Broken Places & Outer Spaces

Nnedi Okorafor was scheduled for an almost-routine back surgery to correct her scoliosis, but she awake after the surgery to find she was paralyzed.

This is what Okorafor came to call the Breaking. She did not realize at the time that it would be this experience that would lead her to become more than she ever would have become without it.

Beautiful quote from the book:

‘In Japan there is an art form called kintsugi, which means “golden joinery,” to repair something with gold. It treats breaks and repairs as a part of the object's history. In kintsugi, you don't merely fix what's broken, you repair the total object. In doing so, you transform what you have fixed into something more beautiful than it previously was. This is the philosophy that I came to understand was central to my life. Because in order to really live life, you must live life. And that is rarely achieved without cracks along the way. There is often a sentiment that we must remain new, unscathed, unscarred, but in order to do this, you must never leave home, never experience, never risk or be harmed, and thus never grow.'