Janis Ian:

Writing, at its best, is a naked profession.

Society's Child, p. 253

Anne Lamott:

When someone shares with you a horrible truth -- about the marriage that seemed fine, or work that seemed valuable, or a mind that turned out to be weaker than you thought -- you say, "Thank you for the openness between us -- that's the greatest gift."

Help, Thanks, Wow, p. 51

Rachel Held Evans:

Frustrated by the mixed messages I'd received throughout the years about what it means to practice "biblical womanhood," I committed a year of my life to examining (and often practicing) all of the Bible's teachings about womanhood -- no picking and choosing ... I studied all of these passages in their contexts, often to discover they might not mean what I'd always been told they mean.  For example, Proverbs 31 is regarded by Hebrew scholars to be a poem that celebrates what a woman has already accomplished, not one that dictates a domestic to-do list likely to intimidate the domestically challenged among us.  I learned that nearly all of the Bible's instructions regarding female modesty have to do with excessive wealth, not sexuality.  I learned, too, that marriage and motherhood are far from the only female vocations celebrated by Jesus and the Apostle Paul. 
 
"Slant"

Janis Ian:

I don't really care about arriving.  I care about what happens on the path I take to get there.

Society's Child, p. 222

Austin Kleon:

None of (my publishing success) would have happened if I'd only stuck to posting work that I thought was serious, or "good."

"Show Your Work! My Creative Mornings Talk"

Frank Schaeffer:

The cure for hubris (Protestant or otherwise) is, I think, to experience God through failure, beauty, tragedy, community, and love.

Patience With God, p. 129

Rita Mae Brown:

Evil is born in loneliness and despair.  One of the cruelest punishments for a human being is to be separated from other human beings -- or to be told s/he is a lesser human being.

Rita Will, p. 471

Pierre Reverdy:

There is no love; there are only proofs of love.

Anne Lamott:

Through the most ordinary things, books, for instance, or a postcard, or eyes or hands, life is transformed.

Help, Thanks, Wow, p. 47

Rachel Held Evans:

I've decided to quit apologizing for my questions.  It's not enough for me to maintain my intellectual integrity as a Christian; I also want to maintain my emotional integrity as a Christian.  And I don't need answers to all of my questions to do that.  I need only the courage to be honest about my questions and doubts, and the patience to keep exploring and trusting in spite of them.

"The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart"

Janis Ian:

I'd had very few female role models; there was no woman to pattern myself after as a professional.  When I was coming up, women didn't lead the band, let alone play lead or write all their own material ... Stella (Adler) changed all that.  She gave me a language for what I'd only felt in my heart.  She set me free, telling me it was not only good to be an artist, it was noble.  It was necessary.  It brought order out of chaos, it served the teeming masses.  It made the world tolerable. 

Society's Child, p. 219

Austin Kleon:

Part of the reason I love the internet so much is that I can put stuff up and if it sucks, nobody will say anything, but if it's good, I'll know, because somebody will tell me.

"Show Your Work! My Creative Mornings Talk"

Amy to perform at Women's Work

Amy will be presenting some of her poetry today at Nashville's seventh annual Women's Work festival. Come and enjoy an afternoon of original poetry and spoken word presented by wonderful women wordsmiths!

Sunday, May 12th, at 2:30 p.m.
Z. Alexander Looby Theater
Looby Branch Library
2301 Rosa L. Parks Blvd.
Nashville, TN
$5

For more information, or to purchase tickets in advance, please visit the Tennessee Women's Theater Project.

Daniel Dennett:

I, for one, fear that if we don't subject religion to ... scrutiny now, and work together for whatever revisions and reforms are called for, we will pass on the legacy of ever more toxic forms of religion to our descendants.

Samuel Johnson:

It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery, and as much happiness as possible.

Anne Lamott:

The words "wow" and "awe" are the same height and width, all w's and short vowels.  They could dance together.

Help, Thanks, Wow, p. 84

Rachel Held Evans:

Perhaps in reaction to the "scandal of the evangelical mind," evangelicalism of late has developed a general distrust of emotion when it comes to theology.  So long as an idea seems logical, so long as it fits consistently with the favored theological paradigm, it seems to matter not whether it is morally reprehensible at an intuitive level.  I suspect this is why the new breed of rigid Calvinism that follows the "five points" to their most logical conclusion, without regard to the moral implications of them, has flourished in the past twenty years.

"The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart"

Gretchen Rubin:

Aristotle declared happiness to be the summum bonum, the chief good; people desire other things, such as power or wealth or losing ten pounds, because they believe they will lead to happiness, but their real goal is happiness.

The Happiness Project, p.6

Janis Ian:

Like me, my favorite singers had one thing in common -- none of them were born with beautiful voices.  They'd had to make themselves great singers.  In fact, I've often wondered whether that's why most people who are born with beautiful voices are not, by and large, extraordinary singers.  They may become great vocalists, for sure.  They may sound pretty,  But the grit, the steel, the nuances that make for great interpretation...well, they're usually not found in pretty voices.  They're found in people like Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf, Ella Fitzgerald.

Society's Child, p. 170

Frank Schaeffer:

I do still avow some form of Christianity in spite of my doubts, the attack on faith by the New Atheists, and the "certainties" of the religious fundamentalists who claim their way is the only truth, which is another way to attack faith because it drives people away from experiencing God.

Patience With God, p. xv

Rita Mae Brown:

What does it say about a community if it rewards lying and punishes the truth?  This is the moral conundrum each gay person must face.  The time has come for all of us to face it.

Rita Will, p. 206

Colette:

What a wonderful life I've had!  I only wish I'd realized it sooner.

Anne Lamott:

Awe is why we are here.

Help, Thanks, Wow, p. 83

Rachel Held Evans:

For what makes the Church any different from a cult if it demands we sacrifice our conscience in exchange for unquestioned allegiance to authority?  What sort of God would call himself love and then ask that I betray everything I know in my bones to be love in order to worship him?  Did following Jesus mean becoming some shadow of myself, drained of empathy and compassion and revulsion to injustice?

"The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart"