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94cb861
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Lord, cat. Announce yourself next time. I don't have no nine lives.
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Libba Bray |
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e559a7f
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Yeah, well, who but the mad would choose to keep on living? In the end, aren't we all just a little crazy?
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Libba Bray |
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4aecc72
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Nobody wants to be themselves. That's why there's TV. So you know what to want and who to be.
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Libba Bray |
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2dab4f3
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Every mornin', every evenin', ain't we got fun?
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Libba Bray |
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b410985
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Ohmigosh. No food at all." Tiara sank down on the sand as if the full weight of their predicament had finally hit her. She blinked back tears. And then that megawatt smile that belonged on cereal boxes across the nation reappeared. "I am going to be so superskinny by pageant time!"
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Libba Bray |
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2dbb44b
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Whatever is without question is most vulnerable.
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Libba Bray |
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f3cd2ed
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Miss Teen Dreamers. It is time to get ahold of ourselves. Miss Alabama, I did not mean that literally. That is gross. Stop it." Taylor"
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Libba Bray |
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b2fbed9
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And afterward, in the small cabin, they'd do this, this tangle of bodies, this blurring of the edges that kept people distant and lonely.
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Libba Bray |
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da7b4d3
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maybe it's a Midwestern thing, but where I'm from, you're not supposed to brag about yourself. That's what my mom says. She says you should wait for people to recognize your good qualities. And then you should say, like, 'Oh, no. I'm not really that great at whatever-it-is. I'm just okay.' And then they'll say, 'No, really. You're great.' And you say, 'I'm really not, but thanks anyway for saying so.' And they'll say, 'Yes, you are. You so ..
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Libba Bray |
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f3f29df
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The Diviners must stand, or all shall fall.
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Libba Bray |
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8b2acce
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Crepuscular
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Libba Bray |
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feeb0c9
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What place lay beyond the reach of evil?
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Libba Bray |
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291016c
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There's a lot of foot stomping, clapping, and cheering. I just want to win some cash and find my yard gnome. It's not a lot to ask.
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Libba Bray |
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21674f6
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It is the scorpion's nature to sting. Just because he has no opportunity doesn't mean that he cannot.
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Libba Bray |
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3f91bf6
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However, it has come to our attention that there is a small safety "glitch" with the Git R Done 447, which might cause it to fire too soon or even randomly, accidentally killing someone you love. Awkward, we know."
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Libba Bray |
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6b2a282
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This is what they have in place of freedom--time and gossip. Their lives are small and careful. I do not wish to live this way. I should like to make my mark. To venture opinions that may not be polite or even correct but are mine nonetheless.
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Libba Bray |
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f72d3b3
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You can't blame a fella for kissing the prettiest girl in New York, can you, sister?" Sam's grin was anything but apologetic. Evie brought up her knee quickly and decisively, and he dropped to the floor like a grain sack. "You can't blame a girl for her quick reflexes now, can you, pal?"
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Libba Bray |
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4b03bd9
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People will believe anything it it means they can go on with their lives and not have to think too hard about it.
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Libba Bray |
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c76394e
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But as he listened to the moans and cries of those around him, he understood that hope was not a concept of faith meant to bring man closer to God but one of denial and delusion meant to keep him from accepting that God did not exist.
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hope
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Libba Bray |
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099ca03
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Miss Ohio flailed with excitement. "Makeovers are so fun! It's like the Superman phone booth of girl." Adina sat up. "It's denigrating and objectifying." "No. It's eye shadow and lipstick and sex and mystery and magic and transformation and fun. And nobody's taking that away from me."
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Libba Bray |
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a6af133
|
It seemed odd to Sosie that she had to make some hard-and-fast decision about such an arbitrary, individual thing as attraction, like having to declare an orientation major: I am straight with a minor in gay.
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Libba Bray |
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7965f2e
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She wears her grief like a coat of feathers too heavy for flight.
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Libba Bray |
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4fb3dad
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Any good world would allow for us to have free will, yes?" he continued. "Can we agree to this point? But once human beings have free will, they also have the ability to make choices - and commit evil. Thus, this very good thing, free will, allows the possibility of evil into our fine world."
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free-will
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Libba Bray |
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21cfe7d
|
Haven't you been hurt?" Miss Lillian asked. Theta thought of Roy's fists. Mrs. Bowers's cold cruelty. Even the first wound of abandonment. "Yes." "And here you still are. No. The question is this: Haven't you been hurt enough?"
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theta-knight
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Libba Bray |
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c50952a
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Beliefs converge and become something new all the time.
