This past week has been one of my most trying. Juggling media, obligations to loved ones and self, an intense travel schedule as well as public scrutiny has been much to handle. It’s frankly been trying. Yet through the intensity, you have been there for me in ways that I could not have predicted, and this is a lot coming from a girl who often felt alone, who often expected the worst, who often didn’t have many to count on.
You have tweeted me messages of affirmation, you have shared beautiful selfies with my book, you have quoted Redefining Realness passages that spoke to you, you have launched #TeamJanet and #IStandWithJanet tweets that showed me I was not alone in front of that camera, you have held me up when I felt the load was too heavy.
Your affirmation and support was the fuel I needed to continue forward, and your love is what made a dream of mine come true: Yesterday evening I got a call from my dear editor Sarah Branham that my book baby, the story I should’ve been able to read growing up, is a New York Times Bestseller!
You helped make this happen, and I’d like to use this space to display this empowering mosaic of love, affirmation and support. Redefining Realness is my baby but it took a village to raise it to reach this summit. It was a collective effort, and you gave it life!
FAVE I AM #REDEFININGREALNESS STORIES
FAB IMAGES FROM SIGNINGS
Look at this beautiful crowd!!! Thank you all for joining the @BNUpperWS reading! #redefiningrealness #girlslikeus pic.twitter.com/HvP1AE3Vsr
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) February 4, 2014
So humbled to be supported by amazing trans women. #Girlslikeus brought fire to my #RedefiningRealness release party! pic.twitter.com/JJC8PABgG2
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) February 5, 2014
Standing ovation for @janetmock keynote speaker at #IvyQ pic.twitter.com/648yJvbVR5
— Vivienne Chen (@ViviennexChen) February 7, 2014
It was great to meet @janetmock #yourvoice #redefiningrealness #uic #queercompass pic.twitter.com/COhPg7QZke
— Moisés Villada (@moisesvillada) February 11, 2014
LOOK WHO’S READING REDEFINING REALNESS
This book is not about me. Rather, I am part of what this book is about. #RedefiningRealness pic.twitter.com/NgTfOpfpvV
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) February 10, 2014
I have @JanetMock‘s book #RedefiningRealness on my iPhone. I want it everywhere with me. pic.twitter.com/fsZw7hVIz6
— Trudy (@thetrudz) February 7, 2014
Showing some love for my sister @janetmock #RedefiningRealness pic.twitter.com/DyOvS5eoXH
— Lourdes Hunter (@HunterLourdes) February 13, 2014
I finally got to meet my literary idol @Janetmock, hope u made it on the train ok #RedefiningRealness #proudgroupie pic.twitter.com/7SSLDqhIGs
— FireBreathingTGirl (@FireBreathingTG) February 13, 2014
TWEETS OF AFFIRMATION
Dearest @JanetMock I am so proud of you in this moment.
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) February 6, 2014
Always #teamjanet because she saved saved my life almost two years ago and her memoir #redefiningrealness is saving someone’s life right now
— Julia More (@juliammore) February 6, 2014
#teamjanet Because Trans Black girls deserve protection, reverence, respect and THE WORLD! #RedefiningRealness
— Shelby Goodwin (@ShelbyGoodwin) February 6, 2014
#IStandWithJanet because she stands for us!!
— Che G. (@chegossett) February 6, 2014
#istandwithjanet because WE are the ones to listen to about our lives; not str8 cis men. because our stories are more than our transitions.
— Jess St. Louis (@stlouis_j) February 5, 2014
Just bought multiple copies of @janetmock #RedefiningRealness because rad WOC lit ALWAYS needs support. Join in: http://t.co/rNlv7eQTIX
— Jess Livoti-Morales (@JessLivMo) February 10, 2014
MY LATEST FOR @EBONYMag: “Cis-to-Sis: An Open Letter to @JanetMock.” http://t.co/n1c0vYNW59 #IStandWithJanet #solidarity
— PrestonMitchum (@PrestonMitchum) February 11, 2014
ONLINE REVIEWS
It’s an extraordinarily emotional tale, raw and honest, but at the same time polished and profound.
–Sally’s Amazon review
Janet’s unflinching account of her life in her own words is beautiful, fierce, and gives background on the advocate you see on TV.
monster’s Amazon review
It is nothing less than a glimpse into twenty-first century American life, as told through the eyes of a trans* Black Hawaiian girl coming of age and discovering herself.
–Y. Carrington’s Amazon review
Mock also complicates the traditional trans narrative by politicizing experiences and processes at strategic points along the way, and sometimes doing so in new ways.
–Vivian’s Goodreads review
Janet Mock sweetly lulls and fiercely incites. She shares her family relationships, navigation of gender, a specific generation-X and millennial cusp experience of Hawaiian and U.S. history, as well as the statistically often untold and violently obscured and suppressed story of girlhood for a young trans* girl of color.
-Barnes & Noble review
Janet is telling the story of many who have taken the journey to wholeness. This book is the culmination of introspection, but is not grandiose or self-serving in its delivery.
–billybums’s iBooks review
READING WHILE TWEETING
5 chapters into #RedefiningRealness and I can’t set it down. Janet Mock opens the door for trans youth to begin accepting their stories.
— james gowin (@jamesy_boyy) February 5, 2014
@janetmock I am a cis-identifying queer man, but reading your book brought up so many memories I’ve repressed from my own childhood. THANK U
— John Russell Stanger (@pluckypresby) February 13, 2014
Damn, @janetmock! If I tweet all my favorite quotes, I’ll have to copy the whole book. #RedefiningRealness #girlslikeus #sweptawaybyprose
— Abby Jensen (@Arizona_Abby) February 12, 2014
“I am on purpose” I LOVE this line from #RedefiningRealness…such a universal statement from @janetmock
— Chris (@cdstallworth) February 12, 2014
honestly, the most intriguing part of #redifiningrealness by @janetmock is the landscape + history she paints of hawaii–engrossing
— Ethan D.A. (@ethan_deeay) February 11, 2014
Just a few pages into #RedefiningRealness, already feels like a classic and I just wish I had it 10 years ago, 20 years ago. Brava, Janet.
— Melissa Gira Grant (@melissagira) February 11, 2014
I love how @janetmock is challenging & expanding the idea of memoir; not navel gazing, but telling a story that’s a slice of bigger reality
— Audacia Ray (@audaciaray) February 10, 2014
#RedefiningRealness by @janetmock is on sale! Congrats to her for wrtg an important book on her transgender journey & a classic, blk memoir.
— dream hampton (@dreamhampton) February 4, 2014
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