Hello!

I’m Jo (they/them), I’m from Los Angeles, CA! I’m much more comfortable in the rain and trees of BC than in the LA desert, though, and it’s a joy to be in such a beautiful place. And the weather of Van suits my wardrobe far better!

I’m a transfer student from a community college in LA, where I was an activist and organizer for the Queer community for several years. SMC had no resources for Queer students, and myself and a small group of other activists took it upon ourselves to build some Queer resources for the institution itself, culminating in the founding of an SMC Pride Center run by the school itself.

I’m a psychology major, and my focus in that field is informed by my activist work and history — Queer issues are a critically understudied facet of psychology, both in academia and in clinical practice, and my career aim is to broaden the resources available to Queer people as we seek help and support from mental health services. This also extends to broader left-wing political action, both in terms of anticapitalist work and union efforts. I’ve been a retail employee for many years, and seen firsthand the sort of pain and exploitation that comes of not having robust protections for workers.

I am also a fiction writer, and I look forward to growing my craft and continuing to publish work. A short story of mine can be found in the collection “We’re the Weird Aliens”, assembled by Mara Lynn Johnstone, under my pseydonym Jules Blymoor. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/were-the-weird-aliens-mara-lynn-johnstone/1138272738