2. Valencia by Michelle Tea

Summary:

Michelle Tea’s Valencia tells the story of her life as a dyke in San Francisco in the 1990s. Although the book is slightly-fictionalized, it is categorized as Tea’s first memoir, having been first published in 2000 and reprinted in 2008 with an added introduction. Through a variety of oftentimes hilarious stories, Tea brings her readers along on a journey through numerous relationships, hook-ups, and drug-filled evenings, events like the annual San Francisco Pride Parade, attending a heterosexual wedding with her girlfriend, and nights of printing zines in an anarchist labor union.

Author Information:

Michelle Tea

Reviews:

Michelle Tea

Questions:

1. Question

Answer

(1) Citation

2. Question

Vocabulary:

1. phenylethylamine (pg 39):

2. rakish (pg 66): dashingly or sportingly stylish; jaunty

3. manic (pg 66):

4. blitzed (pg 66): extremely high or wasted; completely inebriated; drunk, usually very drunk

5. hypoglycemic (pg 73): someone who has a low level of blood sugar

6. revelry (pg 73): unrestrained joyful merrymaking

7. zany (pg 112): ludicrously comical; bizarre; clownish

8. prima donna (pg 115): a vain and temperamental person

9. naugahyde (pg 119): brand of artificial leather made from vinyl polymer coated plastic; a trademark name for vinyl upholstery and wall-covering fabrics produced by the United States Rubber Company

10. campy (pg 120): providing sophisticated amusement by virtue of having artificially sentimental qualities; an aesthetic sensibility wherein something is appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value; characterized by camp or kitsch, especially when deliberate or intentional; comedy full of bad clichés

11. faerie (pg 138): fairy, a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers; archaic spelling of fairy

12. lam (pg 153): flee; getaway; a rapid escape