I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WB EZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette. I'm Greta Johnson. Somehow, some way, we made it to another weekend and also a whole other month. Coming up, we will hear the tuba like never before.

That is Dr. Richard Antoine White, and he just wrote a great memoir called I'm Possible.

But first, we're talking to another trailblazer-turned author, Skyler Baylor.

Skyler was the first out-trans NCAA-Division-1 athlete to compete on a men's team.

His new middle grade book is called Obie is Man Enough, and it's about Obie, a 13-year-old

biracial kid who's going through a lot of changes. He's trans. He's finally swimming on the

boys' team, and he's good, but not everyone in his life is supportive of him, including his

former swim coach. I have not stopped thinking about this book and recommending it since I read it. So I'm so glad Skylar is with us now. Skylar. Welcome to NERD. Thank you so much. I'm really excited to be here. Oh my gosh. I just loved this book so much. I want to start with some of the similarities that you and Obie share. As I mentioned, you and Obie are both swimmers. You're both biracial with one Korean-American

parent and one white one. You're both trans men. Obviously, you and Obie are not the same person,

but I feel like in a lot of ways, it at least felt like a really personal book. I'm curious

what else you and Obi have in common. You're absolutely correct. There's a lot of similarities

between me and Obi, andie is also completely a fictional

character.

I wrote those specific things, biracial, Korean-American, transgender swimmer to be the same

because I didn't have that kind of representation when I was a kid, and I wanted to provide

that.

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