I love your vulnerability in saying this because I think it's how everyone feels in such a setting. I've been there! The thing is this is a sign that you're aware. Striving! Which is how I always want to be. I bet you were amazing.
Unconscionable.
Text from Shawna Lemay's blog "Transactions with Beauty": I hope you can find some magic, try some new creative endeavour, mess around. Play. Do things because they bring you joy. Don’t overthink. Just try. I have always loved how the word poetry includes the word try. This is how we contribute to the beauty of the world in the end. The practice of trying.
From @shawnalemay.bsky.social in yesterday's Transactions with Beauty post.
"The practice of trying" 🔥🔥
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/partici...
Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We’ll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
Directed by Thom Zimny
Edited by Thom Zimny and Samuel Shapiro
Production Footage: Pam Springsteen and Thom Zimny
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
yes!
There is no such thing as a proper writing career :) Believe in the work if not yourself. Persist. Continue. Rinse, Repeat. Love the work, have affection for it. The rest is gravy. Process is the thing.
“… as a longtime fan of Austen, thanks to repeated readings, lines from her novels will appear in my head unbidden on occasion and lord that is a beautiful thing. I know I’m not alone in this. Usually it’s just an internal recitation, and an outward smile...”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
“Writing my first book, I was pulled to learn more about the lives of women artists. How did they get on? How was any of it possible? How to make a life in art? I needed to learn more...”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
"Doubt is the friend." Beautiful reminder from @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Thanks so much for sharing!
"If no one wants it, you might as well make whatever is in your heart": I appreciated this post on "making art anyway" from @shawnalemay.bsky.social and wish I could convince myself to do exactly that.
“No one wishes to visit cities that are devoid of art, history, culture.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
This is my one day this week to slow down, unhook from digital life, have a make music, play with words day. And of course, @shawnalemay.bsky.social showed up to set the tone I needed. Of course she did.
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/onmakin...
Aww, thanks for sharing this Jessica!
Thanks, Vicki!
"In lieu of flowers, walk in the trees and watch the light fall into it."
#TodaysPoem #poetry
In lieu of flowers by @ShawnaLemay.bsky.social from The Flower Can Always Be Changing (2018 @PalimpsestPress.bsky.social) scalar.fas.harvard.edu/resources-fo... & palimpsestpress.ca/books/flower...
I’m enjoying my second read even more Shawna☀️
Thank you!
Lovely to see! @palimpsestpress.bsky.social
Sometimes you just need to scream “I embrace the world!” (Gojira song. Very therapeutic!)
And another saying that has always helped is one @shawnalemay.bsky.social always says: “you are required to create something beautiful.”
That’s all I know. Hopefully it’s enough. ❤️
“People do things like read or look at art because they want to be delighted, or be shocked by beauty, or for joy or surprise or to be taken outside of where they are. … How can we show people that more? I mean, of course we can. We need to keep trying.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
“Once I’ve read one thing by an author that I’ve loved, I tend to read all. I’m a re-reader, too, often re-reading the entire book or just favourite passages. I’m the dog-earing type, the underlining type. I like to have a few books on the go at all times.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
On finding your next read.
transactionswithbeauty.com/home/finding...
“The most important thing I go on learning from Jane Austen is to view the world at a comedic distance. I read Jane Austen because she’s funny and she’s sharp and she’s tender. I read her for her layers of understanding and for the way she sees.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
“Every re-reading will reward you with a new and deeper understanding of humanity, of her genius. If you truly wish to understand the meaning of ‘wit,’ it is there in Austen’s works.”
– @shawnalemay.bsky.social
Millions of Canadians work full-time and still struggle to afford a new pair of shoes.
As costs rise, here’s one person’s story of making (and faking) it in Canada as part of the working poor.
macleans.ca/society/conf...
