Aren’t you tired of swiping in the hopes of running into a specific someone you have an existing, lingering curiosity about? Here’s your chance to be brave—to take the active route instead of the passive one. Let’s connect again. (Entries may be minimally edited for clarity.)
Deleted Hinge
we matched on hinge after both having just gotten out of serious relationships. i panicked for other reasons and ended up deleting hinge but i still think about you. i’m sorry i deleted hinge and i wish i hadn’t so we could have kept talking.
Audubon Park Cutie
I’ve seen you (and your two dogs!) working out and training people at Audubon Park weekly for the past few years. I think you are super cute, and every time I run past I think that I should say hi but never seem to get the courage to do so. Maybe I will now that I have put it out there!
You Wanna Start Some Shit?!
Greetings, fellow droog! It is I, the devotchka you wrote about in March’s Close Encounters: “Ultraviolence on Frenchmen.” I’ve always wanted to be the subject of a missed connection, and the one you wrote was truly horrorshow. I actually creeched. My litso burned in pride that I made such an impression on you. I want to know who you are, to find out the identity of the malchik or devotchka behind the post. But, alas, you did not leave a way to reach you. So, I am hoping you viddy this little ditty and we can connect. Perhaps over a glass of moloko?
Connect Four at the Charley Crockett Show
To the guy at the Charley Crockett show at Euclid Records who did the really cool live portrait and played Connect Four with me while we waited for him to come on: heyy I think you’re really cute and nice and I’d love to get to know you 🙂 sorry for not getting any of your information.
Solidarity at NOLA Freedom Forum
Shout-out to Adan and Thafer, the organizers behind NOLA Freedom Forum. They consistently put on thoughtful, engaging, and energizing lectures, including April’s lecture on the Cuban Revolution and Cuba’s reality under the U.S. blockade. I also want to give a shout-out to the two Cuban women who spoke up during the Q&A session (I am so sorry that I did not catch both your names!) about the nuances to the Cuban experience, particularly for Black Cubans. There is a tendency for (mostly white) U.S. leftists (myself included at times) to center the U.S. in everything, and to flatten the reality and experiences of our international comrades and their communities (e.g., not every group in Cuba who protests the Cuban government is pro-U.S. imperialism and capitalism). There is also the tendency to fetishize resilience. Like you both said, we need to ask the Cuban people (and people everywhere) what they want, and to make sure our solidarity is with people and not governments—that is where the true revolution lies.
Submit your own close encounter to closeencounters@antigravitymagazine.com or through our new ANONYMOUS Google form. All email addresses will remain confidential. Don’t be a creep.
illustrations by Maegen Guidroz
