So much gratitude. Reflecting on the fact that my “success” (or whatever we call it) is the combined effort of those who gave me the tools to get there. Gratitude to my high school English teacher Mrs. Reid, the first person I came out to who responded with the lifesaving reaction of nonchalance. Gratitude to the woman who gave me my first job canvassing for the HRC (gag!) where I learned to stand on the streets of Chicago everyday for months asking strangers to organize against queer employment discrimination. Gratitude to @826National who green-lit my insanely gay proposals to teach after-school writing workshops for city youth (often free to the most marginalized). Gratitude to the queers who hired me at a local newspaper so I could write a weekly column about LGBTQ+ issues. Gratitude for giving me a lexicon of queerness so I could report on the queer suicide epidemic at its peak. Gratitude to my biological family whose greatest act of love was letting me move to New York so I could grow to be something they couldn't at that time understand. Gratitude to the friends who spotted me cash, let me sleep on their couches and floors, and taught me the life-changing magic of Brooklyn. Gratitude to @ryanfitzgibbon who taught me how to deepen the stories queer people tell. Gratitude to my colleagues at @gayslutswhoread who built a house for the queer and isolated, which I am lucky to live in. Gratitude to @zachstaff who amplified and mentored my work to an invaluable degree, to @jeffreydgerson who has been the quiet puppeteer behind so many of my career's biggest benchmarks, to @pfpicardi and @raquel_willis who constantly make my work better. Gratitude to the queens who taught me that nightlife is not just a life-giving practice but a tool for organizing, healing, and opportunity. Gratitude to @callenlorde for keeping me and my fam alive. Gratitude to @maggiehshannon and @melguerrr for making this full-page worthy. Most importantly, gratitude to my chosen fam. You are not just my support system, but often my greatest collaborators, mentors, and creators of my opportunities. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. Thank you for being my champion. I’ll always be yours. ✨