A big sister carries her younger brother with her always and everywhere after he dies of a heroin overdose. She also aims to tear away the stigma of being in the “survived by” category. bittersoutherner.com/folklore-proje…

"Being a big sister to this epidemic means not only covering when your little brother is high at family gatherings...but it also means returning the coroner’s phone call and picking out a box to house his ashes." Bitter Southerner bittersoutherner.com/folklore-proje…

"I felt a desperate need to carry his memory with me, fearing that the flawed human condition would cause me to forget the dearest details, like his laugh and the scar on the side of his nose." Bitter Southerner bittersoutherner.com/folklore-proje…

"We are starting to understand opioid misuse disorder as a disease, one that had gasoline thrown on it by unethical and illegal prescription drug promotion and distribution." bittersoutherner.com/folklore-proje… Bitter Southerner

"But back to the weirdness of being a surviving sibling. A person who defined your role within your family is abruptly erased." Bitter Southerner bittersoutherner.com/folklore-proje…

"Books are meat and medicine and flame and flight and flower, steel, stitch, and cloud and clout, and drumbeats in the air." 70 years ago today, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize. She was only 33. Her ode to books: brainpickings.org/2017/06/07/boo…

“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but most of all, endurance.” Baldwin's advice on writing (which applies to all creative work, be it art or science): brainpickings.org/2016/02/08/jam…

"Yes, of course, tragedy creates urgency, but so does the uncertainty of who you are if you aren’t doing the thing you do well." Hanif Abdurraqib @NYTMag nytimes.com/2020/11/03/mag…