a hundred brittle stars

[bookmania]

Therefore, find your own way, open your treasure house, invent your own answer to the chaos.

Gertrude Stein

[notbecauseofvictories]

“Empathy isn’t just something that happens to us—a meteor shower of synapses firing across the brain—it’s also a choice we make: to pay attention, to extend ourselves. It’s made of exertion, that dowdier cousin of impulse. Sometimes we care for another because we know we should, or because it’s asked for, but this doesn’t make our caring hollow. The act of choosing simply means we’ve committed ourselves to a set of behaviors greater than the sum of our individual inclinations: I will listen to his sadness, even when I’m deep in my own. To say “going through the motions”—this isn’t reduction so much as acknowledgment of the effort—the labor, the motions, the dance—of getting inside another person’s state of heart or mind. This confession of effort chafes against the notion that empathy should always arise unbidden, that genuine means the same thing as unwilled, that intentionality is the enemy of love. But I believe in intention and I believe in work. I believe in waking up in the middle of the night and packing our bags and leaving our worst selves for our better ones.”

— Leslie Jamison, “The Empathy Exams” (via The Believer)

[austinkleon]

“A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination. On a cold, rainy island, they are the only sheltered public spaces where you are not a consumer, but a citizen, instead. A human with a brain and a heart and a desire to be uplifted, rather than a customer with a credit card and an inchoate “need” for “stuff.” A mall—the shops—are places where your money makes the wealthy wealthier. But a library is where the wealthy’s taxes pay for you to become a little more extraordinary, instead. A satisfying reversal. A balancing of the power.”

— Caitlin Moran

[sorry-no-more-no-less]

[ahundredbrittlestars]

Charlize Theron at the Cannes Film Festival for Mad Max: Fury Roa

[ahundredbrittlestars]

Of the 355 million reproductive-age women in India, only 12 percent use absorbent pads or another sanitary method to stem the blood flow during their periods, a report by AC Nielsen and Plan India found in 2010. The rest tend to rely on old fabric, husks, dried leaves and grass, ash, sand or newspapers.

From the report "Menstrual Hygiene for Indian Women Holds Economy Back" by Natasha Khan and Ketaki Gokhale, two of the seven journalists who won the "2014 WASH Media Awards" "for their excellence in reporting on water, sanitation, and hygiene-related (WASH) issues

[ahundredbrittlestars]

"I don't believe that a new mother and a new father with their newborn baby looks at the baby and says, "I'm going to abuse you in two years' time." They want to be the best that they possibly can. The difficulty is that they don't know how and their only experience is what they've experienced."

Libby Robins, director of Family Help Trust, New Zealand

New Zealand has a high level of child abuse. I had no idea.

https://soundcloud.com/deutsche-welle-in-english/world-in-progress-sep-10-2014

[ahundredbrittlestars]

They warn the girls, and I know this personally, that when you report this rape, you’re going to be put on the witness stand and you’re going to be forced to testify through all the most embarrassing circumstances. “What kind of underwear did you wear? Have you ever had sex before? What kind of kisses do you give the boy, with your tongue in his mouth? Do you have a record of dating boys in a very heavy way before?” Or things of that kind. It’s very embarrassing. In fact one midshipwoman in the Naval Academy was even asked on the stand, how wide she opened her mouth when she gave oral sex, to the football players who raped her. So this is the kind of thing that discourages a girl. And also they convince the girl that no matter what they do, the boy will probably not be convicted, particularly if he’s a white boy. He’ll be claiming that she was interested in consensual sex, that she was wearing provocative clothing and seemed to want to have sex, or that she had been drinking. And so for assault it’s almost impossible to get a conviction on a college campus. And so most of the college administrators don’t want to spread it any further to the local district attorney or to law enforcement officials.

President Jimmy Carter (who teaches at Emory University) talking to Salon on why sexual assault cases don't get reported in college campuses

[ahundredbrittlestars]

"This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. ... As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin's death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to million."

