Before leaving Kapaau, Hawaii Island for brief winter travels, I took the shovel's sharp end to dig a four foot wide and two feet deep space for planting. Drizzly rain gifted the soil first watering and a dwarf tangerine tree snuggled in the nurtured design. New to the tree planting endeavor, I have been imagining what future prune cuts will be.

The youth I am raising based on my lesbian perspective, these decades-long values, I am hoping for him to evolve from and into a male adult who can belong in and contribute to a community—and, well, at one time he was 14 months old. In a few weeks…