“The problem is that so many of them are not getting told. This is a massive problem, not just in the Middle East but for places from Africa to Afghanistan. There are millions of stories out there, millions of potential Booksellers of Kabul or Valentino Achak Dengs.” StoriesProblemMillionsMiddleEastMassiveAfghanistanMiddle EastBooksellersKabulValentino Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“I'm optimistic, though. Now, with the Arab Spring, I think that people in the region are beginning to overturn some of these clichés, and Western editors are starting to catch up. We're seeing some exceptions to the stereotypes, like Elizabeth Rubin's great piecein Newsweek, "The Feminists in the Middle of Tahrir Square." But an article like that shouldn't be the exception. It should be the rule.” PeopleThinkingShouldSeeingMiddleSpringWesternStartingFeministOptimisticExceptionRegionsEditorsSquaresArticlesStereotypeArab SpringTahrir Square Author:Annia Ciezadlo
“When I was in middle school, I tried to impress this girl by jumping over this ledge on a scooter. I caught the edge of the ledge and totally fell right in front of her. I never talked to her again. So [my advice is], take it easy if you have a school crush!” IfsSchoolGirlEasyMiddleAdviceFrontsEdgesCaughtCrushImpressJumpingMiddle SchoolThis GirlTake It EasyLedgesScooters Author:Kevin Jonas
“I tend to overuse the word "project" only because "book" is terrifying while I'm still in the middle of something. A project can fail. I don't want a book to fail.” WantStillsBookFailingMiddleProjects Author:Rigoberto Gonzalez
“I have people who come up to me and say, 'Oh, seeing your work in my little home town in the middle of nowhere on the internet inspired me to move to London, or New York and pursue a creative career.' It makes me quite emotional.” PeopleLittlesHomeMovingCareersCreativeSeeingMiddleNew YorkEmotionalInternetTownsInspiredCome UpLondonPursueMiddle Of NowhereHome Town Author:Kesh
“There are definitely recurring themes in humanity's relationship with our environment. The biggest is probably adaptation, because humans are incredibly good at adapting to new environments in relatively short periods of time. The ancestors of Homo sapiens started leaving Africa over one million years ago, moving from warm, tropical climates into the freezing wilderness of Europe and the desert ecosystems of the Middle East.” YearsHumansMovingHumanityMillionsEnvironmentMiddlePeriodsEuropeYears AgoClimateLeavingWarmEastDesertThemeWildernessAncestorMiddle EastAdaptationOur EnvironmentHomo SapiensEcosystemsAdaptingFreezingTropicalRecurringNew EnvironmentRecurring Themes Author:Annalee Newitz
“There's this divergence out there between the very small and the very large with the middle disappearing. There is something paradoxical going on where there is this access and we can seek out things on the fringes, but that doesn't describe the overall reality, because the big are bigger than ever.” BigsRealityMiddleBiggerDisappearAccessFringeParadoxicalDivergence Author:Astra Taylor
“I think what I wanted to do was meet someone who knew more than me about songwriting structure and progressions and middle eights and things that more traditional writers write and I don't usually employ.” ThinkingWritingWantedMiddleStructureTraditionalSongwritingProgression Author:Bat for Lashes
“The hardest part is always the middle of anything because at that point, on some unconscious level, you have to figure out what it's about and why you're doing it and what it means. You don't know that in the beginning.” KnowsMeanLevelsMiddleFiguresHardestUnconscious Author:T.C. Boyle
“Any story has a beginning, middle, and end, of course, but the question is, where do you start it exactly? It's about a guy who is murdered in a fistfight, but how does it evolve and what does it mean? That's what I discovered scene by scene, and this innovation of coming in as a first-person narrator was a complete surprise to me. It just happened.” FirstsMeanPersonsDoeEndsStoriesGuyCoursesHappenedMiddleSceneInnovationSurpriseEvolveFirst PersonNarratorsBeginning Middle And End Author:T.C. Boyle
“We're lucky to be in the middle of a TV renaissance. It's the healthiest storytelling medium in our culture.” CultureMiddleTvsLuckyStorytellingMediumsRenaissance Author:Nick Antosca
“I felt what I was trying to do was make people realize that comics could be deep. I stopped myself in the middle of saying that because the Bazooka Joe thing I do with Dante's Inferno, that was just a goof. I wasn't trying to make people look at Bazooka Joe more seriously. But in my mind it's always been important.” PeopleTryingMindLooksImportantFeltRealizingMiddleInfernoGoofsBazookas Author:Robert Sikoryak
“Some people that are heroes to some can be looked at by another group of people as villains. As far as a middle point, just speaking for myself, that's exactly what to avoid.” PeopleGroupsMiddleHeroVillain Author:Jon Bernthal