Robin William's wife, Susan Schneider, in a statement following his death

[ahundredbrittlestars]

“What I find unsettling is that in Christian Grey I see the attributes of so many of the men I’ve written about over the years, the ones who abuse and sometimes even end up murdering their intimate partners. Experts have said for decades that rape is more about control than sex. What I’ve seen over and over again is that a man who needs to dominate, humiliate and physically abuse a woman isn’t a hero. He’s not doing it out of love. That guy isn’t the man of any woman’s dreams. He’s a mistake, one she won’t end up rehabilitating but fleeing.”

Kathryn Casey, crime writer

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-fifty-shades-of-grey-movie-trailer-beyonce-crazy-in-love-20140724-story.html

[ahundredbrittlestars]

The moment when Harry takes Draco's wand

J. K. Rowling: I said to Arthur, my American editor - we had an interesting conversation during the editing of seven - the moment when Harry takes Draco's wand, Arthur said, God, that's the moment when the ownership of the Elder wand is actually transferred? And I said, that's right. He said, shouldn't that be a bit more dramatic? And I said, no, not at all, the reverse. I said to Arthur, I think it really puts the elaborate, grandiose plans of Dumbledore and Voldemort in their place. That actually the history of the wizarding world hinged on two teenage boys wrestling with each other. They weren't even using magic. It became an ugly little corner tussle for the possession of wands. And I really liked that - that very human moment, as opposed to these two wizards who were twitching strings and manipulating and implanting information and husbanding information and guarding information, you know? Ultimately it just came down to that, a little scuffle and fistfight in the corner and pulling a wand away.

Melissa Anelli: It says a lot about the world at large, I think, about conflict in the world, it's these little things -

J. K. Rowing: And the difference one individual can make. Always, the difference one individual can make.

[ahundredbrittlestars]

When in a funk, what we feel doesn't seem to be as important as finding a way to feel something.

Alex Lickerman, doctor dude from UChicago and practicing Buddhist. These Buddhists. 

[ahundredbrittlestars]

"I told myself I wanted to [get married], but I didn’t really want a man that I could have. I wanted the dream."

Diane Keaton, on marriage, part 2. 

[ahundredbrittlestars]

"I think I was not practical. I had some insane idea that I had to be 'in love.' Now I see what it really takes: real consideration that you're a good team together."

Diane Keaton on why she never got married. 

[ahundredbrittlestars]

Loving Galway Kinnell these days (American poet, b. 1927, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1982). This, and another quote by him on finding "the right wrong person", is exactly what I needed to read and understand at this moment in time. A poem by him about his friend who died from cancer is absolutely shattering but in such a peaceful, still hopeful way.

Background pic is "Flower Garden" by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt (1905). 

[ahundredbrittlestars]

There will be no barracudas in here.

Walter Tevin, author of The Hustler, laying down the law to his students on the first day of his workshop. (I will have this made up as a sign and feature it in the entry of my home.)

"This Thing Called Writing," http://www.susqu.edu/about/33641.asp?articlepage=3

[ahundredbrittlestars]

I write because I hate. A lot. Hard.

William H. Gass

"This Thing Called Writing," http://www.susqu.edu/about/33641.asp?articlepage=3

[ahundredbrittlestars]

Monuments Men

The most horrid script. WHAT A WASTE of Queen Cate, Matt Damon, BILL MURRAY, Jon Goodman, JEAN DUJARDIN (in a uniform... taking a long, intense drag on his cigarette...well, thank you for that at least). To the point where my cousin and I were actually hoping for the (spoiler alert) mine to blow up when Damon's character steps on it and all the Monuments Men huddle around him in solidarity. Like, pls put an end to all the words coming out of their mouths. E.g.:

During the mine scene: "Why did you step on it? That wasn't a good idea."

"Give that Claire a big kiss." Reply: "Oh, she'd like that."

And *speaking to A STATUE* "Let's get out of here." (Is this a WWII version of the Terminator? The script was written for Schwarzenegger-like deliveries. Instead of machines, Nazi art-snatchers are being pursued).

And Queen Cate having to say something like "lots of husbands are out at night.. in Paris..." EW. 

My cousin woke up late, so we were like 30 minutes late to the show, for which I'm thankful. Even if the cast is top notch, nothing can make up for bad writing.