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Rural Colorado teen documents coming out as trans in personal photo essay

A necklace with a metal pendant in the shape of a male symbol hangs over a hand mirror. This image is included in 16-year-old Apollo Rodriquez's photo essay on coming out as trans in rural Paonia, Colorado.
Apollo Rodriquez
A necklace with a metal pendant in the shape of a male symbol hangs over a hand mirror. This image is included in 16-year-old Apollo Rodriquez's photo essay on coming out as trans in rural Paonia, Colorado.

Paonia, Colorado, a town of about 1,500, is situated along the North Fork Valley in Delta County, the west-central area of Colorado. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows each other, and personal news travels fast.

16-year-old Apollo Rodriquez knows this well. Last May, Rodriquez came out as transgender. During that time, he also had a summer internship with a photographer. Part of the internship included working on a month-long photo project. Rodriquez chose to document the earliest days of his transition in a photo essay, which was recently published in High Country News.

Rodriquez joined Colorado Edition to talk about his project, the reflective nature of self-portraiture and coming out as trans in rural Colorado.

As a producer for Colorado Edition, I pitch segment ideas, pre-interview guests, craft scripts and cut audio. I also write tweets, build web posts and occasionally host.
As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.