aesmithwriting

Story teller. Lover of books, journalism and photography. Chocolate fanatic. Big Bang Theory fan.

[perfectfeelings]

“We loved with a love that was more than love.”

— Edgar Allan Poe

[stardust-seedling]

Be like the honeybee who gathers only nectar wherever it goes. Seek the goodness that is found in everyone.

Mata Amritanandamayi (via stardust-seedling)

[theartofanimation]

Albizu Rondon

[explore-blog]

Wisdom on failure, leadership, and creating a fearless culture as a foundation for creative breakthroughs from Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull.

[dinosaurparty]

(via Don’t Copy That Floppy: The Best Bad PSA Ever Is a Rap From ‘92 | Mental Floss) This is my reality.

[itsaubreylmfao]

Wear your tragedies as armor, not shackles.

Anonymous (via shewho-runs-withwolves)

[chibird]

[laughingsquid]

Douglas Rushkoff Discusses the Always-On Digital Culture of ‘Present Shock’

[aesmithwriting]

"We can use these technologies...to create more time, more space, for people to be people."

[mindfullofthings]

This universe is a fan of you. Watch the flowers in the morning, how they open towards the same sun that spends it’s whole day following you.

Anis Mojgani  (via diveinme)

[explore-blog]

Putting out something that’s new in the world requires temporary removal from it.

Sarah Lewis, author of the indispensable The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery, on the importance of our private domains and inner worlds, speaking at the 2014 99U conference.

Complement with philosopher Martha Nussbaum on honoring your inner world.

(via explore-blog)

[chartier]

I think that a huge problem is people who read comics and don’t understand the point of superheroes, which is to be the best version of yourself. You love Captain America? Well, you know what Captain America would never do? Go online anonymously and shit on a girl for having an opinion.

Brian Michael Bendis On Comics, Online Sexism — Vulture (via chartier)

[explore-blog]

Anna Deavere Smith on confidence and how to live with self-esteem – an altogether fantastic read, doubly so for creative people.

[bobbydoherty]

Time Magazine outtake 

[aesmithwriting]

Cute little ball of prickly.

[smithsonianmag]

Wrongfully Admitted to Sunbury Asylum

In 1945, Maraquita Sargeant, a mother of five young children, was admitted against her will to Sunbury Mental Asylum in Australia. Her youngest child, Tony, has spent the last 50 years of his life searching for answers.

Walking the grounds of the now vacant and dilapidated Sunbury, Tony claims his mother was the victim of an era where there were no contraceptives and divorce was not allowed. Having five children already, Maraquita was not willing to give birth again and soon after was admitted. In 1946, she wrote a letter to the governor of Victoria stating she had been “unjustly detained.” The governor responded with a letter to the mental hygiene director and stated the letter “appears to be from a sane person.” The hygiene director’s response can only be described as chilling:

“She is definitely insane and if released would be a threat to certain prominent people’s reputations.”

With the director alerted to Maraquita’s attempt to write the governor, he shipped her to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where she received a lobotomy—a new and experimental procedure at the time that involved separating the front of her brain from the back. The operation was considered a failure. Maraquita spent her time at Sunbury in the sewing room repairing linen and ironing. Despite the injustice, Maraquita remained optimistic and in 1967 she was released. - Continue reading and watch the video at Smithsonian.com.

Ed note: This video was submitted to our In Motion video contest. The deadline to submit your video is May 31. Head over to the contest page for more details.

[aesmithwriting]

Chilling indeed. Though the system still fails so many, reading about the cold indifference, indignity and inhumanity back then dismays and dumbfounds.

[valphotoreachout]

Be In Love 57/365+1

[moneyisnotimportant]

Your job is no exception.

[explore-blog]

Dream delivers us to dream, and there is no end to illusion. Life is a train of moods like a string of beads, and, as we pass through them, they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the world their own hue… Temperament is the iron wire on which the beads are strung.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (via explore-blog)

[explore-blog]

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust, quoted in A General Theory of Love. (via explore-blog)