Keeping in Touch

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<<nobr>> <map name="infographic" id="bodyoutline"> <area alt="Begin button" title="Click to begin" data-passage="Dedication" shape="rect" coords="573,966,1220,1216" tabindex="0" /> </map> <div class="resizable imageMapObserve" style="float: center"> <img usemap="#infographic" alt="Title page reading 'Keeping in Touch: lesbian dating during a global pandemic. The title is handwritten in blue and gold on cotton paper, with two hands painted with violets at each side. There's an embroidered button at the centre bottom of the page, saying'Begin'" @src="setup.ImagePath + 'title_page.png'" /> </div> <</nobr>>

<header style="text-align:center; font-size: 20px"><h2>Chapter 1</h2></header> <section class="paper">\ <article class="paperheader"></article>\ <div class="papertext1">28 February 1952, Helsingfors "In emotional terms, these few years have been very shaky and uncertain. Constantly in the early stages of falling in love, masses of concocted feelings and disappointments, casual new liaisons and the renewal of older ones – and all the while that uncomfortable sense of hanging in mid-air, seeking where there’s nothing to be found. I think I finally know what I want now, and as my friendship with you is very important to me and is very much founded on honesty, I want to talk this over with you. I haven’t made the final decision, but I’m convinced that the happiest and most genuine course for me would be to go over to the ghost side.” <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'Letters from Tove' by Tove Jansson, edited by Boel Westin and Helen Svensson, pp. 238-239" 500>>Tove Jansson to Eva Konikoff<</hovertip>></div> </div></section><a data-passage="DatingApp"> <span class="sc-icon sc-arrow-right" alt="arrow pointing right"></span></a>

<h3 style="text-align: center">To Storm & To all my lesbian, queer, gay, non-binary,<br/>and trans siblings who found love during the pandemic.</h3> <a data-passage="Chapter1" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

by Giulia Carla Rossi

Keeping in Touch: Lesbian Dating During a Global Pandemic <div class="resizable imageMapObserve" style="height: 200px"> <img alt="a hand made of clay painted with blue violets and golden accents" @src="setup.ImagePath + 'mini-hand.png'" /> </div>

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<header class="dating"><h2>🎉 It's a match! 🎉</h2>27 October 2020</header> <<speech "You" "S.">>Hey! I can’t believe you have more than 400 books… I’ve been reading the collected letters of Tove Jansson. She wrote the Moomin books and had her longest relationship with a woman. Some of the letters are really beautiful and I always love reading about queer women from the past. Have you read any of her work?<</speech>> @@.delayed;<<speech "Me" "G.">>Hello! Haha yes that’s a bit of a rough estimate 📚 I’ve been living in the same space for a while and accumulated a lot! Yes, I love Tove Jansson! Especially her collection of letters… do you know the one about the “ghost side”? 👻 <</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "You" "S.">>It’s impressive! I’ve moved around a lot so I feel like my book shelves are not very representative of how many books I’ve actually read… haha yes! One of my favourite letters. I find historical queer slang so interesting and I hadn’t come across that term anywhere else. Have you read ‘Fair Play’? It’s a collection of short stories based on her relationship with her partner and it’s really sweet.<</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "You" "S.">>I’ve been struggling with concentration in the pandemic and I’m finding letters or short stories easier to read.<</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "Me" "G.">>I haven’t! I should probably add it to my never-ending book pile 🙈 I perfectly understand struggling with concentration… I’ve been finding reading in general quite difficult in the past year! Too much information to keep up with in the news… <</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "Me" "G.">>I also find queer slang and secret/coded language very interesting <</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "You" "S.">>Yeah, I have a whole pile of books I’d like to read, it’s just finding the energy… Also, I have to read a lot for my PhD, so when it comes to leisure time I’ve mostly been embroidering or knitting recently 🧶. Have you taken up any creative hobbies during the pandemic? A lot of my friends seem to be making sourdough but I haven’t participated in the craze yet 😂<</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "Me" "G.">>Ooh I’ve always wanted to learn how to knit and embroider! There’s something very appealing in working with thread 🪡 no sourdough for me, but I’ve been making little clay sculptures with air-dry clay. I can make them and paint them at my desk in my bedroom, which is extra convenient right now! <</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "You" "S.">>I do find it quite meditative, although I have to remember to take breaks or I end up with sore wrists — it’s surprisingly hard work! Working with clay sounds really nice — I haven’t done that in years. What’s next on your reading list? 📚 <</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "Me" "G.">>I’ve actually got some new books today 👀 completely betraying the pile awaiting on my bedside table <</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "Me" "G.">><div class="resizable imageMapObserve" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 700px;"><img @src="setup.ImagePath+'books.png'" alt="a photo displaying a pile of hardback and paperback books. The spines read (from top to bottom): 'Felicity' by Mary Oliver; 'If Not, Winter - Fragments of Sappho' translated by Anne Carson; 'Flèche' by Mary Jean Chan; 'Gli Occhi Eroici' by Alessandra Cenni; 'Here Lies the Heart' by De Acosta; 'The Letters of Vita Sackville-West To Virginia Woolf' Edited by Louise DeSalvo and Mitchell A. Leaska; 'Dear Juliette' Selected, Edited, and Introduced by Susan Sherman"></div><</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "Me" "G.">>Not sure where to start from 🤔 Any suggestions? I think in this case you’re allowed to judge them by their covers! <</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "You" "S.">>Haha! I think that <<listbox "$book_chosen">><<option "Felicity" >> <<option "If Not, Winter - Fragments of Sappho" "If Not, Winter">> <<option "Flèche">> <<option "Gli Occhi Eroici">> <<option "Here Lies the Heart">> <<option "The Letters of Vita Sackville-West To Virginia Woolf" "The Letters of Vita to Virginia">> <<option "Dear Juliette">> <</listbox>> sounds like a good starting point! 😉 <</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<<speech "Me" "G.">>Sounds good to me!😌<</speech>>@@ @@.delayed;<a data-passage="Chapter2" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>@@

