Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.
* ESPN has a nice video on soon-to-be-87-year-old Yogi Berra, who still goes to Yankees spring training, with the help of his pal (and former Yankee) Ron Guidry. (ESPN)
* On Twitter, Open City novelist Teju Cole is sharing 140-character "small fates," true stories of ordinary New Yorkers drawn from a 1912 newspaper. A sample: "Only Rudolph Hanneseck died when a fire broke out at 178 West Houston Street. (He was run over by the fire truck.)" (Twitter.com/TejuCole)
* In a show that opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia yesterday, the graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister is exploring what it means to be happy. You can visit the exhibit through August 12. (ICA)
* John Grisham's newest book, Calico Joe, comes out next week—his $6 million mistake is good inspiration for first-time authors. (The Daily Beast)
* "If I could go back and revise my adolescent experience, I wouldn't. I'm glad it happened. As bad as it was, it was also good, and not just in It-Gets-Better retrospect. It was good then. It directly enriched my life."—Rich Juzwiak reflects on how being bullied helped shaped him. (Gawker)
| Photo: Getty Images |
* On Twitter, Open City novelist Teju Cole is sharing 140-character "small fates," true stories of ordinary New Yorkers drawn from a 1912 newspaper. A sample: "Only Rudolph Hanneseck died when a fire broke out at 178 West Houston Street. (He was run over by the fire truck.)" (Twitter.com/TejuCole)
* In a show that opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia yesterday, the graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister is exploring what it means to be happy. You can visit the exhibit through August 12. (ICA)
* John Grisham's newest book, Calico Joe, comes out next week—his $6 million mistake is good inspiration for first-time authors. (The Daily Beast)
* "If I could go back and revise my adolescent experience, I wouldn't. I'm glad it happened. As bad as it was, it was also good, and not just in It-Gets-Better retrospect. It was good then. It directly enriched my life."—Rich Juzwiak reflects on how being bullied helped shaped him. (Gawker)
Every Monday, we're rounding up the things, small and big, that make us stop and think. Today, we're inspired by...
"I've said many times to myself, 'I can't imagine that happening to me.' It was the unimaginable to me. But guess what, it happened and I got through it."
-Actress Jennie Garth, who is getting divorced after 11 years of marriage.
"Don't be afraid to go ahead and try. It's hard, but once you get the hang of it, you'll enjoy it."
-James Arruda Henry, an illiterate lobster boat captain who learned to read—and became an author —in his '90s.
"We want to send the flowers while people can still smell them."
-Nick Cannon, on saying goodbye to Whitney Houston and his own brush with death.
"I've said many times to myself, 'I can't imagine that happening to me.' It was the unimaginable to me. But guess what, it happened and I got through it."
-Actress Jennie Garth, who is getting divorced after 11 years of marriage.
"Don't be afraid to go ahead and try. It's hard, but once you get the hang of it, you'll enjoy it."
-James Arruda Henry, an illiterate lobster boat captain who learned to read—and became an author —in his '90s.
"We want to send the flowers while people can still smell them."
-Nick Cannon, on saying goodbye to Whitney Houston and his own brush with death.
Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.
* A treat for readers: the quirky, book-filled photography of Joel Robison. (Book Patrol)
* How a dad writing software manuals in Iowa became a Hollywood screenwriter with one response to a query on Reddit. (Wired)
* Does the Pope wear a funny hat? Several, actually. (MetaFilter; Time)
* RIP Earl Scruggs. The bluegrass pioneer passed away this week at the age of 88. Here he is playing banjo with Steve Martin. (YouTube; Seattle P-I)
* "Above all, art is a conversation conducted down through the generations."—Novelist Ian McEwan in a thoughtful lecture on art, science, creativity and originality. (The Guardian)
| Photo: Joel Robison |
* How a dad writing software manuals in Iowa became a Hollywood screenwriter with one response to a query on Reddit. (Wired)
* Does the Pope wear a funny hat? Several, actually. (MetaFilter; Time)
* RIP Earl Scruggs. The bluegrass pioneer passed away this week at the age of 88. Here he is playing banjo with Steve Martin. (YouTube; Seattle P-I)
* "Above all, art is a conversation conducted down through the generations."—Novelist Ian McEwan in a thoughtful lecture on art, science, creativity and originality. (The Guardian)
| Photo: Thinkstock |
Every day we squinted up at it. It was kind of ugly, like an aggressively modern, metallic stalactite. It kind of looked like The Terminator if The Terminator were a ceiling fan. Then it stopped working properly, sometimes just randomly shutting off. So that was annoying (and, we didn't realize, ominous)."We should replace it," I'd say, decisively. "Wait, maybe we should have someone look at it. I mean, it's already up there. Wait. No, we should get a new fan. Wait, no, I know, just a light." I was going to decide what to do, soon. Eventually. Weeks passed.
