Today is the 11th annual Transgender Day of Rememberence. This year, 163 transgender individuals were tortured, shot, and killed simply for being who they are. 

Normally this time of year I take the site down for several days, replacing it with a honorary comic and a somber list of names. This year, as you might have noticed, all of this has been curiously absent.

I have little to offer in the way of an excuse, and yet the circumstances of my lapse are in their own ways significant. I am recovering from surgery -- a goal I set myself to at a very young age when I barely grasped the challenges that lay before me. This year I can say, "I made it. Somehow I survived."

And far too many did not.

I am not one for marches. Nor am I one for rallies or even argument. Even my typical  annual contribution lies absent this year. The question remains, What can I do? How can I help? How can I help to put a stop to all of this? Is there anything such a inwardly and private person such as myself can do?

I can start with this; quietly, uncertainly, and fearfully. I can refuse to line the background and stand, knowing that this puts me in the crosshairs of an unknown gun. 

I can start with this.