“There’s a whole spectrum of reactions to coming out. Getting kicked out is one extreme—being accepted wholeheartedly is the other. But in the middle, there’s this. The awkwardness, the refusals to acknowledge, the uncomfortable weirdness of turning away. In the stories I’ve read online, parents seem obsessed with performing their grief about a child’s transition. Don’t you know how hard this is for us? And you know what, fine! Have feelings about it! There are a lot of things to have feelings about when your kid is trans! But don’t have them at me.”
― Compound Fracture
― Compound Fracture
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
― The Bell Jar
― The Bell Jar
Mara’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Mara’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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