Thursday, November 13, 2008

GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE.
The kids at Lakeside High School were great! I was able to hear their coming-out stories, and even though there was often humor injected into the wide variety of stories told, every story had an "I couldn't tell [some relative] because they'd never understand/scream/argue/kill me..." and there was an alarming number of "Well, they're Catholic, so they'd never understand...." and "My family's background is Catholic, so they would not understand..." and "Catholic church tells you it's wrong, unnatural.."...Alarming, because many Catholics do NOT take this view. In fact, most RC Church members who I know, find the "fundamentalist" view of Christianity as misguided, just as they find condemnation of LGBT wrong-headed. I did mention Call-To-Action Catholics as a liberal/progressive branch of Catholicism for those kids who may wish to segue into a discussion with their parents, armed with at least one Catholic group that's very pro-LGBT!I also mentioned Pax Christi, the Peace & Social Justice group to which I belong.
So, here are a few other websites for you kids at Lakeside(and my faithful blog- readers out there, too!):
First, a few Literary websites:
www.limpwrist.com
Limp Wrist magazine will detail many local events, as well as feature great poetry by LGBT folks!!
http://www.dbrookshire.blogspot.com/
Dustin Brookshire's blog is literary AND political, you'll have fun at his site!
www.collinkelley.blogspot.com/
Collin Kelley is "da man" for Literary events in Atlanta.His blog is very LGBT-friendly, and political, and loaded with pop-culture references, too!
NOT-TO-BE-MISSED:
Collin Kelley's re-caps of "American Idol", every season!
Please check out the list to the right of this post for more ideas on blogs and websites to check out!
If you're into Poetry Slams, I'll have more info for you, very soon--for you kids(and older ones) reading this, and for you kids at Lakeside High, next time we meet(in a couple of months!)
Until then, I hope you kids at Lakeside will work on poems about your stories of "coming-out".
I'll help you put together a chapbook in time for National Poetry Month, next April!Special Thanks to Mr. Mack Anthony, and Mr. Marcello Banderas, both teacher-sponsors of the GSA at Lakeside.
REMEMBER:
The Protest against Prop 8 is this Saturday,1:30 P.M. at the State Capitol.
5:00 P.M. Candlelight Vigil at Outwrite Books!

All in all, a great day of listening and learning.
These kids are beautiful, bright, brave.
Peace, kids.

4 comments:

Collin Kelley said...

You're a sweetheart! See you tomorrow!

Lisa Nanette Allender said...

Hi Coll--see you in a few hours!

Dustin Brookshire said...

Lisa, thank you for the shout out for LIMP WRIST and the blog! hugs, Dustin

Lisa Nanette Allender said...

Hi Dustin Brookshire--was great seeing you today(Saturday, 15th Nov.)at Radial, and The Capitol. Great catching up with Coll, C. Cleo, and Jess Hand, too!