My stepfather passed away this week. I am not sure how to go about introducing this any other way, but he is gone, and I am ready to talk about the relationship that we had. We slept on pallets on the floor at first, before finally upgrading to real beds. My mom was my world, so nine year old me had no problem sharing a room. Mike eventually came to the U.

A week ago, I was reading a letter from my partner from segregation. She commented on how, in the past thirty days alone, four people who identify as transgender and lesbian have spent significant. About a week before they took my partner, we were having our morning coffees together in the hallway of the main building of this prison. It is one of the only spaces we were allowe.