“When I used to say I wanted to be anywhere but Brooklyn, I maybe didn’t mean it this literally. And, I suddenly understand, I do want to be Vassa – or technically I want to make Vassa into somebody worth being. The only way to become that somebody is to live in a real, substantial world: a world that doesn’t follow orders, that’s just as willful and independent as I’m going to be. I can only become a whole girl in a place that offers resistance; a place that makes me fight for what I want.”
