[ { "style": "obama", "text": "We've been a part of different blocs of nations in the hemisphere, and we will continue to have profound differences about how to promote peace, security, opportunity, and human rights. But as we normalize our relations, I believe it can help foster a greater sense of unity in the Americas -- todos somos Americanos.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That leads me to a bigger and more important reason for these changes: Creo en el pueblo Cubano. I believe in the Cuban people. This is not just a policy of normalizing relations with the Cuban government. The United States of America is normalizing relations with the Cuban people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So here's my message to the Cuban government and the Cuban people: The ideals that are the starting point for every revolution -- America's revolution, Cuba's revolution, the liberation movements around the world -- those ideals find their truest expression, I believe, in democracy. Not because American democracy is perfect, but precisely because we're not. And we -- like every country -- need the space that democracy gives us to change. It gives individuals the capacity to be catalysts to think in new ways, and to reimagine how our society should be, and to make them better.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And today, I want to share with you my vision of what our future can be. I want the Cuban people -- especially the young people -- to understand why I believe that you should look to the future with hope; not the false promise which insists that things are better than they really are, or the blind optimism that says all your problems can go away tomorrow. Hope that is rooted in the future that you can choose and that you can shape, and that you can build for your country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Over the years, our cultures have blended together. Dr. Carlos Finlay's work in Cuba paved the way for generations of doctors, including Walter Reed, who drew on Dr. Finlay's work to help combat Yellow Fever. Just as Marti wrote some of his most famous words in New York, Ernest Hemingway made a home in Cuba, and found inspiration in the waters of these shores. We share a national past-time -- La Pelota -- and later today our players will compete on the same Havana field that Jackie Robinson played on before he made his Major League debut. And it's said that our greatest boxer, Muhammad Ali, once paid tribute to a Cuban that he could never fight -- saying that he would only be able to reach a draw with the great Cuban, Teofilo Stevenson.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In a global economy, powered by ideas and information, a country's greatest asset is its people. In the United States, we have a clear monument to what the Cuban people can build: it's called Miami. Here in Havana, we see that same talent in cuentapropistas, cooperatives and old cars that still run. El Cubano inventa del aire.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas. I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So even as our governments became adversaries, our people continued to share these common passions, particularly as so many Cubans came to America. In Miami or Havana, you can find places to dance the Cha-Cha-Cha or the Salsa, and eat ropa vieja. People in both of our countries have sung along with Celia Cruz or Gloria Estefan, and now listen to reggaeton or Pitbull. Millions of our people share a common religion -- a faith that I paid tribute to at the Shrine of our Lady of Charity in Miami, a peace that Cubans find in La Cachita.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Let us, each of us, now embrace with solemn duty and awesome joy what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today's victories will be only partial and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years and 40 years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That is our generation's task -- to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life. It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. So we must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction. And we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Malia and Sasha, under the strangest of circumstances, you have become two amazing young women. You are smart, and you are beautiful, but more importantly, you are kind, and you are thoughtful, and you are full of passion. And you wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily. Of all that I've done in my life, I am most proud to be your dad.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Because of the extraordinary courage of our men and women in uniform, because of our intelligence officers and law enforcement and diplomats who support our troops, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland these past 8 years. And although Boston and Orlando and San Bernardino and Fort Hood remind us of how dangerous radicalization can be, our law enforcement agencies are more effective and vigilant than ever. We have taken out tens of thousands of terrorists, including bin Laden. The global coalition we're leading against ISIL has taken out their leaders and taken away about half their territory. ISIL will be destroyed, and no one who threatens America will ever be safe.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And to all who serve or have served, it has been the honor of my lifetime to be your Commander in Chief. And we all owe you a deep debt of gratitude.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For native-born Americans, it means reminding ourselves that the stereotypes about immigrants today were said, almost word for word, about the Irish and Italians and Poles, who it was said were going to destroy the fundamental character of America. And as it turned out, America wasn't weakened by the presence of these newcomers; these newcomers embraced this Nation's creed, and this Nation was strengthened.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Let me tell you, this generation coming up--unselfish, altruistic, creative, patriotic--I've seen you in every corner of the country. You believe in a fair and just and inclusive America. You know that constant change has been America's hallmark; that it's not something to fear but something to embrace. You are willing to carry this hard work of democracy forward. You'll soon outnumber all of us, and I believe as a result the future is in good hands.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "America, we weaken those ties when we allow our political dialogue to become so corrosive that people of good character aren't even willing to enter into public service; so coarse with rancor that Americans with whom we disagree are seen not just as misguided, but as malevolent. We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others, when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and when we sit back and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "To Joe Biden, the scrappy kid from Scranton who became Delaware's favorite son, you were the first decision I made as a nominee, and it was the best. Not just because you have been a great Vice President, but because in the bargain, I gained a brother. And we love you and Jill like family, and your friendship has been one of the great joys of our lives.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And that's why, for the past 8 years, I've worked to put the fight against terrorism on a firmer legal footing. That's why we've ended torture, worked to close Gitmo, reformed our laws governing surveillance to protect privacy and civil liberties. That's why I reject discrimination against Muslim Americans, who are just as patriotic as we are.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Because that, after all, is why we serve. Not to score points or take credit, but to make people's lives better.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "You see, an economy built to last is one where we encourage the talent and ingenuity of every person in this country. That means women should earn equal pay for equal work. It means we should support everyone who's willing to work, and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Our experience with shale gas, our experience with natural gas, shows us that the payoffs on these public investments don't always come right away. Some technologies don't pan out; some companies fail. But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy. I will not walk away from workers like Bryan. I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But if election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let's at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, defend this country. Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "When it comes to the deficit, we've already agreed to more than $2 trillion in cuts and savings. But we need to do more, and that means making choices. Right now, we're poised to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was supposed to be a temporary tax break for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households. Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Building this new energy future should be just one part of a broader agenda to repair America's infrastructure. So much of America needs to be rebuilt. We've got crumbling roads and bridges; a power grid that wastes too much energy; an incomplete high-speed broadband network that prevents a small business owner in rural America from selling her products all over the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Of course, the easiest way to save money is to waste less energy. So here's a proposal: Help manufacturers eliminate energy waste in their factories and give businesses incentives to upgrade their buildings. Their energy bills will be $100 billion lower over the next decade, and America will have less pollution, more manufacturing, more jobs for construction workers who need them. Send me a bill that creates these jobs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Some of this has to do with the corrosive influence of money in politics. So together, let's take some steps to fix that. Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress; I will sign it tomorrow. Let's limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact. Let's make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for Congress can't lobby Congress, and vice versa -- an idea that has bipartisan support, at least outside of Washington.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We've all paid the price for lenders who sold mortgages to people who couldn't afford them, and buyers who knew they couldn't afford them. That's why we need smart regulations to prevent irresponsible behavior. Rules to prevent financial fraud or toxic dumping or faulty medical devices -- these don't destroy the free market. They make the free market work better.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And we will safeguard America's own security against those who threaten our citizens, our friends, and our interests. Look at Iran. Through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran's nuclear program now stands as one. The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I'm a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more. That's why my education reform offers more competition, and more control for schools and states. That's why we're getting rid of regulations that don't work. That's why our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a government program.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "These reforms will help people get jobs that are open today. But to prepare for the jobs of tomorrow, our commitment to skills and education has to start earlier.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world. For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda's top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban's momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We also know that when students don't walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. When students are not allowed to drop out, they do better. So tonight, I am proposing that every state -- every state -- requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I've talked tonight about the deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street. But the divide between this city and the rest of the country is at least as bad -- and it seems to get worse every year.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That's not the message we get from leaders around the world who are eager to work with us. That's not how people feel from Tokyo to Berlin, from Cape Town to Rio, where opinions of America are higher than they've been in years. Yes, the world is changing. No, we can't control every event. But America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs -- and as long as I'm President, I intend to keep it that way.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I also hear from many business leaders who want to hire in the United States but can't find workers with the right skills. Growing industries in science and technology have twice as many openings as we have workers who can do the job. Think about that -- openings at a time when millions of Americans are looking for work. It's inexcusable. And we know how to fix it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Let's never forget: Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same. It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom. No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The renewal of American leadership can be felt across the globe. Our oldest alliances in Europe and Asia are stronger than ever. Our ties to the Americas are deeper. Our ironclad commitment -- and I mean ironclad -- to Israel's security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We've made it clear that America is a Pacific power, and a new beginning in Burma has lit a new hope. From the coalitions we've built to secure nuclear materials, to the missions we've led against hunger and disease; from the blows we've dealt to our enemies, to the enduring power of our moral example, America is back.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Above all, our freedom endures because of the men and women in uniform who defend it. As they come home, we must serve them as well as they've served us. That includes giving them the care and the benefits they have earned -- which is why we've increased annual VA spending every year I've been President. And it means enlisting our veterans in the work of rebuilding our nation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort--even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions--who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America--they will be met.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice. We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al Qaeda -- an organization headed by Osama bin Laden, which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe. And so we went to war against al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends, and our allies.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Over the years, I've repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we've done. But it's important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well, and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "ood evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We're the fresh-faced GIs who fought to liberate a continent. And we're the Tuskeegee Airmen, and the Navajo code-talkers, and the Japanese Americans who fought for this country even as their own liberty had been denied.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We're the firefighters who rushed into those buildings on 9/11, the volunteers who signed up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. We're the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this bridge.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "These are not just words. They're a living thing, a call to action, a roadmap for citizenship and an insistence in the capacity of free men and women to shape our own destiny. For founders like Franklin and Jefferson, for leaders like Lincoln and FDR, the success of our experiment in self-government rested on engaging all of our citizens in this work. And that's what we celebrate here in Selma. That's what this movement was all about, one leg in our long journey toward freedom.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The Americans who crossed this bridge, they were not physically imposing. But they gave courage to millions. They held no elected office. But they led a nation. They marched as Americans who had endured hundreds of years of brutal violence, countless daily indignities -- but they didn't seek special treatment, just the equal treatment promised to them almost a century before.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "What a glorious thing, Dr. King might say. And what a solemn debt we owe. Which leads us to ask, just how might we repay that debt?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "It was not a clash of armies, but a clash of wills; a contest to determine the true meaning of America. And because of men and women like John Lewis, Joseph Lowery, Hosea Williams, Amelia Boynton, Diane Nash, Ralph Abernathy, C. T. Vivian, Andrew Young, Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many others, the idea of a just America and a fair America, an inclusive America, and a generous America -- that idea ultimately triumphed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And with effort, we can protect the foundation stone of our democracy for which so many marched across this bridge -- and that is the right to vote. Right now, in 2015, 50 years after Selma, there are laws across this country designed to make it harder for people to vote. As we speak, more of such laws are being proposed. Meanwhile, the Voting Rights Act, the culmination of so much blood, so much sweat and tears, the product of so much sacrifice in the face of wanton violence, the Voting Rights Act stands weakened, its future subject to political rancor.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And that's what the young people here today and listening all across the country must take away from this day. You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, because you're ready to seize what ought to be.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "First and foremost, we have to recognize that one day's commemoration, no matter how special, is not enough. If Selma taught us anything, it's that our work is never done. The American experiment in self-government gives work and purpose to each generation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We're the slaves who built the White House and the economy of the South. We're the ranch hands and cowboys who opened up the West, and countless laborers who laid rail, and raised skyscrapers, and organized for workers' rights.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "With such an effort, we can make sure our criminal justice system serves all and not just some. Together, we can raise the level of mutual trust that policing is built on -- the idea that police officers are members of the community they risk their lives to protect, and citizens in Ferguson and New York and Cleveland, they just want the same thing young people here marched for 50 years ago -- the protection of the law. Together, we can address unfair sentencing and overcrowded prisons, and the stunted circumstances that rob too many boys of the chance to become men, and rob the nation of too many men who could be good dads, and good workers, and good neighbors.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I am just a eternal optimist and so -- it's the right thing to do. And all I can do is just to keep on making the argument about what's right for the country and assume that over time people, regardless of party, regardless of their particular political positions, are going to gravitate towards the truth. Okay?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Let's see, let's get a print guy here. David.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We all understand that there are legitimate and genuine differences between the parties, but despite the political posturing that often paralyzes this town, there are many issues upon which we can and should agree. That's what the American people are demanding of us. I think they're tired of every day being Election Day in Washington. And at this critical time in our country, the people sent us here expect a seriousness of purpose that transcends petty politics.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So I think that it's realistic for us to get a package moving quickly that may not include all the things I think need to be done, and it may be that that first package builds some trust and confidence that Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill can work together and then we move on to the next aspect of the package and so forth. It may take a series of incremental steps, but the one thing I'm absolutely clear about is, is that we've got an economy that's growing right now, a huge boost in productivity -- that's the good news. The bad news is, is that companies still haven't taken that final step in actually putting people on their payroll full-time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Well, the -- we are confident right now that the international community is unified around Iran's misbehavior in this area. How China operates at the Security Council as we pursue sanctions is something that we're going to have to see. One thing I'm pleased about is to see how forward-leaning the Russians have been on this issue. I think they clearly have seen that Iran hasn't been serious about solving what is a solvable dispute between Iran and the international community.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The small businesses I talk to -- and I've been talking to a lot of them as I've been traveling around the country over the last several months -- their biggest problem is right now they can't get credit out of their banks so they're uncertain about that. And they're still uncertain about orders -- do they just have enough customers to justify them doing more.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And my hope is that my Republican friends, but also Democrats, say to themselves, let's be practical and let's do both. Let's not just do one or the other; let's do both. Over time I think the transition is going to be more and more clean energy and over time fossil fuels become less prominent in our overall energy mix. But we've got to do both.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Number two, we've got to deal with insurance abuses that affect millions of Americans who've got health insurance. And number three, we've got to make health insurance more available to folks in the individual market, as I just mentioned, in California, who are suddenly seeing their premiums go up 39 percent. That applies to the majority of small businesses, as well as sole proprietors. They are struggling.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We are going to be looking at a variety of ways in which countries indicate to Iran that their approach is unacceptable. And the U. N. will be one aspect of that broader effort.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So the good news is that where we were contracting by 6 percent the economy is now growing by 6 percent. The CEOs I talked to are saying they are now making investments, and I anticipate that they're going to start hiring at a more rapid clip. What I've also heard is them saying that we would like to feel like Washington is working and able to get some things done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "To your question about the 25th, my hope is that this doesn't end up being political theater, as I think some of you have phrased it. I want a substantive discussion. We haven't refined exactly how the agenda is going to go that day. We want to talk with both the Democratic and Republican leaders to find out what they think would be most useful. I do want to make sure that there's some people like the Congressional Budget Office, for example, that are considered non-partisan, who can answer questions.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "There is much to show for our efforts, even as there is much work to be done. The global economy has been pulled back from the brink of a depression, and is growing once more. We have resisted protectionism, and are exploring ways to expand trade and commerce among nations. But we cannot -- and will not -- rest until these seeds of progress grow into a broader prosperity, not only for all Americans, but for peoples around the globe.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Open society supports open government, but it cannot substitute for it. There is no right more fundamental than the ability to choose your leaders and determine your destiny. Now, make no mistake: The ultimate success of democracy in the world won't come because the United States dictates it; it will come because individual citizens demand a say in how they are governed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "While drawing down in Iraq, we have refocused on defeating al Qaeda and denying its affiliates a safe haven. In Afghanistan, the United States and our allies are pursuing a strategy to break the Taliban's momentum and build the capacity of Afghanistan's government and security forces, so that a transition to Afghan responsibility can begin next July. And from South Asia to the Horn of Africa, we are moving toward a more targeted approach -- one that strengthens our partners and dismantles terrorist networks without deploying large American armies.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Yesterday, I put forward a new development policy that will pursue these goals, recognizing that dignity is a human right and global development is in our common interest. America will partner with nations that offer their people a path out of poverty. And together, we must unleash growth that powers by individuals and emerging markets in all parts of the globe.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Each of these countries gives life to democratic principles in their own way. And even as some governments roll back reform, we also celebrate the courage of a President in Colombia who willingly stepped aside, or the promise of a new constitution in Kenya.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Amidst this upheaval, we have also been persistent in our pursuit of peace. Last year, I pledged my best efforts to support the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, as part of a comprehensive peace between Israel and all of its neighbors. We have travelled a winding road over the last 12 months, with few peaks and many valleys. But this month, I am pleased that we have pursued direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in Washington, Sharm el Sheikh and Jerusalem.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, peace must be made by Israelis and Palestinians, but each of us has a responsibility to do our part as well. Those of us who are friends of Israel must understand that true security for the Jewish state requires an independent Palestine -- one that allows the Palestinian people to live with dignity and opportunity. And those of us who are friends of the Palestinians must understand that the rights of the Palestinian people will be won only through peaceful means -- including genuine reconciliation with a secure Israel.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "As for our common security, America is waging a more effective fight against al Qaeda, while winding down the war in Iraq. Since I took office, the United States has removed nearly 100,000 troops from Iraq. We have done so responsibly, as Iraqis have transitioned to lead responsibility for the security of their country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This future will not be easy to reach. It will not come without setbacks, nor will it be quickly claimed. But the founding of the United Nations itself is a testament to human progress. Remember, in times that were far more trying than our own, our predecessors chose the hope of unity over the ease of division and made a promise to future generations that the dignity and equality of human beings would be our common cause.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Israel is a sovereign state, and the historic homeland of the Jewish people. It should be clear to all that efforts to chip away at Israel's legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States. And efforts to threaten or kill Israelis will do nothing to help the Palestinian people. The slaughter of innocent Israelis is not resistance -- it's injustice. And make no mistake: The courage of a man like President Abbas, who stands up for his people in front of the world under very difficult circumstances, is far greater than those who fire rockets at innocent women and children.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This time, we should draw upon the teachings of tolerance that lie at the heart of three great religions that see Jerusalem's soil as sacred. This time we should reach for what's best within ourselves. If we do, when we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations -- an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And this idea that somehow there's a secret formula or secret sauce to get Speaker Boehner or Mitch McConnell to say, you know what, Mr. President, you're right, we should close some tax loopholes for the well-off and well-connected in exchange for some serious entitlement reform and spending cuts of programs we don't need. I think if there was a secret way to do that, I would have tried it. I would have done it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And the good thing about America is that sometimes we get to these bottlenecks and we get stuck, and you have these sharp, partisan fights, but the American people pretty steadily are common sense and practical, and eventually, that common-sense, practical approach wins out. And I think that's what will happen here as well.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So I recognize that Speaker Boehner has got challenges in his caucus. I recognize that it's very hard for Republican leaders to be perceived as making concessions to me. Sometimes, I reflect is there something else I could do to make these guys -- I'm not talking about the leaders now, but maybe some of the House Republican caucus members -- not paint horns on my head. And I genuinely believe that there's an opportunity for us to cooperate.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And, in the meantime, just to make the final point about the sequester, we will get through this. This is not going to be a apocalypse, I think as some people have said. It's just dumb. And it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt individual people and it's going to hurt the economy overall.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Well, that's an argument that I've made personally. The Solicitor General in his institutional role going before the Supreme Court is obliged to answer the specific question before them. And the specific question presented before the Court right now is whether Prop 8 and the California law is unconstitutional.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "It may be that because of the politics within the Republican Party, they can't do it right now. I understand that. My hope is, is that they can do it later.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So in terms of going forward, my hope is that after some reflection -- as members of Congress start hearing from constituents who are being negatively impacted, as we start seeing the impact that the sequester is having -- that they step back and say, all right, is there a way for us to move forward on a package of entitlement reforms, tax reform, not raising tax rates, identifying programs that don't work, coming up with a plan that's comprehensive and that makes sense. And it may take a couple of weeks. It may take a couple of months, but I'm just going to keep on pushing on it. And my view is that, ultimately, common sense prevails.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So economists are estimating that as a consequence of this sequester, that we could see growth cut by over one-half of 1 percent. It will cost about 750,000 jobs at a time when we should be growing jobs more quickly. So every time that we get a piece of economic news, over the next month, next two months, next six months, as long as the sequester is in place, we'll know that that economic news could have been better if Congress had not failed to act.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So with that, I'm going to take some questions. I'm going to start with Julie.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I understand. And I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that's been floating around Washington that somehow, even though most people agree that I'm being reasonable, that most people agree I'm presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don't take it means that I should somehow do a Jedi mind-meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right. Well, they're elected. We have a constitutional system of government. The Speaker of the House and the leader of the Senate and all those folks have responsibilities.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In the coming days and in the coming weeks I'm going to keep on reaching out to them, both individually and as groups of senators or members of the House, and say to them, let's fix this -- not just for a month or two, but for years to come. Because the greatest nation on Earth does not conduct its business in month-to-month increments, or by careening from crisis to crisis. And America has got a lot more work to do.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law. So let me be the first to say that anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you. We can start right now by correcting a flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "American leadership can also be seen in the effort to secure the worst weapons of war. Because Republicans and Democrats approved the New START treaty, far fewer nuclear weapons and launchers will be deployed. Because we rallied the world, nuclear materials are being locked down on every continent so they never fall into the hands of terrorists.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Let me take this one step further. We shouldn't just give our people a government that's more affordable. We should give them a government that's more competent and more efficient. We can't win the future with a government of the past.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job meant showing up at a nearby factory or a business downtown. You didn't always need a degree, and your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors. If you worked hard, chances are you'd have a job for life, with a decent paycheck and good benefits and the occasional promotion. Maybe you'd even have the pride of seeing your kids work at the same company.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We'll put more Americans to work repairing crumbling roads and bridges. We'll make sure this is fully paid for, attract private investment, and pick projects based what's best for the economy, not politicians.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But we have to do more. These steps we've taken over the last two years may have broken the back of this recession, but to win the future, we'll need to take on challenges that have been decades in the making.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But now that the worst of the recession is over, we have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable. Every day, families sacrifice to live within their means. They deserve a government that does the same.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The third step in winning the future is rebuilding America. To attract new businesses to our shores, we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods, and information -- from high-speed rail to high-speed Internet.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That responsibility begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It's family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair. We need to teach them that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For example, over the years, a parade of lobbyists has rigged the tax code to benefit particular companies and industries. Those with accountants or lawyers to work the system can end up paying no taxes at all. But all the rest are hit with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and it has to change.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Our schools share this responsibility. When a child walks into a classroom, it should be a place of high expectations and high performance. But too many schools don't meet this test. That's why instead of just pouring money into a system that's not working, we launched a competition called Race to the Top. To all 50 states, we said, \"If you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we'll show you the money.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Along with others, he began drilling a 2,000-foot hole into the ground, working three- or four-hour -- three or four days at a time without any sleep. Thirty-seven days later, Plan B succeeded, and the miners were rescued. But because he didn't want all of the attention, Brandon wasn't there when the miners emerged. He'd already gone back home, back to work on his next project.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Some folks want wind and solar. Others want nuclear, clean coal and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all -- and I urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it happen.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We have to do better. America is the nation that built the transcontinental railroad, brought electricity to rural communities, constructed the Interstate Highway System. The jobs created by these projects didn't just come from laying down track or pavement. They came from businesses that opened near a town's new train station or the new off-ramp.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We are living with a legacy of deficit spending that began almost a decade ago. And in the wake of the financial crisis, some of that was necessary to keep credit flowing, save jobs, and put money in people's pockets.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The 21st century government that's open and competent. A government that lives within its means. An economy that's driven by new skills and new ideas. Our success in this new and changing world will require reform, responsibility, and innovation. It will also require us to approach that world with a new level of engagement in our foreign affairs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Because of a diplomatic effort to insist that Iran meet its obligations, the Iranian government now faces tougher sanctions, tighter sanctions than ever before. And on the Korean Peninsula, we stand with our ally South Korea, and insist that North Korea keeps its commitment to abandon nuclear weapons.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Brandon started a company in Berlin, Pennsylvania, that specializes in a new kind of drilling technology. And one day last summer, he saw the news that halfway across the world, 33 men were trapped in a Chilean mine, and no one knew how to save them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Race to the Top is the most meaningful reform of our public schools in a generation. For less than 1 percent of what we spend on education each year, it has led over 40 states to raise their standards for teaching and learning. And these standards were developed, by the way, not by Washington, but by Republican and Democratic governors throughout the country. And Race to the Top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace No Child Left Behind with a law that's more flexible and focused on what's best for our kids.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Our infrastructure used to be the best, but our lead has slipped. South Korean homes now have greater Internet access than we do. Countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do. China is building faster trains and newer airports. Meanwhile, when our own engineers graded our nation's infrastructure, they gave us a \"D.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Meanwhile, nations like China and India realized that with some changes of their own, they could compete in this new world. And so they started educating their children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. They're investing in research and new technologies. Just recently, China became the home to the world's largest private solar research facility, and the world's fastest computer.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So I'm proposing -- in part because of strong lobbying by Bill and by Suzanne, as well as Charlie -- I'm proposing a $40 million initiative led by a high-level team from the White House, NASA, and other agencies to develop a plan for regional economic growth and job creation. And I expect this plan to reach my desk by August 15th. It's an effort that will help prepare this already skilled workforce for new opportunities in the space industry and beyond.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Few people -- present company excluded -- can claim the expertise of Buzz and Bill and Charlie when it comes to space exploration. I have to say that few people are as singularly unimpressed by Air Force One as those three. Sure, it's comfortable, but it can't even reach low Earth orbit. And that obviously is in striking contrast to the Falcon 9 rocket we just saw on the launch pad, which will be tested for the very first time in the coming weeks.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "There are also those who criticized our decision to end parts of Constellation as one that will hinder space exploration below low Earth orbit. But it's precisely by investing in groundbreaking research and innovative companies that we will have the potential to rapidly transform our capabilities -- even as we build on the important work already completed, through projects like Orion, for future missions. And unlike the previous program, we are setting a course with specific and achievable milestones.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Next, we will invest more than $3 billion to conduct research on an advanced \"heavy lift rocket\" -- a vehicle to efficiently send into orbit the crew capsules, propulsion systems, and large quantities of supplies needed to reach deep space. In developing this new vehicle, we will not only look at revising or modifying older models; we want to look at new designs, new materials, new technologies that will transform not just where we can go but what we can do when we get there. And we will finalize a rocket design no later than 2015 and then begin to build it. And I want everybody to understand: That's at least two years earlier than previously planned -- and that's conservative, given that the previous program was behind schedule and over budget.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So NASA, from the start, several months ago when I issued my budget, was one of the areas where we didn't just maintain a freeze but we actually increased funding by $6 billion. By doing that we will ramp up robotic exploration of the solar system, including a probe of the Sun's atmosphere; new scouting missions to Mars and other destinations; and an advanced telescope to follow Hubble, allowing us to peer deeper into the universe than ever before.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So let me start by being extremely clear: I am 100 percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future. Because broadening our capabilities in space will continue to serve our society in ways that we can scarcely imagine. Because exploration will once more inspire wonder in a new generation -- sparking passions and launching careers. And because, ultimately, if we fail to press forward in the pursuit of discovery, we are ceding our future and we are ceding that essential element of the American character.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I mean, we have seen battalions of financial industry lobbyists descending on Capitol Hill, firms spending millions to influence the outcome of this debate. We've seen misleading arguments and attacks that are designed not to improve the bill but to weaken or to kill it. We've seen a bipartisan process buckle under the weight of these withering forces, even as we've produced a proposal that by all accounts is a commonsense, reasonable, non-ideological approach to target the root problems that led to the turmoil in our financial sector and ultimately in our entire economy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I've spoken before about the need to build a new foundation for economic growth in the 21st century. And given the importance of the financial sector, Wall Street reform is an absolutely essential part of that foundation. Without it, our house will continue to sit on shifting sands, and our families, businesses, and the global economy will be vulnerable to future crises. That's why I feel so strongly that we need to enact a set of updated, commonsense rules to ensure accountability on Wall Street and to protect consumers in our financial system.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Not only that, some of the salaries and bonuses that we've seen creates perverse incentives to take reckless risks that contributed to the crisis. It's what helped lead to a relentless focus on a company's next quarter, to the detriment of its next year or its next decade. And it led to a situation in which folks with the most to lose -- stock and pension holders -- had the least to say in the process. And that has to change.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So by enacting these reforms, we'll help ensure that our financial system -- and our economy -- continues to be the envy of the world. That's the first thing, making sure that we can wind down one firm if it gets into trouble without bringing the whole system down or forcing taxpayers to fund a bailout.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In the end, our system only works -- our markets are only free -- when there are basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excesses, that ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system. And that is what the reforms we've been proposing are designed to achieve -- no more, no less. And because that is how we will ensure that our economy works for consumers, that it works for investors, and that it works for financial institutions -- in other words, that it works for all of us -- that's why we're working so hard to get this stuff passed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, since I last spoke here two years ago, our country has been through a terrible trial. More than 8 million people have lost their jobs. Countless small businesses have had to shut their doors. Trillions of dollars in savings have been lost -- forcing seniors to put off retirement, young people to postpone college, entrepreneurs to give up on the dream of starting a company. And as a nation we were forced to take unprecedented steps to rescue the financial system and the broader economy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Let's offer incentives to companies that hire Americans who've got what it takes to fill that job opening, but have been out of work so long that no one will give them a chance anymore. Let's put people back to work rebuilding vacant homes in run-down neighborhoods. And this year, my administration will begin to partner with 20 of the hardest-hit towns in America to get these communities back on their feet. We'll work with local leaders to target resources at public safety, and education, and housing.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And part of our rebuilding effort must also involve our housing sector. The good news is our housing market is finally healing from the collapse of 2007. Home prices are rising at the fastest pace in six years. Home purchases are up nearly 50 percent, and construction is expanding again.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And four years ago, we started Race to the Top -- a competition that convinced almost every state to develop smarter curricula and higher standards, all for about 1 percent of what we spend on education each year. Tonight, I'm announcing a new challenge to redesign America's high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy. And we'll reward schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and employers, and create classes that focus on science, technology, engineering and math -- the skills today's employers are looking for to fill the jobs that are there right now and will be there in the future.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, even as we protect our people, we should remember that today's world presents not just dangers, not just threats, it presents opportunities. To boost American exports, support American jobs and level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia, we intend to complete negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership. And tonight, I'm announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union -- because trade that is fair and free across the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We were sent here to look out for our fellow Americans the same way they look out for one another, every single day, usually without fanfare, all across this country. We should follow their example.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, to grow our middle class, our citizens have to have access to the education and training that today's jobs require. But we also have to make sure that America remains a place where everyone who's willing to work -- everybody who's willing to work hard has the chance to get ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and Brian was the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety. He fought back until help arrived and ordered his fellow officers to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside, even as he lay bleeding from 12 bullet wounds. And when asked how he did that, Brian said, \"That's just the way we're made.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And right now, leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, faith communities -- they all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Now is the time to do it. Now is the time to get it done. Now is the time to get it done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So tonight, I propose a \"Fix-It-First\" program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs, like the nearly 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country. And to make sure taxpayers don't shoulder the whole burden, I'm also proposing a Partnership to Rebuild America that attracts private capital to upgrade what our businesses need most: modern ports to move our goods, modern pipelines to withstand a storm, modern schools worthy of our children. Let's prove that there's no better place to do business than here in the United States of America, and let's start right away. We can get this done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So tonight, I'm announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the Department of Defense and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers of high-tech jobs. And I ask this Congress to help create a network of 15 of these hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is made right here in America. We can get that done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "There are things we can do, right now, to accelerate this trend. Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There's no reason this can't happen in other towns.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We also know that progress in the most impoverished parts of our world enriches us all -- not only because it creates new markets, more stable order in certain regions of the world, but also because it's the right thing to do. In many places, people live on little more than a dollar a day. So the United States will join with our allies to eradicate such extreme poverty in the next two decades by connecting more people to the global economy; by empowering women; by giving our young and brightest minds new opportunities to serve, and helping communities to feed, and power, and educate themselves; by saving the world's children from preventable deaths; and by realizing the promise of an AIDS-free generation, which is within our reach.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Beyond 2014, America's commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change. We're negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two missions -- training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country does not again slip into chaos, and counterterrorism efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "America must also face the rapidly growing threat from cyber-attacks. Now, we know hackers steal people's identities and infiltrate private emails. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We should follow the example of a North Miami woman named Desiline Victor. When Desiline arrived at her polling place, she was told the wait to vote might be six hours. And as time ticked by, her concern was not with her tired body or aching feet, but whether folks like her would get to have their say. And hour after hour, a throng of people stayed in line to support her -- because Desiline is 102 years old. And they erupted in cheers when she finally put on a sticker that read, \"I voted.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Consider background checks. Over the past 20 years, background checks have kept more than 2 million dangerous people from getting their hands on a gun. A group of police officers in Colorado told me last week that, thanks to background checks, they've been able to stop convicted murderers, folks under restraining orders for committing violent domestic abuse from buying a gun. In some cases, they've actually arrested the person as they were coming to purchase the gun.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, look, we knew from the beginning of this debate that change would not be easy. We knew that there would be powerful interests that are very good at confusing the subject, that are good at amplifying conflict and extremes, that are good at drowning out rational debate, good at ginning up irrational fears, all of which stands in the way of progress.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And as a society, we decided that we have to change. We must. We must change.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "If you're an American who wants to do something to prevent more families from knowing the immeasurable anguish that these families here have known, then we have to act. Now is the time to get engaged. Now is the time to get involved. Now is the time to push back on fear, and frustration, and misinformation. Now is the time for everybody to make their voices heard from every state house to the corridors of Congress.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I noticed that Nicole and others refer to that day as \"12/14.\" For these families, it was a day that changed everything. And I know many of you in Newtown wondered if the rest of us would live up to the promise we made in those dark days -- if we'd change, too; or if once the television trucks left, once the candles flickered out, once the teddy bears were carefully gathered up, that the country would somehow move on to other things.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We have to tell Congress it's time to strengthen school safety and help people struggling with mental health problems get the treatment they need before it's too late. Let's do that for our kids and for our communities.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And, Newtown, we want you to know that we're here with you. We will not walk away from the promises we've made. We are as determined as ever to do what must be done. In fact, I'm here to ask you to help me show that we can get it done. We're not forgetting.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We have to tell Congress it's time to restore the ban on military-style assault weapons, and a 10-round limit for magazines, to make it harder for a gunman to fire 154 bullets into his victims in less than five minutes. Let's put that to a vote.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, because of the steps we took, there are about 2 million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed. Two hundred thousand work in construction and clean energy. Three hundred thousand are teachers and other education workers. Tens of thousands are cops, firefighters, correctional officers, first-responders. And we're on track to add another 1 1/2 million jobs to this total by the end of the year.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, the House has already passed financial reform with many of these changes, and the lobbyists are trying to kill it. But we cannot let them win this fight. And if the bill that ends up on my desk does not meet the test of real reform, I will send it back until we get it right. We've got to get it right.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But I realize that for every success story, there are other stories, of men and women who wake up with the anguish of not knowing where their next paycheck will come from, who send out resumes week after week and hear nothing in response. That is why jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010, and that's why I'm calling for a new jobs bill tonight.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Next, we can put Americans to work today building the infrastructure of tomorrow. From the first railroads to the Interstate Highway System, our Nation has always been built to compete. There's no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products. Tomorrow I'll visit Tampa, Florida, where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act. There are projects like that all across this country that will create jobs and help move our Nation's goods, services, and information.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "From the day I took office, I've been told that addressing our larger challenges is too ambitious; such an effort would be too contentious. I've been told that our political system is too gridlocked and that we should just put things on hold for a while. For those who make these claims, I have one simple question: How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But the truth is, these steps won't make up for the 7 million jobs that we've lost over the last 2 years. The only way to move to full employment is to lay a new foundation for long-term economic growth and finally address the problems that America's families have confronted for years.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, yesterday the Senate blocked a bill that would have created this commission, so I'll issue an Executive order that will allow us to go forward, because I refuse to pass this problem on to another generation of Americans. And when the vote comes tomorrow, the Senate should restore the pay-as-you-go law that was a big reason for why we had record surpluses in the 1990s.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "From some on the right, I expect we'll hear a different argument, that if we just make fewer investments in our people, extend tax cuts, including those for the wealthier Americans, eliminate more regulations, maintain the status quo on health care, our deficits will go away. The problem is, that's what we did for 8 years. That's what helped us into this crisis. It's what helped lead to these deficits. We can't do it again.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In the end, it's our ideals, our values that built America, values that allowed us to forge a nation made up of immigrants from every corner of the globe, values that drive our citizens still. Every day, Americans meet their responsibilities to their families and their employers. Time and again, they lend a hand to their neighbors and give back to their country. They take pride in their labor and are generous in spirit. These aren't Republican values or Democratic values that they're living by, business values or labor values, they're American values.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "One year ago, I took office amid two wars, an economy rocked by a severe recession, a financial system on the verge of collapse, and a Government deeply in debt. Experts from across the political spectrum warned that if we did not act, we might face a second depression. So we acted, immediately and aggressively. And 1 year later, the worst of the storm has passed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, even after paying for what we spent on my watch, we'll still face the massive deficit we had when I took office. More importantly, the cost of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will continue to skyrocket. That's why I've called for a bipartisan fiscal commission, modeled on a proposal by Republican Judd Gregg and Democrat Kent Conrad. This can't be one of those Washington gimmicks that lets us pretend we solve a problem. The commission will have to provide a specific set of solutions by a certain deadline.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And by the way, I want to acknowledge our First Lady, Michelle Obama, who this year is creating a national movement to tackle the epidemic of childhood obesity and make kids healthier. Thank you, honey. She gets embarrassed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now--just stating the facts. Now, if we had taken office in ordinary times, I would have liked nothing more than to start bringing down the deficit. But we took office amid a crisis. And our efforts to prevent a second depression have added another $1 trillion to our national debt. That too is a fact.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So tonight I'm proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat. I'm also proposing a new small business tax credit, one that will go to over 1 million small businesses who hire new workers or raise wages. While we're at it, let's also eliminate all capital gains taxes on small-business investment and provide a tax incentive for all large businesses and all small businesses to invest in new plants and equipment.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But I also know this: If people had made that decision 50 years ago or 100 years ago or 200 years ago, we wouldn't be here tonight. The only reason we are here is because generations of Americans were unafraid to do what was hard, to do what was needed even when success was uncertain, to do what it took to keep the dream of this Nation alive for their children and their grandchildren.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Our Constitution declares that from time to time, the President shall give to Congress information about the state of our Union. For 220 years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. They've done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility, and they've done so in the midst of war and depression, at moments of great strife and great struggle.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "May God bless and keep those we've lost in His heavenly place. May He grace those we still have with His holy comfort. And may He bless and watch over this community, and the United States of America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And we know that good guys came. The first responders who raced to the scene, helping to guide those in harm's way to safety, and comfort those in need, holding at bay their own shock and trauma because they had a job to do, and others needed them more.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That's what we can be sure of. And that's what you, the people of Newtown, have reminded us. That's how you've inspired us. You remind us what matters. And that's what should drive us forward in everything we do, for as long as God sees fit to keep us on this Earth.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Since I've been President, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by a mass shooting. The fourth time we've hugged survivors. The fourth time we've consoled the families of victims. And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and big cities all across America -- victims whose -- much of the time, their only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, my health care proposal has also been attacked by some who oppose reform as a Government takeover of the entire health care system. As proof, critics point to a provision in our plan that allows the uninsured and small businesses to choose a publicly sponsored insurance option, administered by the Government just like Medicaid or Medicare.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This has always been the history of our progress. In 1935, when over half of our seniors could not support themselves and millions had seen their savings wiped away, there were those who argued that Social Security would lead to socialism, but the men and women of Congress stood fast, and we are all the better for it. In 1965, when some argued that Medicare represented a Government takeover of health care, Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, did not back down. They joined together so that all of us could enter our golden years with some basic peace of mind.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Second, we've estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system, a system that is currently full of waste and abuse. Right now, too much of the hard-earned savings and tax dollars we spend on health care don't make us any healthier. That's not my judgment; it's the judgment of medical professionals across this country. And this is also true when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "When I spoke here last winter, this Nation was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month, credit was frozen, and our financial system was on the verge of collapse.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The only thing this plan would eliminate is the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud as well as unwarranted subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies, subsidies that do everything to pad their profits but don't improve the care of seniors. And we will also create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts charged with identifying more waste in the years ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And that's why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance, just as most States require you to carry auto insurance. Likewise, businesses will be required to either offer their workers health care or chip in to help cover the cost of their workers. There will be a hardship waiver for those individuals who still can't afford coverage, and 95 percent of all small businesses, because of their size and narrow profit margin, would be exempt from these requirements. But we can't have large businesses and individuals who can afford coverage game the system by avoiding responsibility to themselves or their employees. Improving our health care system only works if everybody does their part.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That large-heartedness, that concern and regard for the plight of others, is not a partisan feeling; it's not a Republican or a Democratic feeling. It too is part of the American character, our ability to stand in other people's shoes, a recognition that we are all in this together, and when fortune turns against one of us, others are there to lend a helping hand, a belief that in this country, hard work and responsibility should be rewarded by some measure of security and fair play, and an acknowledgment that sometimes government has to step in to help deliver on that promise.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow, more families will go bankrupt, more businesses will close, more Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it the most, and more will die as a result. We know these things to be true.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Here are the details that every American needs to know about this plan. First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job or Medicare or Medicaid or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: Nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "What was true then can be true now. Our unique strengths as a nation -- our optimism and work ethic, our spirit of discovery, our diversity, our commitment to rule of law -- these things give us everything we need to ensure prosperity and security for generations to come.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And that's exactly what we're doing. For more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off ISIL's financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology. With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we're taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, their weapons. We're training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "A better politics doesn't mean we have to agree on everything. This is a big country -- different regions, different attitudes, different interests. That's one of our strengths, too. Our Founders distributed power between states and branches of government, and expected us to argue, just as they did, fiercely, over the size and shape of government, over commerce and foreign relations, over the meaning of liberty and the imperatives of security.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But such progress is not inevitable. It's the result of choices we make together. And we face such choices right now. Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, in what we stand for, in the incredible things that we can do together?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So, my fellow Americans, whatever you may believe, whether you prefer one party or no party, whether you supported my agenda or fought as hard as you could against it -- our collective futures depends on your willingness to uphold your duties as a citizen. To vote. To speak out. To stand up for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because somebody, somewhere, stood up for us. We need every American to stay active in our public life -- and not just during election time -- so that our public life reflects the goodness and the decency that I see in the American people every single day.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And over the past seven years, we've nurtured that spirit. We've protected an open Internet, and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-income Americans online. We've launched next-generation manufacturing hubs, and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she needs to start a business in a single day. But we can do so much more.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But for my final address to this chamber, I don't want to just talk about next year. I want to focus on the next five years, the next 10 years, and beyond. I want to focus on our future.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Let me give you another example. Fifty years of isolating Cuba had failed to promote democracy, and set us back in Latin America. That's why we restored diplomatic relations opened the door to travel and commerce, positioned ourselves to improve the lives of the Cuban people. So if you want to consolidate our leadership and credibility in the hemisphere, recognize that the Cold War is over -- lift the embargo.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Fortunately, there is a smarter approach, a patient and disciplined strategy that uses every element of our national power. It says America will always act, alone if necessary, to protect our people and our allies; but on issues of global concern, we will mobilize the world to work with us, and make sure other countries pull their own weight.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For the past seven years, our goal has been a growing economy that works also better for everybody. We've made progress. But we need to make more. And despite all the political arguments that we've had these past few years, there are actually some areas where Americans broadly agree.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That's how we stopped the spread of Ebola in West Africa. Our military, our doctors, our development workers -- they were heroic; they set up the platform that then allowed other countries to join in behind us and stamp out that epidemic. Hundreds of thousands, maybe a couple million lives were saved.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, that spirit of discovery is in our DNA. America is Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver. America is Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride. America is every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley, racing to shape a better world. That's who we are.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "If you're a foreign student who wants to pursue a career in science or technology, or a foreign entrepreneur who wants to start a business with the backing of American investors, we should help you do that here. Because if you succeed, you'll create American businesses and American jobs. You'll help us grow our economy. You'll help us strengthen our middle class.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Right now, there are brilliant students from all over the world sitting in classrooms at our top universities. They're earning degrees in the fields of the future, like engineering and computer science. But once they finish school, once they earn that diploma, there's a good chance they'll have to leave our country. Think about that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We've got to lay out a path -- a process that includes passing a background check, paying taxes, paying a penalty, learning English, and then going to the back of the line, behind all the folks who are trying to come here legally. That's only fair, right?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "It's really important for us to remember our history. Unless you're one of the first Americans, a Native American, you came from someplace else. Somebody brought you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, of course, there will be rigorous debate about many of the details, and every stakeholder should engage in real give and take in the process. But it's important for us to recognize that the foundation for bipartisan action is already in place. And if Congress is unable to move forward in a timely fashion, I will send up a bill based on my proposal and insist that they vote on it right away.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In high school, Alan watched his friends come of age -- driving around town with their new licenses, earning some extra cash from their summer jobs at the mall. He knew he couldn't do those things. But it didn't matter that much. What mattered to Alan was earning an education so that he could live up to his God-given potential.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "First, we strengthened security at the borders so that we could finally stem the tide of illegal immigrants. We put more boots on the ground on the southern border than at any time in our history. And today, illegal crossings are down nearly 80 percent from their peak in 2000.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But I promise you this: The closer we get, the more emotional this debate is going to become. Immigration has always been an issue that enflames passions. That's not surprising. There are few things that are more important to us as a society than who gets to come here and call our country home; who gets the privilege of becoming a citizen of the United States of America. That's a big deal.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Because we know we can't build our economic future on the transportation and information networks of the past, we are remaking the American landscape with the largest new investment in our nation's infrastructure since Eisenhower built an Interstate Highway System in the 1950s. Because of this investment, nearly 400,000 men and women will go to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, repairing our faulty dams and levees, bringing critical broadband connections to businesses and homes in nearly every community in America, upgrading mass transit, building high-speed rail lines that will improve travel and commerce throughout our nation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So taken together with the enactment earlier this month of a long-delayed law to extend health care to millions more children of working families we have done more in 30 days to advance the cause of health care reform than this country has done in an entire decade. And that's something we should be proud of.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In a place like New York City, 14,000 teachers who were set to be let go may now be able to continue pursuing their critical mission. It's an investment that will create a new $2,500 annual tax credit to put the dream of a college degree within reach for middle-class families and make college affordable for 7 million students helping more of our sons and daughters aim higher, reach further, fulfill their God-given potential.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Further, thanks to the actions we've taken, 7 million Americans who lost their health care along the way will continue to get the coverage they need, and roughly 20 million more Americans can breathe a little easier knowing that their health care won't be cut due to a state budget shortfall. And a historic commitment to wellness initiatives will keep millions of Americans from setting foot in the doctor's office in the first place -- because these are preventable diseases and we're going to invest in prevention.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And in the process, we will transform the way we use energy. Today, the electricity we use is carried along a grid of lines and wires that date back to Thomas Edison -- a grid that can't support the demands of this economy. This means we're using 19th and 20th century technologies to battle 21st century problems like climate change and energy security. It also means that places like North Dakota can -- that can produce a lot of wind energy can't deliver it to communities that want it, leading to a gap between how much clean energy we are using and how much we could be using.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For our American story is not -- and has never been -- about things coming easy. It's about rising to the moment when the moment is hard, and converting crisis into opportunity, and seeing to it that we emerge from whatever trials we face stronger than we were before. It's about rejecting the notion that our fate is somehow written for us, and instead laying claim to a destiny of our own making. That's what earlier generations of Americans have done, that's what we owe our children, that's what we are doing today.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "They knew they were part of something larger -- a nation that triumphed over fascism and depression; a nation where the most innovative businesses turned out the world's best products. And everyone shared in that pride and success, from the corner office to the factory floor.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And the truth is it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades. It will require common effort and shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one. And, by the way, those of us who carry on his party's legacy should remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government program or dictate from Washington.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But as I stand here tonight, I have never been more hopeful about America. Not because I think I have all the answers. Not because I'm naive about the magnitude of our challenges. I'm hopeful because of you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And I ran for President because I saw that basic bargain slipping away. I began my career helping people in the shadow of a shuttered steel mill at a time when too many good jobs were starting to move overseas. And by 2008, we had seen nearly a decade in which families struggled with costs that kept rising but paychecks that didn'the; folks racking up more and more debt just to make the mortgage or pay tuition, put gas in the car or food on the table. And when the house of cards collapsed in the Great Recession, millions of innocent Americans lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings -- a tragedy from which we're still fighting to recover.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And now you have a choice: We can give more tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, or we can start rewarding companies that open new plants and train new workers and create new jobs here, in the United States of America. We can help big factories and small businesses double their exports, and if we choose this path, we can create a million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years. You can make that happen. You can choose that future.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "You're the reason a young man in Colorado who never thought he'd be able to afford his dream of earning a medical degree is about to get that chance. You made that possible.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And, yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet -- because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They are a threat to our children's future. And in this election, you can do something about it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So now we have a choice. My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy -- but from all that we've seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Because, America, we understand that this democracy is ours. We, the people, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which asks only \"what's in it for me,\" a freedom without commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism is unworthy of our founding ideals and those who died in their defense.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed, and so have I. I'm no longer just a candidate. I'm the President.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I refuse to go along with that and as long as I'm President, I never will. I refuse to ask middle-class families to give up their deductions for owning a home or raising their kids just to pay for another millionaire's tax cut.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Only you can make sure that doesn't happen. Only you have the power to move us forward.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And while my opponent would spend more money on military hardware that our Joint Chiefs don't even want, I will use the money we're no longer spending on war to pay down our debt and put more people back to work rebuilding roads and bridges and schools and runways. Because after two wars that have cost us thousands of live and over a trillion dollars, it's time to do some nation-building right here at home.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Point number one: When you hear someone longing for the \"good old days,\" take it with a grain of salt. Take it with a grain of salt. We live in a great nation and we are rightly proud of our history. We are beneficiaries of the labor and the grit and the courage of generations who came before. But I guess it's part of human nature, especially in times of change and uncertainty, to want to look backwards and long for some imaginary past when everything worked, and the economy hummed, and all politicians were wise, and every kid was well-mannered, and America pretty much did whatever it wanted around the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "You know, it's interesting that if we get sick, we actually want to make sure the doctors have gone to medical school, they know what they're talking about. If we get on a plane, we say we really want a pilot to be able to pilot the plane. And yet, in our public lives, we certainly think, \"I don't want somebody who's done it before.\" The rejection of facts, the rejection of reason and science -- that is the path to decline. It calls to mind the words of Carl Sagan, who graduated high school here in New Jersey he said: \"We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depths of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "One of the perks of my job is honorary degrees. But I have to tell you, it impresses nobody in my house. Now Malia and Sasha just say, \"Okay, Dr. Dad, we'll see you later. Can we have some money?\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, understand, I am sure you've learned during your years of college -- and if not, you will learn soon -- that there are a whole lot of folks who are book smart and have no common sense. That's the truth. You'll meet them if you haven't already. So the fact that they've got a fancy degree -- you got to talk to them to see whether they know what they're talking about. Qualities like kindness and compassion, honesty, hard work -- they often matter more than technical skills or know-how.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "None of these changes happened overnight. They didn't happen because some charismatic leader got everybody suddenly to agree on everything. It didn't happen because some massive political revolution occurred. It actually happened over the course of years of advocacy, and organizing, and alliance-building, and deal-making, and the changing of public opinion. It happened because ordinary Americans who cared participated in the political process.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So get to work. Make sure the next 250 years are better than the last.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So I'm here, off Exit 9, on the banks of the Old Raritan at the site of one of the original nine colonial colleges. Winners of the first-ever college football game. One of the newest members of the Big Ten. Home of what I understand to be a Grease Truck for a Fat Sandwich. Mozzarella sticks and chicken fingers on your cheesesteaks -- I'm sure Michelle would approve.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So I think there are more things that we can do to make sure that I'm getting out of here. But, I mean, I think it's important to point out as well that a couple of great communicators, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, were standing at this podium two years into their presidency getting very similar questions because the economy wasn't working the way it needed to be and there were a whole range of factors that made people concerned that maybe the party in power wasn't listening to them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And with so much at stake, what the American people don't want from us, especially here in Washington, is to spend the next two years refighting the political battles of the last two. We just had a tough election. We will have another in 2012. I'm not so naive as to think that everybody will put politics aside until then, but I do hope to make progress on the very serious problems facing us right now. And that's going to require all of us, including me, to work harder at building consensus.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And so I've got to take responsibility in terms of making sure that I make clear to the business community as well as to the country that the most important thing we can do is to boost and encourage our business sector and make sure that they're hiring. And so we do have specific plans in terms of how we can structure that outreach.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And so my job is to make sure that I'm looking at all ideas that are on the table. When it comes to job creation, if Republicans have good ideas for job growth that can drive down the unemployment rate, and we haven't thought of them, we haven't looked at them but we think they have a chance of working, we want to try some.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And how that negotiation works itself out I think is too early to say. But this is going to be one of my top priorities, and my hope is, is that given we all have an interest in growing the economy and encouraging job growth, that we're not going to play brinksmanship but instead we're going to act responsibly.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "You know, I'm sure there are going to be areas, particularly around, for example, reforming how Washington works, that I'll be interested in. I think the American people want to see more transparency, more openness. As I said, in the midst of economic crisis, I think one of the things I take responsibility for is not having pushed harder on some of those issues. And I think if you take Republicans and Democrats at their word this is an area that they want to deliver on for the American people, I want to be supportive of that effort.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Well, I already discussed a couple with Chip that haven't been acted on yet. You're right that I made these proposals two months ago, but -- or three months ago -- but it was in the midst of a campaign season where it was doubtful that they were going to get a full hearing, just because there was so much political noise going on.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The Republicans throughout the campaign said they're very concerned about debt and deficits. Well, one of the most important things we can do for debt and deficits is economic growth. So what other proposals do they have to grow the economy? If, in fact, they're rejecting some of the proposals I've made, I want to hear from them what affirmative policies can make a difference in terms of encouraging job growth and promoting the economy -- because I don't think that tax cuts alone are going to be a recipe for the kind of expansion that we need.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I think that making sure that families had security and were on a trajectory to lower health care costs was absolutely critical for this country. But you are absolutely right that when you are navigating through a House and a Senate in this kind of pretty partisan environment that it's a ugly mess when it comes to process. And I think that is something that really affected how people viewed the outcome. That is something that I regret -- that we couldn't have made the process more -- healthier than it ended up being. But I think the outcome was a good one.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So I think when it comes to something like energy, what we're probably going to have to do is say here are some areas where there's just too much disagreement between Democrats and Republicans, we can't get this done right now, but let's not wait. Let's go ahead and start making some progress on the things that we do agree on, and we can continue to have a strong and healthy debate about those areas where we don't.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I'm a strong believer that the earmarking process in Congress isn't what the American people really want to see when it comes to making tough decisions about how taxpayer dollars are spent. And I, in the rush to get things done, had to sign a bunch of bills that had earmarks in them, which was contrary to what I had talked about. And I think folks look at that and they said, gosh, this feels like the same partisan squabbling, this seems like the same ways of doing business as happened before.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Because the most important contest we face is not the contest between Democrats and Republicans. In this century, the most important competition we face is between America and our economic competitors around the world. To win that competition, and to continue our economic leadership, we're going to need to be strong and we're going to need to be united.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And so the track record has been that when I'm out of this place, that's not an issue. When you're in this place, it is hard not to seem removed. And one of the challenges that we've got to think about is how do I meet my responsibilities here in the White House, which require a lot of hours and a lot of work, but still have that opportunity to engage with the American people on a day-to-day basis, and know -- give them confidence that I'm listening to them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Well, I think this is going to be an important question for Democrats and Republicans. I think the American people are absolutely concerned about spending and debt -- and deficits. And I'm going to have a deficit commission that is putting forward its ideas. It's a bipartisan group that includes Republican and Democratic members of Congress. Hopefully they were able to arrive at some consensus on some areas where we can eliminate programs that don't work, cut back on government spending that is inefficient, can streamline government, but isn't cutting into the core investments that are going to make sure that we are a competitive economy that is growing and providing opportunity for years to come.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We already had a big deficit that I inherited, and that has been made worse because of the recession. As we bring it down, I want to make sure that we're not cutting into education that is going to help define whether or not we can compete around the world. I don't think we should be cutting back on research and development, because if we can develop new technologies in areas like clean energy, that could make all the difference in terms of job creation here at home.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I think the proposal that I put forward with respect to infrastructure is one that historically we've had bipartisan agreement about. And we should be able to agree now that it makes no sense for China to have better rail systems than us, and Singapore having better airports than us. And we just learned that China now has the fastest supercomputer on Earth -- that used to be us. They're making investments because they know those investments will pay off over the long term.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "There's been discussion about how we can restart our nuclear industry as a means of reducing our dependence on foreign oil and reducing greenhouse gases. Is that an area where we can move forward?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I will tell you, they've been incredibly gracious when I have conversations with them. And what they've told me is, you know, we don't have regrets because I feel like we were doing the right thing. And they may be just saying that to make me feel better, which, again, is a sign of their character and their class. And I hope a lot of them continue to pursue public service because I think they're terrific public servants.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And I think EPA wants help from the legislature on this. I don't think that the desire is to somehow be protective of their powers here. I think what they want to do is make sure that the issue is being dealt with.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Well, Savannah, I think that what I think is absolutely true is voters are not satisfied with the outcomes. If right now we had 5 percent unemployment instead of 9.6 percent unemployment, then people would have more confidence in those policy choices. The fact is, is that for most folks, proof of whether they work or not is has the economy gotten back to where it needs to be. And it hasn't.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Yet we must acknowledge that a strategy based solely upon the narrow pursuit of these interests will not fill an empty stomach or allow someone to speak their mind. Moreover, failure to speak to the broader aspirations of ordinary people will only feed the suspicion that has festered for years that the United States pursues our interests at their expense. Given that this mistrust runs both ways -- as Americans have been seared by hostage-taking and violent rhetoric and terrorist attacks that have killed thousands of our citizens -- a failure to change our approach threatens a deepening spiral of division between the United States and the Arab world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The question before us is what role America will play as this story unfolds. For decades, the United States has pursued a set of core interests in the region: countering terrorism and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons; securing the free flow of commerce and safe-guarding the security of the region; standing up for Israel's security and pursuing Arab-Israeli peace.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Our support for these principles is not a secondary interest. Today I want to make it clear that it is a top priority that must be translated into concrete actions, and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic and strategic tools at our disposal.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Bin Laden was no martyr. He was a mass murderer who offered a message of hate -- an insistence that Muslims had to take up arms against the West, and that violence against men, women and children was the only path to change. He rejected democracy and individual rights for Muslims in favor of violent extremism; his agenda focused on what he could destroy -- not what he could build.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The greatest untapped resource in the Middle East and North Africa is the talent of its people. In the recent protests, we see that talent on display, as people harness technology to move the world. It's no coincidence that one of the leaders of Tahrir Square was an executive for Google. That energy now needs to be channeled, in country after country, so that economic growth can solidify the accomplishments of the street. For just as democratic revolutions can be triggered by a lack of individual opportunity, successful democratic transitions depend upon an expansion of growth and broad-based prosperity.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "It will not be easy. There's no straight line to progress, and hardship always accompanies a season of hope. But the United States of America was founded on the belief that people should govern themselves. And now we cannot hesitate to stand squarely on the side of those who are reaching for their rights, knowing that their success will bring about a world that is more peaceful, more stable, and more just.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "As for Israel, our friendship is rooted deeply in a shared history and shared values. Our commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable. And we will stand against attempts to single it out for criticism in international forums. But precisely because of our friendship, it's important that we tell the truth: The status quo is unsustainable, and Israel too must act boldly to advance a lasting peace.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Second, we do not want a democratic Egypt to be saddled by the debts of its past. So we will relieve a democratic Egypt of up to $1 billion in debt, and work with our Egyptian partners to invest these resources to foster growth and entrepreneurship. We will help Egypt regain access to markets by guaranteeing $1 billion in borrowing that is needed to finance infrastructure and job creation. And we will help newly democratic governments recover assets that were stolen.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, ultimately, it is up to the Israelis and Palestinians to take action. No peace can be imposed upon them -- not by the United States; not by anybody else. But endless delay won't make the problem go away. What America and the international community can do is to state frankly what everyone knows -- a lasting peace will involve two states for two peoples: Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people, and the state of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people, each state enjoying self-determination, mutual recognition, and peace.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So, drawing from what we've learned around the world, we think it's important to focus on trade, not just aid; on investment, not just assistance. The goal must be a model in which protectionism gives way to openness, the reigns of commerce pass from the few to the many, and the economy generates jobs for the young. America's support for democracy will therefore be based on ensuring financial stability, promoting reform, and integrating competitive markets with each other and the global economy. And we're going to start with Tunisia and Egypt.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "After all, politics alone has not put protesters into the streets. The tipping point for so many people is the more constant concern of putting food on the table and providing for a family. Too many people in the region wake up with few expectations other than making it through the day, perhaps hoping that their luck will change. Throughout the region, many young people have a solid education, but closed economies leave them unable to find a job. Entrepreneurs are brimming with ideas, but corruption leaves them unable to profit from those ideas.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Such open discourse is important even if what is said does not square with our worldview. Let me be clear, America respects the right of all peaceful and law-abiding voices to be heard, even if we disagree with them. And sometimes we profoundly disagree with them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For all the challenges that lie ahead, we see many reasons to be hopeful. In Egypt, we see it in the efforts of young people who led protests. In Syria, we see it in the courage of those who brave bullets while chanting, \"peaceful, peaceful.\" In Benghazi, a city threatened with destruction, we see it in the courthouse square where people gather to celebrate the freedoms that they had never known. Across the region, those rights that we take for granted are being claimed with joy by those who are prying loose the grip of an iron fist.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For decades, the conflict between Israelis and Arabs has cast a shadow over the region. For Israelis, it has meant living with the fear that their children could be blown up on a bus or by rockets fired at their homes, as well as the pain of knowing that other children in the region are taught to hate them. For Palestinians, it has meant suffering the humiliation of occupation, and never living in a nation of their own. Moreover, this conflict has come with a larger cost to the Middle East, as it impedes partnerships that could bring greater security and prosperity and empowerment to ordinary people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But understand that these programs of social insurance benefit all of us, because we don't know when we might have a run of bad luck. We don't know when we might lose a job. Of course, for decades, there was one yawning gap in the safety net that did more than anything else to expose working families to the insecurities of today's economy -- namely, our broken health care system.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And we're also going to have to do more for the long-term unemployed. For people who have been out of work for more than six months, often through no fault of their own, life is a catch-22. Companies won't give their resume an honest look because they've been laid off so long -- but they've been laid off so long because companies won't give their resume an honest look. And that's why earlier this year, I challenged CEOs from some of America's best companies to give these Americans a fair shot. And next month, many of them will join us at the White House for an announcement about this.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For one thing, these trends are bad for our economy. One study finds that growth is more fragile and recessions are more frequent in countries with greater inequality. And that makes sense. When families have less to spend, that means businesses have fewer customers, and households rack up greater mortgage and credit card debt; meanwhile, concentrated wealth at the top is less likely to result in the kind of broadly based consumer spending that drives our economy, and together with lax regulation, may contribute to risky speculative bubbles.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And rising inequality and declining mobility are also bad for our families and social cohesion -- not just because we tend to trust our institutions less, but studies show we actually tend to trust each other less when there's greater inequality. And greater inequality is associated with less mobility between generations. That means it's not just temporary; the effects last. It creates a vicious cycle. For example, by the time she turns three years old, a child born into a low-income home hears 30 million fewer words than a child from a well-off family, which means by the time she starts school she's already behind, and that deficit can compound itself over time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And as we empower our young people for future success, the third part of this middle-class economics is empowering our workers. It's time to ensure our collective bargaining laws function as they're supposed to so unions have a level playing field to organize for a better deal for workers and better wages for the middle class. It's time to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so that women will have more tools to fight pay discrimination. It's time to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act so workers can't be fired for who they are or who they love.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "When it comes to our budget, we should not be stuck in a stale debate from two years ago or three years ago. A relentlessly growing deficit of opportunity is a bigger threat to our future than our rapidly shrinking fiscal deficit.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We know that education is the most important predictor of income today, so we launched a Race to the Top in our schools. We're supporting states that have raised standards for teaching and learning. We're pushing for redesigned high schools that graduate more kids with the technical training and apprenticeships, and in-demand, high-tech skills that can lead directly to a good job and a middle-class life.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Thank you, everybody. God bless you. God bless America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But starting in the late '70s, this social compact began to unravel. Technology made it easier for companies to do more with less, eliminating certain job occupations. A more competitive world lets companies ship jobs anywhere. And as good manufacturing jobs automated or headed offshore, workers lost their leverage, jobs paid less and offered fewer benefits.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, the premise that we're all created equal is the opening line in the American story. And while we don't promise equal outcomes, we have strived to deliver equal opportunity -- the idea that success doesn't depend on being born into wealth or privilege, it depends on effort and merit. And with every chapter we've added to that story, we've worked hard to put those words into practice.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I have acknowledged more than once that we didn't roll out parts of this law as well as we should have. But the law is already working in major ways that benefit millions of Americans right now, even as we've begun to slow the rise in health care costs, which is good for family budgets, good for federal and state budgets, and good for the budgets of businesses small and large. So this law is going to work. And for the sake of our economic security, it needs to work.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And even though we're bringing manufacturing jobs back to America, we're creating more good-paying jobs in education and health care and business services; we know that we're going to have a greater and greater portion of our people in the service sector. And we know that there are airport workers, and fast-food workers, and nurse assistants, and retail salespeople who work their tails off and are still living at or barely above poverty. And that's why it's well past the time to raise a minimum wage that in real terms right now is below where it was when Harry Truman was in office.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, we can't look at the past through rose-colored glasses. The economy didn't always work for everyone. Racial discrimination locked millions out of poverty -- or out of opportunity. Women were too often confined to a handful of often poorly paid professions. And it was only through painstaking struggle that more women, and minorities, and Americans with disabilities began to win the right to more fairly and fully participate in the economy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And as people in states as different as California and Kentucky sign up every single day for health insurance, signing up in droves, they're proving they want that economic security. If the Senate Republican leader still thinks he is going to be able to repeal this someday, he might want to check with the more than 60,000 people in his home state who are already set to finally have coverage that frees them from the fear of financial ruin, and lets them afford to take their kids to see a doctor.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Thank you. God bless you. And God bless this country we love.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, let's be clear about what it isn't. This deal does not apply to anyone who has come to this country recently. It does not apply to anyone who might come to America illegally in the future. It does not grant citizenship, or the right to stay here permanently, or offer the same benefits that citizens receive -- only Congress can do that. All we're saying is we're not going to deport you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I know some of the critics of this action call it amnesty. Well, it's not. Amnesty is the immigration system we have today -- millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules while politicians use the issue to scare people and whip up votes at election time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Most Americans support the types of reforms I've talked about tonight. But I understand the disagreements held by many of you at home. Millions of us, myself included, go back generations in this country, with ancestors who put in the painstaking work to become citizens. So we don't like the notion that anyone might get a free pass to American citizenship.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That's what this debate is all about. We need more than politics as usual when it comes to immigration. We need reasoned, thoughtful, compassionate debate that focuses on our hopes, not our fears. I know the politics of this issue are tough. But let me tell you why I have come to feel so strongly about it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "It's a faith in the future that sustains us as a people. It is that same faith that sustains our neighbors in the Gulf right now.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We cannot consign our children to this future. The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America's innovation and seize control of our own destiny.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Each year, at the beginning of shrimping season, the region's fishermen take part in a tradition that was brought to America long ago by fishing immigrants from Europe. It's called \"The Blessing of the Fleet,\" and today it's a celebration where clergy from different religions gather to say a prayer for the safety and success of the men and women who will soon head out to sea -- some for weeks at a time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered. For decades, we've talked and talked about the need to end America's century-long addiction to fossil fuels. And for decades, we have failed to act with the sense of urgency that this challenge requires. Time and again, the path forward has been blocked -- not only by oil industry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and candor.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This is not some distant vision for America. The transition away from fossil fuels is going to take some time, but over the last year and a half, we've already taken unprecedented action to jumpstart the clean energy industry. As we speak, old factories are reopening to produce wind turbines, people are going back to work installing energy-efficient windows, and small businesses are making solar panels. Consumers are buying more efficient cars and trucks, and families are making their homes more energy-efficient. Scientists and researchers are discovering clean energy technologies that someday will lead to entire new industries.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The third part of our response plan is the steps we're taking to ensure that a disaster like this does not happen again. A few months ago, I approved a proposal to consider new, limited offshore drilling under the assurance that it would be absolutely safe -- that the proper technology would be in place and the necessary precautions would be taken.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Because there has never been a leak this size at this depth, stopping it has tested the limits of human technology. That's why just after the rig sank, I assembled a team of our nation's best scientists and engineers to tackle this challenge -- a team led by Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and our nation's Secretary of Energy. Scientists at our national labs and experts from academia and other oil companies have also provided ideas and advice.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This budget builds on these reforms. It includes a historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform, a down payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American. It's a commitment that's paid for in part by efficiencies in our system that are long overdue. And it's a step we must take if we hope to bring down our deficit in the years to come.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this Nation. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and our universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history, we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Finally, because we're also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget. That is why this budget looks ahead 10 years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules. And for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For 7 years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, I understand that when the last administration asked this Congress to provide assistance for struggling banks, Democrats and Republicans alike were infuriated by the mismanagement and the results that followed. So were the American taxpayers; so was I. So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions. I promise you, I get it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "You see, the flow of credit is the lifeblood of our economy. The ability to get a loan is how you finance the purchase of everything from a home to a car to a college education, how stores stock their shelves, farms buy equipment, and businesses make payroll.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children, but it is up to us to ensure they walk through them. In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a parent, for a mother or father who will attend those parent/teacher conferences or help with homework or turn off the TV, put away the video games, read to their child. I speak to you not just as a President, but as a father, when I say that responsibility for our children's education must begin at home. That is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue; that's an American issue.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community, how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. \"The tragedy was terrible,\" said one of the men who helped them rebuild. \"But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In this budget, we will end education programs that don't work and end direct payments to large agribusiness that don't need them. We'll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq and reform our defense budget so that we're not paying for cold war-era weapons systems we don't use. We will root out the waste and fraud and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn't make our seniors any healthier. We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our Tax Code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But we know that our schools don't just need more resources, they need more reform. And that is why this budget creates new teachers--new incentives for teacher performance, pathways for advancement, and rewards for success. We'll invest in innovative programs that are already helping schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps, and we will expand our commitment to charter schools.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So the recovery plan we passed is the first step in getting our economy back on track. But it is just the first step. Because even if we manage this plan flawlessly, there will be no real recovery unless we clean up the credit crisis that has severely weakened our financial system.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we've come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or a laundry list of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America, as a blueprint for our future.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. Once again, it will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and our conscience long enough. So let there be no doubt: Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now these questions are not new. War, in one form or another, appeared with the first man. At the dawn of history, its morality was not questioned; it was simply a fact, like drought or disease -- the manner in which tribes and then civilizations sought power and settled their differences.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And over time, as codes of law sought to control violence within groups, so did philosophers and clerics and statesmen seek to regulate the destructive power of war. The concept of a \"just war\" emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when certain conditions were met: if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the force used is proportional; and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Like generations have before us, we must reject that future. As Dr. King said at this occasion so many years ago, \"I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man's present condition makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "First, in dealing with those nations that break rules and laws, I believe that we must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to actually change behavior -- for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something. Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable. Sanctions must exact a real price. Intransigence must be met with increased pressure -- and such pressure exists only when the world stands together as one.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached -- their fundamental faith in human progress -- that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I raise this point, I begin with this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter what the cause. And at times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the world's sole military superpower.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And yet too often, these words are ignored. For some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are somehow Western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nation's development. And within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists -- a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values around the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And this becomes particularly important when the purpose of military action extends beyond self-defense or the defense of one nation against an aggressor. More and more, we all confront difficult questions about how to prevent the slaughter of civilians by their own government, or to stop a civil war whose violence and suffering can engulf an entire region.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "What might this evolution look like? What might these practical steps be?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Somewhere today, in the here and now, in the world as it is, a soldier sees he's outgunned, but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, scrapes together what few coins she has to send that child to school -- because she believes that a cruel world still has a place for that child's dreams.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We share a common interest in resolving conflicts that prolong human suffering and threaten to tear whole regions asunder. In Sudan, after years of war and thousands of deaths, we call on both North and South to pull back from the brink of violence and choose the path of peace. And in the Middle East, we stand united in our support for a secure Israel and a sovereign Palestine.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Adam Smith's central insight remains true today: There is no greater generator of wealth and innovation than a system of free enterprise that unleashes the full potential of individual men and women. That's what led to the Industrial Revolution that began in the factories of Manchester. That is what led to the dawn of the Information Age that arose from the office parks of Silicon Valley. That's why countries like China, India and Brazil are growing so rapidly -- because in fits and starts, they are moving toward market-based principles that the United States and the United Kingdom have always embraced.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Precisely because we are willing to bear its burden, we know well the cost of war. And that is why we built an alliance that was strong enough to defend this continent while deterring our enemies. At its core, NATO is rooted in the simple concept of Article Five: that no NATO nation will have to fend on its own; that allies will stand by one another, always. And for six decades, NATO has been the most successful alliance in human history.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "What began on this island would inspire millions throughout the continent of Europe and across the world. But perhaps no one drew greater inspiration from these notions of freedom than your rabble-rousing colonists on the other side of the Atlantic. As Winston Churchill said, the \"... Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Moreover, even when the free market works as it should, both our countries recognize that no matter how responsibly we live in our lives, hard times or bad luck, a crippling illness or a layoff may strike any one of us. And so part of our common tradition has expressed itself in a conviction that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security -- health care if you get sick, unemployment insurance if you lose your job, a dignified retirement after a lifetime of hard work. That commitment to our citizens has also been the reason for our leadership in the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Centuries ago, when kings, emperors, and warlords reigned over much of the world, it was the English who first spelled out the rights and liberties of man in the Magna Carta. It was here, in this very hall, where the rule of law first developed, courts were established, disputes were settled, and citizens came to petition their leaders.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Unlike most countries in the world, we do not define citizenship based on race or ethnicity. Being American or British is not about belonging to a certain group; it's about believing in a certain set of ideals -- the rights of individuals, the rule of law. That is why we hold incredible diversity within our borders. That's why there are people around the world right now who believe that if they come to America, if they come to New York, if they come to London, if they work hard, they can pledge allegiance to our flag and call themselves Americans; if they come to England, they can make a new life for themselves and can sing God Save The Queen just like any other citizen.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "These challenges come at a time when the international order has already been reshaped for a new century. Countries like China, India, and Brazil are growing by leaps and bounds. We should welcome this development, for it has lifted hundreds of millions from poverty around the globe, and created new markets and opportunities for our own nations.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Of course, all relationships have their ups and downs. Admittedly, ours got off on the wrong foot with a small scrape about tea and taxes. There may also have been some hurt feelings when the White House was set on fire during the War of 1812. But fortunately, it's been smooth sailing ever since.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Indeed, our efforts in this young century have led us to a new concept for NATO that will give us the capabilities needed to meet new threats -- threats like terrorism and piracy, cyber attacks and ballistic missiles. But a revitalized NATO will continue to hew to that original vision of its founders, allowing us to rally collective action for the defense of our people, while building upon the broader belief of Roosevelt and Churchill that all nations have both rights and responsibilities, and all nations share a common interest in an international architecture that maintains the peace.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Today, after a difficult decade that began with war and ended in recession, our nations have arrived at a pivotal moment once more. A global economy that once stood on the brink of depression is now stable and recovering. After years of conflict, the United States has removed 100,000 troops from Iraq, the United Kingdom has removed its forces, and our combat mission there has ended. In Afghanistan, we've broken the Taliban's momentum and will soon begin a transition to Afghan lead. And nearly 10 years after 9/11, we have disrupted terrorist networks and dealt al Qaeda a huge blow by killing its leader -- Osama bin Laden.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, \"We are not enemies, but friends... though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.\" And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So today, I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year. After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Here at home, the coming months will be another season of homecomings. Across America, our servicemen and women will be reunited with their families. Today, I can say that our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Over the next two months, our troops in Iraq -- tens of thousands of them -- will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home. The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success, and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops. That is how America's military efforts in Iraq will end.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. A graduate of this university and a graduate of this law school Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain 20 years ago appointed by President George H. W. Bush and rose to become Arizona's chief federal judge.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations -- to try and pose some order on the chaos and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we've seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health system. And much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Gabby opened her eyes. Gabby opened her eyes, so I can tell you she knows we are here. She knows we love her. And she knows that we are rooting for her through what is undoubtedly going to be a difficult journey. We are there for her.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And in Christina -- in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic, so full of magic. So deserving of our love. And so deserving of our good example.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, \"When I looked for light, then came darkness.\" Bad things happen, and we have to guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "As has already been mentioned, Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called \"Faces of Hope.\" On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child's life. \"I hope you help those in need,\" read one. \"I hope you know all the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart.\" \"I hope you jump in rain puddles.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate -- as it should -- let's make sure it's worthy of those we have lost. Let's make sure it's not on the usual plane of politics and point-scoring and pettiness that drifts away in the next news cycle.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We have not always been thanked for these efforts, and we have at times made mistakes. But more than any other nation, the United States of America has underwritten global security for over six decades -- a time that, for all its problems, has seen walls come down, and markets open, and billions lifted from poverty, unparalleled scientific progress and advancing frontiers of human liberty.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Of course, this burden is not ours alone to bear. This is not just America's war. Since 9/11, al Qaeda's safe havens have been the source of attacks against London and Amman and Bali. The people and governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are endangered. And the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We will have to take away the tools of mass destruction. And that's why I've made it a central pillar of my foreign policy to secure loose nuclear materials from terrorists, to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to pursue the goal of a world without them -- because every nation must understand that true security will never come from an endless race for ever more destructive weapons; true security will come for those who reject them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "As we know, these men belonged to al Qaeda -- a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world's great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents. Al Qaeda's base of operations was in Afghanistan, where they were harbored by the Taliban -- a ruthless, repressive and radical movement that seized control of that country after it was ravaged by years of Soviet occupation and civil war, and after the attention of America and our friends had turned elsewhere.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our Armed Services, and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan -- the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusion. It's an extraordinary honor for me to do so here at West Point -- where so many men and women have prepared to stand up for our security, and to represent what is finest about our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Finally, there are those who oppose identifying a time frame for our transition to Afghan responsibility. Indeed, some call for a more dramatic and open-ended escalation of our war effort -- one that would commit us to a nation-building project of up to a decade. I reject this course because it sets goals that are beyond what can be achieved at a reasonable cost, and what we need to achieve to secure our interests. Furthermore, the absence of a time frame for transition would deny us any sense of urgency in working with the Afghan government. It must be clear that Afghans will have to take responsibility for their security, and that America has no interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We'll have to use diplomacy, because no one nation can meet the challenges of an interconnected world acting alone. I've spent this year renewing our alliances and forging new partnerships. And we have forged a new beginning between America and the Muslim world -- one that recognizes our mutual interest in breaking a cycle of conflict, and that promises a future in which those who kill innocents are isolated by those who stand up for peace and prosperity and human dignity.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Second, there are those who acknowledge that we can't leave Afghanistan in its current state, but suggest that we go forward with the troops that we already have. But this would simply maintain a status quo in which we muddle through, and permit a slow deterioration of conditions there. It would ultimately prove more costly and prolong our stay in Afghanistan, because we would never be able to generate the conditions needed to train Afghan security forces and give them the space to take over.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In the end, our security and leadership does not come solely from the strength of our arms. It derives from our people -- from the workers and businesses who will rebuild our economy; from the entrepreneurs and researchers who will pioneer new industries; from the teachers that will educate our children, and the service of those who work in our communities at home; from the diplomats and Peace Corps volunteers who spread hope abroad; and from the men and women in uniform who are part of an unbroken line of sacrifice that has made government of the people, by the people, and for the people a reality on this Earth.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "My fellow Americans, this has been a difficult decade for our country. We've learned anew the profound cost of war -- a cost that's been paid by the nearly 4,500 Americans who have given their lives in Iraq, and the over 1,500 who have done so in Afghanistan -- men and women who will not live to enjoy the freedom that they defended. Thousands more have been wounded. Some have lost limbs on the battlefield, and others still battle the demons that have followed them home.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Of course, huge challenges remain. This is the beginning -- but not the end -- of our effort to wind down this war. We'll have to do the hard work of keeping the gains that we've made, while we draw down our forces and transition responsibility for security to the Afghan government. And next May, in Chicago, we will host a summit with our NATO allies and partners to shape the next phase of this transition.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In Afghanistan, we've inflicted serious losses on the Taliban and taken a number of its strongholds. Along with our surge, our allies also increased their commitments, which helped stabilize more of the country. Afghan security forces have grown by over 100,000 troops, and in some provinces and municipalities we've already begun to transition responsibility for security to the Afghan people. In the face of violence and intimidation, Afghans are fighting and dying for their country, establishing local police forces, opening markets and schools, creating new opportunities for women and girls, and trying to turn the page on decades of war.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "These are the rough waters encountered during the course of one of America's longest wars. Yet there has been one constant amidst these shifting tides. At every turn, America's men and women in uniform have served with courage and resolve. As Commander-in-Chief, I am incredibly proud of their service. And like all Americans, I'm awed by their sacrifice, and by the sacrifices of their families.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Going forward, a transitional force of U. S. troops will remain in Iraq with a different mission: advising and assisting Iraq's Security Forces, supporting Iraqi troops in targeted counterterrorism missions, and protecting our civilians. Consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all U. S. troops will leave by the end of next year. As our military draws down, our dedicated civilians -- diplomats, aid workers, and advisors -- are moving into the lead to support Iraq as it strengthens its government, resolves political disputes, resettles those displaced by war, and builds ties with the region and the world. That's a message that Vice President Biden is delivering to the Iraqi people through his visit there today.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And so at this moment, as we wind down the war in Iraq, we must tackle those challenges at home with as much energy, and grit, and sense of common purpose as our men and women in uniform who have served abroad. They have met every test that they faced. Now, it's our turn. Now, it's our responsibility to honor them by coming together, all of us, and working to secure the dream that so many generations have fought for -- the dream that a better life awaits anyone who is willing to work for it and reach for it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Good evening. Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about the end of our combat mission in Iraq, the ongoing security challenges we face, and the need to rebuild our nation here at home.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This completes a transition to Iraqi responsibility for their own security. U. S. troops pulled out of Iraq's cities last summer, and Iraqi forces have moved into the lead with considerable skill and commitment to their fellow citizens. Even as Iraq continues to suffer terrorist attacks, security incidents have been near the lowest on record since the war began. And Iraqi forces have taken the fight to al Qaeda, removing much of its leadership in Iraqi-led operations.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Over the last two days, I've reaffirmed the bonds between our countries with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres. I've borne witness to the ancient history of the Jewish people at the Shrine of the Book, and I've seen Israel's shining future in your scientists and your entrepreneurs. This is a nation of museums and patents, timeless holy sites and ground-breaking innovation. Only in Israel could you see the Dead Sea Scrolls and the place where the technology on board the Mars Rover originated at the same time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "No one -- no single step can change overnight what lies in the hearts and minds of millions. No single step is going to erase years of history and propaganda. But progress with the Palestinians is a powerful way to begin, while sidelining extremists who thrive on conflict and thrive on division. It would make a difference.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, I stand here today mindful that for both our nations, these are some complicated times. We have difficult issues to work through within our own countries, and we face dangers and upheaval around the world. And when I look at young people within the United States, I think about the choices that they must make in their lives to define who we'll be as a nation in this 21st century, particularly as we emerge from two wars and the worst recession since the Great Depression. But part of the reason I like talking to young people is because no matter how great the challenges are, their idealism, their energy, their ambition always gives me hope.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So that's what I think about when Israel is faced with these challenges -- that sense of an Israel that is surrounded by many in this region who still reject it, and many in the world who refuse to accept it. And that's why the security of the Jewish people in Israel is so important. It cannot be taken for granted.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Israel has built a prosperous nation -- through kibbutzeem that made the desert bloom, business that broadened the middle class, innovators who reached new frontiers, from the smallest microchip to the orbits of space. Israel has established a thriving democracy, with a spirited civil society and proud political parties, and a tireless free press, and a lively public debate -- \"lively\" may even be an understatement.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Those ties began only 11 minutes after Israeli independence, when the United States was the first nation to recognize the State of Israel. As President Truman said in explaining his decision to recognize Israel, he said, \"I believe it has a glorious future before it not just as another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.\" And since then, we've built a friendship that advances our shared interests.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For the Jewish people, the journey to the promise of the State of Israel wound through countless generations. It involved centuries of suffering and exile, prejudice and pogroms and even genocide. Through it all, the Jewish people sustained their unique identity and traditions, as well as a longing to return home. And while Jews achieved extraordinary success in many parts of the world, the dream of true freedom finally found its full expression in the Zionist idea -- to be a free people in your homeland. That's why I believe that Israel is rooted not just in history and tradition, but also in a simple and profound idea -- the idea that people deserve to be free in a land of their own.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In the United States -- a nation made up of people who crossed oceans to start anew -- we're naturally drawn to the idea of finding freedom in our land. To African Americans, the story of the Exodus was perhaps the central story, the most powerful image about emerging from the grip of bondage to reach for liberty and human dignity -- a tale that was carried from slavery through the Civil Rights Movement into today.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "There are other factors involved. Given the frustration in the international community about this conflict, Israel needs to reverse an undertow of isolation. And given the march of technology, the only way to truly protect the Israeli people over the long term is through the absence of war. Because no wall is high enough and no Iron Dome is strong enough or perfect enough to stop every enemy that is intent on doing so from inflicting harm.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Negotiations will be necessary, but there's little secret about where they must lead -- two states for two peoples. Two states for two peoples.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I also know that I come to Israel on the eve of a sacred holiday -- the celebration of Passover. And that is where I would like to begin today.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For generations, this promise helped people weather poverty and persecution, while holding on to the hope that a better day was on the horizon. For me, personally, growing up in far-flung parts of the world and without firm roots, the story spoke to a yearning within every human being for a home.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, only you can determine what kind of democracy you will have. But remember that as you make these decisions, you will define not simply the future of your relationship with the Palestinians -- you will define the future of Israel as well.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "No, no -- this is part of the lively debate that we talked about. This is good. You know, I have to say we actually arranged for that, because it made me feel at home. I wouldn't feel comfortable if I didn't have at least one heckler.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Meanwhile, Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state and that Israelis have the right to insist upon their security. Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable with real borders that have to be drawn.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So a lot of middle-class families began to feel that the odds were stacked against them -- and they were right. And then for a while, this was kind of papered over because we had a housing bubble going on, and everybody was maxing out on their credit cards, everybody was highly leveraged, there were a lot of financial deals going around. And so it looked like the economy was going to be doing okay, but then by the time I took office, the bottom had fallen out. And it cost, as we know, millions of Americans their jobs or their homes or their savings. And that long-term erosion of middle-class security was evident for everybody to see.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "As we speak -- and then, as we speak, we're working with both parties to reverse the doubling of student loan rates that happened a few weeks ago because Congress didn't get its act together. We've got to get student loan rates -- interest rates back down.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So we're going to reach out to CEOs and we're going to reach out to workers, and we're going to reach out to college presidents and we're going to reach out to students. We'll talk to Democrats and independents -- and, yes, I will be asking Republicans to get involved because this has to be our core project for the next decade.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In an age where business knows no borders, jobs are going to seek out the countries that have the most talented, skilled citizens, and those are the folks who are going to make a good living. The days when the wages for a worker with a high-school degree could keep pace with the earnings of somebody with a college degree -- those days are over. You can see it all throughout the Midwest, where you've got folks who a generation ago could just walk into a factory or a plant, didn't have a lot of skills, get trained on the job, make a good living, live out a middle-class life. That's not going to happen anymore. Technology, global competition -- those things are not going away.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But, Missouri, I'm here to tell you what you already know, which is we're not there yet. In some ways, the trends that have been building for decades -- this winner-take-all economy where a few do better and better, but everybody else just treads water -- all those trends were made worse by the recession. And reversing these trends has to be Washington's number one priority. It has to be Washington's number one priority.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So we've got students at Summit Technology Academy there we go. Those students, they're beginning to accrue credits towards an associate's degree while they're still in high school, which means they can come here to earn a bachelor's degree in two years and graduate debt free. Debt free, on a fast track.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That's what a college education can be all about. That's what inspires your President, that's what inspires the faculty. That's why when we see young people like you, we're inspired -- because you're an expression of that idea. And we've got to make sure that that continues -- not just for this generation, but for the next generation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Citizenship demands a sense of common cause; participation in the hard work of self-government; an obligation to serve to our communities. And I know this chamber agrees that few Americans give more to their country than our diplomats and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "One of the reasons why is natural gas - if extracted safely, it's the bridge fuel that can power our economy with less of the carbon pollution that causes climate change. Businesses plan to invest almost $100 billion in new factories that use natural gas. I'll cut red tape to help states get those factories built, and this Congress can help by putting people to work building fueling stations that shift more cars and trucks from foreign oil to American natural gas. My administration will keep working with the industry to sustain production and job growth while strengthening protection of our air, our water, and our communities. And while we're at it, I'll use my authority to protect more of our pristine federal lands for future generations.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And it is American diplomacy, backed by pressure, that has halted the progress of Iran's nuclear program - and rolled parts of that program back - for the very first time in a decade. As we gather here tonight, Iran has begun to eliminate its stockpile of higher levels of enriched uranium. It is not installing advanced centrifuges. Unprecedented inspections help the world verify, every day, that Iran is not building a bomb. And with our allies and partners, we're engaged in negotiations to see if we can peacefully achieve a goal we all share: preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "There are other steps we can take to help families make ends meet, and few are more effective at reducing inequality and helping families pull themselves up through hard work than the Earned Income Tax Credit. Right now, it helps about half of all parents at some point. But I agree with Republicans like Senator Rubio that it doesn't do enough for single workers who don't have kids. So let's work together to strengthen the credit, reward work, and help more Americans get ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "For months, he lay in a coma. The next time I met him, in the hospital, he couldn't speak; he could barely move. Over the years, he's endured dozens of surgeries and procedures, and hours of grueling rehab every day.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We have to remain vigilant. But I strongly believe our leadership and our security cannot depend on our military alone. As Commander-in-Chief, I have used force when needed to protect the American people, and I will never hesitate to do so as long as I hold this office. But I will not send our troops into harm's way unless it's truly necessary; nor will I allow our sons and daughters to be mired in open-ended conflicts. We must fight the battles that need to be fought, not those that terrorists prefer from us - large-scale deployments that drain our strength and may ultimately feed extremism.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "After all, that's the spirit that has always moved this nation forward. It's the spirit of citizenship - the recognition that through hard work and responsibility, we can pursue our individual dreams, but still come together as one American family to make sure the next generation can pursue its dreams as well.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "No one knows this better than those who serve in uniform. As this time of war draws to a close, a new generation of heroes returns to civilian life. We'll keep slashing that backlog so our veterans receive the benefits they've earned, and our wounded warriors receive the health care - including the mental health care - that they need. We'll keep working to help all our veterans translate their skills and leadership into jobs here at home. And we all continue to join forces to honor and support our remarkable military families.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And even as we've increased energy production, we've partnered with businesses, builders, and local communities to reduce the energy we consume. When we rescued our automakers, for example, we worked with them to set higher fuel efficiency standards for our cars. In the coming months, I'll build on that success by setting new standards for our trucks, so we can keep driving down oil imports and what we pay at the pump.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Steve's right. That's why, tonight, I ask every American who knows someone without health insurance to help them get covered by March 31st. Moms, get on your kids to sign up. Kids, call your mom and walk her through the application. It will give her some peace of mind - plus, she'll appreciate hearing from you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Of course, it's not enough to train today's workforce. We also have to prepare tomorrow's workforce, by guaranteeing every child access to a world-class education.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We do these things because they help promote our long-term security. And we do them because we believe in the inherent dignity and equality of every human being, regardless of race or religion, creed or sexual orientation. And next week, the world will see one expression of that commitment - when Team USA marches the red, white, and blue into the Olympic Stadium - and brings home the gold.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "A pre-existing condition used to mean that someone like Amanda Shelley, a physician assistant and single mom from Arizona, couldn't get health insurance. But on January 1st, she got covered. On January 3rd, she felt a sharp pain. On January 6th, she had emergency surgery. Just one week earlier, Amanda said, that surgery would've meant bankruptcy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And here's another number: zero. Because of this law, no American can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a preexisting condition like asthma, back pain, or cancer. No woman can ever be charged more just because she's a woman. And we did all this while adding years to Medicare's finances, keeping Medicare premiums flat, and lowering prescription costs for millions of seniors.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I was talking to Dennis Kucinich on the way over here about this. I said, you know what? It's been such a long time since we made government on the side of ordinary working folks where we did something for them that relieved some of their struggles; that made folks who work hard every day and are doing the right thing and who are looking out for the families and contributing to their communities, that just gave them a little bit of a better chance to live out their American Dream.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I want to thank Mayor Tom Perciak here in Strongsville. Please, Mr. Mayor, you're on. That's a good bunch of folks we got here in Ohio, working hard. Which is why I'm glad to be back -- and let's face it, it's nice to be out of Washington once in a while.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, when I was talking about this at that health care summit, some of you saw it -- I sat there for about seven hours; I know you guys watched the whole thing. But some of these folks said, well, we just -- that's a nice idea but we just can't afford to do that. Look, I want everybody to understand -- the wealthiest among us can already buy the best insurance there is. The least well among us, the poorest among us, they get their health care through Medicaid. So it's the middle class, it's working people that are getting squeezed, and that's who we have to help, and we can afford to do it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And she upped her deductible last year to the minimum , the highest possible deductible. But despite that, Natoma's insurance company raised her premiums by more than 25 percent. And over the past year, she paid more than $6,000 in monthly premiums.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We have debated this issue now for more than a year. Every proposal has been put on the table. Every argument has been made. I know a lot of people view this as a partisan issue, but, look, the fact is both parties have a lot of areas where we agree -- it's just politics are getting in the way of actually getting it done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I'm here because of my own mother's story. She died of cancer, and in the last six months of her life, she was on the phone in her hospital room arguing with insurance companies instead of focusing on getting well and spending time with her family.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "A couple members of Congress are here: U. S. Representative Betty Sutton. U. S. Representative Marcia Fudge. U. S. Representative Tim Ryan. U. S. Representative Charlie Wilson.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, the reason Natoma is not here today is that she's lying on a hospital bed, suddenly faced with this emergency -- suddenly faced with the fight of her life. She expects to face more than a month of aggressive chemotherapy. She is racked with worry not only about her illness but about the costs of the tests and the treatment that she's surely going to need to beat it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And that's what our proposal does. Our proposal builds on the current system where most Americans get their health insurance from their employer. So if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. I don't want to interfere with people's relationships between them and their doctors.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That's not the judgment we need. That won't keep America safe. We need a President who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That's why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women - students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors - found the courage to keep it alive.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95 percent of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose - our sense of higher purpose. And that's what we have to restore.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Other questions involve the dangers of retaliation. We don't dismiss any threats, but the Assad regime does not have the ability to seriously threaten our military. Any other retaliation they might seek is in line with threats that we face every day. Neither Assad nor his allies have any interest in escalation that would lead to his demise. And our ally, Israel, can defend itself with overwhelming force, as well as the unshakeable support of the United States of America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "It's too early to tell whether this offer will succeed, and any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments. But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force, particularly because Russia is one of Assad's strongest allies.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "On August 21st, these basic rules were violated, along with our sense of common humanity. No one disputes that chemical weapons were used in Syria. The world saw thousands of videos, cell phone pictures, and social media accounts from the attack, and humanitarian organizations told stories of hospitals packed with people who had symptoms of poison gas.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Finally, many of you have asked: Why not leave this to other countries, or seek solutions short of force? As several people wrote to me, \"We should not be the world's policeman.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This was not always the case. In World War I, American GIs were among the many thousands killed by deadly gas in the trenches of Europe. In World War II, the Nazis used gas to inflict the horror of the Holocaust. Because these weapons can kill on a mass scale, with no distinction between soldier and infant, the civilized world has spent a century working to ban them. And in 1997, the United States Senate overwhelmingly approved an international agreement prohibiting the use of chemical weapons, now joined by 189 governments that represent 98 percent of humanity.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "My answer is simple: I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria. I will not pursue an open-ended action like Iraq or Afghanistan. I will not pursue a prolonged air campaign like Libya or Kosovo. This would be a targeted strike to achieve a clear objective: deterring the use of chemical weapons, and degrading Assad's capabilities.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Tonight, you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together: reducing our deficit; reforming our tax code; fixing our immigration system; freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We've got more work to do.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for America's future. We want our kids to grow up in a country where they have access to the best schools and the best teachers a country that lives up to its legacy as the global leader in technology and discovery and innovation, with all the good jobs and new businesses that follow.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Thank you, America. God bless you. God bless these United States.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And I saw it just the other day in Mentor, Ohio, where a father told the story of his eight-year-old daughter, whose long battle with leukemia nearly cost their family everything, had it not been for health care reform passing just a few months before the insurance company was about to stop paying for her care. I had an opportunity to not just talk to the father, but meet this incredible daughter of his. And when he spoke to the crowd, listening to that father's story, every parent in that room had tears in their eyes, because we knew that little girl could be our own. And I know that every American wants her future to be just as bright.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We believed that sensible regulations could prevent another crisis, shield families from ruin, and encourage fair competition. Today, we have new tools to stop taxpayer-funded bailouts, and a new consumer watchdog to protect us from predatory lending and abusive credit card practices. And in the past year alone, about 10 million uninsured Americans finally gained the security of health coverage.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Because families like Rebekah's still need our help. She and Ben are working as hard as ever, but they've had to forego vacations and a new car so that they can pay off student loans and save for retirement. Friday night pizza, that's a big splurge. Basic childcare for Jack and Henry costs more than their mortgage, and almost as much as a year at the University of Minnesota. Like millions of hardworking Americans, Rebekah isn't asking for a handout, but she is asking that we look for more ways to help families get ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Yes, passions still fly on immigration, but surely we can all see something of ourselves in the striving young student, and agree that no one benefits when a hardworking mom is snatched from her child, and that it's possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. I've talked to Republicans and Democrats about that. That's something that we can share.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "America, Rebekah and Ben's story is our story. They represent the millions who have worked hard and scrimped, and sacrificed and retooled. You are the reason that I ran for this office. You are the people I was thinking of six years ago today, in the darkest months of the crisis, when I stood on the steps of this Capitol and promised we would rebuild our economy on a new foundation. And it has been your resilience, your effort that has made it possible for our country to emerge stronger.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We believed we could reverse the tide of outsourcing and draw new jobs to our shores. And over the past five years, our businesses have created more than 11 million new jobs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We are 15 years into this new century. Fifteen years that dawned with terror touching our shores; that unfolded with a new generation fighting two long and costly wars; that saw a vicious recession spread across our nation and the world. It has been, and still is, a hard time for many.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Twenty-first century businesses will rely on American science and technology, research and development. I want the country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to lead a new era of medicine -- one that delivers the right treatment at the right time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, this effort will take time. It will require focus. But we will succeed. And tonight, I call on this Congress to show the world that we are united in this mission by passing a resolution to authorize the use of force against ISIL. We need that authority.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "First, middle-class economics means helping working families feel more secure in a world of constant change. That means helping folks afford childcare, college, health care, a home, retirement. And my budget will address each of these issues, lowering the taxes of working families and putting thousands of dollars back into their pockets each year.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Thanks to Vice President Biden's great work to update our job training system, we're connecting community colleges with local employers to train workers to fill high-paying jobs like coding, and nursing, and robotics. Tonight, I'm also asking more businesses to follow the lead of companies like CVS and UPS, and offer moreeducational benefits and paid apprenticeships -- opportunities that give workers the chance to earn higher-paying jobs even if they don't have a higher education.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "By the end of this decade, two in three job openings will require some higher education -- two in three. And yet, we still live in a country where too many bright, striving Americans are priced out of the education they need. It's not fair to them, and it's sure not smart for our future. That's why I'm sending this Congress a bold new plan to lower the cost of community college -- to zero.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We may have different takes on the events of Ferguson and New York. But surely we can understand a father who fears his son can't walk home without being harassed. And surely we can understand the wife who won't rest until the police officer she married walks through the front door at the end of his shift. Andsurely we can agree that it's a good thing that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting point for Democrats and Republicans, community leaders and law enforcement, to reform America's criminal justice system so that it protects and serves all of us.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That's a better politics. That's how we start rebuilding trust. That's how we move this country forward. That's what the American people want. And that's what they deserve.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "That's what middle-class economics is -- the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share, everyone plays by the same set of rules. We don't just want everyone to share in America's success, we want everyone to contribute to our success.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Here's one example. During World War II, when men like my grandfather went off to war, having women like my grandmother in the workforce was a national security priority -- so this country provided universal childcare. In today's economy, when having both parents in the workforce is an economic necessity for many families, we need affordable, high-quality childcare more than ever.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And tonight, I urge this Congress to finally pass the legislation we need to better meet the evolving threat of cyber attacks, combat identity theft, and protect our children's information. That should be a bipartisan effort.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We do not know whether the killer of Reverend Pinckney and eight others knew all of this history. But he surely sensed the meaning of his violent act. It was an act that drew on a long history of bombs and arson and shots fired at churches, not random, but as a means of control, a way to terrorize and oppress. An act that he imagined would incite fear and recrimination; violence and suspicion. An act that he presumed would deepen divisions that trace back to our nation's original sin.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Perhaps it causes us to examine what we're doing to cause some of our children to hate. Perhaps it softens hearts towards those lost young men, tens and tens of thousands caught up in the criminal justice system and leads us to make sure that that system is not infected with bias; that we embrace changes in how we train and equip our police so that the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve make us all safer and more secure.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "As a senator, he represented a sprawling swath of the Lowcountry, a place that has long been one of the most neglected in America. A place still wracked by poverty and inadequate schools; a place where children can still go hungry and the sick can go without treatment. A place that needed somebody like Clem.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "What a good man. Sometimes I think that's the best thing to hope for when you're eulogized -- after all the words and recitations and resumes are read, to just say someone was a good man.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "But it would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for, I believe, if we allowed ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again. Once the eulogies have been delivered, once the TV cameras move on, to go back to business as usual -- that's what we so often do to avoid uncomfortable truths about the prejudice that still infects our society. To settle for symbolic gestures without following up with the hard work of more lasting change -- that's how we lose our way again.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "He didn't know he was being used by God. Blinded by hatred, the alleged killer could not see the grace surrounding Reverend Pinckney and that Bible study group -- the light of love that shone as they opened the church doors and invited a stranger to join in their prayer circle. The alleged killer could have never anticipated the way the families of the fallen would respond when they saw him in court -- in the midst of unspeakable grief, with words of forgiveness. He couldn't imagine that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "We are here today to remember a man of God who lived by faith. A man who believed in things not seen. A man who believed there were better days ahead, off in the distance. A man of service who persevered, knowing full well he would not receive all those things he was promised, because he believed his efforts would deliver a better life for those who followed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So America will defend itself, respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law, and we will do so in partnership with Muslim communities, which are also threatened. The sooner the extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the sooner we will all be safer.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In fact, faith should bring us together. And that's why we're forging service projects in America to bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews. That's why we welcome efforts like Saudi Arabian King Abdallah's interfaith dialog and Turkey's leadership in the Alliance of Civilizations. Around the world, we can turn dialog into interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action, whether it is combating malaria in Africa or providing relief after a natural disaster.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion. That is why there is a mosque in every State in our Union and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That's why the United States Government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab and to punish those who would deny it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The President. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And this is important, because no development strategy can be based only upon what comes out of the ground, nor can it be sustained while young people are out of work. Many Gulf States have enjoyed great wealth as a consequence of oil, and some are beginning to focus it on broader development. But all of us must recognize that education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century, and in too many Muslim communities there remains underinvestment in these areas. I'm emphasizing such investment within my own country. And while America in the past has focused on oil and gas when it comes to this part of the world, we now seek a broader engagement.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And Israel must also live up to its obligation to ensure that Palestinians can live and work and develop their society. Just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security, neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be a critical part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, we also know that military power alone is not going to solve the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That's why we plan to invest $1.5 billion each year over the next 5 years to partner with Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and hundreds of millions to help those who've been displaced. That's why we are providing more than $2.8 billion to help Afghans develop their economy and deliver services that people depend on.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "On science and technology, we will launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries and to help transfer ideas to mark--to the marketplace so they can create more jobs. We'll open centers of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia and appoint new science envoys to collaborate on programs that develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitize records, clean water, grow new crops. Today I'm announcing a new global effort with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to eradicate polio. And we will also expand partnerships with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Now, much has been made of the fact that an African American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President. But my personal story is not so unique. The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise exists for all who come to our shores, and that includes nearly 7 million American Muslims in our country today, who, by the way, enjoy incomes and educational levels that are higher than the American average.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And finally, the Arab States must recognize that the Arab Peace Initiative was an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities. The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems. Instead, it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop the institutions that will sustain their state, to recognize Israel's legitimacy, and to choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Thank you, and may God's peace be upon you. Thank you very much. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Audience member. We love you!", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I know that there's been commentary about the fact that the \"stand your ground\" laws in Florida were not used as a defense in the case. On the other hand, if we're sending a message as a society in our communities that someone who is armed potentially has the right to use those firearms even if there's a way for them to exit from a situation, is that really going to be contributing to the kind of peace and security and order that we'd like to see?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "So that's one area where I think there are a lot of resources and best practices that could be brought to bear if state and local governments are receptive. And I think a lot of them would be. And let's figure out are there ways for us to push out that kind of training.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "The reason I actually wanted to come out today is not to take questions, but to speak to an issue that obviously has gotten a lot of attention over the course of the last week -- the issue of the Trayvon Martin ruling. I gave a preliminary statement right after the ruling on Sunday. But watching the debate over the course of the last week, I thought it might be useful for me to expand on my thoughts a little bit.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "First of all, I want to make sure that, once again, I send my thoughts and prayers, as well as Michelle's, to the family of Trayvon Martin, and to remark on the incredible grace and dignity with which they've dealt with the entire situation. I can only imagine what they're going through, and it's remarkable how they've handled it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "It is also fitting that we are joined today by the woman after whom this bill is named - someone Michelle and I have had the privilege of getting to know for ourselves. Lilly Ledbetter didn't set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good hard worker who did her job - and did it well - for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male colleagues for the very same work. Over the course of her career, she lost more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and Social Security benefits - losses she still feels today.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "In the end, that's why Lilly stayed the course. She knew it was too late for her - that this bill wouldn't undo the years of injustice she faced or restore the earnings she was denied. But this grandmother from Alabama kept on fighting, because she was thinking about the next generation. It's what we've always done in America - set our sights high for ourselves, but even higher for our children and grandchildren.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "During her tenure on the District Court, she presided over roughly 450 cases. One case in particular involved a matter of enormous concern to many Americans, including me: the baseball strike of 1994-1995. In a decision that reportedly took her just 15 minutes to announce, a swiftness much appreciated by baseball fans everywhere she issued an injunction that helped end the strike. Some say that Judge Sotomayor saved baseball.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Judge Sotomayor came to the District Court from a law firm where she was a partner focused on complex commercial litigation, gaining insight into the workings of a global economy. Before that she was a prosecutor in the Manhattan DA's office, serving under the legendary Robert Morgenthau, an early mentor of Sonia's who still sings her praises today. There, Sonia learned what crime can do to a family and a community, and what it takes to fight it. It's a career that has given her not only a sweeping overview of the American judicial system, but a practical understanding of how the law works in the everyday lives of the American people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Thank you. Well, I'm excited, too.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I am also -- I'm also well aware that there are many Republicans who don't believe we should raise taxes on those who are most fortunate and can best afford it. But here is what every American knows: While most people in this country struggle to make ends meet, a few of the most affluent citizens and most profitable corporations enjoy tax breaks and loopholes that nobody else gets. Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary -- an outrage he has asked us to fix. We need a tax code where everyone gets a fair shake and where everybody pays their fair share. And by the way, I believe the vast majority of wealthy Americans and CEOs are willing to do just that if it helps the economy grow and gets our fiscal house in order.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I'll also offer ideas to reform a corporate tax code that stands as a monument to special interest influence in Washington. By eliminating pages of loopholes and deductions, we can lower one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. Our tax code should not give an advantage to companies that can afford the best-connected lobbyists. It should give an advantage to companies that invest and create jobs right here in the United States of America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "Yes, we are rugged individualists. Yes, we are strong and self-reliant. And it has been the drive and initiative of our workers and entrepreneurs that has made this economy the engine and the envy of the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "This past week, reporters have been asking, \"What will this speech mean for the President? What will it mean for Congress? How will it affect their polls, and the next election?\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "These are difficult years for our country. But we are Americans. We are tougher than the times we live in, and we are bigger than our politics have been. So let's meet the moment. Let's get to work, and let's show the world once again why the United States of America remains the greatest nation on Earth.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "I don't pretend that this plan will solve all our problems. It should not be, nor will it be, the last plan of action we propose. What's guided us from the start of this crisis hasn't been the search for a silver bullet. It's been a commitment to stay at it -- to be persistent -- to keep trying every new idea that works, and listen to every good proposal, no matter which party comes up with it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "These men and women grew up with faith in an America where hard work and responsibility paid off. They believed in a country where everyone gets a fair shake and does their fair share -- where if you stepped up, did your job, and were loyal to your company, that loyalty would be rewarded with a decent salary and good benefits; maybe a raise once in a while. If you did the right thing, you could make it. Anybody could make it in America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "How many jobs would it have cost us if past Congresses decided not to support the basic research that led to the Internet and the computer chip? What kind of country would this be if this chamber had voted down Social Security or Medicare just because it violated some rigid idea about what government could or could not do? How many Americans would have suffered as a result?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "obama", "text": "And this task of making America more competitive for the long haul, that's a job for all of us. For government and for private companies. For states and for local communities -- and for every American citizen. All of us will have to up our game. All of us will have to change the way we do business.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people. Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose history reflects the enduring promise of our land. This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to President-Elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We see America's character in Dr. Tony Recasner, a principal who opened a new charter school from the ruins of Hurricane Katrina. We see it in Julio Medina, a former inmate who leads a faith-based program to help prisoners returning to society. We've seen it in Staff Sergeant Aubrey McDade, who charged into an ambush in Iraq and rescued three of his fellow Marines.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Tonight I am filled with gratitude--to Vice President Cheney and members of my administration; to Laura, who brought joy to this house and love to my life; to our wonderful daughters, Barbara and Jenna; to my parents, whose examples have provided strength for a lifetime. And above all, I thank the American people for the trust you have given me. I thank you for the prayers that have lifted my spirits. And I thank you for the countless acts of courage, generosity, and grace that I have witnessed these past eight years.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "President Obasanjo last month led the nations of Africa in drafting the Abuja declaration which lays out crucial guidelines for the international effort we all envision. Secretary General Annan too has made this issue an urgent priority. He has been an eloquent voice in rallying the resources and conviction needed in this cause.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Third, we must concentrate our efforts on programs that work, proven best practices. Whenever the Global Fund supports any health program, we must know that it meets certain essential criteria. We must know that the money is well spent, victims are well cared for and local populations are well served.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "It is my honor to welcome our friend, the President of Nigeria, to the Rose Garden. Mr. President, welcome to Washington, the Rose Garden. And of course, Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Secretary General, thank you for coming.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "This morning, we have made a good beginning. I expect the upcoming U. N. Special Session and this summer's G-8 summit in Italy to turn these ideas into reality. This is one of those moments that reminds us all in public service why we're here. It challenges us to act wisely and act together and to act quickly. Across the world at this moment, there are people in true desperation, and we must help.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "FEMA has deployed more than 50 disaster medical assistance teams from all across the country to help the affected -- to help those in the affected areas. FEMA has deployed more than 25 urban search and rescue teams with more than a thousand personnel to help save as many lives as possible. The United States Coast Guard is conducting search and rescue missions. They're working alongside local officials, local assets. The Coast Guard has rescued nearly 2,000 people to date.