Steven Reigns Shares A Poem From His New Book, "Inheritance." Our GLBTQ Teen Poetry Celebration Finale!

Steven Reigns

Steven is a poet and a friend. I'm so excited that he's letting me share this poem with you!

6 T H D A T E

We sat on his couch, facing each other,

backs against armrests,

feet intertwined.

He told me he wanted to teach me Spanish pronunciations,

asked me to repeat after him.

I attempted to mimic his words like a parrot to its owner,

struggled with the rolling “R’s”.

The foreign words spilled clumsily from my mouth.

He suggested he name off animals

and I was to guess which one.

He changed the lesson plan.

My feathers ruffled as I assumed

it was because I wasn’t good.

He gave words for

cows,

penguins,

dogs, and

doves.

I was surprisingly good at assessing

and assuming translations.

But those weren’t the words

I wanted to know from him.

I wanted to ask about

trust,

attraction,

the meaning of our feet touching,

and most of all, I wanted

to know our future.

Steven's New Book of Poems:

Thanks for joining me for 7 days of amazing GLBTQ poetry by and for teens - it's been a great way to kick off National Poetry Month, and I hope it has inspired you, too.

So what are you waiting for? Go write (and read) some more great poetry!

Namaste,
Lee

Queer Teen Poetry: RuPaul goes Poetic for National Poetry Month (Words To Live By From A Drag Diva)

"What other people think of me is none of my business."

- RuPaul

It may not rhyme, but those 11 words are pretty profound.

When I heard RuPaul say this for the first time on her TV show (RuPaul's Drag Race) I ran to write it down. And now she has a new book out, "Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style" in which SHE wrote it down for us.

And the empowering spirit behind those words? THAT'S poetic.

Thanks, Ru!

Gloria Anzaldúa's "La Prieta" - A Bisexual Poem that blew me away!

“I am a wind-swayed bridge, a crossroads inhabited by whirlwinds … You say my name is ambivalence? Think of me as Shiva, a many-armed and legged body with one foot on brown soil, one on white, one in straight society, one in the gay world, the man’s world, the women’s, one limb in the literary world, another in the working class, the socialist, and the occult worlds. A sort of spider woman hanging by one thin strand of web.
Who, me confused? Ambivalent? Not so. Only your labels split me.”

- Gloria Anzaldúa, from ‘La Prieta’

Gloria Anzaldúa

I found this amazing poem here, and it surfaced from a review of the teen book "Love You Two" which has a bisexual adult character that the main character struggles to accept. I'll blog about the book soon, but I was so happy that the review included that the bisexual uncle had an excerpt of Gloria Anzaldúa's poem on a plaque in his hallway that read:

Who me, confused? Ambivalent? Only your labels split me.

Words to live by. There's a danger in labels. That we see everything in binary: yes or no. zero or one. black or white.

The world, and each of us, is much more complicated, and colorful, and... beautiful.

Good stuff to think about.

Namaste,
Lee

Lesbian Teen Poetry: Sarah Laurenson's "First Love" and "How Bare My Soul" - Poetry Across Time

When I told Sarah Laurenson that I was doing a tribute to GLBTQ poetry for and by Teens to celebrate National Poetry Month, she did something incredible: She gave me the choice of a poem she wrote back when she was a teen, and a poem she'd recently written as an adult looking back on being a teenager.

I loved both poems, and perhaps as much, I loved the windows through time that comparing the two poems offered. She's very graciously allowed me to share them both with you!

Sarah Laurenson, Adult

Here's her poem "First Love," written when she was an adult looking back on being a Teenager:

First Love

Lying in your arms,
I feel safe,
Loved, adored.

I snuggle closer.
You talk
Of your future.

Husband, kids.
White picket fence.

I’m so confused.

Do I have to be a man
To be with the woman I love?

Sarah Laurenson, Teen

And now here's her poem "How Bare My Soul," written when Sarah was a Teen:

HOW BARE MY SOUL

How bare my soul,
Like trees in winter.
Stripped of outer feeling
By the cold of her passing.
Left barren and defenseless,
I draw into myself
And hibernate.

A breath of spring
Touches me gently.
New emotions, like leaves,
Sprout and take hold of my heart.
Guiding it gently outward,
To find this source of warmth,
My eyes see you.

In addition to being an amazing poet, Sarah has a great blog, and is also a huge volunteer for the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators as our SoCal webmaster and Los Angeles Assistant Regional Advisor.

Thanks, Sarah!

