Five Star Friday's 235th Edition Is Brought to You By Rebecca Solnit

This week's Five Star Friday is brought to you by a call for compassion, notes from a trailblazer, a personal story of living with Alzheimer's, looking for the good, a more critical look at Dove's advertising, failure and competition, rolling news, a beautiful mother, a kickass game about ducks, and Rebecca Solnit:


photo credit: shawncalhoun

Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future — and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.

     — Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark

Happy Friday!

"'There are times to have a guide, and times to be the guide.'" by Jen Lee at Jen Lee Productions:

I wish every trailblazer had someone to follow, the way I wish every new mother had someone to mother her. This is the hardest thing about pioneering anything — this staring into the blizzard in bulky snowshoes with not a single neon sign or rabbit track before you. Just this swirling uncertain future. Trust. Hope. And the knowledge that there's no going back now.

"Watching the Lights Go Out" by David Hilfiker at DavidHilfiker.com:

It may seem surprising that I feel almost no apprehension about exposing my mental decline and my reactions to it. The value of my books on rural practice and on inner-city doctoring, after all, lies in my willingness to report candidly, so I have some experience in sharing the messy details. In my lecturing, speaking and teaching, I have tried to be open about my depression, believing that the millions of people who are shamed into hiding their diagnosis should have some models for self-revelation. Likewise, I hope that others with an early diagnosis of dementia and those who are in relationship to a person with dementia (including medical people) will find my experience helpful.

"Rough, Raw, and a Bit Unedited" by Maia Toll at MaiaToll.com:

Words are small things, and yet they are everything. They are intention and action. They are the signposts that remind us to look within and begin change through small do-able steps.

"My Promise" by Louise Gleeson at Late Night Plays:

It's not about tolerance, my loves. It's about living with compassion and understanding—for your world and its people—before ignorance or fear or hate ruin the view.

Always make the choice to look around the ugly to find the good.

"Why Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" Video Makes Me Uncomfortable… and Kind of Makes Me Angry" at Little Drops:

...my primary problem with this Dove ad is that it's not really challenging the message like it makes us feel like it is. It doesn't really tell us that the definition of beauty is broader than we have been trained to think it is, and it doesn't really tell us that fitting inside that definition isn't the most important thing. It doesn't really push back against the constant objectification of women. All it's really saying is that you're actually not quite as far off from the narrow definition as you might think that you are (if you look like the featured women, I guess).

"The Bluebird Playbook: Watch the Good Dancers and the Bad (No.1)" by Courtenay Bluebird at Bluebird Blvd.:

I’ve failed in competition; and I’ve succeeded in competition in equal amounts. Neither one makes you a stronger artist or a better human being.

Being successful in competition serves only to make you a better competitor.

Competition is not life. It’s just competition.

"Behold the Age of Emotional Hijack" by Lena Semaan at Woman of Experience:

Things need time to settle down and clear. But now we don't have time for that. We have to find culprits, heroes, miracles and peace in the same moment as the event.

"I Wish You Could Have Known Her" by Alexandra at Good Day, Regular People:

I wish you could have known her when she was 30. She was beautiful. She wrote poetry for the newspaper of her country's capital, Bogota, Colombia, a city even then of over 500,000. Her columns penned anonymously, all beginning with the same three words, A Mi Amante. To My Lover.

"Call Me Ducky" by Cenobyte at Centre of the Universe: The Dreaming:

The Nipper has the Best Ideas Ever Invented. He said, last night on the way to rehearsal, "you know what would be cool, would be if they made a Call of Duty™ game that's age-appropriate for kids and they called it Call of Ducky..."

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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Five Star Friday 234th Edition Is Brought to You By Maile Meloy

This week's Five Star Friday is brought to you by the laziness of adjectives, the surfaces of things versus the reality, accepting manhood, a coming out, a plea for inclusion, good truths about early motherhood, the gutting of Canada's ability to differ with its government, prejudice and bigotry, a deeply broken heart crying for justice, and Maile Meloy:

You can’t tip your hand if you don’t know yet what your hand is.

     — Maile Meloy

Happy Friday!

"What Prose Writers Can Steal From Poets" by Matt Debenham at debenblog:

Adjectives, especially, are words that have given up. They are in sweatpants all day. They are on the couch smoking pot while the nouns and verbs go to work.

"My Son Spent the Night In a Cardboard Box" by Matt Chambers at Ethoshift:

The hope is that people think we're ok, so that's how we package ourselves. And, we're brilliant at pulling it off. A quick scroll through Facebook or Twitter will testify to that. Yet, all the while, a quick scroll through Pinterest will remind us at how much better packaging often is than the finished product.

"I Can Finally Say I Am Proud to Be a Man" by Laurence Best at The Good Men Project:

I could hardly breathe as I stared silently at the floor. And then the lump that had been growing in my throat turned into tears, and the tears into choking sobs. Coming to grips with what I really thought of myself was like the floor giving way beneath me.

"My Name is Zooey" by Zooey Parker at Saving Pixels:

We seem to have an inexplicable need to box people up and categorize them. And in the end, we draw lines around ourselves; lines we turn into walls and walls that become our own closets.

