3 posts tagged “quotes”
❝ Ramona Koval: Have your imagined worlds served the same purpose for you over the years that Virgil's imagined world serves for him, a place that he can go, a place that he can be, a place he can discover things?
Ursula K Le Guin: Apparently,
yes. It's not as if the real world isn't enough, but the more the
merrier. And of course an imaginary world, as every kid knows who draws
a map of their island or their city or something like that, that's
where you can make things happen the way you want them to happen.
Within limits, of course. If you're writing your story honestly, pretty
soon things happen the way they have to happen in that story and you're
not quite as much the boss as you thought you were, but we love to be
masters of something, to be controlling something. Most of us love to
be in control, and an author is in control, to some extent at least, of
the world they invent. ❞
(Italics mine)
@ http://www.google.com/reader/shared/15006430010534777669
On Getting Weary | Michael Hyatt
via michaelhyatt.com on 6/24/09
“There’s no sin in getting weary; the sin is in giving up.”
— Tyler Perry
Daddy’s Little Girls
100 Incredible Lectures from the World’s Top Scientists | Best Colleges Online
via www.bestcollegesonline.com on 6/24/09
"Poetry and Productivity" by Robert Peake
"I would not have been able to complete an MFA in writing poetry while holding down a job as a technology executive had I not been a longtime practitioner of the GTD ® methodology. . ."
DIA: In the past you've had some critical things to say about the blogosphere. Do you see blogging as an inferior form of journalism?
Mr Rauch: I only wish more bloggers would do journalism. Meaning: independently check (alleged) facts before publishing them. Ask people for comment before printing claims about them or attributing hearsay to them. Leave the house and find things out, preferably things that surprise and confound one's initial predispositions. Try to provide some balance. Understand that people can be hurt or even ruined by what writers write, so there is some real need for compassion and caution. Understand that an all-purpose snarky attitude is no substitute for the specialised knowledge that comes from working a beat.
Newsrooms teach these values. The blogosphere seems, too often anyway, to teach contempt for them.
I
suppose I'll get a flood of comments (some abusive, proving my point,
but never mind) saying I paint with too broad a brush. Fair enough.
Some bloggers do good work. And of course the medium is still young.
But it's already old enough, I think, so we can say it is no substitute
for the newsroom journalism that is in such trouble today.
News feeds are not like email. Think about how you read a newspaper. Would you consider a newspaper unread or unfinished if you did not read every article in the entire paper? Of course not. You skim through and read what is of interest to you. Dave Winer, one of the pioneering figures of RSS, said as much in a blog post he wrote several years ago:
how foolishly you have scurried about.
Learn to be silent, and you will notice that
you have talked too much.
Be kind, and you will realize
that your judgment of others was too severe.
Hasten slowly,
and you will soon arrive."
- Chinese proverb
(taken from 'Buddha is as Buddha Does' by Lama Surya Das)
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Duncan McClellan American Glass Artist
Click on McClellan images for larger view...
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"FALL"
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"DRAGONFLY" Hand-Blown Glass, Sand Carved, Tri-Color Overlay 24" x 18" x 10" $6,000
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DRAGONFLY SIDE VIEW
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"BREAKFAST BUFFET"
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BREAKFAST BUFFET |
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"ICARUS"
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"VINES" | |
(This post is part of International ME/CFS Awareness Day. It will also appear on the MeAware blog, along with many others written by people all over the world).
There are plenty of things I could point to as symbolic of the last three years.
Since Rachel first fell ill and was subsequently diagnosed with ME/CFS, shortly before we got married in July 2006, I could pick out several thoughts, issues, dreams, funny moments.
Each would nicely sum up her experiences of the illness, my feelings and my own attempts to juggle my career with my role as Rachel’s carer.
But I keep coming back to the same thing – my bike.
In so many respects my bike encapsulates so much that has happened over the last three years – some of it bad; most of it good.
