Books: The story of the first trans skater, told by students
The story of the first trans skater, Alexa Pettone, which high school students in her town turned into a book: I am Alexa (Chirimbote).
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Alexa Pettone is Argentina's first trans figure skater. This book, created by students of High School No. 11 in San Pedro (Buenos Aires Province)—where Alexa was born and lives—tells her story, the story of a trans childhood. The project took shape within the framework of Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) workshops, led by Carolina Sofía, a Visual Arts Production teacher. It was published by Chirimbote in the Antiprincesses collection, in co-production with the school and Agencia Presentes. It is aimed at preschool, first, and second grade students and will be used as reading material in schools in San Pedro.
[Texts and illustrations from the book I Am Alexa]
This book is the voice of the students of Secondary School No. 11 in San Pedro. This book is also the voice of Alexa, a native of San Pedro and the first transgender figure skater in Argentina , who, through her life experience, teaches us that beauty lies in diversity.
These pages also aim to be the voice of all those who suffer and have suffered discrimination, rejection, or abandonment; of those who were able to "be" despite everything; and of those who desire a more inclusive and less violent society .
This book is an echo of our voice, which calls for a world where we can live in peace and without violence: "Where we can be who we choose to be."
6th grade students
School No. 11, Eduardo Depietri, of San Pedro, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina
[READ MORE: Alexa, the story of Argentina's first trans skater]
They say stories should be repeated, captured in books , and, with their pages, take flight. This is one that recounts some days in childhood, which, compared to others, may seem familiar, like the nest in the tree in Grandma's yard that embraces us during the warm afternoon tea at home.
And there, like the onion in the garden at the back, I shed the dark, constructed layers called society. I am that boy, I am that girl who, playing at being, far from that cage that traps and hurts, is only trying to play.
Yes, PLAY, in capital letters: playing at making Dad and Mom, Dad, or Mom, whatever the formula, learn to listen to me, to read me, to hold me, and far from imitating the stalking hunter, accompany me into the infinite jungle so that, as if by magic, and guided by a stick, I lose myself in immense freedom. I played with the bucket and the shovel, I played with the toy kitchen and also with the doll. Everything transformed, like the cicada's song in the tree, floated like pollen in my colorful garden, and like those afternoons, beautiful summer afternoons, that danced without stopping…
Among my handful of desires there is one giant one, and I would even say my favorite: I want to see them running, mixed with colors, to see them happy, with scrapes and scars, to see them on high, and on low, but supported, far from the mandate, and embraced every moment.
Alexa Pettone
[READ MORE: How Alexa's book was made]
The collective embrace
Our life as a story of upbringing, without fiction, replicated by them, those who are coming, those who are already here, building with their loving wings, new actions, where our stories also join those other rounds, loving rounds, necessary rounds, embracing rounds. That is what we came for, finally, to be part of another new world, where we can do and be, but far from the known violence, the lurking danger, the announced loneliness. That is what we came for, to be text and meaning, to be subjects of knowledge and not only to be studied and criminalized for being different. That is what we came for, to the collective embrace and all those who are no longer here and all those who still wait…
They're celebrating! And how! Dear Alexa…
Susy Shock, singer and transvestite artist
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