How Beautiful The Ordinary

There certainly seems to be a lack of literature with characters that might fall into the LGBT 'category' (for lack of a better term). Thinking about this, I am a vegetarian and hardly ever do I see vegetarian characters in novels, short stories, television or film. If I do see them, the medium I see them in goes out of the way to make their vegetarianism an issue central to the show's theme. It is never just left aside, it always takes prominence. The reason for this? Because it goes against the grain; it isn't mainstream. When someone is or does something that isn't what society deems as 'normal' then, in these forms of media, the issue is nearly always a central theme. The great thing about the text How Beautiful the Ordinary is that although there is a character in all of the dozen stories that is either gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered, it is not essential to the story's overall progression. Sure the stories might no exist with an LGBT character, but many of the stories don't make it a point to point out to the reader that, "HEY GUYS! Look! Its a gay dude! We need to ride this gay wave to the moon so we can invite readers and show much they are ostracized in society for their lake of sameness!" No, this book isn't like that at all. Its about normal people, normal people who if I may borrow a line from Lady Gaga, are born this way. They are ordinary, just like everyone else. We all have something different about us, and these stories go to show their differences, not in their sexual preferences, but in their daily lives. They are different because we are all different, not because of anything else. Its an arbitrary classification and these stories prove that.

I think the thing I enjoyed most about the text, even though I didn't find all the stories interesting or even full of depth, is the different styles the writers practiced. There is one story, My Life as a Dog that is both interesting in theme and characters as it is for the style it possesses. The story is interrupted by the narrator with side conversations and the style is completely different from the rest of the story itself.

My Virtual World takes a pragmatic look at teenagers and finding love on the internet. Simple fact: this happens, and it happens a LOT more than either we suspect or is evident in contemporary fiction. The style, in that of social networking messages, takes a great look at kids discovering who they are while never interacting with someone face to face. This would be a great story to teach in a modern classroom because of its vast relatability. Kids go online, they go to social networks, and they seek out friends they might not seek out in real life. One could argue the ethics of morals behind this non-traditional form of courting, but it exists nonetheless.

Perhaps my favorite story in the selection is First Time. I would be apprehensive to teach this in a classroom because it portrays the female orgasm in a very mature and sophisticated manner with wonderful prose. What I did like about it the most, however, is the style and form. Back and forth narration between two characters perspectives of an encounter with one another. It seems this could be stretched into a much longer, more in depth story. I could envision a movie following the likes of this. It would be an excellent way to teach multiple perspectives definitely.