February 2012
92 posts
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Quote of the Day:
empresscoolie:
“In times of stress, be bold and valiant.”-Horace. Word of the Day: Anxiety.
Thank you empress for being inside my head. The word of the day, week is anxiety. Though in all honesty, what could I possibly have to be anxious about?
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“Vete pero no me olivides.”
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Late Victorians
St. Augustine writes from his cope of dust that we are restles hearts, for earth is not our true home. Human unhappiness is evidence of our immortality. Intuition tells us we are meant for some other city.
Elizabeth Taylor, quoted in a magazine article twenty years ago, spoke of cerulean Richard Burton days on her yacht, days that were nevertheless undermined by the elemental private reflection:...
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“It is a shame the Wales be so far from God, and so near England.”
– A Welsh nun being interviewed on a radio show in, I believe, the 1980s
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“The baby asked: Is there not one righteous among them?”
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Heart of Soul
And you, you look at me in disbelief
Like you could teach me God
When all of a sudden
I’m consumed by love
And you, are all lighting up
With your heart of gold
And everything we touch just turns to soul.
Beth Orton
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“The psychic task which a person can and must set for himself is not to feel...”
– Erich Fromm
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Be Drunk From It
Be drunk from it, if only for the life of an hour, and you will see time a willing slave
under your command. For there is no life in this world
for one who lives here sober;
who does not die drunk on it, prudence has passed him by. So let him weep for himself, one who wasted his life never having won a share or measure of this wine.
Omar Ibn al Farid
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“When you get elevated, they love or they hate it. You dance up on them haters,...”
– Janelle Monáe
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Bostonography →
If you’re from Boston (or just in general) you might find this website super interesting! Disclaimer: It’s uber nerdy. I’ve gone through the whole thing twice already. It’s just completely awesome. What is it? It’s a really cool way to look at and learn about Boston. But if you want to know more, check it out for yourself.
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Ziti
Having heard the word ziti so many times in my life, I never thought to consider it’s etymology or origin. It’s a macaroni, that’s all I needed to know. Know. No. Now I know otherwise. Ziti (or Zita/Zito in singular) is in fact a Sicilian equivalent to the Italian word innamorata, which in English means lover. Innamorata is a term my family is fond of, but I had no idea that the...
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“Fool that I am, for hoping you’d understand. And then thinking you, would...”
– Etta James
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If Beale Street Could Talk
Daniel, who cannot abandon his mother, yet longs to be free to confront his life; is terrified of freedom; and is struggling in a trap. And Fonny, who is younger, struggles now to be older, in order to help his friend toward deliverance. Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel? And why not every man?
The song is old, the question unanswered.
James Baldwin
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“It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled.”
– Led Zeppelin
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emystomology:
“When the lips are silent, the heart has a hundred tongues.”
-Mevlana Rumi from Divan verse 873
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“Hey ladies, when your man wanna get buck wild, just go back and hit ‘em up...”
– Hit ‘Em Up Style
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José Saramago
“O melhor caminho para uma desculpabilização universal é chegar à conclusão de que, porque toda a gente tem culpas, ninguém é culpado.”
José Saramago
Who knows if this is true or not. Anyway I didn’t “quote” this because it’s not so much about the quote as it is about Saramago. I would very much like to read him soon. I am somewhat of Portuguese scholar (in...
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Living Proof
The eternal mysteries, following wisdom’s lead, brought forth the human form as their living proof. As long as the drop hadn’t emerged from the sea, the ocean didn’t notice the depths of its splendor.
Bedil
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The Rubaiyat
And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, Whereunder crawling coop’t we live and die,
Lift not thy hands to it for help — for It
Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.
Omar Khayyam
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Where Y'All At?
ou got to speak the language the people Are speakin’ Specially when you see the havoc it’s wreakin’ Even the rap game started out critiquin’ Now it’s all about killing and freakin’ All you ’60s radicals and world beaters Righteous revolutionaries and Camus readers Liberal students and equal rights pleaders What’s goin’ on now that y’all...
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The Ghosts of Saturday Night (After Hours at...
A cab combs the snake, Tryin’ to rake in that last night’s fare, And a solitary sailor Who spends the facts of his life like small change on strangers… Paws his inside P-coat pocket for a welcome twenty-five cents, And the last bent butt from a package of Kents, As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair. Her...
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Strange Hunt
In times of stormy weather
She felt queer pain
That said,
“You’ll find rain better
Than shelter from the rain.”
Days filled with fiery sunshine
Strange hurt she knew
That made
Her seek the burning sunlight
Rather than the shade.
In months of snowy winter
When cozy houses hold,
She’d break down doors
To wander naked
In the cold.
Langston Hughes
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“My wish is that you may be loved to the point of madness.”
– André Breton
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guide
don’t point ta de ruins of your fadda’s house
ywid you left hand don’t scorn what was given
bby our forbears don’t dount
de dead
can see
ya
don’t forgit jesus know you name don’t
know why i do
what i do don’t weary
till ma family knows free don’t slow me
down with can’t don’t vex de lord wid...
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“I would have freed thousands mo,
If dey had known dey were slaves.”
– Harriet Tubman
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heaven
i’se a jus tryin
ta get to de promise lan
one soul at a time
Quraysh Ali Lansanna
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Love Sonnet XLV
Don’t go far off, not even for a day, because — because — I don’t know how to say it: a day is long and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.
Don’t leave me, even for an hour, because then the little drops of anguish will all run together, the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift into...
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“I hope nobody has ever had to look at somebody they love through glass.”
– If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
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“Often times the best way to overcome desire is to satisfy it.”
– W. Somerset Maugham
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To You
You laugh, and the world unfolds. Light falls like rain, stains the dark. I’m helpless, without speech; your soul becomes the blue of my eyes. Forgive me if I stray— To you. You smile, and no wars ever were. You hold time in place, erase the hands. I’m overcome, filled with adoration; my soul becomes the brown of your eyes. Forgive me if I write these words— To you. You speak, and the otter...
