November 10, 2000

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

The kids are all right

a multicultural queer youth anthology

revolutionary voices

edited by amy sonnie

with an introduction by margot kelley rodriguez

"This anthology is not just for

the youth that give up, or hide, but also those who choose to stand up and fight for their lives, their identities.”

Revolutionary Voices

A Multicultural

Queer Youth Anthology Edited by Amy Sonnie

Alyson, $11.95 trade paperback

Reviewed by Anthony Glassman

War is hell, and school is war. The first half of that sentence is a maxim so old that Patton probably heard it when he was a kid. The second half is common knowledge to anyone who can remember their school years without the warping effect of nostalgia completely skewing their perceptions. Trying to fit in, be liked, be "one of the gang," involves a lot of hiding for queer youth, and a lot of kids can't, or won't, hide who and what they are. For these students life can be almost unbearable, hence the disproportionate number of LGBT youth in teen suicide statistics. It's truly a shame, and it's a shame that it's true, but there it is. Many queer kids drop out of school, or turn to drugs, or live on the streets.

This anthology is for, and by, them. Not just the youth that give up, or hide, but also those who choose to stand up and fight for their lives, their identities.

Primarily composed of poetry and essays, there are also a few confessional prose pieces and even a lengthy performance piece at the end. There are also a few more visual artworks included in the collection.

Sonnie has done an incredible job of representing the various colors making up our rainbow; gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, Asian, Indian, Native American, Latino, Arabic, European, African American, and several mixes of the above share their perspectives on being queer, being a minority, living in a white, Christian, middle-class heterosexual male world when you might not fit any of those categories.

In any other review of an anthology, you would expect comments on some of the outstanding, and perhaps, underwhelming stories in the collection. Doing that with this book would be an injustice, as well as serving no practical purpose. You can grade someone's work; you cannot grade someone's life, and virtually everything in this book is confessional, autobiographical. The writers, poets and artists in Revolutionary Voices have pulled their souls out and smeared them across the page, telling others who may be scared, lonely, hurting, that they are not alone, others have dealt with similar situations and survived.

With a view towards the purpose of the anthology, Alyson Publications has decided to donate copies of the book to LGBT youth organizations.

"The sad fact is, that the very people who would benefit most from this book, may be the very ones to whom it is most unavailable," said Alyson's associate editor, Angela Brown. "This donation will hopefully go a long way towards remedying that.”

"As young writers and artists we are creating our own narratives," Amy Sonnie wrote in a letter to youth educators and service providers, "and through this anthology we are recording what would otherwise be discarded."

Any youth group or center interested in receiving free copies of the book should send a request on letterhead to Alyson, attention Dan Cullinane, 6922 Hollywood Blvd, Suite 1000, Los Angeles, California 90028; or fax on letterhead to 323467-0152.

Hopefully, this book will find its way, sooner or later, into the hands of every queer youth who most needs it, who needs the affirmation, the approbation, and, most of all, the knowledge that she or he is not alone.