LGBTQ - Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

It’s About You Too: Reducing the Overwhelm for Parents of LGBTQ+ Kids

By Scott J. Pearson | June 23, 2024June 23, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

As LGBTQ+ people recently have gained increased societal acceptance, more children become “out” and self-aware of themselves, often at a young age. This effect is a good thing because it prevents youth from feeling oppressed for who they are. The social support for those “coming out” is increasing, but support for parents of those children is presently lacking. Mostly, parents are admonished to be supportive, but they usually lack a safe space to sort out…

Personal Essays Politics

Tennessee & the Ongoing Struggle for Civil Rights

By Scott J. Pearson | March 9, 2023March 9, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

My adopted home state of Tennessee has made itself a new front in the ongoing struggle for civil, human rights. Historically, like the weather that passes through, it’s been a home to many crosswinds. Slavery was legal in Tennessee. In the era of the Civil War, east Tennessee was significantly anti-slavery and pro-Union, and Tennessee was one of the first states to be reincorporated into the Union. Yet Tennessee was also the birthplace of Nathan…

Healthcare Society

Bodies & Barriers: Queer Activists on Health

By Scott J. Pearson | November 14, 2022November 14, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Healthcare matters, almost by definition, are anxiety-ridden events. Few, if any, people go to doctors for mere enjoyment. If added to that anxiety lies further anxiety about who one loves or how one feels comfortable about their own body, the outcome of a medical transaction can be negatively impacted. Negative healthcare outcomes can lead to decreased quality of life or even length of life. Few people would wish for this, even for people who think,…

Fiction-Stories

Uncharted Waters: A Short Story

By Scott J. Pearson | November 5, 2022November 5, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

A traditional love triangle occurs when one party forms an amorous relationship with two other people. However, it’s a relatively unexplored (i.e., “uncharted”) topic when those two other people fall for each other. Strict gender roles have historically prevented authors from going there, but in this short story, Hepworth pushes the envelope to explore a new facet of a love triangle. Ella and Chloe are both passengers on a cruise ship off the coast of…

Mentoring Society

Critical Mentoring: A Practical Guide

By Scott J. Pearson | September 16, 2022September 16, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

The next generation is always society’s most important resource, so it follows that mentoring youth is an important activity. The author Weiston-Serdan leads a non-profit network of youth mentors in Southern California. She encounters situations where mentors have to unpack social baggage that can hold youth back – issues like race, gender, class, and sexuality. These issues are often classified under the label of critical theory, issues where power relationships can exist. Therefore, her message…

Fiction-Stories HIV/AIDS Humanities

The Great Believers: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | June 20, 2022June 20, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

I find the topic of HIV and AIDS absolutely fascinating – from the horrific sufferings of gay men to its origins in Haiti and Africa, from the elusiveness of the virus away from antivirals to biomedical efforts to limits its transmission, from AZT and HAART therapy to bone marrow transplants, from political stigma and oppression by GOP leaders to GOP efforts to cure the African epidemic, from the frustrating story of decades-long search for an…

Fiction-Stories HIV/AIDS

The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer

By Scott J. Pearson | September 10, 2021September 10, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Larry Kramer was an outspoken advocate in the 1980s, the early days of the AIDS epidemic. While many in the gay community were caught up in celebrating hard-fought sexual freedoms, Kramer argued that these freedoms must be curtailed somehow to protect against biological disease. This position, unfortunately, won him scorn from many fellow gays. However, he wrote this award-winning play in 1985 to advocate for his position while shining the light on what it was…

Fiction-Stories

The Vanishing Half: A Novel by Brit Bennett

By Scott J. Pearson | July 2, 2021July 2, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

This story contains themes from many strands of life: race, grief, family, sexuality, LGBTQI+ issues, authenticity, estrangement, speaking lies or truth, and self-determination. None of these predominate in the narrative; rather, they seem to dwell together in just the right amount. Perhaps that’s why it’s won so much acclamation since being published a year ago. Bennett’s tale begins in a small town in Louisiana with an African-American family under Jim Crow. The father was lynched…

Biography-Memoir Society

Black Boy out of Time

By Scott J. Pearson | February 23, 2021March 11, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Ziyad is a black, queer male writer from Cleveland, who now lives in New York City and uses the pronouns they/them (which shall be used in this review). They write about his struggles forming an identity in a world that seems violent and hostile to his health. While such an environment exists in some part for most children, Ziyad seems to have a particularly difficult time given a multi-religious home, public schooling that seemed to…

Management-Business Science

Diversity in the Workplace: Eye-Opening Interviews to Jumpstart Conversations about Identity, Privilege, and Bias

By Scott J. Pearson | September 30, 2020September 30, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Issues exposing unconscious bias have gripped my home country, the United States of America. Books like this help us address these issues in quiet pages before they escalate onto the street. Williams collects interviews from a diverse group of people in the workplace. Together, these can serve as ways for workers to understand their colleagues nearby. She groups these interviews into five parts: Race, women, LGBTQ+, age and ability, and religion and culture. The latter…