Trans Ancestor Frank Woodhull and the Stories That Come From Necessity
How do I make sure to separate the stories that I tell from necessity—for advocacy reasons, for example—from those that feel most personal, most true, most alive?
What will I tell my child about the AIDS crisis?
I would like to read my child a book about ACT UP. I would like to read my child a book about a community needle exchange.
Being Trans at Naked Night Taught Me About Belonging
I went to the naked party to see people’s dicks, not hear people’s stories. But sometimes things don’t turn out the way you’d expect. I can’t say what I was expecting when I saw that a gay bar I’d been to a few times
There Are No Rules for a Pregnant Trans Body
On learning to be a pregnant man in public.
Against the Linear Narrative of Pregnancy
The shapes we give our stories matter.
What I Learned From Self-Publishing My Essay Collection
On knowing what you—and your work—truly desire
The Book I Never Published
In 2019, things were falling apart, so I decided to write a novel about a trans man who tries to get pregnant and then things fall apart for him. His name was James. I signed up for Ariel Gore’s manuscript writing workshop and worked on it all summer. On
Work to be Done
Today is my last day in Valatie. I’ll miss this mug, I thought. It’s been good to me. In Valatie, when I get up, I heat water in the electric kettle to make pour-over coffee. I always drink the coffee out of the same mug: a white
Someone in Some Future Time Will Think of Us
You may forget but Let me tell you this: someone in some future time will think of us. — Sappho I found this quote today in Paul Monette’s essay collection, Last Watch of the Night, after asking him what I should write about and opening to a random page. He
A Book Is A Spell
How can I learn to create a tangible object that will weave together an experience for someone else at a place and time I may never see?