Fresh Ink: An Anthology

The stories in Fresh Ink explore the importance of having collective support in order to push back against hate and exclusion. Characters throughout the collection experience intolerance from others in the form of racism, gender bias, anti-gay bias, and other exclusionary behavior: They’re bullied, abused, and made to feel as though their lives are invalid. Additionally, however, the stories reveal that having support from others not only makes it easier to stand up to hate but also gives people a stronger voice of resistance.

For example, in “Don’t Pass Me By,” Doobie faces daily bullying and racism both directly from his peers and indirectly through the school as a whole. The school is mostly white, and Indigenous American students like Doobie, who come from the “Rez,” are often mistreated and bullied by other students, unless (as Doobie’s friend Hayley and many others do) they do their best to appear “white,” in effect abandoning their Indigenous heritage to fit in. Doobie, however, can’t do this due to his appearance and consequently doesn’t fit in and takes the brunt of the abuse. Throughout the story, he endures this abuse, and even the curriculum makes him feel like an outsider. In health class, he notes that the Annie doll on which they practice CPR is white and that the diagram from which they learn about sex has instructions to color the skin with the lighter, “flesh”-colored pencil. Even his teacher, Mr. Corker, perpetrates ignorance, allowing other students to bully Doobie and commenting that the white Annie doll should be cleaned so that it’s “normal colored” (46). Throughout the story, Doobie lacks collective support, but at the end, he finally stands up to Mr. Corker in his own way by using the brown pencil to color in his sex education diagram. Even as he does so, he imagines going up to Hayley, helping her wipe off her makeup, “glimps[ing] the Indian girl [he] used to know,” and “press[ing] [his] fingers lightly to her neck, where the makeup [is] thinner, and linger[ing] to feel a pulse” (54). These feelings (his desire to bring Hayley back as a friend and stop her from trying to be white) reflect his desire and need for support to stand up to the hate around him.

While Doobie doesn’t ever find collective support, Jasmine in “Once Voice: A Something In-Between Story” eventually finds the support she seeks to stand up to racist events on her college campus. Throughout the story, she experiences three jarring instances of racism: racist graffiti, racist words written on an African American student’s car, and her own harassment at the gym. These events make her question her safety and her feelings of belonging and “compound[] this feeling that no matter what [she] d[oes] right, someone [i]s watching, waiting to pull [her] out of line, throw [her] in a detention center, then on an airliner with a one-way ticket to the Philippines” (135). As an immigrant, she was never fully comfortable with the idea of belonging, but these events put it at the forefront of her mind, making it real for her that some people don’t want her in the country at all. However, Jasmine eventually finds support in the form of a campus protest, during which “hundreds of students flood[] the quad, all to reclaim the space the graffiti briefly tried to inhabit. [The students] need[] to cleanse the toxicity [and] take back the air” (144). With the help of others who feel the way she does, she can “claim that space for [herself]” and “realize that [she] truly ha[s] a place and purpose at Stanford” (144). In realizing that she’s not alone, Jasmine finds the support she needs to feel as though she belongs.

Similarly, in the story “Catch, Pull, Drive,” transgender student Tommy struggles with coming out but finds support through his mother and a teammate. The night he decides to come out to everyone through Facebook, he begins to cry and stresses over posting. Finding him upset in his room, his mom consoles him and repeatedly tells him how “strong” he is, saying, “Normal is overrated. There is no normal […] You are so strong, baby, you are so st-strong” (168). This support from his mother gives Tommy the courage to post his story and reveal who he is to the world. The next day after practice, Tommy is initially hesitant to enter the locker room, afraid that his teammates will keep bullying him. However, he immediately finds support in Parker, who uses his new name and follows him into the locker room. However, once he’s there, Roman immediately begins bullying him, calling him a “fag.” Again, though, Parker continues to support Tommy, and he finally stands up to Roman and tells him to shut up. As Tommy notes, “Parker’s found courage. I find myself standing up, too” (171). With Parker, he tells Roman to back off, insulting his intelligence and bullying him back. Although he struggled throughout practice, receiving no support from his coach or teammates, this act by Parker in the locker room gives Tommy the strength to stand up for himself. Both Tommy’s mother and Parker support his efforts to combat hate, which ultimately gives him the courage he needs to be his true self.

As these stories show what it’s like to face ignorance, hate, and abuse as a member of a minority group, they also reveal how one can overcome hate through collective support. Although Doobie never fully receives that support, he desperately needs it and dreams of what it would be like to have Hayley there with him. Jasmine and Tommy, however, find support that gives them the strength to stand their ground and claim their right to exist without fear and prejudice.