Fierce in New York
On “No House To Call My Home”
A few weeks ago, I read the book No House to Call My Home, published this year by Nation Books. This book is a short, light read, at about 260 large-text pages. It took me about five hours to read in a single afternoon and evening. However, I must warn any would-be-reader to grab a box of tissues, and have someone on standby to hug and say “I love you” to especially handy, because the subject matter of this book is rough. Very rough.
The book follows the lives of about a dozen queer and trans youth for about a year through the eyes of the author, who worked as a counselor and case worker in the Queens and Brooklyn boroughs of New York.
No House is somewhat timely, given the increased attention to trans and queer issues by more “mainstream” and wider media outlets. However, it serves as a reminder of the much darker side to the reality facing queer and trans youth today. Unless you are extremely lucky, the harsh realities of “real life” will slap you in the face, knock you down at every turn, and laugh at you as you try to get up.
This book strikes a particular chord with me. My heart goes out to these kids, who are (mostly, as tragedy does happen all too often) grown up now. Though, not because I sympathize or pity them, but because I was once a homeless kid myself, aimlessly wandering the Midwest and the streets of Chicago, Illinois in 2006. I relate to them, and admire them.
“Fierce,” is a word that I would use to describe these kids. Fierce is a funny word that gets thrown around a lot in queer and trans culture today. It is starting to seep into the mainstream lexicon as well. Historically, though, fierce means “hostile,” “violent,” and is associated with the “savage.”
It is no coincidence that queer and trans folk turned the meaning of this word upside-down by making it into something positive. It is a special badge of sorts. A term of endearment. I think these kids, and anyone else who struggles in the face of immense cultural and institutional bias, literally embody the word. We are fierce.
