Love this so much... "As a kid, I wasn’t trained to do anything. Parents let you out to run like a Dalmatian (or a poodle), and if you came back, they gave you food. No one was that concerned about my future because they had decided whatever I would need in life I would figure out how to get it. I love my parents for most of the time forgetting to tell me how to live."... and I relate! I can't seem to replicate the same experience for my 10 year old kid...but, that said, I. moved back to my hometown in Indiana recently from NY and sometimes he rides off on his bike and I say, come home when it's time, around dark, and he always does, with an adventure to talk about.
“I think resentment isn't something you want to give up easily. It's the pain that keeps on giving.” And isn't this the truth? Maybe because resentment is heavy and gravity settles it into the bottom of our psyches. Resentment makes me question myself more than, say, happiness. Resentment has a more definable character, I think.
I loved: A few of the honchos and honchas in hoods got together and said, ‘Let’s create a weird circle of boulders and make people in the future think it had meaning." Your remark crystalized my belief that it's probably a joke. I so loved Honchos and Honchas in hoods...I had to say it again.
The thought about wanting to sit with people who don't want to sit with you. Happens to everyone: but how nice to view it from a distant lens. "What do I want from these people?" is a great question.
Great and thoughtful as always, Laurie, and I'm sorry to base my comment on the most tangential part of the piece - but if you and Richard aren't familiar with this song about the mystery of Stonehenge, you really have to be: https://youtu.be/mbyzgeee2mg?si=cSZ7aZDCLZ4r1H1t
A really engaging an thought provoking read. Someone in our creative writing group has a diagnosis of terminal cancer and I thought how we're all terminal but like to forget the fact.
A great piece. Yes, in our generation we had a clear pathway with no markings.
I also was fascinated by Secrets we Kept (Keep?). And I was just in Denmark in that neighborhood. Some Danes were angry: "nobody lives that ostentatiously," they said. Netflix exaggerated. Maybe. I loved the Filipina actresses. I thought the two sons' characters also made not much sense - or their acting cues didn't.
So much juiciness -- the resentments, the series that is looking at what it doesn't seem to be looking at and the guest author -- really looking forward to June 28. And the link too -- I loved this: "To prompt surprise in drama, you have two choices. You can either make the ordinary strange or the strange ordinary." I'm just beginning work on a new novel and had a fascinating conversation yesterday evening (in a restaurant in Paris) about how to make the strange ordinary. No I'm thinking of how to layer it with making the ordinary strange too. Thank you for more gems to provoke thought.
I said, “Does that mean I'm next?” He said, “No, it means she was first.” I thought to myself, we're all next. this resonates as i'm at the age where i "waiting" for the first of one of my close friends to die (or will it be me-ha!) i also have a morbid sense of humor.
"Most things said about aging are wrong. Life does not shrink back. The meat does not fall away from the bone. You do not stand there, saying goodbye and watching your hopes recede." I agree. Never allow yourself to let hopes recede just because you've reached some "norm". That said, I think it's useful to pay attention to depression which I've come to see less as a pathology and more as a universal signal that something needs attending to, like having low levels of vitamin D or whether a deep sadness can enrich writing and maybe someone else's life
‘he was standing across the street, in case people thought we were together’ Laugh from over here.
Love this so much... "As a kid, I wasn’t trained to do anything. Parents let you out to run like a Dalmatian (or a poodle), and if you came back, they gave you food. No one was that concerned about my future because they had decided whatever I would need in life I would figure out how to get it. I love my parents for most of the time forgetting to tell me how to live."... and I relate! I can't seem to replicate the same experience for my 10 year old kid...but, that said, I. moved back to my hometown in Indiana recently from NY and sometimes he rides off on his bike and I say, come home when it's time, around dark, and he always does, with an adventure to talk about.
Thanks, dear Sara. xxL
“I think resentment isn't something you want to give up easily. It's the pain that keeps on giving.” And isn't this the truth? Maybe because resentment is heavy and gravity settles it into the bottom of our psyches. Resentment makes me question myself more than, say, happiness. Resentment has a more definable character, I think.
It shares discontent with righteous indignation, another pain that keeps on giving.
Yes, and I'm being silly. xxL
I loved: A few of the honchos and honchas in hoods got together and said, ‘Let’s create a weird circle of boulders and make people in the future think it had meaning." Your remark crystalized my belief that it's probably a joke. I so loved Honchos and Honchas in hoods...I had to say it again.
Happy to make you laugh!
"I thought to myself, we're all next." Good approach.
"Richard and I met when I was sixty. What if we’d never crossed paths?" OTOH: “I decided to live for love again and take the chance of another lifetime.” ― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence, (© 2021) p. 374
A fifth grade student of mine describing her family trip to Europe and their first stop in England: We are also going somewhere to look at rocks.
The thought about wanting to sit with people who don't want to sit with you. Happens to everyone: but how nice to view it from a distant lens. "What do I want from these people?" is a great question.
Great and thoughtful as always, Laurie, and I'm sorry to base my comment on the most tangential part of the piece - but if you and Richard aren't familiar with this song about the mystery of Stonehenge, you really have to be: https://youtu.be/mbyzgeee2mg?si=cSZ7aZDCLZ4r1H1t
Oh god, just watched it. So funny. Marvelous!
I'm happy anything prompts a connection between us . . . you know of course most of the time these exchanges are meant to be idiotic. xxL
A really engaging an thought provoking read. Someone in our creative writing group has a diagnosis of terminal cancer and I thought how we're all terminal but like to forget the fact.
A great piece. Yes, in our generation we had a clear pathway with no markings.
I also was fascinated by Secrets we Kept (Keep?). And I was just in Denmark in that neighborhood. Some Danes were angry: "nobody lives that ostentatiously," they said. Netflix exaggerated. Maybe. I loved the Filipina actresses. I thought the two sons' characters also made not much sense - or their acting cues didn't.
The entire show is an artful piece of mis-direction, the way magicians work. xxL
So much juiciness -- the resentments, the series that is looking at what it doesn't seem to be looking at and the guest author -- really looking forward to June 28. And the link too -- I loved this: "To prompt surprise in drama, you have two choices. You can either make the ordinary strange or the strange ordinary." I'm just beginning work on a new novel and had a fascinating conversation yesterday evening (in a restaurant in Paris) about how to make the strange ordinary. No I'm thinking of how to layer it with making the ordinary strange too. Thank you for more gems to provoke thought.
So pleased you will be there. Congrats on starting the new novel. xxL
I said, “Does that mean I'm next?” He said, “No, it means she was first.” I thought to myself, we're all next. this resonates as i'm at the age where i "waiting" for the first of one of my close friends to die (or will it be me-ha!) i also have a morbid sense of humor.
i had to crack up at richard pretending not to be your fellow granite-schlepper! aren't y'all local celebs on warren street by now?
We certainly are. The man can't hide. xxL
🤣
If you don't know about it, is it really broken?
Such an excellent question.
Loved as always.
Thanks, dearest!
"Most things said about aging are wrong. Life does not shrink back. The meat does not fall away from the bone. You do not stand there, saying goodbye and watching your hopes recede." I agree. Never allow yourself to let hopes recede just because you've reached some "norm". That said, I think it's useful to pay attention to depression which I've come to see less as a pathology and more as a universal signal that something needs attending to, like having low levels of vitamin D or whether a deep sadness can enrich writing and maybe someone else's life