excited to be here.

- Before we do that,
let me share with you

what little we already have
about Womontown.

- Oh, so cool.
- We've got one collection.

- It seems like a organization
heaven, more or less,

with everything sorted.
- Yes, I know.

- Oh, my God.
I love this place.

Have I died and gone to heaven?

- This comes from Barbara Lee.

And it's a wide range
of material,

including
a Swedish newspaper...

- Ah, yes.
[speaking Swedish]

- That talks about Womontown.
- That's so cool.

- And then,
the one photograph

that we have of Womontown--

that's the only image
that we have...

- That's my house!
- In the entire archive.

- That's my house.
- Is it really?

- That's Bev and I's house.
Yes, that's it.

- Whoa.
- Oh, my God. That's funny.

[laughs]

Oh.
- Nice.

- That is cool. That's cool.

I haven't seen
that photograph before.

- And that's
the only one we have.

- Oh, you are in for a treat.
- Wonderful.

- I have got the mother lode.
- Good.

- Should we look at this first,
maybe?

- Here, that's an original map
of Longfellow.

That's where they
started the dream.

I know. Isn't that cool?
- That is really cool.

- Slides and pictures,
pictures, pictures.

- Yes.
- Wow.

- I know!
- Wow.

- [chuckling]
- These are all the women.

There was 80 of us at one time.

- The collections
in GLAMA were sorely lacking

from people of color.

So this makes me
even more excited.

- And believe it, honey,
we were there.

- Yeah, oh, absolutely.

- We were here
and we were q*eer

and we loved it.
[laughter]

This, I love this.

[laughs]
- Wow.

That is amazing and hysterical.

- And, Stuart,
we're not finished

with my home,
of all the things.

I still have more to bring.
- Wonderful.

Well, as we like to say
at our end,

we give you closet space.

- Make that
"out of the closet" space.

- It's got
a new long-term home now.

- Yeah, it does,
in the best organization.

- Oh, I know, I know.
- Yes, indeed.

[laughter]

All these collections
are typically

named after the donor.

So this collection
will be named

the Sue Moreno
and Bev Powell collection.

Yeah.
- Thank you.

- Of course.
- I appreciate that...

- Yeah.
- Honoring her.

- Yeah.

- Ah, that's so cool.
That's so cool.

- Well, we're honored, as well.
- Ooh!

- That's cool.
- Yeah.

- Makes me proud.

- Me too.
- Me too.

[both chuckling]

Oh, Ella, stop.

- You can really see
that Sue loved Bev a lot.

And it's so nice to see now

that their history
can be passed on.

- So I'm gonna send this
back to its home.

- Oh.
- Oh!

- And so here comes the robot.

* *

- Oh, yeah. Whoa.
- Hm.

- And it's gonna pick up
that shelving unit.

* *

- [kisses]

Oof!

* *

Bye, Bev.

You're going down in history!
- Yeah.

Wow.
- This is so cool.

- Wow!
- I know, there it goes.

Whoo!

* *

Love you.

Part of history.
- Yeah.

- Yes.

[plucky music]

- A week ago,
Sue's house had more art

than a Lady Gaga
Las Vegas performance.

There was a lot of cool stuff,
but you didn't know

quite where to look
to find it.

With some Swedish ingenuity
and charm,

our death cleaners
have transformed her space

into a place that can
showcase not only her art,

but her, as a person--

a Sue showcase, a Sue-case.

* *

Oh, my God!

- Hey!
- [laughs]

[lively music]

- Before Sue takes it all in,

remember what this place
looked like when we arrived?

Piles of art and photos
and everything

everywhere.

Before, there was no dining
in Sue's dining room,

and only statues living
in the living room.

- What? Oh, my God.

Look at this place.
Is this my house?

Is this it? Oh!

Oh!
- Welcome home, Sue.

[laughter]

- Look at this!

Oh!

- You can see it.

- It looks beautiful.

It just really is
focused on art.

And look at the wood
and the light.

Look at over here!

Oh, come on, come on, come on.
- Yeah, come on, come on.

- Look--oh!
- Look at these.

[laughter]

- I cannot--

oh, my grandparents.

Look at--
is this even the same table?

- Yes.
- Yes, we did fix it.

- Wow.
- Because you said that

it was too big for the space.
- Yeah!

- But now,
when everything else is gone--

- I know!
- It's perfect.

- It's like the table shrunk.
- Yes.

- This is actually from you.

This is one
of your driftwood pieces.

- Oh, it is!

Oh, my goodness.

Wow.
- It's a dining room now, Sue.

- It's a work of art.
- It's a dining room.

- And look at this space,

also, that was filled
with books.

- Oh, my God. Oh, my gosh.

- What a difference.

- Sue's dining room is
a perfect example

of why everyone
should death clean.

We didn't need
to purchase anything

because we just
needed to clean it up.

Her apartment is amazing.

