Olivia Cole and Louis Gossett, Jr. at the 1977 Emmy Awards

In 1977 Alex Haley's Roots series made Primetime Emmy Awards History. 

Happy National Poetry Month!

We’re celebrating National Poetry Month with – what else – queer poetry recommendations! This page contains a select few titles, but we do, of course, have entire poetry pages, so please avail yourselves! Poetry Collections All Earthly Bodies by Michael Mlekoday From cities and cross-country bus rides to swamps and fern forests, Michael Mlekoday’s All Earthly Bodies celebrates the ungentrifiable,…

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Olivia Cole, born on November 26, 1942 #botd

last book read + last stethoscope used, part 9

The stethoscope: Ultrascope teaching stethoscope with orange tubing and a goldfish chest piece (not shown here) I just linked to their website, but as far as I can tell, they no longer offer the goldfish design or even make teaching scopes anymore. It's a very aesthetically-pleasing instrument but I'm not wild about the sound, and all the extra tubing rubbing against things doesn't help matters. Comment here if you have recommendations for really good teaching stethoscopes in other brands.

The book: Dear Medusa, a YA novel in verse by Olivia Cole. I was drawn in by the synopsis--the story of a sixteen-year-old victim of sexual abuse by a charismatic teacher no one in the school would ever suspect is a predator. But this one exceeded my expectations. If I'm honest, I have a habit of forgetting novels in verse shortly after reading them, but the protagonist, Alicia, and her friend Deja stayed with me. Their voices are clear in my mind, especially Alicia's dry humor and Deja's enthusiasm and fearlessness. It's a pretty accurate depiction of high school--you can tell when a YA writer either didn't attend high school or doesn't remember it. Also, asexual rep! Was excited to read that.

I don't know what to label this as...feeling raw after reading this book

I love how I read an entire book and then the very last line makes me sob and want to curl into a ball and disappear.

Finished reading Dear Medusa by Olivia Cole, which is about a high school girl being abused by her teacher. It's written in verse and was pretty good. A lot of good lines. I made it through the entire book when the very last line of the acknowledgements hit me:

Thank you, little Olivia, for refusing to die.

Like slammed right into my chest. Into her. Will I ever say that? Will I ever thank her for not dying when that is all I wanted? All I dreamed of? To escape, freed. To finally be safe. Little her. Crouched in a corner, hair covering her nameless face. Trying to hide. To be invisible.

No one saw her. No one believed her. The little liar. Always the liar.

What happens if I do thank her? What happens if I do name her?

What happens then?

What happens to me?

W A T C H I N G

My mom said she wanted to see it for many years, but my grandfather didn't allow it. He was a fairly bigoted person.

I only ever saw pieces of it throughout the years on history channel or whatever it was.

Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole

Category: Novel in Verse, Poetry

Author: Olivia A. Cole

Publisher: Penguin Random House

"Poems are like underwear. Sometimes you want people to see them. Sometimes they're uncomfortable. Sometimes they're dirty, sometimes they're full of blood." -Alicia" — Olivia A. Cole (Dear Medusa (A Novel in Verse))

Dear Medusa is a novel in verse about a young girl named Alicia, who has been sexually abused and is struggling with PTSD. Alicia's story, like that of Medusa's, has been distorted by her classmates calling her horrible names. The classmates spread a reinterpretation that denies the harm done to her by a trusted adult. Alicia's story is raw, angry, and real but when she begins to lean on others, those relationships begin to grow and develop as she interacts with new ideas and new friends.

I chose this book because it feels relevant to modern teenagers. It's one that I haven't heard a ton about, but when researching books featuring poetry I found it was mentioned quite a bit for its discussions of sexual abuse, identity, and PTSD representation. These are experiences some teens will have and it's important to have books in the collection that represent those experiences as well.

Dear Medusa is a fascinating look at feminine rage in a modern teenager. As a high school teacher, I've noticed my students are progressively more interested in social change and getting to the heart of what's going on in the world. This book deals with the raw emotions that come after a great trauma has happened to them and is hard to read at times. It is uncomfortable sometimes to watch someone be so angry and emotional because we aren't taught that we're allowed to be that emotional making the necessity of this book all the more relevant. One of the incredible aspects of the book is the representation of discussion and its impact on Alicia. Alicia joins a support group and within that group is able to have discussions and learn about a wide range of experiences and perspectives. Through those changing perspectives she is able to channel the fire in herself and begins to heal. So much of Alicia's rage and anger stuck with me while reading and I found it hard to let go of after reading the book, but by expanding my understanding of the world I expanded with Alicia. This book is a piece for discussion because it picks apart society's view of young women and really makes you think about the words society uses to describe them. While I read a lot of poetry, I haven't interacted with a ton of free verse but the language in the book was powerful and made me as the reader feel like Alicia was real and standing in front of me. There were moments I found myself verbally responding to something she was saying which isn't a response I normally have. This book brought out many different complicated emotions that are important to grapple with and would make a few young adults reading this feel heard in a way they may not have been heard before.

Cole, O. A. (2023). Dear Medusa: (A Novel in Verse). Penguin Random House.

Olivia Cole - Explaining the Divorce to Our Dog

There will be walks. You will still get your walks, with one of us, or sometimes both

when the little girl requests it.

There will still be walks. We will all be walking and walking. We just won’t always be walking together.

- Explaining the Divorce to Our Dog by Olivia Cole

— We will prevail to bring forth peace, but you must accept that the path to victory now is one of violence.

House of the Dragon | Official Green Trailer

Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen are back in

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON SEASON 2 (2024)

THIS IS SO PERFECT

🎵But I am my father’s daughter, so maybe I could fix him🎶

guinevere and lancelot coded