Book-It 'o11! Book #25
The Fifty Books Challenge, year three! (Years one and two, just in case you're curious.) This was a library request.
Title: It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living edited by Dan Savage and Terry Miller
Details: Copyright 2011, Penguin Books
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Every story can change a life. Growing up isn't easy. Many young people face daily tormenting and bullying, making them feel like they have nowhere to turn. This is especially true for LGBT kids and teens who often hide their sexuality for fear of bullying. Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can't imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted - even tortured - simply for being themselves.
After a number of tragic suicides by LGBT students who were bullied in school, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage uploaded a video to YouTube with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for LGBT youth facing harassment. Speaking openly about the bullying they suffered as teenagers, and how they both went on to lead rewarding adult lives, their video launched the It Gets Better Project YouTube channel and initiated a worldwide phenomenon. With over 6,000 videos posted and over 20 million views in the first three months alone, the world has embraced the opportunity to provide personal, honest and heartfelt support for LGBT youth everywhere.
It Gets Better is a collection of expanded essays and new material from celebrities, everyday people and teens who have posted videos of encouragement, as well as new contributors who have yet to post videos to the site. While many of these teens couldn't see a positive future for themselves, we can. We can show LGBT youth the levels of happiness, potential and positivity their lives will reach if they can just get through their teen years. By sharing these stories, It Gets Better reminds teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone - and it WILL get better."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Although Dan Savage has made some truly stupid (even dangerously so) comments over the years about a number of groups, he has done a lot of good with the It Gets Better project. When I heard there was book coming out, I knew I'd have to read it.
How I Liked It: I was afraid that given how important this book was by the premise alone, somehow it would get botched in delivery and fail. Thank the Gods, that is not the case.
The book offers some transcripts of videos (including those of President Barack Obama, Prime Minister David Cameron, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi), but also new material that really can only exist (or perhaps can best exist) in printed word, such as David Sedaris's offering (which, while in a different tone from the majority of the book in his distinctive bathos, has a no less positive message of survival).
Some are previously published, but particularly relevant (JD Samson offers the lyrics to Le Tigre's "Keep on Livin'" and Alison Bechdel's 1994 comic "I Was a Teenage Lesbian" appears, including a panel that will unfortunately probably ensure a flimsy defense for keeping the book out of the schools where it's so needed).
The stories range from allies (one couple chooses their parents to speak for them instead, the straight bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), to religious leaders (from various denominations and faiths), to accomplished professionals ("From 'Faggot' to Field Biologist", "And the Emmy Goes To...", and many more), from kids still in high school to those that remark on growing up in the 1950s, from the unremarkable "famous" (Perez Hilton), to the remarkable "everyday" (a Columbine survivor comes out on the morning of the attack to a friend, by chance goes off campus for lunch, and later learns his best friend was murdered that day), from those that reside in various big cities to those that make the defense for places generally considered "unwelcome" ("It Gets Better For Small Towners, Too", "Rockin' the Flannel Shirt"), to various military both current and retired (and beyond just America), and much much more.
And yes, thankfully, all letters of "GLBT" are included. I was especially fearful of how "bisexual" would be handled, both given our invisibility within even the community and given Savage's previous insensitivity, but it's done well, including documenting both the distinct injustices faced by bisexual individuals as well as the injustices shared with the other Queer communities (hopefully cementing for doubters finally that we are all in this together). Distinctions, too, are made for the transgendered community, including stories from Jennifer Finney Boylan (author of the notable memoir She's Not There) and Chaz Bono. A variety of ethnicities are represented, along with, again, the distinct challenges that go along with them (including one of the co-founders of AI-GAMEA, the LGBT Association of Middle Eastern Americans, who got involved after he realized "that the Middle Eastern gay community needed and wanted to be organized").
This book marks an important chapter in Queer history that should be read and studied regardless of age, and the equal of other invaluable markers, including Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights : 1945-1990 : An Oral History.
Notable: The book is filled with advice, some more practical than others, as to be expected. From David Sedaris's suggestion of keeping a diary "to record the many injustices you've suffered, and later turn them into stories" (reasoning, "You can't do anything with people being nice to you. People being awful, though; that's gold, so mine it while you can.") to a cartoon drawn of various tools (literary and music recs along with suggestions for the day to day survival: snacks, meditation exercises, finding a safe spot to recoup) to one entry that particularly stands out as notable.
Christopher A. Schmitt, PhD, who pens "From 'Faggot' to Field Biologist", discusses his miseries growing up in Mikwaukee and includes this author's note:
“Author's Note: As I mentioned in my story, I grew up in Milwaukee and attended public school. I know how bad it can be there. If you're going to Milwaukee public schools now, and if you're being harassed, if you're being gay bashed all the time, if it's becoming unmanageable, if you don't want to go to school anymore-- you have other options. A few years ago a charter school opened, called the Alliance School. It's run by Tina Owen and it's a great place made by kids like you, who are bullied and harassed every day at school. If you can't handle it anymore, visit the Alliance School's website (www.allianceschool.net), write to Tina, schedule a visit, or talk to your parents about helping you transfer. It's a safe space for gay students and for other students who are harassed for being different or unique.” (pg 237)
All students should have a school like this available to them as well as an adult like this that'll tell them about it.
