Reading A Queer-Eyed, Radical "On the Road" for the New Millenium

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Yes, heavy outweighs light in  Sister Spit.  At the same time, humor and wit are on frequent display. Elisha Lim’s The Hong Moon Lesbians of the Sacred Heart is a case in point. Bittersweet and beautifully illustrated, the story champions Ling Ling Han, a bold girl who’d spent a year in the US. When she returns to Asia, Ling Ling’s first-hand knowledge of American hip-hop makes her an instant powerhouse. Coupled with the fact that she walked with “the power strut of any neighborhood gangster,” Ling Ling soon became the crush object of her Convent School friends. It’s a sweet and funny narrative that is easy to relate to.

While I did not love every piece in Sister Spit, I found the fact that women and girls are the hub of the anthology gave it gravitas and meaning as a reader.

The word feminist is rarely used. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be. Raw, real, and riotous, this is not a collection that bows to a particular worldview. Critical and demanding, it asks us to imagine a better world and then do whatever it takes to make our fantasies real.

Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road, Edited by Michelle Tea, City Lights Books. 2012, $16.95, 208 pages.