Imalah

“N, still new to me, coming inside and sitting down, me thinking that we would have sex and he would leave and it would be whatever, but instead we kissed a little bit and then started talking and I heard myself telling him, in an unvarnished tone, things I usually conceal very carefully. I heard him telling me things men don’t often speak of, things people don’t usually tell each other. We talked about fear and feelings and alienation and pain, and we did not have sex, and when he left I felt closer to him than I ever had to anyone whose body I had shared.”
― Margo Steines, Brutalities: A Love Story

“We’re not citizens of Israel; nor do we have a say or any political rights in the state that controls every aspect of our lives. We’re stuck with the inability to plan for our futures, to travel freely, or even to move about our territories from city to city without having to cross military checkpoints. We need permission to build our homes, to travel, to work—all the basic rights and freedoms you might take for granted living in a civil society simply don’t exist when you’re living under military occupation. It’s not an easy life, and yet, it’s the only one I’ve ever known.”
― Ahed Tamimi, They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom

“You don’t cure depression, the same way you don’t cure asthma; you manage it. I’m the inhaler he’s decided to go with and I should be pleased he’s gone this long without an attack.”
― Adam Kay, This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

“I notice that every patient on the ward has a pulse of 60 recorded in their observation chart so I surreptitiously inspect the healthcare assistant’s measurement technique. He feels the patient’s pulse, looks at his watch and meticulously counts the number of seconds per minute.”
― Adam Kay, This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor