JCW The Full Story: Shedding Alligator Skin by Dana M. Patton

Shedding Alligator Skin deconstructs growing up in conservative culture in Florida in the 90s (or, unfortunately, today). Unlike snakes that shed their entire skins all at once, alligators shed one scale at a time when each scale has outlived its usefulness. This is how many of us have shed the harmful ideas we grew up with that keep us from being ourselves and loving our community.

Sometimes the best thing we can ever do is tell our stories. Look honestly at our past and try to pick apart the wreckage and carry on the lifelines. This is what I came here to do. These are 30 stories from 30 years ago. Stories of a culture that never wanted us to know ourselves, our histories, our futures. Stories that are still being removed from shelves and banned from being spoken. Stories that frighten people who cling desperately to what’s killing us.

I tell the story in the first person from the viewpoint of the teenager who experienced it, then we shed the scales with all the knowledge and compassion we've gained, dispelling the lies and revealing the truths behind the misogyny, racism, sexism, judgmentalism, and hate embedded in conservative societies. Considering our entire country may now be turned into Florida, the work of dispelling these myths seems more relevant than ever.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘣. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 "𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬"—𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘢 𝘑𝘊𝘞 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵—𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥.

𝘛𝘰 𝘳𝘴𝘷𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵 (𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘌: 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵), 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭 [thefullstory@jerseycitywriters.org](mailto:thefullstory@jerseycitywriters.org). 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘴𝘷𝘱 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.)