Five Star Friday's 131st Edition Is Brought to You By W.H. Auden

This Five Star Friday roundup is brought to you by the loss of a brother, parenting, colon cancer, the dark hegemony of positive thinking, Harry Potter, the futility of seeking equilibrium, the weight of a child, what makes a good parent, community and beauty, using your fear, compassion, the Fifth Annual Blogger Christmalhijrahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert, female bloggers, embracing real fitness, architecture, a coffee machine, a dead cat, and W. H. Auden:

Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.

     — W. H. Auden

Please leave a link to your own good writing in the comments! Sharing is good.

Happy Friday!

"Using Your Fear to Create Awesomeness" from The Home of Peter Shankman:

Don’t ignore the fear. When you get that queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach, listen to it. It’s there for a reason. It’s telling you that you’re on the edge of something great, and you need to make sure all your ducks are in a row. You need to listen to your fear when you try something new. It’s not telling you not to do something, rather, it’s telling you to push forward, carefully, and without reckless abandon. Fear tells us to be aware, alert, and more cunning than our opponent. Embrace your fear, absorb its strength, and be stronger from it. Ignoring your fear is like being starving, and not eating the nutrient-rich meal placed in front of you. Eat your fear. It tastes good, and will make you stronger.

"Community. Beautiful. #reverb10" from I Am Lotus

"The moment: Death can make you feel alive in very painful ways" from Still Breathing

"On Warped Beauty Standards, and Embracing the Buff" from Aqufit Blog:

If you're a woman who refuses to lift heavy weight because you fear the bulk? I think you should give it a try anyway: this terrified line of thinking interferes with your capacity to do so much more than what you think you can do right now. Your fear of the bulk and adherence to the twisted media perception of ideal feminine body proportion is ripping you off. It's preventing you from kicking ass in a monumental way.

"The Fifth Annual Blogger Christmalhijrahanukwanzaakah Online Holiday Concert" from Citizen of the Month

"The Supreme, Digital, Navelgazing Time Waster" from Mama Non Grata

"the compassion project, day 116" from My Gorgeous Somewhere:

Gray hairs come a few at a time, making entry into later life bearable — for us, for those who love us and for those we love.

Gray makes its own pattern on our heads, in our beards and armpits, anywhere we have hair. I sometimes run my fingers along my husband’s chest, a field of coarse silver that was once darker than the Blue Mountains’ rocky cliffs and smoother than fishing line.

"Female Blogger Dilemma" from Xiaxue

"Cat Box" from Caissie’s Thing

"The Phlegm That Says I Love You" from Communicatrix:

I’ve written long ago and at length about illness being a useful, if painful, way to slow things down. I’ve spoken more recently (and far more briefly) about rotten things being a gateway to big love. But I still need reminding; maybe I always will need reminding. Slow is not a factory-default setting.

And so I move too fast and I curse before I remember to say “Thank you!” and slow down for a bit.

But I do slow down for a bit. Which is what we call a start.

"The Indicator: 101 Things I Didn't Learn in Architecture School" by Guy Horton at ArchDaily

"Because shoulder blades, thick blue sweaters, and blushing exist" from Ordinary Art

"The Right Coffeemaker for your '70s Style Orgy. Trust Me." from In Palinode's Palace:

Tassimo gives you precision, but the thrill comes from the other end of the field. There's a utopian guilelessness about the machine, a promise that the classy world of cafés and bistros can be yours at the press of a button. It's going for that European classiness (even though it reminds me most of those automatic coffee machines in Australia that spit out flat whites on demand). It's like a Star Trek replicator in a Kitchen of Tomorrow. Except the kitchen is straight out of 1972, and the Bistromatic2000 One-Button Coffee Brewer is right next to the fondue pot and the electric wine muller, and the first guests are just about to arrive for a sophisticated evening of melted cheese and mutual groping. Get Your Orgy Started The Optimal Way, With Tassimo!

"Have a Good Time Trying" from Gesamtkunstblog

"w=mg, or something like that" from The Tiny Leaf

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" from Joe Blogs:

Maybe this is why we don't want kids to find out about Santa Claus. We don't want their worlds to have limitations. We don't want their worlds to lose their magic. I know we will go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with a million other fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, and I know it will be wonderful. And I guess I'm afraid that we'll get home and I will curl up next to Elizabeth to read another chapter of Harry Potter and she will say: "Oh Dad, I've already seen it. I'm grown up, you know." I know those words are coming. I'm not ready for them. I know I won't ever be ready for them.

"What makes a mom..." from One Smarmy Mama

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Comments

[erin]

thanks to you, Schmutzie, and whoever brought me here.

all my best~

xo
erin

[onesmarmymama]

:)

Thanks! What a great way to finish off my week!

[Colleen Wainwright]

Wow—I am beyond honored to make the cut here at 5-star Friday. So, honored and tickled. Honored and bashful. Honored and a wee bit dizzy.

Thanks, Schmutzie.

[Patti Murphy]

Thank you so much. It's an honour to be listed with these wonderful writers.

I love your FSF approach, Schmutzie. The "sponsored by" touch tickles me to pieces.

I'm so happy to be in an FSF brought to us by W.H Auden. It makes me want to read more.