btw, i reccomend you read this aricle (Youve Been Traumatized Into Hating Reading, And It Makes You Easier To Oppress) first and foremost. it explains why i even care to incentivize you to care about knowledge. as many adults in this world may tell you, everything is work. work is everything... this is true, but its terrible motivation. the dull monotony of school, chores, emotions, family, rinse, repeat, is god damn infuriating. WHY! do i have to do this shit. WHY! should i fucking care. Cant you see i have my own problems! and i am trapped! in this fuck ass house! miserable! and depressed!..... all very fair concerns. doing the chores is fucking hard, for everyone. and now i want you to read a book? what the fuck is wrong with me...... also fair. and so. i do ask you. why do we do chores, then? why should we care? why are you depressed? if this world and system and house sucks total balls, what world is worth living in?.... the thard answer is that all of that information is stored in three places: books, the world, and your heart. the good thing, however, is that all of that information is stored in three places: books, the world, and your heart. now, right now youre a kid. and legally youre pretty limited in terms of the world. but books (or information in general) is all right there on the internet (and i will get you digital copies of books for you at your request). and the heart will never leave you, even if you spend a long time ignoring it.
so, what may a book tell me, anyway? articles and videos give you knowledge, and ive always loathed fiction. i wanted more facts, more ideas, more thoughts.... and then i went, so, what do i do with all of this info? how do i change? what does change look like? how do i inspire others to change? and someone made a good point: fiction. someone has written a book before dealing with all of the things out there that i want to see with my own eyes. it contains so much possibility. and wiht that, ive started to read more. if youre a miserable teenager, catcher in the rye was written for you to feel less alone. to see a boy run away and fuck up. be imperfect. annoying. and still, try his best and change. only one drop of his whole life. but you now have your life, and his life within you. your perspective, and his, bouncing off of eachtoher. and for that, even if youre stuck somewhere for a long time, your world has expanded. even if you dont commit to a book from start to finsih, there have been times in my life that i have open a book rihgt in the middle, and in it i have seen the characters facing a problem strikingly similar to mine, and it helps me understand what to do in my own life better.... but if you never read, never explore, never listen to your heart and understand that your own life is a story you can change and write, then your world is the only one you will ever live in. and personally, im fucking sick of this world, and i spend all day trying to write a new one. i came back to salem not exactly to fix things, but rather, to share my world in hopes that the new perspective can allow for change.
youll see i have also put in self reflection options in here.... the heart uses its information and reacts to the world around it. thus the three things are all a triangle. you can be brilliant and well versed and have lived a full life. but without listening to the heart and the body, youll be neurotic, and will not use your tools well. intelligence can be used to hide insecurity and pain, and people will eventually see past your words. but all heart and no intellignece nor exploration can breed ignorance and bigotry (see: men who never read about misogyny and thus dont understand it and assume the way they are is normal even though it hurts the women around them and even glancing at a book on the topic would wildly improve thier lives).. and thus, i ask of you to explore yourself as well. to use knowledge to help yourself. to befriend yourself and the world, all at your own pace. and in that sense, if learning is your main hobby, life is rather easy. you just get up, and experiment. explore. listen. breathe. rest. and love. thats kinda all there is to this being alive thing. just one big story mixing with other stories. but again, every fiction book is about just that.
steal like an artist is a book that really settled many anxieties in me about making, copying, and reproducing art. explains better the nuance of what is theft, and what is normal artist behaviour. gives the reader a more mature understanding of what is "being a copycat" and what is "learning from those around you"... dont re-invent the wheel, just steal like an artist!
marie was famous for her "spark joy" show. ive never seen the show, but i did read the book. marie sparked some joy in me that in this world, theres a freak for every niche, and marie is the one person on this planet who was BORN to solve the puzzle of tidying.
this video essay by a lovely queen with a big mission is one of my faves. we all shop compulsively, and its a problem. but how do we get ourselves to stop? why should we care? how bad is the slave labor anyway? will this make my appreciation of the items and life i DO already have deeper?