50 Comments
User's avatar
eve morgan's avatar

this was so rich + beautiful (and I hope you feel this community rallying around you as you hopefully get the credit + payment you deserve for your work)

Valerie's avatar

eve! i love you and thank you! i did get the payment in the end 😌

eve morgan's avatar

the crowd goes wilddd

Tim's avatar

ahhh fuck you and this post, switching to being a paid subscriber

Valerie's avatar

Tim! made my day, and absolutely fuck this post 😁💕

Lila's avatar

A+ to me you are the coolest for being so real

Valerie's avatar

Lila 💔 i’m blushing

Weronika's avatar

maybe its slavic immigrant uncoolness syndrome™️ and if so im definitely a part of it<3

Valerie's avatar

we must unionize

Chiara's avatar

my god I love the way you write. you are cool in my eyes, internet stranger :)

Valerie's avatar

wow thank you Chiara 💜💜

sarah cucchiara's avatar

brilliant as always! i love you and i love this

Valerie's avatar

love you so much <3

Monica Bozinoski's avatar

This essay is so beautiful and brilliant, what a treat to read it 🫂

Valerie's avatar

thank you! 🤍

𝓜 ✶'s avatar

Absolutely love this post 🥰

Valerie's avatar

thank you so much my love

izzy's avatar

Goddamn it's like you're in my head sometimes (xo a mid-twenties y/o)

Ella Wu's avatar

Feel so much better about myself after reading this. Very cool thank you

Valerie's avatar

you are cool ella 💕 thank you

2wicebitten's avatar

i love this and the way you write. i rly resonate with this desire to be cool that you talked about, this desire to be wanted, to be affirmed, and its comic imperfection and impossibility.

Valerie's avatar

thank you so much <3 beautiful words! same here

Elizabeth Grace Martinez's avatar

coolness is extremely overrated.

you deserve to be paid for the article you wrote. full stop.

Valerie's avatar

thank you Elizabeth <3

Ioanna Sofra's avatar

Coolness is far an inadequate word to describe what you create here..✨✨

Valerie's avatar

im smiling at my screen like an idiot

Mahrukh Siddiqui's avatar

I really really really love how you write!!!

Valerie's avatar

thank you! 🤍

Second Glance's avatar

That was a really cool post :)

adiba's avatar

can’t believe someone i think is one of the coolest people on the planet thinks she’s not cool enough?!? the way you write is absolutely brilliant i’m in love