Am I standing too gay?
What about these colourful socks?
Are they too much?
Will holding a partner’s arm in public turn into a problem?
Something private and intimate altered into something shameful or political, all through other people’s reactions.
Imagined futures are projected onto our bodies like film reels, blurring the skin that lies beneath.
That tension feels a lot like shame.
It’s a fleeting line and something that might even seem inconsequential, but it gestures towards something greater.
And in her journal, Kasio’s self-illustrations are blurred and vague.
Checking her queerness by deleting it.
Things pick up for Kasio before the credits roll.
The universe wouldn’t be whole without people like Kasio.
From there, as promised, things turn around for Kasio.
She repairs her relationship with both her Mam and her friends.
What Kasio does throughout the game is use her journal as a safe haven away from everyone else.
All of these games were my queer journals in a way.
Spaces, away from prying eyes, where I didn’t need to check myself.
