Jessi's Stories: Cheyenne, Queer Bookwyrm & LGBTQ+ Advocacy

Jessi sits down with Cheyenne (they/them) — Bookstagrammer, Queer Bookwyrm, and LGBTQ+ advocate with the Down East Rainbow Alliance in rural Maine. They talk agender identity, queer book recs, and the work of bringing Pride to one of the most remote corners of New England.

Lyrics By: Jessi Hersey

Music: AJ Music Group

Artwork: Zummi

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Listening to voices, stories can be strange. It's good to open up to new stories and finding backstories of how people came to be only to free the mind of what blinds us with only a glance that gives us a chance to see people be who they truly are, from silent voices to shining light. Stories that inspire awareness and change. I welcome you to Jesse's stories, unheard voices. If you like the content, please subscribe. And today we have special guest, Cheyenne, and I will let them introduce themselves.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Hi Jessie, thanks for having me. I'm Cheyenne. I use they them pronouns. I'm a bookstogrammer and I also work for the Downey's Rainbow Alliance, which is located in Washington County, Maine. Nice. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

When did you start becoming a booktuber slash influencer?

SPEAKER_01 1:35

I guess I don't really consider myself an influencer so much, but I did start using Bookstagram in 2020, like a lot of people. I needed a hobby, and I realized that I had already been doing that on my own personal Instagram page when I was reading books and reviewing them on Goodreads and then posting pictures of it and my reviews on there. And so I just made more of a concerted effort to follow other bookstagrammers and made a lot of changes to how I did things to try to make things a bit more aesthetic and streamlined the way I did book reviews. And it's just grown since then. And now I have over 7k followers, and it's been quite the experience. I've made a lot of really cool friends from all over the world. So I have really enjoyed my time on Bookstagram. And for those of you who may not know, I'm saying Bookstagram a lot, but it's just the book side of Instagram. Perfect. Thank you for explaining that. I was about to ask.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Oh yeah, what made you I think I wrote similar things. Yeah, you pretty much answered that. How did you come up with the name queer bookworm? Because I think it's very clever.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Thanks. I use the word queer to describe myself, and I've always considered myself to be bookworm. And because I am primarily a fantasy reader, I used the why in as for bookworm, as like dragons, because dragons are sometimes called worms. So queer bookworm was born.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

I love that. And I didn't even think of the why being that. That's really cool, actually. I personally love fantasy too. I just haven't read in the queer genre enough fantasy. I have two books that are on my list that I have physically here that I have to read that are fantasy and queer.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

The majority of the books on I own over 300 books, and the majority of them are queer books and mostly fantasy, so I have a lot. If you need recommendations, you know where to find me.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

I absolutely do. I just right now have a load of them, but I will use any recommendations you have. Plus, I am following you on Instagram. So I do see all the ones you post. I guess technically Cinderella is dead. Does that count as fantasy? Yes. Yes. Okay, then I have read fantasy because I love that author, Caitlin Byron. She's the first one.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, I've heard it as well. I I've read a lot of her books so far.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Same. I've just read almost all of them except for three. Yeah, she's one of my favorite authors ever.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

But anyway, what are you currently reading? Right now, I'm reading the book Snow Roses by Taryn Tyler. She's an indie author. I think she was one of the first indie authors I started following when I got on Instagram. And I'm just now getting around to reading it, so it's been a while. I'm one of those people where I'll buy books and they'll sit on my shelf for years. And so I'm just now getting around to it. But it's retelling, a queer retelling of Snow White, and it's also mixed with Sleeping Beauty and Red Riding Hood. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so it's a sapphic story. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

And is there any other ones you're reading? Since I know some people read multiple at once, some people don't.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

I am not a multiple books at a time person. I'm very methodical and strategic with my reading. So I usually read only one at a time. The only time I read more than one is if I'm doing the book club or a buddy read with someone where maybe they're reading a little bit slower. Then I'll have two books going, but most of the time I stick to one book.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

That makes sense. I like that. I'm personally not a one book person. I'm like a three to four book person, but that's because of my attention span and keeping and paying attention.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

I'm pretty good at focusing. I'm also the kind of person who schedules out my books to be read months in advance. I have a book cart here. This is my TBR cart, and I've got books here for through September. That's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

I might have to start doing that because I can't keep up with my own insanity of four books that I read at once. But we'll see. Do you feel that there is enough I might pronounce this wrong, a gender resemblance in books and shows?

