Ijanaya Smith

“In addition to antigenic drift, there is a larger change that the flu virus can undergo, antigenic shift, and that’s how we get our flu pandemics. During this shift, viral proteins assume an entirely new structure, and the virus is said to be “novel.” These novel viruses—which most often arise when animal and human viruses share and swap their genes—are like entirely new criminals, not old ones in disguise. This makes them sneakier, more prolific, and perhaps more deadly. Antigenic shift generated the deadly 1918 influenza virus and the swine flu outbreak of 2009.”
― Jeremy Brown, Influenza: The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic

“Don’t get stuck in your beliefs. Only the foolish and the dead don’t change. Rigid thinking limits your ability to see things in a different light.”
― Ernie J. Zelinski, The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed. — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights activist, 1963”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, A Night Divided

“A seat at the table, the new generation of black activists reasons, isn’t worth much if your fellow diners still refuse to pass you a plate.”
― Wesley Lowery, They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement