James Baldwin. Another Country. 1962. (again)
India Knight. Comfort and Joy. 2011.
James Baldwin. Giovanni’s Room. 1956. (again)
Josephine Tey. A Shilling for Candles. 1936. (again)
James Baldwin. Go Tell It On the Mountain. 1953. (again)
“A little woman and not pretty, with a lewd, brutal swagger, saying to the whole world: ‘You can kiss my ass.’ Nothing tamed or broke her, nothing touched her, neither kindness, or scorn, nor hatred, nor love. She had never thought of prayer. It was unimaginable that she would ever bend her knees and come crawling along to anybody’s altar, weeping for forgiveness. Perhaps her sin was so extreme that it could not be forgiven; perhaps her pride was so great that she did not need forgiveness. … Go on, girl, he whispered. … Go on, girl. One day he would talk like that…”
“Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began with the spare, flat statement of the opening phrase of the song.
For everyone who struggles and fails with their dissertation and goes on to live a useful life. For everyone who doubts. For everyone who says the risky loving thing. For everyone who hears the prophetic utterance in the voices of people who cannot read, who are not presentable, who are not white or male or straight or citizens. For everyone who refuses to align the boundaries of their care with the boundaries of their home or nation. For everyone who has their control and privacy stripped away. For everyone who lives at the mercy of American bombs. For everyone who fears a phonecall that will tell their children’s death. For everyone who is bullied and threatened. For everyone who is bruised and shackled. For everyone alone in a cell. For everyone who writes. For everyone who drinks in secret. For everyone who climbs the pulpit stairs. For everyone who walks when they’re tired. For everyone who lives with the knowledge that their life will not be long, but keeps working and loving anyway. For dreamers. For insomniacs. For everyone. We need such saints.
Under the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, 2006
AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE FOR ALL.
(thanks to my friend Tim for first posting this article)
My New Haven family-of-choice and I are sharing a CSA! Connecticut veggies for your reading pleasure:
arugula, beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collards, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onion, okra, peas, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, yellow squash, zucchini squash, butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, turnips
Josephine Tey. The Singing Sands. 1952. (again)
P.D. James. A Mind to Murder. 1963.
India Knight. The Dirty Bits for Girls. London: Virago, 2006.
Sarah Dunn. Secrets to Happiness. New York: Little, Brown, 2009. (again)
Reading Tatler on the train. I should subscribe; every sentence is quotable. From “150 People You Might Like to Sleep With”: on Benedict Cumberbatch: “He’s a fan of fruit bats— and looks a bit like an otter.” On Lily Robinson: “She hunts— a lot— and does very good impressions, including an uncanny take on Miss Havisham.” On Idris Elba: “Well aware of the effect he has on women.” On Carlo Carello: “Looks fetching in a kimono. An immense sense of gaiety follows him wherever he goes.” On Glenn Haybittle (the names!): “Glenn is one for those who like white-faced, black-haired, slightly Draculean men with writing talent who live in garrets in Florence.” On Harry Mount: “Sometimes called ‘Harry Dismount’ due to the large number of girls he gets through.”
A Mormon, a Muslim, a Jew, an evangelical Christian, and a liberal Protestant walk into a HuffPo television segment…
