I'm always wondering if he'll return. Sometimes I pray that he doesn't. And sometimes I hope he will. I wish on falling stars and eyelashes. Absence isn't solid the way death is. It's fluid, like language. And it hurts so much...so, so much. Jacqueline Woodson More Quotes by Jacqueline Woodson More Quotes From Jacqueline Woodson I deeply believe in many Christian values: love people; do the right thing; know that there's good in everyone, that God's looking out for all of us. Jacqueline Woodson good god love people Being a Witness was too closed an experience. That's what I walked away from, not the things I believe. Jacqueline Woodson being i-believe experience believe The South was very segregated. I mean, all through my childhood, long after Jim Crow was supposed to not be in existence, it was still a very segregated South. Jacqueline Woodson through childhood long mean Even after Jim Crow was supposed to not be a part of the South anymore, there were still ways in which you couldn't get away from it. And I think once I got to Brooklyn, there was this freedom we had. Jacqueline Woodson think you brooklyn freedom Both racism and homophobia come from a sense of the presumed and the unknown. Jacqueline Woodson sense unknown come racism I love writing for young people. It's the literature that was most important to me, the stories that shaped me and informed my own journey as a writer. Jacqueline Woodson me journey love people I didn't know how many independent bookstores had amazing wine lists until I toured with 'Another Brooklyn.' Jacqueline Woodson amazing how know wine I rewrite a lot until I get the rhythm and story right on the page. Jacqueline Woodson right story get rhythm