She Once Told Me the Secret of the Stars

Abstract

She Once Told Me the Secret of the Stars is a hybrid prose-poetry collection that chronicles the inner life of Aurora, a trans woman living in a dystopian city that seeks to stamp out every trace of her humanity. My creative research project investigates the locus between the present and the future. In what ways can the queer narrative escape the melancholic present and project towards joy? What are the systemic consequences of doing so, and how can technology be a means of traversing this boundary? Through intricately introspective verse, Aurora’s story prods at these research questions as she navigates existing in two worlds: her home where she cannot be herself, and the Holo—a holographic world of fantastical bounty. Ultimately, She Once Told Me the Secret of the Stars highlights the urgency of the queer narrative and its authentic representation—potentiality, joy, grief, and self-realization.