Gay & Lesbian Books
Against A White Sky: A Memoir Of Closets And Classrooms
RRP: $15.95
Our Price:
You Save: $ 15.95 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: Artemispress
Author: Laurie Stapleton
Publisher: Artemispress
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price:
You Save: $ 15.95 ( 100% )
Manufacturer: Artemispress
Author: Laurie Stapleton
Publisher: Artemispress
Average Customer Rating:
Experimental feature: Order Against A White Sky: A Memoir Of Closets And Classrooms from the UK, Canada, Germany or France by clicking an appropriate flag below.
Some items available at Amazon.com are not available in all countries.
Some items available at Amazon.com are not available in all countries.
Against A White Sky: A Memoir Of Closets And Classrooms Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780972645980
ISBN: 0972645985
Label: Artemispress
Manufacturer: Artemispress
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2004-06-09
Publisher: Artemispress
Studio: Artemispress
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780972645980
ISBN: 0972645985
Label: Artemispress
Manufacturer: Artemispress
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2004-06-09
Publisher: Artemispress
Studio: Artemispress
Editorial Review of Against A White Sky: A Memoir Of Closets And Classrooms
In Against a White Sky, Laurie Stapleton reveals her experiences with honesty and humor as a gay high school teacher in an "All-American" city. Having spent most of her young adult life in Santa Cruz, California — a beach town accepting of its large lesbian community — Laurie relocates to the more conservative San Joaquin Valley to enroll in an accelerated teacher credentialing program. There, Laurie discovers that she is the only woman who regularly (well, always) wears slacks. She decides she’d better change the way she dresses, walks and talks to feel socially comfortable — and maybe even safe.
Laurie becomes certified to teach public high school within a year. Mindful of recent bouts with poverty and low self-esteem, she accepts the first teaching offer she receives — a public high school deeper in the heart of the valley, in a city voted "All-American." Her relocation doesn’t sit too well with Laurie’s girlfriend back in Santa Cruz, who says to Laurie, "You don’t look like you anymore."
Despite her struggle to sway students’ and teachers’ attention from her sexual identity, they seem to "know" anyway, as evidenced by homophobic slurs she hears in the school halls, and snickers from the student-athletes she coaches. Eventually she asks herself the hard questions: why did she choose to live and teach in a town in which she is at best ignored, and at worse harassed, because of her sexual orientation? What is the meaning behind the irony that, as she helps her students discover their voices, she is silencing her own?
Customer Reviews of Against A White Sky: A Memoir Of Closets And Classrooms
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Finding Her Place
Review: Against A White Sky is Laurie Stapleton's account of her difficulties fitting into the public school system as a gay person trying (though not wanting) to remain in the closet. The three years covered in this book, her year in a Central California university teaching credential program and her first two years as a high school English teacher and coach in a small, agricultural town, show Stapleton attempting to keep a secret that seems to seep out of her pores. As a lesbian with some characteristics society deems "masculine," she endures stares ("Is that a he or a she"), name-calling by community members and students, and even an attempt to strip her of her job - a job she does well - because of "suspicions" about her sexual preference. Stapleton is also frank about some of the little discomforts, most notably the fit and look of "feminized" outfits for someone with her height and frame, the utter silliness of having to pretend to be looking for an attractive man while out on the town with a friend who doesn't know she's gay, and the effort it takes to remember the made-up guy's name she came up with for her female lover.
The beauty of the book lies in Stapleton's honesty about her pain, her willingness to be specific about its causes, and the love she has for teaching and her students. As she chronicles her classroom and coaching experiences, it becomes clear that her sexual preference transcends - or, actually, is simply irrelevant to - the devotion she brings to the individuals under her care. As an added bonus for those who live in California's Central Valley are the eloquently-described settings.