(Be) Longing: A Poem Written By Charlie, A Boy In Middle School

(Be)longing

When I was 8 years old
I wanted to be one of the guys
More than anything
I wanted to belong in their world

Voices deep like grown men’s
A foreign language unknown to me
The sound of boards hitting concrete
made my skin tingle like a sunburn

Just a bunch of guys being physical
Light-headed from too much sun
Out of control and trying to impress
Their bodies a mystery to an 8 year-old

Butterflies dancing in my stomach
and something else
But I was too young to understand
what that feeling meant.




Thanks to the author, Charlie, for letting me share this poem that he wrote back when he was in Middle School. And Check out Charlie's blog!

Transgender Poetry 2010: Alex Davis is "Man of The Year"

Alex Davis

I met Alex, a heterosexual transman (female to male transgender man), last year and saw him perform this.

"Man of the Year" blew me away - it's poetry, it's a song, it's an anthem.

My thanks to Alex for allowing me to share it with all of you:

Man of the Year

When the fires hit the brush
Every sound became a hush
Making my way through the eye of a crowd
Finding myself lying down staring up at the sky
Breathing in all the light

I saw faces in the glow
Good people I used to know
When you glance at me and I look away
You remind me of a hell I won’t pay anymore
So, Crown me

The Man of the Year
Man of the Year
Man of the Year
I’ve never been happy, I’ve never been happier here

See the body I call home
Hear the voice I have sown
Tired of sleeping in hotels hard with hate
At the palace now I watch as the gate swings open
To Welcome

The Man of the Year
Man of the Year
Man of the Year
I’ve never been happy, I’ve never been happier here

Walking hands on the asphalt
Bare-chested in sea salt
Maybe not the guy you’d expect to see
Just the guy that I’ve been dying to be all my life
Thank you

Man of the Year
Man of the Year
Man of the Year
I’ve never been happy, I’ve never been happier here
(happier here) (happier here)
I've never been happier here
(happier here)
I've never been happier here

Langston Hughes kicks off our Tribute To Queer (GLBTQ) Teen Poetry! Just one offering in a whole Kidlitosphere of Poetry Celebrations!

I swear to the Lord
I still can't see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.

- Langston Hughes*

Langston Hughes

To Celebrate National Poetry Month here in the U.S.A., I'll be sharing 7 days of poems by and for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning Teens.

And there are lots of other great celebrations of poetry across the world of Children's Literature Bloggers (the Kidlitosphere.)

Here are some I'm really excited about:

Greg Pincus of GottaBook is running his second annual "30 Poets 30 Days" Celebration, with original poems never before seen from luminaries like George Ella Lyon, Walter Dean Myers, Jacqueline Woodson, and Greg himself. It should be amazing.

Tricia Stohr-Hunt of The Miss Rumphius Effect will run a new season of her "Poetry Makers" feature, where she'll be interviewing 30 Children's poets (starting off with Mary Ann Hoberman, Children's Poet Laureate, U.S.A.!)

There's even a Write-An-Original-Poem-A-Day Challenge (dreamed up by Irene Latham) where a bunch of bloggers are not only going write an original poem a day for every day of April, but they'll be posting them on their blogs! Check out the poetry of Susan Taylor Brown, Mary Lee Hahn, Andromeda Jazmon, Irene Latham, Jone MacCulloch, Elizabeth Moore and April Halprin Wayland.

There's celebrations of Poems about Teaching, a Poetry book give-away, a Poetry Potluck (original poems matched with recipes), a game of Poetry Tag (refereed by Sylvia Vardell, and with players like Joyce Sidman and Lee Bennet Hopkins), and even a student poetry postcard project with an accompanying post of new student poem every day.

So enjoy, and who knows? Maybe you'll be inspired to write a poem or two - or 30 - yourself!

Namaste,
Lee


*This amazing poem is featured on pg. 3 of "Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose (the true story of a Black teenage girl, who nine months before Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. But instead of becoming a rallying figure, Claudette was shunned as a bad role model by many within her own community. Undaunted, a year later she again risked her life as one of four plaintiffs in the landmark busing case Browder v. Gayle.) This book won a 2010 Newbery Medal Honor as one of the 5 best children's novels of 2009, and was the winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

My thanks to Laura Evans, who's put together a whole list of great National Poetry Month events, for compiling and cheerleading the kidlitosphere to assemble all these great tributes and celebrations of poetry!

