I found a single black-and-white photo attached to a 2015 event page for an underground poetry slam in Portland. The photo showed a person in a wide-brimmed hat, facing away from the camera, one hand raised like they were conducting a storm.
So I did what anyone does. I opened a browser and started searching. Searching for- Valerica Steele in-
That’s when the search changed. It stopped being about finding a person and started being about the feeling of looking for someone who might not want to be found. We assume everyone is searchable. That if a name exists, so does a digital footprint — a Twitter graveyard, an old blog, a forgotten Etsy shop. But Valerica Steele doesn’t play by those rules. I found a single black-and-white photo attached to
And if you do owe that person $20 from the 2018 open mic… maybe Venmo them. Just a thought. Have you ever searched for someone who left almost no trace? Tell me about your ghost in the comments. I opened a browser and started searching
