Omid Haqbin

“I hear her smiling when she describes her outfit: “I made myself fashionable. And diplomatic. They all took my picture. The BBC, Voice of America, and Tolo TV. I had the turquoise scarf—the one you saw the other day. You know it. And the black jacket.” She pauses. “And a lot of makeup. Big makeup.” I breathe in deeply. I am the journalist. She is the subject. The rule is to show no emotion.”
― Jenny Nordberg, The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan

“the gains of women in Afghanistan once again directly contributed to war, as their fate was mixed into the powder keg of tension between reformers and hardliners, between foreigners and Afghans, and between the urban centers and the countryside.”
― Jenny Nordberg, The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan

“(‘Sheesh, violin can be hard work, but hard work is the only way to get better!’)”
― Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

“I understood immediately the thrill of seeing oneself in print. It provides some sort of primal verification: you are in print; therefore you exist.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life