Thank you to my stepdad, Walt, for helping me pick out Tav’s motorcycle and teaching me the difference between a cruiser and a crotch rocket.
Thank you to every person who uses my correct pronouns.
Thank you to Élise Lapalme for answering my panicked questions about hot queer femme sex.
Thank you to my heart and home, Rida Abu Rass. I want to hold your hand forever.
نور حياتي
Thank you to every person who wore a mask, social distanced, and quarantined this year. You saved lives.
The Facts
Black Lives Matter was founded in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in response to the police murder of Trayvon Martin. BLM activists work to dismantle white supremacy through advocacy, action, protest, collective care, and raising awareness of systemic racism. Violence against Black bodies is very real in the United States and Canada. Non-Black queers: we need to stand up and support our Black family. Learn more and donate at blacklivesmatter.com (United States) or blacklivesmatter.ca (Canada). Recommended reading: The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole and Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present by Robyn Maynard.
Finally, I want to write a bit about what it means to be a Canadian author living and writing in Canada. I grew up in Kingston, Ontario, on the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples, sixty-five kilometres from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. As a Canadian author, it’s important to recognize the Indigenous peoples living on the land they have always cared for, and to respect the rights and sovereignty of these nations. I did not write about Indigenous struggles in my book, but I encourage all readers — especially those in Canada — to think and learn more about our relationship to each other and to the land, and to support Indigenous girls, women, and Two-Spirit people. There are so many incredible books written by Indigenous authors telling their stories, so definitely add some to your reading list! Recommended reading: A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott and As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.
About the Author
Adan Jerreat-Poole lives with chronic pain, depression, anxiety, and feminism. When they aren’t reading or writing, Adan likes to crochet, play video games, and do jigsaw puzzles. They have a Ph.D. in cultural studies and work at the intersections of disability justice and digital media. Adan lives in Kingston, Onatario, with their forever partner, Rida, and their two cats, Dragon and Malfouf.
