Blue GhostGhost's Blog, page 111

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13.1 miles of my heart

My awesome run last weekend in SF. I feel like I could do this everyday. Beautiful!

San Francisco Mission District

'The Baseline Is, You Suck': Junot Diaz on Men Who Write About Women

The Atlantic: It sounds like you're saying that literary "talent" doesn't inoculate a write—especially a male writer—from making gross, false misjudgments about gender. You'd think being a great writer would give you empathy and the ability to understand people who are unlike you—whether we're talking about gender or another category. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

Junot Diaz: I think that unless you are actively, consciously working against the gravitational pull of the culture, you will predictably, thematically, create these sort of fucked-up representations. Without fail. The only way not to do them is to admit to yourself [that] you're fucked up, admit to yourself that you're not good at this shit, and to be conscious in the way that you create these characters. It's so funny what people call inspiration. I have so many young writers who're like, "Well I was inspired. This was my story." And I'm like, "OK. Sir, your inspiration for your stories is like every other male's inspiration for their stories: that the female is only in there to provide sexual service." There comes a time when this mythical inspiration is exposed for doing exactly what it's truthfully doing: to underscore and reinforce cultural structures, or I'd say, cultural asymmetry.

These AC sequel snippets are driving me mad. I am so dying, again, over this.

Same here

graceofagiraffe replied to your photo: Haha. Because clearly the frustration of you, dear…I...

graceofagiraffe replied to your photo: Haha. Because clearly the frustration of you, dear…

I personally really loved the use of Spanish words! I thought it made it more real. I also learned new words and it kind of made me want to retake Spanish

ashkevha replied to your photo: Haha. Because clearly the frustration of you, dear…

I for one, love the Spanish words. But then again, I grew in Southern Arizona (Little Mexico) so it was pretty natural hearing it. Even if I didn’t understand the words being used, I enjoyed it and it never bothered me.

chainsawsavvy replied to your photo: Haha. Because clearly the frustration of you, dear…

i like it when you get sassy

Yeah TBH my Spanish is terrible/nonexistent. I was lucky enough that it ended up both my editors have Spanish speaking parents so they knew enough to catch the worst of my mistakes. Like half the lines in Juicy Fruit are from pop culture sources like Scar Face, born in East LA and old episodes of Law and Order. I think mostly about the Western United States because I live and work here but it is true of this whole country: we are getting browner. There will be more non-Anglo folks in increasing numbers in the years to come and I think it’s going to benefit everybody to become a little more tolerant of encountering difference. And that doesn’t mean a diverse cast that still adheres to some central ideology, some cookie cutter idea of good and bad. Living in a Star Trek Universe can only take us so far. I am talking about actually making room in your head for a larger world with perspectives that don’t fall into line with the way you were taught things should work.

Oh my God you guys don’t encourage me I could rant forever on this subject. (:        

lacigreen:miaman:I want companionship but I hate peopleif...

lacigreen:

miaman:

I want companionship but I hate people

if you feel this way, you’re probably an introvert!  because an introvert’s brain stays at a higher state of arousal than an extrovert, lots of socializing can cause overstimulation (which translates into feeling overwhelmed).  this is why introverts do well with just a few strong relationships and need lots of alone time to recharge after being around people.

introverts make up around 30% of the population, but that number is likely much higher on Tumblr (it’s an activity that attracts introverts).

James