Roxanne Gay (right) spoke on Kindred Stories on Oct. 18 about her new collection of essays titled “Opinions: A Decade of Discussion, Criticism, and Consideration of the Work of Others.”Muna Namani/Thresher
Muna Nnamani 10/24/23 11:37 PM
R&B music echoed through the ballroom, mixing with the sound of shoes crunching against the hardwood as people rushed to settle in before New York Times bestselling author Roxanne Gay appeared. When Gaye took the stage, the chatter quickly died down and applause erupted.
On Wednesday, October 18th, local Black-owned bookstore Kindred Stories hosted a conversation with Keith Lamon, Gay and Rice Professor of English and Creative Writing. Mr. Laymon was absent from the lecture due to health complications, but a Kindred Stories employee served as interim moderator and spoke about Mr. Gay’s latest book, an essay anthology, Opinions: Arguments, Criticisms, and Others’ He talked about his 10 years of work. ”
Gay began the discussion by celebrating the mother to whom she dedicated the book.
“Throughout my childhood, she had no qualms about speaking her mind and did so proudly,” Gay said. “What was always amazing to me was how she didn’t care about anything and stood up for everything that was right and every opportunity she could. And to see someone do that as an immigrant, and we… was in Omaha, Nebraska most of the time, and it took a lot of courage to do that.”
Gay said her mother encouraged her and her two siblings to speak their minds, especially when the family was around the dinner table. She and her gay father listened intently as their children talked about their days at school.
“They took us seriously and they took our opinions seriously,” Gay said. “And that certainly was the basis for the decision, ‘Why not share my opinion?'”
This is exactly what she set out to do with “Opinions,” a series of nonfiction essays spanning more than a decade. Gay addresses topics from the culture wars to modern feminism with the same outspoken voice that made her previous books classics for disillusioned youth.
Gay said at the time that she had avoided working on her main project, which is compiling the best essays into “opinions” for a book scheduled to be published in 2025. She said themes such as feminism and racism are recurring themes throughout her work, and she will continue to write about them because “prejudice is a recurring thing.”
“We have reached a point where we see so many young people, and sometimes not so young people, being brutalized, harmed and often killed, leaving a trail of destruction in their communities. I think there are,” Gay said. To say “enough is enough.” Stop trying to appease moderates. ”
The talk began with questions from the audience, who asked how gay people form and share strong opinions. Her main advice was to change the inner monologue that prevents us from expressing our thoughts: change the “why me?” “Why not?”
“A lot of people ask me, ‘How do you find your voice?'” Gay said. “I’m like, ‘I don’t have to go anywhere.’ It’s already there. I just have to get out of my own way.”
While Gay emphasized the importance of sharing strong opinions, he acknowledged that there are certain times and places where it is appropriate to do so.
“There are things worse than missing this moment, because the world will go on even if you don’t share your thoughts on this,” Gay said. “Just because something isn’t being said on social media doesn’t mean people aren’t having conversations in perhaps more intimate settings.”
She emphasized the importance of a willingness to learn and the humility to remain silent until you understand what is really going on.
“In response to not saying anything, I have received more harassing emails in the past 10 days.” [about the Israel-Hamas war] “I’ve actually said a lot, more than I’ve ever said in my entire life,” Gay said. “It actually made me double down, so to speak. No, I’m not going to say anything wrong, and more importantly, I’m not going to say something uninformed.”
Instead of trying to be active on social media, Gay said she reads books about the history of Israeli-Palestinian relations and recommends “My Promised Land” by Ari Shavit.
“Whenever something happens internationally, I traditionally say, ‘That’s not my area of expertise,'” Gay said. “Last Sunday I thought, ‘No, not really, but I could actually do something about it.’ So I’m going to go buy some books and learn more. ”
“The way I encourage people to work together to make the world a better place is at the community level,” Gay later added. “Look for established mutuals and local nonprofits that know what to do with the money they earn, and think about how you can contribute to their efforts. Because almost everything starts at the local level. Because it begins.”
