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Feel free to thank me for not posting the YouTube video of Manic Monday, Shout It Out Monday or Food For Thought Friday or just a random quote? Who the hell knows
I am still reading Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit and is it ever wonderful! Y’all have to read it for yourselves, truly. In the meantime though, it got me thinking about maybe having a semi-regular, with option to become regular, feature on Mondays to post a quote (or two) from recent reading that might be a bit of food for thought. It’s a not so sneaky way of sharing quotes that I can’t always fit in when I do a whole post about a book. Or maybe it’s just a tricksy way to be lazy on Mondays. You can take your pick on that one.
At first I thought I’d call it “Manic Monday” and then I had the unfortunate experience of having the Bangles song running through my head all afternoon. Since that is a 1980s earworm I don’t wish to inflict on anyone I went in search of an alternative. No appropriate alliterations or useful Monday songs came to mind. I did, however, land on Ray Charles and who doesn’t like Ray Charles? On his album Genius and Friends he has a song I love called “Shout” that never fails to lift my spirits:
Who couldn’t use a little boost on Mondays? Plus, “Shout it out Mondays” while not having an alliterative zing to it, does work pretty well for sharing a quote. Of course, now I think more about it, this could be a roaming kind of day, one you never know when it might show up – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – you get the idea. And now it has just come to me that “Food For Thought Friday” would be a great day with alliterative zing. Jiminy Cricket, I really do have Monday Brain today and not just any Monday Brain but Looking Forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday Monday Brain. I’m a mess!
Shout It Out Monday/Food For Thought Friday (early), whatever this is today and whether or not this quote day idea ever pops up again, I have babbled enough. Here’s Rebecca Solnit from Hope in the Dark for you:
To hope is to gamble. It’s to bet on the future, on your deisres, on the possibility that an open heart and uncertainty is better than gloom and safety. To hope is dangerous, and yet it is the opposite of fear, for to live is to risk. I say all this because hope is not like a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. I say it because hope is an ax you break down doors with in an emergency; because hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth’s treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal. Hope just means another world might be possible, not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action; action is impossible without hope.
I always appreciate Rebecca Solnit, but this particular quotation I hadn’t read. And it’s perfect for today. Thank you for sharing it. Now I need to get the book.
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Melanie, glad you liked the quote! This particular book is highly quotable. If you read it I hope you enjoy it!
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Love it – as a generally hopeful or optimistic person myself this speaks to me.
Love your reasoning for Shout it out day. I have two irregular series for this sort of purpose – Delicious descriptions (nicely alliterative) and My favourite quotes. The first one is mainly to share extra quotes or ideas from a recent review, something that as you say, didn’t quite fit into the review. I’ve done quite a few of these now. The second one was just to share favourite quotes, but I’ve only done a couple of them. I was only thinking about it the other day.
Anyhow, whatever you decide to call it or when you decide to do it, go for it …
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whipseringgums, heh I was thinking about your Delicious Descriptions! I figured since you did it I could too. First I thought, oh I’ll call it Monday Musings but you’ve got that one taken already 😀 I tried keeping a Tumblr quote blog for a while but it just didn’t work out — too many things in too many places. So we’ll see how or if this goes anywhere!
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Yes, I have a quotes word .doc, but I stopped adding to it when I started blogging and I’m sorry about that.
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I have a commonplace book but writing quotes in it has been rather spotty ever since I started blogging too. I am sorry about it as well but somehow not sorry enough to do much about it.
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Haha 😂 Stefanie, this made me laugh. I have such a book too, though it’s from my teens and twenties. I still look at it every now and then.
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I love the thought of a Shout it Out Monday or even Food for Thought Friday and I love your brain working on a Thankgiving pre-holiday mode…gave me some laughs that I desperately needed! I love the quote especially since I am in a point in my life where I squashing hope because I think I know what lies at the end of the tunnel and that scares. Needless to say I am in a moppy/anxious place! P.S. I love Manic Monday by Bangles…I know its a cliche and I heard it growing up in the mid -90s so it was refreshing among all the gangsta rap variety!!
