exemplar, n. It's always something we have to negotiate- the face that my parents are happy, and yours have never been. I have something to live up to, and if I fail, I still have a family to welcome me home. You have a storyline to rewrite, and a lack of faith that it can ever be done. You love my parents, I know. But you never get too close. You never truly believe there aren't bad secrets underneath.

We just want to walk. Our legs need to move to keep our minds from collapsing.

Knowledge is the only thing I take with me when I go.

To love--to fall--is not a question. To touch--to kiss--to speak--those are questions.

There's no way for them to take away my sadness, but they can make sure I am not empty of all the other feelings.

Hello, my name is ees Lebkuchen Spice, and I vant to show you my coooooookies.

We switch to another language-- not our invented language or the language we've learned from our lives. As we walk further up the mountain, we speak the language of silence. This language gives us time to think and move. We can be here and elsewhere at the same time.