The bad is the fact that a few months before Rachel started to get ill we began venturing out together on our bikes. There were no grand adventures at this stage, just pootling around the little city we call home.
But it was good to be doing something different and good that we had both rediscovered our love of being on two wheels. We had both been keen and regular cyclists before we met, so to be able to go out together was fantastic.
Since Rachel fell ill, however, her bike has been parked in the garage gathering dust and cobwebs.
She’s unable to walk for more than 50 yards without starting to feel seriously fatigued, so venturing out on the bike simply hasn’t been an option.
I’ve continued to enjoy going out though and last year invested in a new mountain bike.
My enthusiasm for my bike has now reached the point where I’m taking on a two-day, 140-mile ride from one side of the UK to the other – the C2C Challenge. I’m currently in the middle of a fairly strict training regime and loving every minute.
(by RachelCreative)
It is a personal challenge, not least the fact I have to ride 140 miles in two days!
But I wanted to do something positive and to raise awareness about the illness that has had such an impact on Rachel’s life and our life together, so embarking on something bike-based seemed the obvious choice. If I can raise some money for ME/CFS organisations along the way, all the better.
Another part of the challenge is to raise awareness about the role of carers in the UK. Millions of us provide a high level of care every day of the week for partners, relatives, friends and yet the Government’s failure to properly recognise this unpaid, full-time role is shameful.
I consider myself fortunate that I have still been able to juggle my career and caring, countless others have not been so lucky.
So the question I am asking ahead of my attempt at the C2C Challenge is: can you spare 10 minutes rather than £10?
I’m asking people to donate their time and not their money to ME/CFS and carers.
Time can be a much more valuable asset and my aim is to put it to good use. I’ll point those willing to donate 10 minutes (or more) to resources that will hopefully increase their understanding of these two issues. Or, I’ll be asking them to write to a relevant Government minister and their own MP to urge greater official support for those with ME/CFS and their carers.
I was nervous about asking the question, but the response I’ve had so far here on my blog, on Twitter and on Facebook has been amazing and genuinely humbling.
People are willing to help, to learn more and to do their bit. I have no way of knowing what will happen as a result of my efforts and their generosity, but I’m a great believer in the idea that there is strength in numbers and having more people fighting for a cause can only be positive.
There are plenty of times over the last few years when I have felt utterly helpless and useless.
I know this isn’t the case, but it doesn’t stop such feelings from surfacing every now and then – especially when Rachel is suffering with a flare up.
Training for my challenge is going well and over the last few days I’ve upped my mileage. Last Friday I did the 26-mile Tissington Trail in Derbyshire and discovered something fantastic – you can hire a specially adapted mountain bike that includes a wheelchair sidecar.
So Rachel and I will be able to go out for a bike ride again – even if I’m the one doing all the work!
This is one of the biggest and most important lessons of the last three years – life doesn’t stop, you find new ways, you adapt, you go forward.
My bike may have started out as a negative example of Rachel’s struggle with ME/CFS.
Hopefully, three years on, it is now a far more positive symbol of what life with ME/CFS means for Rachel and for us.
Mini-Temple: Herod's complex, scaled-down
Alec Garrard has been working on a 1:100-scale model of Herod's Temple since he was 48. That was 30 years ago. He told The Telegraph his wife "wishes she'd married a normal person." Garrard has re-created not only the building but several scenes from the Bible with little plaster figures he made. "I'd seen one or two examples of it in Biblical exhibitions, but I thought they were rubbish and I knew I could do better," he said. The Daily Mail says, "Historical experts believe the model, which has attracted thousands of visitors from all over the globe, is the best representation in the world of what the Jewish temple actually looked like."
Herod expanded the Jewish Temple in about 17 B.C., so it would have been quite new in Jesus' day. Romans marveled at the giant complex, partially because there was not a single sculpture in it. They destroyed in 70 A.D., during the siege of Jerusalem. More photos after the jump.
