Gregory: What is your first name?

Hanna: Hanna.

Gregory: Your age?

Hanna: Thirty-two.

Gregory: Your profession?

Hanna: Oooh . . . [chuckles] . . . Um, I’m trained as a classical musician. I . . . was one until . . . recently. At the moment, I’m learning how to build websites.

Gregory: And what instrument did you play?

Hanna: The French horn.

Gregory: Hm. Where is your home? Where are you from?

Hanna: Um . . . I grew up mostly in Scotland, but both sides of my family are kinda from England. Also, got the grandparents from Germany and Austria, and I’ve lived in Spain and the US . . . uhm—

Gregory: But where is your home though?

Hanna: Mixed but, like, [pause] Edinburgh.

Gregory: Edinburgh.

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: Mhm. Okay, I’d like you to remember your childhood for the first seven questions-

Hanna: Uh-huh.

Gregory: Any age under eighteen.

Hanna: Okay.

1.

Gregory: Alright. What do you know?

Hanna: [pause] Um, I know . . . that . . . I’m a little bit different from the other kids and I don’t really understand, like, how they work and what they find fun? [short pause] And . . . I also know that nothing’s permanent. And I don’t expect anything to stay the same. I also know that I want to be a musician.

Gregory: And uh . . . how old are you?

Hanna: Maybe seven—

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: —ish?

Gregory: Hm. And how—

Hanna: —Or eight.

Gregory: Seven or eight. How different are you? What do you mean by different?

Hanna: Um . . . well, I mean, at that age, I really . . . I didn’t know. Um . . . [short pause] I was . . . like, I didn’t really have much of the same interests as the other kids.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: I wasn’t very good at talking to them. I didn’t . . . like, when they got together . . . and had groups of friends and conversations, I didn’t really know how to join in?

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: Felt left out a lot . . .  um . . . I saw them doing all this stuff, but I didn’t quite get how they did it.

Gregory: What stuff exactly?

Hanna: Um, [pause] I remember, especially, there were, like, in my class, there were groups of girls and, like, they always seemed to hang out in groups.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: And, like, they had girl-things that they liked and talked about. And I just didn’t understand it, at all, like, I knew I was kinda supposed to want . . . like I was supposed to be interested in the same things—

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: —but I just wasn’t, and if I tried, I, like, had nothing to say.

Gregory: What were you interested in, then?

Hanna: Um . . . I loved reading.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: Most of the time I was reading. I loved train sets and Lego, [pause] and . . . like games, like Backgammon and stuff.

Gregory: Mhm, mhm.

Hanna: Um . . . and music.

Gregory: Music.

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: What was the—

Hanna: But like, no . . . not like kind of pop music, that the other kids—

Gregory: Classical?

Hanna: A little bit of classical . . . I remember my mom had a tape of the Nutcracker that I used to dance around to.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: But also children’s songs . . . um . . . I used to get tapes from the library and there would be stories on one side, and songs on the other.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: And I would just spend hours and hours listening to the songs.

Gregory: When did you start playing an instrument? And what was your first instrument?

Hanna: [short pause] I’m not sure what really counts as first? . . . Um, for about six months, when I was four or five, I was really keen on the piano.

Gregory: Mhm.

Hanna: But, basically . . . my grandparents had a piano, and I started learning it when we were with them for a while, but then we left and we didn’t have a piano—

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: —so, I didn’t continue . . . um, I mean, that was my first experience with an instrument, but I don’t think it really counts? And then . . . so, my primary school had . . . free violin lessons for some people, and I was one of those people, so that would probably be the first proper instrument with regular lessons.

Gregory: And at what point did you decide to go with the French horn?

Hanna: Um . . . sort of twice? When I started the French horn, was when we were living in Spain, and—

Gregory: How old were you?

Hanna: —I didn’t . . . Uh, twelve?

Gregory: Mhm.

Hanna: I had absolutely no interest in the French horn. I had wanted to learn the clarinet, but they said they had too many people in the clarinet so, they told me to go and see the brass teacher–

Gregory: Mhm.

Hanna: Um, and he pulled a French horn out the cupboard and sort of handed it to me and . . . and that was that, but, I mean, I hated it? Like, I ha . . . I . . . wanted it as a second instrument?

