The Bodega at the End of the Internet

I could hear the store’s voice telling me what it wanted, how it wanted to be. I understood it perfectly.

His heart had been broken. And now, all these years later, it seemed to him that the most horrible fact of human existence was that broken hearts mended.

sometimes, “good enough” truly is perfect, especially when the alternative is never finishing at all.

• Find a reason: You need to be working towards something.

• Don’t fall in love with projects: Most things fail don’t get emotionally attached.

• Build boring things that people need

• Build first before overthinking: Overthinking kills dreams

one of my mentors asked me a question that helped shape the trajectory of my activism and organizing.

“What have you built?” he asked. I must have looked perplexed. So he asked me again, “What have you built?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I answered.

“Come back and talk with me when you’ve figured it out,” he told me.

Once we donned our uniforms, we were all equals regardless of gender, age, or nationality—all simply store workers.

Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.