Cover Photo: J. Longo
J. Longo

Is It Possible to Truly Know Yourself? (Probably Not—and That’s Okay.)

There is opportunity in forcibly rewriting a story, in trying out identities that might not feel true at first.


“Know thyself” is a powerful goal. Few of us achieve it.

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no one knew the real me

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Angela Chen is a senior editor at Wired Magazine and the author of Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex, which was named one of the best books of 2020 by NPR, Electric Literature, and Them. Her reporting and essays have also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Guardian, National Geographic, Paris Review, Lapham's Quarterly, and more.