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: Like, I never wanted it to become my main, um—

Gregory: How did you grow to love it, if you did?

Hanna: I did, eventually. Um . . . we left Spain . . . and I got a new teacher who . . . kind of, like, told me everything I’d learned was wrong, and I didn’t like that at all, so . . . I quit.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: Um . . . [laughs]

Gregory: Hm. [chuckles]

Hanna: And then several years later, I was sixteen, I . . . decided I wanted to pick it up again.

Gregory: Mhm.

Hanna: And so I went back to the teacher, sort of, with my tail between my legs and . . . like, “Please, please take me back. I’ll be good this time.” [laughs]

Gregory: Hm. And uh . . . did you have a train set?

Hanna: Oooh, we had a lot of train bits when I was about seven . . . um, and . . . at my grandparent’s house, my dad had, like, an electric-model train set . . . like, that’s not a toy. Um . . . but I was . . . they had, like, old little model-houses . . . and stuff, and so I would play-build scenes and villages.

Gregory: And tell stories in your head.

Hanna: [pause] I don’t know if I really told stories, I just liked building things.

Gregory: Mhm, mhm. And playing with them, though, right?

Hanna: Well . . . more building than playing.

Gregory: Mhm.

2.

Gregory: Describe what this planet smells like.

Hanna: [short pause] Green. Well . . . rain and Autumn. Um . . . a lot of rain and a lot of dampness, I guess, cause I was in Scotland . . . um . . . and school . . . Like, school classrooms and dinner halls . . . there’s a very specific smell that school areas have. [laughs]

Gregory: Mhm, how would you describe that smell?

Hanna: [long pause] Now? Kind of sickly [laughs] . . . like, there’s too much going on, and . . . and there’s the smell of whatever sprayed to clean it. [laughs]

Gregory: Uhuh.

3.

Gregory: How is it possible to forgive the unforgivable?

Hanna: [short pause] Um, it’s hard. [pause] I think . . . it’s possible, with um . . . love and understanding. And this isn’t an eight-year-old speaking, this is my old sixteen-year-old . . . um . . . but it’s really hard, and I haven’t really been around long enough to know . . . if . . . it is really possible, cause like . . . I mean, maybe it will one day but . . . mm.

Gregory: Did you encounter anything unforgivable in your childhood?

Hanna: Um . . . speaking from now, I would say that nothing is unforgivable . . . but I definitely wasn’t sure of that at sixteen. [short pause] I was really mad at my mom, um . . . firstly for taking me to Spain, and then for bringing me back.

Gregory: Back to Scotland?

Hanna: Yeah. It was a bit unusual. We went from . . . I was ten when we went, and we went from a pretty normal apartment, school, friends, music lessons—

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: And we moved into a house that had been used as a goat shed for the past ten years. Um . . . no electricity, no running water and a lot of fleas, like a lot of goat fleas and like, that . . . whatever, that’s just day-to-day life, but I felt like nothing that was gonna be good for me had been taken into account in that move.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: Cause . . . well . . . I wanted to do music, and—

Gregory: May I ask, why did you move?

Hanna: Partly, cause, like . . . I think they could afford to buy something—

Gregory: U-huh.

Hanna: They couldn’t afford in the UK, and the idea was to do it out, and make it into a nice house, which they really did, eventually. And also to live more, like, off the grid, sustainably—

Gregory: Mhm.

Hanna: Which . . . we couldn’t do in a big city. [laughs]

Gregory: Mhm. And uh, you were ten at the time?

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: Did you realize this . . . uh, changeability of life?

Hanna: Yeah, I mean, I think by ten . . . I’d already . . . we’d already, like, moved places twelve times-ish—

Gregory: Oh!

Hanna: So—

Gregory: So you were quite used to it by the time.

Hanna: Yeah. [laughs]

Gregory: Mhm. And uh, so you were mad at your mom.

Hanna: Yeah. Like I was . . . I’m happy, but then, sort of . . . we were there for two and a half years, and like, right when I was able to speak Spanish and was kind of like, getting to grips with things and settling in a bit, then we moved back, and that was . . . maybe kind of . . . worse, or like, harder? Because . . . I mean, partly the circumstances . . . like this time, we moved from a house, which was actually looking pretty much like a house and like, not a bad one . . . and then . . . like, we didn’t have anywhere to come when we went back to Scotland, so . . . uh, the four of us, my mom, my stepdad, my brother and me were staying in one of his friend’s houses in one room.

