Monica

“What did I do? I read books and studied. I listened to my parents and did what they asked me to. Even though, in the end, I never made them happy. I didn’t like myself, and something told me I’d end up alone.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, Whereabouts

“Our massacres are only interrupted by commercial breaks. Judges legalize them. Correspondents kill us with passive voice. If we are lucky, diplomats say that our death concerns them, but they never mention the culprit, let alone condemn the culprit. Politicians, inert, inept, or complicit, fund our demise, then feign sympathy, if any. Academics stand idle. That is, until the dust settles, then they will write books about what should have been.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal

“Det er for tidlig å pakke
men jeg kan planlegge
hva jeg skal ha i min rullator

Ekstra genser sokker hostepastiller
sukkertøy til å lokke fremmede barn
fløyte lommelykt Swiss Army Knife

Nye nødvendigheter kan bykse frem
I går trengte jeg elektrisk tannbørste
i morgen kan jeg få verre behov
Og mitt bibliotek?
Mine amuletter?”
― Annabelle Despard, Vannet bestemmer

“In times like these, one remarkable difference between the modern Western conservative and their liberal counterpart is that the former will gleefully sign their name on the side of the bomb while the latter will just sheepishly initial it.”
― Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This