V: Speaking of hats, your nice rainbow hat made me think of this. Do you know what this month is.  

C: It's Pride! 

V: Yes, Happy Pride! I don't know your orientation, but happy Pride.  

C: I'm a cow.  

V: That's fair. Yeah, that was silly.  

C: It's OK. There's lots of questions.  

V: Yeah, this is an interview.  

[All laugh] 

V: I'm going to direct this to you, Evelyn. 

E: Yes. OK.  

V: What does Pride mean to you? And Coco, you can answer, too, if you want.  

E: What does Pride mean to me? So, for me it means that two years ago I got to marry my best friend – and I married her in Pride Month, which we didn’t even set out to do on purpose. It just timed out that way. We got married during Pride Month on Pride Day. 

H: Stop. You did not get married on Pride.  

E: Yes, yes, we did. That whole weekend was Pride Weekend here in Nashville.  

H: I feel like I should have known that. I was there.  

E: You were there! 

V: That's so beautiful.  

E: So it just means a lot to me because I get to be married to my person and that's really meaningful to me. That's something that I wanted.  

V: Right.  

E: Not everybody needs or wants marriage. 

H: True. Not everybody needs or wants that, but I did. And to be able to do that is, is really special. Marriage isn't for everyone, but it is nice that we have the option.  

E: You just need the option to be married.  

H: Jude and I have been together eight years this year. So, it’ll be five years married this year. So for me, pride means the same thing. I get to continue to share this beautiful life with my beautiful wife. We get to be married and get to exist together.  

E: And just walk through your life together as you choose.  

H: Yeah. I mean, I'm glad that we get our own month, but I don’t know. Like, I know we have a spotlight on it this month, but I like to live my life celebrating every month.  

E: Yeah. I know. I think June is great and I love that there's a month for this celebration of it, but we are here all the time.  

H: Yes! Some of us have known since we were born.  

E: Some of us find out later in life.  

H: You know, everyone's journey is their own special journey, but I'm glad that we have a month where we get to at least talk about it and share our stories.  

E: So that's what I love, is sharing stories and hearing people's stories, right? About their personal journey, whether, like you said, they knew from the beginning of time, whether they came to it later in life, what that journey has looked like for them, what that's meant for their community and, when they find their place in their community, what belonging means to them. And I mean, honestly, I think that it points back to how important stories are for us as humans and something that we literally get to work with every day at the library.  

V: It all comes back to story time, don't it?  

E: Everything comes back to story time.  

C: Life is story time.  

H: Honestly, it really feels like that. Sometimes I feel like I know the people at Storytime better than I know the people in my regular life.  

[All laugh] 

V: Ok. Back to pride. This is serious.  

H: Yes. Um, my only complaint, I wish we had a colder month.  

E: Oh, me too. It is so hot. I don't like the hot months.  

H: It is so hard to be out there and be prideful when it's like a hundred degrees.  

E: I agree with you. It's terrible. 

H: I think we should just maybe also celebrate in December. We should have two months! 

E: We should have two months! Bookmark the year halfway through and at the end! 

H: That way most of the year is just full of lots of love and colors and joy.  

V: Do you ever go to Pride here?  

E: Um, no, because it's too hot. I believe in air conditioning, and I don't like to be hot and sweaty. However, I'm part of a choir, Nashville in Harmony, which is a choir for the LGBTQ community and allies.  

V: Allies! 

[All laugh] 

E: We've got concerts that we do in June during Pride. I feel really good about that because we're inside, singing in the air conditioning. That is my contribution.  

H: Usually every year I work Pride and help represent the library.  

E: You do the booth? 

H: Yes. It's not really a booth. It's more like a table. There’s sometimes a tent. And so usually Summer Reading, shout out Summer Reading, will provide fans for everyone working there. That makes it a little more bearable, but it is still really hot. And that's why you only want to do like two, three hours shifts, but it's super cool getting to be out there with the community and getting to see our people, like the LGBT+ youth that come up to our table and they're like, I didn't know the library was gay or whatever you know? 

E: Yes: you belong here.  

H: It's nice being able to be part of that. Be a face for that in the community. 

E: Love that.  

H: I'm passing the torch this year, letting someone else do it because I've done it the last three years. So I want some of the new people to get to do it.  

E: Yeah.  

H: And it's only one day this year. 

E: Oh, is it really?  

H: Yes. It's usually like two days.  

E: Is it kind of an all-day thing? Like as far as the table for the library goes or…?  

H: So for the table, I just help run it. I don’t organize this event, that's the Teen Department that runs it. So I usually just help staff the table, but usually the table is there all day and then there are people that come in every two hours, so at least two to four people every like two or three hours and then they just rotate through.  

