Issue No. 4: My Birthday

January 27, 2020

Dear Readers,

If you have spent time with me in the physical realm, you may have heard me talk about my birthday.

I care a lot about my birthday. It's my favorite holiday. I am a person who places a lot of emphasis on my birthday, and I strongly support others who do this, as well.

I notice that there are some people who are critical of birthday-centric thinking. Some people see it as being self-obsessed, narcissistic, and vapid. These are people who, in my personal experience, are men. And people who tend to really value and prioritize their birthdays and also come under fire for doing so, in my experience, are not men.

In my personal experience, speaking only for myself, people who are not men tend to put others first in their lives, whether that be from conditioning and societal pressure and/or the goodness of their hearts. People who are not men spend a lot of time accommodating others, and don't have the opportunity to put themselves first as much as people who are men. Generally speaking.

So could you please lay off for one goddamn day and let us enjoy our birthdays? The other 364 days in the year are about other people. Let this day be about us.

Now that I've prefaced my birthday party with an inflammatory essay, I'd love to invite you to my celebration. As you may or may not know, my beloved room mate has abandoned me for a dog and taken all of the living room furniture, so I am using this opportunity to turn my apartment into an exhibition space for my birthday. The show will feature works by Joseba Eskubi, Serge Serum, Marni Selmanson, and me, too.

Opening celebration:

8 February 2020

6-10pm

(my actual birthday)

All my love and it's ok if you begrudge me for being obsessed with my birthday,

Sarah