Work Notes 

A new season of Flexible Office begins February 16. We meet Mondays and Thursdays 9-11am EST. Sliding scale, a Discord group for connecting, co-working and community in difficult times. 

Registration is open for Divinity and The Written Word February 21 + 22. A writing class about god, the cosmos, and contemplative journaling. 

And my Creative Advising books are open for February. 

Dear Reader,

I wanted to beam in today to talk about top surgery. How it went, what I learned, what I survived. What me and Katy learned about caretaking and being cared for.

In some ways it all played out like an episode of The Pitt, except Noah Wyle being hot and in charge wasn’t there. Nothing went as expected and yet the gender euphoria manages to sneak through.

It ends with cutting all my hair off to look like Ilya from Heated Rivalry. Here we go!

The journey to top surgery begins with not being able to drink or eat anything the morning of, my surgery being at 11am. This was the hardest around coffee because I do enjoy my morning cup. Otherwise I felt ok, nervous, and more than ready to go. Little did I know, not being able to have a cup of coffee would be the least of my worries.

My phone was flooded with friends lighting candles, sending well wishes, and checking in. I arrived at the surgery center feeling loved and ready.

We had about an hour wait in the waiting room. I tried to distract myself with a little Animal Crossing and reading The Trauma of Money but all I could really think about was the strange reality of going under anesthesia.

Finally it was our turn. Me and Katy got called back into Dr. Wolf’s office and sat in his flamboyant chairs and waited for him to come in.

We went over the surgery in which he assured me my old scars would be removed and my new scars would be at the bottom and I would have no nipples. This is what we had also agreed to over our email consultation.

The rest of this essay is for paid subscribers of this newsletter. When you become a paid subscriber you help me, a working writer, stay working. This month a portion of paid subscriptions are being redistributed to supporting frontline organizers in Minnesota.