Mean

Summary: "Myriam Gurba's debut is the bold and hilarious tale of her coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana. Blending radical formal fluidity and caustic humor, Mean turns what might be tragic into piercing, revealing comedy. This is a confident, funny, brassy book that takes the cost of sexual assault, racism, misogyny, and homophobia deadly seriously. We act mean to defend ourselves from boredom and from those who would cut off our breasts. We act mean to defend our clubs and institutions. We act mean because we like to laugh. Being mean to boys is fun and a second-wave feminist duty. Being mean to men who deserve it is a holy mission. Sisterhood is powerful, but being mean is more exhilarating. Being mean isn't for everybody. Being mean is best practiced by those who understand it as an art form. These virtuosos live closer to the divine than the rest of humanity. They're queers. Myriam Gurba is a queer spoken-word performer, visual artist, and writer from Santa Maria, California. She's the author of Dahlia Season (2007, Manic D) which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, Wish You Were Me (2011, Future Tense Books), and Painting Their Portraits in Winter (2015, Manic D). She has toured with Sister Spit and her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. She lives in Long Beach, where she teaches social studies to eighth-graders"--

Record details

ISBN: 1566894913
ISBN: 9781566894913
Physical Description: 175 pages ; 21 cm
print
Publisher: Minneapolis : Coffee House Press, 2017.

Content descriptions

General Note:

"An Emily Books original."

Formatted Contents Note:

Wisdom -- English is Spanish -- The whites -- Judas and Icarus -- The problem of evil -- Googolplex -- Señorita -- Cuban interlude -- Acorn -- Mamase Mamasa Mamakusa -- Hammer -- Bonnie -- Via Dolorosa -- Something I often reflect on as an adult woman -- The unbearable whiteness of certain girls -- Crack -- Summer in Sumer -- Cyndi Lauper -- OMG -- Dorm -- Fall semester 1995 -- ID -- Magdaleno -- c c cummings -- Nicole -- Aesthetic boners -- Spring semester 1996 -- Hart Crane -- A wrinkle in time after time -- Hella Ukiyo-e -- Omnipresence -- Strawberry picker -- Exquisite corpse -- Siluetas -- I wandered lonely s a dissociated cloud -- Jeans -- Fall semester 1996 -- Transcript of a 9-1-1 call: November 15, 1996 -- Battered body found at school: mysterious phone call alerted the authorities -- Burrito -- The albatross -- Page: 17 -- Spring semester 1997 -- The other women -- Summer session 1997 -- Fall semester 1997 -- Spring semester 1998 -- Fall semester 1998 -- Spring semester 1999 -- Fall semester 1999 -- The return of Elizabitch -- The collector -- The post-traumatic bitch and the sea -- Jobs -- Doing donuts -- Capital murder -- Flower girl -- Radio.