for more juicy drama as the case develops: https://twitter.com/kidneygate
https://buzzfeed.com/daily/new-york-times-bad-art-friend-kidney-donation-dawn-dorland
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/kidney-donation-story-copyright-2017763
On October 5th, The New York Times published Who is The Bad Art Friend? that went viral. It's not a short read and as it turns out later, there are some omissions and misrepresentations, but the basic gist, as it is told, is this:
Dawn Dorland, a writer, donated a kidney as part of a kidney donation chain and created a private Facebook support group with family and friends, where she later posted a letter intended for the final person in the chain. (Jun 2015)
This Facebook group includes her friends from GrubStreet, a non-profit writing center, and Sonya Larson, another writer friend. Larson is also part of a group called the Chunky Monkeys, some of whose members overlap with GrubStreet. Dorland notices that Larson hasn't been reacting to her posts, so she reaches out to Larson, who then acknowledges the donation. (Jul 2015)
About a year later (Jun 2016), Dorland hears from another friend that Larson wrote a short story about a kidney donation - Dorland asks Larson if she can read it. 10 days later, Larson acknowledges having written a story about a kidney donation, partially inspired by Dorland's act but says it's based on narratives and themes with no relation to Dorland. Dorland asks why Larson didn't mention it earlier, to which Larson essentially replies she didn't think her support (or lackthereof) was important.
Dorland expresses feelings of hurt and questions their friendship. After several days, Larson eventually apologizes for Dorland's hurt feelings while insisting she has a right to write about what she wants.
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You are a real woman. You have no womb, you have no ovaries, you have no eggs, but that doesn't matter. You are a valid human who is trying to feel comfortable in her body.
All the โvalidationโ you get is pure. Behind your back people love you. Your parents are happy and proud of you, your friends laugh at your jokes behind closed doors, and boys love you, and girls envy you.
Men absolutely love you. Trans folk who โpassโ look ordinary and natural to a man. Your bone structure does not matter. Estradiol widens the hips.
You will be happy. You will smile every single morning and tell yourself itโs going to be ok, and deep inside you feel the euphoria creeping up like a weed. It is what defines you, not the transphobes.
Eventually, itโll be perfect for you - youโll come out, start HRT, get top surgery, and finally be your ideal self. Your parents will find you, happy and relieved that they finally have a happy daughter. Theyโll congratulate you on your hard journey, and every passerby for the rest of eternity will know a woman is what you are.
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