Mack Harsell (they/them & he/him)
Mack Harsell (they/them & he/him)
I am a queer poet with ADHD and autism. If it's LGBTQ+ related, I either already know a lot about it, or am in the process of learning about it. I am particularly interested in queer history, intersectionality, and flagging within the queer community. I actually chose the name "The Purple Poet" as a reference to lavender's symbolism within the LGBTQ+ community!
I had the privilege of being president of my high school's gender and sexuality alliance for three years as well as having received a Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish (muchísimas gracias a mis professoras!). Service work through Girl Scouts was a huge part of my life for ten years and was my introduction to having leadership roles.
During March of 2021, I decided to write something for my high school's literary & arts magazine, Panorama, with no expectations of being published or of this becoming a regular thing. My piece made the front two pages of the spring edition and a teacher had congratulated me and told me it made her cry. In the following months, I started writing profusely and putting my work on this website to share it with the people close to me. In July of 2021, I decided I wanted to try to reach a bigger audience, so I started posting on social media.
A total of 22 of my pieces have been published in Panorama cross seven editions. I'm very proud of myself for that and forever grateful to the people who pushed me to keep submitting my work. This website is where I have chosen to upload my work as a sort of anthology.
Intern Extraordinaire & Queer Youth organizer at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice
Mack is helping run social justice oriented youth programming at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice and facilitates community research during their gap year. Another one of their responsibilities is creating a directory of local and national organizations for the center's Safe Space hosts to use when visitors need resources they are unable to provide themselves. They have also facilitated events for Transgender day of Remembrance and Transgender Day of Visibility.
Check out what I've been up to:
Check out this podcast episode I did for my Astronomy class final during senior year!
Join my teacher and I for a conversation on two astronomers, Frank Kameney and Sally Ride, and their contributions to inclusivity and representation in the world of astronomy. She and I will be discussing the intersections of being an astronomer who is part of the LGBTQ+ community as well as her own experiences of being queer in the world of science.