We're living, once again, in the era of artistic repression, and here's the thing about that - repression never actually cleanses, it just curdles and simmers and finds ways to leak and bleed its way out again. It seems that every generation invents new ways to convince itself that it’s protecting innocence, and every generation … Continue reading The Discipline of Desire: How Moral Codes Keep Making Filth
Tag: books
Queer Book Bans: What’s Really Happening When Queer Books Get Labeled “Pornography”
Over the last few years, you may have heard that libraries and schools across the U.S. are removing “pornography” from shelves, especially books that children or teens might access. That framing sounds reasonable at first. Most people agree that libraries shouldn’t hand explicit adult material to kids. But when you look more closely at which … Continue reading Queer Book Bans: What’s Really Happening When Queer Books Get Labeled “Pornography”
Queer people have always found each other
Queer people have always existed. In every era, in every culture, even when the world around us refused to see it, we’ve been here. And wherever queer life was forced underground, queer language finds a way to surface. Sometimes it’s in coded gestures or private diaries. Sometimes in poems, letters, or novels that seemed innocent … Continue reading Queer people have always found each other
Queer book review: The Last Nude by Ellis Avery
Ellis Avery’s The Last Nude paints an intoxicating picture of 1920s Paris – its art, its women, the haves, the have-nots, and the dangerous glamour of being desired. For queer readers, it’s a novel that both seduces and unsettles, capturing the way infatuation can swing into self-delusion. The first section of the novel is, in … Continue reading Queer book review: The Last Nude by Ellis Avery
“Every fear contains a wish”
I didn't come up with this particular aphorism. I got this from author Steve Almond (who has a new book out on the writing process called Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow which everyone should absolutely read). He recently came to the writing program I'm in to push us on how to make … Continue reading “Every fear contains a wish”
Notes in the Margins 