"An Open Letter to the Church from My Generation" by Dannika Nash at Faith, Feminism, and Major League Baseball:

We want to stay in your churches, we want to hear about your Jesus, but it's hard to hear about love from a God who doesn't love our gay friends (and we all have gay friends). Help us find love in the church before we look for it outside.

"Being a Mama" by Beth Fletcher at I Should Be Folding Laundry:

Every day, from morning to night, there are people who love you more than they love themselves. Even with your imperfections, your lack of patience, even without makeup, you are so loved.

"Muzzling Scientists Is an Assault On Democracy" by David Suzuki, with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Communications Manager Ian Hanington, at Science Matters | David Suzuki Foundation:

In a truly open and democratic society, ideas, policies and legislation are exposed to scrutiny, debate and criticism. Information is shared freely. Governments support research that makes the country stronger by ensuring its policies are in the best interests of the people. A government that values its citizens more than its industrial backers does not fear information and opposition.

"No, Dude, It's Not Bigotry" by Bon Stewart at Crib Chronicles Theory:

We live in strange times. Everybody gets to have a public opinion and 700 channels to share it on and I for one welcome our new Bedlam overlords.

But there is a strain of discourse rising in the cloud that is starting to permeate a great many of the conversations I happen on. It’s the idea that women critiquing men is oppressive and equates to bigotry.

"Rehtaeh Parsons Was My Daughter" by Glen Canning at GlenCanning.com:

The worst nightmare of my life has just begun. I loved my beautiful baby with all my heart.

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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Five Star Friday's 233rd Edition Is Brought to You By Alison Bechdel

This week's Five Star Friday is brought to you by an attack against fat stereotypes, social generosity, a creative response to negativity, body love, finding home, courage, a cyclical view of history, and Alison Bechdel:


photo credit: fototineke.be

It was a vicious cycle, though. The more gratification we found in our own geniuses, the more isolated we grew.

     — Alison Bechdel, Fun Home

Happy Friday!

"Let's Talk About How Not to Be an Asshole to Your Patients" by Jo at Head Nurse:

If I had my way, everybody would feel comfortable being who they are. Nobody would feel bad about how they look or however it is that they don't conform to whichever ideal is in fashion. People would eat greens and trot around enthusiastically and take their baby aspirin daily and be cheerful about their futures.

"What If I'm the Alpha – Part Two" by Kari Dahlen at The Karianna Spectrum:

The other parents selected my table and the ones next to it. The dad was left alone, especially after his son got up to play with his teammates. Initially, I was a bit smug. After all, I was still angry. The other parents at the gym had heard about the altercation, and I was relieved that I wasn't an outcast.

But then, my heart softened.

"What I Learned Turning My Hate Mail Into Origami" by Rachel Held Evans at RachelHeldEvans.com:

I've been making origami off and on for forty days now, letting my fingers pray out little swans and sailboats and flowers and foxes, and I've learned some things: about reverse folds and crimp folds, about trial and error, about patience, about retracing steps and following directions, about forgiveness, about letting go, about redirecting some of my anxious and self-focused energy into purposeful acts of creativity and healing, about building bridges, about asking for help.

"Body of Evidence" by Tez at Spinning and Weaving:

I've been thinking about the issue of cosmetic surgery and body modification... and am stunned to discover that I now really, really love this old body of mine. On the surface, my body is in bad shape. It is morbidly obese, has crippling osteo arthritis and spondylitis, has needed a hysterectomy, appendectomy, gall bladder removal, numerous operations on deformed feet, fusion of the cervical spine, two hip replacements, carpal tunnel surgery, and has allergic reactions to substances too many to list. What has taken my breath away is the realisation that, in spite of these handicaps, my body has brought me so much joy.

"A Short History of My Lack of Faith" by Keply Pentland at Carpe Whatever:

Here's how I do it: Whenever someone says "God," I add an "o." God becomes Good. I was born without the gene required to believe in God. I have tried and I can't. Good is something I believe in. Good is something that is real. I can see it, I can feel it. I can give it and I can receive it. Good is tangible and I believe in it. So I sit in this meeting house and I pray to Good.

"On Holy Terror, Fear and Trembling" by Jen Lee at Jen Lee Productions:

She said, Do you really think that courage always feels like a cape flapping in the wind on a mountaintop? No. Most of the time it feels like fear and trembling.

"Rez Stories: Grandfather’s Arrest" by Shawn Burns at Backpacking Dad:

On a different view of history, a cyclical one, the future is not uncertain at all. It is coming back around, and causality is built into the circle, not into past events. You don't need to look for causal chains to explain an uncertain future, because the future is known. Truth, on this view, is about what matters, not about what happened. Truth is about what we can make useful, not what we can make a theory from. We don't need theories, on this view, we just need stories.

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.

And because you are a fan of finding good new writing on the internet:

• Subscribe — Subscribe to this website to keep up with us every week.
• Show your pride — Take one of our badges for your website and spread the word.