Blog

How we’re here now: Poems of California
Poems in ‘Rift Zone’ and ‘Last West’. We know in our bones what being is. Because we are. ‘To be’ is to exist in a place, to grow, to break off, to feel how this ties us to past and future.

We know who’s responsible for orange sky
We need to hold them accountable. It’s Exx-smog and Shell-smoke. The big orange cats must be held accountable, and there’s more than one. Each of us has a role to play.

Designing a town people can get around? Repeat this exercise.
Anna Zivarts reminds us how we can take an hour to try harder. Sometimes we lack empathy for each other’s transportation needs and preferences. We have no idea because we haven’t stopped to try.

Yep, I read the ‘Atlantic’ opinion essay on trans kids
Where exactly is the kid’s ‘difference’? How hard are you looking for it? Assuming it’s possible for a boy to feel gender-conforming or gay, why should it be impossible for the same kid to feel trans or like a girl?

What does drive the boat? On truth
Miscellaneous reflections on truth, flowing through me. I like to think my own versions are truthful. And why not other versions too? That to which others testify is likely to bear truth.

Moses is trans
My trans teaching for Passover. In Exodus, the Egyptian king assumes that men are a threat and that everyone can tell which babies will grow up to be men. Just look at the baby, he says.

‘Black Hole Science’ experiments to stay warm after snow
My second entry for the 2026 Trans Rights Readathon. A college course that excited me was on religious themes in literature. My favorite part of ‘Black Hole Science’ is called ‘Lives of the Saints.’

Thank you for the strange fiction of ‘Rainbear!!!!!!!!!’
My first entry for the 2026 Trans Rights Readathon. Living past hope, everything matters and nothing matters. This doesn’t make sense, so it’s tough to resolve it. But this book drills into it.

Avoid amplifying lies, using the ‘fact-warn-explain-fact’ pattern
Dream and achieve. Not ‘dreams and lasagna’! Dream and achieve. The sign says sueña y logra: “dream and achieve”. Not “dreams and lasagna”. Speak the truth, then explain the misunderstanding. It’ll stick better.