The Line: When Death is Not the Worst Thing

Dr. Joshua Baker (he/him) is a licensed social worker, critical qualitative researcher, and teaching artist serving as Community Engagement Director at The Knights and Orchids Society, Inc., a Black Trans and queer–led nonprofit advancing TLGBQIA+ wellness across the South. Blending art, scholarship, and activism, Baker works to amplify Black Trans and queer visibility, power, and futurity. Baker’s research, trainings, and performances center Black Trans and queer communities as the authors of our own narratives—naming ourselves for ourselves. Grounded in the conviction that “we are the living archive,” Baker’s work affirms that Black Trans and queer lives are not only worthy of study and celebration but also essential to imagining liberatory futures. Across roles, Baker’s practice is a love letter to Black Trans and queer communities—an enduring declaration that we are, have always been, and will always be here.

Daniel B. Summerhill (he/him) is a poet and essayist from Oakland, CA. He is the author of Divine, Divine, Divine and Mausoleum of Flowers. The inaugural Poet Laureate of Monterey County, Summerhill has earned fellowships from Baldwin for the Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Watering Hole and elsewhere. His work has been published widely, including venues such as The Academy of American Poets, Obsidian, Ploughshares, Callaloo, The Indiana Review, The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. Winner of the 2023 Indiana Review 1/2K Prize and the inaugural Rumpus Prize for Nonfiction, Daniel is a Professor of Poetry at Santa Clara University and believes in the liberation of oppressed peoples everywhere, especially through the dissolution of empire.