Happy Valentines day to the Earth, our fellow Earth lovers, and the $10 half-frame camera we found at Bridge Thrift. Love is not just in the air🌎🍃 tested the 📷 with a kodacolor 100 roll, scan+dev at our beloved @jfphotolabinc
A life really is just about allowing yourself to love, in any stage you find yourself in. And by those standards, you lived such a full and brave and happy life, my sweet boy. You loved every single being you met and got excited by everything, despite all the big changes of losing your best friend Marty and seeing almost all of your family members move away. Even when you were in so much pain at 16 years old, you waited for me to come say goodbye to you and smiled when you saw me. I still strive to be as loving and resilient as you. You are the kindest, most loving soul I’ve had the privilege of knowing, and I will miss you far longer than the time I got to spend with you. I’ll see you in the next life, my baby Willow. I love you forever ❤️
From the outside, Pride in LA just looks like a big overwhelming celebration of community, diversity, and love, because it is 🏳️🌈!! But as people begin to celebrate Am*r*ca tomorrow for whatever reason, let’s not forget that Pride has always been a protest and a defiant declaration of existence in the face of a country that wants to get rid of us. Our joy is loud and necessary in public spaces because it exists!! Despite people who tell us we cannot have it. They are actively taking away lifesaving trans healthcare, federal document name & gender marker changes, and basic CIVIL RIGHTS for all queer people. It is more important than ever to invest in LGBTQ+ rights organizations and contact local lawmakers!! State level rulings make all the difference right now in challenging bans that have been made on a federal level. Show up for your friends on an individual level. Love as much and as often as you can. And just be gay! Or at least try 😉💞
Hard side quest: Romeo & Juliet 💘⚔️
I wasn’t necessarily sure what I was getting into when I signed on to stage manage, having never done it before, but it’s been 7 years since I’ve been part of a theater production and I forgot how much I missed it. It’s repetitive, but there truly is nothing like live theater. Above all else, it’s a testament to a group of people coming together with nothing but a dream and some cardboard and painters tape to hold everything together. People who started off as strangers are now some of my dearest friends and I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunities of endless artistic collaboration
2024 was my first full year without being in school, but i’m happy to report I still find myself constantly learning.
Lesson 1: I’m terrified of settling and also scared of change at the same time. Both of them are inevitable and both of them are good, if you allow them to be.
Lesson 2: The land within the United States is so much more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined, thanks to my first cross country road trip. Adventures with Lau and adventures alone and camping are fun!
Lesson 3: I’m sometimes good at latte art! And also that I am sometimes good at pool!
Lesson 4: I’ve chosen to surround myself with some damn good people, whether they’re 3000 miles away or right down the 5. And relationships mean more to me than any material possession ever could.
Lesson 5: Love is really everywhere I go because I wake up and choose to hold it, carry it, and share it wherever I go.
Lesson 6: Just because the rose bowl flea market seller convinced me to buy his best Polaroid camera for $60, there’s no guarantee that it won’t only shoot double exposure ghost photos.
If there’s ever a day to feel blessed, it’s the day my two best friends were born. @karligigstud and @s1mranja1n you guys are a double reminder that I love so deeply outside of myself and that I am in the hands of those who understand me so easily. I went through archives of prepubescent photos just to settle on only exposing us post 2021, but just know these guys have been with me since the days I thought yoga pants went with everything. One of you could have told me they didn’t. Anyway, I am so so lucky to know you and to call you my best friends. Shoutout to both your parents for birthing you on the same day so I only have to make this post once a year ❤️
