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Nothing is Scarier Than Teenage Girls

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Just in time for Halloween, here are a few reminders (and an homage to my past self) that nothing is more terrifying than being a teen. Above: from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix) There is nothing like a horror film to reveal the culture anxieties of one’s time and place. And if horror has taught me anything, it is that nothing has been as enduringly terrifying across time and place as women’s bodies, as the bodies of all marginalized genders.  from "Salvation" in Dinner on Monster Island: Essays by Tania De Rozario   "So what am I now?" Lee says, teasing. Dodo sighs. Give Lee a hard look. "A monster. You and your friends, all of you. Pretty monsters. It's a stage all girls go through. If you're lucky you get through it without doing any permanent to yourself or anyone else. Are you sure you really want to do this to your friend? It's cruel, Lee. - from Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link I don’t know what it is about teenage girls that makes

Best Of Tania De Rozario's Dinner On Monster Island

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Here is a selection of memorable quotes from Dinner on Monster Island: Essays by Tania De Rozario  There is nothing like a horror film to reveal the culture anxieties of one’s time and place. And if horror has taught me anything, it is that nothing has been as enduringly terrifying across time and place as women’s bodies, as the bodies of all marginalized genders.  p.6 This body is not yours. This flesh is not yours. Beauty not as invitation, but as warning. p.76 Hair - usually long, black, and unruly — is a common motif in Asian Horror. It pours out of faucets in deep, dark waves. It descends from the ceiling like a noose. It clogs drains and pipes, blankets children in their sleep, floats limp in cups of tea. p.77 The sweet shorthand of Singlish, every expression of which fills an empty place in my heart. The intimacy of never having to explain that which is untranslatable. The fact that I never feel as articulate as I do when I code-switch between the “proper” English I was taught

Best Of Andrew Hill and John Wooden's "Be Quick - But Don't Hurry!"

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Here is a selection of memorable quotes from  Be Quick - But Don’t Hurry!: Finding Success in the Teachings of a Lifetime by Andrew Hill with John Wooden   […] I firmly believe that the youth of today need role models more than critics […] p.188 Managing creativity is a far tougher challenge that requires flexibility, the ability to react and change quickly as market conditions fluctuate, and the skill to empower and nurture fragile egos […] Everyone talks about the need to employ “out-of-the-box” thinkers, but managers must realize that most people with the capacity for original thought are not comfortable in tight and rigid structure. You need to find the balance between creativity and organization” p.59 Coach was a great believer in quickness, which he explained by telling me, “when you learn something, you must be quick in implementing it. It’s like driving the freeway. You may know what to do, but if you don’t do it quickly, you may not be around very long.” p.71 One other pitfal

A Couple Sweet Little Quotes

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Here are a couple short, sweet quotes that remind me of the other. I think of them often. I think of them with love. I think of us with love. - from "Conflict Circle" in Dinner on Monster Island: Essays by Tania de Rozario She was a good kid. We were all good kids. Amen. - from A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews

Best Of Jamila Ahmed's Every Rising Sun

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Here is a selection of memorable quotes from Every Rising Sun by Jamila Ahmed. “It is human to seek your destiny.  We angels follow the path He sets for us and do not deviate.” p.136 To think, I have traveled from Bam, but more of the world still stretches beyond. Is it greedy to want more? Baba’s voice tickles my ear: There is always more, Shaherazade, but a wise man knows when to be content . p.218 And I see: mountains and deserts and far-flung cities, the places in my tales, Cairo and Fez and Tashkent and Mecca, their bazaars and libraries, histories, holy places, and storytellers beneath long-branched trees, Atsiz at my side, easy and beloved. I suppress a shiver at this intoxicating and rare liberty that is mine, frightening, confusing, and heady, all at once. p. 410

Best Of Hannah Levene's "Greasepaint"

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Here is a selection of memorable quotes from Greasepaint by Hannah Levene. At sixteen Frankie and Lillian were alive for one another. “Let’s not say we’ll die for anything” Lily falls into Frankie’s arms “for the cause or for each other, let’s say we will live for it. For it all and most of all for each other.” p.35 Laur thought the older you got the soppier you got, your roots were deeper in the earth and they were soaking up more than the kids whose roots were just in the dust, dug in so shallow it barely kept them standing. The newer kids were floppier, they were bendier like metal heated up and the older guys with their roots down deep got all soppy but they wouldn’t budge, soft and solid at the same time. Soft in all the wrong places, Laur thought. Marg was like a gorilla, yeah, just like a gorilla the way that seeing a picture of a gorilla makes you wanna cry because of the way it looks just like you and just like an animal all at the same time. p.56-57

Best Of Christina Henry's "Red Queen"

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Here is a selection of memorable quotes from Red Queen by Christina Henry. Despite all you have done. Yes , Alice thought, I love Hatcher despite all he has done. And when I see him again I will not be a child trailing his coattails. I will be a woman, and I can love him with clear eyes. p. 219 “If I had courage enough I would have taken a dagger to my own heart long ago.” “That is not courage,” Alice said. “It takes more courage to go on living, to keep in hope.” p. ? “The world gobbles us and chews us and swallows us,” Hatcher said, in that uncanny way he had of reading her thoughts. “I think happy endings must be accidents.” “But we hope for them all the same,” Alice said. She looked sadly at the remains of those hopeful faces. Above all, we hope not to die in terror . p.34