Just because you're an atheist, that doesn't mean you wouldn't love for things to have reasons for why they are.

What is being awake if not interpreting our dreams, or dreaming if not interpreting our wake?

Abraham responds "Here I am" when God asks him to sacrifice his son, and he answers "Here I am" when his son asks him about what is happening. It's a paradoxical moment. He can't be fully present for his God or his son.

But I still couldn't figure out what it all meant. The more I found out, the less I understood.

Food for her is not food, it is terror, dignity, gratitude, vengeance, joyfulness, humiliation, religion, history, and, of course, love. As if the fruit she always offered us were picked from the destroyed brances of out family tree.

I'm a novelist, I'm not an activist. I'm not a non-fiction writer, I'm not a journalist. I'm not a foodie, I'm not even really an animal person, or an environmentalist. I did the best I could with this, but it's not who I am.

To feel alone is to be alone.