![Adding a tray of canned corn to the pile, junior Michael Collop assists in transporting donations for the Holiday Food Drive. The event, hosted schoolwide from Dec. 10-17, raised over 5,000 food items to deliver to the Parkway Food Pantry, helping several families in need. [The drive] is a great thing for us to do because you're giving to those who are less fortunate, and it helps provide for people who can't provide for themselves. [The] competition is always fun, too. It was fun to be in [social studies teacher Jess] Chazen’s class, because he always gets worked up over [the competition]. He made it exciting, and was always convincing us to turn in cans for the drive,” Collop said.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/feature-photo-unsung-2.png)
![NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates.
“One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.”
As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game.
“Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_9283-1-1200x800.jpg)
When Joe Chianakas, a Peoria native, set out to write “Singlets and Secrets, his newest work of fiction, he wanted to give teens struggling with their sexuality a “superhero” of sorts.
When the author was growing up in the ’80s in Central Illinois, there was “the Karate Kid,” “Rocky” and “Rudy.”
“I love stories,” Chianakas said, “I love reading.”
But the stories he saw on screen and what he read on the page, lacked characters a young Chianakas could relate to–LGBTQ+ characters, characters who shared his struggles and experiences.
So Chianakas, now in his mid-40s, penned his own.
“I always loved writing,” the author said.
Writing, Chianakas said, has provided him with a voice. One he is using, he said, to celebrate the LGTBQ+ community.
“I’m going to own being a gay author and write in that voice,” Chianakas said, “…because that’s what I want to do.”
That voice is responsible for “Singlets and Secrets,” published in late August, a novel Chianakas describes as his “gay ‘Karate Kid.’”
The story follows 14-year-old Aiden on a journey that sees him join the wrestling team while wrestling with his teammates’ homophobia.
Aiden’s life takes a turn when he befriends Matteo. Their budding romance forms the heart of the story, a narrative that showcases the importance of acceptance and love.
“It’s a story of hope and full of surprises and little twists,” Chianakas said.
As Aiden struggles with being bullied for his sexuality, Aiden’s English teacher, Mr. Samuels, a stand-in for Mr. Miyagi, imparts martial arts skills and life lessons.
Chianakas, a former high school English teacher himself and current professor of communication at Illinois Central College, brought his personal experience to the crafting of this narrative.
Chianakas’ own negative experience with a childhood teacher sparked the realization that he could do better for kids, both in the classroom and through his writing.
“If you get a teacher like me,” Chianakas said, or “encounter authors like me, the best thing that I think I can do is maybe inspire someone to have more confidence in who they are and less fear about it.”
And Chianakas’ confidence is evident.
“I’m queer as a rainbow,” the author said. “I’m married and happy about it, and forget anybody else who tells you that that’s not okay. Because I’m going to live by example and tell you, ‘here’s what success and joy look like.’”
But not everyone in the community feels the same level of acceptance. That is what drives his work.
Chianakas’ next book, “Darkness Calls,” is a young adult horror novel set to be released in 2024.
“I grew up on scary movies, and Stephen King, and I can geek out on that just like “The Karate Kid,” Chianakas said.
While “Singlets and Secrets,” the author said, is “obviously an LGTBQ book,” his upcoming release “doesn’t necessarily talk about gay themes.”
Still, Chianakas said, “it does what I always wanted to do, it represents.”
“There are a lot of people in the LGBTQ community that love scary movies, that love superhero movies,” Chianakas said. “When I start to ask myself why… I think we see ourselves as the person behind the mask. If I am trying to protect myself in certain places in society and I don’t want to come out, I’m putting on a mask, I am a different character.
“I think that that’s why a lot of us like those types of stories,” Chianakas continued.
His next release features a gay character, he said, but that detail isn’t what drives the plot.
“Sexuality doesn’t have to be a plot point,” Chianakas said. “They just are who they are.”
And as in life, that character is forced to “fight monsters”–a metaphor, Chianakas said, for homophobia.
“We’re just trying to survive,” the author said. “I think that’s why we like a lot of scary movies. I think we relate to that fear of what others might discover about us or who might come after us.”
But Chianakas’ work, he said, is not just about addressing the struggles faced by LGBTQ+ teens but about celebrating love and diversity, promoting compassion and understanding for the LGBTQ+ community and anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.
“I just want people to kind of get over these stereotypes,” Chianakas said. “I can’t believe we’re still fighting these stereotypes.”
“Singlets and Secrets” is available on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble.
This story was originally published on Inkspot on November 1, 2023.