Fight for Equality (In a Time of Global Warming)

It's important to look at the variations in our world as being things that not only add color and interest to the universe but create a solid ground whereupon we can journey onward in our fight for equality.

Every day we see our species working toward honoring different perspectives and welcoming variations of all types; however, there's neverending work to be done in this voyage toward acceptance. Ignorance and hate, as looming entities, will always exist--but, if we fight hard, perhaps we can all strive to make the world a more welcoming place for everyone, without discriminating them based upon their backgrounds, cultures, or perspectives. 

I'm an optimistic person, and always strive to see the good, and will continue be an advocate for this notion that great power rests in the existence of variation, variability, and diversity.

~~~

I recently read Francesca Lia Block's Love in the Time of Global Warming, a piece of YA fiction with a wonderfully diverse set of characters on an Odyssey-sized adventure: totally epic in a quiet, literary sort of way. Her voice is unlike any other's, and her careful attention to language makes one wonder if each sentence was cut with a diamond. The story got me thinking not only about the importance of diversity in YA literature but how important it is to fight for equality--of every kind--within our everyday lives. Literature is just one of the many tools that can aid in this fight.

[Header image by Nick]

Banned Books Week 2013: Rainbow Rowell Discusses Censorship & Love with The Toast

Rainbow Rowell, author of Eleanor & Park and Fangirl, discusses censorship and love in a recent interview with The Toast. Unfortunately, I haven't read either books yet, but they're both sitting tall and proud in in my To Be Read Pile, and I hope to give them their rightful attention soon--as I've only heard wonderful things about them. 

It's truly sad that some places around the country feel the need to remove (or rally to remove) books from their shelves and, in the process, potentially deprive a young person of a story that just might change his or her life for the better.

There has also been an abundance of wonderful illustration work surrounding Rowell's story. One of my faves is above--the artist, Henna Lucas, here. 

While Banned Books Week officially runs through the 28th of September, we should celebrate the right to read stories--any and all types--all year round! The American Library Association has a really fantastic interactive timeline listing a few of the most frequently challenged books. Is your fave on the list?

Let's Get Sexual: Sex in YA Lit

As a YA writer, it's always interesting to hear how others deal with sex in their work. Carrie Mesrobian, author of the forthcoming Sex & Violence (Carolrhoda LAB, Oct. 2013), and editor Andrew Karre talked about sex in YA lit at the Children's and Young Adult Literature Conference at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. 

I wasn't in attendance; however, I stumbled across their main points of discussion on Mesrobian's blog (via YA Highway) and they're quite enlightening--especially if you're always thinking about how young adults/new adults view or contemplate sex, both inside and outside the realms of fiction.

Two points (as outlined by Mesrobian) I find particularly enlightening:

1. You can write YA that doesn't have sexual content in it. What you cannot do is write imaginable young adult characters without thinking about them with respect to sex.

6. Adolescence, the notion of childhood innocence, and the concept of privacy are all relatively modern inventions. Reluctance to speak about sex or even expose children or young adults to sex has not always been the norm throughout human history. Also, teenagers have very little privacy in general, less now in the social media age. YA stories that feature long expanses in which characters have uninterrupted romantical sex are in conflict with this reality.

Chinua Achebe: The Bravery, even, of the Lions

Chinua Achebe was a great writer and perhaps most famously known for his work Things Fall Apart. As a student, I actually read the assigned material (as opposed to my Sparknoting colleagues) and this piece, an intimate examination of colonial powers and their influence on traditional African culture, will always be one of those works of literature that I carry with me.

The literary world recently lost this great writer at the age of 82 and, in memoriam of his passing, I think we should all remember what great works of literature have the power to do: tell people's stories that otherwise might not be told or heard.

In a 1994 interview with The Paris Review, Achebe contemplates the importance of telling all sides--every side--of the story:

"There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. That did not come to me until much later. Once I realized that, I had to be a writer. I had to be that historian. It’s not one man’s job. It’s not one person’s job. But it is something we have to do, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail — the bravery, even, of the lions."

