A Song That Launched A Movement
On this day in 1939, Billie Holiday recorded Strange Fruit, which was written and originally performed by a Jewish schoolteacher in the Bronx, after seeing a disturbing photograph of a lynching. Holiday’s version had such impact that it eventually became an organizing tool, and the anthem for the anti-lynching movement in the U.S. Read the lyrics:
Spiritual Break
I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don’t paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I’m telling you is
Yes Yes Yes
God Says Yes To Me by Kaylin Haught from The Palm of Your Hand
Image: Nail Police by John Wesley
Not “Quite” What I Was Planning
This image was a proposed design by Leo Nickolls for a book published by Harper Press. I couldn’t resist playing the game. I’ve attached a few phrases for my unexpected life turns, and hope you’ll add yours to the list:
Preferring nonstick cookware to stainless steel
Reading Twitter before opening NY Times
Living without mate in middle age
Becoming slavish dog and cat owner
Finding real community at neighborhood synagogue
Can Lipstick Make You Skinny (and Younger)?
For the latest beauty craze, look to the chemical “resveratrol” found in red wine and in the skin of grapes. Researchers are exploring whether it’s a component of why French women don’t get fat and have relatively little heart disease, despite eating high fat diets. And there’s conjecture that resveratrol might be absorbed through the skin. So now in our local beauty emporiums, we can find lipsticks and skin creams infused with this potentially life-extending chemical. Pucker up.
Illustration by Petra Börner
Do I Look Fat In These Pants?
On the plus (and perhaps minus) side of being single is not having to contend with an emotional mirror right nearby. I understand what a growth opportunity that can be. But sometimes it’s a crutch. When we look in the real mirror, there is no one to answer back how we look in our pants. We have to assume it’s good enough, and get on with the day.
The Ultimate Flourless Chocolate Cake
A year ago, I made this recipe for the first time, after being invited to a Passover seder. The host was not a close friend, and I felt pressure to please her with a delicious dessert. I turned to my most reliable baking book, from Cooks Illustrated. And the results were fantastic. As there’s no flour in the recipe, it’s a perfect Passover cake (if you’re in need of such a thing). But it’s scrumptuous for any festive meal. With only a few ingredients, it’s easy, too!
Image: Chocolate Mouth, 2000, Irving Penn
Does Promiscuity Make You Single?
In a Hollywood movie to be released this fall, the hard-partying female lead gets nervous after reading in a magazine that women who’ve had sex with more than 20 men, will never get married.
So that explains it.
A Sign of Hope
A few hours ago, I saw a 91-year-old woman coming out of my Therapist’s office. I found it so inspiring, that even at her advanced age, she’d still want to work on finding wholeness.
Image via Royal Art Lodge (my new favorite source for art).
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FIRST PERSON SINGULAR is a guide to surviving, thriving and sometimes just getting through a single day. Created by Wendy Braitman (more…)
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