The First Church of What's Happening
The First Church of What's Happening
What does it mean to be American, Californian, queer, even creative, in an era of tweeted populism and hashtags? Miah Jeffra examines our new and rapidly changing public life by questioning a few fundamentals—perception, memory, identity, violence, love—in all their complexity, and in their relationship to one other. THE FIRST CHURCH OF WHAT'S HAPPENING is a love letter to humanity and its resilience, even as it wades through divisive politics, social media and technological dissociation.
"In First Church, loneliness and innocence, as well as sensuality and eroticism, exist side by side, merging effortlessly into each other. Jeffra doesn’t shy away from the body, and the incisiveness of his style forces the reader to consider their own experience as a human animal."—Lambda Literary Review
"Through these dexterously choreographed essays, Miah Jeffra perfects a grim exuberance that comes to suggest a new optimism. I leave The First Church of What’s Happening believing that what Jeffra evangelizes is resilience as a necessity, not a virtue."—Douglas Kearney, author of Sho
"Miah Jeffra does not use his imagination to protect himself or to protect us. Instead, he gives us stories of reckless tenderness and anger and sorrow and lust—that overflow with images of wonder and desire. How wonderful!"—Robert Glück, author of Margery Kempe
"Both tough and tender, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and other times direly serious, Miah Jeffra flips the script in these essays on art, danger, seduction and sexuality. Moving between critical, narrative, lyrical modes Jeffra illuminates and entertains. I loved this book."—Kazim Ali, author of Bright Felon