The bravery, even, of the lions.

The Difference Between Fantasy Lit and Science Fiction Lit

One of my all-time fave writers is Ursala K Le Guin; I guess you could say she's somewhat of a hero of mine. In a great interview with Bill Moyer on PBS (video below), she talks about what she feels is the main difference between the genres of fantasy and the genres of science fiction. 

According to Le Guin,

"Science Fiction doesn't contradict science, but it goes on and invents just as freely as fantasy does."

"Fantasy makes up its own rules; it's a much older genre; its roots are deeper." The happenings in a story of fantasy don't necessarily have to align with our current understandings of physics--laws of the world.

Isn't this such a wonderful way to look at these two genres? So often time they are lumped together as Science Fiction & Fantasy--with that misleading ampersand that, in my mind, seems to suggest some extremely close correlation. 

Sure, they are similar genres, but each has its unique perspective and ways in which it critiques a universe.

Rain, Rain, Is Here to Stay!

The Pacific Northwest rains are finally here to stay, and some days I feel like scuba gear is required to successfully traverse the wet streets. Lots of people hate the rain, but I have to admit there's nothing I enjoy more than a nice, large, juicy rain cloud.

The soggy clothes. The chilly weather. The big warm jackets. The mandatory cups of hot chocolate (or, as I've recently discovered, mochas from Starbucks). The heaters. The blankets. The lack of sunshine/lack of sunburns. I love it all.

Rain: Is there really a better excuse to stay in the house and write, write, write or read, read, read?

Keeping it Real in YA Lit

I'm so lucky that I'm a Pacific Northwesterner and had the opportunity to check out Wordstock 2012! Authors, young writers, local publishers, readers, and word-lovers of all types showed up at the Oregon Convention Center this past weekend for an incredible literary celebration. 

I attended several YA panels and discussions, which quickly turned out to be the highlight of the convention. I find it so interesting to hear how other YA writers approach their work, especially when having to deal with subject matter that is tough, honest, and, for lack of a better term, real. 

Young Adults read this category to find themselves within the stories--to get to know a character that may or may not be dealing with similar issues. On the opposite side of the spectrum, adults read in this category to recapture the magic and experience of their earlier years, and for this reason I agree with author Steve Brezenoff, who said something to the extent of . . . . 

YA should be viewed as a perspective, not necessarily a genre and/or demographic. 

This discussion was called The "Adult" in "Young Adult" and featured authors Joelle Anthony, Steve Brezenoff, Kristen-Paige Madonia, and moderator Erica Lorraine Scheidt. The looming question that drifted throughout the room was what exactly is "adult" subject matter? How do we treat these issues that many adults and institutions have deemed "dangerous" or "too adult" for teenagers to explore?

While many had varying opinions, a couple of the authors raised the idea that it seems ridiculous to even classify the things people take issues with in YA fiction (such as sex, drugs, language, sexuality/identity, etc.) as being "adult" at all . . . because "adult" issues are quite different from "teen" issues, and both demographics perceive issues and interact with issues in very different ways. 

Many teens use literature to explore these sensitive issues and, as suggested by David Levithan at the end of the Keeping it Real discussion, "It's not dangerous to write about tough issues; it's dangerous not to write about them." The danger exists in holding back and not writing about something solely out of fear that the issue explored will garner negative criticism; it's important to remember that young readers need to read about issues that affect them and are pertinent to their lives. 

They need to know that their journeys aren't the only ones. So let's keep it real. Always. Aaragorn demands it.

Image created with memegenerator

We Have Dreams; Dreams Have Us

It's so hard to wait. Waiting for things is no fun whatsoever--especially for a writer who, more than anything else, wants to see his words out in the world (and, even before that, loved by an agent and, sometime after that, loved by an editor).

I'm querying one of my projects right now and, at times, it can be discouraging. Am I good enough? Will they like the story well enough to take a chance with me? All these questions rumble through a writer's head . . . .

However, I'm reminded of something a professor at my university recently said to me:

"We all have dreams but dreams also have us."

As long as we have our dreams, there to guide us, lift us, push us, always there to make sure we see the possibilities and the magic in the world, then they will one day--one can only hope--embrace us just as we have embraced them.

Image: "The Dream" by Franz Marc