Excruciatingly intense homoerotic friendships; long road trips; non-dairy milk; hitting your Goodreads goal; Simon & Garfunkel; Elena Ferrante and Elif Batuman; being seen for who you really are; being loved in spite of your most self-destructive tendencies
Shitty DIY basement shows; inscrutable poetry; Sonic Youth and Deerhoof; hijinks and tomfoolery; relentless shitposting; classic rock references; blaming things on late capitalism; weed logic
Reading an asshole with an articulacy that he could only aspire to; world-wearied wisdom; Lucille Clifton; the Chicago indie scene; protecting your peace; Joni Mitchell; Angela Davis’ Blues Legacies and Black Feminism
Making friends at a backyard BBQ while shotgunning beers, telling childhood stories, and sharing recommendations for short story collections and outlaw country deep cuts, then meeting up again months later to see Dinosaur Jr. on tour
Waking up on Sunday morning, listening to 2000s indie-rock comfort food as loud as possible in wired earbuds while making pancakes for breakfast, and talking to the big guy one-on-one, having a long, profound discussion about aging, Chekhov, and gun violence over coffee and cigarettes