Novels are a safe way to talk about things.

Fiction is an easy way to talk about issues: I think it feels less preachy. You can have the students discuss characters in the book as opposed to hypothetical situations, or as opposed to opening up about themselves, unless they really want to.

With everything going on in my life – going on in my head – I wanted to talk with you. Really talk. Just once. A chance we never seemed to get at school. Or at work. A chance to ask, Who are you?'
We didn’t get that chance because I was afraid. Afraid that I had no chance with you.
That’s what I thought. And I was fine with that. Because whit if I got to know you and you turned out to be just like they said? What if you weren’t the person I hoped you were?
That, more than anything, would have hurt the most.

Bullying has been around forever, and so it became one of these issues that as an adult we look back on and say, 'Yeah, it's just one of those unfortunate parts of growing up.' You know you're not going to stop it, so it just became easier to call it one of those things that 'just happens.'

When I talk about sad things, I talk about sad things.

People ask what the secret of a happy marriage is. If there is one, it's 'don't talk about it.'