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<3.
(but also: Theo's not the worst. Steve is the worst.)
Came here to say this exact thing!
I wonder how often queer people, as children, become the ones who sort of develop these antennae for picking up on the shame, anxieties and alienation getting wordlessly broadcast inside their families. Part of the relief of growing up and leaving home for me was realizing how many of those feelings weren’t mine, and had actually never belonged to me. But I’d absorbed them like it was my job, and they creaked and rattled around inside my body for a long time.
I think that you’ve hit on a real insight here. I also wonder if some of the otherness that many of us experience growing up comes of other kids picking up on our carrying the family ghosts.
I love your comics, Alyssa!
Honestly this has been haunting me all day long! So spooky and real!