🍭WORMKING

Sometimes classics can be improved upon.

The Tree Who Set Healthy Boundaries : an alternate ending for Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree by Topher Payne 💯🌳❤️

Historians say he saved 14 to 21 million lives.

I’d also like to say in the time we studied WWII in school, the history textbooks never mentioned him. I had never heard of the guy until I watched “The Imitation Game” which I 110% recommend you watch if you haven’t.Alan Turing was a blessing to humanity who saved (once again) 14 to 21 million lives, and he is left out of history because he was gay.

People often ask me why, if I'm nonbinary, I don't use they/them pronouns.  

But the problem with this question and the thinking behind it is it assumes that there are certain qualifications that somebody has to meet in order to be nonbinary.  

Nonbinary does not mean agender.  

It is an umbralla term used to help express the existence of any gender identity that is not either male or female.  

Not all nonbinary people use gender neutral pronouns because not all nonbinary people identify as gender neutral.  

I've been on testosterone for 2 years, I've had top surgery, and I identify more strongly with a male identity.  

However, I do not feel a need to strictly pass as male in all situations.  

And I feel no need to live within standards of masculinity.  

Nonbinary exists to encompass queer gender expression.  

And trying to discredit nonbinary people because they don't fit your idea of of what nonbinary looks like,  

And creating expectations of things that a nonbinary person has to say, do, or look like undoes the entire premise of having a noncategorized identity.  

Nonbinary people can use any pronouns, including the ones they were assigned at birth, and still be nonbinary.  

But.

this is the most indecisive ive ever been so im gonna make y’all deal with this too

“Hello, my name is Sharlene Pike and I am a black transgender person originating from South Africa and working as a receptionist/host. I moved to the United States 4 years ago alone and without any support, as my parents died in my home country when I was 18. Being a transgender black female immigrant places three discrimination barriers and makes it extremely hard to socialize and find a job to live properly. Nevertheless, I tried my best. I had been working at 7 different companies as a receptionist/host/waitress for these four years, but 2 months ago I lost my job. The reasoning I was given - ‘staff reduction due to COVID-19 complications’. I have been unemployed for these 2 months, but the reason I can’t start a new job is not COVID-19. In February, I was diagnosed with stage-3 esophageal cancer. I had no prior knowledge of my diagnosis as this type of cancer can be quite concealed, and I had only two or three weeks of eating discomfort before I had a medical consultation. The company I was working at had a special program to support staff members who need expensive surgeries or therapies, and I believe my diagnosis was the true reason I was reduced, since it happened just after I told my office I might need an extended medical leave. The sum I have spent on the medical procedures only to clarify the future treatment equals my 3 salaries. The sum I’m asking for is actually covering first 6 months of treatment and the cheapest drug - basically simply to have a chance to survive. I have no health insurance and I can’t take a new job because my health condition significantly deteriorated. The thing that I have learnt throughout these months is that it is very hard to get any, even basic medical help if you are transgender. The death rate of the esophageal cancer is about 30%, which is very high, and I ask you to help me to have a chance to survive. I tried to deal with everything without anyone by my side, but current circumstances left me with no choice but to ask you to donate and share my story. Thank you very much.”

Reblog to support black writers!

Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe

The story of colonialism in Africa from the perspective of an indigenous African man.

Invisible Man: Langston Hughes

A coming-of-age tale told through the lense of a black man questioning his place in a white society.

Their Eyes Were Watching God: Zora Neale Hurston

a story that touches on topics such as femininity, marriage, gender roles, sex and sexuality, and growing up, through the lens of a black woman living in the south in America in the early twentieth century.

Don’t Call Us Dead: Denez Smith (Non-Binary/Trans) (Recent Publication)

This collection of poems is written by a really skilled Non-Binary trans and HIV positive poet expressing feelings on subjects like police brutality and death

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings: Maya Angelou

The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma

Giovanni’s Room: James Baldwin (Gay)

This book is about and features the experiences of a bisexual man, and his relationship with an Italian bartender named Giovanni in Paris, France.

An Unkindness of Ghosts: River Solomon (Non-Binary) (Recent Publication)

A story that analyzes the black experience through the lense of science fiction and space travel, and brings a black voice to an overwhelmingly white genre

Push: Sapphire (Bi)

The 1996 novel by famous bisexual writer, Sapphire also has a movie adaptation called “Precious” and both are both Massive critical successes for their dark telling of a black coming of age story about a girl escaping abuse and exploring themes of motherhood, love, abuse, and more.

Your Son Is Dead: Persephone Anansi (Trans)

(Yes this is my book 🙃) (Recent Publication)

A new collection of poems from a black, trans woman about her experiences in life with identity, love, and activism, that touch on these subjects in a way that is visceral, raw, at times painful, and at times inspiring.