Gregory: How do you think all these moves impacted you . . . long term?

Hanna: I think they kind of made me want to keep moving.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: Um . . . which, I don’t necessarily think is a bad thing, because I’ve been to quite a lot of places and seen a lot of things. But I think it made it very difficult to think about, like, settling anywhere, like . . . if I’m in the same place for . . . like, more than a couple of years, it just starts feeling weird.

Gregory: Hm.

4.

Gregory: What makes you happy?

Hanna: As a child, reading.

Gregory: Reading.

Hanna: Definitely reading, yeah.

Gregory: Mhm. What are some of the books that stand out for you?

Hanna: Lord of the Rings, um . . . Watership Down . . . can the child be sixteen?

Gregory: Yes, yes! Any age under eighteen.

Hanna: Okay, um . . . so . . . Paulo Coelho’s Veronica Decides to Die.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: Um.

Gregory: Why that book? Why that story?

Hanna: [short pause] Cause she goes into it, like, wanting to die and comes out of it not wanting to die? Or at least seeing a way to . . . live differently. And as a teenager, I sort of really needed to hear that. [laughs] . . . uh—

Gregory: Have you contemplated . . . uh, the idea of suicide?

Hanna: Yeah . . . it was kind of . . . I never thought I would make it past sixteen.

Gregory: Have you tried anything physically?

Hanna: [long pause] That’s a really hard question. Um . . . I’ve been picked up from a park by the police because I was planning to hang myself, and my roommates found out and figured out where I was . . . um—

Gregory: You were sixteen?

Hanna: No, no. Not then.

Gregory: What age were you when that happened?

Hanna: Oh. Twenty-seven.

Gregory: Twenty-seven.

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: U-huh.

Hanna: But, at sixteen my plan . . . before sixteen, uh, my plan was to wait til I was sixteen, um . . . and then, cause that’s the age you can, like, legally buy a ticket to go anywhere. I would just go somewhere, like, really, really remote and . . . overdose somewhere that no one would find me.

Gregory: Overdose.

Hanna: Yeah. Um—

Gregory: Have you tried drugs before?

Hanna: Not really.

Gregory: No.

Hanna: It just seemed the kind of simplest um . . . I was also anorexic at the time, and I kind of hoped that would get me, but . . . it didn’t.

Gregory: So sixteen. And you reached sixteen—

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: —you read Veronica Wants to Die—

Hanna: And I started playing the French horn.

Gregory: And you started playing the French horn.

Hanna: Mhm. [laughs] . . . Like, there was a point where I had to choose, like, if I kept going down the starving route, then . . . I wouldn’t physically be able to hold the French horn and play it.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: So, I had to either not do it, or eat. [laughs]

Gregory: So, for the love of the French horn—

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: —you started eating.

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: [long pause] You were trying to hang yourself, in the park, when you were twenty-seven.

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: And . . . the police came, and uh . . . what happened next?

Hanna: At first I tried to hide somewhere but, uh, my roommate convinced me that was a really, really bad idea, um . . . this was in the US . . . I could see, like, a torchlight of people. . . looking for me. Like . . . across the creek.

Gregory: Have you considered suicide since?

Hanna: Yeah, um, [long pause] or maybe not, actually.

Gregory: Does “yeah”—

Hanna: Not really—

Gregory: —Does “yeah” mean mentally only? Like, not physically?

Hanna: Yes.

Gregory: Mhm, mhm.

Hanna: It’s . . . like, it was . . . a part of my mentality for so long, that it’s kind of weird to think about it being absent now.

Gregory: Is it absent now?

Hanna: Seems to be absent, yeah.

Gregory: Mhm, mhm. How long has it been since it’s been gone?

Hanna: [pause] A few years. Um . . . I’m not entirely sure, I don’t think I can put a number.

Gregory: Mhm.

5.

Gregory: Describe a world in which God exists and a world in which God does not exist.

