Being You (and me)

On my last birthday, a friend sent me a card. She said some kind things, but two simple words sunk deep: Be you. I've heard it before, haven't we all? But this time I found my heart grabbing at the words, clinging to them, knowing they were more true now for me than perhaps they've been before.

I live in a city with a load of history, an inspiring narrative - but a narrative that also lends itself to some degree of pretense and self-importance. Like any city, we have gatekeepers and elites and th