Stone Butch Blues

Jess decides that she is done passing, that life is a man is not the answer to who she is. She stops taking hormones and watches her transformation back into her own self. Once again, people begin to stare at and harass her. She takes this as a cue to leave Buffalo, where she feels she now has no lasting significant ties. She boards a train to New York City and disembarks in Harlem with a sense of hopefulness and excitement.

Life in New York City is less idyllic than Jess imagines it will be. She is used to riding her motorcycle and finds travelling by bus and subway difficult to adjust to. While on the subway, she watches cops harass drag queens and is harassed some herself. It is expensive and difficult for her to find a place to live, and as soon as she does get settled, a fire in the building claims most of her worldly belongings. She gets a job driving a forklift at a sewing machine factory but the pay is not great. Then she gets sick multiple times, and in both instances struggles to get adequate medical attention.