Growing up a gender fluid and gay in sixties and seventies Appalachia to alcoholic parents, Hunter O’Hara’s childhood was scarred by an abusive and violent father. Hunter and his sister struggled to protect his mother during alcohol-induced domestic violence. At school, he endured bullying, bashing and other abuse from classmates as well as from a particularly malevolent teacher for his non-gender-conforming ways. By the time he entered high school, he knew he was gay. Notwithstanding past trauma, a gifted music teacher turned the tables for him utterly-academically, artistically, and socially, thereby setting Hunter on a path to a successful profession. Likewise, the transformative, healing capacities of another friend and mentor were powerful enough to validate his sexuality and facilitate his personal and professional achievement. That friend became the genesis for his commitment to advocating for civil rights and the rights of LGBT and other marginalized communities. During his career as a music teacher, philosopher, university researcher, and teacher educator, O'Hara paid forward those same gifts to his students through transcendent, healing, and loving teaching. 

     Fans of Mikey Walsh’s memoir, Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of Romany Gypsies (2013) and Tara Westover’s Educated: A Memoir (2018) will identify with the raw emotion and violence that O'Hara's story shares with theirs. In fact, it was reading Walsh’s memoir that convinced O'Hara to tell his story as it really happened, without sanitization. Unlike Walsh, however, the entire LGBT movement arose and has (thus far) triumphed during O'Hara's lifetime.  
      This memoir will resonate with traumatized people, those who are struggling to find their way in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles and are seeking survival modalities and healing. Traumatized people may lack survival skills, undervalue themselves, and underestimate their intellect and capabilities. O'Hara's memoir demonstrates how he transcended overwhelming barriers, including disabilities, deficits in confidence and self-limiting mindsets. His journey of perseverance and conviction leads him to prevail over trauma, turbulence, and violence to emerge triumphant, both professionally and personally. His story follows his journey to success with the help of transformative teachers, close supportive friends, twelve- step- recovery programs, and other wellness practices, including yoga and meditation.