A Year of Film, or Suddenly I fell in love with him and ignored my dreams as though they were a burden of another.

         The year 2014 was marked with some extraordinary and ordinary events. I drove my car into a tree, moved into a new apartment, overcame a severe driving fear that had haunted me for way too long, met Jane Goodall, received a new promotion, started grad school, spent weeks in bed with mono (thanks Ollie), and spent nearly every single day with my greatest friend: Gustavo. We ate some good food, drank lots of beer/wine, and watched a lot of movies. On days away from work and school we attempted to cram as many movies as we could into our daily lives and discovered some new favorites while revisiting old ones as well. Attached to this overly sentimental/romantic post is a collection of movie stills that we took of some of our favorite moments from a few of the many movies that we watched last year. 
            Also, I would like to share a crucial realization that came over me one day while anxiously waiting for Gustavo to finish up his homework so that we could continue watching Dario Argento’s Deep Red. I had been reading about the famous French cross-dressing archaeologist Jane Dieulafoy who spent her entire career digging away alongside her husband Marcel. Together they discovered the ancient city of Susa in Iran and together they even fought in the terrifying front lines of the Franco-Prussian war. You see, for many years I was under the belief that I would only find true happiness in the freedom of my self-expression, but what I have discovered is that I am finding true happiness and freedom through the expression of another. Like Dieulafoy, I feel that my greatest worth as an individual is not best expressed through independence, but through partnership. This means that I have released myself from being consumed by my own dreams and desires by consuming myself into a life of fearless companionship. I am not solitary, I was really wrong about that.
           Happy New Year.