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In UK the Monday song would probably be New Order’s 1983 hit Blue Monday which is just all too appropriate given recent events! I like the concept of Shout It Out Monday. That is a marvellous quotation from Rebecca Solnit. What about a Hug the Hope day!
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Ian, yes, New Order! I briefly considered them but I was going for something a little less…blue 🙂 Hug the Hope Day is awesome! I should have emailed you first to as for a suggestion! Glad you like the Solnit quote, she is very quotable.
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love the hug the hope day!!
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cirtnecce, glad you liked the quote! And I am glad my pre-holiday brain gave you some laughs. I am not as anxious as I was because I took Solnit to heart and have been doing a few things instead of sitting on the sofa with my lottery ticket 🙂 I must say it really has helped! We’ll see how the quote thing works out. Perhaps another Solnit quote is in the offing next week! Manic Monday is a pretty decent song, I’d sing along whenever it came on the radio!
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Add me to the list of people who love this idea! (Though geez, thanks a lot for the whole Bangles ear-worm thing…) I will enjoy checking out your shout-outs.
I have a Tumblr too that I intend to use this way but rarely do. I feel as if I have never quite got the hang of Tumblr.
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Rohan, thanks! And I hope you enjoyed that earworm! 🙂 I was really good about Tumblr for for a few months and then it just went all to pieces. Too much to keep track of!
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What a brilliant quote – Hope in the Dark is now firmly on my Christmas list. Very much look forward to Shout It Out Monday, too…I love a virtual commonplace book!
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widget85, glad you like the quote. I hope Santa brings you the book. I think you will really like it!
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I certainly needed that quote today, and I hope this feature is here to stay — I love it!
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Jenny, glad the quote came at a good time! And look for more quotes in the future from Solnit and others!
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Mamas and Papas – Monday Monday? Doesn’t say much as a title but it’s a nice earworm 🙂 I like Hug the Hope! I’m looking forward to hearing about your thanksgiving for some vegan-inspiration from you and Bookman.
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Maggie, I thought of that one but it isn’t a very upbeat song. I like Hug the Hope too. Ian was very clever with that one. Thanksgiving at my house is the same thing every year: enchiladas, refried beans and rice, and pumpkin pie. Winter Solstice on the other hand, I’ve got to get to work on the menu for that! 🙂
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Hope calls for action! I love this! If there was ever a time for action, no matter how small, it is NOW. Cumulatively we can accomplish a lot.
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Laila, yes and yes and yes! 🙂
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What a wonderful quote! I HAVE to read her books. Your Shout it out Monday is a great idea.
I saw a really brilliant quote by Sartre on Twitter somewhere, about how anti-Semites pretend to be frivolous and un-serious because they don’t care about words though they know their opponents do and they aim to discredit them by just giving ridiculous arguments: they don’t aim to persuade you but to intimidate you. It completely reflects how many so-called provocoteurs operate. I wish I could find it again.
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Glad you like the quote Helen! Solnit is really good. I’ve read a couple of her books and liked them all. Oh that Sartre quote sounds so apropos to all of the nationalist movements right now. And Trump even said in one of the debates (the second I think) that words don’t matter! Scary!
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I love this idea – and love the passage you’ve shared. Hope in the Dark is on deck in my December reading list, and I’m glad to hear it’s as wonderful as it sounds!
I used to do a feature called “Words to Live By” which had a similar intent, but I think I picked out too lofty of a title… it seemed to limit me to deeply profound quotes about life in general, and I think the feature would have worked better with less constraint.
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Thanks Emily! Glad you liked the passage. You are really going to like Hope in the Dark!
I think “Words to Live By” needs to be revived under a different title 🙂
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I predict I shall be shouting it out in the future! I like your idea (though Tuesdays are technically my sharing day). You can never share enough in my opinion. Wonderful quote–a different way of thinking about hope–will have to keep that in mind!
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Thank Danielle! I really like Solnit’s perspective on this and she has authority since she has been involved in protests and various actions for a very long time.
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Too late. Now I’ve got that Bangles song running through my head. Loved the quote, printing it out to paste in my Bullet Journal. Love your blog!!
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