I knew I loved the color of it. It meant power. It meant might. It meant fire. It meant light. Sure, mostly the only reason why I loved it was because he was the leader of the Power Rangers, so I just assumed that anyone that their favorite color was Red meant that they were the bad ass of the group. I would preach it around town, telling people that it was my favorite color, and no one else was allowed to have it.

Years went on and as I grew older, I became more attached with the ocean. It might seem funny to some, but in true honesty, I felt a deep connection with the ocean, with the saltiness of it. My mother would have to reprimand me for dipping my hand in the water and putting it in my mouth. What truly made me stop doing that was when she told me that fish shat in the water I loved tasting. It might have stopped me from willingly putting salt water in my mouth, but to this day, I love the smell of it, the breeze it gives off the coast as I bike around town on a hot summer’s day. Being trapped in a city where no beaches were around made me grow an affinity for the color blue. To be honest, it was any color that resembled blue. Aqua, Sapphire, Cyan, you name it. The connection between it and the coolness of water would make me daydream of sandy beaches with the roar of the crashing waves behind me as I dived under the curling of the waves, paddling out on my body board to catch the next wave in. Blue became my favorite color in my teenage years.

A third change has occurred now. Maybe it was the music I listened to. Maybe it was era I was becoming obsessed with. All I know is, that one day, there was nothing more that appealed to me than Purple. You can see it in the lenses of my sunglasses, which I take wherever I go. You can see it in the filters I use for my Instagram. You can see it in the logo of my radio show. It took me a while to notice that Purple was the combination of both my childhood and my teenage years. The melding of creativity and soul, after years of blooming into the petals that my flower exposes to the sun, ready to get my photosynthesis on.

I want Purple clothes. A Purple VW camper van. Purple sunglasses. Purple wristbands. Purple lava lamps. Purple tie-dies. Purple this, Purple that. Adulthood. The melding of Childhood and Teenage hood, the polymerization of Red and Blue. Go figures the Grateful Dead logo is Red and Blue. Go figures Hendrix sings about Purple Haze. Go figures the Sixties and Seventies are always implied to have a Purple hue when shown on camera. Go figures it is the color of the perfect sunset, coating the clouds to make them seem like cotton candy covering the great dome above. Go figure it is the perfect fit to describe what I have become. Childhood and Teenage hood. Red and Blue. Purple. ~ad astra ultraque