A Series of Observations
Hi! Me again. I've added a few new people to this newsletter. If you've receieved this it's because we've interacted and I've thought: this person is interesting. I want to stay in touch with them. It’s 5:00pm and I’m running through downtown Brooklyn to make the train. The sky is mostly dark. The air smells like fire. It's about to downpour. Every day I am running. Before this I was reading my emails from 2017. There are so many I didn’t respond to. Why was I that way? I could have gone and given a talk in Vienna. That might have been nice. A dog is taking cover in a bodega. When did everyone start carrying portable fans? The air in New York smells like fire because Canada is on fire and I guess that’s the way the air works. Yesterday I ran down 5th avenue in Manhattan while on a Zoom call about a project that I’m under NDA for. I’m always running. I had a doctor’s appointment because I’m getting gender confirmation surgery next month and every week I have to do, like, at least three appointments. Consultants with doctors. A bunch of therapy. Electrolysis. I listen to an album called Low Teens by Every Time I Die when I do electrolysis. It’s loud and helps me disassociate. Disassociation is usually discouraged by therapists but one of the three therapists I had to see to get sign off on this surgery encouraged it and, you know, that’s great. Have we landed on the right way to talk about gender confirmation surgery? I honestly don’t know. Can I just say bottom surgery? The CPT code for my insurance calls it an amputation. Ouch! Right? I remember when the world wasn’t on fire. Back in 2017, during his first term, when we all posted on Twitter about how the world was on fire. It wasn’t. But now the sky attacks us, too. I’ve wanted to talk about bottom surgery on the Internet but I haven’t really known how. Plus I started this newsletter seven months ago to update you on projects I was working on but then I got too busy doing the projects to send updates. Now it’s now and the last time you got an email from me was about design and movies. You may be thinking: wow, this is a lot of information! My bad. At least it’s not about AI? I used to talk about being trans a lot online. Between us pals, some might say a bit too much. I pulled back when I started to work in politics because I’m not an idiot. It’s cool now, though. Here’s a question I’ve been thinking about. Would you take a photo of a part of your body you didn’t like if it was about to be amputated? Is that weird of me to ask? I’ve been wondering. Would you take it with a nice digital camera? Film? An iPhone? Would you keep it in your photos app? Put it in a random folder on your desktop computer? Store it away in a drawer? I don’t know what to do. I made the train. I’m off the train. I’m in another waiting room. When I decided to send a newsletter a few days ago I thought I’d send through some photographs I’ve taken throughout the year. I’ve been to Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Mostly for work. When I started to work towards surgery, which was about little over a year and a half ago, I also decided to say yes to as many work projects as I could. I wanted to do as much as possible. It's a lot of running. I know, I've mentioned that part. Maybe I'll send another note soon with some film photographs I've taken from travel. Would that be nice? By the way, have you seen the shit Emily Dawn Long has been making? She’s having a real moment. When I’m not running, I’m watching vertical content on my phone. My feed is a blend of her, World Cup highlights, and trans women talking shit. I love listening to trans women talk shit. Plus I’m getting some good tips, too. My hair has never been healthier (thanks Sabre!) I was rooting for Norway to win the World Cup because Haaland is so weird (compliment). I was sad when they lost. Now I’m rooting for Argentina. We gotta root for old people! Messi and I are the same age, lmao. It can be tremendously difficult to understand a moment in history while you are also living through it. I do think we'll look back on this time as a real shit moment for trans people. I've seen so many activists go quiet as the climate has shifted. I don't know what else to say about this other than, well, I've noticed. And I don't want to do that. So here I am, talking shit. Alright, that was fun. If you want to see some new stuff I've made, head to my website. I updated it a couple months back. And as a final treat, here's 10 fims I've recently seen and enjoyed. You might like them, too! Full Moon in Paris (Éric Rohmer) Blue Film (Elliot Tuttle) The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami) The Bridge (Bernhard Wicki) Blue Heron (Sophy Romvari) Two Seasons, Two Strangers (Sho Miyake) Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (Matt Johnson) Michael (Nora Ephron) Lingua Franca (Isabel Sandoval) The Cranes Are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov) |
