Giovanni's Room, by James Baldwin

Told on the night before Giovanni's execution, David, an American, attempts to ease his guilt and arrange his confused emotions by relating his months in Paris and his time spent in Giovanni's room.

A few months previously, wishing to "moor" himself to something, he proposes to his girlfriend, Hella, a fellow American. She travels to Spain to decide, and during the months that she is gone David begins a relationship with the Italian bartender Giovanni. Whereas David is afraid of his desire for men, Giovanni fully embraces his sexuality, and falls quickly in love with David.

They live together in Giovanni's room, which is dirty and has painted-over windows. Giovanni works hard to clean it and add shelves to the far wall, and David understands that his presence is supposed to make it a home. The room is both protective isolation and a prison to David, who gradually becomes disgusted with the Italian even as they engage in a passionate affair.

Hella eventually decides that she will marry David and returns from Spain. David instantly abandons Giovanni to seek comfort in conforming to social norms, although he admits to the reader that he is not in love with Hella, was probably never in love with her, and doubts Hella was ever in love with him.

After David left him, Giovanni becomes hysterical, killing his former employer and hiding under a bridge for a week before being arrested. Wracked with guilt, David has an affair with a sailor, and Hella leaves him. The book ends with David travelling to Paris for Giovanni’s execution.

James Baldwin published this book against his publisher’s wishes. He was told that his audience was solely African-American, and since every character in the book is white (and also since the book dealt with bisexuality and homosexuality), publishing it (in the 1950’s) could alienate his audience. But he went through with the publication, and gave us a classic. Baldwin’s writing style takes a little getting used to, especially since David switches between relating the past and narrating the present, and also there’s French everywhere in the dialogue and hopefully there weren’t secrets or something imbedded in the French because guess who can’t speak/read French (hint: me), but I would say that that is the only (minor) negative. David’s struggle to love and accept others’ love for him is heartbreaking, as is the effect of his turmoil on the people around him.

This book is so powerful and deals with so many themes that I feel a little unqualified to review it. I encourage you all to read it at some point in your lives. If you have read it, I would love to discuss it with you because I am blown away by this book. I don’t know what else to say. Read it. And if you need another reason to read it, February is Black History Month. Even though all the characters are white, there are shared themes such as fear of and hatred and violence towards the Other. Furthermore, there was a large African American expatriate community in France, which Baldwin was a part of. Though Baldwin lived a large part of his life as an expatriate and in the end, died in France, he became involved with the civil rights movement, and wrote on the racial tensions in America.

If you have any questions about Baldwin sources, contact Nicole Dominiak -- she wrote a Seminar paper on him.

Some other reviews you might enjoy:

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-unsparing-confessions-of-giovannis-room

http://www.npr.org/2013/12/28/257375561/a-young-seminarian-found-comfort-in-giovannis-melancholy

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-giovanni.html (from 1956, when Giovanni’s Room was published)

The Drag Show!

Well, the drag show finally happened! My dad and I attended it

Friday night, as did many others - the place was packed! It was a great time. 

It was my first time going to a drag show, and I really didn't know what to expect

except for huge wigs and lots of makeup, so if you have no idea what I'm talking

about, let me tell you what I've learned.

(And before you ask, no I don't have pictures of the event because some of the 

people at the event didn't want to be in pictures and I didn't want to have to

go up to every single person in the picture and ask for permission)

(also my phone takes bad pictures)

You don't have to be male to dress as a drag queen/king, and you certainly

don't have to be transgender. Dressing in drag is just like acting; you take on the 

persona of an entertainer (often female), which is why everyone refers to 

the person in drag by their drag name and/or pronouns. You also don't have to be

gay or non-straight (which should be obvious, since Daniel Radcliffe

didn't have to be a wizard to play Harry Potter, but is still a common misconception). 

In fact, one of the performers was a straight male. It was also his first
drag show, and everyone was so supportive of him even though he was absolutely
terrified to be on stage.

