the yak occidental

Here is a selection of memorable quotes from Speak, Okinawa: A Memoir by Elizabeth Miki Brina "We can't remember our name. The one we gave ourselves in the beginning. Maybe we never had one. Maybe we didn't need one, back then, when we were left alone. A name offers power and prominence. Both, we didn't want. Today we call ourselves Uchinaa, which is how we pronounce "Okinawa," which means "a rope in the offing." Because if you look at us on a map, we look like a knotted rope tossed carelessly from the sky onto the sea. We are the largest of an island chain called Ryukyu, which is how the Japanese pronounced Liu Chiu, which is what the Chinese called us many centuries ago." "In the hills and forests and shores, most of us still shared the land. Most of us still caught fish. We all still wore our long hair tied in knots on top of our heads, held in place by wooden pins. Those were our crowns." "I used to be angry at my mother for...

Here is a selection of memorable quotes from  Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak  She refrained from talking about these issues with the pious, because once they noticed her vacillating between doubt and faith, they insisted on trying to win her over. The few atheists she had met were not so different. Whether in the name of God or science, there was no satisfaction for the ego quite like the satisfaction of converting someone to your side. p.85 She wrote in her God-diary: I’m perpetually in limbo. Maybe I want too many things at once and nothing passionately enough. p.86 In the name of religion they are killing God. For the sake of discipline and authority, they forget love. p.87 Why roots were rated so highly compared with branches or leaves, Peri had never understood. Trees had multiple shoots and filaments extending in every direction, under and above the ancient soils of the earth. If even roots refused to stay put, why expect the impossible from human beings? p.111 “B...