The Day of Silence

"The National Day of Silence is a day of action in which students across the country vow to take a form of silence to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools."
- dayofsilence.org/resources/

The actual Day of Silence is normally held in April; it has been this way since its founding in 1996. However, I only found out about it on the actual day, April 11; my mother brought me the pin I have attached to my jacket from school.
Since the first event at the University of Virginia in 1996, 8,000 schools- ranging from middle school to university -have held the Day of Silence. In the GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network), it's the largest student-led action toward creating safer schools for LGBT students. According to the website [see link], the purpose of the day is to bring attention to LGBT harassment and bullying, thus helping to make schools safer for students of all gender expressions and sexual orientations. You don't really have to be one of the community to participate; 'straight allies', i.e., heterosexuals who support LGBT rights, are an actual thing. And your support is welcome.
Students are advised to inform their teachers before doing this; thank you, Ms. Warren, for green-lighting my participation and suggesting that I write about it.
[Also, Laurel and I (we're doing this together) are creating index cards with information.]
There is symbolism behind the Day of Silence; the individuals who take the 24-hour vow of silence represent the thousands of LGBT people who are forced to remain silent about their sexuality because of overwhelming negativity. Fear, both due to the fact that 'oh no, they're different' and because they don't want to find out the reactions of friends and family, is the major suppressor. What if the people whom you love and trust reject you because you're not a heterosexual? Worrying about what the outcome of coming out would be doesn't help either.
Trust me. I've been there.
Luckily, there are people who support all of this, and that is why the Day of Silence came about. My mother, who gave me the idea in the first place, is OK with me doing this- just as long as my teachers know. The thousands of LGBT rights activists? Well, who else helps organize the event? They know what it's like to have to be silent because of an unsafe environment. The students? They wouldn't be doing this if they didn't support it. [Well, unless they're attempting to make a mockery of it, and that just makes them an incredibly rude word that I can't put on my blog.]
The symbolism behind the Day of Silence is a beautiful thing, and a lovely gesture of support to all of those who are silent.
So when I walk in communicating with a notepad? Now you know why.

Girls/Girls/Boys

The text I chose for my inquiry was the song 'Girls/Girls/Boys', by Panic! at the Disco. I decided to closely read the lyrics and see what the major and minor themes were, and I found that several intertwined. What themes could there be in this song?
Well, two major themes are love and acceptance, which really go hand-in-hand. In the song, love is the driving force behind the narrator's somewhat contradictory actions. He wants to protect his former girlfriend from people who might harm her ('But if you change your mind, you know where I am/Yeah, if you change your mind you know where to find me'); however, he's also in two minds about what she's done ('But I don't ever wanna be your boyfriend'). He cares about her a lot, going as far as defending her bisexuality ('Girls love girls and boys/And love is not a choice'). This is similar to real-life defense and support of the LGBT community, such as legalizing same-sex marriage.
This song could be the anthem for every bisexual woman across the world. Love isn't a choice, sexuality isn't a choice...this song portrays that through the narrator's thought processes.
The second major theme, acceptance, is also shown throughout the song. The narrator, despite his differing views on his girlfriend's choices, comes to accept the fact that she has a girlfriend ('They're close to finding out about your girlfriend...Girls love girls and boys'). He also accepts that love isn't a choice, due to his girlfriend's girlfriend and the fact that he's still in love with her (maybe because of their breakup).
Both of these themes are shown in the real world, especially on the topic of the LGBT community. Love within said community has been portrayed multiple times in the media (Cam and Mitchell on Modern Family, for example), and people are gradually coming to terms with it- an example of this is the seventeen states that have legalized same-sex marriage. However, others take a different view on the topic, such as the thirty-three states where non-heterosexual marriages are still illegal. A connection can be made to these states and the people persecuting the narrator's girlfriend ('They're close to finding out about your girlfriend').
Love isn't a choice, and that's a beautiful thing. If people would just realize that there's no stigma attached to not being straight, the theme of acceptance (if not necessarily love) would be widespread. We could learn to at least tolerate those who make different choices than us, like the narrator learns to.

Link to lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/panicatthedisco/girlsgirlsboys.html

How are minorities portrayed in books?