It was a really terrific event - and apparently they put it on once a month!
So I'll be able to go to a couple more.

In other news, on Monday the One N Ten volleyball team played for the first
time this season (and probably lost, since no one talked about it at all). I believe they
play in a league for youth organizations. Also, our team name is Spike the Rainbow.

I do not know how to play volleyball. At all. 

On Tuesday we decorated and ate cakepops and I struggled as banker in a Monopoly

game. But I did end up with the most money at the end, which I think is how you win? 

We were kind of making up rules by the end anyways. On Wednesday, 

we engaged in a team-building exercise. One by one we picked

questions such as "What's your favorite TV show?" from a hat, 

answered them in front of the group, and then tried not to topple the giant Jenga tower.

There was a ton of shouting involved.

Since February is Black History Month, Thursday was Black History Day. 

Miss Babe, an African-American lesbian, came in an gave a presentation on

notable but often forgotten LGBTQ African-Americans. 

She talked about how hard it was to have an identity that was and is

faced with oppressed on so many levels - to be African-American and LGBTQ. 

Miss Babe had been born in the 1950's, and she told us stories of how movements

fought that oppression. 

In other news, will be posting on Q High, a unique collaboration with AZ

Virtual Academy that One N Ten hosts at the Youth Center. I'm having a little trouble 

contacting the person in head of the program, but don't worry! The post will come soon!

My review of the amazing Giovanni's Room will go up tomorrow. Next week's book is 

Maurice, by E. M. Forster, a tale of same-sex love in the early 20th century. Although

it was written 1913-1914, it was only published in 1971, after

Forster had died, as he believed it was unpublishable. Remarkably, 

the story has a (spoiler) happy ending, rare for books on love between men 

from the 1900s. Forster is also known for his books Howards End and A Room with a View. 

Finally, Pictures of the Center!

I have been trying to post pictures of the Youth Center ever since this blog was created, 

but for some reason the pictures weren't compatible with the HTTPS thingy 

(and I'm not knowledgeable enough in that area to fix it). But now they work! 

All pictures posted with permission of the Youth Center staff.

This is the center from across the street! And no, I don't know why it has the strange

windows. And yes, there is a parking lot under there. Rainbow stairs lead up to the center.

This is a view of the group area. Now there are piles of donated

food by the One N Ten logo, as well as boxes of plastic bags so that youth can carry the

food home. The far-right wall with the two paintings has also been updated with 

black-and-white pictures of people that I assume are youths (I haven't met the people

in the pictures, though). What you can't see in the picture is the other half

of the room, which includes a window into the kitchen, a gender-neutral bathroom,

a crafts cupboard, a sitting area (which has a music thing? where you put a cord in?

like a stereo but the music comes from the ceiling? I don't know what it's called?), 

and four computers. 

A hallway connects this room to Q High, which I will talk about in my post next week! 

There's also the Fishbowl off the hallway, which is a quiet room. 

I was told that music isn't allowed in there, but also there's a drum set, so I think

the Fishbowl doubles as The Place to Put the Drummers Because They Are Loud.

(does one capitalize "because"? Mr. Wells, I know you know English but

please don't take points off (or however you grade this stuff))

(do I get a grade for this? or do I just get to graduate? which is pretty great, don't get me wrong)  

Anyways, the Fishbowl also serves as an area where youth can talk privately

to a staff member. One of the Safe Space guidelines is to "Save the

Drama for Your Mama," but the staff and volunteers make sure to 

stress that if anyone needs to talk, then counselling will be provided.

Every Thursday the Phoenix Children's Hospital Crews'n Healthmobile is available at 

the Youth Center, offering services such as STD screenings, exams, and

even minor surgical procedures. No one shies away from this opportunity, although

some people are a little scared of the STD tests.    

One N Ten also offers Camp OUTdoors! which is the largest LGBTQ camp program 

in the country and was featured in National Geographic's documentary Gender Revolution. 

