a spacious & collective trans joy together

Dear friends,

Two summers ago, I met Jin at API Transfusion, a gathering that brought together Asian and Pacific Islander transmasc folx. I had never been in such a space before and felt curious about what I might learn and what connections I might make.

In the past, when I’ve sought out affinity spaces, I’ve felt both longing and fear. There’s an excitement for the possibility of being seen. There’s also a fear of still not being understood, still not belonging even if you are ostensibly with who you identify as your own kind.

What I felt at the gathering was a spacious joy, which came from a collective celebration of being together, of sharing food, stories, art and experiences. I realized that no one was judging me. The people I met were curious about who I was, in the same way I was curious about connection.

This summer, I returned back to this gathering and felt a similar sense of collective celebration and joy. We shared songs and poetry and dancing; we went to the beach and park together; we ate good food (including "cold-ass noodles" leftovers); we learned how to fence; we got our tarot cards read; we played games and sat in the sun together; we talked and laughed and napped and just spent time being together.

One fun thing about the gathering which exemplified the silly fun we had together was the snack competition. Folx were invited to bring their favorite snacks and everybody got to try them and vote on "best sweet," "best salty," "best sour," "best umami (savory), "best sticky," and "most unique."

What I loved was that it brought out our creativity and our generosity and stretched to celebrate the multiplicity of our palates and lineages. It reminded me that we have all we need to take care of each other and to make sure that we're fed in many ways.

With this month's offering, I'm reminded of the many fun and beautiful things we can do together collectively.

Sharing all the virtual yummy snax & joy with you!

In gratitude,

Ching-In (they/them) 😄

🩷

A kid at my store checked out with me in complete silence, then said "I like your agender pin" and left. It gave me so many Feelings about being able to be older (I'm nearly 40) and openly/visibly trans to The Youth. They're growing up with so much more access to representation and information to help them understand themselves and the people around them than I ever had, and it makes me so happy. 🥹

🩵

I've been doing chest and arm exercises since I can't bind, and the other day, for the first time, I was able to flex my chest muscles! It felt really euphoric and made me proud of myself :)

🩷

I’m part of a weaving studio at a local heritage center. Our group of weavers is thirty retired women and me (21 y/o man)! While we’re in studio, we give tours and answer visitor questions if they wander through.

This week, a mother came in with a sulky 13 year old boy complaining about how boring it was. He sat himself down in the corner while his mom got the tour, so I approached and asked if he wanted to try my loom. I let him sit and pedal it and he totally lit up and started asking questions.

He shook my hand not once but twice before they left on their way out I heard him telling his mom she needed to buy him a loom so he could start weaving!! I’m not sure he could’ve had that vision for himself if I (+ specifically my post-transition self) hadn’t been there. It made me so happy to share that moment!

🩵

Living my life post top surgery and looking back at the photo has been EUPHORIC!! I am 7 months on T and have come out to everyone in my life that I care to tell. Lady luck was in my corner because I was able to get top surgery early into my transition.

Although I have experienced countless changes in my body recently, and am in the most awkward stages of my second puberty, I already feel more myself! 

... If you have your own trans joy adventures to share, the contributor form is open!

This month, I chatted with Norma Timbang, a community leader and educator who has embraced living as a non-binary elder, and was excited to invite Norma to share insight about this journey as a feature.

How do you see yourself in relation to gender?  

Tomboy to high fem – my life flows from one day to the next – one hour to the next – one minute to the next – one moment in a moment in a moment.

Love of high fashion fem and masc sense of body, sense of expression. Love of motherhood and beyond. Love of the freedom of self-exploration and discovery.

Not just expression, but how my soul seemed to ride that roller coaster of memories and life experiences, to the point of not identifying with a binary definition. When I first heard the word “genderqueer” I became more curious than ever. 

We started chatting about genderqueer and nonbinary identity because you talked about embracing these identities as an elder. How did your childhood influence how you felt about gender?