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We're also developing a comprehensive plan to immediately help displaced citizens. This will include housing and education and health care and other essential needs. I've directed the folks in my Cabinet to work with local folks, local officials, to develop a comprehensive strategy to rebuild the communities affected. And there's going to be a lot of rebuilding done. I can't tell you how devastating the sights were.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Our second priority is to sustain lives by ensuring adequate food, water, shelter and medical supplies for survivors and dedicated citizens -- dislocated citizens. FEMA is moving supplies and equipment into the hardest hit areas. The Department of Transportation has provided more than 400 trucks to move 1,000 truckloads containing 5.4 million Meals Ready to Eat -- or MREs, 13.4 million liters of water, 10,400 tarps, 3.4 million pounds of ice, 144 generators, 20 containers of pre-positioned disaster supplies, 135,000 blankets and 11,000 cots. And we're just starting.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Other men, and groups of men, have gained influence in the Middle East and beyond through an ideology of theocratic terror. Behind their language of religion is the ambition for absolute political power. Ruling cabals like the Taliban show their version of religious piety in public whippings of women, ruthless suppression of any difference or dissent, and support for terrorists who arm and train to murder the innocent. The Taliban promised religious purity and national pride. Instead, by systematically destroying a proud and working society, they left behind suffering and starvation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "These vital principles are being applies in the nations of Afghanistan and Iraq. With the steady leadership of President Karzai, the people of Afghanistan are building a modern and peaceful government. Next month, 500 delegates will convene a national assembly in Kabul to approve a new Afghan constitution. The proposed draft would establish a bicameral parliament, set national elections next year, and recognize Afghanistan's Muslim identity, while protecting the rights of all citizens. Afghanistan faces continuing economic and security challenges -- it will face those challenges as a free and stable democracy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Time after time, observers have questioned whether this country, or that people, or this group, are \"ready\" for democracy -- as if freedom were a prize you win for meeting our own Western standards of progress. In fact, the daily work of democracy itself is the path of progress. It teaches cooperation, the free exchange of ideas, and the peaceful resolution of differences. As men and women are showing, from Bangladesh to Botswana, to Mongolia, it is the practice of democracy that makes a nation ready for democracy, and every nation can start on this path.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm welcome, and thanks for inviting me to join you in this 20th anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy. The staff and directors of this organization have seen a lot of history over the last two decades, you've been a part of that history. By speaking for and standing for freedom, you've lifted the hopes of people around the world, and you've brought great credit to America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The progress of liberty is a powerful trend. Yet, we also know that liberty, if not defended, can be lost. The success of freedom is not determined by some dialectic of history. By definition, the success of freedom rests upon the choices and the courage of free peoples, and upon their willingness to sacrifice. In the trenches of World War I, through a two-front war in the 1940s, the difficult battles of Korea and Vietnam, and in missions of rescue and liberation on nearly every continent, Americans have amply displayed our willingness to sacrifice for liberty.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Therefore, the United States has adopted a new policy, a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East. This strategy requires the same persistence and energy and idealism we have shown before. And it will yield the same results. As in Europe, as in Asia, as in every region of the world, the advance of freedom leads to peace.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe -- because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty. As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment, and violence ready for export. And with the spread of weapons that can bring catastrophic harm to our country and to our friends, it would be reckless to accept the status quo.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "It should be clear to all that Islam -- the faith of one-fifth of humanity -- is consistent with democratic rule. Democratic progress is found in many predominantly Muslim countries -- in Turkey and Indonesia, and Senegal and Albania, Niger and Sierra Leone. Muslim men and women are good citizens of India and South Africa, of the nations of Western Europe, and of the United States of America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Generations of West Point officers planned and practiced for battles with Soviet Russia. I've just returned from a new Russia, now a country reaching toward democracy, and our partner in the war against terror. Even in China, leaders are discovering that economic freedom is the only lasting source of national wealth. In time, they will find that social and political freedom is the only true source of national greatness.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "You walk in the tradition of Eisenhower and MacArthur, Patton and Bradley - the commanders who saved a civilization. And you walk in the tradition of second lieutenants who did the same, by fighting and dying on distant battlefields.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Homeland defense and missile defense are part of stronger security, and they're essential priorities for America. Yet the war on terror will not be won on the defensive. We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge. In the world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action. And this nation will act.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "As we defend the peace, we also have an historic opportunity to preserve the peace. We have our best chance since the rise of the nation state in the 17th century to build a world where the great powers compete in peace instead of prepare for war. The history of the last century, in particular, was dominated by a series of destructive national rivalries that left battlefields and graveyards across the Earth. Germany fought France, the Axis fought the Allies, and then the East fought the West, in proxy wars and tense standoffs, against a backdrop of nuclear Armageddon.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "For much of the last century, America's defense relied on the Cold War doctrines of deterrence and containment. In some cases, those strategies still apply. But new threats also require new thinking. Deterrence -- the promise of massive retaliation against nations -- means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend. Containment is not possible when unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "A few of you have followed in the path of the perfect West Point graduate, Robert E. Lee, who never received a single demerit in four years. Some of you followed in the path of the imperfect graduate, Ulysses S. Grant, who had his fair share of demerits, and said the happiest day of his life was \"the day I left West Point.\" During my college years I guess you could say I was -- During my college years I guess you could say I was a Grant man.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "On behalf of the nation, I congratulate each one of you for the commission you've earned and for the credit you bring to the United States of America. May God bless you all.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Today the great powers are also increasingly united by common values, instead of divided by conflicting ideologies. The United States, Japan and our Pacific friends, and now all of Europe, share a deep commitment to human freedom, embodied in strong alliances such as NATO. And the tide of liberty is rising in many other nations.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "So here is the result: Thirteen years from now, in 2018, Social Security will be paying out more than it takes in. And every year afterward will bring a new shortfall, bigger than the year before. For example, in the year 2027, the government will somehow have to come up with an extra $200 billion to keep the system afloat--and by 2033, the annual shortfall would be more than $300 billion. By the year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt. If steps are not taken to avert that outcome, the only solutions would be drastically higher taxes, massive new borrowing, or sudden and severe cuts in Social Security benefits or other government programs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Two weeks ago, I stood on the steps of this Capitol and renewed the commitment of our nation to the guiding ideal of liberty for all. This evening I will set forth policies to advance that ideal at home and around the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The beginnings of reform and democracy in the Palestinian territories are showing the power of freedom to break old patterns of violence and failure. Tomorrow morning, Secretary of State Rice departs on a trip that will take her to Israel and the West Bank for meetings with Prime Minister Sharon and President Abbas. She will discuss with them how we and our friends can help the Palestinian people end terror and build the institutions of a peaceful, independent democratic state. To promote this democracy, I will ask Congress for $350 million to support Palestinian political, economic, and security reforms. The goal of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace is within reach--and America will help them achieve that goal.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "One of America's most important institutions--a symbol of the trust between generations--is also in need of wise and effective reform. Social Security was a great moral success of the 20th century, and we must honor its great purposes in this new century. The system, however, on its current path, is headed toward bankruptcy. And so we must join together to strengthen and save Social Security.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "To make our economy stronger and more competitive, America must reward, not punish, the efforts and dreams of entrepreneurs. Small business is the path of advancement, especially for women and minorities, so we must free small businesses from needless regulation and protect honest job creators from junk lawsuits. Justice is distorted, and our economy is held back, by irresponsible class actions and frivolous asbestos claims--and I urge Congress to pass legal reforms this year.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "To promote peace and stability in the broader Middle East, the United States will work with our friends in the region to fight the common threat of terror, while we encourage a higher standard of freedom. Hopeful reform is already taking hold in an arc from Morocco to Jordan to Bahrain. The government of Saudi Arabia can demonstrate its leadership in the region by expanding the role of its people in determining their future. And the great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Because HIV/AIDS brings suffering and fear into so many lives, I ask you to reauthorize the Ryan White Act to encourage prevention, and provide care and treatment to the victims of that disease. And as we update this important law, we must focus our efforts on fellow citizens with the highest rates of new cases, African-American men and women.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "As a new Congress gathers, all of us in the elected branches of government share a great privilege: we have been placed in office by the votes of the people we serve. And tonight that is a privilege we share with newly elected leaders of Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories, Ukraine, and a free and sovereign Iraq.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Right now, Americans in uniform are serving at posts across the world, often taking great risks on my orders. We have given them training and equipment; and they have given us an example of idealism and character that makes every American proud. The volunteers of our military are unrelenting in battle, unwavering in loyalty, unmatched in honor and decency, and every day they are making our nation more secure. Some of our servicemen and women have survived terrible injuries, and this grateful country will do everything we can to help them recover. And we have said farewell to some very good men and women, who died for our freedom, and whose memory this nation will honor forever.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I made it clear to the Congress that I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line. I felt like crossing this line would be a mistake, and once crossed, we would find it almost impossible to turn back. Crossing the line would needlessly encourage a conflict between science and ethics that can only do damage to both, and to our nation as a whole. If we're to find the right ways to advance ethical medical research, we must also be willing, when necessary, to reject the wrong ways. So today, I'm keeping the promise I made to the American people by returning this bill to Congress with my veto.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Some people argue that finding new cures for disease requires the destruction of human embryos like the ones that these families adopted. I disagree. I believe that with the right techniques and the right policies, we can achieve scientific progress while living up to our ethical responsibilities. That's what I sought in 2001, when I set forth my administration's policy allowing federal funding for research on embryonic stem cell lines where the life and death decision had already been made.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Good afternoon. Congress has just passed and sent to my desk two bills concerning the use of stem cells in biomedical research. These bills illustrate both the promise and perils we face in the age of biotechnology. In this new era, our challenge is to harness the power of science to ease human suffering without sanctioning the practices that violate the dignity of human life.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "My administration has made available more than $90 million for research on these lines. This policy has allowed important research to go forward without using taxpayer funds to encourage the further deliberate destruction of human embryos.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "And all the allies of the United States can know: We honor your friendship; we rely on your counsel; and we depend on your help. Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies' defeat.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people, you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "My most solemn duty is to protect this Nation and its people from further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve and have found it firm. We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation, the moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth are bound to one another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes, and I will strive in good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our Nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good and the victims of disaster are given hope and the unjust encounter justice and the captives are set free.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We have seen the state of our Union in the endurance of rescuers, working past exhaustion. We have seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers--in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. We have seen the decency of a loving and giving people who have made the grief of strangers their own.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking: Who attacked our country? The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al Qaeda. They are the same murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and responsible for bombing the USS Cole.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Our nation has been put on notice: We are not immune from attack. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans. Today, dozens of federal departments and agencies, as well as state and local governments, have responsibilities affecting homeland security. These efforts must be coordinated at the highest level. So tonight I announce the creation of a Cabinet-level position reporting directly to me--the Office of Homeland Security.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Tonight we welcome two leaders who embody the extraordinary spirit of all New Yorkers: Governor George Pataki, and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. As a symbol of America's resolve, my administration will work with Congress, and these two leaders, to show the world that we will rebuild New York City.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Afghanistan's people have been brutalized--many are starving and many have fled. Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We have seen it in the courage of passengers, who rushed terrorists to save others on the ground--passengers like an exceptional man named Todd Beamer. And would you please help me to welcome his wife, Lisa Beamer, here tonight.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "These measures are essential. But the only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it, and destroy it where it grows.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Tonight, we face new and sudden national challenges. We will come together to improve air safety, to dramatically expand the number of air marshals on domestic flights, and take new measures to prevent hijacking. We will come together to promote stability and keep our airlines flying, with direct assistance during this emergency.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The leadership of al Qaeda has great influence in Afghanistan and supports the Taliban regime in controlling most of that country. In Afghanistan, we see al Qaeda's vision for the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Americans are asking: What is expected of us? I ask you to live your lives, and hug your children. I know many citizens have fears tonight, and I ask you to be calm and resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "And tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban: Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land. Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens, you have unjustly imprisoned. Protect foreign journalists, diplomats, and aid workers in your country. Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities. Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Third, and most importantly, we will make a major effort to improve the health care delivery systems in targeted countries. This will allow more women and babies to receive the comprehensive therapy. It will allow for better and longer treatment and care of all AIDS victims. And it will lead to better health care in general for all the country's citizens.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Good morning. The global devastation of HIV/AIDS staggers the imagination and shocks the conscience. The disease has already killed over 20 million people and it's poised to kill at least 40 million more.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The wasted human lives that lie behind these numbers are a call to action for every person on the planet and for every government. So, today, my administration is announcing another important new initiative in the fight against HIV/AIDS.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "And to the other crucial question, if these are going to be destroyed anyway, why not use them for good purpose -- I also found different answers. Many argue these embryos are byproducts of a process that helps create life, and we should allow couples to donate them to science so they can be used for good purpose instead of wasting their potential. Others will argue there's no such thing as excess life, and the fact that a living being is going to die does not justify experimenting on it or exploiting it as a natural resource.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "As a result of private research, more than 60 genetically diverse stem cell lines already exist. They were created from embryos that have already been destroyed, and they have the ability to regenerate themselves indefinitely, creating ongoing opportunities for research. I have concluded that we should allow federal funds to be used for research on these existing stem cell lines, where the life and death decision has already been made.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I strongly oppose human cloning, as do most Americans. We recoil at the idea of growing human beings for spare body parts, or creating life for our convenience. And while we must devote enormous energy to conquering disease, it is equally important that we pay attention to the moral concerns raised by the new frontier of human embryo stem cell research. Even the most noble ends do not justify any means.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "You should also know that stem cells can be derived from sources other than embryos -- from adult cells, from umbilical cords that are discarded after babies are born, from human placenta. And many scientists feel research on these type of stem cells is also promising. Many patients suffering from a range of diseases are already being helped with treatments developed from adult stem cells.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "My administration must decide whether to allow federal funds, your tax dollars, to be used for scientific research on stem cells derived from human embryos. A large number of these embryos already exist. They are the product of a process called in vitro fertilization, which helps so many couples conceive children. When doctors match sperm and egg to create life outside the womb, they usually produce more embryos than are planted in the mother. Once a couple successfully has children, or if they are unsuccessful, the additional embryos remain frozen in laboratories.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "On the first issue, are these embryos human life -- well, one researcher told me he believes this five-day-old cluster of cells is not an embryo, not yet an individual, but a pre-embryo. He argued that it has the potential for life, but it is not a life because it cannot develop on its own.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "And a fourth principle is that we're going to spend more money, more resources, but they'll be directed at methods that work. Not feel-good methods, not sound-good methods, but methods that actually work. Particularly when it comes to reading. We're going to spend more on our schools, and we're going to spend it more wisely.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Steve Chabot of Ohio, Van Hilleary of Tennessee -- thank you both for coming, as well. In that box is the bill. I don't intend to read it all. It's not exactly light reading. But if you were to read it all, you would find that it contains some very important principles that will help guide our public school system for the next decades.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I long for peace. But I also understand that if we do not lead the world against terror, that your children and your grandchildren will not grow up in a society that is as free as the society we have today. Freedom is the precious gift that one generation can pass to the next. It is a gift and a promise that I intend to keep to the American children.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I want to thank George Miller. I call him Big George, Jorge el Grande. As John mentioned, George and I aren't from the same political ideology -- except when I met with George in Austin, I could tell he shares the same passion I share for making sure that every child gets educated. And he, like me and others, realize that a system that simply shuffles children through the schools is a system that's going to leave people behind. And so we made up our minds right then and there to do something about it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I want to thank the Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, for being here and for his leadership. I asked Rod to join my administration because I wanted somebody who understood what it meant to run a school district in Washington, D. C. I didn't need somebody that based his knowledge on theory; I wanted somebody who based his knowledge on experience. And Rod was a teacher, a school board member, and the Superintendent of the Houston Independent School District. He did a fine job there, and he's doing a fine job in Washington.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The work that has begun in the Gulf Coast region will be one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen. When that job is done, all Americans will have something to be very proud of -- and all Americans are needed in this common effort. It is the armies of compassion -- charities and houses of worship, and idealistic men and women -- that give our reconstruction effort its humanity. They offer to those who hurt a friendly face, an arm around the shoulder, and the reassurance that in hard times, they can count on someone who cares. By land, by sea, and by air, good people wanting to make a difference deployed to the Gulf Coast, and they've been working around the clock ever since.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Our second commitment is to help the citizens of the Gulf Coast to overcome this disaster, put their lives back together, and rebuild their communities. Along this coast, for mile after mile, the wind and water swept the land clean. In Mississippi, many thousands of houses were damaged or destroyed. In New Orleans and surrounding parishes, more than a quarter-million houses are no longer safe to live in. Hundreds of thousands of people from across this region will need to find longer-term housing.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "In the disaster area, and in cities that have received huge numbers of displaced people, we're beginning to bring in mobile homes and trailers for temporary use. To relieve the burden on local health care facilities in the region, we're sending extra doctors and nurses to these areas. We're also providing money that can be used to cover overtime pay for police and fire departments while the cities and towns rebuild.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Many first responders were victims themselves, wounded healers, with a sense of duty greater than their own suffering. When I met Steve Scott of the Biloxi Fire Department, he and his colleagues were conducting a house-to-house search for survivors. Steve told me this: \"I lost my house and I lost my cars, but I still got my family ... and I still got my spirit.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I know that when you sit on the steps of a porch where a home once stood, or sleep on a cot in a crowded shelter, it is hard to imagine a bright future. But that future will come. The streets of Biloxi and Gulfport will again be filled with lovely homes and the sound of children playing. The churches of Alabama will have their broken steeples mended and their congregations whole. And here in New Orleans, the street cars will once again rumble down St. Charles, and the passionate soul of a great city will return.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Near New Orleans, and Biloxi, and other cities, housing is urgently needed for police and firefighters, other service providers, and the many workers who are going to rebuild these cities. Right now, many are sleeping on ships we have brought to the Port of New Orleans -- and more ships are on their way to the region. And we'll provide mobile homes, and supply them with basic services, as close to construction areas as possible, so the rebuilding process can go forward as quickly as possible.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "And the federal government will undertake a close partnership with the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, the city of New Orleans, and other Gulf Coast cities, so they can rebuild in a sensible, well-planned way. Federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone, from roads and bridges to schools and water systems. Our goal is to get the work done quickly. And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely -- so we'll have a team of inspectors general reviewing all expenditures.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Today, these standards, and this security, are challenged. Our commitment to human dignity is challenged by persistent poverty and raging disease. The suffering is great, and our responsibilities are clear. The United States is joining with the world to supply aid where it reaches people and lifts up lives, to extend trade and the prosperity it brings, and to bring medical care where it is desperately needed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The United States helped found the United Nations. We want the United Nations to be effective, and respectful, and successful. We want the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body to be enforced. And right now those resolutions are being unilaterally subverted by the Iraqi regime. Our partnership of nations can meet the test before us, by making clear what we now expect of the Iraqi regime.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf War personnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of any who are deceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses resulting from the invasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with international efforts to resolve these issues, as required by Security Council resolutions.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "He has proven instead only his contempt for the United Nations, and for all his pledges. By breaking every pledge -- by his deceptions, and by his cruelties -- Saddam Hussein has made the case against himself.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Last year, the U. N. Commission on Human Rights found that Iraq continues to commit extremely grave violations of human rights, and that the regime's repression is all pervasive. Tens of thousands of political opponents and ordinary citizens have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, summary execution, and torture by beating and burning, electric shock, starvation, mutilation, and rape. Wives are tortured in front of their husbands, children in the presence of their parents -- and all of these horrors concealed from the world by the apparatus of a totalitarian state.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "To suspend hostilities, to spare himself, Iraq's dictator accepted a series of commitments. The terms were clear, to him and to all. And he agreed to prove he is complying with every one of those obligations.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "This is not the threat I see. I see a global terrorist movement that exploits Islam in the service of radical political aims -- a vision in which books are burned, and women are oppressed, and all dissent is crushed. Terrorist operatives conduct their campaign of murder with a set of declared and specific goals -- to de-moralize free nations, to drive us out of the Middle East, to spread an empire of fear across that region, and to wage a perpetual war against America and our friends. These terrorists view the world as a giant battlefield -- and they seek to attack us wherever they can. This has attracted al Qaeda to Iraq, where they are attempting to frighten and intimidate America into a policy of retreat.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I know that some of my decisions have led to terrible loss -- and not one of those decisions has been taken lightly. I know this war is controversial -- yet being your President requires doing what I believe is right and accepting the consequences. And I have never been more certain that America's actions in Iraq are essential to the security of our citizens, and will lay the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Third, after a number of setbacks, our coalition is moving forward with a reconstruction plan to revive Iraq's economy and infrastructure -- and to give Iraqis confidence that a free life will be a better life. Today in Iraq, seven in 10 Iraqis say their lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve even more in the year ahead. Despite the violence, Iraqis are optimistic -- and that optimism is justified.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "From this office, nearly three years ago, I announced the start of military operations in Iraq. Our coalition confronted a regime that defied United Nations Security Council resolutions, violated a cease-fire agreement, sponsored terrorism, and possessed, we believed, weapons of mass destruction. After the swift fall of Baghdad, we found mass graves filled by a dictator; we found some capacity to restart programs to produce weapons of mass destruction, but we did not find those weapons.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Since the removal of Saddam, this war, like other wars in our history, has been difficult. The mission of American troops in urban raids and desert patrols, fighting Saddam loyalists and foreign terrorists, has brought danger and suffering and loss. This loss has caused sorrow for our whole nation -- and it has led some to ask if we are creating more problems than we're solving.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "My administration supports the important work of the intelligence committees in Congress to review the activities of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. We need to know when warnings were missed or signs unheeded -- not to point the finger of blame, but to make sure we correct any problems, and prevent them from happening again.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "In protecting our country, we depend on the skill of our people -- the troops we send to battle, intelligence operatives who risk their lives for bits of information, law enforcement officers who sift for clues and search for suspects. We are now learning that before September the 11th, the suspicions and insights of some of our front-line agents did not get enough attention.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "History has called our nation into action. History has placed a great challenge before us: Will America -- with our unique position and power -- blink in the face of terror, or will we lead to a freer, more civilized world? There's only one answer: This great country will lead the world to safety, security, peace and freedom.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Good evening. During the next few minutes, I want to update you on the progress we are making in our war against terror, and to propose sweeping changes that will strengthen our homeland against the ongoing threat of terrorist attacks.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Nearly nine months have passed since the day that forever changed our country. Debris from what was once the World Trade Center has been cleared away in a hundred thousand truckloads. The west side of the Pentagon looks almost as it did on September the 10th. And as children finish school and families prepare for summer vacations, for many, life seems almost normal.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Madam Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: The rite of custom brings us together at a defining hour when decisions are hard and courage is needed. We enter the year 2007 with large endeavors underway and others that are ours to begin. In all of this, much is asked of us. We must have the will to face difficult challenges and determined enemies and the wisdom to face them together.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "From the start, America and our allies have protected our people by staying on the offense. The enemy knows that the days of comfortable sanctuary, easy movement, steady financing, and free flowing communications are long over. For the terrorists, life since 9/11 has never been the same.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "It's in our vital interest to diversify America's energy supply. The way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way America generates electric power by even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power. We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol, using everything from wood chips to grasses to agricultural wastes.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Yet even with all these steps, we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border, and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won't have to try to sneak in, and that will leave border agents free to chase down drug smugglers and criminals and terrorists. We'll enforce our immigration laws at the worksite and give employers the tools to verify the legal status of their workers, so there's no excuse left for violating the law.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. And these technologies will help us be better stewards of the environment, and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new arrivals. We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country without animosity and without amnesty. Convictions run deep in this Capitol when it comes to immigration. Let us have a serious, civil, and conclusive debate, so that you can pass and I can sign comprehensive immigration reform into law.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Americans can have confidence in the outcome of this struggle because we're not in this struggle alone. We have a diplomatic strategy that is rallying the world to join in the fight against extremism. In Iraq, multinational forces are operating under a mandate from the United Nations. We're working with Jordan and Saudi Arabia and Egypt and the Gulf States to increase support for Iraq's government.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Extending hope and opportunity in our country requires an immigration system worthy of America, with laws that are fair and borders that are secure. When laws and borders are routinely violated, this harms the interests of our country. To secure our border, we're doubling the size of the Border Patrol and funding new infrastructure and technology.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We made a lot of progress, thanks to good policies here in Washington and the strong response of the market. And now even more dramatic advances are within reach. Tonight I ask Congress to join me in pursuing a great goal. Let us build on the work we've done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years. When we do that, we will have cut our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Our reforms should be guided by a few basic principles. First, America must control its borders. Following the attacks of September the 11th, 2001, this duty of the federal government has become even more urgent. And we're fulfilling that duty.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Many of you here today are Americans by choice, and you have followed in the path of millions. And over the generations we have received energetic, ambitious, optimistic people from every part of the world. By tradition and conviction, our country is a welcoming society. America is a stronger and better nation because of the hard work and the faith and entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Undocumented workers now here will be required to pay a one-time fee to register for the temporary worker program. Those who seek to join the program from abroad, and have complied with our immigration laws, will not have to pay any fee. All participants will be issued a temporary worker card that will allow them to travel back and forth between their home and the United States without fear of being denied re-entry into our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The situation I described is wrong. It is not the American way. Out of common sense and fairness, our laws should allow willing workers to enter our country and fill jobs that Americans have are not filling. We must make our immigration laws more rational, and more humane. And I believe we can do so without jeopardizing the livelihoods of American citizens.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I appreciate the members of Congress who have taken time to come: Senator Larry Craig, Congressman Chris Cannon, and Congressman Jeff Flake. I'm honored you all have joined us, thank you for coming.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The United States and other nations did nothing to deserve or invite this threat. But we will do everything to defeat it. Instead of drifting along toward tragedy, we will set a course toward safety. Before the day of horror can come, before it is too late to act, this danger will be removed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "That is the future we choose. Free nations have a duty to defend our people by uniting against the violent. And tonight, as we have done before, America and our allies accept that responsibility.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The Iraqi regime has used diplomacy as a ploy to gain time and advantage. It has uniformly defied Security Council resolutions demanding full disarmament. Over the years, U. N. weapon inspectors have been threatened by Iraqi officials, electronically bugged, and systematically deceived. Peaceful efforts to disarm the Iraqi regime have failed again and again -- because we are not dealing with peaceful men.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "It is too late for Saddam Hussein to remain in power. It is not too late for the Iraqi military to act with honor and protect your country by permitting the peaceful entry of coalition forces to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. Our forces will give Iraqi military units clear instructions on actions they can take to avoid being attacked and destroyed. I urge every member of the Iraqi military and intelligence services, if war comes, do not fight for a dying regime that is not worth your own life.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Terrorists and terror states do not reveal these threats with fair notice, in formal declarations -- and responding to such enemies only after they have struck first is not self-defense, it is suicide. The security of the world requires disarming Saddam Hussein now.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Keeping America competitive requires an immigration system that upholds our laws, reflects our values, and serves the interests of our economy. Our nation needs orderly and secure borders. To meet this goal, we must have stronger immigration enforcement and border protection. And we must have a rational, humane guest worker program that rejects amnesty, allows temporary jobs for people who seek them legally, and reduces smuggling and crime at the border.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Yet many Americans, especially parents, still have deep concerns about the direction of our culture and the health of our most basic institutions. They're concerned about unethical conduct by public officials and discouraged by activist courts that try to redefine marriage. They worry about children in our society who need direction and love, and about fellow citizens still displaced by natural disaster, and about suffering caused by treatable diseases.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "No one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it. And one of the main sources of reaction and opposition is radical Islam--the perversion by a few of a noble faith into an ideology of terror and death. Terrorists like bin Laden are serious about mass murder, and all of us must take their declared intentions seriously. They seek to impose a heartless system of totalitarian control throughout the Middle East and arm themselves with weapons of mass murder.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Tonight let me speak directly to the citizens of Iran: America respects you, and we respect your country. We respect your right to choose your own future and win your own freedom. And our nation hopes one day to be the closest of friends with a free and democratic Iran.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The same is true of Iran, a nation now held hostage by a small clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people. The regime in that country sponsors terrorists in the Palestinian territories and in Lebanon, and that must come to an end. The Iranian government is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions, and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons. America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "These gains are evidence of a quiet transformation, a revolution of conscience, in which a rising generation is finding that a life of personal responsibility is a life of fulfillment. Government has played a role. Wise policies, such as welfare reform and drug education and support for abstinence and adoption have made a difference in the character of our country. And everyone here tonight, Democrat and Republican, has a right to be proud of this record.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "A hopeful society depends on courts that deliver equal justice under the law. The Supreme Court now has two superb new members on its bench, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sam Alito. I thank the Senate for confirming both of them. I will continue to nominate men and women who understand that judges must be servants of the law and not legislate from the bench.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "In a system of two parties, two chambers, and two elected branches, there will always be differences and debate. But even tough debates can be conducted in a civil tone, and our differences cannot be allowed to harden into anger. To confront the great issues before us, we must act in a spirit of goodwill and respect for one another--and I will do my part. Tonight the state of our union is strong, and together we will make it stronger.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "With so much in the balance, those of us in public office have a duty to speak with candor. A sudden withdrawal of our forces from Iraq would abandon our Iraqi allies to death and prison, would put men like bin Laden and Zarqawi in charge of a strategic country, and show that a pledge from America means little. Members of Congress, however we feel about the decisions and debates of the past, our nation has only one option: We must keep our word, defeat our enemies, and stand behind the American military in this vital mission.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: To replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Keeping America competitive requires us to open more markets for all that Americans make and grow. One out of every five factory jobs in America is related to global trade, and we want people everywhere to buy American. With open markets and a level playing field, no one can outproduce or outcompete the American worker.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Our country must also remain on the offensive against terrorism here at home. The enemy has not lost the desire or capability to attack us. Fortunately, this nation has superb professionals in law enforcement, intelligence, the military, and homeland security. These men and women are dedicating their lives, protecting us all, and they deserve our support and our thanks. They also deserve the same tools they already use to fight drug trafficking and organized crime, so I ask you to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Staff Sergeant Dan Clay's wife, Lisa, and his mom and dad, Sara Jo and Bud, are with us this evening. Welcome.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos. And this commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration. The years and changes accumulate. But the themes of this day he would know: our nation's grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: \"We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm?\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Sometimes in life we are called to do great things. But as a saint of our times has said, every day we are called to do small things with great love. The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against easy attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Now, in this century, the ideology of power and domination has appeared again and seeks to gain the ultimate weapons of terror. Once again, this nation and all our friends are all that stand between a world at peace and a world of chaos and constant alarm. Once again, we are called to defend the safety of our people and the hopes of all mankind. And we accept this responsibility.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We have confronted and will continue to confront HIV/AIDS in our own country. And to meet a severe and urgent crisis abroad, tonight I propose the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a work of mercy beyond all current international efforts to help the people of Africa. This comprehensive plan will prevent seven million new AIDS infections, treat at least two million people with life-extending drugs, and provide humane care for millions of people suffering from AIDS and for children orphaned by AIDS. I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years, including nearly $10 billion in new money, to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "This country has many challenges. We will not deny, we will not ignore, we will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other Presidents, and other generations. We will confront them with focus and clarity and courage.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the last casualty in a war he had started and lost. To spare himself, he agreed to disarm of all weapons of mass destruction. For the next 12 years, he systematically violated that agreement. He pursued chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, even while inspectors were in his country. Nothing to date has restrained him from his pursuit of these weapons, not economic sanctions, not isolation from the civilized world, not even cruise missile strikes on his military facilities.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our time. Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world and to ourselves. America is a strong nation and honorable in the use of our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of strangers.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Different threats require different strategies. In Iran, we continue to see a government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction, and supports terror. We also see Iranian citizens risking intimidation and death as they speak out for liberty and human rights and democracy. Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their own government and determine their own destiny, and the United States supports their aspirations to live in freedom.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We have the terrorists on the run. We're keeping them on the run. One by one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country; your enemy is ruling your country. And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be the day of your liberation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "A growing economy and a focus on essential priorities will be crucial to the future of Social Security. As we continue to work together to keep Social Security sound and reliable, we must offer younger workers a chance to invest in retirement accounts that they will control and they will own.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "By caring for children who need mentors and for addicted men and women who need treatment, we are building a more welcoming society, a culture that values every life. And in this work, we must not overlook the weakest among us. I ask you to protect infants at the very hour of their birth and end the practice of partial-birth abortion. And because no human life should be started or ended as the object of an experiment, I ask you to set a high standard for humanity and pass a law against all human cloning.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "This nation can lead the world in sparing innocent people from a plague of nature. And this nation is leading the world in confronting and defeating the manmade evil of international terrorism.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "To improve our health care system, we must address one of the prime causes of higher cost, the constant threat that physicians and hospitals will be unfairly sued. Because of excessive litigation, everybody pays more for health care, and many parts of America are losing fine doctors. No one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit. I urge the Congress to pass medical liability reform.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about not through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations but through technology and innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "America is working with the countries of the region, South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia, to find a peaceful solution and to show the North Korean government that nuclear weapons will bring only isolation, economic stagnation, and continued hardship. The North Korean regime will find respect in the world and revival for its people only when it turns away from its nuclear ambitions.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. In two years, America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to an awareness of peril, from bitter division in small matters to calm unity in great causes. And we go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to the right country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Instead, we must work toward a system in which all Americans have a good insurance policy, choose their own doctors, and seniors and low-income Americans receive the help they need. Instead of bureaucrats and trial lawyers and HMOs, we must put doctors and nurses and patients back in charge of American medicine.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We should also strengthen the economy by treating investors equally in our tax laws. It's fair to tax a company's profits. It is not fair to again tax the shareholder on the same profits. To boost investor confidence and to help the nearly 10 million seniors who receive dividend income, I ask you to end the unfair double taxation of dividends.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The actions I'm announcing today represent a step that we wish were not necessary. But given the situation, it is the most effective and responsible way to address this challenge facing our nation. By giving the auto companies a chance to restructure, we will shield the American people from a harsh economic blow at a vulnerable time. And we will give American workers an opportunity to show the world once again they can meet challenges with ingenuity and determination, and bounce back from tough times, and emerge stronger than before.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "American consumers understand why: If you hear that a car company is suddenly going into bankruptcy, you worry that parts and servicing will not be available, and you question the value of your warranty. And with consumers hesitant to buy new cars from struggling automakers, it would be more difficult for auto companies to recover.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Addressing the challenges in the auto industry requires us to balance these two responsibilities. If we were to allow the free market to take its course now, it would almost certainly lead to disorderly bankruptcy and liquidation for the automakers. Under ordinary economic circumstances, I would say this is the price that failed companies must pay -- and I would not favor intervening to prevent the automakers from going out of business.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship. But victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world -- a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties, and answers to its people. A democratic Iraq will not be perfect. But it will be a country that fights terrorists instead of harboring them -- and it will help bring a future of peace and security for our children and our grandchildren.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We're also taking other steps to bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East. I recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to the region. We will expand intelligence-sharing and deploy Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies. We will work with the governments of Turkey and Iraq to help them resolve problems along their border. And we will work with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating the region.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "In these dangerous times, the United States is blessed to have extraordinary and selfless men and women willing to step forward and defend us. These young Americans understand that our cause in Iraq is noble and necessary -- and that the advance of freedom is the calling of our time. They serve far from their families, who make the quiet sacrifices of lonely holidays and empty chairs at the dinner table. They have watched their comrades give their lives to ensure our liberty. We mourn the loss of every fallen American -- and we owe it to them to build a future worthy of their sacrifice.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Now let me explain the main elements of this effort: The Iraqi government will appoint a military commander and two deputy commanders for their capital. The Iraqi government will deploy Iraqi Army and National Police brigades across Baghdad's nine districts. When these forces are fully deployed, there will be 18 Iraqi Army and National Police brigades committed to this effort, along with local police. These Iraqi forces will operate from local police stations -- conducting patrols and setting up checkpoints, and going door-to-door to gain the trust of Baghdad residents.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "A strong America must also value the institution of marriage. I believe we should respect individuals as we take a principled stand for one of the most fundamental, enduring institutions of our civilization. Congress has already taken a stand on this issue by passing the Defense of Marriage Act, signed in 1996 by President Clinton. That statute protects marriage under federal law as a union of a man and a woman and declares that one state may not redefine marriage for other states.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I oppose amnesty, because it would encourage further illegal immigration and unfairly reward those who break our laws. My temporary worker program will preserve the citizenship path for those who respect the law while bringing millions of hard-working men and women out from the shadows of American life.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "From the beginning, America has sought international support for our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we have gained much support. There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of many nations and submitting to the objections of a few. America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "To encourage right choices, we must be willing to confront the dangers young people face, even when they're difficult to talk about. Each year, about three million teenagers contract sexually transmitted diseases that can harm them or kill them or prevent them from ever becoming parents. In my budget, I propose a grassroots campaign to help inform families about these medical risks. We will double federal funding for abstinence programs, so schools can teach this fact of life: Abstinence for young people is the only certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "America's growing economy is also a changing economy. As technology transforms the way almost every job is done, America becomes more productive, and workers need new skills. Much of our job growth will be found in high-skilled fields like health care and biotechnology. So we must respond by helping more Americans gain the skills to find good jobs in our new economy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "On the critical issue of health care, our goal is to ensure that Americans can choose and afford private health care coverage that best fits their individual needs. To make insurance more affordable, Congress must act to address rapidly rising health care costs. Small businesses should be able to band together and negotiate for lower insurance rates, so they can cover more workers with health insurance. I urge you to pass association health plans. I ask you to give lower income Americans a refundable tax credit that would allow millions to buy their own basic health insurance.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We have faced serious challenges together, and now we face a choice: We can go forward with confidence and resolve, or we can turn back to the dangerous illusion that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat to us. We can press on with economic growth and reforms in education and Medicare, or we can turn back to old policies and old divisions.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "America is on the offensive against the terrorists who started this war. Last March, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, a mastermind of September 11, awoke to find himself in the custody of U. S. and Pakistani authorities. Last August 11 brought the capture of the terrorist Hambali, who was a key player in the attack in Indonesia that killed over 200 people. We're tracking Al Qaeda around the world, and nearly two-thirds of their known leaders have now been captured or killed. Thousands of very skilled and determined military personnel are on the manhunt, going after the remaining killers who hide in cities and caves, and one by one, we will bring these terrorists to justice.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "It's also important to strengthen our communities by unleashing the compassion of America's religious institutions. Religious charities of every creed are doing some of the most vital work in our country: mentoring children, feeding the hungry, taking the hand of the lonely. Yet government has often denied social service grants and contracts to these groups, just because they have a cross or a Star of David or a crescent on the wall.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Some critics have said our duties in Iraq must be internationalized. This particular criticism is hard to explain to our partners in Britain, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, the Netherlands, Norway, El Salvador, and the 17 other countries that have committed troops to Iraq. As we debate at home, we must never ignore the vital contributions of our international partners or dismiss their sacrifices.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "A government-run health care system is the wrong prescription. By keeping costs under control, expanding access, and helping more Americans afford coverage, we will preserve the system of private medicine that makes America's health care the best in the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Tax relief makes the code more fair for small businesses and farmers and individuals by eliminating the death tax. Over the long haul, tax relief will encourage work and innovation. It will allow American workers to save more on their pension plan or individual retirement accounts.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Tax relief is an achievement for families that want the Government tax policy to be fair and not penalize them for making good choices, good choices such as marriage and raising a family. So we cut the marriage penalty.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Tax relief is an achievement for families struggling to enter the middle class. For hard-working lower income families, we have cut the bottom rate of Federal income tax from 15 percent to 10 percent. We doubled the per-child tax credit to $1,000 and made it refundable. Tax relief is compassionate, and it is now on the way.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The Marshall Plan, rebuilding Europe and lifting up former enemies, showed that America is not content with military victory alone. Americans always see a greater hope and a better day. And America sees a just and hopeful world beyond the war on terror.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Every nation that joins our cause is welcome. Every nation that needs our help will have it. And no nation can be neutral. Around the world, the nations must choose. They are with us, or they're with the terrorists.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We're confronting hatred that is centuries old, disputes that have lingered for decades. But I want you to know, I will continue to lead toward a vision of peace.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "And all parties must realize that the only vision for a long-term solution is for two states -- Israel, Palestine -- to live side by side in security and in peace. That will require hard choices and leadership by Israelis, Palestinians, and their Arab neighbors. The time is now for all to make the choice for peace.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I want to congratulate the winners of the George C. Marshall ROTC Award. The more than 260 young men and women who represent -- the winners represent the best of our country and the best future for the United States Army. You stand out among the nearly 30,000 young Americans who are today enrolled in the Army ROTC; the officers who will serve in the military of the future, and one day will lead it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "In the second phase of the war on terror, our military and law enforcement intelligence officers are helping countries around the world in their efforts to crack down on terror within their borders. Global terrorism will be defeated only by global response. We must prevent al Qaeda from moving its operations to other countries. We must deny terrorists the funds they need to operate. We must deny them safe havens to plan new horrors and indoctrinate new recruits.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We're working hard in Afghanistan. We're clearing minefields. We're rebuilding roads. We're improving medical care. And we will work to help Afghanistan to develop an economy that can feed its people without feeding the world's demand for drugs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "A better world can seem very distant when children are sent to kill other children, and old hatreds are stoked and carefully passed from one generation to another, and a violent few love death more than life. Yet hatred, fanaticism are not the way of the future, because the hopes of humanity are always stronger than its hatreds.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Colin Powell's career has taken him from service in Vietnam to the top rank in the military, and now on a peace mission to the Middle East. America is fortunate and I am proud to have ROTC graduate Colin Powell serving our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The bill includes other provisions to help American consumers and businesses. It includes tax incentives for businesses to invest and create jobs. It temporarily expands federal insurance for bank and credit union deposits from $100,000 to $250,000 -- a vital safeguard for consumers and small businesses. It provides families with relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax, which would otherwise increase taxes for 26 million taxpayers by an average of $2,200.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "There were moments this week when some thought the federal government could not rise to the challenge. But thanks to the hard work of members of both parties in both Houses -- and a spirit of cooperation between Capitol Hill and my administration -- we completed this bill in a timely manner. I'm especially grateful for the contributions of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader John Boehner, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Chairman Barney Frank, Ranking Member Spencer Bachus.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "America will take the side of brave men and women who advocate these values around the world, including the Islamic world, because we have a greater objective than eliminating threats and containing resentment. We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. This campaign may not be finished on our watch; yet, it must be and it will be waged on our watch. We can't stop short. If we stop now, leaving terror camps intact and terrorist states unchecked, our sense of security would be false and temporary. History has called America and our allies to action, and it is both our responsibility and our privilege to fight freedom's fight.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "My hope is that all nations will heed our call and eliminate the terrorist parasites who threaten their countries and our own. Many nations are acting forcefully. Pakistan is now cracking down on terror, and I admire the strong leadership of President Musharraf. But some governments will be timid in the face of terror. And make no mistake about it: If they do not act, America will.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "And America needs citizens to extend the compassion of our country to every part of the world. So we will renew the promise of the Peace Corps, double its volunteers over the next five years, and ask it to join a new effort to encourage development and education and opportunity in the Islamic world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "There is more to do. We need to prepare our children to read and succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood development programs. We must upgrade our teacher colleges and teacher training and launch a major recruiting drive with a great goal for America, a quality teacher in every classroom.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Our military has put the terror training camps of Afghanistan out of business, yet camps still exist in at least a dozen countries. A terrorist underworld, including groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Jaish-e-Mohammed, operates in remote jungles and deserts and hides in the centers of large cities.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We will work closely with our coalition to deny terrorists and their state sponsors the materials, technology, and expertise to make and deliver weapons of mass destruction. We will develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect America and our allies from sudden attack. And all nations should know: America will do what is necessary to ensure our nation's security.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Good jobs must be the aim of welfare reform. As we reauthorize these important reforms, we must always remember the goal is to reduce dependency on government and offer every American the dignity of a job.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections, then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Thank you all. May God bless.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "A good job should lead to security in retirement. I ask Congress to enact new safeguards for 401K and pension plans. Employees who have worked hard and saved all their lives should not have to risk losing everything if their company fails. Through stricter accounting standards and tougher disclosure requirements, corporate America must be made more accountable to employees and shareholders and held to the highest standards of conduct.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "My budget includes the largest increase in defense spending in two decades, because while the price of freedom and security is high, it is never too high. Whatever it costs to defend our country, we will pay.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The last time we met in this chamber, the mothers and daughters of Afghanistan were captives in their own homes, forbidden from working or going to school. Today women are free and are part of Afghanistan's new government. And we welcome the new Minister of Women's Affairs, Dr. Sima Samar.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The American people have responded magnificently, with courage and compassion, strength and resolve. As I have met the heroes, hugged the families, and looked into the tired faces of rescuers, I have stood in awe of the American people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The enemies you confront will come to know your skill and bravery. The people you liberate will witness the honorable and decent spirit of the American military. In this conflict, America faces an enemy who has no regard for conventions of war or rules of morality. Saddam Hussein has placed Iraqi troops and equipment in civilian areas, attempting to use innocent men, women and children as shields for his own military -- a final atrocity against his people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force. And I assure you, this will not be a campaign of half measures, and we will accept no outcome but victory.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I went to a neighborhood that abuts up against the border when I was here in May. It's the place where a lot of people came charging across. One or two agents would be trying to do their job and stopping a flood of folks charging into Arizona, and they couldn't do the job -- just physically impossible. Back at this site, there's now infrastructure, there's fencing. And the amount of people trying to cross the border at that spot is down significantly.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "If you don't man your borders and don't protect your borders, people are going to sneak in, and that's what's been happening for a long time. Past efforts at reform failed to address the underlying economic reasons behind illegal immigration. People will make great sacrifices to get into this country the find jobs and provide for their families.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "For many years, the government didn't have enough space, and so Michael and I worked with Congress to increase the number of beds available. So that excuse was eliminated. The practice has been effectively ended. Catch and release for every non-Mexican has been effectively ended. And I want to thank the Border Patrol and the leaders of the Border Patrol for allowing me to stand up and say that's the case.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Finally, we have got to honor the tradition of the melting pot, and help people assimilate into our society by learning our history, our values and our language. Last June I created a new task force to look for ways to help newcomers assimilate and succeed in our country. Many organizations, from churches to businesses to civic associations, are working to answer this call, and I'm grateful for their service.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I want to thank Senator Tim Bee, he's the president of the Arizona State Senate, for being here. Mr. Mayor, thank you for coming. Larry Nelson, the Mayor of Yuma, Arizona. I appreciate you being here, Mr. Mayor.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The reason why is not only do we have beds, we've expedited the legal process to cut the average deportation time. Now, these are non-Mexican illegal aliens that we've caught trying to sneak into our country. We're making it clear to foreign governments that they must accept back their citizens who violate our immigration laws. I said we're going to effectively end catch and release, and we have. And I appreciate your hard work in doing that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Securing the border is a critical part of a strategy for comprehensive immigration reform. It is an important part of a reform that is necessary so that the Border Patrol agents down here can do their job more effectively. Congress is going to take up the legislation on immigration. It is a matter of national interest and it's a matter of deep conviction for me. I've been working to bring Republicans and Democrats together to resolve outstanding issues so that Congress can pass a comprehensive bill and I can sign it into law this year.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "But manpower can't do it alone. In other words, there has to be some infrastructure along the border to be able to let these agents do their job. And so I appreciate the fact that we've got double fencing, all-weather roads, new lighting, mobile cameras. The American people have no earthly idea what's going on down here. One of the reasons I've come is to let you know, let the taxpayers know, the good folks down here are making progress.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Our troops on the frontlines understand what is at stake. They know that the mission in Iraq has been difficult and has been trying for our Nation, because they're the ones who've carried most of the burdens. They're all volunteers who have stepped forward to defend America in a time of danger. Some of them have gone out of their way to return to the fight.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "To ensure that military progress in Iraq is quickly followed up with real improvements in daily life, we have doubled the number of Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq. These teams of civilian experts are serving all Iraqi--18 Iraqi Provinces, and they're helping to strengthen responsible leaders and build up local economies and bring Iraqis together, so that reconciliation can happen from the ground up. They're very effective. They're helping give ordinary Iraqis confidence that by rejecting the extremists and reconciling with one another, they can claim their place in a free Iraq and build better lives for their families.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The surge has done more than turn the situation in Iraq around, it has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror. For the terrorists, Iraq was supposed to be the place where Al Qaida rallied Arab masses to drive America out. Instead, Iraq has become the place where Arabs joined with Americans to drive Al Qaida out. In Iraq, we are witnessing the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden, his grim ideology, and his murderous network. And the significance of this development cannot be overstated.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "One of these brave Americans is a Marine Gunnery Sergeant named William \"Spanky\" Gibson. In May of 2006 in Ramadi, a terrorist sniper's bullet ripped through his left knee; doctors then amputated his leg. After months of difficult rehabilitation, Spanky was not only walking, he was training for triathlons.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Together, these Americans and Iraqi forces have driven the terrorists from many of the sanctuaries they once held. Now the terrorists have gathered in and around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, and Iraqi and American forces are relentlessly pursuing them. There will be tough fighting in Mosul and areas of northern Iraq in the weeks ahead. But there's no doubt in my mind, because of the courage of our troops and the bravery of the Iraqis, the Al Qaida terrorists in this region will suffer the same fate as Al Qaida suffered elsewhere in Iraq.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "When the Iraqi regime was removed, it did not lay down its arms and surrender. Instead, former regime elements took off their uniforms and faded into the countryside to fight the emergence of a free Iraq. And then they were joined by foreign terrorists who were seeking to stop the advance of liberty in the Middle East and seeking to establish safe havens from which to plot new attacks across the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The men and women who crossed into Iraq 5 years ago removed a tyrant, liberated a country, and rescued millions from unspeakable horrors. Some of those troops are with us today, and you need to know that the American people are proud of your accomplishment, and so is the Commander in Chief.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "These reforms are the act of a vibrant and compassionate government. We show are concern for the dignity of our seniors by giving them quality health care. We show our respect for seniors by giving them more choices and more control over their decision-making. We're putting individuals in charge of their health care decisions. And as we move to modernize and reform other programs of this government, we will always trust individuals and their decisions, and put personal choice at the heart of our efforts.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Jim Martin, the President of 60 Plus Association, worked hard. Charlie Jarvis, the Chairman and CEO of United Seniors Association, worked hard. Mike Maves, the Executive Vice President and CEO of the AMA, worked hard on this piece of legislation. Mary Martin, the Chairman of the Board of The Seniors Coalition, worked hard. The truth of the matter is, a lot of good people worked hard to get this important legislation done, and I thank you for your work.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Seniors will start seeing help quickly. During the transition to the full prescription benefit, seniors will receive a drug discount card. This Medicare-approved card will deliver savings of 10 to 25 percent off the retail price of most medicines. Low-income seniors will receive the same savings, plus a $600 credit on their cards to help them pay for the medications they need.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The legislation I'm about to sign will set in motion a series of improvements in the care available to all America's senior citizens. And as we begin, it is important for seniors and those approaching retirement to understand their new benefits.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Hugh Iverson from West Des Moines, Iowa, just got his Medicare membership. And that's a good thing, because he hasn't had health insurance for more than three years. His drug bills total at least $400 a month. Within two years, with the $35 a month coverage, he will be able to cut those bills nearly in half, saving him about $2,400 a year.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We see America's character in our military, which finds a way or makes one. We see it in our veterans, who are supporting military families in their days of worry. We see it in our young people, who have found heroes once again. We see that character in workers and entrepreneurs, who are renewing our economy with their effort and optimism. And all of this has confirmed one belief beyond doubt: Having come this far, our tested and confident nation can achieve anything.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Four years ago, Afghanistan was the home base of al-Qaeda, Pakistan was a transit point for terrorist groups, Saudi Arabia was fertile ground for terrorist fundraising, Libya was secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, Iraq was a gathering threat, and al-Qaeda was largely unchallenged as it planned attacks. Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror, Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders, Saudi Arabia is making raids and arrests, Libya is dismantling its weapons programs, the army of a free Iraq is fighting for freedom, and more than three-quarters of al-Qaeda's key members and associates have been detained or killed. We have led, many have joined, and America and the world are safer.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I am grateful to share my walk in life with Laura Bush. Americans -- Americans have come to see the goodness and kindness and strength I first saw 26 years ago, and we love our First Lady.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "This progress involved careful diplomacy, clear moral purpose, and some tough decisions. And the toughest came on Iraq. We knew Saddam Hussein's record of aggression and support for terror. We knew his long history of pursuing, even using, weapons of mass destruction. And we know that September the 11th requires our country to think differently: We must, and we will, confront threats to America before it is too late.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "In the work we have done, and the work we will do, I am fortunate to have a superb Vice President. I have counted on Dick Cheney's calm and steady judgment in difficult days, and I am honored to have him at my side.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Thank you all. Mr. Chairman -- Mr. Chairman, delegates, fellow citizens: I am honored by your support, and I accept your nomination for President of the United States.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "We will offer a tax credit to encourage small businesses and their employees to set up health savings accounts, and provide direct help for low-income Americans to purchase them. These accounts give workers the security of insurance against major illness, the opportunity to save tax-free for routine health expenses, and the freedom of knowing you can take your account with you whenever you change jobs. We will provide low-income Americans with better access to health care: In a new term, I will ensure every poor county in America has a community or rural health center.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Again, my opponent takes a different approach. In the midst of war, he has called American allies, quote, a \"coalition of the coerced and the bribed.\" That would be nations like Great Britain, Poland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, El Salvador, Australia, and others -- allies that deserve the respect of all Americans, not the scorn of a politician. I respect every soldier, from every country, who serves beside us in the hard work of history. America is grateful, and America will not forget.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "His tax -- his policies of tax and spend -- of expanding government rather than expanding opportunity -- are the policies of the past. We are on the path to the future -- and we're not turning back.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "My father served eight years at the side of another great American -- Ronald Reagan. His spirit of optimism and goodwill and decency are in this hall, and are in our hearts, and will always define our party.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "I believe we have a moral responsibility to honor America's seniors -- so I brought Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen Medicare. Now seniors are getting immediate help buying medicine. Soon every senior will be able to get prescription drug coverage, and nothing will hold us back.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Another priority in a new term will be to help workers take advantage of the expanding economy to find better and higher-paying jobs. In this time of change, many workers want to go back to school to learn different or higher-level skills. So we will double the number of people served by our principal job training program and increase funding for our community colleges. I know that with the right skills, American workers can compete with anyone, anywhere in the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Everyone in this room knows firsthand that there are still deep needs and real suffering in the shadow of America's affluence. Problems like addiction and abandonment and gang violence, domestic violence, mental illness and homelessness. We are called by conscience to respond.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "First, it's good to have so many groups represented here -- religious and non-religious; Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, and Muslim; foundations and other non-profits. I want to thank you all for coming.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The second executive order will clear away the bureaucratic barriers in several important agencies that make private groups hesitate to work with government. It will establish centers in five agencies -- Justice, HUD, HHS, Labor and Education -- to ensure greater cooperation between the government and the independent sector. These centers will report back on regulatory barriers to working with non-profit groups, and make recommendations on how those barriers can be removed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Thank you. Good night, and God bless America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "As President, I have seen the transformative power of trade up close. I've been to a Caterpillar factory in East Peoria, Illinois, where thousands of good-paying American jobs are supported by exports. I've walked the grounds of a trade fair in Ghana, where I met women who support their families by exporting handmade dresses and jewelry. I've spoken with a farmer in Guatemala who decided to grow high-value crops he could sell overseas -- and helped create more than 1,000 jobs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Third, we must enhance the integrity of our financial markets. For example, authorities in every nation should take a fresh look at the rules governing market manipulation and fraud -- and ensure that investors are properly protected.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The financial crisis was ignited when booming housing markets began to decline. As home values dropped, many borrowers defaulted on their mortgages, and institutions holding securities backed by those mortgages suffered serious losses. Because of outdated regulatory structures and poor risk management practices, many financial institutions in America and Europe were too highly leveraged. When capital ran short, many faced severe financial jeopardy. This led to high-profile failures of financial institutions in America and Europe, led to contractions and widespread anxiety -- all of which contributed to sharp declines in the equity markets.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "All these steps require decisive actions from governments around the world. At the same time, we must recognize that government intervention is not a cure-all. For example, some blame the crisis on insufficient regulation of the American mortgage market. But many European countries had much more extensive regulations, and still experienced problems almost identical to our own.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "First, we're working toward a common understanding of the causes behind the global crisis. Different countries will naturally bring different perspectives, but there are some points on which we can all agree:", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Ultimately, the best evidence for free market capitalism is its performance compared to other economic systems. Free markets allowed Japan, an island with few natural resources, to recover from war and grow into the world's second-largest economy. Free markets allowed South Korea to make itself into one of the most technologically advanced societies in the world. Free markets turned small areas like Singapore and Hong Kong and Taiwan into global economic players. Today, the success of the world's largest economies comes from their embrace of free markets.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "So we're expanding funding for this type of ethical medical research. And as we explore promising avenues of research, we must also ensure that all life is treated with the dignity it deserves. And so I call on Congress to pass legislation that bans unethical practices, such as the buying, selling, patenting, or cloning of human life.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Members of Congress, the No Child Left Behind Act is a bipartisan achievement. It is succeeding. And we owe it to America's children, their parents, and their teachers to strengthen this good law.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "When we met last year, militia extremists--some armed and trained by Iran--were wreaking havoc in large areas of Iraq. A year later, coalition and Iraqi forces have killed or captured hundreds of militia fighters. And Iraqis of all backgrounds increasingly realize that defeating these militia fighters is critical to the future of their country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The Iraqi people quickly realized that something dramatic had happened. Those who had worried that America was preparing to abandon them instead saw tens of thousands of American forces flowing into their country. They saw our forces moving into neighborhoods, clearing out the terrorists, and staying behind to ensure the enemy did not return. And they saw our troops, along with Provincial Reconstruction Teams that include Foreign Service officers and other skilled public servants, coming in to ensure that improved security was followed by improvements in daily life. Our military and civilians in Iraq are performing with courage and distinction, and they have the gratitude of our whole nation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "These agreements also promote America's strategic interests. The first agreement that will come before you is with Colombia, a friend of America that is confronting violence and terror and fighting drug traffickers. If we fail to pass this agreement, we will embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere. So we must come together, pass this agreement, and show our neighbors in the region that democracy leads to a better life.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "In the past seven years, we've also seen the images that have sobered us. We've watched throngs of mourners in Lebanon and Pakistan carrying the caskets of beloved leaders taken by the assassin's hand. We've seen wedding guests in blood-soaked finery staggering from a hotel in Jordan, Afghans and Iraqis blown up in mosques and markets, and trains in London and Madrid ripped apart by bombs. On a clear September day, we saw thousands of our fellow citizens taken from us in an instant. These horrific images serve as a grim reminder: The advance of liberty is opposed by terrorists and extremists, evil men who despise freedom, despise America, and aim to subject millions to their violent rule.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Just as we trust Americans with their own money, we need to earn their trust by spending their tax dollars wisely. Next week, I'll send you a budget that terminates or substantially reduces 151 wasteful or bloated programs, totaling more than $18 billion. The budget that I will submit will keep America on track for a surplus in 2012. American families have to balance their budgets; so should their government.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "To keep America competitive into the future, we must trust in the skill of our scientists and engineers and empower them to pursue the breakthroughs of tomorrow. Last year, Congress passed legislation supporting the American Competitiveness Initiative, but never followed through with the funding. This funding is essential to keeping our scientific edge. So I ask Congress to double federal support for critical basic research in the physical sciences and ensure America remains the most dynamic nation on Earth.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Protecting our nation from the dangers of a new century requires more than good intelligence and a strong military. It also requires changing the conditions that breed resentment and allow extremists to prey on despair. So America is using its influence to build a freer, more hopeful, and more compassionate world. This is a reflection of our national interests; it is the calling of our conscience.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks, special interest projects that are often snuck in at the last minute, without discussion or debate. Last year, I asked you to voluntarily cut the number and cost of earmarks in half. I also asked you to stop slipping earmarks into committee reports that never even come to a vote. Unfortunately, neither goal was met. So this time, if you send me an appropriations bill that does not cut the number and cost of earmarks in half, I'll send it back to you with my veto.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "There are two other pressing challenges that I've raised repeatedly before this body and that this body has failed to address: entitlement spending and immigration. Every member in this chamber knows that spending on entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is growing faster than we can afford. We all know the painful choices ahead if America stays on this path: massive tax increases, sudden and drastic cuts in benefits, or crippling deficits. I've laid out proposals to reform these programs. Now I ask members of Congress to offer your proposals and come up with a bipartisan solution to save these vital programs for our children and our grandchildren.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "By trusting the people, our Founders wagered that a great and noble nation could be built on the liberty that resides in the hearts of all men and women. By trusting the people, succeeding generations transformed our fragile young democracy into the most powerful nation on Earth and a beacon of hope for millions. And so long as we continue to trust the people, our nation will prosper, our liberty will be secure, and the state of our Union will remain strong.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "bush", "text": "Trade brings better jobs and better choices and better prices. Yet for some Americans, trade can mean losing a job, and the federal government has a responsibility to help. I ask Congress to reauthorize and reform trade adjustment assistance so we can help these displaced workers learn new skills and find new jobs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Also, and very importantly, we imposed historic and monumental tariffs on China; made a great new deal with China. But before the ink was even dry, we and the whole world got hit with the China virus. Our trade relationship was rapidly changing, billions and billions of dollars were pouring into the U. S., but the virus forced us to go in a different direction.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We restored American strength at home and American leadership abroad. The world respects us again. Please don't lose that respect.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As President, my top priority, my constant concern, has always been the best interests of American workers and American families. I did not seek the easiest course; by far, it was actually the most difficult. I did not seek the path that would get the least criticism. I took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices because that's what you elected me to do. Your needs were my first and last unyielding focus.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As a result of our bold diplomacy and principled realism, we achieved a series of historic peace deals in the Middle East. Nobody believed it could happen. The Abraham Accords opened the doors to a future of peace and harmony, not violence and bloodshed. It is the dawn of a new Middle East, and we are bringing our soldiers home.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We worked to build a country in which every citizen could find a great job and support their wonderful families. We fought for the communities where every American could be safe and schools where every child could learn. We promoted a culture where our laws would be upheld, our heroes honored, our history preserved, and law-abiding citizens are never taken for granted. Americans should take tremendous satisfaction in all that we have achieved together. It's incredible.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol. Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Incomes soared, wages boomed, the American Dream was restored, and millions were lifted from poverty in just a few short years. It was a miracle. The stock market set one record after another, with 148 stock market highs during this short period of time, and boosted the retirements and pensions of hardworking citizens all across our nation. 401(k)s are at a level they've never been at before. We've never seen numbers like we've seen, and that's before the pandemic and after the pandemic.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I also want to take a moment to thank a truly exceptional group of people: the United States Secret Service. My family and I will forever be in your debt. My profound gratitude as well to everyone in the White House Military Office, the teams of Marine One and Air Force One, every member of the Armed Forces, and state and local law enforcement all across our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "For nearly 250 years, in the face of every challenge, Americans have always summoned our unmatched courage, confidence, and fierce independence. These are the miraculous traits that once led millions of everyday citizens to set out across a wild continent and carve out a new life in the great West. It was the same profound love of our God-given freedom that willed our soldiers into battle and our astronauts into space.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Four years ago, I came to Washington as the only true outsider ever to win the presidency. I had not spent my career as a politician, but as a builder looking at open skylines and imagining infinite possibilities. I ran for President because I knew there were towering new summits for America just waiting to be scaled. I knew the potential for our nation was boundless as long as we put America first.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I mean, you're taking hundreds of pictures. What are you doing?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we're doing that without the Democrats. We should have been able to do it very easily with them, but they want all of these additional things that have nothing to do with helping people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Earlier this year, we slashed student loans' interest rates to zero percent and suspended student loan payments, and Congress extended that policy through September 30th. Today, I'm extending this policy through the end of the year, and we'll extend it further than that--most likely, right after December 1st. So we look like we're going to be extending that. They're paying zero interest. And again, not their fault that their colleges are closed down and not their fault that they're unable to get what they bargained for.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So we're going to make that August 1st, most likely. It'll be August 1st. We'll let you know the exact date, but we're looking like August 1st. So it'd be August 1st through the end of 2020. This will mean bigger paychecks for working families, as we race to produce a vaccine and eradicate the China virus once and for all.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah. Yes.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "That, we like. But the other situation is very, very--very, very bad.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I will. I will.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "If you have stocks in NASDAQ, you're higher than you ever were, including even--this is still during the pandemic. The stock market--because they see such incredible things are happening, smart people--the stock market is that almost an all-time high. We're just short of it. And NASDAQ is higher than it ever was. It's broken the record 14 times in the last couple of months.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I think, from what I've heard, Joe Biden--Sleepy Joe--wants to rip the wall down. He wants people to pour into our country. They want to have open borders. We don't want to have open borders.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "This will go very--if--if we get sued. Maybe we won't get sued. If we get sued, it's somebody that doesn't want people to get money. Okay? And that's not going to be a very popular thing.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "First one is on providing a payroll tax holiday to Americans earning less than $100,000 per year. In a few moments, I will sign a directive, instructing the Treasury Department to allow employers to defer payment of the employee portion of certain payroll taxes from September 1st. And we're actually going to be making that; we just got the word. We're just getting some word from a lot of people. We didn't think we'd have to do this because we thought the Democrats would be reasonable, but they've been not only unreasonable, they've been ridiculous.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I was in Ohio, I was in Texas, I was in Florida over the last four or five days. And if you would see the crowds along the highways and the roadways, people have said they've never seen anything like it, and they haven't seen anything like it. And the press doesn't report it because they're fake news.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah. Go ahead, please.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And you had the opposite, also. You've had people to get along better. They like each other more than they thought. That's okay, too.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In the current negotiations, we have repeatedly stated our willingness to immediately sign legislation providing expanded unemployment benefits, protecting Americans from eviction, and providing additional relief payments to families. Democrats have refused these offers; they want to negotiate. What they really want is bailout money for states that are run by Democrat governors and mayors, and that have been run very badly for many, many years--and many decades, in fact. You know the states; everybody knows who we're talking about and what we're talking about. I don't think we have to go over it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Fourth, I am signing a directive providing relief to student loan borrowers. Earlier this year, we slashed student loan interest rates to zero. I don't know if people know that because the press doesn't ever report it, but maybe they're watching now.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I will now sign the executive action. And then, if you want, we can ask a few questions.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So I'm protecting people from eviction. Yet you've been hearing a lot about eviction, and the Democrats don't want to do anything having to do with protecting people from eviction. I said, \"Let's do that separately. That can be a totally separate thing from passing along money so people can live.\" And they didn't even want to protect people from eviction.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Go ahead, please. Please.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You know, and don't forget: These big companies--you have stocks in these companies. You know, you own stocks. And they have millions and millions of shareholders. And whether it's pension funds or anybody else, you all have stocks. So there are big companies, but a lot of people own that stock, and we want to keep it going.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So, they would get evicted--it's not their fault that this virus came into our country; it's China's fault. And came into the world--by the way, a lot of the people, a lot of the states that were doing the best are having some problems. A lot of the states that we weren't thinking were doing the best are doing very well.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So, this was much more than was originally agreed. The 600 was a number that was there. And as you know, they were diff--there was difficulty with the 600 number because it really was a disincentive.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We passed the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history. Biggest in history.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We are also--it's been a very big success. We're also processing veteran disability claims more quickly than ever before, by far. The VA has implemented the Decision Ready Claims process where claims can be completed in under two weeks. We're striving for one day--but under two weeks. It used to be many, many months.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I know we are joined today by many incredible veterans of the Korean War. Thank you for your courageous service.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Come on, Allen. Come on.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And unfortunately, we had tremendous opposition for lowering your taxes from Claire McCaskill. She voted against. Unbelievable.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I've given to the Veterans of Foreign Wars 70 years of my life. Thank you. My wife is with me today, but she's not here. She's not feeling well. And my children are watching me today, hopefully--to know that their dad got to stand beside the President of the United States--with the President.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Over the last little more than a year and a half, we've created 3.7 million jobs since election. African American, Hispanic, and Asian American unemployment has reached the lowest levels ever recorded in our country's history--the lowest levels. Unemployment--lowest level.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you, Lee. Thank you, Lee. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I started to get a little bit concerned when he was finishing. Well, this is a President that will have you in the Oval Office. So all of my people back there, they're working it out already. Okay? With honor.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Anytime we see an American in uniform from the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, or Coast Guard, our hearts swell with pride. And anywhere those uniforms appear, our enemies tremble with fear because they know there is no greater force for peace and justice than the United States military.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As you may know, we're also working to bring back the remains of your brothers-in-arms who gave their lives in Korea. And I hope that, very soon, these fallen warriors will begin coming home to lay at rest in American soil. That's starting the process.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Mr. President, I want to ask you something. I've been told that I could never enter the Oval Office in Washington, D. C. I'm going to be 95 years of age April 11th of next year. Hopefully, that you will allow me to bring my family into the Oval Office --", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But remember, they have the biggest, best, strongest lobbyists, and they're doing a number. Just stick with us. Don't believe the crap you see from these people--the fake news.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Last year, I signed into the law landmark VA Accountability Act, which nobody thought we could get approved. Nobody. We're good at getting things approved. Nobody thought.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And that piece was done by the lobbyists and by the people that they hire. It was a total setup. This country is doing better than it's ever done before, economically. This is the time to take off the rip-off of tariff. We have to do it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Baghdadi and the losers who worked with him - in some cases people who had no idea what they were getting into and how dangerous and unglamorous it was - killed many people. Their murder of innocent Americans Jim Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller were especially heinous. The shocking publicized murder of a Jordanian pilot who was burned alive in a cage for all to see, and the execution of Christians in Libya and Egypt, as well as the genocidal mass murder of Yazidis, rank ISIS among the most depraved organizations in history.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I want to thank the nations of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and I also want to thank the Syrian Kurds for certain support they were able to give us. Thank you as well to the great intelligence professionals who helped make this very successful journey possible.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We will launch a new age of American ambition in space. And the United States will be the first nation to land on Mars, good program. You saw the beautiful rocket three weeks ago go up, beautiful.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Every graduate on this field could have gone to virtually any top-ranked university that you wanted. You chose to devote your life to the defense of America. You came to West Point because you know the truth: America is the greatest country in human history, and the United States Military is the greatest force for peace and justice the world has ever known.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I have no doubt that the young men and women before me today will add your names to this eternal chronicle of American heroes. You will go forth from this place adored by your countrymen, dreaded by your enemies, and respected by all throughout the world. Someday, generations of future West Point cadets will study your legacy. They will know your deeds, they will celebrate your triumphs, and they will proudly follow your example.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I also want to thank the men and women of our National Guard who respond with precision to so many recent challenges, from hurricanes and natural disasters, to ensuring peace, safety, and the constitutional rule of law on our streets. We thank every citizen who wears a uniform in selfless service to our nation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We need you to be as visionary as Patton, who as a young man in 1917, became the first soldier assigned to the Army Tank Corps. One month into the job, he saw the future, writing, \"If resistance is broken, and the line pierced, the tank must and will assume the role of pursuit cavalry and ride the enemy to death.\" Under Patton's leadership, that's exactly what they did.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Few words in the English language and few places in history have commanded as much awe and admiration as West Point. This premier military academy produces only the best of the best, the strongest of the strong, and the bravest of the brave. West Point is a universal symbol of American gallantry, loyalty, devotion, discipline, and great skill. There is no place on Earth I would rather be than right here with all of you. It's a great honor.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The American economy is by far the largest in the world, and we've just enacted the most significant tax cuts and reform in American history. We've massively cut taxes for the middle class and small businesses to let working families keep more of their hard-earned money. We lowered our corporate tax rate from 35 percent, all the way down to 21 percent. As a result, millions of workers have received tax cut bonuses from their employers in amounts as large as $3,000.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We have a very pro-business group. We have regulations cut to a level--in the history of our country, Klaus--this was reported recently. In one year we've cut more regulations in my administration than any other administration in four, eight, or sixteen years, in the one case. We've cut more regulations in one year, and we have a ways to go. I mean, we're probably 50 percent done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we're going to have regulation. There's nothing wrong with rules and regulations; you need them. But we've cut more than any administration ever in the history of our country, and we still have a ways to go. So I think between that and the tremendous tax cuts, we've really done something.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "My administration is also taking swift action in other ways to restore American confidence and independence. We are lifting self-imposed restrictions on energy production to provide affordable power to our citizens and businesses, and to promote energy security for our friends all around the world. No country should be held hostage to a single provider of energy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But America first does not mean America alone. When the United States grows, so does the world. American prosperity has created countless jobs all around the globe, and the drive for excellence, creativity, and innovation in the U. S. has led to important discoveries that help people everywhere live more prosperous and far healthier lives.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I am pleased to report that the coalition to defeat ISIS has retaken almost 100 percent of the territory once held by these killers in Iraq and Syria. There is still more fighting and work to be done and to consolidate our gains. We are committed to ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists who want to commit mass murder to our civilian populations. I want to thank those nations represented here today that have joined in these crucial efforts. You are not just securing your own citizens, but saving lives and restoring hope for millions and millions of people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The world is witnessing the resurgence of a strong and prosperous America. I'm here to deliver a simple message: There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest, and to grow in the United States. America is open for business, and we are competitive once again.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "That's what we're doing in America, and the results are totally unmistakable. It's why new businesses and investment are flooding in. It's why our unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in so many decades. It's why America's future has never been brighter.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And one other thing I said--and I saw it last night with some of the leaders and the businesspeople--I think I've been a cheerleader for our country, and everybody representing a company or a country has to be a cheerleader, or no matter what you do, it's just not going to work. And the reason I'm a cheerleader is because it's easy--because I love our country and I think we're just doing really well.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I want to thank you, and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Iran's hostilities substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013, and they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash. Instead of saying \"thank you\" to the United States, they chanted \"death to America.\" In fact, they chanted \"death to America\" the day the agreement was signed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "They must now break away from the remnants of the Iran deal -- or JCPOA -- and we must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place. We must also make a deal that allows Iran to thrive and prosper, and take advantage of its enormous untapped potential. Iran can be a great country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Then, Iran went on a terror spree, funded by the money from the deal, and created hell in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration. The regime also greatly tightened the reins on their own country, even recently killing 1,500 people at the many protests that are taking place all throughout Iran.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Good morning. I'm pleased to inform you: The American people should be extremely grateful and happy no Americans were harmed in last night's attack by the Iranian regime. We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at our military bases.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But they kept it going, Mark. They kept it going forever because they wanted to inflict political pain on somebody that had just won an election that, to -- a lot of people were surprised. I mean, we had polls that said we were going to win. We had Los Angeles Times and a few -- a few papers, actually, said it was -- we were going to win but it was going to be close.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So we had a campaign. Little did we know we were running against some very, very bad and evil people with fake dossiers, with all of these horrible, dirty cops that took these dossiers and did bad things. They knew all about it. The FISA courts should be ashamed of themselves.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Really, an amazing -- I don't think there is anything like that anywhere in the world. You can go to any other country, you can go to any other location, any other place. It's the beauty of everything. It's what it represents and how it represents our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "With all that we've gone through, we've done, I think, more than any President and administration, and really, I say, for the most part, Republican congressmen, congresswomen, and Republican senators. We've done more than any administration in the first few years, if you look at all of the things we've done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But Ron DeSantis is another one, and now he's the governor of Florida. And, by the way, he's a great governor. He's a very popular governor. His numbers are in the 70s. And he's done a great job.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Making the State of the Union speech, I was with some people that have been around; they've been all over the world. And one of them, a highly sophisticated person, said, \"You know, no matter where you go in the world, it doesn't make any difference -- there is nothing like what I witnessed tonight.\" The beauty, the majesty of the Chamber. The power of the United States, the power of the people in this room.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And he's also given us 191 now. A hundred and ninety-one federal judges. Two Supreme Court judges, right? It's up to 191. True.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I'm so glad I did it because we are making progress and doing things for our great people that everybody said couldn't be done. Our country is thriving. Our country is just respected again. And it's an honor to be with the people in this room.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Lee Zeldin. How good are you? How good are you? Man.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But today is the day to celebrate these great warriors, right? These are great warriors. They really fought hard for us. And --", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You know, Mike Pence just got back from a place -- a beautiful place that Chuck Grassley knows well: Iowa. And he was talking about these fiasco -- the Democrats, they can't count some simple votes, and yet they want to take over your healthcare system. Think of that. No, think of it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And on my worst day -- right? -- on my worst day, my worst -- I won't tell you why it was my worst, but it was not one of those good days -- she got on a bus, got many other buses and women all over North Carolina, and they toured North Carolina. Well, Mark was back sort of semi-supporting another candidate, which he ended up leaving very quickly. I don't think you had a choice, because of your wife, but thank her.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So, I'm going to leave now. And I don't know if any of you have anything to say. You could say it. But this is sort of a day of celebration, because we went through hell.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But she said, \"There's something so compelling -- it has to be so compelling and so overwhelming and bipartisan. I don't think we should go down that path, because it divides the country\" -- she was right about that -- \"and it's just not worth it.\" That was Nancy Pelosi a year ago. Right?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Stand up, honey. Ivanka, thank you, honey. Come. Come.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Here in West Virginia, as a result of our tax cuts, the typical family of four will save roughly $2,000 a year. To lower tax rates for hardworking Americans, we nearly doubled the standard deduction for everyone. Now, the first $24,000 earned by a married couple is completely tax-free. And when I came into this beautiful building just a little while ago, one of the people said, \"You know, I just got a check, and I have $221 more than I had last year at this time in my envelope.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "This is our legacy. This is our birthright. And this is the foundation on which we build our very glorious future. Because together, we are, indeed, making America great again.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And as I said, we've eliminated more regulations in our first year than any administration has ever eliminated. And that means four years, eight years, or, in one instance, sixteen years. In one year, we've knocked out more regulations. It's an amazing thing. And I happen to think that that is every bit as important toward our success as the tax cuts.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And so either they come on board, or we're just going to have to really work and we're going to have to get more people so we can get the kind of numbers that we need to pass, in a much easier fashion, legislation. And to get it done, we'll all have to make some compromises along the way--to get it done this way. Now, to get it done the other way, if we win more, we don't have to compromise so much. Okay? With the tax bill, we got what we wanted because we had, essentially, a unanimous vote.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But when we got the great tax cut bill--and we call it the Tax Cut and Jobs Bill--we got that, it was like putting it all in a box and wrapping it with a beautiful ribbon. We started getting credit not only for that, but for all of the other things that we did during the year. It's amazing the way that happened. I was surprised, actually.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "When you see what they do and the way they do it, and the level of ferocity, we can't treat them the way we do the ordinary criminal. And as you saw on Tuesday, I've signed an order keeping open our very secure detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay. It's another promise kept.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And one of the things we're doing that's so important--and Mitch has worked so hard on, and Don, and everybody--is the justices, the judges all over the country. We're filling up the courts with really talented people who understand and read the Constitution for what it says.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But make no mistake: I will not rest until we have delivered for the citizens of our great country so many different things--immigration, the strong military. We've done an awfully good job of protecting our Second Amendment. That was in question during the campaign, you remember, and we have done a very, very good job.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you, Paul and Mitch, for the introduction and for your tremendous leadership. You folks have done well. I just looked at some numbers. You've even done better than you thought, I think--based on what we just saw about 10 minutes ago.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now, the best thing we've done to fix that, Paul, is the fact that the economy is just booming. I mean, that fixes it better than any program we can do, anything we can do at all. But the economy is so strong now and so good, and so many companies are moving in that I really believe that problem--it's a big problem--is going to solve itself. But we're working on it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "That's good. I was hoping he wouldn't deny that. But he did--he called me, and I thought it was very nice. So thank you, Paul, very much.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you very much. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "My Administration is committed to fighting the drug epidemic and helping get treatment for those in need. The struggle will be long and difficult--but, as Americans always do, we will prevail.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Memorials to the heroes of Yorktown and Saratoga--to young Americans who shed their blood on the shores of Normandy, and the fields beyond. And others, who went down in the waters of the Pacific and the skies over Asia.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So to every citizen watching at home tonight--no matter where you have been, or where you come from, this is your time. If you work hard, if you believe in yourself, if you believe in America, then you can dream anything, you can be anything, and together, we can achieve anything.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As part of our defense, we must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal, hopefully never having to use it, but making it so strong and powerful that it will deter any acts of aggression. Perhaps someday in the future there will be a magical moment when the countries of the world will get together to eliminate their nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, we are not there yet.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In the aftermath of that terrible shooting, we came together, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as representatives of the people. But it is not enough to come together only in times of tragedy. Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people we were elected to serve.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Today he has a new leg, but Seong-ho, I understand you still keep those crutches as a reminder of how far you have come. Your great sacrifice is an inspiration to us all.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Since we passed tax cuts, roughly 3 million workers have already gotten tax cut bonuses--many of them thousands of dollars per worker. Apple has just announced it plans to invest a total of $350 billion in America, and hire another 20,000 workers.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We have ended the war on American Energy--and we have ended the war on clean coal. We are now an exporter of energy to the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In recent months, my Administration has met extensively with both Democrats and Republicans to craft a bipartisan approach to immigration reform. Based on these discussions, we presented the Congress with a detailed proposal that should be supported by both parties as a fair compromise--one where nobody gets everything they want, but where our country gets the critical reforms it needs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Many car companies are now building and expanding plants in the United States--something we have not seen for decades. Chrysler is moving a major plant from Mexico to Michigan; Toyota and Mazda are opening up a plant in Alabama. Soon, plants will be opening up all over the country. This is all news Americans are unaccustomed to hearing--for many years, companies and jobs were only leaving us. But now they are coming back.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we are serving our brave veterans, including giving our veterans choice in their healthcare decisions. Last year, the Congress passed, and I signed, the landmark VA Accountability Act. Since its passage, my Administration has already removed more than 1,500 VA employees who failed to give our veterans the care they deserve--and we are hiring talented people who love our vets as much as we do.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As America regains its strength, this opportunity must be extended to all citizens. That is why this year we will embark on reforming our prisons to help former inmates who have served their time get a second chance.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "For over 30 years, Washington has tried and failed to solve this problem. This Congress can be the one that finally makes it happen.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "When the people of Iran rose up against the crimes of their corrupt dictatorship, I did not stay silent. America stands with the people of Iran in their courageous struggle for freedom.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Atop the dome of this Capitol stands the Statue of Freedom. She stands tall and dignified among the monuments to our ancestors who fought and lived and died to protect her.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "People who are terminally ill should not have to go from country to country to seek a cure--I want to give them a chance right here at home. It is time for the Congress to give these wonderful Americans the \"right to try.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As tax cuts create new jobs, let us invest in workforce development and job training. Let us open great vocational schools so our future workers can learn a craft and realize their full potential. And let us support working families by supporting paid family leave.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "One of Staub's employees, Corey Adams, is also with us tonight. Corey is an all-American worker. He supported himself through high school, lost his job during the 2008 recession, and was later hired by Staub, where he trained to become a welder. Like many hardworking Americans, Corey plans to invest his tax-cut raise into his new home and his two daughters' education. Please join me in congratulating Corey.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "All of us here today understand an eternal truth: Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God. Together, we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and sanctity of every human life.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And thanks also to Senators Mike Lee and James Lankford, who are here. James, Mike -- thank you, fellas. And Representatives Steve Scalise --; Chris Smith --; Ralph Abraham --; Warren Davidson --; Bob Latta --; John Joyce --; Lloyd Smucker --; Brian Fitzpatrick --; and Brad Wenstrup. Thank you, all.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House. And as the Bible tells us, each person is \"wonderfully made.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We cannot know what our citizens yet unborn will achieve, the dreams they will imagine, the masterpieces they will create, the discoveries they will make. But we know this: Every life brings love into this world. Every child brings joy to a family. Every person is worth protecting. And above all, we know that every human soul is divine, and every human life -- born and unborn -- is made in the holy image of Almighty God.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Today, millions of extraordinary women across America are using the power of their votes to fight for the right, and all of their rights, as given in the Declaration of Independence -- it's the right to life. To all the women here today: Your devotion and your leadership uplifts our entire nation, and we thank you for that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you very much. Thank you. Please. I want to thank Vice President Pence, along with the many members of my Cabinet here with us today.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We face rogue regimes that threaten the United States and our allies. We face terrorist organizations, transnational criminal networks, and others who spread violence and evil around the globe.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "It calls for a total modernization of our military, and reversing previous decisions to shrink our armed forces--even as threats to national security grew. It calls for streamlining acquisition, eliminating bloated bureaucracy, and massively building up our military, which has the fundamental side benefit of creating millions and millions of jobs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we are returning to the wisdom of our founders. In America, the people govern, the people rule, and the people are sovereign. What we have built here in America is precious and unique. In all of history, never before has freedom reigned, the rule of law prevailed, and the people thrived as we have here for nearly 250 years.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "With the strategy I am announcing today, we are declaring that America is in the game and America is going to win. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "God Bless You. Thank you very much. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our strategy advances four vital national interests. First, we must protect the American people, the homeland, and our great American way of life. This strategy recognizes that we cannot secure our nation if we do not secure our borders. So for the first time ever, American strategy now includes a serious plan to defend our homeland. It calls for the construction of a wall on our southern border; ending chain migration and the horrible visa and lottery programs; closing loopholes that undermine enforcement; and strongly supporting our Border Patrol agents, ICE officers, and Homeland Security personnel.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Today, grounded in these truths, we are presenting to the world our new National Security Strategy. Based on my direction, this document has been in development for over a year. It has the endorsement of my entire Cabinet.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "This strategy recognizes that, whether we like it or not, we are engaged in a new era of competition. We accept that vigorous military, economic, and political contests are now playing out all around the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And our strategy emphasizes strengthening alliances to cope with these threats. It recognizes that our strength is magnified by allies who share principles--and our principles--and shoulder their fair share of responsibility for our common security.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We're here today to discuss matters of vital importance to us all: America's security, prosperity, and standing in the world. I want to talk about where we've been, where we are now, and, finally, our strategy for where we are going in the years ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Upon my inauguration, I announced that the United States would return to a simple principle: The first duty of our government is to serve its citizens, many of whom have been forgotten. But they are not forgotten anymore. With every decision and every action, we are now putting America first.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I love the Constitution and the Democratic Republic that it establishes, and I will devote myself to preserving it. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "A judge declares independence not only from Congress and the President, but also from the private beliefs that might otherwise move her. The Judicial Oath captures the essence of the judicial duty the rule of law must always control.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "It is the job of a senator to pursue her policy preferences. In fact, it would be a dereliction of duty for her to put policy goals aside. By contrast, it is the job of a judge to resist her policy preferences. It would be a dereliction of duty for her to give in to them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Justice Barrett, as you take your oath tonight, the legacy of our ancestors falls to you. The American people put their trust in you and their faith in you as you take up the task of defending our laws, our Constitution, and this country that we all love. We ask God to give you wisdom and courage. I know you will make us all very, very proud.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The equal, impartial, and constitutional rule of law that we enjoy every day in America is one of the crowning achievements in the history of human civilization. It is the triumph of reason, experience, and the values which are eternal and everlasting. Our devotion to this inheritance is what has made America the most just, exceptional, and glorious nation ever to exist.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "It is highly fitting that Justice Barrett fills the seat of a true pioneer for women: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Tonight, Justice Barrett becomes not only the fifth woman to serve on our nation's highest court, but the very first mother of school-aged children to become a Supreme Court justice. Very important.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Virtually everywhere socialism or communism has been tried, it has produced suffering, corruption, and decay. Socialism's thirst for power leads to expansion, incursion, and oppression. All nations of the world should resist socialism and the misery that it brings to everyone.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Currently, we are witnessing a human tragedy, as an example, in Venezuela. More than 2 million people have fled the anguish inflicted by the socialist Maduro regime and its Cuban sponsors.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "When we do, we will find new avenues for cooperation unfolding before us. We will find new passion for peacemaking rising within us. We will find new purpose, new resolve, and new spirit flourishing all around us, and making this a more beautiful world in which to live.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have pledged billions of dollars to aid the people of Syria and Yemen. And they are pursuing multiple avenues to ending Yemen's horrible, horrific civil war.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We believe that trade must be fair and reciprocal. The United States will not be taken advantage of any longer.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As we see in Jordan, the most compassionate policy is to place refugees as close to their homes as possible to ease their eventual return to be part of the rebuilding process. This approach also stretches finite resources to help far more people, increasing the impact of every dollar spent.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We had highly productive conversations and meetings, and we agreed that it was in both countries' interest to pursue the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Since that meeting, we have already seen a number of encouraging measures that few could have imagined only a short time ago.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I would like to thank Chairman Kim for his courage and for the steps he has taken, though much work remains to be done. The sanctions will stay in place until denuclearization occurs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "This year, we also took another significant step forward in the Middle East. In recognition of every sovereign state to determine its own capital, I moved the U. S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "America is governed by Americans. We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The United States lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs, nearly a quarter of all steel jobs, and 60,000 factories after China joined the WTO. And we have racked up $13 trillion in trade deficits over the last two decades.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "OPEC and OPEC nations, are, as usual, ripping off the rest of the world, and I don't like it. Nobody should like it. We defend many of these nations for nothing, and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In America, we believe in the majesty of freedom and the dignity of the individual. We believe in self-government and the rule of law. And we prize the culture that sustains our liberty -- a culture built on strong families, deep faith, and fierce independence. We celebrate our heroes, we treasure our traditions, and above all, we love our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I honor the right of every nation in this room to pursue its own customs, beliefs, and traditions. The United States will not tell you how to live or work or worship.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Looking around this hall where so much history has transpired, we think of the many before us who have come here to address the challenges of their nations and of their times. And our thoughts turn to the same question that ran through all their speeches and resolutions, through every word and every hope. It is the question of what kind of world will we leave for our children and what kind of nations they will inherit.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The missiles and rockets are no longer flying in every direction. Nuclear testing has stopped. Some military facilities are already being dismantled. Our hostages have been released. And as promised, the remains of our fallen heroes are being returned home to lay at rest in American soil.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I fully understand that this is a momentous decision for a President. And if the Senate does me the honor of confirming me, I pledge to discharge the responsibilities of this job to the very best of my ability. I love the United States, and I love the United States Constitution. I am truly, I am truly humbled by the prospect of serving on the Supreme Court.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Should I be confirmed, I will be mindful of who came before me. The flag of the United States is still flying at half-staff in memory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to mark the end of a great American life. Justice Ginsburg began her career at a time when women were not welcome in the legal profession. But she not only broke glass ceilings, she smashed them. For that, she has won the admiration of women across the country and, indeed, all over the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "It is important at a moment like this to acknowledge family and friends. But this evening, I also want to acknowledge you, my fellow Americans. The President has nominated me to serve on the United States Supreme Court, and that institution belongs to all of us.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So, thank you very much for being here. Thank you all. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Congratulations, Amy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Please, Amy, say a few words. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Congratulations.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Jesse and I, Jesse and I have a life full of relationships, not only with our children, but with siblings, friends, and fearless babysitters, one of whom is with us today. I am particularly grateful to my parents, Mike and Linda Coney. I spent the bulk of--I have spent the bulk of my adulthood as a Midwesterner, but I grew up in their New Orleans home. And as my brother and sisters can also attest, Mom and Dad's generosity extends not only to us, but to more people than any of us could count. They are an inspiration.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To her children Emma, Vivian, Tess, John Peter, Liam, Juliet, and Benjamin, thank you for sharing your incredible mom with our country. Thank you very much.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Over the past week, our nation has mourned the loss of a true American legend. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a legal giant and a pioneer for women. Her extraordinary life and legacy will inspire Americans for generations to come.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah. Google and Apple.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now, I know you all know that, in three weeks, we went from 300,000 tests total to 3 million tests total, in three weeks. We know that we have to further increase that. That has been done really by HHS and Admiral Giroir and the team up there. And we're going to supplement that team to really bring on all of the additional resources and platforms that we have in the United States of America, just like we did with ventilators to bring all of the capacity to bear so that we can also continue to increase testing.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we have--this country, for so many years, has been ripped off by everybody, whether it's a World Health or World Trade. And they're like--I call them the \"Bobbsey Twins.\" They'd look at our country--for years and years, we had people that did nothing about it. We're doing a lot about it. So we'll have a report.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I think eventually they will do that. And I think we're going to--boom--I think we're going to--I think it's going to go quickly. Our people want to get back to work, and I think there's a pent-up demand like there hasn't been in a long time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And so you can't even see Chicago, Detroit, or Boston. All of those metro areas are under 25,000 cases. You can see that the New York, New Jersey metro area is about almost 250,000 when you bring those cases together--almost a log more. And that's why you hear us talking a lot about the metro area of New York and New Jersey; and the counties of Rockland and Westchester and Suffolk and Nassau and Bergen, New Jersey; and why we're so focused on getting resources to that metro area.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And can we put that slide--I guess it's still up. This is for just the week ending April 11. We have distributed or directed the distribution of 5.3 million N95 masks, 5.5 million surgical masks, 110 million gloves. We shared that mostly just to make sure our healthcare workers know that the resources are flowing, we're going to continue to flow them, but this is just the numbers for this week and don't include, for instance, what the President announced.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Rapidly increases. Well, pretty quickly.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "China has their own difficulties. We have a relationship with China that--we're not happy with certain things that happened over the last period of time, as you know, and I've been very explicit on that. But we know all about that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You can go to New Orleans, to give you an understanding. Washington D. C., right? So now I can talk about that. Today was a--you know, a very, kind of, early entry into the Washington, D. C., Baltimore--right?--positioning supplies ahead of need, we hope, in Washington.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Nobody thought we should do it. And when I did it --", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah. Yeah.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So if you go to Detroit, we talked about their hotspot. Here's the volumes of deliveries going into Detroit for that same time period.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "What--having watched this unfold up close, what do you think were the mistakes that were made early on that a future President could learn from? With the benefit of hindsight, of course.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "If you notice, the few states you're talking about, they're all with Democrat governors. But if governors are doing a good job and they control it better--because you don't have somebody in Washington saying, \"Set up a testing site in the parking lot of a Walmart.\" And we're in Washington and they're in a state that's very far away. That's really--it should be and it should have always been. And I've always said it was.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "When you say \"my authority\"--the President's authority. Not mine, because it's not me.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You know, we'll see what we all come back with. But they are talking about states and they're talking about hospitals.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And with regard to the Abbott m2000 systems, we told the governors today that we think 75 percent of that laboratory capacity that exists in the United States today is not being utilized by our governors. So we sent a very clear message to governors today to reach out to their hospitals, reach out to their labs to identify the presence of the Roche Amplicor 500 and the Abbott m2000 to get those activated.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The Abbott company worked really hard, three weeks ago, in getting a million tests out there to be utilized. And they can make a million tests a week for all of our laboratories that have these platforms. And, so far, to date, somewhere around 250,000 tests have been utilized in three weeks' worth of work. And that's why we've really been appealing to the--to the laboratory directors to really bring all those machines on.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But they're there. They're on ground. They've got local mayors, local representatives. They have people that do it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Go ahead. One more question. Steve, go ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Which one? What did he say?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yes, please. Jon. Go ahead, Jon.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As has been mentioned, the new 15-minute test, we are--we are working closely with Abbott Laboratories--that the President and our team met with today here at the White House--to rapidly increase the availability of cartridges. Abbott is producing roughly 50,000 cartridges a day. FEMA acquired an initial supply of that and distributed those to the states, but we're working with the states to not only distribute what's being made, but also work with other suppliers to create additional cartridges.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now, the fact that I'd rather have--that's fine. But I have the absolute right to do if I want to. I may not want to. We have a very good relationship. Now, we'll see what happens.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, that's going through the Navy, as I understand it. The Navy is going to be making decisions on all of that. And they had a break in--I don't think the ship should have been stopping in Vietnam when you have a pandemic, to be honest with you. You know, I don't think the captain should have been writing letters. He's not Ernest Hemingway, as I said before, and he shouldn't have been writing letters.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "All right, go ahead, with the face mask. Go ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, you're going to see. I--I don't want to tell you now, but right now we have a very strong indication that we know, pretty much--we have some good ideas.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Additionally, through our Paycheck Protection Program -which is a tremendous success, and they should extend it and increase it. This has been a tremendous success. So successful that the banks are taking a little bit longer to distribute the money, but it's going rapidly.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You know, the CARES Act was signed before the--before March was end--towards the end there. So essentially two weeks from that money being put into the Title III authority for DOD. This action takes us from a baseline of what--what was being produced domestically of about 30 million masks upwards to, as we go through the fall into the end of the winter, 120 million masks domestically.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, make no mistake about it: In the long history of this country, the authority of the President of the United States during national emergencies is unquestionably plenary. And you can look back through times of war and other national emergencies. And as the President said, we'll happily brief that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But I will say this: Had we said, \"Let's just keep going and let's not do a closing\"--whether it's 2.2 that they, at one point, predicted as an outside or 1.6 at a lower number; you cut it all the way down to 6- or 7- or 800,000; take just a fraction of the number that could have happened, it literally would have been more than the Civil War. It would have been a disaster.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "No, not at all. Let me just tell you--very simple. I'm going to put it very simply: The President of the United States has the authority to do what the President has the authority to do, which is very powerful. The President of the United States calls the shots.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Go ahead, please. Yeah.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So these are just some insights and what we're working on. We're continuing, obviously, to track every single county and community.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, I wish her luck. I wish her a lot of luck.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we pieced that together--I would say it took less than two hours. It was done in house.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Okay. So you know what we're going to do? We're going to write up papers on this. It's not going to be necessary, because the governors need us one way or the other, because ultimately it comes with the federal government. That being said, we're getting along very well with the governors, and I feel very certain that there won't be a problem.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I just say to you: To every American looking on, as we see the numbers leveling and maybe even beginning to go down, I just encourage you to keep doing what you're doing. Because of the sacrifices that Americans and American families have made through these mitigation efforts, you're saving lives and you're seeing our nation through this time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "No. A lot of people don't like it from the standpoint of constitutional rights. I mean, a lot of people don't like it and some people think it's great. No, they are working on that, as I understand.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You asked, \"Does the federal government have the power?\" The federal government has absolute power. It has the power. As to whether or not I'll use that power, we'll see. I would rather --", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "No. Then we have--in addition to that, we have a number of committees. We'll have a transportation committee. We're going to have a manufacturing committee. You'll see it tomorrow.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Let me also comment for the states. We are distributing out half the money, this week, to the states. That's a week ahead of time. And we'll deliver the other half of the money to the states next week.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I don't want to say that. You'll be hearing over the next few days.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I wouldn't tell you. China will find out. Why would I tell you?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In this time and challenge--and we are certainly in a time probably like we haven't been in many, many decades--we are strengthened and sustained by the bonds of love and loyalty that unite all Americans. I'm so proud of the American people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And again, let me just remind you, every dollar we spend in this program, we save a dollar of unemployment insurance. So even though we're asking for $250 billion, it really won't cost that much.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I will and many other people also. But I will absolutely take their advice.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Okay, anymore COVID-19? COVID-19?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, I'm not sure who--Jon, I'm not sure who really gave me advice on the ban. I think I took --", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I retweeted somebody. I don't know. They said \"fire.\" It doesn't matter.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You looked at the charts, and the charts are--and the models from early on--predictions were 100 and 120,000 people look like. If they did well, they were going to unfortunately perish. And we're going to be, hopefully, way, way below that number. So that will be a sign of people doing things right, but it's still just a horrible thing all over the world. A hundred and eighty-four countries.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "If you're a Social Security beneficiary, you do not need to do anything. You will get a direct deposit. If you have not filed and did not need to file a 2018 and '19 return, you can go to IRS.gov now and enter your information and authenticate yourself. So again, we are very pleased that that is ahead of schedule.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we'll also--we're also talking about the World Trade Organization. But we've made a lot of progress there. We're now winning cases for the first time, because they know I'll leave if we don't get treated fairly.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "No, they're not. No.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah, please. Go ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But the highest--if you look at the axis on this slide--it's 25,000. The axis on the last slide was 300,000. And so that's why I really want people to understand each of these epidemics, minor--these small epidemics in each of the metro areas--we're tracking independently, as well as any epidemics and outbreaks that are happening in some of our other states.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And, no, China is--we've seen what they did. We've seen many other things that they've done, both pro and con. And we'll be just fine.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But the relationship we have now with the states and governors is very good. And we'll be announcing, over the next very short period of time, exactly what we're going to be doing.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And then, all of a sudden, when you find out that you're dealing with something that is not only what had been your worst nightmare--because people ask me that: \"What is your worst nightmare?\"--a brand-new virus that's respiratory transmitted, that has a high degree of transmissibility, that has a high degree of morbidity and mortality. You know, is that a mistake? Maybe I should have been able to realize that earlier. I'm not sure it was a mistake; it was just an evolving thing that we finally realized and said, \"Whoa, this is really worse than we could have imagined.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now, when I got a call--I got a call not very quickly; nobody, you know, saw that as being any big deal--they said, \"How are you doing with Dr. Fauci?\" I said, \"I'm doing great.\" And I didn't talk to Dr. Fauci, even until we just got here. Dr. Fauci asked one of the people if he could get up and speak, and he did.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "During this difficult time, we're also working to ensure that the 2020 Census is completed safely and accuracy. We may be asking for an extension because, obviously, they can't be doing very much right now. They wouldn't even be allowed to do it. So, the Census, we're going to be asking for a delay--a major delay, I think. How can you possibly be knocking on doors for a long period of time now?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we would--and we would like to have their cooperation. And we are going to have their cooperation. They will cooperate perfectly. Watch.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The first and only time that Dr. Birx and I went in and formally made a recommendation to the President to actually have a, quote, \"shutdown\" in the sense of--not really \"shutdown\" but to really have strong mitigation, we discussed it. Obviously, there would be concern by some that, in fact, that might have some negative consequences. Nonetheless, the President listened to the recommendation and went to the mitigation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And now we're going to have more than 33 million N95 masks per week will be cleaned, decontaminated, and it'll be great. It's something that, frankly, I think people should have thought of a long time ago.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I issued a travel restriction from China. Think of it. So nobody died, and I issued. You can't get earlier than that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The contracts are with General Electric, Hillrom, Medtronic, ResMed, and Vyaire, combined with the DPA contracts that we announced last week with General Motors and Philips and two other contracts with Hamilton and ZOLL. We're adding 6,190 ventilators to the Strategic National Stockpile, of which we have a lot already--thousands--close to 10,000. But this will be added by May 8th, another 29,000 by the end of May. And more than 120,000 total we will have by the end of the year.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "These are the courageous souls who remind us that, for America, there is nothing beyond our reach. Nothing at all. Nothing.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now you're on the other side, though. So nobody knows better. The most respected man in that industry--and we got him to work, because he loves our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We're also joined by a number of law enforcement officers who we love. Our police, DEA, ICE, Border Patrol agents, and Customs officers work night and day to keep drugs out of our communities and criminals off of our streets. So today, we thank you, we honor you, and we want you to know that we will always have your backs 100 percent. Thank you very much, law enforcement. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Would you tell them a little bit about what you have planned for drug prices and also opioids, in terms of stoppage? Please. Secretary.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The First Lady and I just visited the Manchester Fire Department Safe Station. Talking about it all over the country. The Fire Chief, Dan Goonan, and all of the first responders with us today, thank you. You've been incredible, and you're saving American lives.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you to our First Lady, Melania, who has been so incredible. Thank you. And we are blessed to have you as our First Lady. Really are.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you. He didn't know he was going to do that. And you didn't know you were going to do that. But that's in honor of your boy, right? You made a big impact.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now, the problem is, they then go back, in many cases, to the drugs, and they do it again and again and again. But we have to work on that. We have to work on that very, very strongly.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Last October, we declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. Should have been done a long time before. Since then, we've worked with Congress to ensure at least 6 billion additional dollars, going through right now, in new funding in 2018 and 2019 to combat the opioid crisis. And we will be spending the most money ever on the opioid crisis.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Here in New Hampshire, I applaud all of the Drug Enforcement Agents and law enforcement officers who recently coordinated Operation Granite Shield, an 18-hour enforcement action targeting drug traffickers that resulted in the arrest of 151 people. These are terrible people, and we have to get tough on those people, because we can have all the Blue Ribbon committees we want, but if we don't get tough on the drug dealers, we're wasting our time. Just remember that. We're wasting our time. And that toughness includes the death penalty.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But we're thinking about doing, really, a largescale rollout of commercials that show how bad it is for the kids. And when they see those commercials, hopefully, they're not going to be going to drugs of any kind--drugs of any kind. And we'll save a lot of lives, and we'll make their life a lot easier.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So with the UK, we're continuing our trade, and we are going to actually be increasing it very substantially as time goes by. We expect that the UK will be very, very substantially increased as it relates to trade with the United States. The relationship there, also, is very good.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "No, no. You get one. You get one. Ready?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Plus, if you think, I've gotten $700 billion for the military in year one, and then last year, $716 billion. And we're rebuilding our military, but we have a lot. And under the previous administration, our military was depleted -- badly depleted. And they weren't spending -- I mean, they had a much less -- they had a much smaller amount of money.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah. A lot has been accomplished. We're dealing with them, we're talking to them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So I'm going to be signing a national emergency. And it's been signed many times before. It's been signed by other Presidents from 1977 or so. It gave the Presidents the power.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yes. Go ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Today, I'm announcing several critical actions that my administration has taken to confront a problem that we have right here at home. We fight wars that are 6,000 miles away; wars that we should have never been in, in many cases. But we don't control our own border.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "China is coming here next week, by the way. They're coming home, the traders. And then China is coming here next week. And then I'll be meeting with President Xi at some point after that to maybe -- for some remaining deals. We'll make them directly, one-on-one, ourselves.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "One of the things we'd save tremendous -- just a tremendous amount on would be sending the military. If we had a wall, we don't need the military because we'd have a wall.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So, that's the story. We want to have a safe country. I ran on a very simple slogan: \"Make America Great Again.\" If you're going to have drugs pouring across the border, if you're going to have human traffickers pouring across the border in areas where we have no protection, in areas where we don't have a barrier, then very hard to make America great again.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So I think what will happen is, sadly, we'll be sued, and sadly, it'll go through a process. And, happily, we'll win -- I think.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But that's only one example. There are so many examples. In El Paso, they have close to 2,000 murders right on the other side of the wall. And they had 23 murders. It's a lot of murders, but it's not close to 2,000 murders right on the other side of the wall, in Mexico.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In fact, the primary fight was on the wall. Everything else, we have so much, as I said, I don't know what to do with it we have so much money. But on the wall, they skimped.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So we're going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border. And we're going to do it one way or the other -- we have to do it -- not because it was a campaign promise, which it is. It was one of many, by the way; not my only one. We're rebuilding the military, our economy is thriving like never before.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I ask the Angel Moms: What do you think? Do you think I'm creating something?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The Obama administration couldn't have done it. Number one, they probably wouldn't have done it. And number two, they didn't have the capability to do it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Oh, I thought you meant I was prepared. I couldn't believe you said that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "-- really focus on that -- and you have to remember, President Obama put on more debt on this country than every President in the history of our country combined. So when I took over, we had one man that put on more debt than every other President combined. Combine them all. So you can't be talking about that. But I talk about it because I consider it very important.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I don't want a person that's never handled a gun that wouldn't know what a gun looks like to be armed. But out of your teaching population -- out of your teaching population, you have 10 percent, 20 percent of very gun-adept people. Military people, law enforcement people, they teach. They teach.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Under my administration, the era of economic surrender is over. We're renegotiating trade deals that are so bad, whether it's NAFTA or whether it's World Trade Organization, which created China -- that created -- if you look at China, it was going along like this, then we opened, stupidly, this deal. And China has been like a rocket ship ever since.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "They say 22 people came in with him. In other words, an aunt, an uncle, a grandfather, a mother, a father, whoever came in. But a lot of people came in. That's chain migration. Let's see how those people are doing, by the way.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "African American unemployment has reached the lowest level in our history. Hispanic unemployment has reached the lowest level in our history. Women -- women unemployment is at the lowest level in 18 years. Wages are rising for the first time in many, many years.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And after years of rebuilding other nations -- we rebuild other nations -- we rebuild other nations that have a lot of money, and we don't ever say, \"Hey, you got to help.\" We're finally rebuilding our nation. We're rebuilding our nation. And we're restoring our confidence and our pride.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "For the last year, with your help, we have put more great conservative ideas into use than perhaps ever before in American history. Right?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So they have the Tax Reform Act, and that was it. And now it was called the Tax Act--Tax Cut Act and Jobs. We had to add \"jobs\" into it because we're picking up a tremendous number of jobs--2.7 million jobs since the election. 2.7.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I want to stop it. And I know it's a little controversial to say -- but I have to say, since I started this two days ago, a lot of people that were totally opposed to it are now agreeing. They love their students. They don't want their students to be killed or to be hurt.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I will say this, folks: Everything that's turning out, now it's amazing that's come full circle. Boy, have they committed a lot of atrocities when you look. Right? When you look. Have they done things that are wrong.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We salute our great American flag, we put our hands on our hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance. And we all proudly stand for the national anthem.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I want people that are going to help and people that are going to work for Chrysler, who is now moving from Mexico into Michigan, and so many other -- and Apple, by the way. And Foxconn up in Wisconsin. They're going to need 25,000 workers. I want people that can come in, and get to work and work hard. Even if it means a learning period -- that's fine.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And it's my opinion that the regulations had as big an impact as these massive tax cuts that we've given. So I really believe it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Reducing violent crime in America is a top priority for my administration, and we will do whatever it takes to get it done. No talk. We're going to do what it takes to get it done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So we're renegotiating deals. And you know what? Hate to say it, but if we can't make a fair deal for the United States, we will terminate the deal and we'll start all over again. We have to do it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And this maniac takes a car going down the highway, and just turns to a right, and he kills eight. But he really badly wounded 12 to 14 other people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To secure our country, we are calling on Congress to build a great border wall to stop dangerous drugs and criminals from pouring into our country. And now they're willing to give us the wall, but they don't want to give us any of the laws to keep these people out.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As a young man, Billy decided to devote his life to God. That choice not only changed his life, it changed our country. And indeed, it even changed the world.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "This new era of cooperation can start with finally confirming the more than 300 highly qualified nominees who are still stuck in the Senate, some after years of waiting. The Senate has failed to act on these nominations, which is unfair to the nominees and to our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "A second Holocaust survivor who is here tonight, Joshua Kaufman, was a prisoner at Dachau Concentration Camp. He remembers watching through a hole in the wall of a cattle car as American soldiers rolled in with tanks. \"To me,\" Joshua recalls, \"the American soldiers were proof that God exists, and they came down from the sky.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence--not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We must keep America first in our hearts. We must keep freedom alive in our souls. And we must always keep faith in America's destiny--that one Nation, under God, must be the hope and the promise and the light and the glory among all the nations of the world!", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "For example, decades ago the United States entered into a treaty with Russia in which we agreed to limit and reduce our missile capabilities. While we followed the agreement to the letter, Russia repeatedly violated its terms. That is why I announced that the United States is officially withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF Treaty.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I know that the Congress is eager to pass an infrastructure bill--and I am eager to work with you on legislation to deliver new and important infrastructure investment, including investments in the cutting edge industries of the future. This is not an option. This is a necessity.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Together, we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America's future. The decision is ours to make.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In Afghanistan, my administration is holding constructive talks with a number of Afghan groups, including the Taliban. As we make progress in these negotiations, we will be able to reduce our troop presence and focus on counter-terrorism. We do not know whether we will achieve an agreement--but we do know that after two decades of war, the hour has come to at least try for peace.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In June, we mark 75 years since the start of what General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the Great Crusade--the Allied liberation of Europe in World War II. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, 15,000 young American men jumped from the sky, and 60,000 more stormed in from the sea, to save our civilization from tyranny. Here with us tonight are three of those heroes: Private First Class Joseph Reilly, Staff Sergeant Irving Locker, and Sergeant Herman Zeitchik. Gentlemen, we salute you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To help support working parents, the time has come to pass school choice for America's children. I am also proud to be the first President to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave--so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our approach is based on principled realism--not discredited theories that have failed for decades to yield progress. For this reason, my administration recognized the true capital of Israel--and proudly opened the American Embassy in Jerusalem.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Here tonight, we have legislators from across this magnificent republic. You have come from the rocky shores of Maine and the volcanic peaks of Hawaii; from the snowy woods of Wisconsin and the red deserts of Arizona; from the green farms of Kentucky and the golden beaches of California. Together, we represent the most extraordinary Nation in all of history.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Above all, friend and foe alike must never doubt this Nation's power and will to defend our people. Eighteen years ago, terrorists attacked the USS Cole--and last month American forces killed one of the leaders of the attack.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The savage gang, MS-13, now operates in 20 different American states, and they almost all come through our southern border. Just yesterday, an MS-13 gang member was taken into custody for a fatal shooting on a subway platform in New York City. We are removing these gang members by the thousands, but until we secure our border they're going to keep streaming back in.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now is the time for bipartisan action. Believe it or not, we have already proven that it is possible.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Inspired by stories like Alice's, my administration worked closely with members of both parties to sign the First Step Act into law. This legislation reformed sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproportionately harmed the African American community. The First Step Act gives non-violent offenders the chance to re-enter society as productive, law-abiding citizens. Now, States across the country are following our lead. America is a Nation that believes in redemption.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "San Diego used to have the most illegal border crossings in the country. In response, and at the request of San Diego residents and political leaders, a strong security wall was put in place. This powerful barrier almost completely ended illegal crossings.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I want to speak to you tonight about the troubling events of the past week. As I have said, the incursion of the US capitol struck at the very heart of our republic. It angered and appalled millions of Americans across the political spectrum.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Like all of you, I was shocked and deeply saddened by the calamity at the capitol last week. I want to thank the hundreds of millions of incredible American citizens who have responded to this moment with calm, moderation, and grace. We will get through this challenge, just like we always do.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Those who would sever those bonds would cut us off from the wisdom, the courage, the love, and the devotion that gave us everything we are today and everything we strive for tomorrow. We cannot let that happen. We will not throw away our heroes. We will honor them, and we will prove worthy of their sacrifice. These are great heroes.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And now, just like everything else, we have become the manufacturer on record for ventilators, we have the most and finest testing anywhere in the world, and are producing gowns and masks and surgical equipment in our country where heretofore it was almost exclusively made in foreign lands, in particular, China, where, ironically, this virus and others came from. China's secrecy, deceptions, and cover-up allowed it to spread all over the world -- 189 countries -- and China must be held fully accountable.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "God Bless you, God Bless our heroes, God bless America. And now, let the flyovers begin. Thank you very much.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To celebrate America's majestic inheritance, yesterday I signed an executive order to create a brand-new monument to our most beloved icons. The National Garden of American Heroes will be a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans who have ever lived. We will honor extraordinary citizens from every community and from every place and from every part of our nation. Great men and great women, people that we can look up to forever.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Finally tonight, we will salute the greatness and loyalty and valor of the men and women who have defended our independence for 244 years. We will honor the amazing men and women of the United States Military.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Let me also say a word to those in the media who falsely and consistently label their opponents as racists, who condemn patriotic citizens who offer a clear and truthful defense of American unity. That's what our people are doing. We want a clear and faithful defense of American history and we want unity.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In recent weeks, we have met with large numbers of Democrat lawmakers to hear their ideas and suggestions. By incorporating the priorities of rank-and-file Democrats in our plan, we hope they will offer their enthusiastic support. And I think many will.