INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR GREG KENTRIS
BY EMILY HASTINGS-SPECK AND GREG MAXTON
T
here is silence in the library, ex- cept for the rise and fall of the author’s voice as he reads aloud from the final few chapters of his book. More than 75 Grade
7 students are crammed together in a space carved out between the shelves, but the rich, expressive text weaves a spell that has cap- tured their attention, and they hang on every word. If I refuse to live on the outside how I feel on the inside, how can anyone ever get to know the “real” me? A ripple of movement, and heads nod in agreement. The question clearly means something to these students, and one of them murmurs, “Right!”
***** *****
What do you do when you can’t find a re- source to start important conversations in your classroom? You create one, of course. Peel teacher Greg Maxton (who writes un- der his married name, Kentris) had become increasingly frustrated with the persistent, intentional and casual homophobia that he saw in his middle school teaching environ- ment. Despite a strong social justice and eq- uity focus in his classes, he struggled to find ways to address homophobia and to find resources and texts that would help students who were queer or questioning to feel in- cluded in the classroom curriculum. Instead of making do with what he could find, Greg decided to take a giant leap – write his own novel, aimed at middle schoolers, that gives voice to the struggles and triumphs of be- ing a young teen navigating the continuum of gender and sexual identity. Defying Gay Gravity is the culmination of two years of writing, revision, focus groups and an Indie- gogo-funded first run of publication that now sees over 600 copies of Greg’s novel in
ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO 31
PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE COUSINS
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