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Maureen F. McHugh

Maureen F. McHugh Books

Fiction writer

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“She had a theory that the fear of getting in trouble was what made her not as good a programmer and that, in fact, it was all linked to testosterone, and that was why there were more guy programmers than women. It was a very hazy theory, and she didn't like it, but she had pretty much convinced herself it was true, although she couldn't bear to think of sharing it with anybody, because it was a lot better to think that there were social reasons why girls didn't usually become code monkeys than to think there were biological reasons.”

MenFearWomenGenderProgrammingBiologyProgrammersTestosteroneAfter The Apocalypse
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“I don't know why weighing 140 pounds means I'm middle-aged, but it does. It is a magic number. A matronly number. More important than wishing young people would get their hair out of their eyes and more important than thinking Green Day sounds banal and that MTV is too sexist. If I could lose ten pounds, then maybe I could put off middle age for a while. But the thought of dieting, of thinking of food all the time, seems like too much to contemplate.”

WeightAgingWeight LossOverweightMiddle AgeGaining WeightMothers And Other Monsters
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“I have all this empty time in front of me. Tonight and tomorrow and the week after and the next month and all down through the years as I never marry and become a dried-up woman. Evenings spent folding paper. Days cleaning someone else's house. Free afternoons spent shopping a bit, stopping in tea shops because my feet hurt. That is what lives are, aren't they? Attempts to fill our time with activity designed to prevent us from realizing that there is no meaning?”

LifeTimeMeaningBoredomLivesSpare TimeMothers And Other MonstersFilling Time
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“Si escorre’s és la petite mort (i a mi m’ho sembla, perquè durant aquell instant breu i explosiu tot desapareix entre les flames), despertar-se al llit d’algú és la resurrecció. Ara bé, com que tan sols és una petita mort, la resurrecció que li correspon és sòrdida, i no m’escomet tant la joia de la nova vida com el pes de les obligacions. Tinc enginyeria a les nou del matí i soc al seu llit. A l’hora abans de l’alba, no acostumo a estar enamorat.”

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“The Second Koran tells us that the darkness in ourselves is a sinister thing. It waits until we relax, it waits until we reach the most vulnerable moments, and then it snares us. I want to be dutiful. I want to do what I should. But when I go back to the tube, I think of where I am going; to that small house and my empty room. What will I do tonight? Make more paper flowers, more wreaths? I am sick of them. Sick of the Nekropolis. I can take the tube to my mistress' house, or I can go by the street where Mardin's house is. I'm tired. I'm ready to go to my little room and relax. Oh, Holy One, I dread the empty evening. Maybe I should go by the street just to fill up time. I have all this empty time in front of me. Tonight and tomorrow and the week after and the next month and all down through the years as I never marry and become a dried-up woman. Evenings spent folding paper. Days cleaning someone else's house. Free afternoons spent shopping a bit, stopping in tea shops because my feet hurt. That is what lives are, aren't they? Attempts to fill our time with activity designed to prevent us from realizing that there is no meaning?”

LifeTimeActivityDespairMeaninglessnessNekropolis
Author:Maureen F. McHugh
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“Gus couldn't handle it when she cried. For the thirty years of their marriage, when she'd had to cry--which was always at night, at least in her memory--she'd gone downstairs after he'd gone to sleep and sat on the couch and cried. She would have liked him to comfort her, but in marriage you learn what other people's limits are. And you learn your own.”

RelationshipsMarriageTearsComfortLimitsCryingLimitationsMothers And Other Monsters
Author:Maureen F. McHugh
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