Bonnie Wilcox

“A neighbor exists without condition--if I were to declare that this person is my neighbor and that person is not, then it is I, and not they, who have failed at neighborliness. It is only by claiming all as your neighbors, and behaving as though all are your neighbors, that we become good neighbors ourselves. The act of being a good neighbor must always begin with us.”
― Kelly Barnhill, The Ogress and the Orphans

“You were not just born to center your entire existence on work and labor. You were born to heal, to grow, to be of service to yourself and community, to practice, to experiment, to create, to have space, to dream, and to connect.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

“The Death of Leaves You are not the leaves which blaze with color every fall, then fall ground into the ground. Their death is not your death. No, you are the tree, which moves its energy down in autumn, to the roots, in ample store. Bare branches best prepared for winter cold and winter winds. That’s not to say the loss of leaves is not a loss. The grief of losing all your color, your connection to the sun is real grief. The stripping is a real stripping. But as every fall speaks of coming spring and every winter holds its end in its beginning your own sap will rise again in longer light nourishing every small branch and you, tree, human, living creature will grow green life again.”
― Jessica Kantrowitz, Blessings for the Long Night: Poems and Meditations to Help You through Depression

“In stories, a person can be terrible just because, but in real life, I don't think that is true. In real life, people are terrible because they are broken, or people are terrible because they are lonely, or people are terrible because they want or need something they can't have and they justify all sorts of crimes in order to get it. And sometimes, people are terrible because they are afraid.”
― Kelly Barnhill, winner of the Newbery Award for The Girl Who Drank the Moon