Hanna: I don’t think it’s ever really occurred to me that God did exist so, I would say the world without God, is this one . . . a world where God did exist, I hope would be a bit nicer and a bit fairer . . . um . . . like, there are people who go to church but it was always just, like, this sort of other thing that some people did like, I dunno, like horse riding or something?

Gregory: Hm. Did you ponder what it is?

Hanna: No, I have my own, like, theory or understanding.

Gregory: And what is it?

Hanna: Um, I don’t know that it is now so much, but, like, from the way I talked, people thought, people said I seemed older, so my theory was that souls just get recycled. And I don’t think I really understood what religion really was and meant to people until after I was eighteen and I met some people.

Gregory: Who taught you moral values when you were younger?

Hanna:  Books, maybe? I never really questioned it, like, if things made people upset, then they’re bad, and if they made people happy, then they’re good. Um . . . like, you don’t really have to question that killing people is bad and punching people in the face is bad . . . like, that’s—

Gregory: That’s understandable, but there’s a lot going on in between all that.

Hanna: Yeah . . . I think that pretty early I figured out or decided that people don’t think that they’re wrong, like whatever people are doing. They generally think it is the right thing.

Gregory: Hm.

Hanna: Like, it makes sense to them. Um . . . so, not quite anything, but, like, almost anything is right to someone so, like, who am I to say that they’re wrong and I’m right or I’m right and they’re wrong?

Gregory: Hm. Which book had the most impact on you in terms of moral values when you were a child?

Hanna: Probably Charles Dickens. I don’t know which one exactly.

Gregory: Okay. Uh, so going back to the question. This is how the world feels and looks without God.

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: And uh, would you describe, however you imagine it, the world with God?

Hanna: It would have more kindness in . . . and more guidance.

Gregory: Do you think kindness is objective or subjective?

Hanna: Both.

Gregory: Both.

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: How?

Hanna: Well, there are some things that we can think are objective, like smiling, or saying thank you, or please. But then . . . like more complicated things are very subjective because one person might think that they’re doing a kind thing and it’s not interpreted that way, so to the receiver it’s not kind.

Gregory: So, what’s important, to give kindness or to make sure that kindness is taken properly, or accepted?

Hanna: [long pause] I’d say understanding is more important than either of them.

Gregory: So knowledge comes first, kindness comes second?

Hanna: Probably leads to kindness.

Gregory: Knowledge leads to kindness.

Hanna: Not necessarily knowledge; understanding.

Gregory: Understanding. How would you understand without knowledge? Intuitively?

Hanna: Knowledge is part of it. Feeling is another. Like, it’s not pure knowledge, like, knowledge of facts does not necessarily mean you understand a situation, there’s an emotional part.

Gregory: Mhm, and can you control your emotions without knowledge?

Hanna: As a kid, definitely not.

Gregory: Mhm, and as an adult?

Hanna: Now, more so.

Gregory: Well, now more so because you have that luggage—

Hanna: Because I have more knowledge!

Gregory: Yes, yes!

Hanna: [laughs]

Gregory: —that you carry with you everywhere you go, right?

Hanna: Yeah, yeah.

6.

Gregory: What is your most vivid memory?

Hanna: [short pause] There’s a lot, I don’t know if it’s possible to pick one . . . One that always stuck out was . . . uh . . . hugging a friend for the first time.

Gregory: Hugging a friend for the first time.

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: And who was this friend?

Hanna: Um, she was called Aylee.

Gregory: Aylee.

Hanna: She became my best friend, um—

Gregory: From school—

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: —from before school?

Hanna: Yeah, from school.

Gregory: From school. Are you still friends?

Hanna: We don’t seem to be. [laughs]

Gregory: Would you share what happened?

Hanna: She stopped replying to messages . . . we sort of had . . . I can’t really remember, like, the order of events, we did sort of have an argument, but then I think we spoke after it and then . . . she still lives in Edinburg, or, she did last I knew, and I would always . . . if I was back from summer or at Christmas I would say, “Hey, I’m back. D’you want to meet up?” and . . . like—

Gregory: So you would reach out.

Hanna: Yeah, and the answer was always “yes,” until one year when I just got nothing back, um . . . and I asked her mom cause I have her mom on Facebook, and she said “Oh, she’s really busy,” so I don’t know what that means. [laughs]

Gregory: Do you miss her?