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I told them that the beauty and majesty of citizenship is that it draws no distinctions of race, or class, or faith, or gender or background. All Americans, whether first generation or tenth generation, are bound together in love and loyalty, friendship and affection.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "That is our plan: border security, DACA, TPS, and many other things. Straightforward, fair, reasonable, and common sense, with lots of compromise. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged to bring this bill to a vote this week in the United States Senate.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Whatever we do, I can promise you this: I will never forget that my first duty, and ultimate loyalty, is to you, the American people. Any reforms we make to our immigration system will be designed to improve your lives, make your communities safer, and make our nation more prosperous and secure for generations to come.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our plan includes the following: $800 million in urgent humanitarian assistance; $805 million for drug detection technology to help secure our ports of entry; an additional 2,750 border agents and law enforcement professionals; 75 new immigration judge teams to reduce the court backlog of, believe it or not, almost 900,000 cases. However, the whole concept of having lengthy trials for anyone who sets one foot in our country unlawfully must be changed by Congress. It is unsustainable. It is ridiculous. Few places in the world would even consider such an impossible nightmare.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But that is the past. And now we are looking only to the future.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our citizens deserve this, and so much more -- so why not join forces to finally get it done? On this and so many other things, Democrats and Republicans should get together and unite for the good of our country, and for the good of the American people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "They weren't even asking for change. But I am.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "On our 100th anniversary, in 1876, citizens from across our Nation came to Philadelphia to celebrate America's centennial. At that celebration, the country's builders and artists and inventors showed off their creations.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Remington unveiled the first typewriter. An early attempt was made at electric light.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Police and sheriffs are members of our community. They are friends and neighbors, they are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters - and they leave behind loved ones every day who worry whether or not they'll come home safe and sound.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I am asking all citizens to embrace this Renewal of the American Spirit. I am asking all members of Congress to join me in dreaming big, and bold and daring things for our country. And I am asking everyone watching tonight to seize this moment and --", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved. And every hurting family can find healing, and hope.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Lincoln was right -- and it is time we heeded his words. I am not going to let America and its great companies and workers, be taken advantage of anymore.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To Jamiel, Jenna, Susan and Jessica: I want you to know -- we will never stop fighting for justice. Your loved ones will never be forgotten, we will always honor their memory.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our obligation is to serve, protect, and defend the citizens of the United States. We are also taking strong measures to protect our Nation from Radical Islamic Terrorism.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for America. The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that is what we will do.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "At our meeting, I asked them, how are you doing, how is business? They said that it's good. I asked them further how they are doing with other countries, mainly international sales. They told me -- without even complaining because they have been mistreated for so long that they have become used to it -- that it is very hard to do business with other countries because they tax our goods at such a high rate. They said that in one case another country taxed their motorcycles at 100 percent.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "My budget also contains an exciting vision for our nation's high schools. Tonight, I ask Congress to support our students and back my plan to offer vocational and technical education in every single high school in America.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In recent months, we have seen proud Iranians raise their voices against their oppressive rulers. The Iranian regime must abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons; stop spreading terror, death, and destruction; and start working for the good of its own people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I also promised our citizens that I would impose tariffs to confront China's massive theft of America's jobs. Our strategy has worked. Days ago, we signed the groundbreaking new agreement with China that will defend our workers, protect our intellectual property, bring billions and billions of dollars into our treasury, and open vast new markets for products made and grown right here in the USA.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Since my election, U. S. stock markets have soared 70 percent, adding more than $12 trillion to our nation's wealth, transcending anything anyone believed was possible. This is a record. It is something that every country in the world is looking up to. They admire. Consumer confidence has just reached amazing new highs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The American nation was carved out of the vast frontier by the toughest, strongest, fiercest, and most determined men and women ever to walk on the face of the Earth. Our ancestors braved the unknown; tamed the wilderness; settled the Wild West; lifted millions from poverty, disease, and hunger; vanquished tyranny and fascism; ushered the world to new heights of science and medicine; laid down the railroads, dug out the canals, raised up the skyscrapers. And, ladies and gentlemen, our ancestors built the most exceptional republic ever to exist in all of human history, and we are making it greater than ever before.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Jobs and investments are pouring into 9,000 previously neglected neighborhoods thanks to Opportunity Zones, a plan spearheaded by Senator Tim Scott as part of our great Republican tax cuts. In other words, wealthy people and companies are pouring money into poor neighborhoods or areas that haven't seen investment in many decades, creating jobs, energy, and excitement. This is the first time that these deserving communities have seen anything like this. It's all working.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Protecting Americans' health also means fighting infectious diseases. We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I ask Congress to pass the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act immediately. The United States of America should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Before I came into office, if you showed up illegally on our southern border and were arrested, you were simply released and allowed into our country, never to be seen again. My administration has ended catch and release. If you come illegally, you will now be promptly removed from our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Every young person should have a safe and secure environment in which to learn and to grow. For this reason, our magnificent First Lady has launched the BE BEST initiative to advance a safe, healthy, supportive, and drug-free life for the next generation--online, in school, and in our communities. Thank you, Melania, for your extraordinary love and profound care for America's children. Thank you very much.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "That is why I'm also calling upon members of Congress here tonight to pass legislation finally banning the late-term abortion of babies. Whether we are Republican, Democrat, or independent, surely we must all agree that every human life is a sacred gift from God.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our roaring economy has, for the first time ever, given many former prisoners the ability to get a great job and a fresh start. This second chance at life is made possible because we passed landmark criminal justice reform into law. Everybody said that criminal justice reform couldn't be done, but I got it done, and the people in this room got it done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "With unyielding commitment, we are curbing the opioid epidemic. Drug overdose deaths declined for the first time in nearly 30 years. Among the states hardest hit, Ohio is down 22 percent, Pennsylvania is down 18 percent, Wisconsin is down 10 percent--and we will not quit until we have beaten the opioid epidemic once and for all.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In eight years under the last administration, over 300,000 working-age people dropped out of the workforce. In just three years of my administration, 3.5 million people--working-age people--have joined the workforce.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And just weeks ago, for the first time since President Truman established the Air Force more than 70 years earlier, we created a brand-new branch of the United States Armed Forces. It's called the Space Force. Very important.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The unemployment rate for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans has reached the lowest levels in history. African American youth unemployment has reached an all-time low. African American poverty has declined to the lowest rate ever recorded.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Just 29 days ago, a criminal alien freed by the sanctuary city of New York was charged with the brutal rape and murder of a 92-year-old woman. The killer had been previously arrested for assault, but under New York's sanctuary policies, he was set free. If the city had honored ICE's detainer request, his victim would still be alive today.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We are supporting the hopes of Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to restore democracy. The United States is leading a 59-nation diplomatic coalition against the socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalizes his people. But Maduro's grip on tyranny will be smashed and broken.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But, Janiyah, I have some good news for you, because I am pleased to inform you that your long wait is over. I can proudly announce tonight that an Opportunity Scholarship has become available, it's going to you, and you will soon be heading to the school of your choice.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "One of those students is Janiyah Davis, a fourth grader from Philadelphia. Janiyah. Janiyah's mom, Stephanie, is a single parent. She would do anything to give her daughter a better future. But last year, that future was put further out of reach when Pennsylvania's governor vetoed legislation to expand school choice to 50,000 children.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In fact, I was very happy to see Zach Fuentes came out and said now he's--that's--I think that's number 15--and these are people that were there. That's the 15th person. General Kellogg, everybody that was there knew what happened. And so I was happy to see that Zach came out and said it's not true. He just came out.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But you have to look at her a little bit more closely, because obviously Joe is not doing too well. So you're going to have to look at her a little bit too closely.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The best numbers of all, if somebody doesn't come along and raise taxes--double, triple, quadruple your taxes--will be the numbers from next year. But you're going to have a good third-quarter number coming out. And I think it's going to be hard for even the media to disparage that number.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Biden's plan for the China virus is to shut down the entire U. S. economy. He's going to totally rely on somebody to walk up, \"Yes, sir, it's time to shut it down.\" He'd be laying off tens of millions of workers and causing countless deaths from suicide, substance abuse, depression, heart disease, and other very serious illnesses.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Q--doing a lot of golfing. Why have you not met with them in person?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Sure. Sure.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Sure. Well, I've been support--I've been supportive of that. I was the first one that brought it up. You never heard of Nord Stream 2 until Trump came along.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But right after that, I signed a--an order saying you go to prison for 10 years. And as soon as I signed that order, that was the end of the statues coming down. But they have other ideas. They've--they've got plenty of ideas. They're not at want for ideas.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You're going to have to take that off, please. Just--you can take it off. Your health--how many feet are you away?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "When reports come out that certain countries don't really like me too much, that's not because of my personality, although it could be that also, frankly. It's because of the fact that I've been very tough on countries that have been ripping us off for so many years.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "No, I have nothing against John. I have nothing against anybody. No.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "A lot of people are criticizing you. I cover you on the weekends and stuff. You're --", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I said, \"Why is Germany making a deal to give billions of dollars to Russia, and then we're protecting Germany from Russia? How does that work?\" And then, on top of it, Germany is delinquent because they're only paying a little more than 1 percent and they're supposed to be paying 2 percent, and even the 2 percent is low. But just remember: Trump--me--I got the countries of NATO to spend one point--$130 billion, going to $400 billion a year. Think of it: $400 billion a year more for NATO.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And what's happening is, all of a sudden, you'll have this incredible vaccine, and because of that fake rhetoric--it's a politic rhetoric; that's all it is. Just for politics. Because now they see we've done an incredible job, and in speed like nobody has ever seen before. This could've taken two or three years, and instead it's going to be--it's going to be done in a very short of period of time. Could even have it during the month of October.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Biden supported NAFTA. He supported China's entry into the World Trade Organization. Two disasters. The most disastrous trade deals in history, both of them. I can't tell you which was worse; they were both terrible.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, we're going to do a report. Yeah, I fired those people; they're all gone. And it was a disgrace, frankly. And we're going to give you a big report that's going to make you very happy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But let me just--let me just tell you something: President Obama and Biden--Sleepy Joe, he knew everything that was happening. They were spying on my campaign, and they got caught. Now let's see what happens.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But I watched Kamala's poll numbers drop from 15 to almost zero, and then drop out even before she ran in Iowa because people didn't like her, and I understand why. She will never be President--although I have to be careful, because Obama used to say that about me. So I have to be a little bit careful.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "If Biden wins, China wins, because China will own this country. If Biden wins, China will own this country, and hopefully you're not going to be able to find that out. It's the most important election in our history, right now. Most important election in our history.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "No, I didn't say--I didn't say \"they will.\" I said, \"By the end of the year.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The cost of Biden's economic treachery was 60,000 shuttered American factories. And I heard this morning the real number is probably 70,000--70,000 shuttered American factories. And he's talking about how wonderful it is with China. No, China has been very bad, on top of which we had the China plague sent to us and other viruses--nothing near this serious--but the swine, and we had other viruses sent in over the years that came from China. I wonder why.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Soleimani has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the Middle East for the last 20 years. What the United States did yesterday should have been done long ago. A lot of lives would have been saved.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah. Go ahead, please.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "With faith and heart and hope and love and determination, we will succeed. We will prevail. We will be very, very successful. And we'll learn for the future.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Using federal emergency authorities, the FDA approved a new test for the virus. We did this within hours after receiving the application from Roche--a process that would normally take weeks. We therefore expect up to a half a million additional tests will be available early next week. We'll be announcing locations probably on Sunday night.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah, well, that's true. And we are looking at many different things, as you know. You know some of them, they've been written about very widely. But we're going to be releasing a paper in about two hours stating quite a few other steps. Very important ones.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I think you know--at the beginning of this epidemic, HHS, through CDC, proactively developed an assay built on the existing flu surveillance system. That surveillance system was then converted to diagnostic system.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And second, Prime Minister Modi, or India, have closed borders until April 15th. If you have spoken with the Prime Minister of India, and if they have needed any help?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And it's, we're very lucky to have them, because I think you're going to come up with -- whether it's therapeutic or whether it's just help, helping getting better. And then ultimately, a vaccine, which takes a little bit longer because of the test periods and a couple of other reasons. You're going to have it very quickly because of the great knowledge. And they'll have it very quickly. They've made a tremendous amount of progress.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And, for you, Mr. President, could you talk about a potential bailout for the cruise industry? You had suggested that could happen. Is that something you're still looking at? And how much would that be?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Throughout this process, Mr. President, you've put the health of America first, but you brought the best of America to address it. And it's not just at the federal level. As you said, Mr. President, we've been working with states across the country. We issued broad guidelines from CDC for every American. But this week, at your direction, we tailored specific recommendations from CDC for New York, Washington State, California, Massachusetts, and Florida.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, I didn't suggest that it could happen, but I can tell you it's an industry that was very badly impacted by what's going on with the virus. And it's a great industry. It's a very important industry and we will be helping them. And we will be helping the airline industry, if we have to, assuming we have to.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And finally, sir, any message for the small businesses? Because they are losing some businesses because of this. Thank you, sir.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we're, well, really, the relationship that we have, I can't think of a bad relationship. We're helping them. We're funding them, in some cases, depending on what it is you're talking about. And we're all working together very closely. So we've done, really, I think a tremendous job of teamwork with the different states.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Okay, I like that. That's good.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As the World Health Organization confirmed today, many of the things that--what we said were 100 percent correct, including our designation, before them, of Europe. Like our earlier, very aggressive actions with China, this measure will save countless lives. I appreciate a number of the folks behind me. A number of the people behind me said that that saved a lot of lives, that early designation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I could ask perhaps--my administration--but I could perhaps ask Tony about that because I don't know anything about it. I mean, you say, you say we did that. I don't know anything about it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And for Americans looking on, by this Sunday evening, we'll be able to give specific guidance on a...on when the website will be available. You can go to the website, as the President said. You'll type in your symptoms and be given direction whether or not a test is indicated.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, that was recommended to me by a group of professionals, and we are looking at it based on the new numbers that are coming out. And we may have to include them in the list of countries that we will, you could say, ban--or whatever--it is during this period of time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And you can do it. You can do it. A great company.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you very much. Thank you, Thomas. Thanks. Great job.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you very much. Great job. Thank you very much.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We are also very grateful to the universities and large hospital systems that took up the charge to develop their own quality tests made available by new FDA guidance. This has resulted in expanded testing across New York, California, Washington, Colorado, and you see sometimes those drive-thru options that have been made available through these high-throughput options.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, some are making progress; some are not, as you know. But some are making progress. And as they make progress, as they get down to the number that we all think is right--that they know is right, we know is right--we'll be opening it up. And some are really moving along rapidly. We hope to be able to open things up as quickly as possible.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I think they have to listen to their doctors, and I think they shouldn't be jumping to get the test unless it's necessary. But I think they have to listen to their doctors. And I mean, I don't know the, I haven't seen the picture. Somebody said there's a picture with somebody taking a picture with me, but I haven't seen it. But I can tell you...", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The authority to waive rules that hinder hospitals' ability to bring additional physicians on board or obtain needed office space. They can do as they want. They can do what they have to do. They know what they have to do. Now they don't have any problem getting it done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So we want to also announce this new approach to testing, which will start in the screening website up here, facilitated by Google, where clients and patients and people that have interest can go, fill out a screening questionnaire--move down for symptoms or risk factors, yes. They would move down this and be told where the drive-thru options would be for them to receive this test. The labs will then move to the high-throughput automated machines to be able to provide results in 24 to 36 hours.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We're spending--I don't know. It's the...", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now anyone in consultation with their physician, regardless of their symptoms can request a test and their doctors will contact those agencies, those labs in their state. But very soon, Americans will be able to go to these, these drive-in sites and be able to obtain and participate in a test.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "David Pierre of Signify, Signify Health. Please. Thanks, David.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Seema. Where is Seema? I'd like you to maybe take that a step further, please, on nursing homes. Thanks.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And when can you guarantee that every single American who needs a test will be able to have a test? What's the date of that?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I did read one article, but I don't think that article was representative, certainly not of my conversations with President Xi, and they know where it came from. We all know where it came from.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yes, please. Go ahead. Please.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I hope not long, but it's there now and it gives tremendous powers for things that we need. Tremendous power, actually. And the Stafford Act and various other things that we're involved with and have studied and memorized in so many different ways and forms, it gives the kind of power that we need to get rid of this virus.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So if you look at the situation where countries really did not get to the point of trying to contain and mitigate very well, you see a peak over several weeks and then down again over other several weeks. What we're trying to do with the efforts that we're doing is to blunt that peak.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Okay. OAN, please. OAN.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We, we're estimating somewhere between 15- and 20,000 tests a day are able to be performed. But very soon, with the program that was announced today, Americans will be able to visit one of the sites closest to them, as described on the website, if they're symptomatic--if the questionnaire indicates it--to be able to have a test there. And these incredible companies will process the test and they'll receive that information.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We're in touch with everybody. We're in touch with--when I say \"everybody,\" we're in touch with many of the countries that you know about, that you're writing about. And they're calling us asking for advice. They're asking for the advice of the people behind me.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Again, we don't want everybody taking this test; it's totally unnecessary. And this will pass. This will pass through, and we're going to be even stronger for it. We've learned a lot. A tremendous amount has been learned.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And what we have done--and we are going to be leaving a very indelible print for the future, in case something like this happens again. But it was a--and that's not the fault of anybody. And, frankly, the old system worked very well for smaller numbers--much smaller numbers--but not for these kind of numbers.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But today, I trust that people around the country that are looking on at this extraordinary public and private partnership to address the issue of testing with particular inspiration. After you tapped me to lead the White House Corona Task Force, Mr. President, you said this is all hands on deck, and you directed us to immediately reach out to the American business sector commercial labs to meet what we knew then would be the need for testing across the spectrum. And today, with this historic public-private partnership, we have laid the foundation to meet that need.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Not for that reason, but because I think I will do it any way. Fairly soon.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I understand that a lot of this behind-the-scenes action over the last couple of weeks was invisible to the press and the American people. But this intense effort has not only resulted in innovative solutions, but an automated high-throughput system, bringing the availability of these quality coronaviral testing to the American people at unprecedented speed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "These are not point-of-care tests. We are working on point-of-care tests, but we have to realize point-of-care tests take six months or more to develop. So we're not waiting for those. We're still diagnosing this on nucleic acid, so as an antibody. This is actually the antigen, the actual virus in your nose that we're amplifying.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I've already decisively won many critical states, including massive victories in Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, to name just a few. We won these and many other victories despite historic election interference from big media, big money, and big tech.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In multiple swing states, counting was halted for hours and hours on Election Night, with results withheld from major Democrat-run locations, only to appear later. And they certainly appeared, and they all had the name \"Biden\" on them, or just about all -- I think almost all. They all had the name \"Biden\" on them, which is a little strange.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Democrats are the party of the big donors, the big media, the big tech, it seems. And Republicans have become the party of the American worker, and that's what's happened. And we're also, I believe, the party of inclusion.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In Detroit, there were hours of unexplained delay in delivering many of the votes for counting. The final batch did not arrive until four in the morning and -- even though the polls closed at eight o'clock. So they brought it in, and the batches came in, and nobody knew where they came from. We've also been denied access to observe in critical places in Georgia.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We were winning in all the key locations by a lot, actually. And then our number started miraculously getting whittled away in secret, and they wouldn't allow legally permissible observers. We went to court, in a couple of instances, and we were able to get the observers put in. And when the observers got there, they wanted them 60, 70 feet away, 80 feet, 100 feet away -- or outside the building to observe people inside the building.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We also had margins of 300,000 in Michigan. We were way up in Michigan; won the state. And in Wisconsin, we did likewise fantastically well. And that got whittled down. Every -- in every case, they got whittled down.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I've never had -- I've been doing a lot of public things for a long time; I've never had anything that's been as inspirational by people -- calling, talking, sending things to us. I've never seen such -- such love and such affection and such spirit as I've seen for this. People know what's happening, and they see what's happening, and it's before their eyes.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "There are now only a few states yet to be decided in the presidential race. The voting apparatus of those states are run, in all cases, by Democrats.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Later this month, I will be meeting with the nation's governors and attorney generals, where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority. It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our entire nation, with one heavy heart, is praying for the victims and their families. To every parent, teacher, and child who is hurting so badly, we are here for you--whatever you need, whatever we can do, to ease your pain. We are all joined together as one American family, and your suffering is our burden also.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To law enforcement, first responders, and teachers who responded so bravely in the face of danger: We thank you for your courage. Soon after the shooting, I spoke with Governor Scott to convey our deepest sympathies to the people of Florida and our determination to assist in any way that we can. I also spoke with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So we could take a couple of questions. I'd love some questions on some of the things that we accomplished at UNGA, instead of the witch hunt -- the phony witch hunt questions, which I know that's what you want to ask because it's probably better for you, but it's not better for the country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "They want to make a deal. And you know why they want to make a deal? Because they're losing their jobs, and because their supply chain is going to hell. And companies are moving out of China, and they're moving to lots of other places, including the United States. And that's not good; that's far worse than they thought.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And the sad thing about this hoax is that we work so hard with all of these countries -- and I mean really hard. This has been -- I've been up from early in the morning to late in the evening, and meeting with different countries all for the good of our country, and the press doesn't even cover all of this. And it's disappearing -- it's really disappointing also to those countries that are with us and spend so much time with us.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at length, of the United Kingdom, continuing our discussions on a magnificent, new bilateral trade deal. So we'll see what happens with respect to Brexit, but I suspect we'll have a fantastic deal with the UK. It should be much bigger than it has been over the last number of years. Over the last 20 years, frankly. It should be a much bigger deal.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But I don't like the precedent, Steve. I don't like it where you're dealing with heads of state and to think that their call is going to be released. But I felt that -- and, you know, we spoke to Ukraine about it. Mike actually called up his counterpart, and we spoke to Ukraine about it because we want to -- because they could have been -- if that they didn't want us to do it, we would not have done it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But if you look and if you see -- and they actually put out, I think, a statement. But they're starting, very heavy, to buy our ag again. No, they want to make a deal. And they should want to make a deal. The question is: Do we want to make a deal?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "This week, every -- every week, I really can say -- of my presidency, we're standing up for American prosperity, American security, and the American way of life. And together, with our friends and partners, we're building a more peaceful, prosperous, and promising future.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "One other thing -- I'm just going off of certain notes and elements of what we've been doing over the last three days, but this just came up a few minutes ago: The \"Amazon-Washington Post\" just put out a fake article that Acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire -- who I've gotten to know, and he's a tough cookie -- and I was surprised; I was shocked to hear this -- was going to quit, blaming the White House for something that they wouldn't let him talk openly, freely. And I was shocked because I know Joe, and he's tough. A tough guy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "All right, how about one more question? A question on the economy. A question on the economy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And once I ran, I said, \"Boy, this is incredible.\" But if you see the way they treat my family -- used to be treated great. My family worked so hard. The people that work with me -- these people -- all of these people, they work so hard. They've done such a good --", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And Mexico -- I have to say, President Lopez Obrador has been outstanding -- an outstanding partner. And he's doing a great job in Mexico. The cartels are way down, and the numbers -- our Secretary is here now -- the numbers are way down. Way, way down. And we're doing that without the help of Congress, meaning the Democrats in Congress who won't give us a single vote to take care of loopholes.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But it's so bad for our country. People have said -- Rush Limbaugh -- great man; Sean Hannity said it. A lot of people have said it. Mark Levin. They said they don't know if one man anywhere in the world, with all the men they know -- or woman -- that could handle what I've had to handle.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And additionally, I demand transparency from Democrats who went to Ukraine and attempted to force the new President, who I met and is an outstanding person. I just met a little while ago; some of you were there. I think he's going to be outstanding. He got elected on the basis of corruption. He wants to end corruption in Ukraine, and I think that's great.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "While some partisans and unelected bureaucrats in Washington may choose to fight every day against the interests and beliefs of the American people, my administration is standing up for the American people like no administration has in many, many years. You forgot the American people. You totally forgot the American people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But he said, \"We can't...\" Essentially, he said, \"We can't beat him. Let's impeach him.\" That's pretty -- that's pretty dangerous stuff.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Instead, we actually made deals with Mexico and with Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. And we're doing it with them instead of with our Congress, but we're doing it. We get it done.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But when you see what happened with the viciousness, and when you see little Adam Schiff go out and lie and lie and stand at the mic -- smart guy, by the way -- stand at the mic and act like he's so serious. And then he goes into a room with Nadler, and they must laugh their asses off. They must laugh their asses off.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The meetings I had on a bilat, or close, were pretty staggering. I think we set a new record, but you'll have to check that out. The -- we met very, very -- for pretty extended periods of time, either two and two, one on one, or just about at that level with Pakistan, Poland, New Zealand, Singapore, Egypt, South Korea, United Kingdom, India, Iraq, Argentina, Germany, Brazil, France, Japan, Ukraine, Honduras, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Other than that, we weren't too busy over the last three days.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And the other: Mr. President, you say that the socialists is one of the biggest challenges, you said yesterday in the United Nations. But the region is far from safe. Maduro is still a dictator, full in power. in Argentina and Brazil are on their about the socialist and populist. Are you worried about it?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Earlier today, we also had a conference call led by Secretary Ben Carson and leaders from HUD about the President's announcement yesterday that he is repurposing the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council to focus on the impact of the coronavirus on minority communities. Secretary Carson will convene the council tomorrow, and we'll be reporting tomorrow afternoon on their progress.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And to your point, Mr. President, states are beginning to make those plans. And we're encouraged to see so many states embracing the phased approach to reopening their economies that's contemplated in our Guidelines for Opening Up America Again.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Uh, I think the report was incorrect. Let me just put it that way. I think the report was done by a network that was incorrect.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "What do you have? Go ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our priority has always been to focus first on those impacted by the coronavirus and then on those extraordinary healthcare workers ministering to their needs every day. And I know, Mr. President, how proud you are that our men and women in uniform have come alongside our healthcare workers in communities most impacted, and I know the American people are proud as well.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Because you see it in the charts. I mean, you have to ask the question, but you do see it in the charts.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah. Go ahead. Please.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And that is really what targets and drives the science community to say, \"All right, what don't we know now, so we don't duplicate what other people have done?\" So we've championed that document, it's well referenced, and I would encourage you to look at that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And, you know, when they talk about different tests and different things, we're also a bigger nation than most. And so, when they look at statistics--because, statistically, we're doing phenomenally, in terms of mortality, in terms of all of the different elements that you can judge. When you look, Germany and ourselves are doing very well.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I want to thank all of the people that recovered, for what they've done. They--as I said yesterday, they raise their hand when they barely can walk, and they're saying, \"I want to donate blood. I want to donate whatever it is that you want, because we want to help people.\" It's really quite incredible.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Okay. Yeah. Go ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "There'll be no letting up on the development of therapeutics by our great pharmaceutical companies that are driving toward a vaccine as soon as it is possible to make available to the public. And there'll be no letting up on continuing to scale testing--already, more than anyone in the world. But by next fall, we'll have a broad range of testing, a variety of different means.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Convalescent plasma will also be used to manufacture a concentrated antibody treatment that does not have to be matched with a particular blood type. This concentrated antibody treatment could be used as a preventative measure to keep healthcare workers and other high-risk populations from contracting the virus in the first place. A very big deal.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We are very accurate in the reporting of numbers. In fact, I'll go a step further. As you know, in New York, they actually added quite a few deaths to a list that was done in New York. And they added a number of deaths. We're very, very--highly accurate.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And thirdly, the virus dies the quickest in the presence of direct sunlight under these conditions. And when you--when you look at that chart, look at the aerosol as you breathe it; you put it in a room, 70 to 75 degrees, 20 percent humidity, low humidity, it lasts--the half-life is about an hour. But you get outside, and it cuts down to a minute and a half. A very significant difference when it gets hit with UV rays.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "If you look at the first three lines, when you see the word \"surface,\" we're talking about nonporous surfaces: door handles, stainless steel. And if you look at the--as the temperature increases, as the humidity increases, with no sun involved, you can see how drastically the half-life goes down on that virus. So the virus is dying at a much more rapid pace, just from exposure to higher temperatures and just from exposure to humidity.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We worked with John Hopkin Applied Physics Lab, and we actually developed a larger drum to do actually more testing. And it's four times the size of that. So this is the capability that we bring to this effort.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The problem is, if we did 350--if we did 350 million tests, one for each person, the media would say, \"Oh, you should have done two for each person.\" No matter what you do, it doesn't make any difference.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I'm also very pleased that Harvard--as you know, it's Harvard and Stanford and Princeton and numerous other universities and colleges, and also large businesses have sent funds back to us. And in some cases, I stopped funds that I looked at. And we are pleased to report that the funds have either not gone out or it's about $350 million, and they've either not gone out or we've renegotiated it and they're not getting them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "With each passing day, we're learning more and more about this enemy. The scientists at DHS have released a report offering a number of insights about how the virus reacts to different temperatures, climates, and surfaces. The findings confirm that the virus survives better in cold or in drier environments and does less well in warmer and more humid environments.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And, by the way, within two weeks, you'll see numbers and you'll see different forms of testing--just like we came up with the Abbott Laboratories machine, which gives it to you in five minutes--that everybody wants. Everybody is asking, \"Can we get that?\" But you can only make them so fast. But, as you know, we've done more testing than every other nation combined, and that's a big statement.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We've done a good job. We've gotten very little credit for the great job we've done because of the media. Because the media is not an honest media, in my opinion. Much of it, not all of it. We have some great reporters that I have tremendous respect, but much of the media is not honest.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Top AI experts are now using this wealth of data to gain insights into potential therapies. And we're collaborating with tech firms, universities, and our national labs to harness American supercomputers in the search for treatments and vaccines. That search is going on, and it's being--I think you'll see in the future--you'll see it's very successful. Ultimately, it'll be a tremendous success. Great progress is being made at a rapid pace--a pace like no other.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "U. S. trials of the COVID-19 have been going on and have been approved in the United States, Germany, UK, and China. That's big news. And we're--a lot of trials are going on. We have a lot of great, brilliant minds working on this, both from the standpoint of a vaccine and therapeutics.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Excuse me. I want them to open, and I want him to open as soon as possible. And I want the state to open. But I wasn't happy with Brian Kemp. I will tell you that right now.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah. Yeah.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So with that, I'd like to ask Mike Pence to come up--Vice President. Say a few words please, Mike.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But if you can imagine a Home Depot bucket--a five-gallon Home Depot bucket--we're able to take a particle--and this was developed and designed by our folks at the NBACC. We're able to take a particle of a virus and suspend it in the air inside of this drum and hit it with various temperatures, various humidity levels, multiple different kinds of environmental conditions, to include sunlight. And we're able to measure the decay of that virus while it's suspended in the air. This is how we do our aerosol testing.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But it's certainly the next thing we're going to be discussing because some states have--in all fairness, Jon, some states have not done very well for many years, long before the virus came. You know, you can't blame the plague--this horrible plague that came in and, all of a sudden--you know, they can't blame that. You look at Illinois--he's got a lot of problems long before the virus came in. And so we'll be talking about it. It'll be a subject for a period of time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "--CNN is fake news. Don't talk to me.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Finally, Mr. President, the task force received today our first report on state reopening plans. At the present moment, 16 states have released formal reopening plans. Thirteen of those were actually released since you unveiled the Opening Up America Guidelines to our governors and to the nation last week.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "This is just another--another tool in our tool belt, right? Another--another weapon in the fight that we can add to it and, in the summer, we know that summer-like conditions are going to create an environment where the transmission can be decreased. And that's an opportunity for us to get ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Oxford is one. Johnson & Johnson is working. They're also working together. You have many companies working together on a vaccine.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Yeah. Go ahead, please.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "This is why I wish the Democrats would help us a little bit with it, because they should. It's purely partisan what they're doing, and it's bad for our country. But--but, you know, there is death by doing--by having this strongly closed country. We have to get back to work.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But on the subject of facial masks, which are so important for the protection of critical infrastructure, I'm pleased to report that the average daily delivery through the commercial network through our air bridge is 22 million facial masks coming into the marketplace. The average inventory in the network over a seven-day period is 80 million masks. And FEMA is actually working, as we speak, to move facial masks to priority infrastructure: food supply, first responders. There'll be 6.5 million masks that go out before the end of this week, an additional 20 million before April the 20th, and then we'll be adding 6.5 million each and every week.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I wanted to conclude by really thanking my PEPFAR teams around the world who have been working tirelessly throughout the world to ensure that Africa and Asia doesn't experience this level of infections that we have seen here. They've turned over their capacities from their embassies. Our U. S. hires throughout the world, our ambassadors are still on the frontline with our local staff, working with ministries of health, to confront this virus around the globe. And I assure you that they are continuing to invest in the health structures, the laboratory, and the frontline care to ensure that all of the work that we have done against TB, HIV, and malaria continues. But that we use our capacity, our laboratories, our clinics, our hospitals that have been built by the American people and the generosity of the American people to really combat this COVID-19 around the globe.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And if you heard what's coming out of the Voice of America, it's disgusting. What--things they say are disgusting toward our country. And Michael Pack would get in and he'd do a great job, but he's been waiting now for two years. Can't get him approved.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So, it's cold out. We will talk to you tomorrow. A big day tomorrow. Very big day. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In the meantime, nations that are heavily infected--we have a lot of nations that are heavily infected. Some are getting better. Some are still on the way up, unfortunately. We're keeping very strong borders with those nations. But with Canada, we are talking about different things.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Today, Abbott Labs announced that it has developed an antibody test that will determine if someone has been previously infected with the coronavirus and potentially developed immunity. It's a great test. The company says these tests could be available to screen up to 20 million people in a matter of weeks.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And we want to urge every American who has recovered from the coronavirus for at least two--and preferably four weeks, to contact your local blood or plasma donation center and arrange to donate. It's one more way that the American people can do their part and step forward. And thousands have already done so, and we know that tens of thousands will join them.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In total, through all channels, the federal government has developed and delivered 39.4 million N95 masks, 431 million gloves, 57 million surgical masks, and 10.2 million gowns. We ordered 500 million masks, and they'll be coming shortly. And we've distributed 100 million masks.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So I want to also take this time to thank all of our critical, essential food supply chain workers. The entire country is counting on these patriotic individuals, by doing the work in our food supply chain. These dedicated workers include, obviously, farmers and producers, but also processers, truckers, and grocery store workers, as you know.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I think they said that there's a brief clip that we have of General Motors, sent to us by General Motors. And I think they might be wanting to play that for your benefit. Please.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Go ahead, please. Please.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now, I have to tell you that I'm totally in favor of what Mitch is doing with judges, because that's--always seems to be a priority and it's a very important priority. I think it's one of the great trademarks of this administration: We've approved record numbers of federal judges and appellate judges and two Supreme Court judges.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Well, you don't know what you have. Do you think you're getting honest numbers from some of these countries? Do you really believe those numbers in this vast country called China--and that they have a certain number of cases and a certain number of deaths--does anybody really believe that?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "With that, I'd like to ask Dr. Birx to come up and say a few words, and then Secretary Sonny Perdue, and then Vice President Pence. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Today, I spoke with the leaders of many of our nation's most renowned companies and organizations on how to achieve the full resurgence of the American economy. My discussions included top leaders in health and healthcare, transportation technology, financial services, food, beverages, hospitality, real estate, retail, agriculture, construction, energy, labor, manufacturing, and sports industries.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You might think of it as an interstate when it's flowing in along well, and you have a crash in one place--it backs up. And that's what's happening in the food supply chain. But we're working through that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you, Mike. Great. Thank you, Mike.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our farmers were targeted and now they're benefiting by the amount that they were targeted. And we are very honored to do that. And, Sonny, you're going to start that process very soon. You'll let the farmers know. Nobody can take advantage of our farmers.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And so we want to thank the American people for all you have done. And tomorrow, we'll be presenting a new guidance to the governors of this country about how we build on our progress and reopen America in a safe and responsible way.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We'll also be speaking to America's governors tomorrow and then we'll be announcing exactly what's happening. You already know we'll be opening up states--some states much sooner than others. And we think some of the states can actually open up before the deadline of May 1st. And I think that that will be a very exciting time indeed.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The truth is, because of what the American people have done over the last 30 days, we are slowing the spread. We are ensuring that every American family would have access to the healthcare that we'd want any member of our family to have--with the greatest healthcare professionals in the world. We're saving lives and we're healing our land.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Please. Please. Go ahead.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To ease the economic pain of millions of American families, we've now processed $300 billion in loans to more than 1 million small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program. This action has saved millions of American jobs. It's been an incredible success. And they want to replenish it now, but, again, the Democrats don't want to do that. This is money that goes to the workers of our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But in recent days, our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, Antifa, and others. A number of state and local governments have failed to take necessary action to safeguard their residence. Innocent people have been savagely beaten, like the young man in Dallas, Texas, who was left dying on the street, or the woman in Upstate New York viciously attacked by dangerous thugs.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We must never give in to anger or hatred. If malice or violence reigns, then none of us is free.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you very much. My fellow Americans: My first and highest duty as President is to defend our great country and the American people. I swore an oath to uphold the laws of our nation, and that is exactly what I will do.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "You deserve it. You deserve it. You've gone through eight years of hell, and actually I could say even a little bit more than that. You deserve it.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I want to thank Vice President Pence. As always, he's right there and he has really been a help to this administration. We have some big things happening today, and we have some very big things happening over the next month, and I guess probably I can say over the next eight years. I suspect I can say that.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Fifth, the United States Department of Energy is announcing today that it will approve two long-term applications to export additional natural gas from the Lake Charles LNG terminal in Louisiana. It's going to be a big deal. It's a great announcement.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I'm dramatically reducing restrictions on the development of natural gas. I cancelled the moratorium on a new coal leasing--and you know what was happening--the new coal leasing on federal lands, it was being so terribly restricted. And now with Ryan and with a group, it's going to be open, and the land will be left in better shape than it is right now. Is that right? Better shape.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I ask every country represented here today to be prepared to do more to address this very real crisis. We call for the full restoration of democracy and political freedoms in Venezuela.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you. God bless you. God bless the nations of the world. And God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "For the diverse nations of the world, this is our hope. We want harmony and friendship, not conflict and strife. We are guided by outcomes, not ideology. We have a policy of principled realism, rooted in shared goals, interests, and values.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As millions of our citizens continue to suffer the effects of the devastating hurricanes that have struck our country, I want to begin by expressing my appreciation to every leader in this room who has offered assistance and aid. The American people are strong and resilient, and they will emerge from these hardships more determined than ever before.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Fortunately, the United States has done very well since Election Day last November 8th. The stock market is at an all-time high--a record. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 16 years, and because of our regulatory and other reforms, we have more people working in the United States today than ever before. Companies are moving back, creating job growth the likes of which our country has not seen in a very long time. And it has just been announced that we will be spending almost $700 billion on our military and defense.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We also thank--we also thank the Secretary General for recognizing that the United Nations must reform if it is to be an effective partner in confronting threats to sovereignty, security, and prosperity. Too often the focus of this organization has not been on results, but on bureaucracy and process.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The American people hope that one day soon the United Nations can be a much more accountable and effective advocate for human dignity and freedom around the world. In the meantime, we believe that no nation should have to bear a disproportionate share of the burden, militarily or financially. Nations of the world must take a greater role in promoting secure and prosperous societies in their own regions.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The scourge of our planet today is a small group of rogue regimes that violate every principle on which the United Nations is based. They respect neither their own citizens nor the sovereign rights of their countries.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "That is why in the Western Hemisphere, the United States has stood against the corrupt and destabilizing regime in Cuba and embraced the enduring dream of the Cuban people to live in freedom. My administration recently announced that we will not lift sanctions on the Cuban government until it makes fundamental reforms.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. That's what the United Nations is all about; that's what the United Nations is for. Let's see how they do.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We live in a time of extraordinary opportunity. Breakthroughs in science, technology, and medicine are curing illnesses and solving problems that prior generations thought impossible to solve.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The United States will forever be a great friend to the world, and especially to its allies. But we can no longer be taken advantage of, or enter into a one-sided deal where the United States gets nothing in return. As long as I hold this office, I will defend America's interests above all else.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Oppressive regimes cannot endure forever, and the day will come when the Iranian people will face a choice. Will they continue down the path of poverty, bloodshed, and terror? Or will the Iranian people return to the nation's proud roots as a center of civilization, culture, and wealth where their people can be happy and prosperous once again?", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The United States is a compassionate nation and has spent billions and billions of dollars in helping to support this effort. We seek an approach to refugee resettlement that is designed to help these horribly treated people, and which enables their eventual return to their home countries, to be part of the rebuilding process.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Last month, I announced a new strategy for victory in the fight against this evil in Afghanistan. From now on, our security interests will dictate the length and scope of military operations, not arbitrary benchmarks and timetables set up by politicians.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The Marshall Plan was built on the noble idea that the whole world is safer when nations are strong, independent, and free. As President Truman said in his message to Congress at that time, \"Our support of European recovery is in full accord with our support of the United Nations. The success of the United Nations depends upon the independent strength of its members.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We were all witness to the regime's deadly abuse when an innocent American college student, Otto Warmbier, was returned to America only to die a few days later. We saw it in the assassination of the dictator's brother using banned nerve agents in an international airport. We know it kidnapped a sweet 13-year-old Japanese girl from a beach in her own country to enslave her as a language tutor for North Korea's spies.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "There will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings, and these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing. These restrictions will also not apply to the United Kingdom.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "At the same time, we are monitoring the situation in China and in South Korea. And, as their situation improves, we will reevaluate the restrictions and warnings that are currently in place for a possible early opening.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Our team is the best anywhere in the world. At the very start of the outbreak, we instituted sweeping travel restrictions on China and put in place the first federally mandated quarantine in over 50 years. We declared a public health emergency and issued the highest level of travel warning on other countries as the virus spread its horrible infection.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To ensure that working Americans impacted by the virus can stay home without fear of financial hardship, I will soon be taking emergency action, which is unprecedented, to provide financial relief. This will be targeted for workers who are ill, quarantined, or caring for others due to coronavirus.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In particular, we are strongly advising that nursing homes for the elderly suspend all medically unnecessary visits. In general, older Americans should also avoid nonessential travel in crowded areas.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Many of America's closest friends today were once our gravest foes. The United States has never believed in permanent enemies. We want partners, not adversaries. America knows that while anyone can make war, only the most courageous can choose peace.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "There is no circumstance under which the United States will allow international entries to trample on the rights of our citizens, including the right to self-defense. That is why, this year, I announced that we will never ratify the U. N. Arms Trade Treaty, which would threaten the liberties of law-abiding American citizens. The United States will always uphold our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. We will always uphold our Second Amendment.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The receiving countries are overburdened with more migrants than they can responsibly accept. And the migrants themselves are exploited, assaulted, and abused by vicious coyotes. Nearly one third of women who make the journey north to our border are sexually assaulted along the way. Yet, here in the United States and around the world, there is a growing cottage industry of radical activists and non-governmental organizations that promote human smuggling. These groups encourage illegal migration and demand erasure of national borders.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To the Venezuelans trapped in this nightmare: Please know that all of America is united behind you. The United States has vast quantities of humanitarian aid ready and waiting to be delivered. We are watching the Venezuela situation very closely. We await the day when democracy will be restored, when Venezuela will be free, and when liberty will prevail throughout this hemisphere.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Today, I have a message for those open border activists who cloak themselves in the rhetoric of social justice: Your policies are not just. Your policies are cruel and evil. You are empowering criminal organizations that prey on innocent men, women, and children. You put your own false sense of virtue before the lives, wellbeing, and countless innocent people. When you undermine border security, you are undermining human rights and human dignity.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "To our country, I can tell you sincerely: We are working closely with our friends in the region -- including Mexico, Canada, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Panama -- to uphold the integrity of borders and ensure safety and prosperity for our people. I would like to thank President Lopez Obrador of Mexico for the great cooperation we are receiving and for right now putting 27,000 troops on our southern border. Mexico is showing us great respect, and I respect them in return.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "For this same reason, we have pursued bold diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula. I have told Kim Jong Un what I truly believe: that, like Iran, his country is full of tremendous untapped potential, but that to realize that promise, North Korea must denuclearize.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "We are also championing the role of women in our societies. Nations that empower women are much wealthier, safer, and much more politically stable. It is therefore vital not only to a nation's prosperity, but also is vital to its national security, to pursue women's economic development.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "With that goal in mind, my administration is also pursuing the hope of a brighter future in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the Taliban has chosen to continue their savage attacks. And we will continue to work with our coalition of Afghan partners to stamp out terrorism, and we will never stop working to make peace a reality.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Events in Venezuela remind us all that socialism and communism are not about justice, they are not about equality, they are not about lifting up the poor, and they are certainly not about the good of the nation. Socialism and communism are about one thing only: power for the ruling class.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In America, the result was 4.2 million lost manufacturing jobs and $15 trillion in trade deficits over the last quarter century. The United States is now taking that decisive action to end this grave economic injustice. Our goal is simple: We want balanced trade that is both fair and reciprocal.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "All nations have a duty to act. No responsible government should subsidize Iran's bloodlust. As long as Iran's menacing behavior continues, sanctions will not be lifted; they will be tightened. Iran's leaders will have turned a proud nation into just another cautionary tale of what happens when a ruling class abandons its people and embarks on a crusade for personal power and riches.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "According to a recent report from the U. N. Human Rights Council, women in Venezuela stand in line for 10 hours a day waiting for food. Over 15,000 people have been detained as political prisoners. Modern-day death squads are carrying out thousands of extrajudicial killings.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Americans know that in a world where others seek conquest and domination, our nation must be strong in wealth, in might, and in spirit. That is why the United States vigorously defends the traditions and customs that have made us who we are.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As we endeavor to stabilize our relationship, we're also carefully monitoring the situation in Hong Kong. The world fully expects that the Chinese government will honor its binding treaty, made with the British and registered with the United Nations, in which China commits to protect Hong Kong's freedom, legal system, and democratic ways of life. How China chooses to handle the situation will say a great deal about its role in the world in the future. We are all counting on President Xi as a great leader.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Now Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The polls, that's also fake news. They're fake polls. But the polls are saying--but we won Wisconsin.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "By the way, they're not forgetting about the forgotten people anymore. They're going crazy trying to figure it out, but I told them, far too late; it's far too late.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Thank you. Thank you.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Through scouting you also learned to believe in yourself--so important--to have confidence in your ability and to take responsibility for your own life. When you face down new challenges--and you will have plenty of them--develop talents you never thought possible, and lead your teammates through daring trials, you discover that you can handle anything. And you learn it by being a Scout. It's great.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "As we can see just by looking at our government, in America, Scouts lead the way. And another thing I've noticed--and I've noticed it all my life--there is a tremendous spirit with being a Scout, more so than almost anything I can think of. So whatever is going on, keep doing it. It's incredible to watch, believe me.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "He better get Senator Capito to vote for it. He better get the other senators to vote for it. It's time.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "The first time he came to the National Jamboree was in 1964. He was very young then. And Rick told me just a little while ago, it totally changed his life.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "So, Rick, thank you very much for being here. And we're doing--we're doing a lot with energy.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "In life, I always tell this to people, you have to know whether or not you continue to have the momentum. And if you don't have it, that's OK. Because you're going to go on, and you're going to learn and you're going to do things that are great. But you have to know about the word \"momentum.\"", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "New planes, new ships, great equipment for our people that are so great to us. We love our vets. We love our soldiers. And we love our police, by the way.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "Secretary Tom Price is also here today. Dr. Price still lives the Scout oath, helping to keep millions of Americans strong and healthy as our secretary of Health and Human Services. And he's doing a great job. And hopefully he's going to gets the votes tomorrow to start our path toward killing this horrible thing known as Obamacare that's really hurting us.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "It looks like about 45,000 people. You set a record today.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I'm waving to people back there so small I can't even see them. Man, this is a lot of people. Turn those cameras back there, please. That is so incredible.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And I see sitting in the corner was a little old man who was all by himself. Nobody was talking to him. I immediately recognized that that man was the once great William Levitt, of Levittown, and I immediately went over. I wanted to talk to him more than the Hollywood, show business, communications people.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "But you remember that incredible night with the maps, and the Republicans are red and the Democrats are blue, and that map was so red it was unbelievable. And they didn't know what to say.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "And he was a very successful man, became unbelievable--he was a home builder, became an unbelievable success, and got more and more successful. And he'd build homes, and at night he'd go to these major sites with teams of people, and he'd scour the sites for nails, and sawdust and small pieces of wood, and they cleaned the site, so when the workers came in the next morning, the sites would be spotless and clean, and he did it properly. And he did this for 20 years, and then he was offered a lot of money for his company, and he sold his company, for a tremendous amount of money, at the time especially. This is a long time ago. Sold his company for a tremendous amount of money.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "There's a lot of love in this big, beautiful place. A lot of love. And a lot of love for our country. And a lot of love for our country.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "trump", "text": "I want to thank Boy Scouts President Randall Stephenson, chief Scout executive Michael Surbaugh, Jamboree Chairman Ralph de la Vega and the thousands of volunteers who made this a life-changing experience for all of you. And when they asked me to be here, I said absolutely yes.", "category": "speech" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"But to return. He followed me down the corridor, and, as we turned the corner, trod on the lace of my petticoat. What could I do but cry 'Ah!' and stop to finger it? At which he drew his sword, made passes as if he were stabbing something to death, and cried, 'Mad!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The pointed fingers of glass hang downwards. The light slides down the glass, and drops a pool of green. All day long the ten fingers of the lustre drop green upon the marble. The feathers of parakeets--their harsh cries--sharp blades of palm trees--green, too; green needles glittering in the sun. But the hard glass drips on to the marble; the pools hover above the dessert sand; the camels lurch through them; the pools settle on the marble; rushes edge them; weeds clog them; here and there a white blossom; the frog flops over; at night the stars are set there unbroken.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Helen looked with a sigh at an envelope which lay upon her dressing-table. Yes, there lay Willoughby, curt, inexpressive, perpetually jocular, robbing a whole continent of mystery, enquiring after his daughter's manners and morals--hoping she wasn't a bore, and bidding them pack her off to him on board the very next ship if she were--and then grateful and affectionate with suppressed emotion, and then half a page about his own triumphs over wretched little natives who went on strike and refused to load his ships, until he roared English oaths at them, \"popping my head out of the window just as I was, in my shirt sleeves. The beggars had the sense to scatter.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But no brush was able to efface completely the expression of happiness, so that Mrs. Ambrose could not treat them when they came downstairs as if they had spent the morning in a way that could be discussed naturally. This being so, she joined in the world's conspiracy to consider them for the time incapacitated from the business of life, struck by their intensity of feeling into enmity against life, and almost succeeded in dismissing them from her thoughts.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"We love each other,\" Terence repeated, searching into her face. Their faces were both very pale and quiet, and they said nothing. He was afraid to kiss her again. By degrees she drew close to him, and rested against him. In this position they sat for some time.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I never go to parties,\" said Miss Kilman, just to keep Elizabeth from going. \"People don't ask me to parties\"--and she knew as she said it that it was this egotism that was her undoing; Mr. Whittaker had warned her; but she could not help it. She had suffered so horribly. \"Why should they ask me?\" she said. \"I'm plain, I'm unhappy.\" She knew it was idiotic.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was Rachel's turn now to feel depressed. As he talked of writing he had become suddenly impersonal. He might never care for any one; all that desire to know her and get at her, which she had felt pressing on her almost painfully, had completely vanished.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"No; that's where we differ,\" said Hewet. \"I say everything's different. No two people are in the least the same. Take you and me now.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Perhaps most readers approach the essays also with some suspicion as to the need of condescension in their minds. The question to be asked is whether Addison, attached as he was to certain standards of gentility, morality, and taste, has not become one of those people of exemplary character and charming urbanity who must never be talked to about anything more exciting than the weather. We have some slight suspicion that the Spectator and the Tatler are nothing but talk, couched in perfect English, about the number of fine days this year compared with the number of wet the year before. The difficulty of getting on to equal terms with him is shown by the little fable which he introduces into one of the early numbers of the Tatler, of \"a young gentleman, of moderate understanding, but great vivacity, who . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The fixity of her mood was broken by the action of walking. The shooting motor cars, more like spiders in the moon than terrestrial objects, the thundering drays, the jingling hansoms, and little black broughams, made her think of the world she lived in. Somewhere up there above the pinnacles where the smoke rose in a pointed hill, her children were now asking for her, and getting a soothing reply. As for the mass of streets, squares, and public buildings which parted them, she only felt at this moment how little London had done to make her love it, although thirty of her forty years had been spent in a street. She knew how to read the people who were passing her; there were the rich who were running to and from each others' houses at this hour; there were the bigoted workers driving in a straight line to their offices; there were the poor who were unhappy and rightly malignant.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She ran upstairs with the feeling of spiritual exaltation and quickened life which the prospect of an emotional scene always aroused in her. That Mr. Perrott was again about to propose to her, she had no doubt, and she was aware that on this occasion she ought to be prepared with a definite answer, for she was going away in three days' time. But she could not bring her mind to bear upon the question. To come to a decision was very difficult to her, because she had a natural dislike of anything final and done with; she liked to go on and on--always on and on. She was leaving, and, therefore, she occupied herself in laying her clothes out side by side upon the bed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Then these are the embraces of our souls.\" The lemons nod assent. The swan pushes from the bank and floats dreaming into mid stream.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "While the storm continued, no one seemed inclined to sit down, but they collected in little groups under the central skylight, where they stood in a yellow atmosphere, looking upwards. Now and again their faces became white, as the lightning flashed, and finally a terrific crash came, making the panes of the skylight lift at the joints.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But laugh they did. When the rumour spread that the crazy Duchess was coming up from Welbeck to pay her respects at Court, people crowded the streets to look at her, and the curiosity of Mr. Pepys twice brought him to wait in the Park to see her pass. But the pressure of the crowd about her coach was too great. He could only catch a glimpse of her in her silver coach with her footmen all in velvet, a velvet cap on her head, and her hair about her ears. He could only see for a moment between the white curtains the face of \"a very comely woman\", and on she drove through the crowd of staring Cockneys, all pressing to catch a glimpse of that romantic lady, who stands in the picture at Welbeck, with large melancholy eyes, and something fastidious and fantastic in her bearing, touching a table with the tips of long pointed fingers in the calm assurance of immortal fame.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Terence picked up the sheet of paper and spread it out before Rachel. It was a continuation of the poem on God which he had begun in the chapel, and it was so indecent that Rachel did not understand half of it although she saw that it was indecent. Hewet began to fill in words where Hirst had left spaces, but he soon ceased; his pencil rolled on deck. Gradually they approached nearer and nearer to the bank on the right-hand side, so that the light which covered them became definitely green, falling through a shade of green leaves, and Mrs. Flushing set aside her sketch and stared ahead of her in silence. Hirst woke up; they were then called to luncheon, and while they ate it, the steamer came to a standstill a little way out from the bank.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "An imperceptible signal passed between husband and wife, meaning that they grasped the situation and would stand by each other loyally. With scarcely a pause Mrs. Dalloway turned to Willoughby and began:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Surely then, if we ask this great master of the art of life to tell us his secret, he will advise us to withdraw to the inner room of our tower and there turn the pages of books, pursue fancy after fancy as they chase each other up the chimney, and leave the government of the world to others. Retirement and contemplation--these must be the main elements of his prescription. But no; Montaigne is by no means explicit. It is impossible to extract a plain answer from that subtle, half smiling, half melancholy man, with the heavy-lidded eyes and the dreamy, quizzical expression. The truth is that life in the country, with one's books and vegetables and flowers, is often extremely dull.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was Mrs. Hilbery, looking for the door. For how late it was getting! And, she murmured, as the night grew later, as people went, one found old friends; quiet nooks and corners; and the loveliest views. Did they know, she asked, that they were surrounded by an enchanted garden? Lights and trees and wonderful gleaming lakes and the sky.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I have lived all my life with people like your Aunt, Mr. Hirst,\" she said, leaning forward in her chair. Her brown squirrel-like eyes became even brighter than usual. \"They have never heard of Gibbon. They only care for their pheasants and their peasants. They are great big men who look so fine on horseback, as people must have done, I think, in the days of the great wars.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Hewet picked up one sheet and read, \"A lady was walking yesterday in the streets of Westminster when she perceived a cat in the window of a deserted house. The famished animal--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Voices crying behind them never reached through the waters in which they were now sunk. The repetition of Hewet's name in short, dissevered syllables was to them the crack of a dry branch or the laughter of a bird. The grasses and breezes sounding and murmuring all round them, they never noticed that the swishing of the grasses grew louder and louder, and did not cease with the lapse of the breeze. A hand dropped abrupt as iron on Rachel's shoulder; it might have been a bolt from heaven. She fell beneath it, and the grass whipped across her eyes and filled her mouth and ears.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Soon Wilfrid Flushing slept, and Hirst slept. Hewet alone lay awake looking straight up into the sky. The gentle motion and the black shapes that were drawn ceaselessly across his eyes had the effect of making it impossible for him to think. Rachel's presence so near him lulled thought asleep. Being so near him, only a few paces off at the other end of the boat, she made it as impossible for him to think about her as it would have been impossible to see her if she had stood quite close to him, her forehead against his forehead.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But to go deeper, beneath what people said (and these judgements, how superficial, how fragmentary they are!) in her own mind now, what did it mean to her, this thing she called life? Oh, it was very queer. Here was So-and-so in South Kensington; some one up in Bayswater; and somebody else, say, in Mayfair. And she felt quite continuously a sense of their existence; and she felt what a waste; and she felt what a pity; and she felt if only they could be brought together; so she did it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "When he had done these errands he went to find Hirst. Exhausted and very hot, St. John had fallen asleep on a bed, but Terence woke him without scruple.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Oh, I've done two or three little daubs,\" said Mrs. Elliot, speaking rather louder than usual. \"But it's so difficult after Oxfordshire, where there are so many trees. The light's so strong here. Some people admire it, I know, but I find it very fatiguing.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "There remains the greatest of all novelists--for what else can we call the author of War and Peace? Shall we find Tolstoi, too, alien, difficult, a foreigner? Is there some oddity in his angle of vision which, at any rate until we have become disciples and so lost our bearings, keeps us at arm's length in suspicion and bewilderment? From his first words we can be sure of one thing at any rate--here is a man who sees what we see, who proceeds, too, as we are accustomed to proceed, not from the inside outwards, but from the outside inwards. Here is a world in which the postman's knock is heard at eight o'clock, and people go to bed between ten and eleven.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "(And so she would go on, Peter felt, hour after hour; the miner's son; people thought she had married beneath her; her five sons; and what was the other thing--plants, hydrangeas, syringas, very, very rare hibiscus lilies that never grow north of the Suez Canal, but she, with one gardener in a suburb near Manchester, had beds of them, positively beds! Now all that Clarissa had escaped, unmaternal as she was.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Or is it only this damnable engagement?\" he continued. \"Let's be married here, before we go back--or is it too great a risk? Are we sure we want to marry each other?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"We'll do our best to make you comfortable. And Ridley. We think it an honour to have charge of him. Pepper'll have some one to contradict him--which I daren't do. You find this child grown, don't you?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"A girl is more lonely than a boy. No one cares in the least what she does. Nothing's expected of her. Unless one's very pretty people don't listen to what you say. .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But, however much they differ individually, the Victorian essayists yet had something in common. They wrote at greater length than is now usual, and they wrote for a public which had not only time to sit down to its magazine seriously, but a high, if peculiarly Victorian, standard of culture by which to judge it. It was worth while to speak out upon serious matters in an essay; and there was nothing absurd in writing as well as one possibly could when, in a month or two, the same public which had welcomed the essay in a magazine would carefully read it once more in a book. But a change came from a small audience of cultivated people to a larger audience of people who were not quite so cultivated. The change was not altogether for the worse.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Still, the sun was hot. Still, one got over things. Still, life had a way of adding day to day. Still, he thought, yawning and beginning to take notice--Regent's Park had changed very little since he was a boy, except for the squirrels--still, presumably there were compensations--when little Elise Mitchell, who had been picking up pebbles to add to the pebble collection which she and her brother were making on the nursery mantelpiece, plumped her handful down on the nurse's knee and scudded off again full tilt into a lady's legs. Peter Walsh laughed out.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You're peaceful,\" she said. She became peaceful too, at the same time possessed with a strange exultation. Life seemed to hold infinite possibilities she had never guessed at. She leant upon the rail and looked over the troubled grey waters, where the sunlight was fitfully scattered upon the crests of the waves, until she was cold and absolutely calm again. Nevertheless something wonderful had happened.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was all too painful, and the guillotine, she felt, loomed ahead. That catastrophe she was spared, for who could wish to cut off the head of a pigeon with a whistle attached to its tail? But if the whole bird-cage had been overturned and the aerial orchestra sent screaming and fluttering through the air, we can be sure, as Mr. Joseph Chamberlain told her, that her conduct would have been \"a credit to the British aristocracy\".", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It's high time we went,\" said Helen. \"Don't you see how silent every one's getting--?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"And it came over me 'I might have married you,'\" she said, thinking of Peter sitting there in his little bow-tie; with that knife, opening it, shutting it. \"Just as he always was, you know.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Hugh she detested for some reason. He thought of nothing but his own appearance, she said. He ought to have been a Duke. He would be certain to marry one of the Royal Princesses. And of course Hugh had the most extraordinary, the most natural, the most sublime respect for the British aristocracy of any human being he had ever come across.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Oh, Yarmouth,\" said Mrs. Flushing, \"just find my diary and see where ten days from now would bring us to, and ask the hall porter how many men 'ud be wanted to row eight people up the river for a week, and what it 'ud cost, and put it on a slip of paper and leave it on my dressing-table. Now--\" she pointed at the door with a superb forefinger so that Rachel had to lead the way.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It became painful to Rachel to be one of those who write Keats and Shelley. She liked Richard Dalloway, and warmed as he warmed. He seemed to mean what he said.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The sound of these words were strangely discomforting to both the young men, but they had to be borne. As the evening drew on and the red light of the sunset glittered far away on the sea, the same sense of desperation attacked both Terence and St. John at the thought that the day was nearly over, and that another night was at hand. The appearance of one light after another in the town beneath them produced in Hirst a repetition of his terrible and disgusting desire to break down and sob. Then the lamps were brought in by Chailey. She explained that Maria, in opening a bottle, had been so foolish as to cut her arm badly, but she had bound it up; it was unfortunate when there was so much work to be done.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Happily the port was now brought in, the servants assembled; and Miss Ormerod, rising to her feet, gave the toast \"Her Blessed Majesty.\" She was extremely loyal, and moreover she liked nothing better than a glass of her father's old white port. She kept his pigtail, too, in a box.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Her lips pursed as if to spit venom at the word; pursed they remained. All she did was to take her glove and rub hard at a spot on the window-pane. She rubbed as if she would rub something out for ever--some stain, some indelible contamination. Indeed, the spot remained for all her rubbing, and back she sank with the shudder and the clutch of the arm I had come to expect. Something impelled me to take my glove and rub my window.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She sat by the fire in a beautiful black satin gown, with a green shaded lamp on the table beside her, where I saw German books lying and pamphlets and ivory paper-cutters. She was very quiet and noble, with two steady little eyes and a sweet voice. As I looked I felt her to be a friend, not exactly a personal friend, but a good and benevolent impulse.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Richard twisted a muffler twice round his throat and struggled up on deck. His body, which had grown white and tender in a dark room, tingled all over in the fresh air. He felt himself a man undoubtedly in the prime of life. Pride glowed in his eye as he let the wind buffet him and stood firm. With his head slightly lowered he sheered round corners, strode uphill, and met the blast.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "In the oval flower bed the snail, whose shell had been stained red, blue, and yellow for the space of two minutes or so, now appeared to be moving very slightly in its shell, and next began to labour over the crumbs of loose earth which broke away and rolled down as it passed over them. It appeared to have a definite goal in front of it, differing in this respect from the singular high stepping angular green insect who attempted to cross in front of it, and waited for a second with its antennae trembling as if in deliberation, and then stepped off as rapidly and strangely in the opposite direction. Brown cliffs with deep green lakes in the hollows, flat, blade-like trees that waved from root to tip, round boulders of grey stone, vast crumpled surfaces of a thin crackling texture--all these objects lay across the snail's progress between one stalk and another to his goal. Before he had decided whether to circumvent the arched tent of a dead leaf or to breast it there came past the bed the feet of other human beings.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She was just about to pull back the bed-clothes when she exclaimed, \"Oh, but I'm forgetting,\" and went to her writing-table. A brown volume lay there stamped with the figure of the year. She proceeded to write in the square ugly hand of a mature child, as she wrote daily year after year, keeping the diaries, though she seldom looked at them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Yes,\" said Helen, sticking her needle in again. \"I don't know why I'm happy,\" she suddenly laughed, looking him full in the face. There was a considerable pause.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Whether made by man, or for some reason preserved by nature, there was a wide pathway striking through the forest at right angles to the river. It resembled a drive in an English forest, save that tropical bushes with their sword-like leaves grew at the side, and the ground was covered with an unmarked springy moss instead of grass, starred with little yellow flowers. As they passed into the depths of the forest the light grew dimmer, and the noises of the ordinary world were replaced by those creaking and sighing sounds which suggest to the traveller in a forest that he is walking at the bottom of the sea. The path narrowed and turned; it was hedged in by dense creepers which knotted tree to tree, and burst here and there into star-shaped crimson blossoms. The sighing and creaking up above were broken every now and then by the jarring cry of some startled animal.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Clarissa was really shocked. This a Christian--this woman! This woman had taken her daughter from her! She in touch with invisible presences! Heavy, ugly, commonplace, without kindness or grace, she know the meaning of life!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "As the little boat sidled up to the steamer, and the old man shipped his oars, he remarked once more pointing above, that ships all the world over flew that flag the day they sailed. In the minds of both the passengers the blue flag appeared a sinister token, and this the moment for presentiments, but nevertheless they rose, gathered their things together, and climbed on deck.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Tell Mr. Pepper,\" Rachel bade the servant. Husband and wife then sat down on one side of the table, with their niece opposite to them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Although they had known each other for three years Hirst had never yet heard the true story of Hewet's loves. In general conversation it was taken for granted that they were many, but in private the subject was allowed to lapse. The fact that he had money enough to do no work, and that he had left Cambridge after two terms owing to a difference with the authorities, and had then travelled and drifted, made his life strange at many points where his friends' lives were much of a piece.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The strange thing, on looking back, was the purity, the integrity, of her feeling for Sally. It was not like one's feeling for a man. It was completely disinterested, and besides, it had a quality which could only exist between women, between women just grown up. It was protective, on her side; sprang from a sense of being in league together, a presentiment of something that was bound to part them (they spoke of marriage always as a catastrophe), which led to this chivalry, this protective feeling which was much more on her side than Sally's. For in those days she was completely reckless; did the most idiotic things out of bravado; bicycled round the parapet on the terrace; smoked cigars.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "After a pause Hirst remarked that the worst infamy had still to be told. He addressed himself to Helen.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Her father is a very interesting man,\" said Mrs. Thornbury. \"He has one of the largest shipping businesses in Hull. He made a very able reply, you remember, to Mr. Asquith at the last election. It is so interesting to find that a man of his experience is a strong Protectionist.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Safe, quite safe,\" she said, shifting uneasily from foot to foot. \"And I'm sure that they give away even more than they receive.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"How ever we're to get through this voyage, Miss Rachel, I really can't tell,\" she began with a shake of her head. \"There's only just sheets enough to go round, and the master's has a rotten place you could put your fingers through. And the counterpanes. Did you notice the counterpanes? I thought to myself a poor person would have been ashamed of them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I tell you what I want to do,\" she said. \"I want to go up there and see things for myself. It's silly stayin' here with a pack of old maids as though we were at the seaside in England. I want to go up the river and see the natives in their camps. It's only a matter of ten days under canvas.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "And Sally used to be in rags and tatters. She had pawned her grandmother's ring which Marie Antoinette had given her great-grandfather to come to Bourton.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Oh, that cow!\" she broke off nervously, as though the great wooden cow in the meadow had shocked her and saved her from some indiscretion. Then she shuddered, and then she made the awkward angular movement that I had seen before, as if, after the spasm, some spot between the shoulders burnt or itched. Then again she looked the most unhappy woman in the world, and I once more reproached her, though not with the same conviction, for if there were a reason, and if I knew the reason, the stigma was removed from life.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Mrs. Parry's drawing-room, though thousands of miles away, behind a vast curve of water on a tiny piece of earth, came before their eyes. They who had had no solidity or anchorage before seemed to be attached to it somehow, and at once grown more substantial. Perhaps they had been in the drawing-room at the same moment; perhaps they had passed each other on the stairs; at any rate they knew some of the same people. They looked one another up and down with new interest. But they could do no more than look at each other, for there was no time to enjoy the fruits of the discovery.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Much as Willoughby would doubtless have liked his daughter to praise him she did not; her eyes were unreflecting as water, her fingers still toying with the fossilised fish, her mind absent. The elder people went on to speak of arrangements that could be made for Ridley's comfort--a table placed where he couldn't help looking at the sea, far from boilers, at the same time sheltered from the view of people passing. Unless he made this a holiday, when his books were all packed, he would have no holiday whatever; for out at Santa Marina Helen knew, by experience, that he would work all day; his boxes, she said, were packed with books.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "For her father had been looking at her, as he stood talking to the Bradshaws, and he had thought to himself, Who is that lovely girl? And suddenly he realised that it was his Elizabeth, and he had not recognised her, she looked so lovely in her pink frock! Elizabeth had felt him looking at her as she talked to Willie Titcomb. So she went to him and they stood together, now that the party was almost over, looking at the people going, and the rooms getting emptier and emptier, with things scattered on the floor. Even Ellie Henderson was going, nearly last of all, though no one had spoken to her, but she had wanted to see everything, to tell Edith.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Rachel! Rachel!\" he shrieked, trying to rush back to her. But they prevented him, and pushed him down the passage and into a bedroom far from her room. Downstairs they could hear the thud of his feet on the floor, as he struggled to break free; and twice they heard him shout, \"Rachel, Rachel!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Rachel, though robbed of her audience, had gone on playing to herself. From John Peel she passed to Bach, who was at this time the subject of her intense enthusiasm, and one by one some of the younger dancers came in from the garden and sat upon the deserted gilt chairs round the piano, the room being now so clear that they turned out the lights. As they sat and listened, their nerves were quieted; the heat and soreness of their lips, the result of incessant talking and laughing, was smoothed away. They sat very still as if they saw a building with spaces and columns succeeding each other rising in the empty space. Then they began to see themselves and their lives, and the whole of human life advancing very nobly under the direction of the music.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"When I first saw you,\" he began, \"I thought you were like a creature who'd lived all its life among pearls and old bones. Your hands were wet, d'you remember, and you never said a word until I gave you a bit of bread, and then you said, 'Human Beings!'\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The Odyssey is merely a story of adventure, the instinctive story-telling of a sea-faring race. So we may begin it, reading quickly in the spirit of children wanting amusement to find out what happens next. But here is nothing immature; here are full-grown people, crafty, subtle, and passionate. Nor is the world itself a small one, since the sea which separates island from island has to be crossed by little hand-made boats and is measured by the flight of the sea-gulls. It is true that the islands are not thickly populated, and the people, though everything is made by hand, are not closely kept at work.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "On and on she went, by day and by night, following her path, until one morning broke and showed the land. Losing its shadow-like appearance it became first cleft and mountainous, next coloured grey and purple, next scattered with white blocks which gradually separated themselves, and then, as the progress of the ship acted upon the view like a field-glass of increasing power, became streets of houses. By nine o'clock the Euphrosyne had taken up her position in the middle of a great bay; she dropped her anchor; immediately, as if she were a recumbent giant requiring examination, small boats came swarming about her. She rang with cries; men jumped on to her; her deck was thumped by feet. The lonely little island was invaded from all quarters at once, and after four weeks of silence it was bewildering to hear human speech.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Quite,\" said Terence with decision. \"It's just got to run its course.\" Whereupon Ridley heaved a deep sigh. He was genuinely sorry for every one, but at the same time he missed Helen considerably, and was a little aggrieved by the constant presence of the two young men.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Yes,\" said Hewet. \"I'm half asleep.\" He left her still sitting by herself in the empty hall.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"That is the very point we are met to consider,\" she said. \"For five years we have been trying to find out whether we are justified in continuing the human race. Castalia has anticipated our decision. But it remains for the rest of us to make up our minds.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You're not beautiful,\" he began, \"but I like your face. I like the way your hair grows down in a point, and your eyes too--they never see anything. Your mouth's too big, and your cheeks would be better if they had more colour in them. But what I like about your face is that it makes one wonder what the devil you're thinking about--it makes me want to do that--\" He clenched his fist and shook it so near her that she started back, \"because now you look as if you'd blow my brains out. There are moments,\" he continued, \"when, if we stood on a rock together, you'd throw me into the sea.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The dining-room at this moment had a certain fantastic resemblance to a farmyard scattered with grain on which bright pigeons kept descending. Almost all the ladies wore dresses which they had not yet displayed, and their hair rose in waves and scrolls so as to appear like carved wood in Gothic churches rather than hair. The dinner was shorter and less formal than usual, even the waiters seeming to be affected with the general excitement. Ten minutes before the clock struck nine the committee made a tour through the ballroom. The hall, when emptied of its furniture, brilliantly lit, adorned with flowers whose scent tinged the air, presented a wonderful appearance of ethereal gaiety.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"All the luck's on our side,\" said a young man who until now had kept his back turned to the window. He appeared to be rather stout, and had a thick crop of hair.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Not at all; I call it the reverse of odd,\" Miss Allan replied. \"I always consider myself the most ordinary person I know. It's rather distinguished to be as ordinary as I am. I forget--are you a prodigy, or did you say you were not a prodigy?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "They were very much afraid of her father. He was a great dim force in the house, by means of which they held on to the great world which is represented every morning in the Times. But the real life of the house was something quite different from this. It went on independently of Mr. Vinrace, and tended to hide itself from him. He was good-humoured towards them, but contemptuous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He looked curiously at his own hand on the banisters. The stairs were very steep, and it seemed to take him a long time to surmount them. Instead of feeling keenly, as he knew that he ought to feel, he felt nothing at all. When he opened the door he saw Helen sitting by the bedside. There were shaded lights on the table, and the room, though it seemed to be full of a great many things, was very tidy.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"--Anyhow things aren't as bad with us as they are at Kinghampton. They say Mrs. Briscoe's Newfoundland dog follows her right up to the chancel rails when she takes the sacrament--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It might have been either of them and while Mrs. Flushing proceeded to describe them both, and to say that both frightened her, but one frightened her more than the other, Rachel looked for a chair. The room, of course, was one of the largest and most luxurious in the hotel. There were a great many arm-chairs and settees covered in brown holland, but each of these was occupied by a large square piece of yellow cardboard, and all the pieces of cardboard were dotted or lined with spots or dashes of bright oil paint.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Hear, hear!\" cried Hewet. \"That's the way to treat him. You see, Miss Vinrace, you must make allowances for Hirst. He's lived all his life in front of a looking-glass, so to speak, in a beautiful panelled room, hung with Japanese prints and lovely old chairs and tables, just one splash of colour, you know, in the right place,--between the windows I think it is,--and there he sits hour after hour with his toes on the fender, talking about philosophy and God and his liver and his heart and the hearts of his friends. They're all broken.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"For goodness' sake, Hirst,\" Hewet protested; \"one might think you were an old cripple of eighty. If it comes to that, I had an aunt who died of cancer myself, but I put a bold face on it--\" He rose and began tilting his chair backwards and forwards on its hind legs. \"Is any one here inclined for a walk?\" he said. \"There's a magnificent walk, up behind the house. You come out on to a cliff and look right down into the sea.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "A generalisation of this kind will, of course, even if it has some degree of truth when applied to the body of literature, be changed profoundly when a writer of genius sets to work on it. At once other questions arise. It is seen that an \"attitude\" is not simple; it is highly complex. Men reft of their coats and their manners, stunned by a railway accident, say hard things, harsh things, unpleasant things, difficult things, even if they say them with the abandonment and simplicity which catastrophe has bred in them. Our first impressions of Tchekov are not of simplicity but of bewilderment.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Sir, I would trust you with my heart. Moreover, we have left our bodies in the banqueting hall. Those on the turf are the shadows of our souls.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Then, as if to make him look at the scene, she swept her hand round the immense circumference of the view. From the sea, over the roofs of the town, across the crests of the mountains, over the river and the plain, and again across the crests of the mountains it swept until it reached the villa, the garden, the magnolia-tree, and the figures of Hirst and herself standing together, when it dropped to her side.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The diary, for whose sake we are remembering the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Evelyn,[5] is a case in point. It is sometimes composed like a memoir, sometimes jotted down like a calendar; but he never used its pages to reveal the secrets of his heart, and all that he wrote might have been read aloud in the evening with a calm conscience to his children. If we wonder, then, why we still trouble to read what we must consider the uninspired work of a good man we have to confess, first that diaries are always diaries, books, that is, that we read in convalescence, on horseback, in the grip of death; second, that this reading, about which so many fine things have been said, is for the most part mere dreaming and idling; lying in a chair with a book; watching the butterflies on the dahlias; a profitless occupation which no critic has taken the trouble to investigate, and on whose behalf only the moralist can find a good word to say. For he will allow it to be an innocent employment; and happiness, he will add, though derived from trivial sources, has probably done more to prevent human beings from changing their religions and killing their kings than either philosophy or the pulpit.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Terence says we must go to tea with Mrs. Thornbury because she's been so kind, but I don't see it; in fact, I'd rather have my right hand sawn in pieces--just imagine! the eyes of all those women!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Heaven was divinely merciful, infinitely benignant. It spared him, pardoned his weakness. But what was the scientific explanation (for one must be scientific above all things)? Why could he see through bodies, see into the future, when dogs will become men? It was the heat wave presumably, operating upon a brain made sensitive by eons of evolution.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The pilgrims of course were liars, as people whose eyes have just been opened by a piece of the true Cross have every right to be; but their news, none the less, was welcome. The Pastons had risen in the world. People said even that they had been bondmen not so very long ago. At any rate, men still living could remember John's grandfather Clement tilling his own land, a hard-working peasant; and William, Clement's son, becoming a judge and buying land; and John, William's son, marrying well and buying more land and quite lately inheriting the vast new castle at Caister, and all Sir John's lands in Norfolk and Suffolk. People said that he had forged the old knight's will.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But it is not Mr. Belloc only who has suffered from the prevailing conditions. The essays which bring the collection to the year 1920 may not be the best of their authors' work, but, if we except writers like Mr. Conrad and Mr. Hudson, who have strayed into essay writing accidentally, and concentrate upon those who write essays habitually, we shall find them a good deal affected by the change in their circumstances. To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired people coming home in the evening, is a heart-breaking task for men who know good writing from bad. They do it, but instinctively draw out of harm's way anything precious that might be damaged by contact with the public, or anything sharp that might irritate its skin. And so, if one reads Mr. Lucas, Mr. Lynd, or Mr. Squire in the bulk, one feels that a common greyness silvers everything.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You see, I'm not as simple as most women,\" Evelyn continued. \"I think I want more. I don't know exactly what I feel.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"No, we didn't congratulate them,\" said Hewet. \"They seemed very happy.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"There were no gardeners,\" Mrs. Flushing chuckled. \"Nobody but me and an old woman without any teeth. You know the poor in Ireland lose their teeth after they're twenty. But you wouldn't expect a politician to understand that--Arthur Balfour wouldn't understand that.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It's the sun,\" said St. John. The upper windows had each a spot of gold on them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Hewet, indeed, might have found excellent material at this time up at the villa for some chapters in the novel which was to be called \"Silence, or the Things People don't say.\" Helen and Rachel had become very silent. Having detected, as she thought, a secret, and judging that Rachel meant to keep it from her, Mrs. Ambrose respected it carefully, but from that cause, though unintentionally, a curious atmosphere of reserve grew up between them. Instead of sharing their views upon all subjects, and plunging after an idea wherever it might lead, they spoke chiefly in comment upon the people they saw, and the secret between them made itself felt in what they said even of Thornburys and Elliots. Always calm and unemotional in her judgments, Mrs. Ambrose was now inclined to be definitely pessimistic. She was not severe upon individuals so much as incredulous of the kindness of destiny, fate, what happens in the long run, and apt to insist that this was generally adverse to people in proportion as they deserved well.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"D'you know,\" she said, \"I'm extraordinarily sleepy. It's the sea air. I think I shall escape.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "How could they say these things of Rachel? Had any one yesterday seriously believed that Rachel was dying? They had been engaged for four weeks. A fortnight ago she had been perfectly well. What could fourteen days have done to bring her from that state to this?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You're all neglecting the chief advantage of being abroad,\" said Mr. Hughling Elliot, who had joined the group. \"You might read your news in French, which is equivalent to reading no news at all.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Nothing moves Hirst,\" Hewet laughed; he did not seem to be stung at all. \"Unless it were a transfinite number falling in love with a finite one--I suppose such things do happen, even in mathematics.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Rachel's heart beat hard. She was conscious of an extraordinary intensity in everything, as though their presence stripped some cover off the surface of things; but the greetings were remarkably commonplace.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "During the two or three weeks which had passed since their walk, half a dozen notes from him had accumulated in her drawer. She would read them, and spend the whole morning in a daze of happiness; the sunny land outside the window being no less capable of analysing its own colour and heat than she was of analysing hers. In these moods she found it impossible to read or play the piano, even to move being beyond her inclination. The time passed without her noticing it. When it was dark she was drawn to the window by the lights of the hotel.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Our brilliant young men might do worse, when in search of a subject, than devote a year or two to cows in literature, snow in literature, the daisy in Chaucer and in Coventry Patmore. At any rate, the snow falls heavily. The Portsmouth mail-coach has already lost its way; several ships have foundered, and Margate pier has been totally destroyed. At Hatfield Peveral twenty sheep have been buried, and though one supports itself by gnawing wurzels which it has found near it, there is grave reason to fear that the French king's coach has been blocked on the road to Colchester. It is now the 16th of February, 1808.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was precisely twelve o'clock; twelve by Big Ben; whose stroke was wafted over the northern part of London; blent with that of other clocks, mixed in a thin ethereal way with the clouds and wisps of smoke, and died up there among the seagulls--twelve o'clock struck as Clarissa Dalloway laid her green dress on her bed, and the Warren Smiths walked down Harley Street. Twelve was the hour of their appointment. Probably, Rezia thought, that was Sir William Bradshaw's house with the grey motor car in front of it. The leaden circles dissolved in the air.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I've got all his pamphlets,\" she said. \"Little pamphlets. Little yellow books.\" It did not appear that she had read them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The river, which had a certain amount of troubled yellow light in it, ran with great force; bulky barges floated down swiftly escorted by tugs; police boats shot past everything; the wind went with the current. The open rowing-boat in which they sat bobbed and curtseyed across the line of traffic. In mid-stream the old man stayed his hands upon the oars, and as the water rushed past them, remarked that once he had taken many passengers across, where now he took scarcely any. He seemed to recall an age when his boat, moored among rushes, carried delicate feet across to lawns at Rotherhithe.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The dusk fell as suddenly as the natives had warned them, the hollows of the mountain on either side filling up with darkness and the path becoming so dim that it was surprising to hear the donkeys' hooves still striking on hard rock. Silence fell upon one, and then upon another, until they were all silent, their minds spilling out into the deep blue air. The way seemed shorter in the dark than in the day; and soon the lights of the town were seen on the flat far beneath them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "During this speech Susan came into the group, and sat down by Helen's side. A few minutes later Mr. Venning strolled up from the opposite direction. He was a little flushed, and in the mood to answer hilariously whatever was said to him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Rachel explained that most people had hitherto been symbols; but that when they talked to one they ceased to be symbols, and became--\"I could listen to them for ever!\" she exclaimed. She then jumped up, disappeared downstairs for a minute, and came back with a fat red book.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I have a key,\" said Hirst cryptically. His chin was still upon his knees and his eyes fixed in front of him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You cannot give me any kind of idea. I do not ask for a date . . . that would be most unreasonable.\" He paused, looking down at the gravel path.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The noble and beautiful girl who insisted upon being born into the Mill on the Floss is the most obvious example of the ruin which a heroine can strew about her. Humour controls her and keeps her lovable so long as she is small and can be satisfied by eloping with the gipsies or hammering nails into her doll; but she develops; and before George Eliot knows what has happened she has a full-grown woman on her hands demanding what neither gipsies nor dolls, nor St. Ogg's itself is capable of giving her. First Philip Wakem is produced, and later Stephen Guest. The weakness of the one and the coarseness of the other have often been pointed out; but both, in their weakness and coarseness, illustrate not so much George Eliot's inability to draw the portrait of a man, as the uncertainty, the infirmity, and the fumbling which shook her hand when she had to conceive a fit mate for a heroine. She is in the first place driven beyond the home world she knew and loved, and forced to set foot in middle-class drawing-rooms where young men sing all the summer morning and young women sit embroidering smoking-caps for bazaars.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It is probably the Queen, thought Mrs. Dalloway, coming out of Mulberry's with her flowers; the Queen. And for a second she wore a look of extreme dignity standing by the flower shop in the sunlight while the car passed at a foot's pace, with its blinds drawn. The Queen going to some hospital; the Queen opening some bazaar, thought Clarissa.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Since the time of Elizabeth very few people had seen the river, and nothing has been done to change its appearance from what it was to the eyes of the Elizabethan voyagers. The time of Elizabeth was only distant from the present time by a moment of space compared with the ages which had passed since the water had run between those banks, and the green thickets swarmed there, and the small trees had grown to huge wrinkled trees in solitude. Changing only with the change of the sun and the clouds, the waving green mass had stood there for century after century, and the water had run between its banks ceaselessly, sometimes washing away earth and sometimes the branches of trees, while in other parts of the world one town had risen upon the ruins of another town, and the men in the towns had become more and more articulate and unlike each other. A few miles of this river were visible from the top of the mountain where some weeks before the party from the hotel had picnicked. Susan and Arthur had seen it as they kissed each other, and Terence and Rachel as they sat talking about Richmond, and Evelyn and Perrott as they strolled about, imagining that they were great captains sent to colonise the world.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "This is how it all came about. Six or seven of us were sitting one day after tea. Some were gazing across the street into the windows of a milliner's shop where the light still shone brightly upon scarlet feathers and golden slippers. Others were idly occupied in building little towers of sugar upon the edge of the tea tray. After a time, so far as I can remember, we drew round the fire and began as usual to praise men--how strong, how noble, how brilliant, how courageous, how beautiful they were--how we envied those who by hook or by crook managed to get attached to one for life--when Poll, who had said nothing, burst into tears.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"when you're my age you'll see that the world is crammed with delightful things. I think young people make such a mistake about that--not letting themselves be happy. I sometimes think that happiness is the only thing that counts. I don't know you well enough to say, but I should guess you might be a little inclined to--when one's young and attractive--I'm going to say it!--everything's at one's feet.\" She glanced round as much as to say, \"not only a few stuffy books and Bach.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was so late that there was no time for normal conversation between their arrival at the hotel and their retirement to bed. But Hirst wandered into Hewet's room with a collar in his hand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Doubtful as we frequently are whether either the French or the Americans, who have so much in common with us, can yet understand English literature, we must admit graver doubts whether, for all their enthusiasm, the English can understand Russian literature. Debate might protract itself indefinitely as to what we mean by \"understand\". Instances will occur to everybody of American writers in particular who have written with the highest discrimination of our literature and of ourselves; who have lived a lifetime among us, and finally have taken legal steps to become subjects of King George. For all that, have they understood us, have they not remained to the end of their days foreigners? Could any one believe that the novels of Henry James were written by a man who had grown-up in the society which he describes, or that his criticism of English writers was written by a man who had read Shakespeare without any sense of the Atlantic Ocean and two or three hundred years on the far side of it separating his civilisation from ours?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He was sitting in his bedroom, one leg over the arm of the chair, and Hirst was writing a letter opposite. Hirst was quick to point out that all the difficulties remained.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She had the simplest egotism, the most open desire to be thought first always, and Clarissa loved her for being still like that. \"I can't believe it!\" she cried, kindling all over with pleasure at the thought of the past.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Please tell me--everything.\" That was what she wanted to say. He had drawn apart one little chink and showed astonishing treasures. It seemed to her incredible that a man like that should be willing to talk to her. He had sisters and pets, and once lived in the country. She stirred her tea round and round; the bubbles which swam and clustered in the cup seemed to her like the union of their minds.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But the quarrel was ended, very shortly, by the death (22nd May 1466) of John Paston, the father, in London. The body was brought down to Bromholm to be buried. Twelve poor men trudged all the way bearing torches beside it. Alms were distributed; masses and dirges were said. Bells were rung.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She nodded her head at a table near them, where two girls and two young men were chaffing each other very loudly, and carrying on an arch insinuating dialogue, sprinkled with endearments, about, it seemed, a pair of stockings or a pair of legs. One of the girls was flirting a fan and pretending to be shocked, and the sight was very unpleasant, partly because it was obvious that the girls were secretly hostile to each other.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The trees stood massively in all their summer foliage spotted and grouped upon a meadow which sloped gently down from the big white house. There were unmistakable signs of the year 1835 both in the trees and in the sky, for modern trees are not nearly so voluminous as these ones, and the sky of those days had a kind of pale diffusion in its texture which was different from the more concentrated tone of the skies we know.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I'm not finer,\" he answered. \"I'm only older, lazier; a man, not a woman.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Strange, she thought, pausing on the landing, and assembling that diamond shape, that single person, strange how a mistress knows the very moment, the very temper of her house! Faint sounds rose in spirals up the well of the stairs; the swish of a mop; tapping; knocking; a loudness when the front door opened; a voice repeating a message in the basement; the chink of silver on a tray; clean silver for the party. All was for the party.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Voices were heard at the end of the corridor. Mrs. Ambrose was speaking low; William Pepper was remarking in his definite and rather acid voice, \"That is the type of lady with whom I find myself distinctly out of sympathy. She--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "One after another they rose and stretched themselves, and in a few minutes divided more or less into two separate parties. One of these parties was dominated by Hughling Elliot and Mrs. Thornbury, who, having both read the same books and considered the same questions, were now anxious to name the places beneath them and to hang upon them stores of information about navies and armies, political parties, natives and mineral products--all of which combined, they said, to prove that South America was the country of the future.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Toads? Those are stones, Helen. Come out. It's nicer out. The flowers smell,\" Rachel replied.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "For the first Mrs. Edgeworth was a penniless girl, the daughter of a ruined country gentleman, who sat over his fire picking cinders from the hearth and throwing them into the grate, while from time to time he ejaculated \"Hein! Heing!\" as yet another scheme for making his fortune came into his head. She had had no education. An itinerant writing-master had taught her to form a few words.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"And then Tristan goes like this, and Isolde--oh!--it's all too thrilling! Have you been to Bayreuth?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "So, thought Septimus, looking up, they are signalling to me. Not indeed in actual words; that is, he could not read the language yet; but it was plain enough, this beauty, this exquisite beauty, and tears filled his eyes as he looked at the smoke words languishing and melting in the sky and bestowing upon him in their inexhaustible charity and laughing goodness one shape after another of unimaginable beauty and signalling their intention to provide him, for nothing, for ever, for looking merely, with beauty, more beauty! Tears ran down his cheeks.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I didn't want to come here,\" he said at last, \"but I was positively driven to it. . . . Evelyn M.,\" he groaned.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She turned her back on the sea and regarded Hewet with friendly if critical eyes. He was good-looking in the sense that he had always had a sufficiency of beef to eat and fresh air to breathe. His head was big; the eyes were also large; though generally vague they could be forcible; and the lips were sensitive. One might account him a man of considerable passion and fitful energy, likely to be at the mercy of moods which had little relation to facts; at once tolerant and fastidious. The breadth of his forehead showed capacity for thought.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Ruin, weariness, death, perpetually death, stand grimly to confront the other presence of Elizabethan drama which is life: life compact of frigates, fir trees and ivory, of dolphins and the juice of July flowers, of the milk of unicorns and panthers' breath, of ropes of pearl, brains of peacocks and Cretan wine. To this, life at its most reckless and abundant, they reply", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She moved; she crossed; he followed her. To embarrass her was the last thing he wished. Still if she stopped he would say \"Come and have an ice,\" he would say, and she would answer, perfectly simply, \"Oh yes.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But why should she invite all the dull women in London to her parties? Why should Mrs. Marsham interfere? And there was Elizabeth closeted all this time with Doris Kilman. Anything more nauseating she could not conceive. Prayer at this hour with that woman.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I will tell you the time,\" said Septimus, very slowly, very drowsily, smiling mysteriously. As he sat smiling at the dead man in the grey suit the quarter struck--the quarter to twelve.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Such are the visions. The solitary traveller is soon beyond the wood; and there, coming to the door with shaded eyes, possibly to look for his return, with hands raised, with white apron blowing, is an elderly woman who seems (so powerful is this infirmity) to seek, over a desert, a lost son; to search for a rider destroyed; to be the figure of the mother whose sons have been killed in the battles of the world. So, as the solitary traveller advances down the village street where the women stand knitting and the men dig in the garden, the evening seems ominous; the figures still; as if some august fate, known to them, awaited without fear, were about to sweep them into complete annihilation.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The clock, which had been wheezing for some minutes like an old man preparing to cough, now struck nine. The sound slightly disturbed certain somnolent merchants, government officials, and men of independent means who were lying back in their chairs, chatting, smoking, ruminating about their affairs, with their eyes half shut; they raised their lids for an instant at the sound and then closed them again. They had the appearance of crocodiles so fully gorged by their last meal that the future of the world gives them no anxiety whatever. The only disturbance in the placid bright room was caused by a large moth which shot from light to light, whizzing over elaborate heads of hair, and causing several young women to raise their hands nervously and exclaim, \"Some one ought to kill it!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The game was really a good one, and Mr. Pepper and Mr. Elliot were becoming more and more set upon the struggle. Mrs. Thornbury, seeing that St. John did not wish to talk, resumed her knitting.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "They all smiled. Peter Walsh! And Mr. Dalloway was genuinely glad, Milly Brush thought; and Mr. Whitbread thought only of his chicken.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Walking--riding--yachting--I suppose the most momentous conversations of my life took place while perambulating the great court at Trinity. I was at both universities. It was a fad of my father's. He thought it broadening to the mind. I think I agree with him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Even if they took him, she said, she would go with him. They could not separate them against their wills, she said.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "How divine!--and yet what nonsense!\" She looked lightly round the room. \"I always think it's living, not dying, that counts. I really respect some snuffy old stockbroker who's gone on adding up column after column all his days, and trotting back to his villa at Brixton with some old pug dog he worships, and a dreary little wife sitting at the end of the table, and going off to Margate for a fortnight--I assure you I know heaps like that--well, they seem to me really nobler than poets whom every one worships, just because they're geniuses and die young. But I don't expect you to agree with me!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "I have often thought of it as one of the most barbarous customs in the world, considering us as a civilised and a Christian country, that we deny the advantages of learning to women. We reproach the sex every day with folly and impertinence; which I am confident, had they the advantages of education equal to us, they would be guilty of less than ourselves.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"And of course I am--immensely clever,\" said Hirst. \"I'm infinitely cleverer than Hewet. It's quite possible,\" he continued in his curiously impersonal manner, \"that I'm going to be one of the people who really matter. That's utterly different from being clever, though one can't expect one's family to see it,\" he added bitterly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Hewet brushed aside her generalisation as to the natures of the two sexes, for such generalisations bored him and seemed to him generally untrue. But, knowing Hirst, he guessed fairly accurately what had happened, and, though secretly much amused, was determined that Rachel should not store the incident away in her mind to take its place in the view she had of life.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Thank God!\" she exclaimed, shaking herself like a dog. \"Now I'll roll on the carpet and see if I can't brush off what remains of the Union Jack. Then perhaps--\" here she rolled energetically. Getting up she began to explain to us what modern pictures are like when Castalia stopped her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "When one was young, said Peter, one was too much excited to know people. Now that one was old, fifty-two to be precise (Sally was fifty-five, in body, she said, but her heart was like a girl's of twenty); now that one was mature then, said Peter, one could watch, one could understand, and one did not lose the power of feeling, he said. No, that is true, said Sally. She felt more deeply, more passionately, every year. It increased, he said, alas, perhaps, but one should be glad of it--it went on increasing in his experience.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The truth was that Mr. and Mrs. Dalloway had found themselves stranded in Lisbon. They had been travelling on the Continent for some weeks, chiefly with a view to broadening Mr. Dalloway's mind. Unable for a season, by one of the accidents of political life, to serve his country in Parliament, Mr. Dalloway was doing the best he could to serve it out of Parliament. For that purpose the Latin countries did very well, although the East, of course, would have done better.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Lady Bruton stood by Miss Parry's chair, a spectral grenadier, draped in black, inviting Peter Walsh to lunch; cordial; but without small talk, remembering nothing whatever about the flora or fauna of India. She had been there, of course; had stayed with three Viceroys; thought some of the Indian civilians uncommonly fine fellows; but what a tragedy it was--the state of India! The Prime Minister had just been telling her (old Miss Parry huddled up in her shawl, did not care what the Prime Minister had just been telling her), and Lady Bruton would like to have Peter Walsh's opinion, he being fresh from the centre, and she would get Sir Sampson to meet him, for really it prevented her from sleeping at night, the folly of it, the wickedness she might say, being a soldier's daughter. She was an old woman now, not good for much. But her house, her servants, her good friend Milly Brush--did he remember her?--were all there only asking to be used if--if they could be of help, in short.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The explanation is a strange one. It is equally disconcerting to the reader who wishes to take his bearings in the chaos of contemporary literature and to the writer who has a natural desire to know whether his own work, produced with infinite pains and in almost utter darkness, is likely to burn for ever among the fixed luminaries of English letters or, on the contrary, to put out the fire. But if we identify ourselves with the reader and explore his dilemma first, our bewilderment is short-lived enough. The same thing has happened so often before. We have heard the doctors disagreeing about the new and agreeing about the old twice a year on the average, in spring and autumn, ever since Robert Elsmere, or was it Stephen Phillips, somehow pervaded the atmosphere, and there was the same disagreement among grown-up people about them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Once you fall, Septimus repeated to himself, human nature is on you. Holmes and Bradshaw are on you. They scour the desert. They fly screaming into the wilderness. The rack and the thumbscrew are applied.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He was slightly annoyed, and in his capacity as leader of the expedition, inclined to be dictatorial. He spoke quickly, using curiously sharp, meaningless words.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Oh, he did, she cried. But he did not mean it, she said. Of course not. It was merely a question of rest, said Sir William; of rest, rest, rest; a long rest in bed. There was a delightful home down in the country where her husband would be perfectly looked after.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Thank you, Hughling's better,\" she replied, in answer to Mrs. Thornbury's enquiry, \"but he's not an easy patient. He wants to know what his temperature is, and if I tell him he gets anxious, and if I don't tell him he suspects. You know what men are when they're ill! And of course there are none of the proper appliances, and, though he seems very willing and anxious to help\" (here she lowered her voice mysteriously), \"one can't feel that Dr. Rodriguez is the same as a proper doctor. If you would come and see him, Mr. Hewet,\" she added, \"I know it would cheer him up--lying there in bed all day--and the flies--But I must go and find Angelo--the food here--of course, with an invalid, one wants things particularly nice.\" And she hurried past them in search of the head waiter.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"D'you realise what you're doing?\" she demanded. \"She's young, you're both young; and marriage--\" Here she ceased. They begged her, however, to continue, with such earnestness in their voices, as if they only craved advice, that she was led to add:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "(June had drawn out every leaf on the trees. The mothers of Pimlico gave suck to their young. Messages were passing from the Fleet to the Admiralty. Arlington Street and Piccadilly seemed to chafe the very air in the Park and lift its leaves hotly, brilliantly, on waves of that divine vitality which Clarissa loved. To dance, to ride, she had adored all that.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "That elusive quality is indeed often made up of very different parts, which it needs a peculiar genius to bring together. The wit of Jane Austen has for partner the perfection of her taste. Her fool is a fool, her snob is a snob, because he departs from the model of sanity and sense which she has in mind, and conveys to us unmistakably even while she makes us laugh. Never did any novelist make more use of an impeccable sense of human values. It is against the disc of an unerring heart, an unfailing good taste, an almost stern morality, that she shows up those deviations from kindness, truth, and sincerity which are among the most delightful things in English literature.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Next morning the storm was on them, and no politeness could ignore it. Mrs. Dalloway stayed in her room. Richard faced three meals, eating valiantly at each; but at the third, certain glazed asparagus swimming in oil finally conquered him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Mrs. Dalloway will see me,\" said the elderly man in the hall. \"Oh yes, she will see me,\" he repeated, putting Lucy aside very benevolently, and running upstairs ever so quickly. \"Yes, yes, yes,\" he muttered as he ran upstairs. \"She will see me.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Rows of brown backs paused for a moment and then leapt with a motion as if they were springing over waves out of sight. For a moment no one of them could believe that they had really seen live animals in the open--a herd of wild deer, and the sight aroused a childlike excitement in them, dissipating their gloom.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Elizabeth rather wondered whether Miss Kilman could be hungry. It was her way of eating, eating with intensity, then looking, again and again, at a plate of sugared cakes on the table next them; then, when a lady and a child sat down and the child took the cake, could Miss Kilman really mind it? Yes, Miss Kilman did mind it. She had wanted that cake--the pink one. The pleasure of eating was almost the only pure pleasure left her, and then to be baffled even in that!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"The odd thing is that I don't find you old at all,\" he replied. \"I feel as though we were exactly the same age. Moreover--\" here he hesitated, but took courage from a glance at her face, \"I feel as if I could talk quite plainly to you as one does to a man--about the relations between the sexes, about . . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was so hot that they scarcely moved, except now to change a foot, or, again, to strike a match. Their eyes, concentrated upon the bank, were full of the same green reflections, and their lips were slightly pressed together as though the sights they were passing gave rise to thoughts, save that Hirst's lips moved intermittently as half consciously he sought rhymes for God. Whatever the thoughts of the others, no one said anything for a considerable space. They had grown so accustomed to the wall of trees on either side that they looked up with a start when the light suddenly widened out and the trees came to an end.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"That's splendid!\" Evelyn exclaimed, grasping his hand. \"Now you'll go back and start all kinds of things and make a great name in the world; and we'll go on being friends, whatever happens . . . we'll be great friends, won't we?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "At the office they advanced him to a post of considerable responsibility. They were proud of him; he had won crosses. \"You have done your duty; it is up to us--\" began Mr. Brewer; and could not finish, so pleasurable was his emotion. They took admirable lodgings off the Tottenham Court Road.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "At a little distance from Miss Allan, on a seat shaded and made semi-private by a thick clump of palm trees, Arthur and Susan were reading each other's letters. The big slashing manuscripts of hockey-playing young women in Wiltshire lay on Arthur's knee, while Susan deciphered tight little legal hands which rarely filled more than a page, and always conveyed the same impression of jocular and breezy goodwill.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Dr. Holmes came again. Large, fresh coloured, handsome, flicking his boots, looking in the glass, he brushed it all aside--headaches, sleeplessness, fears, dreams--nerve symptoms and nothing more, he said. If Dr. Holmes found himself even half a pound below eleven stone six, he asked his wife for another plate of porridge at breakfast. (Rezia would learn to cook porridge.) But, he continued, health is largely a matter in our own control.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Ah, said St. Margaret's, like a hostess who comes into her drawing-room on the very stroke of the hour and finds her guests there already. I am not late. No, it is precisely half-past eleven, she says. Yet, though she is perfectly right, her voice, being the voice of the hostess, is reluctant to inflict its individuality. Some grief for the past holds it back; some concern for the present.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Indeed, Clarissa felt, the Prime Minister had been good to come. And, walking down the room with him, with Sally there and Peter there and Richard very pleased, with all those people rather inclined, perhaps, to envy, she had felt that intoxication of the moment, that dilatation of the nerves of the heart itself till it seemed to quiver, steeped, upright;--yes, but after all it was what other people felt, that; for, though she loved it and felt it tingle and sting, still these semblances, these triumphs (dear old Peter, for example, thinking her so brilliant), had a hollowness; at arm's length they were, not in the heart; and it might be that she was growing old but they satisfied her no longer as they used; and suddenly, as she saw the Prime Minister go down the stairs, the gilt rim of the Sir Joshua picture of the little girl with a muff brought back Kilman with a rush; Kilman her enemy. That was satisfying; that was real. Ah, how she hated her--hot, hypocritical, corrupt; with all that power; Elizabeth's seducer; the woman who had crept in to steal and defile (Richard would say, What nonsense!). She hated her: she loved her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You have beauty,\" he said. The ship lurched. Rachel fell slightly forward. Richard took her in his arms and kissed her. Holding her tight, he kissed her passionately, so that she felt the hardness of his body and the roughness of his cheek printed upon hers.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The Euphrosyne was slowly dipping her flag. Richard raised his hat. Convulsively Clarissa squeezed Rachel's hand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It's the most perfect thing in the world,\" Susan stated, very gently and with great conviction. It was no longer merely a proposal of marriage, but of marriage with Arthur, with whom she was in love.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Mr. Flushing treated his wife with a mixture of admiration and indulgence, making up by the suavity and fluency of his speech for the abruptness of hers. While she darted and ejaculated he gave Rachel a sketch of the history of South American art. He would deal with one of his wife's exclamations, and then return as smoothly as ever to his theme. He knew very well how to make a luncheon pass agreeably, without being dull or intimate. He had formed the opinion, so he told Rachel, that wonderful treasures lay hid in the depths of the land; the things Rachel had seen were merely trifles picked up in the course of one short journey.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It does seem possible!\" he exclaimed, \"though I've always thought it the most unlikely thing in the world--I shall be in love with you all my life, and our marriage will be the most exciting thing that's ever been done! We'll never have a moment's peace--\" He caught her in his arms as she passed him, and they fought for mastery, imagining a rock, and the sea heaving beneath them. At last she was thrown to the floor, where she lay gasping, and crying for mercy.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Helen sat and looked at him with her needle in her hand. From her position she saw his head in front of the dark pyramid of a magnolia-tree. With one foot raised on the rung of a chair, and her elbow out in the attitude for sewing, her own figure possessed the sublimity of a woman's of the early world, spinning the thread of fate--the sublimity possessed by many women of the present day who fall into the attitude required by scrubbing or sewing. St. John looked at her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Good Lord, what opportunities there are now for young men!\" said Dalloway, for his talk had set him thinking. \"I don't suppose there's been so good an opening since the days of Pitt.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Our Miss Johnson used to find life very unsatisfactory, I remember,\" Miss Allan continued. She turned her back to the light. \"And then she took to breeding guinea-pigs for their spots, and became absorbed in that. I have just heard that the yellow guinea-pig has had a black baby. We had a bet of sixpence on about it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The common reader, as Dr. Johnson implies, differs from the critic and the scholar. He is worse educated, and nature has not gifted him so generously. He reads for his own pleasure rather than to impart knowledge or correct the opinions of others. Above all, he is guided by an instinct to create for himself, out of whatever odds and ends he can come by, some kind of whole--a portrait of a man, a sketch of an age, a theory of the art of writing. He never ceases, as he reads, to run up some rickety and ramshackle fabric which shall give him the temporary satisfaction of looking sufficiently like the real object to allow of affection, laughter, and argument.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Cheerfully, almost gaily, the invincible thread of sound wound up into the air like the smoke from a cottage chimney, winding up clean beech trees and issuing in a tuft of blue smoke among the topmost leaves. \"And if some one should see, what matter they?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "If then in Sophocles the play is concentrated in the figures themselves, and in Euripides is to be retrieved from flashes of poetry and questions far flung and unanswered, AEschylus makes these little dramas (the Agamemnon has 1663 lines; Lear about 2600), tremendous by stretching every phrase to the utmost, by sending them floating forth in metaphors, by bidding them rise up and stalk eyeless and majestic through the scene. To understand him it is not so necessary to understand Greek as to understand poetry. It is necessary to take that dangerous leap through the air without the support of words which Shakespeare also asks of us. For words, when opposed to such a blast of meaning, must give out, must be blown astray, and only by collecting in companies convey the meaning which each one separately is too weak to express. Connecting them in a rapid flight of the mind we know instantly and instinctively what they mean, but could not decant that meaning afresh into any other words.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"That's so like Aunt Lucy and Aunt Katie,\" said Rachel at last. \"They always make out that she was very sad and very good.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Pepper, you have me,\" said Mr. Elliot. \"My chess is even worse than I remembered.\" He accepted his defeat with great equanimity, because he really wished to talk.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Just because they're in love,\" said Hewet. \"Yes,\" he added after a moment's consideration, \"there's something horribly pathetic about it, I agree.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"The vote?\" Rachel repeated. She had to visualise it as a little bit of paper which she dropped into a box before she understood his question, and looking at each other they smiled at something absurd in the question.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Nevertheless, they remained uncomfortably apart; drawn so close together, as she spoke, that there seemed no division between them, and the next moment separate and far away again. Feeling this painfully, she exclaimed, \"It will be a fight.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Clarissa always said that Lady Bruton did not like her. Indeed, Lady Bruton had the reputation of being more interested in politics than people; of talking like a man; of having had a finger in some notorious intrigue of the eighties, which was now beginning to be mentioned in memoirs. Certainly there was an alcove in her drawing-room, and a table in that alcove, and a photograph upon that table of General Sir Talbot Moore, now deceased, who had written there (one evening in the eighties) in Lady Bruton's presence, with her cognisance, perhaps advice, a telegram ordering the British troops to advance upon an historical occasion. (She kept the pen and told the story.) Thus, when she said in her offhand way \"How's Clarissa?\" husbands had difficulty in persuading their wives and indeed, however devoted, were secretly doubtful themselves, of her interest in women who often got in their husbands' way, prevented them from accepting posts abroad, and had to be taken to the seaside in the middle of the session to recover from influenza.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"But about Gibbon?\" Hewet interrupted. The look of nervous tension which had come over every face was relaxed by the interruption.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The people were scattered about in couples or parties of four, and either they were actually better acquainted, or the informal room made their manners easier. Through the open window came an uneven humming sound like that which rises from a flock of sheep pent within hurdles at dusk. The card-party occupied the centre of the foreground.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "His poetry is first to be considered; of which it must be confessed that it has not often those felicities of diction which give lustre to sentiments, or that vigour of sentiment that animates diction; there is little of ardour, vehemence, or transport; there is very rarely the awfulness of grandeur, and not very often the splendour of elegance. He thinks justly; but he thinks faintly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"And now,\" she said, \"be quiet and tell me about the world; tell me about everything that's ever happened, and I'll tell you--let me see, what can I tell you?--I'll tell you about Miss Montgomerie and the river party. She was left, you see, with one foot in the boat, and the other on shore.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Hewet stood firmly between him and the door. He was determined to see for himself what kind of man he was. His confidence in the man vanished as he looked at him and saw his insignificance, his dirty appearance, his shiftiness, and his unintelligent, hairy face. It was strange that he had never seen this before.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Suddenly, without giving us time to arrange our thoughts or prepare our phrases, our guest has left us; and his withdrawal without farewell or ceremony is in keeping with his mysterious arrival, long years ago, to take up his lodging in this country. For there was always an air of mystery about him. It was partly his Polish birth, partly his memorable appearance, partly his preference for living in the depths of the country, out of ear-shot of gossips, beyond reach of hostesses, so that for news of him one had to depend upon the evidence of simple visitors with a habit of ringing door-bells who reported of their unknown host that he had the most perfect manners, the brightest eyes, and spoke English with a strong foreign accent.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I confine myself to cricket and crime,\" said Hirst. \"The worst of coming from the upper classes,\" he continued, \"is that one's friends are never killed in railway accidents.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Oh, how I envy you!\" Clarissa addressed Rachel for the first time. \"D'you remember this? Isn't it divine?\" She played a bar or two with ringed fingers upon the page.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Though, unfortunately, rather lazy. I intend to allow Rachel to be a fool if she wants to, and--Do you find me on the whole satisfactory in other respects?\" he asked shyly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Miss Vinrace has promised to lunch with me,\" said Mrs. Flushing, and began to pound energetically up the staircase, as though the middle classes of England were in pursuit. She did not stop until she had slammed her bedroom door behind them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Miss Vinrace, is it?\" said Hewet, peering at her. \"You were dancing with Hirst?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The glamour insensibly faded a little both from Richard and Clarissa. They had not been so wonderful after all, then, in the eyes of a mature person.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The fountain was in the middle of a little shrubbery, far from the house, with shrubs and trees all round it. There she came, even before the time, and they stood with the fountain between them, the spout (it was broken) dribbling water incessantly. How sights fix themselves upon the mind! For example, the vivid green moss.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "There was still an hour to luncheon, and with Gibbon in one hand, and Balzac in the other she strolled out of the gate and down the little path of beaten mud between the olive trees on the slope of the hill. It was too hot for climbing hills, but along the valley there were trees and a grass path running by the river bed. In this land where the population was centred in the towns it was possible to lose sight of civilisation in a very short time, passing only an occasional farmhouse, where the women were handling red roots in the courtyard; or a little boy lying on his elbows on the hillside surrounded by a flock of black strong-smelling goats. Save for a thread of water at the bottom, the river was merely a deep channel of dry yellow stones. On the bank grew those trees which Helen had said it was worth the voyage out merely to see.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He had reached his hotel. He crossed the hall, with its mounds of reddish chairs and sofas, its spike-leaved, withered-looking plants. He got his key off the hook. The young lady handed him some letters. He went upstairs--he saw her most often at Bourton, in the late summer, when he stayed there for a week, or fortnight even, as people did in those days.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I propose that each member of this party now gives a short biographical sketch of himself or herself,\" said Hirst, sitting upright. \"Miss Vinrace, you come first; begin.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Very gently and quietly, almost as if it were the blood singing in her veins, or the water of the stream running over stones, Rachel became conscious of a new feeling within her. She wondered for a moment what it was, and then said to herself, with a little surprise at recognising in her own person so famous a thing:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "No such restraints were laid on Dostoevsky. It is all the same to him whether you are noble or simple, a tramp or a great lady. Whoever you are, you are the vessel of this perplexed liquid, this cloudy, yeasty, precious stuff, the soul. The soul is not restrained by barriers. It overflows, it floods, it mingles with the souls of others.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I wonder whether that isn't really what matters most?\" said Hewet. Lying now flat on the bed he waved his hand in vague circles above him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Oh, what fun!\" he cried. \"What am I sitting on? Is this your room? How jolly!\" \"There--sit there,\" she commanded. Cowper slid once more.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Nay, retire men cannot when they would; neither will they, when it were Reason; but are impatient of Privateness, even in age and sickness, which require the shadow: like old Townsmen: that will still be sitting at their street door, though thereby they offer Age to Scorn . . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Millicent Bruton, whose lunch parties were said to be extraordinarily amusing, had not asked her. No vulgar jealousy could separate her from Richard. But she feared time itself, and read on Lady Bruton's face, as if it had been a dial cut in impassive stone, the dwindling of life; how year by year her share was sliced; how little the margin that remained was capable any longer of stretching, of absorbing, as in the youthful years, the colours, salts, tones of existence, so that she filled the room she entered, and felt often as she stood hesitating one moment on the threshold of her drawing-room, an exquisite suspense, such as might stay a diver before plunging while the sea darkens and brightens beneath him, and the waves which threaten to break, but only gently split their surface, roll and conceal and encrust as they just turn over the weeds with pearl.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"All one's faculties have their play,\" said Richard. \"I may be treading on dangerous ground; but what I feel about poets and artists in general is this: on your own lines, you can't be beaten--granted; but off your own lines--puff--one has to make allowances. Now, I shouldn't like to think that any one had to make allowances for me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "London has swallowed up many millions of young men called Smith; thought nothing of fantastic Christian names like Septimus with which their parents have thought to distinguish them. Lodging off the Euston Road, there were experiences, again experiences, such as change a face in two years from a pink innocent oval to a face lean, contracted, hostile. But of all this what could the most observant of friends have said except what a gardener says when he opens the conservatory door in the morning and finds a new blossom on his plant:--It has flowered; flowered from vanity, ambition, idealism, passion, loneliness, courage, laziness, the usual seeds, which all muddled up (in a room off the Euston Road), made him shy, and stammering, made him anxious to improve himself, made him fall in love with Miss Isabel Pole, lecturing in the Waterloo Road upon Shakespeare.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Here Helen passed them, and seeing Rachel arm-in-arm with a comparative stranger, looking excited, was amused, but at the same time slightly irritated. But they were immediately joined by Richard, who had enjoyed a very interesting talk with Willoughby and was in a sociable mood.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"That's no one's life,\" he returned, \"no young person's. You'll come?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Clarissa opened one eye. It gave her an incredibly dissipated appearance. \"Awful!\" she gasped. Her lips were white inside.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The second day did not differ very much from the first day, except that her bed had become very important, and the world outside, when she tried to think of it, appeared distinctly further off. The glassy, cool, translucent wave was almost visible before her, curling up at the end of the bed, and as it was refreshingly cool she tried to keep her mind fixed upon it. Helen was here, and Helen was there all day long; sometimes she said that it was lunchtime, and sometimes that it was teatime; but by the next day all landmarks were obliterated, and the outer world was so far away that the different sounds, such as the sounds of people moving overhead, could only be ascribed to their cause by a great effort of memory. The recollection of what she had felt, or of what she had been doing and thinking three days before, had faded entirely. On the other hand, every object in the room, and the bed itself, and her own body with its various limbs and their different sensations were more and more important each day.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"No. Why should it?\" said Helen. \"But can you remember if your wife takes sugar?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You've been very fortunate, then,\" said Hirst. \"Or perhaps I've been very unfortunate.\" He became silent.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He stayed, however, in apparent contentment for six days, playing with a microscope and a notebook in one of the many sparsely furnished sitting-rooms, but on the evening of the seventh day, as they sat at dinner, he appeared more restless than usual. The dinner-table was set between two long windows which were left uncurtained by Helen's orders. Darkness fell as sharply as a knife in this climate, and the town then sprang out in circles and lines of bright dots beneath them. Buildings which never showed by day showed by night, and the sea flowed right over the land judging by the moving lights of the steamers. The sight fulfilled the same purpose as an orchestra in a London restaurant, and silence had its setting.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But she had to write. And one letter to the Times, she used to say to Miss Brush, cost her more than to organise an expedition to South Africa (which she had done in the war). After a morning's battle beginning, tearing up, beginning again, she used to feel the futility of her own womanhood as she felt it on no other occasion, and would turn gratefully to the thought of Hugh Whitbread who possessed--no one could doubt it--the art of writing letters to the Times.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Mrs. Chailey folded her sheets, but her expression testified to flatness within. The world no longer cared about her, and a ship was not a home. When the lamps were lit yesterday, and the sailors went tumbling above her head, she had cried; she would cry this evening; she would cry to-morrow. It was not home. Meanwhile she arranged her ornaments in the room which she had won too easily.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"English entomologists care little or nothing for objects of practical importance,\" she exclaimed suddenly. \"Take this question of flour infestation--I can't say how many grey hairs that hasn't grown me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Observing that they passed no other hansom cab, but only vans and waggons, and that not one of the thousand men and women she saw was either a gentleman or a lady, Mrs. Ambrose understood that after all it is the ordinary thing to be poor, and that London is the city of innumerable poor people. Startled by this discovery and seeing herself pacing a circle all the days of her life round Picadilly Circus she was greatly relieved to pass a building put up by the London County Council for Night Schools.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Well,\" she was saying, \"this is very nice. It is very nice indeed. Getting engaged seems to be quite the fashion. It cannot often happen that two couples who have never seen each other before meet in the same hotel and decide to get married.\" Then she paused and smiled, and seemed to have nothing more to say, so that Terence rose and asked her whether it was true that she had finished her book. Some one had said that she had really finished it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"There are heaps of things I want to say to you still,\" she said. \"And I'm going to, some time. I suppose you must go to bed now?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Mr. Venning was a dark young man, about thirty-two years of age, very slapdash and confident in his manner, although at this moment obviously a little excited. His friend Mr. Perrott was a barrister, and as Mr. Perrott refused to go anywhere without Mr. Venning it was necessary, when Mr. Perrott came to Santa Marina about a Company, for Mr. Venning to come too. He was a barrister also, but he loathed a profession which kept him indoors over books, and directly his widowed mother died he was going, so he confided to Susan, to take up flying seriously, and become partner in a large business for making aeroplanes. The talk rambled on. It dealt, of course, with the beauties and singularities of the place, the streets, the people, and the quantities of unowned yellow dogs.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Indeed if they had not been blessed in their weather, one blue day being bowled up after another, smooth, round, and flawless, Mrs. Ambrose would have found it very dull. As it was, she had her embroidery frame set up on deck, with a little table by her side on which lay open a black volume of philosophy. She chose a thread from the vari-coloured tangle that lay in her lap, and sewed red into the bark of a tree, or yellow into the river torrent. She was working at a great design of a tropical river running through a tropical forest, where spotted deer would eventually browse upon masses of fruit, bananas, oranges, and giant pomegranates, while a troop of naked natives whirled darts into the air. Between the stitches she looked to one side and read a sentence about the Reality of Matter, or the Nature of Good.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Yet rumours were at once in circulation from the middle of Bond Street to Oxford Street on one side, to Atkinson's scent shop on the other, passing invisibly, inaudibly, like a cloud, swift, veil-like upon hills, falling indeed with something of a cloud's sudden sobriety and stillness upon faces which a second before had been utterly disorderly. But now mystery had brushed them with her wing; they had heard the voice of authority; the spirit of religion was abroad with her eyes bandaged tight and her lips gaping wide. But nobody knew whose face had been seen. Was it the Prince of Wales's, the Queen's, the Prime Minister's? Whose face was it?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"What is it to be in love?\" she demanded, after a long silence; each word as it came into being seemed to shove itself out into an unknown sea. Hypnotised by the wings of the butterfly, and awed by the discovery of a terrible possibility in life, she sat for some time longer. When the butterfly flew away, she rose, and with her two books beneath her arm returned home again, much as a soldier prepared for battle.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "In 1652, when it seemed that things had settled down unhappily enough, \"all being entirely in the rebels' hands\", Evelyn returned to England with his wife, his Tables of Veins and Arteries, his Venetian glass and the rest of his curiosities, to lead the life of a country gentleman of strong Royalist sympathies at Deptford. What with going to church and going to town, settling his accounts and planting his garden--\"I planted the orchard at Sayes Court; new moon, wind west\"--his time was spent much as ours is. But there was one difference which it is difficult to illustrate by a single quotation, because the evidence is scattered all about in little insignificant phrases. The general effect of them is that he used his eyes. The visible world was always close to him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Helen thinks she's worse,\" he said. \"There's no doubt she's frightfully ill. Rodriguez is useless. We must get another doctor.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He told her not only what had happened, but what he had thought and felt, and sketched for her portraits which fascinated her of what other men and women might be supposed to be thinking and feeling, so that she became very anxious to go back to England, which was full of people, where she could merely stand in the streets and look at them. According to him, too, there was an order, a pattern which made life reasonable, or if that word was foolish, made it of deep interest anyhow, for sometimes it seemed possible to understand why things happened as they did. Nor were people so solitary and uncommunicative as she believed. She should look for vanity--for vanity was a common quality--first in herself, and then in Helen, in Ridley, in St. John, they all had their share of it--and she would find it in ten people out of every twelve she met; and once linked together by one such tie she would find them not separate and formidable, but practically indistinguishable, and she would come to love them when she found that they were like herself.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Clarissa looked at Sir William, talking to Richard. He did not look like a boy--not in the least like a boy. She had once gone with some one to ask his advice. He had been perfectly right; extremely sensible. But Heavens--what a relief to get out to the street again!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"We shall see you at our party to-night?\" whereupon Lady Bruton resumed the magnificence which letter-writing had shattered. She might come; or she might not come. Clarissa had wonderful energy. Parties terrified Lady Bruton. But then, she was getting old.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Mrs. Thornbury went with them to the gate, trailing very slowly and gracefully across the grass and the gravel, and talking all the time about flowers and birds. She told them that she had taken up the study of botany since her daughter married, and it was wonderful what a number of flowers there were which she had never seen, although she had lived in the country all her life and she was now seventy-two. It was a good thing to have some occupation which was quite independent of other people, she said, when one got old. But the odd thing was that one never felt old. She always felt that she was twenty-five, not a day more or a day less, but, of course, one couldn't expect other people to agree to that.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Such are the visions which ceaselessly float up, pace beside, put their faces in front of, the actual thing; often overpowering the solitary traveller and taking away from him the sense of the earth, the wish to return, and giving him for substitute a general peace, as if (so he thinks as he advances down the forest ride) all this fever of living were simplicity itself; and myriads of things merged in one thing; and this figure, made of sky and branches as it is, had risen from the troubled sea (he is elderly, past fifty now) as a shape might be sucked up out of the waves to shower down from her magnificent hands compassion, comprehension, absolution. So, he thinks, may I never go back to the lamplight; to the sitting-room; never finish my book; never knock out my pipe; never ring for Mrs. Turner to clear away; rather let me walk straight on to this great figure, who will, with a toss of her head, mount me on her streamers and let me blow to nothingness with the rest.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "For sometimes, instead of riding off on his horse to inspect his crops or bargain with his tenants, Sir John would sit, in broad daylight, reading. There, on the hard chair in the comfortless room with the wind lifting the carpet and the smoke stinging his eyes, he would sit reading Chaucer, wasting his time, dreaming--or what strange intoxication was it that he drew from books? Life was rough, cheerless, and disappointing. A whole year of days would pass fruitlessly in dreary business, like dashes of rain on the window pane. There was no reason in it as there had been for his father; no imperative need to establish a family and acquire an important position for children who were not born, or if born, had no right to bear their father's name.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "A little man who was bent as some trees are by a gale on one side of them had slipped in. Nodding to Mr. Ambrose, he shook hands with Helen.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He told her how hard Perrott's life had been, and how absurdly devoted he was to Arthur himself. He went on to tell her about his mother, a widow lady, of strong character. In return Susan sketched the portraits of her own family--Edith in particular, her youngest sister, whom she loved better than any one else, \"except you, Arthur. . