Extraterrestrial Forensic Portrait Catalogue

Good Morning!

This morning I’m not having any strong feelings about what to write about so I’ll have to just see where this goes.

I read a couple of blog posts this morning talking about trying to find connections with others and all the struggles of it even now with pretty constant access to so many people. I think that’s part of why I’m here blogging and sharing some of my thoughts every so often. (And hopefully, eventually finding people who will want to contribute to my larger project.)

I always have a better time communicating one on one with people in person than any other format. I’ve been really working on myself through therapy and introspection to be able to assert myself in interactions and not feel the need to stifle my opinions and emotions for fear of negative confrontation. I know there are a lot of reasons why I do this, and I’m sure many of you have also experienced it.

I think as a society we like to say that we don’t care what others think of us but it’s very clear we do if you take a look at the plethora of social media platforms.

A few years ago, for a couple years, I spent every Monday with a very close friend just living in the moment creating art and enjoying talking about all of the things we were passionate about. It was so nice to have someone to connect with in a non-performative way. We just let ourselves be, and create, and experience in that space. We drank wine, created collaborative artwork, talked about art movements, listened to so much music, and shared our favorite books/movies with each other.

There wasn’t a fear of judgement and I felt fully comfortable to the point that a disagreement didn’t feel like falling down a well. We were overall welcoming to our differences and I realized connection was more than being an exact reflection of one another. For me, it was experiencing the things that made life meaningful for another person living in this same difficult world. It was knowing that they had the same kinds of strong emotions as I did even if it was about a different type of art or music, etc.

I think back to them often and hope they’re happy and weird and free.

Stay curious!