I Have Some Questions For You

by Rebecca Makkai

It was the one where she was young enough and white enough and pretty enough and rich enough that people paid attention.

Yahav had an Israeli accent and was tall and brilliant and neurotic.

sigh

The need to keep busy is both a symptom of high-functioning anxiety and the key to my success.

Or heard something about you.

ME??

This doesn’t make me special, and I knew that then, too. I’m only saying it by way of explanation: I cared about details. Not because they were something I could control, but because they were something I could own. And there was so little that was mine.

“Okay, this is no offense, but, like, I know you do a lot of true crime on your podcast, and I think it’s a problematic genre.”

Don’t worry Britt me too

Lance wanted to center each episode on a man in her life—her father, then each of her five husbands.

Okay the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo

The kids were to bring one hundred of something, and to dress like old people. Lest any twenty-first-century mother find a moment not devoted to proving maternal devotion through crafts.

God forbid a kid have a fun school theme? I understand that feminism is complex but I won't ever care equally about the violence that women face while seeing not enough justice and school theme days that are a little annoying

Teach Leo independence and thereby give the middle finger to a school that demanded this, in addition to Heritage Week and Crazy Hair Day and Historical Figure Day and Cupcake Day and Funky Socks Day—or

I’m sure funky sock day is really emotionally taxing for you

Severn Robeson

And what a name that is

The girl was not cute enough to warrant a swarm of attention, but not awkward enough that other kids kept their distance.

and that's a very normal thing for an adult to say

What bothers me now is those boys internalizing girls as audience, there only to act as mirrors, to make their accomplishments realer.)

For a teenager, being seen a certain way is as good as being that way—and soon your vision became part of my self-image.

but by the end of class settled on She Is Drowned, a Hamlet reference Alder confirmed on his phone.

HAMLET MENTION

I don’t need you to care about Yahav.

And I don’t

hair like the Millais painting of Ophelia.

My darling

Just because you can’t picture someone doing something doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of it.

I realize how like the start of a porno it sounds, two teenagers about to disrobe, but in reality it was embarrassing and hilarious and awful and utterly nonsexual. Plus—and I should not have to point this out—we were kids.

Girl you’re the one who brought it up

How many times did I have to learn the same lesson? You’re not special. And that’s okay.

I don't believe you actually learned it

tell her you’re the model of a modern major general.”

Is this. Not a Hamilton quote? I know he referenced other works in Hamilton but that just feels so lin-manuel miranda that I never questioned it lol

“Don’t ever date Robbie Serenho. He’s an angry little sexist bitch.” She chucked Hamlet from the bag to her desk.

Hamlet mention but also a very Ophelia moment She said this to Laertes 100%

“I don’t see how this could hurt anyone,” I said. Although, yes, victims’ families generally did not appreciate someone poking at an already closed case. I got that.

True crime content creator can’t comprehend respecting victims - in other news, spoon found in spoon drawer

Person of color??? You didn’t feel this was worth alerting me to?

Didn’t you watch a video of her??

“Okay, so, Ms. Kane? I think at this point in my final version I’ll do something with, like, current students? Like, asking them to read the last text on their phone?” I couldn’t imagine what this had to do with the 1930s—but give me a kid with too many ideas any day.

Are you actually teaching anything?? Guide these kids you weirdo

I led him outside and we walked toward Upper Campus, where I could offer him one of the beers Oliver had stashed in the fridge. That was usually all he needed to melt back into me.

I don't think I love this sentence

Mostly valid points, except that I’d thought Jasmine Wilde was white.

I don't think I can articulate the thoughts I'm having I just don't like your attitude

don’t know how to dress for their body types,

You’re so obsessed with your body like Jesus can you relax and just let people live

“Life isn’t that messy if you stay away from mess.”

girl

Let’s say it was your wife. Was it your wife?

Great chapter No actually what point was this making? How am I meant to perceive Bodie's mental state?

do—and how there had been enough blood on the bottom of the inside of the equipment room door, and especially in the cracks of the cement floor, that it showed up even twenty-three years later. Blood sticks.

Is that possible

But I could handle it.

Yeah everything you’ve done so far proves you’re a super stable adult

So my life had purpose, but here’s one thing that churned my gut at night: Thalia’s family, aside from Vanessa, didn’t want any of this.

I’m very in favor of leaving the families of victims alone but once there’s credible evidence that an innocent person is behind bars you gotta follow it sorry

You don’t have to have been friends with someone to be old friends with them later.

If Jerome and his antics and my poor reaction ended up being the reason we lost, I’d never forgive him. Or myself.

My hot take is that YOU actually made the whole thing worse

There were other ways to blast out your name, in time for some relevant person to hear it and come forward. And whatever I told Dane could make it online by tomorrow.

This feels like a really dumb idea

I felt myself about to lie, felt myself stepping over a line. But it was in service of a greater truth. And if I wanted Dane to latch on to it, I needed to give him something he’d never heard, something he felt was exclusive.

what is wrong with you genuinely

Were you on some pleasant trajectory before I interfered? Did I expedite your karma? I will not apologize.

You see yourself as a lot cooler than you are

Mike said, “So who’s watching your kids? Aren’t they still pretty young?” “I left them in front of the TV with some canned goods and pepper spray.”

Girl you’re divorced it’s not always misogyny

I could have told her things about my own life, my childhood, could have reminded her that she named me the Masturbator. But I’d learned long ago not to counter people’s trauma with my own.

I don’t know that I agree??

My phone had been recording the whole time, just in case. I’m not an idiot.

Hmm