I'm Linda Holmes. Welcome to NPR's Book of the Day. Pigeon Pogonis only began to understand the story of their own birth when they were in college. They had been raised as a girl, but as they heard a professor talk about intersex people, they began to have questions about their own body, their own identity, and even surgeries that they'd had that were never

truthfully explained. They tell NPR's Lela Faddle what these moments of discovery were like.

And they say that after having told the story in their new memoir, nobody needs to know,

they're ready to stop telling it. They're ready to put their energy elsewhere into advocacy,

into living as what they call a light at the end of the tunnel for other intersex people.

This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.

When you manage your money with Wise,

you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

Join millions of customers and visit wise.com.

Tease and C's apply.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground

bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Pigeon Pogonis never liked their birth name, Jennifer, so they became pigeon.

They felt an affinity to the birds when one snuck onto the same bus as them.

It just made me happy the way that it was bobbing up and down the aisle.

And I just found joy in that.

Pagonis is intersex, but was never told this by their parents.

Growing up, they felt like they didn't belong. Like, pigeons don't belong in cities. Pogonis is intersex, but was never told this by their parents.

Growing up, they felt like they didn't belong.

...