We've been thrilled this year with our first full-length project, This Is Not a Confession, by David Olimpio. There are so many profound moments in the book and we knew that we wanted to nominate an excerpt from it for the Pushcart Prize. We opted to go with the one that can be appreciated by just about anyone who made it through puberty.
Everybody reaches a moment growing up when they realize sex is becoming an important topic and they are not quite sure how to approach it. David shares a Halloween experience in this excerpt that perfectly illustrates how awkward, and sometimes misguided, these transitions can be.
“We weren’t six-year-olds hanging out on the playground or in my game room anymore. Whatever we did or didn’t do with regard to sex, it no longer felt like a game without consequences. These games we played now had different fields and different boundaries. There was an inherent power dynamic.”