"Going insane is probably my worst fear. If it happens, I won't know what - or where, reality is. To me, that's the ultimate isolation - to be separated from my own mind" (p. 6).

"Inside, I'm feeling so bad that I let Mrs. Wilkens down when she trusted me at the blackboard. But I also realize for the first time that I can get kids to laugh with me instead of at me when I do something inappropriate. I can become the class clown" (p. 40).

"It's as if I have wires in my brain that light up at the thought of [climbing], but they're wired to the wrong places and don't allow the energy to turn off. So this isn't about being crazy. This is about bad wiring" (p. 63).

"Something inside me has changed and gotten really calm. I'm out here in a place I love, with the...