Solna, Sweden
19 May 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.8 1/61s :: ISO-1000

Dear Stranger;

The first two stamps on my passport remind me of an unforgettable journey that brought new sights, new experiences, unexpected twists and turns, and perhaps most memorably, new friends. It's continuing to make an impact on me months after the fact, and it's given me a perspective shift about what it's like to be around people who have been made fun of for enjoying harmless things that bring them joy–and how important it is to respect that point where fun changes into some kind of hurt. I'll be forever grateful for this.

Everyone's threshold is different and can also change over time, so when "giving someone a hard time" becomes an annoyance or more, it's time to stop. My experience volunteering as a crisis counsellor has given me the tools to communicate directly and to identify the signs of when I'm starting to outgrow certain friends.

As August slips away, ...time turns flames to embers; you’ll have new Septembers.

Stay strong and stay healthy, stranger-friends.

Magically,
-j

Seattle, WA
4 August 2024 :: Canon EOS M6 Mk1 :: f/6.3 1/1000s :: ISO-200

Dear Stranger;

Every first weekend of August, the Blue Angels perform three shows that frequently have them flying over my apartment building as they position themselves and reconfigure their formations for the next pass in front of the audience. These past two years have been particularly wonderful for me to watch as there was a little bit of Minnesota pride in one of the pilots, LCDR Amanda Lee, who also happens to be the first woman jet pilot in the history of the Blue Angels. Sure it's a bit disappointing that it's taken this long from a historical perspective, and while we cannot have that time back, we can move forward on a new and better course; nothing says we need to stay with how things once used to be.

And yet, as we look around today, there is still so much further to go and so much work still to be done.

The same goes for ourselves–we need not stay where we used to be, and when our expression is met with dismissal, then maybe it's time to recognise the paths diverging and keep heading toward that place where we truly want to be. I think it's fair to respect boundaries, be aware and respectful of one's discomfort, and immediately stop when the fun starts to become pain or annoyance. I think it's fair to expect this to go in both directions, and I think it's fair to be intentional in choosing what friends seem to be listening and what friends might actually be outgrown.

Onward we grow.

Magically,
-j

Seattle, WA
15 May 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.2 1/1037s :: ISO-40

Dear Stranger;

It's interesting to see of all the things I'm a fan of, and lately there's one that really gets my friends poking fun, and it's oddly at one of the kindest and generous celebrities these days with a massive fan base that is by far the most inclusive and supportive I've seen–as if because they are a friend, it gives them licence to do so. Sure, but consistently? There's so much more to me, but there seems to be a fixation on this one person.

Sure one can argue that this comes with the territory of being a fan of this artist, but this also has me thinking about things a bit more consciously, checking myself on one end so that I don't end up being the kind of person I hate, but also being more mindful of the interesting responses I get when I do respond. I think it tells me things that may be hard to accept about folks I considered friends, and it also tells me right now, there isn't really anything holding me back from charting a course away from what is no longer suiting me, or maybe adding a little more distance by heading toward the things that still do. I can't control how people treat me, but I can control where I can go to be treated with a little more kindness.

Or at least go somewhere to take a bit of a break.

I don't know, it's something that's got me thinking lately.

Magically,
-j

Stockholm, Sweden
17 May 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.2 1/99s :: ISO-50

Dear Stranger;

It's been hard to describe how it felt to be seen by others, to hang out with people that know what it's like to be misunderstood, to be poked fun by your own friends (in that this seems to be your favourite jab I'm starting to have trouble figuring out if you're still joking or not kind of way), to live in that kind of space where you start to think about what kind of friendship you're really looking for these days. It's been hard to describe what it's like to find community in that virtual Internet space and then to gather in the tens of thousands to experience support and joy a truly safe space among kind people who really gave off this vibe of looking out for each other.

It was rare; I was there–lost in the memory, the experience slipping into a moment in time.

(I'll never forget it.)

Magically,
-j

Solna, Sweden
18 May 2024 :: Canon G7 X Mark III :: f/6.3 1/80s :: ISO-800

Dear Stranger;

I'm pretty sure that there's an invisible string tying me to my love of finding communities and my most cherished memories–which is starting to become apparent the more I relive my trip in short clips. It's a byproduct of trying to make videos to tell my story, and it's also been the source of a much-needed smile to end each night. It's been busy at work, so each little moment has been worth more than its weight in time and mental gold.

There's something very special about this trip that is still waiting to be described, so in the meantime, I'm just going to keep feeling it in my bones and in the heartbeats that come with it because I really, truly had the time of my life.

Hur är det?

Magically,
-j

Solna, Sweden
19 May 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.8 1/38s :: ISO-1000

Dear Stranger;

It's been a while since I've had something happen that made me think, "my friends aren't going to believe me when they hear this," and as a side note, I've always found it interesting that we tend to (not always, but tend to) believe the generally negative things in a story–being unable to get a ticket to a Seattle show, the bag that didn't arrive on time, the connection almost missed at a layover that wasn't even supposed to have happened–yet I've found that the truly wonderful things, when they hit for me, seem to throw the needle full-scale into the other direction where sometimes even I have trouble believing it's real. This whole "dear stranger" thing, while it seems endearing, has its roots in this concept, for sure.

