Cover Photo: photo by Fr. Lawrence Yew, O. P. / flickr
photo by Fr. Lawrence Yew, O. P. / flickr

Lost Cause: On Estrangement and Chosen Family

Staying in contact with biological family no matter what they’ve done is a message beaten into us from every side.

When I called her last Thanksgiving, my grandmother didn’t recognize my voice.

Sassafras Lowrey is a straight-edge queer punk who grew up to become the 2013 winner of the Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award. Hir books—Lost Boi, A Little Queermas Carol, Roving Pack, Kicked Out, and Leather Ever After—have been honored by organizations ranging from the National Leather Association to the American Library Association. Sassafras lives and writes in Brooklyn with hir partner, and their menagerie of dogs and cats.