Hanna: Yes.

Gregory: Describe that first hug please, if possible.

Hanna: [pause] It felt really significant. I think I was aware that . . .  neither of us were really people who had a lot of friends or like, went hugging people. Um . . . and it was the first time I . . . had any conscious physical contact outside my family.

Gregory: So you never touched anyone, no one touched you before that?

Hanna: I mean, like in games of tag or something, chasing someone and grabbing their arm, probably yeah, um . . . but—

Gregory: But not affectionately?

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: And uh . . . how did it feel?

Hanna: Uh, it felt amazing. Sort of . . . maybe unreal. Like . . . different . . . like “Oh, this is new!” [laughs]

Gregory: Like “This exists, too,” huh?

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: And “this feels good?”

Hanna: Yeah. It was different. [laughs]

Gregory: Mhm. And, did it become mundane at any point?

Hanna: No.

Gregory: Even in adulthood?

Hanna: She never liked hugs.

Gregory: Oh, she never liked hugs?

Hanna: No, and for a lot of time, neither did I.

Gregory: Were you the initiator of this hug?

Hanna: I don’t remember. [laughs] I don’t remember at all. For most of my teenagehood, I didn’t want to touch, like, anyone. I didn’t want any physical contact at all. And neither did she, so . . . it was very rare to hug someone and pretty special when I did—

Gregory: In your childhood?

Hanna: Um . . . yeah.

Gregory: And now, too?

Hanna: No, now, I like hugs a lot! [laughs]

Gregory: Mhm, mhm, okay.

7.

Gregory: What will be the kindest thing you do when you’re older? . . . That you thought of when you were a child? Any age again under eighteen.

Hanna: I would like to make sure that if I had the chance to make someone feel less lonely, or less sad, then I would do it. I was always just a bit more sad than the other kids seemed to be . . . and I was aware that they didn’t seem to understand, you know? If I could change that for someone else, then that would be, I guess, the kindest thing my kid-brain would be aware of. [short laugh]

_

Gregory: Please answer the next seven questions from your present-day perspective.

_

8.

What will you carry in your suitcase on the day of departure to another planet (literal or symbolic)?

Hanna: Um . . . I’m gonna want a knife, some string—

Gregory: Some string?

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: Purpose?

Hanna: Cause string is really useful, um . . . I don’t know? It just seems like those really basic things. Whenever I travel anywhere, I have string.

Gregory: Mhm. Okay.

Hanna: Um . . . Something . . . like something really small, as a memento or . . . keepsake or, like, sentimental thing, probably a necklace? Um, earrings—

Gregory: One pair?

Hanna: Earrings, maybe I’ll go two pairs.

Gregory: Two pairs of earrings—

Hanna: One necklace.

Gregory: And one necklace.

Hanna: Yeah. Um, and some like, rocks, some really small pieces of rock.

Gregory: Mhm. Any place in particular that you’d pick those rocks from? Or any rocks?

Hanna: I have some rocks from the Isle of Iona that someone gave me. I’d probably take one of them. They’re really nice and smooth. Um . . . I mean, I don’t know, like, something from the floor the day I take off— [laughs]

Gregory: Something from where?

Hanna: Like, the day I’m gonna leave, I’ll go outside, and pick a rock.

Gregory: Pick up a rock.

Hanna: [laughs] Yeah.

Gregory: Just a random rock?

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: What else?

Hanna: A blanket . . . something to make fire . . . um—

Gregory: Something to make a fire? Like a piece of wood?

Hanna: I’m gonna go with flint and steel. I think that’s a bit more durable. Like something to light a fire with.

Gregory: Uh-huh.

Hanna: And . . . a musical instrument. Something that I’ll fit in a suitcase.

Gregory: Something you can play, or anything?

Hanna: I mean, if I can’t play it, I’ll learn to play it, so—

Gregory: Mhm, would you name one, please?

Hanna: Tin whistle is probably good—tin whistle. And a soft toy.

Gregory: And a soft toy.

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: Do you have one in mind?

Hanna: Yes. Um . . . he’s called Racoon, and he’s a raccoon that I’ve had since I was born. [laughs]

Gregory: A-ha! Does Racoon travel with you everywhere you go?