Of course, all students shouldn't need a school like this in the first place, but a step at a time.
Title: It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living edited by Dan Savage and Terry Miller
Details: Copyright 2011, Penguin Books
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Every story can change a life. Growing up isn't easy. Many young people face daily tormenting and bullying, making them feel like they have nowhere to turn. This is especially true for LGBT kids and teens who often hide their sexuality for fear of bullying. Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can't imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted - even tortured - simply for being themselves.
After a number of tragic suicides by LGBT students who were bullied in school, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage uploaded a video to YouTube with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for LGBT youth facing harassment. Speaking openly about the bullying they suffered as teenagers, and how they both went on to lead rewarding adult lives, their video launched the It Gets Better Project YouTube channel and initiated a worldwide phenomenon. With over 6,000 videos posted and over 20 million views in the first three months alone, the world has embraced the opportunity to provide personal, honest and heartfelt support for LGBT youth everywhere.
It Gets Better is a collection of expanded essays and new material from celebrities, everyday people and teens who have posted videos of encouragement, as well as new contributors who have yet to post videos to the site. While many of these teens couldn't see a positive future for themselves, we can. We can show LGBT youth the levels of happiness, potential and positivity their lives will reach if they can just get through their teen years. By sharing these stories, It Gets Better reminds teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone - and it WILL get better."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Although Dan Savage has made some truly stupid (even dangerously so) comments over the years about a number of groups, he has done a lot of good with the It Gets Better project. When I heard there was book coming out, I knew I'd have to read it.
How I Liked It: I was afraid that given how important this book was by the premise alone, somehow it would get botched in delivery and fail. Thank the Gods, that is not the case.
The book offers some transcripts of videos (including those of President Barack Obama, Prime Minister David Cameron, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi), but also new material that really can only exist (or perhaps can best exist) in printed word, such as David Sedaris's offering (which, while in a different tone from the majority of the book in his distinctive bathos, has a no less positive message of survival).
Some are previously published, but particularly relevant (JD Samson offers the lyrics to Le Tigre's "Keep on Livin'" and Alison Bechdel's 1994 comic "I Was a Teenage Lesbian" appears, including a panel that will unfortunately probably ensure a flimsy defense for keeping the book out of the schools where it's so needed).
The stories range from allies (one couple chooses their parents to speak for them instead, the straight bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), to religious leaders (from various denominations and faiths), to accomplished professionals ("From 'Faggot' to Field Biologist", "And the Emmy Goes To...", and many more), from kids still in high school to those that remark on growing up in the 1950s, from the unremarkable "famous" (Perez Hilton), to the remarkable "everyday" (a Columbine survivor comes out on the morning of the attack to a friend, by chance goes off campus for lunch, and later learns his best friend was murdered that day), from those that reside in various big cities to those that make the defense for places generally considered "unwelcome" ("It Gets Better For Small Towners, Too", "Rockin' the Flannel Shirt"), to various military both current and retired (and beyond just America), and much much more.
And yes, thankfully, all letters of "GLBT" are included. I was especially fearful of how "bisexual" would be handled, both given our invisibility within even the community and given Savage's previous insensitivity, but it's done well, including documenting both the distinct injustices faced by bisexual individuals as well as the injustices shared with the other Queer communities (hopefully cementing for doubters finally that we are all in this together). Distinctions, too, are made for the transgendered community, including stories from Jennifer Finney Boylan (author of the notable memoir She's Not There) and Chaz Bono. A variety of ethnicities are represented, along with, again, the distinct challenges that go along with them (including one of the co-founders of AI-GAMEA, the LGBT Association of Middle Eastern Americans, who got involved after he realized "that the Middle Eastern gay community needed and wanted to be organized").
This book marks an important chapter in Queer history that should be read and studied regardless of age, and the equal of other invaluable markers, including Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights : 1945-1990 : An Oral History.
Notable: The book is filled with advice, some more practical than others, as to be expected. From David Sedaris's suggestion of keeping a diary "to record the many injustices you've suffered, and later turn them into stories" (reasoning, "You can't do anything with people being nice to you. People being awful, though; that's gold, so mine it while you can.") to a cartoon drawn of various tools (literary and music recs along with suggestions for the day to day survival: snacks, meditation exercises, finding a safe spot to recoup) to one entry that particularly stands out as notable.
Christopher A. Schmitt, PhD, who pens "From 'Faggot' to Field Biologist", discusses his miseries growing up in Mikwaukee and includes this author's note:
“Author's Note: As I mentioned in my story, I grew up in Milwaukee and attended public school. I know how bad it can be there. If you're going to Milwaukee public schools now, and if you're being harassed, if you're being gay bashed all the time, if it's becoming unmanageable, if you don't want to go to school anymore-- you have other options. A few years ago a charter school opened, called the Alliance School. It's run by Tina Owen and it's a great place made by kids like you, who are bullied and harassed every day at school. If you can't handle it anymore, visit the Alliance School's website (www.allianceschool.net), write to Tina, schedule a visit, or talk to your parents about helping you transfer. It's a safe space for gay students and for other students who are harassed for being different or unique.” (pg 237)
All students should have a school like this available to them as well as an adult like this that'll tell them about it.
Of course, all students shouldn't need a school like this in the first place, but a step at a time.