Sunday January 29th Kai McKenzie – The Limits of Compassion – in person and on Zoom
What are the limits of compassion? What prevents us from understanding and connecting with others, from being able to feel with others and see through their eyes? I look at this problem with reference to the experiences of Two-Spirit and transgender people who seek acceptance and inclusion. I seek answers from three gender-diverse authors who have explored the problem in recent coming-of-age novels. In Jonny Appleseed, Joshua Whitehead finds ways of bridging limits of compassion through sex and ceremony. In Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir, Kai Cheng Thom cracks resistance to compassion by feeding hungry ghosts. Vivek Shraya, in She of the Mountains, breaks through limits to compassion through Hindu mythology and the science of evolution. By reflecting on these models, we can feel our way into understanding our own limits to compassion and finding the means to expand those limits.
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