Artemis Stardust

“Social change is a million individual acts of kindness; culture change is a million subversive acts of resistance.”
― Mary Pipher, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls

“Parents set themselves up for failure
by giving their kids names that mean too much.
Some people put so much weight in names, and how is a baby
supposed to carry
anything so heavy
as their parents’ dreams?”
― Olivia A. Cole, Ariel Crashes a Train

“Traumatized people are terrified to feel deeply. They are afraid to experience their emotions, because emotions lead to loss of control. In contrast, theater is about embodying emotions, giving voice to them, becoming rhythmically engaged, taking on and embodying different roles.”
― Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

“Talking about painful events doesn’t necessarily establish community – often quite the contrary. Families and organizations may reject members who air the dirty laundry; friends and family can lost patience with people who get stuck in their grief or hurt. This is one reason why trauma victims often withdraw and why their stories become rote narratives, edited into a form least likely to provoke rejection.”
― Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma