“This Was My Life”

My Believer essay on Loren Rex Cameron is online today ...

Sandy Allen
October 01, 2026

Welcome to What’s Helping Today, a newsletter about the everyday work of staying alive on earth — written by author and journalist Sandy Ernest Allen.

Hey everybody,

Suuuuuper quickly, wanted to share that my My Loren Rex Cameron feature is online today. Thanks to those who’ve already read it this morning and said nice things …

Fantastic and heartbreaking piece “James had been expressing the difficulty of capturing trans experience in language that might help cis folks better understand us: “So that people don’t have to be afraid of us and hate us and treat us badly the way they do.””

It was very affecting! LRC was only a decade older than me, and a lot of it resonates. I think beyond his art, his life itself is relatable to so many, the entwined joy and sadness of living loudly as yourself

This one hits so, so hard. What a beautiful tribute to Loren Rex Cameron.

Read it online here … If you’d rather, subscribe to The Believer (still on sale) or buy the issue as a one-off here:

The Believer 155 (Fall 2026)

All subscriptions to The Believer placed before November 1 will include this issue. Inside our fall issue: Katherine Cusumano tours the Pacific Northwest’s indie professional wrestling circuit; Sandy Ernest Allen revisits Loren Rex Cameron’s classic photography book; Jaydra Johnson experiments with the counter-intuitive philosophy of Contact Improv; and, after decades on varying doses of Klonopin, Brad Phillips describes the terrifying costs of one of America’s most commonly prescribed anti-anxiety medications.

The McSweeney’s Store

Thanks so much to all who read this one!

Take care,
Sandy

p.s. LAST LAST CALL to enroll in my pitching class happening these next two Saturdays. Nonfiction writers (essayists! journalists! memoirists!): Consider joining us … Should be a fun time!

Craft Seminar: The Art of the Pitch with Sandy Ernest Allen — The Shipman Agency

2 Sessions: Saturdays, October 3 + 10 1:00-3:00pm ET Sandy Ernest Allen Master the art of pitching with journalist and editor Sandy Ernest Allen. Sandy is a trans and queer freelance journalist, author, speaker and previous BuzzFeed News features editor. Sandy's own features and essays been publ

The Shipman Agency

Thanks for reading What’s Helping Today, a newsletter by me — author and journalist Sandy Ernest Allen. If you were forwarded this message, WHT is free; you can subscribe here.

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