<header style="text-align:center; font-size: 20px"><h2>Chapter 2</h2></header> <section class="paper">\ <article class="paperheader"></article>\ <div class="papertext1">25 March 1957, Stockholm " P.S. How lovely to get your letter! I carry it with me everywhere. Yes, I’d like to sit on the hill at Brunsan and get a cold backside and a red nose and eat an awkward orange that makes a mess of my gloves and step in a deep puddle and then go home to our balls of fluff and tumble into your arms and fall asleep with my whole head full of spring!” <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'Letters from Tove' by Tove Jansson, edited by Boel Westin and Helen Svensson, p. 351" 500>>Tove Jansson to Tuulikki Pietilä<</hovertip>></div> </div></section><a data-passage="Texts"> <span class="sc-icon sc-arrow-right" alt="arrow pointing right"></span> </a>

<header class="texting"><h2>S. 🌸</h2></header> <div class="text-date">30 October 2020 at 11:32</div><div class="messages-wrapper"><div class="message from">Hey, it’s S.! ☺️ 🌸</div> <div class="message to">Added to my contacts! 👍</div><div class="message to">Hope your day is going well! I’ve got a lot of online meetings lined up 🙃</div> <div class="message from">Hope they go well! I find online meetings quite tough. I always feel a bit discombobulated when they’re over and my house is silent again. Hopefully some of them are regarding interesting things?</div><div class="message from">I don’t know how much you’re leaving the house at the moment, but I was wondering if you fancy meeting for a drink after work? We could wrap up warm and sit outside 🧣.</div> <div class="message to">Btw I started $book_chosen. Great choice 😉</div><div class="message to">It’s nice to feel I’m still part of a team, but yes, online meeting can be draining.</div><div class="message to">Yes! Let’s wear lots of layers, mask up and meet up! 😷</div> <div class="message from">Great! ✨ Maybe somewhere central-ish is the best halfway point? What time do you finish for the day? I could meet any time from 5pm onwards.</div> <div class="message to">Should we say 5:30pm? Let’s meet <<cycle "$location" autoselect>> <<option "on the Southbank" "the Southbank">> <<option "near Regent's Park" "Regent's Park">> <<option "in Covent Garden" "Covent Garden">> <<option "at the corner of Hyde Park" "Hyde Park">> <</cycle>></div> <div class="text-date"><a data-passage="Texts2"><u><b>30 October 2020 at 17:18</b></u></a></div> </div>

