Image: The artist Anders Zorn and his wife Emma.
Category: Art
Annunciation
Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo, faithful virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He will wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death’s force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created, thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son and Brother;
Whom thou conceivst, conceived; yea thou art now
Thy Maker’s maker, and thy Father’s mother;
Thou hast light in dark, and shutst in little room,
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb.
JOHN DONNE
***Painting by Beatrice Emma Parsons – Annunciation
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We Live in Deeds not Years
We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest: Lives in one hour more than in years do some Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins. Life’s but a means unto an end; that end, Beginning, mean, and end to all things—God. The dead have all the glory of the world. Philip James Bailey **Painting: Anna Pavlova by Sir John Lavery
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Who Else Hates Genre Labels?
LITERARY FICTION FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE LITERARY FICTION
“There is a stereotype of literary fiction shared by both science fiction readers and non-science fiction readers: that academically-sanctioned, “serious” contemporary fiction is all about dull middle-class people having affairs, and that the writers of this fiction do such things as use a couple hundred pages to describe events that could quite easily be described in a paragraph.”
WHY THE HATE FOR ROMANCE?
An interesting thread on romance in fantasy writing:
“But for people who want verisimilitude and detailed characterizations, romance is going to be there. Real people deal with romance in their actual lives. It’s a huge part of being human.
Romance doesn’t mean the book is plot-less or spends all its time dealing with vampire-werewolf three-ways. Badly written romance means the book is plot-less or spends all its time dealing with vampire-werewolf three-ways.” unconundrum
THE EMPTINESS OF LITERARY FICTION
“The stereotype is not just about elevating certain works of fiction, but overdetermining their value.”
13 STRUGGLES OF BEING A ROMANTIC WHO HATES ROMANCE (this one doesn’t have much to do with books. Just a fun read.
“(And yes, you cried deeply at The Notebook, and hated yourself for every minute of it.)”
WHAT FICTION DO YOU HATE? or LOVE?
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Meet Chloe Sevigny (the goat) on Instagram
I’ve been moonlighting lately. After a month of blizzards, animal births and foster kid drama my mind is a bit fried. But I can still take pictures!
ENTER INSTAGRAM. It’s surprisingly fun. Photo shoots with goats are fun. HERE’S MY LINK:
ADRIENNE MORRIS
I’m also on Twitter now but still haven’t figured out what it’s about. 🙂
ADRIENNE’S Twitter
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Beautiful
O world, as God has made it! All is beauty:
And knowing this, is love, and love is duty.
What further may be sought for or declared?
Robert Browning
THE GUARDIAN ANGEL–THE PAINTING, THE POEM and the WINDOW IT INSPIRED
MORE BROWNING POETRY
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QUOTE: Do Noble Things
Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;
Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:
And so make life, death, and that vast forever
One grand sweet song.
–Charles Kingsley.
LINK: 10 MOST GORGEOUS PAINTINGS OF JOAN OF ARC
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QUOTE:Seize this very minute . . .
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute
What you can do, or dream you can; begin it;
Boldness has genius, power, magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin and then the work will be completed.
–Goethe.
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Death
Utopia & Sex
JOHN HUMPHREY NOYES was a man of great vision–a deluded and selfish vision–yet one which inspired others to forsake their ordinary lives to join him in Christian communism.
Sharing looks good on paper.
Noyes was a magnetic man who believed in “healing energy.” He believed, like most 19th century perfectionist utopians, that the kingdom of heaven would be ushered in, not by trumpets and angels, but by good Christian men and women.
Noyes, in a dark night of the soul, convinced himself that he was to lead humanity (or at least a bunch of Americans) to this new heaven on earth. As their leader he would share his revelation (after marrying a dowdy but financially secure woman) that the first system of marriage illustrated throughout Genesis was now obsolete. Hadn’t Jesus told the SADDUCEES there were no marriages in heaven?
As above, so below was Noyes’ mantra. There were healings and possibly some good times. Mediocrity was seen as a special characteristic–one that kept people humble–even as Noyes’ enjoyed more and more power. By decreeing himself highly trained in love-making and instituting a “training program” by which young men were taught self control and the right way to sexually please women without getting them pregnant, Noyes’ embraced selective breeding and women’s rights.
What could possibly go wrong?
A friend of mine who grew up in a free love commune said it was a terribly unstable and lonely place for children. He noted the feel was more like a harem than anything heavenly. Dowdy women often footed the bills. Good-looking men were fought over.
I lived with a couple who believed in no special god. They believed only they created the universe. They believed in wind turbines and open, communistic marriages. These beliefs reflected in their real lives looked something like this: hatred for those who weren’t as highly educated and environmentally aware and an underlying aggression toward each other over sexual slights and unmet needs.
Noyes had magnetism. Women wanted to have sex with his magnetism. His wife had to be convinced his revelations were from God.
The community did make nice silverware.
Does free love work for anyone? I have only anecdotal evidence that it does not.
RELATED: VISIT JOHN HUMPHREY NOYES’ 19th CENTURY COMMUNE: SEX AS GOOD MEDICINE
ONEIDA SILVERWARE
READ ABOUT BUCK CRENSHAW’S ADVENTURES AT A 19th CENTURY COMMUNE
