Future File
Written and curated by s.g. maldonado-vélez.
As a queer person of color, I grew up seeing very little of myself in the stories I loved. (As I write this I am struggling to even come up with one queer and/or Latinx character that meant a lot to me in my childhood and on.) Usually, the token ethnic character would be a prop to discuss racism in one episode or passing comment as well as comedic fodder. This happens as well with queer characters, such as the trope of the “gay best friend”. Things are changing as media slowly becomes more inclusive but it’s still rare enough to see characters that I connect to in a deeper sense that I tend to cry when it does happen, like seeing the character of Stevonnie in “Steven Universe”. Throughout this semester I have been incredibly careful about choosing what stories to tell because I want to present stories to audiences that reflect the many forms of diversity that exist in the world, with a focus on queer and Brown narratives.
The overarching theme for this future file is queer stories, which I left open-ended so I could include a wide variety of narratives that can allow me to grow as a storyteller. This includes having some stories that are aimed towards younger audiences which is not a strength of mine but I do want to work on. The stories span from adaptations of graphic novels, songs, Greek mythology, and children’s books to a non-fiction narrative about the author James Baldwin. There are quite a few themes that overlap such as the queer Millenial experience, falling in love, self-discovery, difficulties of romantic relationships, and dealing with different forms of trauma. Originally I wanted to include more historical stories, such as those of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera at Stonewall, but do not feel like I know enough yet to tell those stories in a respectful manner. I do plan to add more to this file as time goes on so that I can easily reference the stories I am comfortable telling and have a place to work from when I’m told about a storytelling opportunity. Representation is very important and I hope that audiences, whether they are queer or not, can find something of themselves in these stories. Queer experiences are human experiences so they deserve the same amount of attention and respect as other narratives.
Stories
Geryon, Winged Beauty (tw: sexual and emotional abuse, neglect)
Source Decay (tw: emotional abuse)
Cannonball (tw: alcohol abuse)
Grease Bats (tw: alcohol abuse)
Note: Flounder (the platform on which this website is formed) does not have ways to italicize text. Trigger warnings are included next to the linked titles.
/ff/