April

“It keeps going," I say. "And also, it will end." "And also?" says the rose. That's just it. What's so frightening about existing. It keeps going and also it will end. If I could define my terror of life, dying, loving, and all of it. If I could say "This is what it is", I'd say "It keeps going. It keeps going and also it will end." "And also?" says the rose. "And also," I say slowly. "It keeps going?”
― Melissa Broder, Death Valley

“Whenever I try to emotionally connect with my mother, she acts like I’m crazy to think she has feelings to express. It makes me self-conscious of my own sensitivity, like anything resembling a feeling is dramatic, frivolous, unnecessary.”
― Melissa Broder, Death Valley

“You're going to die one day. Then what do I do? In a way, it's like you're already gone. I have to prepare."
"If that's the case, why love anyone? Everyone is going to die at some point."
"Exactly! It's like two ghosts trying to cuddle each other. Dust cuddling dust.”
― Melissa Broder, Death Valley

“It's the risk a society runs when it falls into the habit of responding to long term risks with short term solutions. What I've been describing here, the sort of underinvestment in infrastructure that leads to poor grades on an infrastructure report card is part of that fifth risk. What societies need instead, argues Lewis, is effective program management - all the actual boring work that needs to happen in the technologically complex world we live in. Building new facilities, with the exciting ribbon-cutting ceremonies that come with them, is a part of this work, but mostly it's having a checklist and a schedule and a cohort of trained staff who can carry out the routine inspections and maintenance of all the bridges in a region, with all of the funding and policy that entails in a program that is stable over a span of decades or longer.”
― Deb Chachra, How Infrastructure Works