When I was thinking about these women characters, no matter how bad a person I am - a bad writer, my limitations, my sexism, you know - the thought was, it would be useful as a writer to try to create a template for all the male writers, especially Dominican male writers, especially males of color, of how a writer can use seeing to create more nuanced representations of women.
Junot DiazInstead of finding himself in nerd heavenโwhere every nerd gets fifty-eight virgins to role-play withโhe woke up in Robert Wood Johnson with two broken legs and a separated shoulder, feeling like, well, he'd jumped off the New Brunswick train bridge.
Junot DiazYou were at the age where you could fall in love with a girl over an expression, over a gesture
Junot DiazI'm really into the rights of immigrants, the rights of the working poor. I'm one of those little activist types. I probably would have just gone to law school. And the scary part is that I was one of those kids who always tested really well. You put a test in front of me, and I would have been like do-do-do-do-do. I probably would have been some community lawyer somewhere - if anything, that's probably what I would have been doing.
Junot DiazWhen she smiles niggers ask her for her hand in marriage; when I smile folks check their wallets.
Junot Diaz