Rhamah Norris "Leaving"

This is definitely one of the most interesting pieces I have read so far this semester. This story recounts the journey of a girl discovering and owning her sexuality…or lack thereof. What the speaker reveals to us is not happening in real-time, but each revelation is paced nicely to give the audience a believable taste of Beth’s changing perception of herself over the years. What Beth ultimately wants is a firm grasp of her own identity; she does not want to fit a mold or stereotype, but have a hold on that which is uniquely her. What this story does effectively is get across a powerful central idea: before being gay or straight, one is simply a person, and that is it. Maybe I am misreading this story’s intention, but that is what it felt like to me and it was very impressive.

Over the course of Beth’s childhood and adolescence, she changes in some areas but remains the same in others. The most important way she changes is, of course, in the way she understands herself. The very first page did a great job of conveying Beth’s initial internal state. Statements such as “I was right there next to her, declaring myself to be bisexual and proud. And I was. Proud, I mean, not bisexual” reveals someone who is searching for a way to define themselves. I was confused upon first reading this, but it works in this story because you have the speaker herself identify her and her audience’s befuddlement. This reassured me that I was going to get answers to my questions. Where I would change some of the ambiguity, however, is in regards to the gender of the speaker. Up until the second page, I was not entirely convinced of whether a male or female was talking to me. Granted, there are a few hints before we explicitly find out, but I do not think this is something you want your audience to be guessing about for the whole first page.

I found myself blazing through these six pages, and I attribute this to the skill and ease with which the characters interact and develop. The concept of asexuality is something rather novel to me, and I found it be and intriguing and engaging bit of story matter. All in all, only a few changes need to be made at the beginning of this story to make it an even more captivating piece.