No One Belongs Here More Than You

This quote for me seems to embody the thread connecting each of the stories:

“You seem incredibly faraway to me, like someone on the other side of a lake. A dot so small that it isn't male or female or young or old; it is just smiling.”

A yearning for connection, despite ultimately untraversable separation. Regardless of the fixation on desperation, Miss July has a way with words.

“The interesting thing about Positive is that it never mentions HIV. If it weren't for the advertisements-Retrovir, Sustiva, Viramune-you would think it was a magazine about staying positive, as in upbeat. For this reason it is my favorite magazine. All the other ones build you up just to knock you down, but the editors at Positive understand that you have already been knocked down, again and again, and at this point you really don't need to fail a quiz called “Are you so sexy or just so-so?” Positive prints lists of ways to feel better, kind of like “Hints from Heloise.” They seem easy to write, but that's the illusion of all good advice. Common sense and the truth should feel authorless, writ by time itself.”

and a personal favorite:

“...letting go of mammalian pride.”