Category Archives: read
READ: Astrology Zone’s Susan Miller’s Incredible Post About Her Mother “Little Mom”
Here’s a big secret about me, if Scarface lives by the sword (or “swode” as he put it) then I live by my horoscope. Yeah, I’m one of those people who will ask you your sign in our first conversation just to get better insight on what kind of person you are. BUT – I am not one of THOSE people who ask you your sign and once you reveal it I say something about your signs worst trait….something that probably isn’t like you at all. I hate when people do that…its so dismissive!
Anyways…I like to read about astrology and gauge my day/week by it’s predictions. Specifically, ASTROLOGYZONE.COM by SUSAN MILLER. I’ve been checking her readings for at least 7 years now and they NEVER let me down. Not only does she give daily readings, she gives you a look at your entire month. Her writing is always compassionate and sincere…you must check it out!
As I readied myself to read my October reading for Taurus, I found something startling. Her site was down. I found a photo of her parents and a note that read…
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I was sad for her loss, but was not in the mood to read. But, as I began to scan her post…I was sucked in. The words were written like a short film, so descriptive. She told the story of her Mothers fascinating life and loving charm, her Parents love story and her own tale of a rare illness and her commitment to learning Astrology. Its so good and before I write my own short story about hers, I urge you to read it if you have 10 minutes. You will not be disappointed!!! Please!!!
If you do read it, tell me what you thought!
xo, va$htie.
ARTICLE: “Listening to Xanax” by Lisa Miller for New York Magazine
I recently found this article as I was looking for something else, isn’t that just the way it is these days!
Anyways, it’s an astounding read. The writer juxtaposes the 90′s (also known as Prozac Nation) and how we were all depressed, apathetic and generally unhappy to our current age of anxiety, over-stimulation and xanax-addiciton.
It’s so fascinating how times have changed. The 90′s was really all about being depressed, apathetic, misguided; just look at the music of Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and movies like Clerks and Reality Bites. That time doesn’t exist anymore. Now we’re all amped up, stressed out and stuck in a matrix where we’re reminded that the world is ending, our natural resources are depleting and inevitable war is pending. It’s no wonder why we are losing our minds.
I’m not advocating the use of drugs, but I did find this article extremely intriguing. The writer, Lisa Miller, even illustrates how “Benzos” as they’re referred to were born in America. Check it out if you have time and let me know what you think about it.
LISTENING TO XANAX BY LISA MILLER
via NYMAG.COM
read: 10 YEARS LATER – AN INTERESTING READ VIA VANISHINGNEWYORK
As a New Yorker, this article resonated with me as if I had found my diary entry on another blog. “Strumming my pain with his fingers…”
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(posted by JEREMIAH MOSS at VANISHING NEWYORK)
“Until 9/11, New York was not quite America.
In 1977’s Annie Hall, Woody Allen joked: “the failure of the country to get behind New York City is anti-Semitism… The rest of the country looks upon New York like we’re left-wing Communist, Jewish, homosexual, pornographers.”
At the same time, a spokesman for Gerald Ford, in those “drop dead” days of fiscal crisis, compared New York to “a wayward daughter hooked on heroin.” Throughout the 20th century, the city was seen as the anti-America, a space apart, exceptional. Despite Giuliani’s Disneyfication efforts, this vision of the city continued through the 1990s, when New York magazine’s cover story explained “Why America Hates New York.” In short, we were liberal, multicultural, and bereft of the right-wing’s version of Christian Family Values.
It was a badge of honor that many New Yorkers, especially Manhattanites, wore with pride. The city was different, brighter, better than the Heartland. It eschewed suburban norms and snubbed the shopping mall. It was a beacon to those of us who never fell in step with the “American way”–the artsy, lefty, Commie, and queer among us—and we came here to make art, make a mess, and find ourselves in a city that embraced and understood us in ways our hometowns and families of origin never could.
Then it all changed.
(photo via ACCORDING TO G)
On the morning after 9/11, the fractured, frightened city awoke to find itself cradled in the arms of the nation. It was a major turning point. After that terrible day, we heard the phrase “We are all New Yorkers” echoed across the country and the globe. Suddenly, New York was viewed as acceptably American as apple pie. The New York Observer proclaimed, “The Heartland Loves New York.” Lower East Side radicals who had once burned the flag in protest were now hanging Old Glory from their fire escapes. For a little while, it felt good to be accepted into the fold. But then the floodgates opened. Despite the consistently high terror threat level, the city now seemed safe, familiar, normal, and newcomers with suburban sensibilities flowed in, giddy to realize their Sex and the City dreams.
In the past decade, more than ever, New York City has become a vertical Suburbia—complete with big-box shopping mall experiences, golf courses, and condos that function like gated communities with manicured rooftop lawns and barbecues. The city has lost its cranky, critical, cultural soul. Ten years after 9/11, we are no longer the black sheep. We’re just like everybody else.
As Fran Lebowitz recently said in an interview, “Present-day New York has been made to attract people who didn’t like New York. That’s how we get a zillion tourists here, especially American tourists, who never liked New York. Now they like New York. What does that mean? Does that mean they’ve suddenly become much more sophisticated? No. It means that New York has become more like the places they come from.”
Maybe the terrorists have “won” after all.”
(photo via ACCORDING TO G)
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Well written! I could not have put it better myself. It truly sums up how sad I am about the state of NEW YORK…well the city, you know.
I’d love to hear what other New Yorkers think…
