I’m reading more than usual these days, veering into books that offer tips — in one form or another — on how to declutter, downsize, and generally lose my emotional attachment to “stuff.” The latest book I’ve picked up is Young, Broke & Beautiful, where I read the following “broke-ass manifesto for stuart, written by Silvi Alcivar:

broke as we may be, we are not breaking, we are beautiful riding bicycles, caltrain, muni, serving PBR and well drink specials, wearing neckties and highheels, working late nights and over-time, taking snapshots of rooftops, pigeons, homeless people, looking for we don’t know quite what and trying to say it we don’t know how but we open our mouths and trust the right words will pour out like some kind of gold at the end of some rainbow because we are lovers and haters and hipsters and geeks, writing poems in the street, spray painting buildings, making DIY and everything indie and shabby oh so chic, hanging home-made art in coffee shop galleries, reading books without covers and checking out movies from the public library. we are attracted like moths to candle flame to what is free, what is worth bartering, what will keep our frugality and tight wallets from emptying, all for the sake of a happiness we’re not sure we can claim, but we keep on, dancing costumed in the street, sitting next to you silently, shouting, we are broke, we are beautiful, and we are not breaking.

So beautiful and so true.