Here We Go Again

by Alison Cochrun

Still, she listens to “Bitch” whenever she feels the intense need to rage, because raging is so much safer than the alternative: the untethered spiral of anxiety that spools out whenever she loses control.

She thought she’d never belong, but there he was. Joseph Delgado, a beloved openly gay teacher at an aggressively conservative high school. He had a pride flag above the projector screen and a decorative scarf around his neck, and he never apologized for being exactly who he was: a gay son of Mexican immigrants who loved teaching young people how to empower themselves through reading and writing.

Logan has a theory. There are two types of high school teachers: the teachers who had such a great time in high school that they never wanted to leave, and teachers who were so miserable in high school they came back to try to make things a little better for the next generation.

So, when Logan came out to her dad at fourteen and refused to ever go back to church, it wasn’t hard for Antonio to walk away from that part of his Greek heritage. It took her papou a decade or so to come around to the idea of having a lesbian granddaughter, but her dad embraced it instantly, kept the delicious food, and ditched the religious trauma.

“I haven’t been to a drag show in over thirty years. Drag shows were supposed to be a place where we were safe. A place where we could escape their hate and love ourselves. But they don’t want us to love ourselves, not even behind closed doors. And that’s hard for me because I love safety.”

You only get one life, and it goes by too quickly to spend time waiting for what you want. Have adventures! See cool shit!”