450 Quotes by Thomm Quackenbush

The heat of Vegas desiccates the unwary, its dryness sapping moisture from one’s mouth and eyes. Sweat evaporates too quickly to cool, its only evidence dusting of salt on one’s shirt. Las Vegas claims they are the sunniest, least humid state in the Union, which is boast-worthy to those not turning to tourist jerky.

Even if one is doing nothing more than eating Chinese food with one's Muslim and Jewish friends (don't order the pork lo mein), being together on the longest nights of the year, as the cold sets into the ground and makes it crunch, the warmth inside is infectious and transcendent.

[T]hese friends were of the female persuasion, and while by and large they were bi and large, they still represented potential threats on [her] feminine radar.

Words could be quite enough for magic to occur, when the night was warm enough and the moon waxing.

I was a monster until you dared to treat me as a man.

My students tag tables, walls, and chairs because their greatest fear is that no one will ever remember them. They do not believe they can give impassioned speeches, rally people in protest, paint masterpieces. They think they will die, small and forgotten, and it dictates their every action.

I cannot think who my residents hurt but how I can give them tools to remain on the right side of civilization.

I do all I can to let my students feel as normal as possible, as far from institutionalized. I see how easy it is to allow this conveyor belt of incarceration bring them from my facility to an adult detention, often for the rest of their lives.

I look at my students and have no trouble picturing just how successful they should be, if only we could remove them from the impetuses that brought them to the facility. If we could move them away from gangs. If we could get them into a rehab that stuck. If we could take them from people who abuse their trust, safety, and bodies.