Ayesha

“How many sandwiches did you eat at some thing like this? There were nearly twenty more on the trays. Did you leave some for propriety sake? She hadn’t touched them. Wait, were they decorative?”
― Kevin Wilson, Nothing to See Here

“Whenever people had asked me which bear was my favorite, I had dithered and hedged. "I like them all equally," I would say, diplomatically. Sun bears were cute with lolling tongues. Grizzlies were emblematic of the American wilderness. And who could pass up the panda? What a jolly fellow. That, however, was all a lie. My favorite bear was unequivocally the polar bear.”
― Gloria Dickie, Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future

“Despite my pride for my culture and heritage, it is not my home. It is a place I long for and grieve over in my heart, but it is not a home that knows me with intimacy... What has become apparent to me is that home is a space that we must cultivate ourselves, deliberately and intentionally. It is a space we must co-create with those we love and bring into existence wherever we are.”
― Jenny Wang, Permission to Come Home: Reclaiming Mental Health as Asian Americans

“Just before noon one sunny summer’s day, three bears were returning home from their morning wander. They lived in a sturdy wooden cabin, unpretentious and rustic. Approaching the house he’d built with his own paws, Daddy Bear felt a sense of satisfaction. The residence blended in with the forest rather than standing out from it. All the construction materials had been ethically sourced. The wood came from trees felled by storms. A thick layer of turf on the roof provided insulation in winter and kept the cabin cool in summer. In addition to being practical, the turf looked pretty. Its grass sprouted straight up like hair jutting from a mythic head. A little too big to be quaint, yet a little too small to be showoffish, the house was just right. And just right was the way Daddy Bear liked things.”
― Mark Rice, The Cabin Incident