Writing Pathways Out of Patriarchy: The Creative Research Behind “The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky”
October 7, 2024
Meet VCU Authors: Josh Galarza
Start time: 12:00 p.m.
End time: 1:00 p.m
Location: Virtual
Description
Join us for a Meet VCU Authors talk with Josh Galarza, who will discuss the journey behind writing his young adult debut, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky.
When he entered treatment for disordered eating in 2018, visual artist and novelist Josh Galarza merely hoped to heal his relationship with food and his body. But when the challenges of treatment collided messily with his creative research into men’s issues and masculine performance, Galarza recognized that his path from self-destruction was, in fact, a path away from the “sickness of masculinity.” In this talk, Galarza will discuss how writing The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky supported his journey as a man healing from patriarchal conditioning and how writing for young people provides satisfying opportunities to illustrate lessons that can help any boy (and any man) on his own path away from hegemonic performance and toward authenticity and active allyship to women and genderqueer identities.
About the Author
Longtime Montessori educator Josh Galarza writes fiction and creative nonfiction, and is a multidisciplinary visual artist specializing in printmaking and book arts. His research centers around male gender performance, queer issues, body liberation and Chicano studies. Check out his young-adult debut, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky, out July 23, 2024 from Henry Holt & Co. (BYR).
Galarza earned his BA in English and BFA in art from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he later taught printmaking. He currently lives in Richmond, VA, where he teaches in the English Department at Virginia Commonwealth University while completing an MFA in creative writing.