Glitter – L. Stylar
November 3, 2022
Every contact leaves a trace.
If this vial of glitter falls off of the bathroom shelf, I might die. Histrionics are the telltale sign of femininity, even more so than the glitter itself. I always put the glitter onto my face in front of this particular mirror, allowing it to get everywhere, all over the sink, all over the faucet, all over the mirror. If anyone has something to say about it they can just fuck off. People don’t like glitter because it never washes off – it’s forever.
Every contact leaves a trace.
Most glitter is manufactured from the same factory in New Jersey: Meadowbrook Glitter. Meadowbrook’s website boasts that “In addition to glitter manufacturing and exporting, Meadowbrook is also the industry leader in production of visual cues, geometric micro particles and security taggants for your proprietary projects.”
Production of visual cues?
Well, glitter is also used to solve murders. Ed Jones, a retired forensic scientist, writes, “I actually found glitter on her, the scalp actually peels off of the skull in that form of degradation. I was looking through the scalp under the microscope when I was picking off the glitter there and I picked out 10 glitter particles out of her hair with the forceps under the microscope and used those for comparison against the stuff from the tape lifted from his truck.”
Every contact leaves a trace.
Glitter is an ideal contact tracer because it doesn’t break down in natural environments. Glitter basically lasts forever because it’s made out of metal, unlike human dandruff, sweat, or hair. Because glitter particles “act like tiny mirrors,” they show up under flashlights when an area is being searched. They are easier to locate than non-reflective evidence. Glitter particles have been used to confirm connections between people who were hurt and those who hurt them. Different glitters are often very distinct from one another, so these connections are traceable.
Every contact leaves a trace.
Glitter never actually goes away, it just lives in the carpet for years, in the pipes for years, in the cracks under your bed for years. It never actually degrades, even if it washes away. And it often stays on your skin, in your pores, for days. Waiting to wink in a ray of light, just waiting, in the dark, for a bright beam of truth to shine in and make it visible again.
Every contact leaves a trace.
Strangers online aren’t in denial. Everyone in your family insists this wasn’t sexual, but strangers online disagree. Think of all those internet searches, resulting only in porn, porn, porn. Strangers online are itching to get off to the childhood experiences you had behind closed doors. Strangers online know what this was, and they knew long before you did.
Every contact leaves a trace.
Whoever, or whatever, is tracking your internet searches knew this about you long before you knew yourself. The image of you rendered by your internet searches is more honest than the one your real-life acquaintances receive. And the list of all your searches is out there somewhere, never to fade, the only evidence of the exact contour of the negative space around your body that is rarely, if ever, visible.
Sources
Blackledge, Bob (2007). GLITTER as Forensic Evidence. FBI/NIJ 2007 Trace Evidence Symposium, Clearwater Beach, Florida, USA. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 262639620_GLITTER_as_Forensic_Evidence.
Glitter as the ‘best’ trace evidence. (2019, November 29). Forensic Mag. https://www.forensicmag.com/557884-Glitter-as-the-Best-Trace-Evidence/.
Meadowbrook Glitter. https://meadowbrookglitter.com/biodegradable-glitter/.