Against the Loveless World

by Susan Abulhawa

Now the land had been pulled from under my feet

“We are not all blessed to receive a good education and inherit what it takes to live with some dignity. To exist on your own land, in the bosom of your family and your history. To know where you belong in the world and what you’re fighting for. To have some goddamn value.”

Fairooz has the kind of voice that gathers up the heart and takes you somewhere else.

“Here you were: to be loved. To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and forever, to strengthen you against the loveless world.”

I colonized the colonizer’s space of authority.