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Quote by Jessica Valenti

Work

Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win

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Author

Jessica Valenti
Jessica Valenti

Jessica Valenti, born on November 1, 1978, is an American writer whose work primarily focuses on gender, politics, and social justice issues. Her notable works include 'The Purity Myth: Challenging the Sexual Orthodoxy of the American Right'. more

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“The Wanderer I wandered many miles
From shore to shore,
While keeping my word; Some waves grew uneven,
And the sand in bays silvered
With each hour of hurt. Emerald, Blue and Gold The snow that bled emptiness,
While singing mercy on each star
That covered the path set high. Freedom crosses horizons,
Freeing the northern lights
From compasses around the world.”

“Imprisonment gives off an unpleasant smell. Remnants of macerating evil thoughts, the effluvia of dirty ideas that have been hanging around too long, the bitter whiff of old regrets. Fresh air, by definition, never enters here. We breathe in our own breath in this bell jar, we share the atmosphere shot through with shards off brown chicken and dark intentions. Our clothes, our sheets and our skin end up saturated with these fumes, and there is no getting used to them. When we return from the exercise yard, and the outside air is halted at the turnstiles, the transition is always sudden, and the vague nausea is there to remind us that we live and breathe in a belly pushing us along in its laborious digestion, and then, when the time comes, it will expel us to free itself, not to give us back our freedom.”