presentations
LITERARY LEGACY alanna woitalla
M
irrors and windows....while most of us think of parts of our homes when we hear these terms, to the LGBTQIA+ community, it has a more far reaching meaning. The mirrors are the opportunites to see themselves reflected back in media; print, photographs or video. The term window refers to the ability to see others who may not look or act the same way as themselves. As a queer young adult, Alanna Woitalla, felt isolated and foreign when she read her favorite books. Where were the characters who struggled with sexual identity or questioned their gender? The mainstream media is not always welcoming to people who do not fit a certain mold or lifestyle. And there it was, the catalyst for her senior Capstone project; creating a collection of queer representation in literature. This was no small undertaking. Alanna can generally read a 300400 page novel in a few hours, but painstakingly documenting each of her
established critera meant an individual book could take weeks to pour over. Using content analysis that included areas such as: instances of flirtatous thought, instances of discussions of queer identities and instances of homophobia were just a few of the twelve criteria Alanna created. While her original goal was much more ambitious than the four books she completed, she shared that the process was much more complicated than she or her teachers had imagined.
each criteria. While having a print out of her findings available to students in the library would be helpful, Alanna decided to add a 21st century caveat to the project. Each of the books in her collection will bear a specially crafted QR code with a colorful butterfly hovering near the top. Upon scanning the code, readers will have access to not only the data collected, but also a brief summary of each book, written by Alanna, that details her personal reflections of the story, plot and characters.
Working closely with our librarian, Alex Balle, the idea of starting with books given the Stonewall award made the most sense. This organization recognizes literature with exceptional merit in the gay/lesbian/ transgender/bisexual communities. Alanna chose four books that had not only been given this distinction, but also were works she was familiar with. After carefully analyzing the data, she input the findings into charts that document the occurances of
In her essay conclusion, Alanna shared, “This collection has so much personal relevance to me. Even as a young adult, it took a lot of digging around to be able to find these novels. When I was growing up, I wasn’t able to find them; so, this collection is not only for me, but for those of us in the queer community. For anyone who’s looking for this type of literaure, it will be right there for them, with no trouble to find.”
SENIOR CELEBRATION 2022
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