Five Star Friday's 179th Edition Is Brought to You By Marlo Thomas

This week's Five Star Friday is brought to you by child molestation, being unselfish, sexism and sexual harassment, the delightful creativity of a child, childhood bullying, frank talk about rape, learning a new language, writing what you know, and Marlo Thomas:

One of the things about equality is not just that you be treated equally to a man, but that you treat yourself equally to the way you treat a man.

     — Marlo Thomas

Happy Friday!

"On Being an Object, And Then Not Being an Object" from Finslippy:

She was so well-meaning, so concerned about my looking approachable and pretty, and I know she didn't mean anything by it. But when she said this, so much rage welled up in me. So much. I made a joke and changed the subject, but all I wanted to do was scream. Loudly.

Because: do I want to look intimidating? God, yes. I do. Yes, please, I very much fucking do.

Trigger Warning: a personal story about child molestation:
"Common Sense" from The Art of Failure

"The Only Way to Get Far Quickly Is to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone (My Typical Day Learning Mandarin)" from Fluent In 3 Months

Trigger Warning: a frank discussion of rape:
"Why I Talk About Rape" by Emily McCombs at xoJane:

I talk about rape so that I can say, "I was drunk" or "I wanted to kiss him, but not to have sex with him," or "I was on a date with him" or "I wanted the sexual attention but not the sex" or "I had an orgasm" or "I didn't scream or kick." I can say all those things, and still call it what it is.

"A Declaration of War. (Or the Giving Post.)" from Mockingbird, Don't Write

"Don't Try to Bully Me" by Sue at UrbanMoms' The Lounge

"Known Unknowns #9: The Known Knowns" from Matt Debenham:

In the end, as a reader, I don't care if something actually happened to the author. I care much more that the author is able to connect me to her characters, to the point where I miss them when I'm not reading them. As a writer, how that's done is by using any trick you have, no matter how personal or sordid, to help make that connection. It's akin, I think, to how an actor makes himself cry over and over again for a scene. Afterwards, you may feel cheaper for it, but then it's not for you anymore anyway.

"The Artist's Early Work: A Portfolio" from The Bean

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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