so I rewatched hamilton. when I saw a recording at 14 it changed my life. without it I probably wouldn’t be as into politics & have as good English as I do now. I read everything about Alexander Hamilton, and I wanted to be just like him.

I went on to idolize other ‘great men’, other geniuses: Mozart. Byron, Nabokov, Galois, Faraday, Feynman. But it didn’t help that I’m not them, and I will never be them, all for the better. This blessed, painful difference exists with and beyond identity.

I have never been able to capture what that difference means. But even if Hamilton gave me an intellectual awakening as it did the other kids, I would not have gained intellectual autonomy were it not for people like Yuri Kochiyama and Mitski.

Some characters inspire you to follow and copy, but truly great people inspire you unto yourself. I hate how saccharine this thread became, but here’s to them.