relationships

“On the Sydney train, I sometimes like to play a quiet game with myself, where I imagine each commuter through the eyes of someone who adores them. The oil-stained man becomes a gentle, loving father. The teenage girl biting her sleeve becomes someone’s irreplaceable best friend. The elderly woman with the fierce stare becomes a widow whose late

“And yes, intimacy is also political. In a culture addicted to surveillance and curation, to be genuinely close with someone – offline, unmonetised, unmarketed – is nothing short of radical. To whisper something sacred and never post about it. To exist in a moment that will not be archived. In an age of algorithmic voyeurism, to protect intimacy is

“A person who knows they love 1980s Japanese jazz, pumpkin soup, moral complexity, and peach-skin textures has a better chance of finding someone who loves those same things, or someone who complements them in ways that are interesting.

A specific taste profile lets others see where their weirdness fits against yours, like puzzle pieces, but

Container people are rare and transformative. They hold space for you, and in that, they hold you. With them, you don’t have to measure your words or pre-chew your thoughts. You don’t have to shrink your bigness or inflate your quietness. You don’t have to be only the parts of yourself that are easily lovable. You know - intuitively, somatically -

“Our specificities are guideposts, like signals in the darkness. Beyond being quirks or aesthetics, they’re invitations. Each act of self-expression is a flare sent out across the vast night, helping the right people find us, our soulmates, kindreds, creative mirrors.”

-speak so you can be found

“You date someone and notice how they treat strangers with curiosity, or how they read poetry out loud, or how they respond to uncertainty with steadiness instead of fear. Through witnessing someone up close, you realise: I value that. I want to be like that. It updates your internal model. You are, it turns out, the kind of person who values