How Beautiful the Ordinary

Years ago when I started this blog, I did so because I wanted to leave traces for myself of my life...the ordinary, the extraordinary and everything else, too. I've been lax on posting for quite a while. I could say it's because I've been busy, but I also know that we all have time for the things that we make time for.

I just finished reading the anthology How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity (2009) edited by Michael Cart. As with most anthologies, there were some stories I really loved, and others I struggled to finish reading. By far, one of my favorites in this collection is David Levithan's "A Word From the Nearly Distant Past." (Not surprising given my love of Levithan's other novels.) I particularly enjoyed the point of view of the "nearly distant past." It's a position I'm identifying with more and more, especially in light of my most recent birthday. And, of course, Levithan's story had my favorite line from the whole book:

Freedom isn't just about voting and marrying and kissing on the street, although all of these things are important. Freedom is also about what you will allow yourself to do. (11)

An increasingly important sentiment, not only for us as individuals, but also for our queer communities as well as soceity-at-large in this time of legislative change.