Interview of J Soto

NYC Trans Oral History Project

J. Soto recounts his evolving understanding of gender and identity along his eastward migration across the United States. Born and raised in the Bay Area, J. attended graduate school in Chicago, IL before moving to Brooklyn where he currently works as an artist who produces both written and performed works. J. describes the nuanced relationship he shares with his family, informed by their experience as working class, Catholic, Mormon and of Mexican descent. He also discusses the production of art work, the nature of community and family, and the role of language in understanding and describing identity. (Summary by Micah Katz.)