Then the ceiling fan burst into flames.
After the fire department left, after the charred hunks of fan were disposed off, after the soot was scrubbed from the ceiling, after every one was settled back at home, safe and sound, after we'd counted our blessings and told ourselves how much worse it could have been and how actually lucky we were, my husband knew just what to say to make me feel better about the whole thing: "Well, at least that makes that decision easier."
It was true. But it got me thinking. While it was, um, decisive, this was not actually probably the best way to make a decision. What other choices am I putting off, to everyone's detriment? What else in our lives is ticking away, waiting for us pick one way or another? Let's assume that every procrastinated decision will not resolve itself in a ball of fire...but you never know. Better to just take down that ceiling fan, or whatever it is in your life, and move on. As a wise man I know likes to say, "There is making the right decision...and then there is making the decision right." Which is why I decisively love my new, simple non-exploding kitchen light.
Read More:
7 Steps To Making Better Decisions
Decision-Making for a Stronger Life
"It’s okay for people to have opinions. It’s a discussion. Everyone has
an opinion about something. Maybe you don’t agree, but it doesn’t mean
it was anything more than that."
-Lucy Liu, on what can happen with strong personalities at work
"And are we only physical forms? Is it wise to focus so much attention on our shell that we lose our connection to the greater source that animates us all?"
-Filmmaker and activist Susan Hess Logeais, on plastic surgery
-Lucy Liu, on what can happen with strong personalities at work
"And are we only physical forms? Is it wise to focus so much attention on our shell that we lose our connection to the greater source that animates us all?"
-Filmmaker and activist Susan Hess Logeais, on plastic surgery
"I am the person I am today because of the values she instilled in me and the guidance and love she showed me," he said of his mother. "It's definitely unfair and stigmatizing to say a mother and son can't be close."
Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.
* We wholeheartedly agree with the recipe for happiness Alfred Hitchcock offers in the video above, and would only add that a knife-free space to take a shower never hurt either. (Open Culture)
* Meet Kaniehtakeron 'Geggs' Martin, a fourth generation Mohawk ironworker whose family has worked on New York City's most famous bridges and skyscrapers for the past 100 years. (WNYC)
* A 35-year-old man decides to take the SAT cold; polygon-inspired bafflement—and anger—ensues. (Deadspin)
* From Spicoli to Lebowski, everything you ever wanted to know about the word "dude." (More Intelligent Life)
* "What I didn’t expect was how much hope I would feel. How much comfort."—Frank Bruni on How to Survive a Plague, a new documentary about the history of the AIDS epidemic. (NYTimes)
* We wholeheartedly agree with the recipe for happiness Alfred Hitchcock offers in the video above, and would only add that a knife-free space to take a shower never hurt either. (Open Culture)
* Meet Kaniehtakeron 'Geggs' Martin, a fourth generation Mohawk ironworker whose family has worked on New York City's most famous bridges and skyscrapers for the past 100 years. (WNYC)
* A 35-year-old man decides to take the SAT cold; polygon-inspired bafflement—and anger—ensues. (Deadspin)
* From Spicoli to Lebowski, everything you ever wanted to know about the word "dude." (More Intelligent Life)
* "What I didn’t expect was how much hope I would feel. How much comfort."—Frank Bruni on How to Survive a Plague, a new documentary about the history of the AIDS epidemic. (NYTimes)
Every Monday, we're rounding up the things, small and big, that make us stop and think. Today, we're inspired by...
"The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated."
-Annie Murphy Paul, on how reading fiction improves the brain.
