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Contagion
The pathology of addiction
1. Who are you and whom do you love?
2. Where did you come from/how did you arrive?
3. How will you begin?
4. How will you live now?
5. What is the shape of your body?
6. Who was responsible for the suffering of your mother?
7. What do you remember about the Earth?
8. What are the consequences of silence?
9. Tell me what you know about dismemberment.
10. Describe a morning you woke without fear.
11. How will/have you prepare(d) for your death?
12. What would you say if you could?
— Bhanu Kapil, The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers
1. I am my mother’s daughter, born to her in August, the full force of summer barreling down. I love my friendships, born to me by a determination to put as much distance between us and our old worlds as we can. Something like manifest destiny, but our conception of “the West” has less to do with expanding an empire in God’s name and more to do with pursuing the sincere belief that another world is possible. I love with the full force of the sun. I love with the idea that love should be all-encompassing, like the sunlight…
