“To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night & day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; & never stop fighting.” — e e cummings
Love letters & feather headdresses,
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Chapter Seven: Blogging 101! Living & loving online, monetisation in the new world & thinking beyond the 9-5!
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What a wonderful quote! The world really does seem bent on crushing individuality and creative expression sometimes.
It makes me feel so icky and sad inside to see how children, who choose to dress differently, can be so ridiculed by their peers.
I don’t know which is more sad, the feelings those children must feel or the fact that other children are programmed so easily to hate others with ease at such a young age.
That is an amazing quote, totally to-arms inspiring. e e is my imaginary husband :)
—xo.
utterly true.
we’re all trying to be formed and moulded these days.
what happened to being different and rebellious!?
xoxo.
This is amazing. The more I read of e.e. the more I love him.
Wonderful quote Gala! Love the huge photo of Audrey, she’s my fabulous hair idol.
This is just so fitting to my life right now! Another perfectly timed sprinkle of inspiraton! ;)
This is how I feel about being in law school.
heeh yeah this one is very relevent. cute pic to! chicks who rock septum piercings are hot! (no bias there lol) .
It used to be the hardest thing to be myself, and not just physically. But in the end, there’s no point trying to impress people who make you miserable- so the best approach is the ‘take it or leave it’! Stratagy.
Awesome! I actually wrote about ee cummings on my blog today without realizing you quoted him here. I use him as an example of someone who has a strong, unique and recognizable style. It’s true in terms of his writing for sure, and can be applied to all of us finding our own style in life, writing, art, whatever. It’s good to see ee getting some love today. :-D
Audrey Kitching is beautiful, as is this quote. My favourite poem of E.E’s being ‘I Carry Your Heart’, as seen in my favourite Australian movie, Candy (woo!). His words are wonderful.
Aw thats a lovely quote!
Audrey Kitching is gorgeous and i adore the pic
So true. These sorts of quotes always give me a little boost – remind me to keep going!
I don’t think he meant “dress in Chanel”. Just saying.
Maureen — Did I miss something?! What are you referring to?
Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Cummings. Jeez I love his writing (and yours!).
Gala Darling,
I love you, I think you are beautiful, and have quite the artistic eye for glam and fabulousness. I want to introduce you to Derek-Fabulous, I think the two of you could hum along in glorious fabulous harmony>dereklovesshopping.com
yours truly,
Sugar Plum Pie
ps. I love the photo of Audrey, amazing….
my man e.e.! love.
sometimes it feels like the most unique, true-to-yourself thing you can do is decide to be happy, in a world where everyone else seems so stylishly depressed.
She’s so hot.
Sorry, my comment was a bit incoherent. It’s just… I get discouraged by the way luxury-fetishism seems part of “be yourself” culture. This is not a criticism of you in particular, Gala, just a frustration I have with the web, but I often think about it when I visit your site, which I really enjoy. But in general… it seems to me that privileged (albeit not always wealthy) people like to “appropriate” high-end living (new clothes, jewelry, focus on appearances) as though by doing things unusually in it, they are re-making the magic/appeal of that lifestyle. I don’t really think they are; I think they’re counting on old tropes, stuff that seems like a novelty at best, or a crutch at worst. Besides which, there are economic and social problems with the buy-buy-buy way of life. Most importantly here, though, I don’t think that high-end living is what poetry explores, generally speaking. Sure, one could argue that anything cultural is a crutch, poetry included. But I think poetry’s aim is to strip human beings of our carapace of artifice, and celebrate the naked soul, the common flame. Fun with fashion is fine, but bottom line, I think deeper-self-celebration is the most important thing any person can do, who’s lucky enough to have the opportunity to. Hope that’s not too stormy for the Transformation Challenge, and thank you, Gala, for always inspiring and challenging.
That’s going straight into my notebook full of inspirational quotations, it’s perfect!
Maureen – I’m glad you said that. I have trouble with “fashion” because it does seem that clothes and other material items fetishized so that we mistake them for the happiness we use them to represent. For example, lets just say pink hair, right? It’s a fashion statement in a way, and Gala is beautiful and lovely and happy with pink hair. But pink hair isn’t what makes her those things. Pink hair is a choice she made. But also, pink hair really is symbolic of a certain level of freedom. That is, I feel I can’t dye my hair pink because of where I work, etc. So, while dressing a certain way doesn’t make you free, happy, beautiful or whatever, it can be an expression of those things. Does that make sense? We all have to ask ourselves sometimes whether we are really focusing on building ourselves or just putting on costumes and pretending to be something greater than we actually believe we can be. Interestingly to me, the point is about what you believe you can be. The costume isn’t necessary when you believe you can be the person of your dreams.. Some parts of the costume may become part of your real-life self, though.
Hrm, I’m going on a bit long. Sorry! Love y’all, Gala and Maureen. Peace!
Mary, all very elegantly put; I do agree.
I hope some of us here can continue on such topics… I realise my approach to this was initially adversarial and not-so-helpful. I’m too tough on what I care about…
Yeah, I’m gruff, but I’m writing in a mustard yellow petticoat. _ Spotting crazy-looking people often also makes my day. So, Love to you all, and your quest for belief in yourselves!