Escaping, Playing, and Thriving in a Gendered World — For years I never quite had the words to explain why I love Halloween, or rather, I wasn’t ready to announce why. This year was different though; I was finally ready. “Why do you love Halloween?” I get to dress up as whatever, whoever I want without worrying about being…

A trans non-binary athlete’s story of running a marathon in heels — My name is Justin Dickens. I live on Dena’ina land in Anchorage Alaska, and I’m going to run the Mayor’s Marathon in high heels (on 6/19/2021). I’ll be wearing heels that I picked up from Goodwill. I shopped for fit, structure and comfort. It took quite a few shopping trips…

I hid so much of myself from others, and I negotiated shame daily. But what was never up for debate was my truth. — Have you ever been offered a gift that was so beautiful, and so profound, that you were afraid to accept it? I experienced this recently when a mentor shared a story with me. It was a story about me, but one that had become strategically, secretly, and traumatically erased from…

A trans person’s journey to reconnecting with radical self-love — Day 4 of Creating Change. I’m sad it’s over and I wish it was in person, but I am changed. And I don’t say that lightly. Like all the other days, there is too much to share. I want to share a moment, a learning I didn’t expect, which even…

In the last 60 days, I’ve been broken, not broken, sorta broken, definitely not broken, probably broken, and whatever today is. — Hey Justin, I notice your last name has changed…? That’s how the first zoom call of the morning began, and I didn’t expect to be caught off-guard. I’d been trying out the change for weeks, but I almost lost my words as the facilitator gently nudged for meaning. “Was there…

A non-binary divorcee’s journey towards finding radical self-love — A week ago, I decided to stop drinking. It was surprisingly an easy decision, as it felt like the only decision. As I road passenger on the way back from a weekend adventure, I watched the snowy peaks pass by, listened to my friend recount the weekend back to me…

Creating a better, safer, more loving world for you and me — As we head into 2021, I want to focus my attention on opportunities and possibilities. There is still a lot of pain left to process, to voice (or, write about), and I genuinely think that will help me heal and move forward. But, I need a quick break, a little…

A non-binary divorcee’s journey towards finding radical self-love — A month ago, my partner of 11 years and I decided to break up. I shared what that meant for me in this Medium blog. I opened up about how much my partner and I loved each other, my non-binary(ness), and my plan to reclaim my story by running a…

A non-binary divorcee’s journey towards finding radical self-love — I feel very alone, and I don’t want to. Allow me to explain the breath of that. First, I am privileged. I am supported by so many people, I have a salaried job, and I’m not without food to eat or a place to sleep. I I could go on……