I have never had a crush. I have never had a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend, or any sort of partner at all. My experiences are better defined by the ones that I lack. I am AroAce. Being LGBTQ may confuse many people who don't know much about the queer experience or what it means to be LGBTQ, but being asexual or aromantic confuses even more people. At one point I had to describe what asexuality was to a friend. Despite meaning well, she was incredibly confused knowing how different our experiences differed, even going as far as to ask me how I live without sex. Her life revolved so much around sex and her experience with it that the idea that someone lives without it and in avoidance to it was alien and confusing to her. She meant well but it really highlights how little people consider the absence of something considered so fundamental to the human experience. Today's society seems to only ever revolve around sex and love which makes it disorienting and alienating when you do not care or even avoid such things. Even being in the LGBTQ community I find it difficult to belong. It is such an inclusive space but even so, it revolves around sex and attraction and experiences I have never had and never will experience. In my life, I have only ever met two other people who identify as aromantic or asexual, one of which realized she was asexual after I told her about my own experiences with my sexuality. My other friend, who is AroAce, and I have only grown closer thanks to our experiences. We are considering a lavender marriage or at least a queer platonic relationship. We want to live without the nagging and pressure of everyday society to get married or have children or find a partner. Count on your hands how many gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer characters you have seen in popular media, be it a book, movie, show, or game. You’ve run out of fingers, haven't you? Now try writing them down on a piece of paper. The list just keeps going does it not? Wikipedia lists 27 aromantic characters and 96 asexual characters in popular media and many of those are repeat characters who are both asexual and aromantic. In just Wikipedia’s list of gay characters, in television alone, from letters A-D, there are 164 characters. There is incredibly little representation for Aspec people in media and when there is, I often find people going against that character’s sexuality or romantic identity in art, writing, or even arguing that a character is not asexual or aromantic in the canon material. It's frustrating and even more alienating. It should not be a genuine surprise when I find a single paragraph about asexuality in my psychology textbook. I should not feel so alienated from the community that claimed to include me. I should not be afraid to tell my family that I do not want to have sex because of the confusion most people feel when faced with the opposite of their own experiences. My AroAce experience is accepting that I may never be truly seen or accepted by those around me, but even with all these feelings of loneliness and alienation I would not revoke or abandon my identity for anything. I am AroAce and I wouldn't want to be anything else.

I love Minecraft. I love it’s biomes and I love the mooshrooms. I love the sense of uncanny wonder that the Netherworld gives off and the never ending cave systems. I love being able to build and create giant castles on the sides of even bigger mountains and love building moving redstone robots. But even more than any of this, I love that Minecraft has a multiplayer mode. Minecraft can add whatever mobs and monsters, whatever blocks and biomes, whatever gameplay and settings it wants, but it will never beat being able to experience all of this and more with my friends and family. Multiplayer Minecraft connects hundreds of thousands of people across the world. Despite borders, despite political tensions between nations, despite language barriers, despite everything, Minecraft is able to connect all these different people through their love of creation and wonder. Hundreds of people who don’t know each other are able to come together and build huge constructions and impressive feats. It allows people to make friends and acquaintances that they never would have been able to meet otherwise. Multiplayer brings people together and I think that it is not only beautiful but that it also shows humanity at its best despite the miseries and tragedies of reality. Not only do I love multiplayer Minecraft because it brings people together worldwide but it also brings me and my little brother closer. Growing up I loved Minecraft. But having no siblings at the time and nobody to play with, Minecraft lost some of the magic that makes it great. But when my little brother was born, I finally had someone to share my passion for Minecraft. As he got older, I got to teach him how to play Minecraft and even as we’ve gotten older, Minecraft has only continued to bring us closer. Even after I move out and leave for college Minecraft, I feel, will still keep me and my little brother close. Minecraft has been an integral part of my childhood and I am so grateful that I have been able to share it with my brother as well. I am so glad that Minecraft has been able to connect thousands and will continue to do so, hopefully, long into the future.