“Whenever I was confronted in the schoolyard, I found some way to avoid the fight. I ran for it. I backed down. Psychologically and emotionally, that isn't a low-cost course of action for most boys. You avoid a physical beating, but you pay a real social and psychological cost for it. Those moments of walking away from fights, even though I knew it was the rational and civilized thing to do, cost me tremendously.” WayRealMomentsActionFightingCoursesFoundSocialPayBoysWalkingCostLowsRationalPsychologicalRanThings To DoCivilizedWalking Away Author:Jonathan Gottschall
“I can draw pencil lines to show something is moving, but if I'm writing, I struggle with how to write it. The boy ran down the hallway? The boy ran quickly down the hallway? The boy ran down the marble hallway? I agonize over the words. So my editor works very hard. I'm lucky to have her.” IfsWritingI CanHardShowsMovingLinesBoysStruggleLuckyDrawsRanEditorsPencilsMarbleHallways Author:Brian Selznick
“Girls . . . were allowed to play in the house . . . and boys were sent outdoors. . . . Boys ran around in the yard with toy guns going kksshh-kksshh, fighting wars for made-up reasons and arguing about who was dead, while girls stayed inside and played with dolls, creating complex family groups and learning how to solve problems through negotiation and roleplaying. Which gender is better equipped, on the whole, to live an adult life, would you guess?” MadeWarReasonPlayWholeProblemGirlFightingHouseBoysGroupsCreatingGunAdultsComplexesGenderSolveArguingRanToysYardsNegotiationDollsToy Guns Author:Garrison Keillor
“We got into all the trouble you could ever imagine. We figured that if the Jones boys and all the gangsters ran Chicago, we had our own territory now. All the stores, all the crime, we were in charge of everything, my stepbrother and my brother.” IfsBoysImagineTroubleCrimeBrotherStoresRanMy BrotherTerritoryChicagoGangsters Author:Quincy Jones