Today Friends New Underground Railroad has a new waiting list of at least 30 passengers and no money to give the conductors to support their move. At $55 each person that will come to $1650.00. And  FNUR is currently operating with a debt of $2,033.14 – a no interest loan which needs to be repaid. This happened because we have had some emergency situations of passengers that needed to flee quickly.

Given this situation and the importance of this project, Alec Clayton, husband of FNUR co-manager Gabi Clayton, was inspired by Talcott Broadhead’s offer of their wonderful book Meet Polkadot and Alec wrote:

“It is my pleasure to offer up to 25, signed, 1st edition trade paperback copies of my novel The Wives of Marty Winters for donors who wish to make a donation in the amount of $20 or more to Friends New Underground Railroad.”

About The Wives of Marty Winters by Alec Clayton:

Gay rights activist Selena Winters is shot in the head while giving a speech at the Seattle Pride celebration. She is rushed to the hospital where a blood clot is removed from her brain. She slips into a coma. Selena’s husband Marty and family members gather to wait and see if she will ever regain consciousness.

Family conversations lead back to old conflicts and memories of Marty’s first wife, Maria in the 1960’s. Maria has two steps up on the sexual revolution, and she figures what Marty doesn’t know about her other boyfriend won’t hurt him. Their marriage comes to a suddenly end when she leaves him with no hint of where she may be. Marty’s obsession with finding Maria leads him to another woman, one in a religious commune who goes by the name of Marigold but whose real name is Selena. He marries Selena and takes her back home, and they build what seems to be a happy and normal life …

…until their son tells them he is gay and until Marty’s old friend Chuck, an embittered Vietnam vet, comes back into his life, until they run into trouble with a neo-Nazi group known as The Nation, and finally until Maria returns.

Book reviewer Amos Lassen wrote:

“Clayton knows how to tell a story and his descriptions gives us mental pictures of where everything is happening. He also goes where other writers dare not go and his “in your face” candid writing and wonderful characters that are not afraid to say what they think make reading fun. There is something about subtle wit and humor that is very hard to write but Clayton does it with style. I also love the reality of what he writes and any of us who have gotten through high school and college in the 60’s being somewhat different will feel right at home here (not to mention at Gay Pride celebrations).

“This is the story of Marty Winters and how he ‘maneuvered’ through life from the protesting 60’s until the present and it is both an emotional and an intellectual journey. If we look back over those years, we see an America of unrest—a period when we not only had something to protest but were not afraid to do so. The period saw the beginnings of the feminist and gay rights movements and when we look at them today, it is interesting to see how far they have come.”

Please be sure to leave a note on PayPal, with your donation indicating that you wish to receive a copy of The Wives of Marty Winters as a token of our gratitude for your support and include your mailing address. If you are sending a check, please contact us to let us know so we will include that in the count of the books.

To order, use PayPal here:

If donating by check, see the information on our Donate! page.

Note: This offer is for 1 copy per donor and for USA addresses only. If you would like to purchase additional copies you can do so at local bookstores (they may need to order it for you) and at amazon.com

Thank you!

Note – This wonderful offer by Talcott has ended. This is left up as a record. Thank you to all who took part and donated.

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I am happy to be able to offer an additional 15, signed, 1st ed. hardback copies of Meet Polkadot for donors who wish to make a donation in the amount of $40 or more to FNUR. 1 copy per donor.

Please be sure to leave a “note” on PayPal, with your donation indicating that you wish to receive a copy of Meet Polkadot as a token of gratitude for your support and include your mailing address.

If you would like to PURCHASE additional copies you can do so at DangerDot.com

About Meet Polkadot by Talcott Broadhead:

Have you been looking for a story with which to begin and/or continue meaningful and accurate conversations about gender identity?

Perhaps you wish to have dialogues that center and normalize transgender identities but you feel worried you may not have accurate information?

Maybe you ARE trans* or you have a child/family member who is trans* and you are ready for a book that honors transgender experiences rather than sensationalizes transgender lives and bodies?

Meet Polkadot is the first in a series of books that introduces readers to our main character Polkadot, a non-binary, transgender child. This book is an accessible introduction and primer to the the diversity of gender identity, the importance of allyship, and the realness of kids like Polkadot.

In this story, Polkadot as well as Polkadot’s big sister Gladiola and best friend Norma Alicia, introduce our readers to the challenges and beauty that are experienced by Polkadot as a non-binary, trans kid in a binary world that among other things: conflates bodies with genders. While Gladiola learns how to engage with information that she “didn’t know she didn’t know,” Norma Alicia provides Polkadot with generous, additional perspectives on how identities intersect and how allyship works.

Meet Polkadot tells Polkadot’s story from a transgender-liberation and feminist perspective and explores the complexity of identity in gentle and real terms. The book sets the stage for future stories about Polkadot and loved ones by acting as a primer on gender identity.

A great book to read with family or to use in the classroom, Meet Polkadot has been used as an educational tool in preschools all the way up to graduate schools! Valued by social workers, health care providers, educators, youth, and families, Meet Polkadot is truly a book for all ages!

Reviews:

“A beautifully illustrated and accessibly written book that challenges our assumptions about gender, bodies and identities. Like Polkadot, I hold no investment in binaries, even in book genres. Meet Polkadot is a book for children, for adults, for all people; a necessary primer on gender identity.” – Janet Mock, author of Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

“Meet Polkadot is a children’s book that is written as much for adults as it is for children. A main goal of this particular book was to be accessible to those who might be encountering these ideas for the first time. Balancing the hefty task of avoiding sensationalism and dodging the gender equivalent of color blindness, Broadhead, a gender studies professor, wrote the book with the intention that the book could be used not just to fill in a conspicuous gap for an underrepresented population for kids and parents, but also as a tool in higher education.” -Giovanna Marcus, Olympia Power & Light

Make your donation here: http://friendsugandansafetransport.org/donate/

Thank you!

Talcott