Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie “Shan had the air of a person who was somehow chosen. The gods had placed a wand on her. If she did ordinary things, they became enigmatic.” 2312, by Kim Stanley Robinson Describing futuristic medical procedures: “Lark cluster and warbler song cluster implant.” Jazz, by Toni Morrison Describing a bad dancer: “It was like watching an old street pigeon pecking the crust of a sardine sandwich the casts left behind.” The Sugar Frosted Nutsack, by Mark Leyner “…like some disturbed stenographer, interjecting his own thoughts into the court record…” “’Is this a private jihad, or can anyone join?’ a nymph/horsefly murmurs to Ike, flitting from armpit to armpit.” Dignity, by Ken Layne, “…the red tile that adorned everything in California from fast food restaurants to mental health clinics.” Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Beard “It wasn’t until about 1920…that the average patient with the average illness seeing the average physician came off better for the encounter.” And here’s a choice choice bit, from a blogpost by Sam Pink: “Shout-out to Girl Scouts of Florida and the world...Nobody parties like a Girl Scout. When was the last time you were at a party (having shown up on time along with all the others), stayed completely sober, talked earnestly with all your friends, had dinner together, made some pictures together, presented your findings on a certain topic in oratorical presentation form, then watched a movie together and “camped out” in a house, all the while knowing you’d wake up excited to have breakfast with your friends, and that you were a troop together, united by the search for more patches?” Notes From Underground, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky And how do these wiseacres know that man wants a normal, a virtuous choice? What has made them conceive that man must want a rationally advantageous choice? What man wants is simply INDEPENDENT choice, whatever that independence may cost and wherever it may lead.
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