"If you take that away, it's one more notch against that experience. It's one more big societal minimizing, or sort of, negating, of the full extent of terror that comes with bullying."
-Filmmaker Lee Hirsch, on pressure to edit the "F" word out of his documentary on teen bullies.
"All of us have the ability to speak our minds. We are essentially language animals and are nothing without it."
-The often-banned writer Salman Rushdie.
"The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated."
-Annie Murphy Paul, on how reading fiction improves the brain.
"If you take that away, it's one more notch against that experience. It's one more big societal minimizing, or sort of, negating, of the full extent of terror that comes with bullying."
-Filmmaker Lee Hirsch, on pressure to edit the "F" word out of his documentary on teen bullies.
"All of us have the ability to speak our minds. We are essentially language animals and are nothing without it."
-The often-banned writer Salman Rushdie.
Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.
* What's it like to be a small player in the big leagues? Former MLB pitcher Dirk Hayhurst wrote a whole book about it, and Failure Magazine got the inside story. (Out of My League; Failure Magazine)
* Meet the Slumdog Millionaire of Tasmania. (The Mercury)
* F. Sherwood Roland, savior of the ozone layer (ok, he had a little help), passed away this week at 84. (NYTimes)
* "I didn’t have the courage to get started, because I knew it would be an endless struggle."—Artist Christian Marclay on his film The Clock, a montage of clips containing all of the hours of the day. If you have a a big idea, but you're intimidated about putting it into motion, please read this profile of him. (The New Yorker)
* Meet the Slumdog Millionaire of Tasmania. (The Mercury)
* F. Sherwood Roland, savior of the ozone layer (ok, he had a little help), passed away this week at 84. (NYTimes)
* "I didn’t have the courage to get started, because I knew it would be an endless struggle."—Artist Christian Marclay on his film The Clock, a montage of clips containing all of the hours of the day. If you have a a big idea, but you're intimidated about putting it into motion, please read this profile of him. (The New Yorker)
| Photo: Thinkstock |
So reads a love letter written by Nicholas Sparks. Oh wait, no, I mean...Richard Nixon.
Six of Nixon's love letters to his wife, Pat (whom he playfully called his "Irish Gypsy") will be revealed Friday at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, and the missives reveal that "Tricky Dick" was also, well, a totally gushy, mushy, romantic. As supervisory museum curator, Olivia Anastasiadis, told the AP, "These letters are fabulous. It's a totally different person from the Watergate tapes that people know. President Nixon started out as an idealistic young man ready to conquer the world and with Pat Ryan he knew he could do it. There's a lot of hope, there's a lot of tenderness and it's very poetic." You have to read these letters to believe them. It's a little bit like seeing photos of your parents as a young couple—there's that same jolting sense that, oh man, everyone was young once, and everyone's love story is, to them, the ultimate love story.
Learn more from the original AP story. (Via NPR.)
Read More:
Writing Love Letters to The World
The 6 Best Love Letter Quotes
Every Monday, we're rounding up the things, small and big, that make us stop and think. Today, we're inspired by...
"There’s a certain point where you’re doing so much you can’t stop. It’s usually because you’re fulfilling something you need to, creatively ... Embrace your stress."
-Joss Whedon, talking at SXSW about stress and the creative process.
"I kept feeling like I'd wake up with absolute clarity, and I haven't."
-Writer, director, and actress Jennifer Westfeldt, on why she and long-time love John Hamm haven't had children.
"There’s a certain point where you’re doing so much you can’t stop. It’s usually because you’re fulfilling something you need to, creatively ... Embrace your stress."
-Joss Whedon, talking at SXSW about stress and the creative process.
"I kept feeling like I'd wake up with absolute clarity, and I haven't."
-Writer, director, and actress Jennifer Westfeldt, on why she and long-time love John Hamm haven't had children.
Advertisement
about Life Lift
The Oprah blog is a place where you can find engaging news coverage, fresh inspiration, and the straight talk you've come to count on. A place that
provides the tools you need to make a change—if not in the world—then at
least in your little corner of it. It's a place that will raise your energy, lower your blood pressure and
occasionally make you laugh—in short, a place of possibility.
topics
Advertisement
Advertisement
contributors
archived posts
