What I've Been Reading - August 11, 2019
Sep 11, 2019
It's been a rough week here in Dayton. A week ago, we woke up to the news that in less than 30 seconds a man managed to kill nine people and wound almost 30 others in a popular downtown district. I don't know how to internalize that or what else to say about that. There are no words for that kind of horror. Anyway, here are some things I read this week. Maybe they'll help, maybe they'll distract, though distraction can be a form of help.
Your prayers are pointless, your thoughts petty. The problem of too many guns won’t be solved by more guns. Part of the mourning process must involve direct political action, otherwise, the dead are not properly mourned for.
God Has Heard Your Thoughts and Prayers and He Thinks They Are Fucking Bullshit
I am fascinated by unreliable narrators, because I think that one of the core points of the arts is to give us a glimpse of what it’s like to be someone else, to see the world for a little while through someone else’s eyes, and to realize that other people have viewpoints that are completely different from our own, and that those are just as real and intense and vivid and valid.
How Tana French Inhabits the Minds of Her Detectives
When the time comes to write something, don’t move forward with fear in your step. Move forward with love. With eagerness and excitement. Love the story you’re telling, tell the story that only you can tell.
Writing From A Place Of Fear Versus From A Place Of Love
The best way we can honor Toni Morrison’s legacy is to remember her as the astonishing and brilliant and very human woman she was. It is her humanity that made her so extraordinary.
Opinion | The Legacy of Toni Morrison
... keeping a simple list of who/what/where means I write down events that seem mundane at the time, but later on help paint a better portrait of the day, or even become more significant over time. By “sticking to the facts” I don’t pre-judge what was important or what wasn’t, I just write it down.