This time for me : a memoir

Title:

Author:

Billings, Alexandra, 1962- author.

ISBN:

9781542029414

9781542029407

Personal Author:

Billings, Alexandra, 1962- author.

Edition:

First edition.

Publication Information:

New York : Topple Books/Little A, [2022]

Physical Description:

429 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Abstract:

Spanning five decades, from profound lows to exhilarating highs, an award-winning actor, singer, and history-making LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist shares not only her ever-evolving story but also the parallel ways in which queer identity has dramatically changed since the Stonewall riots of 1969.

Billings grew up in a decade in which being herself was illegal. When she started transitioning in 1980, the word "transgender" was not commonly used. With no trans role models and no path to follow, she did what her family, teachers, and even friends said was impossible: forge ahead. Spanning five decades, from profound lows to exhilarating highs, her memoir captures the events of a pioneering life. An award-winning actor and history-making LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist, Billings shares not only her own ever-evolving story but also the parallel ways in which queer identity has dramatically changed since the Stonewall riots of 1969. -- adapted from jacket

Personal Subject:

Billings, Alexandra, 1962-

Subject Term:

Transgender women -- United States -- Biography.

Actors -- United States -- Biography.

Singers -- United States -- Biography.

Genre:

Added Author:

Gordon, Joanne Lesley, 1947-

Document ID:

SD_ILS:2396746

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Collection	Collection	Call Number	Status
Searching... Auberry Branch Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Biography Area	BILLING AL Bil	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Woodward Park Library (Fresno Co.)	Searching... Unknown	Biography Area	BILLING AL Bil	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

An emotional, funny, and fabulous memoir by trailblazing and award-winning Trans actor and activist Alexandra Billings.

Born in 1962, Alexandra Billings grew up in a decade in which being herself was illegal. When she started transitioning in 1980, the word "Transgender" was not commonly used. With no Trans role models and no path to follow, Alexandra did what her family, teachers, and even friends said was impossible: Alexandra forged ahead.

Spanning five decades, from profound lows to exhilarating highs, This Time for Me captures the events of a pioneering life. An award-winning actor and history-making LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist, Alexandra shares not only her own ever-evolving story but also the parallel ways in which queer identity has dramatically changed since the Stonewall riots of 1969. She weaves a true coming-of-age story of richly imaginative lies, of friends being swept away by a plague that decimated the community, of her determination to establish a career that would break boundaries, and of the recognition of her own power.

A celebration of endless possibilities, Alexandra's bracing memoir is a fight-to-the-death revolution against all expectations.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this effervescent debut, Billings candidly recounts the turbulent road that led to her trailblazing career as a trans actor and activist. Right out of the gate, she reveals she's not about respectability politics: "I sat at the table in... the first designer gown that I didn't either steal or give a hand job in order to own," she writes of 2015's Golden Globes, where she and her castmates from Amazon's Transparent were awarded Best Comedy. From here, Billings looks back on a life containing many lives. As a bisexual, assigned-male child in the 1960s and '70s, Billings turned to alcohol to escape the racist and homophobic slurs she endured in school. After surviving sexual assault and a suicide attempt at age 17, she entered Chicago's "female impersonator" scene, where she found friends, role models, black-market hormones, and, later, sex work, which brought with it HIV. Straddling eras, Billings toggles between a time when AIDS meant "funeral after funeral" and trans people lived in the shadows, to a new world in which she made her way to the screen as a boundary-breaking actor. What unfolds alongside a narrative marked by adversity and raunchy humor is a poignant portrait of an artist in search of meaning and personal peace. This begs for an encore. (Apr.)