Dear friend, I have searched all nightthrough each burnt paper, but I fear I will never findthe formula to let you die

And may my bronze name / touch always her thousand fingers / grow brighter with her weeping / until I am fixed like a galaxy / and memorized / in her secret and fragile skies.

Words are tears that have been written down. Tears are words that need to be shed. Without them, joy loses all its brilliance and sadness has no end.

Suffering is inevitable. It is part of the human condition. It is written in the human script.

Disappointment is the end of an illusion.

Not sure of my place in the world (still up for debate) and not sure what I wanted to do with my life (not really up for debate).

Beneficial in theory, so-called free trade agreements far too often have been detrimental to the United States economy and the manufacturing sector that forms its central pillar.

I do think evangelicals have been under attack.

University politics make me long for the simplicity of the Middle East.

You can order yourself to treasure a moment, to cling tight to a feeling and never let it fade, but it's your brain, that three-pound lump of hamburger, that makes the final call.

It can never be necessary to do what is not honourable.

Creativity ignited a spark. In that moment, I saw that art is not peripheral, beauty is not optional, but a strategy for survival.