After struggling to express himself freely in college and in various jobs, a professional writing alumnus has finally found a career where he can be himself.
John Paul Brammer moved to Washington D.C. this month to pursue a career as a gay/Latino writer for MSNBC’s Blue Nation Review.
Before moving, Brammer returned to campus Tuesday to talk to students about his journey.
Hailing from a diverse town, Brammer struggled at OU to find a place to fit in because a majority of people were white and affluent, Brammer said. It wasn’t until his junior year that he found his solid group of friends and made OU his own, he said.
When in college, Brammer also went through a period where his efforts to write well took away the fun of the craft, he said. Then, at his early jobs, Brammer couldn’t fully be himself at work, and he wondered if he could talk with his reporters about being gay and Latino.
At his new job, Brammer is paid to bring everything to the table, he said.
Brammer chose professional writing as a major because he had written his whole life and enjoyed marketing his own work, he said. His first big piece was a blog he wrote as a junior about Chick-Fil-A’s anti-gay views, Brammer said.
Brammer went on to write a short story in This Land Press called “Boys Will be Boys,” about growing up gay in a small Oklahoma town, he said.
Sharing his experience helped people who had similar struggles see that they weren’t alone, Brammer said, and his story solicited feedback. The principal of his former school called his mom and apologized for how she’d handled the situation, Brammer said.
Overall, the reactions to the story were positive, Brammer said, but he also got some negative feedback.
“But this was the first time I had been personally attacked. Moms of the students I’d written about called and said terribly hurtful things,” Brammer said. “Some moms of students I’d never met in my life called saying their kid never liked me anyway and it couldn’t have been that bad, that I was exaggerating.”
Despite the negative comments, writing this story freed him from hiding himself and changed his writing style, Brammer said.
His earlier writing had been fueled by anger, and he lashed out at anyone who said anything against gay people, Brammer said. He was trying to protect the little kid he used to be, Brammer said.
After he wrote “Boys Will be Boys,” Brammer wrote to help people and share his experiences. The shift improved his writing and established a base for his publishing, Brammer said.
Brammer went on to write stories for the Huffington Post and attempted to find a steady writing job, even looking at becoming an English as a Second Language teacher, he said.
Before Jimmy Williams from MSNBC contacted him and asked him to write for the organization, Brammer spent a year couch-surfing with friends in the U.S. and abroad, Brammer said.
“I got denied a job tweeting about crafting, and then this job, one that’s perfect for me, I didn’t even have to apply for,” Brammer said. “You never know what’s right around the corner.”
Brammer’s primary goal is to be seen as an author, he said. He is proud to be gay and Latino, but doesn’t want those characteristics to separate him as a writer or for people to consider him inferior, Brammer said.
“I want to be right alongside those white male writers, not on a shelf below them. I think people who aren’t white males get marginalized by being shoved into corners,” Brammer said. “The only way to fix this problem with perception is by pushing more of these writers into the main stream and making mainstream diverse.”
Brammer suggests that OU students tailor their college experiences to fit them, he said.
“Take college as the time to explore and focus on connections,” Brammer said. “Make it real. Think about what you want to do and do it.”
