VICISSITUDES

  “Love is all there is.” Kim Green’s Morgan from Vicissitudes It has been a tragic week for America. It has been a week that proves that we are a country gagged by hatred and division. And it all came to life in a heinous display of political theater that has left most of us feeling lost and helpless.   In this fragile time that is painfully regressive but so delightfully transformative at the same time, humanity has reached a critical crossroads. Should we, in our metamorphosis, go back into the dark or trudge forward to the light. The events in Washington, DC illustrate that there are too many people who are stuck in a backwards mode that pulls them further away from light and love.  As delusionists march around defending a fantasy, they are denying the love within. So many of these irrational human beings want to destroy everything in their path that acknowledges the need to widen the circle of love .  As they charged the Capitol, wreaking havoc; murdering a police officer, trampl

" My colleagues call them “animals.”…If only the white man could recognize what need really looks like.” Kim Green’s Jahn from Vicissitudes The word “animal” has been associated with men of color for as long as white men enslaved them. Black men in particular have lived with this label and the humiliating white gaze that goes with it for centuries.  The evidence exists in lopsided incarceration rates, disparities in sentencing, an expensive and expanding prison industrial complex, educational shortfalls in underserved communities, and most notably, blatant police brutality. On one hand,  Black men are showcased as icons of physical and athletic prowess, but more often dismissed as scapegoats and objects of disdain and blame.  In Vicissitudes , Jahn is a Black man, invisible; left on his own with deep fears of joblessness and ostracism that many men of color face. Not to mention Black transmen . Hiding so much of who he really is, leaves Jahn adrift. He has never been able to disc

  “She did nothing except try to talk me out of who I am.” Kim Green’s Rene from Vicissitudes For some, there is a natural instinct to try to change things that cannot be changed.  When a person, shares their most profound truth with the world, if we don’t like what we hear, some tend to ignore and deflect this precious moment of trust. Gay and trans people are among the many who face this egregious type of disbelief when they’ve revealed themselves. It is how Conversion Therapy was born. The cruel and often violent practice of trying to excise that which doesn’t seem to “fit” is an extreme response to our culture’s inability to accept reality when it’s not our own.  Those who respond to an LGBT person’s disclosure  with dismissive comments such as “it’s just a phase” or “grow your hair” or “find a nice girl/boyfriend are ultimately practicing their own form of Conversion Therapy.     This must stop.  In Vicissitudes , my character, Rene, laments about her troubled relationship with he

Transformation begins here.   “Maybe you’re the animals, the perverts, teaching men that their dicks are their highest prize.”  Kim Green’s Jahn from Vicissitudes What does it really mean to be a “man?” For me, this question persists.   We are living in a world strangled by a dangerously patriarchal perspective: The male phallus is the central indicator of manhood.   How can we build a world of men where strength, conscience and caring for others is part of the manhood schematic?   This a time like no other, where truth and fairness are confounding and even debatable . Unimaginable acts of selfishness, deceit, greed and hatred are the new “manhood.” Much to my chagrin, millions have bought in.   Vicissitudes’ male protagonist, Jahn, knows there is a better way for men and is in search of the day when men will emerge; owning a manhood that is deeply rooted in the capacity to love.   The quote above is what Jahn thinks to himself as he sits in a tense meeting lis

  Transformation begins here.  “The Doctor says that gender dysphoria is not mental illness.” Kim Green’s Jahn  from Vicissitudes This is what Jahn tells himself as he admires Morgan’s body from afar, realizing his mounting desire for her. As a man in transition, Jahn must remember these crucial  words spoken by his therapist who desperately needs to restore his sense of sanity in a world that too often dismisses trans people as mentally ill.  The inner conflict and distress that trans people face in feeling disconnected from parts of their body that are not in alignment with their felt gender is legitimate and not a sign of mental illness. Instead, it is a sign of profound connection to one’s soul. The dramatic and miraculous decision to transition is an act of courage and self-affirmation at the deepest level that restores balance and peace. To embrace one’s truth is evidence of sanity, to deny one’s truth is insane . This is true for all of us.  Last week, the coming out of outspok

  Transformation begins here.  “Lots of girls fall in love with girls and boys fall in love with boys. Don’t they?” Kim Green’s Rain -  from Vicissitudes This is the question that 9-year-old Rain asks her mother, Morgan, as she attempts to grasp the concept of homophobia. Neither Rain nor her mother can wrap their heads around it.  This scene from Vicissitudes is the entry point to the discussion of unconditional love, which is one of the foundational themes of the novel. Their discussion arises because Morgan knows of her best friend, Rene’s, pain as she grapples with the death of Rene’s mother and the irreversible damage that her mother has caused her. Rene is a symbol of the broken-heartedness that comes from being disavowed by one’s own blood. Morgan struggles to explain the irrationality of hatred to a child who has never been a victim of the kind of conditional love that keeps people from living their truth.  How do you teach your children about the miracle of love? What do yo

  Transformation begins here.  “What kind of man do you want to be?” Kim Green from Vicissitudes …It’s a good question that I hope that men everywhere are asking themselves. After a four-year terror blitz of white Alpha male bluster, we are an America exhausted, angered and bewildered by a new low of ignorance and malfeasance that have become the new norm. As our country moves forward, cautiously, we all hope to embrace a new kind of masculinity, one with compassion, decency and common sense at the core. We all hunger for men who can mend our broken hearts and rekindle our trust in a brighter future.  Imagine a man who can offer those traits and so much more.  Jahn, the charismatic protagonist of Vicissitudes is a man of kindness and decency . He is the perfect balance—strength, compassion, reflection and curiosity. However, he is a man in transition; a work in progress, open to examining what will make him a better man. Seemingly aloof, Jahn is communicative on his own terms. His tr