Reminders of the world we want (also, it's been 1 year!)

Dear friends,

Y'all, I can't believe this is the 12th issue of Amplifying Trans Joy. We've been doing this for a year!

It's pretty funny, because as a neurodivergent queer navigating many different community and life things, putting together each month's issue has often looked a bit like this...

But at the end of the day, I'm so grateful to get to do this work. I get to be reminded of trans joy every single month through all of our incredible contributors, both anonymous and featured. ATJ would literally not exist without you!

And to our beautiful readers—your support means that trans joy continues to be visible, loud, and proud, in a time when those in power would love for it to be snuffed out or forced underground.

We document our thriving. We amplify our voices. We lift us up.

In other news...

If the state of the world has got you frazzled, you're not alone. Though it's not trans-specific, I highly recommend this short somatic tracking meditation to reconnect with a sense of well-being. Also, the "Joy Happenings" links section has a great article on "Re-Resourcing"! For some joyful resistance, check out the game fundraiser link, as well as dayze's featured art fundraiser to support immigrant rights.

Also, sending some extra love to our sibs in red states. You're not alone. In case you haven't seen, we do have a resources page that we're gonna continue building out, both for ways to get support and also ways to help!

May we always re-center in joy and keep reaching for reminders of the world we want to live in. Thanks for letting me share some of them with you!

With care and solidarity,
Jin (he/him)

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I really didn't think "many of the strangers I interact with are extra nice to me" would be a likely outcome of me being publicly, visibly trans, but that's been my experience and it brings me so much joy.

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Was feeling frustrated so drew some trans joy on this bag! I wanted to express my joy of being trans in a way that everyone can see. Living in a time when it's especially hard for young trans people, it's important that us older trans folk share trans joy whenever we can. I hope that every time I use this bag, I can bring a smile to at least one trans person's face and show that being trans is wonderful and you can be seen as yourself. <3

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There are moments in life when you just realize that you are living in the middle of a romantic story. You love and you're loved not just by one, but by multiple people, and you balance the joy, the feelings, the closeness, and.... There is so much joy and life in being a queer, poly trans woman.

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Gender euphoria is sitting in an armchair with your cat on your lap, a book in one hand and tea in the other. Embodying the intellectual masculine archetype.

[also submitted by the same person last month–sorry I missed this one in my inbox, but here's the kitty goodness now, below]

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i finally mentally unlocked how to use the tension setting on my sewing machine and started using a walking foot on all my stretchy fabrics, and now i feel like i can do anyyything!!! my ideas feel possible again!!! altering my clothes gives me the mosttt gender euphoria :')

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...Our joy mosaic needs your beautiful additions! No such thing as a joy too small or trivial. Check out the contributor form for next month!

Feb 18: ☀️ Sun entered Pisces

Feb 25: ☿️ Mercury stationed retrograde in Pisces

Mar 3: 🌙 Lunar eclipse in Virgo

Mar 7: ♀️ Venus enters Aries

Mar 20: ☿️ Mercury goes direct

Pisces, the “final” sign of the zodiac, is concerned with emotional transmutation from dark to light, as we see the transition from two restrictive Saturn-ruled signs (Capricorn and Aquarius) to Jupiter-ruled, expansive, imaginative Pisces. In the northern hemisphere, the Sun is preparing to transition from winter to spring, from the final snow to the first blooms. Although Pisces is the last sign in the list, the zodiac wheel is a circle. Pisces is intimately aware that each ending leads into a new beginning, and that nothing is truly permanent.

This is a liminal, transitory time, emphasized by eclipse season. Eclipses happen in pairs approximately every six months, and on March 3rd, we have the final lunar eclipse in Virgo–the second-to-last eclipse on the Pisces-Virgo axis for the next nine years. Think back to last September's Virgo eclipse, and what seeds were planted then that are ready for harvest now, then take the necessary steps to ensure the crops are what you need them to be. 

It’s also that time again–Mercury is now retrograde in Pisces until March 20th. Mercury wants to transmit info and verbalize thoughts, and in Pisces, the mouthpiece turns into a paintbrush where thoughts become abstract rather than direct. Communicate like an artist rather than a motivational speaker during this period to get your point across. You may experience a breakthrough on March 7th at the Mercury cazimi that helps break down barriers between heart and mind, and builds a stronger foundation for moving forward in a time of turbulence and instability.

A pile-up of planets in Pisces and Aries marks this season as the transition from old to new, from dark to light, and from coldness to comfort. There is no way around the difficult parts, only through–trust that you'll make it to the other side. Go into this season with your future self in mind. Make it to tomorrow because you have to. The past is the past, the present is temporary, and the future is always coming. To paraphrase Brennan Lee Mulligan’s D&D character Plug from Dimension 20: A Starstruck Odyssey: We may be dying tomorrow, but it can never be tomorrow–no matter what, it is always today.

To start us off, Terra Marie Berta-Porcase (she/her) shares a tender story of reclaiming and rewriting Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. I love a good redemption arc through both fiction and real life!

"It wasn’t that the walls were too close; it was that she felt too big, too loud, and too awkward inside them. She felt like a puzzle piece that had been left out in the rain all swollen and wrong, unable to snap into place with the rest of the family. She would watch her sisters grooming each other’s ears, their movements fluid and practiced, and she would tuck her own paws beneath her, trying to make herself smaller. She wanted to be soft. She wanted to be a sister."

