this is me grown

The first two pages of Sophie's Choice by William Styron are brilliant. Written retrospectively (and almost autobiographically) as a glimpse into the life of a 20-year-old aspiring writer, the paragraphs echo the confusion and frustration often felt by most post-grads transitioning from four comfortable college years into a career/adulthood. He writes,

I was glad to be shut out of my job-the first and only salaried position, excluding the military, of my life-even though its loss seriously undermined my already modest solvency. Also, I now think it was constructive to learn so early in life that I would never fit in as an office worker, anytime, anywhere. In fact, considering how I had so coveted the job in the first place, I was rather surprised at the relief, indeed the alacrity, with which I accepted my dismissal only five months later.

But while Stingo used his time after work to pursue his literary career, I went to Bonnaroo. I don't regret going, and I learned some very important life lessons plus a crash course in how to handle ridiculously self-important hipsters, but I don't know if it's going to be novel worthy 20 years from now. Unless someone I met there becomes ridiculously famous and has a downward drug spiral with a cataclysmic suicide that catapults a posthumous music career.




Wearing: cropped brocade jacket by H&M, floral applique top by Y3, satin pants by Stella McCartney x H&M (second design collab done by H&M!), leopard belt by ASOS, Pigalle Plato 120 by Christian Louboutin



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