"All I feel are the assaults of apprehension and terror that I am the only one who is entirely unlike the rest." (Dazai 26)

"Just outside the apartment window was a kite caught in the telegraph wires; blown about and ripped by the dusty spring wind, it nevertheless clung tenaciously to the wires, as if in affirmation of something. Every time I looked at the kite I had to smile with embarrassment and blush. It haunted me even in dreams." (Dazai 113)

"When you close your eyes and you fall asleep
Everything about you is a mystery"

Fish get depression. They had done tests with zebrafish. They had a fish tank and they drew a horizontal line on the side of it, halfway down, in marker pen. Depressed fish stayed below the line. But give those same fish some Prozac and they go above the line, to the top of their tanks, darting about like new.

Fish get depressed when they have a lack of stimulation. A lack of everything. When they are just there, floating in a tank that resembles nothing at all." (Haig 83)

from my skin" (Kaur 112)

"perhaps

i don't deserve

nice things

cause i am paying

for sins i don't

remember" (Kaur 147)

"to be

soft

is

to be

powerful" (Kaurr 166)

"we are all born

so beautiful

the greatest tragedy is

being convinced we are not" (Kaur 183)

"But be warned that you may feel as though you have put your head in the lion's mouth. Creative-writing classes and ongoing workshops tend to be gentler than conferences, but in all these situations you may find yourself sitting around a table with a number of other writers who feel morally and aesthetically compelled to rip your story to shreds." (Lamott, 105)

"Sometimes I can't get words to come out of my mouth because I am so disappointed, as if they had said that Sam is ugly and boring and spoiled and I should let him go. Criticism is very hard to take. . .

and if I'll hang in there, they'll have found a number of places where things could be so much stronger, or funnier, or more real, or more interesting, or less tedious. They may even have ideas on how to fix those places, and so, by the end, I am breathing a great sigh of relief and even gratitude." (Lamott, 112)

"The great writers keep writing about the cold dark place within, the water under a frozen lake or the secluded, camouflaged hole. The light they shine on this hole, this pit, helps us cut away or step around the rim of the abyss, holler into it, measure it, throw rocks in it, and still not fall in. It can no longer swallow us up. And we can get on with things." (Lamott, 129)

"He told me about his monster. His sounded just like mine without quite so much mascara. When people shine a light on their monster, we find out how similar most of our monsters are." (Lamott, 129)

The best example of this is on page 129 where she writes:

"He told me about his monster. His sounded just like mine without quite so much mascara. When people shine a light on their monster, we find out how similar most of our monsters are." (Lamott)

By sharing such a personal aspect, it allows the reader to feel more comfortable with Lamott as if she is a friend. This also helps improve her ethos, making her seem more trustworthy as she's speaking from experience, and we as the audience have a friendly connection.

"My mother swims

through the river of my dreams

nudges me gently

out of the shallows

floats downstream

belly up" (Phillips 49)

Wendy Phillips' use of beautiful language caught my attention and painted a calm, etherial image in my mind. Immediately after, she contrasts this setup with the last line, "belly up."

Miguel is portrayed as a troubled child, so the setup of him finding a positive light in his world in the beginning of the poem made me feel hopeful, almost happy for him. Then, Phillips knocks the audience back down, reminding us to think logically again.

My childhood love of reading has accumulated into a lifelong skill and love of learning that I will carry for the rest of my life.