Pride means…
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Hello friends, It’s Pride weekend, and I’m thinking of all the brave people who fought so hard to be allowed to simply exist. And I think of those who are still fighting, myself included. Do we want to fight? No. We’d rather just live our lives, do our work, laugh with friends, raise families, read books, and tend our gardens. Just like immigrants and other people under attack do. “The first Pride was a riot,” it is often said, and whether something is called a riot or an uprising depends on the lens we’re seeing it through. “A riot is the language of the unheard,” said Dr. Martin Luther King. When left with no other choice, people rise up and fight back. They fought back at Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco in August of 1966, when a group of trans people became fed up with constant police harassment. They fought back three years later at New York’s Stonewall Inn on June 28th. Stormé DeLarverie and Marsha P. Johnson were two proud nonconformists among those who said, “Enough.” That collective “enough” is what people say when they have pride. To say “We will not abide by this treatment anymore” is to claim our self respect. Pride means we know our worth. This weekend, I celebrate my worth. I celebrate your worth. I celebrate the inherent worth of every queer and trans person, every immigrant, and every child. Our humanity itself is a cause for celebration. So is our survival. Best wishes — Thorn I write queer books because I want to reflect the world I live in, and also to envision the world I hope for. I also write queer books because I can. Thanks for supporting my vision. You can request my books at the library, from your favorite bookseller, or best of all, buy them directly from me: ThornCoyleBooks
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, There are a wide variety of humans, but today I’m thinking about two basic types. There are the people who take themselves out of the picture. Write themselves out of the story. Slink to the edges of the frame. Others take center stage at all times. They fill the image, crowding out or overshadowing those around them. These people are the stars of the show, and the only Main Characters. But here’s the thing: no matter what our tendencies or training, we would all do well to...
Hello friends, I wrote this week’s newsletter in advance, because I’m camping with no cell service. It’s so good for my psyche to disconnect from electronics, stare at mountains, and walk along streams for a week. I’m a mind-racer, and this disconnection—like meditation or prayer—helps slow me down inside. The meditation on nature is always a gift to me, even in the small city where I live. For example, on the summer solstice, it was cool enough for me to take a long afternoon walk. I headed...
Hello friends, The yuccas are in full bloom right now, with dense clusters of creamy blossoms heavy as bells on tall stalks. This type of yucca is a spiky, unassuming plant when not in bloom, and then _bam_there is an astonishing wealth of flowers. While walking to a writing date the other week, I paused at a large grouping of these flowering plants, growing on the edge of a parking lot behind a chain link fence. The blossoms were buzzing with the activity of industrious bees. I paused a...