Shifting Weather Patterns

Reading. Writing. Baking. Et cetera.

[bbook]

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

This speech in its entirety was typed--no doubt in a font not Times New Roman--and taped to my dorm-room desk my freshman year of college. "There's no point to any of this. It's all just a... a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So I take pleasure in the details. You know... a Quarter-Pounder with cheese, those are good, the sky about ten minutes before it starts to rain, the moment where your laughter become a cackle... and I, I sit back and I smoke my Camel Straights and I ride my own melt."

Totally, Troy Dyer. Totally.

[theparisreview]

“She was set down in a seat she hadn’t noticed, she couldn’t say if it was a plain chair or a throne, and these children began to weave a veil around her. It was like mosquito netting or some such stuff, light but strong. All three of them moved continuously winding or weaving it around her, never bumping into each other. She did not ask one question. All possible questions, such as, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ or ‘How did you get here?’ or ‘Where are the grown-ups?’ had just slipped off some place where she couldn’t reach them. It was not that she was scared. She was opposite of scared, or uncomfortable. It was so pleasant, she couldn’t describe it. (When she tried to, she said, ‘I was just as happy as a cow in clover.’) And also everything had got to seem perfectly normal. You wouldn’t ask questions, anymore than you would ask, ‘What is that teapot doing here?’ when you were sitting in an ordinary room.

“When she woke up there was nothing around her, nothing over her. She was lying in the hot sunlight, well on in the morning. In the fairgrounds, on the hard earth.”

—Alice Munro, from “Spaceships Have Landed” Art Credit Dukhoon Gim.

[theweekmagazine]

50 years ago today, 250,000 marched on Washington to demand civil rights. More photos here.

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

Ah, to have a horse, and gallop away, away to someone you loved perhaps, into the heart of all the simplicity and peace in the world; was not that like the opportunity afforded man by life itself? Of course not. Still, just for a moment, it had seemed that it was.

Malcolm Lowry, Under the Vocano

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

The best moment

was definitely when Carson said, "You know who's here? Cher" all nonchalant but also like WTF CHER IS HERE as if he genuinely couldn't believe it. 

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

Try not to be too intimidated by the insight of my 16-year-old self. 

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

Photo Time-Lapse: See How Ethan Hawke Has Changed Over 25 Years

In honor of my 13-, 15-, 19-, 23- (and 30-) year-old selves.

[byeraleigh]

My friend Katrina is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like her music.

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

YES.

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

It was the suit he wore to his aunt's funeral in Summit. He went with Ann--he had asked her to come with him. The funeral was at ten in the morning. It was brief, and they left soon after. They had come on the early train. Crossing the marshlands in the first bluish light, New York in the distance looked like a foreign city, someplace where you could live and be happy.

James Salter, All That Is

[theparisreview]

“I did what any good writing student does: I bought and read one of her books.”  Read more from Katherine Hill on Lynne Sharon Schwartz here.

[totheslaughter]

Lovely shout-out to Lynne Sharon Schwartz, who is one of my favorite writers. She was my husband’s MFA thesis adviser’s MFA thesis adviser, so she is basically my grandmother-in-law.

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

YES. Janna understands all.

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

Oh, Senate.

LEAHY: I appreciate that discussion of books. I know that you have that in your state of Texas, where your educational boards tell people what books they should and shouldn’t read in schools, something that we would not do in Vermont.

CRUZ: Mr. Chairman, I, I appreciate your, your acknowledging that the state of Texas allows books.

Dianne Feinstein and Ted Cruz Fight About Guns : The New Yorker

[thetinhouse-deactivated20180604]

“I do not believe anyone can be perfectly well, who has a brain and a heart.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Happy Birthday Henry Wadsworth Longfellow!

(via thetinhouse)

Birthday card to self.

[byeraleigh]

Natasha’s birthday is next week, and the universe is making everything incredibly difficult.

People would buy this.

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

"People" would.

[theparisreview]

Valentines from some literary greats.

[theatlantic]

Water-gate 2013

He must have been very thirsty.

[shiftingweatherpatterns]

This was quite awkward.

[livefromthenypl]

Colbert: Why do you write short stories? America likes big. Go big or go home. We like big, huge, huge, huge novels. 

Saunders: I’ll tell you why. If you imagine this, let’s say you were madly in love with somebody and your mission was to tell the person that you love them. So here’s two scenarios: one is you can take a weeklong train trip with the person, take your time, you’ll be in boring situations, beautiful scenery, everything. That’s a novel.

Colbert: Sounds good, sounds really good.

Saunders: The second scenario is she’s stepping on the train and you’ve got three minutes. So you have to make all that declaration in three minutes. That would be a short story.

Colbert: Can I get on the train with her?

Saunders: No, you’ve just got to shout it as she goes.

Colbert: Why can’t I get on the train?

Saunders: Because it’s a short story. You’re not allowed. You have to end it in eight pages and get out.

Colbert: But this is the short story I want to read — where is she going? Why can’t I go with her? We’re on to something here. Does she love me back? I’ve got to know!

Saunders: I don’t know yet! Sometimes a short story will just end with that question — does she love me back? So it’s a very special kind of beauty.

Saunders will be at the library with another legendary talk show host, Dick Cavett, next Tuesday, Feb. 26 to talk about his much-lauded latest story collection, “Tenth of December.”

[housingworksbookstore]

LONG LIVE THE SHORT STORY.

He's not my favorite, but this is rather amazing.

[shiftingweatherpatterns]