Quoted
Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared in a different format as part of The Atlantic’s Notes section, retired in 2021.
“I actually had ulcers by ninth grade,” —LaVerne Bell-Tolliver, who is black, on going to an all-white middle school in Little Rock in the 1960s.
“This is the genius and the Achilles’ heel of American culture. We … have a strong belief in self-determination and agency, even when our expectations fly in the face of reality,” —Katherine Newman, who studies social mobility.
“Not just sunny and bright in a way that makes you want to vomit, but in a way that is hopeful,” —how composer Jeff Richmond describes the tone of one Netflix-comedy score.
(Previous quotes from our sources here.)
About the Author
Rosa Inocencio Smith is a former assistant editor at The Atlantic.