Five Star Friday's 177th Edition Is Brought to You By Joan Didion

This week's Five Star Friday is brought to you by love, bullying, lust, the writing life, a trade show in Las Vegas, a series of events, a father, education, and Joan Didion:

I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.

     — Joan Didion

Happy Friday!

"A Boy Bullied – This Mother’s Story" by Dianne Mursell at Then Life Happens:

At the hospital the specialist told us he was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the years of bullying. His friend’s suicide, someone he had genuinely connected with after so many years of loneliness, pushed him over the edge. At the time we thought we had provided him with enough care and help to see him through it but we had not.

All the years of pent-up anguish and pain came pouring out and he was not equipped to deal with it. He had, quietly in the night, in his room, started cutting himself. Imagine our shock. He did this right under our noses and we had no idea. And, he made his plan…

"Nothing to Say" from Citizen of the Month

"Eight" from She Likes Purple

"Why I Write" by Stephen Elliott at The Rumpus:

I’m at an age where my nonwriter friends are buying property, having babies, and moving ahead in their careers, while I live in a rent-controlled apartment with my young hipster roommate. I still go through heavy bouts of depression; it’s my nature. But I wouldn’t choose a different life. Time spent focusing on art is a privilege and a gift. The writing doesn’t make me happy, but it makes me happier, and it makes everything else easier to take.

"Junkyard Kings and Their Ersatz Queens" from Alphabet Junkie

"The Evil Economics of Judging Teachers" by Maria Bustillos at The Awl

"Fever Dream of a Guilt-Ridden Gadget Reporter" by Mat Honan at Gizmodo:

People keep coughing on me. I try to listen politely, all the while wondering if I have the flu. I got my flu shot on December 29. I can't help but wonder if it has activated yet. They tell you that it takes 14 days for antibodies to become effective, but that can vary from person to person. I take the press release and wander away past walls and walls of blinking, humming, electronics.

I try to remember all the products I've talked about that I won't even bother to cover—and that nobody's going to buy. There were some Bluetooth speakers. Or maybe they were WiFi. But there was definitely a helmet cam. And a waterproof phone. And a tablet and an ultrabook and an OLED TV. There was ennui upon ennui upon ennui set in this amazing temple to technology.

"That Which We Call a Rose By Any Other Name Would Sound as Sweet" from Lesbian Dad

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

[Amanda]

I'm excited to read everything. I am seriously in LOVE with Stephen Elliott.