In response to the questions:

"I sit at the crossroads of several queer identities, including genderqueer, neuroqueer, and queer in terms of my sexuality. I love the way that our radical queer ancestors carved out a space where we don't have to follow norms and we get to be the authorities of our own lives -- and that we can continue to expand that space in our present and future.

While I'm new to Empire State University, it's been awesome to connect with coworkers who get what it's like to be queer in higher ed and to make it our space. Higher ed still has (now increasing!) work to do, and we're the experts who know how to get it done. Beyond SUNY Empire, I'm a frequent vendor at Syracuse-area Pride events with my small business, Built With Pride CNY, and I organize with a local disability group that happens to be entirely queer- and trans-led.

The internet community has been really important to both my queer and neurodivergent journeys. Connecting safely with people I would never have come into contact with in my daily life brought me into contact with ideas and discourses that were absolutely essential to naming and communicating what I'd always felt about myself. I'm really grateful to all the work that ace thinkers on the internet did to contribute to community knowledge of asexuality, and I tried to honor that in my dissertation."

I have never felt more understood by my found community, and the people who I love and who love me. There is an unspoken understanding and community that arises from speaking truly about who you are and finding folks who take the time to listen and share back. For that, I am forever grateful.

It’s a reminder that empathy and openness go a long way. We all grow when we take the time to listen and learn from each other