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "These are all difficulties, sources of misunderstanding, of distorted and romantic, of servile and snobbish passion. Yet even for the unlearned some certainties remain. Greek is the impersonal literature; it is also the literature of masterpieces. There are no schools; no forerunners; no heirs. We cannot trace a gradual process working in many men imperfectly until it expresses itself adequately at last in one.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Poor Peter, thought Sally. Why did not Clarissa come and talk to them? That was what he was longing for. She knew it. All the time he was thinking only of Clarissa, and was fidgeting with his knife.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"There's Pepper writing to his aunt,\" said Hewet. \"She must be a very remarkable old lady, eighty-five he tells me, and he takes her for walking tours in the New Forest. . . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I despair too,\" she said impetuously. \"How are you going to judge people merely by their minds?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was so extraordinarily nice of them to have come! But talk of dancing! The rooms were packed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Hence our knowledge of Jane Austen is derived from a little gossip, a few letters, and her books. As for the gossip, gossip which has survived its day is never despicable; with a little rearrangement it suits our purpose admirably. For example, Jane \"is not at all pretty and very prim, unlike a girl of twelve . . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"To look at, one might think he was a successful stockbroker, and not one of the greatest painters of the age. That's what I like.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Dear old fellow,\" said Arthur who, now that the first shock was over, was relaxing into an enormous sense of pleasure and contentment. \"We must be very nice to him, Susan.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Yes,\" he said. \"I'm not first-rate, of course; I'm good second-rate; about as good as Thackeray, I should say.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "This time they were both men. The younger of the two wore an expression of perhaps unnatural calm; he raised his eyes and fixed them very steadily in front of him while his companion spoke, and directly his companion had done speaking he looked on the ground again and sometimes opened his lips only after a long pause and sometimes did not open them at all. The elder man had a curiously uneven and shaky method of walking, jerking his hand forward and throwing up his head abruptly, rather in the manner of an impatient carriage horse tired of waiting outside a house; but in the man these gestures were irresolute and pointless. He talked almost incessantly; he smiled to himself and again began to talk, as if the smile had been an answer. He was talking about spirits--the spirits of the dead, who, according to him, were even now telling him all sorts of odd things about their experiences in Heaven.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The embroidery, which was a matter for thought, the design being difficult and the colours wanting consideration, brought lapses into the dialogue when she seemed to be engrossed in her skeins of silk, or, with head a little drawn back and eyes narrowed, considered the effect of the whole. Thus she merely said, \"Um-m-m\" to St. John's next remark, \"I shall ask her to go for a walk with me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Ah, one could tell strange stories of the old days,\" they heard Ridley say, as he sank into his chair again. Glancing back, at the doorway, they saw Mr. Pepper as though he had suddenly loosened his clothes, and had become a vivacious and malicious old ape.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Poor Mrs. Mitford! Twenty-one years ago she left the breakfast-room, and no news has yet been received of her child. Even Mendacity is a little ashamed of itself, and, picking up Mary Russell Mitford and Her Surroundings, assures us that everything will come right if we possess ourselves in patience. The French king's coach was on its way to Bocking; at Bocking lived Lord and Lady Charles Murray-Aynsley; and Lord Charles was shy. Lord Charles had always been shy.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Miss Kilman took another cup of tea. Elizabeth, with her oriental bearing, her inscrutable mystery, sat perfectly upright; no, she did not want anything more. She looked for her gloves--her white gloves. They were under the table. Ah, but she must not go!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Since she was so unhappy, for weeks and weeks now, Rezia had given meanings to things that happened, almost felt sometimes that she must stop people in the street, if they looked good, kind people, just to say to them \"I am unhappy\"; and this old woman singing in the street \"if some one should see, what matter they?\" made her suddenly quite sure that everything was going to be right. They were going to Sir William Bradshaw; she thought his name sounded nice; he would cure Septimus at once. And then there was a brewer's cart, and the grey horses had upright bristles of straw in their tails; there were newspaper placards. It was a silly, silly dream, being unhappy.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Look within and life, it seems, is very far from being \"like this\". Examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day. The mind receives a myriad impressions--trivial, fantastic, evanescent, or engraved with the sharpness of steel. From all sides they come, an incessant shower of innumerable atoms; and as they fall, as they shape themselves into the life of Monday or Tuesday, the accent falls differently from of old; the moment of importance came not here but there; so that if a writer were a free man and not a slave, if he could write what he chose, not what he must, if he could base his work upon his own feeling and not upon convention, there would be no plot, no comedy, no tragedy, no love interest or catastrophe in the accepted style, and perhaps not a single button sewn on as the Bond Street tailors would have it. Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; but a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The virtues which Mrs. Ambrose had once believed to exist in free talk between men and women did in truth exist for both of them, although not quite in the measure she prescribed. Far more than upon the nature of sex they dwelt upon the nature of poetry, but it was true that talk which had no boundaries deepened and enlarged the strangely small bright view of a girl. In return for what he could tell her she brought him such curiosity and sensitiveness of perception, that he was led to doubt whether any gift bestowed by much reading and living was quite the equal of that for pleasure and pain. What would experience give her after all, except a kind of ridiculous formal balance, like that of a drilled dog in the street? He looked at her face and wondered how it would look in twenty years' time, when the eyes had dulled, and the forehead wore those little persistent wrinkles which seem to show that the middle-aged are facing something hard which the young do not see?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You can't conceive how it interests me,\" he said. Indeed, his cigarette had gone out, and he had to light another.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Not a bit of it!\" said Mr. Flushing, turning round, for Mr. Pepper took a very long time to consider his move. \"It's not cowardly to wish to live, Alice. It's the very reverse of cowardly. Personally, I'd like to go on for a hundred years--granted, of course, that I had the full use of my faculties. Think of all the things that are bound to happen!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"How heavenly it is to see you again!\" she exclaimed. He had his knife out. That's so like him, she thought.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She put one hand upon Rachel's shoulder, and stooping, picked up a pair of walking-shoes with the other, and placed them neatly side by side outside her door. As they walked down the passage they passed many pairs of boots and shoes, some black and some brown, all side by side, and all different, even to the way in which they lay together.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You monster!\" Clarissa exclaimed. \"I can only just forgive you. Tell me why?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Well, and what's happened to you?\" she said. So before a battle begins, the horses paw the ground; toss their heads; the light shines on their flanks; their necks curve. So Peter Walsh and Clarissa, sitting side by side on the blue sofa, challenged each other. His powers chafed and tossed in him. He assembled from different quarters all sorts of things; praise; his career at Oxford; his marriage, which she knew nothing whatever about; how he had loved; and altogether done his job.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But winter fell on these villages, darkness and extreme cold descended on the hillside. There must have been some place indoors where men could retire, both in the depths of winter and in the summer heats, where they could sit and drink, where they could lie stretched at their ease, where they could talk. It is Plato, of course, who reveals the life indoors, and describes how, when a party of friends met and had eaten not at all luxuriously and drunk a little wine, some handsome boy ventured a question, or quoted an opinion, and Socrates took it up, fingered it, turned it round, looked at it this way and that, swiftly stripped it of its inconsistencies and falsities and brought the whole company by degrees to gaze with him at the truth. It is an exhausting process; to contract painfully upon the exact meaning of words; to judge what each admission involves; to follow intently, yet critically, the dwindling and changing of opinion as it hardens and intensifies into truth. Are pleasure and good the same?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The lights had long since burnt out on John Paston's grave. But still Sir John delayed; no tomb replaced them. He had his excuses; what with the business of the lawsuit, and his duties at Court, and the disturbance of the civil wars, his time was occupied and his money spent. But perhaps something strange had happened to Sir John himself, and not only to Sir John dallying in London, but to his sister Margery falling in love with the bailiff, and to Walter making Latin verses at Eton, and to John flying his hawks at Paston. Life was a little more various in its pleasures.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Again there was an interruption. Hewet and Hirst appeared at the drawing-room window and came up to the tea-table.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"That--if I may say so--is because you have not read her,\" said Richard. \"She is incomparably the greatest female writer we possess.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"They want to shut up,\" he said. \"My advice is that you should tell Oliver and Perrott to-morrow that you've made up your mind that you don't mean to marry either of them. I'm certain you don't. If you change your mind you can always tell them so. They're both sensible men; they'll understand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The little gush of vitality which had come into Evelyn as she ran downstairs had left her, and she felt herself impotent. There was nothing for her to say; she felt nothing. Now that he was actually asking her, in his elderly gentle words, to marry him, she felt less for him than she had ever felt before.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"There it is,\" said Rezia, twirling Mrs. Peters' hat on the tips of her fingers. \"That'll do for the moment. Later ...\" her sentence bubbled away drip, drip, drip, like a contented tap left running.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I was educated at Winchester and Cambridge, which I had to leave after a time. I have done a good many things since--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I've cared for heaps of people, but not to marry them,\" she said. \"I suppose I'm too fastidious. All my life I've wanted somebody I could look up to, somebody great and big and splendid. Most men are so small.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But the attention of the group was diverted to Mrs. Elliot, who was passing them with her eager but uncertain movement, carrying in her hands a plate and an empty hot-water bottle. She would have passed them, but Mrs. Thornbury went up and stopped her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The snub-nosed monster rises to the surface and spouts through his blunt nostrils two columns of water, which, fiery-white in the centre, spray off into a fringe of blue beads. Strokes of blue line the black tarpaulin of his hide. Slushing the water through mouth and nostrils he sings, heavy with water, and the blue closes over him dowsing the polished pebbles of his eyes. Thrown upon the beach he lies, blunt, obtuse, shedding dry blue scales. Their metallic blue stains the rusty iron on the beach.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She would not say of any one in the world now that they were this or were that. She felt very young; at the same time unspeakably aged. She sliced like a knife through everything; at the same time was outside, looking on. She had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day. Not that she thought herself clever, or much out of the ordinary.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"What are you laughing at?\" she asked him. For Willie Titcomb and Sir Harry and Herbert Ainsty were all laughing. But no. Sir Harry could not tell Clarissa Dalloway (much though he liked her; of her type he thought her perfect, and threatened to paint her) his stories of the music hall stage. He chaffed her about her party.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "I send the first volume of Gibbon as I promised. Personally I find little to be said for the moderns, but I'm going to send you Wedekind when I've done him. Donne? Have you read Webster and all that set? I envy you reading them for the first time.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It is a horror,\" he remarked, \"that we generally find in the very old, and seldom in the young.\" They both expressed their interest in what he told them; it seemed to them very strange. Another strange thing about the day was that the luncheon was forgotten by all of them until it was late in the afternoon, and then Mrs. Chailey waited on them, and looked strange too, because she wore a stiff print dress, and her sleeves were rolled up above her elbows. She seemed as oblivious of her appearance, however, as if she had been called out of her bed by a midnight alarm of fire, and she had forgotten, too, her reserve and her composure; she talked to them quite familiarly as if she had nursed them and held them naked on her knee. She assured them over and over again that it was their duty to eat.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Creme de Menthe,\" she said. \"Liqueur, you know. It looks as if I drank, doesn't it? As a matter of fact it goes to prove what an exceptionally abstemious person I am. I've had that jar for six-and-twenty years,\" she added, looking at it with pride, as she tipped it over, and from the height of the liquid it could be seen that the bottle was still untouched.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Beautiful?\" Helen enquired. It seemed a strange little word, and Hirst and herself both so small that she forgot to answer him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "In all these matters Addison was on the side of sense and taste and civilisation. Of that little fraternity, often so obscure and yet so indispensable, who in every age keep themselves alive to the importance of art and letters and music, watching, discriminating, denouncing and delighting, Addison was one--distinguished and strangely contemporary with ourselves. It would have been, so one imagines, a great pleasure to take him a manuscript; a great enlightenment, as well as a great honour, to have his opinion. In spite of Pope, one fancies that his would have been criticism of the best order, open-minded and generous to novelty, and yet, in the final resort, unfaltering in its standards. The boldness which is a proof of vigour is shown by his defence of \"Chevy Chase\".", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The women put on cloaks and hats, and after inviting Ridley to come with them, which he emphatically refused to do, exclaiming that Rachel he expected to be a fool, but Helen surely knew better, they turned to go. He stood over the fire gazing into the depths of the looking-glass, and compressing his face into the likeness of a commander surveying a field of battle, or a martyr watching the flames lick his toes, rather than that of a secluded Professor.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"There!\" she exclaimed. \"It never struck me to ask. It never occurred to me that they could possibly produce anything.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He had not said \"I love you\"; but he held her hand. Happiness is this, is this, he thought.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The thought of England was delightful, for together they would see the old things freshly; it would be England in June, and there would be June nights in the country; and the nightingales singing in the lanes, into which they could steal when the room grew hot; and there would be English meadows gleaming with water and set with stolid cows, and clouds dipping low and trailing across the green hills. As he sat in the room with her, he wished very often to be back again in the thick of life, doing things with Rachel.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Ibsen was succeeded by a novel such as Mrs. Ambrose detested, whose purpose was to distribute the guilt of a woman's downfall upon the right shoulders; a purpose which was achieved, if the reader's discomfort were any proof of it. She threw the book down, looked out of the window, turned away from the window, and relapsed into an arm-chair.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He was a prey to revelations at that time. This one--that she would marry Dalloway--was blinding--overwhelming at the moment. There was a sort of--how could he put it?--a sort of ease in her manner to him; something maternal; something gentle. They were talking about politics. All through dinner he tried to hear what they were saying.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She had had to buy the roses, Rezia said, from a poor man in the street. But they were almost dead already, she said, arranging the roses.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"What! You here?\" Evelyn exclaimed. \"Just caught a glimpse of you at lunch; but you wouldn't condescend to look at me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The table was cheerful with apples and bread and eggs. Helen handed Willoughby the butter, and as she did so cast her eye on him and reflected, \"And she married you, and she was happy, I suppose.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "For the self-centred and self-limited writers have a power denied the more catholic and broad-minded. Their impressions are close packed and strongly stamped between their narrow walls. Nothing issues from their minds which has not been marked with their own impress. They learn little from other writers, and what they adopt they cannot assimilate. Both Hardy and Charlotte Bronte appear to have founded their styles upon a stiff and decorous journalism.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Well, that's over,\" said Ridley after a long silence. \"We shall never see them again,\" he added, turning to go to his books. A feeling of emptiness and melancholy came over them; they knew in their hearts that it was over, and that they had parted for ever, and the knowledge filled them with far greater depression than the length of their acquaintance seemed to justify. Even as the boat pulled away they could feel other sights and sounds beginning to take the place of the Dalloways, and the feeling was so unpleasant that they tried to resist it. For so, too, would they be forgotten.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But in all this there is no writing for writing's sake; no use of the pen to convey pleasure or amusement or any of the million shades of endearment and intimacy which have filled so many English letters since. Only occasionally, under stress of anger for the most part, does Margaret Paston quicken into some shrewd saw or solemn curse. \"Men cut large thongs here out of other men's leather. . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "What Sally felt was simply this. She had owed Clarissa an enormous amount. They had been friends, not acquaintances, friends, and she still saw Clarissa all in white going about the house with her hands full of flowers--to this day tobacco plants made her think of Bourton. But--did Peter understand?--she lacked something. Lacked what was it?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Her emotional state and her confusion would have made her an easy prey if Helen had wished to argue or had wished to draw confidences. But instead of talking she fell into a profound silence as they walked on. Aimless, trivial, meaningless, oh no--what she had seen at tea made it impossible for her to believe that. The little jokes, the chatter, the inanities of the afternoon had shrivelled up before her eyes. Underneath the likings and spites, the comings together and partings, great things were happening--terrible things, because they were so great.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Rachel was swinging the bottle by the neck. She was interested by Miss Allan to the point of forgetting the bottle.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The skirt was fastened. She looked at herself in the glass with the curious stiffening of her face generally caused by looking in the glass.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"If I were to tell you everything--\" she stopped and smiled. \"It would take too long,\" she concluded. \"I married when I was thirty, and I have two children. My husband is a scholar. And now--it's your turn,\" she nodded at Hirst.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I hear there are dreadful accounts from England about the rats,\" she said. \"A sister-in-law, who lives at Norwich, tells me it has been quite unsafe to order poultry. The plague--you see. It attacks the rats, and through them other creatures.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"No, no, no,\" she said, shaking her head. \"If you'd been a chaste woman yourself you would have screamed at the sight of me--instead of which you rushed across the room and took me in your arms. No, Cassandra. We are neither of us chaste.\" So we went on talking.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It is, thought Peter Walsh, beginning to keep step with them, a very fine training. But they did not look robust. They were weedy for the most part, boys of sixteen, who might, to-morrow, stand behind bowls of rice, cakes of soap on counters. Now they wore on them unmixed with sensual pleasure or daily preoccupations the solemnity of the wreath which they had fetched from Finsbury Pavement to the empty tomb. They had taken their vow.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Do you really believe there's life in Mars?\" asked Mrs. Flushing, turning to her for the first time with keen interest. \"Who tells you that? Some one who knows? D'you know a man called--?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "On this day indeed Rachel was conscious of what went on round her. She had come to the surface of the dark, sticky pool, and a wave seemed to bear her up and down with it; she had ceased to have any will of her own; she lay on the top of the wave conscious of some pain, but chiefly of weakness. The wave was replaced by the side of a mountain. Her body became a drift of melting snow, above which her knees rose in huge peaked mountains of bare bone. It was true that she saw Helen and saw her room, but everything had become very pale and semi-transparent.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Moreover, the Walpoles are not ducal. Horace Walpole's mother was a Miss Shorter; there is no mention of Lady Dorothy's mother in the present volume, but her great-grandmother was Mrs. Oldfield the actress, and, to her credit. Lady Dorothy was \"exceedingly proud\" of the fact. Thus she was not an extreme case of aristocracy; she was confined rather to a bird-cage than to an asylum; through the bars she saw people walking at large, and once or twice she made a surprising little flight into the open air. A gayer, brighter, more vivacious specimen of the caged tribe can seldom have existed; so that one is forced at times to ask whether what we call living in a cage is not the fate that wise people, condemned to a single sojourn upon earth, would choose.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Ah, there's Mr. Hewet,\" said Mrs. Thornbury. \"Mr. Hewet,\" she continued, \"do come and sit by us. I was telling my husband how much you reminded me of a dear old friend of mine--Mary Umpleby. She was a most delightful woman, I assure you.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Rachel lay down on her elbow, and parted the tall grasses which grew on the edge, so that she might have a clear view. The water was very calm; rocking up and down at the base of the cliff, and so clear that one could see the red of the stones at the bottom of it. So it had been at the birth of the world, and so it had remained ever since. Probably no human being had ever broken that water with boat or with body. Obeying some impulse, she determined to mar that eternity of peace, and threw the largest pebble she could find.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "As the vast books appeared from the stately retreat at Welbeck the usual censors made the usual objections, and had to be answered, despised, or argued with, as her mood varied, in the preface to every work. They said, among other things, that her books were not her own, because she used learned terms, and \"wrote of many matters outside her ken\". She flew to her husband for help, and he answered, characteristically, that the Duchess \"had never conversed with any professed scholar in learning except her brother and myself\". The Duke's scholarship, moreover, was of a peculiar nature. \"I have lived in the great world a great while, and have thought of what has been brought to me by the senses, more than was put into me by learned discourse; for I do not love to be led by the nose, by authority, and old authors; ipse dixit will not serve my turn.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But Miss Kilman did not hate Mrs. Dalloway. Turning her large gooseberry-coloured eyes upon Clarissa, observing her small pink face, her delicate body, her air of freshness and fashion, Miss Kilman felt, Fool! Simpleton! You who have known neither sorrow nor pleasure; who have trifled your life away! And there rose in her an overmastering desire to overcome her; to unmask her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"There's Hirst,\" he concluded, coming to the figure of his friend; with his usual little frown of concentration upon his forehead he was peeling the skin off a banana. \"And he's as ugly as sin.\" For the ugliness of St. John Hirst, and the limitations that went with it, he made the rest in some way responsible. It was their fault that he had to live alone. Then he came to Helen, attracted to her by the sound of her laugh. She was laughing at Miss Allan.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I can quite imagine you walking alone,\" said Clarissa: \"and thinking--in a little world of your own. But how you will enjoy it--some day!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It's his way of making friends, I suppose,\" she laughed. \"Well--I shall do my part. I shall begin--'Ugly in body, repulsive in mind as you are, Mr. Hirst--'\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "A small crowd meanwhile had gathered at the gates of Buckingham Palace. Listlessly, yet confidently, poor people all of them, they waited; looked at the Palace itself with the flag flying; at Victoria, billowing on her mound, admired her shelves of running water, her geraniums; singled out from the motor cars in the Mall first this one, then that; bestowed emotion, vainly, upon commoners out for a drive; recalled their tribute to keep it unspent while this car passed and that; and all the time let rumour accumulate in their veins and thrill the nerves in their thighs at the thought of Royalty looking at them; the Queen bowing; the Prince saluting; at the thought of the heavenly life divinely bestowed upon Kings; of the equerries and deep curtsies; of the Queen's old doll's house; of Princess Mary married to an Englishman, and the Prince--ah! the Prince! who took wonderfully, they said, after old King Edward, but was ever so much slimmer. The Prince lived at St. James's; but he might come along in the morning to visit his mother.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Surely you could teach her to believe that a man's intellect is, and always will be, fundamentally superior to a woman's?\" I suggested. She brightened at this and began to turn over our old minutes again. \"Yes,\" she said, \"think of their discoveries, their mathematics, their science, their philosophy, their scholarship----\" and then she began to laugh, \"I shall never forget old Hobkin and the hairpin,\" she said, and went on reading and laughing and I thought she was quite happy, when suddenly she drew the book from her and burst out, \"Oh, Cassandra, why do you torment me? Don't you know that our belief in man's intellect is the greatest fallacy of them all?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Ah, poor thing,\" said Mrs. Thornbury, \"that's a long story. She had gone through dreadful sorrows. At one time I think she would have lost her senses if it hadn't been for her garden. The soil was very much against her--a blessing in disguise; she had to be up at dawn--out in all weathers. And then there are creatures that eat roses.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "An offering for the sake of offering, perhaps. Anyhow, it was her gift. Nothing else had she of the slightest importance; could not think, write, even play the piano. She muddled Armenians and Turks; loved success; hated discomfort; must be liked; talked oceans of nonsense: and to this day, ask her what the Equator was, and she did not know.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She brought him his papers, the things he had written, things she had written for him. She tumbled them out on to the sofa. They looked at them together. Diagrams, designs, little men and women brandishing sticks for arms, with wings--were they?--on their backs; circles traced round shillings and sixpences--the suns and stars; zigzagging precipices with mountaineers ascending roped together, exactly like knives and forks; sea pieces with little faces laughing out of what might perhaps be waves: the map of the world. Burn them!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Helen could hardly restrain herself from saying out loud what she thought of a man who brought up his daughter so that at the age of twenty-four she scarcely knew that men desired women and was terrified by a kiss. She had good reason to fear that Rachel had made herself incredibly ridiculous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The most elementary remarks upon modern English fiction can hardly avoid some mention of the Russian influence, and if the Russians are mentioned one runs the risk of feeling that to write of any fiction save theirs is waste of time. If we want understanding of the soul and heart where else shall we find it of comparable profundity? If we are sick of our own materialism the least considerable of their novelists has by right of birth a natural reverence for the human spirit. \"Learn to make yourself akin to people. .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It shortens one's life; but I'm afraid, Mrs. Ambrose, we politicians must make up our minds to that at the outset. We've got to burn the candle at both ends, or--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Novels,\" she repeated. \"Why do you write novels? You ought to write music. Music, you see\"--she shifted her eyes, and became less desirable as her brain began to work, inflicting a certain change upon her face--\"music goes straight for things. It says all there is to say at once.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Arthur looked round at her; his face was oddly twisted. She was drawing her breath with such difficulty that she could hardly answer.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Of course they're absurd, Rachel; of course they say things just because other people say them, but even so, what a nice woman Miss Allan is; you can't deny that; and Mrs. Thornbury too; she's got too many children I grant you, but if half-a-dozen of them had gone to the bad instead of rising infallibly to the tops of their trees--hasn't she a kind of beauty--of elemental simplicity as Flushing would say? Isn't she rather like a large old tree murmuring in the moonlight, or a river going on and on and on? By the way, Ralph's been made governor of the Carroway Islands--the youngest governor in the service; very good, isn't it?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"They're very happy!\" said Mrs. Thornbury, looking benignantly after them. Rachel agreed; they seemed to be so certain of themselves; they seemed to know exactly what they wanted.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He had married this lady, the Honourable Evelyn, and they lived hereabouts, so he thought (looking at the pompous houses overlooking the Park), for he had lunched there once in a house which had, like all Hugh's possessions, something that no other house could possibly have--linen cupboards it might have been. You had to go and look at them--you had to spend a great deal of time always admiring whatever it was--linen cupboards, pillow-cases, old oak furniture, pictures, which Hugh had picked up for an old song. But Mrs. Hugh sometimes gave the show away. She was one of those obscure mouse-like little women who admire big men. She was almost negligible.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"My parrot can't stand dogs,\" said Mrs. Paley, with the air of one making a confidence. \"I always suspect that he (or she) was teased by a dog when I was abroad.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Please explain to me,\" he said. \"I feel sure Hirst didn't mean to hurt you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You're horrid,\" she cried. \"You don't care a bit really. You might be Mr. Hirst.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "That was one of the bonds between Sally and himself. There was a garden where they used to walk, a walled-in place, with rose-bushes and giant cauliflowers--he could remember Sally tearing off a rose, stopping to exclaim at the beauty of the cabbage leaves in the moonlight (it was extraordinary how vividly it all came back to him, things he hadn't thought of for years,) while she implored him, half laughing of course, to carry off Clarissa, to save her from the Hughs and the Dalloways and all the other \"perfect gentlemen\" who would \"stifle her soul\" (she wrote reams of poetry in those days), make a mere hostess of her, encourage her worldliness. But one must do Clarissa justice. She wasn't going to marry Hugh anyhow. She had a perfectly clear notion of what she wanted.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The happy family life had its effect upon Margaret's character. As a child, she would walk for hours alone, musing and contemplating and reasoning with herself of \"everything her senses did present\". She took no pleasure in activity of any kind. Toys did not amuse her, and she could neither learn foreign languages nor dress as other people did. Her great pleasure was to invent dresses for herself, which nobody else was to copy, \"for\", she remarks, \"I always took delight in a singularity, even in accoutrements of habits\".", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He beginneth not with obscure definitions, which must blur the margent with interpretations, and load the memory with doubtfulness: but he cometh to you with words set in delightful proportion, either accompanied with, or prepared for the well enchanting Skill of Music, and with a tale (forsooth) he cometh unto you, with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the Chimney corner; and pretending no more, doth intend the winning of the mind from wickedness to virtue; even as the child is often brought to take most wholesome things by hiding them in such other as have a pleasant taste: which if one should begin to tell them the nature of the Aloes or Rhubarbarum they should receive, would sooner take their physic at their ears than at their mouth, so is it in men (most of which are childish in the best things, till they be cradled in their graves) glad they will be to hear the tales of Hercules. . . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She was trying to apologise for white underclothes fallen and scattered on the floor. For one second she opened a single eye, and saw that the room was tidy.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Through the darkness she was looking at them both, and trying to distinguish him. What was there for her to say? Rachel had passed beyond her guardianship. A voice might reach her ears, but never again would it carry as far as it had carried twenty-four hours ago. Nevertheless, speech seemed to be due from her before she went to bed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"What's happened?\" he began. \"Why did I ask you to marry me? How did it happen?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Flourish, spring, burgeon, burst! The pear tree on the top of the mountain. Fountains jet; drops descend. But the waters of the Rhone flow swift and deep, race under the arches, and sweep the trailing water leaves, washing shadows over the silver fish, the spotted fish rushed down by the swift waters, now swept into an eddy where--it's difficult this--conglomeration of fish all in a pool; leaping, splashing, scraping sharp fins; and such a boil of current that the yellow pebbles are churned round and round, round and round--free now, rushing downwards, or even somehow ascending in exquisite spirals into the air; curled like thin shavings from under a plane; up and up.... How lovely goodness is in those who, stepping lightly, go smiling through the world! Also in jolly old fishwives, squatted under arches, obscene old women, how deeply they laugh and shake and rollick, when they walk, from side to side, hum, hah!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But Gronovius was by no means the only scholar who resented the success of a rival with a rancour that grey hairs and forty years spent in editing the classics failed to subdue. In all the chief towns of Europe lived men like the notorious de Pauw of Utrecht, \"a person who has justly been considered the pest and disgrace of letters\", who, when a new theory or new edition appeared, banded themselves together to deride and humiliate the scholar. . . all his writings\".", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But will one crocus be enough, and must it not be a very brilliant yellow to shine so far, to cost so much, and to have one's name attached to it? The Press is undoubtedly a great multiplier of crocuses. But if we look at some of these plants, we shall find that they are only very distantly related to the original little yellow or purple flower which pokes up through the grass in Kensington Gardens about this time of year. The newspaper crocus is amazing but still a very different plant. It fills precisely the space allotted to it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Meanwhile Hirst took out an envelope and began scribbling on the back of it. When Mr. Bax mounted the pulpit he shut up Sappho with his envelope between the pages, settled his spectacles, and fixed his gaze intently upon the clergyman. Standing in the pulpit he looked very large and fat; the light coming through the greenish unstained window-glass made his face appear smooth and white like a very large egg.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Who can--what can,\" asked Mrs. Dalloway (thinking it was outrageous to be interrupted at eleven o'clock on the morning of the day she was giving a party), hearing a step on the stairs. She heard a hand upon the door. She made to hide her dress, like a virgin protecting chastity, respecting privacy. Now the brass knob slipped. Now the door opened, and in came--for a single second she could not remember what he was called!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Should you wish to make sure that your birthday will be celebrated three hundred years hence, your best course is undoubtedly to keep a diary. Only first be certain that you have the courage to lock your genius in a private book and the humour to gloat over a fame that will be yours only in the grave. For the good diarist writes either for himself alone or for a posterity so distant that it can safely hear every secret and justly weigh every motive. For such an audience there is need neither of affectation nor of restraint. Sincerity is what they ask, detail, volume; skill with the pen comes in conveniently, but brilliance is not necessary; genius is a hindrance even; and should you know your business and do it manfully, posterity will let you off mixing with great men, reporting famous affairs, or having lain with the first ladies in the land.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Take it away! Give it to Mrs. Walker with my compliments! Take it away!\" she cried.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Rising from these positions, breathless and unkempt, it struck them for the first time that the electric lights pricked the air very vainly, and instinctively a great many eyes turned to the windows. Yes--there was the dawn. While they had been dancing the night had passed, and it had come. Outside, the mountains showed very pure and remote; the dew was sparkling on the grass, and the sky was flushed with blue, save for the pale yellows and pinks in the East. The dancers came crowding to the windows, pushed them open, and here and there ventured a foot upon the grass.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Hullo, Richard,\" said somebody, taking him by the elbow, and, good Lord, there was old Peter, old Peter Walsh. He was delighted to see him--ever so pleased to see him! He hadn't changed a bit. And off they went together walking right across the room, giving each other little pats, as if they hadn't met for a long time, Ellie Henderson thought, watching them go, certain she knew that man's face. A tall man, middle aged, rather fine eyes, dark, wearing spectacles, with a look of John Burrows.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"That's typical of Rachel,\" she said. \"She changes her view of life about every other day. D'you know, I believe you're just the person I want,\" she said, as they sat down, \"to help me complete her education? She's been brought up practically in a nunnery. Her father's too absurd.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But to Chaucer the country was too large and too wild to be altogether agreeable. He turned instinctively, as if he had painful experience of their nature, from tempests and rocks to the bright May day and the jocund landscape, from the harsh and mysterious to the gay and definite. Without possessing a tithe of the virtuosity in word-painting which is the modern inheritance, he could give, in a few words, or even, when we come to look, without a single word of direct description, the sense of the open air.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He gave his blessing, and then, while the solemn chords again issued from the harmonium behind the curtain, the different people began scraping and fumbling and moving very awkwardly and consciously towards the door. Half-way upstairs, at a point where the light and sounds of the upper world conflicted with the dimness and the dying hymn-tune of the under, Rachel felt a hand drop upon her shoulder.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "To his patients he gave three-quarters of an hour; and if in this exacting science which has to do with what, after all, we know nothing about--the nervous system, the human brain--a doctor loses his sense of proportion, as a doctor he fails. Health we must have; and health is proportion; so that when a man comes into your room and says he is Christ (a common delusion), and has a message, as they mostly have, and threatens, as they often do, to kill himself, you invoke proportion; order rest in bed; rest in solitude; silence and rest; rest without friends, without books, without messages; six months' rest; until a man who went in weighing seven stone six comes out weighing twelve.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "In reading Tchekov we find ourselves repeating the word \"soul\" again and again. It sprinkles his pages. Old drunkards use it freely; \". . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "And yet the last look of them--he stepping from the kerb and she following him round the edge of the big building brims me with wonder--floods me anew. Mysterious figures! Mother and son. Who are you? Why do you walk down the street?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was all over for her. The sheet was stretched and the bed narrow. She had gone up into the tower alone and left them blackberrying in the sun. The door had shut, and there among the dust of fallen plaster and the litter of birds' nests how distant the view had looked, and the sounds came thin and chill (once on Leith Hill, she remembered), and Richard, Richard! she cried, as a sleeper in the night starts and stretches a hand in the dark for help.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The next movement was on his part. A very long time seemed to have passed. He took out his watch.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Don't bother,\" she said, as Miss Allan looked about for some other implement. \"I daresay I shouldn't like preserved ginger.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "What could I have said to these people? 'Tis certain that this office of humanity would have brought them into trouble. . . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "One cannot bring children into a world like this. One cannot perpetuate suffering, or increase the breed of these lustful animals, who have no lasting emotions, but only whims and vanities, eddying them now this way, now that.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It was a wonderful sight,\" he said. \"The lightning went right out over the sea, and lit up the waves and the ships far away. You can't think how wonderful the mountains looked too, with the lights on them, and the great masses of shadow. It's all over now.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I hear you've been very good to my wife,\" he said. \"She's had an awful time of it. You came in and fed her with champagne. Were you among the saved yourself?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "They had not strolled more than a few hundred yards along the track which ran parallel with the river before Helen professed to find it was unbearably hot. The river breeze had ceased, and a hot steamy atmosphere, thick with scents, came from the forest.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Clarissa!\" That voice! It was Sally Seton! Sally Seton! after all these years! She loomed through a mist.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "I understand Nature's game--her prompting to take action as a way of ending any thought that threatens to excite or to pain. Hence, I suppose, comes our slight contempt for men of action--men, we assume, who don't think. Still, there's no harm in putting a full stop to one's disagreeable thoughts by looking at a mark on the wall.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I suppose I've been dozing,\" he said. \"What's happened to everyone? Clarissa?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She had sighted two sinister grey vessels, low in the water, and bald as bone, one closely following the other with the look of eyeless beasts seeking their prey. Consciousness returned to Richard instantly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Old Mrs. Hilbery,\" said Peter; but who was that? that lady standing by the curtain all the evening, without speaking? He knew her face; connected her with Bourton. Surely she used to cut up underclothes at the large table in the window? Davidson, was that her name?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She had once thrown a shilling into the Serpentine, never anything more. But he had flung it away. They went on living (she would have to go back; the rooms were still crowded; people kept on coming). They (all day she had been thinking of Bourton, of Peter, of Sally), they would grow old. A thing there was that mattered; a thing, wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured in her own life, let drop every day in corruption, lies, chatter.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The heat of the day was going down, and over their cups of tea the Flushings tended to become communicative. It seemed to Terence as he listened to them talking, that existence now went on in two different layers. Here were the Flushings talking, talking somewhere high up in the air above him, and he and Rachel had dropped to the bottom of the world together. But with something of a child's directness, Mrs. Flushing had also the instinct which leads a child to suspect what its elders wish to keep hidden. She fixed Terence with her vivid blue eyes and addressed herself to him in particular.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Finishing the meal very quickly, people congregated in the hall, where they felt more secure than in any other place because they could retreat far from the windows, and although they heard the thunder, they could not see anything. A little boy was carried away sobbing in the arms of his mother.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "When they woke next morning they had gone a considerable way up the river; on the right was a high yellow bank of sand tufted with trees, on the left a swamp quivering with long reeds and tall bamboos on the top of which, swaying slightly, perched vivid green and yellow birds. The morning was hot and still. After breakfast they drew chairs together and sat in an irregular semicircle in the bow. An awning above their heads protected them from the heat of the sun, and the breeze which the boat made aired them softly. Mrs. Flushing was already dotting and striping her canvas, her head jerking this way and that with the action of a bird nervously picking up grain; the others had books or pieces of paper or embroidery on their knees, at which they looked fitfully and again looked at the river ahead.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "They would talk of such questions among books, or out in the sun, or sitting in the shade of a tree undisturbed. They were no longer embarrassed, or half-choked with meaning which could not express itself; they were not afraid of each other, or, like travellers down a twisting river, dazzled with sudden beauties when the corner is turned; the unexpected happened, but even the ordinary was lovable, and in many ways preferable to the ecstatic and mysterious, for it was refreshingly solid, and called out effort, and effort under such circumstances was not effort but delight.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was extraordinary to see the different expressions on their faces. A sort of hum went through the room, in which I could catch the words \"impure,\" \"baby,\" \"Castalia,\" and so on. Jane, who was herself considerably moved, put it to us:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"To be a leader of men,\" Richard soliloquised. \"It's a fine career. My God--what a career!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Desiring truth, awaiting it, laboriously distilling a few words, for ever desiring--(a cry starts to the left, another to the right. Wheels strike divergently. Omnibuses conglomerate in conflict)--for ever desiring--(the clock asseverates with twelve distinct strokes that it is midday; light sheds gold scales; children swarm)--for ever desiring truth. Red is the dome; coins hang on the trees; smoke trails from the chimneys; bark, shout, cry \"Iron for sale\"--and truth?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Lady Bruton herself preferred Richard Dalloway, who arrived at the next moment. Indeed they met on the doorstep.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"D'you mind if we sit down here?\" said Arthur, looking about him. \"It's jolly in the shade--and the view--\" They sat down, and looked straight ahead of them in silence for some time.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "For an old woman of her age she was very restless, and for one of her clear, quick mind she was unusually perplexed. She could not settle to anything, so that she was relieved when the door opened. She went up to her husband, took him in her arms, and kissed him with unusual intensity, and then as they sat down together she began to pat him and question him as if he were a baby, an old, tired, querulous baby. She did not tell him about Miss Vinrace's death, for that would only disturb him, and he was put out already. She tried to discover why he was uneasy.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Looking back over that long friendship of almost thirty years her theory worked to this extent. Brief, broken, often painful as their actual meetings had been what with his absences and interruptions (this morning, for instance, in came Elizabeth, like a long-legged colt, handsome, dumb, just as he was beginning to talk to Clarissa) the effect of them on his life was immeasurable. There was a mystery about it. You were given a sharp, acute, uncomfortable grain--the actual meeting; horribly painful as often as not; yet in absence, in the most unlikely places, it would flower out, open, shed its scent, let you touch, taste, look about you, get the whole feel of it and understanding, after years of lying lost. Thus she had come to him; on board ship; in the Himalayas; suggested by the oddest things (so Sally Seton, generous, enthusiastic goose!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\". . . All I desire is fame\", wrote Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle. And while she lived her wish was granted.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Fear no more,\" said Clarissa. Fear no more the heat o' the sun; for the shock of Lady Bruton asking Richard to lunch without her made the moment in which she had stood shiver, as a plant on the river-bed feels the shock of a passing oar and shivers: so she rocked: so she shivered.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The bitterness with which he spoke was ominous of what was to come. He led her off to his own quarters, and, sitting on the edge of a brass-bound table, looking uncommonly like a sea-gull, with her white tapering body and thin alert face, Mrs. Dalloway had to listen to the tirade of a fanatical man. Did she realise, to begin with, what a very small part of the world the land was? How peaceful, how beautiful, how benignant in comparison the sea? The deep waters could sustain Europe unaided if every earthly animal died of the plague to-morrow.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It seems hard--very hard,\" she said. She paused and looked out over the slope of the hill at the Ambroses' villa; the windows were blazing in the sun, and she thought how the soul of the dead had passed from those windows. Something had passed from the world. It seemed to her strangely empty.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "For now Margaret could apply herself uninterruptedly to her writing. She could devise fashions for herself and her servants. She could scribble more and more furiously with fingers that became less and less able to form legible letters. She could even achieve the miracle of getting her plays acted in London and her philosophies humbly perused by men of learning. There they stand, in the British Museum, volume after volume, swarming with a diffused, uneasy, contorted vitality.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I suppose you'll marry one of them,\" she said, and then turned the handle and shut the door behind her. She walked slowly down the passage, running her hand along the wall beside her. She did not think which way she was going, and therefore walked down a passage which only led to a window and a balcony. She looked down at the kitchen premises, the wrong side of the hotel life, which was cut off from the right side by a maze of small bushes. The ground was bare, old tins were scattered about, and the bushes wore towels and aprons upon their heads to dry.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The great fame of the book has done its author some injustice; for while it has given him a kind of anonymous glory it has obscured the fact that he was a writer of other works which, it is safe to assert, were not read aloud to us as children. Thus when the Editor of the Christian World in the year 1870 appealed to \"the boys and girls of England\" to erect a monument upon the grave of Defoe, which a stroke of lightning had mutilated, the marble was inscribed to the memory of the author of Robinson Crusoe. No mention was made of Moll Flanders. Considering the topics which are dealt with in that book, and in Roxana, Captain Singleton, Colonel Jack and the rest, we need not be surprised, though we may be indignant, at the omission. We may agree with Mr. Wright, the biographer of Defoe, that these \"are not works for the drawing-room table\".", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She put the pad on the hall table. She began to go slowly upstairs, with her hand on the bannisters, as if she had left a party, where now this friend now that had flashed back her face, her voice; had shut the door and gone out and stood alone, a single figure against the appalling night, or rather, to be accurate, against the stare of this matter-of-fact June morning; soft with the glow of rose petals for some, she knew, and felt it, as she paused by the open staircase window which let in blinds flapping, dogs barking, let in, she thought, feeling herself suddenly shrivelled, aged, breastless, the grinding, blowing, flowering of the day, out of doors, out of the window, out of her body and brain which now failed, since Lady Bruton, whose lunch parties were said to be extraordinarily amusing, had not asked her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "For six days indeed she had been oblivious of the world outside, because it needed all her attention to follow the hot, red, quick sights which passed incessantly before her eyes. She knew that it was of enormous importance that she should attend to these sights and grasp their meaning, but she was always being just too late to hear or see something which would explain it all. For this reason, the faces,--Helen's face, the nurse's, Terence's, the doctor's,--which occasionally forced themselves very close to her, were worrying because they distracted her attention and she might miss the clue. However, on the fourth afternoon she was suddenly unable to keep Helen's face distinct from the sights themselves; her lips widened as she bent down over the bed, and she began to gabble unintelligibly like the rest. The sights were all concerned in some plot, some adventure, some escape.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I flit from branch to branch,\" continued Hewet. \"The world is profoundly pleasant.\" He lay back on the bed, upon his arms.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Mr. Perrott followed her to a curved green seat under a tree. They looked at the fountain in front of them, which had long ceased to play. Evelyn kept looking at the fountain instead of thinking of what she was saying; the fountain without any water seemed to be the type of her own being.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"The debate on the fifteenth should have reached us by now,\" Mrs. Thornbury murmured. Mr. Thornbury, who was beautifully clean and had red rubbed into his handsome worn face like traces of paint on a weather-beaten wooden figure, looked over his glasses and saw that Miss Allan had The Times.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"But England,\" Rachel murmured in the absorbed tone of one whose eyes are concentrated upon some sight. \"What d'you want with England?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "And now, as they had walked some way from the grove of trees, and had come to a rounded hollow very tempting to the back, they proceeded to sit down, and the impression of the lovers lost some of its force, though a certain intensity of vision, which was probably the result of the sight, remained with them. As a day upon which any emotion has been repressed is different from other days, so this day was now different, merely because they had seen other people at a crisis of their lives.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "In certain lights that mark on the wall seems actually to project from the wall. Nor is it entirely circular. I cannot be sure, but it seems to cast a perceptible shadow, suggesting that if I ran my finger down that strip of the wall it would, at a certain point, mount and descend a small tumulus, a smooth tumulus like those barrows on the South Downs which are, they say, either tombs or camps. Of the two I should prefer them to be tombs, desiring melancholy like most English people, and finding it natural at the end of a walk to think of the bones stretched beneath the turf.... There must be some book about it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"That is what I feel,\" Mrs. Thornbury rejoined. \"The changes, the improvements, the inventions--and beauty. D'you know I feel sometimes that I couldn't bear to die and cease to see beautiful things about me?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But inwardly there was a change. It seems at last as if the hard outer shell had served its purpose and something sensitive, appreciative, and pleasure-loving had formed within. At any rate Sir John, writing to his brother John at home, strayed sometimes from the business on hand to crack a joke, to send a piece of gossip, or to instruct him, knowingly and even subtly, upon the conduct of a love affair. Be \"as lowly to the mother as ye list, but to the maid not too lowly, nor that ye be too glad to speed, nor too sorry to fail. And I shall always be your herald both here, if she come hither, and at home, when I come home, which I hope hastily within XI.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "There is nothing there more perishable than the moor itself, or more subject to the sway of fashion than the \"long and lamentable blast\". Nor is this exhilaration short-lived. It rushes us through the entire volume, without giving us time to think, without letting us lift our eyes from the page. So intense is our absorption that if some one moves in the room the movement seems to take place not there but up in Yorkshire. The writer has us by the hand, forces us along her road, makes us see what she sees, never leaves us for a moment or allows us to forget her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She did not much like parties, Elizabeth said. Miss Kilman opened her mouth, slightly projected her chin, and swallowed down the last inches of the chocolate eclair, then wiped her fingers, and washed the tea round in her cup.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Expect to hear of me next in Petersburg or Teheran,\" he had said, turning to wave farewell from the steps of the Travellers'. But a disease had broken out in the East, there was cholera in Russia, and he was heard of, not so romantically, in Lisbon. They had been through France; he had stopped at manufacturing centres where, producing letters of introduction, he had been shown over works, and noted facts in a pocket-book. In Spain he and Mrs. Dalloway had mounted mules, for they wished to understand how the peasants live. Are they ripe for rebellion, for example?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"That's for Miss Vinrace,\" said Clarissa. \"She can't bear our beloved Jane.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"So you're going, Rachel?\" Helen asked. \"You won't stay with me?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "On the lips, she assured him, in the smoking-room one evening. She went straight to Clarissa in a rage. Hugh didn't do such things! Clarissa said, the admirable Hugh! Hugh's socks were without exception the most beautiful she had ever seen--and now his evening dress.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The noise grew suddenly more clamorous, for it was discovered that a long line of ants had found their way on to the table-cloth by a back entrance, and if success could be gauged by noise, Hewet had every reason to think his party a success. Nevertheless he became, for no reason at all, profoundly depressed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"This is a great undertaking of his,\" Richard continued. \"It's a business that won't stop with ships, I should say. We shall see him in Parliament, or I'm much mistaken. He's the kind of man we want in Parliament--the man who has done things.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Rachel said nothing. Up and up the steep spiral of a very late Beethoven sonata she climbed, like a person ascending a ruined staircase, energetically at first, then more laboriously advancing her feet with effort until she could go no higher and returned with a run to begin at the very bottom again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Thanks to Mr. Flushing's discipline, the right stages of the river were reached at the right hours, and when next morning after breakfast the chairs were again drawn out in a semicircle in the bow, the launch was within a few miles of the native camp which was the limit of the journey. Mr. Flushing, as he sat down, advised them to keep their eyes fixed on the left bank, where they would soon pass a clearing, and in that clearing, was a hut where Mackenzie, the famous explorer, had died of fever some ten years ago, almost within reach of civilisation--Mackenzie, he repeated, the man who went farther inland than any one's been yet. Their eyes turned that way obediently. The eyes of Rachel saw nothing. Yellow and green shapes did, it is true, pass before them, but she only knew that one was large and another small; she did not know that they were trees.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "They staggered to seats in the corner, from which they had a view of the room. It was still surging, in waves of blue and yellow, striped by the black evening-clothes of the gentlemen.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Left alone, Evelyn walked up and down the path. What did matter then? What was the meaning of it all?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I'm not like Hirst,\" said Hewet, after a pause; he spoke meditatively; \"I don't see circles of chalk between people's feet. I sometimes wish I did. It seems to me so tremendously complicated and confused. One can't come to any decision at all; one's less and less capable of making judgments. D'you find that?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It's so natural,\" he repeated. \"People with children should make them do that exercise every night. . . .", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Don't you think,\" said St. John, when he had done describing him, \"that kind of thing makes this kind of thing rather flimsy? Did you notice at tea how poor old Hewet had to change the conversation? How they were all ready to pounce upon me because they thought I was going to say something improper? It wasn't anything, really. If Bennett had been there he'd have said exactly what he meant to say, or he'd have got up and gone.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Lying in the hot sun her mind was fixed upon the characters of her aunts, their views, and the way they lived. Indeed this was a subject that lasted her hundreds of morning walks round Richmond Park, and blotted out the trees and the people and the deer. Why did they do the things they did, and what did they feel, and what was it all about? Again she heard Aunt Lucy talking to Aunt Eleanor. She had been that morning to take up the character of a servant, \"And, of course, at half-past ten in the morning one expects to find the housemaid brushing the stairs.\" How odd!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Nevertheless it was not the same as the days that had gone before, although it would have been hard to say in what the difference consisted. Perhaps it was that they seemed to be waiting for something. There were certainly fewer things to be done than usual. People drifted through the drawing-room--Mr. Flushing, Mr. and Mrs. Thornbury.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Ah!\" he cried. \"You have not confidence in me? You object to my treatment? You wish me to give up the case?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He scrutinised his wife's painting. Too polite to praise it openly, he contented himself with cutting off one half of the picture with one hand, and giving a flourish in the air with the other.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Yes,\" she said. \"She died this morning, very early, about three o'clock.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Nor, indeed, would we. For even if the pangs of outraged vanity, or the heat of moral wrath, urged us to improve away a world so full of spite, pettiness, and folly, the task is beyond our powers. People are like that--the girl of fifteen knew it; the mature woman proves it. At this very moment some Lady Bertram finds it almost too trying to keep Pug from the flower beds; she sends Chapman to help Miss Fanny, a little late. The discrimination is so perfect, the satire so just that, consistent though it is, it almost escapes our notice.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But it was later than she thought. Her mother would not like her to be wandering off alone like this. She turned back down the Strand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Richard was the greatest possible help,\" Lady Bruton replied. \"He helped me to write a letter. And how are you?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "For none of these dramatists had the license which belongs to the novelist, and, in some degree, to all writers of printed books, of modelling their meaning with an infinity of slight touches which can only be properly applied by reading quietly, carefully, and sometimes two or three times over. Every sentence had to explode on striking the ear, however slowly and beautifully the words might then descend, and however enigmatic might their final purport be. No splendour or richness of metaphor could have saved the Agamemnon if either images or allusions of the subtlest or most decorative had got between us and the naked cry", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"K ... R ...\" said the nursemaid, and Septimus heard her say \"Kay Arr\" close to his ear, deeply, softly, like a mellow organ, but with a roughness in her voice like a grasshopper's, which rasped his spine deliciously and sent running up into his brain waves of sound which, concussing, broke. A marvellous discovery indeed--that the human voice in certain atmospheric conditions (for one must be scientific, above all scientific) can quicken trees into life! Happily Rezia put her hand with a tremendous weight on his knee so that he was weighted down, transfixed, or the excitement of the elm trees rising and falling, rising and falling with all their leaves alight and the colour thinning and thickening from blue to the green of a hollow wave, like plumes on horses' heads, feathers on ladies', so proudly they rose and fell, so superbly, would have sent him mad. But he would not go mad. He would shut his eyes; he would see no more.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"D'you mind if we walk?\" she said. \"The air's so delicious.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"But I must look so queer!\" she cried, running over to the glass and looking first this side then that. Then she snatched it off again, for there was a tap at the door. Could it be Sir William Bradshaw? Had he sent already?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"And in that I quite agree with her,\" said a voice behind; Mrs. Thornbury had overheard the last few words about not liking ginger. \"It's associated in my mind with a horrid old aunt of ours (poor thing, she suffered dreadfully, so it isn't fair to call her horrid) who used to give it to us when we were small, and we never had the courage to tell her we didn't like it. We just had to put it out in the shrubbery--she had a big house near Bath.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I think it's very probable,\" he said. \"But you must admit, Rachel, that we so seldom think of anything but ourselves that an occasional twinge is really rather pleasant.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Such being her disposition it went hard with her to analyse the sparrow's crop, for the sparrow she felt, symbolises something of the homely virtue of English domestic life, and to proclaim it stuffed with deceit was disloyal to much that she, and her fathers before her, held dear. Sure enough the clergy--the Rev. J. E. Walker--denounced her for her brutality; \"God Save the Sparrow!\" exclaimed the Animal's Friend; and Miss Carrington, of the Humanitarian League, replied in a leaflet described by Miss Ormerod as \"spirity, discourteous, and inaccurate.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was long before they moved, and when they moved it was with great reluctance. They stood together in front of the looking-glass, and with a brush tried to make themselves look as if they had been feeling nothing all the morning, neither pain nor happiness. But it chilled them to see themselves in the glass, for instead of being vast and indivisible they were really very small and separate, the size of the glass leaving a large space for the reflection of other things.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Let us take Persuasion, the last completed novel, and look by its light at the books she might have written had she lived. There is a peculiar beauty and a peculiar dullness in Persuasion. The dullness is that which so often marks the transition stage between two different periods. The writer is a little bored. She has grown too familiar with the ways of her world; she no longer notes them freshly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "After all, then, we are back at the beginning, vacillating from extreme to extreme, at one moment enthusiastic, at the next pessimistic, unable to come to any conclusion about our contemporaries. We have asked the critics to help us, but they have deprecated the task. Now, then, is the time to accept their advice and correct these extremes by consulting the masterpieces of the past. We feel ourselves indeed driven to them, impelled not by calm judgement but by some imperious need to anchor our instability upon their security. But, honestly, the shock of the comparison between past and present is at first disconcerting.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Owing to the heat of the day, luncheon was generally a silent meal, when people observed their neighbors and took stock of any new faces there might be, hazarding guesses as to who they were and what they did. Mrs. Paley, although well over seventy and crippled in the legs, enjoyed her food and the peculiarities of her fellow-beings. She was seated at a small table with Susan.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The ponderous woman looked through the pattern of falling words at the flowers standing cool, firm, and upright in the earth, with a curious expression. She saw them as a sleeper waking from a heavy sleep sees a brass candlestick reflecting the light in an unfamiliar way, and closes his eyes and opens them, and seeing the brass candlestick again, finally starts broad awake and stares at the candlestick with all his powers. So the heavy woman came to a standstill opposite the oval-shaped flower bed, and ceased even to pretend to listen to what the other woman was saying. She stood there letting the words fall over her, swaying the top part of her body slowly backwards and forwards, looking at the flowers. Then she suggested that they should find a seat and have their tea.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Meanwhile Helen herself was under examination, though not from either of her victims. Mr. Pepper considered her; and his meditations, carried on while he cut his toast into bars and neatly buttered them, took him through a considerable stretch of autobiography. One of his penetrating glances assured him that he was right last night in judging that Helen was beautiful. Blandly he passed her the jam. She was talking nonsense, but not worse nonsense than people usually do talk at breakfast, the cerebral circulation, as he knew to his cost, being apt to give trouble at that hour.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Ah, so you found the way after all. But it's late--much later than we arranged, Hewet.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "That might be, although every room and passage and chair in the place had a character of its own in Rachel's eyes; but she could not bring herself to stay in one place any longer. She moved slowly towards the door.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "In the sunny space at the edge of the forest they saw Helen still sitting on the tree-trunk, her dress showing very white in the sun, with Hirst still propped on his elbow by her side. They stopped instinctively. At the sight of other people they could not go on. They stood hand in hand for a minute or two in silence. They could not bear to face other people.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"One can be very nice without having read a book,\" she asserted. Very silly and simple her words sounded, and laid her open to derision.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"But then she's entangled herself with Perrott,\" St. John continued; \"and I have reason to think, from something I saw in the passage, that everything isn't as it should be between Arthur and Susan. There's a young female lately arrived from Manchester. A very good thing if it were broken off, in my opinion. Their married life is something too horrible to contemplate. Oh, and I distinctly heard old Mrs. Paley rapping out the most fearful oaths as I passed her bedroom door.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Beautiful!\" she would murmur, nudging Septimus, that he might see. But beauty was behind a pane of glass. Even taste (Rezia liked ices, chocolates, sweet things) had no relish to him. He put down his cup on the little marble table. He looked at people outside; happy they seemed, collecting in the middle of the street, shouting, laughing, squabbling over nothing.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It's very difficult to know what people are like,\" Rachel remarked, and Helen saw with pleasure that she spoke more naturally. \"I suppose I was taken in.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Peter! Peter!\" cried Clarissa, following him out on to the landing. \"My party to-night! Remember my party to-night!\" she cried, having to raise her voice against the roar of the open air, and, overwhelmed by the traffic and the sound of all the clocks striking, her voice crying \"Remember my party to-night!\" sounded frail and thin and very far away as Peter Walsh shut the door.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She looked up Fleet Street. She walked just a little way towards St. Paul's, shyly, like some one penetrating on tiptoe, exploring a strange house by night with a candle, on edge lest the owner should suddenly fling wide his bedroom door and ask her business, nor did she dare wander off into queer alleys, tempting bye-streets, any more than in a strange house open doors which might be bedroom doors, or sitting-room doors, or lead straight to the larder. For no Dalloways came down the Strand daily; she was a pioneer, a stray, venturing, trusting.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Bitter and burning, Miss Kilman had turned into a church two years three months ago. She had heard the Rev. Edward Whittaker preach; the boys sing; had seen the solemn lights descend, and whether it was the music, or the voices (she herself when alone in the evening found comfort in a violin; but the sound was excruciating; she had no ear), the hot and turbulent feelings which boiled and surged in her had been assuaged as she sat there, and she had wept copiously, and gone to call on Mr. Whittaker at his private house in Kensington. It was the hand of God, he said. The Lord had shown her the way.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"And now you've spoilt it,\" she complained. \"Now we've got to think of the horrors.\" She looked grudgingly at the novel which had once caused her perhaps an hour's discomfort, so that she had never opened it again, but kept it on her table, and looked at it occasionally, as some medieval monk kept a skull, or a crucifix to remind him of the frailty of the body.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "He turned; went up the street, thinking to find somewhere to sit, till it was time for Lincoln's Inn--for Messrs. Hooper and Grateley. Where should he go? No matter. Up the street, then, towards Regent's Park. His boots on the pavement struck out \"no matter\"; for it was early, still very early.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"However,\" he concluded, \"there's one advantage I find in extreme old age--nothing matters a hang except one's food and one's digestion. All I ask is to be left alone to moulder away in solitude. It's obvious that the world's going as fast as it can to--the Nethermost Pit, and all I can do is to sit still and consume as much of my own smoke as possible.\" He groaned, and with a melancholy glance laid the jam on his bread, for he felt the atmosphere of this abrupt lady distinctly unsympathetic.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Yes, tell us--\" Rachel echoed. They were both in the mood to believe that every one was capable of saying something very profound.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Good-morning to you, Clarissa!\" said Hugh, rather extravagantly, for they had known each other as children. \"Where are you off to?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Tell me if this is a white hair, then?\" she replied. She laid the hair on his hand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "For having lived in Westminster--how many years now? over twenty,--one feels even in the midst of the traffic, or waking at night, Clarissa was positive, a particular hush, or solemnity; an indescribable pause; a suspense (but that might be her heart, affected, they said, by influenza) before Big Ben strikes. There! Out it boomed. First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Willoughby's selfishness, though consistent as Helen saw with real affection for his daughter, made her determined to have the girl to stay with her, even if she had to promise a complete course of instruction in the feminine graces. She could not help laughing at the notion of it--Rachel a Tory hostess!--and marvelling as she left him at the astonishing ignorance of a father.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Good Lord!\" Hewet exclaimed. \"I've never been so much interested in my life.\" She then realised that while she had been thinking of Richmond, his eyes had never left her face. The knowledge of this excited her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "There was a pause, which did not come on Rachel's side from any lack of things to say; as usual she could not say them, and was further confused by the fact that the time for talking probably ran short. She was haunted by absurd jumbled ideas--how, if one went back far enough, everything perhaps was intelligible; everything was in common; for the mammoths who pastured in the fields of Richmond High Street had turned into paving stones and boxes full of ribbon, and her aunts.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It must have been written by a woman,\" one of us urged. But no. She told us that it was written by a young man, one of the most famous poets of the day. I leave you to imagine what the shock of the discovery was. Though we all cried and begged her to read no more, she persisted and read us extracts from the Lives of the Lord Chancellors.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I don't satisfy you in the way you satisfy me,\" he continued. \"There's something I can't get hold of in you. You don't want me as I want you--you're always wanting something else.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "But St. John was decidedly cautious, as she could see by the sudden constriction of his lips, and had no intention of revealing his soul to a young lady. \"The ass is eating my hat,\" he remarked, and stretched out for it instead of answering her. Evelyn blushed very slightly and then turned with some impetuosity upon Mr. Perrott, and when they mounted again it was Mr. Perrott who lifted her to her seat.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"If one can give men a room to themselves where they will sit, it's all to the good. Arm-chairs are the important things--\" She began wheeling them about. \"Now, does it still look like a bar at a railway station?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The origin of Archbishop Thomson was obscure. His great-uncle \"may reasonably be supposed\" to have been \"an ornament to the middle classes\". His aunt married a gentleman who was present at the murder of Gustavus III. of Sweden; and his father met his death at the age of eighty-seven by treading on a cat in the early hours of the morning. The physical vigour which this anecdote implies was combined in the Archbishop with powers of intellect which promised success in whatever profession he adopted.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "There in the grey room, with the pictures on the wall, and the valuable furniture, under the ground glass skylight, they learnt the extent of their transgressions; huddled up in arm-chairs, they watched him go through, for their benefit, a curious exercise with the arms, which he shot out, brought sharply back to his hip, to prove (if the patient was obstinate) that Sir William was master of his own actions, which the patient was not. There some weakly broke down; sobbed, submitted; others, inspired by Heaven knows what intemperate madness, called Sir William to his face a damnable humbug; questioned, even more impiously, life itself. Why live? they demanded. Sir William replied that life was good.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It is this, he said, as he entered Dean's Yard. Big Ben was beginning to strike, first the warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. Lunch parties waste the entire afternoon, he thought, approaching his door.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"How are you, dear,\" said Mr. Ambrose, inclining his forehead to be kissed. His niece instinctively liked his thin angular body, and the big head with its sweeping features, and the acute, innocent eyes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "And once they found the girl who did the room reading one of these papers in fits of laughter. It was a dreadful pity. For that made Septimus cry out about human cruelty--how they tear each other to pieces. The fallen, he said, they tear to pieces. \"Holmes is on us,\" he would say, and he would invent stories about Holmes; Holmes eating porridge; Holmes reading Shakespeare--making himself roar with laughter or rage, for Dr. Holmes seemed to stand for something horrible to him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"She shall have a beautiful hat!\" he murmured, taking up this and that, Rezia kneeling by his side, looking over his shoulder. Now it was finished--that is to say the design; she must stitch it together. But she must be very, very careful, he said, to keep it just as he had made it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "No crime; love; he repeated, fumbling for his card and pencil, when a Skye terrier snuffed his trousers and he started in an agony of fear. It was turning into a man! He could not watch it happen! It was horrible, terrible to see a dog become a man! At once the dog trotted away.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was as though a blue shadow had fallen across a pool. Their eyes became deeper, and their voices more cordial. Instead of joining them as they began to pace the deck, Rachel was indignant with the prosperous matrons, who made her feel outside their world and motherless, and turning back, she left them abruptly. She slammed the door of her room, and pulled out her music. It was all old music--Bach and Beethoven, Mozart and Purcell--the pages yellow, the engraving rough to the finger.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"You heard, Aunt Emma, that poor Miss Vinrace has died of the fever,\" Susan informed her gently. She could not speak of death loudly or even in her usual voice, so that Mrs. Paley did not catch a word. Arthur came to the rescue.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I rather think Rachel's in love with me,\" he remarked, as his eyes returned to his plate. \"That's the worst of friendships with young women--they tend to fall in love with one.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Can you imagine a very extraordinary cross between Moll Flanders and Lady Ritchie, between a rolling and rollicking woman of the town and a lady of breeding and refinement? Laetitia Pilkington (1712-1759) was something of the sort--shady, shifty, adventurous, and yet, like Thackeray's daughter, like Miss Mitford, like Madame de Sevigne and Jane Austen and Maria Edgeworth, so imbued with the old traditions of her sex that she wrote, as ladies talk, to give pleasure. Throughout her Memoirs, we can never forget that it is her wish to entertain, her unhappy fate to sob. Dabbing her eyes and controlling her anguish, she begs us to forgive an odious breach of manners which only the suffering of a lifetime, the intolerable persecutions of Mr. P----n, the malignant, she must say the h-----h, spite of Lady C----t can excuse. For who should know better than the Earl of Killmallock's great-granddaughter that it is the part of a lady to hide her sufferings?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The bedrooms at the hotel were all on the same pattern, save that some were larger and some smaller; they had a floor of dark red tiles; they had a high bed, draped in mosquito curtains; they had each a writing-table and a dressing-table, and a couple of arm-chairs. But directly a box was unpacked the rooms became very different, so that Miss Allan's room was very unlike Evelyn's room. There were no variously coloured hatpins on her dressing-table; no scent-bottles; no narrow curved pairs of scissors; no great variety of shoes and boots; no silk petticoats lying on the chairs. The room was extremely neat. There seemed to be two pairs of everything.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"We must make up a party,\" she went on. \"Ten people could hire a launch. Now you'll come, and Mrs. Ambrose'll come, and will Mr. Hirst and t'other gentleman come? Where's a pencil?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"No, no, of course you can neither read nor write. But why do you work so hard?\" \"My dear lady, with a growing family----\" \"But why does your family grow?\" Their wives wished that too, or perhaps it was the British Empire. But more significant than the answers were the refusals to answer.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It's high time that horses should become extinct anyhow,\" said Hirst. \"They're distressingly ugly, besides being vicious.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "And here a shindy of brawling women, drunken women; here only a policeman and looming houses, high houses, domed houses, churches, parliaments, and the hoot of a steamer on the river, a hollow misty cry. But it was her street, this, Clarissa's; cabs were rushing round the corner, like water round the piers of a bridge, drawn together, it seemed to him because they bore people going to her party, Clarissa's party.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Mrs. Ambrose looked and listened obediently enough, but inwardly she was prey to an uneasy mood not readily to be ascribed to any one cause. Looking on shore as Mr. Flushing bade her, she thought the country very beautiful, but also sultry and alarming. She did not like to feel herself the victim of unclassified emotions, and certainly as the launch slipped on and on, in the hot morning sun, she felt herself unreasonably moved. Whether the unfamiliarity of the forest was the cause of it, or something less definite, she could not determine. Her mind left the scene and occupied itself with anxieties for Ridley, for her children, for far-off things, such as old age and poverty and death.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "So the diners out stepped forward with long slips of paper containing answers to their questions. These had been framed after much consideration. A good man, we had agreed, must at any rate be honest, passionate, and unworldly. But whether or not a particular man possessed those qualities could only be discovered by asking questions, often beginning at a remote distance from the centre. Is Kensington a nice place to live in?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Did you meet Mr. Flushing? He has gone to find you. He thought you must be lost, though I told him you weren't lost.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"I should like to see Mr. Dubonnet,\" said Hugh in his curt worldly way. It appeared that this Dubonnet had the measurements of Mrs. Whitbread's neck, or, more strangely still, knew her views upon Spanish jewellery and the extent of her possessions in that line (which Hugh could not remember). All of which seemed to Richard Dalloway awfully odd. For he never gave Clarissa presents, except a bracelet two or three years ago, which had not been a success. She never wore it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Not a very shapely figure for a Goddess,\" said Miss Ormerod with a little laugh. \"I should enjoy the wine though. You're not going to cut me off my one glass of port surely?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "In his temperate and reasonable way Addison more than once amused himself with speculations as to the fate of his writings. He had a just idea of their nature and value. \"I have new-pointed all the batteries of ridicule\", he wrote. Yet, because so many of his darts had been directed against ephemeral follies, \"absurd fashions, ridiculous customs, and affected forms of speech\", the time would come, in a hundred years, perhaps, when his essays, he thought, would be \"like so many pieces of old plate, where the weight will be regarded, but the fashion lost\". Two hundred years have passed; the plate is worn smooth; the pattern almost rubbed out; but the metal is pure silver.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"If you go, Hewet, I wish you'd make enquiries about the prostitute,\" said Hirst. \"Look here,\" he added, \"I'll walk half the way with you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She reviewed their little journeys to and fro, to Walworth, to charwomen with bad legs, to meetings for this and that, their minute acts of charity and unselfishness which flowered punctually from a definite view of what they ought to do, their friendships, their tastes and habits; she saw all these things like grains of sand falling, falling through innumerable days, making an atmosphere and building up a solid mass, a background. Hewet observed her as she considered this.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "How many million times she had seen her face, and always with the same imperceptible contraction! She pursed her lips when she looked in the glass. It was to give her face point. That was her self--pointed; dartlike; definite. That was her self when some effort, some call on her to be her self, drew the parts together, she alone knew how different, how incompatible and composed so for the world only into one centre, one diamond, one woman who sat in her drawing-room and made a meeting-point, a radiancy no doubt in some dull lives, a refuge for the lonely to come to, perhaps; she had helped young people, who were grateful to her; had tried to be the same always, never showing a sign of all the other sides of her--faults, jealousies, vanities, suspicions, like this of Lady Bruton not asking her to lunch; which, she thought (combing her hair finally), is utterly base!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "The matter being settled, they were once more put on shore: the sailors, producing raisins and tobacco, leant upon the rail and watched the six English, whose coats and dresses looked so strange upon the green, wander off. A joke that was by no means proper set them all laughing, and then they turned round and lay at their ease upon the deck.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Oh, I'm entirely with you there,\" said Dalloway. \"Nobody can condemn the utter folly and futility of such behaviour more than I do; and as for the whole agitation, well! may I be in my grave before a woman has the right to vote in England! That's all I say.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Afterwards he could remember standing by old Miss Parry's chair in the drawing-room. Clarissa came up, with her perfect manners, like a real hostess, and wanted to introduce him to some one--spoke as if they had never met before, which enraged him. Yet even then he admired her for it. He admired her courage; her social instinct; he admired her power of carrying things through. \"The perfect hostess,\" he said to her, whereupon she winced all over.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"An odd lot, aren't they?\" said Arthur. \"I thought we should never get 'em all to the top. But I'm glad we came, by Jove! I wouldn't have missed this for something.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "His eyes were dazed, his hands very cold, and his brain excited and yet half asleep. Inside the door everything was as he had left it except that the hall was now empty. There were the chairs turning in towards each other where people had sat talking, and the empty glasses on little tables, and the newspapers scattered on the floor. As he shut the door he felt as if he were enclosed in a square box, and instantly shrivelled up. It was all very bright and very small.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "She did not move. \"Tell me the truth, tell me the truth,\" he kept on saying. He felt as if his forehead would burst. She seemed contracted, petrified. She did not move.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"He would like some tea,\" said Mrs. Paley. \"Susan, run and get some cups--there are the two young men.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Why is it,\" Rachel continued, \"that I can laugh at Mr. Hirst to you, but not to his face? At tea I was completely overwhelmed, not by his ugliness--by his mind.\" She enclosed a circle in the air with her hands. She realised with a great sense of comfort how easily she could talk to Hewet, those thorns or ragged corners which tear the surface of some relationships being smoothed away.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "It was borne through the kitchen. Over her shoulder Lucy reported how Miss Elizabeth looked quite lovely; she couldn't take her eyes off her; in her pink dress, wearing the necklace Mr. Dalloway had given her. Jenny must remember the dog, Miss Elizabeth's fox-terrier, which, since it bit, had to be shut up and might, Elizabeth thought, want something. Jenny must remember the dog. But Jenny was not going upstairs with all those people about.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"Ah,\" said Rezia, trying to remember. She thought Mrs. Filmer had said that he travelled for some company. \"Just now he is in Hull,\" she said.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Mrs. Thornbury made a little exclamation, drew her lips together, and the tears rose in her eyes. Through them she looked at the hall which was now laid with great breadths of sunlight, and at the careless, casual groups of people who were standing beside the solid arm-chairs and tables. They looked to her unreal, or as people look who remain unconscious that some great explosion is about to take place beside them. But there was no explosion, and they went on standing by the chairs and the tables. Mrs. Thornbury no longer saw them, but, penetrating through them as though they were without substance, she saw the house, the people in the house, the room, the bed in the room, and the figure of the dead lying still in the dark beneath the sheets.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Down she looked into the depth of the sea. While it was slightly disturbed on the surface by the passage of the Euphrosyne, beneath it was green and dim, and it grew dimmer and dimmer until the sand at the bottom was only a pale blur. One could scarcely see the black ribs of wrecked ships, or the spiral towers made by the burrowings of great eels, or the smooth green-sided monsters who came by flickering this way and that.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "No, no, nothing is proved, nothing is known. And if I were to get up at this very moment and ascertain that the mark on the wall is really--what shall we say?--the head of a gigantic old nail, driven in two hundred years ago, which has now, owing to the patient attrition of many generations of housemaids, revealed its head above the coat of paint, and is taking its first view of modern life in the sight of a white-walled fire-lit room, what should I gain?--Knowledge? Matter for further speculation? I can think sitting still as well as standing up. And what is knowledge?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "Mrs. Dalloway, with her head a little on one side, did her best to recollect Ambrose--was it a surname?--but failed. She was made slightly uneasy by what she had heard. She knew that scholars married any one--girls they met in farms on reading parties; or little suburban women who said disagreeably, \"Of course I know it's my husband you want; not me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "woolf", "text": "\"It's so unpleasant, being cooped up with people one hardly knows,\" she remarked. \"People who mind being seen naked.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She looked at me and laughed pointlessly. Then she flounced over to the dog, kissed it with ecstasy, and swept into the kitchen, implying that a dozen chefs awaited her orders there.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "During the work hours he labored with uneasy haste, attempting, as the day bore toward the sultry Mississippi sunset, to tire himself physically so that in the evening he might sleep deeply from utter exhaustion.... Then one afternoon in the second week he had a feeling that two eyes were watching him from a place a few feet beyond one of the guards. This aroused him to a sort of terror. He turned his back on the eyes and shovelled feverishly, until it became necessary for him to face about and go for more gravel. Then they entered his vision again, and his already taut nerves tightened up to the breaking-point. The eyes were leering at him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"But I don't want to argue. I think it's wonderful that we can kiss and forget, and when we can't it'll be time to argue.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't care!\" he almost shrieked; \"get out--oh, get out! Haven't you done me harm enough? Haven't--you--done--enough?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Fine! I swear I think it'll be most entertaining. How do they feel up at Cap and Gown?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "A platinum ring with three medium diamonds, worth, probably, about seven hundred dollars. Diamonds were going up.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The flowers were unnecessary, for at two o'clock a greenhouse arrived from Gatsby's, with innumerable receptacles to contain it. An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-coloured tie, hurried in. He was pale, and there were dark signs of sleeplessness beneath his eyes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Then I grew up, and the beauty of succulent illusions fell away from me. The fibre of my mind coarsened and my eyes grew miserably keen. Life rose around my island like a sea, and presently I was swimming.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "GLORIA: When we have to keep selling bonds to even pay our bills, it's time to cut down on excess generosities. Moreover, I wouldn't be quite so attentive to Rachael Barnes. Her husband doesn't like it any more than I do!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Of course, you're right,\" Amory agreed. \"It's a rather unpleasant overpowering force that's part of the machinery under everything. It's like an actor that lets you see his mechanics! Wait a minute till I think this out....\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He called her on the 'phone one day. Yes, she remembered him perfectly; no, Monsignor wasn't in town, was in Boston she thought; he'd promised to come to dinner when he returned. Couldn't Amory take luncheon with her?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MAURY: Fill the cup, Frederick. You know everything's subordinated to nature's purposes with us, and her purpose with you is to make you a rip-roaring tippler.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You've got awfully nice hands,\" she said. \"They look as if you played the piano. Do you?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Don't be morbid,\" Jordan said. \"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony did not want her to come South. He told himself that this was for many reasons--he needed a rest from her and she from him. She would be bored beyond measure in town, and she would be able to see Anthony for only a few hours each day. But in his heart he feared that it was because he was attracted to Dorothy. As a matter of fact he lived in terror that Gloria should learn by some chance or intention of the relation he had formed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"All I think of ever is that I love you,\" she wailed. \"I value my body because you think it's beautiful. And this body of mine--of yours--to have it grow ugly and shapeless? It's simply intolerable. Oh, Anthony, I'm not afraid of the pain.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The phone clicked. Her eyes looking along the floor saw his feet cut the pattern of a patch of sunlight on the carpet. She arose and faced him with a gray, level glance just as his arms folded about her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"To hold a man a woman has to appeal to the worst in him.\" This sentence was the thesis of most of his bad nights, of which he felt this was to be one. His mind had already started to play variations on the subject. Tireless passion, fierce jealousy, longing to possess and crush--these alone were left of all his love for Rosalind; these remained to him as payment for the loss of his youth--bitter calomel under the thin sugar of love's exaltation.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The room itself is in messy disorder. On the table is a dish of fruit, which is real but appears artificial. Around it are grouped an ominous assortment of decanters, glasses, and heaped ash-trays, the latter still raising wavy smoke-ladders into the stale air, the effect on the whole needing but a skull to resemble that venerable chromo, once a fixture in every \"den,\" which presents the appendages to the life of pleasure with delightful and awe-inspiring sentiment.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Gatsby and I in turn leaned down and took the small reluctant hand. Afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise. I don't think he had ever really believed in its existence before.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, yes!\" she cried. \"Oh, yes! that's it: a little gray house with sort of white around and a whole lot of swamp maples just as brown and gold as an October picture in a gallery. Where can we find one?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The bottle of whisky--a second one--was now in constant demand by all present, excepting Catherine, who \"felt just as good on nothing at all.\" Tom rang for the janitor and sent him for some celebrated sandwiches, which were a complete supper in themselves. I wanted to get out and walk eastward toward the park through the soft twilight, but each time I tried to go I became entangled in some wild, strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair. Yet high over the city our line of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher in the darkening streets, and I saw him too, looking up and wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "All you need tell me of yourself is that you still are; for the rest I merely search back in a restive memory, a thermometer that records only fevers, and match you with what I was at your age. But men will chatter and you and I will still shout our futilities to each other across the stage until the last silly curtain falls plump! upon our bobbing heads. But you are starting the spluttering magic-lantern show of life with much the same array of slides as I had, so I need to write you if only to shriek the colossal stupidity of people....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Dalyrimple started at this repetition of a phrase he had thought of so much lately. There was a sudden ring at the door-bell.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"(3) Next comes the worshipper, the idolater of his wife and all that is his, to the utter oblivion of everything else. This sort demands an emotional actress for a wife. God! it must be an exertion to be thought righteous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Yes, at Farmington. Mother wanted me to go to a convent--but I didn't want to.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony, Maury, and Dick sent in their applications for officers' training-camps and the two latter went about feeling strangely exalted and reproachless; they chattered to each other, like college boys, of war's being the one excuse for, and justification of, the aristocrat, and conjured up an impossible caste of officers, to be composed, it appeared, chiefly of the more attractive alumni of three or four Eastern colleges. It seemed to Gloria that in this huge red light streaming across the nation even Anthony took on a new glamour.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony could not see him. The doctors' instructions were that he was to talk to no one, said Mr. Shuttleworth--who offered kindly to take any message that Anthony might care to intrust with him, and deliver it to Adam Patch when his condition permitted. But by obvious innuendo he confirmed Anthony's melancholy inference that the prodigal grandson would be particularly unwelcome at the bedside. At one point in the conversation Anthony, with Gloria's positive instructions in mind, made a move as though to brush by the secretary, but Shuttleworth with a smile squared his brawny shoulders, and Anthony saw how futile such an attempt would be.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "If he had intended thereby to obtain a rise of any sort he was doomed to disappointment. The girl calmly turned over two pages, turned back one, raised the lemon mechanically to tasting distance, and then very faintly but quite unmistakably yawned.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why you should write about the Middle Ages, I don't know. Dark Ages, we used to call 'em. Nobody knows what happened, and nobody cares, except that they're over now.\" He continued for some minutes on the uselessness of such information, touching, naturally, on the Spanish Inquisition and the \"corruption of the monasteries.\" Then:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony noted that of the numerous old men who had answered the original advertisement, only two had returned, and that among the thirty odd who assembled on the third day to get actual selling instructions from Mr. Carleton, only one gray head was in evidence. These thirty were eager converts; with their mouths they followed the working of Mr. Carleton's mouth; they swayed in their seats with enthusiasm, and in the intervals of his talk they spoke to each other in tense approving whispers. Yet of the chosen few who, in the words of Mr. Carleton, \"were determined to get those deserts that rightly and truly belonged to them,\" less than half a dozen combined even a modicum of personal appearance with that great gift of being a \"pusher.\" But they were told that they were all natural pushers--it was merely necessary that they should believe with a sort of savage passion in what they were selling. He even urged each one to buy some stock himself, if possible, in order to increase his own sincerity.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He had hoped to find his grandfather dead, but had learned by telephoning from the pier that Adam Patch was comparatively well again--the next day he had concealed his disappointment and gone out to Tarrytown. Five miles from the station his taxicab entered an elaborately groomed drive that threaded a veritable maze of walls and wire fences guarding the estate--this, said the public, was because it was definitely known that if the Socialists had their way, one of the first men they'd assassinate would be old Cross Patch.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They had forgotten me, but Daisy glanced up and held out her hand; Gatsby didn't know me now at all. I looked once more at them and they looked back at me, remotely, possessed by intense life. Then I went out of the room and down the marble steps into the rain, leaving them there together.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "One little officer named Hopkins, who had been a sergeant in the regular army, was particularly annoying. He took the war as a gift of revenge from the high gods to himself, and the constant burden of his harangues was that these rookies did not appreciate the full gravity and responsibility of \"the service.\" He considered that by a combination of foresight and dauntless efficiency he had raised himself to his current magnificence. He aped the particular tyrannies of every officer under whom he had served in times gone by. His frown was frozen on his brow--before giving a private a pass to go to town he would ponderously weigh the effect of such an absence upon the company, the army, and the welfare of the military profession the world over.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Camp Hooker was an astonishing and spectacular growth, suggesting \"A Mining Town in 1870--The Second Week.\" It was a thing of wooden shacks and whitish-gray tents, connected by a pattern of roads, with hard tan drill-grounds fringed with trees. Here and there stood green Y. M. C. A. houses, unpromising oases, with their muggy odor of wet flannels and closed telephone-booths--and across from each of them there was usually a canteen, swarming with life, presided over indolently by an officer who, with the aid of a side-car, usually managed to make his detail a pleasant and chatty sinecure.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "For over a moment Gloria made no sound. Her lips were still curled; her glance was straight, proud, remote. Then her eyes blurred a little, and she murmured three words half aloud to the death-bound fire:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory closed his eyes as the ghostly procession drew near. The song soared so high that all dropped out except the tenors, who bore the melody triumphantly past the danger-point and relinquished it to the fantastic chorus. Then Amory opened his eyes, half afraid that sight would spoil the rich illusion of harmony.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The \"belle\" had become the \"flirt,\" the \"flirt\" had become the \"baby vamp.\" The \"belle\" had five or six callers every afternoon. If the P. D., by some strange accident, has two, it is made pretty uncomfortable for the one who hasn't a date with her. The \"belle\" was surrounded by a dozen men in the intermissions between dances. Try to find the P. D. between dances, just try to find her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Marcia,\" he said cheerfully later that same night, \"I think we're out of the woods. Paulson thinks he can get me an opening at the Hippodrome, and that means an all-winter engagement. The Hippodrome you know, is a big----\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I was brought by a woman named Roosevelt,\" he continued. \"Mrs. Claud Roosevelt. Do you know her? I met her somewhere last night.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Daisy and Gatsby danced. I remember being surprised by his graceful, conservative foxtrot--I had never seen him dance before. Then they sauntered over to my house and sat on the steps for half an hour, while at her request I remained watchfully in the garden. \"In case there's a fire or a flood,\" she explained, \"or any act of God.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But Anthony, lying upon his couch and staring at the orange lamp, passed his thin fingers incessantly through his dark hair and made new symbols for the hours. She was in a shop now, it seemed, moving lithely among the velvets and the furs, her own dress making, as she walked, a debonair rustle in that world of silken rustles and cool soprano laughter and scents of many slain but living flowers. The Minnies and Pearls and jewels and jennies would gather round her like courtiers, bearing wispy frailties of Georgette crepe, delicate chiffon to echo her cheeks in faint pastel, milky lace to rest in pale disarray against her neck--damask was used but to cover priests and divans in these days, and cloth of Samarand was remembered only by the romantic poets.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He was in a skeleton infantry company of about a hundred men. After the invariable breakfast of fatty bacon, cold toast, and cereal, the entire hundred would rush for the latrines, which, however well-policed, seemed always intolerable, like the lavatories in cheap hotels. Out on the field, then, in ragged order--the lame man on his left grotesquely marring Anthony's listless efforts to keep in step, the platoon sergeants either showing off violently to impress the officers and recruits, or else quietly lurking in close to the line of march, avoiding both labor and unnecessary visibility.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well,\" said Marjorie, \"no girl can permanently bolster up a lame-duck visitor, because these days it's every girl for herself. I've even tried to drop hints about clothes and things, and she's been furious--given me the funniest looks. She's sensitive enough to know she's not getting away with much, but I'll bet she consoles herself by thinking that she's very virtuous and that I'm too gay and fickle and will come to a bad end. All unpopular girls think that way. Sour grapes!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The exception was the man who seemed the soberest, the most sprightly and the youngest of the lot, and who advanced to the front of the platform. The audience scrutinized him hopefully. He was rather small and rather pretty, with the commercial rather than the thespian sort of prettiness. He had straight blond bushy brows and eyes that were almost preposterously honest, and as he reached the edge of his rostrum he seemed to throw these eyes out into the audience, simultaneously extending his arm with two fingers outstretched. Then while he rocked himself to a state of balance an expectant silence settled over the hall.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He saw, at length, that her eyes were gray, very level and cool, and when they rested on him he understood what Maury had meant by saying she was very young and very old. She talked always about herself as a very charming child might talk, and her comments on her tastes and distastes were unaffected and spontaneous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Gloria shuddered suddenly as a river siren came moaning over the dusky roofs, and leaning back in till the ghostly curtains fell from her shoulder, she turned on the electric lamp. It was growing late. She knew there was some change in her purse, and she considered whether she would go down and have some coffee and rolls where the liberated subway made a roaring cave of Manhattan Street or eat the devilled ham and bread in the kitchen. Her purse decided for her. It contained a nickel and two pennies.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, then,\" complained Tom, his cracked voice rising plaintively, \"why do I have to come back at all? I've learned all that Princeton has to offer. Two years more of mere pedantry and lying around a club aren't going to help. They're just going to disorganize me, conventionalize me completely. Even now I'm so spineless that I wonder how I get away with it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The Tenth Infantry, arriving in New York from Panama, were escorted from saloon to saloon by patriotic citizens, to their great bewilderment. West Pointers began to be noticed for the first time in years, and the general impression was that everything was glorious, but not half so glorious as it was going to be pretty soon, and that everybody was a fine fellow, and every race a great race--always excepting the Germans--and in every strata of society outcasts and scapegoats had but to appear in uniform to be forgiven, cheered, and wept over by relatives, ex-friends, and utter strangers.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"For Heaven's sake, Gloria,\" interrupted Maury, \"nobody wants to lock you up in a bungalow. Who in God's name brought bungalows into the conversation? But you'll never get a place anywhere unless you go out and hunt for it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's a bitch,\" said Tom decisively. \"Here's your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Work!\" she scoffed. \"Oh, you sad bird! You bluffer! Work--that means a great arranging of the desk and the lights, a great sharpening of pencils, and 'Gloria, don't sing!'", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "CECELIA: (Cynically) You're glad so you can get married and live on Long Island with the fast younger married set. You want life to be a chain of flirtation with a man for every link.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, I can't judge. A man, of course, has to go through a lot more, and I've been sheltered.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Ship stan'in' off sho' 'bout half a mile suh. Mose, he uz on watch, he say look's if she's done ancho'd.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Suddenly he felt an overwhelming desire to let himself go to the devil--not to go violently as a gentleman should, but to sink safely and sensuously out of sight. He pictured himself in an adobe house in Mexico, half-reclining on a rug-covered couch, his slender, artistic fingers closed on a cigarette while he listened to guitars strumming melancholy undertones to an age-old dirge of Castile and an olive-skinned, carmine-lipped girl caressed his hair. Here he might live a strange litany, delivered from right and wrong and from the hound of heaven and from every God (except the exotic Mexican one who was pretty slack himself and rather addicted to Oriental scents)--delivered from success and hope and poverty into that long chute of indulgence which led, after all, only to the artificial lake of death.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The door-bell rang abruptly and he started as though he had been dealt a blow. Recovering himself, he went into the hall and opened the outer door. It was Dot.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Captain Wolf sat on the left with Rachael on his knees. Captain Collins sat in the middle, and as he settled himself he slipped his arm about Gloria's shoulder. It rested there lifelessly for a moment and then tightened like a vise. He leaned over her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"But we heard it,\" insisted Daisy, surprising me by opening up again in a flower-like way. \"We heard it from three people, so it must be true.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In 1913 Anthony Patch's adjustment of himself to the universe was in process of consummation. Physically, he had improved since his undergraduate days--he was still too thin but his shoulders had widened and his brunette face had lost the frightened look of his freshman year. He was secretly orderly and in person spick and span--his friends declared that they had never seen his hair rumpled. His nose was too sharp; his mouth was one of those unfortunate mirrors of mood inclined to droop perceptibly in moments of unhappiness, but his blue eyes were charming, whether alert with intelligence or half closed in an expression of melancholy humor.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well,\" she replied emphatically, \"Your salary wouldn't keep us in a tenement. Don't think I want to be public--I don't. I want to be yours. But I'd be a half-wit to sit in one room and count the sunflowers on the wall-paper while I waited for you. When you pull down three hundred a month I'll quit.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Fifth and Sixth Avenues, it seemed to Anthony, were the uprights of a gigantic ladder stretching from Washington Square to Central Park. Coming up-town on top of a bus toward Fifty-second Street invariably gave him the sensation of hoisting himself hand by hand on a series of treacherous rungs, and when the bus jolted to a stop at his own rung he found something akin to relief as he descended the reckless metal steps to the sidewalk.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Then on an instant the lights went out, and she was in complete darkness. She gave a small, frightened cry, and sank down into a cold little heap on the ice. She felt her left knee do something as she fell, but she scarcely noticed it as some deep terror far greater than any fear of being lost settled upon her. She was alone with this presence that came out of the North, the dreary loneliness that rose from ice-bound whalers in the Arctic seas, from smokeless, trackless wastes where were strewn the whitened bones of adventure. It was an icy breath of death; it was rolling down low across the land to clutch at her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Your wife doesn't love you,\" said Gatsby. \"She's never loved you. She loves me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "PARAMORE: (Intently) It's very interesting to hear you say that. Now I was talking to a man who'd been over there----", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Isabelle and her mother drove into town at four, and they rode up smiling Prospect Avenue, through the gay crowd, to have tea at Cottage. The clubs had their annual dinners that night, so at seven he loaned her to a freshman and arranged to meet her in the gymnasium at eleven, when the upper classmen were admitted to the freshman dance. She was all he had expected, and he was happy and eager to make that night the centre of every dream. At nine the upper classes stood in front of the clubs as the freshman torchlight parade rioted past, and Amory wondered if the dress-suited groups against the dark, stately backgrounds and under the flare of the torches made the night as brilliant to the staring, cheering freshmen as it had been to him the year before.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Honorable scars.\" Kerry craned his neck suddenly at the street. \"There's Langueduc, if you want to see what he looks like--and Humbird just behind.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In the South an engaged girl, even a young married woman, expected the same amount of half-affectionate badinage and flattery that would be accorded a debutante, but here all that seemed banned. One young man after getting well started on the subject of Sally Carrol's eyes and, how they had allured him ever since she entered the room, went into a violent convulsion when he found she was visiting the Bellamys--was Harry's fiancee. He seemed to feel as though he had made some risque and inexcusable blunder, became immediately formal and left her at the first opportunity.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Anybody can't be a war correspondent,\" objected Anthony. \"You have to have some newspaper willing to buy your stuff. And I can't spare the money to go over as a free-lance.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Maybe I am.\" Dick had reached the stage where he no longer fought, but submitted. He must be an ancient soul, he fancied grotesquely; so old as to be absolutely rotten. However, the reiteration of the phrase still somewhat embarrassed him and sent uncomfortable shivers up his back. He changed the subject.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Just floating round on my back. I'll be up in a minute. Let me tell you. The only thing I enjoyed was shocking people; wearing something quite impossible and quite charming to a fancy-dress party, going round with the fastest men in New York, and getting into some of the most hellish scrapes imaginable.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "This woman had clearly materialized out of Hume. The very froth of her brown gauzy dress was art emanation from Hume's leather arm there! If he looked long enough he would see Hume right through her and then he would be alone again in the room. He passed his fist across his eyes. He really must take up those trapeze exercises again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Telling Mrs. Gilbert had been an embarrassed matter. She sat stuffed into a small chair and listened with an intense and very blinky sort of concentration. She must have known it--for three weeks Gloria had seen no one else--and she must have noticed that this time there was an authentic difference in her daughter's attitude. She had been given special deliveries to post; she had heeded, as all mothers seem to heed, the hither end of telephone conversations, disguised but still rather warm--", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Don't believe in it,\" replied Marcia. \"I tried one of those patent medicines once and they're all bunk. You stick to gymnastics.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They stopped and stared at each other, and Anthony wondered if the cold made his own face as repellent as Dick Caramel's, whose nose was crimson, whose bulging brow was blue, whose yellow unmatched eyes were red and watery at the rims. After a moment they began walking again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "While the rain drizzled on Amory looked futilely back at the stream of his life, all its glitterings and dirty shallows. To begin with, he was still afraid--not physically afraid any more, but afraid of people and prejudice and misery and monotony. Yet, deep in his bitter heart, he wondered if he was after all worse than this man or the next. He knew that he could sophisticate himself finally into saying that his own weakness was just the result of circumstances and environment; that often when he raged at himself as an egotist something would whisper ingratiatingly: \"No. Genius!\" That was one manifestation of fear, that voice which whispered that he could not be both great and good, that genius was the exact combination of those inexplicable grooves and twists in his mind, that any discipline would curb it to mediocrity.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Then they returned toward the Plaza, talking about nothing, but glad for the spring singing in the air and for the warm balm that lay upon the suddenly golden city. To their right was the Park, while at the left a great bulk of granite and marble muttered dully a millionaire's chaotic message to whosoever would listen: something about \"I worked and I saved and I was sharper than all Adam and here I sit, by golly, by golly!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "His mind turned a corner suddenly and he found himself thinking of the Catholic Church. The idea was strong in him that there was a certain intrinsic lack in those to whom orthodox religion was necessary, and religion to Amory meant the Church of Rome. Quite conceivably it was an empty ritual but it was seemingly the only assimilative, traditionary bulwark against the decay of morals. Until the great mobs could be educated into a moral sense some one must cry: \"Thou shalt not!\" Yet any acceptance was, for the present, impossible. He wanted time and the absence of ulterior pressure.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Mrs. Wilson had changed her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-coloured chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room. With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment, and as she expanded the room grew smaller around her, until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot through the smoky air.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(In an ecstasy of consideration PARAMORE regards the cover of a book which he holds in his hand. MAURY and DICK exchange a glance.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Because it's--it's fantastic. You know that in every sense of the word you're an agnostic. You'd laugh at any orthodox form of Christianity--and then you come out with the statement that you believe in some silly rule of reincarnation.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": ". . . She was calling, felt herself calling for Kieth, her lips mouthing the words that would not come:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "One night, instead of turning away when Marjorie went in and lit the gas, Samuel went in, too, and they sat together on the sofa in the little parlor. He was very happy. He envied their home, and he felt that the man who neglected such a possession out of stubborn pride was a fool and unworthy of his wife. But when he kissed Marjorie for the first time she cried softly and told him to go. He sailed home on the wings of desperate excitement, quite resolved to fan this spark of romance, no matter how big the blaze or who was burned.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Next morning Samuel left for Chicago, and two days later he was facing Hamil across a table in the office of the Merchants' Trust in San Antonio. It didn't take long to get the gist of the thing. It was a big deal in oil which concerned the buying up of seventeen huge adjoining ranches. This buying up had to be done in one week, and it was a pure squeeze. Forces had been set in motion that put the seventeen owners between the devil and the deep sea, and Samuel's part was simply to \"handle\" the matter from a little village near Pueblo.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony frowned out the car window. As the track crossed a country road a farmer appeared momentarily in his wagon; he was chewing on a straw and was apparently the same farmer they had passed a dozen times before, sitting in silent and malignant symbolism. As Anthony turned to Gloria his frown intensified.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He began life as a poor kid in a Tennessee town, he said, so poor that his people were the only white family in their street. He never remembered any white children--but there were inevitably a dozen pickaninnies streaming in his trail, passionate admirers whom he kept in tow by the vividness of his imagination and the amount of trouble he was always getting them in and out of. And it seemed that this association diverted a rather unusual musical gift into a strange channel.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Leaving the plateau they descended the hill, and reaching the lake were rowed out to the yacht by the silent negroes. Then, pale and weary, they sank into the settees and waited.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"A fathom deep in sleep I lie With old desires, restrained before, To clamor lifeward with a cry, As dark flies out the greying door; And so in quest of creeds to share I seek assertive day again... But old monotony is there: Endless avenues of rain. Oh, might I rise again! Might I Throw off the heat of that old wine, See the new morning mass the sky With fairy towers, line on line; Find each mirage in the high air A symbol, not a dream again... But old monotony is there: Endless avenues of rain.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"If necessary. I don't want to go without things. We have spent a lot, though, since I've been back.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He stretched out in a Morris chair and unfolded a newspaper. With a sinking sensation Evylyn saw that this meant at least ten minutes--and Gedney was standing breathless in the next room. Supposing Harold decided that before he went upstairs he wanted a drink from the decanter on the sideboard. Then it occurred to her to forestall this contingency by bringing him the decanter and a glass. She dreaded calling his attention to the dining-room in any way, but she couldn't risk the other chance.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No, he doesn't,\" said Tom coldly. \"And if you feel that way about it, maybe I'd better sell it somewhere else after all.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony had seen Gloria altogether about a dozen times, say two dozen hours. Supposing he left her alone for a month, made no attempt to see her or speak to her, and avoided every place where she might possibly be. Wasn't it possible, the more possible because she had never loved him, that at the end of that time the rush of events would efface his personality from her conscious mind, and with his personality his offense and humiliation? She would forget, for there would be other men. He winced.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm so glad to go!\" she cried, \"so glad. Oh, my God, how I hate this house!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Pale moons like that one\"--Amory made a vague gesture--\"make people mysterieuse. You look like a young witch with her cap off and her hair sorta mussed\"--her hands clutched at her hair--\"Oh, leave it, it looks good.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory was quite moved. He put his arm around his mother, rubbing his head gently against her shoulder.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "We waited for her down the road and out of sight. It was a few days before the Fourth of July, and a grey, scrawny Italian child was setting torpedoes in a row along the railroad track.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Gloria!\" He reached the platform, ran toward her. \"Are you all right?\" Coming up he knelt and took her in his arms.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"But I guess Anthony Patch don't care much. He got his thirty million. And he's got his private physician along in case he doesn't feel just right about it. Has she been on deck?\" he asked.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, he sold it to the movies. Then they had some scenario man named Jordan work on it. Well, Dick subscribes to a clipping bureau and he's furious because about half the movie reviewers speak of the 'power and strength of William Jordan's \"Demon Lover.\"' Didn't mention old Dick at all. You'd think this fellow Jordan had actually conceived and developed the thing.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's beautiful!\" he cried excitedly. \"My golly, it's beautiful, isn't it! They haven't had one here since eighty-five!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "All through supper he addressed her in the most respectful language, while Kerry made idiotic love to her on the other side, and she giggled and grinned. Amory was content to sit and watch the by-play, thinking what a light touch Kerry had, and how he could transform the barest incident into a thing of curve and contour. They all seemed to have the spirit of it more or less, and it was a relaxation to be with them. Amory usually liked men individually, yet feared them in crowds unless the crowd was around him. He wondered how much each one contributed to the party, for there was somewhat of a spiritual tax levied.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"We'll go now,\" said Myra coolly. \"You see, Amory, the bobs were ordered for five and everybody was here, so we couldn't wait--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "So Horace finally consented, and all through a baking summer he spent three and sometimes four evenings a week experimenting on the trapeze in Skipper's Gymnasium. And in August he admitted to Marcia that it made him capable of more mental work during the day.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Look at this,\" said Gatsby quickly. \"Here's a lot of clippings--about you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No, you have disappointed us. You've shot a lot of arrows but did you shoot any birds?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It came out of one of those bags. You see, Curtis Carlyle and his Six Black Buddies, in the middle of their performance in the tea-room of the hotel at Palm Beach, suddenly changed their instruments for automatics and held up the crowd. I took this bracelet from a pretty, overrouged woman with red hair.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "At two o'clock Gatsby put on his bathing-suit and left word with the butler that if anyone phoned word was to be brought to him at the pool. He stopped at the garage for a pneumatic mattress that had amused his guests during the summer, and the chauffeur helped him to pump it up. Then he gave instructions that the open car wasn't to be taken out under any circumstances--and this was strange, because the front right fender needed repair.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Now we'll get lunch,\" ordered Kerry, wandering up with the crowd. \"Come on, Amory, tear yourself away and get practical.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Dick shook his head with a lofty stubbornness. \"Same old futile cynic,\" he said. \"It's just a mode of being sorry for yourself. You don't do anything--so nothing matters.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"He becomes very sentimental sometimes,\" explained Gatsby. \"This is one of his sentimental days. He's quite a character around New York--a denizen of Broadway.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "His three years of travel were over. He had accomplished the globe with an intensity and curiosity that in any one else would have seemed pedantic, without redeeming spontaneity, almost the self-editing of a human Baedeker; but, in this case, it assumed an air of mysterious purpose and significant design--as though Maury Noble were some predestined anti-Christ, urged by a preordination to go everywhere there was to go along the earth and to see all the billions of humans who bred and wept and slew each other here and there upon it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He left feeling that if he had searched harder, he might have found her--that he was leaving her behind. The day-coach--he was penniless now--was hot. He went out to the open vestibule and sat down on a folding-chair, and the station slid away and the backs of unfamiliar buildings moved by. Then out into the spring fields, where a yellow trolley raced them for a minute with people in it who might once have seen the pale magic of her face along the casual street.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That doesn't matter,\" exclaimed Amory. \"My position couldn't be worse. A social revolution might land me on top. Of course I'm selfish. It seems to me I've been a fish out of water in too many outworn systems.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MAURY: Dick doesn't necessarily see more than any one else. He merely can put down a larger proportion of what he sees.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "AMORY: Yes, women can do that--but not men. I'd remember always, not the beauty of it while it lasted, but just the bitterness, the long bitterness.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Never you min' how I expect my wife. One thing--you leave her alone. You go to hell!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Your face is familiar,\" he said politely. \"Weren't you in the First Division during the war?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"So,\" he repeated savagely. \"So this is your idea of--of romance. A runaway affair, with a high-seas pirate.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Then why couldn't we have stayed at the Merriams'?\" he burst out. \"Why go home when we were having a perfectly decent time? They asked us to supper.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, it's nothing except what you probably know. It was evening and I'd been riding all day and thinking about--about a hundred things, Lois, and then suddenly I had a sense that some one was sitting across from me, felt that he'd been there for some time, and had a vague idea that he was another traveller. All at once he leaned over toward me and I heard a voice say: 'I want you to be a priest, that's what I want.' Well I jumped up and cried out, 'Oh, my God, not that! '--made an idiot of myself before about twenty people; you see there wasn't any one sitting there at all.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Does it?\" He turned his eyes toward it absently. \"I have been glancing into some of the rooms. Let's go to Coney Island, old sport. In my car.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Like a startled child she scurried along the plank, hopping, skipping, jumping, with an ecstatic sense of her own physical lightness. Let him come now--she no longer feared that, only she must first reach the station, because that was part of the game. She was happy. Her hat, snatched off, was clutched tightly in her hand, and her short curled hair bobbed up and down about her ears. She had thought she would never feel so young again, but this was her night, her world.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Tom D'Invilliers became at first an occasion rather than a friend. Amory saw him about once a week, and together they gilded the ceiling of Tom's room and decorated the walls with imitation tapestry, bought at an auction, tall candlesticks and figured curtains. Amory liked him for being clever and literary without effeminacy or affectation. In fact, Amory did most of the strutting and tried painfully to make every remark an epigram, than which, if one is content with ostensible epigrams, there are many feats harder. 12 Univee was amused.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"See!\" he cried triumphantly. \"It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The lightning split the sky, but the song went on without a quaver. The girl was evidently in the field and the voice seemed to come vaguely from a haystack about twenty feet in front of him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Right you are,\" agreed the policeman, tipping his cap. \"Know you next time, Mr. Gatsby. Excuse me!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "We were at a particularly tipsy table. That was my fault--Gatsby had been called to the phone, and I'd enjoyed these same people only two weeks before. But what had amused me then turned septic on the air now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Rising uncertainly, she walked toward the dining-room, feeling her way along the bookcases and through the doorway. After a moment she found the light and switched it on.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Do about it?\" he asked. \"Oh--that spot; it'll disappear in a second.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Meanwhile Anthony, who had been placed on Gloria's left hand, was dancing with her, always in a certain fourth of the floor. This, had there been stags, would have been a delicate tribute to the girl, meaning \"Damn you, don't cut in!\" It was very consciously intimate.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She reached a turn--was it here?--took the left and came to what should have been the outlet into the long, low room, but it was only another glittering passage with darkness at the end. She called again, but the walls gave back a flat, lifeless echo with no reverberations. Retracing her steps she turned another corner, this time following a wide passage. It was like the green lane between the parted water of the Red Sea, like a damp vault connecting empty tombs.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"But, my dear boy, what odd clothes! They look as if they were a set--don't they? Is your underwear purple, too?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Daisy, that's all over now,\" he said earnestly. \"It doesn't matter any more. Just tell him the truth--that you never loved him--and it's all wiped out forever.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh--\" Her voice was full of real distress. Despairingly Anthony went to the phone and called the chambermaid.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Take it to Peter Boyce Wendell. Tell him you got the highest marks in Princeton once and that you ought to know when a book's good. Tell him this one's a world beater.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "As he spoke the sudden anger died out of his eyes and the mask of weariness dropped again over his face. He turned and picked up his pail. Samuel's friends took a quick step in his direction.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, all right, but not to-day. I want to get some exercise. Let's walk!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Two days later he again appeared in the office with the result of a count that had been asked for by Mr. Hesse, the bookkeeper. Mr. Hesse was engaged and Dalyrimple, waiting, began idly fingering in a ledger on the stenographer's desk.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(Some one has opened a door and the music of a waltz surges into the room. ROSALIND rises.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Not a bit,\" she answered. She was searching out napkins in the sideboard. \"I'm really most humdrum and commonplace. One of those people who have no interest in anything but their children.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "As coming from Adam Patch's grandson, Bloeckman took this as a form of pleasantry. After fifteen minutes filled with estimable brilliancies, Gloria appeared, fresh in starched yellow, bringing atmosphere and an increase of vitality.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm a solid block of ice,\" murmured Gloria casually, glancing around with eyes whose irises were of the most delicate and transparent bluish white. \"What a slick fire! We found a place where you could stand on an iron-bar grating, sort of, and it blew warm air up at you--but Dick wouldn't wait there with me. I told him to go on alone and let me be happy.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"She's been talking about it for ten years.\" He rested for a moment against the pump, shading his eyes. \"And now she's going whether she wants to or not. I'm going to get her away.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm not fit to touch her,\" he cried aloud to the four walls. \"I'm not fit to touch her little hand.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Julie surveyed her swathed thumb doubtfully. She crooked it; it waggled. A pleased, interested look appeared in her tear-stained face. She sniffled and waggled it again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I want to be a successful sensation in the movies,\" she announced. \"I hear that Mary Pickford makes a million dollars annually.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'll tell mama you kissed me! I will too! I will too! I'll tell mama, and she won't let me play with you!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She was dressed in blue silk pajamas and standing by her bed with her hand on the light to put the room in darkness, when she changed her mind and opening a table drawer brought out a little black book--a \"Line-a-day\" diary. This she had kept for seven years. Many of the pencil entries were almost illegible and there were notes and references to nights and afternoons long since forgotten, for it was not an intimate diary, even though it began with the immemorial \"I am going to keep a diary for my children.\" Yet as she thumbed over the pages the eyes of many men seemed to look out at her from their half-obliterated names. With one she had gone to New Haven for the first time--in 1908, when she was sixteen and padded shoulders were fashionable at Yale--she had been flattered because \"Touch down\" Michaud had \"rushed\" her all evening.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Yes. I want to. Dick said yesterday that if the weather was nice he was coming up in his car and take me for a ride in Central Park--and look, the room's all full of sunshine.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh we have, we have!\" she cried. \"I feel closer to you now than to any one in the world.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They had now reached a very definite stage. They had traded accounts of their progress since they had met last, and she had listened to much she had heard before. He was a sophomore, was on the Princetonian board, hoped to be chairman in senior year. He learned that some of the boys she went with in Baltimore were \"terrible speeds\" and came to dances in states of artificial stimulation; most of them were twenty or so, and drove alluring red Stutzes. A good half seemed to have already flunked out of various schools and colleges, but some of them bore athletic names that made him look at her admiringly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Of the things they possessed in common, greatest of all was their almost uncanny pull at each other's hearts. The day they left the hotel in Coronado she sat down on one of the beds while they were packing, and began to weep bitterly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, my Lord!\" cried Marjorie in desperation \"You little nut! Girls like you are responsible for all the tiresome colorless marriages; all those ghastly inefficiencies that pass as feminine qualities. What a blow it must be when a man with imagination marries the beautiful bundle of clothes that he's been building ideals round, and finds that she's just a weak, whining, cowardly mass of affectations!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But the man in the plaid cap was quite wrong. Anthony Patch, sitting near the rail and looking out at the sea, was not thinking of his money, for he had seldom in his life been really preoccupied with material vainglory, nor of Edward Shuttleworth, for it is best to look on the sunny side of these things. No--he was concerned with a series of reminiscences, much as a general might look back upon a successful campaign and analyze his victories. He was thinking of the hardships, the insufferable tribulations he had gone through. They had tried to penalize him for the mistakes of his youth.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Wait!\" she whispered to Samuel, in a frightened voice, but in angry impatience at the interruption he walked to the front door and threw it open.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, my name really is Meadow, but my first name isn't Marcia-- it's Veronica. I'm nineteen. Question--how did the girl make her leap to the footlights? Answer--she was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and up to a year ago she got the right to breathe by pushing Nabiscoes in Marcel's tea-room in Trenton. She started going with a guy named Robbins, a singer in the Trent House cabaret, and he got her to try a song and dance with him one evening.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The young Greek, Michaelis, who ran the coffee joint beside the ash-heaps was the principal witness at the inquest. He had slept through the heat until after five, when he strolled over to the garage, and found George Wilson sick in his office--really sick, pale as his own pale hair and shaking all over. Michaelis advised him to go to bed, but Wilson refused, saying that he'd miss a lot of business if he did. While his neighbour was trying to persuade him a violent racket broke out overhead.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Until long after midnight a changing crowd lapped up against the front of the garage, while George Wilson rocked himself back and forth on the couch inside. For a while the door of the office was open, and everyone who came into the garage glanced irresistibly through it. Finally someone said it was a shame, and closed the door. Michaelis and several other men were with him; first, four or five men, later two or three men. Still later Michaelis had to ask the last stranger to wait there fifteen minutes longer, while he went back to his own place and made a pot of coffee.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"She's not to know about it. Gatsby doesn't want her to know. You're just supposed to invite her to tea.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "This was the last night Amory ever saw Eleanor. He was leaving in the morning and they had agreed to take a long farewell trot by the cold moonlight. She wanted to talk, she said--perhaps the last time in her life that she could be rational (she meant pose with comfort). So they had turned into the woods and rode for half an hour with scarcely a word, except when she whispered \"Damn!\" at a bothersome branch--whispered it as no other girl was ever able to whisper it. Then they started up Harper's Hill, walking their tired horses.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You said a bad driver was only safe until she met another bad driver? Well, I met another bad driver, didn't I? I mean it was careless of me to make such a wrong guess. I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. I thought it was your secret pride.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory flushed, happily invisible under the curtain of wind and rain. They were sitting opposite each other in a slight hollow in the hay with the raincoat spread over most of them, and the rain doing for the rest. Amory was trying desperately to see Psyche, but the lightning refused to flash again, and he waited impatiently. Good Lord! supposing she wasn't beautiful--supposing she was forty and pedantic--heavens!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Good Lord! Don't mention it. Young lady wrote it--most admiring young lady. Kept telling me my work was 'strong,' and I sort of lost my head and made a lot of strange pronouncements. Some of it was good, though, don't you think?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Shut off the damn graphophone,\" Amory cried, rather red in the face. \"I'm not giving an exhibition.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But Bernice saw nothing, heard nothing. Her only living sense told her that this man in the white coat had removed one tortoise-shell comb and then another; that his fingers were fumbling clumsily with unfamiliar hairpins; that this hair, this wonderful hair of hers, was going--she would never again feel its long voluptuous pull as it hung in a dark-brown glory down her back. For a second she was near breaking down, and then the picture before her swam mechanically into her vision--Marjorie's mouth curling in a faint ironic smile as if to say:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In a few hours you'll wake up, my darling--and you'll be miserable, and disgusted with life. You'll be in Delaware or Carolina or somewhere and so unimportant. I don't believe there's any one alive who can contemplate themselves as an impermanent institution, as a luxury or an unnecessary evil. Very few of the people who accentuate the futility of life remark the futility of themselves. Perhaps they think that in proclaiming the evil of living they somehow salvage their own worth from the ruin--but they don't, even you and I....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"If I thought you were a bomb thrower I'd run you over to the Newark jail. That's what I think of Socialists.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Once in his apartment he smoked a last cigarette, sitting in the dark by his open front window. For the first time in over a year he found himself thoroughly enjoying New York. There was a rare pungency in it certainly, a quality almost Southern. A lonesome town, though. He who had grown up alone had lately learned to avoid solitude.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The blithesome Phyllis bore her twenty-five summers gayly from the train, but on the platform a ghastly sight met her eyes. There were Burne and Fred Sloane arrayed to the last dot like the lurid figures on college posters. They had bought flaring suits with huge peg-top trousers and gigantic padded shoulders. On their heads were rakish college hats, pinned up in front and sporting bright orange-and-black bands, while from their celluloid collars blossomed flaming orange ties. They wore black arm-bands with orange \"P's,\" and carried canes flying Princeton pennants, the effect completed by socks and peeping handkerchiefs in the same color motifs.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He was profoundly affected by the fact that Tom was there. But he would be uneasy anyhow until he had given them something, realizing in a vague way that that was all they came for. Mr. Sloane wanted nothing. A lemonade? No, thanks.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"This idea is that we're Nordics. I am, and you are, and you are, and--\" After an infinitesimal hesitation he included Daisy with a slight nod, and she winked at me again. \"--And we've produced all the things that go to make civilization--oh, science and art, and all that. Do you see?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm feline. So are you. So are most Southern men an' most of these girls here.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "ANTHONY: And energy--ambitious, well-directed energy. He's so entertaining--he's so tremendously stimulating and exciting. Often there's something breathless in being with him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"But,\" continued the butler, his voice rising unnecessarily, \"she's the only one what is here. The party's gone.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The great tapestries of trees had darkened to ghosts back at the last edge of twilight. The early moon had drenched the arches with pale blue, and, weaving over the night, in and out of the gossamer rifts of moon, swept a song, a song with more than a hint of sadness, infinitely transient, infinitely regretful.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Yes--or rather I found it out. It doesn't mean anything especially. It's just clever.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I used to come out here alone at night, oh, three months ago, and I always stopped at that cross-road we just passed. There were the woods looming up ahead, just as they do now, there were dogs howling and the shadows and no human sound. Of course, I peopled the woods with everything ghastly, just like you do; don't you?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Millions of people,\" she said, \"swarming like rats, chattering like apes, smelling like all hell ... monkeys! Or lice, I suppose. For one really exquisite palace ... on Long Island, say--or even in Greenwich ... for one palace full of pictures from the Old World and exquisite things--with avenues of trees and green lawns and a view of the blue sea, and lovely people about in slick dresses ... I'd sacrifice a hundred thousand of them, a million of them.\" She raised her hand feebly and snapped her fingers.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Gloria, why, we're going on to another room. And two other little beds. We're going to be together all our lives.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MAURY: Here he comes. Look--he's going to bump that waiter. (He lifts his finger as a signal--lifts it as though it were a soft and friendly claw.) Here y'are, Caramel.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"In fact,\" continued Amory, \"he'd be worse. The lower classes are narrower, less pleasant and personally more selfish--certainly more stupid. But all that has nothing to do with the question.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "As he closed the door behind him she gave a little cry and moved swiftly over the intervening space, her arms rising in a premature caress as she came near. Together they crushed out the stiff folds of her dress in one triumphant and enduring embrace.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Only to bishops and above did she divulge her clerical romance. When she had first returned to her country there had been a pagan, Swinburnian young man in Asheville, for whose passionate kisses and unsentimental conversations she had taken a decided penchant--they had discussed the matter pro and con with an intellectual romancing quite devoid of sappiness. Eventually she had decided to marry for background, and the young pagan from Asheville had gone through a spiritual crisis, joined the Catholic Church, and was now--Monsignor Darcy.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Here you are, Juan,\" cried she of the damp hair. \"Do you mind if I drop the Don?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well,\" he sighed, \"I sure am up in the air. I know I'm not a regular fellow, yet I loathe anybody else that isn't. I can't decide whether to cultivate my mind and be a great dramatist, or to thumb my nose at the Golden Treasury and be a Princeton slicker.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "I lived at West Egg, the--well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard--it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby's mansion. Or, rather, as I didn't know Mr. Gatsby, it was a mansion inhabited by a gentleman of that name.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Turning about from the window he faced his reflection in the mirror, contemplating dejectedly the wan, pasty face, the eyes with their crisscross of lines like shreds of dried blood, the stooped and flabby figure whose very sag was a document in lethargy. He was thirty three--he looked forty. Well, things would be different.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Thanks to a cocktail Anthony welcomed the question. In a mood to talk, he wanted, moreover, to impress this girl whose interest seemed so tantalizingly elusive--she stopped to browse in unexpected pastures, hurried quickly over the inobviously obvious. He wanted to pose. He wanted to appear suddenly to her in novel and heroic colors. He wanted to stir her from that casualness she showed toward everything except herself.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "His face fell--yet he knew, with his wife's question, that it was too late. Her arms, sweet and strangling, were around him, for he had made all such choices back in that room in the Plaza the year before. This was an anachronism from an age of such dreams.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "A few moments later she left the studio. Bloeckman had promised that she should hear the result of the test within the next few days. Too proud to force any definite comment she felt a baffling uncertainty and only now when the step had at last been taken did she realize how the possibility of a successful screen career had played in the back of her mind for the past three years. That night she tried to tell over to herself the elements that might decide for or against her. Whether or not she had used enough make-up worried her, and as the part was that of a girl of twenty, she wondered if she had not been just a little too grave.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"The thing to do is to forget about the heat,\" said Tom impatiently. \"You make it ten times worse by crabbing about it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She had reached a turning-point thirty feet down; she heard a faint muffled answer far to the left, and with a touch of panic fled toward it. She passed another turning, two more yawning alleys.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, I believe a lot of it,\" admitted Richard Caramel with a faint beam. \"It simply was a mistake to give it out.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "If you hated me, if you were covered with sores like a leper, if you ran away with another woman or starved me or beat me--how absurd this sounds--I'd still want you, I'd still love you. I KNOW, my darling.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"He's quite dead, all right. The car turned over. Two of the men that weren't hurt just carried the others in, but this one's no use.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "When Marjorie and Bernice reached home at half after midnight they said good night at the top of the stairs. Though cousins, they were not intimates. As a matter of fact Marjorie had no female intimates--she considered girls stupid. Bernice on the contrary all through this parent-arranged visit had rather longed to exchange those confidences flavored with giggles and tears that she considered an indispensable factor in all feminine intercourse. But in this respect she found Marjorie rather cold; felt somehow the same difficulty in talking to her that she had in talking to men.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "ALEC: Why, you cold-blooded little kitty. It's lucky for some that the Lord gave you a pug nose.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The answer to this was unexpected. It came from Myrtle, who had overheard the question, and it was violent and obscene.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The outer door slammed--he had pretended not to hear her. She stood for a moment looking after him; then she went into the bathroom among her tragic unguents and began preparations for washing her hair.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I can't describe to you how surprised I was to find out I loved her, old sport. I even hoped for a while that she'd throw me over, but she didn't, because she was in love with me too. She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her... Well, there I was, way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn't care. What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Then his arm was about her again, and again she made no protest. But when his pink cheek came close she leaned away.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Come here and let's have your name. Look out now. I want to get his name.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "When Jordan Baker had finished telling all this we had left the Plaza for half an hour and were driving in a victoria through Central Park. The sun had gone down behind the tall apartments of the movie stars in the West Fifties, and the clear voices of children, already gathered like crickets on the grass, rose through the hot twilight:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Watching Tom, I saw the wad of muscle back of his shoulder tighten under his coat. He walked quickly over to Wilson and, standing in front of him, seized him firmly by the upper arms.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Half closing her eyes and tipping back her head till it rested on the seat-back she let the savory breeze fan her eyes and ripple the fluffy curls of her bobbed hair. They were in the country now, hurrying between tangled growths of bright-green coppice and grass and tall trees that sent sprays of foliage to hang a cool welcome over the road. Here and there they passed a battered negro cabin, its oldest white-haired inhabitant smoking a corncob pipe beside the door, and half a dozen scantily clothed pickaninnies parading tattered dolls on the wild-grown grass in front. Farther out were lazy cotton-fields where even the workers seemed intangible shadows lent by the sun to the earth, not for toil, but to while away some age-old tradition in the golden September fields. And round the drowsy picturesqueness, over the trees and shacks and muddy rivers, flowed the heat, never hostile, only comforting, like a great warm nourishing bosom for the infant earth.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "We went upstairs, through period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with new flowers, through dressing-rooms and poolrooms, and bathrooms with sunken baths--intruding into one chamber where a dishevelled man in pyjamas was doing liver exercises on the floor. It was Mr. Klipspringer, the \"boarder.\" I had seen him wandering hungrily about the beach that morning. Finally we came to Gatsby's own apartment, a bedroom and a bath, and an Adam's study, where we sat down and drank a glass of some Chartreuse he took from a cupboard in the wall.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She shut her eyes. From down-stairs arose the babel of the drinkers, punctured suddenly by a tinkling shiver of broken glass, and then another, and by a soaring fragment of unsteady, irregular song....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Now, as it happened, Therese, a peasant girl of sixteen from a neighboring village, was at that moment passing along this same road that ran in front of the monastery. Five minutes before, the little piece of ribbon which held up the stocking on her pretty left leg had worn through and broken. Being a girl of rare modesty she had thought to wait until she arrived home before repairing it, but it had bothered her to such an extent that she felt she could endure it no longer. So, as she passed the Tower of Chastity, she stopped and with a pretty gesture lifted her skirt--as little as possible, be it said to her credit--to adjust her garter.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Your endurance is all mental, eh?\" returned Dick sharply. \"Well, I live right here.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He did. He even figured to a nicety what would happen in the two hours when she would come to his apartment for tea: how the good Bounds would have the windows wide to let in the fresh breeze--but a fire going also lest there be chill in the air--and how there would be clusters of flowers about in big cool bowls that he would buy for the occasion. They would sit on the lounge.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But eventually Adam probably told the bore all the things he thought about at night when the locusts sang in the sandy grass, and he must have remarked patronizingly how different he was from Eve, forgetting how different she was from him... at any rate, Clara told Amory much about herself that evening. She had had a harried life from sixteen on, and her education had stopped sharply with her leisure. Browsing in her library, Amory found a tattered gray book out of which fell a yellow sheet that he impudently opened. It was a poem that she had written at school about a gray convent wall on a gray day, and a girl with her cloak blown by the wind sitting atop of it and thinking about the many-colored world. As a rule such sentiment bored him, but this was done with so much simplicity and atmosphere, that it brought a picture of Clara to his mind, of Clara on such a cool, gray day with her keen blue eyes staring out, trying to see her tragedies come marching over the gardens outside.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In mid-July came rumors, and then orders, that concerned a change of camp. The brigade was to move to an empty cantonment, a hundred miles farther south, there to be expanded into a division. At first the men thought they were departing for the trenches, and all evening little groups jabbered in the company street, shouting to each other in swaggering exclamations: \"Su-u-ure we are!\" When the truth leaked out, it was rejected indignantly as a blind to conceal their real destination. They revelled in their own importance.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I loathe women,\" she cried in a mild temper. \"What on earth can you say to them--except talk 'lady-lady'? I've enthused over a dozen babies that I've wanted only to choke. And every one of those girls is either incipiently jealous and suspicious of her husband if he's charming or beginning to be bored with him if he isn't.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Gloria fell on her knees. The intervals between Anthony's speeches were like tourniquets winding on her heart. She found herself helplessly twisting the large buttons from a velvet cushion. Then:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The first fact that flashed radiantly on his comprehension was the great impersonality of sacrifice--he perceived that what we call love and hate, reward and punishment, had no more to do with it than the date of the month. He quickly recapitulated the story of a sacrifice he had heard of in college: a man had cheated in an examination; his roommate in a gust of sentiment had taken the entire blame--due to the shame of it the innocent one's entire future seemed shrouded in regret and failure, capped by the ingratitude of the real culprit. He had finally taken his own life--years afterward the facts had come out. At the time the story had both puzzled and worried Amory. Now he realized the truth; that sacrifice was no purchase of freedom.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's not that I have any moral compunctions about work,\" he continued, \"but grampa may die to-morrow and he may live for ten years. Meanwhile we're living above our income and all we've got to show for it is a farmer's car and a few clothes. We keep an apartment that we've only lived in three months and a little old house way off in nowhere. We're frequently bored and yet we won't make any effort to know any one except the same crowd who drift around California all summer wearing sport clothes and waiting for their families to die.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "A little before three the Lutheran minister arrived from Flushing, and I began to look involuntarily out the windows for other cars. So did Gatsby's father. And as the time passed and the servants came in and stood waiting in the hall, his eyes began to blink anxiously, and he spoke of the rain in a worried, uncertain way. The minister glanced several times at his watch, so I took him aside and asked him to wait for half an hour. But it wasn't any use.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Lemme 'lone,\" he said petulantly; \"know what I'm doin'. 'Ats what they came for.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Going to the rail be gave a curt command and immediately the crew of the rowboat scrambled up the ladder and ranged themselves in line before him, a coal-black and burly darky at one end and a miniature mulatto of four feet nine at to other. They seemed to be uniformly dressed in some sort of blue costume ornamented with dust, mud, and tatters; over the shoulder of each was slung a small, heavy-looking white sack, and under their arms they carried large black cases apparently containing musical instruments.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It was... simply amazing,\" she repeated abstractedly. \"But I swore I wouldn't tell it and here I am tantalizing you.\" She yawned gracefully in my face. \"Please come and see me... Phone book... Under the name of Mrs. Sigourney Howard... My aunt...\" She was hurrying off as she talked--her brown hand waved a jaunty salute as she melted into her party at the door.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Here, Earth-born, over the lilt of the water, Lisping its music and bearing a burden of light, Bosoming day as a laughing and radiant daughter... Here we may whisper unheard, unafraid of the night. Walking alone... was it splendor, or what, we were bound with, Deep in the time when summer lets down her hair? Shadows we loved and the patterns they covered the ground with Tapestries, mystical, faint in the breathless air. That was the day... and the night for another story, Pale as a dream and shadowed with pencilled trees-- Ghosts of the stars came by who had sought for glory, Whispered to us of peace in the plaintive breeze, Whispered of old dead faiths that the day had shattered, Youth the penny that bought delight of the moon; That was the urge that we knew and the language that mattered That was the debt that we paid to the usurer June.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "No telephone message arrived, but the butler went without his sleep and waited for it until four o'clock--until long after there was anyone to give it to if it came. I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn't believe it would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. A new world, material without being real, where poor ghosts, breathing dreams like air, drifted fortuitously about... like that ashen, fantastic figure gliding toward him through the amorphous trees.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "As he walked away it seemed to Amory that the look in his face bore a great resemblance to that in Kerry's when he had said good-by under Blair Arch two years before. Amory wondered unhappily why he could never go into anything with the primal honesty of those two.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Afterward, neither the next day nor after many years, could he remember the important things of that afternoon. Had she been moved? In his arms had she spoken a little--or at all? What measure of enjoyment had she taken in his kisses? And had she at any time lost herself ever so little?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "What was it? Not the shape, certainly, for he was a pleasant-looking man from earliest youth: broad-bowed with gray eyes that were frank and friendly. Yet I've heard him tell a room full of reporters angling for a \"success\" story that he'd be ashamed to tell them the truth that they wouldn't believe it, that it wasn't one story but four, that the public would not want to read about a man who had been walloped into prominence.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She had read the letter so many times that she knew it word by word, yet it still startled her. In it she found many faint reflections of the man who wrote it--the mingled sweetness and sadness in his dark eyes, the furtive, restless excitement she felt sometimes when he talked to her, his dreamy sensuousness that lulled her mind to sleep. Lois was nineteen and very romantic and curious and courageous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's such a hell of a career!\" he burst out, the moral, the infinitely circumspect Anthony, \"and such a hell of a bunch. And I'm so utterly tired of that fellow Bloeckman coming here and interfering. I hate theatrical things.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "ROSALIND: (With a scornful smile) Engaged? Why, you little lunatic! If mother heard you talking like that she'd send you off to boarding-school, where you belong.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "On the night of her debut she is, for all her strange, stray wisdom, quite like a happy little girl. Her mother's maid has just done her hair, but she has decided impatiently that she can do a better job herself. She is too nervous just now to stay in one place. To that we owe her presence in this littered room. She is going to speak.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Miserably intimidated, he returned to New York, where husband and wife passed a restless week. A little incident that occurred one evening indicated to what tension their nerves were drawn.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why did you laugh?\" she cried, \"you've done that twice before. There's nothing funny about our relation to each other. I don't mind playing the fool, and I don't mind having you do it, but I can't stand it when we're together.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No,\" said Kieth earnestly, \"I'm not sure that knocking about gives a man the sort of experience he can communicate to others. Some of the broadest men I've known have been absolutely rigid about themselves. And reformed libertines are a notoriously intolerant class. Don't you thank so, Lois?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I should think you'd detest it,\" he remarked succinctly. \"The people behind me were making remarks about your bosom.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The first thing he said to her was: \"Why, you've bobbed your hair!\" and she answered: \"Yes, isn't it gorgeous?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"See here, fella,\" said he, \"you're soused and you're bunged up, and you won't be able to get in your house 'less somebody carries you in, so I'm going with you, and I know you'll make it all right with me. Where d'you live?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"So many novels are all full of talk and psychology. Of course those aren't as valuable to us. It's impossible to make much of that interesting on the screen.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"The theory that people are fit to govern themselves rests on this man. If he can be educated to think clearly, concisely, and logically, freed of his habit of taking refuge in platitudes and prejudices and sentimentalisms, then I'm a militant Socialist. If he can't, then I don't think it matters much what happens to man or his systems, now or hereafter.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I leave the birds to Dick,\" said Maury hurriedly. \"I speak erratically, in disassociated fragments.