By Erika Grumet One Sunday in June, I was folding laundry with my mother. The television was on, tuned into evening news, which was reporting on “gay pride festivities” in New York City. I was a teenager, and as teenagers often do, I held opinions about many things that conflicted with my parents. IContinue reading “Erika’s Big Think #2, Part 2: Concluding Reflections on Stonewall”
Yearly Archives: 2021
Andrew’s Big Think #2, Part 2: “I am not the boy next door”
Reflecting on the end of Pride 2021 By Andrew Rimby In the first part of my Pride month Big Think, I ended with a desire to ponder why Whitman’s “Song of Myself” spoke to my queerness so profoundly, and why it spurred the question “who is picking this text up and finding themselves reflected back?”Continue reading “Andrew’s Big Think #2, Part 2: “I am not the boy next door””
June Wrap Up: The First Pride was a Riot: Looking back at ITBR’s Month of Pride
It’s hard to imagine a more exciting month for our little team. At this time last year, The Ivory Tower Boiler Room was just some idea that Andrew and Adam were batting back and forth. Andrew and Mary had known each other since elementary school, but had not collaborated on anything since high school theater.Continue reading “June Wrap Up: The First Pride was a Riot: Looking back at ITBR’s Month of Pride”
Erika’s Big Think #2: The Orange on the Seder Plate
By Erika Grumet “That’s why her hair is so big. Because it’s full of secrets.” -Damian, Mean GIrls “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) -Walt Whitman, Song of Myself A hundred and fifty-ish years apart, and we queers are still talking about secrets and contradictions and theContinue reading “Erika’s Big Think #2: The Orange on the Seder Plate”
(Podcast Release) Broadview Press and The Closet in the Library
Adam and Andrew sit down with editors Jason Rudy and Kate Flint to discuss the upcoming release (July 13) of Broadview Press’ Victorian Era anthology. We discuss how this new edition amplifies queer, BIPOC, Jewish, and female voices. Jason and Kate engage with all different readers of this anthology including educators, students, Victorian Lit. enthusiasts,Continue reading “(Podcast Release) Broadview Press and The Closet in the Library”
Podcast Preview: The Closet in the Library
The Editors of the forthcoming Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume 5, 3rd Edition This week’s podcast episode is four people talking about the subject they love most. Books, of course. But also: why do we read certain books and not others? All too often, the answer is: the books we have easiest access toContinue reading “Podcast Preview: The Closet in the Library”
Big Cat, Little Cat
. . . Two Cats, one large and orange, one small and grey, both striped. Big Cat looks down at Little Cat with a placid countenance; Little Cat looks off into the distance, eyes pinched with unresolved anger. Big Cat says: “Little Cat, I’m reading my star chart. What’s your sign so I can readContinue reading “Big Cat, Little Cat”
Midweek Teaser
This week is a bit of a first in the almost-one-year history of the Ivory Tower Boiler Room: we were asked to do a book review of sorts. The editors of Broadview Press invited us to interview them on the occasion of their release of the new edition of the Broadview Anthology of British Literature,Continue reading “Midweek Teaser”
Blog-posts Lead to Discussion…
By Adam Katz One of my favorite new activities is writing a blog post and having someone I care about bring it up in conversation. I like doing the reverse, as well, not surprisingly. My recent Big Think, about trying to shed the homophobic bias I was invisibly raised with, led to an amazing conversationContinue reading “Blog-posts Lead to Discussion…”
(Podcast Episode) This Saturday is Seriously Sapphic
(Erika Grumet on behalf of the Ivory Tower Boiler Room team) This episode (“Two Writers are Better Than One: Ula and Kathryn Klein talk LGBTQ+ Academic and Creative Writing”) is a true Stony Brook English department reunion. Adam and Andrew are joined by two PhD alums, Ula and Kathryn Klein who talk all things LGBTQ+Continue reading “(Podcast Episode) This Saturday is Seriously Sapphic”