E: What is the date this year of that, of Pride? Do you remember?  

H: Pride is June 27th this year.  

V: Have you been to Pride before, Coco?  

C: No, but it sounds fun. I love outside. 

V: I haven't been either.  

C: Maybe we should go together. Vanilla, we should go together! 

V: I am still learning about Pride, so that would be good. 

C: Well, me too, honestly. I don't know enough yet. So we should go! I wonder, do you think they would let us volunteer at the table?  

H: I don't see why not. They should. We should ask the teen department.  

C: Yeah. Let's ask and then, I bet people would come if they knew we were there.  

V: We can give out stamps with our faces.  

C: Yes, with our faces on them! Oh my goodness. Vanilla. Have you ever thought we should have stickers with our faces on them?  

V: Yes, I agree.  

H: You guys should definitely have stickers.  

E: Yeah, we'll need to talk to Mr. B 

H: Or Miss Pat to see about getting some stickers ordered.  

V: Yeah. Okay, speaking of stickers, maybe. Nope, this is a terrible transition.  

[All laugh] 

V: Anyway, I want to know more about Storytime and how you fit Pride into it. Pride is cool. Pride is great. Pride's coming up. But like, are you guys going to read any Pride books for story time?  

E: In Storytime, we celebrate Pride every week because we make a rainbow, but yeah, actually, I need to find a book I would like to find one for this month. Just throw it out there during story time. 

V: Just don't even make a big deal about it.  

E: Exactly. This is the book we're reading and I'm going to read it. And then I do read it.  

V: Yeah.  

H: No, that's exactly it. Personally, I don't feel the need to make a thing out of it.  

E: Yes. Like, families that have two moms or two dads or any number of combinations, right? Families like that exist all the time.  

V: Right. 

E: So, what's fun is to celebrate it now, in this month, but I don't think we need to be calling it out and making anyone feel sort of weirdly othered by it. You know?  

H: Yes. And sometimes I feel that way with the different months, like, I think we talked about this during Black History Month too. And it's like, why are we only talking about these things during this one month? Like LGBT history, like it has a very long, long history and it didn't just happen in the month of June.  

E: Right.  

H: Like, I feel like it's something we can celebrate and talk about all year. And I feel like we could be reading these books in Storytimes all year.  

E: All year round. Yes.  

H: Which is what I try to do. I actually end up reading a lot of books about bears, but when I'm not reading about the cute bears, I try to include things like that to make it seem like it's normal because it is normal.  

E: Because it is normal. It should be normal. I know. It’s a whole thing because you're looking for the book that has the right vibe, the right feel, the right length and the right amount of words, right? For your audience. So there's a whole set of sort of like criteria that I go through personally when I'm looking for a good book for Storytime.  

H: We all have our own rules that we have to follow. So then trying to fit in this theme too, it does make it a little more challenging.  

E: Yeah, but making sure I'm picking a wide variety of types of authors with different content – that’s what I hope to bring all the time throughout the year, not just during the theme month.  

H: I feel like we see you guys over at our diversity display all the time.  

E: I love that display.  

H: So I think I can vouch that you guys are at least trying. We do have a pride display downstairs, so that's full of picture books. I will say in my own pursuit of finding nice LGBT+ books all year, a lot of them are very wordy.  

E: This! This is true. It's hard to find a good one to read for story time where you're not like, hold on everyone, this is going to take 30 minutes. 

H: Yeah, I know. 

E: Hey, any authors reading this out there? We need really fun, short, couple-of-words-on-the-page, Pride books.  

H: Like one that I really like, one of my all-time favorite books is And Tango Makes Three. I love it. A classic. Real life, gay penguins. 

E: Love it. Super cute.  

H: You can not read that book at story time. It's giving the penguins whole background, whole biography, their journey, their feelings, everything. It's too much for story time. It's a lot. The babies aren't interested in that. They just need the meat of the story.  

E: They do. They need like the fun rhyme and two words per page and yeah, the big pictures and all that stuff.  

H: Yes. I love the ones where I'll find something that is just showing a family, being a family and doing something. It has nothing to do with the fact that there's two moms or two dads or whatever.  

E: Yeah. I like those a lot – present it like it's normal. 

H: Is it Todd Parr? Yeah I think so. The Family Book is just about all families and his books usually pretty short.  

E: Those are the best. Those make it seem the most normal, which is what I like.  

H: That's what I like too. For the youth.  

E: Yeah. Like, I'm here to invite all of you to participate and enjoy this story. Let's see what it has to offer us, right? It's an invitation, not an aggressive sort of stance, if that makes sense. 

H: I don't think everything needs to be a stance. Sometimes we just need to… 

E: Just be. 

H: Exactly. That's it.  

