Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

Mira notes with brooding sarcasm that “[c]ollege was great. It meant meeting way more people I could actually connect with” (87). This is followed by a montage of Mira lying in bed with various partners, all of whom had some odd idea either about race or sexuality. One man asks if it is racist to love Mira’s skin, a woman asks if being with Mira means they are “lesbians now” (88), and another man already has a girlfriend. Mira has one positive relationship that seems to go well until she believes she “jinxed it” (89). The last frame of the chapter shows an empty bed.

Mira is on a shuttle from the airport to her college campus, and there is only one other woman on board. Mira notes the woman is wearing a necklace with the lesbian triangle symbol, so she begins talking about how “lesbians are great” and that she never met many growing up in a small town, but she’s “met so many now!” (91). The woman rebuffs Mira, telling her lesbians are just like everyone else. The rest of the ride is silent, and Mira once again feels embarrassed and deflated after attempting to navigate a tricky