Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Summary

Come Out or Not
As Sandra Hughes-Hassell discusses in her article “Multicultural Young Adult Literature as a Form of Counter-Storytelling,” there need to be more stories that illustrate the oppressed young people’s struggles. One of these struggles is with sexuality. In the stories “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere,” by ZZ Packer and “The Alumni Interview”, by David Levithan, both protagonist’s sexuality impacts their love life, their education, and their relationships with the adults they encounter. For instance in both stories, the protagonist’s sexuality affects their love life.
In “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere,” the protagonist does not admit she is gay even to herself, and this places a strain on her love life since her best friend is openly gay. In “Drinking Coffee

Dina’s love is evident when she thinks, “I began to love Heidi that night in the dish room, but who is to say that I hadn’t begun to love her the first time I met her” (Packer 310)? Even though she feels this way, she refuses to tell Heidi and when Heidi announces that she is proud to be a lesbian at the school’s “Coming Out Day,” Dina withdraws from Heidi and does not spend time with her anymore since she does not want anyone to know she is gay (Packer 311). Eventually, their relationship ends, and Dina never discloses to Heidi that she is a lesbian and loves her. However, in “The Alumni Interview,” the love life is strained because the protagonist is open about his sexuality, but his partner is not. Unlike Dina, in the narrative “The Alumni Interview”, the protagonist Ian is honest about his sexual orientation and admits he is in love with Thom. The fact that Thom is not public concerning his sexual