am wondering always how one comes to love a country. Depending on who you are, or what your background is, or what trauma(s) you’ve inherited, it seems too complicated to unravel. It was not complicated for me to perform for a while, when I’d convinced myself in my teens and early twenties that my performance of love for a country would open itself up to some kind of safety for me and the people I held close. I also knew then, as I know now, that leaving felt immensely impractical. This is one of the biggest tricks of them all. You are burdened with a place, and then, by the time you realize
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