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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE MAY 16, 1997

BOOKS

The brutally honest story of an abused generation

by Doreen Cudnik

"I was left back when I was twelve because I had a baby for my fahver. That was in 1983. I was out of school for a year. This gonna be my second baby. My daughter got Down sinder. She's retarded. I got suspended from school cause I'm pregnant which I don't think is fair. I ain' did nothin'!"

Those are the affecting words of 16year-old Claireece "Precious" Jones, the main character in Push, the first novel by poet and author Sapphire (Vintage, $11 trade paperback). Very rarely does a book come along that simultaneously disturbs and uplifts its readers. Push is such a book.

Pregnant and stuck with an abusive mother more concerned about “losing her man" than about his repeated raping of her daughter, Precious is shuttled through a school system so disinterested in her that her illiteracy isn't even noticed. Precious recognizes her own invisibility when she writes: "Don't nobody want me. Don't nobody need me." But with a new school and a determined new teacher-Ms. Blue Rain-Precious at last finds her voice, learning to read and write, even as she struggles with her newborn son-her second child by her father-and her HIVpositive status, another consequence of her father's abuse.

"The book is short because Precious' life is short," Sapphire said in a recent interview with Harper's Bazaar. “This girl will not live to be fifty."

Like Precious Jones, Sapphire is African-American and an incest survivor. And like Ms. Rain, the teacher at the Higher Education Alternative School where Pre-

cious learns as much about self-esteem as she does about reading and writing, Sapphire is a lesbian.

Sapphire was born in California and grew up on army bases in California and Texas. She graduated from City College in New York, received an MFA from Brooklyn College, and taught reading and writing to teenagers and adults in Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx for eight years. She is a performance poet and the author of American Dreams. Push has been

"The book is short because Precious' life is short. This girl will not live to be fifty."

awarded the Book-of-the-Month-Club Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction.

As a result of her teaching experience, Sapphire is passionately committed to promoting literacy. She will be speaking to literacy groups across the country as part of her book tour, including the Literacy Initiative in Columbus.

Precious is not the only victim of poverty and abuse represented in the book. The individuals she attends school with have all experienced tragedy up close, and have their own harrowing stories to tell.

Rita Romero has worked the streets as a prostitute since she was twelve, after witnessing her white father kill her Puerto Rican mother. Rhonda Johnson, originally from Jamaica, gets put out of her home by her mother she tells her that she is being sexually abused by her brother. And Jermaine Hicks, a black transgender youth,

befriends Precious, helping

to change her perception of queer people. For school, Jermaine writes an essay titled "Harlem Butch" that chronicles the abuse she suffers as a result of her gender expression.

When Push was first published in hardcover in May, 1996, it generated an enormous amount of press, ranging from admiring to critical. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal accused Sapphire of exploitation. In the Harper's interview, she commented that she expected some hostility from some of the people who read Push, particularly the HIV community and some lesbians. She also predicted that many black people would not respond well to the book's brutal honesty.

"Black people will say it's bad for the community, bad to air our dirty laundry in public," she said. "But what if that laundry is deadly? Do you keep silent?"

Sapphire

Despite some attacks, the book has received widespread acclaim. The American Library Association recently awarded Push with its Black Caucus Award, recognizing it as an important contribution to our understanding of poverty in America.

Sapphire will be in Columbus on Saturday May 17. She will begin her day as a teacher with the Literacy Initiative work-

JAMES HAMILTON

ing with the Godman Guild. At 3:00 in the afternoon, she will read from Push at the Columbus main library, 96 South Grant Ave. The event will take place in the gallery on the second floor in the Carnegie wing of the building. For further information, contact Doug Motz at An Open Book, 614-291-0080.

CLEV

PRIDE

Pride Family Night Out Saturday, June 21, 1997, 7 PM

Cleveland

OCKERS

Celebrate the First Cleveland Rockers Game

at Gund Arena

to benefit

Cleveland Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual Pride, Inc. (the people who put on the Pride Parade & Festival)

$15 Premium Seating ▼ Rockers Giveaways

$25* Premium Seating ▼ Rockers Giveaways Reception & Cash Bar following the game Door Prize: Autographed Team Basketball ... and other surprises

*Season ticket holders: cost is

$10 for post-game festivities

O Yes, I want to support Pride & see the very first Rockers game!

Name

Address

City/State/Zip

Phone (day)

(eve)

(fax)

Tickets: $10 x

$

enclosed

$15 x

enclosed

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=

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enclosed

Circle. Check Visa MasterCard AmEx Card #

Signature

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Sorry, I can't come, but here's a donation. Enter my name into the door prize drawing.

Mail this form with payment to. Cleveland Pride, Box 91031, Cleveland, OH 44101. Deadline is June 7 (if you're late, call 556-5070).

Pride Nights Out (so far)

Friday, May 16....... Saturday, May 17.

Friday, June 6.. Saturday, June 7

•50/50 raffle.

t-shirts

cute volunteers

raffle prizes

tank tops

5¢ Decision ...........U4ia Metronome

5¢ Decision U4ia Grid

Metronome

Please ask your favorite club to host a Pride Funraiser!

CLE

ELAN

PRIDE

Cleveland Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual Pride, Inc.

P.O. Box 91031, Cleveland, OH 44101

http://members.aol.com/devepride 216-556-5070

TIMES genre

N.O.C.I.

PRINTERS AND

क

WE CHRONICLE

Pride Family Reunion 1997

Saturday, June 28

9th Annual Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual Pride Parade & Festival Assembly @ 11, Rally @ 11:30, Step-Off @noon, Trinity Church Festival 12-7 PM @ Pier Park (end of East Ninth)

music▼ dance stage ▼ food court▼ beer garden lots of grass-bring blankets & Frisbees ▼ gospel jam-bring your percussion ▼ over 100 vendors on the triangle ▼

Meetings every Wednesday at the Center, 1418 West 29th It's not too late to get involved! Call 216-556-5070

Special Guest

Artist

Anne E. DeChant

Nicki Benjamin

Wedge

Deirdre Mackey

Financial Advisors

Dana Austin

CURVE

Eric Brouman

megazine