The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere by James Spooner

 

The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere.

April 17th, 2024

The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere by James Spooner, Memoir/Graphic Novel, 368 pages

2023 YASLA Great Graphic Novels for Teens

In James Spooner's graphic memoir, Spooner recounts some of the most life changing years of his life when he first discovered the punk scene as a young, Black teen. At first, Spooner is bummed to be moving back to Apple Valley, a town in the middle of a desert he lived in previously, when he mom gets a new job. Life was hard enough the first time being one of the few black students at school. Upon his return, Spooner is immediately greeted with blatant racism from many of his peers. However, Spooner then meets Ty: a black punk. Ty opens Spooner's eyes to a new, progressive, rebellious culture that can provide him armor when confronting the neo-nazi movement growing in his town. Ty is the first of many figures Spooner will meet during his later teenage years that will help Spooner figure out his true identity, even if it goes against the expectations of everyone else around him. 

I chose to read The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere because I had never read a memoir that was in graphic novel form. I was excited to see how the author would bring his coming of age story to life with the visuals. Additionally, I really had minimal knowledge of punk rock. By choosing this book, I was hopeful to learn more about the history of punk rock as well as learn how Spooner himself was perceived as a punk in an almost all-white town. 

Teaching and Content Considerations:

I would definitely suggest The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere to any high school student who is interested in music history (especially punk rock), themes of social justice, the intersectionality of punk music, or students who prefer books in graphic novel form. It's important to note that this memoir contains a lot of explicit language (including racial slurs), sexual content, drug use, and graphic depictions of white supremacist violence. I would definitely provide students with a disclaimer about these topics before diving in. In terms of using this book in the classroom, I would suggest this title to students for independent reading. However, I also think The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere could be used as a secondary text to support either a whole class novel or literature circle book that focuses on issues like racism and discrimination. 

Instructional Ideas

Black Punk Scene: Spooner fills his memoir will a plethora of punk music history, including the influence of Black artists on punk rock and the misappropriation of punk rock's messages. Students could research about different Black punk pioneers and their influence on the music scene! To take it a step further, students could perhaps watch or listen to interviews with these artists to hear the messages they are trying to spread, as well as any resistance they may have faced as Black artists. 

Close Reading Music: Depending on the content and language, teachers could pull the lyrics of someone of the punk artists Spooner listened to in his memoir. Or, teachers could provide a list of artists and songs for students to choose on their own. After listening to the song and reading through the lyrics once, students could analyze lyrics in collaborative groups. Students would be able to annotate the lyrics for theme (what social issues is the author addressing), symbolism, imagery, as well as lyrics that perhaps seem contradictory (ex: anti-racist song but is sexist towards women), before presenting their analysis to the class. 

Possible Read Aloud Passages

• Pages 88-93: Ty and Spooner go to Super Cuts to give themselves punk haircuts. Spooner realizes this is one way he could take control over the bullying and slurs he internalized about himself.
• This scene is very empowering for Spooner. Students could dive into Spooner's realization as an adult about his hair as well.
• Page 127: In a series of frames, Spooner depicts himself critiquing his appearance, and Black identity, in the mirror. Spooner tries to make his lips thinner and considers piercing his ears. 
• Students could analyze why Spooner is fixating on these images of himself.
• Page 215: Spooner goes to visit his dad in New York City. His dad ends up taking him through East Village. Spooner immediately falls in love with the quirkiness of the shops and people.
• Spooner finally visits a place that feels like is the answers to his feeling of being lost! Students could even use this as a model before drawing a story board of a place that changed their thoughts about the world.
• Page 226: Spooner initially follows a girl he sees speaking up against White supremacists in a record shop. The eventually begin talking, and she schools Spooner on how punks have been pushing intersectional issues for years. 
• This would be an excellent jumping point to explore these issues with students!

Thoughts and Reflections

I thought James Spooner's memoir was incredibly powerful and eye-opening. I couldn't believe some of the discrimination and racist, violent acts Spooner had to endure growing up in a small desert town. As a reader, I felt myself rooting for Spooner to find his own way. Spooner's narration as an adult looking back on some of the instances he internalized racism and endured it within his social circle made me realize just how tough of a situation he was in. 

Now that I have read The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere, there is SO much I would like to learn about punk rock music and history. I'm really curious to learn more about some of the first pioneers of Afro Punk and learn if they receive white-supremacist pushback like Spooner experienced.