Artists are not cheerleaders, and we're not the heads of tourism boards. We expose and discuss what is problematic, what is contradictory, what is hurtful and what is silenced in the culture we're in.
Junot DiazRead
She would be a new person, she vowed. They said no matter how far a mule travels it can never come back a horse, but she would show them all.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a determination to transform oneself, despite others' doubts about the possibility of such a change.
In this quote by Junot DΓaz, the speaker reflects on the desire for personal transformation and challenges the notion that one's fundamental nature is unchangeable. The reference to a mule and a horse symbolizes societal expectations and limitations, suggesting that with resolve and commitment, one can defy these perceptions and emerge as a 'new person', demonstrating that true change is possible regardless of past circumstances.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth.
Artists are not cheerleaders, and we're not the heads of tourism boards. We expose and discuss what is problematic, what is contradictory, what is hurtful and what is silenced in the culture we're in.
Run a hand through your hair, like the white boys do, even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa.
I can see myself watching him shave every morning. And at other time I see us in that house and see how one bright day (or a day like this, so cold your mind shifts every time the wind does) he will wake up and decide it's all wrong. I'm sorry, he'll say. I have to leave now.
Migration gives a blank cheque to put anything you don't feel like addressing in the memory hold. No neighbours can go against the monster narrative of your family.
We all dream dreams of unity, of purity; we all dream that there's an authoritative voice out there that will explain things, including ourselves.
I think 90% of my ideas evaporate because I have a terrible memory and because I seem to be committed to not scribble anything down. As soon as I write it down, my mind rejects it.
I'm trying to tell you that there's a new wave on the continent. A new wave of openness and democratization in which, since 2000, more than two-thirds of African countries have had multi-party democratic elections. Not all of them have been perfect, or will be, but the trend is very clear.
Free public transportation is the single biggest step we could take toward economic mobility, racial equity, and climate justice.
All significant breakthroughs are break -βwithsβ old ways of thinking.
I call for greater measures to involve more women at higher levels in mine action. Governments should do more to address gender in their mine action programmes and through their implementation of the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention.
You never know when it is going to happen, when you will experience a moment that dramatically transforms your life. When you look back, often years later, you may see how a brief conversation or an insight you read somewhere, changed the entire course of your life.
When I was young, we were taught not to dunk. We were taught not to stand out from the rest of the team. It's different now.
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