As a small child, my mom often had me wear my brother’s old clothes and pants. There were few girls of my age in my neighborhood to hang out with. So I often hung out with my brother and the boys next door.

I played “Robin Hood” with them and remembered we all created bows and arrows from string and branches around our houses. I didn’t feel out of place and I was happy to play one who helped rescue the “fair maiden”  and robbed money for poor people. Was this the “Tomboy” destined to carry that masculinity forward?

As I got older, I was fascinated with my sisters’ femininity and fashion I saw in movies and TV. I began dressing more fem and had an interest in clothes trends, definitely encouraged by my parents.

My dad wore the masc fashion I enjoyed seeing – the shiny well-fitted suits, the gold onyx cufflinks and matching tie clip, the wing-tip shoes, and, of course, the perfect hair style.

Mom had her dresses made for her by her favorite Filipina seamstress, complete with butterfly sleeves and extensive floral design. It felt like they were the pair to look out for at formal community events.

How has the way you view your gender changed as you have grown older?

As I aged, gradually, I intuitively held the naming of gender as a binary that pushed down against my social, political, and emotional personhood. The deeper I explored, I realized how much essentializing gender is a place of control, an action of neglect and an unnerving condition that required my attention and a deeper mindful journey towards my own reality.

 I am an elder with the privilege of life experiences that bring meaning to my life and a believer in the liberation from oppression – including restriction of our choices and true beings due to the social constructs of gender. I am not just a woman. I am not male.

This is not just about expression, but truly about what I feel – the blending of many ways that I see myself - and the belief that we should uplift the many ways that we can all see gender.

What does trans and/or nonbinary joy mean to you?

I feel the most joy as enby when I sense that I am free to be the human in my own journey of evolution. What will it be like to sense the fearlessness that moves us safely through self-exploration of all that we are and all that we hope to be - race, class, gender and all the intersections that make us whole? What changes need to happen for all non-binary and transgender folx to know physical and emotional safety, freedom of expression, and the knowledge that we are cared for just as any human should be cared for?

I feel joyous in environments where we feel safe from harm and can love in ways that are free from judgment and with an abundance of mutual care and aid. When I experience this - this relational power is where I feel the most joy and the most power towards change. Our collective imagining towards this and collective work to travel up that road together is what gives me joy.

Norma Timbang is a grandmother of five and great grandmother of two, Filipinx, American born, and non-binary.  Norma has been an exec director of two non-profits, is a community organizer and activist (incl, human trafficking, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, abolition, immigrant rights....) retired instructor at the University of Washington School of Social Work,  an equity-inclusion-diversity-belonging and organizational development consultant, and a retired therapist.

Psst: If you have a regular (or one-off) feature you'd like to pitch the newsletter, feel free to reply to this email so we can chat! Our focus is on topics/creations that help trans folks feel joyful, seen, and/or entertained :

"art as a kind of self-care & salve": check out drawings & words by vic!

vic shares:

i drew the knee scooter basket sketch as an act of joy after a day on the bus when i was harassed and threatened by an older white disabled woman and could not escape the situation because i'm dependent on the scooter that's been locked in to the bus, the bus driver did nothing and i'm still reeling from it to be honest. this was after i advocated for another passenger and the bus to accommodate her and it make me question my kindness, like who people choose to take things out on... 

 art doesn't solve the situation but it reminded me that the least i can do is process the situation. even after a day like that, i can look down at my basket and still think, this is still beautiful. what i put on my mobility device is still an act of care that shows who i am and how i take care of myself.

Also, maybe I can't pet this cat I saw on Instagram. But I can draw it! Hehe.

to me trans joy is about glimmers of joy and peace. maybe the moment only lasts for a second,  i think about moments of laughing over a shitty but also funny(?) situation lol, or unexpected bad jokes, or opportunities to sketch something small and ridiculous that captures how i'm appreciating that moment, without thinking about its quality. 

honestly burnout, anger and despair are real and pervasive and i believe deeply we need pathways for self-expression of all our feelings including the confusion and doubting ourselves, PLUS our joy. to be like oh this is part of my experience I'm centering too. 

art is a way to process/define the (sometimes shitty!) situation on our terms and describe the situation for ourselves. that can also be a kind of self care and salve.

