Random Oscar Thoughts: pink, chemistry, and dreaming crazier

I love pink.  I loved all the pink on the red carpet.  My favorite dresses were pink: Gemma Chan and Julia Roberts.

I loved A Star is Born.  I love the music.  I love Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s performances.  I think they look at each other like they are in love.  Nowhere was that more apparent than in their duet on Sunday night.   The end of the song, when they were sitting next to each other on the piano bench, has gotten all the attention.  But it was the beginning of the song, when he was singing and looking at her across the piano, that most struck me.  Yowzers.

It was an ad that I loved most of all, though.  Nike’s Dream Crazier ad made me cry.  Run your own race, and don’t stop for anything.  This also resonates with Lady Gaga’s acceptance speech which I loved: don’t stop fighting.  It’s not how often you get knocked down that matters.  It’s only how much you get up that does.  Cliched, and true.

let us dance

We did not ask for this room or this music. We were invited in. Therefore, because the dark surrounds us, let us turn our faces to the light. Let us endure hardship to be grateful for plenty. We have been given pain to be astounded by joy. We have been given life to deny death. We did not ask for this room or this music. But because we are here, let us dance.

~ Stephen King

Yet another beautiful quote I found on First Sip.

Things I Love Lately

How to Raise a Feminist Son – This New York Times piece is not new, but I’m glad I came across it again this weekend.  I still agree (deeply, almost violently) with the points it makes. For years I’ve responded to well-meaning comments about being, as a working mother, a role model for my daughter, by saying “and for my son!”  I wrote about the importance of talking about the Brett Kavanaugh hearings with both our daughters and our sons.  I love the Gloria Steinem quote the article shares: “I’m glad we’ve begun to raise our daughters more like our sons, but it will never work until we raise our sons more like our daughters.” That’s how it works at our house.  At least that’s what we’re trying for. Amen.

Carrying the Ghosts of Lives Unlived – “We all have hinge points in our lives, jobs taken or not taken, relationships ended or begun. We’re all living our regular lives, where our choices and actions have real consequences. But sometimes we carry in our minds the ghosts of other lives we might have had.”  Indeed.  Don’t you know this feeling, of once in a while thinking about that other, alternative life, full of its own glories and pains?

The 23 Most Unforgettable Last Sentences in Fiction – Ron Charles’ beautiful list includes some of my favorites, too (which I wrote about here, and which serve as a counterpoint of sorts to my fascination with the dedications in books). Just beautiful.  My favorite, I think, is the last sentence of Beloved.

Brandless – I stumbled upon this site and have ordered twice now, some kitchen staples, a few cleaning products.  I love what they stand for and love the simplicity of their aesthetic, too.  Highly recommend.

I write these Things I Love posts approximately monthly.  You can find them all here.

 

the journey doesn’t end

“For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.”

-Michelle Obama, Becoming

Things I Want to Remember

I did my first podcast interview, with Zibby Owens, on the occasion of the release of On Being 40(ish).  Zibby asked about the impetus for starting this blog, waaayyy back in September 2006.  And my answer then reminds me of how I feel about this week: I told Zibby I started this blog to remember Grace and Whit, who were 1 and 3 when I began writing.  I already could sense that I couldn’t be able to recall every (or even most) detail.

That’s how I feel right now.  I want to remember what this week, since the release of On Being 40(ish), has felt like. While the book’s release has taken a backseat to my “real life,” and to my day job, it has been unquestionably, marvelously fun.  I think my single favorite thing over the last week is the texts I’ve gotten from friends with pictures of their books, or themselves with their books.  It feels so great to know that the essays I’ve so long loved are out in the world, and that people are reading them.

The events – in Brooklyn last week and in Cambridge last night – have been wonderful as well.  It’s a treat to meet the writers in person – I had never met any of them in person before, though we’ve certainly emailed.  They have universally impressed me by being as intelligent, wise, and down-to-earth in person as they are on the page (in my experience this is often, though not always, the case when I meet writers whose work I have read and enjoyed).

It’s also been incredible to hear from people as they read the book, and to read reviews, and to generally know that the pieces in On Being 40(ish) are touching people. Lesson for me: always be sure to tell writers when their words resonate with me (I often do, but not always).

Most of all, it’s those texts, though.