Archive for December, 2011
Rainy Day Recess
Dec 20th
While scientists argue over the causes of sexual orientation, most gay kids know at an early age (or are quickly made aware) they’re gender non-conforming, and their attraction towards the same sex also begins in childhood.
But children’s literature is still pretty squeamish about admitting this. Gay tales of self-discovery first found a home in young adult literature, the genre that by inventing “problem novels” provided a foot in the door to mainstream publishing for many nonconformist stories. But picture books – even playful picture books like King and King, or scientifically factual ones, like And Tango Makes Three – remain at the top of challenged and banned book lists.
Rainy Day Recess (Northwest Press) compiles Dave Kelly’s “Steven Comics”, covers and drawings, which ran from 1995 to 1998 in gay and alternative newspapers. “Steven’s Comics” are for teens and adults, but like Lynda Barry’s work, concentrate on the social life of kids. Steven grows up in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s (and seventies fans will revel in Kelly’s astute attention to detail…remember record music clubs? Donnie and Marie? We are Family?) His life isn’t ideal; his parents’ divorce means an extend stay with his grandma, and Steven is often uprooted and distressed due to his parents’ instabilities. Read on…
Over the course of the comic, Kelly shows us Steven’s coming of age as a sensitive, queer kid. For example, we see Steven’s excitement when he discovers a Wonder Woman doll in the store next to the Spiderman doll his brother craves.
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Periodical Political Post *84
Dec 19th
Queer News
- Sentencing due today in case of U.S. gay school shooting
- 250,000 sign petition against St Petersburg “gay propaganda” law
- Appointment of U.S. ambassador blocked over pro-gay opinion
- Wikileaks soldier Bradley Manning might be transgender, not gay
- Anti-gay mayor forced out of closet by receipts from gay sex shop
- English teen gets £4,000 from police over bizarre ‘gay’ arrest
Other News
- Tens of thousands of children abused in Dutch Catholic institutions
- London police class Occupy movement with terrorists like Al Qaeda
- Canada abandons Kyoto Protocol, puts oil industry over climate
- Record label claims it can remove any online content it doesn’t like
- Memoir of a child kidnapped to Guantanamo Bay & tortured for years
- Male cheerleader gets team disqualified because he’s a boy
- Teens save life of suicidal friend on the other end of the world
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The Canyon Pool Skaters
Dec 18th
This pool was at an abandoned camp (YMCA?) in the Canyon. I remember that going through the barbed wire fence made me nervous but it had obviously been skated plenty before. We also took along my dog. She liked the countryside but still seems to have spent most of the time with her face in her butt!
More amazing shots like these can be found at the Topanga Canyon Skateboard Pool Gallery
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Before We Sleep Forever
Dec 17th
Let’s have a slow Saturday without politics or news about hate & ignorance.
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The Kid Who Simply Knew
Dec 16th
Nicole was born as Wyatt, a boy, who always liked girl’s clothes and films, while her twin brother Jonas played with traditional boy toys. Born identical twins, the siblings share the same DNA, but their gender identification took divergent paths. Now, at age 14, they are brother and sister, as Wyatt’s transition to Nicole is well under way. And they were best friends all along. Their story — marked by tearful emotions, bullying at their first school and eventually a lawsuit and a move to a different town — was chronicled in the Boston Globe.
Jonas was all boy. He loved Spiderman, action figures, pirates, and swords. Wyatt favoured pink tutus and beads. At 4, she insisted on a Barbie birthday cake and had a thing for mermaids. On Halloween, Jonas was Buzz Lightyear. Wyatt wanted to be a princess; their mother compromised on a prince costume. Once, when Wyatt appeared in a sequin shirt and mum’s heels, their father Wayne said: “You don’t want to wear that.’’ — “Yes, I do,’’ Wyatt replied. “Dad, you might as well face it,’’ Wayne recalls Jonas saying. “You have a son and a daughter.’’ Read on… [via Towleroad]
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