~ a papier-maché sun i made; yes, green ~

8:30 a.m.
Started reading Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook last night after getting into bed. The author’s preface alone has got me excited about getting into the meat of the book.

“Nothing is personal, in the sense that it is uniquely one’s own. Writing about oneself, one is writing about others, since your problems, pains, pleasures, emotions — and your extraordinary and remarkable ideas — can’t be yours alone.”

“The other thing taught from the start is to distrust one’s own judgement. Children are taught submission to authority, how to search for other people’s opinions and decisions, and how to quote and comply.”

“What women will say to other women, grumbling in their kitchens and complaining and gossiping, or what they make clear in their masochism, is often the last thing they will say aloud — a man may overhear. Women are the cowards they are because they have been semi-slaves for so long. The number of women prepared to stand up for what they really think, feel, experience with a man they are in love with is still small. Most women will still run like little dogs with stones thrown at them when a man says: You are unfeminine, aggressive, you are unmanning me.
It is my belief that any woman who marries, or takes seriously in any way at all, a man who uses this threat, deserves everything she gets.”

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New leaves have popped out, kelly green, and yesterday’s rain has lushed up the grass. There are still stupendously large flocks of geese passing over. From two miles away you see them flying across and a mile beyond a road, and after you’ve passed it and gone another two miles, they are still coming from as far away as the eye can see. Astounding numbers.

And my sweetie should be home tonight!