The Heritage of Hastur - A Gay Teen Book

by Marion Zimmer Bradley


A gay teen character in a sci fi epic? Published in 1975? And I'm only finding out about it NOW? Well at least I can share it with you!


Regis Hastur is 15, heir to a Domain on Darkover. He hates his regimented life and all he wants is to escape the planet.

Lew is ten years older than Regis - and he's had to fight all his life to be accepted as heir of his father's Domain.

Neither guy gets what he wants... but they do get each other!



Check out this very in-depth and excellent review by Jo Walton at Tor.com And add your review of "The Heritage of Hastur" here in comments!

South African Soap Opera "Generations" Goes Gay... Is It A Good Thing?

So there's this Soap Opera on South African TV called "Generations." They've introduced a Gay storyline, and it's getting heated.

The cast of "Generations"

Thami Mngqolo, who plays the gay character Senzo Zondo

Last year the show featured it's first kiss between two men. (And there was an uproar.)

And in last week's episode,

Sibusiso (played by Menzi Ngubane) caught his son Senzo (Thami Mnqolo) in bed with his boyfriend Jason and proceeded to beat the two with a sjambok.

Evidently there have been facebook groups organizing protests to try to keep the gay storyline off the air. But the story is still there.

And I'm a bit torn.

On the one hand, it's great to know that a popular show is addressing the issue of homophobia and acceptance in a country and culture where homophobia remains an issue, despite the protections of the new Constitution of South Africa, which reads in part:

The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.

On the other hand, I wonder if a greater impact for good would have been made if the storyline was a more accepting one. I'm sure there are fathers in South Africa who accept their gay sons. (Though maybe that's a less dramatic storyline to explore. They are trying to tell a soap opera-worthy story, after all.)

Part of me worries that viewers seeing Generations will think that the only response to discovering their child is Queer is to beat them. Is it modeling homophobia, or is there going to be a story arc of the father coming (over time) to accept his gay son?

I guess it gets back to Chimamanda Adichi's idea of the danger of a single story.

If this is the ONLY representation of gay people on TV in South Africa, then how the storyline is dealt with has much greater weight - it speaks beyond just that story, because it becomes the only reference point for how gay people are treated there.

It becomes the stereotype of "This is how South Africans deal with Gay people." rather than "this is one story among many."


So I was really relieved and happy when I discovered that there was another daily soap opera in South Africa, Egoli,



which back in 1999 explored another kind of gay storyline:

Country boy Braam left the family farm in Okahandja for the bright lights of Johannesburg. The Engineering student and part-time bartender turned many a female head, but Braam came out soon after his arrival in the big city.

Enter Krynauw, a young single Johannesburg guy. The two hit it off and sparked a relationship. One thing led to another, as they say, and Braam and Krynauw have just moved in together.

Ebi Halberstadt,
the actor who played the gay character Bramm

Okay, do you see it yet? The black gay character gets beaten, while the white gay character got to move in with his white lover.

Is this a different kind of Apartheid?

What do you think? Is the "Generations" Gay storyline a step forward, or not?

Share your thoughts in comments!

Namaste,
Lee

Thanks to @casseytoi on twitter for the heads-up about this!

Celebrating RuPaul during Black History Month Can Be Dangerous for Your Job. A Homophobia Smack-Down!

Okay, let me explain why I'm all mad, and then you can join me in my righteous indignation, or tell me I'm wrong...

So here's this from the LA Times:

Three teachers at a South Los Angeles elementary school have been suspended for allegedly encouraging students to celebrate O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul for Black History Month, officials said Wednesday.

Children at Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School were carrying pictures of the men at a parade Friday on the school playground, said Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman Gayle Pollard-Terry. She said Supt. Ramon C. Cortines learned about the incident Tuesday and had the teachers, who are white, pulled from their classrooms pending an investigation.

The suspension is without pay for the first three days.

“The superintendent believes there are better choices,” she said.

Other students were carrying pictures of President Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Okay, are you mad yet?

As if that wasn't infuriating enough, get this:

"I just can’t fathom what these teachers were thinking of except to make a mockery of African American history,” said Leon Jenkins, president of the Los Angeles branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

One parent said that he didn't mind the inclusion of Rodman and Simpson, saying that even though they were fallen heroes, they had been heroes. But including RuPaul?

"That alone, to me, qualifies for a suspension."

And in an editorial that made me cringe, "The wrong history lesson; Common sense went out the window when three teachers demeaned Black History Month," the LA times wrote:

And it's not as though RuPaul isn't worthy of regard, but the tender years of elementary school are not the time for introducing the modern complications of cross-dressing and gender identification.