The youth and volunteers, who come from all over Arizona, and even some from 

out-of-state, engage in team-building activities in Prescott. 

You can learn more about Camp OUTdoors! here.

I have finished Middlesex! I even wrote a review on it! And posted it! Woot!

I am now reading Giovanni's Room, a book by the renowned novelist, playwright, 

essayist, and social critic James Baldwin (1924-1987), who often wrote on racial

tension and taboos such as homosexuality and interracial relationships. Baldwin himself was homosexual (or bisexual, there is some confusion, but then again, sexuality is confusing),
and his works frequently involved some sort of autobiographical nature.

His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, was in part written to hep him

through his relationship with his step-father, a preacher, as well as a discussion 

on the church's role in the lives of African-Americans.

Giovanni's Room Baldwin's second novel. Centered around the main character's struggle with his relationship with an Italian bartender, the novel tells the story of a man

afraid to love. This is an interesting interview with Baldwin on his sexuality and

need to write Giovanni's Room. I am almost done with the book (although I will definitely

reread it before I write up a review), and it is so much more engaging and raw 

than Middlesex. I am enjoying it, although I'm not sure "enjoying" is the right word.

One really feels the characters' pain.

I'll see you guys next week! 

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides

Jeffrey Eugenides’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Middlesex, tells the story of Cal Stephanides’ 5-alpha-reductase deficiency by following three generations of the family as they emigrate from Greece to America. Narrated by Cal, the book starts off with Desdemona and Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides, who happen to be siblings and Cal’s grandparents, in 1922 in Bithynios, a village in Asia Minor. Orphans of the ongoing Greco-Turkish War, they board a ship for America and marry when their village is burned. They start their new life in Detroit, living with their cousin Sourmelina and her husband. Over time, they struggle to fit in amongst their American neighbors, and the inbred family continues to inbreed.

Two generations later, Cal Stephanides is born. As a result of the inbreeding, he has  5-alpha-reductase deficiency, meaning that his genitals are underdeveloped and appear female at first glance. He was raised as Calliope “Callie” Stephanides, but during puberty realizes his true sex. Cal struggles with his identity, both as a Greek-American and as someone born intersex.

I did not like this book. For starters, Middlesex is much more about the family’s journey and the American Dream than Cal’s identity crisis, so I felt that the advertising was a little misleading. The first 300 pages or so focuses on Desdemona and Lefty as they come to terms with their attraction for each other and the life they build in America, while the last 230 pages relates Cal’s parents and their struggle to build a business.

Cal’s personality seemed underdeveloped, and his entire story came off as secondary to the American Dream storyline. Cal’s “identity crisis” did not seem like a crisis at all; rather, Cal tried passively to live up to whatever societal roles he thought applied to him at any given point in his life. When living as a girl, he desired breasts, waxed his mustache, and waited impatiently for his period to start. As soon as he realized he was genetically male, he immediately put on a suit, cut his long hair, grew out his facial hair, and tried to walk and talk like the stereotypical man. I felt like Cal’s whole storyline was without purpose, except to highlight how Cal is a hybrid of Greek and American culture, part of both but never truly belonging to either, just as he feels connected to both men and women but never wholly one or the other. But again, the book is marketed as revolving around a child born intersex, so either Eugenides got seriously sidetracked when writing about the Stephanides family or the book summary was purposely misleading.

The writing, like I said before, is very pretty, but so horribly verbose. The book could easily be cut down without losing anything vital to the plot. I was often distracted by the rambling of the text. However, Middlesex was one of the first books to explore the emotional impacts of being born intersex (although in my opinion the exploration was limited). Yes, this book won a Pulitzer Prize, but I don’t think I’ll be rereading it anytime soon.

Some other reviews you might enjoy:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2002/11/07/mighty-hermaphrodite/

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview15

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jeffrey-eugenides/middlesex/       

My First Week Experience

Hi everyone! I have had an amazing first week at One N Ten. But first, some updates.

