Magnolia's, St. Louis, 1999.
This is a little more personal than I usually write about, but this memory has been on my mind a lot in recent weeks.
My first few years out of college, 1998-2002 or so, I lived in St. Louis, Missouri. One of the places I used to go pretty often was Magnolia’s. It was a sprawling, labyrinthine complex with multiple queer-friendly/queer-focused bars, including a cabaret stage that had drag shows every weekend.
Magnolia’s is long gone, but I have been thinking about them a lot lately. I was hardly the target audience for those performers! But without even realizing it, they gave me the encouragement and strength to choose my own path in defiance of what was expected of me.
It wasn’t easy. Maybe someday I’ll make a comic about this, but my parents were furious. For several months, I got multiple voicemails and emails every day about how I had lost my moral compass and was going to hell. They withheld kindness and affection in an effort to control me, and for about a decade, I was not welcome to stay in their house. My crimes were: leaving the church, choosing not to have children, and signing a lease with my monogamous unmarried partner.
These days, I adore my life. I love my neighborhood, my city, my friends, the aforementioned partner, my career. I am lucky enough to be working on drawing my fourth (!!) book! I’ve been fortunate enough to speak at literary festivals and comic-cons from Toronto to San Francisco to Guadalajara. I am genuinely happy and fulfilled, and I don’t think that’s something I could say if I hadn’t been brave enough to choose my happiness over what my folks wanted. And, at least in part, I don’t know that I would have been able to be that brave without the inspiration from the performers at Magnolia’s.
I marched in last Saturday’s protests, and I will keep marching, because of what I owe Magnolia’s, and because trans people are treasures and deserve to be happy and safe and free like all of us. I marched because they won’t stop at trans people or refugees or trade unionists; it doesn’t ever, ever stop with just one group of people. Every one of us will eventually fail fascism’s purity test.
Upcoming Things:
• C2E2 IS THIS WEEKEND! I will be in artist’s alley, table I-05! I’ll also be speaking on the panel The Cooks are In! on Saturday, April 12, with Jarrett Melendez and Kim-Joy!
Hey Sarah, how’s the book going:
Only 16 pages left to thumbnail! I’m extremely excited to start on the final art in the next week or two.
What I’m into lately:
We finished Severance season 2! Praise Kier, it was so heartbreaking and beautiful and good. I can’t wait to see what they do for season 3. Also I finally have the first two volumes of Delicious in Dungeon so I’m excited to start on those.
What Toki’s into lately:
This little trash goblin puked on my treasured hobonichi techo planner. Oh! Oh! Jail for Toki!! Jail for 1000 years!
