Reshaping Reality

July 6, 2021

My Open Letter to City Designers

I originally wrote this email for the Des Moines City Council. For the past year, I’ve adjusted the verbiage to reflect what I’ve heard in their City Council Meetings with the Public. I also adjust the bullet points and actions I (and others) wish to see them take. Otherwise, most of the letters are verbatim Continue reading

activism, Author, disability, Race, transgender

ableism, access, accessibility, Accessible Cities, disability, disability justice, Disability Pride, Fight Ableism, Homelessness, No More Ableism
February 24, 2014

On Faith and Narratives

Throughout my coming out story, there’s a familiar thread of faith and the rejection of the narrative that faith original gave me. Within Let it Go, I described how I came to reject that narrative and the pain it caused. Then in Dusty Old Journals I described the struggle itself, wrought with my own words, Continue reading

Author, Uncategorized, Writing

LGBT, love, narrative, narratives
February 21, 2014

The Uncertain Universe: How Science Discovers its Truths

Science explores the universe, and one of it’s main tenants isn’t to explain everything exactly. No, it’s to try to validate explanations (and ideas) through experiments, or to put in other words: any idea someone has devised to explain an event in our universe, that idea must be validated through experiment in order for it Continue reading

Physics, Science, Writing

philosophy of science, quantum mechanics, science, scientific method, uncertainty principle
February 18, 2014

To be Free

This is my final entry about my coming out story. See Let it go and Dusty Old Journals for the other two parts of my story. Thank you to all of my friends and family who support me and accept me as I am. This weekend, I stood in church for the first time in Continue reading

Author, Writing

Catholic, Christianity, Coming Out, LGBT
February 13, 2014

Flashback 2012: Queer Monologues – My performance piece

I wrote the following in 2012 for the Queer Monologues hosted at my university by the UNI Proud group and the LGBT Student Outreach Coordinator. I wanted to post it here because it exemplifies the experiences of my trans* friends, and often what I encounter when I wear masculine clothing and cut my hair short. Continue reading

Author, Writing

LGBT, queer, queer monologues, trans*, transgender
February 6, 2014

Dusty Old Journals

The trunk is dark green, and its lid slides off easily, the hinges broken. Tape mars the top of the lid from where I’ve tried to tape it in place during moves. Inside, dozens of journals are piled atop one another, many simple composition notebooks and others specially made. The dates in them range from Continue reading

Author

Coming Out, journaling, LGBT, truth
January 30, 2014

Space stations

The International space station, a testament to humanity’s ingenuity, orbits at 7.66 kilometers a second, taking it ninety minutes to completely circle the earth. The higher you go above the Earth, the less pull you feel from Earth’s gravity, but even for the space station, it still experiences nearly ninety percent of Earth’s gravity — Continue reading

Science, World Building, Writing

astronauts, free fall, gravity, microgravity, space, space station, space stations
January 24, 2014

Let it Go

I press my boot into the snow, the print crisp. The wind slices against my cheeks, sweeping through my coat to penetrate deep into my bones. I step into the cold when I want answers. It’s unavoidable in winter, where the cold seeps into every layer of my body; even in the warmth of a Continue reading

Author, Writing

identity, LGBT
January 24, 2014

Examine the Possibilities

I stand in the cold, the chill embracing my body. Only a thin layer of fabric separates my legs from the frigid temperature, and it reminds me that the layers I wear do not extend far enough down. Yet I do not move. I lean against the car, the metal almost painful to the touch. Continue reading

Writing
January 15, 2014

Thought Experiment 2: Societies on a Habitable Moon

I discussed the science behind a Habitable Moon here: Thought Experiment Habitable Moon Around a Gas Giant, and you can go ahead and read that to understand the science of this thought experiment and to bring you up to speed on what I will discuss now. The night sky, the sun, and various atmospheric effects Continue reading

Aliens, History, Science, World Building

ancient civilization, astronomy, civilization, Greeks, Mayan, world building series
January 15, 2014

Thought Experiment: Habitable Moon Around a Gas Giant

This year I hope to write a few thought experiments, and from these come up with plausible science fiction stories. I’ll start with one I’ve been thinking about for awhile: habitable moons. First off, the orbit of the moon is absolutely critical. It cannot be too close to the gas giant, because of the gravity Continue reading

Physics, Science, World Building, Writing

habitable moons, magnetosphere, moons, orbits, physics, planets, satellites, tidal forces, world building series