Julio

From the series <n>a little deeper than you thought</n> (2013) by photographer <n>Nina Röder</n>.

**An Observation on Adulthood · Gatton**

There seems to be this irony about adulthood
It's like you gain a lot of knowledge, but you lose a lot of hope
You ask less question, you pretend you have the answers
You put up walls and barriers
To avoid vulnerability, and you call it strength
But when I study those that I find most extraordinary
I see once common theme
They remain curious
Deeply curious
They embrace the questions that have no answers
They keenly observe the intricate details of humanity
They welcome emotion, sorrow and ecstasy, just the same
They dare to love, knowing full well the possibility of loss
It's like adulthood tells us that living is synonymous with running away from our true emotions
That living is self-protecting and suppressing
But I think it may just be the opposite
Living is finding the harmonious coexistence of life's juxtaposing concepts
The overwhelming beauty and the crippling pain
The indescribable connection and the undeniable distance
It's the freedom and the bondage
The love and the loss
The bravery and the fear
It's the windy and restless, and the still and reverent
The lonely and the busy
The tears and the belly laughs
And the beginnings and the ends
I believe if you can learn to cultivate a balance between it all
Then you have learned what it is to live
And to be truly human

French singer-songwriter <n>Françoise Hardy</n>.

Model <n>Veronica Compton</n> with dog <n>Bruno</n> in a <n>John-Frederics</n> scarf. Photo by <n>Richard Avedon</n>, 1949.

The painting "<n>Bound</n>" by <n>Whyn Lewis</n>, used as the cover for <n>Amy Hempel</n>'s book "Sing to It."

<n>Listen To Your Heart</n>, an acrylic painting by <n>Yiğit Can Alkan</n>.