Young, Nonbinary, and Rebuilding

In a cruel twist of fate, the sky was bright blue and sunny on the morning of November 6th, 2024. I sat on a bench outside my dorm, watching everyone walk to the classes I couldn’t force myself to attend, considering booking a flight home.

How could I possibly stay in my liberal bubble when my family was still in Florida? I feared that they would experience a drastic rise in antisemitism. I felt as if I had broken and my hopes had been permanently shattered. Soon I realized everyone else on my campus was in a state of mourning too. Everyone
could feel the weight of losing their freedoms, especially on a campus with so many Jewish and queer students. As I look to the future in this new and frightening era, I have to plan for loss, as do many of my friends. In addition to being nonbinary, I was assigned female at birth and can’t be sure that I will keep my reproductive freedoms… Nevertheless, I’ve been revived since my hope was swept out from underneath my feet on election night. I have a new purpose for seizing the opportunities to push change through the next four years. I was knocked down, but, now it’s time for me to get up.