“I’ve always treasured empathy as the particular privilege of the invisible, the observers who are shy precisely because they sense so much—because it is overwhelming to say even a single word when you’re sensitive to every last flicker of nuance in the room.”
More from Leslie Jamison
“Lying could not bring this woman into being, but it could allow me to forget — for…”
“This ruptured syllogism — If I understand myself, I’ll get better — made me question the…”
“Years later, recovery turned this notion upside-down — it made me start to believe that I…”
“I felt something else: initiated, aglow. The whole world stood accused: You never told me…”