My fascination began with the 1979 film Alien. I was six when my parents let me watch it with them one night. The idea of an alien monster, called the Xenomorph in the movie, lurking in the vents of a spaceship was terrifying and invigorating. I wanted to know the Xenomorph’s motives. Why was the crew scared of it? Rewatching the movie as a pre-teen filled in the blanks. The crew feared the unknown, and this alien monster, for me, represented the misunderstood. I associated this monster with how I saw my body: strange, grotesque, and unnatural. It took me until my thirties to confront and reclaim my monsters.