Category Archives: Literature

Dazzler of the Day: Anthony Nerada

Today is publication day for Anthony Nerada’s new LGBTQ+ Young Adult novel ‘Skater Boy’ and as such Nerada earns his first crowning as Dazzler of the Day. Most writers are dazzlers in their own way, and many will have their own dazzling write-up somewhere on their website. Here is Anthony’s:

Anthony Nerada became a writer after his fifth-grade teacher told him it was his destiny. Since then, he’s read too many books (if there is such a thing) and explored worlds far outside the reaches of his own. Anthony holds a BA in psychology and two diplomas (one in public relations, the other in publishing), which allow him to write the day away while simultaneously psychoanalyzing his friends. Anthony lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Coast Salish Peoples. Skater Boy is his debut novel.

Check out more dazzling merriment on Anthony’s website here, where you can also order his new book.

{Photographs by Jordan Doak Photography.} 

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Time’s Trans-Shifting

The Argument of his Book

BY ROBERT HERRICK
 

I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers,

Of April, May, of June, and July flowers.

I sing of May-poles, hock-carts, wassails, wakes,

Of bridegrooms, brides, and of their bridal-cakes.

I write of youth, of love, and have access

By these to sing of cleanly wantonness.

I sing of dews, of rains, and piece by piece

Of balm, of oil, of spice, and ambergris.

I sing of Time’s trans-shifting; and I write

How roses first came red, and lilies white.

I write of groves, of twilights, and I sing

The court of Mab, and of the fairy king.

I write of Hell; I sing (and ever shall)

Of Heaven, and hope to have it after all.

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Dazzler of the Day: Matt Baume

Writers make the best dazzlers, because they do most of my work for me. Case in point is Matt Baume, who earns his first Dazzler of the Day thanks to a body of work that includes ‘Defining Marriage’ and his latest ‘Hi Honey, I’m Homo!’ But in the words of LeVar Burton, you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s an excerpt from his enchanting website:

Matt Baume is a writer, podcaster, and video-maker based in Seattle whose work focuses on pop culture and queer history.

His latest book, Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, traces the evolution of LGBTQ+ characters on American sitcoms. His previous book, Defining Marriage, chronicles the personal stories of people who fought for marriage equality over the last forty years.

In his popular YouTube series, Matt shares behind-the-scenes stories about the movies and TV shows that changed the world, and the fascinating people involved. He’s also the creator of the podcast The Sewers of Paris, which explores the entertainment that has shaped the lives of queer people.

A GLAAD award nominee for journalism, Matt’s work has been recognized by the New York Times as “thoughtful and thorough … informative and funny.” 

After Matt appeared as a pop culture critic in the Showgirls documentary You Don’t Nomi, Forbes called his observations on the film “potentially intriguing,” which he chooses to interpret as a complement.

Matt has guested on such shows as The Savage LovecastOut Chicago, Tomefoolery, No Safeword, and Feast of Fun; he’s delivered presentations on LGBTQ+ culture for employee groups at companies that include Expedia, Sony, Roblox, EA, and more. He’s appeared on panels at South by Southwest, Emerald City Comicon, PAX West, GaymerX, HavenCon, and the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association.

You can find Matt’s past reporting in outlets that include Rolling StoneVice Magazine, SlateThe AdvocateThe Stranger, and NPR.

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Buy These Books

While the Republican Party officially aligns with those who choose to attack ‘woke’ culture (i.e. being a moral and decent human being) certain racist and homophobic parents are working to ban books. Why would anyone want to ban a book that celebrates Americans is always going to be a mystery to me, but hateful people have never made much sense. In some small push against that, here are two books that you should definitely read as they are not only studies in exceptional Americans, they are also the work of amazing writers and stand-out citizens. If you’re against that, and if you want to ban or stifle such messages in any way, you are definitely the problem. If you don’t agree with them, that is absolutely your prerogative – it’s when you want to prevent the rest of from accessing and reading them that you become hateful. 

