After my lacy69@wildmail.com post last night I was left winded and extremely hopeless. I felt like a freak and like I didn’t belong in the
community anymore, despite it being so important to me and it left me feeling TERRIBLE about myself and like such a fucked up (sexually mostly) outsider.I wasn’t suicidal per se, that for sure because I always have a lot of passion running through my veins and it takes a lot to get me to that point, although, definitely not impossible.
Right when I feel into the thrones of despiar (truly), after I left the Pateron, unfollowed Amaanda on IG (really hard to do), and resigned that I’d now longer be a part of a community which has shaped me in ways that I cannot even begin to express, was nothing sort of harrowing.
RIGHT when these feelings of despair hit me, I got an IG DM from a famous memoir author (and hey, I’m writing MY memoir too!), saying that he’d like to do an interview. I was so shocked because when I reached out I knew it was a “far reach”, I usually have realistic goals and pipe dreams in my outreach and while I had not done my due diligence in ressrach I could tell he was a pipe dream based on who he has worked with, the scopt of the topic matter, and his obvious popularity.
His name is Carvell Wallace and his book is titled “Another Word for Love” and the description is as follows below, which might I add is the PERFECT description for what I am seeking and what would even be beneficial for me to read for my own personal growth. He has agreed to do a video interview and I told him it will be his best to date based on the conversations we were having and our natural bond and connection.
Given that he has had so many amazing opportunities and interviews, I know it will be a big aspiration, but even if its not the BEST one, I know I can make it DAMN good and well begin reading his book today and am thrilled about that.
I also wanted to highlight my new few books coming up for review (mostly to keep myself organized—-not always easy even as a former Executive Assistant for 8 years. I find it’s sometimes easier to keep others organized than oneself, which I’ve been told if a pretty classic ADHD symptom, which is a diagnosis I’ve had since I was a little “girl”.
Next Up in the queue:
“No One Taught Me How To Be A Man” by Shannon TL Kearns who i had the pleasure of working for as an Execurive Assistant (kindest boss I’ve ever had) and is a former “harcore” fundamentalist Christian like myself and the first openly ordained trans priest. He is a playwright, an author and a story teller and I could not be more proud of his work and life achievements and his kind disposition to what I assume all people, including his work with yours truly.
Pre-Order Now! (Comes out April 15, 2025!), highly recommend if this book sounds interesting to you to pre-order it because supporting trans creatives is of utmost importance in these trying times.
No One Taught Me How To Be A Man
An exploration of manhood and what it takes to be a good man in a world of toxic masculinity, from trans author Shannon Kearns.
No one ever taught Shannon Kearns how to be a man. As a trans man, Shannon was presumed female at birth and constructed his relationship with masculinity after his transition, using bits and pieces he gathered from the world around him: male behavior, pop culture portrayals, and cultural expectations for men that seemed to be in the air he breathed. But rather than separating him from the experiences of cisgender men, Kearns’s self-taught approach to masculinity connected him with other men in surprising ways. As he lived more and more in the world of men, he discovered that cis men’s relationship to masculinity was similar to his. No one taught them how to be a man either. They worried they were doing it wrong. And they were almost universally worried about being “found out,” exposed as not being a “real man.”
In No One Taught Me How to Be a Man, Kearns takes masculinity head-on. He uses his experience to “see” gender in ways cis men cannot, making masculinity visible. Without arguing that masculinity should be done away with, or that there is no real difference between men and women, he bravely points toward a form of manhood built for the well-being of the world, and for people of all genders.
I’m also going to review the poetry collection by Bleating Thing Magazine which is one I’ve recently had my art accepted into, and could not be more pleased with my correspondence with the editor Amy so I thought I’d dabble into her work as it sounds fascinating, and I can tell she is too!
An overview of the publication history can be found here:
https://www.cursetheground.com (I also low key love that her handle and website is “curse the ground” very dark and delicious and seems fitting.
This is Amy Jannotti,a beautiful human inside and out, it appears, and the editor in chief at the lovely aesthetically pleasing website of: Bleating Things Magazine! She’s based in Philly. I will be reviewing her 3rd chapbook titled: “The rarest animal is the one
that survives” published by Kith Books (who she says are fantastic folks to work with), You can download the digital file of the book, which I’d still argue is beautiful for $3, so go support her, every $3 helps, I know that much from lived experience.
I have a few more ideas/connections/people I want to interview and write a book review for but for starters these 3 people will take me a long time to process and execute but am thrilled to get to continue to inteacht virtually.
Thanks for listening!