“What would you do in a world where compassion, hope, or liberation doesn’t exist?How would you teach someone about it?” This prompt was etched into my memories from a creative writing opportunity in 2018. Looking back, I would have explained the work and community of APIENC. From the past six years of being in the
Dear Community, At one of my first supervisions as a Summer Intern in 2013, Monna turned to me and asked, “why does it feel so difficult for you to ask for help?” I stared at her blankly, the grey partitions of the cubicle closing in on me. Why does it feel difficult?! How could asking
Dear APIENC Community, Since 2017, APIENC has been guided by a set of priorities and directions crafted by APIENC staff in order to help the organization make decisions about where to focus our power and grow our work. In the time after the 2016 election, this framework felt critical—there were so many issues to focus
It’s December 2019, and I’m in a cabin in Guerneville at my first Core Retreat as one of the newest members of APIENC Core. I’m super excited to be spending a weekend with such cool people, but I’m also a little nervous. If I listen closely, there are voices in my head saying, I don’t
There I was—sitting on my chair at home, hundreds of miles away from the seven other people on my Zoom screen, feeling vulnerable and nervous, and yet, so warm at the same time. I was asking my fellow APIENC Summer Organizer Team for support around gender identity. I felt so emotional I had to type
Dear APIENC Community, Throughout the past year, I have often come back to the question, “Will we concede to fear and individualism, or will we choose interdependence?” This past week, as we celebrated historic Senate wins in Georgia and watched in horror as armed white supremacists stormed the Capitol Building, this question was again present
The summer after I realized I was trans, I spent a lot of time online. I wanted to learn about other trans people and be seen in my experiences. The internet helped me do so discreetly, during a time when I experienced a lot of scrutiny at home for my gender expression. I read about