V: Do you or Coco have a favorite LGBT book or Pride book?  

E: I might have to get back to you on that. I'll have to have a look. 

V: It doesn't have to be for kids. Just like if you're reading one. 

E: Oh, well then yes, I can tell you. TJ Klune is one of my favorite authors and I love his book, The House in the Cerulean Sea.  

V: I think I've heard that one. It sounds familiar. 

E: You have to read it. It's so good.  

V: Is it sad?  

E: No. It's wonderful. I'm just speaking of it reverently because I love it so much and in that book, it does exactly what we're talking about: it presents things as normal and it's just really lovely. It's also a little bit fantasy as well. So there's these kind of magical creatures in it and there's a lot of people and creatures working through acceptance and everybody's differences and it's just really great. It's really great. So that's TJ Klune.  

H: My favorite non-children's LGBT book, it’s YA, is I Kissed Shara Wheeler.  

E: Oh, I don't know that one.  

H: It's like, have you ever read Paper Towns by John Green? So it's like, it's like Paper Towns, but gay.  

[All gay] 

H: I will say, it is interesting that a lot of fantasy novels seem to have some kind of like LGBT undertone.  

E: Yeah. I see that in a lot of fantasy novels, especially the ones coming out now.  

H: Right. And I wonder why there's so many fantasy gay books and not like, fiction. Where's the fiction? Why is it all in sci-fi or fantasy?  

E: I don't know. That's a good question.  

H: Something to think about.  

E: I wonder if it has to do with… I mentioned magical creatures a minute ago, and I wonder if it has to do with the idea of othering. 

H: That was my first thought! 

E: Right? Things that are outside of the norm, if you will, or what we have often understood as the norm. That’s a really easy way to sort of illustrate it, you know? Or to like align us with this group of people or creatures, to like make that stance even stronger.  

H: Or, maybe it's like, oh, well, they're already magical creatures. They wouldn't have a problem accepting this. They already have gills, so what's the problem? But I think about that all the time, where it's like, you know, you're just reading fiction, but then in like sci-fi and fantasy, it's like there's nine times out of 10, there's probably going to be a gay character. 

E: That's a really interesting point. I hadn't thought about that before, but that’s true. 

V: Okay we need to wrap this up. 

H: Sorry for hijacking your interview, Vanilla. We got a little passionate there. 

[All laugh] 

V: Is there anything you are excited about for the future? Anything you’d like to tell the people, like an exciting puppet show coming up or –   

E: Yes! A couple of things.  

V: Okay. I know currently you're doing Stonecutter. 

E: Stonecutter is in June and July. So come out and see it, especially if you never have before. 

H: Stonecutter is one of my favorites.  

E: It's a classic. It's been in our repertoire for like 25 years.  

H: It’s so good! 

E: In August, we are going to bring back a show called Tall Tale Circus, which has not been done since Brian and Mary left.  

V: Oh, wow.  

E: It's a four-person show and it's much more performance based. So we're singing, and there's juggling, and there's all kinds of stuff happening. It's about tall tales, basically. So it'll be me, Library Pete and Mr. B. And then we're bringing in a guy who used to be on the puppet truck with us. His name is David Torres Fuentes.  

H: You're bringing David?  

E: Yeah.  

V: That's the bubble guy! 

E: That's the bubble guy, yes! So he's going to come in and be the fourth person. It takes four people to do the show.  

H: That is so cool! He was Baby Bear too, right? For Goldilocks? 

E: Yes. He’s the voice of Baby Bear.  

V: Can you tell we're Wishing Chair fans?  

E: I love that you knew that. That's so great. David is a magician and performer himself. He also puts on entertainments and parties and stuff like that. He does bubbles. He does his own Story Times.  

H: He's going to come do his magical Story Time with us on Thursday, July 2! 

E: And then another thing I'm excited about is in September. We have a special guest puppet troupe coming, and their name is Alex & Olmstead. Their show is called Milo the Magnificent, and it is incredible. They are going to be here for two weekends in September, and everyone should come and see their show. We don't do anything quite like what they're going to do. It's a really unique show. 

V: I think this is going to be crazy, because you guys can do everything.  

E: We don't currently do anything like what they are doing in this show. You don’t want to miss this. 

V: Wow. So stay tuned.  

E: Yes! 

V: Okay. That's our time.  

E: Thank you, Vanilla. Thank you, Haylee.  

V: Thank you, Coco. Thank you, Dr. Ev.  

H: Yeah, you guys are awesome.  

V: Thank you!

C: So fun. I love it. We should just do it, not for the blog sometime. 

V: Just hang out?  

C: Just hang out.  

V: Right? We should. We have to go to Pride!

C: Let’s go!