Missives From Troy

I am Helen Doremus. I write. I sing. I create things. I do kung fu. I wear a hat. I occasionally curse. I like pie. When I make a thing that's meant to amuse, it comes here to live.

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hungrylikethewolfie: I walk into a room, and for this industry, I’m impossibly tall. When they find it hard to pair you up with the opposite sex, then what’s left for a woman? Either you’re the ball-buster or the not-so-attractive girlfriend standing by the lead. I mean, traditionally not so attractive. Because you have your starlets and then you have their best friends who are these character actresses. When you fall within the cracks, you thank God for sci-fi, because they’ll give you a gun, and they’ll say, ‘Go over there and conquer that world. You kick some ass, girl!’ Gina Torres for ANY AND EVERY FUCKING ROLE SHE WANTS

hungrylikethewolfie:

I walk into a room, and for this industry, I’m impossibly tall. When they find it hard to pair you up with the opposite sex, then what’s left for a woman? Either you’re the ball-buster or the not-so-attractive girlfriend standing by the lead. I mean, traditionally not so attractive. Because you have your starlets and then you have their best friends who are these character actresses. When you fall within the cracks, you thank God for sci-fi, because they’ll give you a gun, and they’ll say, ‘Go over there and conquer that world. You kick some ass, girl!’

Gina Torres for ANY AND EVERY FUCKING ROLE SHE WANTS

(via sideshow-bib)

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Ten Things: Things People Should Stop Saying To Other People

In light of a couple of recent conversations and just because it’s worth mentioning in general, a few things that are hardly ever really situationally appropriate. And if you are questioning whether one of these might be, it’s most definitely not.

  1. “Your observed, stated or potential body image issue is invalid because here’s what I have to deal with.”
  2. In the event of a localized tragedy: “Aren’t you glad you don’t live there?”
  3. Anything, EVER, about a woman’s decision not to or perceived inability to have children. Similarly, ever implying or explicitly stating that a significant age gap between children means one of the children is a “mistake.”
  4. “Something traumatic happened to you? Well, let me tell you about something much worse than happened to someone I know and ignore your issue entirely.”
  5. “You have made a dietary or health decision that makes me uncomfortable. Let me rib and cajole you ceaselessly to give up this lifestyle change for my sake.”
  6. “You have a life that checks off a certain number of boxes to establish it as being ‘good’ relative to that of someone in less comfortable conditions. Why do you have any right to be sad?”
  7. “Why don’t you have the same last name as each other?” Any variant. (Parent-child, Husband-wife, etc.)
  8. Anything, EVER, that implies a victim of sexual abuse, assault, or heinous bodily crimes “deserved” the violation of their person. If “don’t buy such nice things” isn’t an appropriate response to a theft, “don’t look attractive, be friendly, or commute through a specific location” isn’t an appropriate response to assault. No one is EVER “asking for” the disregard of their human rights, loss of their agency & safety, or subjugation of their ability to sexual choice.
  9. Any possible variant on the idea that the less fortunate are inherently morally inferior to others who are better off.
  10. “I’m not/I don’t mean to be racist/sexist/whatever, but…” When you make a judgment call about an entire group of people, you don’t get a pass on being labelled a bigot just because you think you’re good people. 

And one for the road:

  1. From a stranger or acquaintance: “SMILE!”
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dallasmorningnews: #okwx #prayforoklahoma

dallasmorningnews:

#okwx #prayforoklahoma

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Sunday Soundtrack: The Airborne Toxic Event — This Is London

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There are millennial entrepreneurs everywhere, from Perry in Silicon Valley to StirList creator Amber Pankonin in Omaha, Neb. and coffee shop owner Byron Knight in Jackson, Miss. But that’s not the only way we wield our influence. There are also community organizers like Nelini Stamp, 25, who advocates for working families in New York. There are fast food workers like 20-year-old Jevon Walker, who walked out of his job to demand $15 an hour just yesterday in Milwaukee, Wisc. There are countless twentysomethings who are working two jobs and pursuing their passion projects on the side. There are hordes of young people who work for Senators, and who organized and canvassed for the 2008 and 2012 elections and continue to be involved politically. None of these millennials seem to be filling their days taking selfies in their parents’ basement.
I name-check mad amounts of my favorite Millennials in this piece for TODAY.com. (via minimumragers)
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dallasmorningnews: Staff photographer Vernon Bryant found this blown-out Dairy Queen sign in Ennis, Texas, a casualty of last night’s storms in that town about 30 miles southeast of Dallas. • Follow news coverage of the deadly tornadoes in Granbury and the widespread storms across North Texas, and view more photos of the damage.

dallasmorningnews:

Staff photographer Vernon Bryant found this blown-out Dairy Queen sign in Ennis, Texas, a casualty of last night’s storms in that town about 30 miles southeast of Dallas.

• Follow news coverage of the deadly tornadoes in Granbury and the widespread storms across North Texas, and view more photos of the damage.

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cracked: Doctors still won’t replace your hands with robotic lobster claws. Even if you ask real nice. But regrowing teeth is a nice start. 5 Unbelievable New Ways Science Can Modify the Human Body #4. Regrow Your Teeth [T]here are not one, but two teams who’ve set their sights on taking down the denture industry by regrowing your very own teeth right inside your very own mouth-hole. First, there’s a team from the University of Alberta in Canada (where hockey-related tooth loss strikes virtually every male before age 15) who say they’ve managed to regrow broken teeth by using ultrasound emitters. Seriously, they just point sound waves at your teeth and they grow back. The procedure worked so well on rabbits that the scientists figured, screw it, why not scale up the difficulty and try it out on an animal whose entire diet isn’t just cabbage and water? So they tested a variant of their ultrasound method on humans and found that it worked, even when the root itself was damaged. Read More Bring on the tooth regrowth!

cracked:

Doctors still won’t replace your hands with robotic lobster claws. Even if you ask real nice. But regrowing teeth is a nice start.

