Growing up in West Philadelphia, being told that he would have to take up a career as something other than as a writer in order to make it out, author and Cabrini graduate, Charles Bush, was determined to prove everyone wrong.
This year, he did.
Writing his first novel based on personal experiences, Bush told the story, “Every Variable of Us,” through the lens of a young African American female.
“Alexis, the main character, she’s pretty much myself, she’s a basketball player. When I grew up and I was her age, I was always told that if you want to get out of this situation, you want to make it out of West Philadelphia, you gotta play basketball, you gotta be a rapper, you gotta be entertainment,” Bush said.
No one, however, told him he could be an actor or a lawyer or the president, he said.
“But that was never told to me so I wanted to write a story for that kid that was like me,” Bush said.
Writing a story that can relate to readers that will understand his personal experiences helped him publish his first novel.
“Being black and living in that athletic experience, I was also told I couldn’t do that. To compile the fact that I couldn’t be what I wanted to be, I also couldn’t express my sexuality the way I wanted to express it because I was told kids that looked like me, especially men in the basketball world, you can’t do it. So I really wanted to write a book that kind of championed that kind of character so that kid that was me when I was 16 years old, sitting in my bedroom, you know, daydreaming of being something beyond a basketball player, dreaming of a moment where I could come out and be proud of my sexuality and my gender and just champion that. I want that kid that’s in there now to read this book and go, I’m not alone,” he said.
He didn’t notice any book that was similar to his anywhere. Bush wrote the novel to give African American kids that feel they’re less than others because of their gender, race or sexuality, he’s giving them a message that they’re not less than.
Bush had few inspirations when writing his first novel, “I always wanted to write like I knew that was something I wanted to do. When I got to college as an undergrad at Cabrini, you know I really found that voice like man I want to tell stories, you know I really want to write like a book or do something to tell a story. The com dept. and the English dept. they really helped me, they all were there for me,” he said.
No one necessarily inspired him to write his first novel. He had inspirations in regards to his favorite authors that he may have wanted to mimic their styles. The inspiration came from the person inside him.
Bush didn’t focus too much on the title while he was writing, he said, “There’s a part of the book where Alexis says something about we’re all just variables of us to make us what we are and that really got me thinking, I was like man I really like that.”
He thought about why he wrote the novel. Being a person of color, they’re always seen as athletes, drug dealers or entertainers on the news. He said they’re never seen as everything else that they are.
Bush said how people of color have careers as scientists, doctors, librarians, teachers, writers, lawyers, etc. He also said they’re brave, passionate, loving and variables of so much stuff because they’re made up of many things that make them who they are.
His goal for his first novel is to put something on the shelf for kids that are afraid of being less than others. He said, “The goal is to put something on the shelf so that kid that was me at that age that’s sitting alone in their room, and they’re afraid to come out because they think if they do, it’ll make them less than. You know they think that they’re alone in all this. I want them to know that, don’t stop dreaming, don’t give up, know that you’re beautiful, that you’re seen, that you’re a supernova. That was the goal to let them know that they are not alone and they can be who they want to be fully, openly and unapologetically.”
When talking about his novel, he talked about how people have one vision of a culture, race, gender, sexuality, etc. People stereotype those things which is evident in his novel. Characters are stereotyped based on their appearance.
“We’re always portrayed as what we are perceived as. I would like people to read the book and go, wow, just because that person maybe that skin tone or that person maybe, whatever their gender is, they are so much more than what I perceive them to be. They are who they are, they are beautiful. I hope people can open their mind up after they read it to loving everyone fully and champion everyone no matter who they are on the outside,” Bush said.
About 85 to 90 percent of the novel comes from personal experiences, he said. Alexis’ living situation, the house she lives in is similar to Bush’s in West Philadelphia.
Using his own experiences to tell a story, he found it difficult digging deep into his past to write about traumas that he suppressed in the back of his mind. He said, “Like I said about the living situation with Alexis, I had to really go back to those times with my mom, brother, sister in that apartment where some nights we would go without food. You know my mom did whatever she could to feed us and sometimes, a lot of nights of Ramen noodles, sharing a bowl of Ramen noodles between three kids. A lot of nights going to bed hungry, crying myself to sleep, things like that. It was tough and I had to relive those moments.”
Bush was able to set aside emotion while writing his first novel. Telling the story about his own traumas to connect with those that feel alone, isolated and less than others based on their appearance, he’s telling them a message that they’re seen. His message to those that read it, “know that you’re beautiful, know that you’re seen and know that you’re a supernova.”
“Every Variable of Us,” was released on March 1, 2022. The novel is available for purchase at Amazon, flux, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and other locations.
