Speaking of Spirit

Queering the American Dream by Angela Yarber is an exciting, funny, heartwarming book full of stories of strong, fierce women who helped inspire Angela and her family as they lived their dream. One of the things that I enjoyed the most about this book was how down to earth and real it was. Angela's stories of the trials and tribulations of crossing the country, camping in a tiny trailer in the wilds of the US with a toddler and dealing with family issues back home left me laughing, crying, and eager to read more. Intertwined with the adventures that Angela and her wife met head on, are the stories of "Subversive Sister Saints," one of which hangs proudly in my living room reminding me daily that I can be fierce, strong, courageous as well as soft, kind, and gentle.  Subversive Sister Saints are the growing collection of paintings created by Angela, an ordained minister, in order to process the pain and hurt of being an openly lesbian clergy. While on the outside, it look...

Today, I have the great pleasure to share my blog with a fellow academic, writer, artist, activist, and minister, Angela Yarber .  Angela and I met online when I was drawn to her "Subversive Sister Saints," one of which now hangs proudly in my living room. I was so impressed with her work and advocacy that I wrote a blog post about her and her art.   You can find it here . However, today is a time for Angela to share some thoughts on why it is important to publish marginalized authors. This is the topic I chose for her to write upon as part of her Women in Writing blog tour for her book, Queering the American Dream .  So, without further ado, I welcome my subversive sister, Angela Yarber! ~~~~  Did you know that only 16% of published authors identify as LGBTQIA+? Even worse, only 11% are BIPOC.  As a queer woman, these aren’t simply statistics but my lived reality. And after I had my first seven books published with four different presses, it dawned on me t...