Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Love & LiteraTea Opportunity for LGBTQ+ High School Students

This week we’re pleased to share the Love & LiteraTea online book group. Love and LiteraTea is “a safe and affirming place for LGBTQ+ youth to connect through books and pop culture”.

Every academic year, students and facilitators will read and discuss LGBTQ+ young adult books along with supplementary literature and media. The books chosen as the foundational texts for this year center on authors and characters who identify as LGBTQ+ and Black, Indigenous, People of Color. The list of books can be found at the end of our blog.

This Fall will be their first year. Their mission is to empower, uplift, and provide community for LGBTQ+ youth by reading and discussing the work of LGBTQ+ writers and artists. Founded by queer teachers, shea martin and Dr. Cody Miller, Love & LiteraTea is a virtual community that aims to create connections in a space rooted in radical love, truth, and pride. 

This group is not a class, and there are no grades. Love and LiteraTea is a space to read, discuss, and amplify LGBTQ+ stories. “This space is by and for LGBTQ people who love reading, sharing, and discussing books!”

Love & Literatea is run by Dr. Henry “Cody” Miller and shea martin.                                 

                                 Dr. Henry “Cody” Miller (he/him/his)        shea martin (they/them/theirs)

Any members of the LGBTQ+ community who are in high school are welcome to join. The application process can be found here (https://www.loveliteratea.com/apply) and applications are due at 11:59PM on October 5, 2020.

Please share this information with anyone who may be interested.

Love & Literatea is free to join, and books will be provided to readers pending funding. (Group members can also buy their own books). Dr. Miller and shea martin will meet bi-weekly (and virtually) with exact dates TBD.

Here are the books Love & LiteraTea will be discussing this year:

“Anger is a Gift” by Mark Oshiro        “The Black Flamingo” by Dean Atta

   

“Felix Ever After” by Kacen Callender   "Juliet Takes a Breath” by Gabby Rivera    

              

“Like a Love Story” by Abdi Nazemian "Cemetery Boys” by Aiden Thomas

For those who are not able to join but would still love to contribute, here is the GoFundMe to find more information and donate: https://www.gofundme.com/f/loveliteratea?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all

In addition, here is their Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/loveliteratea

The first $1000 raised will go towards supplying a copy of their first book to each participant, digital resources accompanying the book, and a safe, password protected space for participants and facilitators to meet.

In addition, check out shea martin (https://twitter.com/sheathescholar) and Cody Miller (https://twitter.com/codymillerela) on Twitter to get to know them!

Here is their website to get more information: https://www.loveliteratea.com/

The NCSCL is so happy to hear about this fantastic opportunity for LGBTQ+ youth. Please share this with anyone who may be interested!

-(SS)

Friday, September 18, 2020

A Graduate Student's First Attempt at Summer Research

 



I had always known it was coming.

I had been forewarned. I even anticipated it with that prematurely weary excitement one feels just before looking at a list of syllabi at the beginning of a semester. In the back of my mind, summer 2020 was the mental image of a laptop surrounded by piles of books on a library desk surrounded by bookshelves. It was tabs and tabs and tabs of databases, articles, and one notetaking Word document. It was split-screen reading and strained eyes, both “why am I doing this to myself?” and “wow I can feel my brain getting bigger.” With the foundation of a year of postbaccalaureate study, in summer 2020, I would finally begin independent research.


At San Diego State University’s M.A. in English program, graduate students have the option of a thesis or a portfolio for the culminating experience. I chose the portfolio option, which entails the revision of one graduate seminar paper with the intent to submit it for publication in a journal, and one secondary paper with a plan for revision. Knowing that I would have to face a portfolio defense before I completed the requirements for the degree, I was determined to use the independent study course in my penultimate semester to lay the foundation for my star paper. All of the course texts were up to me, so I planned to use summer to select contemporary readings and support them with thoroughly researched secondary sources. If my goal for the fall was to develop expertise in Asian American children’s literature, I would have to use the preceding summer well.