<header style="text-align:center; font-size: 20px"><h2>Chapter 3</h2></header> <section class="paper">\ <article class="paperheader"></article>\ <div class="papertext2">24 marzo 1909 "Ti porto con me, sì. Iersera, superando con uno sforzo acuto della volontà la prova del pubblico, sentivo la tua piccola mano allacciarsi alla mia, trepida per te, per tutto quello che mi hai dato in questi giorni di gioia ineffabile, la mia voce ha vibrato limpida e appassionata." <div style="text-align:center">...</div> 24 March 1909 "I bring you with me, yes. Last night, passing the test of a public audience with great willpower, I could feel your little hand interlacing with mine, anxious for you, for everything you've given me in these days of unspeakable joy, my voice trembled clear and full of passion." <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'Gli Occhi Eroici' by Alessandra Cenni, p. 59. Translation into English by Giulia Carla Rossi" 500>>Sibilla Aleramo to Lina Poletti<</hovertip>></div> </div></section><a data-passage="WhatsApp1"> <span class="sc-icon sc-arrow-right" alt="arrow pointing right"></span> </a>

<header class="texting whats"><h2>S. 🌸</h2></header><div class="text-date">31 October 2020 at 23:47</div><div class="messages-wrapper whats"> <div class="message from whats">Did you see this?</div><div class="message from whats"><img @src="setup.ImagePath+'lockdown2.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 300px;" alt="A screenshot of the BBC website, listing the new lockdown rules. The bullet points say: Meeting indoors or in private gardens will not be allowed; But individuals can meet meet one other person from another household outside in a public place; Pubs, bars, restaurants and non-essential retail across the nation will close but takeaways and click-and-collect shopping can remain open; Leisure and entertainment venues, including gyms, will also close; Construction sites and manufacturing workplaces can remain open; People are still allowed to form support bubbles; Children can move between homes if their parents are separated; Clinically vulnerable people are asked to be'especially careful' but people are not being asked to resume shielding"></div><div class="message from whats">Looks like we won’t be able to meet again for a while 😔. I’d really like to keep talking if you would though? 💛</div><div class="message to whats">Yes, I saw 😞 It felt like we were moving in that direction. I really enjoyed our date the other day, but I’m afraid we’ll be stuck at one first date for quite some time 😟 I’d love to keep in touch though!</div><div class="message from whats">I’m glad 💛 fingers crossed in a few weeks time it’ll be safe to meet again. In the meantime, I’m happy we can still keep in touch 📮. What’re you up to this Halloween evening? Reading any ghost stories or “ghost side” stories? 😉</div><div class="message to whats">Hehe 😉 I’ve recently bought a tarot deck - I don’t know much about reading tarots but I’d like to learn!</div><div class="message from whats">Oh, exciting! I have my mum's Motherpeace tarot deck from the '80s.</div><div class="message to whats">Yes ✨ It’s something I’ve been curious about for a while so I think it’s time to act on it! Discovering new routes to knowledge 😌 Actually the very first reading I did was before our date 😉</div><div class="message from whats">Ooh what did the reading tell you? (I hope it was good 🤞)</div><div class="message to whats"><img @src="setup.ImagePath+'6ofcups.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 300px;" alt="a photo of the 6 of Cups tarot card from the Rider Waite Tarot Deck, depicting two children surrounded by six golden cups with white flowers"></div><div class="message to whats">It's the Six of Cups 🏆. According to <<hovertip "From: 'Modern Tarot' by Michelle Tea, p. 196.">>the book I'm reading<</hovertip>>, "the overarching message of the six of cups is one of sweetness". It has a lot to do with wholesome pleasures... and wholesome people 😊</div><div class="message from whats">Sounds lovely! 💕 And promising 😉</div> </div> <a data-passage="Chapter4" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

<header style="text-align:center; font-size: 20px"><h2>Chapter 4</h2></header> <section class="paper">\ <article class="paperheader"></article>\ <div class="papertext3">28 November 1937, 5 Channing Place "How difficult it is to love well - to know when it is better to be silent, that even joy can strain the heart so frightfully - though in general everything that denies life seems false to me." <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'Dear Juliette: Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley', Edited by Susan Sherman, p. 63" 500>>May Sarton to Juliette Huxley<</hovertip>></div> </div></section><a data-passage="Email1"> <span class="sc-icon sc-arrow-right" alt="arrow pointing right"></span> </a>

