05 Jun 2025

Beast mode

S.I. Rosenbaum on conscience, animals, and the right to be; we invite you to vote in Hydranym No. 2

Balthus, The Mediterranean Cat, 1949. Via Wikiart.

Today: Please join us in an incandescent welcome for our newest Hydra, writer S.I. Rosenbaum.

Issue No. 334

The Outlawing of Imagination
S.I. Rosenbaum

VOTE for Hydranym No. 2!
The Editors

The Outlawing of Imagination

by S.I. Rosenbaum

CK was ten when they realized they were more than just human.

They were that too—a nonbinary human child—but there were parts of their nature that felt like they belonged to another species. A lot of the time they felt like a cat. Sometimes, when they longed for the ocean, they felt like a stingray.

There was a word for this, CK learned: they were therian.

“A therian is someone who identifies or has a connection with any type of animal,” CK, now almost 12, explained. “It can be a bug, a house animal, even a sea creature.”