I used to think grown-ups always knew what was right. They seemed to have all the answers, like they were in control of everything. Back then, I thought there were rules for how things worked, even in little moments—like the way someone should look at you, or how a touch was supposed to feel. But nobody ever explained what it meant when something felt… different. When a look lingered too long, or a hand stayed where it shouldn’t. I didn’t know back then. I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel. I was just a kid. I was just eight. Ruben was my best friend’s neighbor. He was older, maybe seventeen, and that was the best part—he was older.…

Introduction For most people, the art of programming is to fill desires left unaccomplished in reality. For some, it is to pay their bills in an effort to have a home. And for others, it may not be so heart-warming and wholesome most of the time. It may be to sacrifice. To reawaken. To find. 1995, Lubbock, Texas – Sal Perez, an ordinary man living in the hot summers of ‘The Lone Star State,’ was a Graphic Designer who strived to work with the company MIT, a programming organization responsible for the latest digital craze, “SUNKISS.” The SUNKISS disk, released in 1995, was a groundbreaking piece of software that quickly became a digital sensation due to its innovative design and…

I used to think grown-ups always knew what was right. They seemed to have all the answers, like they were in control of everything. Back then, I thought there were rules for how things worked, even in little moments—like the way someone should look at you, or how a touch was supposed to feel. But nobody ever explained what it meant when something felt… different. When a look lingered too long, or a hand stayed where it shouldn’t. I didn’t know back then. I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel. I was just a kid. I was just eight. Ruben was my best friend’s neighbor. He was older, maybe seventeen, and that was the best part—he was older.…

Introduction For most people, the art of programming is to fill desires left unaccomplished in reality. For some, it is to pay their bills in an effort to have a home. And for others, it may not be so heart-warming and wholesome most of the time. It may be to sacrifice. To reawaken. To find. 1995, Lubbock, Texas – Sal Perez, an ordinary man living in the hot summers of ‘The Lone Star State,’ was a Graphic Designer who strived to work with the company MIT, a programming organization responsible for the latest digital craze, “SUNKISS.” The SUNKISS disk, released in 1995, was a groundbreaking piece of software that quickly became a digital sensation due to its innovative design and…

Introduction For most people, the art of programming is to fill desires left unaccomplished in reality. For some, it is to pay their bills in an effort to have a home. And for others, it may not be so heart-warming and wholesome most of the time. It may be to sacrifice. To reawaken. To find. 1995, Lubbock, Texas – Sal Perez, an ordinary man living in the hot summers of ‘The Lone Star State,’ was a Graphic Designer who strived to work with the company MIT, a programming organization responsible for the latest digital craze, “SUNKISS.” The SUNKISS disk, released in 1995, was a groundbreaking piece of software that quickly became a digital sensation due to its innovative design and…

I used to think grown-ups always knew what was right. They seemed to have all the answers, like they were in control of everything. Back then, I thought there were rules for how things worked, even in little moments—like the way someone should look at you, or how a touch was supposed to feel. But nobody ever explained what it meant when something felt… different. When a look lingered too long, or a hand stayed where it shouldn’t. I didn’t know back then. I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel. I was just a kid. I was just eight. Ruben was my best friend’s neighbor. He was older, maybe seventeen, and that was the best part—he was older.…