You don’t need the right words
In 2025 I transitioned to being man. Not in the way you might think, since I was born male.
What I'm talking about is manhood. Specifically choosing manhood. And that choice isn't about your body.
I was a father for a while before that moment. I thought that becoming a man is a simple step up from that, a natural progression. But it takes actively choosing it, and I found myself resisting that choice.
And becoming a man doesn't come with a map these days, or at least I didn't have one.
When I remember my childhood, I can think of one man, my grandfather, who I would call a role model of healthy masculinity. One. I'm not sure I'm the exception. My day-to-day life still provides fewer opportunities to interact with healthy role models of masculinity than I would like.
It's no map, no compass, just go kind of situation.
And this is the impulse behind this project. To give a meaningful way to say thank you to men who did what mattered to us. For the ways these men have guided us, in what we, ourselves, recognize as positive.
And to share it with others so that aspiring men can have a map.
Anton Kats
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