Every so often I'll cross paths with a stranger and share an experience in which the evidence I have will be the fact that they exist, and will hold the other key that unlocks this story and maybe a picture to prove that they do, in fact, exist. Otherwise, almost everything else is implied–friends following my Instagram stories would have seen that I went to a show in a different country wearing clothes I'd been wearing for the past 4 days at the time–a show I had been wanting to see since July of 2023 but (arguably) never got a fair chance, that in a chance refresh of a mobile browser on the 13th of September, secured a ticket without knowing how I'd get there or where I'd stay. They saw that I traded a few friendship bracelets with my seatmates, enjoyed the show, that I had the time of my life despite wearing clothes I had washed in the sink the night before. They would have had a good gauge of where I sat, and they knew I was attending on the 2nd night of a 3-night run.

When they took their final bows, my night had crossed over into the realm of an unforgettable memory–all things considered, I was happy with it. I screamed, I cried, and along with the rest of the 60,000 in attendance, didn't care what others thought and we supported each other in that.

My bags did eventually come in the next day, the day of the final show, less than an hour before the opening band would take the stage. I had planned an outfit, bought special shoes to wear, and I didn't want to completely miss a chance to wear them so I quickly changed into the outfit, grabbed the bag of friendship bracelets (about 80-90, that were also in the late bag) I made leading up to the show, and headed to catch the pre-show crowd making their way into the stadium to trade and give away bracelets and generally wish them a wonderful time. Once there, I found there were so many that were so eager and happy to trade that I was already swapping bracelets on the train to the stadium, and I couldn't help but start to feel a little better because this was what I had hoped to experience the night before.

It wasn't until I was trading with a group from Baltimore that the kindest stranger offered a seat that was going to go unused. I had no clue where the seat was, and I didn't really care because I was by myself in a different country, 9 time zones from home, on a latitude roughly aligned with Iceland, and I had nobody but myself to consult.

I had to take them up on their offer; there was simply no other choice.

And when I finally found a cloakroom to check the bag that I had on me, I took my seat and my friends following my stories saw I was about to really have the time of my life.

I've been telling everyone since I got back, noting on this trip really went to plan since booking the flights in September, but I would have had it no other way. I planned to see one show, left seeing it twice, sat among tens of thousands of strangers in two nights, left with one more friend than when I started.

A stranger is a friend you haven't yet met.

Thank you, Laura and family and friends–I had the time of my life.

Magically,
-j

Here's my journey: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf8oIXUmysu1sCi_CQK1hPAmdlLnXq3yt&si=hSQSuExTrXbMRHLw

And here are a few more pics:

Solna, Sweden
19 May 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.8 1/40s :: ISO-320

Solna, Sweden
19 May 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.8 1/75s :: ISO-200

Solna, Sweden
19 May 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.2 1/30s :: ISO-1250

And for reference, this was where I sat the night before, which I was truly happy with, to better illustrate that the seat I got, the friend I made, was truly a gift:

Solna, Sweden
18 May 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.2 1/60s :: ISO-1000

Seattle, WA
10 May 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.2 1/4s :: ISO-3200

Dear Stranger;

Maybe tonight's aurora is trying to tell me something–about how some things that seemed scary when we don't know much about them and how it can transform into something that can inspire a sense of enjoyment or even wonder once we learn a little bit more. I like to think about this whenever I start to feel that healthy nervousness going into an unfamiliar situation, because in about a week I'll be in a different country that speaks a different language to attend something completely different from what I'm accustomed.

I'm going to be heading far enough out of my comfort zone that there's a chance that it won't go well, but I have a feeling the odds are stacked in a much more favourable direction...what could possibly happen?

(But really though, this aurora tonight? Holy shit!)

Magically,
-j

Seattle, WA
28 April 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.2 1/10s :: ISO-1000

Dear Stranger;

Time. It sometimes moves too fast, and sometimes never fast enough, and it usually does this all at once underneath all of this is a healing component that works its magic slowly but steadily, taking us from hurt to healthy when we let it. I think with each day I listen to this album I start to feel more and more validated, and wow, has it been a powerful experience.

Imagine if more people did this to others...

Magically,
-j

Seattle, WA
30 March 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/1.78 1/30s :: ISO-1000

Dear Stranger;

Time is moving fast, and there's so much I want to finish; I can't wait to go but at the same time, I know I'm trying to prepare myself for a time that will come and go and I want to make sure I can be in the moment but also make sure I leave with a few things here and there that'll help me remember it for as long as I can. I want to send postcards, I want to take pictures, I want to make at least a video to go with everything, and I also want to share what the experience was like for me.

I've always chickened out when the chance presented itself, and now here I am trying to make a go at perhaps the most intimidating show, partly hoping to come up empty-handed so I would have an excuse, but, at work, in a group meeting, I had an opportunity staring me in the face.

I forced myself to take it before I could back out and now there's no turning back. I think I'm almost ready, I'm as excited as I am anxious, and if there's anything I do know about this emotional mix is that every time it comes around, I've never felt more alive. I think I need this. I've been hiding in comfort, in my self-care, and I was starting to feel maybe a little too cozy and it was time for a little bit of discomfort.

I'm excited and I have so much hope.

Magically,
-Jon

Seattle, WA
19 April 2024 :: iPhone 14 Pro Max :: f/2.2 1/30s :: ISO-1600

Dear Stranger;

There's been a gap between the emotions I've felt and their corresponding expressive release and I've been finding that there are people out there that can much better connect the two things--and are courageous and generous enough to share with us, whether we struggle or not. And then there are some that really know how to express what's happening inside of you and that's a little bit of terrifying, a little bit of validation, a little bit of comfort, and a little bit of healing.

I've been digging this new album, for sure.

Magically,
-j