<img @src="setup.ImagePath+'G.png'" style="float: left; width: 60px" alt="a circular icon displaying the capital letter G on a neon pink background"> <header style="margin-left:100px; font-size: 20px"><h2>Buon Anno</h2></header><div class="email-date">31 December 2020, 13:30</div> Dear S., I really hope you’re safe and well, and that you managed to have a good holiday break regardless of the current situation. I’ve been having some issues with my phone and I thought, why not reach out via email? I’ve always liked using email as long letters, rather than the quick messages I send out for work. I hope this is a welcome one. I’ve just finished reading '$book_chosen': I loved it. I ended up underlining most of the book. I hope I’ll be able to read and enjoy more books in 2021 than what I had the energy for in 2020. How are your projects going? Did you paint or embroider any new pieces? I’ve been trying to write some poems but spending all my time indoors seems to be more draining than relaxing. Our weekly chats and videocalls have become the part of the week I look forward to the most. I was reading my horoscope for this week (<<hovertip `'<img style="width: 800px;" src="' + setup.ImagePath + 'capricorn.png" alt="a screenshot showing a drawing of a capricorn and a heading reading: December 22-January19. The main text reads: I invite you to write a message to a person you would like to be closer to, and who would be happy to have you closer. Be inspired by what poet Clementine von Radics wrote to her boyfriend explaining why they should move in together: Because you sent me a haiku to the moon while you were drunk. Because you cried at the end of the movie Die Hard on Christmas Eve. Because when I\'m sick you bring me fruit, kiss me on the mouth and hold me even if I suck. Because you give me flowers for no reason, but you brought me peanut butter candy on Valentine\'s Day. Because every time I show you a poem I like, you\'ve already read it.">'`1000>>attached<</hovertip>>) and I immediately thought of you. Hoping for better and more nourishing times, Happy last day of the year, G. <a data-passage="Chapter5" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

<header style="text-align:center; font-size: 20px"><h2>Chapter 5</h2></header> <section class="paper">\ <article class="paperheader"></article>\ <div class="papertext5">1901 “Your letter folds me as closely as your arms and touches me marvelously as your lips, I am bound by it as though all your body were over me, held by it as by your eyes when they glitter like jewels in the sun. My poet, my mistress, my lover! I love you all ways tonight, but most of all for the grace of your lines.” <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'No Modernism without Lesbians', by Diana Souhami, p. 222" 500>>Eva Palmer to Natalie Barney<</hovertip>></div> </div></section><a data-passage="Email2"> <span class="sc-icon sc-arrow-right" alt="arrow pointing right"></span> </a>

<img @src="setup.ImagePath+'S.png'" style="float: left; width: 60px" alt="a circular icon displaying the capital letter S on a green background"> <header style="margin-left:100px; font-size: 20px"><h2>You've got mail! :) (and some flowers 🌸)</h2></header><div class="email-date">10 February 2021, 19:27</div> Dear G., How has being back at work been? Are you working on any particular projects? It was great to see your lovely face on Zoom the other day. I was so glad to hear you still had a good Christmas, despite not being able to go back to Italy. I was lucky I could bubble up with my parents and spent the holidays with them. How are you getting on with your poems? How has being back in a rhythm been? Have you found yourself writing more or leaving it to the side? I'm really excited to get to writing more seriously again. I love the PhD process but sometimes I do find it hard how long the research period is before you actually get to the writing part, which is always the thing I find most fun. I was inspired by the horoscope you sent me in December and checked out the same website. <<hovertip `'<img style="width: 800px;" src="' + setup.ImagePath + 'scorpio.png" alt="a screenshot showing a drawing of a scorpion and a heading reading: Scorpio, October 23-November 21. The main text reads: To give you the spirit of the coming weeks, Scorpio, I offer you the wisdom of two experts in the art of slow and steady progress. The first is the writer Iris Murdoch: One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small gratifications, and if some of these are inexpensive and easy to obtain, so much the better. The second is the activist and writer Helen Keller: I would like to complete a great and noble task, but my main duty is to complete small tasks as if they were great and noble">'`1000>>My horoscope<</hovertip>> for this week is all about small gratifications and finding greatness in small tasks. I love to surround myself with flowers and their beauty – the small gratifying task I’ve just completed is sending you a bouquet in the post. I hope you’ll find equal gratification in its arrival. 😄 S. x <a data-passage="Chapter6" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

