Home > Author > Meg Medina
1 " You never forget the books you loved as a kid. You never forget the poems you memorized, the first book you read until the cover fell off, the book you read hidden from your mother. What an honor to hold hands with a child's imagination in this way. "
― Meg Medina
2 " Take care not to listen to anyone who tells you what you can and can't be in life. "
― Meg Medina , The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind
3 " Nothing ends. There is only transformation, ugly as it may be. "
― Meg Medina , Burn Baby Burn
4 " Growing up is like walking through glass doors that only open one way--you can see where you came from but can't go back. "
― Meg Medina , Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass
5 " Sometimes it's hard to wait for good things to happen. - Tia Isa "
6 " You know where this Yaqui girl is going to be in a few years if she doesn't change? She'll still be there, same as always in her old neighborhood--a nobody with nothing. And guess what? That's her worst fear. "
7 " It was Ma who first noticed my body changing, but she wasn't exactly tactful about my getting cuerpo. "Put on a bra already, Piddy," she said after she noticed a man on the bus gawking at my chest one day. "You can't go around with two loose onions in your shirt for all the boys to stare at," she snapped, like it was my fault that the man had helped himself to the show. "
8 " How can you say bad things about someone you don’t know?” I shout. “How can you hate a stranger? Why do you have to pick on people?” she’s not better than Yaqui. It’s like everywhere there’s a bully in my face. "
9 " When I write now, I pretend I'm holding hands with the old me. I try to make sense of all those questions for her... "
10 " Cruz has never been my favorite person, I'll give you that. But an enemy? There's no sense i having those if we can help it" -Papi "
― Meg Medina , Merci Suárez Changes Gears
11 " ...popular is even weirder. Turns out, it's not the same thing as having friends at all" -Merci "
12 " I am frightened, too,' he says. 'We all are. But we are the Suarez family, Merci. We are strong enough to face this together. "
13 " I don't know what is going to happen next year, no one does. But that's OK.I can handle it, I decide. It's just a harder gear, and I am ready. All I have to do is take a deep breath and ride. "
14 " The whole building was probably listening in on her escandalo through the pipes; maybe even the whole block could hear. That tells you how mad she was, because if there’s one thing Ma hates, it’s looking low. The worst thing you can be is a chusma. She thinks we get a bad rap as Latinos, which she’s always trying to undo by being extra quiet and polite all the time. "
15 " When I look up, I’m surprised to find myself in front of the old building. My feet must have gone on autopilot. I’m like one of those African elephants that finds her way home, no matter how far she’s roamed. "
16 " I know you and Roli are smart enough to be here — more than smart enough. But we don’t pay for tuition like most of the other families. So the value you add to the school has to come from you, because it’s not coming from our wallets.” “That’s not fair,” I say. “Maybe not. But I still think it’s worth it. Your education will open doors later, Merci, believe me. I just don’t want you to blow it. "
17 " I’ve been thinking lately that growing up is like walking through glass doors that only open one way — you can see where you came from but can’t go back. That’s how it is for me, anyway. "
18 " The camera does a close-up on the girl who can miraculously see again. It cuts to the mother-in-law, then to the clueless husband. All at once, the credits run. “Maldito sea!” Lila shoves the coffee table with her foot. “We have to wait to see that hussy get what’s coming?”“Please. You know what’s coming.” I rub perfume on my wrists and sniff. It’s better than sour milk, and it reminds me of fancy department stores where I can only browse. I stuff a few samples in my pocket. “It’s going to end the way all the novelas end. Everybody happy.”She shoos away my idea like it’s a bad smell. “So what? Nobody gets happy the same way. That’s what’s interesting. "
19 " In face, all I have left of my father is his last name – and I think that’s only because Ma couldn’t stand the shame of leaving FATHER’S NAME blank on my birth certificate. What if the hospital people thought she was the kind of woman who couldn’t remember the names of the men she slept with? "
20 " When you fall and hurt yourself, it takes a few days for the scrape to heal or the bruise to disappear. Maybe it’s the same with friend fights. "
― Meg Medina , Merci Suárez Can't Dance
