It has been three months since my last post here. We are all doing pretty damn fine. Will is over two and gabbing up a storm. She sings and dances like mad.
Her favorite songs: you are my sunshine, do re mi (I love her obsession with this song cause I get my own personal Julie Andrews fix about three times a week when we watch a you tube of the song from Sound of Music), and twinkle twinkle little star.
Since I have no time for this blog, I started a new blog. No, for serious. I did. I know, totally silly because I already am such a slacker over on this blog. This new blog is of a very different nature, in some respects, than Injection Reflections.
In the past, I have blogged here about my love of queer fiction and non-fiction and the little bits of queer dust--ever-present but hard to find little floaties--in pop-culture (though getting less hard to find).
Well, I read queer and lesbian fiction like it is going out of style. During my sleepless nights (yes, I have blogged here over the years about my serious insomnia, too), I suck down pulpy, sometimes a bit trashy, other times a little formulaic, still other times absolutely enthralling and interesting, romantic, fascinating, heart stuttering, sometimes boring, lesbian and/or queer centric novels.
This new blog is called The Seam of Her Jeans
I intend for it to be a sort of quick review blog. I do not want to get too in-depth. I want the reviews to mostly turn people on to the fact that a book is out there and maybe folks might want to give the book a whirl on their own. And, of course, every now and again, I will be sure to ramble on about some kind of critical theory/other BS that makes me feel self-important and smart.
See, in talking with friends, I often refer to a lesbian romance or queer young adult novel or lesbian themed book that I am reading. And, then we start talking and I go on and on about this book and that book. My friends show genuine interest and then they say, "write this shit up." (Or maybe they really just want me to shut up :) ).
All in all, that's what I intend for this blog to be. A mostly quick, fun, light hearted, but sometimes critical look into les and queer fiction. And, at times, I hope to have guest bloggers write up their findings.
For those of you who know me, you might know that I like to talk about sexuality, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, lovemaking, and so on. The cool thing about much of the lesbian and queer themed fiction out there is that it unabashedly exclaims and claims the reality that we (queers and lesbians) have sex. I know, I know sometimes that is what the problem is in the minds of our heterosexual "foes" or ignorant neighbors and family members. People's imaginations that go right into our bedrooms (or kitchens, or dining rooms, or stairways). But, really, what makes me different from my sisters, besides my politics and interests and hair and clothes and other parts of my life choices, is the fact that I do not have sex with male anatomy. I do not want it in my bedroom or on the stairs or in the kitchen. I see these novels as a reclamation of the thing that we are sometimes forced to not talk about because that is the very thing that may make us into the other. The fact that I look and dress like what many perceive to be a dude and have sex with women are the very two things that make me--to some--perverted, deplorable, disgusting, and otherized to the point of marginalizing me and my family in both the larger governmental sphere and in more common social and religious settings.
There is something profoundly liberating that queer people are out there creating stories about the pleasure they seek and gain with (and within) one another. Queer people get turned on and do something about it, and much of this fiction unfolds with plots wrapped around some beautiful sex and other very dramatic stuff.
My new blog has a whole page on Why? The Seam of Her Jeans. But, really briefly about the title itself, I gave the blog this title because in reading through many of these books, women get hot over and over again and over and over again this line--the seam of her jeans or the seam of her pants-- (or one very similar to it) keeps coming up in various novels by various authors. So, a woman will be all hot and bothered and practically explode from the touch of the hard fabric of her pants. This storytelling tool just tickles the shit out of me. Hence, the name of the blog.
I do plan to stop on by Injection Reflections every now and again and post on the perils and triumphs of participating in the growing up of my kid and other things that make me think all deep and thoughtful. I have yet to totally abandon this nearly 6 year old blog...So, read my new rambles if you feel so inclined.
