I no longer think she's just being nice. She's being kind. Which is much more a sign of character than mere niceness. Kindness connects to who you are, while niceness connects to how you want to be seen.

It's only a game if there is an absence of meaning. And we've already gone too far for that.

How do you commemorate a year? A paper anniversary, but we are the words written down, not the paper.

The tenderness between two people can turn the air tender, the room tender, time itself tender. As I step out of bed and slip on an oversize shirt, everything around me feels like it's the temperature of happiness.

His books are kept on freestanding shelves hung at different angles on a sea-green wall. They defy gravity, as good books should.

There will always be more questions. Every answer leads to more questions. The only way to survive is to let some of them go.

teenagers are never joking. when seeking to prove a point, principals and teachers should remember that teenagers are never, ever sarcasic or ironic. if they say "I wish someone would drop a bomb on this school right now," that means they have arranged for a nuclear arsenal to be emptied onto the school and should be immediately suspended and ridiculed. if they say they were merely coming up with a joking excuse to postpone a bio test, reply that all jokes are funny, and that since dropping a bomb on a school is not funny, it is therefore not a joke.