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"So do I,\" she confessed. \"I detest reformers, especially the sort who try to reform me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "I walked out the back way--just as Gatsby had when he had made his nervous circuit of the house half an hour before--and ran for a huge black knotted tree, whose massed leaves made a fabric against the rain. Once more it was pouring, and my irregular lawn, well-shaved by Gatsby's gardener, abounded in small muddy swamps and prehistoric marshes. There was nothing to look at from under the tree except Gatsby's enormous house, so I stared at it, like Kant at his church steeple, for half an hour. A brewer had built it early in the \"period\" craze, a decade before, and there was a story that he'd agreed to pay five years' taxes on all the neighbouring cottages if the owners would have their roofs thatched with straw. Perhaps their refusal took the heart out of his plan to Found a Family--he went into an immediate decline.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The time is February. The place is a large, dainty bedroom in the Connage house on Sixty-eighth Street, New York. A girl's room: pink walls and curtains and a pink bedspread on a cream-colored bed. Pink and cream are the motifs of the room, but the only article of furniture in full view is a luxurious dressing-table with a glass top and a three-sided mirror. On the walls there is an expensive print of \"Cherry Ripe,\" a few polite dogs by Landseer, and the \"King of the Black Isles,\" by Maxfield Parrish.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "PARAMORE: Oh, many things. I've led a very active life. Knocked about here and there. (His tone implies anything front lion-stalking to organized crime.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He was employed in a vague personal capacity--while he remained with Cody he was in turn steward, mate, skipper, secretary, and even jailor, for Dan Cody sober knew what lavish doings Dan Cody drunk might soon be about, and he provided for such contingencies by reposing more and more trust in Gatsby. The arrangement lasted five years, during which the boat went three times around the Continent. It might have lasted indefinitely except for the fact that Ella Kaye came on board one night in Boston and a week later Dan Cody inhospitably died.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The day agreed upon was pouring rain. At eleven o'clock a man in a raincoat, dragging a lawn-mower, tapped at my front door and said that Mr. Gatsby had sent him over to cut my grass. This reminded me that I had forgotten to tell my Finn to come back, so I drove into West Egg Village to search for her among soggy whitewashed alleys and to buy some cups and lemons and flowers.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In the silence when this voice ceased Amory realized that there were other things in the room besides people... over and around the figure crouched on the bed there hung an aura, gossamer as a moonbeam, tainted as stale, weak wine, yet a horror, diffusively brooding already over the three of them... and over by the window among the stirring curtains stood something else, featureless and indistinguishable, yet strangely familiar.... Simultaneously two great cases presented themselves side by side to Amory; all that took place in his mind, then, occupied in actual time less than ten seconds.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "CECELIA: Not particularly well. Oh, she's average--smokes sometimes, drinks punch, frequently kissed--Oh, yes--common knowledge--one of the effects of the war, you know.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MAURY: You're late. Been racing the postman down the block? We've been clawing over your character.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Yes--and want the big oblong watch that's platinum and has diamonds all round the edge. Only you'd decide it was too expensive and choose one of white gold for a hundred dollar. Then I'd say: 'Expensive? I should say not!' And we'd go into the store and pretty soon the platinum one would be gleaming on your wrist.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Tell 'em to play 'Admiration'!\" shouted Sloane. \"You two order; Phoebe and I are going to shake a wicked calf,\" and they sailed off in the muddled crowd. Axia and Amory, acquaintances of an hour, jostled behind a waiter to a table at a point of vantage; there they took seats and watched.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "For a while I lost sight of Jordan Baker, and then in midsummer I found her again. At first I was flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf champion, and everyone knew her name. Then it was something more. I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity. The bored haughty face that she turned to the world concealed something--most affectations conceal something eventually, even though they don't in the beginning--and one day I found what it was.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"She out. Wait, I tell--\" Again he screwed up his face for action. \"My typewutta----\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(RICHARD CARAMEL and PARAMORE greet each other intimately by their first names, the latter recollecting that DICK was one of the men in his class who had never before troubled to speak to him. DICK fatuously imagines that PARAMORE is some one he has previously met in ANTHONY'S house.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I know--oh, don't you s'pose I know.\" His voice rose. \"I know what they think; do you s'pose you have to tell me!\" He paused. \"I'm--I've got to go back now--hope I'm not rude--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "CECELIA: Well, I'm glad I don't have all your worries. I'm engaged.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony could not help wondering what possible \"fancy stuff\" he had learned at Buckleigh in nineteen-eleven. An irrepressible idea that it was some sort of needlework recurred to him throughout the rest of the conversation.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "That should have been quite enough, but the object of scorn only looked up blankly. The standing girl tittered and exchanged nervous glances with her companions. But Samuel was aroused.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Isabelle,\" he whispered. \"You know I'm mad about you. You do give a darn about me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "--There was a great to-do out in front, a joyous \"Yoho, Anthony!\" and he rose trembling, weakly happy to see her fluttering up the path. Bloeckman was following, cap in hand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Early in his confinement the conviction took root in him that he was going mad. It was as though there were a quantity of dark yet vivid personalities in his mind, some of them familiar, some of them strange and terrible, held in check by a little monitor, who sat aloft somewhere and looked on. The thing that worried him was that the monitor was sick, and holding out with difficulty. Should he give up, should he falter for a moment, out would rush these intolerable things--only Anthony could know what a state of blackness there would be if the worst of him could roam his consciousness unchecked.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Messrs. BARNES and PARAMORE have been engaged in conversation upon some wholesome subject, a subject so wholesome that MR. BARNES has been trying for several moments to creep into the more tainted air around the central lounge. Whether PARAMORE is lingering in the gray house out of politeness or curiosity, or in order at some future time to make a sociological report on the decadence of American life, is problematical.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "So in the end he entered, by way of his grandfather's letter, that Sanctum Americanum where sat the president of Wilson, Hiemer and Hardy at his \"cleared desk,\" and issued therefrom employed. He was to begin work on the twenty-third of February.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "SHE: And you're not? (With her eyes half-closed.) You probably flatter yourself that that's a superior attitude.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "This occupied his energies until he was fifty-seven years old. It was then that he determined, after a severe attack of sclerosis, to consecrate the remainder of his life to the moral regeneration of the world. He became a reformer among reformers. Emulating the magnificent efforts of Anthony Comstock, after whom his grandson was named, he levelled a varied assortment of uppercuts and body-blows at liquor, literature, vice, art, patent medicines, and Sunday theatres. His mind, under the influence of that insidious mildew which eventually forms on all but the few, gave itself up furiously to every indignation of the age.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She snapped out the light, and as they started up the stairs Bernice grasped the banister thankfully. For the first time in her life she had been danced tired.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Upon this refusal Anthony had started to the telegraph office intending to wire Gloria to come South--he reached the door and receded despairingly, seeing the utter impracticability of such a move. Then he had spent the evening quarrelling irritably with Dot, and returned to camp morose and angry with the world. There had been a disagreeable scene, in the midst of which he had precipitately departed. What was to be done with her did not seem to concern him vitally at present--he was completely absorbed in the disheartening silence of his wife....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He differed from the healthy type that was essentially middle class--he never seemed to perspire. Some people couldn't be familiar with a chauffeur without having it returned; Humbird could have lunched at Sherry's with a colored man, yet people would have somehow known that it was all right. He was not a snob, though he knew only half his class. His friends ranged from the highest to the lowest, but it was impossible to \"cultivate\" him. Servants worshipped him, and treated him like a god.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Death looked suddenly out at him from two blue eyes. Had he announced himself as his vis-a-vis's prospective murderer he could not have struck a more vital blow at Anthony. The younger man must have reddened visibly, for his every nerve was in instant clamor. With tremendous effort he mustered a rigid--oh, so rigid--smile, and said a conventional good-by. But that night he lay awake until after four, half wild with grief and fear and abominable imaginings.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"He was probably bumming his way home. He told me he was president of your class at Yale.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, yes, that's always easy. When the few bonds we have that are paying any interest at all are only worth between fifty and eighty cents on the dollar. We lose about half the bond every time we sell.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Misery struck at him again, piling a sort of terror upon the ache and yearning. He had lost her. It was true--no denying it, no softening it. But a new idea had seared his sky--what of Bloeckman! What would happen now?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "At first Amory noticed only the wealth of sunshine creeping across the long, green swards, dancing on the leaded window-panes, and swimming around the tops of spires and towers and battlemented walls. Gradually he realized that he was really walking up University Place, self-conscious about his suitcase, developing a new tendency to glare straight ahead when he passed any one. Several times he could have sworn that men turned to look at him critically. He wondered vaguely if there was something the matter with his clothes, and wished he had shaved that morning on the train. He felt unnecessarily stiff and awkward among these white-flannelled, bareheaded youths, who must be juniors and seniors, judging from the savoir faire with which they strolled.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"The last row is the saddest--see, 'way over there. Every cross has just a date on it and the word 'Unknown.'\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "These domestic pilgrimages were invariably in state; two maids, the private car, or Mr. Blaine when available, and very often a physician. When Amory had the whooping-cough four disgusted specialists glared at each other hunched around his bed; when he took scarlet fever the number of attendants, including physicians and nurses, totalled fourteen. However, blood being thicker than broth, he was pulled through.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The buzzer rang at the door. Anthony sprang up and lifted the tube to his ear. It was Richard Caramel's voice, stilted and facetious:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why--no, but they're from--oh, from everywhere, I suppose. Don't you ever come here?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She broke of with characteristic suddenness and sighed, \"Oh, sweet cooky!\" as her mood changed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well,\" began Tom, \"it seems that the idea developed simultaneously in several heads. I was talking to Burne awhile ago, and he claims that it's a logical result if an intelligent person thinks long enough about the social system. They had a 'discussion crowd' and the point of abolishing the clubs was brought up by some one--everybody there leaped at it--it had been in each one's mind, more or less, and it just needed a spark to bring it out.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They stood side by side examining it. I was going to ask to see the rubies when the phone rang, and Gatsby took up the receiver.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MRS. CONNAGE: You can't do anything without it. This is our last year in this house--and unless things change Cecelia won't have the advantages you've had.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(A volley of chatter explodes in the adjoining room. The six young men arise, feeling at their neckties.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"This is a nice restaurant here,\" said Mr. Wolfshiem, looking at the presbyterian nymphs on the ceiling. \"But I like across the street better!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Don't you call me 'old sport'!\" cried Tom. Gatsby said nothing. \"Walter could have you up on the betting laws too, but Wolfshiem scared him into shutting his mouth.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(Then Bedlam creeps screaming out of the bottles: TANA plunges into the recondite mazes of the train song, the plaintive \"tootle toot-toot\" blending its melancholy cadences with the \"Poor Butter-fly (tink-atink), by the blossoms wait-ing\" of the phonograph. MURIEL is too weak with laughter to do more than cling desperately to BARNES, who, dancing with the ominous rigidity of an army officer, tramps without humor around the small space. ANTHONY is trying to hear RACHAEL'S whisper--without attracting GLORIA's attention....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I am,\" agreed Amory reluctantly. \"Yet when I see a happy family it makes me sick at my stomach--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That's just the point,\" insisted Isabelle. \"You got all upset to-night. You just sat and watched my eyes. Besides, I have to think all the time I'm talking to you--you're so critical.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "THE VOICE: At first it was thought that you would go this time as an actress in the motion pictures but, after all, it's not advisable. You will be disguised during your fifteen years as what is called a \"susciety gurl.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "--In her letter that day Gloria had written: \"I suppose if we could settle for a million it would be better to tell Mr. Haight to go ahead and settle. But it'd seem a pity....\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But his life would not be unfulfilled. He took a sombre satisfaction in thinking that perhaps all along she had been nothing except what he had read into her; that this was her high point, that no one else would ever make her think. Yet that was what she had objected to in him; and Amory was suddenly tired of thinking, thinking!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, you see, feeble-mindedness is a great deal like undue influence--it implies that the property wasn't disposed of as originally intended. The most common ground is duress--physical pressure.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You're not crying,\" something said aloud. \"You'll never cry any more. Your tears would just freeze; all tears freeze up here!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "As Mr. Carleton piled assertion upon assertion Anthony began to feel a sort of disgusted confidence in him. The man appeared to know what he was talking about. Obviously prosperous, he had risen to the position of instructing others. It did not occur to Anthony that the type of man who attains commercial success seldom knows how or why, and, as in his grandfather's case, when he ascribes reasons, the reasons are generally inaccurate and absurd.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It all started at Phillips Andover Academy when he was fourteen. He had been brought up on a diet of caviar and bell-boys' legs in half the capitals of Europe, and it was pure luck that his mother had nervous prostration and had to delegate his education to less tender, less biassed hands.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "And Clara beamed on all alike. Amory believed that tradespeople gave her discounts, sometimes to her knowledge and sometimes without it. He knew she dressed very well, had always the best of everything in the house, and was inevitably waited upon by the head floor-walker at the very least.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "There was, for example, her stomach. She was used to certain dishes, and she had a strong conviction that she could not possibly eat anything else. There must be a lemonade and a tomato sandwich late in the morning, then a light lunch with a stuffed tomato. Not only did she require food from a selection of a dozen dishes, but in addition this food must be prepared in just a certain way. One of the most annoying half hours of the first fortnight occurred in Los Angeles, when an unhappy waiter brought her a tomato stuffed with chicken salad instead of celery.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why shouldn't you be bored,\" yawned Tom. \"Isn't that the conventional frame of mind for the young man of your age and condition?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I've got it,\" he was exclaiming as though he had just caught a mouse. \"We'll get a car.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, why not? We came to Princeton so we could feel that way toward the small colleges--have it on 'em, more self-confidence, dress better, cut a swathe--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "On the day that Amory started on his walk to Princeton the sky was a colorless vault, cool, high and barren of the threat of rain. It was a gray day, that least fleshly of all weathers; a day of dreams and far hopes and clear visions. It was a day easily associated with those abstract truths and purities that dissolve in the sunshine or fade out in mocking laughter by the light of the moon. The trees and clouds were carved in classical severity; the sounds of the countryside had harmonized to a monotone, metallic as a trumpet, breathless as the Grecian urn.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She was tearing at his heart as she always could. Sentiment came over him, rushed into his eyes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Enough for me,\" said Dick, his tone that of an athlete in training. \"I want to go up and see the Gilberts. Won't you come?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Up in the supper room the air was hot. The table, littered with napkins and ash-trays, was old and stale. It was between dances as they entered, and Muriel Kane looked up with roguishness extraordinary.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I like it,\" she said with an effort. \"I think it'll be becoming.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In the arid wastes they were served from the baggage-car with beans and bacon that at first he was unable to eat--he dined scantily on some milk chocolate distributed by a village canteen. But on the second day the baggage-car's output began to appear surprisingly palatable. On the third morning the rumor was passed along that within the hour they would arrive at their destination, Camp Hooker.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well,\" he said doubtfully, \"I don't know exactly what you're doing. I'll speak to Mr. Hanson.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Table for four in the middle of the floor,\" yelled Phoebe. \"Hurry, old dear, tell 'em we're here!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Warren was annoyed. Though not accustomed to have that remark taken seriously, still it usually provoked a laugh or a paragraph of sentimental banter. And he hated to be called fresh, except in a joking way. His charitable impulse died and he switched the topic.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The minute or succession of minutes prolonged itself interminably, and a swimming blur began to form before her eyes, which tried with childish persistence to pierce the gloom in the direction of the door. In another instant it seemed that some unimaginable force would shatter her out of existence ... and then the figure in the doorway--it was Hull, she saw, Hull--turned deliberately and, still slightly swaying, moved back and off, as if absorbed into that incomprehensible light that had given him dimension.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"'Cause you deserve it. Anybody that'd risk what you were in line for ought to be ineligible for Princetonian chairman.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "There on Sunday nights gather the credulous, sentimental, underpaid, overworked people with hyphenated occupations: book-keepers, ticket-sellers, office-managers, salesmen, and, most of all, clerks--clerks of the express, of the mail, of the grocery, of the brokerage, of the bank. With them are their giggling, over-gestured, pathetically pretentious women, who grow fat with them, bear them too many babies, and float helpless and uncontent in a colorless sea of drudgery and broken hopes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Those poor birds who haven't a cent to tutor, and have to study during the term are the ones I pity,\" he announced to Amory one day, with a flaccid camaraderie in the droop of the cigarette from his pale lips. \"I should think it would be such a bore, there's so much else to do in New York during the term. I suppose they don't know what they miss, anyhow.\" There was such an air of \"you and I\" about Mr. McDowell that Amory very nearly pushed him out of the open window when he said this. ... Next February his mother would wonder why he didn't make a club and increase his allowance... simple little nut....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Usually, on nights like this, for there had been many lately, he could escape from this consuming introspection by thinking of children and the infinite possibilities of children--he leaned and listened and he heard a startled baby awake in a house across the street and lend a tiny whimper to the still night. Quick as a flash he turned away, wondering with a touch of panic whether something in the brooding despair of his mood had made a darkness in its tiny soul. He shivered. What if some day the balance was overturned, and he became a thing that frightened children and crept into rooms in the dark, approached dim communion with those phantoms who whispered shadowy secrets to the mad of that dark continent upon the moon....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, you've got to learn to be nice to men who are sad birds. You look as if you'd been insulted whenever you're thrown with any except the most popular boys. Why, Bernice, I'm cut in on every few feet--and who does most of it? Why, those very sad birds. No girl can afford to neglect them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Down-stairs, in the club's great room, she was surrounded for a moment by the girls she had met in the afternoon, then she heard Sally's voice repeating a cycle of names, and found herself bowing to a sextet of black and white, terribly stiff, vaguely familiar figures. The name Blaine figured somewhere, but at first she could not place him. A very confused, very juvenile moment of awkward backings and bumpings followed, and every one found himself talking to the person he least desired to. Isabelle manoeuvred herself and Froggy Parker, freshman at Harvard, with whom she had once played hop-scotch, to a seat on the stairs. A humorous reference to the past was all she needed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "So you see that now you're gone I've written a letter all full of contempt and despair. And that just means that I love you, Anthony, with all there is to love with in your", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Harold----\" she began, with a little catch in her voice, and followed him in. He was lighting a cigarette. \"You'll have to hurry, Harold,\" she finished, standing in the doorway.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Because I've got a crush, too--\" He paused, for he heard in the distance the sound of young laughter, and, peering through the frosted glass along the lamp-lit street, he made out the dark outline of the bobbing party. He must act quickly. He reached over with a violent, jerky effort, and clutched Myra's hand--her thumb, to be exact.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why, damn him!\" cried Anthony, championing her violently with a curious perverseness of emotion, \"why--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't guess this is a very kissable climate, is it? I mean, it makes you so you don't want to sit round, doesn't it?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The second incident took place the next day. Going into the Manhattan bar about seven he was confronted with Bloeckman. As it happened, the room was nearly deserted, and before the mutual recognition he had stationed himself within a foot of the older man and ordered his drink, so it was inevitable that they should converse.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"We leave to-night... Silent, we filled the still, deserted street, A column of dim gray, And ghosts rose startled at the muffled beat Along the moonless way; The shadowy shipyards echoed to the feet That turned from night and day. And so we linger on the windless decks, See on the spectre shore Shades of a thousand days, poor gray-ribbed wrecks... Oh, shall we then deplore Those futile years! See how the sea is white! The clouds have broken and the heavens burn To hollow highways, paved with gravelled light The churning of the waves about the stern Rises to one voluminous nocturne, ... We leave to-night.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She was composed, Anthony perceived, of a succession of semicircles and parabolas, like those figures that gifted folk make on the typewriter: head, arms, bust, hips, thighs, and ankles were in a bewildering tier of roundnesses. Well ordered and clean she was, with hair of an artificially rich gray; her large face sheltered weather-beaten blue eyes and was adorned with just the faintest white mustache.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "After dark on Saturday night one could stand on the first tee of the golf-course and see the country-club windows as a yellow expanse over a very black and wavy ocean. The waves of this ocean, so to speak, were the heads of many curious caddies, a few of the more ingenious chauffeurs, the golf professional's deaf sister--and there were usually several stray, diffident waves who might have rolled inside had they so desired. This was the gallery.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MURIEL: But I went to \"Within the Law\" last night and I thought it was fine. Have you seen \"The Little Cafe\"?...", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Suddenly the lightning flashed in with a leap of overreaching light and he saw Eleanor, and looked for the first time into those eyes of hers. Oh, she was magnificent--pale skin, the color of marble in starlight, slender brows, and eyes that glittered green as emeralds in the blinding glare. She was a witch, of perhaps nineteen, he judged, alert and dreamy and with the tell-tale white line over her upper lip that was a weakness and a delight. He sank back with a gasp against the wall of hay.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"April 11th.--Patch actually called up to-day! and when he forswore me about a month ago he fairly raged out the door. I'm gradually losing faith in any man being susceptible to fatal injuries.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He looked about him immediately, saw his hat and coat on a chair--blundered into them, during an intolerable moment. Looking again at the couch he perceived that she had not turned, not even moved. With a shaken, immediately regretted \"good-by\" he went quickly but without dignity from the room.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "One night they walked while the moon rose and poured a great burden of glory over the garden until it seemed fairyland with Amory and Eleanor, dim phantasmal shapes, expressing eternal beauty in curious elfin love moods. Then they turned out of the moonlight into the trellised darkness of a vine-hung pagoda, where there were scents so plaintive as to be nearly musical.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, you make me tired. Do you imagine I have a very thrilling time dozing on this damn porch?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Come on!\" His temper cracked a little. \"What's the matter, anyhow? If we're going to town, let's start.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(At this point GLORIA, freshly tinted and lustful of admiration and entertainment, rejoins the party, followed by her two friends. For several moments the conversation becomes entirely fragmentary. GLORIA calls ANTHONY aside.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"A swallow, I think, and sometimes a bird of paradise. Most girls are sparrows, of course--see that row of nurse-maids over there? They're sparrows--or are they magpies? And of course you've met canary girls--and robin girls.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony explored his mouth with his tongue, verifying the statement. Then with an effort he raised his hand and located the gap.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Much better.\" I turned again to my new acquaintance. \"This is an unusual party for me. I haven't even seen the host. I live over there--\" I waved my hand at the invisible hedge in the distance, \"and this man Gatsby sent over his chauffeur with an invitation.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Ardita's brow wrinkled in astonishment. Sitting very still she listened eagerly as the chorus took up a second verse.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No.\" He smiled weakly. \"As a matter of fact I didn't have time.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I came across this book by accident,\" said the old man. \"It just shows you, don't it?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The first clerk came around tile counter and picking up the two pieces of paper from the floor put them together idly. The second clerk read them over his shoulder and subconsciously counted the words as he read. There were just thirteen.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "His favorite diversion until he was fourteen was his stamp collection; enormous, as nearly exhaustive as a boy's could be--his grandfather considered fatuously that it was teaching him geography. So Anthony kept up a correspondence with a half dozen \"Stamp and Coin\" companies and it was rare that the mail failed to bring him new stamp-books or packages of glittering approval sheets--there was a mysterious fascination in transferring his acquisitions interminably from one book to another. His stamps were his greatest happiness and he bestowed impatient frowns on any one who interrupted him at play with them; they devoured his allowance every month, and he lay awake at night musing untiringly on their variety and many-colored splendor.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Wake up, Original Sin, and scrape yourself together. Be in front of Renwick's in half an hour. Somebody's got a car.\" He took the bureau cover and carefully deposited it, with its load of small articles, upon the bed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Joseph Bloeckman? He's the moving picture man. Vice-president of 'Films Par Excellence.' He and father do a lot of business.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "After another minute, during which her pen scratched busily, she turned round and relaxed with an air of \"at your service.\" Again Bernice had to speak.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "There was, however, one radical change in menage. The icy-hearted Scandinavian, whose austere cooking and sardonic manner of waiting on table had so depressed Gloria, gave way to an exceedingly efficient Japanese whose name was Tanalahaka, but who confessed that he heeded any summons which included the dissyllable \"Tana.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They filled the Jewish youth's bed with lemon pie; they put out the gas all over the house every night by blowing into the jet in Amory's room, to the bewilderment of Mrs. Twelve and the local plumber; they set up the effects of the plebeian drunks--pictures, books, and furniture--in the bathroom, to the confusion of the pair, who hazily discovered the transposition on their return from a Trenton spree; they were disappointed beyond measure when the plebeian drunks decided to take it as a joke; they played red-dog and twenty-one and jackpot from dinner to dawn, and on the occasion of one man's birthday persuaded him to buy sufficient champagne for a hilarious celebration. The donor of the party having remained sober, Kerry and Amory accidentally dropped him down two flights of stairs and called, shame-faced and penitent, at the infirmary all the following week.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That damn old fool!\" he cried wildly. \"As if I didn't know!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I passed off my college examinations when I was thirteen because I couldn't help it. My chief associates were professors, and I took a tremendous pride in knowing that I had a fine intelligence, for though I was unusually gifted I was not abnormal in other ways. When I was sixteen I got tired of being a freak; I decided that some one had made a bad mistake. Still as I'd gone that far I concluded to finish it up by taking my degree of Master of Arts. My chief interest in life is the study of modern philosophy.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Now a confession will have to be made. Amory had rather a Puritan conscience. Not that he yielded to it--later in life he almost completely slew it--but at fifteen it made him consider himself a great deal worse than other boys... unscrupulousness... the desire to influence people in almost every way, even for evil... a certain coldness and lack of affection, amounting sometimes to cruelty... a shifting sense of honor... an unholy selfishness... a puzzled, furtive interest in everything concerning sex.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "And in that instant her eyes were brimming and she was not aware that she was voicing an illusion. Yet Anthony knew that there were days when they hurt each other purposely--taking almost a delight in the thrust. Incessantly she puzzled him: one hour so intimate and charming, striving desperately toward an unguessed, transcendent union; the next, silent and cold, apparently unmoved by any consideration of their love or anything he could say. Often he would eventually trace these portentous reticences to some physical discomfort--of these she never complained until they were over--or to some carelessness or presumption in him, or to an unsatisfactory dish at dinner, but even then the means by which she created the infinite distances she spread about herself were a mystery, buried somewhere back in those twenty-two years of unwavering pride.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I love you,\" she cried; \"I don't care what you say to me! I love you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Anyhow, he gives large parties,\" said Jordan, changing the subject with an urban distaste for the concrete. \"And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"My dear boy, there's your big mistake. This has nothing to do with will-power; that's a crazy, useless word, anyway; you lack judgment--the judgment to decide at once when you know your imagination will play you false, given half a chance.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I am going ashore,\" he said slowly. \"I will be out again at nine o'clock to-night. When I return we start back to New York, wither I shall turn you over to your aunt for the rest of your natural, or rather unnatural, life.\" He paused and looked at her, and then all at once something in the utter childness of her beauty seemed to puncture his anger like an inflated tire, and render him helpless, uncertain, utterly fatuous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory ate little, having seized a chair where he could watch the sea and feel the rock of it. When luncheon was over they sat and smoked quietly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Honey, you couldn't support a wife,\" she answered cheerfully. \"Anyway, I know you too well to fall in love with you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Come on, Daisy,\" said Tom, pressing her with his hand toward Gatsby's car. \"I'll take you in this circus wagon.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"My golly!\" he cried, \"where do you live? I can't keep walking forever.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No. I'm thinking about you, too. We've got to get out and mix around the class right now, when it's fun to be a snob. I'd like to bring a sardine to the prom in June, for instance, but I wouldn't do it unless I could be damn debonaire about it--introduce her to all the prize parlor-snakes, and the football captain, and all that simple stuff.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I hadn't seen him around, and I was rather worried. Tell him Mr. Carraway came over.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "A great protest swelling into revolt surged up in him. Ideas half forgotten, chaoticly perceived and assimilated, filled his mind. Get on--that was the rule of life--and that was all. How he did it, didn't matter--but to be Hesse or Charley Moore.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "At seven he would be in a jitney bound for the city, where hundreds of little Southern girls were waiting on moonlit porches for their lovers. He would be excited already for her warm retarded kisses, for the amazed quietude of the glances she gave him--glances nearer to worship than any he had ever inspired. Gloria and he had been equals, giving without thought of thanks or obligation. To this girl his very caresses were an inestimable boon. Crying quietly she had confessed to him that he was not the first man in her life; there had been one other--he gathered that the affair had no sooner commenced than it had been over.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Every one has seen such scenes on the stage--seen them so often that when they actually happen people behave very much like actors. Samuel felt that he was playing a part and the lines came quite naturally: he announced that all had a right to lead their own lives and looked at Marjorie's husband menacingly, as if daring him to doubt it. Marjorie's husband spoke of the sanctity of the home, forgetting that it hadn't seemed very holy to him lately; Samuel continued along the line of \"the right to happiness\"; Marjorie's husband mentioned firearms and the divorce court. Then suddenly he stopped and scrutinized both of them--Marjorie in pitiful collapse on the sofa, Samuel haranguing the furniture in a consciously heroic pose.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In the spring of 1912 he had signed a four-year lease at seventeen hundred a year, with an option of renewal. This lease had expired the previous May. When he had first rented the rooms they had been mere potentialities, scarcely to be discerned as that, but Anthony had seen into these potentialities and arranged in the lease that he and the landlord should each spend a certain amount in improvements. Rents had gone up in the past four years, and last spring when Anthony had waived his option the landlord, a Mr. Sohenberg, had realized that he could get a much bigger price for what was now a prepossessing apartment. Accordingly, when Anthony approached him on the subject in September he was met with Sohenberg's offer of a three-year lease at twenty-five hundred a year.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Coming up to lay eyes on me, Omar, or aren't you int'rested? Not as nice here, is it, as it was up in your room? I wish we was there now.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No, it was an advertisement, maybe, or a business letter. It was a long narrow one, I remember.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"They say Overton fainted when he got his Ivy bid--Did he sign up the first day?--oh, no. Tore over to Murray-Dodge on a bicycle--afraid it was a mistake.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Your father and I sat up all night hoping for the best--or perhaps it's the worst. Lord knows you're welcome to her, my boy. She's run me crazy. Did you give her the Russian bracelet my detective got from that Mimi woman?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Good night.\" He smiled--and suddenly there seemed to be a pleasant significance in having been among the last to go, as if he had desired it all the time. \"Good night, old sport... Good night.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Tom appeared from his oblivion as we were sitting down to supper together. \"Do you mind if I eat with some people over here?\" he said. \"A fellow's getting off some funny stuff.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That's Macy now,\" observed Fraser, rising. \"I'll go let him in. The servants have gone to bed.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't agree with you,\" Tom interrupted. \"There never were men placed in such egotistic positions since--oh, since the French Revolution.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I am reasonable,\" she said shortly. \"I don't want any drunken men in the house.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "A band in a far corner struck up \"Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here!\" which echoed over to them in wild muddled acoustics, and then the lights suddenly went out; silence seemed to flow down the icy sides and sweep over them. Sally Carrol could still see her white breath in the darkness, and a dim row of pale faces over on the other side.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "For years afterward when Amory thought of Eleanor he seemed still to hear the wind sobbing around him and sending little chills into the places beside his heart. The night when they rode up the slope and watched the cold moon float through the clouds, he lost a further part of him that nothing could restore; and when he lost it he lost also the power of regretting it. Eleanor was, say, the last time that evil crept close to Amory under the mask of beauty, the last weird mystery that held him with wild fascination and pounded his soul to flakes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"What's death to me is just a lot of words to you. You put 'em together so pretty.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Each one's autographed by Florence Kelley or Gaston Mears or Mack Dodge--\" He winked confidentially. \"At least when Minnie McGlook out in Sauk Center gets the picture she wrote for, she thinks it's autographed.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "CECELIA: (Seating herself high upon lingerie) How do you mean--temperamental? You used to say that about him in letters.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Something in her tone reminded me of the other girl's \"I think he killed a man,\" and had the effect of stimulating my curiosity. I would have accepted without question the information that Gatsby sprang from the swamps of Louisiana or from the lower East Side of New York. That was comprehensible. But young men didn't--at least in my provincial inexperience I believed they didn't--drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "None of the Victorian mothers--and most of the mothers were Victorian--had any idea how casually their daughters were accustomed to be kissed. \"Servant-girls are that way,\" says Mrs. Huston-Carmelite to her popular daughter. \"They are kissed first and proposed to afterward.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I thought you knew, old sport. I'm afraid I'm not a very good host.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They reassembled later by the Casino and made arrangements for the night. Kerry wormed permission from the watchman to sleep on the platform and, having collected a huge pile of rugs from the booths to serve as mattresses and blankets, they talked until midnight, and then fell into a dreamless sleep, though Amory tried hard to stay awake and watch that marvellous moon settle on the sea.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "RYDER: Mind--I'm delighted. You know I loathe this \"rushing\" idea. See a girl yesterday, to-day, to-morrow.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Nonsense! You can't park your pessimism in my little sun parlor. I think you ought to forget all those morbid speculations and go to work.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"If you go to a dance and really amuse, say, three sad birds that dance with you; if you talk so well to them that they forget they're stuck with you, you've done something. They'll come back next time, and gradually so many sad birds will dance with you that the attractive boys will see there's no danger of being stuck--then they'll dance with you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "That was the last Sunday they had, for he spoiled it all that night. He couldn't help it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No, this afternoon. I happened to find out that you're taking Miss Baker to tea.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Can you see me?\" she suggested lightly. \"It's on a business matter, really. I'm going into the movies at last--if I can.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Then the war came. He went to Plattsburg, and even there his profession followed him. A brigadier-general called him up to headquarters and told him he could serve his country better as a band leader--so he spent the war entertaining celebrities behind the line with a headquarters band. It was not so bad--except that when the infantry came limping back from the trenches he wanted to be one of them. The sweat and mud they wore seemed only one of those ineffable symbols of aristocracy that were forever eluding him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Gatsby looked at me questioningly. He wanted to go and he didn't see that Mr. Sloane had determined he shouldn't.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "PARAMORE: It's good to see you, Anthony. I'm stationed in Stamford, so I thought I'd run over. (Roguishly) We have to work to beat the devil most of the time, so we're entitled to a few hours' vacation.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I want you to tell me all about yourself,\" he said after a pause. \"Of course I have a general idea what you and mother did in Europe those fourteen years, and then we were all so worried, Lois, when you had pneumonia and couldn't come down with mother--let's see that was two years ago--and then, well, I've seen your name in the papers, but it's all been so unsatisfactory. I haven't known you, Lois.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "As she climbed down from the chair she tried to smile--failed miserably. She saw two of the girls exchange glances; noticed Marjorie's mouth curved in attenuated mockery--and that Warren's eyes were suddenly very cold.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendour.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He was aware that this sickness was providential. It saved him from a hysterical relapse--and he recovered in time to entrain on a damp November day for New York, and for the interminable massacre beyond.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Up in her bedroom window Sally Carrol Happer rested her nineteen-year-old chin on a fifty-two-year-old sill and watched Clark Darrow's ancient Ford turn the corner. The car was hot--being partly metallic it retained all the heat it absorbed or evolved--and Clark Darrow sitting bolt upright at the wheel wore a pained, strained expression as though he considered himself a spare part, and rather likely to break. He laboriously crossed two dust ruts, the wheels squeaking indignantly at the encounter, and then with a terrifying expression he gave the steering-gear a final wrench and deposited self and car approximately in front of the Happer steps. There was a heaving sound, a death-rattle, followed by a short silence; and then the air was rent by a startling whistle.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Mr. Debris--the great Percy B. Debris, thought Gloria--showed them to a set which represented the interior of an office. Some chairs were drawn up around the camera, which stood in front of it, and the three of them sat down.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "ROSALIND: About as usual. There used to be two kinds of kisses: First when girls were kissed and deserted; second, when they were engaged. Now there's a third kind, where the man is kissed and deserted. If Mr. Jones of the nineties bragged he'd kissed a girl, every one knew he was through with her. If Mr. Jones of 1919 brags the same every one knows it's because he can't kiss her any more.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You're a quaint little determinist,\" laughed Anthony. \"It's your world, isn't it?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No, sir, not by a darn sight,\" said the worldly youth with emphasis, \"and I know that girl's as good as gold. I can tell.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I guess I'd better go back to Eau Claire--if I'm such a nuisance.\" Bernice's lower lip was trembling violently and she continued on a wavering note: \"I've tried to be nice, and--and I've been first neglected and then insulted. No one ever visited me and got such treatment.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You are old, Maury,\" he agreed at length. \"The first signs of a very dissolute and wabbly senescence--you have spent the afternoon talking about tan and a lady's legs.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But all this part of it seemed remote and unessential. I found myself on Gatsby's side, and alone. From the moment I telephoned news of the catastrophe to West Egg village, every surmise about him, and every practical question, was referred to me. At first I was surprised and confused; then, as he lay in his house and didn't move or breathe or speak, hour upon hour, it grew upon me that I was responsible, because no one else was interested--interested, I mean, with that intense personal interest to which everyone has some vague right at the end.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "... After a moment she found a pencil and holding it unsteadily drew three parallel lines beneath the last entry. Then she printed FINIS in large capitals, put the book back in the drawer, and crept into bed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, do!--or rather, don't! Why are all the exciting things so uncomfortable, like fighting and exploring and ski-ing in Canada? By the way, we're going to ride up Harper's Hill. I think that comes in our programme about five o'clock.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Look here, old sport, you've got to get somebody for me. You've got to try hard. I can't go through this alone.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"The fading things we only know We'll have forgotten... Put away... Desires that melted with the snow, And dreams begotten This to-day: The sudden dawns we laughed to greet, That all could see, that none could share, Will be but dawns... and if we meet We shall not care. Dear... not one tear will rise for this... A little while hence No regret Will stir for a remembered kiss-- Not even silence, When we've met, Will give old ghosts a waste to roam, Or stir the surface of the sea... If gray shapes drift beneath the foam We shall not see.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You're all fine now, and I feel glorious. Give me a cigarette. You've never seen me smoke, have you? Well, I do, about once a month.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That's true.\" She hesitated. \"Well, I've had a very bad time, Nick, and I'm pretty cynical about everything.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Though Draycott Deyo was in the throes of difficulties concerning baptism by immersion and might possibly have seen a connection, it must be admitted that he did not. He considered feminine bathing an immoral subject, and gave her some of his ideas on the depravity of modern society.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony thought of Dick's recent output, which had been appearing in a well-known monthly. It was concerned chiefly with the preposterous actions of a class of sawdust effigies who, one was assured, were New York society people, and it turned, as a rule, upon questions of the heroine's technical purity, with mock-sociological overtones about the \"mad antics of the four hundred.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"This bright and sunny morning you picked up your favorite newspaper and you found an advertisement which made the plain, unadorned statement that you could sell. That was all it said--it didn't say 'what,' it didn't say 'how,' it didn't say 'why.' It just made one single solitary assertion that you and you and you\"--business of pointing--\"could sell. Now my job isn't to make a success of you, because every man is born a success, he makes himself a failure; it's not to teach you how to talk, because each man is a natural orator and only makes himself a clam; my business is to tell you one thing in a way that will make you know it--it's to tell you that you and you and you have the heritage of money and prosperity waiting for you to come and claim it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony Patch had ceased to be an individual of mental adventure, of curiosity, and had become an individual of bias and prejudice, with a longing to be emotionally undisturbed. This gradual change had taken place through the past several years, accelerated by a succession of anxieties preying on his mind. There was, first of all, the sense of waste, always dormant in his heart, now awakened by the circumstances of his position. In his moments of insecurity he was haunted by the suggestion that life might be, after all, significant. In his early twenties the conviction of the futility of effort, of the wisdom of abnegation, had been confirmed by the philosophies he had admired as well as by his association with Maury Noble, and later with his wife.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He found his way slowly over the jostled evening mass of Times Square, which the chariot race and its thousand satellites made rarely beautiful and bright and intimate with carnival. Faces swirled about him, a kaleidoscope of girls, ugly, ugly as sin--too fat, too lean, yet floating upon this autumn air as upon their own warm and passionate breaths poured out into the night. Here, for all their vulgarity, he thought, they were faintly and subtly mysterious. He inhaled carefully, swallowing into his lungs perfume and the not unpleasant scent of many cigarettes. He caught the glance of a dark young beauty sitting alone in a closed taxicab.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She would be twenty-nine in February. As the long night waned she grew supremely conscious that she and beauty were going to make use of these next three months. At first she was not sure for what, but the problem resolved itself gradually into the old lure of the screen. She was in earnest now. No material want could have moved her as this fear moved her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But she would not believe him. There had been something in the details he had chosen to describe that made her cry herself asleep that night, for the kitten, for Anthony for herself, for the pain and bitterness and cruelty of all the world.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony remembered that they were white and always looked unnaturally hungry. But then they were usually photographed with dukes and princesses, so he was properly flattered.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Next day, by a merciful chance, passed in a whirl. When Amory was by himself his thoughts zigzagged inevitably to the picture of that red mouth yawning incongruously in the white face, but with a determined effort he piled present excitement upon the memory of it and shut it coldly away from his mind.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Dimly he promised himself a time where all should be welded together. For months it seemed that he had alternated between being borne along a stream of love or fascination, or left in an eddy, and in the eddies he had not desired to think, rather to be picked up on a wave's top and swept along again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MAURY: Yes. We intend to spend the evening doing some deep thinking over of life's problems. The thing is tersely called \"The Woman.\" I presume that she will \"pay.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's not half bad,\" thought Horace one night as he was on his way from the station to his house. He was considering several prospects that had opened up, a four months' vaudeville offer in five figures, a chance to go back to Princeton in charge of all gymnasium work. Odd! He had once intended to go back there in charge of all philosophic work, and now he had not even been stirred by the arrival in New York of Anton Laurier, his old idol.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony waited for him to speak of \"leaving something done when you pass on.\" Then he made a suggestion:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "About three o'clock the quality of Wilson's incoherent muttering changed--he grew quieter and began to talk about the yellow car. He announced that he had a way of finding out whom the yellow car belonged to, and then he blurted out that a couple of months ago his wife had come from the city with her face bruised and her nose swollen.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "GLORIA: (After a pause during which her eyes gaze coolly into his) Several things. In the first place, why do you insist on paying for everything? Both those men have more money than you!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Yes, I'm pretty good. And I look cute too. A sculptor up at Rye last summer told me my calves are worth five hundred dollars.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "From the kitchen enters a small, fatigued Japanese, hastily buttoning a servant's coat of white duck. He opens the front screen-door and admits a handsome young man of thirty, clad in the sort of well-intentioned clothes peculiar to those who serve mankind. To his whole personality clings a well-intentioned air: his glance about the room is compounded of curiosity and a determined optimism; when he looks at Tana the entire burden of uplifting the godless Oriental is in his eyes. His name is FREDERICK E. PARAMORE. He was at Harvard with ANTHONY, where because of the initials of their surnames they were constantly placed next to each other in classes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"How'll I fit in?\" he demanded. \"What am I for? To propagate the race? According to the American novels we are led to believe that the 'healthy American boy' from nineteen to twenty-five is an entirely sexless animal. As a matter of fact, the healthier he is the less that's true.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony saluted, quickly paid his taxi-driver, and set off for a run toward the regiment he had named. When he was out of sight he changed his course, and with his heart beating wildly, hurried to his company, feeling that he had made a fatal error of judgment.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"What if I do!\" she cried angrily. \"It isn't an indignity for them. It's their one excuse for living. It's the one thing they're good for.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'll have to be starting home,\" said Bloeckman, almost immediately. \"Wish you'd both been here when I came.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "When they reached the field, work began immediately--they peeled off their shirts for calisthenics. This was the only part of the day that Anthony enjoyed. Lieutenant Kretching, who presided at the antics, was sinewy and muscular, and Anthony, followed his movements faithfully, with a feeling that he was doing something of positive value to himself. The other officers and sergeants walked about among the men with the malice of schoolboys, grouping here and there around some unfortunate who lacked muscular control, giving him confused instructions and commands. When they discovered a particularly forlorn, ill-nourished specimen, they would linger the full half-hour making cutting remarks and snickering among themselves.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I did! The only trouble was that about midnight I ran short of talk. I had to repeat myself--with different men of course. I hope they won't compare notes.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Jimmy always liked it better down East. He rose up to his position in the East. Were you a friend of my boy's, Mr.--?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "DICK: As Goliath said, he understood how David felt, but he couldn't express himself. The remark was immediately adopted for a motto by the Philistines.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Damn it all,\" he whispered aloud, wetting his hands in the damp and running them through his hair. \"Next year I work!\" Yet he knew that where now the spirit of spires and towers made him dreamily acquiescent, it would then overawe him. Where now he realized only his own inconsequence, effort would make him aware of his own impotency and insufficiency.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"But I don't feel that way, Anthony. I can't be bothered resisting things I want. My way is not to want them--to want nobody but you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "I wanted to get somebody for him. I wanted to go into the room where he lay and reassure him: \"I'll get somebody for you, Gatsby. Don't worry. Just trust me and I'll get somebody for you--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "What delicious romance! His true reaction was neither fear nor sorrow--only this deep delight in being with her that colored the banality of his words and made the mawkish seem sad and the posturing seem wise. He would come back--eternally. He should have known!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "An eternity of minutes later, riding down-town through the late afternoon beside Warren, the others following in Roberta's car close behind, Bernice had all the sensations of Marie Antoinette bound for the guillotine in a tumbrel. Vaguely she wondered why she did not cry out that it was all a mistake. It was all she could do to keep from clutching her hair with both bands to protect it from the suddenly hostile world. Yet she did neither. Even the thought of her mother was no deterrent now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Would you mind running me down to the cleaners?\" she asked. \"I've simply got to get a dress there before supper. Roberta's driving right home and she can take the others.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Bles-sed pre-cious,\" she crooned, holding out her arms. \"Come to your own mother that loves you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The lady brought her to and drove her home in her car. It had occurred to the estimable Gloria that she was probably with child.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They took a flat in Harlem. After two weeks' search, during which his idea of the value of academic knowledge faded unmercifully, Horace took a position as clerk with a South American export company--some one had told him that exporting was the coming thing. Marcia was to stay in her show for a few months--anyway until he got on his feet. He was getting a hundred and twenty-five to start with, and though of course they told him it was only a question of months until he would be earning double that, Marcia refused even to consider giving up the hundred and fifty a week that she was getting at the time.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They played through vacation to the fashionable of eight cities. Amory liked Louisville and Memphis best: these knew how to meet strangers, furnished extraordinary punch, and flaunted an astonishing array of feminine beauty. Chicago he approved for a certain verve that transcended its loud accent--however, it was a Yale town, and as the Yale Glee Club was expected in a week the Triangle received only divided homage. In Baltimore, Princeton was at home, and every one fell in love. There was a proper consumption of strong waters all along the line; one man invariably went on the stage highly stimulated, claiming that his particular interpretation of the part required it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, she's all right now. When she's had five or six cocktails she always starts screaming like that. I tell her she ought to leave it alone.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Another pause. A waiter knocked and came in with crushed mint and ice but the silence was unbroken by his \"thank you\" and the soft closing of the door. This tremendous detail was to be cleared up at last.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But Amory sighed and made use of the nights. He had a snap-shot of Isabelle, enshrined in an old watch, and at eight almost every night he would turn off all the lights except the desk lamp and, sitting by the open windows with the picture before him, write her rapturous letters.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"What on earth is the use of suddenly running down Goethe,\" he declared to Alec and Tom. \"Why write books to prove he started the war--or that that stupid, overestimated Schiller is a demon in disguise?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It was, first of all, a time of discovery. The things they found in each other were so diverse, so intermixed and, moreover, so sugared with love as to seem at the time not so much discoveries as isolated phenomena--to be allowed for, and to be forgotten. Anthony found that he was living with a girl of tremendous nervous tension and of the most high-handed selfishness. Gloria knew within a month that her husband was an utter coward toward any one of a million phantasms created by his imagination. Her perception was intermittent, for this cowardice sprang out, became almost obscenely evident, then faded and vanished as though it had been only a creation of her own mind.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"So it was just a plan to get me down here, get me in trouble!\" he said. \"God damn it, you've shouted 'wolf' once too often!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "When the color faded from the sky and lustreless blue changed to leaden gray a commotion was visible on the ship's deck, and they made out a group of officers clad in white duck, gathered near the rail. They had field-glasses in their hands and were attentively examining the islet.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Suddenly she drew in her breath sharply and an expression flashed into her eyes that a practiced character reader might have connected vaguely with the set look she had worn in the barber's chair--somehow a development of it. It was quite a new look for Bernice--and it carried consequences.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don't you think?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Past the Rialto, the glittering front of the Astor, the jewelled magnificence of Times Square ... a gorgeous alley of incandescence ahead.... Then--was it years later?--he was paying the taxi-driver in front of a white building on Fifty-seventh Street. He was in the hall--ah, there was the negro boy from Martinique, lazy, indolent, unchanged.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I've noticed you this year and I--I like you. I think you have in you the makings of a--a very good man.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The sixty acres of the estate were dotted with old and new summer houses and many fountains and white benches that came suddenly into sight from foliage-hung hiding-places; there was a great and constantly increasing family of white cats that prowled the many flower-beds and were silhouetted suddenly at night against the darkening trees. It was on one of the shadowy paths that Beatrice at last captured Amory, after Mr. Blaine had, as usual, retired for the evening to his private library. After reproving him for avoiding her, she took him for a long tete-a-tete in the moonlight. He could not reconcile himself to her beauty, that was mother to his own, the exquisite neck and shoulders, the grace of a fortunate woman of thirty.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I wonder\"--Amory paused--\"if I could be. I honestly think so sometimes. That sounds like the devil, and I wouldn't say it to anybody except you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Gillespie failed to understand why Amory was smiling delightedly all through lunch. He thought perhaps he was one of these hollow optimists.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough coloured lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby's enormous garden. On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d'oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, Anthony!\" she cried passionately, \"oh, my darling, you don't know what you did!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I thought you might be here,\" she responded absently as I came up. \"I remembered you lived next door to--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He fixed, finally, on six weeks as approximately the interval best suited to his purpose, and on a desk calendar he marked the days off, finding that it would fall on the ninth of April. Very well, on that day he would phone and ask her if he might call. Until then--silence.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Mrs. Gilbert had a further idea--something about being glad they'd come, anyhow, even if they'd only seen an old lady 'way too old to flirt with them. Anthony and Dick evidently considered this a sly sally, for they laughed one bar in three-four time.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "SHE: No, you--you go on--you've made me talk about myself. That's against the rules.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why do you want me to kiss you?\" he asked intently, \"Do you just go round kissing people?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "After the football season he slumped into dreamy content. The night of the pre-holiday dance he slipped away and went early to bed for the pleasure of hearing the violin music cross the grass and come surging in at his window. Many nights he lay there dreaming awake of secret cafes in Mont Martre, where ivory women delved in romantic mysteries with diplomats and soldiers of fortune, while orchestras played Hungarian waltzes and the air was thick and exotic with intrigue and moonlight and adventure. In the spring he read \"L'Allegro,\" by request, and was inspired to lyrical outpourings on the subject of Arcady and the pipes of Pan. He moved his bed so that the sun would wake him at dawn that he might dress and go out to the archaic swing that hung from an apple-tree near the sixth-form house.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "There was one thing to be done before I left, an awkward, unpleasant thing that perhaps had better have been let alone. But I wanted to leave things in order and not just trust that obliging and indifferent sea to sweep my refuse away. I saw Jordan Baker and talked over and around what had happened to us together, and what had happened afterward to me, and she lay perfectly still, listening, in a big chair.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"So damned hard, so damned hard,\" he repeated aimlessly; \"it just hurts people and hurts people, until finally it hurts them so that they can't be hurt ever any more. That's the last and worst thing it does.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Centre of target twice, Clara. How do you do it? You never let me say a word.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Gloria laughed, so infectiously that Anthony was unwise enough to smile. Unfortunate man! In some intangible manner his smile made her mistress of the situation--with an air of injured righteousness she went emphatically to the closet and began pushing her laundry violently into the bag. Anthony watched her--ashamed of himself.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory walked into his bedroom. The first thing that met his glance was a photograph of Rosalind that he had intended to have framed, propped up against a mirror on his dresser. He looked at it unmoved. After the vivid mental pictures of her that were his portion at present, the portrait was curiously unreal. He went back into the study.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I suppose it is.\" It was shameful to be compelled to endure this pious browbeating from the old man, and his next words were stiffened with vanity. \"I can manage very well. You seem convinced that I'm utterly worthless. At any rate I came up here simply to tell you that I'm getting married in June.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Afternoon at the Plaza, with winter twilight hovering outside and faint drums down-stairs... they strut and fret in the lobby, taking another cocktail, scrupulously attired and waiting. Then the swinging doors revolve and three bundles of fur mince in. The theatre comes afterward; then a table at the Midnight Frolic--of course, mother will be along there, but she will serve only to make things more secretive and brilliant as she sits in solitary state at the deserted table and thinks such entertainments as this are not half so bad as they are painted, only rather wearying. But the P. D. is in love again... it was odd, wasn't it?--that though there was so much room left in the taxi the P. D. and the boy from Williams were somehow crowded out and had to go in a separate car. Odd!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Anthony's right. It's no fun to go around when you have the sense that people are looking at you in a certain way.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "There was a horror in the house that summer. It came with them and settled itself over the place like a sombre pall, pervasive through the lower rooms, gradually spreading and climbing up the narrow stairs until it oppressed their very sleep. Anthony and Gloria grew to hate being there alone. Her bedroom, which had seemed so pink and young and delicate, appropriate to her pastel-shaded lingerie tossed here and there on chair and bed, seemed now to whisper with its rustling curtains:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony was glad he wasn't going to work on his book. The notion of sitting down and conjuring up, not only words in which to clothe thoughts but thoughts worthy of being clothed--the whole thing was absurdly beyond his desires.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It occurred to her that her husband should have taken lunch with her--but he was generally so hurried at noon. She told Samuel all about him: he was a little smaller than Samuel, but, oh, much better-looking. He was a book-keeper and not making a lot of money, but they were very happy and expected to be rich within three or four years.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The bowl seemed suddenly to turn itself over and then to distend and swell until it became a great canopy that glittered and trembled over the room, over the house, and, as the walls melted slowly into mist, Evylyn saw that it was still moving out, out and far away from her, shutting off far horizons and suns and moons and stars except as inky blots seen faintly through it. And under it walked all the people, and the light that came through to them was refracted and twisted until shadow seamed light and light seemed shadow--until the whole panoply of the world became changed and distorted under the twinkling heaven of the bowl.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Her eyes closed again and Horace crossing over kissed her forehead--stood there for a moment with a look of tender pity. Then he left the room.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In the two years since the publication of \"The Demon Lover,\" Dick had made over twenty-five thousand dollars, most of it lately, when the reward of the author of fiction had begun to swell unprecedentedly as a result of the voracious hunger of the motion pictures for plots. He received seven hundred dollars for every story, at that time a large emolument for such a young man--he was not quite thirty--and for every one that contained enough \"action\" (kissing, shooting, and sacrificing) for the movies, he obtained an additional thousand. His stories varied; there was a measure of vitality and a sort of instinctive in all of them, but none attained the personality of \"The Demon Lover,\" and there were several that Anthony considered downright cheap. These, Dick explained severely, were to widen his audience. Wasn't it true that men who had attained real permanence from Shakespeare to Mark Twain had appealed to the many as well as to the elect?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "That exquisite heavenly irony which has tabulated the demise of so many generations of sparrows doubtless records the subtlest verbal inflections of the passengers of such ships as The Berengaria. And doubtless it was listening when the young man in the plaid cap crossed the deck quickly and spoke to the pretty girl in yellow.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory, who was performing, looked annoyed, and claimed that he needed a record with less piano in it. Kerry thereupon rolled on the floor in stifled laughter.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Time, having no axe to grind, showered down upon them three days of afternoons. When the sun cleared the port-hole of Ardita's cabin an hour after dawn she rose cheerily, donned her bathing-suit, and went up on deck. The negroes would leave their work when they saw her, and crowd, chuckling and chattering, to the rail as she floated, an agile minnow, on and under the surface of the clear water. Again in the cool of the afternoon she would swim--and loll and smoke with Carlyle upon the cliff; or else they would lie on their sides in the sands of the southern beach, talking little, but watching the day fade colorfully and tragically into the infinite langour of a tropical evening.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But a few minutes before she fell asleep a rebellious thought was churning drowsily in her brain--after all, it was she who had done it. Marjorie, to be sure, had given her her conversation, but then Marjorie got much of her conversation out of things she read. Bernice had bought the red dress, though she had never valued it highly before Marjorie dug it out of her trunk--and her own voice had said the words, her own lips had smiled, her own feet had danced. Marjorie nice girl--vain, though--nice evening--nice boys--like Warren--Warren--Warren--what's his name--Warren----", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Myrtle Wilson's body, wrapped in a blanket, and then in another blanket, as though she suffered from a chill in the hot night, lay on a worktable by the wall, and Tom, with his back to us, was bending over it, motionless. Next to him stood a motorcycle policeman taking down names with much sweat and correction in a little book. At first I couldn't find the source of the high, groaning words that echoed clamorously through the bare garage--then I saw Wilson standing on the raised threshold of his office, swaying back and forth and holding to the doorposts with both hands. Some man was talking to him in a low voice and attempting, from time to time, to lay a hand on his shoulder, but Wilson neither heard nor saw. His eyes would drop slowly from the swinging light to the laden table by the wall, and then jerk back to the light again, and he gave out incessantly his high, horrible call:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "DICK: (Weightily) We'd better join the firing squad. They're going to take the picture, I guess. No, that's afterward.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Oh, for him there was no doubt. He had risen and paced the floor in sheer ecstasy. That such a girl should be; should poise curled in a corner of the couch like a swallow newly landed from a clean swift flight, watching him with inscrutable eyes. He would stop his pacing and, half shy each time at first, drop his arm around her and find her kiss.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The effort of answering broke the rhythm of his rocking--for a moment he was silent. Then the same half-knowing, half-bewildered look came back into his faded eyes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He was at once the commonest and the most remarkable product of civilization. He was nine out of ten people that one passes on a city street--and he was a hairless ape with two dozen tricks. He was the hero of a thousand romances of life and art--and he was a virtual moron, performing staidly yet absurdly a series of complicated and infinitely astounding epics over a span of threescore years.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Though the newspaper account of the burglary failed to mention the false teeth, they worried him considerably. The picture of a human waking in the cool dawn and groping for them in vain, of a soft, toothless breakfast, of a strange, hollow, lisping voice calling the police station, of weary, dispirited visits to the dentist, roused a great fatherly pity in him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "As he stood in front of Delmonico's lighting a cigarette one night he saw two hansoms drawn up close to the curb, waiting for a chance drunken fare. The outmoded cabs were worn and dirty--the cracked patent leather wrinkled like an old man's face, the cushions faded to a brownish lavender; the very horses were ancient and weary, and so were the white-haired men who sat aloft, cracking their whips with a grotesque affectation of gallantry. A relic of vanished gaiety!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Bernice,\" she said \"I'm awfully sorry about the Deyo dance. I'll give you my word of honor I'd forgotten all about it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I want to ask you your opinion of several people. I imagine you're a wonderful judge of character.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Of his three tent-mates--a flat-faced, conscientious objector from Tennessee, a big, scared Pole, and the disdainful Celt whom he had sat beside on the train--the two former spent the evenings in writing eternal letters home, while the Irishman sat in the tent door whistling over and over to himself half a dozen shrill and monotonous bird-calls. It was rather to avoid an hour of their company than with any hope of diversion that, when the quarantine was lifted at the end of the week, he went into town. He caught one of the swarm of jitneys that overran the camp each evening, and in half an hour was set down in front of the Stonewall Hotel on the hot and drowsy main street.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It always means brainy and well-educated,\" interrupted Amory. \"It means having an active knowledge of the race's experience.\" Amory decided to be very rude. He turned to the big man. \"The young man,\" he indicated the secretary with his thumb, and said young man as one says bell-boy, with no implication of youth, \"has the usual muddled connotation of all popular words.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"My dear boy, I've been waiting to see you for years. Take a big chair and we'll have a chat.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MAURY: Ask you another. What's the influence of mice on the clover crop? (Laughter.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, the poor kitty!\" cried Gloria, sincerely moved. Inspired with the narrative instinct, Anthony enlarged on the theme.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They had been walking homeward between mounds of high-piled snow and under a sun which Sally Carrol scarcely recognized. They passed a little girl done up in gray wool until she resembled a small Teddy bear, and Sally Carrol could not resist a gasp of maternal appreciation.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Hello!\" She smiled up at him wanly. \"Horace, there's something I want you to do. Look in my top bureau drawer and you'll find a big stack of paper. It's a book--sort of--Horace.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't want one. I want a kitty.\" She went thoroughly and with great enthusiasm into the history, habits, and tastes of a cat she had once possessed. Anthony considered that it must have been a horrible character with neither personal magnetism nor a loyal heart.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He was a short man with a mustache resting like a small white cloud beneath his undistinguished nose. He had reached the stage where his value as a social creature was a black and imponderable negative. His ideas were the popular delusions of twenty years before; his mind steered a wabbly and anaemic course in the wake of the daily newspaper editorials. After graduating from a small but terrifying Western university, he had entered the celluloid business, and as this required only the minute measure of intelligence he brought to it, he did well for several years--in fact until about 1911, when he began exchanging contracts for vague agreements with the moving picture industry. The moving picture industry had decided about 1912 to gobble him up, and at this time he was, so to speak, delicately balanced on its tongue.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But she didn't say another word. We gave her spirits of ammonia and put ice on her forehead and hooked her back into her dress, and half an hour later, when we walked out of the room, the pearls were around her neck and the incident was over. Next day at five o'clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver, and started off on a three months' trip to the South Seas.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "AMORY: (His lips against her wet cheek) Don't! Keep it, please--oh, don't break my heart!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "This was because of a party in the \"Boul' Mich'\" one night, where Constance Merriam had seen her as one of a highly stimulated party of four. Constance Merriam, \"as an old school friend,\" had gone to the trouble of inviting her to lunch next day in order to inform her how terrible it was.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "This was adding insult to injury. There were several comments on the bed's sanitary condition and the evidence within it of animal life.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "ROSALIND: Because you know I'm an awful proposition. Any one who marries me will have his hands full. I'm mean--mighty mean.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, I know. They're all right when they come North to college, but of all the hangdog, ill-dressed, slovenly lot I ever saw, a bunch of small-town Southerners are the worst!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "There were days when Amory listened. These were when Tom, wreathed in smoke, indulged in the slaughter of American literature. Words failed him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You're more stupid then,\" he declared rather impatiently. \"Intellect is no protection from sex any more than convention is...\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She was fascinating, he told her. He had never met any one like her before. He besought her jauntily but earnestly to send him away; he didn't want to fall in love. He wasn't coming to see her any more--already she had haunted too many of his ways.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She wanted him to whine. If he had she would have reproached him bitterly, for she was not a little annoyed, but he only lay there so utterly miserable that she felt sorry for him, and kneeling down she stroked his head, saying how little it mattered, how little anything mattered so long as they loved each other. It was like their first year, and Anthony, reacting to her cool hand, to her voice that was soft as breath itself upon his ear, became almost cheerful, and talked with her of his future plans. He even regretted, silently, before he went to bed that he had so hastily mailed his resignation.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "After the dinner the dance began... smoothly. Smoothly?--boys cut in on Isabelle every few feet and then squabbled in the corners with: \"You might let me get more than an inch!\" and \"She didn't like it either--she told me so next time I cut in.\" It was true--she told every one so, and gave every hand a parting pressure that said: \"You know that your dances are making my evening.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, I couldn't, anyway. In the first place I've been ill all day. I couldn't eat a thing.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'll give you my month's allowance,\" she said coldly, \"and you can spend this last week anywhere you want. There's a very nice hotel----\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Ensued a short confused discussion of whether or not she had been thinking. It seemed essential to Anthony that she should muse aloud upon last night's disaster. Her silence was a method of settling the responsibility on him. For her part she saw no necessity for speech--the moment required that she should gnaw at her finger like a nervous child.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Look!\" She pointed and they gazed in horror. Under the full light of a roadside arc-light lay a form, face downward in a widening circle of blood.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "From West Egg came the Poles and the Mulreadys and Cecil Roebuck and Cecil Schoen and Gulick the State senator and Newton Orchid, who controlled Films Par Excellence, and Eckhaust and Clyde Cohen and Don S. Schwartz (the son) and Arthur McCarty, all connected with the movies in one way or another. And the Catlips and the Bembergs and G. Earl Muldoon, brother to that Muldoon who afterward strangled his wife. Da Fontano the promoter came there, and Ed Legros and James B. (\"Rot-Gut\") Ferret and the De Jongs and Ernest Lilly--they came to gamble, and when Ferret wandered into the garden it meant he was cleaned out and Associated Traction would have to fluctuate profitably next day.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "There was so much to read, for one thing, and so much fine health to be pulled down out of the young breath-giving air. I bought a dozen volumes on banking and credit and investment securities, and they stood on my shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint, promising to unfold the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Maecenas knew. And I had the high intention of reading many other books besides. I was rather literary in college--one year I wrote a series of very solemn and obvious editorials for the Yale News--and now I was going to bring back all such things into my life and become again that most limited of all specialists, the \"well-rounded man.\" This isn't just an epigram--life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You college men? ... Harvard, eh. I see the Princeton boys beat you fellows in hockey.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Daisy's home,\" he said. As we got out of the car he glanced at me and frowned slightly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "School ruined his French and gave him a distaste for standard authors. His masters considered him idle, unreliable and superficially clever.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In the distance a deep sound that had been audible for some moments identified itself by a plaintive mooing like that of a gigantic cow and by the pearly spot of a headlight apparent half a mile away. It was a steam-driven train this time, rumbling and groaning, and as it tumbled by with a monstrous complaint it sent a shower of sparks and cinders over the platform.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He wanted to have a lot of money and time and opportunity to read and play, and the sort of men and women round him that he could never have--the kind who, if they thought of him at all, would have considered him rather contemptible; in short he wanted all those things which he was beginning to lump under the general head of aristocracy, an aristocracy which it seemed almost any money could buy except money made as he was making it. He was twenty-five then, without family or education or any promise that he would succeed in a business career. He began speculating wildly, and within three weeks he had lost every cent he had saved.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In bed that night with the lights out and the cool room swimming with moonlight, Anthony lay awake and played with every minute of the day like a child playing in turn with each one of a pile of long-wanted Christmas toys. He had told her gently, almost in the middle of a kiss, that he loved her, and she had smiled and held him closer and murmured, \"I'm glad,\" looking into his eyes. There had been a new quality in her attitude, a new growth of sheer physical attraction toward him and a strange emotional tenseness, that was enough to make him clinch his hands and draw in his breath at the recollection. He had felt nearer to her than ever before. In a rare delight he cried aloud to the room that he loved her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "I walked back along the border of the lawn, traversed the gravel softly, and tiptoed up the veranda steps. The drawing-room curtains were open, and I saw that the room was empty. Crossing the porch where we had dined that June night three months before, I came to a small rectangle of light which I guessed was the pantry window. The blind was drawn, but I found a rift at the sill.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They were heading straight in now toward the solid rock, which must have been well over a hundred feet tall, and not until they were within fifty yards of it did Ardita see their objective. Then she clapped her hands in delight. There was a break in the cliff entirely hidden by a curious overlapping of rock, and through this break the yacht entered and very slowly traversed a narrow channel of crystal-clear water between high gray walls. Then they were riding at anchor in a miniature world of green and gold, a gilded bay smooth as glass and set round with tiny palms, the whole resembling the mirror lakes and twig trees that children set up in sand piles.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"To put it briefly, there are two babies we could have, two distinct and logical babies, utterly differentiated. There's the baby that's the combination of the best of both of us. Your body, my eyes, my mind, your intelligence--and then there is the baby which is our worst--my body, your disposition, and my irresolution.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, because you're so clean. You're sort of blowy clean, like I am. There's two sorts, you know. One's like Dick: he's clean like polished pans. You and I are clean like streams and winds.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In a moment he would call Tana and they would pour into themselves a gay and delicate poison which would restore them momentarily to the pleasurable excitement of childhood, when every face in a crowd had carried its suggestion of splendid and significant transactions taking place somewhere to some magnificent and illimitable purpose.... Life was no more than this summer afternoon; a faint wind stirring the lace collar of Gloria's dress; the slow baking drowsiness of the veranda.... Intolerably unmoved they all seemed, removed from any romantic imminency of action. Even Gloria's beauty needed wild emotions, needed poignancy, needed death....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You're not learning anything--you're just getting tired. And if you must have a faith to soften things, take up one that appeals to the reason of some one beside a lot of hysterical women. A person like you oughtn't to accept anything unless it's decently demonstrable.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't think she ever loved him.\" Gatsby turned around from a window and looked at me challengingly. \"You must remember, old sport, she was very excited this afternoon. He told her those things in a way that frightened her--that made it look as if I was some kind of cheap sharper. And the result was she hardly knew what she was saying.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, don't be an idiot!\" she exclaimed. \"There'd be nothing casual about it. And I can't even imagine the possibility.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They are glad to see each other now--their eyes are full of kindness as each feels the full effect of novelty after a short separation. They are drawing a relaxation from each other's presence, a new serenity; Maury Noble behind that fine and absurdly catlike face is all but purring. And Anthony, nervous as a will-o'-the-wisp, restless--he is at rest now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"What Miz Pats want dinner?\" he would say, looking at his master. Or else he would comment about the bitter selfishness of \"'Merican peoples\" in such manner that there was no doubt who were the \"peoples\" referred to.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "I wanted to get up and slap him on the back. I had one of those renewals of complete faith in him that I'd experienced before.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Now Adam J. Patch, more familiarly known as \"Cross Patch,\" left his father's farm in Tarrytown early in sixty-one to join a New York cavalry regiment. He came home from the war a major, charged into Wall Street, and amid much fuss, fume, applause, and ill will he gathered to himself some seventy-five million dollars.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"What an imagination!\" she said softly and almost enviously. \"I want you to lie to me just as sweetly as you know how for the rest of my life.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It was the twilight,\" he said wonderingly. \"I didn't feel as though I were speaking aloud. But I love you--or adore you--or worship you--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Gloria'd be a very young nut not to marry him.\" He stopped and faced her, his expression a battle map of lines and dimples, squeezed and strained to its ultimate show of intensity--this as if to make up by his sincerity for any indiscretion in his words. \"Gloria's a wild one, Aunt Catherine. She's uncontrollable. How she's done it I don't know, but lately she's picked up a lot of the funniest friends.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "These things were a regular part of their existence. Despite the resolutions of many Mondays it was tacitly understood as the week end approached that it should be observed with some sort of unholy excitement. When Saturday came they would not discuss the matter, but would call up this person or that from among their circle of sufficiently irresponsible friends, and suggest a rendezvous. Only after the friends had gathered and Anthony had set out decanters, would he murmur casually \"I guess I'll have just one high-ball myself--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "--and so on, into phrases still more strange and barbaric. When she caught the amused glances of Anthony and Gloria she acknowledged them only with a faint smile and a half-closing of her eyes, to indicate that the music entering into her soul had put her into an ecstatic and exceedingly seductive trance.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Tom D'Invilliers and Amory walked late in those days. A gambling fever swept through the sophomore class and they bent over the bones till three o'clock many a sultry night. After one session they came out of Sloane's room to find the dew fallen and the stars old in the sky.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(RACHAEL smiles at him inscrutably. Two years have given her a sort of hard, well-groomed beauty.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Street--or One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Street.... Two and three look alike--no, not much. Seat damp... are clothes absorbing wetness from seat, or seat absorbing dryness from clothes?... Sitting on wet substance gave appendicitis, so Froggy Parker's mother said. Well, he'd had it--I'll sue the steamboat company, Beatrice said, and my uncle has a quarter interest--did Beatrice go to heaven?... probably not--He represented Beatrice's immortality, also love-affairs of numerous dead men who surely had never thought of him... if it wasn't appendicitis, influenza maybe.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You probably think you know,\" suggested Anthony, with an effort at concentration. \"The failure and the success both believe in their hearts that they have accurately balanced points of view, the success because he's succeeded, and the failure because he's failed. The successful man tells his son to profit by his father's good fortune, and the failure tells his son to profit by his father's mistakes.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "A pause; it endured horribly. I had nothing to do in the hall, so I went into the room.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I keep it always full of interesting people, night and day. People who do interesting things. Celebrated people.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Probably killed the engine,\" he suggested. Amory would have put him on the rack without a scruple.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Up the ladder scrambled the two gray-haired men, the officer and two of the sailors with their hands on their revolvers. Mr. Farnam folded his arms and stood looking at his niece.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She was much more interested in him than she was in her own situation, which affected her as the prospect of a matinee might affect a ten-year-old child. She had implicit confidence in her ability to take care of herself under any and all circumstances.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Beg pardon,\" he mumbled, and rose with the vague intention of going after it. Milton's hand on his coat collapsed him in time, and Mrs. Ahearn not ungracefully flounced the tobacco from her skirt to the floor, never once looking at it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Just wait till I finish this letter,\" said Marjorie without looking round. \"I want to get it off in the next mail.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "For over a year he had been beating his way along the south shore of Lake Superior as a clam-digger and a salmon-fisher or in any other capacity that brought him food and bed. His brown, hardening body lived naturally through the half-fierce, half-lazy work of the bracing days. He knew women early, and since they spoiled him he became contemptuous of them, of young virgins because they were ignorant, of the others because they were hysterical about things which in his overwhelming self-absorption he took for granted.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Yet he had no sense of waste, no sense of the present hope that waste implied. He felt that life had rejected him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, Axia!\" he shouted in salutation. \"C'mon over to our table.\" \"No!\" Amory whispered.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "ROSALIND: It's just--us. We're pitiful, that's all. The very qualities I love you for are the ones that will always make you a failure.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Julie's sick,\" she interrupted; \"she's poisoned herself. Get him to bed if you can.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She had heard the sound of his approach and her form was silhouetted against the lighted door as she came out to meet him. \"There's some Frenchman here,\" she whispered nervously. \"I can't pronounce his name, but he sounds awful deep. You'll have to jaw with him.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh!\" she cried suddenly. \"There's two little boys makin' a snow man! Harry, do you reckon I can go out an' help 'em?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "From his undergraduate days as editor of The Harvard Crimson Richard Caramel had desired to write. But as a senior he had picked up the glorified illusion that certain men were set aside for \"service\" and, going into the world, were to accomplish a vague yearnful something which would react either in eternal reward or, at the least, in the personal satisfaction of having striven for the greatest good of the greatest number.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He found that 12 University Place was a large, dilapidated mansion, at present apparently uninhabited, though he knew it housed usually a dozen freshmen. After a hurried skirmish with his landlady he sallied out on a tour of exploration, but he had gone scarcely a block when he became horribly conscious that he must be the only man in town who was wearing a hat. He returned hurriedly to 12 University, left his derby, and, emerging bareheaded, loitered down Nassau Street, stopping to investigate a display of athletic photographs in a store window, including a large one of Allenby, the football captain, and next attracted by the sign \"Jigger Shop\" over a confectionary window. This sounded familiar, so he sauntered in and took a seat on a high stool.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, Anthony!\" There was utter misery in her voice. For the summer, for eternity, they had built themselves a prison. It seemed to strike at the last roots of their stability. Anthony thought they might arrange it with the real-estate agent.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, they say he's a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm's. That's where all his money comes from.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They drew up at a spreading, white-stone building, set back from the snowy street. Mrs. Weatherby greeted her warmly and her various younger cousins were produced from the corners where they skulked politely. Isabelle met them tactfully. At her best she allied all with whom she came in contact--except older girls and some women. All the impressions she made were conscious.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He watched her for several minutes. Something was stirred in him, something not accounted for by the warm smell of the afternoon or the triumphant vividness of red. He felt persistently that the girl was beautiful--then of a sudden he understood: it was her distance, not a rare and precious distance of soul but still distance, if only in terrestrial yards. The autumn air was between them, and the roofs and the blurred voices. Yet for a not altogether explained second, posing perversely in time, his emotion had been nearer to adoration than in the deepest kiss he had ever known.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "PARAMORE: Hello.... Yes.... No, he's not here now, but he'll be back any moment.... Butterworth? Hello, I didn't quite catch the name.... Hello, hello, hello. Hello! ... Huh!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm glad you did,\" said Colonel Moreland gravely. \"We've been keeping pretty close to you in case you should have trouble with those six strange niggers. And we hoped we'd find you two in some such compromising position,\" he sighed. \"Well, set a crank to catch a crank!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "SECOND YOUNG MAN: I didn't think she could stop that perpetual swaying long enough to swim. Fill up my glass, will you? Old man and I had a long talk about the weather just now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Life, limping after imagination's ten-league boots, saw them out of town a week later in a cheap but sparkling new roadster, saw them through the chaotic unintelligible Bronx, then over a wide murky district which alternated cheerless blue-green wastes with suburbs of tremendous and sordid activity. They left New York at eleven and it was well past a hot and beatific noon when they moved rakishly through Pelham.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They walked along, and he realized slowly how much she had told him... never in love.... She seemed suddenly a daughter of light alone. His entity dropped out of her plane and he longed only to touch her dress with almost the realization that Joseph must have had of Mary's eternal significance. But quite mechanically he heard himself saying:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No,\" she answered. \"I don't do that sort of thing any more; he asked me to, but I said no.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(Exit CECELIA. ROSALIND finished her hair and rises, humming. She goes up to the mirror and starts to dance in front of it on the soft carpet. She watches not her feet, but her eyes--never casually but always intently, even when she smiles. The door suddenly opens and then slams behind AMORY, very cool and handsome as usual.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That's from another, more disastrous battle,\" he answered, smiling in spite of himself. \"But the army--let me see--well, I discovered that physical courage depends to a great extent on the physical shape a man is in. I found that I was as brave as the next man--it used to worry me before.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"See that girl--no, the pretty one with the big black dots on her veil. Too late--she's gone. You missed somep'n.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But Geraldine only narrowed her eyes knowingly, made her clicking sound, and said she must be going. It was late.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Such was Tana's garrulous premiere in the gray house--and he fulfilled its promise. Though he was conscientious and honorable, he was unquestionably a terrific bore. He seemed unable to control his tongue, sometimes continuing from paragraph to paragraph with a look akin to pain in his small brown eyes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Nobody's coming to tea. It's too late!\" He looked at his watch as if there was some pressing demand on his time elsewhere. \"I can't wait all day.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That's my land out there,\" he said, stretching out his arm, \"my land, by God-- It's all I got in the world--and ever wanted.\" He dashed his sleeve across his face, and his tone changed as he turned slowly and faced Samuel. \"But I suppose it's got to go when they want it--it's got to go.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But they didn't. And we all took the less explicable step of engaging the parlour of a suite in the Plaza Hotel.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She pointed suddenly at me, and everyone looked at me accusingly. I tried to show by my expression that I expected no affection.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"What color is your hair?\" he asked intently. \"It's bobbed, isn't it?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm glad we're to be associated in this scheme--I've been for you all along--especially lately. I'm glad we're to be on the same side of the fence.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The storm was dying down softly and only the wind kept up its ghostly surge and made the stack lean and gravely settle from side to side. Amory was in a trance. He felt that every moment was precious. He had never met a girl like this before--she would never seem quite the same again. He didn't at all feel like a character in a play, the appropriate feeling in an unconventional situation--instead, he had a sense of coming home.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Plenty of gas,\" said Tom boisterously. He looked at the gauge. \"And if it runs out I can stop at a drugstore. You can buy anything at a drugstore nowadays.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She paused here, remembering that after he had gone that night she had undressed with the shivering April air streaming in the windows. Yet it seemed she had not felt the cold, warmed by the profound banalities burning in her heart.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "On that first evening he had been little more than a pleasantly unhappy face, a voice, the means with which to pass an hour, but when she kept her engagement with him on Saturday she regarded him with consideration. She liked him. Unknowingly she saw her own tragedies mirrored in his face.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Please don't!\" she interrupted helplessly. \"Please let's all go home. Why don't we all go home?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's not all rubbish,\" cried Amory passionately. \"This is the first time in my life I've argued Socialism. It's the only panacea I know. I'm restless. My whole generation is restless.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Do you know,\" it ran, \"that your third cousin, Clara Page, widowed six months and very poor, is living in Philadelphia? I don't think you've ever met her, but I wish, as a favor to me, you'd go to see her. To my mind, she's rather a remarkable woman, and just about your age.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The problem of Donald had been different from the start. She had attempted vainly to keep him near her as she had tried to teach Julie to lean less on her--lately the problem of Donald had been snatched out of her hands; his division had been abroad for three months.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Let's have some gas!\" cried Tom roughly. \"What do you think we stopped for--to admire the view?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, I started to tell you of my education, didn't I? But I learned nothing, you see, very little even about myself. And if I had I should die with my lips shut and the guard on my fountain pen--as the wisest men have done since--oh, since the failure of a certain matter--a strange matter, by the way. It concerned some sceptics who thought they were far-sighted, just as you and I. Let me tell you about them by way of an evening prayer before you all drop off to sleep.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Don't talk to me like that!\" fired up Ardita. \"I won't tolerate the parental attitude from anybody! Do you understand me?\" He chuckled and then stopped, rather abashed, as her cold anger seemed to fold him about and chill him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I haven't got a horse,\" said Gatsby. \"I used to ride in the army, but I've never bought a horse. I'll have to follow you in my car. Excuse me for just a minute.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Undue influence is one ground--but it's the most difficult. You would have to show that such pressure was brought to bear so that the deceased was in a condition where he disposed of his property contrary to his intentions--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why decide?\" suggested Kerry. \"Better drift, like me. I'm going to sail into prominence on Burne's coat-tails.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They talked until three, from biology to organized religion, and when Amory crept shivering into bed it was with his mind aglow with ideas and a sense of shock that some one else had discovered the path he might have followed. Burne Holiday was so evidently developing--and Amory had considered that he was doing the same. He had fallen into a deep cynicism over what had crossed his path, plotted the imperfectability of man and read Shaw and Chesterton enough to keep his mind from the edges of decadence--now suddenly all his mental processes of the last year and a half seemed stale and futile--a petty consummation of himself... and like a sombre background lay that incident of the spring before, that filled half his nights with a dreary terror and made him unable to pray. He was not even a Catholic, yet that was the only ghost of a code that he had, the gaudy, ritualistic, paradoxical Catholicism whose prophet was Chesterton, whose claqueurs were such reformed rakes of literature as Huysmans and Bourget, whose American sponsor was Ralph Adams Cram, with his adulation of thirteenth-century cathedrals--a Catholicism which Amory found convenient and ready-made, without priest or sacraments or sacrifice.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, this would interest you. It wouldn't take up much of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money. It happens to be a rather confidential sort of thing.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He liked her, realizing that she was temporizing for the effect on him. He came closer and took her hand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(A series of little gasps, emanating, apparently, from nowhere, from no one, fall into the next pause. ANTHONY is the color of chalk. GLORIA'S lips are parted and her level gaze at the old man is tense and frightened. There is not one smile in the room. Not one?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, Harry,\" she confessed, subsiding in a heap, half in his lap, half in the pillows, \"I sure do feel confused. I haven't got an idea whether I'll like it or not, an' I don't know what people expect, or anythin'. You'll have to tell me, honey.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "On the fifth day then, Anthony sallied into the street with all the sensations of a man wanted by the police. Acting according to instructions he selected a tall office building in order that he might ride to the top story and work downward, stopping in every office that had a name on the door. But at the last minute he hesitated. Perhaps it would be more practicable to acclimate himself to the chilly atmosphere which he felt was awaiting him by trying a few offices on, say, Madison Avenue. He went into an arcade that seemed only semi-prosperous, and seeing a sign which read Percy B. Weatherbee, Architect, he opened the door heroically and entered.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He paused and tried to get a metaphor. They had turned the cliff and were riding along the road about fifty feet to the left.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"And then later, child, when you were sick I knelt all one night and asked God to spare you for me--for I knew then that I wanted more; He had taught me to want more. I wanted to know you moved and breathed in the same world with me. I saw you growing up, that white innocence of yours changing to a flame and burning to give light to other weaker souls. And then I wanted some day to take your children on my knee and hear them call the crabbed old monk Uncle Kieth.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He considered, nevertheless, that he had given her an object-lesson and that the matter was closed, but on the contrary it was merely beginning. Laundry pile followed laundry pile--at long intervals; dearth of handkerchief followed dearth of handkerchief--at short ones; not to mention dearth of sock, of shirt, of everything. And Anthony found at length that either he must send it out himself or go through the increasingly unpleasant ordeal of a verbal battle with Gloria.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Here's another thing I always carry. A souvenir of Oxford days. It was taken in Trinity Quad--the man on my left is now the Earl of Doncaster.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't know whether or not you know what you--what I'm going to say. Lordy, Isabelle--this sounds like a line, but it isn't.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Now see here! You taken up my time. You followed prop'sition. You agreed 'th reasonin'? Now, all I want from you is, how many lib'ty bon's?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I didn't mean to interrupt your lunch,\" he said. \"But I need money pretty bad, and I was wondering what you were going to do with your old car.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No, it's not exactly a police dog,\" said the man with disappointment in his voice. \"It's more of an Airedale.\" He passed his hand over the brown washrag of a back. \"Look at that coat. Some coat. That's a dog that'll never bother you with catching cold.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It was so dark that he could scarcely see her now. She was a dress swayed infinitesimally by the wind, two limpid, reckless eyes ...", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "--If I am essentially weak, he thought, I need work to do, work to do. It worried him to think that he was, after all, a facile mediocrity, with neither the poise of Maury nor the enthusiasm of Dick. It seemed a tragedy to want nothing--and yet he wanted something, something. He knew in flashes what it was--some path of hope to lead him toward what he thought was an imminent and ominous old age.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I had to send back to the house for another pair of slippers. It'll be just a minute.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "ANTHONY: (With his thin, somewhat uncertain face at its most convinced) But not indomitable energy. Some day, bit by bit, it'll blow away, and his rather impressive talent with it, and leave only a wisp of a man, fretful and egotistic and garrulous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "With a gradual insistence the storm broke. Sally Carrol felt a film of flakes melt quickly on her eyelashes, and Harry reached over a furry arm and drew down her complicated flannel cap. Then the small flakes came in skirmish-line, and the horse bent his neck patiently as a transparency of white appeared momentarily on his coat.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Don't you see, Anthony,\" explained Dick, \"traveller of a nation-wide notoriety and all that. Isn't that what you've heard? She's been called that for years--since she was seventeen.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Mr. Gatsby!\" He put out his broad, flat hand with well-concealed dislike. \"I'm glad to see you, sir... Nick...\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I feel rather jealous,\" said Carlyle, frowning--and then he laughed. \"I guess I'll just keep you along with us until we get to Callao. Then I'll lend you enough money to get back to the States. By that time you'll have had a chance to think that gentleman over a little more.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "PARAMORE: It's only when the settlement work has gone on for months that one realizes how bad things are. As our secretary said to me, your finger-nails never seem dirty until you wash your hands. Of course we're already attracting much attention.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "With a flourish and a bang the music stops. The couples exchange artificial, effortless smiles, facetiously repeat \"la-de-da-da dum-dum,\" and then the clatter of young feminine voices soars over the burst of clapping.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That's my wife,\" he said quietly, and then a wild anger surged up inside him. \"Damn you!\" he cried--and hit Samuel in the face with all his strength.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Don't ask me--same old things, I suppose. A month or two in Lake Geneva--I'm counting on you to be there in July, you know--then there'll be Minneapolis, and that means hundreds of summer hops, parlor-snaking, getting bored--But oh, Tom,\" he added suddenly, \"hasn't this year been slick!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"He tries to go to life. So does every author except the very worst, but after all most of them live on predigested food. The incident or character may be from life, but the writer usually interprets it in terms of the last book he read. For instance, suppose he meets a sea captain and thinks he's an original character. The truth is that he sees the resemblance between the sea captain and the last sea captain Dana created, or who-ever creates sea captains, and therefore he knows how to set this sea captain on paper.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table, with a plate of cold fried chicken between them, and two bottles of ale. He was talking intently across the table at her, and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own. Once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, gosh!\" sighed Anthony in rapturous slang, \"she's wonderful, that girl! She has it!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "All impressions and, in fact, all ideas were extremely kaleidoscopic to Isabelle. She had that curious mixture of the social and the artistic temperaments found often in two classes, society women and actresses. Her education or, rather, her sophistication, had been absorbed from the boys who had dangled on her favor; her tact was instinctive, and her capacity for love-affairs was limited only by the number of the susceptible within telephone distance. Flirt smiled from her large black-brown eyes and shone through her intense physical magnetism.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why, yes,\" admitted Marcia, unruffled. \"'At's all life is. Just going round kissing people.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory had decided definitely on Princeton, even though he would be the only boy entering that year from St. Regis'. Yale had a romance and glamour from the tales of Minneapolis, and St. Regis' men who had been \"tapped for Skull and Bones,\" but Princeton drew him most, with its atmosphere of bright colors and its alluring reputation as the pleasantest country club in America. Dwarfed by the menacing college exams, Amory's school days drifted into the past. Years afterward, when he went back to St. Regis', he seemed to have forgotten the successes of sixth-form year, and to be able to picture himself only as the unadjustable boy who had hurried down corridors, jeered at by his rabid contemporaries mad with common sense.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That's--that's very, very odd--that's very odd--that's very odd. Not even any--ah--mention or any--ah--reason?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Four eyes--Warren's and Marjorie's--stared at her, challenged her, defied her. For another second she wavered wildly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "There was a rough stone age and a smooth stone age and a bronze age, and many years afterward a cut-glass age. In the cut-glass age, when young ladies had persuaded young men with long, curly mustaches to marry them, they sat down several months afterward and wrote thank-you notes for all sorts of cut-glass presents--punch-bowls, finger-bowls, dinner-glasses, wine-glasses, ice-cream dishes, bonbon dishes, decanters, and vases--for, though cut glass was nothing new in the nineties, it was then especially busy reflecting the dazzling light of fashion from the Back Bay to the fastnesses of the Middle West.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Rather a nice night, after all. Stars are out and everything. Exceptionally tasty assortment of them.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, it would, would it? Well, I'll just bet you'll marry somebody inside of a year.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She strained to see until she could feel the flesh on her temples pull forward. Yes--the cheeks were ever so faintly thin, the corners of the eyes were lined with tiny wrinkles. The eyes were different. Why, they were different! ... And then suddenly she knew how tired her eyes were.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She found herself analyzing his personality as she analyzed the personality of every man she met. She wondered if the effect of--of intimacy that he gave was bred by his constant repetition of her name. He said it as if he loved the word, as if it had an inherent meaning to him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"He come out to see me two years ago and bought me the house I live in now. Of course we was broke up when he run off from home, but I see now there was a reason for it. He knew he had a big future in front of him. And ever since he made a success he was very generous with me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "His thin face was kindly, she thought, and his eyes quite gentle. She liked him because he was arrogant without being conceited, and because, unlike the men she met about the theatre, he had a horror of being conspicuous. What an odd, pointless story! But she had enjoyed the part about the stocking!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Hand in hand they turned and walked slowly away. Finding soft grass she drew him down to a seat beside her with their backs against the remnants of a low broken wall.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't know. Until I talked to you I hadn't thought seriously about it. I wasn't sure of half of what I said.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Yes,\" admitted the child calmly. \"Aunt Jordan's got on a white dress too.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "As they entered, the orchestra were sounding the preliminary whimpers to a maxixe, a tune full of castanets and facile faintly languorous violin harmonies, appropriate to the crowded winter grill teeming with an excited college crowd, high-spirited at the approach of the holidays. Carefully, Gloria considered several locations, and rather to Anthony's annoyance paraded him circuitously to a table for two at the far side of the room. Reaching it she again considered. Would she sit on the right or on the left? Her beautiful eyes and lips were very grave as she made her choice, and Anthony thought again how naive was her every gesture; she took all the things of life for hers to choose from and apportion, as though she were continually picking out presents for herself from an inexhaustible counter.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He nursed the astounding delusion that he was astutely \"slipping it over\" on the government--he had spent eighteen years in its service at a minute wage, and he was soon to retire (here he usually winked) on the impressive income of fifty-five dollars a month. He looked upon it as a gorgeous joke that he had played upon the dozens who had bullied and scorned him since he was a Georgia country boy of nineteen.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"All right!\" called Mr. Debris. \"That's enough, thank you. That's plenty. Get up--that's enough.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "AMORY: Rosalind, you can't be thinking of marrying some one else. Tell me! You leave me in the dark. I can help you fight it out if you'll only tell me.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But life hadn't come that way. Life took hold of people and forced them into flying rings. He laughed to think of that rap at his door, the diaphanous shadow in Hume, Marcia's threatened kiss.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I've no choice. Of course there's always one way out--the sure way--but that can wait. I wouldn't miss my trial for anything--it'll be an interesting experiment in notoriety. 'Miss Farnam testifies that the pirate's attitude to her was at all times that of a gentleman.'\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I want some gum-drops,\" she said, humorously apologetic; \"you can't guess what for this time. It's just that I want to bite my finger-nails, and I will if I don't get some gum-drops.\" She sighed, and resumed as they stepped into the empty elevator: \"I've been biting 'em all day. A bit nervous, you see. Excuse the pun.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I've got something to tell you, old sport--\" began Gatsby. But Daisy guessed at his intention.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You're not in love with me. You never wanted to marry me, did you?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I found it yesterday afternoon. She tried to tell me about it, but I knew it was something funny.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MAURY: (With laughter) Here we sit vowing to each other that little Dick sees less deeply into things than we do. And I'll bet he feels a measure of superiority on his side--creative mind over merely critical mind and all that.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"And you didn't feel tired dancing or want a cigarette or any of the things you said? You just wanted to be--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(A good night, rather chilly in sections. After MRS. CONNAGE and ALEC go out there is a pause. ROSALIND still stares moodily at the fireplace. AMORY goes to her and puts his arm around her.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "How he loved to do any sort of thing with Clara! Shopping with her was a rare, epicurean dream. In every store where she had ever traded she was whispered about as the beautiful Mrs. Page.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Looks very good,\" he remarked vaguely. \"One of the papers said they thought the rain would stop about four. I think it was The Journal. Have you got everything you need in the shape of--of tea?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "This was more in Bernice's line, but a faint regret mingled with her relief as the subject changed. Men did not talk to her about kissable mouths, but she knew that they talked in some such way to other girls.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "At the \"Films Par Excellence\" studios she was announced over the telephone and told that Mr. Black would be down directly. She looked around her. Two girls were being shown about by a little fat man in a slash-pocket coat, and one of them had indicated a stack of thin parcels, piled breast-high against the wall, and extending along for twenty feet.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"They're a good-looking crowd, don't you think?\" he demanded. \"Just look round. There's Spud Hubbard, tackle at Princeton last year, and Junie Morton--he and the red-haired fellow next to him were both Yale hockey captains; Junie was in my class. Why, the best athletes in the world come from these States round here.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The amenities having been gingerly touched upon, Anthony felt that he was expected to outline his intentions--and simultaneously a glimmer in the old man's eye warned him against broaching, for the present, his desire to live abroad. He wished that Shuttleworth would have tact enough to leave the room--he detested Shuttleworth--but the secretary had settled blandly in a rocker and was dividing between the two Patches the glances of his faded eyes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't want to shock you, Kieth, but I can't tell you how--how inconvenient being a Catholic is. It really doesn't seem to apply any more. As far as morals go, some of the wildest boys I know are Catholics. And the brightest boys--I mean the ones who think and read a lot, don't seem to believe in much of anything any more.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "That locality was always vaguely disquieting, even in the broad glare of afternoon, and now I turned my head as though I had been warned of something behind. Over the ash-heaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why should I lie?\" she demanded directly. \"I'm not ashamed of anything I do. It happened to interest him to know that I kissed you, and I happened to be in a good humor, so I satisfied his curiosity by a simple and precise 'yes.' Being rather a sensible man, after his fashion, he dropped the subject.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "On the last afternoon before he went abroad, he sat with Daisy in his arms for a long, silent time. It was a cold fall day, with fire in the room and her cheeks flushed. Now and then she moved and he changed his arm a little, and once he kissed her dark shining hair. The afternoon had made them tranquil for a while, as if to give them a deep memory for the long parting the next day promised. They had never been closer in their month of love, nor communicated more profoundly one with another, than when she brushed silent lips against his coat's shoulder or when he touched the end of her fingers, gently, as though she were asleep.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Of course I do,\" said Burne feebly. He was unversed in the arts of Phyllis, and was sure that this was merely a vapid form of kidding. Before an hour had passed he knew that he was indeed involved. Phyllis had pinned him down and served him up, informed him the train she was arriving by, and depressed him thoroughly. Aside from loathing Phyllis, he had particularly wanted to stag that game and entertain some Harvard friends.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, yes. Frequently. He'll come in about midnight--and weep and ask me to forgive him.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Even that's a lie,\" said Tom savagely. \"She didn't know you were alive. Why--there's things between Daisy and me that you'll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, no, nothing like that!\" denied Anthony hurriedly. \"Oh, no. It's a--it's a personal matter.\" He wondered if he should have said this.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She began for the first time to seek women friends, to prefer books she had read before, to sew a little where she could watch her two children to whom she was devoted. She worried about little things--if she saw crumbs on the dinner-table her mind drifted off the conversation: she was receding gradually into middle age.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I guess so,\" admitted Anthony helplessly. \"I want to do what sounds most hopeful--that's what I want you to tell me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Exactly. That's my theory. You see there are thousands of Swedes up here. They come, I imagine, because the climate is very much like their own, and there's been a gradual mingling. There're probably not half a dozen here to-night, but--we've had four Swedish governors.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The group closed in on them and for the first time in his life Samuel realized the insuperable inconvenience of being passionately detested. He gazed around helplessly at the glowering, violently hostile faces. He towered a head taller than his roommate, so if he hit back he'd be called a bully and have half a dozen more fights on his hands within five minutes; yet if he didn't he was a coward. For a moment he stood there facing Gilly's blazing eyes, and then, with a sudden choking sound, he forced his way through the ring and rushed from the room.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Horace stared at her dazedly. The momentary suspicion came to him that she existed there only as a phantom of his imagination. Women didn't come into men's rooms and sink into men's Humes. Women brought laundry and took your seat in the street-car and married you later on when you were old enough to know fetters.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's everything when you're eighteen,\" said Marjorie emphatically. \"I've done my best. I've been polite and I've made men dance with her, but they just won't stand being bored. When I think of that gorgeous coloring wasted on such a ninny, and think what Martha Carey could do with it--oh!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "As she crept in bed she wondered what he'd say in his special delivery to-morrow. He had such a good-looking mouth--would she ever--?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "At four, leaving Hilda by the bedside, she went to her room, and slipping with a shudder out of her evening dress, kicked it into a corner. She put on a house dress and returned to the nursery while Hilda went to make coffee.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Unconquerable revulsion seized her. She was suddenly and horribly conscious of her audience as she had never been since her first appearance. Was that a leer on a pallid face in the front row, a droop of disgust on one young girl's mouth? These shoulders of hers--these shoulders shaking--were they hers? Were they real?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The men? Oh, she made them miserable, literally! There was only one who had kept any sort of dignity, and he had been a mere child, young Carter Kirby, of Kansas City, who was so conceited anyway that he just sailed out on his vanity one afternoon and left for Europe next day with his father. The others had been--wretched. They never seemed to know when she was tired of them, and Gloria had seldom been deliberately unkind.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"'S a mental was'e,\" he insisted with owl-like wisdom. \"Two years my life spent inalleshual vacuity. Los' idealism, got be physcal anmal,\" he shook his fist expressively at Old King Cole, \"got be Prussian 'bout ev'thing, women 'specially. Use' be straight 'bout women college. Now don'givadam.\" He expressed his lack of principle by sweeping a seltzer bottle with a broad gesture to noisy extinction on the floor, but this did not interrupt his speech.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The way became scarred with deepening ruts and insidious shoulders of stone. Three farmhouses faced them momentarily, slid by. A town sprang up in a cluster of dull roofs around a white tall steeple.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Physically.--Amory thought that he was exceedingly handsome. He was. He fancied himself an athlete of possibilities and a supple dancer.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The fact that he had one was insisted upon wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented the fact that he turned up in popular cafes with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomsoever he knew. Though I was curious to see her, I had no desire to meet her--but I did. I went up to New York with Tom on the train one afternoon, and when we stopped by the ash-heaps he jumped to his feet and, taking hold of my elbow, literally forced me from the car.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It was nine o'clock--almost immediately afterward I looked at my watch and found it was ten. Mr. McKee was asleep on a chair with his fists clenched in his lap, like a photograph of a man of action. Taking out my handkerchief I wiped from his cheek the spot of dried lather that had worried me all the afternoon.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He was writing--and in earnest at last. He had gone to Dick and listened for a tense hour to an elucidation of those minutiae of procedure which hitherto he had rather scornfully looked down upon. He needed money immediately--he was selling bonds every month to pay their bills. Dick was frank and explicit:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That, at least, is true,\" Amory insisted. \"Reform won't catch up to the needs of civilization unless it's made to. A laissez-faire policy is like spoiling a child by saying he'll turn out all right in the end. He will--if he's made to.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why child,\" cried Mrs. Harvey, \"in her paper on 'The Foibles of the Younger Generation' that she read at the last meeting of the Thursday Club she devoted fifteen minutes to bobbed hair. It's her pet abomination. And the dance is for you and Marjorie!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Most of the contracts state that the original writer's name goes into all the paid publicity. Is Caramel still writing?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MAURY: I know--with intellectual lyrics that no one will listen to. And all the critics will groan and grunt about \"Dear old Pinafore.\" And I shall go on shining as a brilliantly meaningless figure in a meaningless world.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The room was in darkness except for the faint glow of Tom's cigarette where he lounged by the open window. As the door shut behind him, Amory stood a moment with his back against it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "At eleven o'clock to her great surprise she was in the minority for staying out. The others wanted to return to Rachael's apartment--to get some more liquor, they said. Gloria argued persistently that Captain Collins's flask was half full--she had just seen it--then catching Rachael's eye she received an unmistakable wink. She deduced, confusedly, that her hostess wanted to get rid of the officers and assented to being bundled into a taxicab outside.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes. All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the \"Beale Street Blues\" while a hundred pairs of golden and silver slippers shuffled the shining dust. At the grey tea hour there were always rooms that throbbed incessantly with this low, sweet fever, while fresh faces drifted here and there like rose petals blown by the sad horns around the floor.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"My God!\" she cried. Her voice was good, she thought. \"Oh, my God!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"What I called up about was a pair of shoes I left there. I wonder if it'd be too much trouble to have the butler send them on. You see, they're tennis shoes, and I'm sort of helpless without them. My address is care of B. F.--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Captain Dunning reproved the company clerk (who had burst out laughing), and told Baptiste he would do what he could. But when he thought it over he decided that he couldn't spare a better man. Little Baptiste went from bad to worse. The horses seemed to divine his fear and take every advantage of it. Two weeks later a great black mare crushed his skull in with her hoofs while he was trying to lead her from her stall.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Don't you mind losing prestige?\" asked Amory one night. They had taken to exchanging calls several times a week.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"That's what Stephen must have thought many years ago. But he preached his sermon and they killed him. He probably thought as he was dying what a waste it all was. But you see, I've always felt that Stephen's death was the thing that occurred to Paul on the road to Damascus, and sent him to preach the word of Christ all over the world.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It seems to me,\" interrupted Mrs. Harvey rather wearily, \"that you ought to be able to do something for Bernice. I know she's not very vivacious.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Gloria, dear, I wish we could have dinner together, but I promised a man and it's seven-thirty already. I've got to tear.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You have a family,\" continued Amory slowly. \"You have a family and it's important that you should get out of this. Do you hear me?\" He repeated clearly what he had said. \"Do you hear me?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Jimmy sent me this picture.\" He took out his wallet with trembling fingers. \"Look there.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I've made a small investigation of this fellow,\" he continued. \"I could have gone deeper if I'd known--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Listen,\" said Tom, shaking him a little. \"I just got here a minute ago, from New York. I was bringing you that coupe we've been talking about. That yellow car I was driving this afternoon wasn't mine--do you hear? I haven't seen it all afternoon.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She thought again of those isolated country houses that her train had passed, and of the life there the long winter through--the ceaseless glare through the windows, the crust forming on the soft drifts of snow, finally the slow cheerless melting and the harsh spring of which Roger Patton had told her. Her spring--to lose it forever--with its lilacs and the lazy sweetness it stirred in her heart. She was laying away that spring--afterward she would lay away that sweetness.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He failed to realize, at first, that this was the result partly of her \"female\" education and partly of her beauty, and he was inclined to include her with her entire sex as curiously and definitely limited. It maddened him to find she had no sense of justice. But he discovered that, when a subject did interest her, her brain tired less quickly than his. What he chiefly missed in her mind was the pedantic teleology--the sense of order and accuracy, the sense of life as a mysteriously correlated piece of patchwork, but he understood after a while that such a quality in her would have been incongruous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amid the welcome confusion of cups and cakes a certain physical decency established itself. Gatsby got himself into a shadow and, while Daisy and I talked, looked conscientiously from one to the other of us with tense, unhappy eyes. However, as calmness wasn't an end in itself, I made an excuse at the first possible moment, and got to my feet.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't play well. I don't--hardly play at all. I'm all out of prac--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I had one; I was Buckleigh, class of nineteen-eleven, but when I came down to the Street I soon found that the things that would help me here weren't the fancy things I learned in college. In fact, I had to get a lot of fancy stuff out of my head.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MRS. CONNAGE: Well, you can show him where his room is. Tell him I'm sorry that I can't meet him now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "ROSALIND: I can't, Amory. I can't be shut away from the trees and flowers, cooped up in a little flat, waiting for you. You'd hate me in a narrow atmosphere. I'd make you hate me.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "To some extent Amory tried to play Rupert Brooke as long as he knew Eleanor. What he said, his attitude toward life, toward her, toward himself, were all reflexes of the dead Englishman's literary moods. Often she sat in the grass, a lazy wind playing with her short hair, her voice husky as she ran up and down the scale from Grantchester to Waikiki. There was something most passionate in Eleanor's reading aloud. They seemed nearer, not only mentally, but physically, when they read, than when she was in his arms, and this was often, for they fell half into love almost from the first.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The siren soared again, closer at hand, and then, with no anticipatory roar and clamor, a dark and sinuous body curved into view against the shadows far down the high-banked track, and with no sound but the rush of the cleft wind and the clocklike tick of the rails, moved toward the bridge--it was an electric train. Above the engine two vivid blurs of blue light formed incessantly a radiant crackling bar between them, which, like a spluttering flame in a lamp beside a corpse, lit for an instant the successive rows of trees and caused Gloria to draw back instinctively to the far side of the road. The light was tepid, the temperature of warm blood.... The clicking blended suddenly with itself in a rush of even sound, and then, elongating in sombre elasticity, the thing roared blindly by her and thundered onto the bridge, racing the lurid shaft of fire it cast into the solemn river alongside. Then it contracted swiftly, sucking in its sound until it left only a reverberant echo, which died upon the farther bank.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Half an hour passed. Outside the wind came up, and Amory started as the wet branches moved and clawed with their finger-nails at the window-pane. Tom was deep in his work, and inside the room only the occasional scratch of a match or the rustle of leather as they shifted in their chairs broke the stillness. Then like a zigzag of lightning came the change. Amory sat bolt upright, frozen cold in his chair.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He lived in New York and often brought home several of his friends for the week-end. Those were the days of the horse-car and in case of a crush it was, of course, the proper thing for any one of Samuel's set to rise and deliver his seat to a standing lady with a formal bow. One night in Samuel's junior year he boarded a car with two of his intimates. There were three vacant seats. When Samuel sat down he noticed a heavy-eyed laboring man sitting next to him who smelt objectionably of garlic, sagged slightly against Samuel and, spreading a little as a tired man will, took up quite too much room.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Poor Gloria!\" laughed Anthony unwittingly, \"you can't get what you want ever, can you?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"He has that air,\" murmured Rachael. Anthony tried to remember whether she had said anything before. He thought not. It was her initial remark.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'll never be a poet,\" said Amory as he finished. \"I'm not enough of a sensualist really; there are only a few obvious things that I notice as primarily beautiful: women, spring evenings, music at night, the sea; I don't catch the subtle things like 'silver-snarling trumpets.' I may turn out an intellectual, but I'll never write anything but mediocre poetry.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Heaven knows. It seems my fate to fret away my years in this country. Not for a second do I regret being American--indeed, I think that a regret typical of very vulgar people, and I feel sure we are the great coming nation--yet\"--and she sighed--\"I feel my life should have drowsed away close to an older, mellower civilization, a land of greens and autumnal browns--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The crowd whirled and changed and shifted. They were mostly from the colleges, with a scattering of the male refuse of Broadway, and women of two types, the higher of which was the chorus girl. On the whole it was a typical crowd, and their party as typical as any. About three-fourths of the whole business was for effect and therefore harmless, ended at the door of the cafe, soon enough for the five-o'clock train back to Yale or Princeton; about one-fourth continued on into the dimmer hours and gathered strange dust from strange places. Their party was scheduled to be one of the harmless kind.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Afterward they visited a ticket speculator and, at a price, obtained seats for a new musical comedy called \"High Jinks.\" In the foyer of the theatre they waited a few moments to see the first-night crowd come in. There were opera cloaks stitched of myriad, many-colored silks and furs; there were jewels dripping from arms and throats and ear-tips of white and rose; there were innumerable broad shimmers down the middles of innumerable silk hats; there were shoes of gold and bronze and red and shining black; there were the high-piled, tight-packed coiffures of many women and the slick, watered hair of well-kept men--most of all there was the ebbing, flowing, chattering, chuckling, foaming, slow-rolling wave effect of this cheerful sea of people as to-night it poured its glittering torrent into the artificial lake of laughter....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Several years,\" he answered in a gratified way. \"I made the pleasure of his acquaintance just after the war. But I knew I had discovered a man of fine breeding after I talked with him an hour. I said to myself: 'There's the kind of man you'd like to take home and introduce to your mother and sister.' \" He paused. \"I see you're looking at my cuff buttons.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "We had the test run off yesterday afternoon, and Mr. Debris seemed to think that for the part he had in mind he needed a younger woman. He said that the acting was not bad, and that there was a small character part supposed to be a very haughty rich widow that he thought you might----", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why, your own face is almost as red as that already! Everybody's healthy here. We're out in the cold as soon as we're old enough to walk. Wonderful climate!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Nevertheless, the money kept going. There would be two days of gaiety, two days of moroseness--an endless, almost invariable round. The sharp pull-ups, when they occurred, resulted usually in a spurt of work for Anthony, while Gloria, nervous and bored, remained in bed or else chewed abstractedly at her fingers. After a day or so of this, they would make an engagement, and then--Oh, what did it matter? This night, this glow, the cessation of anxiety and the sense that if living was not purposeful it was, at any rate, essentially romantic!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In 1915 Horace Tarbox was thirteen years old. In that year he took the examinations for entrance to Princeton University and received the Grade A--excellent--in Caesar, Cicero, Vergil, Xenophon, Homer, Algebra, Plane Geometry, Solid Geometry, and Chemistry.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Gloria began running her finger through a stray red-dish curl. Muriel licked her veil as she considered her next remark.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I notice that when you want to stay over an extra day from college you go about it in a sure way. You never decide at first while the merits of going or staying are fairly clear in your mind. You let your imagination shinny on the side of your desires for a few hours, and then you decide. Naturally your imagination, after a little freedom, thinks up a million reasons why you should stay, so your decision when it comes isn't true. It's biassed.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Dear, don't think of getting out of bed yet. I've always suspected that early rising in early life makes one nervous. Clothilde is having your breakfast brought up.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It was not so bad where there were only men or else only women; it was when they were vilely herded that it all seemed so rotten. It was some shame that women gave off at having men see them tired and poor--it was some disgust that men had for women who were tired and poor. It was dirtier than any battle-field he had seen, harder to contemplate than any actual hardship moulded of mire and sweat and danger, it was an atmosphere wherein birth and marriage and death were loathsome, secret things.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The voice was infinitely remote, muffed and made plaintive by the walls she had just left. She rounded the house and started down the front path toward the road, almost exultant as she turned into it, and followed the carpet of short grass alongside, moving with caution in the intense darkness.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "One sultry afternoon late in July Richard Caramel telephoned from New York that he and Maury were coming out, bringing a friend with them. They arrived about five, a little drunk, accompanied by a small, stocky man of thirty-five, whom they introduced as Mr. Joe Hull, one of the best fellows that Anthony and Gloria had ever met.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm thirty,\" I said. \"I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honour.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Now you've a clean start--a start Kerry or Sloane can constitutionally never have. You brushed three or four ornaments down, and, in a fit of pique, knocked off the rest of them. The thing now is to collect some new ones, and the farther you look ahead in the collecting the better. But remember, do the next thing!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The war began in the summer following his freshman year. Beyond a sporting interest in the German dash for Paris the whole affair failed either to thrill or interest him. With the attitude he might have held toward an amusing melodrama he hoped it would be long and bloody. If it had not continued he would have felt like an irate ticket-holder at a prize-fight where the principals refused to mix it up.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"There's something funny about a fellow that'll do a thing like that,\" said the other girl eagerly. \"He doesn't want any trouble with anybody.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "By Christmas, Gloria's conviction that she should join Anthony had returned, no longer as a sudden emotion, but as a recurrent need. She decided to write him word of her coming, but postponed the announcement upon the advice of Mr. Haight, who expected almost weekly that the case was coming up for trial.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Don't you, usually?\" She had caught quickly at his remark, as she always did at any unexplained allusion to herself, however faint.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Then there was a sound of chairs in the dining-room and the men strolled in. Evylyn saw at once that her worst fears were realized. Harold's face was flushed and his words ran together at the ends of sentences, while Tom Lowrie lurched when he walked and narrowly missed Irene's lap when he tried to sink onto the couch beside her. He sat there blinking dazedly at the company. Evylyn found herself blinking back at him, but she saw no humor in it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The girl succumbed to Anthony's pleasant, melancholy face, and in a moment the door to the inner room opened and admitted a tall, splay-footed man with slicked hair. He approached Anthony with ill-concealed impatience.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"No, but the car passed me down the road, going faster'n forty. Going fifty, sixty.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MRS. CONNAGE: So I ask you to please mind me in several things I've put down in my note-book. The first one is: don't disappear with young men. There may be a time when it's valuable, but at present I want you on the dance-floor where I can find you. There are certain men I want to have you meet and I don't like finding you in some corner of the conservatory exchanging silliness with any one--or listening to it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Of course. Plots first--\" He paused, shifted his gaze. His pause spread, included the others with all the authority of a warning finger. Gloria followed by Rachael was coming out of the dressing room.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"She'll be all right tomorrow,\" he said presently. \"I'm just going to wait here and see if he tries to bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon. She's locked herself into her room, and if he tries any brutality she's going to turn the light out and on again.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She fed him sections of the \"Fetes Galantes\" before he was ten; at eleven he could talk glibly, if rather reminiscently, of Brahms and Mozart and Beethoven. One afternoon, when left alone in the hotel at Hot Springs, he sampled his mother's apricot cordial, and as the taste pleased him, he became quite tipsy. This was fun for a while, but he essayed a cigarette in his exaltation, and succumbed to a vulgar, plebeian reaction. Though this incident horrified Beatrice, it also secretly amused her and became part of what in a later generation would have been termed her \"line.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, entirely--and quite inexpressibly. Men who had the most firmly rooted reputation for being this way or that would sometimes be surprisingly inconsistent with me. Brutal men were tender, negligible men were astonishingly loyal and lovable, and, often, honorable men took attitudes that were anything but honorable.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I have just made a great decision,\" said Eleanor after another pause, \"and that is why I'm here, to answer another of your questions. I have just decided that I don't believe in immortality.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "My commutation ticket came back to me with a dark stain from his hand. That anyone should care in this heat whose flushed lips he kissed, whose head made damp the pyjama pocket over his heart!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They ascended the hill in silence, Ardita's hand still resting in Carlyle's as it had when they finished dancing. She felt it clinch nervously from time to time as though he were unaware of the contact, but though he hurt her she made no attempt to remove it. It seemed an hour's climb before they reached the top and crept cautiously across the silhouetted plateau to the edge of the cliff. After one short look Carlyle involuntarily gave a little cry. It was a revenue boat with six-inch guns mounted fore and aft.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "In a frenzy of suspicion he rushed here and there about the apartment, hunting for some sign of masculine occupation, opening the bathroom cupboard, searching feverishly through the bureau drawers. Then he found something that made him stop suddenly and sit down on one of the twin beds, the corners of his mouth drooping as though he were about to weep. There in a corner of her drawer, tied with a frail blue ribbon, were all the letters and telegrams he had written her during the year past. He was suffused with happy and sentimental shame.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Thank you.\" Then, as though returning a complementary politeness: \"How is your grandfather?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "His office was reached by courtesy of two additional female voices; the last was a secretary who took her name. Only with the flow through the transmitter of his own familiar but faintly impersonal tone did she realize that it had been three years since they had met. And he had changed his name to Black.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I was on the way to making a bad hash of things.\" He smiled and, turning his gray eyes on her, changed the subject.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Ten minutes later he stopped aimlessly at the corner of Forty-third Street and Madison Avenue, diagonally across from the bright but nearly deserted entrance to the Biltmore Hotel. Here he stood for a moment, and then sat down heavily on a damp board amid some debris of construction work. He rested there for almost half an hour, his mind a shifting pattern of surface thoughts, chiefest among which were that he must obtain some money and get home before he became too sodden to find his way.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "(They are interrupted by a clamor outside, unmistakable as that of two sexes in conversation and laughter. Then there enter the room in a body ANTHONY, GLORIA, RICHARD CARAMEL, MURIEL KANE, RACHAEL BARNES and RODMAN BARNES, her husband. They surge about MAURY, illogically replying \"Fine!\" to his general \"Hello.\" ... ANTHONY, meanwhile, approaches his other guest.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't follow you at all,\" complained Dick in a crestfallen tone. Infinitely dismayed, he seemed to bulge in protest. He was staring intently at Anthony and caroming off a succession of passers-by, who reproached him with fierce, resentful glances.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The little dog was sitting on the table looking with blind eyes through the smoke, and from time to time groaning faintly. People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each other, found each other a few feet away. Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy's name.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Tuesday was freezing cold. He called at a bleak two o'clock and as they shook hands he wondered confusedly whether he had ever kissed her; it was almost unbelievable--he seriously doubted if she remembered it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Wells, I guess, and Tolstoi, and a man named Edward Carpenter. I've been reading for over a year now--on a few lines, on what I consider the essential lines.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"And finally,\" concluded Marjorie, \"poise and charm will just come. You'll wake up some morning knowing you've attained it and men will know it too.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"If I went to him,\" suggested Anthony, \"and said with appropriate biblical quotations that I'd walked too long in the way of unrighteousness and at last seen the light--\" He broke off and glanced with a whimsical expression at his wife. \"I wonder what he'd do?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "A long single file of minutes went by, and with a great weariness she felt her eyes dosing. Then some one seemed to sit down near her and take her face in warm, soft hands. She looked up gratefully.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Tell you, Ahearn. Firs' you wanna get a house up here on the hill. Get Stearne house or Ridgeway house. Wanna have it so people say: 'There's Ahearn house.' Solid, you know, tha's effec' it gives.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You probably know what I want to talk to Tom about, and it isn't a bit private. I wish you'd stay.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, just at the first the governor said something about a vacancy on his staff. I was sort of counting on that for a while, but I hear he's given it to Allen Gregg, you know, son of G. P. Gregg. He sort of forgot what he said to me--just talking, I guess.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You've got me. I haven't any idea what 'probate' is. I want a share of the estate.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Warren's disgust increased. Jim Strain was a close friend of his brother's, and anyway he considered it bad form to sneer at people for not having money. But Bernice had had no intention of sneering. She was merely nervous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, my Ga-od! Oh, my Ga-od! Oh, Ga-od! Oh, my Ga-od!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I don't know. They never seem clean to me--never--never. Except just a few. Constance Shaw--you know, the Mrs. Merriam who came over to see us last Tuesday--is almost the only one. She's so tall and fresh-looking and stately.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Then, surprisingly, he saw that she had tentatively raised the fork to her lips and tasted the chicken salad. Her frown had not abated and he stared at her anxiously, making no comment and daring scarcely to breathe. She tasted another forkful--in another moment she was eating. With difficulty Anthony restrained a chuckle; when at length he spoke his words had no possible connection with chicken salad.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "With this blow a spell of utter depression overtook him, and within a week he was again caught down-town, wandering around in a drunken daze, with a pint of bootleg whiskey in his hip pocket. It was because of a sort of craziness in his behavior at the trial that his sentence to the guard-house was for only three weeks.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She knew there had been a string of affairs spread over about three years, perhaps a dozen of them altogether. Sometimes the men were undergraduates, sometimes just out of college--they lasted on an average of several months each, with short attractions in between. Once or twice they had endured longer and her mother had hoped she would be engaged, but always a new one came--a new one--", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The spell was broken--the drifted fragments of the stars became only light, the singing down the street diminished to a monotone, to the whimper of locusts in the grass. With almost a sigh he kissed her fervent mouth, while her arms crept up about his shoulders.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Besides Allison there was Pete Lytell, who wore a gray derby on the side of his head. He always had money and he was customarily cheerful, so Anthony held aimless, long-winded conversation with him through many afternoons of the summer and fall. Lytell, he found, not only talked but reasoned in phrases. His philosophy was a series of them, assimilated here and there through an active, thoughtless life. He had phrases about Socialism--the immemorial ones; he had phrases pertaining to the existence of a personal deity--something about one time when he had been in a railroad accident; and he had phrases about the Irish problem, the sort of woman he respected, and the futility of prohibition.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Me--1881? Why sure! I was second-line stuff when the Florodora Sextette was still in the convent. I was the original nurse to Mrs. Sol Smith's Juliette. Why, Omar, I was a canteen singer during the War of 1812.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's not in my programme,\" demurred Horace. \"Understand that I don't pretend to be above physical things. They have their place, but----\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory looked down into the street below. A low racing car had drawn to a stop and a familiar cheerful face protruded from the driver's seat.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "With an exclamation she tossed her book to the desk, where it sprawled at a straddle, and hurried to the rail. Fifty feet away a large rowboat was approaching containing seven men, six of them rowing and one standing up in the stern keeping time to their song with an orchestra leader's baton.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Emerging from his bath he polished himself with the meticulous attention of a bootblack. Then he wandered into the bedroom, and whistling the while a weird, uncertain melody, strolled here and there buttoning, adjusting, and enjoying the warmth of the thick carpet on his feet.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Muttering something under his breath her uncle turned and, walking forward called in a loud voice for the launch. Then he returned to the awning, where Ardita had again seated herself and resumed her attention to the lemon.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "A.--I can't imagine not being able to. People make money in books and I've found that I can always do the things that people do in books. Really they are the only things I can do.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's true,\" Burne agreed. \"The light-haired man is a higher type, generally speaking. I worked the thing out with the Presidents of the United States once, and found that way over half of them were light-haired--yet think of the preponderant number of brunettes in the race.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "I took him into the drawing-room, where his son lay, and left him there. Some little boys had come up on the steps and were looking into the hall; when I told them who had arrived, they went reluctantly away.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "ROSALIND: No, not that. There was a poem I read somewhere--you'll say Ella Wheeler Wilcox and laugh--but listen:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Mr. Gilbert became, for the first and last time in his life, a truly pathetic figure. That woman he had broken to wait upon his body and play congregation to his mind had ironically deserted him--just when he could not much longer have supported her. Never again would he be able so satisfactorily to bore and bully a human soul.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why?\" He knew why. But he took a confused and not quite confident pride in holding her there.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Little girls soberly wheeling their buggies along the damp sunny walks. The nursery-maids chattering in pairs about their inscrutable secrets. Here and there a raggedy man seated upon newspapers spread on a drying bench, related not to the radiant and delightful afternoon but to the dirty snow that slept exhausted in obscure corners, waiting for extermination....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Yes, sir,\" Amory managed to articulate. He hated having people talk as if he were an admitted failure.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a contributory emotion from me. I waited, and sure enough, in a moment she looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face, as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"About that. As a matter of fact you needn't bother to ascertain. I ascertained. They're real.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Silence! I am about to unburden myself of many memorable remarks reserved for the darkness of such earths and the brilliance of such skies.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Why--no, sir. A history of the Middle Ages.\" Simultaneously an idea was born for a history of the Renaissance popes, written from some novel angle. Still, he was glad he had said \"Middle Ages.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Mr. Macy sent for him one afternoon and with a great show of jovial mystery asked him if he had an engagement that night. If he hadn't, would he please call on Mr. Alfred J. Fraser at eight o'clock. Dalyrimple's wonder was mingled with uncertainty. He debated with himself whether it were not his cue to take the first train out of town. But an hour's consideration decided him that his fears were unfounded and at eight o'clock he arrived at the big Fraser house in Philmore Avenue.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Hot!\" said the conductor to familiar faces. \"Some weather!... Hot!... Hot!... Hot!... Is it hot enough for you? Is it hot? Is it... ?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You've heard of the new poetry movement. You haven't? Well, it's a lot of young poets that are breaking away from the old forms and doing a lot of good. Well, what I was going to say was that my book is going to start a new prose movement, a sort of renaissance.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "So they talked, often about themselves, sometimes of philosophy and religion, and life as respectively a game or a mystery. The priest seemed to guess Amory's thoughts before they were clear in his own head, so closely related were their minds in form and groove.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "SHE: My own rules--but you--Oh, Amory, I hear you're brilliant. The family expects so much of you.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Once he had been miraculously able to scent evil as a horse detects a broken bridge at night, but the man with the queer feet in Phoebe's room had diminished to the aura over Jill. His instinct perceived the fetidness of poverty, but no longer ferreted out the deeper evils in pride and sensuality.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"They're always the same,\" she complained unhappily, \"same old Yiddish comedians. Oh, let's go somewhere!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Tana was unusually small even for a Japanese, and displayed a somewhat naive conception of himself as a man of the world. On the day of his arrival from \"R. Gugimoniki, Japanese Reliable Employment Agency,\" he called Anthony into his room to see the treasures of his trunk. These included a large collection of Japanese post cards, which he was all for explaining to his employer at once, individually and at great length. Among them were half a dozen of pornographic intent and plainly of American origin, though the makers had modestly omitted both their names and the form for mailing. He next brought out some of his own handiwork--a pair of American pants, which he had made himself, and two suits of solid silk underwear.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Joe's\" had the additional advantage of seclusion from curious upper-class eyes, so at four each afternoon Amory, accompanied by friend or book, went up to experiment with his digestion. One day in March, finding that all the tables were occupied, he slipped into a chair opposite a freshman who bent intently over a book at the last table. They nodded briefly. For twenty minutes Amory sat consuming bacon buns and reading \"Mrs. Warren's Profession\" (he had discovered Shaw quite by accident while browsing in the library during mid-years); the other freshman, also intent on his volume, meanwhile did away with a trio of chocolate malted milks.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty, with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body--he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage--a cruel body.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory had lately received several alarming letters from Mr. Barton--the Lake Geneva house was too large to be easily rented; the best rent obtainable at present would serve this year to little more than pay for the taxes and necessary improvements; in fact, the lawyer suggested that the whole property was simply a white elephant on Amory's hands. Nevertheless, even though it might not yield a cent for the next three years, Amory decided with a vague sentimentality that for the present, at any rate, he would not sell the house.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Somehow it doesn't bother me--on the other hand it would, of course, if you'd done any more than kiss them. But I believe you're absolutely incapable of jealousy except as hurt vanity. Why don't you care what I've done? Wouldn't you prefer it if I'd been absolutely innocent?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"THE BIG MAN\" 1. Inclined to stupidity and unconscious of social values. 2. Thinks dress is superficial, and is inclined to be careless about it. 3.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"There's sport for you,\" said Tom, nodding. \"I'd like to be out there with him for about an hour.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Cheer up, Gloria!\" he cried. \"For Heaven's sakes everybody, cheer up Gloria.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "There! This was better. She was at the top now and could see the lands about her as successive sweeps of open country, cold under the moon, coarsely patched and seamed with thin rows and heavy clumps of trees. To her right, half a mile down the river, which trailed away behind the light like the shiny, slimy path of a snail, winked the scattered lights of Marietta. Not two hundred yards away at the end of the bridge squatted the station, marked by a sullen lantern.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Half an hour later in the dim gray light the nose of the revenue boat appeared in the channel and stopped, evidently fearing that the bay might be too shallow. From the peaceful look of the yacht, the man and the girl in the settees, and the negroes lounging curiously against the rail, they evidently judged that there would be no resistance, for two boats were lowered casually over the side, one containing an officer and six bluejackets, and the other, four rowers and in the stern two gray-haired men in yachting flannels. Ardita and Carlyle stood up, and half unconsciously started toward each other.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "And so it happened that on a warm windy evening I drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I scarcely knew at all. Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran towards the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sundials and brick walks and burning gardens--finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon, and Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Then, glancing over toward the Biltmore, he saw a man standing directly under the overhead glow of the porte-cochere lamps beside a woman in an ermine coat. As Anthony watched, the couple moved forward and signalled to a taxi. Anthony perceived by the infallible identification that lurks in the walk of a friend that it was Maury Noble.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It was with this party, more especially with Gloria's part in it, that a decided change began to come over their way of living. The magnificent attitude of not giving a damn altered overnight; from being a mere tenet of Gloria's it became the entire solace and justification for what they chose to do and what consequence it brought. Not to be sorry, not to loose one cry of regret, to live according to a clear code of honor toward each other, and to seek the moment's happiness as fervently and persistently as possible.