At night, lying on your back and staring at the falling snow, it's easy to imagine oneself soaring through the stars.

Maybe I'm sad about wanting you. I'm not too comfortable with wanting someone.

Edward Said talks about Orientalism in very negative terms because it reflects the prejudices of the west towards the exotic east. But I was also having fun thinking of Orientalism as a genre like Cowboys and Indians is a genre – they’re not an accurate representation of the American west, they’re like a fairy tale genre.

Her lips tarried at mine. Baiting each other with the warmth of our breath, barely grazing, detouring, then connecting.

I was grateful for cereal --- the only food that my tummy, riddled by pangs of infatuation, could handle.

Something about being rejected at Church Camp felt so much more awful than being rejected at school.

I wanted a heaven. And I grew up striving for that world-- an eternal world- that would wash away my temporary misery.