"I remember growing up like it was only yesterday /
Mom & Daddy tried their best to guide me on my way /
But the hard times and the liquor drove the easy love away /
And the only love I know about is hard love."
John escapes his family's version of hard love by writing. His mom won't touch him – she hasn't since his dad left them. His dad has nothing to do with John, not even when they're in the same room. So what? He doesn't need them! He doesn't need family, he doesn't need friends. He writes.
Unlike most of us, John puts those words out where other people can read them: He publishes his own magazine or ‘zine. His hero is another ‘zine writer, Marisol, creator of the ‘zine "Escape Velocity”. One day, John hangs out outside Kinkos hoping to meet her, and he does. He thinks Marisol's just this cool writer. She's a lesbian, a city girl, edgy, honest and sharp. She knows who she is and where she's going. John thinks he's so safe behind those walls of not caring, not touching and not loving.
John is about to discover, however, the kind of love that tears down walls. That makes you face up to who you are and what your life is, the good the bad and the ugly.
Hard love
Read about it.
By Kirsten Edwards, King County Library System
2002 Evergreen Nomination
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