Kanoa

My high school English teacher assigned my class an article about Rocco Kayiatos who went by Katastrophe at the time. I didn’t have language for my transness yet, I wasn’t even out to myself as trans. But something about my teacher seeing something beautiful and valuable in Rocco helped me see it in myself as a young queer person. Rocco and I met later on in college and we’re still in touch to this day. His existence and survival has been a rare glimmer of what my future could look like and I’m grateful to be aging alongside him.

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