So, of course, I didn’t. In reality, summer 2020 went more like my previous summers as a student: fun – until I realized that August was soon approaching. Mid-July, I sheepishly recalled the words my professor spoke as we met on Zoom for the first time since the move to remote learning: “I am going to give you two contradictory pieces of advice: take as much time as you need to recover and heal, but also keep in mind that summer is a great opportunity to research widely.” Having excelled at the first point, I resigned myself to giving up my last month of summer to personal literary, cultural, and critical research.



Thank goodness for the internet! As I began to browse the SDSU library website – stress mode activated and in high gear – I read that I could request physical books for “domeside pickup.” I missed the feel of turning pages and gladly placed holds on around twenty-five fiction and literary criticism books. With no guarantee that the physical books would have the content I was looking for, I dug into online databases to see what articles I could find. I found myself getting back into the groove of skimming – sometimes discarding, sometimes keeping essays I found relevant to my area of study. I did the same with the chapters of the literary criticism books, while I read the fiction novels in full. It wasn’t clear what I was searching for, but I knew that I had to find topics and stories that I could enjoy spending hours on. Slowly, I built up a list of articles, chapters, and texts that seemed promising to include on the independent study list. My next task was to compile the best texts into a themed syllabus.

This Asian American children’s literature syllabus would follow the organization of the Chicanx children’s literature course I had taken in my first semester of graduate study, so I included texts from the beginnings of Asian American children’s books publication as well as texts published in the early 2000s. Most of my list was comprised of books published within the last five years, as I wanted my research to focus on contemporary depictions of Asian Americans from a range of diasporic experiences. Once the novels, picture books, and graphic novels were in place, I found scholarly articles that either directly analyzed those main texts or could be paired for productive conversation. In total, I had fifteen main texts and seventeen articles – roughly two to four readings a week. In crafting this syllabus, I noticed a trend in the content of the books I had selected, which called to mind a term for a category that I had learned in an undergraduate Tolkien class. There it was – the theme for my independent study: the künstlerroman in contemporary Asian American stories.


With this exciting payoff after condensing a summer’s worth of research into a few weeks, I tidied up the document, submitted the independent study request form, and sent the syllabus to my professor. We have met once since the semester started late-August, and thankfully he approved the course theme as a final paper topic. My path to a star paper for my portfolio is becoming clearer, and I plan to use the course’s midterm assignment to revise my secondary paper. By the end of the semester, I hope to have two polished papers in hand for the spring’s portfolio workshop course.

As I reflect on my summer experience – COVID-19 aside, if such a thing is possible – I can see that most difficult part of research was just starting. The lull in my studies had made me lazy, but delving back into the world of literature and criticism reminded me that I do enjoy what I study. If I had any advice to share with other students undertaking a research project, it would have to be to choose a topic that goes beyond you. In other words, make the topic of your research something that is of interest to you as a researcher specifically because other writers are not talking about it. There is something so encouraging about doing research and not finding information on what you are searching for – it leaves room for your contribution to the conversation. Don’t be discouraged by the high quality of the writing you encounter: every article you come across will have come out of a research foray just like yours. By offering an original argument through your paper, you are joining the scholarly community that produced the articles you are reading. Enjoy the process!

- (AN)

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Review of “We Are Water Protectors” by Carole Lindstrom

“We Are Water Protectors” written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade is a new picture book you need to look out for.

“We Are Water Protectors” is a book full of vibrant, eye catching images and powerful prose to match.

The author, Carole Lindstrom writes the books from passion and experience. She identifies as Anishinaabe (also known as Nishnaabe or Anishinabe)/Metis and is tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe (Carolelindstrom.com). Lindstrom also published the children’s book “Girls Dance, Boys Fiddle” in 2013.

This book has not gone unnoticed by book bloggers. A popular blog, Book Riot, lists the book under “Ten Picture Books for the Budding Environmentalists”, and Lindstrom’s book is also featured on CBC, The New York Times, and Publisher’s Weekly.

