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Jaded
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She couldn’t sleep when I had exams in the morning, but never said the words “good luck.” When we ate fish, she would give me the juicy, fleshy bits and silently eat the head herself. If she knew I was coming home for the weekend, she
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“It takes 25 years or so for a male sperm whale to reach the edge of social maturity, when it attains the size and weight of those I saw being butchered. It took less than four hours to transform those once vibrant creatures into the basic ingredients of candle wax, lubricating oils, cosmetics, fertilizer, ivory trinkets, and food for domesticated animals.”
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“The cost of living the dream, I was taught, is the responsibility to expand it for others. It’s a more than fair price.”
― Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years
― Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years
“When planners fail to account for gender, public spaces become male spaces by default.”
― Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
― Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
“99 Problems is almost a deliberate provocation to simpleminded listeners. If that sounds crazy, you have to understand: Being misunderstood is almost a badge of honor in rap. Growing up as a black kid from the projects, you can spend your whole life being misunderstood, followed around department stores, looked at funny, accused of crimes you didn't commit, accused of motivations you don't have, dehumanized -- until you realize, one day, it's not about you. It's the perceptions people had long before you even walked onto the scene. The joke's on them because they're really just fighting phantoms of their own creation. Once you realize that, things get interesting. It's like when we were kids. You'd start bopping hard and throwing the ice grill when you step into Macy's and laugh to yourself when security guards got nervous and started shadowing you. You might have a knot of cash in your pocket, but you boost something anyway, just for the sport of it. Fuck 'em. Sometimes the mask is to hide and sometimes it's to play at being something you're not so you can watch the reactions of people who believe the mask is real. Because that's when they reveal themselves. So many people can't see that every great rapper is a not just a documentarian, but a trickster -- that every great rapper has a little bit of Chuck and a little bit of Flav in them -- but that's not our problem, it's their failure: the failure, or unwillingness, to treat rap like art, instead of acting like it's a bunch of niggas reading out of their diaries. Art elevates and refines and transforms experience. And sometimes it just fucks with you for the fun of it.”
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“To understand the fundamental benefits of an immigrant population, imagine that you could divide the population into two groups: one consisting on the average of the youngest, healthiest, boldest, most risk-tolerant, most hard-working, ambitious, and innovative people; the other consisting of everyone else. Transplant the first group to another country, and leave the second group in their country of origin. That selective transplanting approximates the decision to emigrate and its successful accomplishment. Hence it comes as no surprise that more than one-third of American Nobel Prize winners are foreign-born, and over half are either immigrants themselves or else the children of immigrants. That's because Nobel Prize-winning research demands those same qualities of boldness, risk-tolerance, hard work, ambition, and innovativeness.”
― Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis
― Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis
The Seasonal Reading Challenge
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Do you want to broaden your reading horizons and discover new books, authors and genres? Do you love reading challenges? Do you live for competition? ...more
Do you want to broaden your reading horizons and discover new books, authors and genres? Do you love reading challenges? Do you live for competition? ...more
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge
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An annual reading challenge to to help you stretch your reading limits and explore new voices, worlds, and genres! The next challenge begins January 2 ...more
An annual reading challenge to to help you stretch your reading limits and explore new voices, worlds, and genres! The next challenge begins January 2 ...more
Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge
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This group is for people participating in the Popsugar reading challenge for 2024. The Popsugar website posted a reading challenge that included a lis ...more
This group is for people participating in the Popsugar reading challenge for 2024. The Popsugar website posted a reading challenge that included a lis ...more
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