"I mean, we live in this irreparably broken world and I don't wish to deny reality, but the amazing thing to me is not that we refuse to relinquish hope as a species -- the amazing thing is that we're right to hold on to hope. The world may be broken, but hope is not crazy... Obviously not all stories end happily. We don't always have good fortune ( Read more... )

Frightful and I went to the meadow when the meal was done, and I flopped in the grass. The stars came up, the ground smelled sweet, and I closed my eyes. I heard, "Pip, pop, pop, pop."

"Who's making that noise?" I said sleepily to Frightful. She ruffled her feathers.

I listened. "Pop, pop." I rolled over and stuck my face in the grass. Something ( Read more... )

If you want to believe in something, then believe in it. Just because something isn’t true, there’s no reason you can’t believe in it. Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage and virtue mean everything; that ( Read more... )

or a quote from a book, rather:

For those poor souls who can only think of the terrible fear and danger of a runaway horse, think of this: a speed like water flowing over stone, a skimming sensation that hovers and dips while the world spins around and the wind drags your skin taught across your bones. You can close your eyes and lose yourself in ( Read more... )

When I was a child I wanted to live in trees ( Read more... )

last tuesday it stormed violently and the rainfall found me out in the street, kicking off my shoes and dancing down the pavement with the water that rushed to the storm drains.  I let my sundress be soaked through and my hair turn to damp ringlets while I stood in the warm puddles that gathered in the tilts and cracks and dips in the asphalt.  and ( Read more... )

it seems appropriate that I wrote the essay in my application to Goucher on the affinity I felt for Pippin, and though I've changed often and drastically, I've come right back around and this song fits me exactly.  I've quoted this before, but it seems so very appropriate right now:

Every man has his daydreams,
Every man has his goal.
People like ( Read more... )

at the same time on the same night in three utterly different places and unrelated circumstances, three of the people I love were suddenly threatened.  while some obscure, heavy piece of garbage was being kicked up by the wheels of another car and slamming against our windshield right in front of Lura, Ashleigh was tripping on a coat and falling to ( Read more... )

the first day of sunlight and warmth is like taking that first breath after swimming a lap underwater, isn't it?  whenever that day comes, I feel fresh and green and new and I'm liable to tell you ten or twenty or a hundred times that I love everything and I love you, and it really does feel like that whole weight of heavy gray, dull cold wet coat- ( Read more... )

my bones are aching to be back in a big city.  I'm not sure when it started, but I've only woken up to that realization recently.  still, I just feel sure of it, and I suddenly need to be up and moving, seeing and exploring and experiencing new worlds.  I miss all the good parts of London, and all the newness, the freshness, of Athens and Berlin ( Read more... )