Louise Gluck

The thing that surprised me was how big the book [of her collected poems] was, because for most of my life, I've felt I wasn't writing. Hitting my head against a wall, raging and raving to my friends because my mind is blank. Or dead. But the book was so large. It was a quite marvelous feeling - that my current sense of failure might not be so reliable.

[Emphasis added.]

Jon Stewart

Watching these channels [Fox News, CNN, MSNBC] all day is incredibly depressing. I live in a constant state of depression. I think of us as turd miners. I put on my helmet, I go and mine turds, hopefully I don’t get turd lung disease.

Original Beans

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Julie Holland

Medical chart reviews consistently show that doctors are more likely to give women psychiatric medications than men, especially women between the ages of 35 and 64. For some women in that age group the symptoms of perimenopause can sound a lot like depression, and tears are common. Crying isn’t just about sadness. When we are scared, or frustrated, when we see injustice, when we are deeply touched by the poignancy of humanity, we cry. And some women cry more easily than others. It doesn’t mean we’re weak or out of control. At higher doses, S.S.R.I.s make it difficult to cry. They can also promote apathy and indifference. Change comes from the discomfort and awareness that something is wrong; we know what’s right only when we feel it. If medicated means complacent, it helps no one.

When we are overmedicated, our emotions become synthetic. For personal growth, for a satisfying marriage and for a more peaceful world, what we need is more empathy, compassion, receptivity, emotionality and vulnerability, not less.

We need to stop labeling our sadness and anxiety as uncomfortable symptoms, and to appreciate them as a healthy, adaptive part of our biology.

(Julie Holland is a psychiatrist in New York and the author of Moody Bitches: The Truth About the Drugs You’re Taking, the Sleep You’re Missing, the Sex You’re Not Having, and What’s Really Making You Crazy.)

--March 1, 2015, New York Times, "Medicating Women's Feelings."

Unknown

Everybody with a womb doesn't have to have a child any more than everybody with vocal cords has to be an opera singer.

-As quoted by Gloria Steinem, Chelsea Lately, 2011

Theodore Roosevelt

The Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It is beyond comparison - beyond description; absolutely unparalleled throughout the wide world. ... Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimit, and loveliness. You cannot improve on it. But what you can do is to keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see.

George Harrison

I Me Mine is the ego problem. There are two 'I's: the little 'i' when people say 'I am this'; and the big 'I' - is duality and ego. There is nothing that isn't part of the complete whole. When the little 'i' merges into the big 'I' then you are really smiling!

--"I Me Mine" was a Beatles song written and performed by Harrison, as well as the title of his 1980 autobiography.

Ruth Rendell

Some say life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Winnie the Pooh

I was going to change my shirt, but I changed my mind instead.

Alan Watts

No one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing is to reach the finale. The point of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the same, I feel, with the greater parts of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them we may forget altogether to live them.

Alan Watts, philosopher, writer, speaker (1915-1973)

Dan Pashman

Everyone loves slow cookers. They're the Willie Nelson of kitchen appliances. 

Paul Jaskunas

I was surprised to learn that love is now considered essential to the employment relationship. Some of us are lucky enough to have lovable jobs, but this strikes me as an extreme standard to apply with respect to most positions.

When I lived in Eastern Europe more than a decade ago, I found that people had a more moderate approach. People did not seem to feel the need to love their job or even talk much about it. You could become well acquainted with someone without finding out what he did for a living. When the subject did come up, it seemed to be beside the point. The real action of life — the singular life of the mind, soul and body — was elsewhere, wrapped up in private pursuits, away from the workplace.

That may have had something to do with the size of the economy there. It’s not easy to be thrilled about work when opportunity is scarce. Admittedly, the dynamism of Western capitalism depends upon people who work with missionary zeal, who refuse to accept that a job is merely a job. It must be something more — a vocation, an adventure, a journey to higher heights.

I often do feel this way about my work, but I’d rather not feel obliged to profess my enthusiasm. I’ll keep my chin up; on a good day I might even whistle. But please don’t ask me to smile if I’m not in the mood.

--"The Tyranny of the Forced Smile," New York Times, February 14, 2015.

Chocolate Streusel Poundcake

In this stunning dessert, a moist and soft chocolate poundcake is topped on two sides — bottom and top — with crunchy, slightly salty streusel flecked with chocolate chips. The combination of cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate gives this cake a particularly rich flavor. You can make it up to 3 days ahead. Store it at room temperature, well wrapped in foil. Then serve it topped with ice cream or whipped cream and fresh berries, or toasted and buttered, or plain as it is. It also freezes well for up to 3 months.

Featured in "The Bittersweet Kiss of Chocolate," by Melissa Clarke. New York Times, February 6, 2015

Mindy Kaling

I have a personality defect where I sort of refuse to see myself as an underdog. It has gotten me into a lot of trouble but it is also the reason for my success. I am often reminded of it when people ask me why I'm confident… Why wouldn't I be? It's because my parents raised me with the entitlement of a tall, blond, white man. That's the way to do it: Picture yourself as Armie Hammer on the outside.

Alan Lomax

We now have cultural machines so powerful that one singer can reach everybody in the world, and make all the other singers feel inferior because they're not like him. Once that gets started, he gets backed by so much cash and so much power that he becomes a monstrous invader from outer space, crushing the life out of all the other human possibilities. My life has been devoted to opposing that tendency.