I remember a poignant scene from the movie What’s Love Got to Do With It? where Tina Turner is divorcing Ike Turner and she’s willing to give up everything as long as she gets to keep her name. œAll I want is my name, she said proudly. Her name meant more to her than all her riches or her royalties. I sat there watching this scene thinking would I do that? Would I give up everything for my name?
What’s in a Name?
2 CommentsI know I can’t stop using the office bathroom. I don’t have the ability to hold it like some of my more skillful friends. The only thing I can do is to treat it like an expedition to an uncivilized country and to do what all explorers have learned to do: expect the unexpected.
Toilet Humor
3 CommentsLife and Death: The Vietnamese Way
79 CommentsA Weiner Circle from This American Life
The Weiner Circle
0 CommentsIllustrated segment of This American Life with Chris Ware
Chris Ware, This American Life
0 CommentsTobias Wolff
0 CommentsThe title of his book, at first blush, suggests an intimate discourse in the retrieval of his memories but as the book unfolds, the main focus turns out to be more about cultural identity and alienation.
Hunger of Memory
2 CommentsI returned back to my seat and remembered the last time I wore this scarf, two lesbian friends said the same thing. I didn’t believe them either. It’s a scarf for Pete’s sake. Scarves don’t make you gay. Come to find out scarves don’t make you gay “ they just make you look gay.
Fashion Statement
4 CommentsThe main prevailing thought I am left with after reading Wolff’s book is that good writing doesn’t have to be complicated and convoluted. Good writing is beautiful constructed sentences simply organized to give the reader a clear view of the message the writer is trying to convey.
This Boy’s Life
2 CommentsThere are two statements Woiwode writes that encapsulate the hurdles of a young writer, œbecause the search for words in a beginning writer is as elusive as the search for physical expression (p.209) and œ What a writer often needs, and especially a beginner, is an answer to technical difficulties. (p.259) Woiwode definitely got an amen from me as I read those passages.