Walking in the Rain
Some people walk in the rain. Others just get wet.
— Roger Miller
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The Law of Anecdotal Value
ByHeather
Choose the experiences in life that offer the most anecdotal value — that is, look for the opportunities that have the most likelihood of producing a cool story.
At the The Moth Chicago Grand Slam this year Peter Sagal (yes, that Peter Sagal) relayed these words of wisdom, passed on to him by a theater professor at Lewis and Clark College many years before.
With a tip of the hat to The Moth, make it a story-worthy life.
More Steinbeck on Writing
ByHeather
Sometimes in a man or a woman an awareness takes place — not very often and always inexplainable. There are no words for it because there is no one ever to tell. This is a secret not kept a secret, but locked in wordlessness. The craft or art of writing is the clumsy attempt to find symbols for the wordlessness. In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplainable. And sometimes if he is very fortunate and if the time is right, a very little of what he is trying to do trickles through.
— John Steinbeck, Journals of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters
This is another installment from Steinbeck’s journals written as he was giving birth to East of Eden. It has echos from my Julian Schnabel quote when he said “That is true about all art. The conflict is to try and take what is inside of you and put it inside somebody else.”
Running the Country II
ByHeather
If I wished to put a curse on a nation, I would invoke the gods to decree that it be governed by those who consider themselves to be the only true patriots in it.
Forecasting the Future
ByHeather
We have two classes of forecasters: Those who don’t know — and those who don’t know they don’t know.
— John Kenneth Galbraith, economist
Berkeley, UNIX, and LSD
ByHeather
There are two major products to come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don’t believe this to be a coincidence.
— Unknown
Hope
ByHeather
Hope springs eternal in the human heart.
— Alexander Pope, Essay on Man
As TV’s Craig Ferguson would say, “It’s a great day for America, everybody.”