​In the beginning, we were just an ordinary couple: in love, happy. Math helped a bit when we realized it was cheaper for both of us to move in together, so we did. The lust didn’t fade, but there was a barrier. My partner—who initially seemed not to care—soon found ways to break it. But what exactly am I talking about? And why does it matter? Well, after six months, "the volume" had become natural to me. There was nothin...

​We live in an age of extremes, where everything is allowed, in a way, but it’s also a time where old moral judgments still rest beneath the ashes of our parents' and grandparents' world. A lot of things are no longer said, more out of fear than true understanding. It’s not that the people who made mean-spirited jokes in the nineties have suddenly had a change of heart. Quite the opposite: in my view, those people simply...

​The world made itself known the next day, entirely indifferent to our wishes. First came the sun, invading the bedroom; then the sounds of doors opening and closing, dogs barking, cars climbing the street, and the muffled voices of neighbors saying indecipherable things. But none of that mattered. Not even the hangover mattered, though it nagged a little. ​What mattered was that she was there, right before my eyes, shelt...