Now, he's not alive

Abstract

Through a mini-educational ethnography of a queer cultural center at a midsized, Western U.S. university, I explored the center's cultural importance on the college campus and in its surrounding community. During the course of this study, one of my gay male participants, an undergraduate student leader of the center, committed suicide. While interviewing several participants (three gay males and one lesbian), I inquired into their feelings about suicide in the gay community in general and into the suicide of the center's leader in particular. The words of four of my participants are captured in this poem. © The Author(s) 2010.