Shame is always easier to handle if you have someone to share it with.

For what matters if I gain the whole world, but lose my soul?

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

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

Shame is always easier to handle if you have someone to share it with.

You have so many layers, that you can peel away a few, and everyone's so shocked or impressed that you're baring your soul, while to you it's nothing, because you know you've twenty more layers to go.

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.