Chae Pratcher

“The lightest touch might keep Mary there, rooted in this frozen alley. Instead, she stretched out her hand to the worn red ribbon in Doll's wig. Was it the same one, she wondered, the first one, the ribbon the child Mary had set her eyes and heart on at the Seven Dials, three long years ago?”
― Emma Donoghue, Slammerkin: Mary Saunders trades rags for a red ribbon and sells her body in Hogarth's London―a gripping tale of freedom, silk, and survival

“Why is it that good times aren't permitted to last? Especially when we have put in so much time and effort, as these two had? It is as if enjoying the fruits of our labours is one of life's luxuries that we are not permitted to indulge for too long - one day we have summer sun and the next winter storms !”
― Leslie W.P. Garland, The Golden Tup

“The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.”
― Edward Abbey

“A Disavowal of the pursuit of Middleclassness', the heading read. While it is permissible to chase ‘middleincomeness’ with all our might, the text stated, those blessed with the talent or good fortune to achieve success in the American mainstream must avoid the psychological entrapment of Black ‘middleclassness’ that hypnotizes the successful brother or sister into believing they are better than the rest and teaches them to think in terms of ‘we’ and ‘they’ instead of 'US'!”
― Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance