Five Star Friday's 114th Edition Is Brought to You By E. M. Forster

How do I know what I think until I see what I say?

     — E.M. Forster

This Five Star Friday roundup is brought to you by sluttiness, busybodies, a lost cat, an anniversary, murder, Gmail, high art, positive thinking, bullying, a poem, forgiveness, anxiety, unintentional sexual innuendo, a funeral, a son, a third child, a pitch at a baseball game, specialness, homelessness, race and feminism, and Maureen Dowd.

Please feel free to share urls to your own weblog writing in the comments, because more good reading is good.

Happy Friday!

"My Sluthood, Myself." by Jaclyn at Feministe:

...sluthood saved me. Sluthood gave me the time and space to nurse a shattered heart. It gave me a place where I could exist in pieces, some of me craving touch, some of me still too tender to even expose to the light. Sluthood healed the part of me that felt my body and my desires were grotesque after two years in a libido-mismatched partnership. Now I felt hot, wanted, powerful. My desire and enthusiasm was an asset, not an unintended weapon. Even now, with more time passed, now, when I am actually ready for and wanting a more emotional connection, sluthood keeps me centered. It keeps me from confusing desire and affection with something deeper. It means I have another choice besides celibacy and settling. It means I won’t enter another committed relationship just to satisfy my basic need for sex and affection. It gives me more choices, it makes room for relationships to evolve organically, to take the shape they will before anyone defines them.

"Yeah, that's not what I was looking for at all" from 27b/6

"Disposable People" from No Points For Style

"Today Would Have Been Our Anniversary" from Beregond's Bar:

I’m not an easy man to live with. I’m not going to catalog my faults; I’m far more comfortable pretending I have enough virtues to offset them. But in the moments when I’m honest with myself I seriously doubt it. But she not only put up with me, but more. She loved me. It was either insanity or a miracle from God. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. The whole nine yards.

"An Open Letter to all Busybodies, Fussbudgets, Nosy Know-it-alls, Middle-aged Meddlers, Presumptuous Prattlers, and Impertinent Grannies" from sweet juniper!

"Mind Your Own Business, Gmail!" from Nanny Goats in Panties

"Forgiveness" from The Accidental Olympian:

The words I had told my friend, the reassurance, the positive outlook, the loving encouragement and reminders of her self worth were all things I have never once given myself.

Through my unemployment battle and subsequent year of employment striving to turn my position into the role it is today, I never once stepped in and told myself the hardships hadn't been my fault. I never let myself off the hook, told that scared girl inside that it would be ok, reminded myself that I truly was doing all I could, I never once pointed out to myself that I was actually making the best out of a horrible situation, and I never let myself accept the idea that I was doing everything I humanly could to survive.

The very words of encouragement and love that poured so easily out of my mouth for another had been impossible for me to give myself.

"The Disaster That Is Art, Part II" from We Are Amused

"Positive Superstition" from Gayleen Froese

"As Promised" from 2birds1blog:

Now, what I meant to say to him at this point was, "Yeah. These [meaning the wider envelopes with the opening along the long side] won't work because you need the hand jab thingy at the top. [Makes jabbing motion in the air like you're sliding your hand into a bag thateggrolls come in when you get chinese]"

However, what I actually said was: "Yeah. These won't work. You need a hand job. [Repetitively jabs hand in the air, back and forth.]

YOU NEED. A. HAND. JOB.

"Amanda's Attempt to Entertain Us this Month – Bullying" by Amanda at Birmingham Mommy

"Attempt 51" from scotch & cherry pie

"Singular, Multiplied" from Whiskey In My Sippy Cup:

She moves uninterrupted in front of the tv screen, around the laundry basket, beside the couch, dancing to her own rhythm in a space that has opened up for her. No one is telling her to ohmygodmoveyouareblockingthemovie, no one is snatching the toys out of her hand because they're not hers, no one is doing anything and she is wallowing in the silence. Her brothers have gone on vacation with their grandmother, and for the first time in her life, she isn't the third child…she is the only child.

"My mental disorder is named Joyce" by jenniefromthe603 at skirt!

"My Soul Speaks" by Paige Johnson at My Tornado Alley

"In Need of the Heimlich Manoeuvre" from Yarn Harlot:

It was at this point in the story that I took leave of my actual senses. Too many things had changed. I wasn't throwing 9m, I wasn't throwing to the mascot, I couldn't hear myself think because of the sound that panic makes in your head, and I... well. I don't know what happened next. There's a gap in my recollection. I know what didn't happen. I didn't run the checklist. I didn't hold the ball tightly, I didn't make a circle with the top cut off. I may have taken two steps, I may have taken twelve. I don't know. I definitely didn't release with my fingers pointing at him. I didn't do any of it. The world went black, everything I thought I knew checked out, and all I saw was 15 000 people and one pitcher and huge blue furry bird and I thought something along the lines of "this was a big mistake" and then... then. Oh then.

"I came here without a real plan" from Alphabet Junkie

"If Everyone’s Inherently Special, Then Aren’t We All the Same or Something?" from The Subtle Rudder

"Why I Am a Feminist, And Why I Will Shout It Loudly Into the Ears of Anyone That Will Listen" from Knotty Yarn:

White American women still hold a certain amount of power, whether they choose to exercise it or not. They are still the standard by which most of the modern world defines beauty. They are still at the center of the standard by which most of America bases their family models. Hearing a privileged, white, college-educated woman say that they are not a feminist is like hearing Prince Charles complain about which thoroughbred horse he should ride today: It stinks of the wealth of advantage.

"Why I Gave a Homeless Man $5 Today" from Chubby Mommy Running Club

"Not Enough" from No Pasa Nada

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Comments

[thordora]

That Feminste post was the most awesome thing I read this week. Glad to see it here.

[Susan @WhyMommy]

That is my FAVORITE quote of all time. And also an apology for blogging some days. :-)

Great picks -- I'm off to read!

[Ashley, the Accidental Olympian]

Thank you so much for including my post!

[Margaret (Nanny Goats)]

Thanks for the Five Star Friday honor today! Woo hoo!

Must check out the others!

[scotch]

thank you so much for including 'Attempt 51' xoxo

"broken bottle green shimmers
lip quivers, whole body shivers
ruby & white rivers"