Hello and welcome to Episode Fifty of Page Turn: the Largo Public Library Podcast. I’m your host, Hannah!
If you enjoy the podcast subscribe, tell a friend, or write us a review!
The English Language Transcript can be found below
But as always we start with Reader’s Advisory!
The Reader’s Advisory for Episode Fifty is Em by Kim Thúy. If you like the sound of Em you should also check out: The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen, America is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo, and Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian.
Bonus segment my personal favorite Goodreads list Em is on is REALLY Underrated Books (Fewer Than 1,000 Ratings)
Happy Reading Everyone
Today’s Library Tidbit is a history tidbit! Specifically, the history of and highlighting modern day celebration of Pride.
Pride is the celebration and recognition of LGBTQIA people and rights. It began in New York City but has since spread across the globe. In areas of the world where there are more LGBTQIA social acceptance and rights Pride tends to be a celebration. In areas of the world where there are few or no LGBTQIA social acceptance and rights Pride is protest. This is a simplification as of course there will always be some celebrating when LGBTQIA people gather together and there will always be protest when LGBTQIA people gather together. LGBTQIA people are still fighting for basic human rights everywhere.
The most famous initiating event for Pride was the Stonewall Uprising. While there had been protests in Chicago and California prior to June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Uprising is the protest that is gained the most publicity and sparked the most change. LGBTQIA people have faced a great deal of discrimination throughout modern history. For one example, in the 1960s everyone had to be wearing at least 3 articles of clothing of their assumed, by police, gender and if the police decided that they were not they were arrested and jailed. Just a reminder, clothing does not have a gender, so this was used to harass and imprison everyone in the LGBTQIA community at will.
The Stonewall Inn was a popular bar for the LGBTQIA community in New York. The Inn was run by the mafia who did not particularly care who used the space as long as they paid. It had no running water and was in general not in great shape. It was routinely raided by the police looking to harass and imprison people for being gay or trans or just not the right sort. On June 28th 1969, the police raided once again, but this time something different happened. As people were being loaded into police wagons a woman yelled to the standing crowd “Why don’t you guys do something?” and so they did.
The next 3 days the LGBTQIA community of New York protested against the hate crimes and police brutality they had been facing for their entire lives. But what started as loosely organized protesting soon coalesced into a movement and organized activism. Over the next few years groups formed to fight in a more organized way for gay rights in society and politics.
One year after the Stonewall Uprising one of these groups through what was called the Christopher Street Liberation Day march. Christopher being the street the Stonewall Inn is on. Simultaneously there were Gay Pride marches happening in Los Angeles and Chicago that year as well. Since then every year Gay Pride marches have grown and spread from across the US to across the globe.
Locally, St Pete Pride is the largest of the Pride gatherings. The event started in 2003 after Tampa cancelled their Pride event. What started as a modest parade down Central Ave has grown into a months long celebration with multiple events highlighting different groups of people within the LGBTQIA community. While the Mayor at the time would not sign a proclamation the now current Mayor, and then City Council member, Rick Kriseman, did sign a proclamation for the event.
In 2017, the parade route was moved from the Grand Central District to the downtown waterfront, a controversial move. Grand Central is the center of the LGBTQIA community in downtown St Pete and moving it away from that area felt like a mistake to some members of the community.
One of the more enjoyable things COVID has brought to us is the expanding of Pride from a single weekend or week to an entire month’s worth of events! Because we couldn’t gather in large numbers St Pete Pride innovated and created events spread out through the month that allowed members of the community to attend only the events that most interested them, while keeping numbers down and keeping people as safe as possible.
This year they have continued the month of events with:
Kick Off Party on June 1st, Queer-E-Okee on June 11th, Stonewall Reception on June 17th, Family Day on June 18th, Shades of Pride on June 19th, a joint Pride and Juneteenth celebration, Pride Parade on June 25th, and the Pride Street Carnival on June 26th!
Largo is also having it’s own first community Pride event! Make sure to watch out for marketing materials for that! We are also going to be marching the Pride parade on June 25th so some out and celebrate with us!
LGBTQIA people have been fighting for rights and one of those rights is the right to be visible in communities. In a world that is increasingly hostile to LGBTQIA people Pride is a time for the community to support and celebrate each other. It is about coming together to celebrate and being visible and being proud in identity. Pride is welcome to everyone, so if you aren’t a member of the LGBTQIA community but are an ally please come out to uplift LGBTQIA people.
And now it’s time for Book Traveler, with Victor:
Welcome to a new edition of Book Traveler. Today I will be talking about a new book in the Spanish collection, called The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
Synopsis: A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.
Isaiah was Samuel’s and Samuel was Isaiah’s. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master’s gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel’s love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation’s harmony.
With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets fearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.
Opinion: The main characters: Isaiah and Samuel, are on a plantation in the South of the United States and oversee a stable that becomes for them a refuge within hell. Although they carry all the leading weight, they rely on the women of the plantation/tribe, where Sarah is perhaps the one who best reflects and preserves the magical and matriarchal past. Slaves work to exhaustion, physical punishment is inhumane, and women are systematically raped in order to get them pregnant and provide future slave labor.
In this context, the relationship between Isaiah and Samuel generates misunderstanding and contempt among other slaves, who fear repercussions for all of them if all this reaches the ears of the masters. Fortunately, they also receive the empathy and affection of others. The author does not focus solely on his protagonists, but rather draws a portrait of many of those who live –or rather, live poorly– on the plantation.
I was struck by this novel’s synopsis and the historical framework, but I have taken with me the pain of the African American community. In the novel, the author shows us the most intimate moments, the deepest and most confused feelings and thoughts of the characters. We are witnesses of loves without gender, only feelings, of rebellion, of ancestral rituals that are abruptly interrupted by men without skin (the white ones), and new rituals are implanted and an omnipotent god that constantly contradicts himself.
There are moments in the plot that have been very hard for me, the author does not worry about making the plot more digestible, he gives it to you raw, and thus we are aware of the deepest pain that a human can feel. These kinds of readings are much needed.
The parts that have been most confusing to me are those that were linked to the spiritual past of the tribes, with the ancestral spirits that if you do not know then you are lost.
And what I liked the most is the weight given to primitive matriarchal societies where women carried all the weight of the tribe, and where love was not defined by gender, not even gender was defined.
This reading is highly recommended to read and reflect on.
Outro: That’s all for today. Until the next edition of Book Traveler. Bye now.
Thanks everyone for listening some upcoming library events to keep track of:
July 1st – Family Trivia Night: DC Comics at 4:00pm in the Children’s Program Room
-Registration is Required
July 5th – Happily Ever Crafter: Marvelous Mythology at 2:00pm in the Children’s Program Room
July 6th – Intermediate Excel at 2:00pm in the Adult Program Room
-Registration is Required
July 7th – Teen Write-In at 1:00pm in the Teen Program Room
July 8th – Madrigal Sing-Along at 2:00pm in the Children’s Program Room
-Registration is Required
July 11th – Chill Out & Make Ice Cream at 6:00pm in the Adult Program Room
-Registration is Required
July 12th – Occupation Research at 1:00pm in the Local History and on Zoom
-Registration is Required for the Zoom Portion Only
July 13th – Exploring Community Resources at 2:00pm in the Adult Program Room
-Registration is Required
July 14th – Tween Time: Pineapple Nail Board Art at 4:00pm in the Children’s Program Room
-Registration is Required
July 15th – Melt Bead Mania at 1:00pm in the Children’s Program Room
July 19th – Campfire Wood Slice Painting at 6:00pm in Jenkins Room B
-Registration is Required
July 20th – Adults Sign Language – Beginner at 6:00pm in Jenkins Room A
July 22nd – Robot Invasion at 2:00pm in the Children’s Program Room
-Registration is Required
July 25th – Dye Yellow with Osage Sawdust at 6:00pm in the Adult Program Room
-Registration is Required
July 26th – DNA Basics III – Ancestry.com at 11:00am in Jenkins Room C
July 27th – Getting Started with YouTube at 2:00pm in the Adult Program Room
-Registration is Required
July 28th – Code Squad at 4:00pm in the STEAM Spot
-Registration is Required
For everyone interested our intro music is by Break the Bans and the outro music is by Jahzzar, both artists can be found on Free Music Archive.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:01 — 20.9MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Email | RSS | More