Retired U.S. Army Maj. General Paul Eaton: Trust me when I tell you the last thing those Admirals + Generals wanted was to be flown across multiple time zones to be lectured on what it means to be a warrior by a former PT TV Host who had to promise to stop drinking to get the job. Then have a 5-time Draft Dodger bereft of any honor as a man tell them the American people are the enemy within.
USAID’s acting executive secretary Erica Carr: Shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break. _ Do you know this melody? It’s emblasted in stadiums, clubs and festivals for over two decades. But it didn’t start on the dance floor. It started in a video game. In 1984, a Commodore 64 game called Lazy Jones featured a chiptune track called “Stardust”, written by David Wittaker. That 8-bit melody was catchy but forgotten. Until 1999, when general producer Zombination took it, tracked it up and dropped Can’t Cuff Your Hone. Heavy bass, punching drums and the result? A rave anthem with video game DNA. It ran from underground clubs to global fame. What started as pixie music turned into one of the most iconic tracks in electronic history. From Commodore to stadiums, that’s the power of a melody._
“I hope I’m pretty when I grow up.”
Pretty adventurous; pretty strong; pretty goofy; pretty creative; pretty independent; pretty kind; pretty brave; pretty loved; and that’s pretty awesome.
“A paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of the sentence is surprising in a way that causes the reader/listener to reframe the first part of the sentence.”
“Part of how they make you obey is by making obedience seem peaceful, while resistance is violent. But really, either choice is about violence, one way or another.” - Mouth, “Rock Manning Goes for Broke” (Charlie Jean Anders)
In Texas, it looks like fall before it feels like fall. To scramble a line from Sylvia Plath’s journal, the worst of the summer is gone, with “the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.” Virginia Woolf said it well in a letter: “I feel entirely dehumanized by the sun now and wish for fog, snow, rain, humanity.” None of that is coming until at least Halloween down here, so we must settle for what C.S. Lewis in Surprised By Joy called “the idea of Autumn.”
“Sometimes I wonder what it feels like to live instead of just survive. To wake up and not already feel behind. To breathe without the pressure of yesterday. To exist without the constant fear of what might go wrong. I don’t want a perfect life. 1 just want a break from survival mode. A day where life feels calm, and 1 don’t have to fight so hard to feel peace.”
Patricia Lockwood, Will There Ever Be Another You: “But the soul is a floor. It is there to bear us up and keep us standing, not merely to be clean.”
You know what’s underrated? Letting people be. Letting them mispronounce a word, talk too much about a show they love, or get excited about something you don’t understand. You don’t have to get it, just be kind. Everyone’s got something that lights them up. Let them shine, even if it’s not your thing.
Adam Savage:
There’s an attempt within some circles to weaponize the word empathy as some sort of wrong-headed over merging with someone else’s reality. I haven’t investigated it enough to really explain it because I don’t care, because I think it’s wrong. Oh yeah, sure, that makes me unscientific. Listen. Everything good I have in my life is because of empathy and kindness and respect. Everything good I have ever achieved, everything that I have around me, is all because of that. I’m a believer in believing everywhere you go better than you left it. And that means thinking about others a lot. A lot more than you might even be used to, and trying to figure out how to not mess with their reality too much, keep yourself self-contained. But I have done a lot of talks over the years for young people asking questions about getting started, finding their aesthetic, finding a job, knowing when it’s the right career, etc. And I like to point out that the skill to build is to be easy to work with. I banged on about this a lot over the years, but I have seen people who were mediocre at best at their jobs last for almost a decade in a job when there certainly were more qualified people one could hire, but the people in those jobs were so easy to work with and such a facile part of the team that it made sense. And even if you are venal and want all the money, which is fine, even if money is the important thing to you, go earn it. I really like more power to you. But you don’t… Even if you want all the dough, being, I swear to me, being kind, empathetic, and respectful of everybody is the best way to move through the world."