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The best personal essays from a contested region, from Belt Publishing’s ten years as a press. Many have an opinion on what the Rust Belt is. It’s the "blue wall," "Trump country," the "flyover states," or the “real America.” Or maybe, as our own president has said, it's a place that no longer exists called by a name that has long outlived its usefulness. But undeniably, there’s something that connects the region. Maybe the question isn’t what defines that connection, but who. Over the past ten years, Belt Publishing has been putting out books that prioritize the voices of the many people who live here. We’ve collected our favorite writing from our dozens of anthologies, from Pittsburgh to Gary, Chicago to St. Louis, Milwaukee to Cleveland, and more, documenting growing up in segregated St. Louis and elucidating the coded Islamophobia of southern Michigan. Featuring LaToya Ruby Frazier, Connie Schultz, Brian Broome, Megan Stielstra, Vivian Gibson, Aaron Foley, Kathleen Rooney, Sarah Kendzior, Phil Christman, and more.
“A collection of prose and poetry that aims to challenge clichés about LGBTQ+ life in the Midwest and Appalachia.” —The Buckeye Flame The middle of America―the Midwest, Appalachia, the Rust Belt, the Great Plains, the Upper South―is a queer place, and it always has been. The queer people of its cities, farms, and suburbs do not exist only to serve as “blue dots” within “red states.” Every story about a kid from Iowa who steps off the bus in Manhattan, ready to “finally” live, is a story about a kid who was already living in Iowa. Sweeter Voices Still is about that kid and has been written by people like them. This collection features queer voices you might recognize―...
“A dazzling portrait of a Midwestern city whose relationships among socio-economics, religion, civil rights, and class are consistently complex” (Kirkus). St. Louis is a fragmented place. It’s physically dissected by rivers, highways, walls, and fences, but it’s also a place where one’s race, class, religion, and zip code may as well be cards in a rigged poker game, where the losers face a dramatically shorter life expectancy. But despite these many divisions, St. Louis can also be a city of warmth, love, and beauty―especially in its contrasts. This collection features nearly seventy essays penned by St. Louis writers, journalists, clerics, poets, and activists including Aisha Sultan, Galen Gritts, Vivian Gibson, Maja Sadikovic, Nartana Premachandra, Sophia Benoit, Robert Langellier, Samuel Autman, Umar Lee, and more. Here you’ll learn about: The rent strike of 1969 Religious life in Pruitt-Igoe public housing Protest art in Ferguson Segregation in the Vandeventer neighborhood A church closing in Kinloch And much more.
"I've lived a completely ordinary life, so much that I don't know how to write a transgender or queer or Appalachian story, because I don't feel like I've lived one.... Though, in searching for ways to write myself in my stories, maybe I can find power in this ordinariness." Raised in southeast Ohio, Stacy Jane Grover would not describe her upbringing as "Appalachian." Appalachia existed farther afield—more rural, more country than the landscape of her hometown. Grover returned to the places of her childhood to reconcile her identity and experience with the regional culture and with the people who had raised her. She began to reflect on her memories and discovered that group identities lik...
An NPR Best Book: “[Jolie's] story is both remarkable and utterly ordinary; any dreamy kid who grew up broke and weird will see a spark of themselves.” ―The New Republic One of NPR’s Best Books of 2020 Winner, Independent Publisher Awards Gold Medal for LGBTQ+ nonfiction Raechel Anne Jolie’s early life in a working-class Cleveland exurb was full of race cars, Budweiser-drinking men covered in car grease, and the women who loved them. After her father came home from his third-shift job, took the garbage out to the curb and was hit by a drunk driver, her life changed. Raechel and her mother struggled for money: they were evicted, went days without utilities, and took their trauma out...
Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness dives into his favourite subjects in Love That Story, a collection of heartfelt and entertaining essays. From experiencing heartbreaking grief to uncovering the hidden LGBTQ history of his hometown, Quincy, from overcoming body image issues and living with HIV to cultivating his personal style, JVN speaks out a wide range of topics with heart, honesty and flair. He not only shares his personal experiences, but with the help of conversations with experts, he also offers captivating perspectives on the wide number of issues we are dealing with today: the current nature of race issues in the US, the rise of white supremacy, transphobia and imposter syndrome. Love That Story is not just the story of JVN, but the story we are writing together.
The journey to self-love can seem treacherous, especially in times of struggle. In this book, spiritual leader and bestselling author Teal Swan reveals that self-love is always achievable, whatever the circumstances. Through a comprehensive self-love toolkit, she shows you how to love yourself and heal your life. In this revised and updated edition of the popular Shadows Before Dawn, Teal bares her own experiences as an alienated extrasensory child and victim of abuse, revealing how she turned her life around, overcame self-hate and transformed her suffering into self-love and joy. To guide you on your own journey of healing and transformation, Teal shares the 29 extraordinary methods and techniques that she used to find self-love. These life-changing tools will help you to develop self-worth, practice self-love, learn to "fill your own cup", love your body and step into your purpose. Fans of The Anatomy of Loneliness will appreciate this no-nonsense guide from Teal on how to love yourself, even when life gets tough.
Prince's position in popular culture has undergone only limited academic scrutiny. This book provides an academic examination of Prince, encompassing the many layers of his cultural and creative impact. It assesses Prince's life and legacy holistically, exploring his multiple identities and the ways in which they were manifested through his recorded catalogue and audiovisual personae. In 17 essays organized thematically, the anthology includes a diverse range of contributions - taking ethnographic, musicological, sociological, gender studies and cultural studies approaches to analysing Prince's career.
Galvanizing and electrifying glimpses from the brink of the contemporary Craft This eclectic collection of essays on responsible witchcraft is a fascinating snapshot of contemporary occult practice. Essay topics include the ethics of decolonization, meditations on what it means to honour Mother Earth during the Anthropocene, the reclamation of agency for working-class and queer witches through practical spellwork, a gender-fluid perspective on breaking down traditional hierarchies in magical symbolism, a day in the life of a disabled Pagan Irish practitioner, and so much more. These essays show how we can all find inspiration and a force for powerful change in the modern Craft. Featuring contributions from: Claire Askew, Lisa Marie Basile, Stella Hervey Birrell, Jane Claire Bradley, Madelyn Burnhope, Lilith Dorsey, AW Earl, Harry Josephine Giles, Simone Kotva, Iona Lee, Briana Pegado, Megan Rudden, Sabrina Scott, Em Still and Alice Tarbuck
Black Love Matters is an in-depth qualitative analysis that focuses on a diverse group of adult black men and their attitudes towards behavior in marriage and romantic relationships. To give voice to the men’s narratives, Black Love Matters follows the men for four years, chronicling the experiences and the circumstances shaping their relationship trajectories. Highlights include discussions related to the roles that sex, infidelity, intimacy, trauma, family of origin, masculinity, and environmental factors play in the men’s attitudes and behaviors. Given the dearth of literature on black men featuring first-hand accounts from them, Black Love Matters makes a significant contribution to the existing literature that seems to be disproportionately focused on implicating black men in discussions of what ills their families and communities.