Terra says:

In my family, that's who I was. My deadname was Peter and I was a troublemaker. This book taught me to embrace being THE troublemaker in my family. I accepted the shame of being sent to bed full of chamomile while my mother handwaved at my messes. It was the earliest character I ever identified with.

I wrote this to make it where Peter is now Penelope, who celebrates glorious rebellion with her sisters Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, instead of being the lone bad egg. That was a burden on my mind that I bore for too long, being the lone ‘bad boy’. I don't think my parents meant to make me feel that way with this story, but it stuck with me inside for a long time.

Reclaiming this narrative is reclaiming an early, wounded piece of me that thought I could never be good. How we can all find our place in the burrow when we embrace our truth - and are seen by those we love.

Read the rest of Penelope Rabbit!

You can also visit Terra's website and Scribblehub (which houses two novels and a trans novella!)

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The next project comes with a quick turnaround deadline (March 1st!) for those of you who are transmasc creators of fantasy ephemera!

The creator says:

The World Beyond transmasc zine group is looking for contributors for our third volume, the "World Beyond the Wand"! This fantasy-themed volume will be a digital zine, offering space for writing, visual art, and digital merch including unique merch types like music, TTRPG content, or other multimedia options.

Apps are open until March 1st for anyone who is 18+ and transmasculine, and there are applications both for a main SFW zine as well as an adult-themed zine. We are a charity zine group, and contributors will vote on the charity to donate all proceeds to. We hope to hear from you!

Scope out the main SFW zine application and the adult-themed zine application! You can also learn more via the World Beyond zine landing page, or follow along on Bluesky and Tumblr under @WorldBeyondZine.

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Here we have an amazing YA audiobook release by Hal Schrieve (ze/hir). Fawn's Blood is described as "a timely antidote to the anti-trans moral panic of today."

The author says:

My novel Fawn’s Blood had an audiobook come out in February! This is a novel about a teen trans girl named Fawn who starts selling her blood to vampires in order to find her missing bff, and a cis girl named Rachel who used to slay vampires and now finds herself turned into a blood-drinker herself.

The incredible Maia Kokabe of Gender Queer: A Memoir said in their review:

“Vampire stories are always gay but rarely are they so trans. Schrieve’s tale of teen rebellion, friendship, and bloodsucking is ripe with hope for a better world—a world in which networks of mutual aid relationships support outsider communities, and people give and receive trust, pleasure, and magic outside of heterosexuality and government control. Buffy fans, this book will knock your socks off!​” 

Get the audiobook or a copy of Fawn's Blood on Bookshop!

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A sweet contributor reached out with a birthday twin of a project: the community-focused Seattle Clay Exchange!

In celebration of ATJ's anniversary, I wanted to share my own! It's been a year since I resolved to build community through pottery, leading to me making the Seattle Clay Exchange to help people find pottery studios and build community IRL!

I had so much fun writing the site content that I can't help but feel all sorts of joy reading through it. I've hidden delightfully deranged easter eggs throughout the website for those thorough enough to find them!

We build the futures we want. Come and find new avenues for friends!

Check out the Seattle Clay Exchange!

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Last but not least, drumroll please for this incredibly timely art fundraiser, created by a fabulous tattoo artist, dayze (they/he/she):

dayze shares:

I made linoprinted “fuck ice” patches and clothes as a fundraiser, and the shop is now live! Half the proceeds will go towards legal defense and bond funds for community impacted by ICE. There are also some cute cats and fruits and starry designs…

Shop these delightfully subversive designs at dayze's website!

• QUEER JOY IN RESISTANCE is "a video interview series centering Trans, non-binary and queer people from across Minnesota," created by the Transgender Law Center's liberatory narrative media project.
• "How to Re-Resource Ourselves: Finding the strength to keep going" by trans writer Ben Greene of Good Queer News.
• Different with Him, a chapbook on "haphazard masculinities" and "a lovesong for genders and genres in flux" from former ATJ featured poet mk zariel, is out now!
• "A cure for HIV is in sight" from LGBTQ Nation!!!
• The Trans Bill of Rights has been reintroduced in Congress, thanks to two lawmakers who actually get it.
• The European Parliament is willing to stand up and say that trans women are women, hopefully on the world stage!
• itch.io has its issues, but is hosting the new Trans Joy Jam (which we featured in our first-ever issue!) and also a fundraiser for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (for the next two weeks!).
• Preorder the iconic Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's new poetry collection, The Way Disabled People Love Each Other. I love what they say in their substack piece, "it's the little things," too.

Are you enjoying ATJ? It takes many hours, conversations, and collaborations to make this newsletter happen every month, and I love hearing from readers. If this issue inspired you in some way, please hit reply and let me know!

If you're a cis ally and/or have a few bucks to spare for uplifting collective trans joy, consider upgrading your subscription to $5/month! Or tip us at Buy Me a Coffee!

⭐ Do YOU have trans joy to share with us?? You can share your joy here!

⭐ We’re always looking for trans projects & resources to amplify. If you know a trans creator we should feature, are launching something, or have a promising lead, please reply or fill out the Contributor Form.

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Thanks for supporting and reading!!!

I’ll leave you with this…

Keep resisting and shining! Till next time, friends.