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You are a brilliant writer. This is such a good topic. It made me really think. I am also a rootless person, i made it a point to go to college 300 miles away, strip my roots from my complicated relationship with my immigrant parents and plant new ones elsewhere. I worked remotely since 2011! But now as I’ve gotten older and have children, I dare to say I wish I held onto some of my roots so I can teach my kids where we came from and why we are here. Why we live in privilege because of the efforts of those who planted those roots.

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Thank you so much Stephanie, I am glad you connected with the topic :) I think your example also exemplifies how one can have roots despite the distance and how your connection to “home” can change throughout life. I’ve definitely started to discover this, as I just experienced my first year away from my hometown.

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Loved your text, thanks for writing it. I was someone that moved a lot but eventually I found myself living on the same city for the past 4 years. I genuinely cannot think about living somewhere else in the near future. But that has created a need to grow my own roots here, which takes time and resolution. I have just recently created a book club in a effort to do so. Excited to see how it goes and where it takes me. I guess we kind of have to take the issues in our own hands.

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Thanks for sharing Luiza! Taking the issue into our own hands is definitely what this article is about. I also joined a book club after moving and found it to be a great way to meet people - I hope it’s good for you!

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Aug 21, 2023Liked by Madison Huizinga

Ah I liked this, Madison! It was wonderful to follow your own thought process on the perils and freedoms of choice, and how we can making meaning within unlimited options i.e. "Don’t necessarily grow thick, obstinate roots but rather tendrils of connection." I really related to having a very rooted childhood but then bit of a rootless young adulthood. I've been thinking a lot about community and investing in the people and place I live in so your essay fit perfectly into my reflections; might even be the nudge I needed to go all in!

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I’m so glad you liked it :D! I wanted to approach the idea of the “illusion of choice” in a way that felt personal to me - I’m glad this angle connected with you!

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