I first realized that I was not a boy by all the things I couldn’t do. Not because I literally couldn’t, but because I was not allowed to do so by societal dictates & all those around me, including women, who enforced them. With time I came along knowledge that would set me along the path to self discovery. I am not inherently defined by society’s ideas of me or what it says I can, cannot, should or should not do. I came to be in such a society, a world where cannot is synonymous with girl, where silence is to woman. This is a mind frame I was not born with. I no doubt have experienced conditioning that encompasses gender roles, race & my place in the world for example. I am working to break those down & see them for what they are- temporary, out-dated thick molasses veils created from fear, ignorance, darkness to keep me from flying. ‘Thing I’m realizing- I was always free to begin with. [Photograph: Ryan McGinley, Firecracker Girl]
The Return 