So, I have this friend. We're not insanely close, but we're pretty good friends, and I'm familiar with her family and all. This year we've gotten closer, if only because we have a class together.

Now, this friend's brother is transgendered. I don't really know him--he's five or six years older than me and goes to Oxford to study classics, which is a while world away. But I have met him, and he's pretty cool, if a bit weird.

Anyways, so. The class my friend and I are in together is Adv. Writing. We're "mentors"--that is, when we write a piece we conference together. This week's assignment was family memoir.

She wrote about her brother. And it was brilliant--not like an "omg, you're amazing!!!1!!" kinda way. More subtle than that. The piece wasn't dramatic or anything like that--it just was. Everything was so matter of fact; there was never even a question of her accepting him.

There were specific lines--she said something about labels just being labels, something you can take off and restick again and again. And there was a brief scene, when he left for college, and she went through his drawers. She found things, of course--the ace bandage he used to bind with, one of his baggy sweaters, and a razor blade in a little Chinese box. She said it made sense, then, after seeing it all.

Ah. I can't do this piece justice. It was just--it was so good. It was matter-of-fact and kinda blase and just so understated and brilliant. She doesn't even like writing and she's fucking amazing.

For some reason, the ace-bandage, and everything she found, is really sticking with me

Ugh. I'm jealous and admiring and awestruck. I really wish I could share it with you all, but I don't have a copy or her permission. So yeah. Just trust me--it was incredible.