Power Is The Ability Not Just To

How [stories] Are Told, Who Tells Them, When They’re Told, How Many Stories Are Told — Are Really Dependent On Power.

How Easy It Was To Lie To Strangers, To Create With Strangers The Versions Of Our Lives We Imagined.

I Am Interested In Challenging The Mainstream Ideas Of What Is Beautiful And What Is Acceptable.

He Was Making Her Feel Small And Absurdly Petulant And, Worse Yet, She Suspected He Was Right. She Always Suspected He Was Right. For A Brief Irrational Moment, She Wished She Could Walk Away From Him. Then She Wished, More Rationally, That She Could Love Him Without Needing Him. Need Gave Him Power Without His Trying; Need Was The Choicelessness She Often Felt Around Him.

They Themselves Mocked Africa, Trading Stories Of Absurdity, Of Stupidity, And They Felt Safe To Mock, Because It Was A Mockery Born Of Longing, And Of The Heartbroken Desire To See A Place Made Whole Again.