Sasuke by Masahisa Fukase

"What could be better than taking photographs of these two creatures I loved, frolicking around day after day. I wasn't interested in the grace or cuteness of cats. I saw myself reflected in the cats' eyes. I wanted to photograph the love that I saw there. You might say it's a collection of self-portraits more than shots of Sasuke and Momo."

A photo book I own; the thumbnail on the left is a scan of my copy. It mostly contains images of the cat Sasuke, owned by the photographer, Masahisa Fukase. Despite the lighthearted nature of the content, it carries a tragic undertone for me - Fukase's life was not a happy one, and the cat photographed is not the original 'Sasuke' (the first one disappeared) - yet in spite of his melancholic life, he was able to capture the love that he saw in this silly creatures. His pattern of seeing himself in his subjects extended to his wife, to the point where his obsession with photographing her became more of a self-indulgent act than an appreciative one, and he drove her away. To me, these photos are a small look into his mind, through the medium of cute cat pictures.

Ask Polly: Help, I'm The Loneliest Person In The World! by Heather Havrilesky

"The cage is open. You can walk out anytime you want. Why are you still in there?"

A 2013 entry from an advice column on the website The Awl (now defunct). The gist of it is; a very lonely person described her life, how she had no friends, and how a guy she was obsessed is extremely avoidant. But most importantly, how desperate she was for her life to change. Havrilesky responds with the above quote, and a good bit more, detailing the steps she should take to stop having her life revolve around unavailable people, and start living a life of her own. It's a fairly simple piece really, and nothing in it is super revolutionary, or particularly mindblowing. But for me, it serves as a reminder of how much agency I really have in my life, even though at times, it may not necessarily feel like it. I hope one day I'll have the courage to follow the same advice.

I AM VERY YOUNG AND I AM LEARNING HOW TO LIVE.