Some things that got my attention on the web this week:
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No one brings dinner when your daughter is an addict. (Really proud of my college professor, Larry Lake, for this incredible piece over at Slate Magazine.)
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So if others want to write to be known or to make money, let them use their words in that way. I will take my path with the quieter voices – the voice of a Jewish carpenter, the voices of women who have killed for reasons I will never fathom, the voice of a Czech man who knew why a man might become an insect, the voice of an enslaved women writing back to her master about how the children in her slave school are not learning.
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I’m right there, too. Because thanking God for all the good things in my life feels right—I grew up believing there was always Someone to receive my thanks—but if He bears the responsibility for the good things, the blessings, does He also not have some responsibility for the bad things?
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Regardless of whatever pseudo-religious “calling” you feel, write. Speak. Lead. Stomp your feet and cry. Protest. Fight. Carry the banner. Fall down when you cannot speak anymore and the rest of us will carry you through. We need your voice. We need your safe spaces.
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That’s one thing I’m learning about Packing Light. So often I hold onto things (like possessions or friendships or relationships or schedules or to-do lists) because I’m compensating for something.
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Bill Cosby Wants to Make a New Family Sitcom Centered Around ‘Warmth and Forgiveness’
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If you are a novelist who has yet to be published, remember your first priority: your writing.
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When we feel guilty all the time, about all kinds of things we aren’t responsible for, it does more than just beat us down and mess with our self-image. It desensitizes us to feeling remorse in general, and to taking responsibility for the things we should feel guilty about.
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What caught your attention this week? If you’re a blogger, which of your recent posts most resonated with people?
I’ve enjoyed all your writing this week. Here’s my most engaged post this week:. http://redemptionsbeauty.com/2013/11/13/when-waiting-feels-like-dying/
I love that post, Shelly. Thanks for sharing it.
I used to do parenting groups for those in the middle of separation and divorce. We would discuss the reality that the ending of a relationship feels like a death, and yet the person is still alive. It is a strange feeling. And one of the people I co-facilitated with would talk about the reality that no one comes to support you and bring dinners for that type of death.
Yes.
Thanks for sharing so much, so well, this week Shawn. I just got caught up with you as I we stand in line 45 minutes to save ten bucks on sushi. I’ll keep reading as long as the batteries hold up. How is it I liked the dentist story the most when it rousts up the worst memories? My dad took me to his dentist, too. Dr. St. Eve. I will never forget him. A real butcher with the charm of a bailiff.
Thanks, Jim. Actually, my dentist (the one I haven’t visited for an unmentionable amount of years) is as gentle as they get. And now you have me wondering about the charm level of a bailiff.