About This Lesson

Directed and Written by Elegance Bratton, Pier Kids zooms  in on the lives of homeless queer and trans young adults who convene at Christoper Street Pier in New York City. By creating their own chosen families they found themselves, their community, safety and a level of acknowledgement that they have been lacking. The film follows the survival strategies, bursts of joy, and the complex family lives of Krystal, DeSean, and Jusheem as they are pushed to the margins of New York City while being simultaneously hypervisible and invisibilized. This lesson is just one part in a longer journey for students to work through and explore the relationship between: 1) power 2) identity 3) storytelling 4) naming your identity on your own terms and 5) exploring the bounds and limitations of labels and limited visions of identities.

For many, like we see in the film there are feelings of not belonging, seeking community and the desire to walk towards the identity you create for yourself...the version of “you” you feel in your body, mind, and heart. Unfortunately for some individuals, their identities continue to be ignored, marginalized, and/or not acknowledged on their terms. Speculative fiction has allowed people who have been othered to dream and imagine something more. In this lesson plan, students will have the opportunity to deviate from the heteronormative and dominant narratives of people and their trajectory by exploring a different story of what could be and what is possible.