Welcome to a Queer USA

I mentioned in a pervious blog post (Welcome to Pride Month Book Recommendations), that I had been reading a book called Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States by Samantha Leigh Allen. Though it took me a little longer than I'd hoped, I finally finished reading it today (July 24th 2022) - roughly five years after the road trip that is described in the book took place. 

Published in 2019, Allen's retelling of her road trip across the United States with her friend Billy is a recount of their visits to queer spaces in "red" states the first summer under the Trump administration. Many people might have considered this trip extremely dangerous for the duo as both Billy and Samantha Allen are transgender. However, Allen was motivated to take this trip as she had found many queer havens in places that people might not suspect, such as Atlanta, Georgia, which is where she began her transition. 

Red states, as this book defines, are traditionally conservative states run by Republicans, voted for Trump in the 2016 election, and are known to be hostile to members of the LGBTQIA+ community. However, in each state Allen visit's, she connects with the community in deep and meaningful ways. She and Billy join protests in Texas, go clubbing at queer bars in Jackson Mississippi and Bloomington Indiana, hang out at a non-profit's headquarters in Utah, and takes a second to chill with friends in a small Tennessee city.

Each place is unique to the culture that birthed it. Texas is big and loud with state shaped waffles, while hiking is all the rage in Utah. Allen takes the time to give the local flavor and frame it through the lens of the queer people that live there - and why they choose to stay in potentially hostile places. 

Most people are familiar with the queer neighborhoods and famous bars in San Francisco and New York City. There are plenty of places to pick from in those cities as well as Portland Oregon, Seattle Washington, Chicago Illinois, and even Atlanta Georgia. But there are a lot less places to go to when you're young and queer and in the middle of a state that is openly hostile to your existence (Atlanta technically falls into this category too). 

So where do you go?

Allen tells us that there's usually one or two queer locations to go to. Rarely are these places specialized to one of the letters in the LGBTQIA+ acronym and some even allow people over the age of 18 in, instead of the exclusionary 21 and up. Anyone who identifies as queer ends up gravitating to these spaces and are able to connect in a way that is limited by the magnitude of availability in areas that are well known for their queer culture. These places are as diverse as the queer community and work to be welcoming to everyone.

This community then spreads into the surrounding area and found families are formed. 

Allen notes that the leaders in these communities and found families genuinely love their home and want to make it welcoming for queer people and an all around better place to live. A few of Allen's interviewees had left their home to try their hand in cities like Washington DC or moved to their new home from a "blue" state. They chose the "red" state for a variety of reasons that all included loving the community they had built. 

These are stories of hope and perseverance. It was the early days of the Trump administration and things felt bleak for queer people. However, there's always a positive feeling in Allen's words, even when protesting outside the Texas capitol building. She shows that queer people are not going to give up and move out of these states, but keep showing their love by working to make it better. 

It's 2022 right now and we're in our third year of COVID in a post Roe v. Wade world with gay marriage on the chopping block. Things again feel bleak. 

But reading about Allen's trip and the people she meets along the way give me hope.

I checked into a couple of the places Allen mentions in her book. Unfortunately, one of the bars in Jackson Mississippi did close - possibly due to the pandemic. However, another bar in Bloomington Indiana is still going strong and the non-profit, Encircle is still making an impact in Utah.

It seems like every time progress is made, something comes along to smack it back. However, it's hard to let go of that progress once it's been experienced. The stories and experiences in Real Queer America are proof that even in the toughest of times and places, people will continue to make the world a better place for everyone.

Thank you for reading this book review. I hope you enjoyed it and pick up a copy of the book. Order it from your local book store, request it from your local library, or download a copy.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Pride Month Book Recommendations

 As we approach the final few days of Pride Month, I wanted to share a few book recommendations that feature LGBTQIA+ writers, topics, and themes. It's been a tough month from many of us this year. Some of these books may be an escape for you, others a hope for a better future, and a few might inspire you to action. These books are different genres - fiction and non-fiction. Some teach us a history that has long been squashed in the name of "propriety". 

Starting out in non-fiction...and what I'm currently reading, I'd like to recommend Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States by Samantha Leigh Allen. Allen is a transgender woman who grew up Mormon, went to BYU, and eventually found her true self in Atlanta Georgia.

