…Matthew McConaughy?? Maybe my brain made the association because of the shared first name, but as a famous white guy of the right age, in my head Malone looked like McConaughy!

Heya! I’m working on a photoshop project and am a bit intimidated to look through the entire internet for the best/most interesting photos of Hank and John. I want photos from eras around (2007-2010), (2011-2017), and (2018-now).

Who here has a favorite photo you want to share?

I sort of came to this fandom in a roundabout way. I saw Hank Green on TikTok, and really enjoyed how he presented science. Then started listening to scishow tangents (RIP my favorite podcast). And once I listen to all I showed tangents I started listening to dear Hank and John. I wasn’t really familiar with John as “I didn’t like reading”.

I “didn’t like reading” because I grew up dyslexic, and I associate reading a real physical book with mental anguish and feelings of inadequacy from a very young age. Throughout high school in college, I got accommodations to listen to books instead of reading them. I was so convinced that I couldn’t read a physical book that any time I tried, I got a migraine.

Then I got Long Covid in 2022 and spent months and months in bed. So I got into audiobooks. But only fantasy because I needed to escape. But I didn’t listen to any John Green books besides the Anthropocene Reviewed and Everything is Tuberculoses, because I didn’t want to read any fiction books about people being ill, because I was so ill.

However, last April, I started listening to a book called Unlearn Your Pain, and realized that’s so much of my illness like migraines were associated with past traumas, like struggling to read. So I challenged myself to read self-help books so I could highlight and underline important things. And when my head started to hurt, I told myself it wasn’t real, that the pain was in my mind from fear and anxiety. And I pushed through. And I read a chapter. And another one.

Turns out I can read, and reading a physical book isn’t that much different than reading Reddit comments. I just had to believe in myself. I got the book like a month and a half ago when it came out and yet I still was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to read a novel. Self help books are medicine. I have to read them to get better, but I didn’t enjoy reading them.

I have yet to actually finish a book. and I have yet to read for fun.

But I’m determined I’m gonna finish this one.

I read Hollywood, Ending earlier this month and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. What a poignant meditation on art, love, grief, trauma and celebrity culture.

This quote, particularly, has stayed with me. So obviously I illustrated it. The idea was simple - an open door looking into a museum where Kai and Juniper appreciate a piece of art (a cover of H,E to make it extra meta) together.

My Instagram is linked here