The phrase “We are water protectors” may sound familiar. “We are water protectors” says Don Sampson to tribes opposed to the movement protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Sampson is both the head of the climate change program from the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI), and a traditional chief of the Walla Walla Tribe of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (Seattle Times). Sampson and his family fought with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe during the Standing Rock protest against the pipeline.

Photo from Dakota Access Pipeline protests in October of 2016

However, Lynda V. Mapes’ article continues “The fight isn’t only about one pipeline, but the larger battle for clean energy in a world in grave jeopardy because of emissions from fossil fuels that are heating the planet.” Sampson concludes “How can anyone look into the eyes of grandchildren and say, we did nothing.” Although popularized protests at the Dakota Access Pipeline have passed, the fight to protect water and the legacy of the protests continue.

Lindstrom takes this popular quote, “we are water protectors”, to invite readers into an important project and movement taking place in the United States. 

It is important to also remember these pipes is a twofold threat of the environment and the culture of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s homeland. “An oil spill would permanently contaminate the reservation’s water supply and that construction of the pipeline would destroy sacred sites where many of their ancestors are buried” (Medina, 2016).

Given the background of the book, Lindstrom has a big shoe to fill, and she truly succeeds with her touching and beautiful work.


“We Are Water Protectors” is narrated by a young, unnamed girl. At the beginning of the book, she is told “Water is the first medicine” by Nokemis, who appears to be a grandmother or an older maternal figure.

Right off the bat Lindstrom emphasizes the importance of water, while Goade highlights its beauty and power through the illustration. Lindstrom continues, “We come from water. It nourished us inside our mother’s body. As it nourishes us here on Mother Earth. Water is sacred.” These short sentences remind me of water washing on and off of the beach, ebbing and flowing through the book.

She continues, “The river’s rhythm runs through my veins. Runs through my people’s veins.” Again, the importance of water is established. The protagonist states the river runs through her people’s veins, connecting them altogether in a water system as unique and complex as the individuals within her community. In the illustration her dark hair flows across the page into a blue-green body of water, complete with fish, bright coral lily flowers, and lily pads.


This photo not only emphasizes how the river “runs through [her] veins”, but the river is part of her identity and her people’s identity. She finds love and joy in the water, but also a need to protect what is being taken from them.

The narrator continues, “my people talk of a black snake that will destroy the land. Spoil the water. Poison plants and animals. Wreck everything in its path…Its venom burns the land, courses through the water, making it unfit to drink.”


Here the water and land are threatened, as is perhaps the characters’ identity as water protectors. As opposed to the previously calming blues and greens, the snake is on this bright orange background, almost reminiscent of the sky during fires that California has come to know. This orange cloud seems to suffocate or suppress the flowers on the bottom left which bend over the pipe, as if weeping its petals away. The portrayal of the pipe as a snake emphasizes the real danger that these pipes being built have on the plants and animals, as well as the people. The snakes [or pipes] not only poison the living, but the water itself is unfit to drink. Water, a necessity for organisms to live, is being taken by this snake pipe.

However, the protagonist does not lose hope. She says “TAKE COURAGE! I must keep the black snake away from my village’s water. I must rally my people together.”

The protagonist calls the reader to action in her our actions. She is saying take courage to herself, her village, and everyone reading this. In the face of black snakes and threatened land, she tells herself to have courage in order to save her village.

“We Are Water Protectors” is a powerful, resonating, and timely book that I think readers of all ages should pick up.

-SS

References:

Carole Lindstrom - author of children's literature. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.carolelindstrom.com/

Mapes, L. V. (2020, August 6). What’s next for the Dakota Access Pipeline? Recent court rulings cast doubt on future. The Seattle Times. Retrieved from https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/whats-next-for-the-dakota-access-pipeline-recent-court-rulings-cast-doubt-on-future/

Medina, D. A. (2016, November 4). Dakota Access Pipeline: What's Behind the Protests? NBC News. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/dakota-pipeline-protests/dakota-access-pipeline-what-s-behind-protests-n676801