Justin Chin by Jennifer Joseph

Author:Jennifer Joseph
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Manic D Press, Inc.

Beth Lisick

One of the best times I ever had on the road was when Justin and I traveled through the American south after the publication of our first Manic D books Bite Hard and Monkey Girl. We were in our twenties and going to cities we’d both never been before. My first thought was that this was going to be so much fun. FUN. I loved fun! Justin was hilarious to hang out with, so observant and snarky, and we were going to bro down with people we’d met at the National Poetry Slam. The only potential problem I could imagine was that I might drink too much beer and not be able to drive us to our next stop. At no point in the planning of the trip did the fact that he was gay, Asian, HIV+, or full of tattoos ring any warning bells. Spoken like a true white middle-class gal from the suburbs! What was there to worry about? We’re all just people, right?

Reading this piece again, almost twenty years after our trip, I am struck by how much was going on for Justin as we zipped along America’s interstates, stopping into small motels and gas stations and diners (and Graceland!), reading our poems to people in bars and cafes at night. His frenetic writer’s brain was processing soap opera plots and celebrity gossip, Asian identity, American identity, queer identity, religion, iconography, violence, capitalism, and of course, pork and sex. My brain was like a cartoon dog in comparison, but Justin was happy to meet me where I was at. Once we were out on the road, I could see the wariness people had about him at first glance. We talked about it a little, but Justin was nothing if not preternaturally charming. He easily reeled people in with his sexy voice, his elegance, and his etiquette. Audiences would draw toward him and then he would slay with his anger and humor and truth-telling. Sounds so much simpler than it actually is. I would have remembered if anyone threatened or heckled him. And honestly, if you know Justin, he would have taken the first opportunity to mine any extreme drama that happened for this essay. Let it be known that the America we encountered together absolutely adored Justin Chin.

Justin’s writer friends recognized his clearly enviable ability to fuse dark truths and unpleasantness with humor; to lay down something taboo and chase it with a dirty joke or some pop culture reference he knew way too much about. He could write a mean one-two punch that took you from something heavy to something funny (and by funny, I mean it could be gross, dark, weird, or stupid, or all of these at once). You’d be laughing, and it felt so good because a small part of you was still stuck in his hard truths. Relief, you would think, and then he’d go and pull another one.

There was a moment on our trip that was kind of like that. Shocking, dirty, distressing, funny.

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