I don't understand why it's a sin if you love something and want to keep it from having to suffer.

But once you throw a stone, there are ripples in the pond, even if you remove the rock.

Teachers deserve respect," I explain. "Why do they get it for free, when everyone else has to earn it?

don't say it. don't tell me that nobody's going to stare at me, because they will. don't tell me it doesn't matter, because it does. and don't tell me i look fine because that's a lie.

...when they look at me, I so badly want to be who they see.

Summertime, I think, is a collective unconscious. We all remember the notes that made up the song of the ice cream man; we all know what it feels like to brand our thighs on a playground slide that's heated up like a knife in a fire; we all have lain on our backs with our eyes closed and our hearts beating across the surface of our lids, hoping that this day will stretch just a little longer than the last one, when in fact it's all going in the other direction.

It's like the psychiatrists themselves are buying into that stupid belief that therapy is something to hide.