“The field of asking is fundamentally improvisational. It thrives not in the creation of rules and etiquette but in the smashing of that etiquette.Which is to say: there are no rules.Or, rather, there are plenty of rules, but they ask, on bended knees, to be broken.”

“The field of asking is fundamentally improvisational. It thrives not in the creation of rules and etiquette but in the smashing of that etiquette.Which is to say: there are no rules.Or, rather, there are plenty of rules, but they ask, on bended knees, to be broken.”

“The world needs actual excitement and emotion more than it needs cool people.”

“You can’t ask authentically and gracefully without truly being able to accept “No” for an answer. Because if you’re not truly willing to accept “No” for an answer, you’re not really asking, you’re demanding — you’re begging. At least, that’s how I’ve come to understand asking.”

“The pattern's laid out on the bedWith dozens of colors of threadBut you've got the needleI guess that's the point in the end”

“Everybody keeps talking about 'fighting' the cancer," he said, "everybody keeps telling me to fight for my life, to fight the disease, and how their uncle won the battle against cancer and their cousin won the fight against cancer and black blah blah blah.""Okay...and?""I'm not fighting," he said. "It's already inside me... and I'm not going to fight. I'm going to be a good host, let it pass through me.. resist nothing. Sieve. Let it all pass through.”

“The field of asking is fundamentally improvisational. It thrives not in the creation of rules and etiquette but in the smashing of that etiquette.Which is to say: there are no rules.Or, rather, there are plenty of rules, but they ask, on bended knees, to be broken.”

“To erase the possibility of empathy is to erase the possibility of understanding.To erase the possibility of empathy is also to erase the possibility of art. Theater, fiction, horror stories, love stories. This is what art does. Good or bad, it imagines the insides, the heart of the other, whether that heart is full of light or trapped in darkness.”

“​Whatever we are given is supposed to be given away, not kept.”

“And another local journalist wrote an op-ed wondering if this trend of empathy had gone too far. Wondering if this trend of empathy had gone too far?To erase the possibility of empathy is also to erase the possibility of understanding.”

“Asking for help with shame ”