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Yeah, it I that I think that's a great question. I don't think there is enough representation of a gender identity because I don't think I've read a book where there's been a main character that has been agender. I've read books where characters were gender queer or fluid and or generally non-binary, but I've not read one that has an agender main character, and I've never seen an agender character in any TV shows or movies. And that's because I'm not counting aliens or robots or things like that. There's not been any human agender characters in anything that I've watched. But if people have those recommendations, please tell me what they are so I can find them. I personally have a lot of. Some of that is also because I don't read a lot of contemporary. I think a lot of there's a lot more representation within queer contemporary young adult novels. And I don't read contemporary. I find it to be pretty boring, to be honest. I need some dragons or magic or spaceships or something. So it's harder to find those identities in fantasy and sci-fi, but I try to find them when I can.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Understandable. And I fully agree there isn't enough at all. At least even for me personally reading. And I'm also still learning terms. So if you can, or even the audience and myself to technically what a gender is or ace gender. How do you think it's a good idea? A gender. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

So a gender is under the non-binary umbrella, and it means somebody who doesn't really identify with any gender. It means without gender, a gender without gender. So for me, that means I don't identify with any genders. I don't think gender can tell you anything about me. I don't think gender says anything about who I am, and I just feel like me. I don't feel like I'm anything. Which I think can be confusing for some people, but that's how I feel about it. I don't really identify with anything. I'm just a person, and that's all I want people to see me as is a person. And I generally I use the non-binary term just because I live in a pretty small place and most people have never heard the word agender. A lot of people have heard non-binary, so I use that as an umbrella term, which still means I'm outside of what most people would consider your typical binary genders. Okay, I'm learning too, so that was good to learn that because I looked at it. And that's my that's part of my job too at the organization I work at, is I do trainings on what a lot of this stuff means. And to be clear, I'm not an expert in everything. I don't know every single term and definition that there is out there. It's always changing. And the the other thing to remember is that everything is a spectrum and it's going to be different for every person. So if you found five not if you found five non-binary people or five agender people and asked us all what it means to be agender, we're all gonna give you different answers.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

That's very true too. I'm learning that gradually still. And I'm trying to learn terms correctly, since yes, I am part of the community. But even in Sammy's interview, I brought up the fact I'm still learning, and she said she's still learning too.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

But yeah, you're always gonna be learning. I'm always learning, I'm always learning new things, especially from younger people. So it's always changing, and I don't think you have to feel like you have to have encyclopedic knowledge of what all of this stuff is. You don't have to hold all that in your brain.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

That's what Google is for. That's true, but Google doesn't always have the answers. I've learned that through the escaping twin flames behind the scenes saying I've typed in about certain roles and it doesn't always tell the truth. So sometimes it might not fully have that either for our community. I haven't personally tried it, so I can't say yes or no on the positively.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

But I know when I've Googled certain things, I have been able to find the answers, at least or at least found a website that was able to give me the answers. And there's also a lot of Instagrammers out there that have a lot of this stuff on their page. There's I think there's one Instagrammer whose name is Zoe Stoller, and they post a lot of informational stuff and definitions about different identities, and it's really helpful. Zoe Staller. I will look them up after this interview.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

That's very helpful, honestly. And if you want to, do you want to add more about the organization you work for? Because it will be down in the comments. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Of course. I work for the Downey's Rainbow Alliance, and we're a queer advocacy group in Washington County, Maine. We're a very small org. There's only a handful of us that work there. And we started out as a talking circle, a community talking circle, and just trying to figure out what the needs are for LGBTQ kids in Washington County because the suicide rates here are very high. And so our goal is to advocate for them, educate the public, and support them in all of these ways and supporting agencies and educators about these things so that we can lower that rate. And so our main goal is suicide prevention. And we do that by using the Traveling Rainbow Project, which is a traveling pride display that we bring to schools and we just set it up and it's got pride flags and pronoun pins and stickers and all kinds of just goodies and snacks. And basically, we're bringing queer joy to one of the most rural places in Maine. Where I live, it's not just rural, it's remote. It's hard to get places, everything's very spread out. There's no public transportation, there's nowhere for kids to gather. And so bringing this stuff to them so they can see that it's okay to be themselves and for them to also see a queer adult, that they can grow up to be adults, that is a huge thing for them to see. Because we also live in a place that has a lot of Trump flags and it's a very conservative area. And so there's a lot of stuff that is very hard for these kids. It's hard for adults. And so it's even harder for these kids that aren't seeing themselves anywhere and are constantly being told by the adults in their life that they don't matter or that the things they're going through aren't real. So that's what we're there for is to support them. And we have a Discord server that kids can join and connect with other queer kids in the county because maybe they can't, maybe they're the only kid in their school that they know is LGBTQ. So now they can connect with other kids in other schools and do it that way. And we also do pro social events. So we plan events throughout the summer and throughout the school year that we're bringing these kids together so they can do things together. And we also plan Downeast Pride, which is this area's Pride Festival, and that's coming up really soon. And this is the first year that I've planned it, and it's we have two days of it. So we have June 29th in Eastport and June 30th in Lubeck. And they're the most eastern Pride events in the United States because that's the furthest east you can go. And then it's just ocean. So it's and it's huge. It's it's not huge as far as that it's a big deal. It's a small place, so it's a small number compared to other pride events. But last year we had about 300 people combined for both days, which is pretty big for around here. It's hard to get people to go to things. So we had really good turnout and we had no problems. And that's always surprising when we live in this place that is pretty conservative most of the time, but we had no problems. We had drag queens. Um, we have drag queens coming again this year. We have the curbside queens. If you look them up, they're great. And so we've got four of them coming. We've got two queens and two kings. So I'm very excited, and it's gonna be a good time. We have all kinds of vent craft vendors and people selling pride merchandise and things like that too. So I'm very excited for it.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Sounds like it's gonna be a lot of fun, honestly. And that's great that this organization exists, period, because we need more of that. Like where I live, I'm also in a very conservative area with Trump lags. But I think in the area I'm in right now, I'm actually no. The schools, there could be kids too, but I don't think there's any organization up here, but I haven't personally checked to see. But there should be more organizations like the one you work for, and it's great what you're doing too. So thank you so much for spreading and helping the youth, especially with the stupid laws happening all around the world, which sucks.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Yeah, indeed. And Maine is a little bit better about some of the these laws. Maine is usually pretty good about these kinds of things, but it really depends on the school you're at and the administration there, how open it is. So that's what we're doing is trying to improve those environments for these kids and just to make it safer so that more queer teens are becoming queer adults. That's great, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