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Anthony and Gloria exchanged a smile. They had reached the stage of violent quarrels that were never made up, quarrels that smouldered and broke out again at intervals or died away from sheer indifference--but this visit of Muriel's drew them temporarily together. When the discomfort under which they were living was remarked upon by a third party, it gave them the impetus to face this hostile world together. It was very seldom, now, that the impulse toward reunion sprang from within.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"They're some people Wolfshiem wanted to do something for. They're all brothers and sisters. They used to run a small hotel.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Then the room seemed full of men and smoke. There was Tana in his white coat reeling about supported by Maury. Into his flute he was blowing a weird blend of sound that was known, cried Anthony, as the Japanese train-song. Joe Hull had found a box of candles and was juggling them, yelling \"One down!\" every time he missed, and Dick was dancing by himself in a fascinated whirl around and about the room.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I was in the Sixteenth until June nineteen-eighteen. I knew I'd seen you somewhere before.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Of course! Would you value your Keats letter if the signature was traced over to make it last longer? It's just because I love the past that I want this house to look back on its glamourous moment of youth and beauty, and I want its stairs to creak as if to the footsteps of women with hoop skirts and men in boots and spurs. But they've made it into a blondined, rouged-up old woman of sixty. It hasn't any right to look so prosperous.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a rose. She was only extemporizing, but a stirring warmth flowed from her, as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words. Then suddenly she threw her napkin on the table and excused herself and went into the house.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He remembered that during the previous month his janitor, to whom he had delivered a rather muddled lecture on the \"brother-hoove man,\" had come up next day and, on the basis of what had happened the night before, seated himself in the window seat for a cordial and chatty half-hour. Anthony wondered in horror if Gloria would regard him as he had regarded that man. Him--Anthony Patch! Horror!", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "With these three sentences a certain night in Marietta two summers before, when Anthony and Rachael had been unnecessarily attentive to each other, was forgiven--Gloria forgave Rachael, Rachael forgave Gloria. Also it was forgiven that Rachael had been witness to the greatest disaster in the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Patch--", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MAURY: Sure! Country's been fed on sensationalism for more than two years. Everybody getting restless. Want to have some fun.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "If _I_ were Harold Piper, she thought, I'd spend a little less time on business and a little more time at home. Some friend should speak to him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"After all, Anthony, it's you who are very romantic and young. It's you who are infinitely more susceptible and afraid of your calm being broken. It's me who tries again and again to be moved--let myself go a thousand times and I'm always me. Nothing--quite--stirs me.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Myra was quite overcome. He turned the green eyes on her again. \"You're the only girl in town I like much,\" he exclaimed in a rush of sentiment. \"You're simpatico.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Through this twilight universe Daisy began to move again with the season; suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men, and drowsing asleep at dawn with the beads and chiffon of an evening-dress tangled among dying orchids on the floor beside her bed. And all the time something within her was crying for a decision. She wanted her life shaped now, immediately--and the decision must be made by some force--of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality--that was close at hand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Not at all.--Who are all these children?\" he asked suddenly. \"Do you know them all?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "God! Gloria's kisses had been such flowers. He remembered as though it had been years ago the low freshness of her voice, the beautiful lines of her body shining through her clothes, her face lily-colored under the lamps of the street--under the lamps.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply--I was casually sorry, and then I forgot. It was on that same house-party that we had a curious conversation about driving a car. It started because she passed so close to some workmen that our fender flicked a button on one man's coat.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Sure, I know,\" agreed the man with the plaid cap. \"She's not bad-looking, though.\" He paused. \"Wonder what he's thinking about--his money, I guess, or maybe he's got remorse about that fellow Shuttleworth.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Oh, I'll look in those careful account-books we kept,\" he remarked ironically, and then added: \"Two rents a good part of the time, clothes, travel--why, each of those springs in California cost about four thousand dollars. That darn car was an expense from start to finish. And parties and amusements and--oh, one thing or another.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They had been in New York for almost four months, since the country had grown too cool in late October. They had given up California this year, partly because of lack of funds, partly with the idea of going abroad should this interminable war, persisting now into its second year, end during the winter. Of late their income had lost elasticity; no longer did it stretch to cover gay whims and pleasant extravagances, and Anthony had spent many puzzled and unsatisfactory hours over a densely figured pad, making remarkable budgets that left huge margins for \"amusements, trips, etc.,\" and trying to apportion, even approximately, their past expenditures.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She liked him immediately--a reddish-brown mustache under watery blue eyes that had something in them that these other eyes lacked, some quality of appreciation. They exchanged stray sentences through dinner, and she made up her mind to see him again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The apartment was kept clean by an English servant with the singularly, almost theatrically, appropriate name of Bounds, whose technic was marred only by the fact that he wore a soft collar. Had he been entirely Anthony's Bounds this defect would have been summarily remedied, but he was also the Bounds of two other gentlemen in the neighborhood. From eight until eleven in the morning he was entirely Anthony's. He arrived with the mail and cooked breakfast. At nine-thirty he pulled the edge of Anthony's blanket and spoke a few terse words--Anthony never remembered clearly what they were and rather suspected they were deprecative; then he served breakfast on a card-table in the front room, made the bed and, after asking with some hostility if there was anything else, withdrew.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "After dinner it was suggested that they all go somewhere and dance. The two officers supplied themselves with bottles of liquor from Rachael's sideboard--a law forbade service to the military--and so equipped they went through innumerable fox trots in several glittering caravanseries along Broadway, faithfully alternating partners--while Gloria became more and more uproarious and more and more amusing to the pink-faced captain, who seldom bothered to remove his genial smile at all.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Didn't you ever hear of the Mann Act? Coming down here with her,\" he indicated the girl with his thumb, \"with a New York license on your car--to a hotel like this.\" He shook his head implying that he had struggled over Amory but now gave him up.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Ghosts are such dumb things,\" said Alec, \"they're slow-witted. I can always outguess a ghost.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm not shocked, Lois. I understand better than you think. We all go through those times. But I know it'll come out all right, child. There's that gift of faith that we have, you and I, that'll carry us past the bad spots.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"G'by, liberty,\" he said sullenly. \"G'by, everything except bein' an officer's dog.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Early September in Camp Boone, Mississippi. The darkness, alive with insects, beat in upon the mosquito-netting, beneath the shelter of which Anthony was trying to write a letter. An intermittent chatter over a poker game was going on in the next tent, and outside a man was strolling up the company street singing a current bit of doggerel about \"K-K-K-Katy.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "But it seemed to him that there should be a difference in his attitude. All the distress that he had ever known, the sorrow and the pain, had been because of women. It was something that in different ways they did to him, unconsciously, almost casually--perhaps finding him tender-minded and afraid, they killed the things in him that menaced their absolute sway.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"He was not,\" she denied. \"I'd never seen him before. He came down in the private car.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "By nine o'clock these can be divided into two classes--those who have been drinking consistently and those who have taken little or nothing. In the second group are the BARNESES, MURIEL, and FREDERICK E. PARAMORE.)", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Reckon so. I never analyzed it--only I just look at people an' say 'canine' or 'feline' right off. It's right absurd I guess.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Ah . . . there! He paused, wavered violently--far up the street was a blot, a man walking, possibly a policeman.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The strain of invention was too much. He shut his eyes wearily, let his head roll to rest inertly, and quickly relaxed what he had regained of muscular control. Out of a crevice of his mind crept the vague but inevitable spectre of the night before--but it proved in this case to be nothing but a seemingly interminable conversation with Richard Caramel, who had called on him at midnight; they had drunk four bottles of beer and munched dry crusts of bread while Anthony listened to a reading of the first part of \"The Demon Lover.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "MURIEL: No, but I hear it's wonderful. I'm very anxious to see it. Have you seen \"Fair and Warmer\"?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Wilson shook his head. His eyes narrowed and his mouth widened slightly with the ghost of a superior \"Hm!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He raised his voice to compete with the flood of water pouring into the tub, and as he looked at the picture of Hazel Dawn upon the wall he put an imaginary violin to his shoulder and softly caressed it with a phantom bow. Through his closed lips he made a humming noise, which he vaguely imagined resembled the sound of a violin. After a moment his hands ceased their gyrations and wandered to his shirt, which he began to unfasten. Stripped, and adopting an athletic posture like the tiger-skin man in the advertisement, he regarded himself with some satisfaction in the mirror, breaking off to dabble a tentative foot in the tub. Readjusting a faucet and indulging in a few preliminary grunts, he slid in.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Come on, that's rather hard. You chose to come to an Eastern college. Either your eyes were opened to the mean scrambling quality of people, or you'd have gone through blind, and you'd hate to have done that--been like Marty Kaye.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "A good half of the station crowd was already staring at them, torn between horrified pity and riotous mirth, and as Phyllis, with her svelte jaw dropping, approached, the pair bent over and emitted a college cheer in loud, far-carrying voices, thoughtfully adding the name \"Phyllis\" to the end. She was vociferously greeted and escorted enthusiastically across the campus, followed by half a hundred village urchins--to the stifled laughter of hundreds of alumni and visitors, half of whom had no idea that this was a practical joke, but thought that Burne and Fred were two varsity sports showing their girl a collegiate time.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You young men think you can force your way in here any time,\" she scolded. \"We're getting sickantired of it. When I say he's in Chicago, he's in Chicago.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Evylyn was not disturbed over the social end of it--but the idea of \"Piper Brothers\" becoming \"The Ahearn, Piper Company\" startled her. It seemed like going down in the world.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's pretty tricky,\" said Kerry, \"only you've got to think of hearses and stale milk when you read it. That isn't as pash as some of them.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "What will it all do to me? he thought with a persistent weariness. Will it take the color out of life with the honor? Will it scatter my courage and dull my mind?--despiritualize me completely--does it mean eventual barrenness, eventual remorse, failure?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Damn!\" muttered Isabelle, punching the pillow into a luxurious lump and exploring the cold sheets cautiously. \"Damn!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm going to the country for to-morrow,\" she announced, as she stood panting, safe beyond the flare of the corner lamp-post. \"These days are too magnificent to miss, though perhaps I feel them more in the city.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Those big movies around Fiftieth Street are cool,\" suggested Jordan. \"I love New York on summer afternoons when everyone's away. There's something very sensuous about it--overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well,\" she continued, \"that's about all. It seems so--so narrow. Church schools, for instance. There's more freedom about things that Catholic people can't see--like birth control.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Amory became thirteen, rather tall and slender, and more than ever on to his Celtic mother. He had tutored occasionally--the idea being that he was to \"keep up,\" at each place \"taking up the work where he left off,\" yet as no tutor ever found the place he left off, his mind was still in very good shape. What a few more years of this life would have made of him is problematical. However, four hours out from land, Italy bound, with Beatrice, his appendix burst, probably from too many meals in bed, and after a series of frantic telegrams to Europe and America, to the amazement of the passengers the great ship slowly wheeled around and returned to New York to deposit Amory at the pier. You will admit that if it was not life it was magnificent.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Absolutely real--have pages and everything. I thought they'd be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact, they're absolutely real. Pages and--Here! Lemme show you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "That spring, that summer, they had speculated upon future happiness--how they were to travel from summer land to summer land, returning eventually to a gorgeous estate and possible idyllic children, then entering diplomacy or politics, to accomplish, for a while, beautiful and important things, until finally as a white-haired (beautifully, silkily, white-haired) couple they were to loll about in serene glory, worshipped by the bourgeoisie of the land.... These times were to begin \"when we get our money\"; it was on such dreams rather than on any satisfaction with their increasingly irregular, increasingly dissipated life that their hope rested. On gray mornings when the jests of the night before had shrunk to ribaldries without wit or dignity, they could, after a fashion, bring out this batch of common hopes and count them over, then smile at each other and repeat, by way of clinching the matter, the terse yet sincere Nietzscheanism of Gloria's defiant \"I don't care!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "At this point they should have approached him with check-books and fountain pens in hand. Realizing that they must have missed a cue Anthony, with the instincts of an actor, went back and repeated his finale.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"It's being arranged,\" continued Beatrice. \"It's better that you should go away. I'd have preferred you to have gone to Eton, and then to Christ Church, Oxford, but it seems impracticable now--and for the present we'll let the university question take care of itself.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"All right,\" said Marcia. \"I'll make a bargain with you. You join a gym and I'll read one of those books from the brown row of 'em.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He helped her in, saw her take down her handkerchief and smile bravely at him, as the driver kicked his whip and the bus rolled off. Then a thick cloud of dust rose around it and she was gone.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It was February, seven days before her birthday, and the great snow that had filled up the cross-streets as dirt fills the cracks in a floor had turned to slush and was being escorted to the gutters by the hoses of the street-cleaning department. The wind, none the less bitter for being casual, whipped in through the open windows of the living room bearing with it the dismal secrets of the areaway and clearing the Patch apartment of stale smoke in its cheerless circulation.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"You shouldn't look at them,\" he whispered. Almost immediately his other arm was around her ... his breath was on her cheek. Again absurdity triumphed over disgust, and her laugh was a weapon that needed no edge of words.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "It seemed to Anthony that during the last year Bloeckman had grown tremendously in dignity. The boiled look was gone, he seemed \"done\" at last. In addition he was no longer overdressed. The inappropriate facetiousness he had affected in ties had given way to a sturdy dark pattern, and his right hand, which had formerly displayed two heavy rings, was now innocent of ornament and even without the raw glow of a manicure.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"For Pete's sake, don't look so critical!\" objected the emanation pleasantly. \"I feel as if you were going to wish me away with that patent dome of yours. And then there wouldn't be anything left of me except my shadow in your eyes.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Well, these books are all scientific,\" insisted Tom, glancing at her impatiently. \"This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm sorry. I thought our relations had been quite--ah--pleasant. You seemed to be a hard worker--a little inclined perhaps to write fancy copy--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "The horses, needless to say, were not mentioned again. Tom and Miss Baker, with several feet of twilight between them, strolled back into the library, as if to a vigil beside a perfectly tangible body, while, trying to look pleasantly interested and a little deaf, I followed Daisy around a chain of connecting verandas to the porch in front. In its deep gloom we sat down side by side on a wicker settee.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"I'm not?\" Tom opened his eyes wide and laughed. He could afford to control himself now. \"Why's that?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Hi, Tony!\" called Parker Allison to Anthony. Sometimes he addressed him as Tony, at other times it was Dan. To him all Anthonys must sail under one of these diminutives.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Come with me, Dot--little loving Dot. Oh, come with me. I couldn't leave you now--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"My exquisite wife wearies of thought,\" remarked Anthony ironically. \"She must have a tomato sandwich to stimulate her jaded nerves. Let's go out to tea.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"A distinct contribution to American dialect literature,\" it said. \"No attempt at literary tone; the book derives its very quality from this fact, as did 'Huckleberry Finn.'\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Isabelle,\" he said suddenly, \"I want to tell you something.\" They had been talking lightly about \"that funny look in her eyes,\" and Isabelle knew from the change in his manner what was coming--indeed, she had been wondering how soon it would come. Amory reached above their heads and turned out the electric light, so that they were in the dark, except for the red glow that fell through the door from the reading-room lamps. Then he began:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"Yes, they were--not! Besides, our mothers were all very well in their way, but they know very little about their daughters' problems.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Sally Carrol gazed down sleepily. She started to yawn, but finding this quite impossible unless she raised her chin from the window-sill, changed her mind and continued silently to regard the car, whose owner sat brilliantly if perfunctorily at attention as he waited for an answer to his signal. After a moment the whistle once more split the dusty air.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Warren McIntyre, who casually attended Yale, being one of the unfortunate stags, felt in his dinner-coat pocket for a cigarette and strolled out onto the wide, semidark veranda, where couples were scattered at tables, filling the lantern-hung night with vague words and hazy laughter. He nodded here and there at the less absorbed and as he passed each couple some half-forgotten fragment of a story played in his mind, for it was not a large city and every one was Who's Who to every one else's past. There, for example, were Jim Strain and Ethel Demorest, who had been privately engaged for three years. Every one knew that as soon as Jim managed to hold a job for more than two months she would marry him. Yet how bored they both looked, and how wearily Ethel regarded Jim sometimes, as if she wondered why she had trained the vines of her affection on such a wind-shaken poplar.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"If he'd been white he'd have been king of South America long ago,\" said Carlyle emphatically. \"When it comes to intelligence he makes Booker T. Washington look like a moron. He's got the guile of every race and nationality whose blood is in his veins, and that's half a dozen or I'm a liar. He worships me because I'm the only man in the world who can play better ragtime than he can. We used to sit together on the wharfs down on the New York water-front, he with a bassoon and me with an oboe, and we'd blend minor keys in African harmonics a thousand years old until the rats would crawl up the posts and sit round groaning and squeaking like dogs will in front of a phonograph.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "And in that instant it was as if this were not, after all, Donald's hour except in so far as he was a marker in the insidious contest that had gone on in sudden surges and long, listless interludes between Evylyn and this cold, malignant thing of beauty, a gift of enmity from a man whose face she had long since forgotten. With its massive, brooding passivity it lay there in the centre of her house as it had lain for years, throwing out the ice-like beams of a thousand eyes, perverse glitterings merging each into each, never aging, never changing.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "This had pleased Isabelle. It put them on equal terms, although she was quite capable of staging her own romances, with or without advance advertising. But following her happy tremble of anticipation, came a sinking sensation that made her ask:", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: \"I never loved you.\" After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house--just as if it were five years ago.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "She would be twenty-nine in February. The month assumed an ominous and inescapable significance--making her wonder, through these nebulous half-fevered hours whether after all she had not wasted her faintly tired beauty, whether there was such a thing as use for any quality bounded by a harsh and inevitable mortality.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "They reached their destination and left the car, but so did the laborer, who followed them, swinging his little pail. Seeing his chance, Samuel no longer resisted his aristocratic inclination. He turned around and, launching a full-featured, dime-novel sneer, made a loud remark about the right of the lower animals to ride with human beings.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "He was reluctant to close the book, reading each item aloud and then looking eagerly at me. I think he rather expected me to copy down the list for my own use.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "Michaelis was astonished; they had been neighbours for four years, and Wilson had never seemed faintly capable of such a statement. Generally he was one of these worn-out men: when he wasn't working, he sat on a chair in the doorway and stared at the people and the cars that passed along the road. When anyone spoke to him he invariably laughed in an agreeable, colourless way. He was his wife's man and not his own.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "fitzgerald", "text": "\"This son of mine,\" he heard her tell a room full of awestruck, admiring women one day, \"is entirely sophisticated and quite charming--but delicate--we're all delicate; here, you know.\" Her hand was radiantly outlined against her beautiful bosom; then sinking her voice to a whisper, she told them of the apricot cordial. They rejoiced, for she was a brave raconteuse, but many were the keys turned in sideboard locks that night against the possible defection of little Bobby or Barbara....", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The sun came through the open window and shone through the beer bottles on the table. The bottles were half full. There was a little froth on the beer in the bottles, not much, because it was very cold. It collared up when you poured it into the tall glasses. I looked out of the open window at the white road.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "So there you were. I was sorry for him, but it was not a thing you could do anything about, because right away you ran up against the two stubbornnesses: South America could fix it and he did not like Paris. He got the first idea out of a book, and I suppose the second came out of a book too.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Why the hell don't you get another cook?\" the man asked. \"Aren't you running a lunch-counter?\" He went out.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "In the morning it was bright, and they were sprinkling the streets of the town, and we all had breakfast in a cafe. Bayonne is a nice town. It is like a very clean Spanish town and it is on a big river. Already, so early in the morning, it was very hot on the bridge across the river. We walked out on the bridge and then took a walk through the town.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "They sailed well and the old man soaked his hands in the salt water and tried to keep his head clear. There were high cumulus clouds and enough cirrus above them so that the old man knew the breeze would last all night. The old man looked at the fish constantly to make sure it was true. It was an hour before the first shark hit him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"If anybody comes in you tell them the cook is off, and if they keep after it, you tell them you'll go back and cook yourself. Do you get that, bright boy?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He was in before lunch, the waiter answered. \"He won't be back before five o'clock.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It's a lovely nose. Go on, point it at me. Isn't she a lovely piece?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Just wanted to see you. Damned silly idea. Want to get dressed and come down? He's got the car just up the street.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Oh, hell!\" she said, \"let's not talk about it. Let's never talk about it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No; listen, Jake. If I handled both our expenses, would you go to South America with me?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Do you suppose he's got the con? He never had any trouble making weight, did he?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"God knows how much that last one took,\" he said. \"But she's much lighter now.\" He did not want to think of the mutilated under-side of the fish. He knew that each of the jerking bumps of the shark had been meat torn away and that the fish now made a trail for all sharks as wide as a highway through the sea.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I don't know. They just didn't give me the feeling that they were so good.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Mr. Barnes,\" answered the count, \"all I want out of wines is to enjoy them.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I say. You don't know what it's meant to me to have you chaps up here.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Might remember a little,\" Bill said. \"Remember something about a prize-fight. Enormous Vienna prize-fight. Had a nigger in it. Remember the nigger perfectly.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "They were both silent. Zurito, the picador, looked at Manuel's white face. Manuel looked down at the picador's enormous hands folding the paper to put away in his pocket.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Brett's rather cut up. But she loves looking after people. That's how we came to go off together. She was looking after me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"They must have taken a quarter of him and of the best meat,\" he said aloud. \"I wish it were a dream and that I had never hooked him. I'm sorry about it, fish. It makes everything wrong.\" He stopped and he did not want to look at the fish now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Sometimes, you know, I feel there is,\" the waitress said. \"I feel there must be more than that. Somewhere, somehow, there must be an explanation. I don't know what brought the subject into my mind this morning.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The bull saw the muleta. It was a bright scarlet under the arc-light. The bull's legs tightened.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Cohn was crying. There he was, face down on the bed, crying. He had on a white polo shirt, the kind he'd worn at Princeton.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You mustn't. You must know. I can't stand it, that's all. Oh, darling, please understand!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"What a hell of a reason for sitting with any one. If you're tight, go to bed. Go on to bed.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You're feeling it now, fish,\" he said. \"And so, God knows, am I.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I like him,\" I said. \"I'm fond of him. You don't want to get sore at him.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Then thanks,\" the young man said, not 'thank you,' or 'thank you very much', or 'thank you a thousand times', all of which you formerly said in Italy to a man when he handed you a time-table or explained about a direction. The young man uttered the lowest form of the word 'thanks' and looked after us suspiciously as Guy started the car. I waved my hand at him. He was too dignified to reply. We went on into Spezia.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I got up and walked over toward the dancing-floor. Mrs. Braddocks followed me. \"Don't be cross with Robert,\" she said. \"He's still only a child, you know.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It's pouring,\" John says. \"The taxi I had got tied up in the traffic and I got out and walked.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The innkeeper came in and went over to the table. He spoke in dialect and the sexton answered him. The peasant looked out of the window. The innkeeper went out of the room. The peasant stood up.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I was pretty well through with the subject. At one time or another I had probably considered it from most of its various angles, including the one that certain injuries or imperfections are a subject of merriment while remaining quite serious for the person possessing them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Come on, he thought and looked down into the dark water at the slant of the line. Eat it now and it will strengthen the hand. It is not the hand's fault and you have been many hours with the fish. But you can stay with him forever. Eat the bonito now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The referee called them out to the centre of the ring and Jack walks out. Walcott comes out smiling. They met and the referee put his arm on each of their shoulders.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I thought he was going to be sick. You weren't bored, were you, Robert?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Even on a hot day San Sebastian has a certain early-morning quality. The trees seem as though their leaves were never quite dry. The streets feel as though they had just been sprinkled. It is always cool and shady on certain streets on the hottest day. I went to a hotel in the town where I had stopped before, and they gave me a room with a balcony that opened out above the roofs of the town.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Yes, that's what you would say.\" Mrs. Garner moved close to Joe as the wagon jolted. \"Well, you had plenty of girls in your time.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Yes,\" said the girl. \"Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Jack doesn't say anything. He just sits there on the bed. He ain't with the others. He's all by himself. He was wearing an old blue jersey and pants and had on boxing shoes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I don't know,\" she said. \"I don't want to go through that hell again.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Tell us right off. Don't think. What would you rather do if you could do anything you wanted?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Good night, Jerry,\" Jack says. \"You're the only friend I got.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Sure,\" says Jack, \"maybe I will. But I know I'm sick of you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I thought we ought to give her a little something for last night. It was very late.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Que va,\" the boy said. \"There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You'll be writing next,\" Brett said. \"Come on, Michael. Do buck up. You've got to go through with this thing now. He's here.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Good God, man! Can't you clothe her?\" Scripps O'Neil said in a dumb voice. There was a note of terror in his words.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Albacore,\" he said aloud. \"He'll make a beautiful bait. He'll weigh ten pounds.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Good afternoon, dear Scripps,\" she said. \"I've been reading a story by Ruth Suckow.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I could not find the bathroom. After a while I found it. There was a deep stone tub. I turned on the taps and the water would not run. I sat down on the edge of the bath-tub.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No. You're wrong there. I read quite a bit. I read when I'm at home.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "In the morning when I awoke the bicycle-riders and their following cars had been on the road for three hours. I had coffee and the papers in bed and then dressed and took my bathing-suit down to the beach. Everything was fresh and cool and damp in the early morning. Nurses in uniform and in peasant costume walked under the trees with children. The Spanish children were beautiful.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Come on,\" Brett said. \"Are these poisonous things paid for? I must bathe before dinner.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The little Indian got up from his stool at the beanery counter, and went over to the window. The glass on the window was covered with thick rimy frost. The little Indian breathed on the frozen windowpane, rubbed the spot bare with the empty sleeve of his mackinaw coat and looked out into the night. Suddenly he turned from the window and rushed out into the night. The tall Indian watched him go, leisurely finished his meal, took a toothpick, placed it between his teeth, and then he too followed his friend out into the night.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I shouldn't think so. She put up most of what I gave to old Montoya.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It was quite a thing to watch,\" Edna said. \"He must be a boxer.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He settled comfortably against the wood and took his suffering as it came and the fish swam steadily and the boat moved slowly through the dark water. There was a small sea rising with the wind coming up from the east and at noon the old man's left hand was uncramped.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"White chief have heap much sound ideas,\" the Indian said. \"White chief educated like hell.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "For a long time after that everyone had called him The Champion and there had been a return match in the spring. But not much money was bet and he had won it quite easily since he had broken the confidence of the negro from Cienfuegos in the first match. After that he had a few matches and then no more. He decided that he could beat anyone if he wanted to badly enough and he decided that it was bad for his right hand for fishing. He had tried a few practice matches with his left hand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No,\" I said. \"Maybe you would rather go to Foyot's. Why don't you keep the cab and go on?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "This drummer had sound ideas. He, Scripps, did not even know what sex the bird was. Whether he was a boy bird or a girl bird.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Nick's father went ahead with the lamp. He stopped and lifted the lid of the ice-box. Nick went on into the kitchen. His father brought in a piece of cold chicken on a plate and a pitcher of milk and put them on the table before Nick. He put down the lamp.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Behind the bar, Bruce, the Negro bartender, had been leaning forward and watching the wampums pass from hand to hand. His dark face shone. Sharply, without explanation, he broke into high-pitched uncontrolled laughter. The dark laughter of the Negro.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"What do you keep on doing it for?\" Zurito asked. \"Why don't you cut off your coleta, Manolo?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I brought a towel and he wiped the bottle dry and held it up. \"I like to drink champagne from magnums. The wine is better but it would have been too hard to cool.\" He held the bottle, looking at it. I put out the glasses.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"If you love women you'll get a dose,\" William Campbell said. \"If you love horses--\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"A man ought to be married. You'll never regret it. Every man ought to be married.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Beyond the river rose the plateau of the town. All along the old walls and ramparts people were standing. The three lines of fortifications made three black lines of people. Above the walls there were heads in the windows of the houses. At the far end of the plateau boys had climbed into the trees.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Well,\" the man said, \"if you don't want to you don't have to. I wouldn't have you do it if you didn't want to. But I know it's perfectly simple.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I did not feel the first trout strike. When I started to pull up I felt that I had one and brought him, fighting and bending the rod almost double, out of the boiling water at the foot of the falls, and swung him up and onto the dam. He was a good trout, and I banged his head against the timber so that he quivered out straight, and then slipped him into my bag.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Mark you. Brett's had affairs with men before. She tells me all about everything. She gave me this chap Cohn's letters to read. I wouldn't read them.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"This is a hell of a dull talk,\" Brett said. \"How about some of that champagne?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You got to quit,\" he said. \"No monkey business. You got to cut the coleta.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I figured rapidly back in my mind. It was three days ago that Harvey had won two hundred francs from me shaking poker dice in the New York Bar.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We paid for the message and walked back to the inn. Harris was there and the three of us walked up to Roncesvalles. We went through the monastery.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I don't know. He was never here before. He was very large. Very, very large. She was very nice.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Everybody. They're mad about it in New York. It's just like the Fratellinis used to be.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He could not talk to the fish anymore because the fish had been ruined too badly. Then something came into his head.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "She looked at me, her hand on the table, her glass raised. \"Don't look like that,\" she said. \"Told him I was in love with you. True, too. Don't look like that.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"And we could have all this,\" she said. \"And we could have everything and every day we make it more impossible.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "That night, after his first day in the pump-factory, the first day in what was or were to become an endless succession of days of dull piston-collaring, Scripps went again to the beanery to eat. All day he had kept his bird concealed. Something told him that the pump-factory was not the place to bring his bird out in. During the day the bird had several times made him uncomfortable, but he had adjusted his clothes to it and even cut a little slit the bird could poke his beak out through in search of fresh air. Now the day's work was over.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It's all right. It's fine. I was just sore for a minute.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"We're going in, anyway,\" I said. \"There's no use trying to move Brett and Mike out here and back before the fiesta. Should we answer it?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The two Indians walked on either side of Yogi. They turned down a side street, and all three halted before a building that looked something like a stable. It was a stable. The two Indians opened the door and Yogi followed them inside. A ladder led upstairs to the floor above.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No. Wait down in the car.\" He turned to Brett and to me. \"We'll want to ride out to the Bois for dinner?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Hello, Robert,\" Harvey said. \"I was just telling Jake here that you're a moron.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "What could I buy it with? he asked himself. Could I buy it with a lost harpoon and a broken knife and two bad hands?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Oh, frightful,\" Mike said. \"Drunk all day and spend all their time beating their poor old mothers.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Outside the ring, after the bull-fight was over, you could not move in the crowd. We could not make our way through but had to be moved with the whole thing, slowly, as a glacier, back to town. We had that disturbed emotional feeling that always comes after a bull-fight, and the feeling of elation that comes after a good bull-fight. The fiesta was going on. The drums pounded and the pipe music was shrill, and everywhere the flow of the crowd was broken by patches of dancers.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He'll take it,\" the old man said aloud. \"God help him to take it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'd like to meet that fellow. He's a fine writer. My wife don't read English but she takes the paper just like when I was home and she cuts out the editorials and the sport page and sends them to me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "It was too good to last, he thought. I wish it had been a dream now and that I had never hooked the fish and was alone in bed on the newspapers.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No,\" Scripps said. \"I don't give a damn about Mencken any more.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I went to the office in the elevator. Robert Cohn was waiting for me. \"Hello, Jake,\" he said. \"Going out to lunch?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Don't look at the horses, after the bull hits them,\" I said to Brett. \"Watch the charge and see the picador try and keep the bull off, but then don't look again until the horse is dead if it's been hit.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Brett pulled the felt hat down far over one eye and smiled out from under it. \"You two run along to the fight. I'll have to be taking Mr. Campbell home directly.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No, my dear. You're not right. I'm not dead at all.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"How can I beat him?\" Jack says. \"It ain't crooked. How can I beat him? Why not make money on it?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'm a little nervy about it,\" Brett said. \"I'm worried whether I'll be able to go through with it all right.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'm drunk now,\" Bill said. \"But you go up and see Cohn. He wants to see you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Pedro Romero had the greatness. He loved bull-fighting, and I think he loved the bulls, and I think he loved Brett. Everything of which he could control the locality he did in front of her all that afternoon. Never once did he look up. He made it stronger that way, and did it for himself, too, as well as for her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "1st Soldier--Ain't I seen 'em? I seen plenty of them. I tell you, he was pretty good in there today.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Far out to come in when the wind shifts. I want to be out before it is light.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Alone in the centre of the ring the bull stood, still fixed. Fuentes, tall, flat-backed, walking towards him arrogantly, his arms spread out, the two slim, red sticks, one in each hand, held by the fingers, points straight forward. Fuentes walked forward. Back of him and to one side was a peon with a cape. The bull looked at him and was no longer fixed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Jack sat down on the porch by me. He leaned back against a post. He shut his eyes in the sun.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Like a wedding,\" said the handler. \"Fine. You came out like Joselito and Belmonte.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"What do you mean, dangerous?\" Bill said. \"They all looked dangerous to me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'll go see him,\" Nick said to George. \"Where does he live?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Outside, the fence that led from the last street of the town to the entrance of the bull-ring was already in place and made a long pen; the crowd would come running down with the bulls behind them on the morning of the day of the first bull-fight. Out across the plain, where the horse and cattle fair would be, some gypsies had camped under the trees. The wine and aguardiente sellers were putting up their booths. One booth advertised ANIS DEL TORO. The cloth sign hung against the planks in the hot sun.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "But perhaps it may be objected to me, that I have against my own rules introduced vices, and of a very black kind, into this work. To which I shall answer: first, that it is very difficult to pursue a series of human actions, and keep clear from them. Secondly, that the vices to be found here are rather the accidental consequences of some human frailty or foible, than causes habitually existing in the mind. Thirdly, that they are never set forth as the objects of ridicule, but detestation. Fourthly, that they are never the principal figure at that time on the scene: and lastly, they never produce the intended evil.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"They put us out in the kitchen,\" Nick went on. \"They were going to shoot you when you came in to supper.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The odds would change back and forth all night and they fed the negro rum and lighted cigarettes for him. Then the negro, after the rum, would try for a tremendous effort and once he had the old man, who was not an old man then but was Santiago El Campeon, nearly three inches off balance. But the old man had raised his hand up to dead even again. He was sure then that he had the negro, who was a fine man and a great athlete, beaten. And at daylight when the bettors were asking that it be called a draw and the referee was shaking his head, he had unleashed his effort and forced the hand of the negro down and down until it rested on the wood.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"How's your boy friend?\" Mike asked. He had not listened to anything that Brett had said.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Why was I not born with two good hands? he thought. Perhaps it was my fault in not training that one properly. But God knows he has had enough chances to learn. He did not do so badly in the night, though, and he has only cramped once.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Montoya smiled. \"To-night,\" he said. \"To-night at seven o'clock they bring in the Villar bulls, and to-morrow come the Miuras. Do you all go down?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Behind them come two figures. Sharply etched in the moonlight. It is the two Indians. The two woods Indians. They stoop and gather up the garments Yogi Johnson has cast away.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It's rotten here in the hotel. Do you know a place called Botin's?\" I asked the barman.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\" 'There is a real place, but it's very expensive,' the guide said. We compromised on a price finally, and the guide took me. It was in an old mansion. You looked through a slit in the wall. All around the wall were people looking through slits.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No,\" the major said. \"Go on and get on with whatever you were doing. Leave the door open when you go out.\" Pinin went out, leaving the door open. The adjutant looked up at him as he walked awkwardly across the room and out of the door. Pinin was flushed and moved differently than he had moved when he brought in the wood for the fire.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Outside the paseo was going in under the arcade. There were some English and Americans from Biarritz in sport clothes scattered at the tables. Some of the women stared at the people going by with lorgnons. We had acquired, at some time, a friend of Bill's from Biarritz. She was staying with another girl at the Grand Hotel.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You call them bananas?\" asked Romero. He turned to me and smiled. \"You wouldn't call them bananas?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "She turned to Mike. \"This is Bill Gorton. This drunkard is Mike Campbell. Mr. Campbell is an undischarged bankrupt.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Yes there is,\" he said aloud. \"I can lash my knife to the butt of one of the oars.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I wanted to try this new drink. That's all we do, isn't it--look at things and try new drinks?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I don't know,\" Solly says. \"He's some sort of a Dane.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We kissed again on the stairs and as I called for the cordon the concierge muttered something behind her door. I went back up-stairs and from the open window watched Brett walking up the street to the big limousine drawn up to the curb under the arc-light. She got in and it started off. I turned around. On the table was an empty glass and a glass half-full of brandy and soda.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Nobody else would behave as badly. Oh, I'm so sick of the whole thing. And Michael. Michael's been lovely, too.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"At the Crillon. Harvey was just a little daunted. Hadn't eaten for three days. Doesn't eat any more. Just goes off like a cat.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No, I don't believe it. And I'm fond of him, too. And I'd like to have children. I always thought we'd have children.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "She was sitting up now. My arm was around her and she was leaning back against me, and we were quite calm. She was looking into my eyes with that way she had of looking that made you wonder whether she really saw out of her own eyes. They would look on and on after every one else's eyes in the world would have stopped looking. She looked as though there were nothing on earth she would not look at like that, and really she was afraid of so many things.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We thanked him. What was there that you would like to ask? The boy was nineteen years old, alone except for his sword-handler, and the three hangers-on, and the bull-fight was to commence in twenty minutes. We wished him \"Mucha suerte,\" shook hands, and went out. He was standing, straight and handsome and altogether by himself, alone in the room with the hangers-on as we shut the door.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Didn't they know enough to keep back? Did they want to catch the bull's eye with the capes after he was fixed and ready? He had enough to worry about without that kind of thing.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Mandy, the buxom waitress, leaned forward. \"Say,\" she said, \"did I ever tell you about the last words of Henry James?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You stop laughing, Joe,\" Mrs. Garner said. \"I won't have Carl talk that way.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He loves the sun,\" the American lady said. \"He'll sing now in a little while.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"If you want something extra,\" Retana said, \"go and get it. There will be a regular cuadrilla out there. Bring as many of your own pics as you want. The charlotada is over by ten-thirty.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "A man was inside the station, tapping something back of a wicketed window. He looked out at Scripps. Could he be a telegrapher? Something told Scripps that he was.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Of course it does. But I don't want anybody but you. I don't want anyone else. And I know it's perfectly simple.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I don't know,\" one of the men said. \"What do you want to eat, Al?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He smiled again. He always smiled as though bull-fighting were a very special secret between the two of us; a rather shocking but really very deep secret that we knew about. He always smiled as though there were something lewd about the secret to outsiders, but that it was something that we understood. It would not do to expose it to people who would not understand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Why,\" I said. \"They may not come here for three or four days now if they start on parties at San Sebastian.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I don't think so. I'd just tromper you with everybody. You couldn't stand it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "But he liked to think about all things that he was involved in and since there was nothing to read and he did not have a radio, he thought much and he kept on thinking about sin. You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. It you love him, it is not a sin to kill him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"That was it,\" the waitress said. \"Professors Gosse and Saintsbury came with the man who brought the decoration. Henry James was lying on his death-bed, and his eyes were shut. There was a single candle on a table beside the bed. The nurse allowed them to come near the bed, and they put the ribbon of the decoration around James's neck, and the decoration lay on the sheet over Henry James's chest.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The cook sat on in his chair. The innkeeper went in with us and unlocked his office and brought out our mail. There was a bundle of letters and some papers.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He was happy feeling the gentle pulling and then he felt something hard and unbelievably heavy. It was the weight of the fish and he let the line slip down, down, down, unrolling off the first of the two reserve coils. As it went down, slipping lightly through the old man's fingers, he still could feel the great weight, though the pressure of his thumb and finger were almost imperceptible.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He opened the door of his house and went in. Something kept going through his head. He tried to get it out, but it was no good. What was it that poet chap his friend Harry Parker had met once in Detroit had written? Harry used to recite it: \"Through pleasures and palaces though I may roam.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Thank you,\" Yogi said. He felt touched. Here among the simple aborigines, the only real Americans, he had found that true communion. The Indian looked at him, holding the sleeping Indian carefully that his head might not fall back upon the snow-covered logs.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Manuel walked across the sand towards the barrera, while Zurito rode out of the ring. The trumpet had blown to change the act to the planting of the banderillos while Manuel had been working with the bull. He had not consciously noticed it. The monos were spreading canvas over the two dead horses and sprinkling sawdust around them.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He knew everything when he started. The others can't ever learn what he was born with.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Don't be a fool,\" I said. \"You can go anywhere you want. You've got plenty of money.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I know,\" said Manuel. \"I didn't have any right to ask you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "2nd Soldier--Listen, I seen a lot of them--here and plenty of other places. Any time you show me one that doesn't want to get down off the cross when the time comes--when the time comes, I mean--I'll climb right up with him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No,\" the boy said. \"Tell them not to bother Santiago. I'll be back.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No,\" Jack said. \"He wants the title bad. They'll be shooting with him all right.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Cut it out about the sheet. You can't just take to that stuff, Billy.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The road left the green valley at once, and we were up in the hills again. Bill and the wine-bottle Basque were having a conversation. A man leaned over from the other side of the seat and asked in English: \"You're Americans?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Pinin walked across the main room of the but toward the major's door. He knocked on the half-opened door. \"Signor Maggiore?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Never mind, \" Yogi said. \"I'll get you a job in the pump-factory.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"What rot,\" Brett said. \"We'd have gotten here earlier if you hadn't come.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"What a morning!\" Bill said. \"The damn police kept arresting chaps that wanted to go and commit suicide with the bulls.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Don't ask that again unless you want to make me sore. Bill and I go down on the morning of the 25th.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "After a while the fish stopped beating at the wire and started circling slowly again. The old man was gaining line steadily now. But he felt faint again. He lifted some sea water with his left hand and put it on his head. Then he put more on and rubbed the back of his neck.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Where was Scripps now? Walking in the night in the storm, he had become confused. He had started for Chicago after that dreadful night when he had found that his home was a home no longer. Why had Lucy left? What had become of Lousy?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The sort of healthy conceit that he had when he returned from America early in the spring was gone. Then he had been sure of his work, only with these personal longings for adventure. Now the sureness was gone. Somehow I feel I have not shown Robert Cohn clearly. The reason is that until he fell in love with Brett, I never heard him make one remark that would, in any way, detach him from other people.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Sometimes I found insects in the swamp meadows, in the grass or under ferns, and used them. There were beetles and insects with legs like grass stems, and grubs in old rotten logs; white grubs with brown pinching heads that would not stay on the hook and emptied into nothing in the cold water, and wood ticks under logs where sometimes I found angle-worms that slipped into the ground as soon as the log was raised. Once I used a salamander from under an old log. The salamander was very small and neat and agile and a lovely color. He had tiny feet that tried to hold on to the hook, and after that one time I never used a salamander, although I found them very often.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I got my rod that was leaning against the tree, took the bait-can and landing-net, and walked out onto the dam. It was built to provide a head of water for driving logs. The gate was up, and I sat on one of the squared timbers and watched the smooth apron of water before the river tumbled into the falls. In the white water at the foot of the dam it was deep. As I baited up, a trout shot up out of the white water into the falls and was carried down.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I ought to stay,\" he said. \"You see I'm afraid there's some sort of misunderstanding.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I am so sorry,\" he said, and patted me, on the shoulder with his good hand. \"I would not be rude. My wife has just died. You must forgive me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn't that bright?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I have the gaff now,\" he said. \"But it will do no good. I have the two oars and the tiller and the short club.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Oh, Brett! Brett!\" the little Greek portrait-painter, who called himself a duke, and whom everybody called Zizi, pushed up to her. \"I got something fine to tell you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"That's a good idea,\" I said. \"Your wife ever see you fight, Jack?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Because they were against Belmonte the public were for Romero. From the moment he left the barrera and went toward the bull they applauded him. Belmonte watched Romero, too, watched him always without seeming to. He paid no attention to Marcial. Marcial was the sort of thing he knew all about.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I'm clear enough in the head, he thought. Too clear. I am as clear as the stars that are my brothers. Still I must sleep. They sleep and the moon and the sun sleep and even the ocean sleeps sometimes on certain days when there is no current and a flat calm.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We followed the porter with the truck down the long cement platform beside the train. At the end was a gate and a man took the tickets.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Yogi Johnson looked about the room. The other Indians had gone away from the bar, and Skunk-Backwards was showing the wampum to a little group of Indians in dinner dress who had just come in. At the pool-table the two woods Indians were still playing. They had removed their coats, and the light above the pool-table glinted on the metal joints in the little woods Indian's artificial arms. He had just run the table for the eleventh consecutive time.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Again there was the shock and he felt himself being borne back in a rush, to strike hard on the sand. There was no chance of kicking this time. The bull was on top of him. Manuel lay as though dead, his head on his arms, and the bull bumped him. Bumped his back, bumped his face in the sand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Oh, I am. I'm frightfully fit. I've done nothing but walk. Walk all day long. One drink a day with my mother at tea.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"All right Signor Tenente. I'll try it again. But you remember what I said.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It's all one to me when we start,\" Bill said. \"The sooner the better.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"What will you do when the war is over if it is over?\" he asked me. \"Speak grammatically!\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The sky was clouding over to the east and one after another the stars he knew were gone. It looked now as though he were moving into a great canyon of clouds and the wind had dropped.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"All I want is an even break,\" Manuel said reasoningly. \"When I go out there I want to be able to call my shots on the bull. It only takes one good picador.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You know how the ladies are. If there's a jug goes along, or a case of beer, they think it's hell and damnation.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Not in public. If I begin to feel daunted I'll go off by myself. I'm like a cat that way.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "After he judged that his right hand had been in the water long enough he took it out and looked at it. \"It is not bad,\" he said. \"And pain does not matter to a man.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I do not know how people could say such terrible things to Robert Cohn. There are people to whom you could not say insulting things. They give you a feeling that the world would be destroyed, would actually be destroyed before your eyes, if you said certain things. But here was Cohn taking it all. Here it was, all going on right before me, and I did not even feel an impulse to try and stop it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Oh, some one took her home. Not a bad-looking girl. Wonderful command of the idiom. Do stay and have a drink.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Nada,\" some one said. \"It's nothing. Drink up. Lift the bottle.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Go over and say you're sorry,\" John says into his ear. \"It'll look good.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He started to pull the fish in to have him alongside so that he could pass a line through his gills and out his mouth and make his head fast alongside the bow. I want to see him, he thought, and to touch and to feel him. He is my fortune, he thought. But that is not why I wish to feel him. I think I felt his heart, he thought.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He didn't look bored,\" Mike said. \"I thought he was going to be sick.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I don't want to take a cure,\" William Campbell said. \"I don't want to take a cure at all. I am perfectly happy. All my life I have been perfectly happy.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Manuel reached under the seat for his suitcase. He was happy. He knew Zurito would pic for him. He was the best picador living. It was all simple now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Youah right theah, Massa Red Dog,\" the bartender leaned forward. \"I'se got a heart of puah gold.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'll just steer south and west,\" he said. \"A man is never lost at sea and it is a long island.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "My own room was locked and I could not find the key, so I went up-stairs and slept on one of the beds in Cohn's room. The fiesta was going on outside in the night, but I was too sleepy for it to keep me awake. When I woke it was the sound of the rocket exploding that announced the release of the bulls from the corrals at the edge of town. They would race through the streets and out to the bull-ring. I had been sleeping heavily and I woke feeling I was too late.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The next two days in Pamplona were quiet, and there were no more rows. The town was getting ready for the fiesta. Workmen put up the gate-posts that were to shut off the side streets when the bulls were released from the corrals and came running through the streets in the morning on their way to the ring. The workmen dug holes and fitted in the timbers, each timber numbered for its regular place. Out on the plateau beyond the town employees of the bull-ring exercised picador horses, galloping them stiff-legged on the hard, sun-baked fields behind the bull-ring.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The skiff was still shaking with the destruction the other shark was doing to the fish and the old man let go the sheet so that the skiff would swing broadside and bring the shark out from under. When he saw the shark he leaned over the side and punched at him. He hit only meat and the hide was set hard and he barely got the knife in. The blow hurt not only his hands but his shoulder too. But the shark came up fast with his head out and the old man hit him squarely in the center of his flat-topped head as his nose came out of water and lay against the fish.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He's headed north,\" the old man said. The current will have set us far to the eastward, he thought. I wish he would turn with the current. That would show that he was tiring.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Look, Jake. I want to talk with you. Would you come over with me to the Dome? You'll stay here, won't you, Robert? Come on, Jake.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Fuentes walked a little closer to the bull. Bent back. Called again. Somebody in the crowd shouted a warning.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He lit the cigar, puffed at it, looking across the table at Brett. \"And when you're divorced, Lady Ashley, then you won't have a title.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He came straight, his eyes on the man. Fuentes stood still, leaning back, the banderillos pointing forward. As the bull lowered his head to hook, Fuentes leaned backward, his arms came together and rose, his two hands touching, the banderillos two descending red lines, and leaning forward drove the points into the bull's shoulder, leaning far in over the bull's horns and pivoting on the two upright sticks, his legs tight together, his body curving to one side to let the bull pass.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "That was the saddest thing I ever saw with them, the old man thought. The boy was sad too and we begged her pardon and butchered her promptly.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The foreman put his finger in his mouth to moisten it and held it up in the air. He felt the warm breeze on his finger. He shook his head ruefully and smiled at the men, a little grimly perhaps.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"To hell with that stuff,\" Hogan said. \"When you want to see me I'm down in the office.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He was asleep in a short time and he dreamed of Africa when he was a boy and the long golden beaches and the white beaches, so white they hurt your eyes, and the high capes and the great brown mountains. He lived along that coast now every night and in his dreams he heard the surf roar and saw the native boats come riding through it. He smelled the tar and oakum of the deck as he slept and he smelled the smell of Africa that the land breeze brought at morning.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I am not religious,\" he said. \"But I will say ten Our Fathers and ten Hail Marys that I should catch this fish, and I promise to make a pilgrimage to the Virgen de Cobre if I catch him. That is a promise.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I stood up. I had heard them talking from a long way away. It all seemed like some bad play.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The old man opened his eyes and for a moment he was coming back from a long way away. Then he smiled.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"All right, I'll go to sleep now,\" he said. \"Don't keep me awake by talking so much.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Really,\" Romero said in Spanish. \"He looks a lot like Villalta. What does the drunken one do?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Want to take a turn out to the park?\" Brett asked. \"I don't want to go up yet. I fancy he's sleeping.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "They were all feeling pretty good when they left. Jack stood on the porch when they got into the car. They waved to him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He heard someone coming very heavily up the stairs. Then he did not hear it. Then he heard a noise far off. That was the crowd. Well, somebody would have to kill his other bull.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Now that he had seen him once, he could picture the fish swimming in the water with his purple pectoral fins set wide as wings and the great erect tail slicing through the dark. I wonder how much he sees at that depth, the old man thought. His eye is huge and a horse, with much less eye, can see in the dark. Once I could see quite well in the dark. Not in the absolute dark.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "At the hotel I paid the driver and gave him a tip. The car was powdered with dust. I rubbed the rod-case through the dust. It seemed the last thing that connected me with Spain and the fiesta. The driver put the car in gear and went down the street.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"The only thing is,\" he said, talking towards the wall, \"I just can't make up my mind to go out. I been in here all day.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He was very bashful about his English, but he was really very pleased with it, and as we went on talking he brought out words he was not sure of, and asked me about them. He was anxious to know the English for Corrida de toros, the exact translation. Bull-fight he was suspicious of. I explained that bull-fight in Spanish was the lidia of a toro. The Spanish word corrida means in English the running of bulls--the French translation is Course de taureaux.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "In the back room Brett and Bill were sitting on barrels surrounded by the dancers. Everybody had his arms on everybody else's shoulders, and they were all singing. Mike was sitting at a table with several men in their shirt-sleeves, eating from a bowl of tuna fish, chopped onions and vinegar. They were all drinking wine and mopping up the oil and vinegar with pieces of bread.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"They do have some rather awful things happen to them,\" Brett said. \"I couldn't look away, though.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Yes, I've got money,\" Yogi answered. He was prepared to go the route. It was no time to turn back now. ,\"The feed's on me, boys.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Back in the bow he laid the two fillets of fish out on the wood with the flying fish beside them. After that he settled the line across his shoulders in a new place and held it again with his left hand resting on the gunwale. Then he leaned over the side and washed the flying fish in the water, noting the speed of the water against his hand. His hand was phosphorescent from skinning the fish and he watched the flow of the water against it. The flow was less strong and as he rubbed the side of his hand against the planking of the skiff, particles of phosphorus floated off and drifted slowly astern.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You've got to realize,\" he said, \"that I don't want you to do it if you don't want to. I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "There was no doorway leading from the room except into the kitchen. A curtain hung over it. The girl who had taken our order came in from the kitchen with spaghetti. She put it on the table and brought a bottle of red wine and sat down at the table.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Let's get two bottles,\" I said. The bottles came. I poured a little in my glass, then a glass for Brett, then filled my glass. We touched glasses.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I was in despair. In the meantime the police had brought in the cab driver who had brought us from the gare to the hotel. He swore that I had never been with my mother. Tell me, does this story bore you?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He's found fish,\" he said aloud. No flying fish broke the surface and there was no scattering of bait fish. But as the old man watched, a small tuna rose in the air, turned and dropped head first into the water. The tuna shone silver in the sun and after he had dropped back into the water another and another rose and they were jumping in all directions, churning the water and leaping in long jumps after the bait. They were circling it and driving it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "One of the girls looked at him down the table, and he grinned and turned red. The Spaniards, they said, did not know how to pedal.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I tipped the concierge and read the message again. A postman was coming along the sidewalk. He turned in the hotel. He had a big moustache and looked very military. He came out of the hotel again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'm going to bed,\" Bill said. \"Poor old Mike. I had a hell of a row about him last night.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "When the next bull came out, all three, the two bulls and the steer, stood together, their heads side by side, their horns against the newcomer. In a few minutes the steer picked the new bull up, quieted him down, and made him one of the herd. When the last two bulls had been unloaded the herd were all together.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We looked out at the plain. The long lines of trees were dark in the moonlight. There were the lights of a car on the road climbing the mountain. Up on the top of the mountain we saw the lights of the fort. Below to the left was the river.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"One,\" the old man said. His hope and his confidence had never gone. But now they were freshening as when the breeze rises.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Good,\" said William Campbell. \"Because really I don't know anything at all. I was just talking.\" He pulled the sheet up over his face again. \"I love it under a sheet,\" he said. Mr. Turner stood beside the bed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "In the morning I bought three tickets for the bus to Burguete. It was scheduled to leave at two o'clock. There was nothing earlier. I was sitting over at the Iruna reading the papers when I saw Robert Cohn coming across the square. He came up to the table and sat down in one of the wicker chairs.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"She's a drunk,\" I said. \"She's in love with Mike Campbell, and she's going to marry him. He's going to be rich as hell some day.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Yes, he was out here,\" Jack says. \"He was out here all right.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He reached for another orange. Far away in Paris, Mascart had knocked Danny Frush cuckoo in the second round. Far off in Mesopotamia, twenty-one feet of snow had fallen. Across the world in distant Australia, the English cricketers were sharpening up their wickets. There was Romance.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Walcott was sore as hell. By the time they'd gone five rounds he hated Jack's guts. Jack wasn't sore; that is, he wasn't any sorer than he always was. He certainly did used to make the fellows he fought hate boxing. That was why he hated Richie Lewis so.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"And bring your friend,\" said Mrs. Braddocks laughing. She was a Canadian and had all their easy social graces.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I do not know, the old man thought. He had been on the point of feeling himself go each time. I do not know. But I will try it once more.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Nice little club, eh?\" An Indian came up and shook hands with Yogi. \"I see you almost every day at the pump-factory.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "At a newspaper kiosque I bought a copy of the New York Herald and sat in a cafe to read it. It felt strange to be in France again. There was a safe, suburban feeling. I wished I had gone up to Paris with Bill, except that Paris would have meant more fiesta-ing. I was through with fiestas for a while.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Jack hadn't drunk anything since the one drink. He was standing up and looking at them. Morgan was sitting on the bed where Jack had sat.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "William Campbell shut his eyes. He was beginning to feel a slight nausea. He knew that this nausea would increase steadily, without there ever being the relief of sickness, until something were done against it. It was at this point that he suggested that Mr. Turner have a drink. Mr. Turner declined.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I turned on the light again and read. I read the Turgenieff. I knew that now, reading it in the oversensitized state of my mind after much too much brandy, I would remember it somewhere, and afterward it would seem as though it had really happened to me. I would always have it. That was another good thing you paid for and then had.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The bird looked at him when he spoke. He was too tired even to examine the line and he teetered on it as his delicate feet gripped it fast.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"First the egg,\" said Bill. \"Then the chicken. Even Bryan could see that.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Good,\" Walcott says. He dropped the towel from around his waist and stood on the scales. He had the widest shoulders and back you ever saw.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I will have everything in order,\" the boy said. \"You get your hands well old man.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "She turned to me with that terribly bright smile. It was very satisfactory to her to have an audience for this.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The bull was standing, his four feet square, looking at the muleta. Manuel furled the muleta in his left hand. The bull's eyes watched it. His body was heavy on his feet. He carried his head low, but not too low.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "It must be very strange in an airplane, he thought. I wonder what the sea looks like from that height? They should be able to see the fish well if they do not fly too high. I would like to fly very slowly at two hundred fathoms high and see the fish from above. In the turtle boats I was in the cross-trees of the mast-head and even at that height I saw much.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Tell me,\" Scripps asked the waitress. \"Is there any work in this town for me and my bird?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Inside the room the major lay on his bunk. Pinin stood beside the bunk. The major lay with his head on the rucksack that he had stuffed with spare clothing to make a pillow. His long, burned, oiled face looked at Pinin. His hands lay on the blankets.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "She had a man now. A man of her own. For her own. Could she keep him? Could she hold him for her own?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Hey! that's not the way,\" Bill said. \"Say something ironical. Make some crack about Primo de Rivera.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "That afternoon was the big religious procession. San Fermin was translated from one church to another. In the procession were all the dignitaries, civil and religious. We could not see them because the crowd was too great. Ahead of the formal procession and behind it danced the riau-riau dancers.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Get to work, old man,\" he said. He took a very small drink of the water. \"There is very much slave work to be done now that the fight is over.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I got into this town last night,\" William Campbell said, speaking against the sheet. He found he liked to talk through a sheet. \"Did you ever talk through a sheet?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Two years ago this fall. It's her, you know, that I'm taking the canary to.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Well,\" Mandy began, \"Henry James became a British subject on his death-bed. At once, as soon as the king heard Henry James had become a British subject he sent around the highest decoration in his power to bestow--the Order of Merit.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'm all right,\" I said. \"Don't come. I'll see you all later.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'm satisfied,\" Cohn said. He smiled. \"You'll probably win it back at bridge, anyway.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Not if you'd rather not,\" Scripps said. \"By the way, could I have another order of beans?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "So we rolled poker dice out of a deep leather dice-cup. Bill was out first roll. Mike lost to me and handed the bartender a hundred-franc note. The whiskeys were twelve francs apiece. We had another round and Mike lost again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I left the crowd in the cafe and went over to the hotel to get shaved for dinner. I was shaving in my room when there was a knock on the door.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Now on the day of the starting of the fiesta of San Fermin they had been in the wine-shops of the narrow streets of the town since early morning. Going down the streets in the morning on the way to mass in the cathedral, I heard them singing through the open doors of the shops. They were warming up. There were many people at the eleven o'clock mass. San Fermin is also a religious festival.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "With the sun down, the slushy road was stiffening. It was freezing again. After all, maybe spring was not coming. Maybe it did not make a difference that he did not want a woman. Now that the spring was perhaps not coming there was a question about that.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"My wife left me,\" Scripps said. \"We'd been out drinking on the railroad track. We used to go out evenings and watch the trains pass. I write stories. I had a story in The Post and two in The Dial.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"We have to go,\" I said. \"We have to get to Pisa, or if possible, Firenze, tonight. We can amuse ourselves in those cities at the end of the day. It is now the day. In the day we must cover distance.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "At noon we were all at the cafe. It was crowded. We were eating shrimps and drinking beer. The town was crowded. Every street was full.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "IN the fall the war was always there, but we did not go to it any more. It was cold in the fall in Milan and the dark came very early. Then the electric lights came on, and it was pleasant along the streets looking in the windows. There was much game hanging outside the shops, and the snow powdered in the fur of the foxes and the wind blew their tails. The deer hung stiff and heavy and empty, and small birds blew in the wind and the wind turned their feathers.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You've got a rotten chance. They've never been on time anywhere. If their money doesn't come it's a cinch they won't get in to-night.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Not so good, Jake. Injustice everywhere. Promoter claimed nigger promised let local boy stay. Claimed nigger violated contract. Can't knock out Vienna boy in Vienna.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Manuel and Hernandez stood in front. The youths of the cuadrillas were behind, their heavy capes furled over their arms. In black, the four picadors, mounted, holding their steel-tipped push-poles erect in the half-dark of the corral.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"In England. In the Lake District.\" The waitress smiled a bit wistfully. \"Wordsworth's country, you know.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Montoya went out of the room. Mike was on his feet proposing a toast. \"Let's all drink to--\" he began. \"Pedro Romero,\" I said. Everybody stood up.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"We only have double rooms,\" the clerk says. \"I can give you a nice double room for ten dollars.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We slowed up, at the side of the road. The young man got down, went to the back of the car and untied the suitcase.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He did not truly feel good because the pain from the cord across his back had almost passed pain and gone into a dullness that he mistrusted. But I have had worse things than that, he thought. My hand is only cut a little and the cramp is gone from the other. My legs are all right. Also now I have gained on him in the question of sustenance.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Get him out of there,\" Manuel shouted to the gypsy. The bull had smelled the blood of the dead horse and ripped into the canvas cover with his horns. He charged Fuentes's cape, with the canvas hanging from his splintered horn, and the crowd laughed. Out in the ring, he tossed his head to rid himself of the canvas. Hernandez, running up from behind him, grabbed the end of the canvas and neatly lifted it off the horn.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He went in and the conductor swung up and the train went out. I rode back to the farm in the cart. Jack was on the porch writing a letter to his wife. The mail had come and I got the papers and went over on the other side of the porch and sat down to read. Hogan came out the door and walked over to me.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I have no understanding of it and I am not sure that I believe in it. Perhaps it was a sin to kill the fish. I suppose it was even though I did it to keep me alive and feed many people. But then everything is a sin. Do not think about sin.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"How do you think he likes it out there?\" Guy was looking up the road. His view out of his side of the car was blocked by our guest. The young man projected from the side of the car like the figurehead of a ship. He had turned his coat collar up and pulled his hat down and his nose looked cold in the wind.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Do as I say,\" Red Dog ordered. \"As for those two pool-players that brought you here, I'll soon have them out of this.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I grabbed Mike. \"Come on to the cafe,\" I said. \"You can't hit him here in the hotel.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Now, he thought, I must think about the drag. It has its perils and its merits. I may lose so much line that I will lose him, if he makes his effort and the drag made by the oars is in place and the boat loses all her lightness. Her lightness prolongs both our suffering but it is my safety since he has great speed that he has never yet employed. No matter what passes I must gut the dolphin so he does not spoil and eat some of him to be strong.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "She's good, he thought. She is sound and not harmed in any way except for the tiller. That is easily replaced.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "It was a little past noon and there was not much shade, but I sat against the trunk of two of the trees that grew together, and read. The book was something by A. E. W. Mason, and I was reading a wonderful story about a man who had been frozen in the Alps and then fallen into a glacier and disappeared, and his bride was going to wait twenty-four years exactly for his body to come out on the moraine, while her true love waited too, and they were still waiting when Bill came up.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He was that way all week. He wouldn't sleep at night and he'd get up in the morning feeling that way, you know when you can't shut your hands.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Brett did not say anything. They looked at each other and smiled. Brett had the ear in her hand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Don't sit up,\" the boy said. \"Drink this.\" He poured some of the coffee in a glass.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Usually when he smelled the land breeze he woke up and dressed to go and wake the boy. But tonight the smell of the land breeze came very early and he knew it was too early in his dream and went on dreaming to see the white peaks of the Islands rising from the sea and then he dreamed of the different harbours and roadsteads of the Canary Islands.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "At five o'clock I was in the Hotel Crillon waiting for Brett. She was not there, so I sat down and wrote some letters. They were not very good letters but I hoped their being on Crillon stationery would help them. Brett did not turn up, so about quarter to six I went down to the bar and had a Jack Rose with George the barman. Brett had not been in the bar either, and so I looked for her up-stairs on my way out, and took a taxi to the Cafe Select.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'll just take a bowl of milk and crackers,\" the elderly Mrs. Scripps said. \"You have whatever you want, dear.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Because he came here the most times,\" the old man said. \"If Durocher had continued to come here each year your father would think him the greatest manager.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"So am I. They're fine kids but I want a boy. Three girls and no boy. That's a hell of a note.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No,\" the boy said. \"But I will see something that he cannot see such as a bird working and get him to come out after dolphin.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Friends,\" said Mike. \"I had a lot of friends. False friends. Then I had creditors, too. Probably had more creditors than anybody in England.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Didn't you send him with a letter to me in New York last winter? Thank God, I'm a travelling man. Haven't you got some more Jewish friends you could bring along?\" He rubbed his chin with his thumb, looked at it, and then started scraping again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "It was like certain dinners I remember from the war. There was much wine, an ignored tension, and a feeling of things coming that you could not prevent happening. Under the wine I lost the disgusted feeling and was happy. It seemed they were all such nice people.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"See you at tennis,\" he said. I watched him walk back to the cafe holding his paper. I rather liked him and evidently she led him quite a life.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I say,\" Mike said, \"they were fine bulls, weren't they? Did you see their horns?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "When he thought that he knew that he was not being clear-headed and he thought he should chew some more of the dolphin. But I can't, he told himself. It is better to be light-headed than to lose your strength from nausea. And I know I cannot keep it if I eat it since my face was in it. I will keep it for an emergency until it goes bad.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"We're going trout-fishing. We're going trout-fishing in the Irati River, and we're going to get tight now at lunch on the wine of the country, and then take a swell bus ride.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Here he is!\" said Bill. \"Good old Jake! I knew you wouldn't pass out.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He's been in his room all day,\" the landlady said downstairs. \"I guess he don't feel well. I said to him: 'Mr. Andreson, you ought to go out and take a walk on a nice fall day like this,' but he didn't feel like it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Well,\" I said. \"A plane is sort of like a tricycle. The joystick works the same way.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Everybody. Don't you read? Don't you ever see anybody? You know what you are? You're an expatriate.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I was sorry as soon as I opened my mouth. But I had to call him. He's all right, I guess, but where does he get this inside stuff? Mike and Brett fixed it up with us about coming down here.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The old man held him with his left hand and his shoulders now and stooped down and scooped up water in his right hand to get the crushed dolphin flesh off of his face. He was afraid that it might nauseate him and he would vomit and lose his strength. When his face was cleaned he washed his right hand in the water over the side and then let it stay in the salt water while he watched the first light come before the sunrise. He's headed almost east, he thought. That means he is tired and going with the current.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I don't know what happened, but some one had the police called to keep Mike out of the back room. There were some people that had known Mike at Cannes. What's the matter with Mike?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No.\" William Campbell held the sheet around his head. \"Dear sheet,\" he said. He breathed against it gently. \"Pretty sheet. You love me, don't you, sheet?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Listen,\" the clean-cut young man said. \"Don't bother to talk with these two. I tell you they are worth nothing and I know.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "John came to the door of the dressing-room and poked his head in. Jack was sitting there with his bathrobe on, he had his arms folded and was looking at the floor. John had a couple of handlers with him. They looked over his shoulder. Jack looked up.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He was an ass, though. He came down to San Sebastian where he damn well wasn't wanted. He hung around Brett and just looked at her. It made me damned well sick.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He looked up at the sky and then out to his fish. He looked at the sun carefully. It is not much more than noon, he thought. And the trade wind is rising. The lines all mean nothing now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I don't know,\" Manuel said. \"I got to do it. If I can fix it so that I get an even break, that's all I want. I got to stick with it Manos.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The gong rang and we pushed him out. He went out slow. Walcott came right out after him. Jack put the left in his face and Walcott took it, came in under it and started working on Jack's body. Jack tried to tie him up and it was just like trying to hold on to a buzz-saw.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'm not getting drunk,\" I said. \"I'm just drinking a little wine. I like to drink wine.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I should like to hear you really talk, my dear. When you talk to me you never finish your sentences at all.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "George looked up at the clock. It was a quarter past six. The door from the street opened. A street-car motorman came in.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"They ought to put some gravel on that stretch,\" Joe Garner said. The wagon went along the road through the woods. Joe and Mrs. Garner sat close together on the front seat. Nick sat between the two boys. The road came out into a clearing.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"No. She was with a gentleman. It was the one who was here last night. In the end I find she is very nice.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Diana picked up the bird-cage. The bird was asleep. Perched on one leg as on that night when they had first met. What was it he was like? Ah, yes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Well, reader, how did you like it? It took me ten days to write it. Has it been worth it? There is just one place I would like to clear up. You remember back in the story where the elderly waitress, Diana, tells about how she lost her mother in Paris, and woke up to find herself with a French general in the next room?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Hello, darling,\" said Brett. \"Aren't you going to let us in?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"What the hell's that to me?\" Jack says. \"You're my manager. You get a big enough cut, don't you? You aren't making me any money in Philadelphia, are you? Why the hell aren't you out here when I ought to have you?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"That's a nice bird you got there, brother,\" the drummer said. \"You want to hang onto that bird.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The referee grabbed Jack and pushed him towards his corner. John jumps into the ring. There was all this yelling going on. The referee was talking with the judges and then the announcer got into the ring with the megaphone and says, \"Walcott on a foul.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Zurito sat his horse, measuring the distance between the bull and the end of the pic. As he looked, the bull gathered himself together and charged, his eyes on the horse's chest. As he lowered his head to hook, Zurito sunk the point of the pic in the swelling hump of muscle above the bull's shoulder, leaned all his weight on the shaft, and with his left hand pulled the white horse into the air, front hoofs pawing, and swung him to the right as he pushed the bull under and through so that the horns passed safely under the horse's belly and the horse came down, quivering, the bull's tail brushing his chest as he charged the cape Hernandez offered him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Now!\" he said aloud and struck hard with both hands, gained a yard of line and then struck again and again, swinging with each arm alternately on the cord with all the strength of his arms and the pivoted weight of his body.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Beyond the fields we crossed another faster-flowing stream. A sandy road led down to the ford and beyond into the woods. The path crossed the stream on another foot-log below the ford, and joined the road, and we went into the woods.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"But Mr. Barnes introduced you as Mademoiselle Georgette Leblanc. Surely he did,\" insisted Mrs. Braddocks, who in the excitement of talking French was liable to have no idea what she was saying.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I feel fine,\" she said. \"There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"All right,\" I said. We got out from the crowd. Brett went to the dressing-room.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The count was looking at Brett across the table under the gas-light. She was smoking a cigarette and flicking the ashes on the rug. She saw me notice it. \"I say, Jake, I don't want to ruin your rugs. Can't you give a chap an ash-tray?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Don't worry about money,\" Mike said. \"You can pay for the car, Jake, and I'll send you my share.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Listen,\" Yogi Johnson said. \"I am about to address to you a few remarks about the war. A subject on which I feel very deeply.\" The Indians sat down on the logs. One of the Indians pointed at the sky. \"Up there gitchy Manitou the Mighty,\" he said.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I remember,\" the old man said. \"I know you did not leave me because you doubted.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Smoke curled up from the old house. The fire was mounting. The white pillars were obscured in the rising smoke-wreaths. Scripps had held close to his mother's linsey-woolsey dress.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Eat it so that the point of the hook goes into your heart and kills you, he thought. Come up easy and let me put the harpoon into you. All right. Are you ready? Have you been long enough at table?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Scofield Thayer was my best man,\" he said. \"I'm a Harvard man. All I want is for them to give me and my bird a square deal. No more weltpolitik. Take Dr. Coolidge away.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The train left the station in Marseilles and there was not only the switch-yards and the factory smoke but, looking back, the town of Marseilles and the harbor with stone hills behind it and the last of the sun on the water. As it was getting dark the train passed a farmhouse burning in a field. Motor-cars were stopped along the road and bedding and things from inside the farmhouse were spread in the field. Many people were watching the house burn. After it was dark the train was in Avignon.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He furled the muleta, drew the sword out, profiled and drove in on the bull. He felt the sword buckle as he shoved it in, leaning his weight on it, and then it shot in the air, end-over-ending into the crowd. Manuel had jerked clear as the sword jumped.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Manuel looked up at the stuffed bull. He had seen it often before. He felt a certain family interest in it. It had killed his brother, the promising one, about nine years ago. Manuel remembered the day.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Oh, everywhere. He just brought me here now. Offered me ten thousand dollars to go to Biarritz with him. How much is that in pounds?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Scripps,\" she often said when they were drinking together, \"I don't want a palace. All I want is a place to keep the wind out.\" Scripps had taken her at her word. Now, as he walked in the late evening through the snow and saw the lights of his own home, he felt glad that he had taken her at her word. It was better this way than if he were coming home to a palace. He, Scripps, was not the sort of chap that wanted a palace.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I do, though,\" Mike said. \"I'm not one of these chaps likes being knocked about. I never play games, even.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Next morning I tipped every one a little too much at the hotel to make more friends, and left on the morning train for San Sebastian. At the station I did not tip the porter more than I should because I did not think I would ever see him again. I only wanted a few good French friends in Bayonne to make me welcome in case I should come back there again. I knew that if they remembered me their friendship would be loyal.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Another bright boy,\" Al said. \"Ain't he a bright boy, Max?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"All right. Have it your own way. Road to hell paved with unbought stuffed dogs. Not my fault.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We came down from the pass through wooded country. There were bags of charcoal piled beside the road, and through the trees we saw charcoal-burners' huts. It was Sunday and the road, rising and falling, but always dropping away from the altitude of the pass, went through the scrub woods and through villages.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"How do I know? As soon as we can get the divorce. Michael's trying to get his mother to put up for it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The wind is our friend, anyway, he thought. Then he added, sometimes. And the great sea with our friends and our enemies. And bed, he thought. Bed is my friend.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I didn't know whether I could make him go, and I didn't have a sou to go away and leave him. He tried to give me a lot of money, you know. I told him I had scads of it. He knew that was a lie. I couldn't take his money, you know.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Later in the day we learned that the man who was killed was named Vicente Girones, and came from near Tafalla. The next day in the paper we read that he was twenty-eight years old, and had a farm, a wife, and two children. He had continued to come to the fiesta each year after he was married. The next day his wife came in from Tafalla to be with the body, and the day after there was a service in the chapel of San Fermin, and the coffin was carried to the railway-station by members of the dancing and drinking society of Tafalla. The drums marched ahead, and there was music on the fifes, and behind the men who carried the coffin walked the wife and two children.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Nick was on the back seat with the two Garner boys. He was looking out from the back seat to see the Indian where Joe had dragged him alongside of the road.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"That's it,\" said Mike. \"They're stupid. I knew that was what it was.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I was desperate. Finally, I remembered where the coiffeur's shop was. The police sent for the coiffeur. An agent of police brought him in.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You talk silly,\" Al said to him. \"What the hell do you argue with this kid for? Listen,\" he said to George, \"tell the nigger to come out here.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We turned off the Avenue up the Rue des Pyramides, through the traffic of the Rue de Rivoli, and through a dark gate into the Tuileries. She cuddled against me and I put my arm around her. She looked up to be kissed. She touched me with one hand and I put her hand away.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I knowed it, Massa Red Dog,\" he said. \"I knowed you'd ordah dat Dog's Head all the time.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We stopped opposite two restaurant signs. We were standing across the street and I was buying the papers. The two restaurants were side by side. A woman standing in the doorway of one smiled at us and we crossed the street and went in.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He felt faint again now but he held on the great fish all the strain that he could. I moved him, he thought. Maybe this time I can get him over. Pull, hands, he thought. Hold up, legs.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You ought to go to the movies more. The movies are fine for a bright boy like you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "By that time, though, he had other things to worry about. He had been taken in hand by a lady who hoped to rise with the magazine. She was very forceful, and Cohn never had a chance of not being taken in hand. Also he was sure that he loved her. When this lady saw that the magazine was not going to rise, she became a little disgusted with Cohn and decided that she might as well get what there was to get while there was still something available, so she urged that they go to Europe, where Cohn could write.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Kikes,\" this broad goes on. \"Whoever saw you ever buy a drink? Your wife sews your pockets up every morning. These Irishmen and their kikes? Ritchie Lewis could lick you too.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It was the year of the Paris Exposition,\" she began. \"I was a young girl at the time, une jeune fille, and I came over from England with my mother. We were going to be present at the opening of the exposition. On our way from the Gare du Nord to the hotel in the Place Vendome where we lodged, we stopped at a coiffeur's shop and made some trifling purchase. My mother, as I recall, purchased an additional bottle of 'smelling salts,' as you call them here in America.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"That's my fault. Don't we pay for all the things we do, though?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Let's take a drive. It might do my credit good. Let's drive about a little.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Her name's Lady Ashley. Brett's her own name. She's a nice girl,\" I said. \"She's getting a divorce and she's going to marry Mike Campbell. He's over in Scotland now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Drat that wind,\" Scripps said and once again faced into the blowing snow. The wind was blowing straight down from Lake Superior. The telegraph wires above Scripps's head sang in the wind. Through the dark, Scripps saw a great yellow eye coming toward him. The giant locomotive came nearer through the snow-storm.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Aren't I, though? You know I met my ex-partner yesterday in London. Chap who did me in.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Cohn came down, finally, and we all went out to the car. It was a big, closed car, with a driver in a white duster with blue collar and cuffs, and we had him put the back of the car down. He piled in the bags and we started off up the street and out of the town. We passed some lovely gardens and had a good look back at the town, and then we were out in the country, green and rolling, and the road climbing all the time. We passed lots of Basques with oxen, or cattle, hauling carts along the road, and nice farmhouses, low roofs, and all white-plastered.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Bill was tired after the bull-fight. So was I. We both took a bull-fight very hard. We sat and ate the eggs and I watched Belmonte and the people at his table. The men with him were tough-looking and businesslike.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The waiter nodded his head. The two men went on. They were on some errand. The waiter came over to my table.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "William Campbell's interview with Mr. Turner had been a little strange. Mr. Turner had knocked on the door. Campbell had said: \"Come in!\" When Mr. Turner came into the room he saw clothing on a chair, an open suitcase, the bottle on a chair beside the bed, and someone lying in the bed completely covered by bedclothes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Jack's head moved a little on the pillow. \"Jack!\" John says, leaning over him. Jack just dug a little deeper in the pillow. John touched him on the shoulder. Jack sat up and looked at us.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "When he sailed into the little harbour the lights of the Terrace were out and he knew everyone was in bed. The breeze had risen steadily and was blowing strongly now. It was quiet in the harbour though and he sailed up onto the little patch of shingle below the rocks. There was no one to help him so he pulled the boat up as far as he could. Then he stepped out and made her fast to a rock.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I want you to shake hands with Mr. Morgan and Mr. Steinfelt,\" John said. \"This is Mr. Doyle. He's been training Jack.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He was a very distinguished soldier,\" Brett said. \"Tell them about the time your horse bolted down Piccadilly.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'll kill him though,\" he said. \"In all his greatness and his glory.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Don't know why I get so nervy in church,\" Brett said. \"Never does me any good.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Cohn smiled again and sat down. He seemed glad to sit down. What the hell would he have done if he hadn't sat down? \"You say such damned insulting things, Jake.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "They were alone in the beanery now. Scripps and Mandy and Diana. Only the drummer was with them. He was an old friend now. But his nerves were on edge tonight.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Ask her if she's got any jam,\" Bill said. \"Be ironical with her.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You can't fire me,\" William Campbell said from underneath the covers. It was warm and white and close under the covers. \"You can't fire me because I've got down off my bicycle.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He calls her Circe,\" Mike said. \"He claims she turns men into swine. Damn good. I wish I were one of these literary chaps.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Romero took the ear from his brother and held it up toward the President. The President bowed and Romero, running to get ahead of the crowd, came toward us. He leaned up against the barrera and gave the ear to Brett. He nodded his head and smiled. The crowd were all about him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'm a goner. I'm mad about the Romero boy. I'm in love with him, I think.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The cuadrilla had stepped away from the bull and waited with their capes. The bull stood, heavy and dull again after the action.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It's a lie,\" Bill said. \"I went to Loyola with Bishop Manning myself.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We got here Friday, Brett passed out on the train, so brought her here for 3 days rest with old friends of ours. We go to Montoya Hotel Pamplona Tuesday, arriving at I don't know what hour. Will you send a note by the bus to tell us what to do to rejoin you all on Wednesday. All our love and sorry to be late, but Brett was really done in and will be quite all right by Tues. and is practically so now. I know her so well and try to look after her but it's not so easy.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I had that feeling of going through something that has all happened before. \"You were happy a minute ago.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You're right. Wasn't me at all. Was another fellow. Think we called him the local Harvard man. Remember him now.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He liked to think of the fish and what he could do to a shark if he were swimming free. I should have chopped the bill off to fight them with, he thought. But there was no hatchet and then there was no knife.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He cannot hear,\" the major said. \"And you are quite sure that you love a girl?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"That's just it,\" said Robert. \"I'm afraid they expected to meet me at San Sebastian, and that's why they stopped over.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We went in. Jack was sitting on the bed. John and Morgan were sitting on a couple of chairs. Steinfelt was standing up.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "2nd Soldier--They were a pretty yellow crowd. When they seen him go up there they didn't want any of it.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Nothing happened. The fish just moved away slowly and the old man could not raise him an inch. His line was strong and made for heavy fish and he held it against his back until it was so taut that beads of water were jumping from it. Then it began to make a slow hissing sound in the water and he still held it, bracing himself against the thwart and leaning back against the pull. The boat began to move slowly off toward the North-West.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Also Belmonte imposed conditions and insisted that his bulls should not be too large, nor too dangerously armed with horns, and so the element that was necessary to give the sensation of tragedy was not there, and the public, who wanted three times as much from Belmonte, who was sick with a fistula, as Belmonte had ever been able to give, felt defrauded and cheated, and Belmonte's jaw came further out in contempt, and his face turned yellower, and he moved with greater difficulty as his pain increased, and finally the crowd were actively against him, and he was utterly contemptuous and indifferent. He had meant to have a great afternoon, and instead it was an afternoon of sneers, shouted insults, and finally a volley of cushions and pieces of bread and vegetables, thrown down at him in the plaza where he had had his greatest triumphs. His jaw only went further out. Sometimes he turned to smile that toothed, long-jawed, lipless smile when he was called something particularly insulting, and always the pain that any movement produced grew stronger and stronger, until finally his yellow face was parchment color, and after his second bull was dead and the throwing of bread and cushions was over, after he had saluted the President with the same wolf-jawed smile and contemptuous eyes, and handed his sword over the barrera to be wiped, and put back in its case, he passed through into the callejon and leaned on the barrera below us, his head on his arms, not seeing, not hearing anything, only going through his pain. When he looked up, finally, he asked for a drink of water.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We had stopped at the floor our rooms were on. She went straight down the hall and into Romero's room. She did not knock. She simply opened the door, went in, and closed it behind her.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Come on, Al,\" said Max. \"We better go. He's not coming.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Listen,\" he said to the two Indians. \"I want to tell you about something that happened to me in Paris.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Yogi had played centre at football and war had been much the same thing, intensely unpleasant. When you played football and had the ball, you were down with your legs spread out and the ball held out in front of you on the ground; you had to listen for the signal, decode it, and make the proper pass. You had to think about it all the time. While your hands were on the ball the opposing centre stood in front of you, and when you passed the ball he brought his hand up smash into your face and grabbed you with the other hand under the chin or under your armpit, and tried to pull you forward or shove you back to make a hole he could go through and break up the play. You were supposed to charge forward so hard you banged him out of the play with your body and put you both on the ground.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"From then on all through my leave I tried to see that beautiful lady. Once I thought I saw her in the theatre. It wasn't her. Another time I caught a glimpse of what I thought was her in a passing taxi and leaped into another taxi and followed. I lost the taxi.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"That's the way men are,\" his wife said to us. She smoothed her comfortable lap. \"I voted against prohibition to please him, and because I like a little beer in the house, and then he talks that way. It's a wonder they ever find any one to marry them.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "At noon of Sunday, the 6th of July, the fiesta exploded. There is no other way to describe it. People had been coming in all day from the country, but they were assimilated in the town and you did not notice them. The square was as quiet in the hot sun as on any other day. The peasants were in the outlying wine-shops.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Then he said aloud, \"I wish I had the boy. To help me and to see this.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "A couple of Indians were passing along the road, grunting to themselves and to each other. Yogi called to them. The Indians came over.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We all had the same medals, except the boy with the black silk bandage across his face, and he had not been at the front long enough to get any medals. The tall boy with a very pale face who was to be a lawyer had been a lieutenant of Arditi and had three medals of the sort we each had only one of. He had lived a very long time with death and was a little detached. We were all a little detached, and there was nothing that held us together except that we met every afternoon at the hospital. Although, as we walked to the Cova through the tough part of the town, walking in the dark, with light and singing coming out of the wine shops, and sometimes having to walk into the street when the men and women would crowd together on the sidewalk so that we would have had to jostle them to get by, we felt held together by there being something that had happened that they, the people who disliked us, did not understand.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Look how he knows how to use his horns,\" I said. \"He's got a left and a right just like a boxer.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We drove in to Biarritz and left the car outside a very Ritz place. We went into the bar and sat on high stools and drank a whiskey and soda.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"See that horse-cab? Going to have that horse-cab stuffed for you for Christmas. Going to give all my friends stuffed animals. I'm a nature-writer.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Huh!\" he called to the bull, \"Tomar!\" holding the cape in both hands so it would catch his eye. The bull detached himself from the horse and charged the cape, and Manuel, running sideways and holding the cape spread wide, stopped, swung on his heels, and brought the bull sharply around facing Zurito.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "There is no sense in being anything but practical though, he thought. I wish I had some salt. And I do not know whether the sun will rot or dry what is left, so I had better eat it all although I am not hungry. The fish is calm and steady. I will eat it all and then I will be ready.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You know,\" he said, \"I like liquor pretty well. If I hadn't been boxing I would have drunk quite a lot.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Go on to the infirmary, man,\" he said. \"Don't be a damn fool.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"So the bull-fighter fellow hit him just as hard as he could in the face, and then sat down on the floor. He couldn't get up, Brett said. Cohn wanted to pick him up and carry him to the bed. He said if Cohn helped him he'd kill him, and he'd kill him anyway this morning if Cohn wasn't out of town. Cohn was crying, and Brett had told him off, and he wanted to shake hands.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I shouldn't think so. She never has any money. She gets five hundred quid a year and pays three hundred and fifty of it in interest to Jews.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The music stopped and we started toward the table where the count sat. Then the music started again and we danced. I looked at the count. He was sitting at the table smoking a cigar. The music stopped again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"He'll kill him,\" said Hogan. \"He'll tear him in two.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I have to work in the morning,\" I said. \"I'm too far behind you now to catch up and be any fun.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The girl brought in a big bowl of hot vegetable soup and the wine. We had fried trout afterward and some sort of a stew and a big bowl full of wild strawberries. We did not lose money on the wine, and the girl was shy but nice about bringing it. The old woman looked in once and counted the empty bottles.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"My father went to Eton with Gladstone,\" the elderly waitress said. \"And now I am ready.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I know it,\" the boy said. \"I'll be right back. Have another coffee. We have credit here.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"None of your damn business,\" Al said. \"Who's out in the kitchen?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"My dear, I would do it if I would enjoy it. I enjoy to watch you dance.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"What a fish,\" he said. \"He has it sideways in his mouth now and he is moving off with it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He woke with the jerk of his right fist coming up against his face and the line burning out through his right hand. He had no feeling of his left hand but he braked all he could with his right and the line rushed out. Finally his left hand found the line and he leaned back against the line and now it burned his back and his left hand, and his left hand was taking all the strain and cutting badly. He looked back at the coils of line and they were feeding smoothly. Just then the fish jumped making a great bursting of the ocean and then a heavy fall.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The road followed a river. Across the river were mountains. The sun was taking the frost out of the grass. It was bright and cold and the air came through the open windshield.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He went back into the other room for the light treatment and the massage. Then I heard him ask the doctor if he might use his telephone and he shut the door. When he came back into the room, I was sitting in another machine. He was wearing his cape and had his cap on, and he came directly toward my machine and put his arm on my shoulder.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Oh, darling, please stay by me. Please stay by me and see me through this.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Two hours later Cohn appeared. He came into the front room still with the wreath of garlics around his neck. The Spaniards shouted when he came in. Cohn wiped his eyes and grinned.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"That's what you want to do. Travel while you're young. Mother and I always wanted to get over, but we had to wait a while.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'll get another knife and have the spring ground. How many days of heavy brisa have we?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Zurito rode by, a bulky equestrian statue. He wheeled his horse and faced him towards the toril on the far side of the ring where the bull would come out. It was strange under the arc-light. He pic-ed in the hot afternoon sun for big money. He didn't like this arc-light business.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The fish was coming in on his circle now calm and beautiful looking and only his great tail moving. The old man pulled on him all that he could to bring him closer. For just a moment the fish turned a little on his side. Then he straightened himself and began another circle.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Thank you,\" the old man said. He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Yes, he thought. And now he has jumped more than a dozen times and filled the sacks along his back with air and he cannot go down deep to die where I cannot bring him up. He will start circling soon and then I must work on him. I wonder what started him so suddenly? Could it have been hunger that made him desperate, or was he frightened by something in the night?", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Scripps looked up. Diana's heart beat faster. Perhaps he was coming. Perhaps she was holding him. Holding him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Together they went down the street to the beanery. They did not walk hand in hand now. They walked like what are called old married people. Mrs. Scripps carried the bird-cage. The bird was happy in the warm wind.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Montoya came up to our table. He had a telegram in his hand. \"It's for you.\" He handed it to me.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Maybe if I can increase the tension just a little it will hurt him and he will jump, he thought. Now that it is daylight let him jump so that he'll fill the sacks along his backbone with air and then he cannot go deep to die.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I can't blame them. Can you blame them? Why do you follow Brett around? Haven't you any manners? How do you think it makes me feel?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I'm sorry,\" Jack says. \"I didn't mean to foul you.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The gypsy was walking out towards the bull again, walking heel-and-toe, insultingly, like a ballroom dancer, the red shafts of the banderillos twitching with his walk. The bull watched him, not fixed now, hunting him, but waiting to get close enough so he could be sure of getting him, getting the horns into him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"They thought we were snappers, all right,\" the man said. \"It certainly shows you the power of the Catholic Church. It's a pity you boys ain't Catholics. You could get a meal, then, all right.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"They're all reserved,\" the dining-car conductor said. \"There will be a fifth service at three-thirty.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It was noon when I hooked him,\" he said. \"And I have never seen him.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I told the boy I was a strange old man,\" he said. \"Now is when I must prove it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We had another bottle of wine and Georgette made a joke. She smiled and showed all her bad teeth, and we touched glasses. \"You're not a bad type,\" she said. \"It's a shame you're sick. We get on well.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We lunched up-stairs at Botin's. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta. Brett did not eat much. She never ate much.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He could feel he was inside the current now and he could see the lights of the beach colonies along the shore. He knew where he was now and it was nothing to get home.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Baseball I think,\" the boy said. \"Tell me about the great John J. McGraw.\" He said Jota for J.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The doctor and two men in white were waiting for him. They laid him out on the table. They were cutting away his shirt. Manuel felt tired. His whole chest felt scalding inside.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I should think you'd love it. You'd never have to say a word. Come on, Robert. Do say something. Don't just sit there.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Well, anyway,\" Mandy went on, \"Ford was sitting there in the library one evening after mess when the butler came in and said: 'The Marquis of Buque's compliments and might he show the library to a group of friends with whom he has been dining?' They used to let him dine out and sometimes they let him sleep in the castle. Ford said, 'Quite,' and in came the marquis in his private's uniform followed by Sir Edmund Gosse and Professor Whatsisname, I forget it for the moment, from Oxford. Gosse stopped in front of the stuffed flamingo in the glass case and said, 'What have we here, Buque?'", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"How do I buck on about all this? You don't mind, do you? He's putting up for Zizi, you know.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "I leaned way over the wall and tried to see into the cage. It was dark. Some one rapped on the cage with an iron bar. Inside something seemed to explode. The bull, striking into the wood from side to side with his horns, made a great noise.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Fish,\" he said, \"I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "We had a bottle of wine apiece. Harris would not let us pay. He talked Spanish quite well, and the innkeeper would not take our money.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"What did you do? Wake up?\" Bill asked. \"Why didn't you spend the night?\" I stretched and rubbed my eyes.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The bull who killed Vicente Girones was named Bocanegra, was Number 118 of the bull-breeding establishment of Sanchez Tabemo, and was killed by Pedro Romero as the third bull of that same afternoon. His ear was cut by popular acclamation and given to Pedro Romero, who, in turn, gave it to Brett, who wrapped it in a handkerchief belonging to myself, and left both ear and handkerchief, along with a number of Muratti cigarette-stubs, shoved far back in the drawer of the bed-table that stood beside her bed in the Hotel Montoya, in Pamplona.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Diana dropped her head. \"Oh, Scripps,\" she said. \"Oh, Scripps.\" This was the end. She had her answer now. She had lost him.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Well, I'll take the fly-book, then.\" He tied on a fly. \"Where'd I better go? Up or down?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Below in the narrow passage of the callejon the sword-handlers arranged everything. All the seats were full. Above, all the boxes were full. There was not an empty seat except in the President's box. When he came in the fight would start.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Are you a girl of eighteen? Take the case of a Joan of Arc. Take the case of Bernard Shaw. Take the case of Betsy Ross.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Bird-shot'd be all right,\" Jack says. \"I wouldn't mind bird-shot any.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"All right,\" he said. \"You can't get this in America, eh?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"You wouldn't mind, really? I've been at Pamplona, you know. Brett's mad to go. You're sure we wouldn't just be a bloody nuisance?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"All right,\" I shouted. Bill waved his hand and started down the stream. I found the two wine-bottles in the pack, and carried them up the road to where the water of a spring flowed out of an iron pipe. There was a board over the spring and I lifted it and, knocking the corks firmly into the bottles, lowered them down into the water. It was so cold my hand and wrist felt numbed.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Go to hell!\" said Bill. \"Get the sandwiches made and a bottle of wine. You tell him, Jake.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Along the dark streets men were sneaking home. The frost had come and frozen everything stiff and cold. The chinook had not been a real chinook, after all. Spring had not yet come, and the men who had commenced their orgies were halted by the chill in the air that told them the chinook wind had been a fake. That foreman, Yogi thought, he'll catch hell tomorrow.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I can remember the tail slapping and banging and the thwart breaking and the noise of the clubbing. I can remember you throwing me into the bow where the wet coiled lines were and feeling the whole boat shiver and the noise of you clubbing him like chopping a tree down and the sweet blood smell all over me.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It's nothing,\" Skunk-Backwards said. \"You'd do the same for me in a moment.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Well, well,\" Bill said. \"That's always just the stage I meet anybody. What'll I send them? Think they'd like a couple of stuffed race-horses?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "He felt the light delicate pulling and then a harder pull when a sardine's head must have been more difficult to break from the hook. Then there was nothing.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Coming toward him down the street came two Indians. They looked at him, but their faces did not change. Their faces remained the same. They went into McCarthy's barber shop.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"All my life I've wanted to go on a trip like that,\" Cohn said. He sat down. \"I'll be too old before I can ever do it.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I hope the wind goes down,\" Brett said. \"It's very bad for him.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"I didn't,\" Cohn said. \"I thought I'd sit here because I felt a little tight.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "In a good soldier in the war it went like this: First, you were brave because you didn't think anything could hit you, because you yourself were something special, and you knew that you could never die. Then you found out different. You were really scared then, but if you were a good soldier you functioned the same as before. Then, after you were wounded and not killed, with new men coming on, and going through your old processes, you hardened and became a good hard-boiled soldier. Then came the second crack, which is much worse than the first, and then you began doing good deeds, and being the boy Sir Philip Sidney, and storing up treasures in heaven.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Americans make the best husbands,\" the American lady said to my wife. I was getting down the bags. \"American men are the only men in the world to marry.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"There's good swimming,\" I said. \"But it's dangerous when it's rough.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Then he was sorry for the great fish that had nothing to eat and his determination to kill him never relaxed in his sorrow for him. How many people will he feed, he thought. But are they worthy to eat him? No, of course not. There is no one worthy of eating him from the manner of his behaviour and his great dignity.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"It's a sure thing they'll come,\" I said. \"But maybe not to-night.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Yogi went into the bright room, looked at the bar, where Bruce, the bartender, was regarding him, got his hat and coat, said good-night to Skunk-Backwards, who asked him why he was leaving so early, and the outside trap-door was swung up by Bruce. As Yogi started down the ladder the Negro burst out laughing. \"I knowed it,\" he laughed. \"I knowed it all de time. No Swede gwine to fool ole Bruce.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Look,\" said Mike, \"when do you go down to Spain? Would you mind if we came down with you?\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "One came, finally, against the head itself and he knew that it was over. He swung the tiller across the shark's head where the jaws were caught in the heaviness of the fish's head which would not tear. He swung it once and twice and again. He heard the tiller break and he lunged at the shark with the splintered butt. He felt it go in and knowing it was sharp he drove it in again.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "As a matter of fact, supper was a pleasant meal. Brett wore a black, sleeveless evening dress. She looked quite beautiful. Mike acted as though nothing had happened. I had to go up and bring Robert Cohn down.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\" 'You'd better find out,' the priest said, and put the blanket back. Olz didn't say anything. The priest looked at him. Olz looked back at the priest. 'You want to know?'", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Fifty grand,\" Jack says, \"at two to one. I'll get twenty-five thousand bucks. Get some money on him, Jerry.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "It would be better to gut the dolphin a little later to save the blood in the meat, he thought. I can do that a little later and lash the oars to make a drag at the same time. I had better keep the fish quiet now and not disturb him too much at sunset. The setting of the sun is a difficult time for all fish.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "Brett smiled at him. \"I've promised to dance this with Jacob,\" she laughed. \"You've a hell of a biblical name, Jake.\"", "category": "author" }, { "style": "hemingway", "text": "\"Perhaps you have eaten enough of the beans, dear Scripps,\" the elderly waitress, now his wife, said. The drummer looked up from his paper. Scripps noticed that it was the Detroit News. There was a fine paper.", "category": "author" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Keep an eye out for Alice Sebold. The Lovely Bones, her novel narrated by a murdered girl, has never been off the Publishers Weekly bestseller list since it came out in June 2002. To date it has sold more than 2.2 million copies. Sebold's publisher, Little, Brown, is postponing the book's paperback release until the strong hardcover sales fall off. Sebold is working on a second book for Little, Brown, and then she will be free to shop for a new contract, potentially worth tens of millions.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Seattle City Librarian Deborah Jacobs, Pearl's boss, said anyone who doesn't view a librarian as a potent force doesn't understand the job. \"Ideas are more powerful than bombs,\" she said. \"Information is the way to take over the world.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Her confusion is understandable. This is Ms. Lyons's first trip to Eastern Connecticut State University. What's more, she has been on a different college campus nearly every day for the past three weeks.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "That's changed. The women don't pooh-pooh the bestseller list anymore, but they certainly don't follow it slavishly. Their reading remains as varied as ever, from academic tomes to light novels. They haven't kept count, but they have read an estimated 1,000 books each -- just for the group. That doesn't include books they've read on their own.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "PWD: You dedicate the book to Gene. Who's he?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Enuf already. There must be more \"classic\" vehicles on the road than I thought.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"He's on a permanent campaign,\" Howard said. \"He travels the country in an evangelical way and sells lots of books in the back of the auditorium.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But it is the foolishness, like the uselessness, like the smell of life and death on those shelves, that makes the used-book store what it is. Michael Silverblatt, host of KCRW-FM's literary talk show \"Bookworm,\" says: \"At a first-run bookstore, people don't necessarily like books. They like trends, or CDs, or coffee. But used-book stores are meeting places for people who like books, and not just books, but people who want to find bookishness, a substance in rare supply these days.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Alas, the publishers of the estimated 55,000 books that come out every year in the United States must count on lesser-known authors to do more and more of the promoting of a book, from hiring publicists to setting up and paying for tours. Many publishers even expect authors to submit their marketing strategy as part of their proposal. For authors, finding readers for a book is often harder than writing it was.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "You'll discover, as one reporter did, the first volume of Evelyn Waugh's very hard-to-find one-volume autobiography (he planned three, but then died), \"A Little Learning.\" And for $5, hard-bound, no less.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "If I try to say the joke to myself, making the word mean the three different things at the same time, it is . . . like three people trying to talk to you at the same time about different things.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But while writers like Mary Morris consider the blockbuster mentality something of a sickness in the book business, others insist its a measure of health. Some of the worst cynics tend to be people who maybe are never going to get published for a reason, says Nicole Aragi, the superagent-of-the-moment who brokered Jonathan Safran Foers handsome payday. Aragi embodies the blockbuster mentality better than most. She claims not to bother with midlist clients and takes on at most one or two new authors a year, and then only the superhot (she also represents Junot Daz). Winning Aragis approval in itself is a benediction of sorts.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Laurie Wagner, author of \"Living Happily Ever After,\" said that an aunt threw huge book parties for her in Los Angeles. \"At the first event I sold 160 books to family and friends. The next event I sold 120. And the events generate word of mouth.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "For superstar authors, the publicity machine runs nonstop. Lesser-known writers hit the road and promote their own books. Never mind that they may have better things to do -- like write", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Jim and Jeanne's daughter, a Newton resident, found the Auburndale storefront recently and the Kontoleons decided to donate their collection to the store. They now not only sell their books, but also old original and hard-to-find prints and homemade greeting cards.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Tom Clancy didn't fare much better. Sensing weakness, publishers are betting on new names and developing new brands. A fresh plot twist: Many of the writers lined up to take on Clancy, King, Michael Crichton and John Grisham are women.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "A printing plant worker pleaded guilty in May to stealing pages from the unreleased novel. Donald Parfitt, a forklift operator at Clays Ltd. in Bungay, eastern England, claims he found the pages in the parking lot as he was leaving work May 5.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Despite failing health in recent years, Opdyke kept a busy schedule until she broke her hip April 12. She died Saturday from liver and kidney failure brought on by a long battle with hepatitis.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: Some are. Some aren't.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"All I want to do in my life is bring people together regardless of their race or religion or creed or sex,\" Opdyke told a reporter in 1993. \"We need to learn never to hate again. The children need to learn that.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Little, Brown, the agent said, had made a preemptive offer: $500,000, for two books. I was amazed, Lansens says. I was unknown.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Lose yourself in a book, off the pier in Hermosa? What exactly was being smoked on the pier beforehand, you ask?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Samantha Scully, 36, purchased Gene de Chene Booksellers on Santa Monica Boulevard in West L. A. from its aging owner last year. Faced with the store's closing and the loss of her job, Scully didn't want to see this neighborhood mainstay with a political bent (an antiwar poster adorns the door and a nice section of books on nuclear war sits inside) disappear. She believes she can keep the store afloat by attracting younger customers. \"I wanted the store to stay here,\" she said, adding that, as she spoke, three patrons in their early 20s were browsing in her shop.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Borders and Barnes & Noble would want to deny this. But it is at the used-books store, the least sensible of all businesses, a place perpetually teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, where you can drink in the utter futility of books without a $4 latte chaser.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"The ejectable hair bun had many technical hurdles to overcome and we thought doing two clichs was over the top,\" he said. \"So, we went with the shushing action. It gives the figure a certain dignity.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Her Portrait of the Killer purports to close the book on the Jack the Ripper case. Unlike her characters, the Cornwell brand is far from dead. The writer signed a two-book deal worth $16 million with PenguinPutnam last year. This fall she will deliver Blow Fly, a new installment in her Scarpetta series, chock-full with crime and corpses.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "For seven years, she hunched over her manuscript, a tale of post-partum depression and infanticide. The work spanned the course of two pregnancies and several thousand nagging doubts. Even after Koppelman, now 33, finally made the cut at Columbia in 1998, the doubts would grow so thunderous that she considered giving up and opening a coffee shop.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But Los Angeles has lately come to the forefront in keeping the tradition of bibliomaniacal uselessness alive. As the university libraries of Southern California strive to keep pace with mushrooming student populations, and as the rising cost of books drives students and parents to look for better values, the secondhand reading business is thriving along with the likes of Barnes & Noble and Amazon.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: Three. They've been absolutely wonderful. One in particular was enormously helpful getting me through this. He sort of took Gene's place, saying 'You can do it.'", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Dick Kreck's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or DKreck@denverpost.com.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "It all started with one barn in New Hampshire. Jim, then a station manager at WGGB in Springfield, was feeling the stress of his job and its new responsibilities, which included giving on-air editorials. One weekend, the Kontoleons took a drive up to New Hampshire to get away and stumbled on a yard sale of sorts inside an old barn.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "During the couple's final move, to New London, Conn., where Jim was starting up a television station, the collection was already quite serious. About three years ago, Jonathan came to visit his parents who were no longer working and decided to move them up to their present home in Oxford. Their new house even has a barn -- just for the books.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"Don't make the mistake of thinking your items aren't good enough for us,\" they soothe. Is a gold coin from the Clark & Gruber Mint worth anything? Buyers are there from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Thursday.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "All he ever really wanted to do vocationally was to paint and write. He fell into writing and illustrating children's books because \"it seemed halfway there on both counts.\" Writing television scripts paid the rent. There is a double irony here: He was typecast because he was good at both; and the economy of diction and scene-setting he learned from the kiddie-lit and television trenches are the foundations of his international success.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Last year, a record fifteen debut novels shipped more than 100,000 copies each. The most notable of these, of course, is Sebolds The Lovely Bonesa surprising novel whose narrator is a murdered girlwhich has sold more than 2 million copies in hardback and last week logged its fifty-third week on the New York Times best-seller list.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Jane Juska is this season's literary sensation, the senior citizen who, with \"Aristotelian discipline,\" composed a now-notorious personal ad in the New York Review of Books: \"Before I turn 67--next March--I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me.\" The ad graces the cover of A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance (Villard), a book that has broken the Amazon.com top 100 bestseller list a week before publication.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Brian Paepper, 39, a Dutch-born Angeleno, owns Alias Books, formerly West L. A. Book Center, on Sawtelle Boulevard. He sees a future in the used-book business, as long as it is treated as a business. The previous owner, Paepper said, would place high prices on books he felt especially attached to, and they wouldn't sell. He refused to utilize the Internet. To keep the store in business and relevant, Paepper has taken to selling textbooks and brought the store's inventory online.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a mini-pickup with 400,000 miles on it. This, of course, led to a reader calling with a Subaru that logged 484,000.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "After 27 years of near-celibacy and retired from a successful career teaching high school English, Juska was busy but lonely before she began her adventures. PW praised her chapters on visiting libraries or teaching English to prisoners even more than the randy parts: \"Old women looking for sex may not seem a hot topic, but there's something universal in this woman's love affair with the written word.\" She spoke to PW Daily contributor Norman Oder by phone at her home in Berkeley, Calif.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Best P. I. Novel", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "In social as well as economic terms, L. A. is a wordy town as never before. Witness last year's \"Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology,\" from stuffy Library of America, and last month's \"The Misread City: New Literary Los Angeles.\" The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books now is the largest event of its kind in the country. Look at the lineup of authors the West Hollywood store Book Soup attracts, and at the recent national syndication of the impossibly literate radio show \"Bookworm,\" a KCRW-FM creation.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But many experienced proprietors seem hopeful. Leonard Berstein's father opened Caravan Bookstore on Grand Avenue in 1954. Now Leonard owns it. \"It's only been fifty years", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Theres really more of a bottom-line mentality now, Morris says wearily. When I started out, publishers could still commit to a writer. Now theyre publishing a book. All any publisher has to do is push a button and get all the numbers from the big book chains. And those numbers, she adds darkly, will track you forever.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The action-figure line will continue, Pahlow said, with a range of historical and contemporary characters. Also in the pipeline: Ludwig van Beethoven and another figure with strong Seattle appeal: TV clown J. P. Patches, host of a local children's show on KIRO-TV for 23 years.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Thompson said that the huge market for libraries in Southern California may help business in the short run, but it has taken a lot of books that would have been bought and sold repeatedly out of circulation permanently. But he added that the mega-bookstore trend has not affected his business adversely.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Best Paperback Original P. I. Novel", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Linda Watanabe McFerrin of San Francisco, author of the story collection \"The Hand of Buddha,\" traveled to 25 states on an Amtrak pass for a month. She taught workshops and stayed with friends. Constance Hale (\"Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose\") conducts writing and grammar workshops in bookstores and at Media Alliance, the Learning Annex and UC Extensions up and down the state.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Opdyke, who was born Irene Gut on May 15, 1918, in Kozienice, Poland, was a nursing student when Germany invaded in 1939. Opdyke fled but was captured by Russian troops (then allied with the Nazis), who beat and raped her. She spent a year recovering and working in a Russian hospital.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But just before Lansens became a casualty of publishings new economics, her luck turned violently, again. Hotchkiss, in New York, got a call from Whoopi Goldbergs production company. She wanted to buy the movie rights and Whoopi herself wanted to play the lead. For Lansens, the deal meant another six-figure sum, not to mention an unimaginable windfall of publicity for the book, now in paperback.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Products from lawn chairs to multi-packs of burritos tempt buyers-in-bulk. A woman strolled by (without buying a book, I might add), and in her cart were a giant bag of lemons, a smaller bag of giant mushrooms - and a 27-inch color TV. Did she go to get lemons, then decide she might as well get a new TV, too?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Even so, he periodically has to nourish the scientific part of his brain. \"After I have read lots of fiction, it is like having too much birthday cake,\" he confides. \"Reading science is like having a jug of cold water.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Appearance versus reality is the underlying theme of the hottest debut novel of the summer. I can feel you yawning, but before you skip to another page of the newspaper, let me just say that the astonishing success of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time shows that the way a story is told, rather than the story itself, often makes the difference between an instant remainder and a literary bestseller.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "In 1944, the major in Ternopol evacuated the villa and took her with him. The Jews were rescued by the Polish underground. She ended up in a camp for displaced people.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Take the Eclectic Collector, a dark, breezy hole in the wall just off the pier in Hermosa Beach. Presided over by Tom Allard, a Barnaby Rudge-type who can usually be found outside the shop in a Hawaiian shirt, smoking, the Collector is usually empty. A wholly different experience from Acres, it is the kind of place where you can sit down with a copy of, for example, \"Legendary Yachts: The Great American Yachts from Crowningshield's Cleopatra's Barge to Today's Intrepid Bill Robinson\" (1971, $8.50), and lose yourself for hours in nautical luxuries.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "J. S. Holliday, author of the acclaimed \"The World Rushed In: The California Gold Rush Experience,\" recently drove from his home in Carmel to a vast chain bookstore 200 miles north in Roseville for a reading he set up himself. He arrived to find a podium and chairs, a mike turned on and 30 shrink-wrapped copies of his new book, \"Rush for Riches,\" on a table.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The novel has a deceptively simple surface. Underneath, though, it is quirky and complicated, both graphically and textually. Mainly that's because Haddon has chosen to tell the story in the voice of Christopher John Francis Boone. He's a 15-year-old kid who finds his neighbour's black poodle stabbed to death with a garden fork in the middle of the night and sets out to find the murderer.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Others are less chummy. When Ms. Lyons gives a brochure to a psychology professor, the woman pinches it between two fingers as if it were a dirty napkin. \"I don't take anything I won't use,\" she sniffs, handing it back. One professor crosses his arms and scowls at Ms. Lyons. A department secretary doesn't look up from her computer screen or say hello after Ms. Lyons introduces herself.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Write a column three days a week for 16 years and people barely blink. Write one best seller and, suddenly, you're an Author.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "PWD: Your thirtysomething niece was upset about you getting involved with a man more than three decades younger. Have you patched things up with her?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Television and books -- it sounds like a match made in limbo, and it's true that watching most American television programming about books feels like a long wait in a small airport. Author interviews have been TV's only reliable way to convey one of the chief pleasures of reading, that sense of being caught up in a great conversation. But not all great authors are good talkers, and literary types of any sort are increasingly hard to find on talk shows.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Sept. 28, 2002 -- In 1941, a group of women in Northern Virginia formed a book club. Their husbands were just starting their careers and nearly all the wives were in their 20s. They would meet in the afternoons, bringing their babies along. During World War II, many took jobs, so meetings were switched to evenings.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Now happily living in Oxford, Haddon, 40, has big muscles from his penchant for marathon kayaking on the River Thames. \"You can only write for five or six hours a day,\" he says, \"so you have to find something else to do the rest of the time. For a lot of writers, it is either alcohol or family breakdown.\" Or both, one assumes. Haddon's solution is \"wholesome outdoor sports\" and painting with acrylics so that the canvases are dry before his toddler, Alfie, comes home from nursery school.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "It helps to have low expectations. Reifler says with a shrug. Its a crazy way to live. Its just a gamble. Youre just betting on a way of life.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"She knew that eyewitnesses to the Holocaust were quickly dying off and that if she didn't speak out, it could happen again,\" said her daughter, Jeannie Smith. \"She had a very thick Zsa Zsa Gabor accent, and her biggest fear was that people wouldn't understand what she was saying. But she was amazing, and her love for people and her message of love translated, and her story always got through.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "in used-book stores is electrifying. In a pre-digital electrical way.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "He expects interest in the Nancy Pearl doll to be strongest in Seattle, where she is best known. But Pahlow said he's already received inquiries about it from librarians around the country. \"We've discovered librarians are very networked and seem to know about everything before it happens.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "And it's worth a visit if not just to meet the Kontoleons, who also refer to themselves as \"the book gypsies.\" Maybe you will see Jeanne shyly roll her eyes when Jim calls her \"lovely\" in front of strangers. Or maybe Jim will tell you about how he was almost arrested in Medford when he threw pebbles at Jeanne's window before they were married.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Even if the crossover smash was still the exception, such books encouraged the idea that any promising young nobody might be transformed into a very big somebody with the right promotion, and ironically, a big-enough advance could help serve as that promotion. The problem was, with everyone swinging for the fences, publishers could no longer afford to have much patience for young writers who show only warning-track power. Its the blockbuster mentality applied to literature, says New York literary agent Jody Hotchkiss. The middle is falling out, but the financial upside is far, far greater. Its exactly whats happening in Hollywood right now.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"She told me, 'When stuff like that happens, you don't have time to think through what you are going to do. You've got to react,' \" her daughter said. \"She said, 'You have to think with your heart and not with your head.' \"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "One of the hottest new brand names in publishing, Gabaldon sold a three-book historical romance series for $10 million to her publishers at Delacorte Press in the U. S. and Doubleday and Random House abroad. Her first book, Outlander, a time-travel romance whose heroine has a husband in one century and a lover in another, got picked up after she posted parts of it on a CompuServe bulletin board. She built it into a best-selling six-book saga over the following decade.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "While the Kontoleons don't actively peruse auctions and yard sales much anymore, they say they are still open to buying rare items. Currently, they have about 1,100 books in the store, with 3,000 more at home.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "just send me 200 books and I'll sell them,\" Read said. He drove to 100 tour dates in 40 cities -- everything from book group meetings to huge university lectures. He made purple T-shirts and buttons depicting a hand snapping and gave them out at each stop.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "books are, let's face it, on their deathbed. As an art and a business, they're obsolete. They have been for the better part of a century. They may continue to be for a century more. That is their charm.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: He's terrific. He said, 'Go get 'em, Mom, it's your turn.' But he's not going to read the book.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Anyway, there I was at the Park Meadows store, seated at a table between men's striped dress shirts and washable suede jackets. Just down the aisle was a large stack of plums by the crate.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Finding your way around is one of the challenges of being a textbook sales representative -- or \"traveler\" in the romantic argot of W. W. Norton & Company. Another is trying to make intelligent conversation about Wittgenstein one minute and plate tectonics the next. And please, don't even mention the driving.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The reason they work there? Well, it's their stuff.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "When San Francisco's Kirk Read got his coming-of-age memoir, \"How I Learned to Snap,\" published by Hill Street Press, an independent house in Athens, Ga., he understood that publishing it was all they could afford to do. \"I told them,", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"A lot of authors are better at thinking outside the box than publishers because they live outside the box,\" said Gerry Howard, head of Broadway Books, a division of Random House. He offered as an example Dave Pelzer, author of the best-selling book \"A Child Called 'It': One Child's Courage to Survive.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: And I turned it down. I'd have to give up too much; I assume fidelity is part of the contract.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: I just do not want to give advice. I'm not an expert. I do think, sometimes, people die early, they sort of give up on everything. But I would not advise everybody to do this.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Patrick suggests that they \"do lunch\" sometime. When the pair is out of earshot, Ms. Lyons wonders aloud whether it's possible to \"do lunch\" in a college cafeteria. Besides, what would they talk about?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "I'll tell you in 75,\" says Bernstein, when asked about the state of business. He says he sees room for everyone in the book business", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "A write-up about her speech in a local newspaper caught the eye of a rabbi, who persuaded Opdyke to tell her tale to the world. She agreed, embarking on a new career.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Best P. I. Short Story", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Disregard your claustrophobia and the justifiable fear of getting smothered beneath the Pisa-like spires of books, and have one of the helpful Sonic Youth clerks help you to the section on \"Hackysack, Yo-Yo's and Juggling.\" Nearby, look over the three full shelves devoted to the history and study of prostitution. And don't forget the Frank Cotton Memorial Oddball shelves, named for the late head clerk of Acres, who until his death in 1988 functioned as the store's only computer. There, you find a volume titled \"14,000 Things to Be Happy About,\" and another called \"The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "A recent tally by The Times uncovered roughly 40 used- and rare-book stores in the greater L. A. area. Although they tend to occupy low-rent districts, they exist in virtually every corner", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"Used-book stores should cater to people who can't afford new books as they become more expensive,\" he says. Still, he adds, \"it's a fool's profession.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "While she may pretend otherwise at times, the rudeness and rejection have taken their toll. (Just over a month after her visit to Eastern Connecticut State, Ms. Lyons will resign from Norton and move to Los Angeles.)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But here, the book business is thriving. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the greater Los Angeles area is the largest book market in the country now with 21.5% of the books sold by independent bookstores, the highest percentage in the country.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "He has blurred the boundaries between postmodern and genre fiction, between books for kids and those aimed at adults. But that is what fiction should do, he counters, pointing out that one of his favourite books is the quintessential 19th-century mystery novel, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "How much longer will they go? \"The book club would never consider disbanding,\" says member Mary Lathram. \"I think that's a terrible word for Book Club. I feel that when we get too frail, maybe we'll just fade away.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Afterward, Carlson acknowledged to us that he won't get away with eating a cake shoe. He's going to chew and swallow a real shoe -- probably a loafer.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The name is not an exaggeration. Acres has, by a conservative estimate, 750,000 books on its bowed, rotting shelves (the number probably is closer to 1 million). \"More books than anybody in their right mind needs,\" acknowledges Jackie Smith, who has worked in the store since 1976 and now owns it (her husband's grandfather opened it in the 1930s).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "After lunch, she runs into two men in front of the history department's main office. They are wearing dark suits. They are carrying leather briefcases. They are the competition.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Christopher has no peripheral emotional vision; he sees the world in strictly literal terms and he has no friends. He hates change, looking people in the eye, the colours brown and yellow, and having different foods touch on his plate. If somebody inadvertently grazes Christopher's arm or stares at him, he is likely to bang his head against the wall or roll into a ball on the ground and emit loud persistent groaning sounds for hours on end.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Pearl herself comes across as modest and unassuming, but she's an unabashed booster of her profession: \"The role of a librarian is to make sense of the world of information. If that's not a qualification for superhero-dom, what is?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "From NPR. For an audio report: http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/sept/bookclub/index.html", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "It was clear to Koppelman that publishers not only didnt seem interested in a modest first novel but also showed no interest in the idea of developing a writer over time, who might, several books down the road, produce something really stellar. Instead, even from unknown writers, they seemed to want only blockbusters. Not fitting that category, Koppelman finally found a small, independent publisher called MacAdam/Cage in San Francisco that believed in building a writers career. A Mouthful of Air was published in April, and the New York Observer was quick to call it an exquisitely dark debut novel. It is only now that Koppelman can pause long enough to contemplate the bigger question: Was it all worth it?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"I have cornered a rather funny little niche as the resident food Jew in the Bay Area,\" Goldstein said. \"You sell them one book at a time. Drip, drip, drip.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "An encouraging sign is the recent influx of youth into the business. Traditionally the province of antiquaries and literates of the pre-computer age", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Scary, exhilarating, funny and tear-jerking, she has crafted a beautiful masterpiece that will cast a spell over kids of all ages. Even a 28-year-old dad of two.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Granted, an author who spent last Saturday at not one but two Costco stores, signing copies of \"Murder at the Brown Palace,\" the runaway best seller about a 1911 shooting at the luxurious hotel. (Available at better bookstores everywhere.)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: A man in my writing group gave me a book called The Good Parts, excerpts of writing by famous people about sex. I read Updike's and thought, he can't do it, either. And he's such a fine writer. It gave me courage to go ahead and just write about the sex part and not worry about how badly I was going to surely do it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"Why should anyone go to a bookstore when they can order a book from the comfort of their desk and get it in a day?\" asked Michael Thompson, who has owned Michael R. Thompson Bookseller, on 3rd Street in West Hollywood, for 30 years.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The Pulitzer-prize winning author of Cold Mountain, a peripatetic Civil War epic about a Confederate deserter, sold his next book to Random House for $8 million and film rights to Paramount Pictures for $3 million. Miramax's movie adaptation of Cold Mountain is in the works, starring Nicole Kidman and Jude Law.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "And so Koppelman pressed on. It was only when she tried to sell the book, however, that she learned what it means to be a real writer these days.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Tuesday, Jul. 15, 2003", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "When the major discovered the Jews, he gave Opdyke a choice: Sleep with him, or he'd turn them in. She became his mistress.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Hillary Rodham Clinton got a cool $8 million advance for her memoir, \"Living History,\" and a publicity blitz that included prominent journalists from foreign countries flying to Washington to interview her. Right behind that, Harry Potter fans were whipped into a frenzy by an orchestrated campaign of embargoes on the new volume and then treated to bookstore pajama parties across the country.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Riding the surge in Christian-themed books, LaHaye signed a deal with Bantam Books to publish a new four-part Armageddon thriller. LaHaye is co-author of the doomsday series Left Behind, which sold 50 million copies. No surprise here. The religious books market hit $2.4 billion in 2001 and is projected to grow 3.7% annually through 2006. HarperCollins and Doubleday now have Christian book divisions.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But even after Pahlow said he wanted to do it, Pearl didn't know he was serious until he called her earlier this year and said, \"We need to set a time for you to go to Mukilteo and be digitized.\" Pahlow's action figures are designed here and made in China.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "To Pearl's delight, the figure will be holding a (removable) copy of her new book, \"Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason.\" The book, Pearl's third, is being published by Seattle's Sasquatch Books and is due out in September.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "It should be said from the start that going to used-book stores is, at best, a useless pursuit. It is reversionary, unhealthy even. Used-book stores are filled with books, dusty, old, sinus-polluting books and, as if that weren't enough, with the kind of people you make a conscious effort to avoid during the day", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "It can become overwhelming. Especially if, like Ms. Lyons, you've been on the job for less than a month.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Good news for aspiring novelists: Advances for first-time authors have blown sky-high. The catch? If the book doesnt sell, the fallout can kill your career.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Best First P. I. Novel", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Haddon, a soft-spoken Englishman, was born in Northampton, \"the jewel of the Midlands,\" he says dismissively. \"I always joke that there are only two literary links to Northampton, and both of them are to the same psychiatric hospital.\" Apparently John Clare, the English Romantic poet, ended up in St. Crispins Hospital, and so did Robert Lowell, the modern American poet, after suffering a manic episode when he was passing through. \"That's the end of Northampton's link to world literature,\" Haddon says with a laugh.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But whats good for the authors bank accountand the publishersin the short term is not necessarily best for his career in the long term. At Doubleday, we believe in investing in a career, insists Bill Thomas, editor-in-chief of Random Houses Doubleday Broadway group. That gets harder to do with the money thats being thrown around these days. Its closing your eyes and praying. And that can hurt the writer.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The creator of the Stephanie Plum series, about an intrepid New Jersey bounty hunter, sold the rights for her next two novels to HarperCollins for $10 million. Evanovich made an estimated $4 million for each Plum installment, of which there are nine now. She's branching out into romance, nonfiction and possibly even a TV series.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "will determine \"which librarians have a sense of humor.\" She likes to believe that today's librarians are secure enough in their work that they won't take offense at the old clich.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Amy Koppelman had always wanted to be a writer, even after all those years she spent slogging away on a first novel in her closetthe only office space available in her cramped Upper West Side apartment. It was the closest thing I had to a room of ones own,", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The downside of all of this is the time taken away from what writers do best: write. The financial realities can be daunting, too. Most authors make $2 to $3 on a hardcover sale. An out-of-town reading might cost $300, even if you stay with friends. An author has to sell 100 books to break even, and bookstores rarely order that many copies.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "After Oxford, Haddon spent a few years doing assorted voluntary and part-time social-work type jobs before he discovered he \"was completely unemployable.\" The longest he says he lasted at any one time in an office was five weeks. Not having a boss, he says, is one of the best things about being a writer.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "What puts Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book, into such heady company? She's the model for a 5-inch-tall plastic \"action figure\" by Seattle-based Accoutrements, parent company of Ballard's Archie McPhee store, where zany meets kitschy meets glow-in-the-dark.