David Sedaris kills me sometimes. He makes me laugh so hard about the most inappropriate and unfortunate things. That's talent if you can evoke in your reader feelings that rarely occur simultaneously. For example, completely giddy with mirth + feeling like an asshole. It's pretty special.

Semi-non sequitur. I was reading through some old entries and was reminded of a few nuggets from West Africa: Back then and there, there was no wrinkle-free fabric laced with Teflon. People starched and ironed their shirts to have them stay stiff and wrinkle-free.

There were no genetically modified crops (too expensive), so the fruits and vegetables were a quarter the size of those in our supermarkets. Supermarket fruits would have to go on taste steroids, though, to compete with the deliciousness of their mini Togolese cousins.

When something broke, you repaired it because buying a new one still cost a zillion times more.

Yet, you needed a beautiful dress no matter how poor you were to go to church on Sundays. Completely lovely + dogmatically f-ed.