Other Words for Home

by Jasmine Warga

That is something powerful enough to transcend oceans: a mama’s ability to say something without actually saying

America, like every other place in the world, is a place where some people sleep and some people other people dream.

Americans love labels. They help them know what to expect. Sometimes, though, I think labels stop them from thinking.

wonder if it is exhausting to be a tree. To lose something, year after year, only to trust that it will someday grow back.

Sometimes all you can do is hold on.

Hoping, I’m starting to think, might be the bravest thing a person can do.

I’ve decided it is very American to have the audacity to claim that three things add up to everything.

I have learned Americans love to say you know and then stop talking. They force you to fill in the hard parts, the things they are not brave enough to say.

There is an Arabic proverb that says: She makes you feel like a loaf of freshly baked bread. It is said about the nicest kindest people. The type of people who help you rise.