EEDA Newsletter Vol 5, Res 12: Patreon, Queer Liberation Library, & a Book on Asexuality
This is a public issue of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice. Feel free to share it!
Hi friends! We have been having a very food-centric (like, extra food-centric) week. On Saturday, we picked up our first CSA bag, contents pictured here:
The other day, I saw a video on Instagram and immediately yelled, “We have to go!” It was a video that taught me about Omnivore Books, one of only ten(?) culinary bookstores in the United States. Omnivore Books on Food is here in San Francisco and it is an absolute wonderland. It is not large but the selection was mind-blowing. I wanted to buy a lot more than I did and believe me, I bought a lot. They have frequent author visits and the staff was impressively knowledgeable.
On Sunday, we went on our annual queer fruit adventure where we go cherry-picking, then stop by a small farm stand that has the best strawberries I have ever tasted in my life, then we stop at In-n-Out Burger. This year I brought my pickup so we all piled into the bed of my truck or used the tailgate as a walk-up counter to eat. A+ would recommend!
Exciting announcement: So, we have a Patreon for folks who want to support our podcast and we are working on rolling out perks to paid subscribers. This week, we’ve added a tier for folks who want to support both the podcast and subscribe to this newsletter. Separately, the entry level on Patreon is $3/month and this newsletter is a minimum of $6/month. The new Patreon tier lets you have both for $8/month, a discounted rate! You’ll also get access to a couple of the paid benefits we already have on offer.
In this week's EEDA Pod episode, “A Starting Place to Learn About Pride & the Queer Community,” we give a Queer 101 for straight folks who want to learn more about Pride and the queer community but don’t know where to start. It’s a place for straight folks to learn some foundational information and get recommendations for further resources and for our queer community to be able to pass this episode on to lift some of that “educator” burden.
Note: if you listen, there is a clarification/expansion in the show notes about one section.
You can find our show, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts.
It’s resource week! Let’s get to it.
Resource 1: Queer Liberation Library
The Queer Liberation Library (QLL) is a digital library that notes on it’s homepage that it “is fighting to build a vibrant, flourishing queer future by connecting LGBTQ+ people with literature, information, and resources that celebrate the unique and empowering diversity of our community.” A digital library is a collection of digital items (books, documents, audio, video, digitized photos, etc.) that not only curates the collections but makes the collections available to other people. The Queer Liberation Library (QLL) is, specifically, books by and about queer people. The QLL is not tied to a place and anyone can apply online to get a free library card. Their collection is available through Libby, which is what I personally use for almost all of my other library cards. The QLL is important and increasingly so, with the onslaught of book bans on queer books. The QLL helps give everyone access to queer books, regardless of jurisdiction. And like I said, it’s free.99!
Their collection continues to grow and they accept both recommendations for books to add to the collection as well as donations to keep the project going.
Resource 2: A Quick & Easy Guide to Asexuality by Molly Muldoon & Will Hernandez
I am a big fan of this informational graphic novel series. These are small guides that can fit in a large pocket and this particular one is under 80 pages. The intention is to give an overview, dispel some myths and stereotypes, offer some advice, and have a few references at the end for further education.
This is a helpful book for people who are asexual (aka ace), folks questioning whether they might be ace, and anyone who wants to understand a bit about asexuality. It is written and illustrated by folks who are ace themselves. While these things are not depicted in graphic detail, there are mentions of sexual violence, acephobia, depression, rejection and invalidation, and medical discrimination.
Since this is a quick and easy guide it is by no means comprehensive. Asexuality isn’t widely understood by most people in our society and this book wants to offer a positive exploration. The authors go over basic questions such as, “What is asexuality?” As with many things, asexuality is a spectrum and this book gives a bit of an overview of that, though being ace is different for everyone. I love how this book doesn’t make assumptions about what people may or may not already know.
There’s a fun cake metaphor that is used when describing different expressions of asexuality and I was happy to see it illustrated and included in this book. If you’re not familiar with the cake metaphor, then you are in for a treat (pun intended).
Along with general information, Muldoon and Hernandez also offer some personal shares about how asexuality is for them and their experiences. Learning about something academically is great but it is so helpful to connect what we learn from actual people’s lived experiences. There are sections on dating, growing up ace, and much more. The amount of information they have packed into this book is impressive. Most importantly, this book seeks to normalize asexuality and let folks know that they’re not alone.
Recent & Current Reads
Inclusion of a book in this section is not necessarily a recommendation and these books won’t necessarily be added to my Bookshop.
Recently Read:
Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
Unexploded Remnants by Elaine Gallagher (out 6/25)
Lore Olympus: Volume 6 by Rachel Smythe
Currently Reading:
Dancing on My Own: Essays on Art, Collectivity, and Joy by Simon Wu (out 6/25)
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston (out 8/6)
Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook: A Cookbook by Sohla El-Waylly and a forward by Samin Nosrat
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror edited by Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams (Yes, I am still working on this. I got through one particular story and it thoroughly creeped me out so I’ve set it aside)
That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work. Or you can leave me a tip on Ko-fi, Paypal, or Venmo.
If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481.
You can find our podcast, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts.