“Sometimes I think, Was she thinking about me when she was drinking? Did any of them ever think about me when they were putting straws in their noses and needles in their arms? Did they even think about me once?”… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“I look away from her. “I have felt like an old man my whole life. And they get to have fun and snort their fucking drugs and get wasted and it doesn’t matter who they’re hurting because they’re young and… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“I remember watching those balloons as a little boy, each fall, wondering if someday I, too, would be nothing but a balloon in the… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“As she looks through the photos, she says quietly, “We had a lot of happy times together. I hope you remember some of them.” When I tell Brian stories about my life, he sees them differently from the way I do. He doesn’t see the loss. He sees the opportunity. The adventure. In front of my mother, he says to… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share
“We met in a school elevator, and he could tell from the way I spoke that we had some sadness in common.” — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“It’s not even 8:00 a.m., and I’ve already had my trombone stolen. I fucking hate seventh grade.” — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“He seems sad, and it occurs to me that we have a certain kind of loneliness in common.” — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“She’s been talking nonstop since five a.m.,” my brother says. “Like, I’m not exaggerating—nonstop. I even timed her at one point.” — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“His adopted dad is white and Jewish, giving him full access to black jokes, white jokes, and Jewish jokes. “You’re so lucky,” I say.… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“I ask for tons of notebooks for my birthday, the ones with college ruled lines, and I carry them with me, pretend they're my… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“She asks to see my diploma, holds it in her hands and smiles, reads it out loud before handing it back to me, and I hold it tightly on my lap, this piece of paper, the proof they won't find me dead on a couch on my thirty-eighth birthday or in some basement bathtub with my eyes wide and lifeless… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share
“For a long time, I felt like I was destined to inherit a certain kind of life and so I wouldn’t let myself think of it for fear of being even cognitively associated with it. But writing about those same people and places changed that, and I could suddenly face them and understand them and forgive them. It was really… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share
“I look around. Everybody else is wearing boxer shorts. Everybody. Checkered ones and striped ones and cool skater brands like Joe Boxer and Volcom.… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
“And the dreams I’ve kept for so long to myself, the ones I lose myself in when I work my new job—the day shift… — Kenny Porpora Copy Share Image
