“I never wanted to be away from the family. Intuitively, I knew how easily distances could harden and become permanent.”

“Ana Iris once asked me if I loved him and I told her about the lights in my old home in the capital, how they flickered and you never knew if they would go out or not. You put down your things and you waited and couldn't do anything really until the lights decided. This, I told her, is how I feel.”

“Love was a rare thing, easily confused with a million other things, and if anybody knew this to be true it was him.”

“Don’t tell her that your moms knew right away what it was, that she recognized its smell from the year the United States invaded your island.”

“I just want some space to myself every now and then. Every time I’m with you I have this sense that you want something from me.”

“I mean, shit, what Latino family doesn't think it's cursed?”

“I watched commercial ave. slide past and there in the distance were the lights of route 18. that was one of those moments that would always be Rutgers for me.”