Everything sucks but at least we made it this far

An end-of-year newsletter with big announcements & reflections.

Yoyoyo, 

Hey. It’s been a minute, but I never said that this newsletter would be weekly (or monthly) (or come out on a regular basis in general, hehe). Thank you for being here. It matters that you don’t treat me like the internet apparently treats Ryan Gosling. 

I come with good tidings. Or at least, I come with a big announcement about my new book.

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The picture above is the cover to the hardest thing I’ve ever written. It’s a self-portrait, an art piece, a thing I’ve dreamed about for years that is finally coming true 🥲. My debut memoir, Pretty, drops May 28, 2024 from Alfred A. Knopf. You can preorder a copy here. 

In June 2021, I reached a big impasse with my literary career. I had just finished the first draft of Freedom House, and I knew that I had a lot of complicated and complex thoughts about Blackness and trans masculinity. I’d been taking testosterone since December 2020, and over the span of 7 months, I had seen firsthand how differently people treat you based on how you look. It was jarring to say the absolute least, and I’d wished that I had a book that told me — from a Black, transmasculine perspective — what to expect during the process of transitioning, what to do once you get confirmation that the world is indeed a volatile place for those assumed to be Black men and women, and how to create your own masculinity. So I wrote that book. While writing it, I took pictures of myself that mirrored what it was like to investigate the past and reach for a world more deserving of us. 

Many thanks to Chip Kidd (designer) and Anita Kunz (artist) for knocking it out of the park with this cover! It would make my day (and year, even!) for you to preorder this book. Here is an excerpt, in case you need convincing: 

“Every day, I negotiate the space between who I am, how I’m perceived, and what I need to unlearn. People have assumed things about me, and I can’t change that. Every day, I am assumed to be a Black American man, though my ID says ‘female,’ and my heart says neither of the sort. What does it mean—to be a girl-turned-man when you’re something else entirely?” 

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Well that was cool, right? If not, please stay silent. I’m gonna now list out some cool things that happened this fall & give you a peek into what I’m gonna talk about in my next newsletter. 

1. I bought this cool shirt! If you like it, click this link! 

2. I got to attend a screening of “Earth To KB”, a documentary I was blessed to be the subject of (directed by Em Shapiro)! Here’s a cutesy pic of me & my friends at the launch. 

3. I discovered letterboxd 💀I know it’s been around forever but it’s new to me! Here is my top films of the year + a silly little list that explains my film taste. 

If this didn’t annoy you too much, add me on there?

4. I got a Blaq award !! Thanks to what’s in the mirror for making my year & honoring me at the 7th Annual Black and Queer Awards, which honors members of our community who have worked to make Austin, Texas a better place for us all.

5. I got married. Nbd. 

6. I went on a 50-stop tour that included 13 cities! 

H. Melt, me, Sam Herschel Wein, & S. Yarberry in Chicago. 

Book display at a show in LA. 

Me & Quinita Ennis in DC. 

Me, Carrie Fountain, & Roger Reeves in Austin, TX.

I will dedicate my next newsletter to tour do’s & don’ts, in hopes that it helps the next “starving artist” not starve. 

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You still here? Thanks for rockin with me through this short (but packed) newsletter! I hope that your fall was as eventful as mine, and if not, it was cozy and non-committal, like the faint taste of vanilla in an ice cream cone. I hope that your holidays & spring are as perfect as the movie Moonlight. 

Y’all see how trash those smiles were, right? Clearly, it’s time for me to go lol. Till next time. 

Love, Peace, & Chicken Grease, 

-KB