Five Star Friday's 171st Edition Is Brought to You By O. Henry

This week's Five Star Friday is brought to you by the act of writing, a would-be writer abroad, dissatisfaction, the fact that women's experiences matter, rising above abusive parenting, mothering in the face of special needs, hanging on to innocence, the human condition, personal growth, honesty in blogging, and O. Henry:

There is no well-defined boundary between honesty and dishonesty. The frontiers of one blend with the outside limits of the other, and he who attempts to tread this dangerous ground may be sometimes in one domain and sometimes in the other.

     — O. Henry, Rolling Stones

Happy Friday!

"Writing, Striving, and The Great Gatsby" from Nathan Bransford, Author:

...writing itself is built around striving and dreams and a world conjured from thin air in the hope that it's enough. It's that feeling that Gatsby had of being just a few sequences of events away from having those dreams coming true, as close as the green light on the dock, so close you can "hardly fail to grasp them."

But when those dreams recede before us, as Fitzgerald wrote in the greatest page of them all, "that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning — So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

And then we get back to work.

"Tomorrow We Will Run Faster" from Daily Adventures

"Endings and Beginnings" from One Crafty Mother

"Scentalicious Blogger Reading at Blogalicious 11" from DEB On the Rocks:

So there I was, a writer abroad. I couldn't actually produce any of the short stories, poems or essays a writer might produce, but I thought that I had the first step down. I looked exquisitely tortured ,with all of the swirling words in my brain obviously full of gravitas that vexed me, yet left me confident I could nail my generations message. I bet I looked complex, like Gertrude Stein, but with better cleavage.

"Winter Girl" from Seeking Elevation

"What I Did All Damn Day" from Stark. Raving. Mad. Mommy.

"Why Are You In Such A Bad Mood? #MenCallMeThings Responds!" from Tiger Beatdown:

...of COURSE multiple chainsaw-rape comments aren’t a big deal! They’re just words! Sticks and stones! Suck it up, you big Orwellian diaper baby!

To you, my friends, I say: Fuck that noise. All of this matters. A hostile work environment matters. Being afraid of your own in-box matters. Deleting your blog because that’s the only way for you to have a normal, non-hate-filled life matters. “Accepting” that continual, virulent, hateful misogynist abuse is a pre-condition for being a lady who talks about thing, or for challenging sexism in any way, no matter who you are: That matters. And if you think we’re fragile, well. LET US COUNT THE WAYS we have hacked it, under conditions your pampered manly self just cannot imagine. LET US DEMONSTRATE FOR YOU the shit we wade through, every day, in order to talk about whether or not we liked that one “Community” episode or Lady GaGa album. LET US JUST TELL YOU what we put up with, what we’ve been strong enough to endure, and even knowingly court; the given consequences we face for being anti-sexist and/or ladies on the Internet, which we’ve all put up with, without crumbling. And then you can decide whether we’re wimps or not.

"It's Time" from Kristin Noelle

"Hope Swells" from Spin Me I Pulsate

"She'll Leave Before We Are Ready" from Last Mom On Earth:

I think about how we build these little homes. We live in them and leave them at some point. When we do, some other little humans will move their lives in and settle down in the dark together in the space where we slept. Dear, lonely little animals clinging to one another because it's all we can do.

That's why we need our mommies. That's why we need to let her go. She'll leave before we are ready. That is why people forgive their fathers when they shouldn't.

Please come back and share good writing with us over the coming week to be featured on the next Five Star Friday. If you have read a really good piece on someone else's weblog, submit it by Thursday at midnight CST to have it featured on Five Star Friday.

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Comments

[seeking elevation]

Wow, thanks so much for the nod!