<header style="text-align:center; font-size: 20px"><h2>Chapter 6</h2></header> <section class="paper">\ <article class="paperheader"></article>\ <div class="papertext4">October 1918 “O Mitya, give me great glaring vices, and great glaring virtues, but preserve us from the neat little neutral faintly pink or faintly mauve ambiguities that trot between… Be wicked, be brave, be drunk, be reckless, be dissolute, be despotic, be an anarchist, be a religious fanatic, be a suffragette, be anything you like, but for pity’s sake be it to the top of your bent — Live — live fully, live passionately, live disastrously if necessary. Live the gamut of human experiences, build, destroy, build up again! Live, let’s live, you and I — let’s live as none ever lived before, let’s explore and investigate, let’s tread fearlessly where even the most intrepid have faltered and held back!” <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'Violet to Vita: The Letters of Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West, 1910-1921', Edited by Mitchell A. Leaska and John Phillips" 500>>Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West<</hovertip>></div> </div></section><a data-passage="Email3"> <span class="sc-icon sc-arrow-right" alt="arrow pointing right"></span> </a>

<img @src="setup.ImagePath+'G.png'" style="float: left; width: 60px" alt="a circular icon displaying the capital letter G on a neon pink background"> <header style="margin-left:100px; font-size: 20px"><h2>A collection of flowers</h2></header><div class="email-date">16 April 2021, 15:20</div> Dear S., I can’t believe it’s already April! I like the warm spring rain, but I really long for sunshine! Work is picking up again and my weekdays are getting busier than expected. On the other hand, there isn’t much else to be busy with these days, so I guess it’s better than being bored. I just wanted to send you a quick email to update you on the flowers you sent me in February – I’ve been pressing them for the past couple of months and I think they’re now ready to see the light of day once again! Thinking about the conversation we last had on poetry, I’ve found that writing comes to me in bursts these days, and a lot of my time is spent re-reading, revising and thinking about what I have already written. I’ve been re-reading some great queer poems as well and I thought: why not combine them with your flowers? Below is a small anthology* of poems – choose a flower and you’ll get a snippet of a poem as an extra gift. Looking forward to our chat on Saturday! G. x <a data-passage="Poem1" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'viola1.png'" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 15px 15px; width: 120px" title="click for poetry!" alt="a pressed yellow and purple viola"></a> <a data-passage="Poem2" class="link-internal link-image"><img @src="setup.ImagePath+'viola2.png'" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 15px 15px; width: 100px" title="click for poetry!" alt="a pressed yellow viola"></a> <a data-passage="Poem3" class="link-internal link-image"><img @src="setup.ImagePath+'viola3.png'" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 15px 15px; width: 130px" title="click for poetry!" alt="a pressed light purple viola"></a> <a data-passage="Poem4" class="link-internal link-image"><img @src="setup.ImagePath+'viola4.png'" style="float: left; margin: 0px 20px 15px 15px; width: 80px" title="click for poetry!" alt="a pressed white and purple viola"></a> \*Did you know that the word anthology comes from the Greek <i>anthos</i> ‘flower’ + <i>-logia</i> ‘collection’? It originally referred to a collection of the “flowers” of poetry – one more reason to combine the two!

<header style="text-align:center; font-size: 20px"><h2>Chapter 7</h2></header> <section class="paper">\ <article class="paperheader"></article>\ <div class="papertext7">1 December 1926, Long Barn, Weald, Sevenoaks “If ever you tried not to have chicken pox, try now. If ever you tried not to be given a headache by Sibyl Colefax, try now. (I remember, ominously, that you said you were going to tea with her on Friday.) Please try with all your might not to let anything happen. I will be responsible for you after you have arrived, – only, please arrive. (I will let you know the trains tomorrow.) Bring your work, I won't interrupt. I so want you to be happy here. I wish, in a way, that we could put the clock back a year. I should like to startle you again, –even though I didn't know then that you were startled.” <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf', Edited by Louise DeSalvo and Mitchell A. Leaska, p.166" 500>>Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf<</hovertip>></div> </div></section><a data-passage="WhatsApp2"> <span class="sc-icon sc-arrow-right" alt="arrow pointing right"></span> </a>