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Jonathan Burnham, president of Miramax Books, who startled the publishing world last fall by forking out $625,000 for a novel called Bergdorf Blondes by Vogue editor Plum Sykes, concurs. Theres no doubt that publishers will be prepared to overpay for a major new literary voice, he says. But a big advance puts a huge pressure on the novel to succeed. This peculiar marketplace entrance-performance is something that everybody has to do now. William Faulkner didnt go around and meet ten publishers, who then participated in a heated auction that was publicized by Keith Kelly in the Post the next day.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: Oh my goodness. They're so different, one from the other, that I get to be not completely different, but I get to be a fuller person, because they bring out different parts of me. One thing they all have in common is that they're incredibly smart, and they're wonderful writers. So the question is a good one and, in all honesty, sometimes, I do have difficulty, and say: 'Come on Jane, simplify your life.' But who I would say farewell to?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "They may look sleepy, but many used-book stores are thriving. Plus, the best places to get lost in the stacks. By James Verini", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The book that really changed publishers minds about the commercial potential of literary fiction, and in particular the possibilities of first novels, was Charles Fraziers Cold Mountain. Published by Grove/Atlantic in 1997, this Civil War tale was a groundbreaking successa serious book that held its own on the Wal-Mart shelves, selling an incredible 1.5 million copies in hardback and following up with another 1.3 million in paperback. It was one of the biggest debuts in publishing history. The cry from every publisher in town was Get me the new Charles Frazier!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "I had some down time. Across the way was an endlessly repeating video for Oxi-Clean, a miracle if ever I saw one. Of course I watched. Scientists have proven that if there is a television turned on, a guy will watch it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"It's really good,\" she said. \"It refers to the book before, so you don't get lost. It's very hard to put down.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "has died. She was 85.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "In the ensuing years, Israel honored her as a \"Righteous Gentile\"one of thousands of non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. She also has written two autobiographies and tirelessly recounted her story in thousands of synagogues, churches and schools throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "I got a $3,000 advance for the book, she says. Im not even sure that covers the postage on the queries I sent out.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "As the members tell Howard Berkes for All Things Considered, every few meetings, they have a \"book selection.\" Each member brings three titles she'd be willing to buy. The group votes on which one the member should buy, and at the next meeting, the books are passed on. If the group likes a suggested title that doesn't make the rotation, the woman who suggested it is asked to read it and present a \"book report\" to the group.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "She arrives at the professor's door. Fortunately, he is in his office. Unfortunately, he is talking to a colleague.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Haddon obviously doesn't suffer from a problem such as Asperger's, but there is lot of him in Christopher -- the love of math, for example, and also his need for solitude. \"I was always one of those outsider kids,\" he says. He read gobs of science as a kid, avoiding fiction like a contagion. It wasn't until his teen years that he began wanting to write, and it was only at the last moment that he decided to study English lit rather than math at Oxford. \"A narrow escape,\" he now thinks.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Another publisher is even more blunt: The writer has got two or three years to make the money back. If he doesnt, that big advance might be the last nickel he ever earns in the book business. So maybe its no longer publish or perish; now its also possible to publish and perish. The time-honored tradition of a novelists serving an apprenticeship through his early thirties is waning quickly, says Morgan Entrekin of Grove/Atlantic, who gave the world Fraziers Cold Mountain six years ago.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"I was pretty. He was an old man,\" Opdyke said five decades later. \"It was a small price to pay for the many lives I really didn't know them. But I saw people in need, and I saw I could help them.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"We'll buy it! Sell Us Your Valuables!\" proclaimed an almost-full-page ad in the paper earlier this week. Jewelry, silver, watches, autographs, vintage photos - bring 'em on.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "This being Los Angeles, of course, most stores abound in movie star biographies, self-help guides and Buddhism. Automobiles and art books often show up in force too. Still, some proprietors are not sanguine about the future. They say that, with as many used-book stores as there are, many have closed in the last 20 years. They say that the Internet, while it has helped them move inventory to far-flung customers, has also driven off-the-street business, and even regulars.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Rights to the novel have been sold in more than a dozen countries, with the British publisher producing it in separate editions for teenagers and adults. A consortium of Warner Bros./Heyday Films/Brad Pitt and Brad Grey have bought the film rights and are in the process of negotiating with Steve Kloves (screenwriter for the Harry Potter films) to write and direct.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Let the big toymakers crank out combat characters and toy military equipment, Pahlow said. \"We have to be unlike them to survive.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "I know why this is meant to be funny. I asked. It is because drawn has three meanings, and they are (1) drawn with a pencil, (2) exhausted, and (3) pulled across a window, and meaning 1 refers to both the face and the curtains, meaning 2 refers only to the face, and meaning 3 refers only to the curtains.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: I wouldn't do that. Nor would they. One of them said, 'We're very private people, that's why we answer ads.'", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "After the war, Opdyke immigrated to the United States, where she became a citizen, married and settled in Yorba Linda. For almost 30 years, she never spoke of her actions, even to her daughter.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Granted, librarians aren't known for Terminator-style stunts. Rarely do they need to be faster than a speeding bullet or leap tall buildings in a single bound.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Opdyke was 25 and working as the major's housekeeper when, in 1943, she overheard that the Gestapo was about to sweep through a local Jewish ghetto in Poland. Concerned that the 12 Jews with whom she had worked in a laundry would be taken away, she decided to hide them in a cellar under a gazebo.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "For devotees of the used-book store, Los Angeles has quietly become one of the last bastions, for L. A. has become one of the last great American book towns. New York may be home to the publishing industry and Lewis Lapham's thesaurus, Chicago still has Saul Bellow, but in both those cities high rents and the Internet have driven many of the venerable used- and rare-book stores out of business.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Along with these testaments to the misguided history of human curiosity, there are any number of misguided, curious humans to be wondered at, shuffling along with that awkward sidelong gait particular to creatures used to over-tight bookstore aisles. Pale and near-sighted from years of 50-watt bulbs, they gaze up at titles mostly long forgotten, at authors mostly dead and buried, E. M. Forster's words from \"Howards End\" perhaps ringing in their ears: \"Only connect....only connect.\"The proximity of the present to the past", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Ive heard some very nasty accusations from people, then you look at their work and think, Well, theres a reason fifteen rejections are sitting in your box, Aragi says. Im very cruel about that, though, so Im not going to start sounding like an old bitch. There have always been bean-counters in the industry, because its a business. We need them to behave in a businesslike way.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "How about a cardigan sweater draped over the shoulders? Or glasses on a chain? Those were considered and rejected, Pearl said.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Lansens felt the pressure as she scrambled to find a suitably marketable topic for her second book. After this big deal happened, I guess we did all have expectations, she says. It was frustrating, because nobody could really answer why.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "As Daniel Masons agent, Christy Fletcher, puts it: Its like credit. Its better to have no credit than bad credit.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"People ask me what model I had in mind when I was writing this book,\" he says. After thinking about it for a while, he finally concluded it was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She has taken the Bennet family, with their parochial lives, and adopted their language, which is in itself restrained and limited. But, he says, she has drawn them with such empathy that there is a universality about them. In retrospect, Haddon realized it was that quality of empathy that he had been striving for in creating Christopher.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Almost 30 years ago, the Kontoleons, who have been married for 50 years, \"were looking for something to do,\" according to Jeanne, a former high school librarian. So they began collecting books by frequenting book auctions and yard sales.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "A French thesaurus from 1757, pages yellowed but still intact. A gold-leafed volume of poetry from 1845 with a personal inscription on the inside cover. Old Civil War letters and personal diaries. Even an original copy of the now out-of-print \"Arnold's Bodyshaping for Women\" by Arnold Schwarzenegger, circa 1979.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "They remained a secret for eight months, when the major discovered the Jews. Then she bought more time for her friends by becoming the major's mistress. All of the Jews survived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "PAINT IT BLACK by P. J. Parish (Kensington Publishing Corp.)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The imagination every author possesses goes to good use in these grassroots marketing efforts. When he isn't setting up readings at bookstores, Holliday speaks at Rotary clubs, always making sure they have his books there for sale afterward. In March he spoke to the American Glaucoma Society. \"There are conventions and conferences in town all the time, and they need some alternative to their subjects,\" he says.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "and is a key reason Pearl was recently chosen to receive the 2003 Washington Humanities Award. Jack Faris, board chairman of Humanities Washington, said the same-book idea \"may be the single most significant public-humanities program in the past 10 years.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "If you like to make the most of your life, used-book stores can seem an absolute waste of time. That is precisely what makes spending time in them so worthwhile.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Who would want to read a novel, let alone make a film, about a disabled kid living in Swindon, he asks, evincing a mixture of surprise and pleasure. The same could be said about Yann Martel's Life of Pi, a novel about a shipwrecked boy adrift on a life raft in the middle of the Pacific with a starving tiger. The reason that both novels connect with readers of different ages is that they tell simple but powerful stories and they pose the biggest puzzle of all: What is life all about?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Chicken feed to Nancy Camp. She bought her Ford half-ton pickup new for $4,200 in 1972 and the odometer just zipped past 562,300 miles. She had the engine rebuilt at 400,000 and gets the rust treated every couple of years, but, she says, \"it really looks good.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Pearl, with the library for 10 years, does book reviews on public radio KUOW-FM (94.9) during \"The Beat\" at 2 p.m. Mondays. But she's best known for \"If All of Seattle Read the Same Book,\" an effort to build community connections through an appreciation of books.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "She began by mailing out dozens of sample chapters of the book she had come to title Dont Fall Apart on Me Tonightlater changed to A Mouthful of Air. As the answers started to trickle back, Koppelman detected an unsettling trend. All the big New York agents and publishing houses told me the same thing: Look at the movies. You need a happy ending,", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "At a dinner party last year, Pahlow was talking about the success of his company's Jesus action figure, and the potential for others. Why not make a librarian, someone asked. And why not use Pearl as the model, asked someone else.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "As Jim's job changed, the couple, who met at Syracuse University, moved from Massachusetts to Florida to Connecticut, each time hauling all their new collectibles. During one move from New England to Jacksonville, the load was so heavy and the streets so hot that the truck blew five tires on the way down.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But the chairs were empty. The manager refused to make an announcement over the PA system, so Holliday plucked an audience of six from among the store's shoppers. \"Look, I'm about to give a rousing speech over there,\" he said, putting a friendly arm around their shoulders. \"Why don't you come over and listen to me?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "In the 1970s, Opdyke, who was working as an interior decorator, became aware that revisionist historians were questioning whether the Holocaust happened. Enraged, she agreed to speak to her husband's Rotary Club as a substitute speaker.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "all the good stuff,\" her daughter said. But not the rest.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Even cookbook authors must -- literally -- cook up interest in their books. Joyce Goldstein of San Francisco flew to Miami with six pounds of fresh phyllo on her lap. The former owner of Square One and author of 19 books, she cooked all morning, making 300 \"tastes\" of bougatsa, a Greek phyllo pastry filled with cheese custard -- and sold five books. Soon she'll fly to Baltimore to attend a conference at the invitation of the Potato Board. She went to Copia in Napa to do \"This Is Not Your Mother's Seder.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Amen, says Mark Pahlow, owner of Accoutrements. In addition to historical characters, he looks for action figures in \"people in unusual or underappreciated jobs.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"Nancy is the quintessential librarian!\" Pahlow said, \" ... She is an iron fist inside a velvet glove. And she does not take herself too seriously.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Also on the good-for-you menu is ''Assignment Discovery: Great Books,'' a blend of commentary on and cheesy dramatizations of classic works, apparently aimed at high school students. The creators of these video Cliffs Notes seem keenly aware of adolescent tastes, and they could have called the series ''Great Books With Lots of Screaming in Them''; of the four episodes I've seen, three were about works -- Dante's ''Inferno,'' ''Metamorphosis,'' the stories of Edgar Allan Poe -- that afford ample opportunity to show images of shrieking faces shot through a fish-eye lens, not to mention the rats and the squirming insects.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"Christopher seems supremely ill equipped to be a narrator,\" Haddon agrees. And yet, as he discovered early on, Christopher's apparent disabilities were actually a safeguard against the literary traps that ensnare so many novelists. \"He never explains anything too much, he never tries to make the reader's mind up one way or the other,\" Haddon says. \"He just paints a picture and leaves you to decide. He is very good at show, don't tell.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "For truly devoted book nuts, however, for those who know what they're doing is hopelessly archaic and love it, the used-books store still is the center of the universe. Because", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Brand-name authors still dominate bestseller lists, but the reign of Stephen is over. King's last two books, From Buick 8 and Everything is Eventual, were each off 40% in sales compared with Dreamcatcher, his 2001 release.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "But in the next month or so, it will be official. She'll join the ranks of Jesus, Sigmund Freud, Rosie the Riveter, Nico the Barista and a striped-shirted hipster/philosopher named Fuzz.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"She told me that when she came to the United States and saw the Statue of Liberty, she said, 'I'm here in a fresh country to make a new start.' To do that, she had to put up a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on her memories.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "At 23, Tessa Lyons isn't much older than the undergraduates she passes in the hallways. Professors often mistake her for a student. But she isn't there to ask about the next test or beg for a better grade. She's there to make a sale.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "It is near the end of the day and Ms. Lyons has one minor task to complete before going home. All she has to do is hand a brochure to a professor and thank him for using Norton textbooks. Afterward, she'll grab a quick dinner and begin the 90-minute drive back to Amherst. She will then answer 25 to 30 e-mail messages and spend a couple of hours preparing for the next day. Many nights she works well into the small hours.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Costco is a phenomenon you have to visit to believe. This is impulse buying taken to a new level. On any given Saturday, a Costco outlet can expect to turn $500,000 in sales. One of the managers told me he sold a $53,000 diamond the previous day.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "When she tried to return home, she was captured by German troops and forced to work at a munitions factory in Ternopol, in southeastern Poland. She was later recruited to be a housekeeper at an officers' compound.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "After the war, Opdyke was interviewed by a United Nations worker in the camp. When she immigrated to New York City in 1949, she met the worker again while having lunch in the U. N. cafeteria. Six weeks later, she and William Opdyke were married. He died in 1993.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "she says. She still wanted to be a writer even after she got turned down by Columbias prestigious masters-of-fine-arts fiction program. Twice.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Anyone who thinks books are a dying art form should take a look at Costco. Both stores had a huge table of books at discounted prices. John Fielder's \"Colorado 1870-2000\" still sells like crazy. Me, I settled for a four-pack of Oxi-Clean products and a couple of pairs of boxers.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "They meet every three weeks, with some longer breaks in the summer. Their favorite authors over the years have been Wallace Stegner, Barbara Kingsolver and Jill Kerr Conway.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Once again, and just as unimaginably, she was a poster child for the Hollywoodification of the book businessbut this time, literally. Now anointed a significant literary voice, Lansens, who spent some time just processing all the drama, is now one fifth of her way through a second book. This was my first book, she says, still astonished. If it were my tenth book, I wouldnt have expected this.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "The soon-to-be bestseller lay on the table in front of the 23-year-old. Yesterday, she was on page 567 of the 768-page book.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "PWD: You got 63 letters. How many men did you meet?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "the Amazons, the Borders, the independent first-run stores and himself. \"I'm not going out to buy a new Lexus every year,\" he says. \"I'd rather spend it on books.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: The chapter on my son was not there at all. My agent said, 'Your manuscript raises so many questions.' I asked myself, 'Jane, were you just meeting men?' No, I was very busy, doing this other stuff. Then the question came up: 'Jane, what were you doing 'til you were 67?'", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"It's an incredible story,\" he said. \"At first, it pained her, reliving the intimate details of her life.\" But once she got a taste of public speaking, \"She couldn't stop a star was born.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Pahlow's experience in the amusement biz goes back to childhood. When he was 8, he and a brother ran wires from a toy train transformer to a metal patio chair", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "A manager at the Wal-Mart in St. Constant would not comment on the matter and referred questions to Wal-Mart Canada headquarters in Toronto. No one could be reached for comment last night.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Suddenly, literary fiction was no longer thought of as a high-prestige but low-profit venture in an industry largely propelled by cookbooks, self-help tomes, and pulpy thrillers. Of course, literary authors like Norman Mailer, Toni Morrison, and John Updike were guaranteed generators of revenue, but they had built their reputations over a course of years. What had changed was publishings embrace of the unknown.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"I really want you to notice, Tucker, that this is a wingtip. It's a right-wing wingtip,\" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said to \"Crossfire\" host Tucker Carlson. (Claire Duggan - CNN)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"Bookstores? You might as well kill yourself,\" she said.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Slammed doors and unkind remarks go with the territory, according to veteran representatives. Not all academics are gentle, tweedy souls. In fact, some of them are jerks.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "\"I want to finish it. After I'm done, I don't care,\" Melissa said.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Surprisingly, one of the most literate documentary series around is Bravo's ''Page to Screen,'' which is about how books have been translated to film. In the program about John Irving's ''Cider House Rules,'' for example, Irving, who wrote the film's screenplay, describes the novel's ''moral symmetry'' as making it particularly suitable for film adaptation and discusses the need to cut certain characters and tone down the flaws in others because extremes that work well in print can overwhelm on the screen. That's the kind of nuts-and-bolts formal analysis that even the best author interviews tend to bypass. But don't get too excited about ''Page to Screen.'' It's been canceled.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "WINTER AND NIGHT by S. J. Rozan (St. Martin's Press)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Over a chicken sandwich and fruit juice, Ms. Lyons explains how she ended up selling textbooks. When she graduated from Duke University in 2001 with a degree in English, she already had a job offer from a business consulting company in Los Angeles. Everything seemed perfect.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Later that same day, she told a co-worker's wife about the purchase. The woman went and bought herself and Melissa's friend a copy, just as employees were taking the books off the shelves.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Yet do-it-yourself promotion pays off, if not in huge sales then at least in keeping a good book in print long enough to find its readers. Joyce Goldstein says her editor knows how hard she works to sell the books and will keep that in mind next time he's considering publishing her. Kirk Read promoted his hardback so vigorously that the paperback was bought by Penguin. Holliday gets books from the publisher at a 40 percent discount, so when he sells them himself he not only makes a few dollars, but, more importantly, helps them stay in print.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "JJ: I am still in touch with four and intimately involved with three. And one would like to be, but I turned him down, Robert in the book. He gave me the title, we were talking about promiscuity or something, and he brought up that phrase.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Then the companies asked him if they could have the book back. Raincoast Books even offered to pay $5,000 for the three books, Steve said.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Though Bill Thomas of Doubleday disagrees that this shift in publishing has created better fiction writers, he suggests it has coincided with a really good crop of emerging American novelists. I think American fiction is in a very good place right now, says Thomas, who edited Jonathan Lethems commercial breakthrough, Motherless Brooklyn, before ascending to his current post. If you look at Jonathan Safran Foer, no one said, Well, this is a difficult postmodern novel by an unknown writer, were not going to get involved. Everyone bid on it. That feeling of excitement when you start turning pages of a manuscript and you want to share this with the world, that still drives the business.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog5546", "text": "Located on Auburn Street, Old Books and Prints has been open for business since January and is one of the only used-book stores in Newton. While it is technically owned by former technology professional Jon Kontoleon, it is staffed by two people who call themselves \"a senior citizen volunteer advisory committee\" -- his parents, Jim and Jeanne Kontoleon.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Wednesday nods and will play nice. :)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "OOC> Cornelius says, \"Please, pose entry. I will be Quiet's extension for scening until otherwise notified that the NPC Cornelius has shown himself.\" OOC> Keene says, \"K.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith grins at Andrea. \"By all means. It's been a pleasure chatting with you. Ah hope we'll meet again soon.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton is stunned. He just stares at the phone, mouth agape.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "P-dogg must refer to Penny, because it's in that directly that Daisy's facing, and it's in that direction that Penny's not responding. Maybe the music's too loud. She repeats:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Andrea is quiet for a long, drawn moment, a glance given as Drake makes his way out after the girl, the corner of her mouth quirking back up into another half grin. Looking back to her table mate she nods slowly, \"I bet. Never hurts to have someone watching out for ya.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Yeah. Like Jonny Cash. Parents were fans.\" his tone getting a slight edge to it, like he's used to having this coversation over and over again.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[FAE] Lily, skeletal and shadowed, stares at Pobble without expression, offering the barest hint of a nod. Amusement shows in her gaze.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A very nice, plastoral looking building in the busier part of town. Recently rennovated, it has a pleasant facade to it, completely with a large hedge around the property, manicured lawn and topiaries of animals.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "So it's easy to lose Cash here, easy to mistake him as another beggar. Or drunk. Well drunk he might be, but his wandering sneakers carry the hallmark of a traveling handyman rather than a sedentary bum. In his hand a half empty bottle, his march eastwards an absent shuffle. Moving away from the setting sun and headlong into darkness.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jumpstart leans into the door still more, staring at the demon face, as though he wills it to give way. Which, of course, doesn't work. Hell, he even leans so much that his own feet slip out from under him, and he skids down to one knee. ((Oofda.)) Clipped Ear rolls Perception+alertness+3 (8 dice) at a difficulty of 9:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Unfolded and massive and floppy and awkward: Hiro is struggling with a brouchure-map from the Erin's Vale Board of Tourism, engaged in an attempt to fold it back into its original dimensions. He veers through the door - holds it with his shoulder, releases, gives the map a good shake, and begins to re-fold it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble should be warm, it is after all sweltering in the packed club. The close proximity of the bouncers seems to make him all the more edgy, pressing his side up against the counter top as he scratches his forehead just under the rim of his hat. \"I shouldn't wear my coat inside, else I'll be cold when I go out.\" he murmers, mantra-like.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Pobble shrugs just slightly, response delayed by the consumption of coffee. Keeping it held before his face he regards you over the rim with a half-smile. \"That office is no more secure than this place.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "To the west the more residential area is left behind while the long stretch of road spans towards the east. The apartment buildings and other stores of consumer goodness dwindle to nothingness while warehouses start to appear every so often. Many of the old factories that have become the namesake of the district have ironically closed down to instead become storage for different goods.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Here she comes, Wednesday. All hot for you.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Out on the street, bright and early. The only thing stiring in the slums are the odd alley cat. Compton unpacks a can of spray paint and marks out a roughly rounded square on the sidewalk, and then puts an H in the middle. Next he digs out a piece of pink paper which he sets alight with a cheap BIC. Dropping it to the ground where it burns out on top of the rough depiction of a Honda symbol and looks at his watch, quietly counting down the seconds.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Who would think the tomboy could clean up so well? Surely no one that knows her and has seen her in her usual jeans and boots, grubby from digging in the garden. And yet, tonight Zoe seems to have taken special care with her dress. If she notices the path Dennis has made towards the bar, it's not obvious as she waves her own way through people, laughing at times before nodding to the bar before continuing onwards. Once there, she tiptoes, leaning against the bar, and making her order, giving the bartender a smile before he moves off to fix her drink.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Now, Ana is certainly the curious fae. She watches closely, turning her head and then her body to follow your steps. If she can get away with going for it, she'll try to get a drop of liquid from the ground onto her fingertip, to examine it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Hah, cool,\" Lori says. \"Hey, I might just do that. Thanks for the number. You take care now, okay? Don't get into any trouble...\" She babbles on, waving at you with your own 'business' card.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The static feeling is all but gone now. \"I will go.... and don't forget... to turn lights off... when you're not using them... don't waste energy...\" And then, as it came, so it is gone.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Nathan glances up as Anastasia arrives to the table, giving her a respectful nod before she begins to speak so quietly with Morgan. As they talk, he turns back to continue the conversation with Lily.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori is laughing at whatever Dennis is saying as she walks away from him. Yes, indeed, she is following Pobble but at a leisurely pace. What, like she's going to miss the big white coat in the crowd? She'd have to be retarded /and/ blinde. Or even blind.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday is slow to get up. She nurses her injury--some dull pain along her back--as she gets to her feet. Her eyes dart between Penny, Ryo, and Jesse, not sure how to play the scene, wondering if she should run or not. The tension in her muscles show her confusion.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Monkey ... so tastey ... The bear licks his lips and stares.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Everyone stands near Cowpunchers. Except Penny, who's slunk into a niche. Cash seems Drunk. Pobble looks fucked and sometimes agitated. Penny is hiding and rambling.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Gone to get my gun. -C.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The sidewalks are in decent condition; though they do show some of the wear and tear of age. The street itself is in much of the same condition, asphalt showing potholes every so often. The local politicians, of course, have declared that they will have better roadways soon enough available to motorists.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "One hand darts to her pocket, pulls a cigarette, offers it to Jesse. Her expression is fixed into straight-arrow neutrality, though her forehead is wrinkled into nestred chevrons of worry.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble's head and dropping down into the oversized hood. The blue haired man hops from one foot to the other, apparently cold. Eyes with oversized pupils dart from one wood-lover to the next. \"Anyone able to direct me?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Our young hero has found his sword,\" Ailsa says smoothly, nodding once to Bob. \"As his self appointed witch in the forest guide, I'm encouraging him to let destiny tug him along by the short hairs. Since she will anyway, its better ta walk with company than alone.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The nickname of 'Tourist Lane' has been placed upon the area, proving that out-of-towners often stay at a small cluster of higher class hotels. Both those visiting for vacation as well as business reasons can be found in almost equal amounts. Small stands of maps, newspapers, and novelty items can be found down the lane to take advantage of those visiting the city.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Esther wanders up to Penny, looking her over and muttering something about satan. She pushes her cart in front of her. She never lets go of her cart. \"Hey! Blondie!\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble.............. Tallish, thin guy. Blue braided hair. Facial tattoos. Strange attire. Height: 5'10 Weight: 140 lb Age:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"My work is open for all to see.\" Cornelius remarks as he walks towards the back of the hall, leading to the spot where the two doors are. \"Where would you like to begin?\" He asks, those icy blue eyes regarding you. \"Fact... or fiction?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Penny says \"Okay well. We're walking and talking and Penny's pissed and Jesse's trying to light his cigarette and now we're near you thinking about putting something into the hat with Wednesday the shadow behind us.\" [OOC] Jesse picked someone's pocket, Wednesday started following us, we're speaking in a foreign language.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[Ed Note: There were two-and-a-half really great poses here that werent in my /recall. Sean, please please tell me you have them in your buffer or something. Ill cry if you dont.]", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "She fights still, but at Jesse's word's, Wednesday slumps. She lets a moment pass in spite before she nods slowly at Penny. She can't look her in the eye.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "It's almost .. no, it's exactly like a family reunion. Only it's happy. And there's no drunk uncle pinching asses. Yet.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "(8) -1- -1- 4 (10) 2 (10) Achieving 1 successes, resulting in a marginal success. Jumpstart rolls 9 (9 dice) at a difficulty of 6:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori stabs out her cigarette. Stabby, stabby, stabby! \"What's the matter with you?\" she asks Pobble without a drop of apparent empathy.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori leans forward and reaches out to take the card from Pobble quite easily. Damian's command goes into her head, through her nervous system, and into her spinal cord, it seems, so that his will appears to move her slender body rather than her own. The ugly thing is that it's so natural, kind of graceful in a way.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A smile breaches Wednesday's face like sudden light through a cracked door. She nods quickly, disjointedly. \"Yeah. A happy one.\" Her laugh curls up.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Except maybe that thing you did in Nevada with following Good Master Thompson,\" she amends. \"Dju you ever get that car out of the ravine?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Fine. What 60 mile area then. I'll find it myself.\" The anger bleeds away in to the psycho-scary seriousness that is always more scary than the wild maniac. Something about his tone makes you believe he'll do it too.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Honey Pot\" Compton says in his gruff voice, \"Two blocks down that ways.\" he says with all the clairity of a cloud. \"You comming?\" he asks Daisy.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Dennis slips out of the Cowpuncher, gives Zoe a nod of farewell, and walks on down the street. Dennis makes his way west. Dennis has left. Zoe goes home. Zoe has left.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The Hermetic pauses in his PDA-tapping when he hears the familiar singing noise. Being trained around Bonsagius magi makes one accustomed to old-fashioned ways of communication. Saving his progress and turning off the PDA, Keene leans forward when he sees the imp.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "From afar, Hiro tries to get you to your feet and against the wall, so you're not all sprawled out in the dust. Then books inexplicably.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "She exhales over the dome, then the perspective changes dramatically. The smoke seems to displace itself inside the glass dome and expand it outward, super-imposing and image of itself the full width of the table. Penny rolls 3 (3 dice) at a difficulty of 5:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"My bus says 'College' on it. Look it up, ya wacki fuckin' broad...\" Annoyance salts Cash's tongue and ash falls into the dirty alley water. Content to watch the two leave, this unlikely dawn pair. A wandering odd couple, perhaps on their way to get some breakfast crack. So it's with a laugh at that thought, Cash cracks a smile.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Matt chuckles a bit. \"Water, it's wet.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Nothing impedes your departure. You soon find yourself outside of the Waxworks. Indeed, the whole building appears to be composed of those writhing bodies.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "He hits the joint, greasy brown with resin, and passes it to the right, to Penny. His eyes are fixed on the dome dominating the coffee table, an antique stock ticker liberated from eBay.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Andrea clears her throat slightly, \"Thats cool. So, um.\" She pauses again for a second, taking a drink before continuing. \"You been, ah, helping people around here long?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith smiles broadly at Hiro. \"That's a generous offer, Brother, but Ah shall pass for the moment. Get me started on preachin' and Ah might need it later.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Totally. Though they're, like, invitation-only, or did we stop doing that, Penny?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny reaches out into the space in front of her, chipped nail polish throwing off points of light, like morse code. \"Do you see it yet?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Damian glances down at Lori for a moment, then looks back up at the painting, pursing his lips thoughtfully. \"They have movies about that these days, so no one needs it in art anymore. Attention spans like guinea pigs. In ten years, we won't have galleries at all, more's the pity.\" Though not directed at him he glances Kirra's way, then looks at Lori questioningly.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A sip, a look, and the redhead sighs, curiously watching the proceedings, yet slipping to the side out of the way. From a painting on the wall, to the gathering group, Kirra looks, brows furrowed slightly as she studies both Cash and Pobble, then the better outfitted ones of Lori, Damian, and Jerome. Hmm.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You enter the waxworks. The large double doors swing open for you. Dark Horizons Waxworks - Main Room(#1957RJ)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Anastasia pages: and since you're enchanted, you would know WHY she is reacting like that. Phineas has an air about him that is as chill as a bitter winter wind. Anastasia pages: very uncomfortable.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Even Penny's surprised - she's never attempted something so basic this sober. \"The thing is, if you were rubbed out by the same people we're semi/quasi hiding out from? We really need to know, so could you come talk to me?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You enter the door marke Fiction. Dark Horizons Waxworks - Fiction", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Petra............... Black-haired, bespectacled geekgrrl. Height: 5'6\" Weight: 150", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori gets run over by Drake and winds up on her ass. She's hollering something out there on the dance floor as she tries to pick herself up, and the words \"dickhead\" and \"fuckwad\" are prominent during the tirade to those close enough to hear it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Eri walks back down the trail, her footsteps surprisingly light and causing little in the way of disturbance on the forest floor beneath. As she approaches, she glances up and blinks at the pair not too far off. Pobble is eyed again, and she peers at him for a moment before a quirky smile starts to spread across her face. She doesn't seem to have heard the whole conversation, though, and she clears her throat gently as she draws closer. \"Hello,\" she murmurs, first to Anastasia, then turning her curious smile on the Yeti-man.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Wha' th' 'uk 's goin' on?\" He asks, words falling clumsily around the smoke. Bending at the knees, one bagful is dropped so he may pluck the offending butt from his lips to speak clearer. \"... like uh, who brought the heater to the party, man?\" The editorial 'man' in this case, Cash is mostly focused on the nervous suit.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Settle down son.\" he says in a tired way, plucking another tuft of buscuit from the basket. \"Yer friend dropped this..\" and the $5 is dragged back out from under the table for you to see.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Naoko pages: Late last night, around 2:30 am, a really bizarre paradox ripple fluttered over the town. The epicenter seemed to have been from somewhere far off in the woods, about 10 miles outside of town. Naoko pages: Is that bait enough?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Over the sound system, there is music playing. Always.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You have just received a +recc from Wednesday. [OOC] Daisy says \"Ur. One second.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble nods agreement distractedly, seeming unsatisfied in his search and turning back to his conversational partner. \"Yeah, seven years is a long fucking time. Still.\" he trails off, lips curling back into a crooked little smile. \"It was an interesting time.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A moment's pause, that faint indecision before the first step falls into place. Then, that kind of forced easygoing stride - rhythm only by contrivance. \"Let's go with the imagination side of the show first, huh?\" Hiro flashes teeth with the comment.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith quirks an eyebrow again. \"Pardon me,\" he calls. \"Is the establishment closed, or are y'all just hanging out?\" He's got one of those Deep South accents you can scrape roadkill off the grill with.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble pulls out the mysterious extra cigarette that happened to come free with his regular pack, offering it over with a lopsided smile that fades as he considers. \"Don't have any friends? How comes?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Fill 'er up.\" Compton says, not one to judge being washed out and wrinkly himself.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday doesn't notice any one in drag, although she would get kick out of it if she happened to notice. Just the same, she is busy flipping the bird behind the back of the asshole business man as he walks away, still fuming.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Today I met with some strange people and noticed the existance of a before unnoticed duality. Some bizarre creatures that call themselves Fae and seem to be normal but then unexpectedly are other people while still being themselves. I am unsure what to make of it, but they seem to exist in some manner of feudal society.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[Five days before Compton awoke to find a crumpled printout of an eBay auction stuffed in his shirt. From the scribbled notes in Hiros barely legible stupor-speek, Compton began stalking what is listed as, Jesse James 1875 Schofeild Pistol *MINT*.]", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny looks up at Ryo and winks, distinctly at him. That kind of look from that kind of woman? should be enough to convince any man she a) wants him or b) wants his approval ..however brief it may be. But her attention returns to Wednesday's writhing \"Good, good. That'll do.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Andrea starts to pick up her drink for a swallow, pausing with it in half tilt towards her mouth as she looks to the man across from her in the booth, \"Need?\" The word carrying with it a tone that half says she's not sure she actually wants to get an answer.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Cornelius pages: When you step across the boundry, you feel a faint tingling of your skin. Then you find yourself standing in a forest at night. In the distance is a small gothic village where the lights are lit. The air is extremely chill and there is a breeze blowing. In the distance you hear the sounds of an animal.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Eri comes into the area from the southwest. Eri has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble's nose wrinkles at this, but he still seems captivated as you turn to look at him. Plastered with a strange lopsided smile he nods to aquiesce, \"That sounds reasonable..\" he states finally, once he's noticed that he was staring.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse says, in Enochian, \"What's the static about? Pig boy and miss *********** did what?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--attention snaps up. Fixes, somewhere between Pobble and Cash.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"There'll be no eating of pets.\" she states firmly.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "...and Hiro, Hiro's grinning like the cat that got the canary. Or the pig that ate the truffle. Or whatever. \"You got it Arcer,\" he answers.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Keene generates a put-upon expression as Penny whines at him, moving to intercept her. \"Jen-Jen,\" he says, generating a cutesy name on the fly, \"if we go see the President now, it won't be as special as if we saw it last. Hey, be careful --\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Andrea reaches over to grab her backpack, sliding out of her seat as she slings it over her shoulder, settling it into place before reaching for the guitar that was nestled closest to the wall to keep it safe. \"Yeah, I suffer from bad penny syndrome, it's bound to happen.\" She grins at Alabaster. \"Have a good one.\" Turning to make her way towards the door.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith watches the Hiro and Penny, expression amused yet mostly neutral. \"Ah see. A barn party. Hmm. Pity, Ah was hoping to save some souls and get a drink.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The phone rings for a long time. \"Thank you for calling Federal Express. If you have your tracking number, please press one and enter it. Press two for customer service.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Strength -1 (1), Dexterity +2 (5), Stamina +2 (5), Perception +3 (6), Stealth +2 (6). This form also has the ability to do bite damage.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith may be a preacherman, but so far he hasn't shown any signs of objecting to the presence of booze, tobacco, or other drugs. He just keeps to himself, watching, listening, keeping dry.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble follows, seeming vaguely sympathetic and at the same time enraptured by the current goings on. He asks no questions as he follows after you, but does at times hold the books with one arm and attempt to reach out and touch the cloak..", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You sense Jesse reaches into his purse, and withdraws a cigarette. Sith a grave and solemn mien, the skeletal queen shakes a Lucky Strike free and offers it over, accepting one in return. He leans forwards to plant a kiss on each of Penny's cheeks, murmuring \"You holding?\".", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"So I says to 'r, I says... Ma'... don' bother me now, man, I got my headgear on...\" To avoid having their conversation rained out by this abysmal weather, Pobble and Cash are sticking close to the sides of buildings. They approach in a conversational gate, Cash getting wet away from the protection of Pobble's super villain umbrella. He walks head down, watching his feet tromp through puddles in the production of micro tidal-waves. Cash continues the end of his antic dote trailing his fingers over the memory of his orthopedics aids.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny lifts herself up from that crouch with particular attention to two things - Wednesday's downcast eyes and the bag, the latter she picks up and collects as something familiar to her; as someone that owns, protects and keeps. \"Thank you,\" her smile a sliver, her words uttered like instructions. Exeunt.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Anastasia looks over there, and suddenly, turns back to you, her eyes narrowing a little. \"I meant yours.\" She's peppering words around, seeing what you'll pick up, and what you won't.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Long distance to Pobble: Penny is channeling god, talking to it. Penny's done a massive quantity of herion to achieve this calling-forth. I'd roll to sense were I you.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny's out of sight but her hat and jacket are draped across the back of that first couch. Get a little further into the room and there's Penny folded up in some medatative state. Nearby is a pile of ashes. Dave's still chittering in a corner some kind of crazy-sounding shit about Penny torturing spirits.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Beyond the curving walls, the magic happens. Machinery once found on the factory floor has been reconstructed in bizarre mechanical simulacra[6]. Cabinets and work surfaces bear the dull oxidized finish of refurnished metal - a slick, glossy sheen drawing uncomfortable aesthetic parallels to an animal's organs. Plastic, metal, and glass tubing snake through the whole: an interconnecting network linking the machines.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Closing his eyes he pictures Jesse James' 1875 Schofeild Calvary Pistol hanging on his bedroom. \"I'll have to make a mount for It.\" he tells the shadows idly.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble is waiting just next to the door, already having lit a pair of cigarettes, one between thin lips and the other dangling precariously between his fingers. He glances across as a clubber exits, catching Lori as she follows and his brow creases into a frown. \"Hey.. sommatter?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Comptonstomps up to Jesse and Penny, and drags a hand from his pants and check a digital watch and scowles at it, \"Jesus, what you guys doing? Been waiting for 40 minutes.\" he states clearly, scoweling at the lot.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Enid looks from Cash to Pobble and finally to the shakey Penny, eyes narrowing suspiciously. Somehow, she's less than reassured. \"You think so?\" she asks to Pobble, taking a drag on her cigarette as if she's been suddenly reminded of her own need for some medicine. The reverend's explanation is what finally calm her, and she lets out a sullen, \"You've got that right,\" in agreement.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Achieving 1 successes, resulting in a marginal success. Pobble rolls 3 (3 dice) at a difficulty of 5:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Boring, Sidney, boring. Fuck this place. Let's go find trouble.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Kirra narrows eyes as Pobbles moves, his hand reaching into his coat. The motion of the finger crooked her way by Lori does gain her attention, the redhead moving behind Jerome and over towards the other female with a quiet step, keeping out of the way of the others as she does so. The look that's given to Lori is of a questioning nature, gaze divided by the other girl, and the guys.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You paged Turtle Jones with 'Was I supposed to see that?'.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Mary's one of those people that seems to be bothered, for she just keeps on staring, head turning to track Penny and Jesse as they move through the crowd. For a few moments, anyway, before she sighs, shoulders hunching up just a bit. She steps forward and crouches down to drop a bill into the case.. a purple one, with a 10 on it - then straightens, and steps back again, turning away.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori's head tilts about ten degrees to the other side as Damian touches her so he can better access to touch her. She doesn't look at him but looks at Pobble instead, her luminous green eyes affixed on him, trying to see past his third eye and into the contents of his skull, no doubt.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The man before you stands maybe 5'8\", dark brown eyes, in sharp contrast to his pale white skin, flickering around, trying to take everything in. Of about average build, he still manages to come across as skinny: his skin, though, despite it's paleness, shows signs of weathering, suggesting he's been outdoors a lot. THis idea is further reinforced by his clothing.. His footwear, at least: Sturdy blue jeans are tucked into stout brown walking boots, and a simple white shirt that has seen better days covers his upper torso, long bilowing sleeves rolled up around his wrists. Completing the ensemple, a dark green trenchcoat, fastened loosely around the waist, the inside evidently modified for many, many pockets.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton walks in off of the street. Compton has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble's head snaps around at the sound of another voice and while initially suprised simply at the occurance of an intrusion, sighting the woman his mouth opens just a little wider - smoke drifting out. He seems to be relaxed by something, but he peers across rudely, looking the newcommer up and down. \"Eh, hello there.\" he states finally, letting out a low breath. It all seems to be getting a bit much for him and he places the cigarette between his lips, reaching into a pocket for something or other.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny says, in Enochian, \"Check your left breast pocket.\" She's a clever girl. Put it there pedant la bise.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"I knew you were going to say that,\" Lori says. \"Goddamnit, they always say that.\" She shakes her head in disappointment and looks away to have a drag off of her smoke, flicking ash on the floor absently.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Jesse, drag queen, elvis. Daisy, raver. Penny, sunburned, hippy.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble opens the door and enters from the main room. Pobble has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny says, in Enochian, \"DAZE\" Her voice authoratative and welcoming. That person there belongs here. Those movements, these seconds come apart as Penny catches sight of Daisy and positions herself as one set downstage. \"You get all that on tape? I think we need to rework some blocking here..\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Over the sound system, there is music playing. Always.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "PROVE: Naoko has the stat or ability echoes at or above level 2. OOC Naoko says, \"From that, and all that she's been through, timepieces malfunction terribly in her presence.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "(10) 3 Achieving 1 successes, resulting in a marginal success. There are loud thumps as Storms and Jump bash against the door. It cracks a bit in the middle but it manages to hold against the force of their blows. The leering demon face seems to mock them.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Papa's is a little different from most fast food joints as one can tell when they step through the doors. From it's employees dressed comfortably in jeans and tshirts, to the checkered plastic cloths that cover the tables in the dining area, it speaks of a family run business - the big guy in back even answers to 'Papa'. Above the counter with it's single register lies a menu board - if it can be fried, it's probably up there. Dine-in or carry-out, either way, the extra grease on the side is free!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Keene comes in from the bar, spritzing his coat with a little Febreze bottle as he closes the door behind him. He looks over at Penny with his usual unreadable expression, continuing to spritz himself while making his own assessments of the situation.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You wait a moment and then refresh the screen. PayPal indicates the payment has successfully gone through to the seller. There is a moment later when you see the little icon in the corner of the screen that indicates you have e-mail.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A black sheer shirt with red lycra accents across the shoulders cocoons his bony form in its synthetic embrace. Over it, a single, blank white pin is a lone decoration on the lapel of a tight waisted riding jacket from Gaultier's line two years back. Beneath it, a black brassiere preserves a modicum of modesty, but displays the swarm of tattoos down the length of his gaunt torso. The riding coat's long cuffs meet a pair of matched spiked bracelets, and black lace gloves.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The street becomes more and more filled with holes, the pavement wearing thin and causing vehicles to bounce up and down on the pot holes. Quite frequently large trucks can be seen making their way down the roads. They haul lumber, paper, or some other material out to their destination, be that one of the local warehouses or the docks. During all hours there are the sparkle of lights, both day and night shift available in most of the factories that are still in operation.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday says, \"HELP!\" Wednesday screams at Ryo.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Yes, the water. The ground practicly shakes as the bear eats up the distance and ... SPLASH! He comes to the surface looking quite pleased with himself.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Andrea shrugs, \"Thats how its supposed to be though right? Too much good and the good doesn't seem so good anymore.\" It must make sense to her at least. \"Keeps you from getting biased.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Interestin'\" murmers Pobble quietly. His expression becomes neutral as he slowly slides a hand into his coat, the motion similar to the one he might take pulling a gun. A crooked smile snaps back to his lips, \"Been wanting to talk to you, we have.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro looks back, again: squints. \"You gotta be scammin',\" he mumbles. \"There's gotta be some kinda natural law against mixin' electronic music and mechanical bulls.\" Pluck from amidst the records: attention shifts back, and Piggy scrutinizes the hand-written notes, attempting to decipher a meaning from the hieroglyphics. \"Which one you think's the most danceable?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "And she comes to a stop. \"Here. Here will be fine. I apologize... again, I could not let that awful, cold man know my hideouts.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Jesse says \"Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but what the hell is with people interrupting RP, saying \"Hang On,\" and going OOC? This is my first scene IC, and that's twice it's happened.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Dennis comes out of the Bucking Bronco's doors. Dennis has arrived. Zoe comes out of the Bucking Bronco's doors. Zoe has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny pivots the chair and plants her feet on either side of the paper. She leans over, elbows to knees and says in her nicest, most convivial voice \"Aw sweets, I'm Penny. Your mentor sent us chasin'after you but you were way ahead of us, weren't you.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Kasui pushes away from the tree as Sylvan urges her, apparently not having been so unalert after all. She says not a word as she follows Sylvan through the opening in the brush, merely giving Zoe and Matt a nod, thugh sh gives th epolar bear a sidelong glance before disappearing after her friend into the rushes...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "5 2 2 2 Achieving 0 successes, resulting in a failure The demon's mouth closes on Suli's hand and he growls, roars and drops the detonators to grab the closing jaw and hold it up. \"Help!\" he hisses. Jumpstart rolls 5 (5 dice) at a difficulty of 8:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"I'm partial to movies, kinda..\" His artistic commentary, though it's unlikely to make the latest version of Art Speak. Cash, there's an economy of energy to his movements. Perhaps he stores it in some internal vat, ready for the tapping should a fitting situation arrive.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Polar-bear lumbers out of the water and shakes off, creating a brief rain storm. You can almost see him laughing. That is under the sandwhich, er monkey catches his eye again.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Hello,\" he directs to it, putting the device back within his coat. \"how may I help you today?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Anastasia answers, immediately, and she takes her glasses off, looking at you with those intensely focused grey eyes. \"News? Oh yes. I have some news too, but I suspect you may already know it, so I hope you'll forgive just some curious girl for not being so efficient.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Daisy, sotto voce to Penny, eyes rolling as hard as they can: \"Euuch. Goyim.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny looks dead-on at Cornelius; she's very clearly on something. It's an extreme stare - wide eyes and bitten lip. Because she thought it was an aside, Penny asides back \"We stopped until,\" and she makes this hand gesture; a complicated riff on sign language. Daisy should translate for the curious.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "To the side of the area a rather pleasant mini-park has formed, a statue of Zeus standing proud. At various times during the day and night, automated sprinklers go off to make sure that every plant receives the nourishment it requires for perfect blooming. Speckles of colors ranging from a deep violet to a cottony soft baby blue line the edge of the statue for a quaint place to stop and indeed, smell the flowers.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny says, in Enochian, \"Fucking STAY there.\" Doesn't need to look, has eyes in the back of her head. Dead serious, scary serious. She's got twice the leg this kid Wednesday does and knows how to use every inch to get the jump on her.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Keene is sitting in his given chair around the coffee table, tapping intently at a PDA. A cigarette idles between his lips as he sets up his schedule for the next several days, taking note of several key lunch meetings.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Slouched in his high-backed chair, Hiro gives something like mumbled assent; exhaling a viscous cloud of marijuana smoke. He straightens, or at least tilts his slouch forward: laying fingertips against the edge of the stock ticker. Eyes close half-way, either from concentration or intoxication. He clears his throat, taking this very seriously -- steampunk telegraph machine his own postmodernist ouija board.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The stillness of the night air is threatened by the sound of wet gravel being displaced from the road. Halogen brights tear the darkness apart as a behemothic Hummer meanders into view. The rain slick roads are no match for its traction but the driver doesn't seem to be the most competent, swerving and meandering over the road for no apparent reason. The vehicle slows as it nears the gates, a window lowering to allow the crisp air to enter and consequently push out the stale noxious smoke from within the cabin.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday looks up from her precision drop of currency just in time to catch the tail end of Jesse's salute. Rather than being pleased, curiously, she looks momentarily mortified before some semblence of recognition crosses her face and a faint twinkle in her eye gathers.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Giving a startled cry, Liv is forced to hold on.. or be dumped in the dirt. She gives a cry of exclamation as she starts to", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble quirks a brow, which dissapears under the beanie. He doesn't look too suprised, but just leans there watching. Something moves in the open doorway, a tiny figure peering from the shadows. \"Whatcha doing then?\" he asks quietly.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jerome doesn't seem to want a cracker. The man folds his arms across his chest, dipping his chin and looking down at Cash with a frown. Maybe he doesn't talk.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "(7) 4 Achieving 1 successes, resulting in a marginal success. Cornelius rolls 2 (2 dice) at a difficulty of 6:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Matt hmms. \"I'm sorry, what're you looking for?'", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Inch by inch, attention shifts. Cash is used to glares, though he's the aura of a man accustomed to his lot in life. Kirra, Lori, Jerome, Damian, he's been given those looks one thousand times over, and they've lost their weight. From the mediocre art to the beefcake that stands sentry near him. A lazy transition and he takes his time about.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "8,000 bones Compton thinks to himself. \"Fuck, better get a receipt for this.\" he mumbles to himself, remembering Keene's last tirade about expense accounts.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Liv is just along for the ride. Her eyes get wide as she bear bumps into people.. and she ofers an appologetic smile as she says \"Hi.. uhm.. excuse us...\" THe woman speak with a noticable norse sort of accent.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Oh and skittles aren't exactly hard to walk on. They *squish* just like chewing gum when you *step* on them in big, flat-soled boots - as is evident on every city block in every country everywhere in the world.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Funny you should put it that way,\" Alabaster comments to Jon, \"for He has much invested in you.\" He shakes his head at Enid. \"Sadly, Ah fear my time right here is done, and Ah have to take care of some business.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The next day, when Compton climbs out of the fart sack he putters through his morning absolutions with more direction and urgency than usual. Avoiding most his collegiates, which isn't at all difficult as 20-something junkies are notoriusly night-hawkish, he starts to collect the odds and sods he takes on his road trips. Almost ritualistically after all these years. Such things as a bottle of Canadian Club, some charcoal, spray paint, rope, multi-tool, and some arcane choices from his library. Lastly he dons his ever present army coat and rolls some of the bodies laying around the Loft for some cash.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anastasia........... Conservative, classy dresser. A tasteful young woman who bears herself well. Often seen with a backpack on, or carrying a violin case Height: 5'7\" Weight: 135 lb Age:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"HELP!\" Wednesday screams at Ryo.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Honestly sir, I'm not entirely sure. It's not something they really tell us. But if you're really going out there, I imagine you'll find out.\" The young man finally responds.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Birds of a feather. Compton is spooky too. Not scary-spooky, but weird spooky. Like he's seen it all, and stands outside of the normal way of things.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Yes, I'm sure that's all very interesting, but what /kind/ of doctor? Or are you the ooh-spooky-mysterious type? Like, what gives?\" That's from Lori. She's gazing up at Pobble nicely enough, but the words coming out of her mouth are pretty unpleasant in contrast.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Subtle,\" Keene says, being tugged along. He keeps at least one hand on his bag throughout.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Hey man.\" Cash offers to evangelic watcher.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Wednesday says \"phews! :)\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Enid leans across the bin and examines the half dozen or so Kidneythieves albums available at the moment, then plucks one out of the pile and holds up aloft. \"This one - Trickster. It's their first album, an' I still think it's their best one. If you want to get another one, get Zerospace, which has a bunch of good remixes on it, but if you're tryin' to introduce a dancefloor to a new band, you wanna go with the original stuff first.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Alyx, this is Compton, Compton, this is Alyx, Jesse, this is Alyx, Penny, this is Alyx, Alyx, this is Penny, Alyx, this is Jesse, Jesse, this is Compton, Compton, this is Jesse, Jesse, this is Penny, Penny, this is Compton,\" Daisy says in chipmunkish sequence, outlining every possible permutation of introduction available. \"And you are too delightful, Penny, Penny-my-pet; too delightful for words or, uh, even to be particularly nice to me even though you ain't seen me for like for-fuckin'-ever.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"New... deal.... A new contract.\" It's voice suddenly surges. \"I will re... renegociate with new owners.\" Arcer finally replies, the static level dropping rapidly so that it's only slightly abnormal in here now instead of Dr. Frankenstein's Lab. \"What are the terms...?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Damian lifts an eyebrow as he sees the two coming his way, turning to face them, expression going neutral but still slightly curious. Jerome's showing more interest; the man can't really help but loom, gaze fixing as well on the approaching men with more of a warning glare. \"Suddenly I appreciate Drew that little bit more,\" Damian notes idly to Lori. \"I suspect I know where this might be heading.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Jesse shrugs. It seemed appropriate, nobody objected. [OOC] Jesse says \"If it's a problem, we can drop the whole \"Jesse picked a pocket\" thing and just carry on.\" [OOC] Wednesday says \"although, I like wear that leads me.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The old man shuffles in from the street, the early spring stink of the trash thawing out in the surrounding slum wafting in with him. Digging in to his coats pockets he prodcues a collection of crumpled singles and a handful of change, obviously from a productive afternoon, and dumps it out on the counter. Tonights dinner in the planning.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Keene fishes a cigarette out of his pocket and rests it between his lips, digging in his pocket for a lighter. \"How dead is she, anyway?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "2 Achieving 2 successes, resulting in a moderate success. Pobble rolls 3 (3 dice) at a difficulty of 5:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"No, I want to go when I've had time to think about how stupid it would be to steal a spirit from whatever jail it's stuck inside from really what amounts to an unknown enemy. Keene would kill me for thinking so no, I do not want to wait and /think/. I want to go right now, right now.\" She was saying all this as she was getting off the floor, getting her jacket, picking up markers from the pen/cil jar. Penny's ready.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Eri looks between Pobble and Anastasia, her expression worried now. \"Um, Doctor, would you mind very much if I took the young lady home now? She looks like she needs to rest. And I hope next time we meet under better circumstances...\" she sighs. Her hand reaches for Anastasia's upper arm, but gently.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Turtle Jones murmurs that his dinner and wine aren't gonna buy themselves and goes back to playing as the crowd switches once the train leaves and more people come in to catch the next one. He strums the guitar. \"My baaaaaaaaby she left me, she left me standin' in the raiiin....\" He's got a deep scratchy blues voice and his guitar's seen better days but still works great. \"My baby she left me, ain't comin' home again...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Mary, having just deposited her 10 in the hat, backs up, turns, and starts heading out at a trot, heading for the street level.. she's dawdled here long enough, after all. Up she goes.. and out.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Dennis bites down an acerbic response to Lori and downs a rather large fraction of his iced tea in one long gulp. Mmmm, cold and bitter, just like his heart. A few of the bouncers are beginning to gather closeby, as if anticipating trouble brewing, but Dennis pays them no heed. Apparently he gets that reaction enough that he's become inured to it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Unfortunately for the seller and FedEx those tidbits of info are lost on Compton. Sure he could figure it out and do his bit to join the eBay cult or follow his treasures progress but neither function is in Compton's bag of Web surfing tricks. So instead he bids his time surfing for free porn with Hiro's pile of free passwords and polishing of a 40 of Cash's plunk. As the day crawls on he begins to grind his teeth more and more. His old jaw clacking annoyingly for anyone in earshot.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble turns slowly and plods along after the departing woman, studying her back and clothing intently. Passing Phineas he gives the man a strange look, hugging his books tighter as he hurries on after his companion.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The red boa circling his throat trails down under the jacket, dangling down to where a black leather miniskirt rides low on his hips, parting from the border of his shirt to show occasional glimpses of fishbelly-pale skin marred by dark swarming ink. A black snakeskin belt, decorated with chrome skulls, is fastened with a faux-ruby crucifix over his left hip, and torn fishnets ride the length of his long legs down to the buckles of a pair of platform, high heeled Prada squaretoed boots. A black rubber baby-sized backpack dangles offhandedly from his shoulder, and a wire trails from its depths to the oversized headphones around his neck.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith smiles at that. \"Ah fear it's actually been quite a mixture of both.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Driving in a black luxury sedan -- an Infiniti of some variety -- Keene and Penny take a trip from the bad part of town to another bad part of town ... the tourist district. The vehicle rolls into a nearby parking garage, where it makes its way to a certain part of the structure that is statistically unlikely to be disturbed by most car thieves or homeless people.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Glancing up at Jerome nearby, Kirra spares a momentary grin at a thought, head shaking a bit as she holds back a hint of laughter for some reason as she studies the tall guy. Dropping her gaze, she turns back to the two who question Damian, studying them further, listening to the conersation that comes. Espresso is sipped upon, slowly savored by th redhead who doesn't deem words from her important at this moment.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny says, in Enochian, \"Boring, boring.\" Heaving his weight so that he might carry himself better, Penny shifts under Jesse's arm and starts out on the right foot. \"Yeah, come on. Read my future for me.\"\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Cornelius walks in off of the street. Cornelius has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wine delivered, the tomboy passes the money to the bartender before lifting the glass for a sip. It's then that Zoe sees Dennis standing off to the side in his suit and tie, a brow raised as she looks at him from over the rim of her wineglass. His snap at the girl seems to amuse her for some reason, lips quirking into a smile before she turns her gaze towards the dancefloor. Unconsciously, she sways to the music, the silk of her dress following each move she makes.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Chik'n biscuits. Combo #3 appears after Compton counts out the dollars and cents and pockets his savings. The plastic tray and paper cup of Coke and his sorry carcass settle down in to a both by the front door and tucks in.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "During the debut listening of the Colleges latest offering, COmpton appears next to Cornelius at he counter with an armfull of Carly Simon records and asks the red headed kid, \"Yo, where's the shitter?\" in his completely accentless voice of slow death. The kid points to a partially blocked doorway in the back.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro slouches in his seat. This is not indicative of boredom, or uneasiness, or intoxication -- part of what defines 'Hiro' as 'Hiro' is simply that he slouches. An ashtray balances precariously on his chair's left arm, full of cigarette butts and ash and roaches and bottlecaps, overflowing to the critical mass point, teetering on the brink of a mess Daisy will have to clean up, because it's Daisy's job and Hiro is Friday and Hiro does whatever he damn well pleases, thank you very much.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse says, in Enochian, \"Heard about the desert. Glad to see you back. Float me some dope and lemme go fix?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton is sorely tempted. Having something of a weird compulsion to buy campy postcards... but no. That would be staged as he doesn't have to actually stop there, it'd be frivilous. Shame really.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny steps back a bit from the swarm to marvel at chaos springing eternal and stare daggers into Daisy's stone(r)cold heart \"It's Penny Ante,\" she reaches behind her head, fingering something that makes her wince .. wince more than Jesse's curtsy and looks at Devard \"You're Dave. We have to call you something else. The monkey is Dave and you shouldn't have to live with that.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Dennis heads over to the counter for a drink, albeit not without incident; some people are eager to get out of his way and some people are eager to get into it, usually college fratboys who've substituted liquor for courage and want to show the world they're not afraid. Dennis walks by them in stone-faced silence, taking contemptuously no notice of either those who edge away or those who remain. He finally comes up to the counter and growls out an order to the barkeep, one which does not carry over the din of the room.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "If Alyx comprehends even the tiniest fraction of what Jesse just said, it dosen't show. Nope. \"Daize, gimme a call when you've got a second, would you?\" she calls over to the 'raver' girl, her expression changing to one of grim determination once Devard has made his exit.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Daisy says \"Compton, not Hiro. :) Yes, I know Daisy and Hiro are always together. Unfortunately, he's not here right now.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Dennis comes into the club from the streets outside. Dennis has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Drake makes his way out of the club. Drake has left.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Penny says \"He rolled for it. 5 successes.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "(OOC) Rusty says, \"hehe.. thanks. Later!\" Thomas goes home. Thomas has left.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse is pointing, when Compton arrives, at the departing form of Wednesday, trying to skulk, and at the Nipponese gentleman chasing her. \"Fuck Diners. What bar have we colonized?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The monkey still cowers mostly out of sight in the hood and he comes to a halt next to Kaze, leaning across to whisper. \"Please.. get me out of here.\" He seems quite anxious at the situation unfolding about him.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"I... am.... Arcer.\" The crackling, staticy voice has the sound of a voice rusted from disuse.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble swills his liqour around the glass as he digs for a lighter, body twisting to search the other pocket and comming up trumps. A tiny neon pink number is sparked and a deep breath taken as he tries to focus on the tables and floor, his attention finally managing some form of clarity as it comes to rest upon the stomping girl heading towards him. He seems to tense up, as if convinced she's comming for him.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday taps her umbrella playfully with the tips of her shoes as she strolls down along the walkway. Its all so wonderfully nonchalant that she even catches the smile of some annonymous, flirtations busy-body on his way to a train. She returns it just in brief and continues.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse blinks, letting his glasses slide down the length of his nose so he can stare, with blood shot eyes, over them and at the old man. \"Excuse me?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Ah...\" The crackling voice responds after a long period of silence. \"I will... consider this offer...\" The voice echoes a bit in the speaker. \"Bring me.... bring me copper. I wish to taste fresh copper... five pounds... bring this tomorrow. And I will bring my answer.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Anastasia narrows her eyes at the man across from her, and seems utterly frustrated. WQuickly, and with only the words spoken, \"I shall return,\" she pushes herself away from the table, stands, and turns to stride decidedly across the room to the tall SCA guy.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro comes out of the Bucking Bronco's doors. Hiro has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Judas Preist, the one they sued em' for in court. You know, like the actualy exhibit A one...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Kirra makes her way out of the club. Kirra has left.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At the bar, Kirra listens to whatever Drake tells, her, and then shakes her head, turning to slip from the stool she'd been sitting on. Another comment is made, words lost under the beat of music to any but the man they're told too before the redhead turns and heads for the door, weaving her way through the crowd that's entering, disappearing outside.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "6 8 2 7 4 4 3 (9) Achieving 1 successes, resulting in a marginal success. Petra rolls Perception+empathy (7 dice) at a difficulty of 6:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A clear, shining example of the kind of person that hangs around in record stores. She's rocked, talking a mile a minute with no end in sight. \"Well Johnny and I got into this thing one night after Jesse roped the wrong guy,..\" Penny's still holding that cd at a strangely conversational angle \"like that guy? Daisy - like that guy,\" pointing at Cornelius \"only black and he had kindof a gut.\" How the guy in the story relates to the guy in the store is anyone's guess - it makes sense to Penny, so she continues \"Anyway so the point is we had to get outta the bar so we walked through an alley and ducked in this door, but like we had no idea where it went and it was the scariest.shit.ever.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pobble.............. Height: 5'10 Weight: 140 lb Age:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lily considers Nathan's outstretched hand warily, as if the tailor might be concealing a rabid, starving Doberman up his sleeve, but shakes nonetheless, though her grip lingers in his only so long as the absolute minimums of courtesy demand. Not one for touching, our Lily; she flickers a fainly apologetic smile to him, murmuring, \"Lily Black, florist. A pleasure to meet you. Will you join us?\" She darts a look at Anastasia, adding a respectful nod, but makes no motion to disturb the other woman; Pobble's coat receives the fleeting hint of a grin.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori watches Pobble, waiting. A thumb is stuck under the strap of her bag, potentially ready to pull it over her head. Kirra is forgotten, alas, in favor of the more compelling pair in front of her.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Long distance to Quiet: Penny is scening out some more of the preamble. You're welcome to watch. Quiet will be joining you in three seconds. Quiet has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The drag is neither convincing nor customary - it seems to strive for androgyny instead. A black rhinestone cowboy hat is pulled low over red-lensed Jackie O glasses, obscuring his eyes and casting shadows of doubt over that famous visage. Blue-black hair in a classic bob-cut curls around the angles of his jaw. The carefully sculpted lines of rouge make his cheeks seem sharper, and the ring in the corner of his scarlet painted lips distorts their line into a pale, sullen and anemic sneer.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Back of a hand scrubbed across his nose. Hiro sniffs once, sharply, and balls hands up in coat pockets; slipping through a knot of teenagers clogging the entrance. Progress into the depths of the store is slow, cautious: a nervous, furtive animal searching unfamiliar territory. Past banks of CDs - beneath garish displays - through crowds of kids - then, finally, down a specific aisle, side-to-side flicker of attention, eyes darting across dust jackets and labels.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday locks eyes with Ryo. Some desperation begins to seep out from behind her demeanor. She swallows, looks to Jesse for any kind of cue.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Out O Keene enters from the street. Keene has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Phineas wanders to a small table by himself. After all, you have to get warmed up a bit before you socialize.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Mary thought there was an actual pickpocketing skill. Or.. am I on crack again? [OOC] Wednesday says \"it /is/ a talent. Pickpocketing is a secondary, which, means it can technically be covered under a primary. but its up to the good ol' staffer.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny pushes off Jesse with a '1 sec' gesture, grabs Daisy because she can and hugs her because she should, leaning down on her head \"Gimme a break, it's that fucking monkey's fault. You can show me the thing and I'll buy. All night.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny could let Jesse teeter and fall but she takes a breath to steady him. Yes, that's how well they know eachother - they can compensate for eachother better than scales. Then takes off up the stairs after the kid. Doesn't bother yelling, it'd only confuse other people and the goal is to nab just the one.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Rolling his weight forward and letting motion overcome his langor, Jesse drifts away from the tracks, moving gracefully despite the platform heels, and slips through the crowd towards the sunburnt wastrel. Thumb and forefinger splay apart, trace opposite circles. Hang loose.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Indeed, you did,\" Lily murmurs. Her expression is less open than that of her companion, but her lips curve in an implied smile, though it may be directed as much at Artus' back as at Cash. \"Terribly clumsy of you, sir. You should be more careful. There are footpads about.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Skylights[1] flank a high, peaked roof, mirrored surfaces reflecting washes of neon and blacklight in mingling pools across the ground below. No natural light reaches this place - it exists independent of the cycles and systems of the world outside, time distorted to the infinite now of a dexedrine binge.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "People can still often times be seen making their way through the pathways, although not as often as they are up to the north, where the entrance of the state park actually lies. Various small animals become more numerous as well, peeking around the corners of trees, under a bush, or in the branches. If one is particularly lucky, they may even catch sight of a white-tailed deer that moved farther to the north than most of their kind.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cash................ Height: Not", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "OOC Naoko says, \"can we say she fell asleep in the car? I need to go.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "She does not introduce Devard. She, in fact, avoids looking at Devard directly, and winces visibly when he is introduced.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Bob steps back and smiles in a way that indicates he's very nervious, \"Morning! Afternoon. Evening. Whatever.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A six foot pole-skinny drag queen who looks like Elvis, pale as death and twice as angry. He climbs the stairs slowly, seething and coiled, blood issuing from his nose and smeared across the pallid reaches of his mouth and chin.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Wednesday ?'s", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You paged Wednesday with '-Yes- it was. Look forward to it :)'.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Ya wanna see for yourself?\" Compton asks, barely containing a laugh, stuffing his hole with a wing instead.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "He's not a large man, being of average height with an average build. Yet for all that, his average build is solidly built, his torso a gymnast's wedge shape and his muscles lean and well-defined. He's quite fit, fit in a way which is rarely seen nowadays; it's the fitness that comes from exertion and work, not time on Nautilus equipment. Scars on his hands and forearms attest to a life of manual labor, and his thirty-year-old face alternates between tanned and sunburnt depending on whether or not he remembered to pack sunblock. That, too, is rare nowadays; in an economy where most people work indoors, Dennis clearly works under the Wenatchee sun.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "There is a strange little high pitch singing noise in the air before a small, bright purple imp appears near where Keene is sitting. Of course. Messenger imp. Flashy.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Wednesday remembers in 2 Ed. streetwise covered such dirty street deeds as pickpocketing.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "It's asked of Compton while she de-lints her pockets. The old guy, slips in last and quickly busies himself in the vynil section.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Today, Wednesday is dressed in comfortable, practical attire. She wears a pair of black linen trousers. They are rolled at the cuffs where the material touches the fake leather of her canvas tennis shoes. She wears, also, a long sleeve shirt of a cheery pastel color, a tweed bracelet, and a three silvery chains about her neck.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jon................. Tall, lanky young man with a slender build and very dyed hair. Height: 6'3\" Weight: 145 lb Age:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alyx mutters to Devard, \"... it is. Now go....\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Mary looks up, turning to peer over at Penny, then down at her left watch. \"It's 8:12, Miss,\" she offers.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "In a way, all used record stores have certain things in common. They're covered in posters. They're covered in band stickers. The Violent Femmes play on the sound system. There's a little punk girl with strangely-colored hair in the aisles, bopping along to the music while she returns CD's to their appropriate bins.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Zoe glances around, watching people, taking note of those reactions around her, and the bouncers that seem to be edging closer. Pushing away from the bar, she actually moves closer to the suited Dennis, and pausing near him, she lets her glance travel over him before returning to his face. Chuckling, she says lightly, \"What's got your undies in a twist tonight?\" Ok, so she might be dressed all fancy, hardly looking like herself, but the tomboy is still there and forthright as ever.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble recovers from his momentary lapse of reason, patting the books in his arms with silver tipped fingers. He sways a little unsteadily, sniffs a few times and shrugs. Pupils that were wide to begin with look about the room intently, as if an earlier ingestion of chemicals had found its mark and he chuckles quietly to himsef, offering a finger waggle to the other table.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Devard quirks a brow at Ryo's words. \"Ahem.\" he says, as he stops nearby. \"Perhhaps I can be of some assistance in Mediation?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "In any case, she glides along with Penny, casting a sidelong (and not altogether comfortable) glance at Cornelius. Behind Compton, she stops, peeking out around for another look.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Pleasedta, Alex.\" He turns to Daisy, tilts his head to one side, mumbles something gutteral.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton seems to have zones out in the distance. Then he's back, blinking a few times and looking around annoyed, '...fucking hell...' he mumbles to himself.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith smiles broadly at Jon. \"The Lord, He works in mysterious ways, which is another way of saying He doth maketh the weird shit to happen, and leaves us to interpret it.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori explains to Pobble, \"I just got here. Hey, can I have a light too?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble's remarks don't seem cause a reaction in Eri, other than a mute, grim nod. \"Yes, it's what I've been saying to everyone all along. I mentioned this just the other day, Lady Ana,\" she murmurs. Something in her is dark, disquieted and she grits her teeth, gaze dropping to someplace in the distance.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro jerks back, recoils from Pobble's Penguinesque assault upon his person. He looks back and to the left (back, and to the left...): flicks the remainder of his cigarette off into the gutter. Buckle-down of the snaps on his record-bag. One last look between his partners in crime. Then, gone, not a word, retreating around the side of the bar - mumbled words, scuffle, straining noise, thump of meat against wall.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble watches with the faintest hint of a smile on his lips between sips from his cup. He's half done by the time the woman returns, waiting while he pushes his beverage from side to side idly. As Anastasia reapproaches he raises a questioning eyebrow.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "tug on ythe bear's shoulders saying \"No! No! Not the water!\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro continues to drag on his imaginary cigarette - only, hey, now it's real - Penny's a thief and Hiro's smoking all her cigarettes. The attractive silver case drops into his pocket. Fresh flash of butane flame, flashed peace sign at the approaching duo. \"Oi, assholes,\" he greets.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "OOC> Quiet says, \"I knew you did. Otherwise I'd have to take your magick license away. ;)\" OOC> Quiet says, \"Go ahead and pose what it is you are doing.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "There is a crunching as brakes engage, the SUV grinding to a halt just in front of the woman. The interior is dark, windows tinted. Up close and out of the direct view of the blinding lights its easy to notice that the relatively new vehicle is banged up, scratched and not in the best of states. Smoke is exhaled through the open window and a tired voice calls out from within. \"Awright there?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ryo glares at Wednesday as her muscles tense for a possible run. His voice is menacing,\"Don't move.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Quiet says, \"You can describe it to me now. I've not seen one yet. I assumed there wasn't but that is a failure on my part. I'll check with Oblivion.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori comes out from The Pulse's doors. Lori has arrived. Lori comes wandering out of the club after you, not looking at all like she's fleeing or otherwise upset.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Andrea grins a bit more at that, \"Well, you know what they say about idle hands.\" She stretches a bit, looking over at the belongings stuffed into the seat next to her then back to Alabaster, \"If you'll 'xcuse me I think I'm gonna jet out, migrate around and find myself a place to crash.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Up ahead, adjacent to the parking lot the actual entrance to the park is visible. A small ranger station is the first thing visible, where a ranger can be seen at all times manning the station and answering any question that may come up. Smaller booths are set up as well, selling various overpriced camping gear, t-shirts, as well as maps of the area.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble holds a breath in for quite a while, finally exhaling and opening his eyes in time to see the ingestion of hallucinogenics. He tries his very best to stiffle the emerging grin that fights its way onto his lips. \"I guess in a way, that is only fair.\" he observes.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "OOC Naoko says, \"weird. it only rolled half my dicepool. ah well.\" OOC Pobble says, \"Hrm. Either way\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Of cource there is. This is fucking Oregon... Compton thinks. Suddenly missing the relativly temperatness of Ontario.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Better explain to customers how their shit worked?\" Lori looks confused. She shrugs, however, and steps closer to Pobble, turning at the last second to lean up against the wall next to him. \"A pussy -and- a dealer. You know, pussy dealers don't last long.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The display of the Frankenstein's monster seems almost brooding. The girl's vacant eyes quite oddly seem to follow Penny's movements. You don't see them move... but wherever she is standing, the eyes seem to be looking.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Rusty snorts at Compton's dare. \"I'm not afraid of monsters. I chase away monsters alla the time.\" He pauses and then opens his mouth to let out a loud sickly belch except for the smell he seems to be doing better after that.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The record store is positively crowded. The Violent Femmes segue into The Velvet Underground, with Lou Reed singing \"Sweet Nothin'\" in his cracked and ruined voice. Enid hum along, with great enthusiasm and little talent, when she's not popping her gum. Her hands are kept busy returning CD's to their bins.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Enid................ Punk rock Goldilocks. Skinny. 20ish. Half-finished tattoos. Height: 5' 4 Weight: 110 lb Age:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Pobble smirks as he blows the coffee, setting the cup down as he stares back across at you. \"Of course, you're just some curious girl.\" he observes wryly, wiping a trailing drop of brown liquid from the side of the mug before it hits the table. \"Did you want to start or should I?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ever wonder? Now you know. Between banks of pay phones stand two doors, labelled clearly. Jesse walks past the XX door, and pushes open the XY. Thankfully it's not rush hour.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse has/had a bloody nose, y'see. And it smeared all over. Look sort of ghastly, I do.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Wow look at the doors,\" she whispers, pretending awe. Convincing. And when she thinks no one's looking, Penny grins at the table and chairs, mutters something under her break to Keene and steers him toward the doors \"So which shall we check out first, fact or fiction?\" Some kind of open-ended joke, they stare.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Maybe the vocals are Daisy. It's hard to tell.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Quiet pages: Perception + Awareness, diff 5. Hiro rolls perception+awareness (5 dice) at a difficulty of 5:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse says, in Enochian, \"Nip had a weird *********. Astrals all freaky and glowy. left trails and shit. Lets keep an eye on him.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Loud country music assails the senses, issuing forth from a jukebox in the corner. Leaning over the bar next to the door must be 'the newcomer', a man around 55 years old. He's usually cleaning the bar with a rag when he's not drawing a beer from the taps in front of him. The usual liquors are available on the shelfs behind him, reflected in the mirror that says \"Cowpunchers\" with a red hat tipping up in a ya-hoo move over a lassoo.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse pulls his attention back from the east, and shrugs, letting his rose colored attention pan across the motley cast as his pale, blood-smeared face twists into a crooked grin. \"Who's sorted?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Anastasia puts the drop to her nose and smells it, then darts out her tongue to take a tiny taste, then rubs it around in her fingertips, to get a feel for it. She's curious, ya know. Now, she turns again, and watches closely, intently. Little does she know what she just did.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Penny says \"Forgiven. You want what you missed? Did you miss anything?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Penny says \"I dunno man. I definitely don't get it.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Blindly unaware of any of the interest in him, Cornelius takes out some wrinkled bills, putting them on the counter. Waiting for the boy to give him his change, he glances around the room one more time, observing. Curious.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Everything used to be something else, and Interzone Records used to be a bowling alley. Some traces of the original layout remain: the sunken floor, the shoe counters where the cash registers now sit, and most notably, the wide open spaces where the lanes once were, now filled with row after row of CD's and records, sorted by genre and artist.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "This is a statement of general fact rather than of current circumstances. Daisy is late to work, late to class, late to bloom, late to bed and, likewise, late to rise. She is, apparently, here to pick someone up, but is rather late to that as well.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Artus manipulates the object in his hand with deft rapidity; the motion looks somewhat like a shuffling of cards. Finished in a trice, he keeps it hidden against the palm and underside of his arm. Having crossed the street, he regains the sidewalk and approaches Cash from behind on loud, obvious footsteps. He calls out in a voice obviously British: \"Pardon me, my good man.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro *zzzp*: he's tugging on the zipper of his pants, having just christened the entrance to Cowpunchers to express his disdain for the locked door. The closest bar in town, and they lock the doors. Lam-O. \"You got a cigarette, Penny?\" he asks, turning away from the offending establishment.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Everything is wrong... they left... Home Office... orders. Why will you do this?\" It asks, confused tone becoming curiosity.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble delays the explanation to request another drink, and as he does so a mild shiver takes him, causing him to tense briefly inside the warm expanse of his yeti covering. He turns back to Lori, \"Chemical engineering.\" Not so spooky or mysterious. Not even terribly interesting. A sheepish little smile is offered, as he glances to the side, needle point eyes scanning for something.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny thumbflicks the loonie like she'd had practice. Like she's unencumbered. As if she's been faking it, some kind of routine, a ruse all along.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Who did this?\" he asks oddly, already making his own assumptions. Then, \"How long...?' and finally, \"Where is my gun sparky?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "This room is not particularly large. Just an entrance room, really. Heavy black curtains hang over the windows in front, shutting out almost all of the ambient light from the world beyond. The room is lit only by real candles and gas lamps. The air carries an old, almost must scent to it, giving you the sense of walking in to a building centuries old, even though it is a relatively new rennovation.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Turtle Jones smacks her connection. Sorry.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Time passes. It's taking a while.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny coughs politely, really she's choking on something. Laughter. The song. She says, in Enochian, \"Of course I am. We should make the monkey do it.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Slightly distanced, yet seemingly a part of Damian's group, Kirra remains there behind him, shadowed green eyes watching still. As it appears this little meeting is coming to an end, she relaxes further as she moves another step to the side to now stand at Lori's other side, her gaze attracted by the painting there.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The paper moves inch by inch, threading itself through the mechanism to make contact with the two alphanumeric wheels. Penny sits back and takes the joint from Hiro again, tokes.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "This room is not particularly large. Just an entrance room, really. Heavy black curtains hang over the windows in front, shutting out almost all of the ambient light from the world beyond. The room is lit only by real candles and gas lamps. The air carries an old, almost must scent to it, giving you the sense of walking in to a building centuries old, even though it is a relatively new rennovation.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The bum stands against the wall, over by the door, slouching in a patently James Dean kinda way... if James Dean looked like Jack Palance with a mullet. Arcane energies drift and weave their way around him, making him hard to spot by anyone actually looking for him, never mind those engaged in para-military activities. The cam-corder in his hand, silently recording in to a next-generation flash-ROM.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori is actually interested in the art. Her arms are folded across her chest, a bag slung over her head so that the strap lays across her body, boots planted firmly on the ground. \"...and nobody does those really great huge, big fucking sea ship scenes anymore where the waves are like 30 feet tall and there's some poor motherfucker hanging from the rigging on the mast and the ship's like hanging in mid air at the top of a wave at a seventy-degree angle n' shit? Man, I love those. They're not ART, but I love them.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Morgan orders honey liquor himself, the only popular brand being Baronjaeger for some odd reason. Bah, American paletes. He looks up as Ana approaches him, nodding to her briefly, taking in her countenance.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Andrea watches him carefully, even the most stoic would likely get the bit of edginess to them that the topic of conversation is clearly starting to work into her. \"Well...ah, thats good. Great even. I'm sure there's just bunches out there that could use, ah, that kinda help.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Sitting hunched over the keyboard in the dark like a decrepit gargoyle. His weathered features lit by the monitor in the depth of the Library. He pokes at the keyboard angrily with a bony finger, grumbling and swearing at the PC, willing it to respond quicker - the options hidden in arcane nooks of digital construct. His prize in peril he jabs at the space bar and the 'BID' bar depresses on the screen sending his last attempt to thwart Mr. X's attempts of stealing his prize.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Oh yeah?\" and a chunk of breast follows the wing, \"What kind? Succubi? Dybuuks?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Zoe comes into the club from the streets outside. Zoe has arrived. Zoe is looking at you.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny had been standing, waiting for Jesse so there's like - zero surprise that he slumps on her and even less that he's not-quite chain smoking. \"I think we need to walk a little. Where you going? We'll catch up.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble finishes spooning and stirring in time to observe the peices clattering to the floor. Carefully taking up the mug he makes his way across and sets the coffee down on Anastasia's table before crouching to assist with retrieving a stray bishop from behind the chair opposite the woman. Offering a smile of greeting he deposits the peice on the board and gestures to the chair, \"May I?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Keene continues scrambling around, picking up papers around him. Something in the back of his mind warns him something is wrong -- and he turns, seeing (or rather, not seeing) Penny. He keeps picking up the papers, putting them all in the bag and zipping it back up. For a few moments, Keene considers the situation. What to do?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith nods solemnly. \"Ah can be a very good friend,\" he says profoundly, regarding Andrea.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Off to the left side is a smallish office. In the back center of the room, you can see a pair of doors, oaken. One door has the face of a smiling demon, a brightly polished brass nameplate under it says Fiction. One door has the face of an angry, almost leering demon, another brightly polished brass nameplate under this one says Fact. There are no visible handles, just a hole in each open mouth with tongues sticking out.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble is momentarily distracted by the ridden bear and looses track of his reply. Mouth flapping he finally finds some", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday is just getting up from the ground, clothes a little tossed and scuffed. She stands, not entirely confidently, near Penny.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Quiet will be joining you in three seconds. Quiet has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse shrugs at Ryo and turns his back on the man, walking over to offer Wednesday a hand up. \"I hate this script. We need a better ending.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morgan.............. A powerfully built man, 6'5, glacier blue eyes and blond hair with platinum streaks. Height:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Naoko looks you over once again, and says with a certain amount of certainty, \"Sir,\" and waves a hand over your clothing, \"Given your general apparel and demeanor, it is most evident that we are in the Vietnam-war protest era. Such people as you I studied in my American History classes.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Shh. I know what I\"m doing.\" The kid starts wiring the device into the phone, and then pulls a simple 9-volt battery out. She slaps that into the socket on the monitor, and flips a switch on the side. An eerie hum as it powers up.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "In the beginning, people didn't go to Washington State; they wound up in Washington as a way of getting away from other things. It led to the state's original population being self-reliant outdoorsy types who have become increasingly more rare as the state has become overrun with Starbucks and Microsoft. Most of the Lumberjack Brigade has already left Erin's Vale for Alaska, but there are still some holdouts, people who still seek self-reliance amidst the espresso and traffic jams. Dennis Larson is one of them. He may not be dressed like one right now, but his mien, his build, his air of self-confident self-reliance, give him away as clearly as day.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "(8) 3 -1- (8) Achieving 1 successes, resulting in a marginal success. Suliman rolls 4 (4 dice) at a difficulty of 8:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The japanese kid shakes her head tightly, \"No. They'd never, ever, ever do that. My parents love me very ... very.. much...\" And she can barely choke out the last word, before tears start streaming out of her eyes.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Devard,Bored magician. Don't forget /that/. :p", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble shrugs just a touch, raising a hand at a passing bartender to indicate he's in need of service. \"If y'earn it you may as well use it right?\" Uncertainty flickers across his features as he pulls the last from his cigarette and stubs it into a nearby ashtray, blowing the smoke upwards away from Lori.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Nathan turns as does his tablemates, golden eyes finding the strangely dressed man standing near Anastasia's table. A quirk of a brow, and then he turns back to his conversation with the fair Ms. Black, laughter given by something said earlier.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You whisper \"Yeah, c'mon I'll take you.\" to Jesse.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Looked great,\" Daisy says confidently. \"Shit. Now where's she going?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Off to the left side is a smallish office. In the back center of the room, you can see a pair of doors, oaken. One door has the face of a smiling demon, a brightly polished brass nameplate under it says Fiction. One door has the face of an angry, almost leering demon, another brightly polished brass nameplate under this one says Fact. There are no visible handles, just a hole in each open mouth with tongues sticking out.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday keeps her semi-apologetic smile up, though her voice lowers in tone just a bit: \"I said I was sorry.\" She pats her last pat with her jacket, satisfied with how 'dry' the fellow is, whether he is or not. \"Don't be rude about being blind,\" she mutters motioning with her head to the poor bum beside them.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Eyeing the hand in the pocket. \"Yeah...\" she mumbles, \"Poutine... mm hmm.\" She nods her head furiously, \"Down by the ferry. In the terminal.\" She motions in the direction of the ferry wildly, her other hand still held out to recieve the change.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The tall buildings may be seen off in the horizon, but obviously this area is not one of static business. Instead, the only real remains of city life are seen in the often crowded parking lot of the state park, vehicles of all sorts packed into the small parking spaces. It is one of the few parking spots that automobiles of every price can be found, everything from the latest BMW to the old Honda with a rusty bumper.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Chapped lips hesitate a response, and his brow rises in a Vulcan like fashion to regard the offering. \"Wha'... I 'aven't carried a wallet for four years... man. Whaz' tha' catch.\" Cash leans back to drench his innards with a gulp of whiskey.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "From out of the subway stairway, Wednesday is running at TOP speed away from Penny. She's carrying a purse in arm and a briefcase is flying past her.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Ya happen to see any kind of boxes falling from the sky of late?\" He asks, figuring why the hell not? He must be getting close, and he really has nothing else going for him in this matter.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton puts a protective arm around his grub, and hunkers down, eyeing the street urchent warily. Over a gobfull of buscuit he manages, \"Out tha door.\" he manages with a gravelly voice.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alyx mutters to Devard, \"... of... to... Would... down... the... grab... fetch... things?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"I was told,\" Keene says, after a moment's consideration of Penny's incoherent rambling, \"that he wished to know what her disposition was. We had no power to prevent her death, since we were informed of this well after the fact. Or so I believe.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble smirks, \"Right. I studied chemistry so I could better explain to customers how their shit worked.\" Glossy eyes roll as he pulls on the smoke. \"Yes, I'm a pussy and a dealer.\" A laugh escapes him as he shifts against the wall.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Nyarlathotep, as I said to you in the library... why would he do this, though? To what purpose would one bring such darkness into our world?\" Pobbly may be oblivious, but Ana sure as hell isn't - in fact, her head almost immediately turns in the direction of the footsteps. She puts a finger to her lips, and says in barely a whisper, \"Ssh.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro makes his way into the Cowpunchers. Hiro has left. You make your way into the Cowpunchers. Cowpunchers - Main Room(#1194RIJMs)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse mutters to Penny, \"... a bathroom... I... fix again.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"But... it...\" She bites her lip again, and then forces a smile. \"They won't find anything. In less than two hours, it'll all have reduced itself to its base elements anyhow, and sunk down into the ground.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The area is dominated by a circle of seven high-backed chairs[2], surrounding a low coffee table[3]. Twin televisions hang from the roof by heavy iron chains - tilted at an angle to bathe each half of the ring in the warm glow of artificial reality.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "He puts his hands in his pocket, watching traffic idly as they grow nearer to the museum. \"Because I would rather not get Chased.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori is coming for Pobble... in a way. Or at least near him. \"Hey, did you kill that polar bear all by yourself?\" Lori asks as she gets to the bar. She sits on a chair and flumps, dropping her chin in the palm of her hand.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"The plane that was carrying it from Santa Fe experienced some... difficulties and crash landed in Utah near the Salt Lake..\" The supervisor says with some trepidation in his voice. \"The plane lost most of its load before it crashed... we have recovery teams out there but it could take some time.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Turtle Jones plays a flourish on the guitar and then pats it lovingly. \"Good girl, Bessy. Let's see what we got ourselves.\" He bends to get the hat.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro takes a few steps into the room, coming to a gradual stop as he takes in the experience of the chamber. He bobs his head wordlessly in response to Cornelius' words - eyes fixed on the scene depicting Dr. Frankenstein's monster, following the path of patchwork flesh to the girl laying broken in his arms. No commentary is offered - he just takes it in, soaking up the details.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "'Ohs' silently after staring his hardest at Eri. This does seem to take a bit of getting used to. He alternatives between glancing and staring for a few moments, enamoured by the novelty of double vision.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori stomps back toward the bar. Stomp, stomp, stomp! \"Goddamnit!\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Devard offers a yoyo? ;) Bungee cord?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny hasn't seen Pobble or Cash yet, isn't even aware that the cigarette's gone - must be holding her breath or something. She tugs him and the bag back into the uncovered light outside the door to the bar. \"Nnnsweet. I need..\" She palms something out of his bag, pockets it and lets go of the straps.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Eyes flicker shut, open slowly. Hiro snatches his hands back from the machine as if shocked: fingertips rubbing together, fidgeting. He kipes the half-smoked joint from Penny, takes a long hit to 'center himself'. Exhale, a long narrow stream. Tone formal, offering the weed back to his partner in crime:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton plods along the west side of hte street, his hand shoved deeply in to this pockets and his head hung low. A grimice planted on his face.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Curling womblike around the periphary, the majority of the floor has been sealed off behind an amorphous plastic shell: bulbous and twisted as if exposed to immense heat, with a hue varying from embryotic pinkish-red to mouldy green. Veins of fiber optic cable run through the shell, a circulatory system in pulsating blue and purple. Piles of bedding[4] cling to the walls at irregular intervals. A solitary airlock[5] is the only access to the laboratory without.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "How the Invisible College got their hands on one of the first Edison Universal Stock Printers, on ebay no less, was definitely due in some part to Pobble's ever expanding collection of connections; amazing what money will buy. Penny, glazed but interested, can't take her eyes off the thing - a victorian masterpiece of brass, mahogany and a large roll of spooled white paper - \"..it looks like an upended turn-table, really\" she continues some internal monologue outwardly \"and when we ask it to, the spirit will turn over the gears and ..\" she passes the joint back.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny probably doesn't realize it but the Burroughs cd is still in her hand. And as an anchor to Daisy, she can not help but be pulled by gravity in the direction she leads. Technically Compton should be leaving with them but he's ..still in the bathroom. And who knows how long old men really take.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Pobble nods slowly, finally taking a sip of the steaming brew before he replies. \"Indeed anywhere, so how would you get around that?\" he asks with a crooked smile, as if having ideas to this end but more interested in entertaining suggestions.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble stares across the street, fingering the filter of his smoke. \"I noticed.\" he murmers absently, \"Fuckers.\" His reverie ends with a start, almost twitching as he glances back to the girl at his side. \"I'd say I'm neither, but the former is possibly subjective given recent incidents.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny seethes, spits \"I *trusted* that fucking *monkey* and look what it got me.\" She's talking about her sunburn and the dreads. \"I'm going to spit Dave, roast him and eat him. While Pobble watches.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Charming,\" Keene says, completely deadpan. He puffs on his cigarette, turning to head towards the door. \"Off we go once again, to our imminent deaths. I'm going to make sure this is on my expense report. I probably have something in the car.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "On your typical Wednesday afternoon, Interzone Records is a bit crowded, with plenty of high schoolers looking to spnd their hard-earned allowance money on music. A red-haired boy is standing at the counter, checking bags in exchange for playing cards. A great big middle-aged biker stands at the register, ringing up orders, while Enid stands between the aisles with an armload of CD's, returning them to their appropriate bins. The sound system plays Soul Coughing, and the yellow-haired girl sings along to \"Screen Writer's Blues\" while she returns Iggy Pop and BT where they belong. \"It is five am,\" she drawls, \"And you are listening to Los Angeles.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You say, \"The price of progress, Arcer\" Penny explains further giving Hiro the nod, still convivial - chatty when she's high \"the men left when their methods became obsolete. But now we're here. There are seven of us but we're not like the men that left. We can restore you to a purposeful existance,\" she lowers her voice, eggs on \"We can give you a strength they never could. Do you want that?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The street becomes more and more filled with holes, the pavement wearing thin and causing vehicles to bounce up and down on the pot holes. Quite frequently large trucks can be seen making their way down the roads. They haul lumber, paper, or some other material out to their destination, be that one of the local warehouses or the docks. During all hours there are the sparkle of lights, both day and night shift available in most of the factories that are still in operation.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "To the north, the trail grows wider just as the trees grow more and more thin. However, to the south it is a completely different stories. The vegetation grows more and more dense, covering both the ground and the sky, as branches from trees intertwine around the pathways.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Quickly Compton clicks his way over to PayPal. Although technically versed and fairly PC-savvy for a guy pushing 70, he still isn't very smooth about it. His brow wrinkled with frustration, and hands clammy with anxiety. He realizes he's almost in shock, 'I finally found it' he thinks to himself as he goes through a 10 second reverie of the events that have brought him up to this point over a lifetime, as he slips a AmEx card from his pocket. The name on it reads Cally Grant, for anyone keeping score and he bashes in the numbers completing the transaction.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "4 (9) 5 (7) 2 3 (7) 4 2 Achieving 3 successes, resulting in a complete success. Clipped Ear rolls Dex+stealth+4 (11 dice) at a difficulty of 5:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "It takes about forty minutes to clear through all of the streets and mini-highways before hitting actual interstate highway. There's nothing quite as freeing as good music, windows open and a vehicle on cruise control to really make one appreciate a road trip. About two hours in to your trip, in the distance, you can see that there might be some fairly unpleasant weather as the clouds are gray looking and the wind blowing in to your window carries the taste of moisture on it, the threat of rain.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "They descend like plagues of locusts, Daisy and her ilk do, and don't let up until they've shoplifted or purchased every last goddamn copy of _ROCKET TO RUSSIA_. And so, locust-like, Daisy and her ilk decend, though today's ilk -- Compton and Penny -- suggest that she's a gutterpunk, rather than a high school punk. She wanders up and down the aisles, not purchasing anything in particular but, rather, maneuvering so as to allow Enid no possible line of sight that encompasses Penny, Compton, and herself.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Turtle Jones says \"Okay, just an FYI... I'm going to be banning pickpocketing NPCs unless a staff person judges it. In fact, all pickpocketings need to be rolled out, but not judged between two PCs unless you feel it necessary. You shouldn't need a judge for every little thing, after all. This is just because of the high high level of petty crime like pickpocketing that is going on and the cops busting down on it.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"I was going to play chess,\" answers Ana blandly, her voice a dull and emotionless tone. \"But that can wait. Have a seat, if you wish, Doctor. I might have to look at things, though, on the chessboard as we speak, so I hope you do not get upset with me.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"I hope he's goin' ta make soda...\" Cash watches the techni-colored lab coat stalk off in silent retreat. Rain still dripping from the tip of his thrice broken nose. The presence of a preacher man settles, hunched outside an establishment of ill repute amongst scallywags. Long hair is parted, the better for Cash to see with. And above the fallen Penny and besides the wet fur man, the drunk drinks from his flask and smiles.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The Pulse seems rather aptly named, for as soon as one enters it becomes obvious that the name was given to the establishment for the resounding rhythms that echo across the club. Even from the outside, the vibrations can be felt if one places a hand against the wall - a pastime that is quite popular among the younger crowd that isn't allowed entrance yet.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny who is Jen-Jen (Jenny jenny who can I turn to?) makes a grab for Keene on his way past her, slips onward expecting the door to swing shut. Did it? The noise was absent and it's lack settles down into the pit of the stomach. She scuffs her boots down the hallway, commenting as she goes along \"Poor Lizzie, doesn't she always get a bum rap..\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Climbing out of the vehicle, Keene sets the car alarm and begins walking towards their destination. Across his shoulder is his messenger bag's strap, with the bag itself having weird dents in it from an over-large object within.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "It isn't ASL. It does, however, seem to remind Daisy.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Like every Wednesday evening, the bum known as Turtle Jones is hanging out in King Station over at Yonge and King, playing his old beat up guitar. At least, until the cops chase him away yet again he's there...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "the strange one with the monkey on his back. Oiy, that just makes her want to start singing for some reason.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[FAE] She pushes some braids out of her face and nods, \"Well, I don't know about taking you to my home... the others there might object, as things are very, very tense right now. And I couldn't stay in there... Forest. That is the best option, and I know of places where we will be safe to speak. It isn't far. Just a walk to the south.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Oh that!\" Lori says, \"Some dickhead pushed me down on the dance floor, that's all. I didn't see him coming, and he just brushed me off like a mosquito. Somebody's always got to ruin it.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Quiet winces. At least it's a 0.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Anastasia toys with something on her shoulder, nothing there, but maybe is fixing her bra-strap. \"What about that office?\" she asks, seeming to be hesitant - and though the chess game is not set up, she certainly seems like she's playing it alraedy.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Yeah, and so will every narc and gangbanger with a bust quota to make or some eezy to unload.\" Sideways flicker of attention, then back. Flash of teeth. \"Thanks for the recommendation, anyway.\" Index and middle finger in a broad 'V', and he's heading for the counter with his rekkids.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Wednesday shrugs, \"it happens. RL has a way of breaking into RP. My first scene IC too, by the way.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse says, in Enochian, \"Rig's in the bag. Ditch ******** you have.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny's head is now in the game. Because when questioned, witnesses usually describe how the angry young person elbowed and shoulder their way through the crowd. So she throws her shoulders back and affects a pleasant, if not sunny, air. She takes a hold of Keene's hand, fellow tourist and tugs him as they close on the doors to the museum.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jon watches Smith and gives the man a vague smile before he turns back to Penny and that ensuing drama. \"Dude, there anything one of us can do to help? I mean, she ain't lookin' any better.\" He gives an unsure look to Enid as if seeking her advice silently. \"I mean...shit like this can get bad quick sometimes.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Morgan arches both brows now and lets them settle, but he's not going to dwell on it. He lets Ana go as she came, returning his attention to his companions.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Artus, to his enormous satisfaction, is not telepathic, nor is he an albino, and thus a point of possible contention is done away with before it even becomes an issue. His smile is mild and genuine, his face is expressive and seems to change often, as whim or weather dictate. \"I'm frightfully sorry to disturb your meditation on this brisk afternoon, but certain circumstances compell me to intrude when otherwise I would simply acknowledge your presence with a nod and continue on my way in deference to your obvious high station among devotees of the Tao.\" He turns up his palm, displaying a brown leather wallet--hardly a thing to carry every adjunct required by a gentleman, but certainly sufficient for simple excusions given the efficiency of modern currencies. \"To whit: you dropped this during your shuffling.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "He jerks forward into the Fiction room, as if to try to pre-empt her from a spill. Keep moving, Keene.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Her height is more impressive than her looks. She stands just a few inches short of six feet, emphasizing her lean shape. Though light, she has an athletic stance and very little bodyfat. Her arms and legs are well-toned and look as though they are used to being put to work. Her nails are kept clean, clipped short, and unpolished.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble considers for the briefest of moments before nodding, sliding off the stool in a way that only moves him further from Dennis, oversized boots thudding down onto the floor. Hands push immediately into pockets and with a stooped pose he makes for the door in a roundabout path, almost scuttling through the crowds with only a quick glance back to check to see wether Lori is following.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"The second prototype of the Tachyon Field Multiplexer... they took it... \" Whatever this is, this is BAD BAD BAD, judging from the expression on her face. \"The Russians...\" she trails off, after stating the name of the most frightful boogeyman she can name.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The random threads of fate that brought these three together carry with them a certain deliberate nature. A predestined set of laws that seem to hover above Cash, pressing and trumping the natural order of things. To those who can sense such aberrations, there is something not all together Kosher about this bum, despite the Star of David hanging upon his neck. A curse, a charm, a blessing from a one eyed Gypsy. Or a charge account the size of the eastern seaboard ran up upon Miss Cleo's line.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse mutters \"There a bathroom near here? I want to fix again.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Nah, anything really\" Penny seems sure of it but adds \"Bigger than a breadbox? Duffle sized? The thing is we gotta go now and get her and find out what he's doing with the other hundred or so he's got stashed there.\" She's just about packed up and ready to go.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "3 3 7 -1- 5 Achieving -1 successes, resulting in a botch! Petra rolls Perception+alertness (5 dice) at a difficulty of 8:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vanguard-Walker..... Tall, burly and blond. Height: Way", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton perks up a bit at this, \"Really? Monsters? Sez who?\" This seems to amuse him some.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble nods glumly, peering across at the writhing mass of bodies. \"Bastards.\" he agrees, \"Seems alright in here though, I guess.\" His foot is still caught in the infectious tapping cycle, much to the chagrin of his leg which he tries to push down to stop it from jiggling.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Kaze steps out from where he has been the entire time, only now coming into general notice stepping over near Pobble and eyeing the bear with rider, \"It is this way Pobble-san, come I will show you.\" Where did he come from anyway? He motions with one hand for Pobble to follow heading towards one of the paths.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Alyx says \"Comp. I am so conused. Him. :>\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "disbelief. Do they never stop arriving to private property?? Yet, when the bear is spied, she smiles a touch, a hand", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Weekday evenings, this bar is filled with older men, having a sociable drink before going on home to the wife. But on weekends the place fills up with the factory workers relaxing before the dreaded work week comes once more. At these times it gets rowdy, when the cowboys that still live on the ranches to the east of here clash with the factory workers. Most fights wind up on the street, out of respect to the owner's age, but occasionally the cops have to be called in.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Under the thin awning, Penny sneezes. She puts the other hand back in her bag, digs.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The blue haired Pobble raises a brow at the implication, whispering loudly to his companion. \"I think she's talking about us mate.\" He doesn't look away from Damien though, a mildly amused smile forming. With a somewhat glacial pace he begins to head across towards the man, hands sliding down into the oversized pockets of his yeti-like coat. Although eyes are slightly glossy, there is a definate clarity to his expression.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Keene comes in from the main hall. Keene has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Anastasia rises, without a second thought as you take the book, and simply says, \"Come. We have things to talk about.\" Now it's on her terms, though, and she doesn't have to feel so awkward about her mortal body.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Of course its, useless in these sort of unlikely situations, but instinct drives Wednesday's foot toward Penny's crotch before the leg is subdued. Predictable results. Wednesday doesn't respond to whatever language is spoken, she just tries to lift her body up with all her might--which isn't a whole lot.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The door opens, admit one Pobble. Or half admit. A second taken to hastily suck the last from a cigarette including a small burn of the filter before he flicks it out past the dirty fella he has in tow. Stepping fully inside the gallery, he lightly adjusts the sit of his top hat as he holds the door for Cash, peering across with a sharp and determined expression. His thin lips are set in a crooked line, silver tipped fingers tapping against the door as he scans the room.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Totally pompous. Penny gives Hiro a look like he's just in from outerspace \"Hello Arcer,\" fingers twitching til she makes fists on the table, reflexively chatting like it's a regular sort of phonecall \"I'm Penny and that's Hiro. We're part of The Invisible College and if you don't have anything better to do, we'd like to invite you to stay with us.\" She looks up, briefly, to check the status of her hair-on-end \"..provided you can find some way to not charge the air around us all the time.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Phineas says, \"Be seeing you, Miss Dvornik, on campus. You enjoy the night, eh?\" He watches the young lady leave. \"I am still waiting.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Rusty glowers at the door. \"Oh.\" He squints his beady eyes at Compton and kicks his chair again. \"Hey, what's your problem?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton packs up and leaves as quietly as he came. Popping the data-chip in to his pocket and strangley leaving the camera on a ledge as he leaves.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Upon getting close enough, Alyx interjects mildly, \"Maybe without Dave, I could actually get some sense out of Dr Steve.\" A bright, almost saccharine smile is offered towards Epnny and Jesse, before she asides to Daisy, \"S'up?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton sits back, angling the ancient office backwards and depositing his bare feet next to the monitor on the desk. Folding his arms behind his head, he gazes at the long eerie shadows cast up the walls and bookcases of the library and rare grin cracking his features.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hip dance clubs and upper scale restaurants line the streets of New Town, everything from the newest teenage fad to old style swing dancing being seen easily on these streets. The young to middle aged crowd seems to frequent this area, a culturally diverse area with everything from the preppy high school jock to the pierced stoner hang out on the strip to find the new coolest spot to go on the weekends. The billboards seem to have taken notice of the party society in the area as well, various ads for entertainment places and items showing up more frequently than in other sections of the city.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The smile on Daisy's face is so broad that it has to be put on crooked, half of it jammed up into the little cheek-room she has to spare and the other hanging relatively limply in the corner. It shows off some reasonably poor dentition and ill-considered dental hygeine, but that, if anything, is par for the course.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday slips on her coat and draws a long breath and shakes off a few jitters. She readies her weapons of choice: the umbrella and the bag of skittles she just bought from the vender in one hand and free's the other. She lurches into a trot, then a jog, then *BAM!* The nab, her hand aimed and coiled around the strap she takes off up the stairs.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Far out.\" Cash throws some fingers in pairs to Hiro and Penny, accompanied by a complicating ghetto sign ending in a *snap*.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"We got sort of a vibe we're generally going for. And we usually only throw parties to premiere a new piece. Hiro comes up with them, mostly, and Jesse mixes.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "This gets a raspy chuckle. Cornelius walks over to the section she indicated. Fingers, like dexterous spider legs, click the records along before they slip one from the rack. He studies the front of it, then the back on it. Eyes always on those pesky kids.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Rusty furrows his brow, a little taken aback. \"-You- looking at me like that. Fuck. I jus' asked a fucking question..\" He pauses in his muttering and glances quickly at the unhappy kitchen staff. \"Quiet down, dummy.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Anastasia settles down again, and sighs heavily. \"I suppose we can do that,\" answers Ana, who pushes her hair out of her face, and reaches for her satchel. \"But would you first be so kind as to help me to carry my things? My shoulders are rounded from all of this walking with these books.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Me, I need to go back to London for a little while. My grandma died.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Phineas is watching the table where the man is standing up, but Pobble is not object of his attention. Anastasia gets a smug little wave of recognition.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Devard is bored. This, too, is a general state of affairs, as he meanders up from the west. However, what he sees ahead of him loos downright Fun! Let's go watch, Shall we? A.. predatory grin, and he alters course for the incipient fight.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Daisy says, \"Ignore the fact that Penny and I pretty much posed the same thing. I'd be damned if I was going to rewrite the whole thing just to avoid redundancy.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Devard. \"No rose? Not good enough, David!\" She shakes her head bemusedly, looking forward once more at Daisy's comment, one brow raising slightly.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Another look with Penny. Under his breath: \"That better? Jeeze.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny has her legs kicked over the right arm of her chair. She could be touching heads with Hiro if she were high. Taking the joint from him, she inhales a few times, cough-talking \"We-gon-na-do-this,\" snorts smoke out her nose.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"This room holds the nightmarish dreams of humanity. From literature or mythology.\" Cornelius remarks, closing the door behind himself. \"The first is Dr. Franktenstein's monster. A creature that represents, in some ways, a tremendous amount of hubris in man's drive for power.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alyx sketches an exaggerated bow as she's introduced - repeatedly - and grins loosely. \"Yeah. Don't really need to say any more,\" she observes, shaking her head a little. Turning, she beckons Devard down a little (she's only short, remember), presumably to murmur something to him, quiet-like.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "As the sun rises and falls, so does Compton's spirits until him descending in to the depths of a murderous brooding. Spitting bile and sarcasm with the odd tirade at the expense of any number of unrelated parties. Eventually he grabs the old handset in the library hooked up to Pa Bell, the line already ringing through to 1-800-Go-Fed-Ex without any dialing, the tracking number printed out by the Raven dot-matrix in the corner.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble stands with a pile of books held in his arms. One moment he's smiling, the next he looks deeply confused. Glancing around the room with a look of realization that's not far away from 'God, I left the gas on'. Temporarily forgetting where he was heading to he looks across at Anastasia, narrowing his eyes as he tries to say something without taking a breath.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith beams at Andrea, apparently quite sincere. \"Ah'll admit it keeps me on my toes. Even though many people don't think they need it, everyone sooner or later needs help.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[TIC] Pobble says, \"You saying anything understandable?\" [TIC] Penny (Thursday) says, \"Enochian\" [TIC] Pobble has Enochian 3!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble indulges in a mix of ostritch and snake avoidance behaviour, keeping his back to the imposing figure while remaining still. Teeth pull in the corner of his lower lip, finger tapping uneasily against his glass still, being the only movement besides breathing. He almost looks like he's not exactly sure why he's entered this strange mood, but given his glossy pinpoint pupiled eyes it's not unreasonable to blame it on an acid flashback.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Cornelius enters from the main room. Cornelius has arrived. Keene enters from the main room. Keene has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori reaches out to snatch the cigarette from his fingers. \"Huh? Speak up. You don't look so good.\" She resists patting his face, though, but only just.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The stones grind under the tires and a small cloud of dust is all that remains of you at the station. The porky fellow just watches, shaking his head in disbelief. The highway eventually turns straight south for a while. The scenery changes, becoming a little less green. The sun begins to set as night falls over the country, leaving you with the remaining four hours of your trip to Provo to be done in the darkness of night.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ryo gives chase to the fleeing woman. Maybe he wants some answers.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Someone else comes a-strolling down the street, chatting quietly on her cellphone. That someone, however, rings off when she spies a group of quasi-familiar people down the way, tucking aforementioned technology into her bag and shrugging that back onto her shoulder.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Enid riffles through the vinyl, returning a few more albums to their appropriate places, plucking out errant artists who have wandered from their appointed genres - a yellow-haired angel of order. \"Progressive breaks, yeah. They're a band outta LA. They played here last March an' kicked ass. Packed the house.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "So it's late enough to be awake but too early for four-twenty, so Hiro's actually out and about. The cops are all over the east side right now, so he's not loitering in the slums, and there's no way he'd venture into the western half of Erin's vale. So - somehow, following mention of a twenty-four hour peep show from a phone booth to a bowling alley from a flyer in the gutter to somehow ending up here: Pigboy slouches through the entrance, the strap of his record bag digging into his shoulder, face ruddy from the cold and the wind.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble almost frowns at the trapping of the drop, but replaces it after finishing the circle. He seems to nod at something and deposits a drop on his own fingertip. The vial is sealed back up and replaced and the Doctor lights up a cigarette, closing his eyes as he takes a long slow drag.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Oddly enough, no. Said gun you swear you saw Bob stuff in the dumpster just a few moments ago is inexplicably gone.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A rare clear afternoon breeds foot traffic through the downtown area, even on disastrous days such as this. Drawn to this area of commerce, out of hunger or fiduciary necessities, is a healthy smattering of homeless. Hoping to reap the rewards of a generous public on this fine day. The blue skies encourage the spirit of charity.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "OOC> Dennis says, \"Sorry, guys, the 'Puncher is pretty much ICly closed for a family get-together. :(\" OOC> Penny says, \"lock the door?\" You make your way to the streets outside. Industrial - Factory -= Jones and Lynx =-", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Sylvan returns to Jodie's side, then ushers her and Kasui to follow her back home. She calls to Matt and the other, \"I hope we meet again and share a good meal and stories.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "OOC Naoko says, \"what is that for?\" OOC Pobble does a Prime sense, to check for anything going on in the foresty area. You could make an Awareness roll.. About ten miles to the south and west of here, there's the fading away of a source of primal energy... like a battery draining the last of its juice.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Oh, nothing.\" replies Pobble in a tone that lacks anything that even vaguely resembles conviction. He knocks back his liqour sharply, smacking the glass back down on the counter. \"Cold.\" he murmers as an afterthought, sliding hands into pockets and pulling the furry mass tighter about his body.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Alyx says \"Old guy. :>\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Of course, it won't hit her for another hour, and since she has never tasted this before, she has no idea what it is. She peers a little, and asks, \"What did you just do?\" It's not just the liquid. It's the feelings of weirdness she's getting from the air around you.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Andrea makes her way out of the club. Andrea has left.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Reckon them shitheels closed their cow club to us cattle rustlers, pardner,\" he drawls. Then, in more appropriate english: \"So we've taken our sex and drugs to the street, where it belongs.\" Jon comes into the area from the west. Jon has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You pull open one of the glass doors and step inside Papa's Chicken Shack. Slums - Papa's Chicken Shack(#1559RJs)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "It was the introduction of a night club near the eastern side of the street however that caused some of the old fashioned store owners to cringe. It caters to those of more extreme and eccentric tastes, bringing a whole new variety of patrons to the area come night. It was the introduction of that club that opened the area to other less savory businesses. From time to time a patrol car can be seen, coming to look for those women of the night that are rumored to linger around the corner of the streets every so often.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Something something about Hiro in a chair hooked up to something with wires, pants around his ankles, a roll of pennies in his mouth. He, too, declares I wanna come.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "2 2 (5) (7) (9) 4 (6) (6) 3 (10) 4 Achieving 6 successes, resulting in an unbelievable success! Cornelius rolls 2 (2 dice) at a difficulty of 6:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble faces away from Dennis, but his arrival at the bar definately unsettles the man. Silver nails tap together with a quiet clacking lost in the overwhelming beat of the music. He turtles down in the high collar of his enormous coat, pausing the tapping to toss a bill on the bar and take up his drink, clutching it with both hands.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ryo doesn't pause any longer. His thumb twitches *beep* 'send',\"I'm calling the police to get this settled.\" he says as he backs out of Jesse's reach.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Zoe watches as Pobble seems to go off with.. wait, where did Kaze come from? Talk about people coming out of the woodwork today! Blinking a few times, she turns back in time to see the bear hit the water, and Liv swim to shore and disappear. Giggling finally, she hides the smile, turning to look at Matt for a moment, brow raised in silent question to him before turning back.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith is just in time to catch that interesting little act as he wanders down the street. An eyebrow quirks.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny discovers a ledge to lean on and positions herself where Pobble can't see her face. She disappears along the side of the building using Hiro as a shield. Her voice thins to a sometimes heard rant about time and it's meaning for another five minutes.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble hands across the pink neon flame. He flashes a grin, swivelling slightly on his stool to face the girl. \"Well, Welcome I guess. Dr. Steve is me, pleasure t'meetcha.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori purses her lips and stares up at Pobs. One hand is extended to the side toward Kirra, a 'come hither' crook of her finger motioning her over. Lori's eyes never leave Pobble.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ryo pulls out his cell phone even as he slows to s stop not more than maybe twelve feet from the rukus. One hand remains on his walking stick as the other punches three numbers. *beep* *beep* *beep* He stops with his finger poised over the 'send' button,\"What is going on here?!\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Drake listens to whatever it is Kirra has to say, then shakes his head. Runing fingers through his hair, he sighs and follows her out, absently pushing his way past anyone who gets in his way. The bulk's good for something at least.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"You like Kung Fu movies, man?\" This, more than anything is disappointing. \"You ever seen Enter the Dragon? I've seen that movie four thousand eight hundred times....\" Fingers come out from their hidey hole to wiggle in demonstration. Cash caught, fishing for a reaction deeper than arms crossed.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "For a total of 0 success(es). [OOC] Jesse says \"Curses.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ailsa mms cautiously. \"Not in so many words, no. But one storybook character can recognize another when they're beside one another on the shelf, no matter how dusty or disreputable. Are we done here, Mr. Messiah? There are places in the woods I'm not sure its safe to linger after dark, so far off the path.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse pages: Purse is being snatched on the stairs. Brace for it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The walls of this room were possibly once white, but are now stained nicotine yellow with yet dirtier splotches in places. The dark red carpet seems newer and less obnoxious than the one found in the main hall. Tall lamps stand in each corner of the room, shaded so they cast their light upwards giving the room a certain ambiance.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "She rocks from foot to foot, and shakes her head tightly. \"You'd not believe the truth if I told you, sir... no disrespect or anything meant, but... \" Naoko smiles oddly, curiously, and then says, \"I'm not a kid. My name is Xenon.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Of course,\" says Keene, automatically straightening up when he hears the word `Master' in Bartius' title. \"I'll need her file, of course, but I can set to work on finding her right away afterward.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You say, \"When isn't Pobs on something, old man..\" she hugs him even as she chastizes him. \"Really. Are we situated yet? Or are we all staying at the Holiday Inn without knowing it..\"\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro says, \"smoking dope and invoking forbidden powers. I don't see how we're going wrong..\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Cornelius walks out of the record store and onto the street. Cornelius has left. Enid has disconnected.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "She's holding up a fine example of the contents of Aisle 10: a spoken word album whose album cover depicts William S. Burroughs' drooping features looking askance at an incogruous swirl of Technicolor. The album's title is so psychedelic as to be unreadable.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Everything used to be something else, and Interzone Records used to be a bowling alley. Some traces of the original layout remain: the sunken floor, the shoe counters where the cash registers now sit, and most notably, the wide open spaces where the lanes once were, now filled with row after row of CD's and records, sorted by genre and artist.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith nods. \"Ah've been here for a few months now, ever since Ah decided to make this city my new home. It's been an interesting time.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "There is a door set in the back wall. A door that bears a white sign which states that none may enter. Still, waitresses and the bartender can be seen making their way to the door and slipping beyond. These journeys into the forbidden are brief, but always do those who return from its hidden wonders bear a broad smile and a pair of mugs filled with liquid gold that go only to patrons who seem to bear friendship and/or kinship to the staff of this establishment.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday has left. [OOC] Alyx lets curiosity get the better of her. So, rar.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The walls are a testament to Erin's Vale's rich history as a stop on the Pacific Northwest touring circuit. They're covered from floor to ceiling in psychedelic-inspired posters, from cracked and fading Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd tours, to recently-printed memorabilia from The White Stripes and The Donnas. Just as the walls are covered in posters, so the counters and record bins are plastered with stickers, in some cases several layers deep, covering the history of punk rock, from The Ramones and Stiff Little Fingers, to bands that are still practicing in the garage.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith comes into the area from the east. Alabaster Smith has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton sighs and looks, back the way he came, \"We goin or not kids?\" he asks with all the patience of a underslept grizzley. \"The 'Pots' just two blocks away...\" he offers up as a solution.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hip dance clubs and upper scale restaurants line the streets of New Town, everything from the newest teenage fad to old style swing dancing being seen easily on these streets. The young to middle aged crowd seems to frequent this area, a culturally diverse area with everything from the preppy high school jock to the pierced stoner hang out on the strip to find the new coolest spot to go on the weekends. The billboards seem to have taken notice of the party society in the area as well, various ads for entertainment places and items showing up more frequently than in other sections of the city.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Andrea doesn't move the glass from its halfway journey towards her mouth, the contents teetering on almost dribbling out the top. \"Ah. Well. Thats very nice of you.\" She gives Alabastar another smile, \"You must be very busy.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Fuck off,\" states Ana, as blandly as any other word that comes out of her mouth. Her distaste for the man is evident, though, despite her emotionless tone. Now, for those who know Ana - her cursing like that - that's just unheard of. Jaws may now commence dropping.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble saunters into the pub, coat pulled tightly about him to relieve the outside chill. He pauses near the entrance, sidestepping to avoid becomming a barrier to further entrance and slumping just a touch. After stiffling a yawn he begins to pick his way across to the counter.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Kirra strangely obeys the silent command from Lori, her steps paused to the side where she might keep both the other and the men in her sights. Too curious is this whole scene, and Gods know the redhead is the curious sort.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Turtle Jones pluck the guitar a bit more and continues singing his blues song, kicking the hat in front of him for emphasis. \"Ain't gonna cry no more over a women that's gonna leeeaaavee... My baby she left me, left me out in the cold, cold rain. My baby she took off and left me all alone again. All alone, baby...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"It also may be that the Tao has less to do with it than does Marx,\" Lily opines mildly. \"Perhaps my friend merely wishes to reapportion the capital reasources currently within this wallet, so that it no longer lines the pockets of those content to profit from the exploitation of others but rather rewards Labor, isolated from the work of his hands and bleeding, ever bleeding, to oil the wheels of capitolist hegemony. Or,\" she adds, \"Maybe he is a crazy person.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "From afar, Jesse's purse may be snatched. Hang on.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Keene grabs onto Penny, trying to keep her upright. Once they're through the door, though, he releases her and adjusts his messenger bag strap. \"Wow, this place is creepy,\" he says, the master of understatement.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Morgan hrrms as Ana enters, watching her settle and brusquely request tea. He then watches the polar bear that is Pobble make his way to the counter, but the scrutiny doesn't last long, strangely enough, but then again, look how ~he~ is dressed! Either a Fair employee or a SCA freak, who knows? He returns his attention to Lily and Nathan. for whom he makes room for upon settling at Lily's table.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You say, \"Your monkey's got no balls.\" A declarative.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Jesse nods. I'm having a bad staff karma day.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Matt nods to Zoe, and moves to greet teh bear and his companion. \"Heya. I'm Matt - Zoe says you're a friend of hers.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Sweet.\" is his simple appraisal of the situation and collects his stuff. Dropping it in the back amongst the sundries of suburban life he greets his rather homely travel companion, \"Hey toots. Good to see ya again. Wanna go for a ride?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Wednesday says \"ah...goood question. I can't see you throw it so at least there's no dodge, but she is running at top speed away from you. 7 or 8?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Dextrous fingers busy themselves in the racks. It's apparent (now that she's attracting attention) that she's not shoplifting -- she's interweaving CDs from her purse with CDs on the rack.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Nathan settles, then falls into quiet conversation, the mug lifted to his lips and sipped from at times as he banters back and forth with both Lily and Morgan. The smile never leaves his face, growing at times with amusement.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble slides sideways onto a stool, easing his coat out behind him. Despite the warmth of the club, he almost appears cold as a slightly shaking hand lifts a smoke to his thin lips. A request is mumbled to the bartender, and repeated a little louder before it's understood. Once the glass of clear liquid arrives, he rotates slowly on the stool top, leaning his furry bulk back against the bar to survey the crowd, one giant boot tapping against the footrest.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Anastasia replies softly, \"Well, I could tell you what I learned, or you could tell me what you learned, but I don't want to speak of things here. He's a wizard - he could be listening anywhere, you know... and even I would be hesitant to risk that.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Relaxing a touch once the card is offered over, Kirra continues to nurse the cup of espresso, careful sips taken of the still steaming brew. Quiet she remains, at least for now, yet she does straighten, her gaze turned to study Damian's profile from where she stands as he mentions Harbringers. From him to Pobble she trains her gaze, that curiosity growing now as she listens in on the conversation.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Pobble drains the last from his cup and nods, \"Why of course Miss.\" he says, pushing back his chair before stopping and tilting his head, \"Do what though? You say that as if I made a suggestion?\" Phineas comes in to the bar, folding an umbrella up under his arm and adjusting the muffler he has around his topcoat. It is chilly outside, and it threatens rain.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Mercifully the day ends and the new day dawns, bringing the time when the revolver should arrive. FedEx priority guarantees that a package shall arrive by 10:30 local time the next day. So when ten thirty comes and goes, it's a little bothersome but not terrible. What sucks is the day continues on and on... with no sign of the delivery truck.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Pobble's gaze flicks across to the office, and he seems intrigued. \"You work here or something?\" he asks, looking back to you sidelong. Finger curls through the mug handle, rotating the cup about in place.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny's arms are stretched out, Penny's arms are longer than the law. Her hands get a hold on the thief's shirt-collar and necklaces.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny meanders with Jesse and keeps up with his babble, talking about iled and nepo, about multiple suns and where the needles go. She gives him another cigarette and hangs loose at Daisy as Jesse's heels fail to keep him aright for very long.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Small shops line the streets, obviously an older part of the city, the initial settlings of Erin's Vale can be seen here. Some of them are reconstructed, new paint and wood being replaced on their structures, while others slowly decay from age. For the most part the small shops still manage to have a quaint appearance, allowing those that enjoy to pursue the history of the city to see some of it still evident.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "It takes a while for the idea to leave his cranium, some grand plan for free porn rental using this found BluckBusters card. And true to this, Cash seems detached from this group for a few beats as this scheme works it's self out. The obvious catch being, BlockBusters doesn't carry porn.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Mary whews. Ok. Not on crack.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The music on the CD isn't what one would expect from Daisy. It's an intricate wash of pop culture -- here and there, you can pick out fragments of jingles from commericals of the 1980s, distorted quotes from old movies, soundtracks running both forward and backward. The vocals, cigarette-roughened and husky, aren't English. The vowel sounds are wrong, and rasping back-of-the throat noises -- as in Hebrew or Arabic -- predominate.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Enid comes into the area from the west. Enid has arrived.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Turtle Jones is in backscroll from when she was afk. Jesse, what's with all the dex+streetwise rolls?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "As always, what Keene chooses not to answer is more telling than what he actually decides to acknowledge. He walks over to the table, picks up a match, strikes it against something convenient and lights up. The cigarette soothes the turbulence within, at least for a while.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny ta-ta-tas with the bassline and touches Daisy's elbow and guides her, the beat nodding her head, toward Compton in a very pointed and specific way. Paranoid.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "One second he's at Blue Oyster Cult, then another on the opposite wall at the Dead section and then again at the Jimmy Bufett row. His presence is slippery, moving in and out of your attention like a lazy trout in your mind. It's not that he actually disapears, you just simply manage to miss him.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Pobs,\" Daisy says, gesturing with the tip of her cigarette toward Compton, \"is a git. An utter git. If I trusted him, I'd be waiting on Union with my thumb up my ass.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Off to the left side is a smallish office. In the back center of the room, you can see a pair of doors, oaken. One door has the face of a smiling demon, a brightly polished brass nameplate under it says Fiction. One door has the face of an angry, almost leering demon, another brightly polished brass nameplate under this one says Fact. There are no visible handles, just a hole in each open mouth with tongues sticking out.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton did seem to be enjoying it too, taking his time. Not like some starving people... \"Wot's yers?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wave hello. Hang loose. Want a cigarette?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Looking up the stairs, cold rain falls from a grey-black sky without moon or stars. A raw wind blows from the east.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Indeed. It does not.\" Cornelius grins, moving through the store to the front with the one record. Setting it on the counter, he asks. \"How much for the purchase?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Right now, she's dressed in the uniform of a Washington State Parks Ranger; a khaki button-down shirt tucked into olive green denim jeans. Over the shirt is an olive green quilted jacket, good for keeping the rain off, with a brass nameplate over the left breast pocket and official-looking patches on each shoulder. Her only adornment is a thin gold chain that hangs inside her shirt, held down by a hidden weight. The jeans are held up by a wide black leather belt that also holds a utility knife, several other small black leather cases, and a walkie-talkie. On her feet is a pair of old black hiking boots.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A gutterpunk - two-hundred dollar boots, shaved head, pockets full of spare change - starts to slip a CD under his jacket while Enid's back is turned. With the same sixth sense granted to teachers that allows them to decipher just who threw tha spitball, the yellow-haired girl turns around and tell him, \"You're _so_ gonna put that back, 'cus I'm not gonna buy it back off of you when you bring it by next week.\" The gutterpunk grumbles, the CD is returned, and Enid tactfully wanders off into the electronica section, still humming just a little off-key.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "To the west the more residential area is left behind while the long stretch of road spans towards the east. The apartment buildings and other stores of consumer goodness dwindle to nothingness while warehouses start to appear every so often. Many of the old factories that have become the namesake of the district have ironically closed down to instead become storage for different goods.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble sighs, becomming confused and awkward once more. \"Look, kid. Lets get you out of here, in case anyone else comes along. We can get you settled and then figure out what we're going to do about it all..\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith chuckles, nodding. \"Oh yes. It keeps us busy, at the very least.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble sits across from Anastasia although he appears to be making ready to stand. An empty coffee mug sits before him and he seems to be too absorbed with his conversing to notice a new arrival.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "It happens again; a ghost of the ticker expanding outward toward Penny and Hiro - and then past them. Past the table and the down to the floor, the image increasing overhead like a projection until it loses all resolution.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "He's leaning over Penny, murmuring something in that same strange language, and his attention is drawn on bringing the lit match to the cigarette at his lips. Utterly unmindful of his newfound shadow.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Devard grins some more. \"Spoilsport.\" he sighs, and turns to walk back west. \"Very well. But only because you asked so nicely.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Anastasia gasps out, and her eyes widen and she freezes in panic. \"Oh... ohmigod, no... no, please no, M'lady, good Lady, good Baroness, please don't get me in trouble with the Baron for telling you these things...\" SHe looks completely terrified at the thought, and hurriedly, she grabs Pobble's arm and yanks on it. \"Do something. /Please!/\" As if anyone with any rational sense in their heads would know that htere is little that Pobble could reasonably do.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "But when Eri approaches, so does Ana rise, and she lifts her dress a little, to dip into a curtsey, and speaks a polite, \"My Lady,\" to Eri. \"I hope my presence here with my companion is alright. We needed a place to speak privately, and noplace in town was suitable,\" she states, her voice soft and thoughtful, but making a point to explain the presence of a stranger so far out.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton snorts, going for a drink of the Coke, \"Not quite. So, who was yer friend? A rich mark?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble seems torn between the protrusion of new and fantastical fauna and the woman who leads him through their midst. He comes to a halt nearby and sets himself down on a decaying log. Still gazing he finally says, \"What makes him so cold? He was.. disconcerting..\" He shivers, pulling his yeti coat tighter about him.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ryo can't seem to get a signal on his phone, but narrows his gaze at Jesse and Penny,\"Be on your way will-workers.\" he says, no sign of fear in his voice.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alabaster Smith..... Tall, thin, red-haired, blue-eyed, well-dressed Height: 6'1\" Weight: 170(?) Age: 30", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"I dunno man. Mebbe she's the one that drank the last of the -red- soda.\" Helpful, much like a mailbox, Cash's center of gravity is low and provides Penny with rock in her trouble turbulent existence. Though the Cash ship sways over its anchor, but it's never uncontrolled in its drunken stupor. With an economy of movements, Penny is twirled and stood straight in an Aikido dance move.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The air slowly takes on a charged feeling. Like the sense before a storm, the tingling of the static in the air of electricity looming in the distance.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "If Rule 1 is never cop in a dress, the admonition against lifting wallets in drag must have gone unspoken. Which is a shame, seeing as how Jesse could have used the lesson. But, really, who's going to suspect?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble half smiles despite the situation, \"The Russians aren't so bad anymore you know.\" \"Right.\" Agrees the monkey with the cigar. Pobble does look puzzled however, tapping his silver fingertips together with a hard almost metallic sound. \"I have no idea what that thing is though.. is eh, that what bought you back here?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton hangs up without further ado. Looking at the piece of space junk in the middle of the Library, he says, \"Well, old man. Looks like it's time for a road trip.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ailsa's gaze lingers on Cash for a moment, again that faintly greenish flash that must be a trick of the light. \"Oh, bother,\" she murmurs in a tone mere shades above disgusted. \"Figures. Why are the lessons always so pungent?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"M'Lady,\" she replies, her tones even-tempered and thoughtful, \"Of course I could not pass up a stroke of good luck that fell in my path; I would hate to offend good Fortuna,\" and she looks up towards the sky and smiles toward it, giving the goddess a nod. She comes back to the here and now, and then blinks, looking between them suspiciously, her eyeballs ping-pong back and forth, pursing her lips puzzledly.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[Willpower] Penny spends a Willpower point. Penny rolls 3 (3 dice) at a difficulty of 6:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A virtual smorgasbord of shops line the street, everything from the eccentric store that only the most daring of youths dare venture into to the more conservative clothing shop that declares that they have the best deals. One corner of the road has two rival tattoo and piercing shops. Whenever one declares their shop to be the best, the other counters with similar claims. There are photos of their work blown up in display windows, changing from day to day to the joy of window browsers.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Keene, meanwhile, blunders forward and transposes himself between Penny and the statue -- reading her body language, knowing how this game works. He stares at something inconsequential off to the side of the statue, doing his best cow-eyed tourist impression. \"This reminds me of that movie, with the guy,\" he says. Keene works for Clear Channel. He knows all about inane banter.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Echo comes out of the Bucking Bronco's doors. Echo has arrived. Echo steps through a void into the OOC Nexus. Echo has left.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "To say that Alyx jumps slightly at Devard's comment woulden't be entirely true....she's startled, though lazily so. Jumping would take far too much effort. \"Ah...yeah,\" she murmurs, then mock-frowns at", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith grins toothily at Andrea. \"Oh relax, Sister. Ah wouldn't force my beliefs on you. Just remember Ah'm here if you ever need me, or the help Ah can give.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Anastasia reaches for her satchel and then, with her free hand, tugs at Pobble's coat. She looks over her shoulder, though, and stops moving for a moment. \"Actually... \" She starts biting her lip, though, hard, staring toward Phineas, whom she almost immediately spots. She doesn't reply to that wave, but says, \"I have a better idea.\" Wihtout another word, she heads for the door, turning from time to time to look at Pobble, making sure he is coming along.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Some of these faces resemble pictures taken of those who have died over the past few weeks. In the center of it all is a rabbi standing before an altar. There is a pillow on the altar with two gold rings.