Comments by Lee Leveille

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  • Technically, we are all trained to know what we know, whether that be formally through education or through life experience. Sometimes that knowing comes from books or institutionalized structures, other times from the trials made of blood, sweat, and tears. Both parties believe their knowing is the truth.

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  • In this instance, I think it was more of a case where clinicians didn’t know what to do with me. It was a campus clinic, where stories like mine were rare. So they fell back on what they knew. But what they knew and what I needed turned out to be very, very different things. If anyone there had thought to ask me what happened, things could have turned out differently.

    Then again, if things had turned out differently, I may not have written this in the first place. Ah, well.

    “Branch” was actually part of a layered piece. The full piece is available on my site, titled “Scream.” I haven’t written its corresponding essay yet, but you can see the art itself here: https://reclaimingtransbutch.com/portfolio/life-reimagined/#jp-carousel-420

    Both pieces are a form of photomanipulation, which is a digital medium that uses a variety of stock images, textures, and brushes in a way similar to collage. You put the bits and pieces together to create a new image, story, or atmosphere, using software such as Photoshop.

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  • Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you were able to find solace in your experiences, as well as a sense of kinship with what I wrote. It always interests me how actions that others may see as bizarre have perfect meaning to us. Sometimes all it takes is asking, and then listening without that judgment. Easier said than done.

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