NJM 16 - Stranger in Each Day

Write about a book or a song (or art) that’s had a huge impact on your life.

Music was a huge part of my identity as a teen. Listening to that music as an adult fortifies me, fills me with strength and pride in who I was and who I’ve become. I still listen to Veruca Salt Depeche Mode and Blur, just a few of the many formative bands.

But there’s another thing that had an unexpected and lasting impact on my identity and my life. I read the book Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein at 16. It became one of my favourite books immediately. What I didn’t expect when I decided to reread it at 25 was that I had wholesale stolen the fictional “religion” (cult) in the story as my sexual identity. I believed, as Michael Valentine Smith did, that nothing was more important than Love and an exceptional way to show Love was through sexual intimacy. I still believe that, today.

I must add a caveat, because my latest re-reading uncovered how brutally homophobic and transphobic the religion is, as written. And I’m not even going to mention the sexism because it was written in the 50’s and published in the 60’s. Those are not my beliefs. I welcome all or no genders, all bodily configurations. If you are a good person you’re welcome in my sex cult. Haha.