I used to work in the school system, and one thing that I've learned, at least from all the ones I was at, mostly all the adults are straight. I was always the only one that was queer when I was there. And with that, they play the open card, but then it's not the truth. You're the only queer one, and they're the one, you will always be the one that they're willing to get rid of if they need to. That's something that I learned.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

And if you can't talk about the only queer person in the room wherever I am. I'm also often the only black person in the room. The Maine is a very white state, and especially where I am, it's there's not a lot of people of color here. Oh jeez.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

So you're used to that too, of being the only person. Yes. That's actually nice to know too, to have someone else having with me. I can't go into black because I'm not black, but I can at least do queer school. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Yeah. And that's also why it's good for me to be in the schools for kids to see a queer person of color that is thriving in life and is doing okay. Because there are people of color, and most of them are indigenous people. We have the Passamaquoddy tribe in this area, and so I think it's also good for them to see that as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yeah, you are doing really great things, that means too, that you're bringing even more to light, too. That's awesome. And now, YouTube. You get to be on YouTube. Holy the three to the lot of people. How can we improve as a society with more agender representation? Just your personal opinion on that.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

I think first, I think more people need to know what it is. I think more people need to know that there are more gender options than just male and female. And I think that itself has to be more normalized. And I think that's happening bit by bit, but I think we also have to expand our understanding of what non-binary is as well. It's not just, it's not just one kind of thing. There's multiple different ways to be non-binary. There's not just one way. And I think once we have that representation, I think it will be easier for someone to be able to say explicitly on TV, I'm a gender. So I think that is also what we need is people to explicitly say I am this thing. Instead of leaving it ambiguous and making people guess. Because hit cannons are great. I but I also want to hear it.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Yeah, and straightforward to the point. It's helpful, honestly. I like straightforward to the point too. If people were to put it, I know on your Instagram you have it directly on there. That's the only reason why I was able to write the questions I was, because I don't now I do understand the umbrella of agender. Not full understanding, but an understanding. And yeah, so I hope more people do open up. And if any viewers are under the umbrella or just considering, please check out Cheyenne's Under the Rain. No, no, Rainbow Alneys Rainbow Alliance.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Yeah, you can find us on Downey's Rainbow Alliance.com. Or you can or you can find us on Instagram and Facebook. We're also on there.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

And all links will also be down below, and also Cheyenne's links to following them will be down below. And then oh, who is your favorite author right now? And it can be multiple ones too. It doesn't have to be one.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

