What reminds you that you are human?

& interviewing Undral

Feb 20, 2023

*Aquatic Cosmos,* 10 x 20 inches, gouache, ink on wood panel. Learn more here.

2 question interview, one for me & one for you

This is a new module in the #e30613 newsletter, a quick two question interview with someone I know. One question I ask, and another one I greet.

For the very first installment, an interview with Undral — a Slytherin. That is all she wanted for her bio.

Zuza - Q: What reminds you that you are human?

Undral - A: When I feel that I love somebody. I feel this is where my logic ends, I try to be very pragmatic about most things but I always had trouble finding what love meant for me. There are many approaches you can take. I had so many of these conversations; but I stopped to see the point now. What does love mean? It started to feel like the more you try to define it, the more you take the magic out of love.

I like to be able to define things. I like to see them clearly — no ambiguity. Love is one of the things that I appreciate for the ambiguity. The only thing that I accept as ambiguous, really.

This acceptance makes me feel human.

Undral - Q: What is your favorite star. Oh, and why?

Zuza - A: γ Cassiopeiae (Gamma Cassiopeiae), the brightest star from Cassiopeia. I like it because it is in the first constellation I ever learned to identify when I went sailing, so it holds some special memories in the name.

Reading

Working on a suicide helpline changed how I talk to everyone in Psyche

“It turns out that conversations with friends are not so different. Even when you think you know somebody, you never have all the information; something always gets lost in translation. Sometimes you strip away unnecessary banality but, often, something essential is cut. Friends might avoid the truth because they are afraid of being judged. They might be unable to put their thoughts into words, or they might be held back by motives or concerns they don’t even fully understand themselves. Or they might be expressing themselves perfectly well to you, but you twist their words because you are superimposing your own models of the world onto them. To varying degrees, there is an uncrossable chasm between you and everybody you care about.” — from the article above by Natalia Dashan