Chloë Brushwood Rose

I had high expectations for this book, but it fell completely short.

"Quantum Femme" was terrible. The meaning of quantum is, according to the internet, "the Latin word for amount and, in modern understanding, means the smallest possible discrete unit of any physical property, such as energy or matter." I feel like the writer was trying to describe this super-sexy powerful femme, which is nice, but with every description of what the quantum femme does or does not do, I found myself comparing my own actions and falling short. Who is the quantum femme? Obviously not a scientist, or she'd pick a better word.

"Clay Pigeon" read like a veiled threat. To whom? I don't know. Someone obviously pissed the writer off. I found the whole piece boring and offensive. A page and a half of I-don't-care.

"Blessed Be" was the worst one. Yuck.

There were a few good ones, mainly "Femme Fables", "gonna get my girl body back: this is a work in progress", "Two Poetic Incantations", and "Wheels Plus".

But mostly, a lot of this book was either forgettable or shoddily-written. I feel bad for writing such a mean review, but this book had so much potential, and I wish the editors had picked better pieces.… (meer)

My girlfriend picked this book up for some close friends who are diving into baby-making with a known donor (who is also my close friend and housemate). I saw it on the table, picked it up and couldn't put it down -- the intended recipients had to wait for me to finish! I loved experiencing the vastly different perspectives, roles, and backgrounds represented in this book. Many of the folks represented here are different from me in a variety of ways -- class, race, even values -- but that's part of what I loved. This book really made me recognize how deeply I appreciate being queer and the tremendous gift of the opportunity to construct "family" in new ways, and to develop new language to describe our experience as we try to create the world we want to live in (babies or not!).… (meer)