Status Updates From Slouching Towards Bethlehem...

"alienation from self…we no longer…could say no without drowning in self-reproach…Every encounter demands too much…To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves—there lies the great, singular power of self-respect. Without it, one eventually discovers the final turn of the screw: one runs away to find oneself, & finds no one at home.

Previous progress update from pages 132-133

“Although I have felt compelled to write things down since I was 5, I doubt that my daughter ever will, for she is a singularly blessed and accepting child, delighted with life exactly as life presents itself to her, unafraid to go to sleep & unafraid to wake up. Keepers of private notebooks are…lonely & resistant rearrangers, anxious malcontents, children afflicted at birth with some presentiment of loss.”

“On self respect” - incredible

oh to be described by didion as a "relatively obscure young man"

The last one. I am sick