Jackson, Mississippi
I know, I know, I keep talking about Real Queer America, the audiobook that I've been listening to. It's because I tend to listen to it in the mornings while I drink tea and eat breakfast, and then, when I'm done with that ritual, I start writing this newsletter. Yesterday, I did something a bit different though. I handwrote some notes for this newsletter while I ate breakfast, but then I did a bunch of other things with my day and didn't get around to typing out this newsletter until 9pm. At that point, I was too tired to actually finish it and hit send, which is why you're receiving it today instead.
Anyway, yesterday morning's chapter found Samantha Allen in Jackson, Mississippi, a city that I've never visited, but have found myself connected to for the last six months or so. I work part-time as a virtual assistant for a client who splits her time between Atlanta and her hometown: Jackson, Mississippi. Just last week my client had a meeting that I scheduled for her at a coffee shop called Cups in Jackson's Fondren district, and then yesterday morning in my audiobook, Allen was interviewing someone at that exact coffee shop! It was a weird coincidence!
Jackson was never on my radar until I started working for this client, but now I think about it most days out of the week. Previously, I only really thought about the three time zones where most of my friends and family live (Central European, Eastern, and Pacific), but now I have to consider Central Time as well. I scour email signatures to see if my client's contacts are based in Jackson so that I can correctly accommodate their scheduling needs. I've looked up Jackson's Fondren district and other locations on Google Maps and I've read a lot of correspondence about bringing opportunities to Jackson and supporting the state of Mississippi. I've developed an affinity for this place I've never been, thanks to emailing with so many people who care about it and want to see it thrive.
In Tuesday's newsletter, where I made a list of trips I'd like to take someday, I almost included a road trip around the southeastern US, but I felt like it warranted some explanation and decided not to get into it. Today I want to get into it a bit more. I think it would be cool to drive from Atlanta to New Orleans via Montgomery, Selma, and, yes, Jackson. I want to eat all the southern food and visit some of the Civil Rights monuments/memorials and just see another part of the country I come from. After listening to yesterday's chapter of Real Queer America, I also want to check out Jackson's only queer nightlife spot: Wonderlust.
An interesting point Allen makes about queer life in some red states is that it's integrated in a way that queer life in coastal cities often isn't. In New York City or San Francisco, she argues, you can find a bar dedicated to your specific queer demographic, but in places like Jackson, the lack of options means that everyone under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella socializes together. I can see the value of both of these experiences - spaces that cater specifically to people who share your lived experience and spaces that invite you to engage with people you might not otherwise meet. Allen describes Wonderlust as "a vision of a future or maybe even an alternate present where people of all races, genders, and sexualities joyfully share space."
This is a bit of a tangent, but that quote reminded me of the meme "this is the future that liberals want," which originated with an image of a drag queen and a woman in a niqab sitting beside each other on the subway in NYC. The phrase became a funny joke used by liberals, but it started as a fear-mongering message from an far right twitter account. I remember reading something about this image that talked about how labeling it as "the future that liberals want," obscures the fact that it happened in our present-day reality. Similarly, Allen's description of Wonderlust calls the space "a vision of the future," but then seems to remember that the place is real and she was actually there and corrects to, "an alternate present." This feels important to me - that we imagine beautiful, inclusive futures, but also that we recognize when our present is beautiful and inclusive, and name it, and not think of it as an anomaly because it's as real as anything else.
I don't know that I'll ever actually visit Wonderlust or Jackson, Mississippi, but I do think I'll try to seek out queer spaces more often when I travel. And I think this little tour of the southeastern US is an interesting idea. I get the feeling it's going to be on my mind for a while: one of those ideas that will chill at the back of my mind until the time is right, if it ever is. A food- and history-focused trip through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana could be a cool one to take with a kid in late elementary or middle school - maybe one who has been raised in Germany and would benefit from a little hands-on exploration of their cultural heritage... They wouldn't be visiting any nightclubs with me, but maybe we could find some kid-friendly queer places to check out together.
Thanks for reading issue #62 of On / Off! It's time again for the newsletter to cycle 'off,' but I'll be back with issue #63 on March 14th.