Boys Keep Swinging

It took me about halfway through to figure it out, but this week's Friday book pick is also about a young man who cross-dresses.

Brothers, Meagan. Debbie Harry Sings in French. New York: Henry Holt, 2008.

Isn't Debbie Harry Sings in French a great title? It's the story of a teenage Blondie fan named Johnny who moves to the Deep South where he is often beat up and accused of being gay. Remarkably, Johnny does not let the bullying break his spirit. He falls for a music-loving cool chick who turns him on to Patti Smith and helps him find his inner diva.

Blondie (Musical group). Greatest Hits [Sound & Vision]. Hollywood, CA: Capitol Records, 2006.

In the acknowledgment section at the end of the book, the author thanks:

" . . . all of the artists mentioned in this book (and many who aren't) for all the verses, riffs, fashion sense, and menacing poses struck on stages and album covers alike that helped me and many other gawky kids in the far reaches of suburbia survive our hapless solitary teenagedoms."

me, circa 1982

Although my "teenagedom" was actually quite enjoyable, I did like to strike poses and try to sing like my idols Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde, Tracey Ullman, and Patti Smith.

ps. While we're on the topic, do you remember this great David Bowie video?

7 Things

A while ago, Odd Facts tagged me to write seven random things about myself that I haven't blogged about yet. Here goes:

1. I can touch my nose with my tongue.
2. I was crowned Miss Congeniality and 1st Runner Up at the 1979 Miss Guilford Fair Pageant.
3. I've been to at least 15 Ramones shows.
4. I can speak Spanish.
5. I do a pretty good Chrissie Hynde imitation. (Anybody want to start a Pretenders tribute band?)
6. My favorite book is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
7. I have a piece of the Berlin Wall.

I would have added some good links to the items listed above, but this computer doesn't want to cooperate with this typist. Whenever I try to add a link, the letters just type over themselves. I wrote most of this post on TextEdit, and then pasted it onto the Blogger editor.

According to the rules, I'm supposed to tag 7 other bloggers to write 7 things about themselves. However, since most of my blogging friends have already written their memes, I'm only going to tag one person. And that lucky blogger is Connecticut Teacher!