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Of Cakes And Conspiracies
The knife used to cut the cake of celebration is the same one that inevitably gets used to stab one in the back, is an idea that recently came to me, harsh as a proverb, and laced with the kind of wisdom that is usually earned through a painful sequence of experiences. It wasn’t until the undulating waves of life had crashed upon my shores a few more times that I truly understood its depth, its reality, and its almost predestined inevitability. I recall the early days of my ambitious youth, days colored with the hues of success and nights scented with the fragrance of victory. Those were the times…
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The Seasons Of My Life
Last night, nestled deep within the embrace of my blankets, I found myself lost in a dream on a journey through time. The landscape of my dreams is often a curious one, a theater where the scenes that unfold often transcend the boundaries of waking reality. As I fell asleep, I was transported to the various turning points of my life, watching, as if on a silver screen, the highs and lows, the joys and sorrows. The seasons of my life have never been kind to me, changing not just in weather, but in emotion and spirit. Like trees in winter, I’ve sometimes felt bare, stripped of hope and warmth.…
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I Have Been A Lot Different
I have always been a little different. Even as a young child, when other girls were content with playing princesses and tea parties, I found myself more engrossed in embarking on imagined adventures, climbing trees, and dreaming of the vast, untouched world beyond my backyard. It was a divergence that sometimes isolated me, a tiny ripple in the fabric of conformity that set me apart. Yet, I cherished this difference. I nurtured it. Even then, I understood it as a flame, a flicker of an identity that was distinctively, and blatantly unapologetically, mine. Sky above me, Earth below me, a fiery passion forever burning within me. Thomas Slatin Throughout my…
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A Letter To My Younger Self
I was recently asked to speak in front of a high school class, and this inspired me to write a letter to my younger self in my diary. I have achieved numerous feats, but there is one particular moment that stands out as the pinnacle of my achievements: being granted the esteemed opportunity to address a high school audience. My dear younger self, it’s with a heavy heart that I must share the harsh realities of life’s journey with you. You are bound to experience heartaches, deeper than what you could ever anticipate. Betrayals will come from the very people you’ve loved deeply, the ones you would have moved mountains…
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The World I Came Into Has Gotten Too Scary
My earliest memories are of being a small child sitting on the marble floor of our Greenwich Village apartment. There was something comforting in the coolness of that floor, in its immovability, in its seeming lack of opinion or judgment. It was a respite from the complexities of life in a large city with multiple families living in upstairs apartments under one roof. All my difficulties felt as if they could be put aside for a few moments in that little corner, next to the refrigerator. I could take comfort in the simple, repetitive task of sorting and stacking colorful blocks, ignoring the struggles in the wider world around me.…
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Now Is The Time To Let Go
Most of us live for cheap thrills. Whether it’s diving into a plate of nachos or watching an action movie with our friends, it’s easy to get sucked into the allure of fun that doesn’t really matter to our lives in the long run. But at some point, cheap thrills fade away and we need to start thinking about the bigger picture. You can’t make up for lost time or replace what is lost. Whether it be a relationship, an ambition, a skill, an opportunity or a moment in time, you’ll never get it back. The highs don’t stay high for long and the lows don’t stay low forever. The…
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Summer Nights And Electric Twilight
What makes you feel alive? What makes you feel like you’re vibrating in tune with the universe? I personally associate these sensations with warm summer nights and gorgeous electric twilight. But, why are they so important to our sense of well-being? Is it purely nostalgia, or does this phenomenon have an objective basis? Electric twilight is more intense than your average sunset. You can’t describe the sensation of twilight in terms of light. So, what is it about that time of day that makes us feel so passionate? The answer lies not with our sight but rather with our moods, in particular, how an electric twilight can pull out deep…
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From Ties That Bind To Freedom: How I Escaped The Cycle Of Codependency
For many years, I lived in a constant fear of being abandoned by the people around me, so I did everything in my power to keep them happy and close by me. That strategy worked fine until the day I found myself standing all alone without anyone else to turn to. My earliest memories are of chaos. Chaos both at home and school, one seeming not to escape the other. It’s because of this that I made sure as soon as I had the means, I would turn and run away. But, I could never get away from the broken ties of ropes left over from the circus of our…
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I’ve Lived A Life Less Ordinary
Today is the day that I’ve decided to write down all the things I’ve been holding back my entire life. Now is the time for me to finally write about black forests and wolves, the monster under my bed. This is my time, blessed, reverent, I understand. I was born intersex; for the first few years of my life, doctors weren’t sure of my birth gender. My parents decided to name me Thomas, and as I grew, I was effectively raised as a girl, which would have been my choice if I had been asked. Although I attended pre-school as a girl, my father insisted on enrolling me in grade…
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My 2022 Reunion Tour
Ah, nostalgia. It’s the unavoidable memory of something from your past that strikes you unexpectedly and makes you feel warm inside. Usually this applies to positive experiences — but sometimes it can be painful to remember old times in your past when things weren’t so great. I was thinking about my childhood the other day and all the wonderful memories I have. I was born and raised in New York City, but grew up in a small town where everyone knew each other. I remember spending lazy summers days down by the river with my friends, fishing and swimming. We would get lost in the woods, explore abandoned houses, and…
