Whether for good or for evil, fire has always been a portent, a sign of things to come.

Property is ownership; ownership, power. But to what extent do I have ownership over anything, even myself?

Because of Mother’s indelible diligence and dignity, I came to associate our poverty with grace under pressure and the intangible joys we gleaned amid suffering.

What can you say to someone who has lost her son to the ocean, her daughter to sex traffickers, and her own homeland to an unending war?