Haley

“The only thing left afterward was a red cardigan. I left it in a bag and put it outside, but no one took it. When C. finally noticed the cardigan, he said, “But you love that cardigan.” Did I love that cardigan? I couldn’t tell if I loved him or my mother, let alone a cardigan that I’d worn around my studio for a year. I threw the cardigan away.”
― Esmé Weijun Wang, The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays

“I don’t want to go into the liminal realms. I want to know how to control myself when frightening things happen to me, and if there’s a chance that a ribbon around my ankle will keep me either tethered to this world or safer, somehow, when I do tumble out of it—though it may need to be used in tandem with medication, and reported to my psychiatrist—that’s good enough for me.”
― Esmé Weijun Wang, The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays

“listened to more audiobooks in the same genre, some written in such lousy prose that I believed I was killing off brain cells faster than either schizoaffective disorder or trauma could;”
― Esmé Weijun Wang, The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays

“To say this prayer—burn this candle—perform this ritual—create this salt or honey jar—is to have something to do when it seems that nothing can be done.”
― Esmé Weijun Wang, The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays