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Zoe Trope

Zoe Trope is the pen name of Zoe Fisher. She was born in 1986 & graduated from high school in Oregon in 2003. That same year, HarperCollins published her high school memoir, Please Don't Kill the Freshman. Since then, she has written essays, short stories, and poetry. Her 2017 essay, "Libraries Are the Real Punk Rock" was one of the 15 most-read essays of the year at The Rumpus.

She graduated from Oberlin College in 2008 with a Bachelor's in Art History and completed her Master's degree in Library Science in 2010. Zoe is an instructional designer at a community college in Seattle, Washington and welcomes correspondence at ztrope at gmail dot com.


“Don’t you love my idealism? My hypocrisy? My willingness to sound as loving and naive as possible? At least I know that I don’t know anything at all. I can admit it. Can you? Can you look yourself in the mirror in the morning and admit that you are no different from every other bundle of bones on this planet? And maybe the only things that make you different are your hands, the way you touch things, and what happens to them.”
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“Instead of eating too much, I'm thinking too much and I need to throw up some of these thoughts before something vile happens.”
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“I still feel like I'm jumping on an elevator -- weightless and pulled down at the same time.”
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“techno boy -- seventeen years old. junior. red car. works at a restaurant. it hurts when he smiles. dandruff. computers, electronic music. seeking a girl that won't eat his heart with a steak knife.”
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“I feel like she could drown me in a spoonful of water or crush me with her fingernail clippings. I realize I have no chance.”
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“I'm not worried about the future as much as I'm worried about the past. About keeping my memories real and not sacrificing them to match the present.”
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“I think the only necessary conclusion is that we are too beautiful, because being not beautiful at all just doesn't make sense.”
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“Besides, I always feel safer when I've got words against my heart.”
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“if you take off your clothes, you will find more clothes.”
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“apathy is a disease and some days i long for it.”
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“sometimes every word i write is 'love' but the letters are rearranged, the sounds are different. all the words are red.”
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