Perhaps I love the female octopus because she is like the very best people I love: shape-shifting according to circumstance, principled in her priorities, and completely no-bullshit. When she needs to, she exercises extraordinary boundaries. Read more
With little more than 20 students—comprised almost entirely of trans children and volunteering teachers—this Chilean school, Escuela Amaranta Gomez, aims to unite a society that is tearing itself apart. Read more
To be clumsy is not to be fragile: it is to know that one is breakable, and to live (speak, interact) knowing this. Read more
Living a life damaged by grief is something I understand well. When I was eleven, my sister died. I usually just tell people that she died in a car accident, which is sort of true, but really, she drowned. It happened in Colorado, during the spring thaw when the melting snow on the mountain peaks turns peaceful, meandering rivers into dark, raging torrents. Read more
I realize that in this time and society, I need the blessings of men around me in order to establish myself. Read more
I don’t think many of us would willingly and repeatedly enter a situation that typically ends in bruised ribs, mysterious cuts and scratches, dehydration, and aching feet if we weren’t at least a little self-destructive, but there is a difference between the consensual physical exhaustion of the mosh pit and having your physical being threatened or assaulted. Read more
You dad’s passport doesn’t bear a city, just IRAN. It might as well say THREAT. Read more
How the recent Netflix film ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ called all my internalized ideas of race and romance into question. Read more
Silence and sex turn into offerings when men decide you owe them something. Read more
I was taken to a children’s home and, screaming, dunked into a bathtub of ice water. Read more