5 Unbelievable New Ways Science Can Modify the Human Body

#4. Regrow Your Teeth

[T]here are not one, but two teams who’ve set their sights on taking down the denture industry by regrowing your very own teeth right inside your very own mouth-hole.

First, there’s a team from the University of Alberta in Canada (where hockey-related tooth loss strikes virtually every male before age 15) who say they’ve managed to regrow broken teeth by using ultrasound emitters. Seriously, they just point sound waves at your teeth and they grow back. The procedure worked so well on rabbits that the scientists figured, screw it, why not scale up the difficulty and try it out on an animal whose entire diet isn’t just cabbage and water? So they tested a variant of their ultrasound method on humans and found that it worked, even when the root itself was damaged.

Read More

Bring on the tooth regrowth!

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Emily Blunt in Talks to Join Disney’s ‘Into the Woods’ | Variety →
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My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
Mark Twain
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amandaonwriting: 15 Writers - The Best Writing Advice They Received Alice Kahn: The best writing advice I’ve ever heard: Don’t write like you went to college. Andrei Codrescu: Best advice I ever got was from the Romanian poet Nichita Stanescu, who told me in Bucharest, before I emigrated: ‘Learn English. French is dead.’ Christopher Buckley: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was from William Zinsser: ‘Be grateful for every word you can cut.’ Cynthia Ozick: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received is: Write with authority. David Guterson: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received is to take it seriously, because to do it well is all-consuming. George Plimpton: I think the best advice on writing I’ve received was from John Steinbeck, who suggested that one way to get around writer’s block (which I was suffering hideously at the time) was to pretend to be writing to an aunt, or a girlfriend. I did this, writing to an actress friend I knew, Jean Seberg. The editors of Harpers forgot to take off the salutation and that’s how the article begins in the magazine: Dear Jean…. James Atlas: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was from Dwight Macdonald: ‘Everything about the same subject in the same place.’ Margaret Carlson: Best writing advice I’ve ever received: Sell everything three times. Nick Tosches: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was given to me, like so much else, by Hubert Selby, Jr.: to learn and to know that writing is not an act of the self, except perhaps as exorcism; that, in writing what is worth being written, one serves, as vessel and voice, a power greater than vessel and voice. Patsy Garlan: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received is: Don’t answer the phone. Peter Mayle: Best advice on writing I’ve ever received: Finish. Richard Ford: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received: ‘Don’t have children.’ I gave it to myself. Robert Lipsyte: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was, ‘Rewrite it!’ A lot of editors said that. They were all right. Writing is really rewriting—making the story better, clearer, truer. Russell Banks: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was probably something Ted Solotaroff told me years ago when he was my editor. Going over a manuscript line by line again and again he kept reminding me, ‘Remember, this is your book, not my book. You’re the one who’s going to have to live with it the rest of your life. I might publish 30 or 40 books this year, you’re only going to publish one, and probably the only one you’re going to publish in two or three years.’ Whitney Balliett: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received is, ‘Knock ‘em dead with that lead sentence.’ From Writers Write

amandaonwriting:

15 Writers - The Best Writing Advice They Received

  1. Alice Kahn: The best writing advice I’ve ever heard: Don’t write like you went to college.
  2. Andrei Codrescu: Best advice I ever got was from the Romanian poet Nichita Stanescu, who told me in Bucharest, before I emigrated: ‘Learn English. French is dead.’
  3. Christopher Buckley: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was from William Zinsser: ‘Be grateful for every word you can cut.’
  4. Cynthia Ozick: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received is: Write with authority.
  5. David Guterson: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received is to take it seriously, because to do it well is all-consuming.
  6. George Plimpton: I think the best advice on writing I’ve received was from John Steinbeck, who suggested that one way to get around writer’s block (which I was suffering hideously at the time) was to pretend to be writing to an aunt, or a girlfriend. I did this, writing to an actress friend I knew, Jean Seberg. The editors of Harpers forgot to take off the salutation and that’s how the article begins in the magazine: Dear Jean….
  7. James Atlas: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was from Dwight Macdonald: ‘Everything about the same subject in the same place.’
  8. Margaret Carlson: Best writing advice I’ve ever received: Sell everything three times.
  9. Nick Tosches: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was given to me, like so much else, by Hubert Selby, Jr.: to learn and to know that writing is not an act of the self, except perhaps as exorcism; that, in writing what is worth being written, one serves, as vessel and voice, a power greater than vessel and voice.
  10. Patsy Garlan: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received is: Don’t answer the phone.
  11. Peter Mayle: Best advice on writing I’ve ever received: Finish.
  12. Richard Ford: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received: ‘Don’t have children.’ I gave it to myself.
  13. Robert Lipsyte: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was, ‘Rewrite it!’ A lot of editors said that. They were all right. Writing is really rewriting—making the story better, clearer, truer.
  14. Russell Banks: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received was probably something Ted Solotaroff told me years ago when he was my editor. Going over a manuscript line by line again and again he kept reminding me, ‘Remember, this is your book, not my book. You’re the one who’s going to have to live with it the rest of your life. I might publish 30 or 40 books this year, you’re only going to publish one, and probably the only one you’re going to publish in two or three years.’
  15. Whitney Balliett: The best advice on writing I’ve ever received is, ‘Knock ‘em dead with that lead sentence.’

From Writers Write

(via referenceforwriters)

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