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new-thought
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Libba Bray |
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5c06e63
|
In her fantasy, she imagined surrendering to a dominating Jericho. She'd liked it as a fantasy. There was something wild and hedonistic about the idea of allowing herself to be taken over by a big, strong, handsome man, as if she had no say in the matter and so no responsibility for making love with him: Why, it just happened! What could I do? I was helpless! But in reality, it hadn't been that way. It had been confusing and utterly frighte..
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Libba Bray |
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07ec580
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Nearby, Lady Liberty hoists her torch in the harbor, a beacon to all who come to these shores to escape persecution or famine or hopelessness. For this is the land of dreams. The
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Libba Bray |
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1de0d15
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Wanna rock you, girl, with a butterfly tunic. / No, I'm not gay, I'm just your emo eunuch. / Gonna smile real shy, won't cop a feel, / 'cause I'm your virgin crush, your supersafe deal. / Let those other guys keep sexing. / You and me, we be texting / 'bout unicorns and rainbows and our perfect love. / Girl, we fit together like a hand in a glove. / Now I don't mean that nasty, tell your mom don't get mad. /I even wrote 'You're awesome' on ..
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Libba Bray |
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a5fab53
|
So, what's your type?" Gonzo asks a few minutes later. ... "Staci Johnson. Dude, I feel like I need to shave my insides when you say that."
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Libba Bray |
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4914059
|
Well frankly, that's the sort of stuff I expect my critics to say, because they want to turn all women into sluts who can get an abortion at the drive-through while they're off at college gettin' indoctrinated with folk-singin', patchouli-wearin', hairy-armpit-advocatin' feminism, which is just one step away from terrorism, and we should be afraid of that.
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Libba Bray |
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1493376
|
But it would have made them suspect. Women who have power are always feared,
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Libba Bray |
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2ff3129
|
But we can't live in the light all of the time. You have to take whatever light you can hold into the dark with you." I"
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Libba Bray |
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fac4c2a
|
Miss McCleethy stands to address us. "Thank you, Miss Bradshaw. That was a nice start to our day." A nice start? It was lovely. Perfect, in fact. Miss McCleethy has no passion at all, I decide. I shall be forced to give her two bad conduct marks in my invisible ledger."
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Libba Bray |
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3419a62
|
This brings a fresh wave of tears. To my great surprise, Kartik wipes them away with his hand. " he murmurs. I understand only a little Hindi, enough to know what he as said: . "I've never known a braver girl," he says."
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Libba Bray |
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cf0b32d
|
When you looked up to the sky and cried "Why?" sometimes the sky shrugged. Yet other times it answered with the warm assurance of linked hands. "Sorry," it whispered on the wind. "Sorry for all the pain loneliness and disappointment. But there is this, too."
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Libba Bray |
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187a648
|
At first, I was scared to be alone. No routines. No rules. Just me. But I think..." Taylor wiped a tear away. "I think I was always in the jungle. Before. It was always there. I think I had to come out here to find the answer." "And what did you find?" "I love myself. They make it so hard for us to love ourselves." Taylor stared off into the dark. Her face gleamed with tears. Snot ran over her lips. "The judges won't like that answer." "Nob..
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teen-girls
self-love
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Libba Bray |
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f6c009c
|
They'd never discussed how to find one's place in the world, never talked of fathers and sons, or what makes someone a man. No. He and Will spoke in newspaper articles about ghosts. They conversed through the careful curation of supernatural knickknacks. And Jericho couldn't help but feel cheated at how little he'd gotten when he'd needed so much more.
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Libba Bray |
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eb4da6b
|
We are nowhere, wanting to be somewhere, idling at the starting line of adulthood.
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youth
hope
somewhere
nowhere
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Libba Bray |
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7089142
|
They would have been mystics and healers, women who worked with herbs and delivered babies. But it would have made them suspect. Women who have power are always feared," she says sadly."
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Libba Bray |
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1e06106
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With a satisfied groan, Sam leaned back against his chair, his hands on his protruding gut. "Ling. How would your mother feel about a Jewish son-in-law?"
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Libba Bray |
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074dd66
|
He's jealous! Kartik is jealous and Simon finds me ... delicious? I am a bit giddy. And confused. But no, mostly giddy, I find.
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Libba Bray |
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7a4f53f
|
Kartik feels like a country I want to travel--vast, dangerous, and unknown.
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infatuation
lust
|
Libba Bray |
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65fc0e5
|
What is the French word for rain? Le rain? La rain? Is the rain masculine or feminine? It's such a bother that it must be masculine.
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men
new-languages
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Libba Bray |
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00c9ab7
|
it stung, too, knowing that it was easier for his father to erase his only son's existence than it was for him to tolerate the disappointment of who his son really was.
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gay-son
unaccepting-parents
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Libba Bray |