First up is Amanda Gorman’s ‘Call Us What We Carry’ – a collection of poems that contains ‘The Hill We Climb’, which is what she read at the Inauguration Ceremony for the 46th President of the United States. Just days after the January 6 insurrection, her words brought our country back together, healing and lending comfort to the resilience that is America. Find more of her work at her website here

The second book that is a must-read for the summer (and beyond) is Chasten Buttigieg’s ‘I Have Something To Tell You’ which was recently re-released in a Young Adult edition. How I wish something like this had been available when I was growing up. It wasn’t – and all the feelings I had made me feel like something was wrong, like I didn’t belong anywhere, like there was no one else like me. It was a feeling of isolation, and the world was once designed to make me feel like that. We have made some progress, and books like this remind me of how far we have come. Find links both versions of the book on his website here

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Beautiful, Damned and Back in Vogue

“Life is so damned hard, so damned hard… It just hurts people and hurts people, until finally it hurts them so that they can’t be hurt ever any more. That’s the last and worst thing it does.” ~ F. Scott FitzgeraldThe Beautiful and Damned

Our current era of instant information and transparency makes it refreshingly uncommon to find so little confirmed info on an artist who once dominated the American landscape as much as J.C. Leyendecker did in the first half of the 20th century. His work was regularly featured on ‘The Saturday Evening Post’ and in advertisements for Arrow, Gillette, Ivory Soap, Kuppenheimer and Kellogg’s. He was an inspiration and occasional mentor for Norman Rockwell, and if you’re aware of Rockwell’s signature style, you know Leyendecker’s, as the influence was that strong. Ensuing years, however, have given the prominence and glory to the latter, who also played the public publicity game far better than Leyendecker would or could. 

Part of that has been attributed to his likely sexuality – I say likely because there is no official confirmation that Leyendecker was gay, though his unmarried lifestyle, and the fact that he lived with his long-time model and studio manager Charles Beach for almost fifty years, along with some decidedly homoerotic undertones to a lot of his work, makes it pretty clear whose team he was on. At the time being gay was still the love that dare not speak its name, and Leyendecker never publicly came out, nor did it seem to be his natural state to be open and public about much of anything – he preferred to stay at home and do his work. 

That work, seen in small part here, is a glorious testament to his talent and artistic prowess, and depicts an America that was once written about by F. Scott Fitzgerald (whose books have occasionally employed an image by Leyendecker for their covers). Lovely words and lovely images for a country, and an artist, whose lives were not always lovely. 

“And that taught me you can’t have anything, you can’t have anything at all. Because desire just cheats you. It’s like a sunbeam skipping here and there about a room. It stops and gilds some inconsequential object, and we poor fools try to grasp it – but when we do the sunbeam moves on to something else, and you’ve got the inconsequential part, but the glitter that made you want it is gone.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned

“He thinks himself rather an exceptional young man, thoroughly sophisticated, well adjusted to his environment, and somewhat more significant than any one else he knows.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned

“There’s only one lesson to be learned from life anyway…. That there’s no lesson to be learned from life.” ~  F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned

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Dazzler of the Day: Robin Wall Kimmerer

From the magical way she describes the visual alchemy of the blooming periods of goldenrod and asters, to the pin-point accuracy of her scientific acumen, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been seducing readers with her wonderful work ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’. Weaving her scientific work as a botanist and professor with her background as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Kimmerer reveals the importance of people and plants working in tandem, and how a generosity of spirit and living is essential to our healthy survival. In beautiful fashion, she tells stories that aim to marvel in their gorgeous and moving way of intertwining science and a love of the earth. She earns this Dazzler of the Day for positing the revolutionary idea that how we treat the earth, and how we treat each other, will directly affect how we survive in the future. 

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A Lovely Winter Read

“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.” ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s richly-resonant book ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ is a wonderful way to wind up this winter season, and I’m taking my time getting through it so as to extend its wonderful spell. Kimmerer writes stories that weave Indigenous wisdom with scientific theory, held together by her love for this earth and our place in it. Her writing is compassionate and healing, the very things we need more of, especially at the tail end of winter. It reminds me to be more careful and considerate of what we take, how we take it, and what we give back – in deeds, in love, in thoughts and in action. 

“We are showered every day with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and the exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put out into the universe will always come back.” ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer

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Dazzler of the Day: Josh Sabarra

Making one’s way in Hollywood can not be an easy road to take, yet Josh Sabarra has done just that, surviving and thriving in the land of broken dreams and defeated aspirations. He’s got the bruises and weariness to show for such a non-stop lifestyle, and he’s got two hilarious novels that have turned even his most difficult passages into biting prose, gleaming like Oscar gold. ‘Porn Again’ is his surprisingly-poignant memoir, while ‘Enemies Closer’ takes aim at the heart of the entertainment world – both crackle with wit and verve. Those qualities find physical fruition in his collection of t-shirts and other merchandise, and if you check out his online offerings here, you’l find a saying for just about every situation in which you might find yourself. Sometimes a quick quip is the singular saving grace that keeps us from going over the edge. In that spirit, Josh Sabarra is our Dazzler of the Day

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A Separate Peace for Summer

“It was hypnotism. I was beginning to see that Phineas could get away with anything. I couldn’t help envying him that a little, which was perfectly normal. There was no harm in envying even your best friend a little.” ~ John Knowles, ‘A Separate Peace’

In lucky seasons, there is a summer read so good that it haunts me, and even though it’s not yet officially summer, I just finished this year’s stunner. ‘A Separate Peace’ by John Knowles tells the story of a friendship between two boys during the arrival of World War II. While the conditions that paved the way for war back then seem eerily familiar in today’s social climate, it was the descriptions of the tenuous yet unbreakable bonds of friendship that spoke most resonantly to me. This is a summer read that seers itself into the soul. 

