Little Cat was reading his favorite book the other day (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), and couldn’t help but notice that it was a bit… derivative. It felt somehow as though Little Cat had read this book before. Which of course he had. You reread your favorites all the time, no? But that wasn’t it….
Tag: lgbtq+
Not all Poems are about Flowers… This one is, Though
A Gift of Flowers It might have been tulips. I think they were yellow. A smiling man handed them to a woman in a crowded bomb shelter.I saw the picture over the shoulder of some talking head on my screen. Thousands of miles away in my bedroom I’m thinking of these stories I’ve been writing…
Kissing Rosalyn
When I was a teenager, I spent several summers at a Montessori-inspired hippie socialist utopian creative-and-performing arts camp. The eight weeks I spent at camp were a respite from trying to contort myself to fit in enough during the rest of the school year. Camp was a place to be myself. It was a place…
Why We Need to “Flaunt” It
On a sunny Sunday afternoon in June, 1980-something, I was helping my mother change the sheets on her bed. I was in my early teens. Local news was covering the NYC Pride Parade and my mother turned to me, made a limp-wrist gesture and said, “Why do they need to flaunt it?” She continued, “I…
Affirming Gender is not a Crime
When I got pregnant with my first child, it seemed like the moment the stick had turned pink, the first thing people asked was: “Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?” When I was far enough along to know what I was having, that question became: “Are you having a boy or a…
Russia and Ukraine: If I had a Rainbow Hammer
Last week was a really hard week to get through. Between book banning bills and the Don’t Say Gay stuff in Florida. Texas deciding that affirming care for transgender kids is child abuse. And a student bathroom bill in Alabama. It was rough. Oh, and HB 1557, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that I’ve written…
“Don’t Say Gay” is Bad, Not Just for LGBTQ Kids
(Editors Note: On February 25, 2022, the Florida House of Representatives passed H.B. 1557, “Parental Rights in Education,” colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay,” bill. The addendum discussed here, which would have required schools to out LGBTQ kids, was struck from the bill before it was voted on. Meanwhile, The Florida Senate is expected…
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Law: Outlawing Openness
Conversations we Can’t Avoid There are a lot of conversations we have to have about things that are uncomfortable or difficult to talk about. We try and avoid things like sex, politics or religion–we label them as “out of bounds” and find less controversial things to talk about with people, but there are always going…
Watch/Listen/Read: Banning Books and Other Concerns
Adam Writes: The Fragility of Mozart I’ve been playing that one Mozart piano sonata every young pianist learns when they take formal lessons (Sonata #16 in C major, K.545). Specifically the middle movement. I often have this problem with Mozart (more, I think, than other composers) where most of a piece is… fine. And then…
Watch/Listen/Read
If you want to contribute to our Watch/Listen/Read, please do not hesitate to reach out! Adam Writes: I got to read children’s stories to my nephew this week. The author is a favorite from when I was a kid: James Stevenson’s Grandpa and Wainey series. I remember being delighted by these books some thirty years…