skin, queer brown muddy kid,

Skin

From the age my eyes grew ears, I can remember my mind associating anything to do with our bodies with skin. There were no arms, no legs, no face structure or elbow joints- just skin. Everyone became a colour, ascribed to them so carelessly by me, and that was all they were. “You are brown muddy boy”. “You are pale pink girl”. “He is porcelain white”. And that was all there was. I didn’t see the depth in their eyes, the dips in their soul or the grit in their teeth- just their skin. Travis Alabanza, a self-defined “muddy brown boy”, at the age of 8- defined bodies by their skin. Read More