T H E   S T A R

Positive attributes : “My first morning at the bagel shop, the barista said I looked familiar, that I should come here more often.”

Negative attributes : “For a thousand a month I could share a 15-foot basement room with two guys named Silas and Beñ. That’s Ben with an ñ.”

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April 2018 : San Francisco, California

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Keywords : “Creative, sure. But how was I supposed to be open-hearted to so many strangers at once? My love no longer flowed freely. […] Even sitting by the hazy water, I was landlocked.“

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Life Situations : “On April 20, we sat outside of Hippie Hill and watched clouds of smoke waft overhead. I fixated on yellow flowers. Everything was so public in the streets of the Haight; everything was exactly how it should be.“

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In Reverse : “Maybe I still resented him, but everyone’s got their own cell doors to unlock. He invented me to guard an invented key.”

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As a Yes or No Question : “Naked inside a borrowed panda onesie, I danced for hours. I found the sun. I accepted strangers, accepted myself. I might’ve howled yes — the eternal yes.”

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