In fact, setting is what Against A White Sky is all about: Stapleton's journey to find her place. As much as there is to learn from people like Laurie who, closeted or not, are working right next to hetereosexuals, the book has much to say about loneliness, fitting in, and most importantly, finding ways to like oneself. Laurie Stapleton's journey was not just one of how to overcome difficulty from without but also of how to find "home" within herself to take with her wherever she goes.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Learning Experience
Review: This book should be required reading for anyone entering the teaching profession. Not only will it facilitate an understanding of curriculum, teaching processes, and biases, but it will open our eyes {and hearts} a little bit wider to how we can, and should reach students. This book will also, hopefully, help us all to see how we accept ourselves and present our authentic selves, is more important than how others view us. It is a total learning experience along with the author.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Real Teaching
Review: This book gave me a sense of shared intimacy. It seems that Laurie Stapleton; the fun, intelligent, engaging teacher, could easily be a separate person from Laurie Stapleton; the witty, deep-thinking, and sometimes tormented lesbian. The beauty is that the two combined are important components of the whole, special human being, and as I watched her learn self-respect and self-acceptance, I saw her grow wise before my eyes. Against The White Sky stimulates perspective and empathy, and it offers true inspiration for not only teachers, but for students, as well. It kindles hope for not only gays and lesbians, but for women, minorities, and every educator who faces the intrinsic challenges of the profession. I wish the author continued strength and courage.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Deeply Touching
Review: I could not put down this deeply touching memoir of the struggles a young woman must go through to be able to teach. The conservative community in which she works judges her not on the quality of her teaching ability, but on her looks and mannerisms, things students always overlook if the teacher is any good at all. Her wonderful friends help her get through the year. This book is full of wisdom.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Open, honest and a great read for everyone
Review: This book is important for everyone to read -- whether or not they are sympathetic to the homosexual's struggle. It is a poignent story about a human being and her dreams. There are stories here that everyone can relate to. I have laughed and cried while reading this, because Laurie relates eloquently the pain of relationships that don't work out and the humor that goes on in a classroom full of wise-cracking adolescents. Her writing draws pictures of small California towns and the variety of people that populate them. A great book by a very strong and intelligent lady.
Review Summary: Finding Her Place
Review: Against A White Sky is Laurie Stapleton's account of her difficulties fitting into the public school system as a gay person trying (though not wanting) to remain in the closet. The three years covered in this book, her year in a Central California university teaching credential program and her first two years as a high school English teacher and coach in a small, agricultural town, show Stapleton attempting to keep a secret that seems to seep out of her pores. As a lesbian with some characteristics society deems "masculine," she endures stares ("Is that a he or a she"), name-calling by community members and students, and even an attempt to strip her of her job - a job she does well - because of "suspicions" about her sexual preference. Stapleton is also frank about some of the little discomforts, most notably the fit and look of "feminized" outfits for someone with her height and frame, the utter silliness of having to pretend to be looking for an attractive man while out on the town with a friend who doesn't know she's gay, and the effort it takes to remember the made-up guy's name she came up with for her female lover.
The beauty of the book lies in Stapleton's honesty about her pain, her willingness to be specific about its causes, and the love she has for teaching and her students. As she chronicles her classroom and coaching experiences, it becomes clear that her sexual preference transcends - or, actually, is simply irrelevant to - the devotion she brings to the individuals under her care. As an added bonus for those who live in California's Central Valley are the eloquently-described settings.
In fact, setting is what Against A White Sky is all about: Stapleton's journey to find her place. As much as there is to learn from people like Laurie who, closeted or not, are working right next to hetereosexuals, the book has much to say about loneliness, fitting in, and most importantly, finding ways to like oneself. Laurie Stapleton's journey was not just one of how to overcome difficulty from without but also of how to find "home" within herself to take with her wherever she goes.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Learning Experience
Review: This book should be required reading for anyone entering the teaching profession. Not only will it facilitate an understanding of curriculum, teaching processes, and biases, but it will open our eyes {and hearts} a little bit wider to how we can, and should reach students. This book will also, hopefully, help us all to see how we accept ourselves and present our authentic selves, is more important than how others view us. It is a total learning experience along with the author.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Real Teaching
Review: This book gave me a sense of shared intimacy. It seems that Laurie Stapleton; the fun, intelligent, engaging teacher, could easily be a separate person from Laurie Stapleton; the witty, deep-thinking, and sometimes tormented lesbian. The beauty is that the two combined are important components of the whole, special human being, and as I watched her learn self-respect and self-acceptance, I saw her grow wise before my eyes. Against The White Sky stimulates perspective and empathy, and it offers true inspiration for not only teachers, but for students, as well. It kindles hope for not only gays and lesbians, but for women, minorities, and every educator who faces the intrinsic challenges of the profession. I wish the author continued strength and courage.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Deeply Touching
Review: I could not put down this deeply touching memoir of the struggles a young woman must go through to be able to teach. The conservative community in which she works judges her not on the quality of her teaching ability, but on her looks and mannerisms, things students always overlook if the teacher is any good at all. Her wonderful friends help her get through the year. This book is full of wisdom.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Open, honest and a great read for everyone
Review: This book is important for everyone to read -- whether or not they are sympathetic to the homosexual's struggle. It is a poignent story about a human being and her dreams. There are stories here that everyone can relate to. I have laughed and cried while reading this, because Laurie relates eloquently the pain of relationships that don't work out and the humor that goes on in a classroom full of wise-cracking adolescents. Her writing draws pictures of small California towns and the variety of people that populate them. A great book by a very strong and intelligent lady.