Frog&Toadcore: the Aesthetic I’ve Pursued All My Life
The iconic friends have inspired my entire lifestyle.
When I was little, I wanted to live in a Fotomat booth. In case you don’t remember those, they were little huts in strip mall parking lots where you could drop off film to be developed and then pick up your prints a few days later. I didn’t care that they were islands in a sea of asphalt and car exhaust; all I could see was the perfect amount of cozy space to have all to myself.
Once a week in eighth grade, my English teacher had us put our heads on our desks while she led us in guided meditations. (I realize now how unusual this was, but our class took it all in stride.) After having us relax every muscle from toe to head, she’d tell us to visualize a space all our own, where we felt safe and where only the people we most trusted were allowed.
My dreamspace was a small, octagonal chalet in the middle of an old forest near a waterfall, filled with books, window seats, a kitchen nook, and a bathroom with a stone bathtub. I loved this space, and it gave me a vision to work toward through some difficult years.
