"or" NOT...

I was looking over my TikTok account and realized that I tend to feel a deep connection and understanding with the non-binary community and individuals who "present" as non-binary and speak confidently to their experience on an App that is notoriously available to the least tolerant members of our society.

Two of the creators I think of readily are Jeffery Marsh and CJ - they both speak with such kindness and passion to people who are speaking such disgusting rhetoric at them, I can't help but just be inspired. They choose to be themselves OUT LOUD knowing it will bring peace and joy to others like them.

I think the reason I feel such a connection to them is because I have always felt that my existence represented the beauty of the non-binary as a Black, bi-racial, and Jewish bundle of joy. I identify as a Black woman, historically attracted to men, and I never imagined a world without gender, but the concept is so freeing and makes so much more sense to my brain than the either/or classifications we are limited to, when there are clearly many ways of existing as a human.

So after a ton of ruminating, I've boiled this down to - I Don't Like the Word "OR" unless we are in a time-bound scenario. And even then, I would push to look for ways to change that to an and, among, or some other assortment of words that does not artificially limit the choices of another person.

• My (least) favorite example of this is when a person demands a 'yes or no' to a question they have manufactured with one of the two in mind. Example: "Did you say that? yes or no?!"...*Someone on my LIVE stream said this is used to either confirm or inflame an argument, and I completely agree.*

That's it!

See ya next time :)

-www