Sticking one's head out of girlhood essays---stumbled upon this little miracle. I love your writing style. It's sharp without being austere, your description flashes through ludically, palpably in places, there's wit and the sense that the writer is smiling behind the screen whilst recalling some of these memories. I love the slight irreverence towards capital letters. It's all brilliant. Thank you. I hope you hold onto as much of your boyhood as you believe is sensible to, right to.
Hey thanks so much!! That means a lot,—your description of my writing style is the best compliment i've ever received i think, probably lol
And i think capitalization is a tool like any other! It's a neat little way of preserving voice in the current blogosphere revival we have going here. Just so long as the capitalization remains consistently applied throughout the piece you really can get away with having a unique stylized, visually distinct voice.
I'm definitely going to hold onto boyhood,—i don't want to leave it behind entirely because it's too baked into my subconscous by this point and i think if i abandoned it outright, like any unexamined parts of the psyche it would turn bad in some way. I guess turning it back to you,—in your opinion is there a way to quantify boyhood/girlhood (which i guess is just gendered coming-of-age expression?) and if so how much should be left behind? How much should be carried along into the weird golden swirl of adulthood and eventually old age?
There was a passage in Jung's Stages of Life's Way in which he discusses a guy who spent his whole adult life incredibly stern and miserable, but one day in bed at around age 70 he turns to his wife and says "I've figured it out! I'm a scallywag!" and from then on he became extremely outgoing, excited, cracking jokes and feeling ready to live life again. In essence he had rediscovered his (in this case) boyhood,—it's rather fucked up to me that childhood is a form of happiness that's only discoverable on either horizons of a fully lived life.
Thanks for the mention and the nice read. And regarding how boyhood vs. girlhood is valued, I'd also add that society values youth in men and women differently. So girlhood is a time to be fetishized and eternally yearned for, whereas boyhood's an unwanted metamorphic stage to be shed ASAP on the way to manhood.
Hey thanks, and yeah that’s an absolutely perfect way to phrase it,—boyhood feels like holding onto a stick of dynamite with the fuse already lit whereas girlhood is included in a personal identity going forward into adulthood
this was such a beautiful read!! the love you have for your friends shines through and your opening paragraphs about girlhood being something to hold on to vs boyhood only being fully understandable once left behind will stick with me for a long time! incredible as always 🫶
Sarah!! So glad you liked it! That first paragraph came to me as I was grogging my way out of bed last tuesday, still so incredibly hung over from the bachelor party. I lowkey still feel hungover and it's been seven days lol
As an outsider looking in, I understand Boyhood to be two specific experiences: getting your music taste from Skate 3 and finding a body in the woods with your friends.
Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this. There was a really compelling duality about it. Both punchy and soft, micro and macro.
holy shit absolutely those two points are 100% true. Skate 3 had an incredible soundtrack and growing up i swear i thought i would recreate Stand By Me with my friends some point. Never happened smh.
And thanks for reading!! it’s always reassuring when my nonsense resonates with someone.
Such a great piece! It’s interesting the difference between girlhood and boyhood. Most girls can tell you that our childhood inherently demands maturity from its start and continues to live within us. Whereas boyhood seems finite and is left behind for others. Boyhood is Tony Hawk’s pro skater on PlayStation and donating the games to goodwill for others to pick up (or so what I can remember from my brother). It has an expiration date, but I don’t want to believe that’s true; I see that boy in my brother everyday. Perhaps boyhood lives alongside girlhood. Another testament for needing people in your life.
wow, this was such a beautiful read. the part where you said about “boyhood making living more dramatic by way of the contrast with its opposite”, just - hit!!! I think I’m gonna think about this for a long, long time. I’ve also never heard about boyhood, from a boy, so this was - amazing. thank you for sharing!!
Thansk for sharing. I’ve never read such a thoughtful piece about boyhood from a … boy! I’ve always had hypothetical conversations about it with girlfriends.
Sticking one's head out of girlhood essays---stumbled upon this little miracle. I love your writing style. It's sharp without being austere, your description flashes through ludically, palpably in places, there's wit and the sense that the writer is smiling behind the screen whilst recalling some of these memories. I love the slight irreverence towards capital letters. It's all brilliant. Thank you. I hope you hold onto as much of your boyhood as you believe is sensible to, right to.