A Series of Observations
Hi! Me again. I've added a few new people to this newsletter. If you've receieved this it's because we've interacted and I've thought: this person is interesting. I want to stay in touch with them. It’s 5:00pm and I’m running through downtown Brooklyn to make the train. The sky is mostly dark. The air smells like fire. It's about to downpour. Every day I am running. Before this I was reading my emails from 2017. There are so many I didn’t respond to. Why was I that way? I could have gone and given a talk in Vienna. That might have been nice. A dog is taking cover in a bodega. When did everyone start carrying portable fans? The air in New York smells like fire because Canada is on fire and I guess that’s the way the air works. Yesterday I ran down 5th avenue in Manhattan while on a Zoom call about a project that I’m under NDA for. I’m always running. I had a doctor’s appointment because I’m getting gender confirmation surgery next month and every week I have to do, like, at least three appointments. Consultants with doctors. A bunch of therapy. Electrolysis. I listen to an album called Low Teens by Every Time I Die when I do electrolysis. It’s loud and helps me disassociate. Disassociation is usually discouraged by therapists but one of the three therapists I had to see to get sign off on this surgery encouraged it and, you know, that’s great. Have we landed on the right way to talk about gender confirmation surgery? I honestly don’t know. Can I just say bottom surgery? The CPT code for my insurance calls it an amputation. Ouch! Right? I remember when the world wasn’t on fire. Back in 2017, during his first term, when we all posted on Twitter about how the world was on fire. It wasn’t. But now the sky attacks us, too. I’ve wanted to talk about bottom surgery on the Internet but I haven’t really known how. Plus I started this newsletter seven months ago to update you on projects I was working on but then I got too busy doing the projects to send updates. Now it’s now and the last time you got an email from me was about design and movies. You may be thinking: wow, this is a lot of information! My bad. At least it’s not about AI? I used to talk about being trans a lot online. Between us pals, some might say a bit too much. I pulled back when I started to work in politics because I’m not an idiot. It’s cool now, though. Here’s a question I’ve been thinking about. Would you take a photo of a part of your body you didn’t like if it was about to be amputated? Is that weird of me to ask? I’ve been wondering. Would you take it with a nice digital camera? Film? An iPhone? Would you keep it in your photos app? Put it in a random folder on your desktop computer? Store it away in a drawer? I don’t know what to do. I made the train. I’m off the train. I’m in another waiting room. When I decided to send a newsletter a few days ago I thought I’d send through some photographs I’ve taken throughout the year. I’ve been to Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Mostly for work. When I started to work towards surgery, which was about little over a year and a half ago, I also decided to say yes to as many work projects as I could. I wanted to do as much as possible. It's a lot of running. I know, I've mentioned that part. Maybe I'll send another note soon with some film photographs I've taken from travel. Would that be nice? By the way, have you seen the shit Emily Dawn Long has been making? She’s having a real moment. When I’m not running, I’m watching vertical content on my phone. My feed is a blend of her, World Cup highlights, and trans women talking shit. I love listening to trans women talk shit. Plus I’m getting some good tips, too. My hair has never been healthier (thanks Sabre!) I was rooting for Norway to win the World Cup because Haaland is so weird (compliment). I was sad when they lost. Now I’m rooting for Argentina. We gotta root for old people! Messi and I are the same age, lmao. It can be tremendously difficult to understand a moment in history while you are also living through it. I do think we'll look back on this time as a real shit moment for trans people. I've seen so many activists go quiet as the climate has shifted. I don't know what else to say about this other than, well, I've noticed. And I don't want to do that. So here I am, talking shit. Alright, that was fun. If you want to see some new stuff I've made, head to my website. I updated it a couple months back. And as a final treat, here's 10 fims I've recently seen and enjoyed. You might like them, too! Full Moon in Paris (Éric Rohmer) Blue Film (Elliot Tuttle) The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami) The Bridge (Bernhard Wicki) Blue Heron (Sophy Romvari) Two Seasons, Two Strangers (Sho Miyake) Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (Matt Johnson) Michael (Nora Ephron) Lingua Franca (Isabel Sandoval) The Cranes Are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov) |