Quiet confidence.

She doesn't know the difference. She doesn't know the difference between the lines that crack cement and the lines that draw boundaries. She doesn't know the difference between the shadows that linger  and the shadows that loom. She doesn't know the difference between the sadness that tightens and the sadness that breaks. She doesn't know the difference between the elated kind of happiness and the seeping heavy kind of happiness. She doesn't need to know the difference.

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My life is about putting the pieces together. Just as my life seems to be a compilation of things in my life, my things are a compilation of my life. From the seamstresses, the fabric, the ink, the steam, the dust, the noises, the posters, the machines, the paper, the drawer, the women, the trains, the subway, the buses, the movements of buildings, the people, the country. It's about me taking these things and making them my own. It's about taking those faded memories and making them my own. It's about making them my own because they were once not mine. Because along my lifeline they were taken away from me. My country was taken away from me - throwing a generation of children into a fabric of opportunities or misopportunities.