Hello. My name is Spencer So, and this is how I started somuchlove—around the age of 12, one of my best friends in middle school transitioned. He and I became very close in the eighth grade. I watched as he processed his emotions and experienced the world so differently from me, a cisgender male. He opened my eyes to an experience I was new to. The idea of being discriminated against for being a part of the LGBTQ+ community, which, before then, was not something I had come across. Seeing my dear friend struggle through so many internal issues while dealing with the external repercussions of this change was mind-blowing. I thought about things I could do to help him through it all.
"somuchlove" is a term my mom coined long before I was conscious. It was prepared for me before I could put together words. somuchlove was what our emails began with. Take a look at https://so-muchlove.com/, and you'll see that this tradition has been part of our family since we were kids.
Moving into high school revealed many more experiences I had not anticipated. My best friend for all four years and I both come from colorful backgrounds: I, a Japanese American, and he, an African American, in a majority caucasian school. In school, we faced history classes full of contextually isolating eras in the United States. We grew up around people who didn't really understand what it was like to look different from everyone else. Even in one of the most diverse places in the world, the San Francisco Bay Area, we felt a bit outcast. COVID did not help our feelings of isolation. Both the Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements took place over the course of the next two years, which had us in fear for our friends and family's safety in and around our own homes.
In my sophomore year of high school, I started somuchlove LLC in the state of California. Despite many half-baked projects and a lifetime of mistakes, we managed to run one successful campaign. Based around autism awareness, with drawings from a cousin of mine who has autism. We were able to donate about one thousand dollars to the Autistic Self-Advocate Network, with college on the horizon and new adventures just around the corner. somuchlove came to a screeching halt.
After becoming settled in college, I found hope for this project again. Meeting exciting and creative people from all over the world who are all at the University of Oregon together. I got them together from classes, jobs, and social circles, and we met for the first time in 2023. For the first time, I felt like I had found people who understood me. We began working on project after project together. Now, one year from our first collection, I write to you in a store of our very own in the town where this iteration of somuchlove began. If you need a place to hang out, feel safe, or chat, stop by the store.