29 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
)
Published on July 29th, 2009 @ 05:59:29 pm, using 232 words, 557 views
Ed: Boy, Marilyn, I’ve been thinking about this lightning thing so much, I’ve gone and given myself a headache.
Marilyn: Maybe you shouldn’t think about it.
Ed: I tried that, too. When I try not thinking about it, the only thing that goes through my head is still It. (pause) Who do you think is right? Is it a nihilistic universe with no meaning, oh, other than survival, or does the enlightenment view prevail? Does the Creator have a master plan, and if so, what is it?
Marilyn: My uncle once told me about a warrior who had a fine stallion. Everybody said how lucky he was to have such a horse. “Maybe,” he said. One day the stallion ran off. The people said the warrior was unlucky. “Maybe,” he said. Next day, the stallion returned, leading a string of fine ponies. The people said it was very lucky. “Maybe,” the warrior said. Later, the warrior’s son was thrown from one of the ponies and broke his leg. The people said it was unlucky. “Maybe,” the warrior said. The next week, the chief led a war party against another tribe. Many young men were killed. But, because of his broken leg, the warrior’s son was left behind, and so was spared.
26 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
)
Published on July 26th, 2009 @ 10:16:34 pm, using 29 words, 294 views
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Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
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Published on July 26th, 2009 @ 11:35:20 am, using 33 words, 132 views
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22 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
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Published on July 22nd, 2009 @ 08:31:02 pm, using 29 words, 144 views
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21 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
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Published on July 21st, 2009 @ 12:02:35 am, using 858 words, 279 views
Look at what we can do…
It seems fitting to get back on this train of thought on the July 20th that marks the 40th anniversary of a shining example of what we can do… Forty years ago today people converged in wide-eyed awe in front of their TV sets and marveled at the seeming impossibility of what they beheld while that sentence took hold of their minds and filled their hearts to the brim.
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20 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
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Published on July 20th, 2009 @ 01:36:14 pm, using 29 words, 142 views
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19 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
)
Published on July 19th, 2009 @ 12:11:35 pm, using 187 words, 155 views
In its original French…
Votre mot préféré?
Le mot que vous detestez?
Le son, le bruit que vous aimez?
Le son, le bruit que vous detestez?
Votre drogue préféré?
Le métier que vous auriez voulu faire?
Le métier que vous n’auriez jamais voulu faire?
Un homme ou une femme pour illustrer un nouveau billet de banque?
Votre juron, gros mot ou blasphéme favori?
Si Dieu existe, qu’aimeriez-vous, après votre mort, l’entendre vous dire?
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18 July 2009
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Iris Watts Hirideyo (
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Published on July 18th, 2009 @ 11:48:32 pm, using 136 words, 143 views
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16 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
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Published on July 16th, 2009 @ 08:35:52 pm, using 29 words, 69 views
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Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
)
Published on July 16th, 2009 @ 03:24:48 pm, using 57 words, 92 views
I’ve got his words scattered throughout this blog, just as he’s got pieces of me scattered throughout his books.
Habit (The Romantic Movement)
Committing to Reading
Quotes for R.
Commitment to Reading
Alain de Botton’s website
15 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
)
Published on July 15th, 2009 @ 04:56:38 pm, using 46 words, 135 views
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12 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
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Published on July 12th, 2009 @ 02:01:30 pm, using 937 words, 188 views
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Harvey Shine’s past doesn’t much matter. Whatever happened before that first shot where he’s seen playing the piano, ultimately isn’t as important as the spot on which it landed him. Or the person this particular spot shaped him to be. Harvey Shine is, to most of the people around him, an embarrassment waiting to happen. That’s the fact. That’s the problem in search of a solution. (Or rather, the damsel-in-distress of a problem, waiting for a solution, arms folded.) And about as sad a predicament as I can imagine.
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07 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
)
Published on July 7th, 2009 @ 09:33:50 pm, using 780 words, 171 views
I hadn’t planned on writing anything about Michael Jackson (always making a conscious effort to steer away from the masses, from anything already done to exhaustion) but I had a Jane moment this morning with the name Michael, which made writing feel right.
Michael… Michael… Mi…chael. Mahy-kuhl.
That moment took me right back to the movie E.T. of all things (very characteristic of me to take such impossible leaps.) Standing in the middle of a sidewalk, I kept hearing little Henry Thomas’ voice saying that name (his older brother in the film). Back when, for me, fluency was wishful thinking and proper names consequently stood out.
Michael.
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05 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
)
Published on July 5th, 2009 @ 05:21:44 pm, using 21 words, 121 views
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Fielding: You’re never here anymore. You’re at the church all day long.
Sarah: And you’re at school or studying all day long.
Fielding: Are you in love with him?
Sarah: Who?
Fielding: Mileski.
Sarah: Fielding… Steven is a priest. You’re my lover, Fielding. He’s a part of what I do. You can’t be everything to me.
Fielding: I wanna be.
Sarah: (sighs) Oh dear… I love that you said that.
(Waking the dead)
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Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
)
Published on July 5th, 2009 @ 11:30:29 am, using 283 words, 146 views
Simon: Man, get yourself to the Grand Canyon…
Mac: Beautiful, huh?
Simon: It’s pretty all right, but that’s not the thing of it. You can sit right on the edge of it, you know? I did that. I did everything. I went down in it. I stayed overnight there. But the thing that got me was sitting on the edge of that big old thing. Those rocks… those cliffs and rocks, they’re so old. It took so long for that thing to get to look like that. It ain’t done either. It happens right while you sit there watching. It’s happening right now while we’re sitting here in this ugly town. Yeah. When you sit on the edge of that thing you just realize what a joke we people are. What big heads we got thinking that what we do is gonna matter all that much. Thinking our time here means diddly to those rocks. It’s a split second we’ve been here, the whole lot of us. And one of us? That’s a piece of time too small to get a name…
Mac: You’re trying to cheer me up?
Simon: Yeah… Those rocks are laughing at me, I can tell. Me and my worries… is real humorous to that Grand Canyon. Hey, you know what I felt like? I felt like a gnat that lands on the ass of a cow that’s chewing its cud next to the road that you drive by at 70 miles an hour.
Mac: Small!
Simon: Oh, yes. It’s small.
Mac: My name’s Mac.
Simon: Simon.
(Grand Canyon)
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04 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
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Published on July 4th, 2009 @ 10:06:05 pm, using 146 words, 126 views
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02 July 2009
Written by
Iris Watts Hirideyo (
)
Published on July 2nd, 2009 @ 09:26:44 pm, using 199 words, 236 views
I’ve been out of that classroom for over twelve hours now and I’m still smiling. Alice is her name. The reason for my extended smile, this day-long smile. Perfect little girl. Six years into her life journey and already capable of so much. That makes sense, I guess. The more experience we accumulate, the more layers we pile on to hide everything that has come to be recognized as quintessentially a child’s. Innocence. Openness. Impulsiveness. Generosity.
Alice sat in on my morning class, a proper young lady, looking around, drawing, mimicking my gestures and flashing disarming smiles at those repeating strangers who oddly and unquestioningly followed my lead. An hour or so into those ninety minutes of valiant effort towards a worthy goal, she quite simply stood up, smiled and came towards me with open arms. A singular, remarkable, reasonless hug… I was given.
She granted me the break I don’t allow myself to take. She brought persistent smiles to our lips, tears to our eyes and a collective ‘Awwwwwwww…’
She’s the stuff angels are made of.
This post is the creative work of Iris Watts Hirideyo and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
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