Alessia

“Every woman knows what I’m talking about. It’s the presumption that makes it hard, at times, for any woman in any field; that keeps women from speaking up and from being heard when they dare; that crushes young women into silence by indicating, the way harassment on the street does, that this is not their world. It trains us in self-doubt and self-limitation just as it exercises men’s unsupported overconfidence.”
― Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me

“You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.”
― Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories

“Survival is insufficient.”
― Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven

“She was resilient

A brave soldier when life tested her

It didn't matter that she did strange things
like stand tall under the rain
letting the drops kiss her skin
thinking the storm was romantic

It was hard to quiet her
not that you would want to
when she spoke, it was captivating

Her heart was like a candle
warm and delicate
just what you needed during darkness

Sometimes, she'd go off and explore the world
test her limits
laugh too much
cry when humans were cruel

It wasn't hard to see why people envied her

You'd come to realize she was a lion
and she could not be tamed.”
― M.J. Abraham