On Jorge Becoming a Boy :

In this portrait, Travis Wright, writing as a psychology counselor in training, brings the reader into one morning’s events in his clinical work with Jorge, a three-year-old boy whose family is experiencing difficult times. Throughout the morning at Jorge’s day-care center, Wright encounters scenarios that force him to ask questions about child development, gender identity, masculinity, and family dynamics. Wright observes that boys are often thrust into a gendered world dictated by adult norms before they can make sense of their own life events and losses. The portrait is a poignant narrative of Jorge’s experiences in and out of his day-care center, as well as a moving self-reflection on Wright’s own gender identity.

Travis Wright is an assistant professor of qualitative research methodology at the George Washington University Graduate School of Education. His current work explores risk and resilience in the lives of women and young children living in poverty and the links between early childhood education and community development.