There’s a phrase from my life that I abhor, the expression about making waves.
It’s a phrase about how people shouldn’t rock the boat because if you do, you might tip the boat over and kill everyone in it. Historically, the idea of “making waves” has been used to keep marginalized folks in their place. In other words, how people like me should just shit down and shut up. If we’re heard, it’s perceived that we’re causing trouble or raising a stink by merely existing, let alone speaking our mind. But speaking my mind is what I set out do by writing Voices Carry.
Silence is only golden for abusers, for those who hold all the power, and I will not be silent anymore.
As a kid, I was constantly told that children were to be seen and not heard, and this same idea followed me into my career as a teacher. As someone who is AuDHD (meaning I’m autistic and have ADHD), the mere action of asking questions or asking for clarification got me into trouble. Colleagues and bosses accused me of trying to make waves when in reality, I was trying to better understand to better mask and fit in.
Older me calls bullshit on the idea that making waves is bad. I shouldn’t have to mask or hide who I am in order to exist in this world, and if that’s making waves, then I’m a goddamn tsunami.
Sometimes, we need a wave to break new ground and establish new norms.
As the early reviews of Voices Carry roll in, I’m happy to see that folks are getting out of the book what I intended. I want to make waves. I want to upset the status quo and buck the system and fill-in-the-clichéd idiom here!
From Tabatha Shipley of All the Right Reads:
It’s captivating…The entire book is raw and honest.”
From Seattle Gay News:
Voices Carry is a love letter to the Queer educators fighting to keep classrooms safe.”
From an Donna Reed, a Goodreads Early Reader:
Oak is a superhero. This is such a brutally authentic memoir.”
From Maia Chance, author of The Body Next Door:
With a combination of vulnerability, forcefulness, and wit, Oak covers their complicated childhood, their career as a public school teacher in Texas, their ongoing battle with layered medical issues, and their journey of self-discovery as a person and a writer…Voices Carry is a brave and engaging read.”
From 100 Pages a Day:
Raven’s memoir is all about finding their voice and using it for the greater good.”
I’ve been nervous about this book going out into the world next week, but when I see statements like this, it’s a reminder of why I write and particularly, why I wrote this memoir. At this point, all I can say is make waves, little book, make waves.
