My face becomes a Picasso sketch, my body slicing into pieces. Laurie Halse Anderson More Quotes by Laurie Halse Anderson More Quotes From Laurie Halse Anderson Two days later, two days before Christmas, I am judged fat and sane enough to be kicked out of the hospital. The plan to send me straight back to New Seasons won't work. There is no room at the inn for a leather Lia-skin plumped full of messy things. Not yet. The director promises Dr. Marrigan he'll have a bed for me next week. I'm stable enough to go home until then. They all say I'm stable. Laurie Halse Anderson hometwonext-week I wish adults would spend less energy freaking out about the cutting itself and work harder to understand what drives kids to self-harm. Laurie Halse Anderson self-harmhard-workkids Death is funny, when you think about it. Everybody does it, but nobody knows how, exactly how. Laurie Halse Anderson nobody-knowsdoethinking I am locked into the mirror and there is no door out. Laurie Halse Anderson lockedmirrorsdoors I live in the borderlands. The word ghost sounds like memory. The word therapy means exorcism. My visions echo and multiplymultiply. I don't know how to figure out what they mean. I can't tell where they start or if they will end. But I know this. If they shrink my head any more, or float me away on an ocean of pills, I will never return. Laurie Halse Anderson oceanmemoriesmean I see a girl caught in the remains of a holiday gone bad, with her flesh picked off day after day as the carcass dries out. The knife and fork are abviously middle-class sensibilities. The palm tree is a nice touch. A broken dream,perhaps? Plastic honeymoon, deserted island? Oh, If you put in a slice of pumpkin pie, it could be a desserted island! (Pg 64) Laurie Halse Anderson nicegirldream I’m the girl who trips on the dance floor and can’t find her way to the exit. All eyes on me. Laurie Halse Anderson girleyeway I am a gluttonous, gorging failure. A waste. My body isn’t used to high-sugar carbs laced with witchcraft. It can barely cope with soup and crackers. Laurie Halse Anderson sugarsoupbody I have ten bucks in my pocket - what to spend it on? French fries - ten dollars' worth of french fries, ultimate fantasy. Laurie Halse Anderson bucksdollarspockets Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree. Laurie Halse Anderson perfecttreeinteresting Cutting pain was a different flavor of hurt. It made it easier not to think about having my body and my family and my life stolen, made it easier not to care... -Wintergirls Laurie Halse Anderson cuttingpainhurt There is no safer. There’s not even safe, never has been. Laurie Halse Anderson has-beenssafe A breath of steam trickles out, filled with the sobs of a grown woman breaking into girl-sized pieces. Laurie Halse Anderson steampiecesgirl Momma said that ghosts couldn't move over water. That's why Africans got trapped in the Americas.. They kept moving us over the water, stealing us away from our ghosts and ancestors, who cried salty rivers into the sand. That's where Momma was now, wailing at the water's edge, while her girls were pulled out of sight under white sails that cracked in the wind. Laurie Halse Anderson girlsightmoving I don’t know what I’m doing in the next five minutes and she has the next ten years figured out. I’ll worry about making it out of ninth grade alive. Then I’ll think about a career path. Laurie Halse Anderson careersyearsthinking Rumors are spread by jealous people Laurie Halse Anderson rumorjealouspeople This camp is a forge for the army; it's testing our mettle. Instead of heat and hammer, our trials are cold and hunger. Question is, what are we made of? Laurie Halse Anderson hammersarmytrials I watch the Eruptions. Mount Dad, long dormant, now considered armed and dangerous. Mount Saint Mom, oozing lava, spitting flame. Warn the villagers to run into the sea. Laurie Halse Anderson dadmomrunning i was raped, too sexually assaulted in seventh grade, tenth grade. the summer after graduation, at a party i was 16 i was 14 i was 5 and he did it for three years i loved him i didn't even know him he was my best friend's brother, my grandfather, father, mommy's boyfriend, my date, my cousin, my coach i met him for the first time that night and- 4 guys took turns, and- i'm a boy and this happened to me, and- ...i got pregnant i gave up my daughter for adoption... did it happen to you, too? Laurie Halse Anderson cousindaughtersummer Having to parent your mother or father is a challenge that way too many teens have to deal with. Teens whose parents are dealing with substance abuse, financial hardship, job loss, mental illness and divorce deserve our love, support, and compassion. I wish America would stop judging and criticizing teens and instead, try to understand the battles they have to fight every day. Laurie Halse Anderson motherjobsfather
