ABSTRACT
“Jasper: An Interlude” serves, structurally, as a tonal shift from the melancholy stories that precede. Jasper’s essence is extracted and presented in blank verse, to capture the rhythm and energy of his speech (which is a mixture of gossip, romance, indignation, and optimism). That energy is the foundation of the tonal shift, which forecasts queer triumphs to follow. Jasper also provides a type of queer wish list for educational administrators and researchers; in this way, Jasper’s chapter is a microcosm of the queer campus climate. He highlights the importance of queer role models, the value of administrative intervention in bias-based confrontations, and the necessity of enabling queer students to be present, be gay, and be friendly throughout all of campus culture.