<header class="texting whats"><h2>G. 📖</h2></header><div class="text-date">26 May 2021 at 09:48</div><div class="messages-wrapper whats"> <div class="message from whats">Booked! First dose of the vaccine in less than a month! 🎉</div><div class="message from whats"><img @src="setup.ImagePath+'booking.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 300px;" alt="A screenshot of the NHS website, showing a booking confirmation for the Covid vaccine. The text reads: Appointment 1 - 1st dose. Guy's Hospital, London Bridge Vaccination Centre 2. Great Maze Pond, Southwark, SE1 9RT.Date and time: Wednesday 09 June 2021 at 2:50pm"></div><div class="message to whats">Hooray! ✨ I’ve just booked mine as well, 1 day after yours!</div><div class="message from whats">So happy to hear that! Between this and all the beauty of spring unfolding around us, I’m starting to feel hopeful again 🙂</div><div class="message to whats">Yes! And I was thinking that maybe, after we both get our vaccines, we might want to…meet again? In person? For a walk and a chat outside maybe?</div><div class="message from whats">YES PLEASE</div><div class="message from whats">I mean, yes, it would be lovely to see you again in real life. 😊 In 3D!</div><div class="message to whats">Haha yes! Likewise 😊 Any suggestions on where we could meet?</div><div class="message from whats">How about $location? For old times’ sake?</div><div class="message to whats">Brilliant! It’s a (second) date 🙂</div> </div> <a data-passage="Chapter8" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

<<masteraudio stop>><<audio "start_bgm" volume 0.5 play loop>> <i>Keeping in Touch: Lesbian Dating During a Global Pandemic</i> @@.delayed;Commissioned by [[Control Shift|https://www.control-shift.network]] as part of their Feeling Machines Weekender, Thursday 30 March to Sunday 2 April 2023, Bristol, UK@@ @@.delayed;A full list of the books and other sources mentioned in the narrative is available [[here|https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fT2nyfVijVwsXfCOYE35g9xR6FVOlddPR_8cIXBcPOs/edit#]]@@ @@.delayed;The song on this page is by [[Storm Greenwood|https://open.spotify.com/artist/68Id2TE693NdSyFSKKnqmP]]@@ @@.delayed;Thank you for reading!@@ @@#blinky;[[RESTART|TitlePage][state.restart()]]@@ <<script>> $(document).one(':passagerender', function (ev) { $(ev.content).find("#blinky").fadeTo(1000, 0).fadeTo(1000, 1).delay(200).fadeTo(1000, 0).fadeTo(1000, 1).delay(200).fadeTo(1000, 0).fadeTo(1000, 1); }); <</script>> @@.delayed;P.S. S. and G. met up again at the end of the second UK lockdown in 2021, U-hauled shortly afterwards and have been living and growing flowers together ever since.@@

<header class="texting"><h2>G. 📖</h2></header> <div class="text-date">30 October 2020 at 17:18</div><div class="messages-wrapper"><div class="message from">Hey, I’m on my way to $location. Should be there by 5:35pm.</div> <div class="message to">Great! See you soon! I’m wearing a coat with zebra stripes on the collar and cuffs.</div> <div class="message from">Cool! Almost there. I’m wearing a beanie hat and red chequered trousers 👖 also a face mask, but I doubt that helps.</div> <div class="message to">The rain just started POURING! 😂</div> <div class="message from">Argh! Where are you? I forgot how big the train station is...</div> <div class="message to">I’m just walking and will be there in 2 mins.</div> <div class="message from">Cool, I’m by the big Costa</div><div class="message from">I can move around quite easily though!</div> <div class="message to">OK! I’ll try and find it — I think I’m fairly near it ☺️</div> <div class="text-date"><a data-passage="Texts3"><u><b>30 October 2020 at 22:03</b></u></a></div> </div>