The treatment of minorities is a somewhat controversial issue, even now. Misogyny, 'gay bashings', and the Holocaust are all real-world, flesh-and-blood examples of how people have viewed others. One would think they would be a little more favorably portrayed in books; however, this isn't always the case. The portrayal of minorities tends to place them in unfavorable situations that focus more on their negative aspects, rather than highlighting the positive ones; in other words, they often receive an unfavorable portrayal.
One example of this is in the John Grisham novel The Brethren, which centers on three convicted judges extorting money from closet homosexuals. In several of these situations, outside help is called in to 'rescue' the extortion victims (mainly older, wealthy, white men). The extortion itself is despicable on many levels, but what bothers me is that these men cannot seem to get a grip. They all have experience in dealing with difficult issues (banking and politics, for example), and outmaneuvering opponents; the situation they have placed themselves in is rather similar to that. Their inability to extricate themselves makes them seem weaker than the straight men who are called on to help them, which is untrue. There is also a one-sided opinion on homosexuality throughout the book, provided by the homophobic justices running the scam. Other characters have a less obvious disdain of homosexuals, but no one steps up to protect them. Even though the book is set in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when major support groups had not really appeared in the U.S., there was support for the LGBTQ community, and that could have been written in somewhere.
Sexual discrimination was one of the factors in the Holocaust; homosexual men, having failed to create 'Aryan offspring', were often castrated after being sent to concentration camps. SS officers who were thought to be gay were shipped to a camp where they were killed.
Another example of unfavorable treatment is misogyny, which appears many times in the books I read. Women tend to be viewed as lesser than men, a view which unfortunately persists in the literary world. In the Artemis Fowl series, Holly Short, one of the protagonists, is discriminated against because of her gender. She receives less desirable police assignments than the male officers do, and even when she finds her way out of impossible situations, confidence is not placed in her abilities. While Holly does tend to be a wild card, multiple comments have been made about how females shouldn't be in the police force- even when the screwups aren't her fault.
Misogyny and gender stereotypes are still a part of world culture, despite the advancements and accomplishments made by women. Men are viewed as more 'socially valued'  and competent than women; the gaps in wages remain. In African and Middle Eastern countries, men basically control everything their wives can do.
In conclusion, I found that minorities often receive unfavorable portrayals in books, similar to the real world.

An Analysis of Names

The YA novel Hero by Perry Moore is about Thom, a gay teenager with superpowers who deals with the disdain of his father and his fellow heroes while coming to terms with who he is. While I was reading this book, I noticed that the names of several characters have a connection to their personality, or are simply interesting. So here is my analysis of their names.

Thom Creed
Thom's first name is a short form of Thomas, meaning "twin" in Greek. This is connected with his inner struggle- one half of mind wants to please his father, while the other wants to be who he is. Since twins may be referred to as two halves, this is an accurate first name. His surname, Creed, means "a statement of beliefs, principles, or opinions", something Thom doesn't really do until near the end of the book. It seems that the twins need to reconcile in order to state their beliefs.

Ruth Whitliff
Ruth, an elderly woman who can see the future, is Thom's first friend within the legion of superheroes. Her first name means "friendship" in Hebrew- this has to be more than a coincidence. (Whitliff doesn't seem to have any specific meaning; simply an aristocratic name that reflects her upper-middle-class ancestry.)

Hal and Lila Creed
Hal, a diminutive form of Harold, is an English name meaning "army ruler".  This connects with his army service, but also his leader-type demeanor*. Lila is a Persian name meaning "lilac tree", but it can also mean "night" or "you are mine" in Hebrew. The flower name connects with the scent of gardenias Thom associates with his mother; "night" can be connected with the time she returned to visit him, or the time of day she left her family. An army leader and a night flower seems like an unlikely combination, but she is still his to the end.

Miss Scarlett and Typhoid Larry
Two of Thom's team members, Scarlett and Larry are two of the unlikeliest people to become friends. Scarlett is an English name meaning "red", but a better meaning is associated with Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind. Mr. Moore's Scarlett has inherited Ms. O'Hara's "cold-blooded tenacity" and flirtatious manner, as well as a penchant for the color red. Typhoid Larry, who can infect people with a handshake, is a parody of Typhoid Mary, the Irish cook who allegedly infected 50 people with her cooking. Larry is also a short form of Lawrence, an English name meaning "laurel". A laurel wreath was historically awarded to game champions or victors of a battle; Larry's sacrificing himself to save the world earns him a posthumous, metaphorical laurel wreath from Thom.

Golden Boy and Uberman
Uberman's name states who he is; the personification of masculinity (especially in Thom's eyes). Golden Boy's name does much the same; he's the sidekick doing everything he can to maintain a good image for his superiors, and in the beginning of the book, he's "nauseatingly kiss-ass" in Thom's opinion. His first name, Kevin, means "handsome" in Irish, connecting with his good looks- and it's this handsome, unusually successful young man** who wins Scarlett's heart (much like Scarlett and Rhett in Gone With the Wind).

Justice and Goran
Justice is a parody of Superman, from the alien ancestry to being adopted by older farmers in Kansas. He means to bring justice to Earth, and he does; at least until he decides he wants justice for his destroyed planet and nearly blows up the Earth in the process. Goran, the basketball player from Croatia, is an enigmatic young man who also wants his own justice, becoming a vigilante hero in the process. His name can metaphorically mean "the big/tall one", which reflects his imposing size.