So it turns out that I am not a volunteer. The youth at One N Ten range from 

14 years old to 24, and I'm 17. I'm sure you can see how that would result in a 

weird and awkward power balance. I talked to Mike Schneider, the Program Coordinator

at the Youth Center, and we decided that it would be best if I were to act as a youth. 

Which works anyways, because I'm asexual and right in their age range.

Also, that book review that I was supposed to post this week - well, I chose the  

absolute wordiest book ever to start out with. Purple prose everywhere. The writing is pretty,

I guess, but also pretty exhausting. Also, I'm 300 pages into a 529 page book, 

and I just got to the part where Cal starts talking about when he was Calliope. 

I'm beginning to think that this book is less about Cal's identity struggles

and more about the epic tale of an inbred family moving from Greece to America. 

But I'll save that for my review.

Will this book ever end?

My time at One N Ten has been pretty great. The Youth Center is open from 4 pm to 8 pm 

Monday-Friday, and I attend the center every day except for Friday. Most everyone

shows up promptly at 4, and they get right to work doing whatever they want.

For some people, that means just hanging out in a corner, reading, or working on

one of the four computers that are provided. For others, it means art projects. My first day I 

walked in on two youth excitedly making a poster for their upcoming drag show,

which, as far as I can tell, is going to be organized and put on by the youth at the center. 

Yesterday they were trying on outfits and drag names, running from the closet 

in the back to the general room in the front to model each outfit in front of an adoring crowd. 

Everyone is so enthusiastic and supportive of each other. It's really great to see. 

Every day, at around 5:15, we start Group. All the youth, staff, and volunteers sit in 

a circle and introduce themselves by stating their name, age, preferred pronouns, and 

their answer to that day's ice breaker. Preferred pronouns refer to one's gender, or 

how one wants their gender to be perceived as. For example, my pronouns are she, her, hers,

indicating that I identify as a girl.   

From there we go into that day's activity. On Monday we chose to play games; 

a couple people played chess while I attempted to survive Monopoly (if you have 

guessed that I'm not very good at Monopoly, you are correct). 

On Wednesday we had Empowerment Group, during which we talked about

different kinds of assertive personalities, from those who are terrified to put themselves

out there to those who thrive on being the center of attention. After that we discussed how

people often only show the world a certain part of themselves - the "tip of the iceberg," as

we called it - while there's a whole rest of a person under the water. The youth around me

opened up about their insecurities, their mental issues, and their flaws, resulting 

in very serious and healthy conversations. 

On Thursday, we made icon collages. Mine ended up focusing on animals,

since most of the magazines revolved around fashion or motorcycles, and I'm not really

into either. But I am into animals.

Simplistic, but I do find inspiration in the natural world.

And what's fantastic is that every activity we do can be applied to other groups as well.

Nothing centers around their LGBTQ status - we're all just humans 

(who happen to be LGBTQ) being happy in the same space. The goal of the 

Youth Center seems to be just to provide a space for youth who are bullied for 

their gender identity or sexuality to be happy and supported. 

I am so inspired by the youth who come to the Youth Center. 

Some of them have gone through truly rough experiences, but they always maintain

such optimistic and positive attitudes. Every day I have been struck by how 

enthusiastic and inclusive the people are at the Youth Center. 

Just by providing a space for the youth to be themselves, 

One N Ten has created a community where there is almost no negative energy.

(I don't want to say there is absolutely no negativity, because I've only been here a week,

and also I've been raised by the AP rule that you Never Trust an Absolute Answer in a 

multiple choice question scenario). 

This is how people greet each other. And every hug is heartfelt.

I am so excited to go back next week. And to write that book review. 

I wasn't able to get in any pictures of my cats this week, but hopefully you appreciated 

my icon collage. 

  

If you guys have any suggestions for the next book that I read, please feel free
to post them in the comments!