The bones are beautiful.

It's an old,
historical building.

And we made that come alive.

Everything's been curated now

in a proper lagomway,
of course.

So you will have
these still lifes

spread through your apartment.

So it's a bit
like a gallery now.

It's like a private gallery.

You can take an entrance fee
from your friends

when they come here.
[laughter]

- I will be doing that, too.

And this is just two rooms!
- I know.

- [screeches excitedly]
[laughter]

- Come with me.
- Yeah.

I'm gonna need you
to catch me, Johan.

[upbeat music]

- Next, Sue's junk room.

When we got here, you couldn't
even see the floors.

So this is a big upgrade.

- Let's go
to the back room here.

- Whoa!
- Come, let's scoot in there.

- Oh, my God!

- Look at those floors.
There's even a rug.

- Oh, my goodness,
a real guest room.

- Yeah, what a difference.

- Oh, Ella! Come here.
- [chuckling]

- Oh, my goodness.

- And this all
because you did the work,

going through your art
materials, your photos.

- Wow. Look at the bed.

Ah!
[laughter]

* *

- One more important room
to show you,

maybe the most important room.

- Sue needs a space to do art

that isn't
her dining room table.

What was once
a cramped guest room

is now a spacious studio

for Sue to make
the magic happen.

- Wow!

Oh!

This is the best!

Oh, my gosh.

This is amazing.

It looks like you put
an extension on the room.

It's bigger.

Oh, my God, look at this.

I can work here.
- Yes.

[screeches excitedly]

[laughter]

* *

- You are an artist, and now,
you have a studio to work in.

- Then sit down
and have a beer.

- Yeah.
[laughter]

- Relax, take a break.

- This is your studio.
- Yeah.

- Oh, my goodness.

It is incredible.

- A lot of these pieces
that we have here

were, like, lying in stacks.

- Curled up, rolled up.

- Now we finally can see it.
It's, like, on display for you.

This is one of my favorites,

one of the two
from your vacation.

- Yes.

- And we have
the other one here.

- Oh, my gosh.
That was our first vacation

to San Francisco that we went.

- Yeah. My job is to design,

but also to redefine
all of the things

that we find in the edit
of your art.

A lot of it was just
scattered everywhere.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- And in that wardrobe
behind Ella,

we also have
some more storage space.

- Get in the closet!
- Get in there.

- Yeah, I--oh!

Cool, cool, cool,
cool, cool, cool.

- So now we have space
for the things.

- I can see the back
of the closet wall.

I didn't even know
that was there.

- [laughs]
- Yeah.

* *

This is where
the dream started,

where the creativity started.

And then it stopped.

Now it can start flowing again,

like, just new life, new blood,
just--oh.

- When I come back here,

I want you to paint me
like one of your French women.

[laughter]

- And that is
when Sue quit art.

- We'll put you right on there.

- I'm gonna lie down
on the sofa there.

- Yeah. Oh, definitely.

Definitely.

- I want to see that painting.
- I do too.

- Or not.
[laughter]

[peaceful music]

- * Welcome to your new home *

- Yay!

- This week,
we had two goals for Sue.

One, we wanted
to declutter her home,

but more importantly,

to reconnect
to her grieving process,

to those painful emotions

around losing a dear partner

that, I believe, got her here
in the first place.

We just wanted to take a moment
to acknowledge you, Sue.

'Cause it's not an easy thing
to just hop on this ride

so willingly
and so wholeheartedly

that you were like,
"Yes, I'm on this train.

I'm gonna go with this train"

and keep on going,

even now, after we leave you.

- I just have
nothing but gratitude.

- Do you feel unburdened?

- Totally.

Whoo!

It's like,
oh, my gosh, totally unbur--

because all that stuff,
I loved it,

but I didn't know
what to do with it.

It's like loving something
enough to let it go

and know that
it's in good hands.

- I think I can speak
for all of us, Sue.

You've done tremendous work
this week,

and especially when
it comes to the art,

the donation
that we decided on.

So we want to take you
downtown tonight

for a big surprise.

We can't tell you, yet.

But get dressed for tonight.
- [chuckles]

- Take on
some beautiful clothes.

And we will meet you
around 7:00 downtown.

- I'll be ready!
- Yay.

- Yes. I can't wait.
I can't wait.

- See you then.
- Yeah.

[cheerful music]

* *

- That's exactly
the right spot.

- This is f*cking heavy.

- Okay.

[lively music]

* *

- Our death cleaners
have arranged

for Sue's amazing pieces

to have a public showing
one last time,

before they get donated
to art galleries.

- You can see tell Sue Moreno's
work from anybody's.

* *

- Oh, my gosh,
look at this one.

This is
the Metro Car Chronicles.

* *

- I love that. Who is it?

* *

- Ah!

Look at--there's the art.
Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my goodness.

