the tweet is by Hanif Abdurraqib (@NifMuhammad) and it says, "almost five years of this now-infamous photo that has really, really endured -- more than some of my actual writing. I'm happy with that."
That time again -- I share this photo every year around its anniversary, and this makes FIVE(!!) whole years since this photo was taken and started its enduring orbit on the various corners of the internet. 2017, New York, I was invited to a track-by-track celebration of Carly Rae Jepsen's EMOTION, where each writer was assigned one song to give a presentation on. I wanted "Warm Blood" but picked too late and got "Your Type," and made a presentation on my phone on the plane, but this was the only slide, and I read a long thing about desire, and about that thin veil between realizing you like someone and realizing you LIKE someone, about falling in love with friends, about being platonically in love with friends, about treating platonic love with the same generosity and rigor as romantic love. But mostly about the bravery of Big Declarations Of Emotion. Because of the nature of the party, and the fact that this photo has circulated for years without context, I think it has led to more Big Declarations Of Emotion than anything, and I don't mind that, I suppose. I still get people, to this day, telling me they were at this event or they've seen this photo and that they were inspired to tell someone they were in love with them. The results are mixed, of course. They always are. One couple is engaged to be married this year, which is cool. For some other folks, things got weird. For that, I apologize but to be fair, I wanted Warm Blood. Anyway, there are so many ways to fall for someone. If you are at the edge of the cliff anyway, consider taking the leap. The ground might be soft enough to hold you and whatever comes next, and if it isn't there will always be more cliffs, more edges.
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