if you read the poems of someone somewhere you know a lot more about that country than you know if you just study its crops or weather conditions. - Naomi Shihab Nye

Maybe the hardest thing about moving overseas was being in a place where no one but your own family had any memory of you. It was like putting yourself back together with little pieces. (p80)

(BM: So "the fuel that feeds you" is the power of words?) NSN: I think so. The power of words, and a faith in the power of words. That words can give you something back if you trust them, and if you know that you're not trying to proclaim things all the time, but you're trying to discover things. (2002)

the real heroes of race and culture would always be the people who stepped out of their own line to make a larger circle.