• My Fantastic Fandom

  by Anonymous

  Around the time I started high school, I decided that I wanted to grow my hair out beyond the short bog I was forced to maintain on my head. When it was time for me to get a haircut, I playfully asked my mother, “Why do you want to make my hair ugly again?

• Transitioning With My Parent

  by D.Z.

  Names have been changed. When I was little, my family would call me my mother’s daughter. I would request to match outfits any time I could, and often followed my parent around the house in their much-too-big-for-me clothes that I snuck out of their closet.

• Reintroducing Myself to the World

  by Marlin Xie

  As the first semester of my sophomore year of high school came to an end, I stared into my bathroom mirror, and a speck of doubt began to devour every thought I had about who I was. A fog swallowed my mind, and I realized I couldn’t recognize my reflection.

• Questioning Gender, Finding Answers

  by A.W.

  It happened when I paused outside the girls bathroom during a normal 9th grade math class. For the first time, I began to feel awkward and fearful that I was somehow in the wrong place. I wasn’t sure why I was feeling this way.

• Proud Parents of This Great Kid

  by Kai Arrowood

  My mom called me to dinner. I swallowed thickly and emerged from my room, faintly practicing the lines I had prepared. It was the winter of 8th grade, and Christmas music was playing. Feeling light in my chair, as though I was going to fall out of it, I cleared my throat and told my family, “I have something to say.”

• The Best Form of Validation

  by Kai Arrowood

  It was a typical winter Saturday in the 8th grade, and my family and I were walking home from dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. I was wearing an oversized gray knit sweater, a hand-me-down from my grandpa. I was obsessed with oversized clothing that hid any curves.