Hanna: If I’m going away for a weekend, then no. If I’m going away for an extended period of time, then yes.

9.

Gregory: How many lives would you like to live?

Hanna: I’m not sure there could ever be enough lives. Um . . . there’s too much to do and see for one lifetime, so . . . if I had the choice, I would like to do more than is possible in one lifetime and . . . I’m really curious, I would like to know what the world is going to look like after I’m gone, so—

Gregory: So only out of curiosity?

Hanna: It’s kind of sad that a lot of cool stuff is going to happen, and I won’t see it.

Gregory: Uh-huh. How many? As many as possible, just . . . going forward . . . eternally?

Hanna: Yeah, well, I mean, no, cause it’s gonna get pretty nasty at some point, um [laughs] . . . I mean, there’s a lot of parameters here, because can any of them be in the past? Or will they have to all be, like, could they all be in the present or . . .? From my current perspective, now, it would be . . . would have been amazing to be one of the first people in an area that didn’t have a settlement.

Gregory: Hm. So, discovering a new land?

Hanna: Yeah. Or just like . . . I mean, it’s pretty hard in today’s world to go somewhere unpopulated. There’s always going to be a road or a house you can see. But I would really love to see just a little bit of what it was like, what an area was like before people built stuff in it.

10.

Gregory: What should be forgotten, and what should be remembered?

Hanna: Maybe everything?

Gregory: Everything what?

Hanna: [short pause] It’s all information. And . . . that information is going to be useful for something, even if it’s just for satisfying curiosity.

11.

Gregory: What would you like to know?

Hanna: How the human brain and body work. In detail.

Gregory: In detail?

Hanna: Yeah. Like, the stuff we don’t know. [chuckles]

Gregory: For example?

Hanna: Um . . . well, a great example is . . . the general medical community doesn’t really know what the cervix is and how it works. They started studying it fairly recently and . . . I mean, I have one so it would be kind of useful to know about it! [laughs] . . . I guess I would like to know about my own brain . . . um, and how I can . . . I would like to know, like when I don’t understand something that everyone else does, or . . . I would like to know the difference . . . like, what is going on differently—

Gregory: Why do you understand some things differently than others?

Hanna: Yeah.

Gregory: And is there a specific reason that your brain works like that?

Hanna: Are you asking me, or are you suggesting that?

Gregory: No, I’m asking.

Hanna: Oh, well, I don’t know. I mean, it would be nice to know. Um . . . it does seem to—

Gregory: Do you have any clues?

Hanna: I have clues. The potential diagnosis of Asperger’s . . . and a different psychiatrist diagnosed me with ADHD. But everyone I’ve seen has given me a different diagnosis so . . . I’ve had also Borderline Personality Disorder, and anxiety, and depression.

Gregory: Uh-huh.

Hanna: [laughs] . . . I mean, I know that in females they’re often misdiagnosed as each other, um . . . because again, they haven’t really studied the effects in women as much as they have in men—

Gregory: And uh, what do you think you have, based on the reading that you’ve done?

Hanna: A mixture—

Gregory: A mixture of all of those diagnoses?

Hanna: I mean, a lot of them overlap. I’d probably lean towards ADHD . . . and Asperger’s which often go together anyway, so—

Gregory: Mhm, mhm.

12.

Gregory: Describe yourself to non-human intelligent life.

Hanna: I’m a sentient intelligent lifeform . . . I survive on land, rather than in the water. I can’t fly . . . I can move around on land pretty well. I’m not particularly fast . . . I have . . . a sort of physique that doesn’t make a lot of sense, compared to all of the other animals, but it seems to work . . . I’m not particularly strong . . . my species survives better in groups than alone . . . I’m heavily reliant on tools that we as a species have made . . . and I’m adaptable.

Gregory: Mhm.

13.

Gregory: What is in the middle between good and evil?

Hanna: Survival.

Gregory: Mhm.

14.

Gregory: Describe your reality, please.

Hanna: [pause] My reality is very much in my own head. I mean . . . it interacts with the world around it, and, I guess, it’s largely based on the world around it, but . . . my perspective is something very internal in the way I see how things are . . . as how I choose to interpret them.

_

The Being

The being is, the being was,
The being yet will be.
The being of here, there, everywhere.
In mind, in matter shall be.