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College senior wrote a book analyzing the post-election reactions of 2016.

Credit: Tiffany Pham

In the past months, many students have been voicing their disapproval of President Donald Trump and protesting his policies — but one College senior has already written a book analyzing the post-election climate.

College senior Marissa Alexa McCool said she wrote "The PC Lie: How American Voters Decided I Don’t Matter" to express her feelings about the implications of the Trump presidency, which she believes will increase discrimination.

“The book started as a reaction to the election of Trump, and the effects it had on me as a transgirl, the LGBT community, and so many of us who were terrified of what the regime could bring to this country after so much progress had been made as far as our visibility and rights,” McCool said.

McCool, 31, describes herself as a recently open transgirl, wife, mother, creator and host of a podcast and writer and student of English and cinema. She frequently interviews professors such as Kathy Van Cleve, Meta Mazaj, Ian Thomas Fleishman and Bruce Kuklick and illustrious alumni such as Noam Chomsky on her 80-episode-strong podcast, called Inciting Incident.

Her new book contains essays about possible implications of Trump's election from a diverse set of writers, including fellow podcasters, family, friends and classmates. Chris Kluwe, the former NFL punter who was an outspoken proponent for same sex marriage and gay rights in Minnesota in 2012, wrote the foreword of "The PC Lie."

McCool said that in the days following the election she began to try to express her fears and concerns about Trump’s victory by putting pen to paper. After her “initial rant,” McCool delved deeper into her personal history and decision to come out, as well as broader topics like social justice, trigger warnings and safe spaces. She said she began to realize she had enough material for a book.

McCool was inspired by the post-election conversations she had in her classes — like professor Marion Kant’s course on travel writing — in which her peers expressed pain, worry and fear. She also said the presence of the “hate pastors” on campus deeply affected her.

Reception for "The PC Lie" has been overwhelmingly positive so far, McCool said. She has been featured on podcasts like The Daily Pennsylvanian's In the Cut, God Awful Movies, SJW Circle-Jerk, ORLY Radio, Podunk Polymath, Brainstorm Podcast and Gaytheist Manifesto.

“Transpeople are not well represented in media, so ["The PC Lie"] offers a perspective that hasn't been well publicized outside of possibly Caitlyn Jenner or Chaz Bono,” McCool said.

McCool is nothing if not prolific. She is 21 chapters into her newest novel "False Start," entered a number of film festivals, wrote two feature length scripts, has posted more than 250 columns and created a YouTube show with 134 episodes.

“I'm well aware that as a transperson, I'm an exception, in that I go to a very LGBT-friendly university where trans-health is covered, and I have thousands of supporters from the podcast and other written works who reach out constantly in support, love and encouragement,” she said. “I feel it's my responsibility to speak up with that position, especially when so many either cannot or don't feel safe doing so. I try to be the person I needed ten years ago.”