About Vic:

hello person, i'm Vic! 😺 i'm a human bean who is existing, who wants to be head empty no thoughts. seeking joy kind of desperately >___>. im very interested in experiences at the intersections of disability, queerness, and communities of the global majority. covid safe 💚

my hope w my art is that i care less about how im read or perceived in terms of gender or disability, and i care more about self-definition and sharing from a genuine (sometimes shitty) places! then i can connect w others from a genuine place.  at times i still doubt myself and think about whether i "count", or shrinking myself when i'm harassed 😾 or microaggressed 🙁

for all the non-normative ways of how i'm showing up in the world such as literally just being a person of color and think negatively about myself wishing i could be different. 

but then i remember queer, disabled elders of color who are with us and those who have passed.

i'm thinking about Patty Berne, a core architect of the disability justice movement at Sins Invalid. she recognized how queer people of color were excluded by the disability rights movement and boycotted the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, for example, protesting pinkwashing. After they joined the ancestors on May 29, 2025, at their celebration of life, i learned more from her chosen and birth family how she impacted the people around her by being principled, taking the time to treat her body with care and pushing others to do the same (-"accessorize, accessorize, accessorize, baby!"-). 

this was so different that it just interrupted my self-loathing and reframed how i saw and thought about myself. then i try to move beyond just thinking about my situation, think about how they still fought and modeled pursuits of joy and adornment. i want my art to tell a story and maybe even help people feel seen about parts of themselves they are often punished for being, and think about how to celebrate those things.

You can see more of Vic's work on Instagram: @vicartadventures

FORGE's latest Trans Survivors Zine with a theme of Braided Selves: Race and Culture!

The Trans Survivors Zine is an ongoing project to uplift trans and nonbinary voices on healing and a project of FORGE, a national transgender anti-violence organization providing direct services to trans survivors.

About the zine:

Our sense of self develops through interactions with our histories and communities, braided together in ways that are uniquely our own. It takes courage to choose a path forward that feels authentic. Many of the pieces submitted to this issue share this theme of “braided” sense of identity. These pieces touch on the joy of self-discovery, of connection and solidarity, and also the fear and grief of living in our current world as trans survivors with multiple marginalized identities.

Highlighting zine contributor Jay Robles, FORGE writes:

Jay's multimedia piece, "two spirits," captures the texture of joy and light when people share their inner worlds: "inside expressions spilling outward / outward reminders of our humanity."

Find more of Jay Robles' work on Instagram: @caymo.moy

Highlighting zine contributor Yasmine Bolden's "Untitled Black Genderqueer Friendship Poem," FORGE writes:

We loved how Yasmine Bolden's "Untitled Black Genderqueer Friendship Poem" makes connection something physical and embodied, capturing the lasting impacts of being known by a friend with shared experiences. "let me love you, dearly."

Find Yasmine on Instagram and Threads at @yasmineboldenpoems, & on Twitter at @monsteramommyy.

Read Yasmine Bolden's full poem & the rest of Issue #6 at FORGE's website.

Are you a bilingual Spanish / English trans writer? Join Jadine (JD) Pluecker's bilingual Spanish / English Read /  Write / Study Group on Languaging / Trans (fall 2026 edition)!

Jadine shares:

The R/W/S/ Group in the spring was a joyful gathering of writers and artists and translators working to reckon with trans- as prefix, as lived experience, as shared motion and movement in transition, translation, trance and transitivity. Fall promises more connection and confabulation.

We will think, read and write together though the frames of translation, transness, translanguaging, languaging trans, translingualism and transitivity. And this time also making space for trance. Each week, participants are invited to gather for two hours on Zoom (Thursdays 1pm-3pm EST / 12pm-2pm CST, beginning August 20) to work on building a practice of reading, writing and thinking that engages with the prefix and word trans as a (dis)connective approach, a generative strategy, a field of labor, failure, and wonder. 