“The most basic organizing principle was pretty straightforward, and is frankly pretty common: the shorter of what are by my lights the two most engaging stories goes first, the longer of the two goes at the end, and everything else goes in the middle.” FirstsTwoEndsStoriesLightCommonPrinciplesMiddleEngagingStraightforward Author:Roy Kesey
“My daughter Meredith Moon from my second wife has a band that does Appalachian music, with five-strong banjo, clawhammer style. I may have to direct her somewhere. Meredith was my middle name. I would have to direct her because I am always directing something. She's in the musician's union and she is only 21. Your kids surprise you.” MayDoeKidsNamesStrongFiveWifeMiddleStyleMoonBandMusicianDaughterDirectUnionsSurpriseMy DaughterBanjos Author:Gordon Lightfoot
“But when you only speak using generalizations, you run the danger of denying the specific. In recent decades, millions of people have come to us from cultural groups within which women have absolutely no rights. They do not have a voice of their own and they are totally dependent on their fathers, brothers or husbands. That applies to North Africa and that applies to large parts of the Middle East. It isn't always linked to Islam.” PeopleRunningFatherSpeakVoiceMillionsRightsGroupsMiddleDangerBrotherHusbandIslamEastDecadesDependentMiddle EastLinkedGeneralizationNorth Africa Author:Alice Schwarzer
“People aren't stupid. They saw what was happening at the Cologne central station. A lawless space was created in the middle of a city of over a million. That has to be addressed and it has to be done so in a sober-minded way.” PeopleWayDoneSpaceCitiesMillionsSawsMiddleStupidHappeningsStationsSoberCologne Author:Alice Schwarzer
“I could stand in the middle Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters.” LosesMiddleVotersFifthAvenuesFifth Avenue Author:Donald Trump
“Donald Trump and Ted Cruz on the Republican side. On the Democratic side, he sees Hillary Clinton struggling a bit... And Mayor Bloomberg sees a big lane in the middle for a moderate former Republican who believes in gun control and climate change.” BelieveBigsBitsSidesStruggleMiddleTrumpRepublicanGunDemocraticClintonClimateClimate ChangeFormerGun ControlModeratesLanesMayorsCruz Author:Don Gonyea
“[Mike] Bloomberg aides says he's more likely to run if it's [Donald]Trump or [Ted] Cruz versus Sanders, then there would, presumably, be space in the middle for him. But he's less likely to go if Hillary Clinton is the nominee.” IfsRunningSpaceMiddleTrumpClintonVersusMikeCruz Author:Mara Liasson
“"Plaza de la Soledad" is a documentary about Carmen, Lety, Raquel and Esther, four strong women - middle-aged and older - who want to break a vicious circle that began with abuse and abandonment suffered from an early age. They simply want to have a better life. The film follows their quest to find true love and their capacity to transform themselves.” WantAgeFilmStrongBreakFourMiddleCapacityAbuseCirclesQuestsStrong WomenDocumentariesViciousBetter LifeAbandonmentMiddle AgedEstherVicious CirclesFinding True Love Author:Maya Goded
“I used to hate swimming at school so much that I would always sneak downstairs in the middle of the night and take my swimming costume out of my gym bag and hide it in the house somewhere. Then I'd never have to go swimming at school. This went on for months and I never got caught and my Mum turned into a nervous wreck because the thought she was losing her memory... and then one day she caught me and got super angry. That was kind of bad.” KindSchoolUsedNightHateHouseMemoriesMiddleMonthsOne DayLosingAngryCaughtNervousBagsGymSwimmingMumCostumesWrecksSneakMiddle Of The NightLosing Her Author:Charli XCX
“I can play a Jewish guy, another Jewish guy, and then another Jewish guy, and then maybe a Cuban guy. Or at least a Middle Eastern guy. But for me, they're all Jews.” I CanPlayGuyMiddleJewEasternCuban Author:Peter Jacobson
“I'd love to go and camp out and live in a tent in the middle of nowhere and see how long I could live and survive.” LongMiddleCampsTentsMiddle Of Nowhere Author:Rita Ora
“I started to understand what the song could be about. The ache of nostalgia even for things we don't like, the commitment to keep moving despite that ache. It made me think of how I relate to my privilege - as a white person, as someone who grew up upper middle class.” ThinkingPersonsMadeMovingSongWhiteClassMiddleGrewGrew UpCommitmentPrivilegeNostalgiaDespiteRelateMiddle ClassAcheKeep MovingUpper Middle Class Author:Erin McKeown
“Our traditional stories are based on an aristocratic model without a middle class, whereas The Arabian Nights reflect people living in cities, traders, merchants, travelers, with a wide range of personalities.” PeopleStoriesNightCitiesClassMiddlePersonalityModelsWideTraditionalRangeMiddle ClassTravelerMerchantsTradersArabianAristocraticLiving In The CityArabian Nights Author:Marina Warner