Though I haven't yet finished this book, it's been a mood lifter. There's a temptation for coastal liberals and LBGTQIA+ people to write off the the southern and midwestern parts of United States - not that their politics make a good case for them. However, Allen emphasizes that Queer people are all over the United States, they are not afraid to fight for their rights, and they don't want to (or can't) leave their homes. 

The book was written during the early days of the Trump administration and chronical Allen's trip across the United States with her friend who is a transgender man. They learn and recount about the problems and issues faced by the queer people in red states and deeply conservative areas. Though things continue to become more difficult, this book shines a light of hope for places that seem the most aggressive to LGBTQIA+ people.

Following up with some historical non-fiction is Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement by Wendy L. Rouse. 

This book is more for the academically inclined readers. That doesn't mean it's not a good book, it's just a bit of a dense read. It's packed full of information around the Queer history of women during the Suffrage Movement - much of which had been suppressed, ignored, or erased. The Suffrage Movements had many distinct periods from its inception up to when the 19th Amendment was passed in the United States. The LGBTQIA+ community was there for all of it.

It also doesn't just cover the middle to upper middle class white queer community, but includes stories and information on the contributions of Black, Indigenous, Asian, and other minority communities. 

My final non-fiction recommendation is a little different from the above works. The graphic novel Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing starts as a small project to define what it means to be a woman and turns into a self reflective, soul search piece that leads Ewing to realize they are non-binary. 

The graphic novel isn't told in a linear fashion, instead recounting interviews Ewing had with many different people as it applies to their own journey to discovering their identity. The drawings are fantastic with Ewing depicting their interviewees' stories with beautiful detail. 

Like Real Queer America, Fine focuses on gender identity in the midwestern United States. This is primarily because this is where Ewing is from. The interviews start in 2012 and go to 2019 with flashbacks to interviewees and Ewing's own pasts. 

Moving to fiction, but continuing with journey of self discovery, I'd like to recommend the poetic YA novel The Girl and the Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine Wisdom by Nikita Gill. 

I've made it no secret that Nikita Gill is my favorite poet (as of writing this). I've been collecting her work for a few years now. What makes The Girl and the Goddess different from her typical work, is that there is an overarching narrative that links each poem and story. There's a lot of magical realism mixed with Gill's Indian background. If you love poetry, Hindu goddesses, and Queer main characters, definitely check out The Girl and the Goddess.

Another YA Novel that's perfect for the upcoming spooky season (I know Halloween and fall are a few months off, but go with me here) is Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Thomas is a non-binary Latinx author and Cemetery Boys is their debut novel.

I loved this book. It's perfect for someone looking for a spooky paranormal mystery with a splash of romance. The main character, Yadriel, is a Mexican American transgender boy trying to prove to his family of brujos that he too is a brujo...not a bruja. 

Yadriel thankfully does have a fairly good support system, despite not being fully understood by his family. However, this novel does have some violence, mentions child abuse, and features homeless children - some of whom lost their family to deportation or jail. It doesn't shy away from the realities of being Latinx, Black, Queer, and/or transgender in the United States (the book takes place in Los Angeles). 

My next recommendation is a straight up horror novel. Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester is unapologetically feminist.

Taking place in the American south, with most of the action set in the great city of New Orleans, Such a Pretty Smile radiates the heat and humidity that accompanies the novel's uncomfortable atmosphere. One of the main characters is a young girl coming of age and dealing with her crush on her not so nice best friend. The other main character is the girl's mother, still haunted a past she can't fully remember.

I did find the message and themes of the book to be a little on the nose at times, but that doesn't take away from the horrific imagery or monstrous actions happening with little explanation. Make no mistake, this isn't a creature feature in the traditional sense. This book won't chill you to the bone, but sit in your gut like a stomach bug.

And my final recommendation is: 

Galaxy: The Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor as the illustrator. I had the opportunity to meet Axelrod a few years ago as she was one of my Writer's Group's presenters. I've been following her on Twitter for years and was so excited when she announced her superhero comic Galaxy: The Pretties Star. 

I was even more excited when DC Comics picked it up to part of it's superhero universe. 

