Tiah Beautement's Blog, page 92

On The Sorry Tale of the Misguided Boyfriend

I need to tell you a story. Pay attention now because I have a feeling, if you have any sense, you’ll learn something before you’re finished. Let me explain about the mess I got myself in so that you won’t follow in my footsteps. I don’t want any of you to go where I’ve been. - Read the rest of Lauri Kubitsile's story on FunDaz

On Love and Other Infidelities

Helen Townsend, Love and Other Infidelities - It sounds silly, but there's something disturbing about the ocean. - - It wasn't dramatic, it wasn't liberating. It was strange. I just felt as if I now had to navigate this marriage on my own. - - I think his artistic talent came from that same ability to notice small things. - - I'd gone to great lengths to prove how bad the New Guinea project really was, but I missed the point. What counted was that the school had supported it, people had put their hearts into it. It had made...

On swiming

“Can you swim?" said Victor. One of the cavern's rotting pillars crashed down behind them. From the pit itself came a terrible wailing. "Not very well," said Ginger. "Me neither," he said. The commotion behind them was getting worse. "Still," he said, taking her hand. "We could look on this as a great opportunity to improve really quickly.” - Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures

On unshed tears

'To be honest, however, I will have to admit that I wrote this book for the original model - the one who was overkidsed, underpatienced, with four years of college and chapped hands all year around. I knew if I didn't follow Faith's advice and laugh a little at myself, then I would surely cry.' - Erma Bombeck, At Wit's End

On swiming

He wondered what kind of life it would be, having to keep swimming all the time to stay exactly in the same place. Pretty similar to his own, he decided. - Terry Practchett, The Colour of Magic

On Dust

Hugh Howey, Dust - Here was a bit of buried hope - - ... a truth occurred to her: an engine would rot if left for a thousand years. It would only hum if used, if a team of people devoted their lives to care of it. - - 'There's no way we're smarter than these computers, brother.' - - Always dreams of flying. Dreams of falling. Wingless dreams where she couldn't steer, couldn't pull up. - - 'You were just doing your job,' she assured him. And then she thought just how powerful that sentiment was. - - The...

On change

As Claire Messud pointed out when discussing her latest novel, an angry woman is still an uncomfortable, destabilizing figure. Nobody likes it when she comes to the party. Historically, women who speak up get slapped down, with a vocabulary intended to keep them quiet. A man is emphatic, a woman is shrill. A man is determined, a woman is obsessed, hysterical, maybe even insane. If you don’t want the status quo to change – if you are an agent or an editor or an author who’s been well served by the paper covering what it covers – it’s easier to...

On Reclaiming the L-Word

Alleyn Diesel, Recaliming the L-Word - Rights must be translated off the paper on which they are written. They must become part of the ground on which we walk. - - I believe photography to be my first language, a calling that I received from my ancestors so that I could voice my issues and concerns. - - I began asking people 'Who are you?' rather than 'What do you do?' - - I fight shame which is not mine. But / I loved you whole. - - Unitl the notes spill over / Into galaxies yet undiscovered. - -...

On knowing one another

Nous connaîtrions-nous seulement un peu nous-mêmes, sans les arts? Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts? ― Gabrielle Roy

On Shift

Hugh Howey, Shift - 'Everyone thinks they've got all the time left in the world. . . But they never stop to ask just how much time that is.' - - He'd learned in the Nest that he could be anything he wanted, that he was in charge of his own fate. And so when he grew miserable, he assumed it was the farms that made him feel that way; he assumed it was his family. - - The shadow spoke of a culture forming that overvalued individulity. . . generations living levels apart and independence stressed until no one...