links 4 lovers

Two links to get you in that glorious **breathless Sandra Dee voice** summer lovin’ mood for maybe the entire rest of the year: first, this ultra starry-eyed essay On Summer Crushing by Hanif Abdurraqib, which begins as a consideration of Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” and turns into a rallying cry for romantics (and Cancers) and anyone else who thinks feeling night air on sweaty skin = the highest high possible. 

Second, you simply have to read Shannon Keating’s The Time I Went On A Lesbian Cruise And It Blew Up My Entire Life essay if you haven’t yet, not only because it’s a complex detailing of modern lesbian culture, but also because it raises a deliciously terrifying question: what if you end up actually going for — and getting — what you really want? 

Go forth and read irresponsibly!