How should we celebrate National Coming Out Day in 2023 in the red state of Iowa? This was a key question at the most recent meeting of Mount Mercy University’s Faculty and Staff GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance). Let’s start with logistics: we’re marking National Coming Out Day after fall break because the actual day, … Read more
During the pandemic, students focused on queer trauma, but next time, I plan to ensure that they also explore queer joy.
Amazon has sold out of antiracist books. Topping the bestseller lists are two titles I read this past semester before the pandemic hit: Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility (2018) and Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be An Antiracist (2019). This post is my response to the pairing. But first, what to make of the book news? … Read more
Good news, bad news. Both inspired my women’s basketball mystery, Murder by Mascot, when Alyson first published it in 2006. And both are on my mind as I publish a third edition of the novel and reflect what has changed since then. This post will focus on good news, on activism and progress, on the … Read more
I believed in the transformative power of literature years before I had the words to say so. But it turns out, I had no idea how much the right novel at the right time could change me. The novel is Richard Powers’ beautiful, sprawling eco-fiction, The Overstory. The time is now, my third sabbatical. Let … Read more