MENTOR TEXT - I Once Was Miss America by Roxane Gay

The first mentor text I'd like to share with you is this piece by Roxane Gay. I think we can learn from how Gay subverts our expectations for what a book review should do and uses her personal story to make a larger argument about the book, but also about representation and the distribution of power.

Read through this text first to understand. Practice pre-reading and the reading strategies we discussed in class. Then read through it again, this time taking note of HOW Gay creates the piece, what structure, strategies, and subversions does she employ.

You'll find it here, in the internet archives http://web.archive.org/web/20210414205220/http:/www.bookslut.com/features/2011_06_017759.php