“I feel like it's a good time to be a writer. I'm terminally optimistic. It seems like the publishing industry is in the middle of a big transition, and that the rules of the game are still sorting themselves out.” FeelsStillsBigsSeemsGamesMiddleIndustryOptimisticGood TimesTransitionPublishingSortingRules Of The GamePublishing Industry Author:Brad Listi
“When I began research, I read the writings of the Sonderkommandos. They are not well known, but these prisoners wrote from the middle of hell from Auschwitz, to let the world know what happened. The texts were buried beneath the ground and found after the liberation of the concentration camps.” KnowsWorldWritingWellsFoundKnownHellHappenedMiddleResearchLiberationConcentrationPrisonerBuriedCampsWell KnownAuschwitzConcentration CampNot Well Known Author:Laszlo Nemes
“So much of the United State's political relationship with Israel is based on culture. Israel is the only Westernized culture in the region and the Middle Eastern countries bordering Israel are Arab, which is a totally different society. Even though Israel doesn't exactly feel like the United States, by comparison to its neighbors it's very Western.” FeelsDifferentCountryStatesPoliticalCultureUnitedUnited StatesMiddleWesternIsraelNeighborComparisonRegionsEastern Author:Jill Soloway
“One of the things about me is that I actually had marginally middle-class living from writing. For years and years, I actually wrote so much through the '70s and '80s that I made a living. And very rarely have I had to take another job. And now it's impossible for anybody coming up to make such a living. They've pissed in the temple, you know?” KnowsWritingYearsMadeJobsClassImpossibleMiddleTemplesMiddle Class80s Author:Richard Meltzer
“We will not commit suicide because of pressure from the international community. A Palestinian state is not possible at the moment. I would rather fight and try to explain the situation in the Middle East to the world than to agree to steps that harm my country to satisfy the international community.” WorldTryingCountryStatesMomentsFightingCommunitySituationStepsMiddlePressureAgreeSuicideInternationalHarmEastCommitMiddle EastPalestinianInternational Community Author:Ayelet Shaked
“I guess I'm also obligated to note that the experience of sex workers who are not upper/middle class/white probably have much worse conditions than anything that's portrayed commonly in media/what I experienced.” SexWhiteClassMiddleConditionsMediaNotesWorkersMiddle ClassUpper Middle Class Author:Marie Calloway
“Drugs and drinking affect every family I know, country and city, middle-class and poor.” KnowsCountryPoorCitiesClassMiddleDrugDrinkingMiddle Class Author:Bonnie Jo Campbell
“I think a lot it was the theology, that the road to Jerusalem runs through Baghdad, that somehow if we broke apart the rejectionist states, like Iraq, then the whole Middle East would reconfigure itself into a more favorable environment for democracy and Israel and us.” IfsThinkingStatesWholeRunningDemocracyEnvironmentMiddleIraqIsraelEastTheologyBrokeMiddle EastJerusalemBaghdad Author:Chris Matthews
“I keep a daily journal of whatever weird thought comes into my mind, like when I had a dream I was in North Dakota in the middle of a blizzard and for some reason the Egyptian pyramids were there, too - that I was able to shuffle into the book.” MindBookReasonDreamAbleMiddleJournalPyramidsEgyptianI Had A DreamDakotaShuffleBlizzardNorth DakotaEgyptian Pyramids Author:Dan Chaon
“I knew I wanted to play around with genre-esque imagery, and the identity theft stuff came in the middle, when I was figuring out how the characters were connected to those images.” PlayCharacterWantedStuffMiddleIdentityConnectedGenreImageryTheftIdentity Theft Author:Dan Chaon
“There is absolutely no one, apart from yourself, who can prevent you, in the middle of the night, from sneaking down to tidy up the edges of that hunk of cheese at the back of the fridge.” NightMiddleEdgesCheeseMiddle Of The NightTidyFridgesHunkSneaking Up Author:Boris Johnson
“I'd love to come to Middle Earth! Apparently Auckland is an amazing city, one of the best to live in too.” EarthCitiesMiddleMiddle Earth Author:Coeur de pirate
“It was fantastic to be on the set again with Denzel (Washington) and Antoine (Fuqua) and then to have the situation be so different. We weren't making a sequel to Training Day. We were in the middle of the desert riding around on some horses.” DifferentSituationMiddleTrainingHorseFantasticDesertRidingSequelsDenzel Author:Ethan Hawke
“Israel is the American watchdog in the Middle East, and that's why the Palestinians remain victims of one of the longest military occupations. They don't have oil. If they were the Saudis, they wouldn't be in the position they are now. But they have the power of being able to upset the imperial order in the Middle East.” IfsAbleOrderMiddleMilitaryPositionVictimIsraelOilEastUpsetOccupationMiddle EastPalestinianSaudis Author:John Pilger
