THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Growing up as part of a Cuban family in Miami, Blanco said there were two representations of 'home' that frequently haunted his imagination: Cuba, of which his exiled family frequently spoke, and the generic representations of American families, like the Brady Bunch, that populated afternoon TV reruns.

"This was the only America that I thought existed. I wasn't sure that I belonged to America or what part of America belonged to me," Blanco said.

Blanco was the inaugural poet at President Barack Obama's second inauguration in 2013; he was the first openly gay person, and the first immigrant, to fill that role. He was in Chicago July 15-16 as part of the National Archive and Records Administration's ( NARA ) National Conversation on Rights and Justice series, which this month focused on LGBT human and civil rights.

Blanco spoke about the importance of studying and preserving historical documents, illustrating his point with a 1978 letter from Harvey Milk to then-President Jimmy Carter, begging for the president's help in defeating the anti-gay Briggs Initiative. The LGBT community often faces what he called a deficit of institutional memory on its own history, since "issues like Stonewall, Anita Bryant and Matthew Shepard aren't in history books."

He added, "I see these historical documents as a kind of poetry … . They memorialize these issues by humanizing them."

The arts play important roles in exposing audiences to history as well as the humanity of an oppressed community. After that, Blanco said, "It gets difficult for our foes to deny our humanity."

A poet's job is to give their audience a collective vision of hope, he added. "All great artists and leaders understand that … . Art is great at letting us envision a future. 'Maybe this is who we are. This is the hope of actually being that way.'"

Early in Blanco's career, he compartmentalized the many facets of his identity. "I thought that my story as a Cuban American had nothing to do with my sexual identity as a gay man," he said.

But as his work evolved, he began to see parallels in the aspirations between the LGBT and Cuban American communities. Both, he realized, were searching for a sense of home, which he described as a safe space "where someone can live their life without fear, to belong to someplace culturally."

Blanco read several of his poems and discussed his formative years. He shared pictures of himself as a child: One of him relaxing with his cat, another of him writing, yet another of him visibly uncomfortable at a Little League game. He was introverted and shy, so writing offered a way to make his observations known, he said.

Much of his presentation focused on his grandmother, whose sharp criticisms and outright homophobia played a part in formulating his self-consciousness. When she did not like something, Blanco said, his grandmother immediately dismissed it as "gay." Introducing his poem "Queer Theory, According to My Grandmother," he was blunt: "I do hope you laugh at her, not with her."

But despite her cutting observations, Blanco was ultimately forgiving of his grandmother and said that growing up she was in many ways his best friend. He noted that, looking back, she'd given him numerous insights into "the complexities of human behavior," adding, "What's going on is a particular type of homophobia tied into machismo. It's about secrecy, pretense and pretending."

Blanco spoke of and read a poem about the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June. "Growing up in Miami, Orlando was a second home," he said.

He further reflected on political and social turmoil across the United States. "I think our country is at a crossroads," he said. "I think we need to decide what kind of nation we want to be."

Blanco concluded with his inaugural poem and spoke about how, being given the opportunity to deliver it, he felt as if he was finally "at home." He also realized, he said, that America was a "work in progress."

"Without hope, of course, we have nothing left," Blanco said.

Opening remarks at Blanco's talk were delivered by Kim Hunt, executive director of Pride Action Tank; National Archives Foundation board member Fay Hartog Levin; Mario Camacho, president of LEAGUE at AT&T; and United States Archivist David Ferriero. Poet and activist Antonio Gray introduced Blanco. Michael Hussey of NARA moderated a discussion after the talk.

The National Conversation on Rights and Justice is a yearlong series presented by the National Archives "to advance discussion across the nation that forefronts the challenges to rights and justice that persist as we celebrate the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights through the National Archives' Amending America initiative," according to a NARA statement.

Additional National Archives coverage: www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/National-Archives-event-features-LGBTQ-rights-discussion-and-YEPP-/55870.html .

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