[cheers and applause]

- We wanted to throw Sue
this surprise art exhibition

because we wanted to showcase

this amazing art collection
that she's donating,

but also, just celebrating
the love and life

that Sue and Bev
shared together.

- So look at this.
This is all yours, Sue.

So much better
than being in stacks

on the floor in your house.
- Yes.

- Collecting dust.
- Collecting dust, dirt.

- The glass is clean.
- The glass is clean.

- Oh, my gosh.
Look at this.

This is one
of my favorites here.

- You remember these ones,
lying in a stack?

- Yes.
- Dirty.

- You framed them!

- I framed them, yeah.

- Oh!

Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you.

Oh, my gosh.

Ah! My favorite sister.

Hi, Connie.

Oh!

Hi, Constance.

- Oh, you look so pretty.
- Oh, my God.

- I just wish Bev was here.

- I know!
Oh, stop.

- She would love this.
- Whoo!

- Sue and Bev's art collection
is gorgeous.

It was painful to see
how it was just lying around

in her house
in piles on the floor.

Now, it's in an art gallery,

displayed on the walls
for the world to see.

[whispering]
I did that.

- Hi, good evening.
My name is Deanna Munoz.

And I am the CEO and founder
of Latino Arts Foundation

in Kansas City.

I would like to welcome you all

to this amazing exhibit.

You will see here
the likes of many Latino,

Chicano, LGBTQIA artists.

Sue, thank you for donating
these pieces of work.

You are my inspiration
to say I am Chicana

and I'm proud
and I'm unapologetic for that.

[cheers and applause]

- Chicanas!

- [laughs]

- I'm just so thankful
for the Swedish--

I call them the Dream Team.

They have really unpeeled
all these crusty layers of--

of grief and of, um, life.

So I have new feathers
that I'm growing,

new wings, new inspiration.

I just have nothing
but love and thanks.

Thank you, everybody here.

Just beautiful, beautiful.

[cheers and applause]

Whoo, I said I wasn't gonna cry
today, but I am.

- It was such
a beautiful journey.

Thank you, Sue,
for making this possible.

- I couldn't have done it
without you.

Whoo!
[cheers and applause]

- So we've celebrated
Sue's amazing art collection.

And now, just because she is
such a remarkable woman,

we have
one more surprise for her.

I invited a special friend
over tonight

to make kind of
a tiny announcement.

His name is Quinton Lucas,

and he's the mayor
of Kansas City.

- Hey!
- The one and only.

The one and only!

- Do we love Sue, or what?

[cheers and applause]
Right?

So, Sue, at the city,
every day,

we think about special people
who do special things

and have had an impact
on so many lives.

And when we think about
the history of Kansas City,

for all the years
it's been around,

and we think about you
being a pillar

of the Womontown community,

you being a pillar
of our q*eer community,

our l*sbian community,
our community of color,

we had to say
a very special thank-you.

And you know,
a mayor can't go anywhere

without a big,
fancy proclamation.

So...
- Oh, my God!

- So--so I won't talk too long.

I will just basically say,
the proclamation recognizes

the outstanding history
of Womontown...

- Oh.

- And the contribution
that you have made,

that Bev made...
- Bev.

- That so many have made
in connection

with building a place

where people
could feel welcome.

We know how much Kansas City
has changed,

and that wasn't natural.

It wasn't just something
that happened.

It was because of you

and it was because
of your impact

and it was because of the way
that you reached out to folks.

That is such a gift that you
have given to our community.

So on behalf
of the City Council, of me,

of all the mayors
we've had since then,

thank you.
- Thank you.

Beverly Powell!

This is for you, babe.

[cheers and applause]

- One other thing.

We thought we wanted to make it
a little bit more permanent,

and so there will also be,

for everyone, forever to see,

years from now,
decades from now,

a plaque in Womontown

that commemorates you.
- Oh! Oh!

- Thank you, thank you,
thank you.

- Oh, my gosh. Oh!

Oh, thank you so much. Oh.

* *

Beverly Powell,
I know you're here.

* *

The heavy grief
that I've been dealing with

made it really difficult
to get rid of

just the layers and layers
of stuff.

But finding out that that love
for Bev was deeper than items

was just incredible.

Bev, she would say,

"Sue, this is amazing!"
She would have loved this!

* *

Today, I felt
like I was sharing

not only my life,
but Beverly's.

I felt her. I felt her here.

* *

Okay, what are you eating, Bev?

- It's a head.
[laughter]

- What are you eating?

- I'm eating, um, grasshopper,
baby grasshopper.

- Let's see--let's see the bag.
Can you hold the bag up?

- See the actual grasshopper?
- Oh, boy.

That's what Bev's eating.
- It's kind of Cajun.

- Let's see her face.

* *

- Mmm. Tastes like Topeka.

- Good, see?
Don't they have a good taste?

- That's not bad.
- All right, Bev.

- It's good, it's good.

[laughter]

* *