Walk It's good for you Maybe you'll smile at a stranger Or shed a few tears you've been choking down A mischievous spark may light
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Quiara Alegría Hudes
Quiara Alegría Hudes (born 1977) is an American playwright and composer. She wrote the book for the musical In the Heights. Her play Elliot, a Soldier's Fugue was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Water by the Spoonful. 2Early life Hudes was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a Jewish father and a Puerto Rican mother. They raised her in West Philadelphia, where she began composing music and writing. She also studied at the Mary Louise Curtis Branch of Settlement Music School, taking piano lessons with Dolly Krasnopolsky. She has stated that although she is of "Puerto Rican and Jewish blood", she was "raised by two Puerto Rican parents". Her step-father was a Puerto Rican entrepreneur. She graduated from Central High Schoo
Girls, your body is a temple. Don't let ANYONE tell you how it should look or what you should do with it.
When in doubt, write. To celebrate, write. As a balm, write. When you mess up, write. To escape, write. When the world burns, write.
When you feel the instinct to apologize to your oppressors, don't do it. Hold your tongue, grab a pen, whip up an ink storm. Write.
Sadness has a strange size. Big enough to swell us, saturate our body. Small enough to fit through a 5mm pen tip.
On writing Start the scene off-topic. So that the scene’s essence is a reveal, a surprise. Use distraction as gift wrapping, a treasure box.
Move that pen & don’t pause to question what the fuck you’re doing. Write in your dreams, on the subway, as you walk (1 day you may wake up too beaten down to throw your heart to the wolves anymore). So don’t waste the energized, purposeful times This very second, run don’t walk! Go! Write!
Advice to my (deferential) younger self: Never wait your turn or to be called on. Join the conversation when you’ve got something to say. Be proactive about sharing yourself. They have no idea when your heart & mind are racing. They do not know when is the right time. You do.
On writing Start with one word or one thought. Write it down. Is it the right word or thought? Is there a better word or thought? Get that *one single thing* right, then move onto the next.
You know what to say, though you may have buried it so deep it needs excavating. So no more excuses, dispense with the wordplay, don't waste time being timid. Unearth it, write it.
Writer bends over backwards to show how 'normal' a nazi sympathizer is: 'man — intelligent, socially adroit and raised middle class.' Don't sic your 'normal' on me & be open to how many people have a different normal.
Writing is an act of paying attention. Of moving towards the essential which lies, hidden, behind the costumes, baubles & doodads of survival. Remove all the noise and explore what you are left with: what is your self busy hiding from your self?