Pam Matzke

“Grief is nothing but the far brink of love. Love is the sun; grief is the shadow it casts. Love is an opera; grief is its echo. You cannot have one without the other. But if you follow that grief, you will find your way back to love.”
― Nadia Hashimi, Sparks Like Stars

“I'd watched my grandmother tend to her plants, pruning one stem at a time, and checking the soil's moisture with a finger. Like her plants, she bloomed with the sun and wouldn't even draw the curtains in her home. How could this dark hole be her path to heaven?”
― Nadia Hashimi, Sparks Like Stars

“People say ‘third world’ and think it just means countries without internet or paved roads,” I say. “But ‘third world’ is Cold War terminology. NATO countries are the first world and the Communist bloc is the second world. The third world was where those two clashed. So the mess in Afghanistan is actually a first and second world problem.”
― Nadia Hashimi, Sparks Like Stars

“Afghanistan's secret weapon has always been her women.”
― Nadia Hashimi, Sparks Like Stars