are we making plans for the future
or just the weekend?
this week’s Thought (singular)
growth is when the embarrassment of being alone in public spaces is replaced by liberation and placid joy
hi
i want us all to go back to being embarrassing but not embarrassed. this is about cringe culture and how i declare it dead.
no more feeling icky after word-vomiting about something we’re passionate about. no more keeping our interests under layers and layers of wraps for the fear of being exposed as somebody who likes things.
this could piggy-back on the dual concepts of too-carefully curated online presences and the pressure to be into things that everybody’s into (or, concerningly increasingly, things that nobody is into, and hence, everybody is into). but my god, how sustainable is it to doctor every punctuation mark and gap-between-words? the exhaustion of projecting compounds the fear of being perceived, and suddenly, whatever wraps you had put your interests under are around you as well.
absolute nonsense.
from now on, we express ourselves like tumblr users who spend hours gif-ing a single farfetched destiel scene from supernatural just because they want to.
English Recitation Competition
How to Be Perfect, Ron Padgett
Don't be afraid of anything beyond your control. Don't be afraid, for instance, that the building will collapse as you sleep, or that someone you love will suddenly drop dead.
My Love, Bruce Nugent
My love has hair Like midnight, But midnight fades to dawn. My love has eyes Like starlight, But starlight fades in morn. My love has a voice Like dew-fall, But dew-fall dies at a breath. My love has love Like life’s all, But life’s all fades in death.
Selected Legends of Andre the Giant, W. Todd Kaneko
Andre the Giant wrestled the Earth into a globe, carved his name into the ocean floor with his pinky to remind the whales who taught them to sing.
Bonus:
DC Pride Poem-a-Day celebrates queer love! We are proud to present 30 short videos, in celebration of National Pride Month. Each video features a different poet from the greater Washington, DC region, reading an original love poem. Videos highlight the talent, diversity and richness of poets from the national capital who identify as LGBTQ+.
Middle School Book Review
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
gorgeous fantasy with such lovely world-building and descriptions of setting. the real clincher is the characters, and how easy it is to get attached to them. crafted beautifully and with so many well-executed twists.
The Good Side of the Internet
Gen Z would rather be anonymous online.
A list of body parts for which Tina Fey is grateful
American comedian Tina Fey first made a name for herself as a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live, a stint that began in the mid-1990s. Since then she has created 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, morphed convincingly into Sarah Palin, co-hosted the Golden Globes three times to huge acclaim, appeared in numerous movies, won most of the awards available to her, and written a bestselling memoir titled Bossypants. It’s from that book that the following list—of body parts for which Fey is grateful—comes.
Ada Limón on How to Write a Poetry Collection
You would think by now I would know how to make a book of poems. Apparently, I have written six books of poetry. But books are still a mystery to me. I begin, as most poets do, with one poem at a time. I make one poem and then stare at the terrifyingly bright world and convince myself I will never make another poem. Then, I somehow surprise myself and make another poem. I’ve learned, despite all the protestations of the blood, to trust the process. So that even when poems don’t come. Even if I am silent for a long period of time, I believe poems will return to me eventually.
this week’s Song
thank you for reading, and see you next week <3
(ps: happy august :D)