At the Underway Review, we want to do more than just throw people’s work up on the site and leave it at that—we also want to shine a light on the people who made it. So, fittingly, for the first of our interview series, Vasili, our Editor-in-Chief, sat down with Fairley Lloyd, TUR’s very first contributor, to discuss her process, what she tries to accomplish in her writing, and her experience as a queer Black woman in Wilmington.

TUR: How long have you lived in the Wilmington area?

Fairley: This is my hometown. I lived in a few other places when I was really young, but I’ve been here at least for the past ten years. But as far as familiarity with the Cape Fear, I’m a bit of a hermit! So I actually haven’t really been around the area—I couldn’t give people great spots to go to, because I spend a lot of time indoors, if I’m being honest! [laughs]

TUR: Felt. That’s so real. So you're a local, you’re a native; with that perspective in mind, how would you describe your experience living as a queer person, and in your case, a queer person of color, in this community?

Fairley: That’s a good question. I’ve always felt that Wilmington is a pretty white town—and it still is—but I feel like as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found more people within my community. Even though, you know, we're in the South, I've been able to find some queer community either through school, or online on Facebook, so I feel like I've become more secure in my identity because I’ve been able to reach out to those people. Wilmington is a little pocket area, but we’ve got a small but active queer community here.

TUR: How do you find yourself exploring that community most frequently? What groups are you a part of?

Fairley: On Facebook there’s a Wilmington Pride group for people in Wilmington or around the area, and they post events, and people will post asking things like, “Do you know of a provider who’s LGBT friendly,” and so on, so you know this is a place that you can be safe. I’ve gone to the pride festival at Hi-Wire for the past few years and met some people there, too. Honestly, even though there was no LGBT Resource Center at UNCW when I was there, I met a lot of queer people through there as well.

TUR: Yeah! I’ve been a part of those groups too, especially post-graduation, and they’ve led me to a lot of cool stuff.

So, moving on, how would you say your identity as a queer person informs your writing, if at all? What aspects of your experience and identity do you find yourself exploring in your work most often?

Fairley: I’ve written poetry, as you saw in my submission, and I’ve written fiction, but lately I’ve been doing a lot of articles, and I’ve talked a lot about my experiences as a Bi person growing up, figuring out what that means. Growing up, I didn’t ever really hear the term "bi," and there were a lot of misconceptions I had about it, so I felt that a lot of times when writing, I was kind of processing those emotions, and talking to other people in the Bi+ community, like, “Yeah, you're not the only one who’s feeling this way,” and realizing my identity is real, and it’s valid. So for me, writing is a way to get visibility, because there's not really a lot of visibility in the Bi community. I mean, there’s not in general within the LGBT community, but in the Bi community there’s a lot of misconceptions about, like, Bi people being more likely to cheat, or that they’re “just experimenting,” so I’ve found a lot of times that writing about my experience can be very therapeutic, and enable me to connect with others with similar experiences. In addition to talking about my personal experience, I also try to be informative. I’ve written some articles about issues that typically affect the Bi community, like the fact that we’re more likely to be victims of sexual assault, and how we’re, I think, the largest group in the LGBT community, but the least likely to come out. My writing is me exploring my personal feelings and my identity, while also informing people about issues that are affecting the community and showing the fact that we’re here.

TUR: So, while we're on that subject, what kind of writing do you find yourself doing now? You've done fiction and poetry and are now working in a more journalistic capacity—is that the kind of writing you find yourself doing the most, or is there another kind that you're gravitating towards?

Fairley: I do a lot of journalism. Not, like, hard news or anything—more like personal essays, where I talk about an issue that’s impacting someone in the community, or the public in general, then kind of connect that to my personal experiences. I also write a lot of listicles, because I'm pretty big on mental health, just from my personal experience, so I like to write about things you can do on your own to help yourself. “X things you can do to improve your life,” “X ways to combat depression,” “X ways to get outside more.” I always want to write to be informative, and help people live their lives. I try to put the things that I’ve learned in my writing and reach out to my people that way. And, I know this isn't considered quote-unquote “professional,” but I still write fanfiction, and I will defend it! [laughs]

TUR: As you should! I actually read your recent article on Unwritten about how it's hard to love ourselves and silence the inner critic, and I felt very seen! I definitely resonated with that. So your efforts are already paying off.

Fairley: Thank you! I feel like part of it to is, a lot of us deal with these issues. A lot of times, people will only talk about the good parts of their lives online—which makes sense, especially on social media, you’re trying to curate an image—but we don’t really talk about the fact that a lot of us deal with imposter syndrome, for example. So I guess part of it is me being okay with being vulnerable. I hope that by letting myself be vulnerable, I can help other people say, “Okay, I’m not the only person struggling with this. There are others out there going through the same thing as me.” A lot of it is stuff that I felt I needed to hear when I’ve had hardships in my life—if it’s helpful to me, maybe it will help someone else.

TUR: Absolutely! That’s a very noble way to think about the craft. When you put it like that, you kind of reveal the importance of that kind of writing. Coming from the academic background that we do, we are quick to sort of dismiss that kind of “lifestyle” writing as lesser, and as less important than the more “literary” ventures, but you never know what's going to touch somebody.

Fairley: Yeah!

TUR: So, with your perspective as a local in mind, what do you think the queer community in Wilmington needs, or is missing right now? What do you think you need as a queer artist in this community?

Fairley: I remember the first year I went to Pride—I know Wilmington is predominantly white, but I just remember not feeling seen. I was like, “Okay, I’m the only Black person here. I’m not seeing other people of color.” I think there can be a way to make this community more accepting towards other people of color—because there are queer people of color! There’s a very rich history of queer people of color, but there’s not a lot of visibility there, and I want people to see that we can have these intersecting identities. I remember, even when I was at school, I felt like I was fighting between my identity as a Black person and my identity as a queer person, because I didn’t see a lot of intersection. I don't know if you’ve heard of the DEI policy that recently hit…

TUR: Yeah, that they're shuttering the different centers on campus across the UNC system.

Fairley: Yeah. Stuff like that—I’m like, even though we didn’t have a big POC or queer community, there were places like the university that supported that, so when you take that away, you take away what little support was there. So I think it’s even more important now than ever that we have those spaces for people. I think something like 10-20% of Wilmington is non-white—that doesn’t mean we don’t exist! We need to make this area and this community more accepting of other people. There’s not just one color of being queer—it’s a rainbow! So I would say the biggest thing would be, there needs to be more support for POC in the community—not only in this community, but also if you look online or on TV, you don’t see a lot of queer people of color, and so you think, “Oh, we don't really exist,” and that’s not the case. 

TUR: Yeah! And that's what I’m really trying to do with TUR—to show others, “Here is someone who is like you who lives where you do, and this is how they see the world.”

Fairley: Right! And I really like that you're doing this—obviouslyWilmington’s in the South, and there’s a lot of conceptions about the South being more conservative and less progressive, but we have a queer community here. I think it’s really important that you’re showcasing that.

TUR: Thank you! And thanks so much for this conversation. You really—

Fairley: I yapped? [laughs]

TUR: [laughs] You yapped, but it was necessary!