Black Girl Unlimited

Black Girl Unlimited

YA fiction
"My mother is a wizard. Wizards can freeze time and sit on ceilings.
My mother isn't doing either of those things right now, however,
because she's passed out on the bathroom floor where she's been all
day..."
I can't tell you what genre Echo Brown's Black Girl Unlimited:
The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard falls under. It's such a
successful hybrid it transcends genre. It's partly memoir. Brown
describes it as "an ode to the childhood I shared with my brothers."
It deals with some pretty heavy topics including drug abuse, rape,
depression, sexism, and racism. Finally it brings in magic through a
strand concerning the narrator's development as a wizard.
Echo is six in the opening paragraph. Smoke is filling her
apartment. Her little brothers are screaming. Her mother is zoned
out on drugs. She is terrified, not knowing what to do.
Echo's mother, a drug addict, is loving but unpredictable. Her
stepfather is more grounded, but an alcoholic. They host Saturday
night card parties where the guests indulge in both. Their
relationship is volatile and violent. As her brothers, neither really
interested in school, grow up they seem to he headed in dangerous
directions. When she is attending a state of the art middle school
she tells readers:
"Rone and Dre are only eleven and ten but they are already
falling apart and starting to spin the same webs of chaos as our
parents. They regularly get into fights, skip school, and smoke
cigarettes. They are both in the special education program for kids
with learning disabilities at the black school on the East Side, which
is one of the worst schools in the district..."
Maybe when you commute regularly between precarity and
privilege, when you're torn between your desires to achieve your
dreams and protect your loved ones, and you carry a painful, life
altering secret...
...you need more than a little magic.
On a purrrsonal note, I had more than a little magic going for me
Saturday night. Friday a combination of frying fish for Eugene (the
smell) and anxiety that was not about the show left me unable to eat
or sleep. Saturday it was showing. I got to UMaine early and tried
to practice. I couldn't get through half a song without my head
spinning. I was wondering how I'd manage three songs--my two and the
group one. But when rehearsel started and I could feel the excitement
the dizziness and tired were replaced with energy. It was the magic
of drag. Right before the show we had supper which was my first meal
in 27 hours. The show was as magical as always. The emcee really
knew how to work the crowd. It was my first time performing under my
new drag name: Gotta Believe We're Magic. So for my first number I
did Magic from the movie Xanadu and had the emcee tell them that my
name represents the fact that we all, cast, crew, and audience, are
part of the magic that is drag. The crowd was loving me, especially
when I went down into the audience. That's where I do my best work
because I connect with individual people. After intermission I did
Fame. I started from the back of the room and went down the aisle,
across the front, and up and down the other aisle, connecting with so
many people. The audience loved that. At one point I high fived
someone. Then everyone was reaching out to touch me. I realized this
is how their fans treated the Beatles. It felt amazing to be feeling
so much love. When I was back on stage I was trying new moves and the
crowd was approving. At the end we did an ensemble number--all of us
going up and down the aisles. Didn't the audience love that! After
we had a meeting with Wilde Stein in one of the green rooms where they
asked us questions. I answered a lot and also led a sing along of
This Little Light Of Mine. So it was pretty late when I got a ride
home. All evening I'd been getting so many compliments. Tobago
wanted me to go to bed, but I was so wired I needed a beer to sleep.
During the pandemic one of the things I'd missed the most was the
magic of drag. Tonight was total celebration. (Jules)
I don't understand this drag business. But if it makes her happy.
(Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to all--cast, crew, and audience--who
made April 2, 2022 truly a night to remember.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway





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