The plot of Macbeth was acted out by the Muppets. Miss Piggy as Lady Macbeth is the best thing I have ever witnessed and the only thing I really remember from it.
Spending time with kids always reminds me how much I love the way they play. I’ll be like “hey kid look, this little bug is called an isopod it’s related to crabs and it eats dead plants” and they’ll immediately respond with something like “cool let’s play isopods we have to collect dead leaves as fast as we can and if we don’t get enough we die of starvation and have a bug funeral”
What an amazing way to process new information or explore an idea! It’s important to remember these kinds of games are not random or pointless; playing is how kids learn.
You are allowed to read comic books.
You are allowed to write fanfiction.
You are allowed to play video games.
You are allowed to collect stuffed animals, dolls, Funko Pops and whatever else.
You are allowed to go to cons.
You are allowed to cosplay.
You are allowed to have a comfort show, even if it's not popular, or hasn't been "on the air" for decades.
You are allowed to have anime crushes.
You are allowed to have fun.
You are allowed to pursue hobbies, even if you can't monetize them or turn them into a career or a "side hustle."
You are allowed to take time out for yourself; that's not the same as totally neglecting all your responsibilities to their detriment.
You are allowed to write your own life script, instead of following the one your parents and culture mapped out for you at birth.
You are allowed to decide you don't want to have children, or don't want to get married. (Or that you'd like to do those things someday, but not today.)
You are allowed to go at your own pace, on your own path.
You're allowed to have a life that's not all bills and back pain, fatigue and drudgery.
You are allowed to play, as well as work.
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's stage adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's Pluto - a reimagining of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and its most famous Manga Arc ("The Greatest Robot On Earth") / London, 2018
Photography by Tristam Kenton