when you feel depressed, how do you get past those feelings? or at least be able to be productive til they pass?
i am genuinely touched and flattered that you think i am capable of doing the thing you describe.
Who are your favourite poets/what should I read by them?
i like the spoken word artists/poets saul williams and buddy wakefield a lot. some of my favorites of theirs are 1987 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3ceHafqUIQ) and Human The Death Dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQWlnFMOgbE) respectively. Saul’s “S/he” is also amazing but it’s like 20 minutes long and I can’t find a link. Wakefield has a new-er album out, it’s good.
i really like rainer maria rilke, especially “to lou andreas salome.” you have to be careful to find a good translation though. it’s actually making me really crazy because i can’t find one right now. just be careful is all i’m saying.
someone i love a lot liked w.s. merwin and gave me his poem “thanks,” i frequently have it taped to walls or doors in places where i spend a lot of time http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/spiritual-uprising/1983
i also like william stafford’s “a ritual to read to each other” a lot, even though i have not really read his other work http://www.williamstafford.org/spoems/pages/ritual.html
i realize there are no women up there. i also really like mary oliver and ellen bass. also eileen myles. duh. have you listened to her read “an american poem” out loud. (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/audioitem.html?id=2684) oh my god her accent. it’s so beautiful. it makes me love my city so much. also her. also i saw this girl sierra demulder give a reading once and it was pretty great, her book is called “the bones below.” she mailed it to me from texas.
i also like sylvia plath, and anne sexton makes me uncomfortable but in a good way. i don’t know. it’s harder to find good woman poets because they don’t have people who fall all over themselves to give them glowing reviews. can you recommend some? i’ll read them.
also, stephen dunn. duh. i mean hi have we met.
Those who’ve gotten away from me:
read this, and call.
Those whom I’ve hurt:
I wanted everything, or not enough.
It was all my fault.
-Stephen Dunn, “Loves”
Play
PlaySo is that big, black amazon button on the Autostraddle page the one that lets us buy stuff from them and give you some money at the same time? Or is it just an ad?
yes yes, it is the one that lets you buy stuff from them and give us some money at the same time
How do you stay so politically aware/involved without melting into a completely apathetic puddle of total depression and despair? People suck and it makes me sad/angry/hopeless and then I stop trying to know all the things because I have too many feelings
a few things, in light of the planned parenthood vote today:
1. everything gets easier with practice. including reading the news and having all the headlines be about how everyone hates you and people like you. including being brave. it just becomes a thing you do.
2. in general i have found that in the long term it is easier (and more productive) to be angry than sad. that’s what malcolm x said right? ok i looked it up, he said “Usually when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.” being sad makes you hopeless and tired. being angry makes you want to do something. even if that something is just reading more news articles.
3. because when something finally gets better, when the bill passes or your politician is elected or someone is finally brought to justice, it’s unbelievable. i was thirteen when gay marriage was legalized in my home state. you never forget that feeling. and you miss it if you’re on the sidelines.
this is how we live, selected fucks to give
do use all the fancy keyboard shortcuts in photoshop? i’ve used photoshop for years and just didn’t really know they existed and now it’s really hard to lern them and i have to and it sucks.
Learning is hard, yo.
Really though, I couldn’t imagine using the program without them. Try mousing-over/hovering on the tools before you actually click them and memorize the letter/key code for that tool. In the menu, before clicking an item, look at it’s shortcut and use that instead of clicking on it. Good luck you can do it.
Alex! I would very much like an autostraddle tshirt; are you planning on selling these again one day? Do you ship to the UK?
Hi! We ship to ALL the countries!
Yes, I am working on something now and am planning on making another t-shirt super soon because we need them for our little excursion to Dinah Shore in April. Which means I really need to get this shit moving…
Laneia! I HATE my job. It makes me cry. Literally. It’s a part time job but I have a car and bills and school things to pay so I NEED a job. I haven’t found another job yet but just the thought of going to work makes me cry. Should I quit now or wait?
UGHHH i would probably quit and then cry because i’d quit and i didn’t have another job.
maybe you should give yourself a deadline. spend a month looking for a new job – looking really really hard - and then after that month just quit, even if you haven’t found anything. i feel like jobs shouldn’t make you want to cry. but also i feel too many feelings, and sometimes i feel them without planning or thinking about how they’ll affect other things / people.
maybe you shouldn’t listen to me.
