“Being a man, like being a woman, is something you have to learn,” Aaron Raz Link says in the preface to “What Becomes You,” the story of his transformation from woman to man. His life began as a girl named Sarah and 29 years later he began life again as a gay man.
Link and his mother, Hilda Raz, co-authors of the story of his transsexual experience, will read excerpts from their collaborative memoir, 10 years in the making, at Wells College.
“Afterward, we'll talk with the audience about nonfiction, art and artifice, collaboration, the pleasures of having a point of view, and the social uses of an artist's voice,“ Link said.
The memoir explores the art and science of changing sex, examines uncharted family values and moves through a life transformed by surgery, hormones and love. Blending essay, memoir and intergenerational dialogue, it challenges readers to rethink their knowledge of gender, sex, family relationships, and themselves.
Hilda Raz, writer and teacher, relates the process as both mother and professor of gender issues. Both mother and child detail their journey as Sarah becomes Aaron.
Link, writer, performing artist, curator and science historian, is the director of the Museum of Nature in Portland, Ore. Hilda Raz, professor of English and women#'s and gender studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is editor of “Prairie Schooner” and author of poetry collections, “Trans” and “Divine Honors.”
Link the scientist begins his story of gender reassignment with scientific classification. Raz describes her child with moving candor, revealing steadfast maternal love in the midst of physical and other changes. The two write in the prologue:
“It is a book about pieces that didn#'t fit the picture. As a result, the most confusing and difficult pieces play the largest roles. We think this story of pieces that don't fit is a little bit of the story of all our lives, but that#'s up to you to decide.”
Kathleen Barran
253-5311 ext. 238
kathleen.barran@lee.net
If you go.
What: Reading by Hilda Raz and Aaron Raz Link, authors of “What Becomes You”
When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6
Where: Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall, Wells College, Aurora
Cost: Free
Info: Call 364-3228
“Afterward, we'll talk with the audience about nonfiction, art and artifice, collaboration, the pleasures of having a point of view, and the social uses of an artist's voice,“ Link said.
The memoir explores the art and science of changing sex, examines uncharted family values and moves through a life transformed by surgery, hormones and love. Blending essay, memoir and intergenerational dialogue, it challenges readers to rethink their knowledge of gender, sex, family relationships, and themselves.
Hilda Raz, writer and teacher, relates the process as both mother and professor of gender issues. Both mother and child detail their journey as Sarah becomes Aaron.
Link, writer, performing artist, curator and science historian, is the director of the Museum of Nature in Portland, Ore. Hilda Raz, professor of English and women#'s and gender studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is editor of “Prairie Schooner” and author of poetry collections, “Trans” and “Divine Honors.”
Link the scientist begins his story of gender reassignment with scientific classification. Raz describes her child with moving candor, revealing steadfast maternal love in the midst of physical and other changes. The two write in the prologue:
“It is a book about pieces that didn#'t fit the picture. As a result, the most confusing and difficult pieces play the largest roles. We think this story of pieces that don't fit is a little bit of the story of all our lives, but that#'s up to you to decide.”
Kathleen Barran
253-5311 ext. 238
kathleen.barran@lee.net
If you go.
What: Reading by Hilda Raz and Aaron Raz Link, authors of “What Becomes You”
When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6
Where: Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall, Wells College, Aurora
Cost: Free
Info: Call 364-3228
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