the yak occidental

Here is a selection of memorable quotes from  Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secret s by Kyo Maclear Something about the way he nods stays with her. “Some people underestimate how erotic it is to be understood,” writes Mary Rakow. p.112 Only years later did I discover: we don’t get to choose how we will become unmoored. Or “overwrought.” That’s the horror of it. p.138 What is a heart? My mother accuses me of not speaking my mother tongue but I know that in Japanese, there are three words for “heart”: shinzou , which refers to the physical organ; ha-to , which is the anglicized word for a love heart; and kokoro , which means your metaphysical heart and soul. What is a heart but a broken masterwork pieced together from desire, envy, regret, nostalgia, pity, tenderness and hope? What is a heart but a way of muscling your way onward? What is a heart but a fist? p.140 […] There is a brand of softness that is lethal and not in the slightest way meek; I have observed the s...

Here are a couple memorable quotes and a quick review of The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell's Quest to End Deafness by Katie Booth A couple years ago I read The Invention of Miracles: Language, Power, and Alexander Graham Bell's Quest to End Deafness by Katie Booth. It was a very interesting (if a little clumsy with focus at times) revisionist biography of Alexander Graham Bell, who is best known for inventing the telephone.  "Meticulously researched, crackling with insights, and rich in novelistic detail. By shining a bright light on society's assumptions about disability, Booth's book is a profound and lyrical meditation on what it means to be human." - Steve Silberman, New York Times bestselling author of NeuroTribes I read it because I was surprised to learn of Bell's curious, devastating work in the deaf communities of his time--his own wife, Mabel Gardiner Hubbard, was deaf.  Indeed, I'm ashamed to say I have re...

Here are a few quotes on the topic of greed.  Death and the Miser c. 1490 by BOSCH, Hieronymus Greed violates the spirit of connectedness and community that is natural to human survival. It wipes out individual recognition of the needs and concerns of everyone, replacing this awareness with harmful self-centeredness. Healthy narcissism (the self-acceptance, self-worth, that is the cornerstone of self-love) is replaced by a pathological narcissism (wherein only the self matters) that justifies any action that enables the satisfying of desires. The will to sacrifice on behalf of another, always present when there is love, is annihilated by greed. - from all about love: new visions by bell hooks "I try to work with honesty and integrity. The greed is conquering too many of us. You wind up doing things just for the money. There is more to life than just making money; my life has to mean something" - Raymond Moriyama , Japanese-Canadian architect The same voice that will say no t...

  above: from King by Florence + the Machine I'm increasingly/always thinking derision of ambition as a legacy of imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, here are a few quotes below--Pemberton and Smith are Black, Whyte is not. Back then, being ambitious wasn't cool. Many of the bands were perfectly happy just trying to meet women and drink beer. You were expected to have that Canadian attitude of false humility. Even if you thought what you were doing was good or interesting, you could never verbalize it. It wasn't that far removed from the '90s slacker era where the preferred pose was aloofness. - from Bedroom Rapper: Cadence Weapon on Hip-Hop, Resistance, and Surviving the Music Industry by Rollie Pemberton Ambition ultimately withers all secrets in its glare before those secrets have had time to come to life from within and then thwarts the generosity and maturity that ripens the discourse of a lifetime's dedication to work. - from Consolations: T...