Putting aside the controversy over the inclusion of Dennis Rodman and OJ Simpson, I need to focus here on what in the world are they upset about with including RuPaul?

Is it solely that she's a drag queen? Does that, by definition, make her a BAD role model?


The most recent update in the news on this is that the teachers won't be fired, they'll be transferred to other schools.

Which of course, led some Black Religious leaders to lament that

"That exposes other children to the racist teachers."

So celebrating RuPaul makes you RACIST???

RuPaul

RuPaul is an AMAZING role model. She's re-defined what's possible for a man in drag - she became a drag queen supermodel! A makeup spokesmodel. An author with a new book out (Workin' It!) A best-selling pop star. She even has her own TV show - now in it's second season!

All this from a thin black boy who had a dream.

I think that's pretty role-model-worthy, and you don't have to want to dress up in a dress to celebrate that.

I can admire someone as a role model without wanting to be just like them. (I can see President Obama as a role model without my wanting to run for public office!)

But maybe that's the point of the school district's action. Maybe the school district and the NAACP are afraid that allowing kids to celebrate RuPaul will be telling kids it's okay to be queer? Well guess what? It IS okay to be queer!

Hear that, students?

So yeah, bring on the RuPaul photos to celebrate Black History Month every year! 'Cause RuPaul is fierce, and we - no matter what color we are, or how gender conforming or non-conforming we are, or who we're attracted to - should celebrate her!

And that's my homophobia smack-down.


Namaste,
Lee

Vanity Fair's All-White Women New Faces Of Hollywood Cover - Was It Racist? Survey Results Are In!

Is the cover racist? 81% of you said YES.






In addition to the great comments on the original survey post, many of you wanted to comment additionally while taking the survey, and did so under "It's complicated:"

And yes, it's complicated, but as long as people all over the world don't stop saying "it's complicated" and go on doing nothing, things with not change.

As far as I'm concerned it's discriminatory. Hollywood is about acting right? Are ALL actors young, skinny, white women? Where are the men? Where are the actors without perfect bodies? Where are the child actors? I wish there were more people of all different colors in this, yes; but more diversity of people in general. It's not so much racist as discriminatory.

I don't think it was intentional. people just don't think!

There were so many talented actresses of color who deserved to be included but weren't featured... It smacks of racism to me that they were passed over and not included despite their enormous talent.

I believe it was racist because I refuse to believe that there is no upcoming talent in young Hollywood. Seriously? No. What about the star of Precious? I'm sure there are more that I just can't think of right now

It's not that hard to find a woman of color who can sit and look pretty!

Does unintentionally leaving other skin colors out qualify as racist? I think ignorant.

Arg. Is the cover image inherently racist? No. If every photo without people of color in it is to be called "racist," we're all in trouble. However, the people at Vanity Fair choosing only white women for its cover? That, mes chers amis, smells like some racist decision-making to me. It may well have been unconscious, but that don't mean it's not racist.

Do I think that the editors of Vanity Fair should join the KKK? Of course not. Do I think that those responsible for this cover are active participants in the systemic racism which makes it so difficult for women of color to get leading lady roles in Hollywood? Without question. Hollywood's got a bad enough Missing Black Woman Formation problem without Vanity Fair deciding that no actresses of color are sufficiently up-and-coming enough for them.

The fact that they didn't consider anyone of color worthy of being "the next big thing" says something about the subtle racism in the whole industry, not just the particular people who chose the people for the cover. This is a symptom of the overall disease. (Not that that absolves the people responsible of blame--I would say their outlook is racist--but this is also bigger than them.)

My second question was: Would you need to have a quota of sorts to make a profile like this NOT racist?

The options I gave were:

Yes, diversity = representation. Break down our population by category and match it as best as you can. 26% of you agreed with that.

No, I just needed SOMEONE of color to be included. 57% of you agreed with this.

17% of you said "It wasn't racist."



Additional comments on this question were:

Re: #2, it should be a random selection, based on talent.

Your second question has bad options. I didn't need *someone* of color to be included, a token. Diversity does not equal proportional representation. With the editors of Vanity Fair needed to do was make a conscious effort to look at all of the up-and-coming actresses, not just the pretty white girls. I'll keep that magazine, perfume inserts and all, if they made any effort to find actresses of color.

