Feminist author Simone DeBeauvoir wrote "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." That is, society dictates what being a "woman" is and then socializes us to adoptits definition, tacitly and overtly claiming that their artificial, arbitrary prescriptions are in actuality the dictates of Nature and God. The same can be said of this other category: the "loner." The person who is alone, automatically receives this pseudo-identity, as if it is her personal destiny to be isolated,the tacit implication (nay, accusation!) beingthat it is even her peculiar preference; it is the role she campaigned for, the career for which she strived. Those who want to be bankersor bakers become bankers or bakers. Thus, working backward, non-loners assume: she is a loner, ergo she wanted and wants to be alone.

My writing is a discourse on loners, like me, and our experiences, both psychical and experiential. My theory is tripartite. First, Iholdthat the isolation we endure has a scientifically proven effect on the brain, a destructive effect that should earn it a place in our legal system's class of the most dangerous toxins, beside crystal meth, cocaine and heroine. As such, from at least an ethical purview, isolating someone against her will should be morally illegal, an eleventh precept: "Thou shalt not exclude." My second assertion is that it is a person with a spicific neuro-style, so to speak, who often gets targeted, and I relate to them as my true ethnicity, my people. However, I believe our differences are used by the normals as a justification for ostracizing us, and by punishing us so cruelly and unusually for every second of our lives (the sentence can, in fact, be a life term), they create drastic changes in our brains that impair our very ability to function. Third, I make a proposition to my brothers and sisters. I invite them to join me from all over the world, to unite, to de-isolate ourselves, to overthrow our unjust convictions. We need not sit passively and accept the verdict of society. When, God willing, we are mingling and laughing together at our first Lonerist Convention, will it not be a sign of utter stupidity when the normals point their fingers and scoff: "Hey, look at that huge, bustling party of loners!" But, hey, we always knew the normals weren't exactly (let's be tactful) the crispest leaves in the salad, right?

This work I do is by a loner for a loner. Everyone else is certainly welcome to come along on this journey, but the following essays are meant from my heart to the hearts of my people, you know who you are. If there is oneidea I couldunderscore forevery reader, it is this: One is not born, but rather becomes, a loner.