“I was up against two opposing demands: his longing to be pronounced a man, and the government’s preference that he was not.”

“I entered that bathroom a romantic teen and left a tormented woman.”

“Said quietly, the name lingers in your mouth like a candy-sized stone, impossible to swallow or spit out.”

 “Now she ate and drank, but didn’t know who she was. A whole eighty years of life forgotten.”