V. Performance; a cloth, a hat, a crown

I think my identity is something I can put on. My personality, my passion, my gender, my voice, my appearance, may be of little more consequence than the shirt I am wearing as I write this. Yet the shirt itself, perhaps, holds all of these things within it. Each morning I wake up and I choose some version of myself. Some mornings I choose a person that feels more like myself than other mornings. Mostly I try to move closer. Even when alone I feel watched. Who is watching me? Who do I perform for, in the dark and quiet of my own room? How can I consent to performance, and how do I revoke that consent? When I get up on a stage, how many layers of performance have I put on? How much costume? If I get paid for this, what does it change? If I am not told that I am performing, do I still perform?

go back