being trans feminine, is violent ideation endemic to transness?, storms of humanity, governor pritzker on loving and being loved by your country
yesterday i was grateful for my collection of photographs of women’s clothing in shop windows…
today i am looking forward to working on my submission to the center and being trans feminine…
this morning's readings relatively positive... hope stirs in my being...
yesterday... my day at the cemetery...
i like my job at the cemetery... i don't like the way it shifts my focus away from creating and community building... but... it makes a lot possible... including the purchase of a feminine forward wardrobe...
yesterday i was sorting through my "feminine mystique" imagery... photographs of women's clothing and accessories in shop windows... i have long been interested in imaging the feminine... i have been interested in it from both the male and female libido place of being... my photography of women's clothing and accessories in shop windows intensified as i moved towards trans feminine exploration... i sometimes feel sad that i came to this place so late in life... i wish i could have considered gender affirming hormone therapy and surgery... i don't believe i would be doing my geriatric body any favors though...
i am not unhappy with the place i find myself now... in fact... and i have said and written this quite often... i have rarely been as happy as i am now... and certainly not as consistently happy as i am now... everyday i am more comfortable in my new skin... and less worried about how i will be received... mostly because i have been received so well...
my mother was telling me that there was a shooting at a hockey game and that the perpetrator was a struggling trans person whose family had reject their need to express femininely... the conservative news she watches was portraying it as something endemic to transness... i told her i hoped she was angry about that... she said she was...
i told my wife about what my mother had told me and she confirmed the news story and is outraged too by the suggestion that it is endemic to transness...
it would not surprise me if it turned out there was a relative uptick in violent and suicidal ideation in trans people... but i don't believe that it's inherent to transness... it's endemic to the condition of being a minority of any kind... of being something society doesn't understand and therefore rejects... it's something to be supressed as are all ways of being that don't conform to a majority norm... heaven forbid we normalize minority ways of being...
my wife was telling me about the nephew of a friend who is struggling with their transness... they live in texas... i would not like to be exploring my transness in texas...
this nephew has become agoraphobic and still uses the he pronoun because they are as yet uncomfortable with a pronoun that might more accurately describe them... the parents of this young person are considering moving to colorado where they expect to find a state more welcomiong to trans people... i hope that they do find a more accepting environment... it has made all the difference for me...
i told my wife that it was important that this young person find a trans community and trans positive literature, cinema, tv... i know this has been enormously helpful to locating myself as a trans feminine person...
Literary Hub » Letter From Minnesota: If You Can Survive This, You Can Survive Anything
Six years later, on January 7th, Renee Good was murdered in broad daylight while looking out for her neighbors in South Minneapolis, two miles from my home. She was a fellow writer, a poet, and a new community member. Hours later, I learned about the protests happening in Iran. According to reports, millions of ordinary citizens took part in nationwide protests that were followed by an internet blackout. It was reported that the state murdered tens of thousands of civilians—men, women, children, the elderly. It’s unclear which sources to trust.
one wonders... can we ever rid ourselves of these storms of humanity... which, like hurricanes and tornados and blizzards and thunder storms, are about the transfer of power and energy from one place to another to relieve a build up of energy differential... i don't believe we can rid ourselves of storms of the environment (curbing our contribution to making them worse is another matter)... my fear is that we will be unable to rid ourselves of the storms of humanity either... they build and rage because that is what nature does with significant imbalances of raw energy... organize it and release it through chaos...
illinois governor pritzker gave a state of the state speech yesterday...
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/february-18-2026?selection=c27e9737-896a-417d-8e89-cb617a003a3d&r=3lmw0&utm_medium=ios
“I’ve been thinking a lot lately about love—about loving people and loving your country and the power involved in both,” the governor said. “I know, right now, there are a lot of people out there who love their country and feel like their country is not loving them back. I know that.” But he told those people that “your country is loving you back—just not in the way you are used to hearing.”
“It’s not speaking in anthems or flags or ostentatious displays of patriotism. It will never come from the people who say the only way to love America is to hate Americans. Love is found in every act of courage—large and small—taken to preserve the country we once knew. You will find it in homes and schools and churches and art. It is there; it has not been squashed.”
yes... YES!!!
a few photos from this morning...
