Topher Gross is a hairstylist and former nightlife personality, performer, and poet. A lifelong New Yorker, he describes his quiet upbringing in Canarsie and early feelings of masculinity. Beginning with his time at the College of Staten Island, he discovered lesbian and trans communities through the internet and, later, through Manhattan's lesbian nightlife scene in the late 90's and early 2000's. He describes his shifting relationships to (and the unstable nature of) these communities and spaces, as well as his experiences coming out and undergoing top surgery during a time of scarce medical and financial resources for trans people.