Baby Remember My Name: An Anthology of New Queer Girl Writing

by Michelle Tea (Editor)

Michelle Tea, a favorite on the spoken-word scene and beloved in literary circles for books such as Valencia, Chelsea Whistle and most recently Rose of No Man's Land, has gathered new work by twenty-two of the most outstanding emerging voices in queer girl writing. Fiction is matched in excitement by graphic novel excerpts and personal essays. Certain to become a literary touchstone for a new generation of writers and readers, Baby Remember My Name speaks to the broad range of queer girl experiences in work that is brave, irreverent, funny, sensitive, and hot.

Genres: Queer, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, LGBT, Essays, Feminism

300 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2006

About the author

Michelle Tea (born Michelle Tomasik) is an American author, poet, and literary arts organizer whose autobiographical works explore queer culture, feminism, race, class, prostitution, and other topics. She is originally from Chelsea, Massachusetts and currently lives in San Francisco. Her books, mostly memoirs, are known for their views into the queercore community. In 2012 Tea partnered with City Lights Publishers to form the Sister Spit imprint.

Reviews

[Josie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75

[lia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I'm getting old. Some of the stories were great, and I am excited to find other work by a couple of the authors, like Claudia Rodriguez (Juan the Brave)& Christy Road (Freshman Year). But the majority seemed to blur in my mind into the 'living in the mission-escaping small town life-doing lots of drugs-being confused about whether my girlfriend still loves me because she's fucking guys/girls for money'-story. That said, I actually am kind of old, so maybe this would be more appealing to those in their late teens and early twenties.
Oh, and also? I loved Michelle Tea's introduction, which sort of addresses the parts of this anthology I had troubles with, but from a much more positive direction.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friend Jenny wrote "Money," so for this reason alone you should read Baby...

This book is a great example of someone using her own success to lead. With this book, Tea uses her clout to promote young, queer, working class writers who struggle to break into an old, straight, monied industry.

You should buy this book on principle, but you should read it, too. It's smart, entertaining, and moving. And you will doubtless see many of the names again. Thank Michelle Tea for her initiative. I know Jenny will.

[kot · Rating 1 out of 5]

The youth and inexperience of the writers in this collection is apparent--the stories all shared a similar beat, voice, and style, similar, repititious storylines filled with tortured observations and introspective, brooding personal reflections. The pieces noticeably lacked dialogue and action. I would have liked to see a more diverse group of contributors as well--most of these women call the Bay Area home.

[Melissa Helton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of mostly fiction and nonfiction with a couple cartoons, some of the pieces focus on queerness and queer characters, but not all (which I think was good - showing we can celebrate queer writers without demanding all their writing be about queerness itself). The pieces all hit the same note, which for an anthology isn't the best. An anthology should demonstrate a range of topic/tone/plot and give the reader many different kind of experiences, that way it can show the breadth and depth of the collection's theme. Perhaps I am too old for the high angst characters and plot. It would be good for teens and YA.

[Mina Beach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like every collection Michelle Tea has had a hand in, this book is 90% fantastic. There are a few duds in here, but most of them are super captivating and all written by young queer writers. I like these kinds of collections because afterwards I get to google the writers and see what kind of career they have managed to carve out since the release of the book. One of my favorites.

[Rachel Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super sexy and an introduction to loads of great queer, diverse, American writers. A great discussion-starter about race, socioeconomics, homelessness and the many faces of sexual liberation takes. LOVING THE VIZ. Please write a Remember My Name Volume 2!

[Ayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories I really really loved in here and some I didn’t. Juan the brave, the part about the pigeons, t-ten, & freshman year were my favs. I had a hard time getting into some of the stories but Im glad I read this one & now I have so many queer writers to look up

[T.C. Mill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some excellent pieces in here (including trans-inclusive stories, which, w00t), but others felt same-y or were narratively dissatisfying.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

So amazing!

[C.E. Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection!

[Sage Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories great, some stories idc about

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great stories in here. I loved a couple in particular, others not so much. All the stories felt very raw and real. Very queer and very slay.

[Renee Alberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether their essays, stories and comics depict a poor trailer park resident’s birthday, an acid trip in San Francisco, or a gender-bending six-year-old on a bike, the contributors to Baby Remember My Name: An Anthology of New Queer Girl Writing seethe with exuberance.

The collection’s numerous highlights particularly include the bookends. (Both of whom have Pittsburgh connections.) In Paige McBee’s “Keep Your Goals Abstract,” poetic interludes of photographs transition between the character’s setting and reflections on a cross-country road trip. In Beth Steidle’s “Stay,” body parts voice disparate opinions, narration slides from a painful breakup to an aquarium scene, and style alternates between confrontational and hallucinatory statements.

Michelle Tea’s own writing celebrates honesty and wildness, and her skills as a selecting editor are equally vivacious. Each piece segues gracefully to the next through common style or subject matter, and the pace rarely drags or stutters. (For further proof of Tea’s editing prowess, read Without a Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class.)

[Merredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this book on the new shelf at the library and that it is edited by Michelle Tea. I've read some of her memoirs and enjoyed them, plus, she's local, so i picked it up. Normally, i don't really go for short stories. As i began this anthology, i saw these aren't even really short stories, many of them. they're just words, maybe like a poem in story formatting. they were super short, too. i didn't like them, there was no substance. eventually, some actual stories came and i liked those better. some stories i really liked, juan is one that comes to mind. a lot of others, i didn't like at all..but i guess that's an anthology for you. a good number of the pieces are about young people living very poorly in SF's mission district. Most of these stories seemed depressing. it was ok, but i feel like i would have liked this better if i was specifically looking for "new queer girl writing" which is, after all what it's advertised as, so it's more my fault than the book's. But from my perspective, i'll give it 2 stars aka "it was ok." If you see it at your library, pick it up and skim through for the couple good stories!

