ALEXANDRARAY*

Intamacy is a four-syllable word for, “here is my heart and soul, please grind them into a hamburger and enjoy.” It’s both desired, and feared, difficult to live with….and impossible to live without. It also comes attatched to lifes three R’s: Relatives, Romance, and Roomate. There are some things you can’t escape and other things you just dont want to know. I wish there was a rulebook for intimacy. Some kind of guide that could tell you when you’ve crossed the line. It would be nice if you could see it coming, and I dont know how you fit it on a map….

You take it where you get it and you keep it as long as you can. And as for rules…maybe there are none. MAYBE THE RULES OF INTIMACY ARE SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO DEFINE YOURSELF.  

Do we need distance to feel close? 

It seems fair and rational, your in love and if its real love than miles hath no meaning. In today’s society the options of connection are endless and literally wireless. But in the modern world does the technology really suffice for the warmth of your beloved? The states between seem to not only grow their own emotional strain but physically with delays and layovers.

When you are in a long distance relationship you try to accept the conditions of the arrangement. You compromise each others time and have to be respectful and responsive. You become accustomed to parking garages, airports, your suitcase is never put up in the attic, but indefinitely out for use. People say “Distance makes the heart grow fonder”, but I believe that only comes with the anticipation of a time frame of only a week or month. Its not real, to not touch. You live in a fantasy world where you lay in bed or sit at your desk and dream up hypothetical dinner evenings and sexual encounters. And as time passes and doubt fills you up, there is a phone call.

A love affair is not a short story. A story hinges upon a single moment that encapsulates the conflict — a continental divide on the other side of which the water flows off to a different ocean.

Fictionally we live in a world where its possible. Skype, Facetime, Red Eye flights, but in this ever changing high tech and low touch world, nothing can replace the human touch. As humans we all share the same basic emotions, so why is it so easy to forget the very essence of their existence.

“People don’t fill out comment cards anymore. They don’t send nasty emails to the complaint department. They go on Twitter and raise hell in 140 characters or less. Social media sites like Twitter are increasingly becoming the modern day complaint department, and for good reason – complaining on Twitter often gets immediate results. It’s also faster than sending an email and it’s way more public.”