"And yet these two could not bear to live their lives any longer."

“Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear which is inherent in the human condition,” wrote Graham Greene in his second autobiography, Ways of Escape.

*
Spade created what many women would consider the ideal way of living. Her world was filled with creativity, beauty, family and meaningful work. Having brought into being a fashion line alongside her husband, she sold it and was able to take years off to raise her daughter. She had a successful, creative, family-centric business that gave her time to be a parent. After she died, so many women spoke of how she made them feel seen; how her fun, quirky feminine handbags and style made them realize they were not alone.

Bourdain managed to be masculine without being swaggeringly macho. He was rugged and adventurous and knew how to use big knives, but he had his own literary imprint, Ecco books. Tall and handsome, he got to travel to exotic locales constantly and won awards, fame and wealth. And he ate so well. He was also seen as a rare male hero in the #MeToo movement, for championing Asia Argento’s claims against Harvey Weinstein and for siding with women over fellow chefs. What more could a person want?

*
It’s not much of a solace, but perhaps one thing these deaths could remind us of is the uselessness of envy. As with many of the behaviors once considered vices — greed, sloth, lust — envy reflects a miscalculation in the relative worth of things. When we look at lives like Spade’s and Bourdain’s, it can make our own feel wanting. We haven’t started our own companies, or turned our work experience into a book. They’re happier and more fulfilled, because we are not as hardworking or talented as they are. Their lives look better than ours, therefore they must be better people than we are.

@time.com/5305955/anthony-bourdain-kate-spade-death-envy

monday mourning sounds

"Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it."

karma police

chegar no momento oportuno ao local certo
sendo o intruso que restaura o equilíbrio,
ser o silêncio que quebra o ruído

— da Ana, que escreve de dentro para fora *

 [modos-de-olhar.blogspot.com]

 

secção livros de auto-ajuda

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?
— George Carlin

so, keep it simple stupid

Javier Royo

pode ser visto como ter muita sorte, isto de não precisar que aconteça algo de especial para me ditar o humor. na realidade pode ser um inferno. da realidade não sei bem o que ando a fazer. a família anda com um nó na garganta, esperando heroicamente que este não expluda. a minha sobrinha ainda na sua luta (às vezes encosta-me a um canto com a força que tem demonstrado), as minha filhas em demasiada tensão (que ainda não têm maturidade para gerir e soltam-na como podem. com mais trinta anos do que elas, às vezes, faço o mesmo... ), o meu pai a pouco tempo de fazer uma cirurgia delicada e a envelhecer brutalmente a cada dia que passa (fiz as pazes com ele e preciso que esteja por cá mais um tempito).

escrevi meia dúzia de linhas (mentira, na verdade foram quilómetros de palavras) e volto onde me sinto melhor: aquele cantinho all alone, o meu safe room onde ninguém pode entrar. não quero. fora dele está tudo demasiado agitado.

And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.
— Haruki Murakami

(certo, mas era escusado terem decapitado as árvores onde habitualmente me abrigo)

fronteiras

"(..) A primeira tendência do cosmopolita é rejeitar as fronteiras. Ler, é, por definição, um acto de cosmopolitismo. Quero ser outro quando leio. Anseio por essa metamorfose - ser outras personagens, outros lugares, outros sentimentos. Eis uns dos paradoxos admiráveis da literatura: sou mais eu sendo outro. (..) Vivemos num mundo repleto de fronteira, por boas e más razões. Aquelas que vemos e as invisíveis. Estão por todo o lado. Umas queremos transpor, outras que nos preservam e conferem identidade."
— Carlos Vaz Marques