The Conditions of Will

by Jessa Hastings

Poor Kerouac and Salinger. They’ve been Kurt Cobain-ed. None of those people would have liked to be what they’ve become, yet they’ve become it anyway. Icons for a generation thirsty to be both defined as individuals but wholly and utterly accepted and palatable to their peers.

“There’s no such thing as an addictive personality; it’s a psychological myth and a nice way of saying you struggle with neuroticism and that you have poor impulse control.”

Contempt is funny like that. You can be resentful of something, hateful even—and still be jealous of it. I hated my dad for all the ways he wasn’t there for me and Oliver, but I still wanted him to want to be my dad.

You don’t need to only have a murky history to crave redemption, because I think redemption covers more than just our sins; it covers everyone else’s too.

It’s an interesting thing about lying, actually. It takes such a toll on our subconscious to keep it going, I think that there’s some part of us that’s almost relieved when it’s exposed.

I’m such a fucking idiot for thinking being saved by someone would undo being raped by someone.

People who aren’t self-aware, people who haven’t lived their lives in the pursuit of truth, find that the truth is confronting if you don’t want to hear it.