<header class="texting"><h2>S. 🌸</h2></header> <div class="text-date">30 October 2020 at 22:03</div><div class="messages-wrapper"><div class="message to">Home! Hope you’ve got back safe and sound. It was really nice to get to chat with you and get to know you better and see your lovely masked face in person! ☺️</div> <div class="message from">Glad you’re home safe! I’m just walking home from the station so will be home soon. It was super lovely to meet you and chat and see YOUR lovely face ☺️. Let’s meet again soon 🍁 ♥.</div><div class="message from">(Maybe one day we’ll be able to see each other without a mask ♥).</div> </div> <a data-passage="Chapter3" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

<header class="texting"><h2>S. 🌸</h2></header> <div class="text-date">12 June 2021 at 14:24</div><div class="messages-wrapper"><div class="message to">Hey, I’m almost there!</div> <div class="message from">Great! On my way with this</div><div class="message from"><img @src="setup.ImagePath+'rose.jpeg'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 300px;" alt="A photo of a beautiful rose in the tones of pink and orange"></div> <div class="message to">Oh wow! Lucky me 😄 I can’t believe this is just our second date after almost a year! It feels like I’ve known you forever</div><div class="message to">(in a good way!)</div> <div class="message from">Yes, I know what you mean. I can’t wait to see you in person 😊</div> <div class="message to">Me neither. I’m just waiting right outside the station. It’s such a beautiful sunny day!</div> <div class="message from">Yes, we chose the perfect day for a reunion. Just coming up the stairs now.</div> <div class="message to">Which platform?</div><div class="message to">Oh wait</div><div class="message to">I see you!</div> </div> <a data-passage="TheEnd" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

<header style="text-align:center; font-size: 20px"><h2>Chapter 8</h2></header> <section class="paper">\ <article class="paperheader"></article>\ <div class="papertext2">8 marzo 1909, da casa “E ti bacio con devoto rispetto le mani e t’inghirlando la fronte di rose implorando dal sole su te il calore e la gloria.” <div style="text-align:center">...</div> 8 March 1909, from home “And I kiss your hands with devotion and respect, and I wreathe your forehead with roses, begging the sun for warmth and glory upon you.” <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'Gli Occhi Eroici' by Alessandra Cenni, p. 57. Translation into English by Giulia Carla Rossi" 500>>Sibilla Aleramo to Lina Poletti<</hovertip>></div> </div></section><a data-passage="Texts4"> <span class="sc-icon sc-arrow-right" alt="arrow pointing right"></span> </a>

“Without spring who knows what would happen. A lot of nothing, I suppose. The leaves are all in motion now the way a young boy rows and rows in his wooden boat, just to get anywhere. Late, late, but now lovely and lovelier. And the two of us, together—a part of it.” <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'viola1.png'" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 15px 15px; width: 120px" alt="a pressed yellow and purple viola"> <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'Felicity', by Mary Oliver" 500>>From <i>Late Spring</i> by Mary Oliver<</hovertip>></div> <a data-passage="Chapter7" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

“But now I do retrieve an afternoon of apricots and water interspersed with cigarettes and sand and rocks we walked across:                        How easily you held my hand beside the low tide of the world” <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'viola2.png'" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 15px 15px; width: 100px" alt="a pressed yellow viola"> <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'Haruko/Love Poems', by June Jordan" 500>>From <i>Poem for Haruko</i> by June Jordan <</hovertip>></div> <a data-passage="Chapter7" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

“Touching you I catch midnight as moon fires set in my throat I love you flesh into blossom I made you and take you made into me.” <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'viola3.png'" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 15px 15px; width: 120px" alt="a pressed light purple viola"> <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde', by Audre Lorde" 500>>From <i>Recreation</i> by Audre Lorde<</hovertip>></div> <a data-passage="Chapter7" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

“Together we are the color of magnets,       and also their doing. Manganese, lodestone, ores the light will not touch, so we touch the light—           give it to one another until we are riddled and leaking with it.” <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'viola4.png'" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 15px 15px; width: 80px" alt="a pressed white and purple viola"> <div class="papersignature"><<hovertip "From: 'Postcolonial Love Poem', by Natalie Diaz" 500>>From <i>I, Minotaur</i> by Natalie Diaz<</hovertip>></div> <a data-passage="Chapter7" class="link-internal link-image"> <img @src="setup.ImagePath+'letter.png'" style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 100px;" title="click to open the letter" alt="letter icon with a notification alter in the upper right corner"> </a>

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