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Dear Friends... Flipbook PDF
Happy Valentine's Day!
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In the beginning of 2021, friends from the East coast to the West coast took self-portraits and responded to a series of self-reflective prompts to describe Love. This project includes people who are close friends, strangers to one-another, acquaintances, and/or relatives. What binds us together is our ability to exude love, feel love, give love, and beautifully transcend standard definitions of love. Everyday, our ability to love inspires me to be more empathetic, forgiving, and understanding, and in turn, the way that I love is comprised of a lot of everyone else's. I hope that people reading can feel this love and that friends can look back on their photos and responses whenever they need to remind themselves of all their beauty.
How do you define love?
Love is like music. Everyone has their own interpretation of it; yet we all desire to explore it and figure out why exactly it’s special to us.
I think I feel the most loved when someone checks on me out of the blue. When a song, poem, book, or movie reminds them of me. When they remember some tiny detail that I’ve When do you feel the most loved? shared with them at some point in time. I feel loved when someone tells me, in whatever way, that I’ve loved them well. That I’ve made them feel cherished. Because I guess you know you’re loved by someone when you’ve made them feel seen and loved too. I feel loved when I’m being critical or moody, and I’m met with the gentleness and graciousness of someone who knows that I’m hurting and afraid. I feel loved when someone stands up for me because most people think I’m the tough one, and so they rarely come to my defense. I feel loved when people know that I’m responsible and structured, but that I’m also the life of the party (and allow me to be both without criticism or limitation). Spontaneous dates give me a high that lasts for days. There is simply nothing like having someone splurge their time on me. Journals with inscriptions. Letters. And for those non-verbal moments, my heart is always moved by a forehead kiss, a dance in the kitchen, or just that look in someone’s eyes where you just know. I feel that too.
Where do you go to feel loved?
Ouuuu! I'm learning that I, myself, can radiate love! I have constantly been learning how to love myself, so that I can be at any location and still feel love. Yes, Lucious, treat yourself to some good loving!!! You could find me alone at a movie, restaurant, taking a hike, shopping unnecessarily, or at the gym, etc feeling all types of love from myself!!!! Now, of course, if I need a BOOST or extra supplement, I feel I can go to any location where there is family! And I can expand that radius of love even further due to being able to go to my amazing friends to feel the love!
Lucious "Tre" McEachin III
How do you define love? The truth is, I don’t know how to define love. I know I do love many things, people, places, and ideas but I don’t know if I know how to love them all. Sometimes, the way I love defies what I think love should look like. And then that makes me wonder, do I even know what love should look like? I know how to celebrate and cherish love. I know how to be hurt by and grieve in love. I know that I love that split second after getting into bed when everything is quiet. And I love that first bite of a really warm cheese sandwich after a long day at work. I know I love hugs from my dad, no matter how old I am. I know I love seeing people in love. I know I love my friends and my family. I know I love some people that I will never speak to again, some dead, some alive. I know I even love my children that I haven’t had yet. I know all these different kinds of love… in my head at least. But when it comes to actually loving, do I ever get it right? When I was young, I asked for a love that would save me. I was unfair and unkind. Does love look like this?
Mahgul Mansoor
When I was still young, I was asked for a love that would save someone. I was asked for a love that was selfish and heartless. Does love look like this? I am still young, and I have so much love to give and want to get so much of it back. It feels like a precious currency, one that I know is not meant for saving but one I am too scared to spend. Does love look like this?
When I was in college, I decided to break-up with my long-term boyfriend. Plans were already being made for our joint-graduation party, and I knew I had to say something soon. I didn't know how to outright tell my family the truth behind cancelling the graduation party, so I tried to come up with something that was still honest, but not quite allthe-way. My family and I were on the way to dinner, and everyone was surprised when I told them I wanted to have separate graduation parties. I didn't give much for them to work with, and their would-be-normal-inquiries made me feel anxious, guilty, and ganged up on. I remember sinking lower and lower, staring at the palms of my hands; refusing to rip the bandaid. By the time we got to the restaurant, I told them that I would meet them inside. I was crying when I heard a knock on the window. My dad motioned for me to scoot over and sat next to me in the backseat. "Let me tell you a story, Papillon. When I was 25, I divorced my first wife. I felt terrible! Everyone in the room thought I was an idiot and yelling, 'Jean! You are making the worst decision of your life!' My little sister, Lucie, stopped everyone and said, 'Hey- Jean is my brother, and whatever he decides to do, I will always be on his side.' In that moment, I knew everything would be okay." My dad firmly shook my knee and said, "Dorothy- you are my daughter, and I will always be on your side." I shed a few more tears and told my dad I'll join them soon. As I sat down, my brother gently asked me if I were hungry, and my mom rubbed my back and said, "Let's eat."
What do you love?
Amina Keita
Jajuan "Ju" Monroe
What does love look like to you?
Manny Rodriguez
CB Cotton
How do you define love? As I grow older, love continues to find me in the most unexpected places -and because of that love continues to take on additional meanings in my life. Most recently, the love that has continued to overwhelm and amaze me is the love from closest friends. I realized they met me with empathy and understanding and consciously chose to stand with me in every way. I'm still amazed and eternally grateful. From these same friends, I also learned to love my own reflection in the mirror. I'm still submerged in gratitude by this gift. How amazing is it to but truly be seen by those who see your hurt, and hope to help you heal. My closest friends have helped me learn to walk in love and light. This - this is how I hope to love them in return.
Krsna-Jivani Ziyad How do you love?
Katharine Thomas How do you define love?
Taylor Roland What do you love?
Ben Hilse
When do you feel the most loved?
Jason Trull
How do you define love?
Krsna-Jivani & Jajuan
Vincent Abiona How do you define love?
Beaux Kennedy Mitton
Jason Trull How do you define love?
Corbin Lynch
When do you feel the most loved?
I feel most loved when I am surrounded by family and friends with limited distractions; that moment in time when you can forget about the outside world and any worries and just have fun!
Blue Zal What does love look like for you?
When Do you feel the most loved?
Where do you go to feel loved?
Megan Stanley
How do you define love?
Norma "Normita" Enciso
How do you define love?
Dita Bruce
A time you were overwhlemed with love
Emily Fry When I felt overwhelmed with love
Ryan Kavon Hutchings How do you define love?
Justin Léon Brodie What do you love?
Victor Abiona How do you define love?
Love is like an ocean, it's waves pushes and pulls. You can choose to either fight or ride the waves, but even the strongest swimmers eventually succumb to it.
Katrina Whitfield
How do you define Love?
My concept of love reversed right before quarantine. I used to believe love was what I could give to someone else. Love was making someone else happy, even if I wasn’t. Giving, not taking. Having this time of forced isolation, I realized the last person I had learned to give my love to was myself. I no longer had the distraction of work, “obligatory” nights out were cancelled, I had freshly walked away from a toxic relationship and traditional Sunday dinners at my parent’s house were no longer an option. For the first time, I was alone with myself. I had time. Time to question where I had been looking for love. To question what I loved to do. To think about if my life was leading me to something I loved or dreaded. Most importantly, I had time to rediscover my faith. I began a journey of self love to answer my new questions and began by loving myself the way God loved me. Along the way, I’ve learned self love is the root of all love. By loving yourself first, you align with the highest version of yourself, giving only the best of yourself. When you’re able to give the best of yourself, you’re able to love in such a way that those who do not know God may know him through you.
Damola Akintunde When do you Feel the most loved?
Joseph Evander Locklear What do you love?
Mariüs McAllister De Pierre What does love look Like to you?
Love to me looks like patience and understanding. Having the patience and capacity to love yourself gives you the ability to love others. The understanding is developed through communication and learning one another. This allows everyone to make mistakes and learn from them with a similar goal to love each other better as time progresses.
Rosalia Preiss
How do you define love? Maybe it’s just the Pisces in me, but I find myself feeling overwhelmed with love often. Sometimes it’s romantic- like when my brain has wandered off 50 years in the future in an elaborate fantasy about marrying the cute stranger I just saw in the grocery store. Or when a beautiful girl whose mind races the same way as mine does is inches from my face, painting on winged eyeliner for me because she knows how to do it just perfect.But a lot of times, it’s so much more complex than just romance- I feel it when I’m laying in bed, head to toe with my best friend, communicating our care for each other in a way that’s almost telepathic. Or on a dance floor in the back room of a Boston bar, drunk on vodka cranberries, surrounded by strangers who are all screaming the lyrics of an old pop punk song right along with me. Or laying in my front yard in the summer, dripping sweat but surrounded and cradled by the earth and covered by the sky. I felt it most when I would stage elaborate fashion shows out of my Grammy’s closet every Thursday when she would pick me up from school, announcing each other’s increasingly silly looks with terrible fake Russian and French accents until we were laughing too much to keep going.I’ve felt overwhelmed with love in every first kiss. I’ve felt overwhelmed with love in every hug from a friend after a breakup. I’ve felt overwhelmed with love seeing a couple I didn’t know reuniting at the arrivals gate of RDU airport. It may sound cheesy to say, but I really believe love is all around us, just waiting to overwhelm us with its power and beauty.
Yasmin Byott
At night I beg my pillow As it drinks my tears Why you'd leave me here Like a widow But less sincere Since you chose to disappear You're who I think of when I sleep With no inhibition Just my mind and broken inhibition
William
How do you define love?
Victoria Weathers
What does love look like to you ?
2.14.21 Love Love is happiness, togetherness, community with intimate moments that make getting through life worthwhile. We become better at loving when we start with ourselves. It cliche but it’s what I’m learning to be true. We lose genuine love when we love others more than we chose to love ourselves. Love for me is a mirror and a teacher and I’m forever grateful.