*Hal's superhero alias was 'Major Might'; his first name ties in neatly with this.
**The expression  'golden boy' means someone who is unusually successful at an early age. Kevin's hero status, at the age of nineteen or so, is pretty successful, considering the fact that he's an orphan of unknown race.

Personality v. Fitting In

Have you ever felt pressured to fit in, but you want to be recognized for who you are?
Welcome to J's world.  J, the protagonist of the book I Am J, is seventeen years old, a junior in high school, and transgender. He's not gay; he believes he's a boy mistakenly born into a girl's body. No one understands this belief, and for much of the book J hides himself away under oversize sweaters and baggy jeans until he gains enough confidence to reveal his personality.
J and the people who helped him on his journey send an important message- teenagers (in books and real life) shouldn't hide who they really are. Personality is more important than fitting in.
A good example of this is J's one-time girlfriend Blue (Basia Karasinska). Blue is an artist who only paints using the color blue. Her entirely blue outfits, abstract paintings, and possibly the habit of eating her blue paint, have earned her the nickname "Blue" from her friends. During her appearances in I Am J, she makes no attempt to hide this (despite her mother's protests), even offering J some of her paint to eat when he visits. While she doesn't understand that J is transgender, I believe her confidence in showing who she is helped J to gain some of his own- after his 'coming-out', he recalls her old paintings and decides to exhibit some of his old photographs. The photographs he chooses include ones that show his transition into a male, and are seen by many people. Without Blue's confidence in her art, I think he would have been less willing to show his.
J himself undergoes many changes throughout the book. In the beginning, he is a shy and awkward teen who avoids socializing and the uncomfortable questions of his overprotective mom, who simply wants her little girl back. But after he leaves home and goes to an LGBTQ high school and support group, the friends he makes there give him the support he needs to explain his sexuality to his mother and let his personality shine through. This is shown when he gets accepted to a community college as a young man- while his also-transgender friend Chanelle (male-to-female, reverse of J) acted a man over the phone to sign him up, it was his idea to list himself as the gender he believes he is, male. Without confidence, he wouldn't have been able to bill himself as a man, or even sign up for college.
Before this, J's personality marked him as a 'freak'. Now he doesn't care about fitting in. I believe that teens can use him as an example. With a little support, anyone can be themselves and not be afraid.

I Am J- a review

I Am J is a young-adult novel by Cris Beam about a transsexual teenager struggling to adapt in a society that takes a very narrow-minded view on sexuality.
J, the main character, knows he's really a boy at heart. Unfortunately, no one else seems to see him that way- his parents still call him Jenifer, the other kids at school treat him as something other than human, and even his friend Melissa, the one person he's closest to, doesn't truly understand him.
J's fight to show his parents and Melissa who he truly is on the inside (not the lesbian his mother thinks she can deal with, not a gay teenage boy- there's a difference between gay and trans!) is chronicled in a unique third-person point of view, detailing the internal and external conflict J has with himself and the people around him.
I like this author's writing style- it's different from Astrid's snarky and sarcastic comments in Ask the Passengers, but still has that witty sense of humor I enjoy.

"I feel like I'm taking beefcake shots for a calendar."

 I also like watching how J changes throughout the course of the book, from the introvert carefully concealing his change from a rather overprotective mom to a bolder person coming out (eesh, unintentional) and confronting said mother about his sexuality.
I would recommend this book to anyone exploring LGBTQ themes.

Ask the Passengers- a review

Ask the Passengers is a young-adult novel by A.S. King about a teenager questioning her sexuality in an insulated small town.
Astrid Jones, the main character, moved with her family to her mother's hometown of Unity Valley- a drastically different place from her former home in New York. Unlike her younger sister, Astrid has never really "fit in" with the crowd, despite being friends with the homecoming couple. She's also dating a girl, but she doesn't know if she's gay. On top of that, she has no one to talk to, her mother completely ignoring her, her father occupied with smoking pot, and her sister Ellis sucking up to their mom. So she sends her love to the passengers in the airplanes flying overhead- not that they know she's down there, but she has no one else to give her love to, really.
The author intersperses Astrid's story with little vignettes of passengers on the planes passing over Unity Valley. All these passengers (unknowingly) have a small connection with Astrid's love, and it ends up changing their lives- and eventually hers -for the better.
I like how the author portrays Astrid's growing sense of self-acceptance and bravery throughout the book, especially her courage to confront her mother near the end. I also appreciate her snarky, sarcastic sense of humor used to defend herself from the taunts she receives at school and to reflect upon events, because it's something I would do.

"How many things do I have to invent in my head to survive this?" -A.S. King, Ask the Passengers

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in LGBTQ themes.