[Keely Hyslop · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a pretty book. The level of honesty in many of these stories is downright gruesome but the writing is authentic, edgy, and original. This book really knocked me out - the range of emotions, tones, and situations covered by the writing was staggering. Some of the stories felt like I could almost have written them myself and some of them were completely repulsive but always in a very interesting artistic way. The book had a very "On the Road" punk rock style feel and I love that kind of writing because it's honestly pretty removed from what my life is like on a daily basis. The inclusion of zine writing and memoir style comics was sweet! Michelle Tea is just as brilliant and insightful an editor as she is a writer.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

My problem rating this book is that its contents are so varied. It contains some seriously impressive pieces by authors I will continue to look for in the future. Other pieces failed to impress me in *any* regard; they left me thoroughly "meh." I'm also frustrated to find that apparently "new queer girl writing" continues to be defined within that typical scheme of queer writing, where marginilization has led to a culture largely defined by liberal sex and drugs. Is my prudish lack of experience getting in the way here, or are there other incarnations of queer life consistently overlooked by queer literature?

[sylas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short fiction is not typically my favorite reading, but this book pleasantly surprised me repeatedly, with each new story. The authors featured in this Michelle Tea edited fiction extravaganza are creative and witty. The stories are heart-wrenching and vibrant, clever and erotic. I found myself lost in the writing on more than one occasion.

My favorites from the group:
"Coming-Out Versus Sex Versus Making Love" by Meliza Banales
"Part 1: Tumbleweed" by Shoshana von Blackensee
"Stay" by Beth Striedle

[HeavyReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw several of the authors featured in this book perform with Sister Spit in Columbia, MO in April 2007, so I was really excited when I stumbled upon this book on the "new books" shelf at the Lawrence Public Library. However, upon reading all the entries, I was kind of disappointed. I thought all of the pieces in this book were kind of middle of the road, not bad exactly, but not really too good either. Maybe I would feel differently if I were a queer gal in my late teens or early 20s, but as a bisexual queer in my mid 30's, nothing here really spoke to me.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michelle Tea is always involved in such interesting projects, so I had to give this one a try. It's edgy for sure, some of the writing was inspiring, funny, and some descriptions of a street kid drug culture without the description of how the kids got there. In some ways I think it was refreshing to not have the queer girl beaten-kicked out-story, but it was glamourizing the culture a bit. All an all I'd recommend it for a fresh look on queer youth experiences. I was so imprised some of the writers were still in high school, way to go Michelle for getting their voices heard.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any anthology--particularly one organized by the authors' relationship to an aspect of identity--this book contains a variety of styles and subjects. The majority of the pieces are good, and most, predictably, deal with (lesbian or bi-) sexual desire. What makes this a really interesting anthology is that it includes graphic essays (in the sense of comic strip illustrations, not in the sense of obscenity, though there are some essays that might be considered obscene). I think this is, in many ways, a very modern anthology because of the pieces Tea has chosen to include.

[Adam Hodgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story anthology, some better than others of course,
My favourites are:

Oh Lonely Adventures by Sloane Martin ...."the carpet was an ugly green like frozen pizza olives"

T-Ten by Chelsea Star

Sunshine in the Fat End by Jenna Henry

Snow Fight by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan

This book like, a lot of others, makes me wish there was a gay boy equivalent.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

this collection was good but not amazing. there were a few pieces in here i would be likely to read over and over (especially because most of the stories are pretty short), but some that i probably won't ever think about again now that i've finished reading them. in other words, an intensely mixed bag.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

a nice anthology. varies in how much i enjoy each writer. overall what is the most exciting is that the authors are writing about their lives (usually) in San Francisco. vary from some what dull to beautiful and profound.

also, tina butcher or madison young has a piece in this book, and she is the person in charge of FEMINA POTENS ART GALLERY, which I volunteered at for a few months.

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tend to gravitate toward the projects that Michelle Tea is involved in and though I don't regret it, I would have liked to see some more diversity, in terms of voice, age, experience, and the location of the contributors. Calling it a mixed bag doesn't really do the book justice, but I don't know what would.

[b bb bbbb bbbbbbbb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid collection of easy to read short stories with only a couple duds. Nothing ground breaking or brilliant, but overall pleasant and interesting. Most of the material deals with coming of age, growing awareness of sexuality and gender, poverty or living on the margins of society. I liked the collection.

[Bevin]

So far so good. It seems like it is really heavy on the late adolescent experience of gender variant female born people who grew up in San Francisco. I would like to see a little more diversity in experience but at the same time it is really well-written and I am only about 3/4 through it.

[malic · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Boots For Tula" by Rhiannon Argo is in this book, which is my favorite story ever. the other stories vary, some pretty good ones, some okay ones... it's really rad that an anthology of young queer writers exists though.

[Caty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not to be an arrogant cunt, but *I* could do this gritty queer stuff better--do I want to?
& I hate to sound like a neoconservative, but the victim attitude in the doing the laundry piece stank to high heaven.
Michelle Tea (TM)

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were good. It was interesting but even though there were so many different writers all the stories seemed very similar, all young and from the north west. I would have enjoyed if more if there had been a larger variety of perspectives.