My name is Poto Gautuma and I don't mind scary films but I had an old housemate Danielle

and she used to hate being frightened but yet continued to rent out scary films.

I used to find it intensely funny and intensely interesting to watch them with her partly

because I was watching her watching the film where she continued to watch something that

she couldn't bear to watch.

There's something about coming to the edge of that place that horror and coming to terms

with that which is narrows, coming to terms with your own fear and learning from it.

Prayer for Werewolves by Stephanie Burt.

Someone will probably love you for who you are.

If not, you'll still find friends, friends who, given time or given warning, will probably

gather around you, hold your hands and wrap you in soft coats and blankets till the violence

inside your body ends.

Someone will probably love you for who you are, not just for who you labor to be.

Maybe you're lost in your skin today.

Maybe you're burning in which you could tear it all off.

Please don't.

You are variously a marvel, an athlete, a wilderness, a source of warmth and a way to learn

from fear.

When you have claws, your claws are yours, your ears bristle and are yours, your irises

are citricin, pure and yours.

They let you see through smog and pine thickets and into the future where you need no change

to feel secure and someone will probably love you for who you are.

...