Delphine.

everlane breton stripes

Even Kim Gordon Doesn’t Have It All - The New Republic

Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of Grass (via curbsidequo)

“My family emigrated from Haiti when I was seven. None of us spoke any English. So I learned at a very early age that I would need education to advocate for myself. My father worked as a landscaper and my mother was a janitor. Whenever they visited my elementary school, they would need a translator to speak to my teachers. Ms. Rogers, my first grade teacher, told me that I would need to learn fast so that I could advocate for my family. She gave me extra books to bring home during the summer. I remember being a child, and arguing about bills with cable and utility companies. I kept advocating for my parents until my father passed away last year. Because he couldn’t speak English, his doctors never took the time to fully explain his cancer to him. So I had to get on the phone and draw the prognosis out of his doctors. I had to tell my father he had stage four pancreatic cancer, and I was the one who had to deal with the insurance companies. I would not have been able to do that without my education.”

Indeed, the London-born Smith dresses in a fashion that, quite like each of her novels or short essays, is formidable in its uncomplicated intricacies. Rather, put more directly: Whether wearing a structured whimsical-print dress accessorized with a bold lip and rimmed glasses or a tailored black blazer and pants combo off-set by the color of a headscarf, Smith creates a personal style full of small details that create a strong look that proves entirely her own. 

Read the rest of my review here: ‘The Sacrifice,’ by Joyce Carol Oates - NYTimes.com (via roxanegay)