What A Teacher Can Do

Boy Meets Boy would be an exciting text to teach in a secondary classroom. I have no doubt about that, and I would support teachers who would teach it. At the same time there are many steps, approaches, and texts one could take to bring issues of sexual orientation into the classroom, steps that might be easier and less risky to take.

I wonder if we could identify a number of such actions??

Color Purple

One of the most touching books (and a film) with homosexual themes that I know is The Color Purple. The color lavendar is long associated with homosexuality -- Sapho is said to have worn purple flowers, there is the Lavendar Magazine, the Lavendar Library, the Lavendar Web.

Boy Meets Boy

OK, I am going to begin by admitting that I cried at the end of the book. There was something beautiful and celebratory about a world where people could be who they feel themselves to be.

Edwardo Galeano says "La utopia esta en el horizonte. Me acerco dos pasos, ella se aleja dos pasos. Camino diez pasos y el horizonte se desplazo diez pasos mas alla. Por mucho que camine, nunca la alcanzare. Porque sirve la utopia? Para eso: sirve para caminar." ("Utopia is located at the horizon. I take two steps toward it, and it moves two steps away. I walk ten steps, and the horison moves ten steps farther from me. As much as I walk, I will never reach it. What purpose does utopia serve? It serves this purpose: it makes us walk.")

I think, in this sense, Boy Meets Boy offers a utopia that can inspire us to take steps in the right direction.

There is much to appreciate about this book. I like the portrait of Tony and his family. I like the intelligence and creativity attributed to high school sophomores. I like the idea of pancakes shaped like provinces.