
Emotional Connections
Emotional Connections A Review of “Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience” Children are born with emotions, but we aren’t born with the ability to identify and talk about them. That’s something caregivers must do:...

Coping with Climate Dread
Last year, during the summer of 2021, I experienced my first severe heat wave on the West Coast. With temperatures reaching up to 120°, I was one of the many Portland residents living without air conditioning in my apartment. I was fortunate enough to have support...

Connecting the Dots: Exploring Connections Between Trauma, Visibility, and Trans Identity in Ryan Sallans’s “Transforming Manhood”
Ryan Sallans’s Transforming Manhood is a reflection on experiences of transitioning and its impacts later in life. Themes of mental health, coping with trauma, family relationships, love, and loss are woven together in this powerful narrative. Sallans explores the...

Are You a Victim of Gender-Based Violence?
Have you been a victim of gender-based violence? Many, if not most, trans and nonbinary individuals would say yes. Our lives are filled with prejudice, discrimination, and violence based on our variance from “traditional” unchangeable binary gender: of course we’ve...

Safer Sex, Monkeypox, and Trans Survivorship
You might be wondering, “What does monkeypox have to do with trans survivors?” Possibly a lot! In addition to Monkeypox being a public health crisis, some trans community members might be at higher risk for contracting the disease. Trans survivors may have additional...

Who Are You After Trauma?
You trust no one, see danger everywhere, and walk with a sense of powerlessness and worry even while at the same time you may develop an aggressiveness you don’t understand. Slowly you morph into a tight, controlled, rigid, restrictive, anxious, fearful, numb and...