Sent to me by a friend on Facebook with the note “a ‘certified copy’ of an already iconic wardrobe accessory…”
Latest advice column from Dear Sugar which made me cry. No. It’s not okay. It will never be okay. And you have to be okay with that not okayness. Also, I love her advice to those dealing with others who are grieving. Unless you are inner circle, stick with “Sorry for your loss”. There’s a reason why those words were invented. Because they work. I love Sugar.
Check out Aaron Cutler’s fascinating piece about Kiarostami’s The Report.
I am counting the days until this book comes out.
I love the title that James Wolcott gave to his account of our Algonquinesque evening with The Siren and Scribbler: The Art of Conversation Isn’t Dead If You’re Keeping the Right Company.
I should have linked to this when it went up but it’s been a crazy month. Jason Bellamy and Ed Howard are back with another “Conversation” – this one about Last Tango in Paris.
I love Saul Bass. Here’s an interesting piece.
The always-awesome Grammar Girl has a fun informative essay up called How To Speak English like the Irish. I am in love with the observation about the lack of “yes” and “no”. So true! And then of course there is The Irish “Ish”.
My good friend Dan reviews the new Mildred Pierce for Slant. It’s a must-read (but then Dan’s stuff always is).
Mitchell, one of my best friends, is interviewed about his latest project, This.
If only Lady Macbeth had had a sassy gay friend. I know Lady Macbeth. She is one of the funniest women I have ever met.
More additions to Boys I Love. I have been so busy the last week, with a personal situation of upheaval, not to mention writing and editing and script conferences, that spending 5 minutes every day thinking up yet another “Boy I Love” is intensely relaxing for me.
Sheila, thank you for posting the link to that Sugar column – I lost my mom just over eighteen months ago, and I’ve never read anything that so perfectly describes life afterwards. “It will never be okay.” She missed the birth of my first son by two weeks, and will miss the arrival of the second this summer… I needed to read this. Thank you.
Kristin – Oh, I’m so glad I pointed it out then! I really needed to read it too. I am very very sorry about the loss of your mother. It’s not okay, is it? The comments section to Sugar’s post is amazingly emotional as well. It makes me feel not so alone.
I had to read that Sugar column as well and I was really moved by it. Love Sugar’s writing. Thanks for introducing me to her, Sheila.
When someone loses someone they deeply care about it’s so common for people to say silly things like “Time heals all wounds” etc. but it doesn’t. We just have to learn to live with pain and it’s not easy. It’s a struggle every day and it’s never okay. But that’s not what people want to hear and who can blame them? Thanks again.
Sugar is just amazing – the topics she covers are so great, not just love stuff, but all kinds of stuff. Her column “write like a motherfucker” is off-the-charts. That was the first thing I read of hers – it was linked to everywhere – and I felt like I was looking at a blinding white light as I read it. Not an exaggeration. I’m not a big advice column person, but when I read “write like a Mo-fo” I realized I was reading something really special. Not just her advice, which is always quirky and personal – but her WRITING, too.
I’m so glad to introduce people to her.
And this one today really touched me. It’s been much on my mind these last 2 years, having lost my father. And so much good stuff is happening for me, but on a really core level, it’s not okay because he’s not here. And those who try to talk me out of that, or give advice about it – are missing the boat, although they often mean well. It’s just the way it is.
Of course I would rather he be here. But he’s not. So that’s the way it goes.
I looked at the Boys I Love link and was unsurprised to see Ralph Macchio in there. Are you watching him on DWTS?
Oh my gosh, that book! I have been doing a “Festival of Irish Literature and Culture” with my fourth graders for Library, and they asked me a TON of questions about William Butler Yeats and “George.” I don’t know if they were entranced by the picture I had on the slideshow (he’s seated and she’s standing) or what. (We’re doing a Seamus Heaney poem next–I hope they will like it.)
Kate – what Seamus Heaney poem??
“Alphabets, Part 1”–an excerpt of the full poem, I believe. I borrowed “Poetry Speaks to Children” from my public library and it’s full of great poems, some read by actors or even the poets themselves (Gwendolyn Brooks is a hoot). The notes say “Alphabets” is from “Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996.”
There’s a Yeats one in the book as well, so I might use that as the segueway; it’s read on the CD (whereas Heaney’s is not, sadly).
Ha! I just posted that Lady MacBeth clip on Facebook for a friend. “Scotland? Really? It’s nice, but it’s smaller than Ohio.”