The Big Read Palo Alto

For Q3, we will continue our 2017 theme of reading books that expand our understanding of others' experiences in order to be inclusive leaders. The book selections for Q2 are:

Indestructible: Growing up Queer, Cuban, and Punk in Miami, by Cristy Road

Trigger warning: this book is a graphic novel with some graphic content.

"Framing day-to-day survival as its own legitimate teenage revolution, Cristy C. Road delivers boldly illustrated pages about her adolescence in West Miami. Definitely not a typical memoir, this collection dives deep into Road's manic and caffeinated explorations as she forges and accepts her queer identity. Defining herself in contrast but not in conflict with others--her family, non-punks in her school--she writes with the wisdom of her years since high school, but the fervent intimacy of being a teen pulses through her story. Gritty and unflinching, Road discusses sexual assault and the death of a friend alongside an optimistic ode to a two-minute punk song."

And...

Ask a Queer Chick: A Guide to Sex, Love, and Life for Girls Who Dig Girls, by Lindsay King-Miller.

"This guide to sex, love and life for girls who like girls is useful whether you're a lady-dating veteran or still trying to come out to yourself. Seasoned advice columnist and queer chick Lindsay King Miller cuts through all of the bizarre conditioning imparted by parents, romantic comedies, and The L Word to help queer readers live authentic, safe, happy, sexy lives. With advice on every aspect of life as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer woman—from your first Pride to confronting discrimination in the workplace—there is guidance for some of the most major parts of living in a world that can vacillate between supportive and cruel."

For anyone just tuning in to the Big Read, the book selections this year are meant to prompt potentially awkward conversations about race, gender, equality, and bias. As I have said before, every one of us brings our personal histories and experiences to work each day, but we often don't realize how different our perception of the world may be from that of our co-workers, our bosses, or our employees. We paper over these differences in ways that are big and small, but this behavior often comes at a cost to our authenticity, our ability to bring our best selves to every situation, and our ability to help other women. The Big Read is an opportunity to have a substantive discussion about these tough issues.