Ebony Laieb

“I didn’t brush my teeth today and I can smell my own breath. Acrid. Stale. My hair is still wet from the shower. I couldn’t be bothered to dry it, and I know when I wake up, it’ll be a tangled nightmare. I’m also 99 percent sure I forgot to put on deodorant. I should just live like this. Abandon my ablutions. Let my teeth go yellow with rot, gums red and receding. Allow my skin to break out, forget exfoliation. Let the dead flakes congregate, create societies of zits on my face. Evil empires. I should let my hair gnarl together. Form a giant nestlike mass on top of my head. I could keep things in there. Credit cards. Snacks. I should develop a smell so terrible that no one will ever come near me. Create a force field of stink. Wouldn’t that be easier? To be left alone in my misery. To lean into what I feel, match my exterior to my interior. I won’t do it, though. I’ll wake up in the morning and floss and brush my teeth and my hair. I’ll put on deodorant and perfume. A little mascara. Apply some tinted lip gloss. I’m not brave enough to be who I am.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“No one tells you it’s all about to change, to be taken away. There’s no proximity alert, no indication that you’re standing on the precipice. And maybe that’s what makes tragedy so tragic.”
― Blake Crouch, Dark Matter

“Words. Such infuriatingly clumsy tools to communicate such important things.”
― Carissa Broadbent, Mother of Death & Dawn

“Beauty has always been one of the only ways women have been able to access power, and I can’t fault any of them for wanting more of it.”
― Ling Ling Huang, Natural Beauty