That's good because I have a stack of books right next to me to explain this. I'm a book person, I always have a stack of books somewhere. So the first book that the first author I will talk about is Rin Chipeko, who is the author of The Bone Witch. And this is probably one of my favorite book series that I've read. I I love this. It's Rin Chipeko is a non-binary author. They're also Asian, and this is a YA fantasy, and it's about necromancy. Necromancy? I never know how to pronounce that, but I've read it. I've got all kinds of flags in here. I've read this series twice, and I just I love it so much. There is this and this particular book doesn't have a non-binary main character, but it does have a trans side character and a couple of sapphic characters. And Rin's other books that they've written do have more representation. They have an adult series, Silver Under Nightfall, which shows a polyamory relationship and bisexuality, and so a lot of their books are queer. So if you just look up Rin Chupeko, you can find all kinds of queer books by them. Their book, The Sacrifice, has a non-binary main character, and that's a horror, YA horror. So I just always love Rin Chupeko. The next author that I have prepared is NK Jemison. I love her. She writes a lot of sci-fi, and this is like a blend of sci-fi fantasy, the fifth season. And I just, this book was so crazy. When I read it, the twist was wild. I was confused for 90% of this book. I did not know what was going on, 90% of this book, until I got to the end. And I was like, oh my god, this is amazing. And a lot of her books have queer characters in them as well. The City We Became has a lot of queer characters in that. I've got the second book on my TBR. So I love NK Jemison. Plus, I just I love reading more black authors that write sci-fi and fantasy, and she's one of them. And she was definitely heavily influenced by Octavia Butler, which is definitely one of my all-time favorite authors as well. And then I've got Becky Chambers. I've been reading a lot of Becky Chambers this year. She writes a lot of cozy sci-fi, and all of her books are queer, and I love that. So if you're looking for a cozy, low-stakes sci-fi book with that's a very character-centered. This is there is a plot, but it's mostly about the characters and their growth, and I love that about her books. And the last one I have is an indie author, and this is Nicole Bailey. She's one of the authors that I follow on Instagram. She's a good friend of mine, and I love all of her books, and she's got several series right now. This one is a Veil of God and Gods and Kings, and this is book one in the Apollo Ascending series. And there are four books in this series, and it is an Achillean love story. So it's two male characters in love, and there's a character that is asexual and aromantic. And I love all the characters in these books. And she's got another adult series that has a bunch of queer characters in it, and she's got a YA series that has queer characters in them. And she just came out this month with her newest duology, which is In the Midst of Omens, and it's an epic of Gilgamesh retelling. So I need to check her out. Yeah, so definitely check out Nicole Bailey. She's definitely one of my favorite indie authors. I will always recommend Nicole Bailey's books. So you can also find you can also find her on Instagram at author Nicole Bailey.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

That's gonna help me too in my random following. I'll try to get her on here too. And some of your other favorites too, but yeah, it's gonna be a little bit. Okay, and my next question, I am following this correctly. Yeah, when did you start working with Down East Rainbow?

SPEAKER_01 20:08

I started working with the Down East Rainbow Alliance last year. Uh I started in April of 2023. I had taken a break from working for a couple of years before that. I was a domestic violence advocate and educator, and that is as rewarding as that job is, it's it takes its toll. It was a lot to be a domestic violence advocate. So I took a couple of years off, and then I saw the Dantonese Rainbow Alliance was hiring facilitators. And so it just kind of fell into my lap and it aligned with everything that I wanted to do, which was advocacy and education and also working with youth. And it just all fell into place. And since I've been there, I've been going to a whole bunch of schools, and I've recently started offering Rainbow 101 trainings, which are the trainings that I give to schools and agencies and medical providers on the basics of LGBTQ things. I give a lot of information about the statistics, about the mental health impact on LGBTQ youth and adults. So people understand the reason why we exist, because I get a lot of questions as to why does this need to happen? Why do I need to know about this stuff? And once I show them the statistics about the mental health of these kids and they realize, oh, kids are dying. That's why we're doing these things. And also it just gives them kind of a basic understanding of the terms and definitions that people hear and you don't even know what these words mean. So they're learning the basics for that and just basics around pronoun use. Because a lot of people around here have no idea how to use they them pronouns. They don't understand why they exist or how to use them properly. So it's a lot of educating around these basic principles. That's pr very awesome.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

I like that a lot. And let's see, sorry. I get nervous. I guess we're on to the very last. So thanks so much for being here, Cheyenne. And where can everyone find you?

SPEAKER_01 21:55

And it will you can find me on Instagram at queer underscore bookworm, and you can Also find Downeyast Rainbow Alliance at Downeast Rainbow on Instagram or at www.downeastrainbowalliance.com and you can find us there.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Thanks so much for being here. And then subscribe and check out all of Cheyenne's stuff, including Downeast Rainbow Alliance, because I'm gonna leave all links to everything Cheyenne and Everything Rainbow Alliance. And I will look up some of the authors too and leave their links down below. And yeah, thanks so much for being here. Embrace your truth, tell your story. You I have a story, you have a story to tell. Uh thanks everyone. Peace. Thanks so much for being here, everyone. Uh I hope you enjoyed this episode with many more to come. If you'd like to help support and grow the podcast and even the YouTube channel, please not only follow, like, subscribe, but please leave a review on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you listen to this podcast. Thanks so much for being here. Until next week, on Wednesday at 7 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. Peace. Catch you later.