Hey thanks so much!! That means a lot,—your description of my writing style is the best compliment i've ever received i think, probably lol
And i think capitalization is a tool like any other! It's a neat little way of preserving voice in the current blogosphere revival we have going here. Just so long as the capitalization remains consistently applied throughout the piece you really can get away with having a unique stylized, visually distinct voice.
I'm definitely going to hold onto boyhood,—i don't want to leave it behind entirely because it's too baked into my subconscous by this point and i think if i abandoned it outright, like any unexamined parts of the psyche it would turn bad in some way. I guess turning it back to you,—in your opinion is there a way to quantify boyhood/girlhood (which i guess is just gendered coming-of-age expression?) and if so how much should be left behind? How much should be carried along into the weird golden swirl of adulthood and eventually old age?
There was a passage in Jung's Stages of Life's Way in which he discusses a guy who spent his whole adult life incredibly stern and miserable, but one day in bed at around age 70 he turns to his wife and says "I've figured it out! I'm a scallywag!" and from then on he became extremely outgoing, excited, cracking jokes and feeling ready to live life again. In essence he had rediscovered his (in this case) boyhood,—it's rather fucked up to me that childhood is a form of happiness that's only discoverable on either horizons of a fully lived life.
Thanks for the mention and the nice read. And regarding how boyhood vs. girlhood is valued, I'd also add that society values youth in men and women differently. So girlhood is a time to be fetishized and eternally yearned for, whereas boyhood's an unwanted metamorphic stage to be shed ASAP on the way to manhood.
Hey thanks, and yeah that’s an absolutely perfect way to phrase it,—boyhood feels like holding onto a stick of dynamite with the fuse already lit whereas girlhood is included in a personal identity going forward into adulthood
I love both of your comments!!
this was such a beautiful read!! the love you have for your friends shines through and your opening paragraphs about girlhood being something to hold on to vs boyhood only being fully understandable once left behind will stick with me for a long time! incredible as always 🫶
Sarah!! So glad you liked it! That first paragraph came to me as I was grogging my way out of bed last tuesday, still so incredibly hung over from the bachelor party. I lowkey still feel hungover and it's been seven days lol
MOOD!!!!
As an outsider looking in, I understand Boyhood to be two specific experiences: getting your music taste from Skate 3 and finding a body in the woods with your friends.
Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this. There was a really compelling duality about it. Both punchy and soft, micro and macro.
holy shit absolutely those two points are 100% true. Skate 3 had an incredible soundtrack and growing up i swear i thought i would recreate Stand By Me with my friends some point. Never happened smh.
And thanks for reading!! it’s always reassuring when my nonsense resonates with someone.
leaving a dead body in the woods to "discover" with your boys later as an act of Reclaiming Boyhood <3
Bring back boyhood!! We need more dead bodies left in the woods for children to discover! Let boys be boys!
Such a great piece! It’s interesting the difference between girlhood and boyhood. Most girls can tell you that our childhood inherently demands maturity from its start and continues to live within us. Whereas boyhood seems finite and is left behind for others. Boyhood is Tony Hawk’s pro skater on PlayStation and donating the games to goodwill for others to pick up (or so what I can remember from my brother). It has an expiration date, but I don’t want to believe that’s true; I see that boy in my brother everyday. Perhaps boyhood lives alongside girlhood. Another testament for needing people in your life.
boyhood is innocence and naivety incarnate (not even done with this and i fw it so heavy)
something that can only be experienced in retrospect
i think the lack of it is the only thing that makes it clear, sort of like being hungover lol
wow, this was such a beautiful read. the part where you said about “boyhood making living more dramatic by way of the contrast with its opposite”, just - hit!!! I think I’m gonna think about this for a long, long time. I’ve also never heard about boyhood, from a boy, so this was - amazing. thank you for sharing!!
What! Thanks so much for the kind words. Boyhood's tied with the death drive in a very dramatic way, i think.
cool, beautiful stuff!!
Thansk for sharing. I’ve never read such a thoughtful piece about boyhood from a … boy! I’ve always had hypothetical conversations about it with girlfriends.
He is, infact, just a boy.
BRILLIANT. As always.
OMG thanks Amanda!!
Yes 🙌🙌 love.
!!!!!!!! thanks zoe !!!!!!!!
great way to put it