Joyanne

“There was always that other feeling, crouched and waiting nearby in the shadows, even at a moment like this, even when he was on the brink of the most beautiful thing he would ever see in his life. It was the low tide. The sacred, empty void after the birds had taken flight. The tangled thing that tugged on Mikey, kept him sewn up inside himself, made happiness hard. Mikey didn’t yet have words for this feeling, but already at this young age, he understood that it would never leave him entirely—nature had put it in his heart, and there it would always remain, even when he thought he was in the clear, even when he thought he had left it behind.”
― Rebecca Kauffman, The Gunners

“Proximity (which breeds empathy) + Honesty (vulnerable dialogue) + Value (seeing each other as having inherent worth) + A Common Goal (seeing that we’re all in this”
― Tyler Merritt, I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America

“But outsiders who rush into the hills don’t always take the time to see that mountain people are a creative, resourceful lot. They don’t understand that Appalachians can be—should be—partners in the effort to make their lives better. They don’t grasp that, if given the right resources and opportunities, these communities are capable of saving themselves. If there’s one thing that women in these hills know how to do, it’s get things done.”
― Cassie Chambers, Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains

“Before we go any further, can we all just admit that junior high sucks eggs? I have never met a person who said, “Man. Seventh grade was the best.” And if I did, I would not want them in my life. Like a person who wears Crocs on purpose, or prefers Pepsi over Coke, I don’t need that kind of delusional idiocy in my life.”
― Tyler Merritt, I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America