Friday, June 4, 2010

Please Don't Kill the Freshman by Zoe Trope

Born in 1986, Zoe Trope was 14 and 15 when she wrote about her life in Portland, Oregon. She used pseudonyms like 'braid bitch,' 'wonka boy,' and 'vegan grrl' to protect people's identities. Zoe has a huge crush on her best friend, a gay boy she calls 'linux shoe.' She struggles with identity, resisting labels, and falls in love with a woman (Scully) who then transitions to a man (Skull). The best way to get a feel for Zoe's unique and brilliant style is to read it:

"I don't understand girls who -- wait, never mind, I just don't understand girls. Especially the ones who smear their faces with brightly colored crap every chance they get. I want to shove that lipstick pencil into her eye. Oh, the people you can judge while riding public transportation."

"Tomboy lesbians in white Adidas shoes with sharp spiky hair and sometimes glasses break my heart. Maybe I'm just a stupid lipstick lesbian. Or bisexual. Or something. If I was a gay man, I could be catty and witty and bitchy and gay and it could be so much fun. I'd actually have a reason to be at a pride parade instead of just being... confused."

"Teenagers shouldn't write about love, ever. They sound like pineapples in a blender."

"My poor parents. The shit I put them through. I am the reason why I don't want to have kids."

"My girlfriend turned into my boyfriend and didn't even ask my permission. [...] I love him for who he is and pretend pronouns don't matter but the truth is I can't keep the story straight. I don't know if he's a boy now and he's still a boy in the past, or if all my memories of her are now memories of him. I'm not worried about the future as much as I'm worried about the past. About keeping my memories real and not sacrificing them to match the present. I don't think you meant to change my sexuality with the switch of a pronoun but you did. Now I'm the girl with a boyfriend and just when it was getting easy for me to be a lesbian, you turn me straight again."

"I'm so sick of lying. I'm so sick of telling the truth. I want another option."

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