“It was surprising how well we got along in these weeks. Sometimes I found it hard to remember his treachery, sometimes I discovered myself thoughtlessly slipping back into affection for him again. It was hard to remember when one summer day after another broke with a cool effulgence over us, and there was a breath of widening life in the morning air – something hard to describe – an oxygen intoxicant, a shining northern paganism, some odor, some feeling so hopelessly promising that I would fall back in my bed on guard against it. It was hard to remember in the heady and sensual clarity of these mornings; I forgot whom I hated and who hated me. I want to break out crying from stabs of hopeless joy, or intolerable promise, or because these mornings were too full of beauty for me, because I knew of too much hate to be contained in a world like this.” ~ John Knowles, ‘A Separate Peace’

 

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Finding A Smile for Summer

“A smile costs nothing, but is one of the best gifts you can give anyone.”

Miranda Hart has been a delightful muse and inspiration in these dark times, providing hope and laughter when we need it the most, and some hard-won wisdom that shifts perspective in the best possible ways. She wrote an adorable book that, while geared toward young adults, has appeal for all ages, and offers a whimsical tale designed to elicit a smile from everyone. Hart’s quirky voice and humorous way of addressing some rather serious issues makes this an enjoyable read that is more than your typical kids’ book., and ‘The Girl With The Lost Smile’ is a great summer jaunt for anyone looking for a little joy and whimsy. 

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Like a Prince

“I realized I could live a moral life, that I should, as an adult, live a life dictated by duty. If I chose I could find beauty by living in the real world; I could probably find beauty by working day after day at meaningful drudge. I often had that anxious, desolate feeling that I was wasting my time, that I was wasting an afternoon, a weekend, a whole life, by not choosing to do the right thing – the work that would simultaneously wear me out and sustain me. I was striving for the, ah, mature life. Here, I said to myself, I’ve been waylaid by the most sinful temptations, and if I don’t change now I might wander around forever wadded up with stupidity of my own making. I’d gotten distracted by laziness, by narcissism, and I’d also become clever in a despicable way, clever like a mild version of Milton’s Satan, Satan-lite, if you will. I could think rationally, but without any sort of spirituality. I was disconnected from anything moral, or from a sense of awe.” ~ from The Short History of a Prince‘ by Jane Hamilton

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A Poem of Solitude by Antonia Pozzi

SOLITUDE
By Antonia Pozzi

I have aching arms weakened

by an insipid desire to seize

something alive, that feels

smaller than me. I’d like to seize

my burden in one bound and carry it,

running, when it’s evening;

fling myself in the dark to defend it,

as the sea throws itself on the rocks;

to fight for him, as long as there remained in me

a shiver of life; then to fall

in the dead of the night on the road

under a swollen sky silvered

with moonlight and of birch; to curl myself

on that life that I hug to my chest—

and send it to sleep—and I sleep too, at last …

No: I’m alone. Alone I curl up

above my thin body. I don’t notice

that instead of a numb forehead

I am kissing like a madwoman

the tight skin of my knee.

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Dazzler of the Day: David Sedaris

Wit and hilarity inform many a Dazzler of the Day, but nowhere do they find more masterful employment and comedic artfulness than in the written work of David Sedaris. We don’t feature enough authors as Dazzler of the Day, something I aim to correct starting here and now, and no one is better equipped for charging head-first into such calamity as Sedaris. I’ve been gleefully following his work since the mid-90’s (that’s the 1990’s for those wondering) and he’s always pointed a sharp assessing eye on the foibles and failings of humans, and more often than not such missteps are entirely endearing, if not outright revelatory in the long run. Sedaris captures life on many levels – the surface humor of our hijinks, and the deeper more resonant way they connect us to one another. Visit his official website here for further evidence of his brilliance.

