All right.
I guess my first question is.
Talking.
You said you're taking being outside
trans identity.
So why do you like being outside?
Yeah, I think being
in nature allows me a kind of
freedom that I don't get
around other people very
often
when I'm out in nature, there's
no expectations.
The trees, the trees don't care what
I'm wearing.
The trees see me for who I am.
Yeah, it's it's a very
freeing and grounding experience
to just be able to be exactly
who I am without any expectations
or limitations
and just to exist in my body
and feel good about it.
What do you love specifically about
this place
in.
You want to come up now?
I think this place
holds a lot of history, both
for me and for the town that
I grew up in.
It's a place that I came
a lot as a kid,
and this was like my
this was the place that I had my
first experiences with
being in Woods.
Am I right?
Yeah. I would come up here when
I was upset or afraid
or just needed a place to think.
So this has always been a place that
I could find some peace
and calm and grounding.
So.
Yeah, well, it's been cold, so
not as much.
But yeah, I've
definitely been feeling the need
to reconnect to things
in the past couple of months,
so being being outside helps with
that.
Being around people who I love,
who love me for that.
Since the new administration.
I guess I think that
a lot of the.
I think that Donald Trump wants me
to feel afraid.
And so I'm doing everything that I
can not to feel afraid.
I think he wants me to feel helpless
and hopeless.
And I don't
I believe that there is still
good in the world and I believe
that there are people doing good in
the world because I've seen them
doing it.
So I've been focusing my attention
and focusing my efforts on
informing myself,
finding ways to be hopeful.
Keeping keeping myself informed
not just on what the executive
orders mean, but also how we're
going to stop them.
Yeah, I.
When your government doesn't want
you to exist. It is scary and
it is a heavy burden.
But my government has never been the
one to decide whether or not I
exist. That's between me and the
universe. And me
and the universe are 100%
sure that I exist exactly as I am.
And Donald Trump gets and doesn't
get a say in that. So
yeah, I am.
I am still.
And I.
I am still disheartened by the
cruelty and always
will be.
But I am not made hopeless
or helpless by it.
What are some of those movies that.
We're finding ways that.
It feels powerful.
We discovered countless.
And
I find power
and hope in my community.
I've seen the way that people have
immediately started organizing to
sue the government and
fight for the rights of trans people
and trans kids especially.
I've seen the ways that we come
together to educate ourselves.
Working in the library, I've seen
people checking out books on
kindness and empathy for children
and checking out books about
fascism and how to defeat
a fascist government for adults
and.
People are informing themselves and
my community is coming together
and that gives me a lot of hope.
What's your reaction?
I don't know if you were watching
it, but during the inauguration
with me, he famously said
that there were two genders.
What was your response to that?
Well, my
my honest response is that
that Petrovich doesn't get to tell
me who I am.
But I could also say that.
I see that.
I don't need the government to
recognize my gender.
They should because it's real
and it's going to make it a hell of
a lot harder for me if they don't.
But.
My identity is my business.
And.
Donald Trump doesn't doesn't know
what he's talking about.
He doesn't.
I know middle schoolers with a
better idea of sex and gender
than he seems to hold
a more complete and scientifically
sound understanding.
So I don't.
I don't put much value in what he
says about about how many
genders or sexes there are.
I.
I'm on a mission to see all 50
state parks.
Actually, there are 52 on my list.
So, I've got plans
to check a couple more off my list,
do some more hiking.
Spend more time with my dog.
I've got a pile of art supplies that
are just waiting for some
inspiration, so I'm looking
forward to that.
Yeah.
Got good things coming.
I don't think so.
No.