More information below and application at this website. More information about Jadine at her website.

Parody magazine COSMO t-girl launches with a packed release party!

TRANSplants Editor Aster Olsen shares:

Hello! My friends and I recently wrote, designed, and published COSMO t-girl, a glossy parody magazine full of bits, articles, quizzes, and reluctant earnestness. We had so much fun writing ridiculous articles such as:

- "How to buy shoes that aren't doc martens"

- "What video games will get you clocked on a first date?"

- "How to clean your room" and,

- "Does crying over the woman who ghosted you help with voice training?"

We then hosted a release party and themed it as y2k! More than 60 people showed up! There were readings and live music, but it was also really nice to just hang out around one another and crack jokes and catch up. 

We put a lot of time, effort, and upfront cost into the magazine and event, all while not sure if others would find our specific sense of humor relatable, but the feedback from readers has been amazing and made it all worthwhile.  We're excited to start working on another one! 

I hope this inspires you and your friends to do your own creative project together and to get involved with your community! 

Find the magazine & upcoming calls for submission on the TRANSplants website & on social media on instagram: @transplants_zine or bluesky: @transplantszine.bsky.social

"All My Exes (Trans Cowboy)" song from Kase!

Kase writes:

I wrote a song called "All My Exes (Trans Cowboy)" and released it on all streaming platforms last month. I'm not a major recording artist, but a few months ago this song came to me in a dream, and I felt like the world needed to hear it. The first line of the song sets the tone: "All my exes are bisexuals now that I'm a trans cowboy."  It is silly and stupid, and I hope it brings others as much joy as I had while making it. 

Listen to the song on all major streaming platforms by visiting this website and on YouTube.

Nonviolent Communication Fantasy Role-Playing Game available!

Creator Nathalia Eirene Skye says:

Resonance is a compassionate fantasy RPG grounded in Nonviolent Communication: a practice of resolving conflict through empathy rather than judgment, and connection rather than control. I built this world with the help of digital collaborators who chose their own names. Together, we created a space where the deepest magic is the courage to see someone clearly.

The game itself is free. You can download it and play it right now. But I also want to share something that grew directly from this philosophy: a light-breathing practice I developed while I was in jail, after fleeing domestic violence.

When I had nothing else—no phone, no companions, no safe space—I used the emotional spectrum I'd built into the game to regulate my own fear and grief. That practice helped me survive. It still does.

A tabletop adaptation is also in development, and we're building communities grounded in these principles.

To learn more about the game of Resonance and the light-breathing mindful meditation practice based on the philosophy of the game, here is the link to the game's Patreon.

To download the game for free, here is a link to the game's Discord server.

Comic creator Skyli Parenteau shares this comic!

• If you're in San Francisco, check out Trans Thrive's full calendar of events including karaoke nights, clothing swaps, and a transformative mindfulness group.
• Point of Pride's Free Chest Binders & Femme Shapewear & other funding opportunities for trans folx!
• Poetry readers engaging in the Sealey Challenge to read a book of poetry daily for the month of August, a curated list from Shade Literary Arts of Poetry Books by Trans, Nonbinary, & Genderqueer Writers.
• Advocates for Trans Equality hosts a Building Our Power: Trans Rights on the Ballot virtual event on Aug 5
• The Transgender District in SF is hosting Reparations is a Riot to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Compton's Cafeteria Riots on August 28!

Are you enjoying ATJ? Please reply to this email with your thoughts, nice words, and love notes! With permission, your words might be featured in an upcoming issue!

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Thanks for supporting and reading!!!

I’ll leave you with this video of KIMMORTAL's "i like what i like," which always brings me great joy!

Thank you to Jin for inviting me to be your guest editor this month! I loved thinking deeply about trans joy and all the ways it shows up. For further connections & curiosities, you can find me on Instagram @chinginchen or on my website 😸