I don’t know how to tell you that I hate it here.
Mom, let me start by saying that I love you. You know that. I don’t ever want you to doubt that. But I don’t know where else to turn to besides putting my thoughts onto this page.
Let me say the hard part first, and then I can provide some…
we are therapists, and we are each other’s patients.
we are sharks, moving forward to avoid stillness, the equivalent of danger;
if we stand rooted to the Earth, the Earth is forced to contend with our blood when it sprays. we know when to move.
movement is justice, marching to the beat of our own hearts that can never…
“You look and sound different, but somehow I still see you in there.”
My mom is pretty cool. She sings in a nationally recognized gospel choir and plays the tambourine (at the same time). She’s a single mother, and she’s helping to put me through college. She’s a mixed race lesbian who grew up in the 70s. She plays softball and slides into…
A word to the wise from your digital trans friend
435 days. 435 days since my first shot of testosterone, taken alone in the bathroom of my childhood home while following along with a YouTube tutorial shared by my PCP.
As T has begun to stand its ground in my body and make more and more noticeable changes, I’ve consolidated…
From a genderqueer college tour guide.
I’ve given campus tours for my university, Willamette, since the spring of 2020. Weird timing, I know, but I’ve gotten the hang of it over the last year and a half. …
A gender crisis in writing.
I’ve reached a point in my gender that I didn’t expect to hit for at least two more years. I’m passing as a he/him. Most of the time. Unless I specifically choose to make myself pass as a she/her or a they/them.
I’m not used to my gender presentation being…
An androgynous campus tour guide and a yellow skirt walk into a bar.
Picture an afternoon college campus tour. A small liberal arts institution in the Pacific Northwest. A 45 minute stroll through the academic buildings, residence halls, dining spaces, and campus grounds. A sunny day, cracking 90 degrees Fahrenheit. …
Welcome to Pronoun PEMDAS
Do you remember learning the order of operations for evaluating a math expression in grade school? It was taught as PEMDAS (parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction) or “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.”
I loved PEMDAS. That process, along with learning my times tables, was the height of…
Story time — and a few wise words from your local they/them.
Funny story: my gender’s taken on a strange form these days. It’s become a mirrorgender of sorts — the kind where the people who see me pick my gender for me, and they don’t always agree. …
theoaknotes
Picture a Gen Z kid explaining gender to you over a coffee date. Hi, I’m Oak. It’s nice to meet you. Find me at theoaknotes@gmail.com. Words: Psychology Today.
