You stand up because you believe, not because you want to win. I don't want you add more hate to this world. We have enough.

Friends who hurt deeply but connected in the same way I had.

As soon as I saw the bookshelves through the store windows, I felt lighter. Just thinking about the smell inside. Paper, compressed nature, and hands making words, a must of knowing and magic. Periods. Commas. Digressions. Analogies. The beauty of everyday thought turned poetry. It was all there, and I was hit with a little sliver of peace in the chaos of my brain.

What we do, before and after we read, is our choice. And that choice is freedom.