Each facet of herself is carefully explored, every insecurity, every moment of triumph bursts onto the page. This book explores her complicated and celebrated identity as a queer disabled femme Sri Lankan woman of color. She discovers herself and pulls you in through all the twists and turns. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha feels everything so much. It is also difficult because there is so so much. It is incredibly difficult, dealing with ( trigger warning!) incest, abuse and intimate partner violence. It is a story of escape, of survival, of scraping by and fighting to exist. Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Homeĭirty River, A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home, by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, is a memoir, but it is also so much more. I carefully applied sticky notes to the parts I loved, the difficult areas I wanted to come back to, the short mix of music I have to check out. I got to underline the poetry and the words that really resonated with me. I bought my own copy of Dirty River (even though the Women’s Center has a copy you can loan now thanks to the UMBC’s LGBTQ Faculty & Staff Association recent donation), and I’m really glad that I did. A short reflection by Shira Devorah, Women’s Center student staff.
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