Elton

They/Them/Theirs or He/Him/His Age 21

My name is Elton. The identity label that is most useful for describing me is nonbinary trans man, but any descriptor coming from a place of respect is fine by me. Since 2019 I’ve been living in Chicago while I study writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I help run Mouth, the school literary magazine. I’m happy to be a jack-of-all-trades and I love writing text-based games, printmaking, bookbinding, embroidery, and weaving. I spend my free time taking care of plants, cooking, and going down research rabbit holes.

I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, where I was lucky enough to have access to the Quatrefoil Library (an LGBTQ library/archive est. 1986) and Andrea Jenkins’ Transgender Oral History Project. Getting to see the depth and breadth of our community history was lifesaving for me when I didn’t have in-person community. The opportunity to learn directly from people who have lived this history, and to contribute to recording it through the Dialogues Project, is a great honor!

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