“I'm worried about people who say Bush is lying. It's much more frightening that he's not lying, that he believes what he believes: that it's his mission to change the Middle East into a democracy. That's more unnerving.” PeopleBelieveLyingDemocracyMiddleMissionsEastWorriedMiddle EastFrightening Author:Seymour Hersh
“A lot of girls will do regular crunches, when that is building muscle in the middle of your stomach on top of - right in the middle area, where you might not want it to be. There's certain types of sit-ups and crunches and moves that kind of build the core set of your muscles inside. There's a different way of looking at exercise and optimizing it for the female body, if that makes sense.” IfsWayWantKindDifferentBodyMightMovingCertainGirlMiddleBuildingTypeExerciseAreasFemaleCoreMake SenseDifferent WaysMusclesStomachFemale BodyCrunch Author:April Rose
“I hit my knees every morning and every night to give thanks for being alive and all the blessings I have. And in the middle of chaos, it's been suggested to me to stop and truly look around, notice the sky, the trees, the grass, and realize you're part of it all, which is hard when you really want to focus on what you think is bothering you. However, one of the smartest things I do is check in with my awesome wife, who is really good at screwing my head back on when needed.” ThinkingWantGivingLooksHardNightRealizingMorningFocusAliveWifeTreeSkyMiddleNeededBlessingChaosChecksThanksBotherGrassKneesEvery NightEvery MorningBothering You Author:Patrick Fabian
“I don't have a very routine life; the kids' activities, our nightly routines, and morning routines are about as routine as it gets. In the middle of it all - other than my morning coffee, toast, and trying to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night - each day is different.” TryingDifferentKidsNightHoursSleepMorningMiddleActivityCoffeeEach DayRoutineToastsMorning CoffeeMorning RoutinesRoutine Life Author:Lisa Loeb
“There were initiatives I have remained involved with in the U.S. and in the Middle East, like the Peace Corps, which might be summed up as, "Ask not that the world serve you, but ask what you can do to serve the world."” WorldMightAsksCan DoMiddleInvolvedEastMiddle EastInitiativePeace Corps Author:Queen Noor of Jordan
“King Hussein of Jordan dedicated his life - I witnessed it in his sleeping as well as waking hours - to trying to break through the impasses keeping people apart. He understood that the security and prosperity of any one of us in this world depends on the security and prosperity enjoyed by others. As Martin Luther King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In the Middle East, nothing could be more true.” PeopleWorldTryingWellsSaidHoursJusticeSleepBreakMiddleSecurityThis WorldDependsKingsUnderstoodThreatInjusticeProsperityEastEnjoyedWakingDedicatedMiddle EastHusseinLutherJordanBreak ThroughImpasseInjustice Anywhere Author:Queen Noor of Jordan
“I'm really starting to learn the value of silence and meditation. I keep my sanity in the middle of a hectic day by taking some me time or sometimes watching a guilty pleasure on TV, doing absolutely nothing, or just hanging out with friends and family. They keep me grounded and centered.” SometimesValuesPleasureSilenceMeditationMiddleTvsStartingGuiltyHanging OutSanityFamily And FriendsGroundedAbsolutely NothingHecticGuilty PleasureHanging Out With Friends Author:Naturi Naughton
“We are always centered in the middle of chaos. It never goes away. It's important to find your inner peace. For me, it's literally looking at the bigger picture. When I think about the size of the universe, I feel like any problems I'm surrounded by are so small. I just do my best to react to chaos with love, and hopefully, other people will catch on and do things out of love too.” PeopleThinkingFeelsImportantProblemUniverseMiddleBiggerChaosSizeInner PeaceHopefullyHope And LoveBigger Picture Author:Melanie Iglesias
“For me, love is the feeling of being at home no matter where on earth you are. It's a comfort that silences anxieties. It's the feeling of finding a safe place in the middle of disaster. Love does not judge. Love promotes personal growth. Love is not materialistic. It's intangible yet somehow an undeniable feeling. You know it when you have it. I have lots of love in my life and I am blessed.” KnowsDoeMatterFeelingsHomeEarthGrowthLove IsSilenceMiddleJudgingComfortSafeAnxietyFindingsBlessedPersonal GrowthDisasterMaterialisticIntangibleSafe Places Author:Melanie Iglesias
“I'm finding myself really angry over spending and the deficit. I'm finding myself really angry over what's happening in the Middle East, the decision to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. I'm angry about cap and trade. And I've been on record for a long time on the failed war on drugs.” LongWarDecisionRecordsMiddleDrugFindingsLong TimeHappeningsAngryTradeSpendingEastAfghanistanMiddle EastDeficitCapsWar On DrugsFinding Myself Author:Gary Johnson