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Dazzler of the Day: Cyrus McQueen

Hilarious eloquence is not an easy state to attain, but Cyrus McQueen does it with perfect panache, and I’m too excited and in awe of his book ‘Tweeting Truth to Power‘ to wait until I am completely finished with it to name him Dazzler of the Day. I’ve long admired McQueen, thanks to his witty way with social media, and his ability to cut straight to the heart of issues political and personal, and make them into a charged universal clarion call to change. His website gives a more grandly comprehensive view of his many talents, but for the quickest hit of his brilliance, just follow him on Twitter, and then pick up ‘Tweeting Truth to Power‘ because it’s the perfect antidote for the poison of all the years marred by that former fuck-up who shall not be named. (Hint: it was the awful one-term loser who stole the election between such great men as Barack Obama and Joseph Biden.) But don’t take my weak description for it – read McQueen for a much more powerful and cutting take-down of the former guy – it’s exhilarating and profoundly cathartic – the relief and release accompanied by grateful laughter and much-welcome entertainment.

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Rediscovering The Way Back Home

Mortification plays a big part in one of the memories that, quite rightfully, never made it into ‘The Way Back Home’ – the biography of Sok Nam Ko, my best friend Suzie’s father – which I recently revisited (and is still available here). It was our first night of a three-week trip to the then-Soviet Union, and we had arrived at a hotel in Washington, DC, where we would spend three days preparing. The year 1990 feels very far away, and yet my recollections of that trip remain as vivid and clear as if they happened yesterday. While bunking with a star of the Amsterdam football team named Justice and another boy named Dan, I was a little bit homesick, but comforted for the fact that Suzie’s Dad was right next door. In fact, we were sharing a bathroom between us, so it felt like I had a second Dad there. It was no doubt part of why my parents allowed me to go halfway around the world for almost a month; they trusted Dr. Ko implicitly. On that first night away from them, as we prepared for our journey, I felt the bond between our families as something that might sustain me upon whatever journeys Suzie and I would embark in our lives. 

In the hush of that impossibly painful shyness that descends upon boys when their numbers dwindle to two or three, and especially at the time that they are about to retire to bed, no one answered when I asked – twice – if anyone was in the bathroom. When there was no reply I figured it was safe to go in, at which point I opened the door only to find Dr. Ko sitting on the toilet and going about his business. Unperturbed, he glanced my way as I hastened to back out of there and close the door, muttering profuse apologies and almost passing out from embarrassment. The other kids didn’t seem to notice or care, but for me it was mortifying, not least because Dr. Ko was one of the main people in my life who I wanted to impress. 

All those memories – happy, amusing, embarrassing, sorrowful, and regretful – came flooding back when I realized it’s been almost thirty years since he passed away. I picked up our copy of ‘The Way Back Home’ and started re-reading about his life’s story, and the way he came to America and made a home and family and career for himself, along with a number of momentous friendships along the way. The book stands as something more than a traditional linear biography – it’s a collection of memories and scrapbook cuttings, that now speaks to a generation of readers who will be more accustomed to its quick sound-bites and stories, and as such it seems a proper time to revisit its magic. 

Lovingly, movingly, and often amusingly brought to life by family, friends and just about everyone who made his acquaintance, the spirit of Dr. Ko transcends time and place to tell the story of an immigrant who made an impact on all the people who came into his orbit. From New York Yankee Phil Rizzuto to the fishermen who navigated the seas for him, he touched a wide swath of denizens the world over. In many ways, that was the lesson he taught to me, because in the all-too-brief time I knew him, I was still a shy and reclusive young boy, who watched from afar but gleaned valuable lessons from the father of my best friend, and the best friend of my father.

Perhaps somewhat ahead of its time, ‘The Way Back Home’ offers a multi-media experience for an audience whose attention span has flitted away to two-minute bursts. It contains photos as well as newspaper clippings and a comprehensive collection of the filaments that make up one man’s life – especially one as varied and intricate as Ko’s. A marvel of contradictions and unique ideas, he seemed to relish in the most convoluted way of getting to a solution; that it often worked out was a master lesson in making your own way. Never one to conform, he took his trials as lessons, while his successes he acknowledged with a sly smile, as if he was the only one not surprised by how well they all worked out. 

It’s impossible to tell the whole story of one person’s life. We are too hidden, too imperfect, too guarded to make the biographer’s job an easy or even accomplishable one. But this one comes close to capturing the essence of my best friend’s father, and brings him back to life in a way that I didn’t realize I’d been missing all these years later. 

{If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of ‘The Way Back Home’ please visit the Sok Nam Ko Educational Exchange Foundation, or contact Elaine directly at elainekotalmadge@gmail.com.} 

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