Galaxy: The Prettiest Star doesn't start out with it's main character, Taylor fighting any supervillains. She's just your average high schooler playing basketball and hiding out as a human boy in her small town. You see, Taylor is actually a princess from another planet. Her Earth family are comprised of the survivors of a an attack on their home world. Taylor is forced to assume the identity of a human boy as an added layer of protection, but she's not a boy.

Unfortunately, their an accident with the device that keeps Taylor's identity a secret and her real form is revealed - much to the annoyance, hate, and hostility of her community. All Taylor wants to do is live her most authentic life and go to the homecoming dance with her girlfriend, Kat. But the school administration don't want her anywhere near the school. 

The art is fantastic and so colorful. The story is great and you're rooting for Taylor the whole way through. Also there's a corgi sidekick named Argus who is just the best!

So there are my recommendations for Pride Month reading. The list may be coming out at the end of the month, but the books here will keep you occupied throughout the whole year.

Let me know if you've read any of these books and if you have any to recommend for me.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to the Pit Falls of Data

 I recently finished a book about data - the collection, visualization, and future of its uses. Data is everywhere and used for a lot of things. I've worked with data in some form or another throughout my entire career (so far). 

This book is called "Living in Data" by Jer Thorp. In the book, Thorp details his many adventures around the world collecting data (including several trips to Africa and National Parks in America), working on new ways to visualize data (including a theater company in London who put on a performance using rice to explain populations around the world), and how who controls data also controls a lot of power. 

That last part isn't meant to scare you guys so much as emphasize the importance and dangers of data collection.

Thorp has had an amazing career collecting, analyzing, and visualizing data. Part of me wishes I could go on the same adventures to collect data (though I don't know how I would have handled seeing hippopotamuses in real life - they are scary). Thorp famously helped create the design for the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City. He designed a formula to make sure that the names of people who lost their lives were near their friends and/or family. 

However, much of this book focuses on the future of data and the people who are collecting it.

Most of us are already familiar with how social media sites have been tracking us for years, collecting so much data on use that they've managed to personalize our ads. Every few years there's a story that floats around the Internet about a man receiving coupons from a big box store for baby clothes and diapers. The man goes to the store in a huff - demanding to know why his family is getting this targeted ad campaign when they don't have little kids (they have teenagers). The store apologized for the mix up and says it won't happen again. Then, a few days later the man returns to the store to apologize for getting angry. Apparently his teenage daughter is expecting a baby. The store used the data they had collected on the family to anticipate the family's future buying needs and exposed the fact that a teenager was pregnant. 

Creeped out?

Though most targeted ad campaigns are quite that good, it's no secret that companies are collecting a lot of data on people...and making a lot of money while doing it. 

Whoever said data is the new crude oil wasn't kidding. 

And while there's lot of data being collected, there's some that purposefully not being collected. Knowledge is power and when that knowledge is squashed or withheld, it can lead to a suppression of power. Thorp goes in to a great deal of detail about how certain data sets have been prevented from being collected because the people in power don't want the knowledge to get out. Additionally, not having access to data that is being collected is another hurdle. Just because data exists doesn't mean that the average person can access it, analyze it, or publish it. Data sets can cost money (see previous statement about getting rich off data), be difficult to understand if the methodology isn't obvious, and possibly manipulated to the point where it becomes meaningless. 

However, even with access to data, there are dangers of releasing it. Many countries in Africa won't allow the release of migration data on elephants. Why? Because poachers might use it to track down and kill the elephants being tracked.

Data is dangerous when it's known and when it's unknown. 

So how do we balance this dichotomy?

Thorp doesn't offer any solutions...and to be honest, neither can I. I have always preferred having access to more data than less, but I also understand how data can be overwhelming (especially to non-math people) and nonsensical if it doesn't tell a good story.  

Data has become a tool for wealth can power. What can we do about it? Who gets to decide how it's accessed? How should it be analyzed?

I don't know and neither does Thorp. 

However, I do think pressure is mounting on governments to do something - such as regulating the collection (it's already in place for children - kind of) and mitigating targeted advertising. Our lives are so intertwined with the companies that collect our data that it's difficult to separate ourselves without leaving society at large. 

Like many of our modern problems, the solutions won't be easy and we'll be up against people who don't want to see change. 

But that's why we need to keep learning about what is going on and how the world is interconnected. 

I hope I didn't scare you with this post. My goal is to inform and give a book recommendation. 

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.