Building It All from Scraps

About the Book

To chase, to embrace, and to savor the deepest passions of her heart, a quirky carpenter’s daughter builds her social work career - and fills the emptiness she has long known - by captivating the love of her life - Carolyn. But Jordan Mathews’ success is short-lived, as her career evolves into an outrageous battle of office politics, where no good deed seems to go unpunished - and where only the power of love survives.

A vibrant and playful celebration of gay pride, Building It All From Scraps is a campy fiction that blends love, relationships, friendships and family, with an understanding of gay culture and history. Set at the Jersey Shore in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the story shares the transformation of a shy and ambiguous girl to a professional gay woman, and pits wants vs. expectations, needs vs. loyalties, in this comical construction of life’s loves, and the quest to find true meaning.

The author includes a variety of articles about prominent social issues — and especially, those affecting gay people - at the end of the book. These condensed, professional, yet easy-to-understand articles form a reference section that serves as a political history and social commentary for gay people everywhere. But you don’t need to use the reference section to enjoy this amusing story about life, and love, fulfilled.

A tale that revels in the clash of the sexual revolution, balancing disco community and true love with family life and working class values, Building It All from Scraps is a humorous and solidifying testimonial to all gay people, an educational and informative book for all human service workers, and a great piece of philosophical entertainment for those who are neither. And it lets us know, at the end of the day, that we are all the same.

About the Author

Born and raised in New Jersey, Beverly Ann Kessler is a Licensed Social Worker, who has worked in human services for nearly 30 years. An attendee at Shepherd College, West Virginia, she received her BSW from Kean College, and her MSW from Rutgers University. She has worked in medical, renal and geriatric social work, and in adult and child protective services. She is a member of NASW. Ms. Kessler has dedicated her life to the fight for social justice. She is active in the anti-poverty movement, and has worked as an advocate in energy and environmental issues, and in homeless prevention. Most recently, she has worked with Garden State Equality in the fight for marriage equality in New Jersey. She is active in her Episcopal Church, where she serves as youth mentor, and participates in various social welfare projects. Spirituality and her love of nature have been her combined life force. She has shared this love and commitment with her partner of 25 years.