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A brown-skinned masculine person cutting a femme mermaid out of a net.
First Person Gender Love + Sex

The Trans Body as a Work of Art

Burlesque is my loving manifestation of what all my ancestors deserved—not simply tolerance, but unbridled celebration.

Lawrence Gullo September 7, 2021 10 Comments
First Person

On Grandmothers and Malai Curry as Thick as My Missing

In New York, I make malai curry with everything but prawns.

Sreshtha Sen September 7, 2021 8 Comments
a breakfast spread including a bagel with scrambled eggs on a floral print plate, a mason jar full of water, a cup of tea, a cute plant, and a green and white striped napkin all set on a wood table
First Person

Eating Breakfast With My Grief

I decided to start sitting with my grief because why not. It’s not like I think this will help, but it’s something to do.

Vanessa September 4, 2021 32 Comments
First Person

Caesar Salad: Anamnesis

Here’s what I remember: a wooden bowl. My father’s silver hair under the spotlit kitchen island. Hands busy mashing yolk and rind; the squeeze of a tube of anchovy paste, the clinks of spoon to jarred garlic.

T Kira Māhealani Madden August 31, 2021 13 Comments
A photo of Heather's Apple Watch. She says "Your butt." And Siri says, "I'm sorry, I didn't get that. Could you try again."
First Person

50 Questions I Asked Siri When My iPhone Was Joyriding Alone in an Uber All Day

“Siri, can you please lock me out of Twitter?”

Heather Hogan August 27, 2021 9 Comments
a black Subaru is parked on an open road with a blue sky with perfect white clouds above it
First Person

I Spent the Summer Screaming in My Car, What About You?

When the sound of a scream leaves my throat, it is a choice. I am never accidentally screaming. I scream in the car and it is on purpose.  

Vanessa August 24, 2021 20 Comments
Illustration of a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos on a background of single cheetos with scattered dust on a yellow background.
First Person

Hot Cheetos: A Chorus

Even years after we graduated high school or left our hometown or eschewed processed snack foods, we couldn’t deny the evidence of our former appetites, each of our fingers a flapping red flag.

K-Ming Chang August 24, 2021 7 Comments
all illustrations for this series by A. Andrews
First Person

Welcome To The Dinner Party

I’m hungry to throw a dinner party. For now, there’s this. DINNER PARTY—a series of micro essays on food.

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya August 24, 2021 7 Comments
Two people baking and forming a heart with the batter. One person's hands surround the other's hands.
First Person Gender

Change Is Magic: On Cooking and Bodies

Science fiction taught me that any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. In the kitchen, my girlfriend is a witch.

V. S. Wells August 23, 2021 9 Comments
The image of a lighthouse with a color gradient of orange to purple on it.
First Person Love + Sex

My Body Is Revived, My Body Is A Lighthouse

How do we find dignity in our bodies after it has been taken from us by an abusive partner?

SC Dillon August 19, 2021 23 Comments
An illustration of two lips kissing.
First Person Love + Sex

Writing Myself into the Erotic

When I tell people that I wrote myself a sexual body, I don’t know if they believe me. But our bodies are stories as much as they’re anything else.

Shelly Jay Shore August 16, 2021 5 Comments
A dark-skinned trans woman's face with the colors of orange, purple, and pink overlaid.
First Person Love + Sex

Tarot, Sex, & Hoodoo: A Black Girl’s Guide to the Underworld

An exploration of summer, desire, and the senses through the lens of tarot and trans womanhood.

Shaadi Devereaux August 12, 2021 3 Comments
A photo of a fruit platter with a purple to orange gradient on it.
First Person Gender Love + Sex

The Night I Learned to Be In My Trans Body

My summer hookup with a rich businesswoman in Japan gave me something more valuable than even the room service wagyu steak.

Molly Hensley August 10, 2021 16 Comments
A genderqueer person with a cane walking down the hallway in a h
First Person Gender

Why Discovering Your Trans Identity As A Disabled Person Can Be So Confusing

Society painted me as a burden, and undeserving of autonomy. I have taken that paintbrush and created a beautiful life where being disabled isn’t a bad thing.

antiableist August 3, 2021 5 Comments
A dark-skinned transgender woman looking in the bathroom mirror at school.
First Person Gender

When Thin is a Trans Requirement

Body fat is central to how we perceive gender. So what does that mean if you’re a trans person?

Eli Cugini August 2, 2021 16 Comments
First Person House & Garden

My Gender is Maximalism

As these queer and trans bodies took up space on my walls, my queer and trans body felt free to take up space in the home itself.

Frankie de la Cretaz July 28, 2021 17 Comments
First Person House & Garden

Making Accessibility Part of My Home

Because the thing is, of course, that my feelings about all the accessibility stuff aren’t really about the stuff at all; my feelings are about the disabilities themselves.

Heather Hogan July 27, 2021 20 Comments
Patti LaBelle performs in the 1980s, crying with emotion into the microphone. she has on long dangly, sparkly earrings, bold make up, long nails, and her signature big hair pulled back.
First Person Music

Somebody Loves You Baby: When Patti LaBelle Taught Me Black Femme Desire

After the song’s gentle teasing passes, Patti exclaims, “it’s me,” the somebody who loves you. I think of the women I have loved, despite the ways we have hurt each other.

danijanae July 22, 2021 3 Comments
Image shows a background photo of a child in a rainbow striped sweater. There is a tweet over it that says "mom: why'd it take u so long to tell me ur gay? me: what r u talkin bout I tried to tell u every year on picture day"
First Person

My Pinned Tweet Is Solid Proof That Queer Time Travel Exists

There’s a reason it has been my pinned tweet since 2016 — It’s my origin story.

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya July 20, 2021 6 Comments
First Person House & Garden

I’m Finally Taking Up Space In My Own Place

On putting the safe decorations in the closet and letting my home reach its full gay potential. On taking up space in my own space.

Valerie Anne July 19, 2021 26 Comments
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