Hi! We are Living Bayou, a group dedicated to creating a Queer Normative space to engage in Jewish Study and Ritual. Right now, it’s just the two of us, but we’d love to have more people join especially when we get started with in person meetings.
Krythe Elaine Arensman
Krythe Elaine Arensman is a polyamorous, AuDHD, trans woman. She is excited to learn and grow in her Judasim and desires to help bring access to Jewish ritual to those who have traditionally felt excluded.
Krythe Elaine was born in Corpus Christi, spent a few years in her youth in South Carolina, and has felt embraced and at home in Houston since her family moved to the area when she was in High School. Now Krythe Elaine wants to help Houston be as welcoming to people as it has been for her by building community at the intersection of Judaism and Queerness. She comes from an engineering support and design background in the AEC industry. She finished her conversion in Dec. 2022. Krythe Elaine has been involved for many years in Houston’s social justice activism, including organizing a march fighting for medical care for Trans Youth. She helps co-facilitate a peer discussion group for Houston’s trans community. She regularly takes classes at UnYeshiva, and has crafted and lead several Jewish rituals for her queer community. When not engaged in work or activism, Krythe Elaine likes to spend time playing role-playing games and on the bouldering wall at her climbing gym.
Krythe Elaine desires to craft a safe and welcoming place for Houston’s queer community to practice ritual and spirituality. Krythe Elaine, her wife Rachel and partners Em, Jenn, & Alice, and her three cats Molly, Missy, and Percy are excited for the journey ahead.
Em Merrell
Em Merrell is a nerdy, creative, Jewish trans woman. Em is interested in using Jewish Ritual and Philosophy to create spaces where trans and queer people can collectively ground, feel, process, and ultimately build a more beautiful world, together.
After her transition, she has become more and more active in her local community, beginning with facilitation work for her local trans support group, playing clarinet in the Houston Pride Band, and, now, event organizing. She has helped to design and produce rituals for the Queer and Trans Liberation Seder as well as for Trans Day of Remembrance. Outside of community, she enjoys bouldering, relaxing with her cats, reading, creative writing, and, just, being surrounded by books.
She hopes to continue flexing her creative muscles and build more meaningful ways to be alive.