(I'm not even getting into the fact that they didn't make any effort to find non-history actresses, disabled actresses, up-and-coming older actresses, etc. There's only so much we can do about Hollywood's brokenness in each kerfuffle.)

Thanks everyone for participating and for sharing YOUR thoughts with me and our community! Keep an eye out for our next survey, and if you didn't get a chance yet to have your voice heard on this, you can still take the survey!

Oh, and you can make your own swanky graphs here.

Namaste,
Lee

No Prom, But A Trial. An update on the School that cancelled its Prom rather than let a lesbian student bring her girlfriend.

So the News:

U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson ruled that Constance McMillen's rights were violated by the school, and there will be a trial, but that he will not force the school to have the prom (which had been scheduled for April 2nd.)

What???

So the judge acknowledges it was wrong, but instead of correcting the problem (making the school have the prom including the lesbian student), he's going to let the injustice stand?

And when will the trial be? It's not known.

So depending on the outcome of the case, it might help kids next year who want to be out and bring their GLBTQ dates to their school proms (their schools might hesitate to discriminate if Constance's school is found guilty) but that doesn't really help Constance.

And, as I suspected, some parents got together and are having a "private" prom for Constance's High School - one where there is no legal recourse if they discriminate on who can attend.

And will Constance attend the private prom? She's not sure. On Tuesday she said:

"I'm going to school tomorrow (Wednesday) and will get a feel of how everybody feels about me. That will help me make my decision about whether I'm going to the private prom," McMillen said. "I want to go because all my junior and senior class will be there, but I don't want to be somewhere I'm not welcomed."

Kristy Bennett, ACLU Mississippi legal director, called the decision a "victory."

And maybe from an adult lawyer perspective it is a victory of sorts. Or a step-on-the-road-to-victory-eventually.

But for the teens involved, for Candace and her girlfriend, and for every other GLBTQ Teen going to or thinking about going to their prom this year? I have to say that this ruling stinks.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts in comments.

At Swim, Two Boys - A Gay Teen Book

By Jamie O'Neill

It's 1915, and the Irish revolution against the British is about to boil over.

But that's not what Jim and Doyler, two Teen boys, are worried about. See, they've struck a deal. Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and on Easter day 1916, they'll swim across the bay together to claim a small rocky island all for their own.

As their time and swims together progress, Jim and Doyler fall in love. And as they get closer to their deadline, a bigger conflict threatens: what came to be known in history as "The Easter Uprising."

This book has a great backstory: The author "Irishman Jamie O'Neill was working as a London hospital porter when his 10-year labor of love, the 200,000-word manuscript of At Swim, Two Boys, written on a laptop during quiet patches at work, was suddenly snapped up for a hefty six-figure advance. For once, the book fully deserves the hype."

Add your review of "At Swim, Two Boys" in comments!

Why would I start a second blog? Shrinking Violet Promotions (Marketing For Introverts) gets me to talk!

So I'm excited about this interview I did with Shrinking Violet Promotion's Robin LaFevers - she asked some great questions, and I was able to share some really substantive answers.

We talked about why in the world would I start a new blog (The Zen Of Blogging Blog), the evolution of this blog, and what are people's three greatest fears about blogging. (And yes, I talked about how you can counter those fears!)

Their site is super-cool, all about giving a voice to authors who might not otherwise be heard. And that mission of empowerment is something I really believe in!

And as if that weren't enough, they're running my interview with the most awesome photo of a monk in a saffron robe in front of a temple... on a laptop!

Okay, you've got to go check it out!

Thanks Robin and Mary!

Namaste,
Lee

Ladies! Taking Your Girlfriend To The Prom? Check out these Couples!

The awesome women over at Autostraddle, in response to the insanity of the High School in Mississippi canceling their prom rather than let an 18 year old senior go with her girlfriend, have cooked up this delicious post - all these photos of teen girls who have gone to the prom or dance with their girlfriends! Here's just a taste:





It's fantastic, and so empowering to see!

Go check out the photos! (And hey, add your own if you've got one.)

Now if I could only go back in a time machine to MY prom...

Oh, and a cool follow-up to the story: Ellen DeGeneres presented Constance McMillen (the girl who asked to take her girlfriend to the prom which was then canceled) with a $30,000.- college scholarship (from tonic.com)

Check the moment out (it's at the end of Ellen's interview with her) - Constance's face when she hears the news is priceless!




Namaste,
Lee

ps- thanks to jlr for sharing the autostraddle link with me, so I could share it with you!