Over vacation, I read Salman Rushdie’s Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, and while I could write extensively about this book, the bit I keep thinking about is a tiny anecdote Rushdie relays about Philip Roth—how Roth realized he was done writing, retiring, I guess; he placed a Post-it note on his computer that said "the struggle with writing is over." Roth was eighty years old when he did this and so, it makes a lot of sense (even if it’s still surprising on some level).
You know one of the things I love about you/your days? Your commitment to your writing life and mind. Every day of my life I basically have to rediscover / question why I write. It’s…not fun!! And yet you wake in the hide with relish, even when it’s a struggle. It’s so refreshing. ALSO: progress is, yes, so internal (and then sometimes blissfully, gracefully, or hard won external). The thought of you listening to your mother go on for minutes at a time about Trump, wow. Check this girl’s blood pressure and levels, she’s reached super human mode. So many other things but this is a perfect paragraph for me: “I was at the gym the other day and that Fiona Apple song came on in my airpods, the one with the refrain, “Kick me under the table all you want, I won’t shut up,” and I thought about Matt asking me not to bring up Israel/Palestine as we were walking into a restaurant to meet some friends for dinner.” Finally, is there anything more intriguing than a rubber glove on those married people’s bureau?!? 🐶 🧤 💉 🍑 even though I know the mss is the point, lol
Lolol I actually asked Matt about the rubber glove and it was for the painting Matt was doing of Isaac's room (while Isaac was at camp). Point being(!) thank you so much for saying all of this. I feel very SEEN. Best gift. 🙏🙏🙏
Interesting contemplation on progressiveness. In my side of the world, that is Germany, the progressive has not become that illiberal yet nor so focused on identity base, at least not in my little corner, but they are probably inching towards it.
I agree too with openness. I also believe in tolerance. Also the acceptance of the differences of minds and beliefs. In the end, essentially we are all the same—wanting and striving for the same things.
Hard agreee, re: we're all the same if you just go down deep enough! I do think the exact place where we live is a big factor in all this. I've lived in this part of LA for twelve years and I was on board for so long. Until... I wasn't! Ha.
Lizzie! Hi! thank you for joining the dialogue. THIS, dialoguing, is something I really value. Not sure how familiar you are with my work, but I think it probably speaks to what I value in a way that I can't get into here in this comment thread... Take this post for example: https://ameliapmorris.substack.com/p/losing-the-morality-contest?utm_source=publication-search --it's called "Losing the Morality Contest" (I value openness over being a slave to one's political ideology.) Or the post titled: "I Speak for the Housewives" -- I value communicating and mothers' inner lives! Ha. I could go on!
As for what I've wanted to talk about without getting shut down--oh man, SO many things. But for all sorts of reasons I can't just rattle them off here willy nilly. Probably topics for future posts?
You know one of the things I love about you/your days? Your commitment to your writing life and mind. Every day of my life I basically have to rediscover / question why I write. It’s…not fun!! And yet you wake in the hide with relish, even when it’s a struggle. It’s so refreshing. ALSO: progress is, yes, so internal (and then sometimes blissfully, gracefully, or hard won external). The thought of you listening to your mother go on for minutes at a time about Trump, wow. Check this girl’s blood pressure and levels, she’s reached super human mode. So many other things but this is a perfect paragraph for me: “I was at the gym the other day and that Fiona Apple song came on in my airpods, the one with the refrain, “Kick me under the table all you want, I won’t shut up,” and I thought about Matt asking me not to bring up Israel/Palestine as we were walking into a restaurant to meet some friends for dinner.” Finally, is there anything more intriguing than a rubber glove on those married people’s bureau?!? 🐶 🧤 💉 🍑 even though I know the mss is the point, lol
Lolol I actually asked Matt about the rubber glove and it was for the painting Matt was doing of Isaac's room (while Isaac was at camp). Point being(!) thank you so much for saying all of this. I feel very SEEN. Best gift. 🙏🙏🙏
Interesting contemplation on progressiveness. In my side of the world, that is Germany, the progressive has not become that illiberal yet nor so focused on identity base, at least not in my little corner, but they are probably inching towards it.
I agree too with openness. I also believe in tolerance. Also the acceptance of the differences of minds and beliefs. In the end, essentially we are all the same—wanting and striving for the same things.
Hard agreee, re: we're all the same if you just go down deep enough! I do think the exact place where we live is a big factor in all this. I've lived in this part of LA for twelve years and I was on board for so long. Until... I wasn't! Ha.
Would love to know more. What do you value? What would you want to talk about if you weren’t afraid of getting shut down?
Lizzie! Hi! thank you for joining the dialogue. THIS, dialoguing, is something I really value. Not sure how familiar you are with my work, but I think it probably speaks to what I value in a way that I can't get into here in this comment thread... Take this post for example: https://ameliapmorris.substack.com/p/losing-the-morality-contest?utm_source=publication-search --it's called "Losing the Morality Contest" (I value openness over being a slave to one's political ideology.) Or the post titled: "I Speak for the Housewives" -- I value communicating and mothers' inner lives! Ha. I could go on!
As for what I've wanted to talk about without getting shut down--oh man, SO many things. But for all sorts of reasons I can't just rattle them off here willy nilly. Probably topics for future posts?