‘We have a lot of rain in Dallas’ and other overflowing quotes of the week

“I definitely missed being here. I missed this building. I missed Cowboys’ nation. I’m definitely excited and ready to get this thing going.” — Ezekiel Elliot, after announcing his return to the Cowboys for the 2024 season. (Tuesday, Cowboys.com)

“We refused to let death take us.” — Grace Kang, a North Korean refugee speaking to an SMU crowd about her ordeal leaving the country under a totalitarian regime. (Tuesday, The Dallas Morning News)

“Long before ‘Brooklyn’ became a place where every novelist seemed to live, from Colson Whitehead to Jhumpa Lahiri … Auster made being a writer seem like something real, something a person actually did.” — Poet Meghan O’Rourke, commenting on Paul Auster, the Brooklyn-based writer of “The New York Trilogy,” who died last week. (Wednesday, The New York Times)

“If we have a lot of rain here and we have a lot of rain in Dallas, well then the magnitude of the flooding is going to be much worse.” — Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy commenting on the heavy rainfall in East Texas that caused the Trinity River to overflow. (Wednesday, Texas Tribune)

“As far as financial institutions, I don’t necessarily think it’s going to have a demonstrable effect.” — Morgan Fox, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, commenting on the Biden administration’s decision to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug
but still keeping cannabis businesses out of the banking system. (Tuesday, The Associated Press)

“These numbers validate our concern that much of the disruption on campus over the past week has been orchestrated by people from outside the University, including groups with ties to escalating protests at other universities around the country.” — A statement by the University of Texas at Austin confirming that half of those arrested in pro-Palestinian protests had no affiliation with the university. (Tuesday, The Dallas Morning News)

“This is the first time that we have observed a wild animal applying a quite potent medicinal plant directly to a wound.” — Isabelle Laumer, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany, and co-author of a study on an orangutan that applied a medicinal plant to treat a facial wound. (Thursday, Associated Press)

“Why is China stalling so bad economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Because they’re xenophobic. … They don’t want immigrants. Immigrants are what makes us strong.” — President Joe Biden (Wednesday, CNN)

“Hate speech, derogatory language and offensive behavior is not tolerated at Dallas ISD. Our schools are safe havens where we welcome inclusivity and celebrate all cultures, ethnicities and religions.” — DISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde, after announcing that Hillcrest High School will be partnering with the Holocaust Museum for antisemitism training. (Thursday, The Dallas Morning News)

“There were streams of bees, and the wall … was oozing honey. But it looked like blood because it was really, really dark, running down my daughter’s pink walls. It looked really strange.” — Ashley Massis Class, referring to the massive bee hive found in her daughter’s closet in North Carolina. The toddler thought it was a monster. (Wednesday, The Guardian)

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