A piece about a friend

I became friends with Carly in high school out of proximity and convenience; in all honesty, we were both just art transfer students looking to find friends our freshman year. Nevertheless, it is our transformation from surface-level friends to now sharing an unspoken bond that makes my relationship with her so special. As a (soon to be) famous actress, Carly plays a prominent role in my teenage coming of age story. She was someone present in my journey as a queer woman discovering what it meant to have a crush for the first time—to romanticize, overthink, and read between lines that weren’t actually there. Likewise, I am honored to be privy to Carly’s own set of crushes, irrational behaviors, and firsts. Although we are so different in how we conduct ourselves—Carly is straight, white, has no filter, and sometimes makes distasteful vulgar sexual jokes—how we navigate the world both as anxious, inexperienced teenage girls feels very similar.

The rest of the essay is on her relationship with and understanding of gender, submitted for a Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies course.

Read the full thing here:

Gender Interview PDF