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The walls are a testament to Erin's Vale's rich history as a stop on the Pacific Northwest touring circuit. They're covered from floor to ceiling in psychedelic-inspired posters, from cracked and fading Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd tours, to recently-printed memorabilia from The White Stripes and The Donnas. Just as the walls are covered in posters, so the counters and record bins are plastered with stickers, in some cases several layers deep, covering the history of punk rock, from The Ramones and Stiff Little Fingers, to bands that are still practicing in the garage.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "This room is not particularly large. Just an entrance room, really. Heavy black curtains hang over the windows in front, shutting out almost all of the ambient light from the world beyond. The room is lit only by real candles and gas lamps. The air carries an old, almost must scent to it, giving you the sense of walking in to a building centuries old, even though it is a relatively new rennovation.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "We appreciate your prompt payment for Item #19390712348723, Jesse James Revolver for the price of $8,000US. We will send out your package via Federal Express next day shipping. A tracking number for your package will be provided tomorrow. We appreciate your business and will provide positive feed back on the next business day.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Matt quirks a brow, seeing the Polar bear and his rider. He looks at them curiously.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Come this way,\" sounds cheerful and curious about what's around the next corner. Penny turns in toward the dark, gothic village setting. \"Now is that what they're paying to see?\" She looks at the broken kid-statue, arms folded, head tilted - judging. She walks to it's side - not to get a closer look but maybeb to keep out of it's direct line of sight.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Rising up on his toes, Pobble attempts to see what's on the screen better. The critter in the truck begins to creep out too, becomming visible in the backwash of the headlights. Dave Monkey clutches a cigar and the smoke trails up around him and back into the air conditioned vehicle. \"What?\" they ask in unison, \"Something wrong?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny is dry heaving, steadied by Cash near the doors to Cow Punchers. Pobble stands close by. Near the cluster stand Jon and Enid, Enid leaning on Jon. Alabaster smith stands against a wall near Jon and Enid.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Okay, so we're in Idaho. It's been a few hours and he's drank a quart of the Sunny D he's found in one of the bag. Weird stuff. Like new age Tang.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Listen up,\" puts her fingers on the plaque, covering someone's name obscenely-wealthy-at-one-point. Who she's talking to isn't quite clear \"Tap that little thing over there.\" Maybe she meant Hiro. 'That Little Thing' is the paper-forwarder. \"You should try talking to them, ..it, with me, y'know?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny dodges right but doesn't slow down. Lips pressed into a tight line, people can hear her muttering in that other language. God and Jesse only know what it is she's saying. Penny is making her presence felt on all sides and people are getting out of her way.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro and Penny are on the doorstep of Cowpunchers. Hiro's smoking two tandem cigarettes: Penny's behind him, rooting through her bag. Pobble and Cash approach across a stretch of asphalt, Smith stands off to one side, scrutinizing. The vibe is manic, crazed, drug and drink fueled.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cornelius........... Height: 5'3\" Weight: 120", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lily................ A bit Cabaret. A bit creepy. Reserved and accented. Height: 5' 5 Weight: 110 lb Age:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "In the far corner of the room, Anastasia pulls a book from her satchel out and sets it down. WHen a waiter finally comes by her table, she simply says, \"Tea,\" in a barely-breath of whispery voice. She could well stare holes into the man's back as he departs, waiting to get him away from her.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Ahh...\" The young man seems caught off guard by the request for a moment. \"Let me find out for you sir. Please hold.\" And before you can respond, you're in Muzak land.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "And, yeah, maybe Hiro isn't totally dissapointed. Because an initially cursory examination catches, snags: Pigboy slows down as something catches his eye. Backtracks. There's a certain obsessive fugue that makes people like him distinct: he doesn't notice the erstwhile thief, the failed theft - really, everything other than the tips of his fingers and the records passing beneath them exists on a frequency he's just not tuned in to. He's hunched forward like quasimodo by the time Enid breezes through his section -- scrutinizing a release from some obscure breakbeat label.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "(10) 3 (10) 4 Achieving 2 successes, resulting in a moderate success. Jumpstart slips between Stormcrow and Zoe, grunting in an 'excuse me, oh excuse me' fashion. Gamely, bravely, foolishly, he does that hand-shoving thing to open the door. Demon's tongue, yadda yadda. Cornelius rolls 4 (4 dice) at a difficulty of 6:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "At your table, Anastasia pushes a few books to you. There is a notebook, a small organizer, and the strangest of all, a largish old tome, something musty with cracked bindings. To those that are magickally aware, there is something extra about it - it seems imbued with a magick all its own. \"Just those, please... I think I can handle the rest.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith steeples his fingers, and nods. \"Oh yes. Ah tend to peoples' spiritual needs, and crises of conscience.\" Pobble enters with a small crowd, waiting his turn to flash ID and get his hand stamped. He scratches absently around the mark with a glinting nail as he steps out of the influx of clubbers, fishing in an oversized pocket of his yeti like coat for cigarettes as he's caught in the unfailing gravity of the bar and drawn towards its promises of hard liqour.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You paged Turtle Jones with 'It's just .. I'm nowhere near a subway, as far as I can tell.'.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Got any spare change?\" Esther practically yells, holding out a dirty hand. Her eyes twitch as she greedily eyes all of the things Penny's carrying, then looks back up to Penny's face.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Ohhhhhhhh, so you're a dealer!\" Lori shows him a sharp grin. \"No, you're not a dealer; you're too much of a pussy to be a dealer.\" Ow. She has another drag off her smoke, flicking ash negligently aside on the sidewalk.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Then it's quiet. As the rain stops, there's a sound of something metal hitting the blacktop; and rainwater sluicing off the roof, tapping that metal in pairs of clinks. Other noises; interior distortions of conversation and music and one shuttle of gravel under a sliding foot.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Something something about smoke coming out across the ceiling from the library. And Penny BANGS out the door and declares Im going out.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori is on the sidelines sucking soda through a straw, evidently, since there are no stamps on her hands. Her body is bouncing gently to the beat of the music while she enjoys the cold liquid. As soon as she finishes the soda, though, she abandons it and plunges back onto the dance floor to learn some more kewl movez. She certainly is an energetic little thing.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Mary says \"Sorry about that. Five year old in the middle of the living room making a sandwich seems to mean a big mess to clean up.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The young woman purses her lips, never looking away from Cash. Low, \"Its truly not wise to meddle in someone else's story. It makes them want to turn your pages with greater attention. The sort of thing one presumes, living in such a location, you're interested in avoiding. Do you want to rethink that particular relocation, in the interests of fellowship and a kindly word?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Eventually the phone routes the call to an operator. \"Thank you for calling Federal Express. This is Rhonda. Can I have your tracking number please?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ryo moves pretty damned fast for an old guy. He takes it upon himself to see what the heck is going on as he sprints towards the duo, stick in hand.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Dude. P-dogg.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse says, \"Let her go, Penny. The police will be here, soon.\" He shrugs, and uses the end of his boa to wipe at the blood on his face, adjusts his sunglasses, and replaces his hat atop his head. \"Whoever she stole the bag from, I'm sure she'll come forward.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Does it have to be particular?\" asks Keene. \"A particular size, a particular shape, a particular color?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori reaches out to fluff Pobble up. \"You should eat more! Put some meat on those bones... no wonder you're cold--wait, now I'm beginning to sound like... nevermind.\" She yanks at Pobble's coat, as if he's not warm enough in it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC: My parents are comming to stay for a week or so and will be living in the computer room hence I won't be around much. Email me if you need anything.]", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Damian looks back at Cash as the man speaks, and the distaste shifts for a moment into something more ponderous. But not too long, not long enough to be rude or dismissive, before he's looking back at Pobble. \"Yes. Damian Griffin.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble quirks a brow in query but slides down onto a seat, resting elbows on the table and centering his coffee. One settled, he raises the mug to softly blow ripples across the surface of the liquid as he looks across at Anastasia curiously. \"I have some news..\" he begins.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton is old, to make a point. Well, much older than the 'kids' he trucks with. As he wanders the store, popping up here and there in his peculiar way it could be noted that he's older than the rock he checks out, older thena the Punk he puruses and older than the crap 60s Folk Music he avoids like the plauge. Each of the eras of music have washed over him like a ocean of Pop culture and yet he remains. Salty and crusty as any sea dog.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Her body is dressed simply - well, simply for one of her kith, as it were. Rich silks in purple and silver, softer than the wings of a butterfly, drape over her frame, gathered tightly below her slight breasts with a silver cord,and then allowed to flow down to the ground, concealing her feet. The cuffs of her robe fall just to her wrists in wide bell-like flares, decorated with embroidered roses and vines in silver thread. A silver crescent moon clasp, the traditional symbol of the noble house Eiluned, holds the black cloak that wraps loosely around her in place. The cloak she wears may appear just simply black at first, but at a closer look, you can see the stars glowing against the night-sky silk, sparkling dots that shine luminescently, even in the dark, and in perfect celestial patters, reflecting the map of the heavenly sphere.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "You enter the waxworks. The large double doors swing open for you. Dark Horizons Waxworks - Main Room(#1957RJ)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday pages: Well that was fun. :) See you around town.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"So like... what're you doin ova there, Penny.\" Someone finally comes round to it, as Cash hands off his flask to be hit. Pobble gets a ripe whiff of the stuff, it's running down each side of the silvery flask and mixing with the rain water. The denim man steps over to where Penny makes sidewalk angels.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "(Type \"help\" for help.) [TIC] Penny (Thursday) says, \"Speaking of Steampunk, Wild Wild West is on TNT.\" [TIC] Pig Boy (Saturday) says, \"nice\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Penny............... Tall. Hot. White hair. Height: 5'9\" Weight: 123", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "A lucky strike, left between his lips, is pursued by a disposable lighter whose flame vaccilates and weaves, unsteady and for a long time unsuccessful in its efforts to engage the cigarette in meaningful dialogue on the topic of fire. Sighing visibly as that trial ends in a victory for the forces of chemistry, Jesse sags once more, slumping in place, his long, lethargic frame curling in on itself.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "water and time. The croak of a frog and the cry of the birds above intermingle with the rough sounds of ducks and the buzzing of insects. Every so often, one catches sight of a shadow, small and undefined, sliding beneath the surface further from shore as well as the occasional glimpse of glittering silver scales. A sense of peace marks the scene, one that almost seems to make one desire to move on than stay and risk disturbing the tranquility of the lake's inhabitants.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Smells like something burning. Dark in here but not as dark as it could be.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Dude. P-dogg.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday straightens up her back, stands proud, waves her hands like the winding of a toy dancer. At Ryo's words, and the lowering of his phone, she begins to make a bee-line to...well, anywhere that *isn't* here. She smiles politely at Ryo as she passes, and tries only a moment's sheepish glance back at Penny.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Penny. Down.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"I get the first bite, on account of Dave keeps trying to touch me while I'm asleep,\" Daisy mumbles, taking a deep, aggrieved drag on her cigarette. This is not the only complaint; there are several more, but they're muffled into incoherence by the presence of her filter. \"We've arrived. All of us now; all seven, except for the one we can't mention. This is Kid Sinister, whose name is that because he's sinister as fuck, and this is Penny Delightful, whose name is that on account of she's wholly delightful and cheery as the noonday sun and, no, not at all bitter.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "OOC> Quiet says, \"Bombs away. Fire off the dices.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Hiro skirts past Cornelius, his aversion to further contact just barely apparent. You enter the door marke Fiction. Dark Horizons Waxworks - Fiction", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "[OOC] Jesse says \"Hm.\" [OOC] Jesse says \"Apparently, Mutter is also weird. That last bit? That's muttered.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "The woman seems to know her way through the woods, those woods that seem to just tingle with life, and those woods in which the occasional gnome tugs at your pant leg, or pixie tugs at your hair. Ana is very nonchalant about it, brushing them off like little gnats.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Moving along an overgrown path, the Polar-bear ambles along at an easy gait. On his back, rides the lovely Liv. She grins widely, her fingers digging deeply down into the bear's thick fur and holding herself on.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "To the side of the area a rather pleasant mini-park has formed, a statue of Zeus standing proud. At various times during the day and night, automated sprinklers go off to make sure that every plant receives the nourishment it requires for perfect blooming. Speckles of colors ranging from a deep violet to a cottony soft baby blue line the edge of the statue for a quaint place to stop and indeed, smell the flowers.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "His hair is cut in a short low-maintenance style, the Nordic yellowness bleached to white-blonde by the sun, with eyes so pale a gray they evoke nothing so much as bleach. Dennis is dressed differently than he usually is; his flannels and jeans have been traded for a suit and tie. It's not Giancarlo Ferre or Giorgio Armani, certainly, instead just some cheap off-the-rack thing that's barely had any tailoring done to his form. In some sense, the unassuming dark suit makes him all the creepier. If he wore designer threads he'd be less unnerving, because after all, who'd want to start a fight while wearing a five thousand dollar suit?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny's good. Keene is better. He laughs in that overly loud American way, making an exaggerated `spooky' face. \"But bad ventilation is spooooooky,\" he says, like Count Chocula.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"'m fuckin eatin.\" he barks, spittle and chunks of bread hit the table as if to make the point valid.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble shuffles back against the wall, still huddling in his behemothic coat as he draws a slow drag from the cigarette, letting the fumes drift out from his mouth to coil around his hat. \"You look miffed is all, something the matter?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Clickity-click, Babah-trick.\" Compton says as a form of personal computer mantra and opens Pine, to view the message of the end of a quest.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"We gonna do this?\" he asks Penny.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Kirra nods once to Lori at her answer, no words given to try and say sorry or give condolences. To Damian, the redhead chuckles lightly, her voice an easy alto, \"Pleasant enough, yes, even with the weather.\" Shoulders are given a slight shrug before Lori's words call attention back towards the other two strange men. A quick study, and she asides back, \"Ten if they're lucky and the cops are busy.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Penny says, in Enochian, \"Stupid fucking kids.\" Penny mimes Jesse's wave and relights the cigarette for Daisy; went out after too much mashing and fake-blood got in the way. \"You're late, too.\" She looks at the girl as if to say What's the story, mornin'glory? \"I got here just in time.\"\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Falling off the bears back, Liv is soaked easily to the bone. Sputtering and spitting out water, she comes up to the", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "the sea above. The forest has parted and the tall elms and oaks give way to smaller ash and the occasional shrub, the difference in height lending an appearance of homage paid. The creation to which such fealty and respect is paid is a simple lake that stretches off into the distance, but whose furtherest banks can still be glimpsed at the limits of one's sight.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble frowns, confusion apparent on his face. \"Why would someone spraypaint a dead polar bear?\" He shakes his head before knocking back the remainder of the drink and plonking the empty down on the bar. He waves a hand in a circular motion, trying to wind his thoughts back on track. \"I meant the stomping and Goddammit.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Wednesday's eyes never leave the form of the drag queen bandit, but has he weaves out through the crowd she has to stand up on turtle's bench just the watch him. She whistles through her teeth, then hops down from the bench, and quietly makes herself into a shadow of Jesse, some 20 meters down the way.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Jeepers Freddie,\" she elbows him and laughs in a pretty careless way \"You should hear yourself. I bet it's just the temperature change - all that dry ice in one place tends to get a little on the stale side a few hours in.\" On the whole Penny's pretty blase. Or good at faking blase.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Two fingers point left, side by side. 'Got a cigarette?' His posture is tired, he slouches to one side, weight shifting under leather and lycra, one thicksoled boot toeing the stained tiles beneath.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith smiles at Enid broadly, giving her the full attention of his personality. \"Sister,\" he declares, \"Ah am at home anywhere on God's green Earth. What brings you here?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith grins toothily at Jon, and offers a hand. \"Evenin', Brother,\" he greets. \"As the lady says, Ah'm Alabaster Smith, a humble man of God here to do His works.\" He glances to Penny, eyebrow arching, as if affronted that she might show him up. \"Ah do believe the Lord is sending us a sign.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith sits down at Large Table. Lori is looking at you.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble settles against the counter, using it to hold up his tired weight as he scratches his chin and waits for service. Coffee is ordered, and a silver nail is rapped against the bartop quietly as he waits. Attention flicks across the room from table to table, searching for the familiar and pausing in places. Such as the dashing rogue, Lily and finally stopping with Anastasia. Beverage arrives, and the blue haired gent begins to spoon in an abundance of sugar.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton... says. Rusty narrows his beady eyes. \"Yeah.. and.. and giant spiders.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Alabaster Smith dips his head. \"Brother,\" he replies to Cash. God only knows what Smith's reasons for staying are. Maybe he just likes the ambience.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Friends don't let friends shoplift The Ramones. Enid isn't looking, of course. She twists on the balls of her feet as if putting out a couple of cigarettes while she returns albums to their rightful place in Rock Music, A-M. She pops a great big bubble of pink gum and chews it loudly, though not so loudly that it can be heard over the music.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "She turns and peers at the window, taking a step away to try to glance inside. \"I..\" She sniffs. \"I sort of... sort of..\" She chews on her lip for a moment, \"Wrecked my car.\" Not a very good liar.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"You gotta name?\" COmpton asks.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Enid has returned the lighter, but she produces Jon's pack of Malboros from her jacket pocket and stuff them back into his. \"I had to go pick somethin' up for TC,\" she says, eyes downcast as she makes some attempt to keep from staring at the Penny-related commotion. \"An' now I need a beer,\" she says in the same sort of way that people usually say they need oxygen. \"You drinkin', Reverend?\" she asks, turning towards the door.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Into the club slips yet another figure looking to enjoy dancing the night away. After having her ID checked at the door, Zoe moves further inside, steps slow and graceful as she begins to make her way towards the bar. Lips hold a smile, and there's more than a few she stops to greet and speak with at times before continuing on, the skirt of her dress swaying with each step she makes.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori looks at Pobble equally sidelong. \"What? With the coat? Fuck all if I care,\" she says loudly enough to be heard over the music and shrugs. \"I bet somebody spraypaints it, though!\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse re-emerges from the bathroom, unsteady on his heels. His arm, again, finds purchase across Penny's shoulders, but now a bit more support seems to be asked of them, as the lanky caricature drapes in place beside her. A fresh cigarette, unlit, dangles from the smudged lines of his lips.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "To the left of the club is the bar, although small it holds the basic stock standards. The prettier bottles are pressed up front although occasionally Jell-O Shots and other drinks are set up for the young crowd to sweep up in festive joy. On the counter side of the club, lays the dance floor that bears the amazing resemblance to a mosh pit more than anything else, a sea of bodies twisting and turning to the hard-handed music. Towards the rear of the club, a few tables and boots are set up, for those that actually come here for the conversation.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Penny?\" Jesse leans in, tilts his head, mutters something, as he looks at the crowd.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "(10) 3 (8) (10) (8) Achieving 4 successes, resulting in an exceptional success! Jumpstart rolls 3 (3 dice) at a difficulty of 5:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "There is a mixture of various ethnicities and social backgrounds within this small area, a melting pot all come into one. The very businesses appear to take a culturally diverse avenue of theme. Many smaller stores here can be found selling foreign foods and other rarities such as special health items. Besides the consumable goods, other fine import stores are littered about as well, making this small area more interesting for those that enjoy window browsing.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"He does not believe in magick, and is a cold product of this modern world, of soulless and passionless doldrum. He is one who is the antithesis of wonder, he is stark, cold and rationalizes anything he cannot understand away... and for that, he is painful to be around,\" explains the sidhe, who now spreads her robes to settle on the grass, in a nice little patch. She draws her legs up under her, in a lotus position, and takes a few deep breaths. \"This... this is much better.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"We stopped until Monday turned to Saturday again. It's some kind of ritual inversion or sommat, right?, where maybe the public sphere becomes private and whatever?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Compton............. Dirty old man. Height: 1.8m Weight: 67 kg. Age: 69", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Hello, Penny. What are you up to?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori tilts her head away from Pobble to look at Dennis. It's just a big flop of her head, pigtails and green tubes bouncing with the sudden motion. Her big green eyes look at him pretty openly, sizing up the guy that makes everybody skuttle out of the way like cockroaches.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse reemerges from a nearby convenience store, his face washed, his makeup fixed, his complexion death-pale and ashen. With langid and sluggish coservatism of motion, he drapes himself again on Penny's shoulder, and begins to navigate his way back to the riot in waiting, said navigation made difficult on account of his giant platform heels.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Comps pays up and get the Yuppie-mobile rolling. South it is.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Turtle Jones spies Jesse and switches to a blues version of an Elvis song. Since he's half blind, he has to squint a bit. \"Don't step on my bluuuuuuuuueeeeeee suede shooooooes... no no no...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Pobble trundles along, with a monkey sat on his shoulder. He seems mostly held up by his walking stick which isn't of the bought variety but of the 'picked up along the way to prevent falling over' kind. His expression is paradoxial, a conflict of hyperactivity and tiredness as if desparately wanting to lie down and sleep but being pulled along on some travel against his will.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Ooo, a what a tip! Too bad Wednesday was looking the other way. Why does such generosity always go unrewarded?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "It even makes that 'ting' sound. And you get the distinct feeling as she passes along the universal hand-sign for 'hang loose' and heads toward the docks that you've been had. But didn't she give You the money? Strange chick.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Zoe cradles the glass of wine in her hand as she watches Dennis go bellowing for the refill, shaking her head at him quietly. When his attention returns, she replies lightly, \"Some are, but you know, if you didn't doom and gloom glare at everyone, they might not be such idiots.\" A shoulder lifts in a shrug, a sip taken from the wine in her glass before her gaze slips towards the dance floor again, the music gaining another roll of hips before she shoots the angry man a look and grin.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "What Compton is doing is setting up a link with his Patron, Pa Bell. A Spirit Guide have you, residing in the burnt out shell of Telstar-1.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "To those asking around, it's not too uncommon to find Damian here, particularly when there's new art up. He's here now with Lori and Jerome - and of the three, the seven foot Jerome really tends to be the one that draws the eye at first. Damian's currently eyeballing a painting of a shipwreck with a critical expression, and Jerome's looking fairly bored but well-behaved.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Anastasia answers to Morgan, flatly, \"No. But that is not a thing to worry about. If anyone asks, they can speak to me directly as to my rationale. Thank you, and good day.\" Just as quickly as she approached, the strange girl turns and starts back towards her table.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Jesse reaches into his purse, and withdraws a cigarette. Sith a grave and solemn mien, the skeletal queen shakes a Lucky Strike free and offers it over, accepting one in return. He leans forwards to plant a kiss on each of Penny's cheeks, murmuring He mutters to Penny. .", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "It's not difficult to find the people she's looking for: they are, as usual, clustered in a loose bunch and looking for trouble. Pulling up beside them, she gestures.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Have fun stormin' the castle'\" Cash does his best Billy Crystal and deposits the bags of trash.'.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Lori moves her arm back by about half a foot, extends her index finger and holds it there in a 'wait' sign. Her head is turned to the side just enough so she can watch Pobble and keep an ear canted toward Kirra.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Oh?\" Compton manages, surprisingly with some control, despite a clenched jaw and white knuckling the receiver, (\"No you don't you fuckers... not after being this close\" he thinks to himself.)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Dave Monkey scampers back into the SUV and returns with an opened jumbo bag of potato chips. They scatter about as he offers them across, from his perch up on the seat.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Off Compton goes with a spyness in his step that wasn't there before. What? He doesn't like listening to Folk music...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "Arriving beside Ryo, Jesse waves the end of his boa (the end not soaked in his own blood and mucus). \"Street Theater.\" He holds out a hand. \"Donate to Artists against Fascist Modernity, sir?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog11518", "text": "\"Would you fucking concentrate? Fuck, man fucking thing maxed out Pobble's Centurion for the quarter..\" - of course, he doesn't know that yet, she asides \"don't tell him, okay. Okay. Okay okay\" her best Joe Pesci \"just let it happen, right?\" She closes her eyes and lowers her chin to her chest; not quite zen but it'll do.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Whoa.... March already? Wow.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So yeah pretty much everyone thought was pretty good movie. Many think it's funny how the excessive blood squirting is amusing *I did a bit..... I mean it does sorta look like fruit punch* and also few of 'em liked my favourite part with the \"Wiggle your big toe.\" I won't reveal much of the movie.....so go rent/buy it on your own =P. *Shudder* one downside/upside of showing the movie today though....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Hmm.......so guess now I'll be headin' to bed. Church tomorrow plus some badminton practice. Also gotta find my band uniform at Bud Gowan's tomorrow for Kiwanis on Tuesday. So hehe....until tomorrow's entry. Later people =).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "school because she needs help on Latin Prelude....which I'm pretty good at. OOOOK so she's not a stalker *whew* lol.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "*Robert then realizes how stupid he is.* So after that......we got into groups and did these question things about Fried Green Tomatoes. Boring book......and very weird. Now apparently one's a bisexual while the other is a lesbian who loves to play poker and bring elephants into town. Interesting.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Well headed to school then....and hopped out of the car....er minivan. Does that count as a car? Anyways quickly jammed useless junk into locker, and then headed to history. I'm almost late.....well I thought at least. Turns out I was just on time =P.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "then Gavin tries to kill me with his guitar when we were jamming *the end of it was whacking my head.* Some random drum solos and bashing on guitar....bit of everythign I guess you can say =).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "becuz of guidance ^_^. And then me and Rob went to the library to start our bio project on malnutrition.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "My day started off with brass ensemble this morning.....and would be our only time rehearsing for our Kiwanis class later on in the morning lol. So got up.....trudged outta bed.......morning routine and *zing* I was off to school...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "THEORY CLASS. Whoo. Didn't do much....overlooked papers......and hoped for the best as May 8th slowly comes closer. Hmm......only a week left......and I still need to do a few papers lol...... I should be", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So I had fries and coffee.....what a weird combo it is. Thompson had shitty pancakes from International Soups today, and Nate and Mike had BK and Subway. Mike left early for some reason, but after he left me Thompson and Nate started talking about starting a playoff pool for NHL. And then we left for school.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Whoo. Hoo. *Hint Hint SARCASM.* I don't exactly HATE HIM but he's a bit of a jackass. Jason and Alex and Hughes and probably Hammond gonna be bringin' out the champagne and booze when Gimpy moves out.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Yup.......now we are in elimination round......last team from Central to have it occur to us. First game we played: We played Central 2...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So my day today started with the awakening of me around 7:20 or so. Ate, morning routine, and then headed out the door.....carrying a whole bunch of crap for school today. Badminton stuff, music stuff, school stuff, other stuff....like I said lots of stuff. Hmm dunno why but I was pretty cheery today....guess I was excited for Kiwanis....plus NO SCHOOL TOMORROW *badminton conference *AND EARLY DISMISSAL WEDNESDAY. OOOOOOOOH yes...sweet sweet luxury of no school =)....or very little.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Today originally started off looking gloomy. Up until now I still don't get what's with me and thinkin' rainy days are gloomy....well it's not just me it's with many people. So I woke up pretty slowly, got downstairs had a quick breakfast and then got ready for church.....slowly. Gloomy days bring slow production. So left around 845.....then drove down to Lina's then Jason's....and then to church.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "And now I'm home. See I'm tired....and I can't think of much else to say about my day. And now I'm gonna go nap. Later.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "And back here now..........on the comp.....studying...........looking around.......gonna eat soon......gonna practice Trombone soon...... MSNing....... LIstening to music. Gotta still do Devos too. Wow I'm really stressed out right now. I just hope", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Got to church around 9:10......just on time hehe. Jason and I did ushering for today. Hmm.....2nd last day for the few who are graduating. So we did usual ushering, and then headed in for Praise and Worship section of the service.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Math: I did math. Nothing out of the ordinary. Trigonometry is a joke =P.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Like I said....life is getting back to its normal route....which actually as I'm writing this entry now I'm starting to not like. This week has been fun *not just because I missed lots of school* but also because I got to see so many new things.....like me actually doing decent at Kiwanis, and learning that reading can actually be amusing at times. Too much to explain....as I will do throughout this blog...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "bad as thought.....which is good. So there....some hope for me and John's badminton career =P.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "No badminton.....so went home. Talked to Adam on the bus, got things organized for Bio project...and then home.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "By the way I'm talking about the NHL if you still don't know what I'm talking about. So yeah today we went to Galleria to eat......and then headed back to school. Oh yeah Mike wasn't there today.....so the scapegoat of making fun of someone was........the one and only....... AMERICAN POSING......... JOHN THOMPSON! Yeah everyone made fun of him lol.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "y1=ex IS THE SAME THING! ISN'T THAT WHACK!?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "And here I am....desperately trying to organize everything for the weekend. HYPE schedule....praise for Sunday....etc. Yeah I really feel like a secretary right now....only thing I'm missing is a phone headset and a coffee machine. Later.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Well life's been average like usual, nothing much happened.... I mean it's London. No murders, suicides, but there was a sewer gas explosion in downtown a few days back. There's still maintenance on that accident. Lol sewage gas exploding who woulda thought. Blogging has been kinda slow I realize lately.....not as much effort as before....so tonight I'll try to make this one another average Joe blog....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Today at home.......lounged around for a bit.....bought some new clothes from Winners *whoo* and then did h/w. And then now blogging.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Now I go eat dinner and then do homework. WHOO HOO early dismissal tomorrow! Can't wait =).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Math we had a quiz. got 75%. *Shrug.*", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "HOME TIME! Except today went to UCC for badminton. So decided to take long way there instead of waiting for Dundas bus *patience right there* and took Cherryhill w/ Dan and Elaina, then transfered onto Wonderland. Got to UCC around.....330ish?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Yeah we pretty much made a good looking game look its worst. We butchered it a lot with stupid acts like sinking our own boat, fighting each other and roadkilling one another. John was driving full steam into me with a jeep.... I machine gunned him....eventually we both died lol. Head 2 Head I don't think will ever get boring.........may sound geeky but meh games can still be fun every once in a while =P. I'm not 40 just yet hehe.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Listened to other groups play.....one group someone looked like Mike......another group was a hick group of pure guys and no girls basically *except two* and then the group w/ a choir.....which got Bronze. Pretty unique though. We got tied for Silver with other two groups. Not bad......though we didn't win trophy =(. Oh well.....least we beat someone, we were entered in a senior group so I'm happy w/ our results lol.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Though this may not be exciting or nerve-racking for some....but for me.....a average badminton player who's playing doubles this year.... I WANNA MAKE IT INTO WOSAA............if I can. Well....there's two more days....so quickly practice....and hope for the best I guess haha. Good day mostly today.....mostly badminton....plus some jamming w/ Gavin and of course church. Hmm guess a usual Sunday I guess...plus 5 hours of badminton....and just awaiting the time of Conference Finals...plus more Kiwanis still lol...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Programming last day on working on project....now we gotta do it on our own time. GAY GAY GAY.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "The whole movie actually.....was crazy. Best movie I've seen this year I think...now I wanna see Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs lol.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So like I said before: Kiwanis wasn't that great..... I mean 5-way tie out of 5 schools then a 4-way tie out of 4 schools. In the first class we played \"Concorde Sketches,\" which I thought we did ok. But that wasn't the main thing I was amazed at..... I saw a gift from God today that was blessed upon the snare drummer for Lucas....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "It started with a crappy 3-0 run by them....where we eventually caught up but just couldnt keep the pace. Eventually we lost around 11-7.....which really sucked and in 2nd game we just blew it and loste11-4. It was pretty bad....and so that was the end to me and John's doubles badminton season. Beats last year at least...both of us crapped out much more than this year....and this year we actually managed to get past 2nd round..... WHOA!!!! Well he did....last year I got beaten out since my partner seems to struggle at figuring out how to hold a badminton raquet.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Anyways I'm out for the night. Still got Senior Band tomorrow hehe.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "movie for the 3rd time....it was four....wait.... FOUR!? CRAP! And I quickly rush out to car and dad drove me to theory class.... EMERGENCY THEORY CLASS. Everyone else was still at my place.....so don't know what they did lol. But on my perspective of the afternoon.....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "But though this is supposed to be a normal blog, it's gonna be somehwat short because I REALLY want to sleep. So to make my morning short......it was a typical morning. Waking up was REALLY difficult today.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "\"You are now officially out of the movie watchers club. The club: everyone else.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So yup....here I am blogging about my day....complaining about the corruption of Kiwanis, and the fact that I flunked a bio test. All in all......not that bad of a day. On the bright side got to miss some school, see some friends at Kiwanis and play t-bone. Also I got to find a book I'm actually interested in =P.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "After music class.......well headed to usual science. We have to make food chains for next day that somehow relate to us (we eat beef, beef comes from cows, cows eat grass). Yeah boring huh? Yes very.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "*Yawn* yeah I'm gettin pretty tired now. Sorry if this blog sucks I realize it does too. I'm getting bored from typing it even. But I can't think at midnight....... MUST SLEEP! *WUMP*", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "This right now feels like the home stretch.....last 100m before Summer Holidays! HURRY UP!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "PROGRAMMING! Like usual......much typing.....and trying to crunch the many Syntax errors within my program down. Eventually with the help of Mr. Dayus I solved the problems.....and now we are onto a project where we have to animate a whole animation thing. I was gonna do Super Mario....but decided that's too hard so I'm gonna maybe make a robber steal something.....or maybe a plane. *Shrug* I'll figure it out later....my head was hurting at the time.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Programming did absolutely nothing. Surfed net, struggled to figure out Turing like my usual self.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Anyways.....goin' to sleep soon. Didn't do any work whatsoever tonight....and I'm going to Kiwanis tomorrow. No hockey games tomorrow...but instead badminton and piano theory. Oh boy Mrs. Mitsis is going to kill me when she finds out I'm barely done half the papers.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Here I am blogging once again...bleh today had its good times and its bad times. We had our good beginning run but then was abruptly shut down by STA....and then got our bags packed by STA. *Sigh* oh well there's next year still and gr. 12 like I said....so two more chances of making regional finals.....er actually provincial in senior and then it's over for me and high school badminton.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Thanks JT and Ali for all you two have done for our HYPE group along with the other counselors. May Christ keep on shining within in you guys in whatever future paths you may step into. We'll all miss you always...and you both will be in my mind forever....with the amount of work you've put into helping LCAC grow furthermore and putting a HUGE stepping stone in my Walk of Faith....or if you want a big boost for me. Thanks a lot to both of you guys.....and keep in touch!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "dad came home. I had to shovel the driveway....... AGAIn. And then off to theory.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "For now though.... I'm out for this blog entry. Still talkin' on MSN, wasting my time, and I gotta eat dinner still. Wow it's 11:30 already. Blast Habs lost to Tampa 4-0....but I heard from Jason Yao and the Rockets are killin' Lakers right now. Hehe at least something's going right today in the sports world =).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So I'm out for the night. Later.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "that HYPE prayers list got through to everyone too. Seems as though sometimes it doesn't work with some emails. Well I'm gonna go finish up work then do Devos then sleep. Cya people later.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Well after eating...we headed downstairs to watch my newly bought movie.... KILL BILL *again.* I've seen it 3 times already in two days....and the 3rd time watching it today was no different. I'm still somehow amused by the movie...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Today's sermon we learned about sharing, and one big thing that caught my attention was though Paul SEEMED like he'd be a hated man going through so much suffering for Christ, so many Christians back then supported him with so much. So suffering for Christ....in return you do get rewarded and God does have backup planned for you =).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Life's been a bit hard lately like I've said. I don't get why since report cards are coming out in 3 days, but my teachers are bombarding me with so much crap....that I haven't had much time for drumming or piano. Breaking I still go on Fridays, but at home......not many places to practice since the cars in the garage.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So now to English Class....normally. However I had a guidance appointment first...so first to that....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "HA take that Saunders kids. Plus........apparently THERE IS SOMETHING LOWER THAN APPLIED MATH! It leads to really retarded math through the future....but I was surprised there was something lower than applied lol. Band went through a quick runthrough....then GAME TIME! Er performance time.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "snow bank to be pushed in, and we all know if we push each other in mud, the other guy's gonna die once the muddy dude gets back up. Uhh....oh yeah but Jason came out for lunch today also. We talked about SC at lunch sadly lol.....but eventually we got in a huge convo/debate about how Chinese has no alphabet, and Nate didn't seem to get it. He kept wondering how we write stuff if we don't have an alphabet lol. But yeah in the end I think he finally understood we use CHARACTERS and not every language is based on ENGLISH RULES.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "After English.....yeah picked up Senior band uniform and then Stage Band X practice. Ran through some songs.....went over adjudication for Stage Band X and then baddy practice. Not much happened. My whole after school was quite a blur. Went home then to eat and then headed out for senior band which I've talked about already.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So today instead of school I awoke at 8:15 to get ready for Kiwanis this morning. Walked downstairs to the aroma of French Toast *mmmmm* and quickly downed it, since it was good lol. So then quickly ran through my songs, said a quick word of prayer and then headed out the door to DaySpring where I was to play my Kiwanis piece.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "WHY MUST WE BE #1?! Ergh first competitor in both events today lol. Originally we were 2nd or third but we had to bump ourselves up as someone had to leave early. Wasn't too bad though....we got to have a quick run through of piece being up there. While we were in Saunders room though warming up...lol Fred drew a pretty funny statement:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Learned about gov't more......blah blah. Boring. Went on computers to do some research on our government. Whoo.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "\"Nicotine *sniff* is a form of depre*sniff*ssant.*sniff*It acts as a *sniff* depressant as it *sniff* causes *sniff* you to not *sniff sniff* have as *sniff* great of *sniff* senses *sniff sniff sniff* as usual\"....*SNORT*", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Programming: won't elaborate much. Boring..... Mr. Dayus is gonna probably kill us one of these days, and it was boring like usual.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Then: BF1942. Jason would join in this too...and we played mostly holdout maps *D-Day* and urban fights *Stalingrad and Berlin.* It's kinda cool though how realistic programming has got over the years..... I still remember back when......well Doom was 2D lol. So we played BF for a bit...then went on to BFV.....where backstabbing became a trend for us lol.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Now I go watch some Avalanche game....and then head to sleep. Got Senior band tomorrow. We play on Tuesday....hmm somehow gotta make it after conference lol.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "School? uhh... Oh yes right that =P", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Yeah your typical Joe Chan day....with guidance added and some funny parts to today's school day. And now.....yeah I think I'm gonna sleep early for once....or do some more piano practicing. Later.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Bio class was pretty lame. Watched some video we've watched already and I slept through most of it. Not very exciting....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Yeah anyways I'm out for the night. These last few days have been pretty fun though, with Kiwanis and everything. Sleepin' now though hehe. And in the quotes of Ada:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "CALVIN CAN'T EVER SHUT UP DURING A MOVIE! Throughout the movie he'd honestly ask some of the dumbest questions ever. I mean not trying to be mean....but when someone's squirting litres of blood.... THEY'RE DEAD CALVIN. Also CORN POPS DON'T RANDOMLY FIRE OUT LIKE A BULLET FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE CEREAL BOX.....as he somehow cluelessly thought does.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Before that though....a quick lunch =). Ate a granola bar+a Snickers, downed with nothing else but Gatorade.....mmmmmmm. Then Josh came down for his lunch also and chatted for a bit. Yeah he told us we were screwed......much the same way Calvin did:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "\"Anything below 5 feet is an insect...\" *COUGHREBECCACOUGH!*", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "School may not have been exciting today....but after school life was pretty amusing. Well it wasn't my average Thursday at least.....had to go to Josh's to plan for HYPE over the summer. Then after that.......explored for the first time the Adidas Outlet store down on Fanshawe Park....which I thought pretty much sucked. But school did have its bright side I guess..... I think I aced a trigonometry test....and Mr. Brown subbing for Civics is pretty funny. Anywho for the rest of my day...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Well today in music....we kinda merged classes in the end and that was the main highlight. We played for a bit, and then heard some song on a CD. Then came announcements.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "As I'm speaking.....er writing right now, I am also listening to music, studying, and on msn. Wow multitasking......what would I ever do without it? Uhh...single-tasking?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So after that scrumptous and eye-opening dinner into a new world of cuisine.... I hopped into Kendrick's car along with Dan, Jason, and Gavin and we headed to BKung's place. Lol but before that....the crazy car rides that Kendrick somehow manages. First off.....drag racing a Jetta Vs. Brian's Protoge.... LOL hilarious. Jetta killed the little Jap Lawn Mower.....and we then stopped by at a Shopper's Drug Mart to buy some food and stuff for tonight....so did that....then back we went into Kendrick's Crayonmobile *it smells like crayons for some reason.* And off to Brian's.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Now we are into lunch. It was Ally's B-day *Happy B-day Ally!* and so we went to Jasper's Cafe....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Now that I've gone on with that, it's time to go on about.....well.....the rest of my day =P. Well today was like usual Sunday I guess.....except for the fact that Lina started comin' to church now....plus today we took the van. WHOA OUT OF NORMALITY THERE OH NO! *gasp.*", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Well I'm out for the night.... Lina needs to copy my blog for hers plus I'm done for the day hehe. Later.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Theory was usual.........didn't do much but I should catch up soon. Everyone was dead tired.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "the night. Gotta sleep early for baddy conference tomorrow. Wish me Luck! Gavin managed to make it to WOSSAA for singles.... Hope me and Mophead can do the same for doubles =). Later.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Got home....quickly downed some food....and then..... WATCH KILL BILL VOL. 1!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Btw........ LEAFS JUST LOST AND SENS TOOK SERIES TO GAME 7! EXCITEMENT! Now I don't really care for either team, just that I'd rather see Sens in the playoffs this year going further than the Leafs.....deep inside..... GO COLORADO! WHOOOOO!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Played some ball for 'bout 40 minutes or so....then we left. Well he left first....then I left 10 minutes later. Eventually though I'd still end up playing a bit more ball when I headed to UCC....except basically me and Dan were the only people @ UCC playing ball lol. So went home.......did some stuff around the house...piano,drums,etc. and then headed out to UCC after a dinner of a omlette that sorta resembled a Western omlette", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Then bused home w/ Ryan. Too tired to go to library.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Central had to stay for one last class. The march class. We played the Gambolier song....and it sounded good, but apparently you don't win anything in that one. So all that effort...plus constructive criticism for nothing. So then a frustrated group of ninety some odd Centrallers packed their gear....then headed home.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Sc, Drumming......then Game 7.......which I now really think wasn't worth an hour of me watching. Meh oh well.....at least Thursday the Avs are back in the game. Finally I can watch a good team play. Ergh....but why did the Canucks lose. They even sent the game into OT and managed to lose...... BAH.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "That's one place higher than our original seeding! AND WE ARE IN TOP 10! WHOOOOOO! So we didn't do AS", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Yeah you're gonna have to live with my crummy titles for the next....two weeks or so. I can't really think of anything else right now except TC 2004. I can't pay attention in school even. I just doze off and think about how great it's gonna be. Then again...today did have its points where it was kinda amusing....but really I don't like Tuesdays.....the lead to stupid Band Wednesdays.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Anywho I'm out for the night. SO HAPPY AVS WON.......but kinda peeved that Nashville's out. Bummer, wanted them to get by the Wings. Well......now if I can I'll try to go watch Rockets-Lakers game. Later.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Lunch...we went to McD's since it was Big Mac day. Not much amusing stuff happened at lunch....since now there's no", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Not much to say.....we researched and took notes....not much else. No one's there on Thursdays for some reason.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "And Programming: I'm definitely not taking it next year.....as it is such a lame course. Comps suck... I hate Turing....and our class is sometimes so friggin' retarded you can't get any work done anyways. I'm not trying", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "for the duration of 50 minutes that it lasts. Then....... OFF TO KIWANIS! WHO CARES IF WE SUCK...... AT LEAST WE ARE MISSING CLASS.........and there's nothing anyone can do about it =P. Oh yeah something interesting in announcements today:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "and now I'm here. Bloggin' yet again. Sleepin' soon though since I got band tomorrow....gonna watch a bit of hockey though if it's on. Wonder if the games are over yet? *shrug* Later people.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "book now....plus Fried Green Tomatoes is kinda picking up also. Reading's becoming a DECENT pastime now =P. But 40 minutes passes by quickly.....as this paragraph will. POOF!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "After school......headed for home. Took the bus w/ Ryan and we decided to meet up at the park to play some ball after school. So got home....quickly grabbed a sandwich to eat...then headed out for the park...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "*Sigh* yeah tonight's the last meeting for JT and Ali. We'll be missin' em a lot...and on a personal note:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Yeah game just ended and I'm typin this blog at 10:45 so *shrug.* Thought I'd add that in...but back to my day.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "day. Becca seemed to be neutral throughout the day and yeah Gavin was pretty frustruated as Josh was bein' a bit hard on him with some cheap shots of remarks and sarcasm. I'm happy though that when Kendrick came, we all just got to sit down and talk about it. Really felt good emptying all those canned in emotions. So we quickly said a word of prayer....then went upstairs to start praise night..the first official one done by only HYPE kids.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Bio Class....... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG. Another presentation.......well actually this one was kinda amusing.....they were talking about narcotics lol. But even if I wanted to nap I wouldn't have been able to. Holy crap Adam Ozvald sniffles once every 5 seconds....for his presentation he'd sound like this:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Not your average Saturday...er not my average Saturday hehe. Wasn't a bad thing....in fact it was good experience to learn how to do a praise night and how to improve it. Next year though I'm really hoping more people will show up.....as it is a noutreach night also for non-Christians. Overall though it was alright I guess......learned a few new things and also figured out that planning means more than two days. But me being the optimistic one.... EVERYTHING WAS JUST FINE.=P.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "English we started our exam guiding.....pretty fun I guess. Figured out me and Kurtis have the Oct. 12 as our B-days....which means I ain't the only kid that doesn't have their G1 till then. Nothing much really happens in english....read a bit....and today we are just preparing for our essay exam......*shrug*", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "No breakin' tonite....just workin' out w/ Marcello and Dan and then some ball on my own since no one seems to be at UWO now since everyone's GONE. So did some cardio...weights *my arms are useless right now literally* and then balled. Then went home...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Well took Lina and J home....and Gavin came over for a bit of jamming w/ drums and geektar. Ate first of course....who can forget lunch and then jammed.....that's basically what we did for an hour, then played PS2, Compy, and then headed to badminton....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "As we kept going on playing various games.......it started raining outside. Lauren would tell me later at theory that it was apparently freezing rain and hail...and she had to bike in it. Poor kiddo lol. Jason would eventually head off to play SC.....while me and John went to play some Quake III....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "At school......well I got there somewhat early today....and then headed into History class after chatting with Pourier about yesterday's Kiwanis....which like I said we blew total crap. After that headed upstairs then...and then headed into history.....preparing for the dreaded test that we......", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Senior Band this morning. Hehehe we play next week.....so yeah Kiwanis isn't over this year until near the very end for me. Like any other Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday I woke up at 630am, trudged out of bed, and slowly made my way downstairs for breakfast. Also like any other morning, I did my morning routine, got packed up and headed out the door, eyes still drooping and everything still seeming like a blur to me at 645am. Nothing too out of the ordinary for my mornings.....radio was talking about hockey games from last night.... Leafs lost, Detroit lost *surprisingly* and Colorado lost", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "*Running to Guidance Office... Zing.*", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "done soon though....only got a few questions left =P. Cramming rules haha...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So after my class at Kiwanis, where I reign semi-victorious......well victorious over 5/7 people I stop by Subway to buy my lunch then head home to pack my things for school......still having a seem-to-be dimpled smile on my face from winning 2nd. So I head home then, and quickly eat. Hmm no one on MSN at 11:30 *wonder why... OH YEAH SCHOOL....hehe forgot=P*", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Can't wait 'till then....last time they played the Sharks they beat 'em....and I intend the same to happen this year ^_^. Pretty good series though I'll bet..... Sharks have become quite the team over last 4-5 years. Hmm.... Toronto plays Philly,", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Well this morning.....after staying up till 1230 last night watching Sportscentre and Avalanche winning *and Sens winning also..... NHL playoffs pretty intense this year* I woke up around 7:30 and started doing my morning routine. Yay it's a day 1. That means no science or bio =), but instead the long, boring torture of double period w/ Ms. Manson *History then Civics....uuugh.* Well actually don't mind history...but Civics is really a waste of money and", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Happy Birhtday Icy! And of course the rest of my day =P", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Why am I so intimidated by STA 1 you ask? Uhh.......*COUGH.*", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So after school now.... WHOOOOO! Took Springbank up to Josh's. Realized two things while on bus:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Judging this restaurant is like judging a book by its cover. The outside....when I saw it for the first time *er noticed it more like* my first thought:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So yeah at home now....took Lina back to her place and now I'm back home, watched the Leafs lose, did some math, and blogging. Plus talkin' to Jenn, Lina, Dan, Carmen and some other people on MSN. Hmm...sleepin' in tomorrow.....good old Kiwanis Festival: Joe's best friend to avoid History and Civics tomorrow =).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "SO arriving back to school.......... ARGH 40 MINUTES LEFT OF SCHOOL! Was gonna go out for lunch....but some people from Kiwanis went back to class already so it'd be kinda funny how I didn't make it yet the others did. English class consisted of reading though so no biggie. Rain Fall is getting to be a better and better", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Ergh.......now sitting in room 125 like every other band rehearsal.....and we sound like crap. With the added problems like half of the people can't count....and another few I don't understand why they are in Gr. 10 music.....we took one hour to rehearse the one and only song we are performing and we still sounded like crap. So after that grueling one hour practice......we sat in music class.....", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Anyways back home now....cramming for history and overlookin' trigonometry stuff. Goin' to bed now though....hehe prayers for my history test and math test to go well.... God I know you're with me......and I really hope you'll help me and whoever else with these upcoming tests. Last month and half of school left.....as Simon on his blog said for his UWO exams:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Digestive system theme park. Yeah......that is classified. For now.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "So since class was cut short.....we headed out for Kiwanis then. Funny thing happened though today while packing for Kiwanis...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Though school wasn't on the menu today..... I still had to wake up at 7:20 to get ready for badminton. Lucky I packed everything last night.....so this morning I just had to jump in the car and go on my way to STA. Breakfast this morning consist of rice.....and some other stuff since I wanted carbs....as so rumours say a carb meal is good before sports. So after that....quickly brushed my teeth n' stuff and then headed out....all set and ready for the day that lies of head for badmintonage.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Well....yeah that was pretty much my day....took a bit of a dip but s'all good......only once in a while stuff like this happens hehe. Well I'm out for the uh.....day? Sun's still up so yeah guess it'd be day hehe. Cya.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Heh seems like a ritorical statement I made yesterday about me going back to normal. Truthfully....after today....yeah a normal average Joe life still hasn't gone by. Today was just as hectic and crazy as any other day of this week lol. So today's Saturday was a really fun, exciting, and jumbled addition to the rest of my week. Very fun though......as mentioned before plus tried Greek cuisine for the first time in my life today...which I must say is GOOOOD!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Programming.....a clock fell on Cam, Icy got the blame, in the end no one got the blame. So we then worked on Turing, I for one got pretty bored and started surfing the net. Was pretty much done anyways. So after that long grueling class......of constant tacking of compy keys and *woam woam* of monitors..... SCHOOL'S OVER........well the government-required part. Final run through for Stage Band X as tonight we perform.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Math class........it was usual. Mike was being a Jackass, everyone was a jackass to Thompson *lol* and Mike said to Courtney that she needs PMS pills. Yeah our math class is getting more and more hostile each day.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "\"Why are they so communist this year?! Everyone's equal. I mean WTH!?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Great bloggin' yesterday eh? =P. Been a bit busy lately so hehe couldn't blog as much as I usually do yesterday. Today though...... I'm back to usual self....you know....somewhat sleep deprived....living off carrots and Tea......reading Fried Green Tomatoes for english class..... YUP back to usual days. Not as lazy as usual.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "I'm not going to say much about history. We went to the computer lab and rotted there for 75 minutes, looking up stuff about the Holocaust. Yup.......that was basically it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "We whooped them lol. First game 11-2.....and I guess 2nd game they picked up the pace a bit so 11-7. Whew I was thinking \"Crap......tiebreaker\" but it never happened =). So won that....and up next.....the dreaded, and most infamous..... STA 1. *Eep*.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "When I read that on the back of my bookmark today..... I immediately reflected to yesterday's praise night practice. I mean......up until now when I think about it we were all being complete jackasses", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Lunch....well I'm cutting funding this week and next week.....hoping to save at least 200 for Toronto and TC. I'm at 190.......so yeah I'm cutting back on food lol.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Apparently Senior band made the Kiwanis \"Stars of the Festival\" concert for Vesuvius. SHWEET! WE DID AN \"OUTSTANDING\" performance as described by Kiwanis. So after that excitement walked by....basically band was over....and Mrs. Wharton put on our recording of Vesuvius of our Senior Band on as 1st period music filed in for another day of productive \"learning.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "YAY! FIRST DAY OF KIWANIS!2ND PLACE!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Calvin can never deny his somewhat often occuring stupidity ever again =P. This is going to haunt him for a while....and as Gavin says:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "I woke up at 720 this morning like usual time......and I actually felt refreshed from a good night's sleep for once. I think I was talking in my sleep last night though......well for some reason I recall doing that...plus my mom thought she heard me talking to myself in my sleep. Heh haven't done that in ages....last time I recall doing that was grade 5. So anyways after pondering for a few minutes about whether I was talking out loud while sleeping or not.... I finally decided that I did and then headed downstairs for my breakfast... I ate that...and then morning routine...and then headed to school.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog25872", "text": "Hmm......well normally we give parting gifts to people when they leave *which we did,* but in return Ali being the cool counselor she is gave us all personalized bookmarks. Really cool thing to do I thought. For me....she wrote from James 1:19-20, which reads:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "in them? and how do I overcome this struggle of opposites through Love's path?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "So much for the cockroach, I left my Cocoon for the dinner table. During the dinner, I tried to disregard the sight of the tomato sauce on my uncle's beard although spending five years in a dwelling that would be more than suitable for a setting of any Cronenberg movie, one gets immune to such sights alongside repugnant sounds. After all, these people tend to fart in your face as they pass you by and act like that's the most nonchalant thing in the universe. It wouldn't be an understatement if I claimed they are on the same socialization scale with an orangutan.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I was scared ladies and gentlemen. I was so full of pity for this huge form lying on the sofa, suffering from chest pains and breathing heavily that it scared me. I sat there, staring at and away from him as my granny's voice crescendoed and decrescendoed with panic. I, on the other hand, was unaware of a way to let him know that I felt for him. That in this abysmal world of self-indulgent personalities including very much of his obsessive compulsive mother, I could understand him.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "He knows, ladies and gentlemen. Perhaps he knows so much more than you or I do. During a moment of pain wave, he opened his eyes and looked straight ahead. That", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "If you let me be your Scheherazade, The one to adorn your thousand and one nights, I will never leave your side until you sleep safe and sound. Will you still slaughter me in the end? If only I could tell.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Nyx , parent goddess, source of sweet repose from whom at first both Gods and men arose. Hear, blessed Kypris (Aphrodite), decked with starry light, in sleep's deep silence dwelling ebon night! Dreams (Oneiroi) and soft ease attend thy dusky train, pleased with the lengthened gloom and feastful strain, dissolving anxious care, the friend of mirth, with darkling coursers riding round the earth. Goddess of phantoms and of shadowy play, whose drowsy power divides the natural day; by fate's decree you constant send the light to deepest hell, remote from mortal sight; for dire necessity (Ananke), which nought withstands, invests the world with adamantine bands. Be present, Goddess, to thy suppliant's prayer, desired by all, whom all alike revere, blessed, benevolent, with friendly aid dispel the fears of twilight's dreadful shade.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I repeat. A brand new TV! (Nah it still doesn't make sense)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(The wedding finger! The wedding finger!)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I may be a genie in the bottle you hold. Or jasmine on a flying carpet. I know a whole new world by heart. But can you be the Aladdin of an Arabian tale? If only you could.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "There is a distant hymn in the air A Seraph flies past the sky Mistaken for a comet by the naked eye And amidst this cleaving halluscination... ... Can you complete that sentence for me? If only you could.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "lived \" is Humanity's Team motto. It is \"a civil rights movement for the soul\". It aims to create a \"world in which humanity truly experiences unity and oneness\". Its mission is to \"renew and restore our connection with the creator, the powers that be, Fate or whatever you name it", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Behind my closed eyelids, I hear your whispering touch... Your unconditional desire camouflaged by a cape of amative narrative... why do you soothe me when your presence, your warmth reigning over me is everything I can ever... surrender for? Why are you with me when many a midnight garden await desperately for your water?...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "This (and more) from someone who knew me perhaps no longer than a week sometime in the past. As opposed to the lacking openness and genuinity from the rest whom I gave a part of my thoughts, a part of my life, a part of my heart. How many men only fell for the aforementioned picture perfect image? Even sadder, how many of them were even aware of the fact that what they desired to possess was a reflection they were so determined to idolize?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "family that is purely based on understanding and love regardless of religion, race, sexual orientation they belong. It is not a new religion! It is a totally new approach towards religion, rather... and God and above all Life...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "one! However, today, I know that such is the way of life. Who gives a damn about maturing their interaction skills on a personal basis when there are millions out there around the corner whose adrenaline are climaxed when they're faced with the slightest of opposition or something ever gets close to implying, \"Look you're wrong!\".", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "- Quotes taken from Elle, March 2004, UK Edition, \"The Secret Life of an A-List Call Girl\", pg. 175-178", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Thus, such mortal scenery or summoned ghosts of jealousy may never fear the you in me! Do you conceive it be yielding to an illusion?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"Old Greek houses used to have rainboxes to store April rains, child.\" She said in a weary tone which implied everyone but me was aware of that. She, then, leaned over and whispered sternly as if she was passing over a precious family recipe with which I was to pamper my husband before passing it on to the next generation, \"Never the March rains, though. They aren't worth a dime... but the April rains... oh the April rains are precious...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Calling to let you know I have patients all day. I can only leave the hospital around 6 pm. Will that be a problem for you?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Having left his hotel around 8 pm, Sol and I decided to pamper ourselves at our favorite Chinese restaurant. While we were having an orgasm devouring our vegetable soups, rice with mixed vegetables, chicken slices with soy sauce and sipping our Chinese tea as post-climactic chill-out company, we were still going over the events of the day and the plans of tomorrow although we had initially agreed that the dinner would be \"mission-free\".", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "It was then I realized I still hadn't responded to her statement.\"Yes...\", I said as I turned to her and mimicked her superficial smile, \"... it seems that they focus on my biology but you are the ones who will take care of the gender dysphoria part.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I walked towards the window and was greeted by more concrete instead of a welcoming sight. My hands and feet were totally cold and while rubbing my hands against each other, I was taken aback by a chilling shriek that echoed in the corridors. Aside from the occasional bypassers (usually nurses) I was all alone in that narrow hallway. My heart was pounding when I heard footsteps and a myriad of screams accompanying the commotion coming closer.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Weeks after my father's leaving the hospital, my footsteps echoed in the hygienical corridors once more. This time for you... My belated hopes accompanying me, I entered your room full of family friends, approached by your side and planted a light kiss on your forehead as I whispered, \"Mother...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "He is a great resource, a walking library at his late 50s. It was and I am certain that it will be quite an experience to be in touch with him. However, he is quite", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "A sour moment, perhaps, to re-open one's eyes into another reality and retort, \"So now what? I was dead anyway.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "consequence of our choices and states of minds. Thus, just like everybody else, we were creating this \"poverty setting\" for our own good and nothing could be \"judged\" in this process.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I am following your absence tonight. An errand to need you. A kaleidoscope to have but not to hold. Will you refill the space you leave around me? If only you would!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "She crossed her legs and crossed her eyebrows, a posture she most probably had practiced to intensify the unpredictability of what might come out of her. \"Yes.\" she said to my surprise, \"Not without your daughter.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Let's not skip the white screen rights issue, either. Thrilled to see \"Even Call Girls Get the Blues\"? Yearn no longer since the article states:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"You have two options, ahead.\", she began closing her notebook and setting her pen on top of it, \"You can either start with one-on-one therapy or directly attend our group therapy which takes place once every month. I highly recommend the latter. However, the choice is yours. It would help you greatly and speed up your process if you met those who share your feelings and who are on the same road as you are.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"No.\", if impatience was an issue, it was getting oh-so-mutual, \"If I was in a state of enjoying kissing or anything further with a man sexually while I am in this form, I wouldn't be sitting across you at the moment.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "While the man kept shouting, kicking, biting, clawing, he was responded with fists. His chasers soon got a hold on him since the poor guy was beaten to unconsciousness in under a minute. All the while they picked his form up, half-dragged him out of sight and disappeared, I was frozen, probably seemed as if I was hung up on the wall from my nape and couldn't dare to move even a finger for quite some time.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I let myself led by my dad outside and only partially listened to whatever he was saying. We went past the plaque next to the entrance which read, \" Ponderland Memorial, Psychiatry Department\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "timeline. However, these days, I am going through a brand new phase of enlightenment within myself and this hastily leads to my coming to terms with \"all that had happened\" in my life so far. New Spirituality enables me to reconsider the past events in my life with a refreshing understanding through a quite painful but cultivating process which includes the fact that I am not the", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "hear ed all I had to say. I thank you for the ephemeral bliss, emerging via your thoughts and best wishes, creating a transient Oasis within the abysmal desert stretching all around me.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "And there are no apparitions for me to hijack. I am in the middle of everywhere A blade without its handle cutting both ways In my hands. I'm the self-proclaimed Amazon of Decease.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Aside from this twist, as of today, Blogger turned an upgrade switch on us. Moreover, according to them, they also came up with \"tons\" of new templates to choose from which can be interpreted as we have \"tens\" of new templates. Better than nothing when compared to those 5 mundane, excruciatingly simple templates they had had previously.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "As consciousness gradually escapes me, I now know that I can only sleep... when clothed in you inside out. The lights dim, the curtains fall...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "We rarely train our psyche in a way to interpret \"Look you're wrong\" as \"The fact that you claim I'm wrong doesn't necessarily makes you right, either\". This drastically reduces one's tension momentarily and gives one the opportunity to relax and listen. Still, we snap back and indulge ourselves in a claw-versus-claw affaire d'honneur. Rationality across a chance for some power trip? No way!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(But well.. he is so good looking. Perhaps he's gay?)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Ironic enough, although we couldn't have foreseen it back then, the fate of Ichoir would be no different from the mythological figure it was inspired by. FYI, Icarus was the son of Daedalus with whom he was imprisoned in a tower on the island of Crete. To be able to escape the island, they built themselves wings from the only element they could cast their hands on which was wax. Daedalus warned his son about not getting too close to the sun yet he dismissed this warning for whatever reason and, wings melted, fell into the Egyptian sea, successfully drowning himself and in doing so earning a mythical status. History learned a good deal from him.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "But maybe it is all about not knowing. No no no! It is all about knowing everything yet Choosing not to remember everything.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "She nodded, \"We still have April rains ahead. They are precious.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Casting that aside, now that my Granny and uncle got the government money they receive every three months, I was hoping that for the next 2 months we were going to be financially a little better off than the usual. However, they decided to buy a brand new TV!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I stand on the wrong side of the sea, Bearing wrong side of Fate. If only I remembered how to swim. If only you waited for me on the shore.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "the right time , anyway?\" I muttered and arms crossed against my chest, pursed my lips, \"I should have known better; Enter the most quicksilver dad of all times.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "has been my recent obsession. Since my best friend and I have plans (dreams, rather? or high hopes?) to move to New Zealand as we go through our holy 30s, I am being further called by the sirens of this bay in Tasmania. I muse to leave my footprints on those endless shores, sleep under those clear dark skies where the constellations seem only a breath away, listen to the symphony of the wave crashes as they feed my sense of freedom, watch the iridal of horizons as I sit in the Lodge while the sun sets...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "It is unfortunate that I have (more than) everything ready to make a start and all that I have been working and praying for is a reasonable amount of money to fund it. If only I didn't do anything to achieve it. Then, I would bury myself in self-pity and suffer gladly. Putting aside pride (actually trashing my pride), I knocked every possible door (including relatives and old family acquaintances I vowed not to see any longer), asking for a little aid on the financial side in vain.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "me d r o w n. . .", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "and I cannot thank enough for the marvelous work he has come up with. He is a great blogger who has been with me from the very beginning. My hearty thanks, Karsh. Keep doing wha... oh wait... I already said that, didn't I?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "For a start, I have to admit that Belle deserves the attention she gets. She is, after all, a witty writer who works \"hard\" for the money which makes her life interesting to read for many. I read her diary quite a while myself and have nothing to say when it comes to her too articulate a writing, her testestrone provocative abilities along with a unique approach towards life. She is yet another example of the fact that \"sex sells\" and anyone who keeps bitching about her newfound career as a professional writer can eat that.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "That instant, I knew, too. It had nothing to do with knowing. It was all about not knowing, instead. Clenching my fists, I fixed my gaze on my uncle's chest as he sighed. Death could never be welcomed by him, I saw that much.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "My lips run dry -- They cannot cry. And right here behind my eyes... ...you are. Hidden against everything worldly. But am I secluded likewise? If only I were.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "fire ball ... I wear nothing but myself... and the satin of my white gown... thin straps holding it at bay... the transparent white of my skin dribble into the achromatic scenery...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "series and they have changed my life. Now what can I do about it?\" . It is a roof that will house individuals who live to make a change in the world (and start doing it by changing themselves), who want to flourish and progress continuously throughout their Odyssey, who want to share their experiences and be supported in a closely-connected", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "It can be described as an international movement currently parented by The Conversations with God Foundation but is planned to be a non-profit and separate organization by 2006. It is the actual response to the wonder,", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Sure... I mean... *yawns slightly*... No, that's fine.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "The next appointment was with a spiritual with whom Sol had contacted early yesterday. It seems that this man already established a study group based on Tomorrow's God and has been running it for a while now. Sol had been contacted about his activity by the HT Internatonal Liasion thus we arranged a meeting at his hotel... err... room. Seated comfortably while sipping our Earl Greys, we exchanged ideas, got to know each other and I had the impression (which Sol also agreed later on) that he had advanced knowledge on the matter, was very eligible to start a group, yet, whether he was a fitting candidate to facilitate a study group or not was very questionable.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "The more we talk about it, the clearer our strategy gets. The more we brainstorm about it, the more proficient we get as to how to \"sell the product\" at hand.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Sorry.. I.. can't quite catch your drift, Sol.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(Harlequin girls don't realize they are in love until they have erect nipples upon seeing the Harlequin guy. Since they always get the guy, nipples' credibility should not be underestimated)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"The paradox of control is simple. The more we try to control life, the less control we have.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "O' the bliss of authority! Take 15 people who believe that vocally they are as talented as a spider during webmaking (grandiose grandiose) and place them in a semi circle in front of a piano placed on a platform where the victim is being auditioned. Also try to imagine them, having been told that it'll perhaps include some sense of seriousness into the mockery, holding papers and pens the latter of which are judgementally tapped against a cheek or lips as they stare at you, heads relatively tilted.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "These days, we experience a possible outcome of setting someone free in the form of a chaotic reprise to our symphony. While you follow the road of Love, sunshine, butterflies and rainbows such negative responses resemble coming across a polluted rivulet that stinks. When that happens, it takes a lot of personal motivation to keep breathing and going, \"How beautifully stinking this swamp is in its own perfection\".", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "selection). I am quite grateful for the Past timeline of Phantasmemoria since it makes it easier for me to go through them once again and reconsider them.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"Yes, uncle. Anything you want me to get for you on my way back?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "The last question's answer is specifically important because in all the projects I have been, compromise turned out to be a toilsome concept which is closely related to the underlying human belief, \"It is impossible to make everyone happy\". I choose to believe that it", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Well so many things have been happening lately. I called to check if you're available on Friday.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": ") that disables him from keep trying since those initial failures concerning rejection had hurt him in the past. Thus, instead of taking an active route, taking responsibility for these fears and accepting them as they are (which is the crucial step towards changing it), he is taking the passive route and justifying his actions and current state.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "As of today your author has turned a Team Leader of Ponderland's forming Humanity's Team. Solara had some stories to share with me, indeed. Especially her latest experiences at", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Nyx , parent goddess, source of sweet repose from whom at first both Gods and men arose. Hear, blessed Kypris (Aphrodite), decked with starry light, in sleep's deep silence dwelling ebon night! Dreams (Oneiroi) and soft ease attend thy dusky train, pleased with the lengthened gloom and feastful strain, dissolving anxious care, the friend of mirth, with darkling coursers riding round the earth. Goddess of phantoms and of shadowy play, whose drowsy power divides the natural day; by fate's decree you constant send the light to deepest hell, remote from mortal sight; for dire necessity (Ananke), which nought withstands, invests the world with adamantine bands. Be present, Goddess, to thy suppliant's prayer, desired by all, whom all alike revere, blessed, benevolent, with friendly aid dispel the fears of twilight's dreadful shade.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"No?\", she asked apparently disbelieving, \"Not even snogging? Foreplay?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "and the trivia surrounding her. The book deal that spurted forth from her blog, the quintessential movie rights and whatsoever. Well possums (as Dame Edna would no doubt top off), it's so old a news, let me tell you that much.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "truly captured my attention which, as you already know, was quite dissected yesterday. Then again, her contagious enthusiasm quickly washed my aforementioned indifference and I soon found myself in the heart of founding Ponderland's Humanity's Team alongside Sol (having a good night's sleep yesterday also helped a great deal). What can I say? She just knows how to hit the bullseye of the leader in me.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Look at me, loved one! Feel my pulse twice! Your averted reality, Your concealed weaknesses, Your mute fears, Your willful silence, Your bleeding wounds, Your stalking past, Your disguised present, Your alien future.... can never stain the spotless you this woman carries!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "1) I can follow this reality. 2) I can choose to create something new for myself.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Thank you for Vermond. It sure looks serene. I was going to reply to it properly but looks like Yahoo's compose section is having an anti-Aura day. Hopefully, it will be resolved tomorrow.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "possible to make everyone happy as long as everyone has the same destination. What is arduous is the \"convincing\" course and this course is the outcome of people who share your destination but are determined to choose their own path in reaching it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Being the natural vagabond she is, she does not listen to all my rational responses to her cravings and longings. She loathes the fact that I live with a lunatic family. She despises the immobility I am causing her to go through. Although the dominant Aura has left the stage behind for \"good\", she never will, that much I know.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "sometime back in 1999. The book is described as", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Here I (alright, dad and I! I may have eluded him lately but I can't go as far as being unfair) am, working and hoping my cute behind off to make ends meet and they go buy a darn new TV!!!!!!!!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Do you understand? If only you did.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "She seemed unconvinced as she took her time to jot whatever down. \"How do you pee?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Not having a relationship for more than 2 years gave me time to be on my own so that I could face my former relationships -be it with family members, friends or lovers- and forgive myself. That is not an easy process and I still have so much gaps to fill. Yet, I do know that the thousand hands that hold mine shall help me a great deal in the matter.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "After two and a half years full of pain and laughter, Ichoir made 4th place in Roxy Music Days and ended up having an album. The feedback was surprisingly positive. However, Avarel had been just married to a girl from Trinidad whom he had met on the net and our mother-in-law capriced her way skillfully into her husband's bed which led to him dropping the group right after our first \"real\" concert. All the effort, all the dreams, all the you-name-its went to trash thanks to arbitrary vaginal contractions. Beheaded, Ichoir slowly drowned and left us with a longing alongside a thousand memorable moments and lifelong friendships (as in Charon and Rain Man).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Ok ok! Get back to your sleep. See you then, bye!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I arrived home, deranged, at 9:30 pm but I was mentally so hyperactive that I did not go to sleep until 2 am. Sol and I are meeting on Friday and I will have composed a basic \"main page\" material for our website alongside material written for the brochure, by then. As a friend warned me via e-mail today, I cannot (/don't have enough time to) sit back and savor the bliss of this process with things proceeding in the speed of light.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I will admit that it was sheer envy that caused my heart's pounding upon hearing this news no matter how maturely I responded to it (Truly amazing! I wish her all the best...).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "100.000 dollars would give me my life + hopes back. And some more.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "My greatest err in my journey would be to try to keep someone from reflecting and expressing his/her great vision about him/herself. If that perfection does not include", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Can you read my mind? Do you know what is is that you do to me? I don't know who you are, Just a friend from another star.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "A young man wearing casual hospital clothing turned around the corner, arms waving frantically in the air while he seemed as if he was running for his life. I instinctively nailed myself to the wall and got out of his way while a group of hospital personnel emerged from around the corner shouting at him. He was only inches past me when they caught up with him and threw themselves (literally) on him.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(composed for Fantine) as appears in the musical Les Miserables by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. Click", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I am very proud to be a part of this great support and also excited by the fact that I have this space of transparency wherein all my efforts to make a change as my life collides with the Humanity's Team shall be recorded (yet another bliss of being a blogger). I am honored to feel this loved and this embraced among a group of peoples who are as willing to take a step further to enrich the experience of \"living\" through neverending self discovery and acceptance.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I simply couldn't. As if saying those three words together to somebody else would be a betrayal to that moment. As if those words belonged to", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "As you might have realized, Phantasmemoria now has a logo and a cute button down in the Philanthrope section for those who are fond of visual linkage. I owe this to the creative juices of", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Solara has finally gained a high rank in the Humanity's Team, told them about me, they want me to join them and I feel indifferent (I've checked to find out that she is now the Interim Coordinator of this country! -- Omit the rest. This must be it).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"I did my experimenting quite well without letting my hormones interfere with this, thank you.\" That was true. Solara and I had been barhopping quite a lot (like I wasn't barhopping enough with Charon, Rain Man, our vocal group Ichoir, friends from University, people I had grown up with like Goddess, Gambit, Predator whatsoever) and naturally gay clubs in Ponderland were also a part of our route (I even celebrated a birthday which was attended by a bunch of close friends at one of the oldest and most famous gay bars of Ponderland) and although I was amazed by the fact that I was in the heart of an environment which hosted countless men each one of whom were more handsome than the other, I never fantasized about having a fling with any of them (Our dilemma was and still is so obvious: Do these guys always have to look drop dead gorgeous? Oh what a curse to be a female at times like these). Shortly, I have never been gay and they were as unavailable to me (romantically and/or sexually of course, not friendshipwise) back then as they are today.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "into my mother language. It is still not on the market here in Ponderland. On Tuesday, Sol and I will be going to pay a visit to the art center that will be sponsoring and organizing N. D. Walsch's visit to Ponderland. It seems that we will not be \"shoulder deep\" in arranging this visit at all. Yet, we will be so in the coming days, possibly towards Fall since Sol is planning to host the next country coordinators meeting here in November.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "property . When I think out of the box, they are simply there to experience \"themselves\" via me and I attract them to my reality in order to experience \"myself\" via them.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"How do they react to it?\" I wondered whether she was doing this deliberately or not. My father was waiting outside in the corridor. We had arrived here together. What the hell did she think he was feeling about it?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Today is the tenth Mother's Day since you're gone. And I am writing this letter to let you know that I am ready now. To let go... to let go of those moments that haunted me occasionally for 10 years. I choose to be left with all the memories that had made us, us; The continuous laughter we had shared... your warm chest, my harbor against the tempest... our Friday escapades... our afternoon talks over the rims of our coffee mugs... the way you childishly traced back your wet locks away from your face when we were swimming... the way my father looked at you with the pride of having a woman such as yourself in his arm whenever you two left the house for a night out... I will never ever forget that look which made me realize the wonder of being a pair... a beautiful pair... and I do hope, mother, that one day, I will also be able to cause the man I love to look at me with such pride as he takes up my arm and leads me out of our house... our pizza days...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Crown of the Night , beloved one... I shall carry the birthmark of the chosen females until the ends of time and beyond!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "... And you enter my stage... resting yourself in the depths... the protagonist of my play... the Star of my Nocturne... I hear your monologue finding me from behind the immensity of winds... It concludes with the question, \"Better now?\"... Our heartbeats synchronize against each other... we lie still in the kernel of shadows... You pulsate swiftly, surrounded by me...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Great then. You know this is really really urgent. I just have to see you ASAP.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Whenever I handled the heart, it bled. The heart was kept in a safe and the make-up was revered. How many times the fuck is disguised as lovemaking?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Solara has a new boyfriend, has told him about me and the boyfriend wants to meet me (they always do. Like that's not enough, her boyfriends always belong to the I-have-a-best-friend-you'll-love-and-once-you-do-that-I'll-guarantee-4-months-of-headache-free-shag-with-my-girlfriend-while-we-double-date-happily-ever-after prototype).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "about starting life anew which also implies that he finds it extremely hard to be handed with an opportunity for a beginning. He also possesses a pride (which is also a version of fear because everything, I repeat every thing originates either from", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(Oh yes I so feel the heat that I'm having a tan! Gimme the sunscreen!)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I had no prerequisite knowledge as to the regenerating abilities of these insects. I was thinking that maybe it could feed on the sugar (all things sweet are their favorite, I observed that much. They are even worse than audacious street cats that are used to being fed by thoughtful versions of mankind and expect the same generosity from all. These creatures don't care whether you're in the middle of your meal or not, just pop in out of the blue and start munching on a crumb next to your plate) and somehow gather its strength before it went on with its life...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl \". A pity that it rings a bell(e) that chimes \"Diary of a London Call Girl\".", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "When my dad and professor got out of the room, they seemed oblivious to the previous tumult which I thought was heard by the entire hospital. Either the rooms were soundproof or I was hallucinating and nothing had taken place because it was impossible not to be effected by the man's helpless screams.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I looked at that pale face and knew that he was not ready for that final stroke of the second. No matter what he says, no matter how much a parody he may seem to me, no matter how much I despised him when her mother started bitching behind me and he didn't oppose and stand up for his nephew, I knew he was not as ready as he had appeared. I knew that he was distressingly helpless against this Fate whose control he had lost so long ago that it was too hard for him to visualize what it was like before.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Now to turn this train of thought into reality is easier to say than do. Thus, I decided to take another path and looked at my dad's life which has been our lives for the last 5 years. Obviously, it is much easier to consider others instead of looking deep within yourself and the things that you have been casting aside as you kept lying to yourself.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "hot ex. So much breath control, so much painkillers and so much confusion wafted in the sickening, insalubrious air of the living room all throughout last night. Honestly, I really don't know how we would end up like, had my uncle's heart finally let go of its beating.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Despite all the privy clauses I bouse I still walk on these tidal waves That carry your trace, my Lighthouse. Will you illume your eyes on time?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "These days, I truly wish that I would receive a letter from an unknown relative's attorney one morning saying, since he had had no close relatives, he left all his property worth a few million dollars to me upon his death. Why, is it so impossible? Angel had been just recently telling me that one of her friends experienced just that! Although the amount she received was lacking some of my dreamy zeros, it was still around 100.000 dollars and they were all astounded because she probably had seen this woman who was living in the States once or twice at most.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I have a life vacant for you A love completely healed -- should that be your heart's wish. Crimson possibilities in azure togetherness. But do you have a stare spared or a song solely sung for me Deprived of ambiguity? If only you had.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I feel so alive and in tune with myself at last! Can you tell?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "...my bare feet echo naked footsteps on the cobblestones... The fullness of Mother Luna chills me for the first time... clouds be her veil... before the spiral marble stairs leading down to the shore, lightning bugs waltz in a", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "However, as I already said, everything is \"perfect\" in its own way. To accept and embrace this perfectness and to have the freedom of choice across these events is the exciting part. That is to say, my father creates a reality that includes me and then I have two options:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "the rest of the evening. This was the sign of what was to come for the next two and a half years of my life. Neverending brainstorming, tiresome discussions which almost always led to a dead-end since you can rarely make everyone happy.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Anyway, casting this aside, I've happened to marvel at the thought that there is so much in the world to see and ruminate that we have so little time. If only I was a sensitive water sign like Pisces or Cancer or a practical earth sign like Capricorn or Virgo. Enduring all these could have been much easier.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Whatever that may be, the online trend is setting up a call girl-themed journal, \"cum\" and \"go\" between multiple orgasms and wait until the thing eventually gets big these days. Good luck to all those who follow the footsteps of Tracy Quan who, it seems, is the original concept holder and, well, righteously beat everyone else to it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Great! I really really need to see you.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "There are so many things to be done. First and foremost, I need to have a business card. This is the classy part and all about the \"Here... take my card\" trivia. Then, we will be trying to find a publisher while I start translating", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "The first meeting was with the Manager and PR of the Art Center organizing Neale's conference. The Manager was quite a pathetic case who kept throwing a question our way before remembering to reply a very urgent e-mail (not to mention, by the end of the meeting, I concluded that she had a merry inbox) and heading out. That and I have serious concerns about trusting a woman who looks at the original hand-outs which concludes by a \"make sure that nobody leaves the room before blabla\" statement, then turns to us and asks, \"How are we to make sure nobody leaves the room?\". The PR, though, made an impression with her interest in HT, our mission, purpose, where we stand among countless other spiritual groups and obviously, having had read each and every book of Neale that has been published down here, with her basic knowledge about New Spirituality. Personally, she will be the one I shall add to my little book of contactables.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Let's go back to hearing him, \"...and people are after young, fresh minds instead of an old and soon-to-be obsolete one. That and I couldn't have surrendered to 500 bucks a month as if I'm being pitied. How could you expect me to settle for an amount like that and accumulate the money needed for your new life...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "It was then I remembered the notes. There they were right on top of the pile I was carrying. The one I was looking at included the following scribble:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Mmm... And... *gulps* We just keep running around in circles in our conversation. But this time we're breaking the cycle, dear! We'll be seeing each other a lot, I'm telling you.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"Feeling like you are feeling. How long have you been feeling like a female?\" She tapped the back of her pen on the paper which, I guessed, was a gesture to intensify her professionalism but ended up seeming as if she was being impatient with me.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "She got up floundering and picked up her plate, \"The laundry, child\" she croaked, \"It's ideal for laundering\". Then without another word, turned around and staggered towards the kitchen.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Then, you cupped my cheeks in your withering, chemotherapied hands, looked in my eyes so deep that I still feel that final warmth you sealed into me even to this day. You did the only thing you could; Passed the final drops of life left in your veins onto me. Your last present to the being you created from your very own.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Feeling ? I blinked, \"Feeling like what?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "But I am very much a Fire. The Sagittarius infernoes freely in my veins.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "* Last night, I was going through the last issue (March 2004) of Elle that I burrowed from Angel. I turned a page to come across an article that caused a smirk. Usually, I am a being that minds her own business and can be considered as incurious. The article, though, is too interesting to remain silent towards.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "In this case, I choose to free them. Because, I choose to believe, that is the greatest opportunity I can hand out to another. I do not persist on keeping people \"together\" but instead I encourage them \"to gather\" their own tools and set sail on their own.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Definitely good! Alright, we're seeing each other on Friday, then. Well... looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "of them. The reason of my falling behind in the continuity of my", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Solara is getting married. (which practically means she found herself in a flaring affair in the last 4 months we haven't seen each other which implies I will bitch about being the last to know about it.)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Now if I was somebody else, this probably would have made no sense yet these are my words my friends. You can come up to me and ask, \"Aura we have been witnessing and reading your life for 6 months and you are telling us that you have deserved this?\". My answer would be, my friends, that it has nothing to do with \"deserving\" but \"choosing\" and to be able to understand that choice here I am inviting you to the very cores of my dad and myself.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "... Can you read my mind? Can you picture the things I'm thinking of? Wondering why you are, All the wonderful things you are...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "He shook his head and put on his black, velvet jacket, the most formal looking piece of his \"wardrobe\" as I tilted my head, \"You see...\", I insisted playfully, \"Even Granny admits I should attend the annual ceremony as your daughter. I am still not presented to the Grand Lodge.\" He remained silent and I knew that it was the playfulness in my voice that kept him away from temper.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(Hmph! Right!)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "He knows that somewhere out there, there are people living on the streets. I know for I heard him mutter, \"Heavens help those who are outside.\" once when it was raining cats and dogs in the middle of the night.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"...and even if we did achieve it, I wonder if you could ever forgive either me or your mother for ignoring your birth defect. We have lost the opportunity of building up a healthy parental pattern from your childhood...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"What is the Humanity's Team?\" one may ask.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "This looks like a beautifully stinking swamp and is perfect in its own way. There Sol! We have a safe bridge that is constructed via understanding and connects the two sides of the rivulet.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "on my pores?... that whoever dares to touch me, they know the you in me?... the you", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "might receive. Because according to this article, Belle's path, ie. A-list call girl turns A-list blogger turns A-list author, is not something terribly original, either.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "What I have been doing for the last 5 years is simply choosing the first option. Hence, neither my dad is nor I am \"wrong\"; None of us has the \"fault\". They were simply our choices be it consciously or unconsciously.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Have I ever told you that my skin absorbs the scent of yours?.. that no matter how far away you may be, I carry", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I breathe Love.. and it doesn't make me sick as it did in the past any longer. However, to be able to reach this state of Love that is shared by thousands, I needed to have experienced being by myself for some time to heal older forms of heartache.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "She is a free spirit and keeps aiming her bow at me with her greedy need to explore, learn, experience and leave behind. She will never be tamed, never be satisfied until she makes a change, never be fulfilled until she sees everything she is curious to see and meets the hypothetical thousands whom, according to her, she is destined to meet. For her, there is no mountain too high, no planet too far.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I was surprised ladies and gentlemen. Surprised that he muttered a sentence that was so familiar to me since I, myself, always think of those people when thunders break, winds howl, snowflakes fall. I even think of cats and dogs and birds outside but alas this is not the time for disclosing those corners of myself that might arise sympathy. It has nothing to do with me.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "The highway merges into the ocean, Which streams into the horizon. This sea-bearing symbol aids me in a water walk, Led by the trace of moonlight.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I am walking on a deserted highway today. And a cushion of air, My feet -- They don't touch my ground. If there is such thing like an ethereal walk,", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "She nodded seriously and opened what seemed like a notebook while I fidgeted on my chair. Although it was early spring and sun was reigning outside, here in this pocket-size room, even sunlight seemed dormant. She went over the papers that I had handed her once more before starting her questionnaire, \"Your age?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Years later, dad told me that while you were by his recuperating side in the hospital right after his by-pass, you had said, \"I am too late for our child. We should save you because she will need you.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I have an appointment in the morning but I'm free in the afternoon. Why?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(What?! Taj Mahal?? Shut the shag up, Sagittarius!!)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "The earth is her playground and she is dying to play it her way. She wants to be an old lady who has thousands of stories to share with her neighbors, albums of countless moments captured to share with her friends and no matter how old she will be, she will never be an elder who derives her life energy from simply watching her grandchildren grow up. Because no matter how old she gets, there still will be a corner of the globe not seen or a topic uncovered (thankfully, there will be no concept such as grandchildren anyway so that she won't have to fit in this simile).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"I am studying at Bayside University. Western Languages and Literatures.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Here I am like a kid out of school. Holding hands with a god, I'm a", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "If you really need one justification, that would be that if dad had \"surrendered to 500 bucks a month\" 5 years ago, he would have approximately tripled his salary 5 years afterwards and as of today. However, no judgments on my part! Never! I am not recording this conversation to belittle my father but rather analyze and distinguish the elements that his deepest understanding of himself have created as our present.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Hence, \"the pain of the process\" since it requires a great self realization and being truthful to one's self. Usually, just like everybody else, instead of searching for the", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Sure. See you then.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "As of today, I feel disconnected and cranky (if you still can't tell). I haven't had a proper sleep for the last two days. My eyes are burning with restlessness and visualizing myself in the middle of a group who are shoulder-deep in organizing N. D. Walsch's visit early this summer doesn't click at the moment. I want nothing but to curl in one corner and have a \"summer sleep\"!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(He looks at me! I think I'm dying. Fan fan...)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "To kiss this tempest some solace, End the Titans' reign for a new tomorrow, Be my God Through whom I experience I So that I'll be your Goddess Through which you experience you. But am I the Muse on your lips? If only I were.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"So you were directed to us from Endocrinology, I see. It is usually the other way around....\" The female professor mumbled as she flipped the papers over, \"... Kleinefelter syndrome, genetic intersexuality...\" She, then, smiled a smile that was as artificial as gum flavor. Accordingly, it soon faded.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "...pulling my skirts gently, I follow the trail to enigma... what reason holds your summon to Night?... what reason holds being a moth to your flare?...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I shrugged and gave it up, turning away to slip into my stillettos as Granny was going on with her argument, \"If this dinner requires a spouse or daughter's accompany, you have one. Why not taking her?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "precious . \"Is it naturally undiluted? Ideal for drinking...or mmm...daily facial cleaning?...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "mine , if the river comes to a fork, why attempt to block the other branch's run in the hope that its waters will eventually be tamed (suppressed!) and flow in harmony with mine? (Moreover, would I prefer harmony of that kind?)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Now can you clearly see how he sees himself as? He has rooted beliefs deep in his psyche that \"it is not easy\" to start life all over again at 64. He actually has rooted", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I repeat. They even already pai... (Tsk!)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Although I have happened to look more like my dad in these years, I am delighted to be your reflection in the details instead of the overall appearance. I have", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Of course, it was not easy to talk convincingly about a movement that was launched in this country only... let me see... 5 days ago. We still lack an office (though many of the country leaders of Europe do not function through one), a website and a brochure that both briefly states our vision and looks eye catching. These last two will be dealt with by the end of this month and the office should be up & running sometime late in June or early July. Then again, I certainly believe that we do manage swiftly.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "The article informs its readers that an A-list (that must be the key word) New Yorker call girl named Tracy Quan has just published her controversial novel which is built upon 15 juicy years of classy prostitution experience behind the closed doors of deluxe hotels. The interesting part is, she caught the attention of publishers after having started writing a column in the online literary magazine", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Would my granny loose the plot? Give it a go herself and not even let the poor guy burn alone, finally away from her in hell? They have this pathetic bond formed at birth which she carried one step further which was enough to cause her son to end up loosing his mind. They have this love-hate, \"can't live with or without you\" relationship thanks to her being like a vulture circling above on the near-dead body of his all their lives.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "and went on walking towards the car. So this was an asylum, alright. So these people were blase towards such scenes; They were immune to such sounds and sights. But how was", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "...although, since quite a bit of it was missing, it was obvious that it wouldn't be very popular in the mating season (which is like...bi-daily for cockroaches. They are quite a merry if not hedonistic species).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "in my mind, at least. Barefoot women chatting as they transferred the April rain they stored in their rainboxes into a large tub before they dump a pile of clothes into it and exchange the current gossips whispered in Constantinople.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I tried my best to hide the devastation I felt upon being fed by this news last night. It is to no avail trying to put some sense into these mindless beings and make them quit the idea. They have their own reality and are deaf to everything else but...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I received this little miracle with bitter gratitude... as if my mother was letting me remember the talk we had in our summer house previous summer. She took my hand in her cold palms and told me that she knew the end was near for her. As I denied my empathy and suppressed my tears clumsily so as not to break down before her she went on:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "expressions in my eyes. That is why whenever I look in the mirror, I can see", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "As I closed my eyes so as not to see this constant motion of hovering scenes, I turned sideways and caused something extraordinary to happen. The remote control of the CD player was stuck underneath the pillows of the sofa, its edge almost visible through the edge of the pillow, and as I moved, it turned itself on...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Thank you for the beautiful short poem. For some reason, it made my eyes fill with tears and added", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "not feeling. \"Yes, they do.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"You could have been experimenting.\" she stated, leaning on the table with her elbows.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I raised my head and traced a hand on a dark brown lock that fell on my cleavage, \"It's alright, Granny.\" I said finally, \"I best remain hidden and invisible to the world as always!\"; A sarcastic remark my dad is quite used to hearing, indeed.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(Oh he takes out a mobile. I should have mine at hand, too. Just in case)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "It is brutal. Yet the effect, when not attempted to be put under control, is quite temporal. As Joan Borysenko, says:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "To a disciple who was forever complaining about others the Master said, \"If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Her mother who should have been the one to teach him to fly, broke his wings and imprisoned him to herself. The God, he believed in, turned away from him, not listening to his prayers nor saving him from an electroshock therapy when he was only 17. This figure lying on that faded sofa was so fragile behind that hulking body that it brought unshed tears to my eyes.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "So Ichoir was formed. I'm not even going into the painful discourse which lasted for weeks until we reached an agreement on the name. Mythology ran to aid. We took Icarus as the Muse, played with the name a little, came up with a derivative which was destined to be mispronounced by every single person who came across it written somewhere but still, we all loved it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "which is an adjective we extremely avoid while following the guidelines of both HT's Study and Emotional support groups. Having knowledge in abundance is of no importance to us (I, myself, have not read even 1/3 of the spiritual material presented to this world). On the contrary, we are inclined to \"grow together\", \"learn together\", hence, even if our group members have proficient knowledge in the topic at hand, we will not let any one reign the conversations/discussions.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "...you know how sometimes something just hits you, like as if it's a memory coming back, a wave of it almost.. Is a hard thing to workout whether it's the feeling still being there, or a reminder of how things felt at a different time. As much as anything I think I'm just wanting to know that you are OK, and well, and happy, or to know if you aren't even, and to know if I could help in any way if you weren't...\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Did you expect tears from me? Did you believe I shall break these wings for thee? Did you ready me for what I already foresee?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Feelings, again. What did this have to do with feelings, I wondered. It was simply about", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Of course we have no control over what anyone does out there. Still, I have concerns about having this man (will be regarded as Mr. E from this point on) doing it \"under\" the title of Humanity's Team, without following its group guidelines. Still, it was a great experience to get to know him personally as I feel we will be seeing each other quite often in the coming days.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I got that part, love. Good or bad?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Just like the morning was not a start for those who never slept, either. So when the first rays of the sun streaked in, my uncle was feeling better. Still, last night was never to be forgotten. As I got ready to leave the house, he was already up and around, trying to confront his still weeping mother.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "She so looked like a pre-transitioned Gollum. I cleared my throat and smiled nervously. I find listening to such traditions quite enjoyable unless they are conveyed in a manner that makes me feel I'm a part of the Twilight Zone, \"Why did they find it so valuable?\" I asked deliberately avoiding the word", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "you play a game when I'm not playing? you blow a strike when I'm not attacking? you bear a pain when I'm not hurting? you sing a berceuse when I'm not cradling? you harbor a mystery when I'm not riddling?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "peace ful place. All we need is to take a baby step towards it. You can also share this incredible experience by becoming a part of the Humanity's Team which is open and welcoming to each and every one. Simply click", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I didn't hear him come home last night since I was weary of my uncle's attack made up of constant howling, wailing, crying and screaming so I took a bunch of sleeping pills and buried my head under my pillow earlier than usual. In the morning, a little item was standing on the bed table... an item resembling a jewelry box. Rubbing my eyes, I reached for it, not quite comprehending what was inside.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "... Life which is the most precious gift we are presented with. Through living lies the message of Spirituality... Through living lies the expression of one's true self.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"What is so precious about April rains, Granny?\" I asked out of curtsey rather than curiosity.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(Yeah, walk away, sweetie. Blessings to you for the hormonal discharge you brought to my day.)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "(Then again is it love at first sight? Only nipples can tell)", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "I miss the middle of my nowhere. Do you believe me? If only I knew.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "\"My family consists of my grandmother and father. My mother died 6 years ago. As for my father, he takes it very well.\" She kept writing as I concluded, \"So does my Grandmother.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Same ol'. You?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Why can't I draw the blanket over my head and simply vanish? Now", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30102", "text": "Nowadays, this phase I have been going through is making me face all these quite brutally. Because I choose it to be so. I have never been a woman who takes things swiftly (which is, yet another choice). Swift doesn't work for me (there you go. Another belief, another", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Feeling good this morning. Another decent night of sleep. Made Bucko breakfast (CoW, three eggs, and the last porkchop. Yeah, I'm trying to kill him).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "12:46 p.m. Damn. The hvac guy came just as I was sitting down to lunch.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Maybe 12 tomatoes and 14 grapes. Excellent (Mr. Burns impression).", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "It's going to be another cold, rainy day today, so I must try to keep up my spirits. First goal: finish and fax in my application to temp services. I don't know if I have any work at The Office; Warren never replied to my messages yesterday. That's typical of the way things have been going there, and why I've somehow let three months skip along before I suddenly realized I wasn't getting paid anything. Friday he emailed me and said something not-quite-clear, like \"I'm going to have drawings for you I need Monday.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I grabbed a pencil and wrote down the topics he covered in a 20 minute phone call, although I gave up halfway through. Each one followed logically from the previous, although now I can't see some of the connections. It's not wild-eyed rambling, though, this was all intelligent, meaningful conversation. Here, then, is a partial list of Jimmy's Phone Call Topics:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Has anyone noticed that when there's just a few pickles left in the jar, floating around near the bottom in the brine, they look a lot like green turds floating in a greenish-water toilet? Yes, I know that was gross and childish, but it really struck me.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Although, I lifted weights and stripped wallpaper yesterday, and I can feel it in my shoulders and neck. So hopefully the headache is muscular.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Had a hard time coming up with the calories. I ate most of a serving, but with hardly any rice (compared to what they provided, which must have been 4 cups per person). I figured all the components separately, and come up with 535 calories, which ain't bad, and which gives me 1447 for the day.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "If I don't have it around the house, I won't drink it. Because I am far too lazy and too self-conscious to go buy it. Therefore, this way I am not relying on willpower, I'm setting up an environment where I can't drink. I'm having a glass of water right now, with my coffee.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "On that front, Bucko and I have decided to go ahead and get the house all ready to sell so that whenever I DO get a couple good paychecks, that's when we can apply for a loan. It's not the end of the world if we don't get it on the market now, because it's not like we have a deadline, but this is the time of year to do it. Houses in this neighorhood don't sell fast, so I don't want to miss our best opportunity.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "In other work news, when I walked into the conference room of three men, I received compliments on my appearance (along the lines of \"you look nice today\" not \"have you lost weight?\"). No, really I'm not so pathetic that I need that kind of reassurance, but it was a notable event to me. I was like \"Huh. Well, okay. Sure.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "**Why don't vampires just attack Jewish people. Since they don't have any crosses.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "1. Blogs, for starters.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "10:12 a.m. Finished 40 minutes of glider sprints (whew!) and two big plates of lettuce salad with red pepper slices.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "That will be the name of a famous documentary film I will someday make. Baking for Squirrels.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "KC and the Sunshine Band performing it.\" How cool would that be? And if you could hire a major band from the 70s to play at your party, who would you want?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Tomorrow will be better. It's all okay. I promise.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "It's so much like quitting smoking. I'm not sure when I REALLY committed to doing it -- certainly not at the beginning. Sure, one part of me wanted to quit, but another part didn't, in a big way.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I'm feeling rather hideous this morning. Physically, anyway.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I've read of this in more than one blog, and several times in Tomato Nation, where a date of sorts takes place, including spending the night together in the same bed, but no sex occurs. Listen up, young persons. I know you're going to think I'm an old fogey, but in my day a primary objective of a date was to have sex, or \"hook up\" as it were. Also, you're not doing enough drugs.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "a retelling of the story, with a different ending. I'll bet they were both books, too, and I'm going to look for them. Hopefully will have the same names... And on a related thought, Dennis Haysbert is one of my favorite actors, and I really don't think he should be doing television commercials, especially for", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "lower than I expected. I hope my estimate is close -- I did it as accurately as I could and rounded up.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Also trying to clean our filthy upstairs shower, on and off for a couple days. Haven't found anything that will make the floor white again, not even straight bleach. That's not a good sign...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "You can see mine is very diet-and-fitness oriented, because that's my mindset when I wrote it. The idea was, a perfect day", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I've worked at the same company for 11 years, and there is not a single person who was there when I started. The company has been sold twice, and while my job title was never taken away from me, it's never been exactly confirmed, either.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Battery district * where all the giant houses are. There was obviously a party going on in one of these mansions -- catering trucks, parking valets, security, lights in the garden. We could hear \"I'm Your Boogie Man\" coming from somewhere inside, and stopped on the sidewalk to listen. After only a couple minutes we realized \"Oh, that's LIVE music, how neat,\" and then only another couple beats before we realized \"Yes, and that's", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "7:40 a.m. Wednesday, Day 121. Slept late today, I must have been making up for Monday night and recuperating from all that bush digging. I'm a little sore this morning, in the back of my thighs, but nothing terrible. Came in at 1467 calories yesterday, which is perfect. The week is off to a good start.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Ate well last night - four chicken wings, heap of broccoli with no-fat yogurt sauce, some frozen corn with no butter. Also managed to resist dessert - Bucko had the last of the pound cake and ice cream from Christmas, and there was definitely enough for two.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I bought another piano bench yesterday for $15. Looks like Marella and I will do the Topsail show in June, so I need to get to work. I'm trying to do mainly furniture this year, not all that little stuff like switchplate covers and boxes.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "For a lot of the time, I felt like I was just going through the motions, and waiting for this little charade to end so I could smoke again. Me and the ciggies, together at last.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Yeah, fine, I'm going to eat less in order to lose weight, and to do that I will have to pull some head games on myself, but the point is that the dieting itself is the disordered eating pattern. So of course it's difficult to make myself behave that way.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "enough: like, I'm fifteen minutes short of exercising enough, or eating just 120 calories too many. Which also makes me feel like a big dumb-ass, to go through 95% of the effort, and not be able to focus enough to come up with the other measly 5% needed.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Heck, that almost balances out the martinis. A small anecdote: One time, Bucko and I were in Charleston for the weekend, and after dinner we walked around in the", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Okay. So Monday morning I emailed him and said \"Let me know if/when you need me to come in and work on those drawings.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Kind of a musty flavor, not appetizing. Also not enough solid ingredients, just a few bits of potato and carrot. I will be needing a snack later this morning.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "So I went to the website of this very large, multinational IT company, and from there spent over an hour trying to find a phone number, ANY phone number, for this company. I progressed from attempting to find the number for corporate HR to looking in a local phone book to find the number for a branch of the company at which I never worked. And that's what I'm putting on my application, because fuck it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Here is what he did. He sent out an email memo, with attachments, to the FIVE other people who work in the office, describing the office's printers and their uses and the office's scanning capabilities. Why is this stupid? Because, of the FIVE other people, all of whom have worked there for years and have used the equipment for years:", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "More random thoughts: whenever I am \"done\" with losing weight, I will have to maintain it. I think I need to work exercise into my life in a more natural way. Hopefully, with a lighter body I'll be ABLE to exercise more. But I'm going to have to do those things like always take the stairs, park far away, get a dog and walk it, etc.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Finally got the airline tickets/flights straightened out. That travel agent is such a waste. I have to call her too many times; she's simply not proactive at all.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "So I really don't want to stand here and chat with you for an hour, and you for half an hour, and YOU for 90 minutes, because I can't charge for any of that, and I've just spent three UNPAID hours in a place I hate. I try to fob them off as politely as possible, but I have become", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "So I wrote back and asked \"Do you have them ready for me now, or you will have them for me on Monday?\" He wrote back a one-word reply: \"Monday.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "7. Girls Gone Wild, and other similar flashing of the tits for the camera.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Peoples, I MUST get my shit together. I don't want to flagellate myself (ooh!) but I do need to be a little stern. I am eating too much and not exercising enough, and I need to quit it and get back \"on program.\" Enough's enough.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "My hip is still bothering me. I'm not happy about that, because it hurts when I walk, and I want to do a lot of walking on vacation. I think the bellydancing may have caused the strain, and then the gliding is exacerbating it. So perhaps it's a good thing that I'll be away from the glider for a couple weeks. I can walk and swim for exercise, and perhaps that will work out the problem, whatever it is.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Had a WEE bit too much wine last night, so I fell asleep very early, then of course woke up at 2 a.m. and didn't get back to sleep until after 5. On the bright side, I saw a really great movie,", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Not sure what else I'm doing today. Haven't heard a word from work, so I guess I'm not going to the office.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I feel like I might be focusing on the food and shutting out everything peripheral... possibly the stress of the past couple months, the moving, the job situation? Oh well duh, how long was it going to take me to reach that conclusion? I've said before (although I don't know if I've written it here) that I think one of my emotional issues with food is control, that it's an area of my life where other people cannot control me and I'm the one making the decisions. Maybe when I'm feeling particularly helpless, I want to eat because it puts me in charge.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Maybe I'd better start taping something every day. The Daily Show would be good, because I rarely stay up late enough to watch it. That's only half an hour though, so I need something else too.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I know I won't have a low-cal day today, but I'm not planning on a huge overage, either. I want to leave room for the martinis, so it's salad for me for the rest of the day. Isn't that disordered, to cut out food in order to drink? Yes, I know it is, that question was sort of rhetorical.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "5:27 p.m. Well, this has been a productive day. Besides the bush digging, I also formatted the proposal for four hours, finished the piano bench, primed the windsor chair, and did two loads of laundry. I rule. AND as of this moment I'm only at 754 calories, which means I have plenty available for dinner and still stay within goal. Rock rock rock!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Just started to get hungry, so I came downstairs for a glass of Orange flavored seltzer water, and saw that it's almost lunchtime. Yay.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "3. TiVo. You kids have just got to stop watching so much television. It's not", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I have half a can of soup every day for breakfast. Except for vacation, I haven't varied from that in 108 days.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "It seemed a bit thin. He said it was okay, but that he usually makes the next larger amount listed on the instructions (two cups rather than one cup) and it comes out thicker. So that's how I'll make it next time.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "2:30 p.m. I'm trying to get a LOT of things done today, and I'm losing steam. Besides exercise, an hour of \"real\" work, and of course writing obsessively in my journal, I'm painting the downstairs bathroom. I'm most of the way done, now it's just the trim and redoing the grout. Heh, \"just.\" That will take as long as the walls, since the trim is filthy and I'll need to clean that and the floor first.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "4:00 p.m. My god, can that place get any stupider? Or, let me rephrase that: can Crazy Hair get any stupider?", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "8:19 a.m. My life goes round in circles... Here is an email this morning from Warren: \"... There will be some slippage on the schedule, but we are continuing to push forward... for planning purposes, why don't you plan on going into heavy rotation next Monday. I will probably have some resumes and corporate references to you by mid week this week. By the way, we are looking seriously at another proposal... due on May 10. Do you think you could support us on that one if we go for it?\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I realize I have to stop buying those things. They're just so delicious slow cooked in the oven, and the bastards keep putting them on sale for 99 cents a pound. I've resisted them the last two or three times they were on sale, but caved in eventually, and we've had them for two days now. There are two leftover in the fridge right now, and either Bucko's got to eat them or we have to throw them away, because I don't want to have another 795 calorie rib.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I ran out and got a couple bottles of wine, and now I am sitting here enjoying a glass all alone in my house. Incredibly, it's almost dinner time and I have had only 362 calories so far. Holy cow!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Now I'm drinking my tomato juice and having three little celery sticks. They're about as many calories as water, so I'm not concerned with how many I eat, but I don't really have any desire to eat a lot of celery anyway.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "It makes me feel like someone else cares, even though that someone is really me. Also, I'm starting to be impressed with myself, and have some pride invested in being able to do this, so I enjoy writing about it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "A reasonable total yesterday, 1500 calories even. That's right in the middle of my range, so I'm not unhappy with it, but would like to go lower today. I will plan on an all-vegetable day, that usually does it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "is described as \"anorectic,\" not \"anorexic.\"? Well, I know it. Now you do too. Futhermore, \"anorexia\" means loss of appetite. \"Anorexia", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "5:21 p.m. Done with the proposal for the day. I've had enough of sitting at the computer. I got a base coat on the windsor chair, and I think I've decided on painting a seashell on the seat, and then some kind of funky-cute pink details on the rest. It's hard for me to paint \"cute,\" because I", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I wanted to stay out and show off. It was such a difference from my usual run-home-as-fast-as-possible self, that I began to get an inkling of how much self assurance I might have when I lose weight. It's not that I have to look gorgeous, it was the feeling that I was NOT a freak. That no one was staring at me in disgust.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I had quite an annoying anxiety dream about work last night. I think that's what made me squirrelly when I woke up. It surprised me to even have this dream, it was a combo work/not prepared for the test kind of dream, and I didn't think I was having any of that type of anxiety recently.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "6. Reality TV. Hmm. I'll admit the first few seasons of \"The Real World\" were entertaining, in a horrible sort of way, but enough's enough.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "6:41 a.m. Tuesday, Day 106. Something must be done about the dreams. I can't handle it anymore. How am I supposed to get any rest with these epic movies playing in my head all night? I feel okay this morning, just a little unrested, and slightly sore from SensibleGym yesterday.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "2:20 p.m. And PhotoIsland is working now too. Whew, again. And by the way, I have put up my diary of the", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "6:37 a.m. Thursday, Day 122. Damn that restaurant! Damn damn damn. Both of us woke up groggy and stupid, with swollen eyes and puffy faces. MSG.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "if anyone is interested. But don't feel obligated to feign interest.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I've written so much today, I'm going to post now. Maybe that will shut me up.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "4. X-boxes, iPods, and other things with a \"single-letter-then-a-word\" name. It's as though I have a mental block (an m-Block) that prevents me from understanding what these things are, except that I know they are not the same thing. I think.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "5. Sleeping in bed and cuddling with a person of the opposite sex, but not having sex with them.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "which is partly why I was up so long, I couldn't stop watching it. There's a scene I loved, where all the bohemian people have a merry little dinner with much laughing and dancing afterward, that is so much what I wanted to describe in my", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I have a new favorite food. Pompeian brand Fire Roasted Red Peppers. $1.69 for a 12 ounce jar. That's a bargain!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I don't know any other place to put these things than in a fake-dated part of the blog, in case anyone is wondering how I come up with all this retroactive writing. Anyway, this is my response to Daisy's question,", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "So no updates until Monday or maybe Tuesday. Bye bye.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I am glad I'm doing it, and I really want it. BUT I am angry with myself for not being everything I could be while still fat.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "12:32 p.m. I just dug up three giant bushes out of our front yard, roots and all. That was HARD work, so combined with my gliding today I think I've got my exercise accomplished.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I have a lot to mull over here, and I'm sorry I can't write it more succinctly. I am thinking as I type...", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "And here's another thing. I bought an issue of Shape magazine, and threw it away within 2 hours.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Also had just the one glass of wine. So it all went quite well.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "That happens to me so rarely, maybe a couple times a year. Plenty of dreams, but nothing notable or disturbing. Just random snippets.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Happily, it doesn't feel like that all of the time. I've adjusted pretty well to the type and amount of food I've been eating, so I don't always feel like I'm on a diet, I don't always feel deprived. Just sometimes.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "5:37 Got another 10 minutes gliding in. Not much, but it will help with the metabolism. I rule. RULE.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "When we were bought by a larger company, we (this particular office) went from being the corporate headquarters of a small-to-medium sized IT firm to a remote, unimportant satellite office of a large IT firm. Which then, as with fishies, was swallowed by a yet larger IT firm, who apparently are not even aware we exist. Well, this part is a tangent and has nothing to do with filling out the application, except to say that it's sometimes difficult to describe exactly what I do in my company, and where I do it. The problem part of the process was filling out the information for my", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Somehow, it didn't achieve the desired popularity. In fact, I had an even worse time fitting in. Few of my friends (or even enemies) from junior high attended that high school, and I didn't have a single class with any of them, anyway. I didn't know ANYONE, and couldn't seem to establish any sort of friendships or even acquaintanceships, even among the nerdy group I would normally belong to.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "One of them is the Receptionist. No comment about her.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "1:43 p.m. I'm trying to be really active today and drink a lot of water to flush out the MSG as quickly as possible. So far today I have painted the dining room, dug out two more shrubs in the front, went grocery shopping, bought and unloaded eight new shrubs, did a second coat in the dining room, and now I'm making catfish stew for Bucko's dinner. THEN I will take a shower and make a chicken caesar salad for me and Daisy, because we are having dinner together tonight. I cannot wait to see her. I haven't seen her for 15 days, and I need my fix.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "The annoying thing is, I haven't exactly gone OFF program, I'm just not hitting it quite hard enough. I'm not having eating binges, I haven't quit exercising, I still THINK I'm on a program, but I've become too lax, and I'm not losing weight anymore. I'm just not doing", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Pretty much the marching-in-place thing. I'm sure that sounds lame to someone who is fit, but for me it's a big deal.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I guess it's not funny to anyone but me. That's work for you.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "P. S. no progress with the mShorts.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Not quite, it's nowhere near the heat and humidity that it'll be in June, but still it's pretty toasty. All the sweating makes me think I'm working harder than I am. That would make an excellent fake-French name: S'elf De Lujion.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "to look like a person. Like a flat, handless, footless person with a clothes hanger poking out where their", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I tried to buy a bunch of food to bring with us; since we stay with our friends at their house I feel obligated to chip in more than the usual amount with food. The problem is, I just can't find anything at the supermarket that's both convenient and healthy (and also affordable and palatable). It would be easiest to get a bunch of chips, pretzels, frozen pizza, and cookies and that crap, but no way am I eating it, and I don't want to risk having it around.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I had a little epiphany about that several months ago, and looking through my journal I see that the only really difficult spot, the only disordered eating event in ten weeks was when I didn't want to go to the basketball game. Somehow food was a means of taking back control.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "2:20 p.m. I just took a break from formatting the proposal and laid in the sun in my backyard for 30 minutes. I know, that's so unlike me!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Working on my second glass of water; I must concentrate on water this week and get my consumption up to a reasonable level. I'm carrying around the timer to remind me to drink. For some reason I have to keep relearning two of the basics of weight loss: 1) drink a LOT of water, 2) make sure you have good food in the house and with you out of the house, and the corollary to #2, make sure you don't have BAD food in the house, because you WILL eat it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "The other bright side is that I came in under goal (the high end, anyway) even with the wine and subsequent munchies. So I'm not proud of myself, but not cringing in guilt, either.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "LATER. 10:09 a.m. Just finished an HOUR of exercise.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "9:18 a.m. Okay, got through to the bank, and they do think I have a savings account. An ever-dwindling account Whew!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I eat a lot of salads, which can become dull, so I dress them up with some diced artichoke hearts, or a few black olives, mandarin oranges, or these delicious roasted peppers, and it makes the salad look fantastic, it adds a lot of flavor, thus making a very appealing meal for not much money and not much added calories. Then I don't feel deprived, I feel like I'm eating a luxurious diet. I feel very... Zsa Zsa.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "So I managed 1224 calories yesterday. I can't brag; it's mostly because I missed lunch, and that's not something I want to make a habit of. Other good news today -- tried on the Measurement Shorts, and I think I see some progress. They were", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I could feel worse. I can't pretend I feel", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I try to find a lot of no-cal food so I can eat constantly. Which doesn't work, because I'm still thinking about food and eating it, which doesn't break the habit or pattern or whatever it is.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I got up early enough this morning to make breakfast for Bucko. I love doing that, it's so homey and romantic. I made him Cream o' Wheat (he likes it), slipping in a little extra fiber in the form of Benefiber powder, three scrambled eggs, and a pot of green tea. I've never made C o W before (or eaten it, for that matter), and I'm not sure it was entirely successful.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Yes, I know I'm the last person in the universe to discover that particular blog, but let me say she is HILARIOUS and her daughter is adorable. I mean, ADORABLE.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "We're going to the beach this weekend (staying with friends for FREE), and leaving this afternoon as early as Bucko can get off work. Which might be around 3.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "One of the things I really hate about trying to lose weight and not making it, is that I'm in a constant state of failure. Which is not good for the morale.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "So here's the thing that was frustrating me about filling out that application. It wasn't a bad one, even, as far as those things go. It really did ask for the minimum required information, but I was having a hard time coming up with that info.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Cooking dinner now -- baked chicken legs, baked sweet potato, and sauteed green beans. Very light on the oil with the green beans -- maybe a teaspoon in the whole pan.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "5:00 p.m. Had a nice little lunch with Daisy. Ate a veggie wrap and some fries, which I hope I am estimating reasonably.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "So moving on from the Chinese food... talked to my brother a few days ago. He cracks me up. He's probably the smartest person I've ever met, and his conversation is... eclectic.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "One cup of zucchini has 29 calories. You know, I couldn't possibly eat more than two cups of zucchini. 58 calories=full stomach. That's a good deal.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "See, this is what I hate about dieting. I mean, not the ONLY thing I hate about dieting. I hate obssessing about food, about every bite, counting up my calories and deciding if I'm \"allowed\" to have this. I hate having such a disturbed relationship with food.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "1:12 p.m. The painters have been here since about 9 a.m. They're very nice guys and everything, one of them speaks English, but it's kind of weird having them around. They're painting right outside the office, in the foyer, so I can't just come and go at will without interrupting them.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "First of all, the \"articles\" are nothing but prompts to buy products. Secondly, there's nothing useful in the entire publication. Next to no information. Thirdly, their photography is not consistent with the avowed mission of the magazine. I do NOT want to see underweight-by-30-pounds fashion models pretending to lift weights with little stick arms that don't have enough muscle in them to lift a fork to their mouths.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Denise, Yvonne, and Mo are having a three-sided discussion about \"why do we go off plan when it feels so much better to be on plan,\" and I think this is giving me an insight about that particular question, at least in the way it works for me. The equation is not \"go off plan = feel bad,\" it's really \"feel bad = go off plan.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "It was only after the vest incident that I gave up and became self-righteously and virulently an outsider and a bad kid. I think I decided that I was helpless to control any part of my life, in a world where such a tiny detail could have such ultimate, Kafka-esque result (please see the movie \"Brazil\" for perfect analogy to this story). And when you feel helpless, or scared, you become angry. Or at least, I do.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "wearable. Way too snug in the butt for comfort, but I could almost conceive of wearing them. It's such a tiny hint of progress, but more than I've seen for a month, so I am considerably heartened and remotivated.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "7:23 a.m. Monday. First day of Week Ten. Wow!", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "One of them is the VP of a large division (not ours), and he is the intended target of the memo. The main message is: \"Don't use", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "but I embellished mine a little bit, by transporting myself to a warm climate with a beach, and sort of fantasizing about my degree of financial success (no job!). But you know what? If I was super-wealthy, it would still be pretty much the same day. This is a fun exercise, because of course it makes you think, \"What's stopping me from doing this now?\" and possibly you will start living closer to your ideal.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I don't eat white bread these days, but I thought since it's free, I might as well get it and feed it to the squirrels. We have several squirrels in our backyard, and I feed them with leftover bread or crackers. These are the kind of rolls that are somewhat raw, you have to finish them in the oven. So I baked them, and the next day fed a couple to the squirrels. Bucko said \"You realize you are baking for squirrels.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Has anyone seen \"Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion\"? Remember the Janeane Garofalo character? THAT was ME.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "at least in the beginning of the movies? I wonder if that was deliberate, especially considering the titles; Far From Heaven is", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "6:49 a.m. Wednesday, Day 107. Feeling good this morning. A typical night for me, too many dreams, woke up several times but not for any length of time. No actifed, no melatonin. Just a chocolate brownie right before bedtime.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I didn't quite get that they were implying I was some sort of nymphomaniac, but I did get quite clearly the idea that I'd done something embarrassing. Again.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "These programs are so devoid of content they've resorted to minutes of ominous-sounding music with out-of-context shots of silent people gazing thoughtfully/recklessly/intrepidly/blankly/balefully at what is probably a small bug walking up the wall. Also, I have never heard such inarticulate human speech since The Planet of the Apes. I am sick unto death of hearing people end a sentence with \"so....\" instead of making the effort to put their thoughts into words. \"So\" is just as semantically null a term as \"you know,\" and we must all work together to wipe it out.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "So what the hell am I supposed to do? I mean, I'm going to submit my application to the temps, but what the hell do I do if they call and say \"can you work tomorrow?\" which is what happened to Daisy.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "And you know what else? I know they're talking about me, because I heard the word \"computer.\"", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "Have another bunch of things on my list today. Need to get cracking on the cover for the proposal, write bills and balance checkbook, prime the new piano bench, and do another item toward getting the house done. Haven't decided which one, yet. But don't worry, I have a huge list to consult.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I'm adjusting my estimates for the coffee with Benefiber, because I'm not putting an entire tablespoon in. Maybe two-thirds that.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "? We'll have to wait and see.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I'm disappointed that I bought into this myth that you have to be thin for anything to matter. Therefore: I must work on being more fabulous NOW.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "6:46 a.m. Wednesday, Day 114. Feeling quite chipper today. Last night I slept ALL THE WAY THROUGH.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I'm just waiting for an appropriate time, but you better believe that someday I'll say it. Yep, I sure will.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "No, I changed my mind. I AM so pathetic that I need that kind of thing. If anyone else is losing weight solely for their health, I applaud you and you're my hero, but I cannot deny that a LARGE part of my motivation is to look better. So, yeah, I like it when I get compliments from men. So sue me.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "You know what I miss about not getting a real paper newspaper anymore? I used to like to read the Lost and Found, and match up the Losers and Finders. You know, \"Lost: small brown dog\" and \"Found: little beige canine.\" And draw a line between them. There was always at least one happy ending to be discovered.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "I miss Daisy. I haven't seen her since the 14th, which according to my calculations is 7 days. Seems longer.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "blog30407", "text": "So, I will try to re-focus on this. But I will also give myself props for continuing to improve my health by daily exercise and a nutritious diet, whether or not it has caused me to lose weight. I know that sounds very Stuart Smalley, but I'm willing to take what inspiration I can, wherever I find it.", "category": "blog" }, { "style": "h", "text": "The ability to provide services is often reliant on funding from outside sources and its continuation is based not on the needs of those being served, but on what they can find funding to provide. Often an organization's decision to cease operations in a country has more to do with a lack of financial support than the successful completion of their programming. There are certainly other issues with over reliance on NGO services, such as the fact that their services often don't solve the underlying infrastructure issues that will reemerge once the NGO presence is reduced. Many NGOs do not remain in-country for the post-conflict period. In effect, services are provided and once the initial emergency is over, the NGOs are gone and those still displaced must find a health provider somewhere else.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Nepal was embroiled in a bloody civil war from 1996 until 2006. Surprisingly, however, they are still on track to meet 16 of the 19 Millennium Development Goals by 2015.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "It is important to note that regardless of the underlying targets, MHUs must not be viewed as permanent solutions, due to the limitations in numbers of services provided and high operating costs. In other words, MHUs are not viable stand-alone units that should be viewed as a part of the country's health infrastructure. MHUS are specifically to be used when there is no other option, and retired once the situation has stabilized. There are many other considerations which are important to be aware of when deciding how and when to use MHUs. Du Mortier and Coninx highlight a few of these.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "In Nepal, the NGOs tended to keep a low profile which might have helped in this case. Of course, the bigger issue is involvement by both sides of the conflict. The idea that both sides will choose not to interfere with healthcare provision is simply unrealistic in many areas of the world.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Most of these organizations were never allowed back into the Sudan, leaving much smaller NGOs to take over programming for health and education services, which they were not equipped for. Similarly, in 2009 Ethiopia suspended the operations of around 40 NGOs, (mostly smaller organizations) for operations \"outside of their mandate\". While these sorts of situations occur infrequently, it does point to one of the real issues with the reliance on NGOs in conflict situations. If the government does not support their mission, they can be kicked out, leaving vulnerable populations without access to basic health care.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "When collaboration with the government does not exist, NGOs can find it impossible to work. In March 2009, in response to President Omar Al-Bashir's indictment by the International Criminal Court, 13 major aid organizations were kicked out of the country, including Medecines Sans Frontiers, OXFAM, CARE, Save The Children, and the IRC. This expulsion left 1.5 million people without access to healthcare, according to the UN.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Treatment for patients in the acute stage is not a recommended primary strategy for MHUs, largely due to the fact that they are only intermittently available for any population to access. Obviously, MHUs will deal with acute illnesses in many cases, but this is not their strength and should not be viewed as a primary acute care tool in the planning stage. This focus on preventative care is an important takeaway, and its usefulness in preventing communicable disease through screenings and vaccinations is a clear asset of this model.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Du Mortier and Coninx are also very careful to state that MHUs should not be viewed as an evaluation tool. MHUs do not provide assessments as to the state of health in an area, but are a treatment intervention ONLY. As evidenced by Mortier and Coninx, MHUs are useful tools for providing some basic preventative and (barring any other options) acute health care when access is otherwise unavailable. It is important to reiterate that MHUs should be viewed as a last resort in providing medical services during conflict, not as a first option, which may often be the case when planning for interventions in conflict situations, due to their perceived flexibility.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Devotka and van Teijlingen identify multiple reasons why Nepal was successful even during such trying times. Neither side purposely disrupted health systems during the conflict. Though the conflict led to a decrease in service utilization, due to access problems, the rebels overall looked favorably on health services and made no efforts to deny access to citizens during the fighting. The rebels made an effort to ensure health clinics in their area were still sufficiently staffed and supplied. Most clinics in rebel-held areas were sufficiently staffed and had supplies.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "While utilizing the existing healthcare infrastructure as Nepal was able to do would be ideal, in genocides, such as in Rwanda or the Sudan, expecting both sides of the conflict to make efforts not to impede healthcare access is unrealistic. In addition, Nepal's situation was unlike many countries dealing with internal conflict and IDPs.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "So what are the takeaways from the Nepal case study?", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Programming for the elderly and indigent was increased, and many traditional female \"attendants\" saw their role increased. GDP in the country continued to rise during the extended conflict, and infrastructure improvements likely also contributed. These factors likely helped the country stay on track for the MDGs.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "As stated by Du Mortier and Coninx:. Du Mortier and Coninx go on to say that in their experience, patients will likely refuse transport to a clinic due to fears about where they are going and their ability to return to their families, but the option to receive further treatment is important for the clinic to be viewed as a legitimate healthcare option.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "MHUs are often more successful for vertical programming. More specifically, MHUs are extremely good at screening and vaccinating for serious conditions that are slow to develop.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "This support often is vertical and often doesn't take the full IDP situation into account. In fact, over 50% of African countries did not mention their IDPs in their HIV National Strategic Plans and Global Fund proposals indicating a lack of awareness of the need to build capacity for this portion of the population within their borders.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "As an anecdotal example, the WHO cited one of the failings with the Kenya emergency response in 2007 to be that the emergency response plan was only 28% funded. In response to some of these issues, the World Bank has issued grants for a number of projects that include micro-financing for healthcare services in IDP situations. Generally these grants pay to rehabilitate the physical structures, often in conjunction with schools and other buildings that offer similar services.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "However, these sorts of grants generally are post-conflict. Effective financing mechanisms during conflict to ensure access for the most vulnerable is largely done through grants and donations to NGOs or UN services where the country's health infrastructure is insufficient. In many conflict zones, NGOs \"pick up the slack\" in providing healthcare services to citizens and IDPs.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "In Mueller's study, referrals to MSF in the Mindanao region of the Philippines were tracked, with 96% of those treated for emotional distress reporting a traumatic event, ( 54% home evacuation, 26% conflict, 5% destruction of property). The patients were tracked throughout brief psychotherapy sessions, and the results showed a marked improvement (via their scores on a self-reporting questionnaire). What are the implications of this study?", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Firstly, increasing preventative care is of clear importance, as was also seen in the discussion of using MHUs in IDP situations. Vaccinations and screenings can do much to stop the spread of infectious diseases before a full-fledged outbreak of malaria occurs. In addition to preparation and disease monitoring, flexibility in these sorts of volatile, unpredictable situations is a clear priority.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "In addition, the international organizations that responded by providing services kept a low profile. The one issue identified here, however, is the lack of clarity coming from the country level to all actors. While provisions were made for free care to poor citizens, criteria as to who qualified was not laid out to clinics.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "One area that is of particular concern is that of providing reproductive health in IDP and refugee situations. Due to the ever-changing US government stance on the \"Mexico City Policy,\" also known as the \"Global Gag Rule,\" which is the refusal to fund organizations involved in any sort of abortion programming, reproductive health can be a difficult area for many NGOs reliant on USAID funding to work in.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Was this situation an aberration, or can health status continue to improve event during armed conflict within a country? Devkota and Teijlingen think that the lessons learned by analyzing Nepal's approach towards health systems during civil war can indeed be applied elsewhere, and for good reason. At the end of the day, the primary takeaway message is that of coordination, a common theme even in the most stable of countries when discussing health systems. Coordination among the Ministry of Health and community offices, passing off duties when appropriate. Coordination between the Ministry of Health and international agents, such as the UN or NGOs.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "The sorts of special considerations in Afghanistan and the Sudan should not be viewed as insurmountable obstacles. In an ideal world (more Nepal than some of the other cases) conflict would not affect citizens' access to healthcare and qualified health workers. However, as seen, there are real consequences that can be expected when internal conflict erupts (geographic and financial barriers and the brain drain). The international community has certainly worked hard at establishing frameworks for working in these sorts of situations, but there is still work to be done in developing plans to mitigate the long-term effects of some of these issues.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "This goes largely back to the issue of location. IDPs are often in inaccessible areas where governments don't have health programs and don't have the funds to initiate them. In addition, countries have a basic responsibility to care for refugees, based on the 1951 refugee convention but no such mandate exists for IDPs.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "The infrastructure improvements (roads and electricity) likely improved access for many citizens. There are clear lessons for developing a health systems strengthening approach in other conflict situations here.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Du Mortier and Coninx stress in their document that MHUs should not be used to substitute Ministry of Health programming, but to supplement those services only in exceptional situations where access is restricted, as a last resort, if you will. They identify very specific targets that MHUs can be used to accomplish. Substitution: As described in the example above, where federal health programming is unable to reach citizens and IDPs, MHUs can be viewed as a temporary stopgap measure.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "In this case, the organization is acting as a replacement of services for leaders. Support: In these cases, MHUs are used as a supplemental clinic to help officials meet their goals. This generally entails the establishment of common objectives between the government and the NGO which can realistically be supplemented in part by the use of MHUs.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "While they are unlikely to meet the reproductive health targets, some of the goals Nepal is on track to meet include under-five and maternal mortality targets and disease-specific goals (halting the spread of HIV and malaria). The question is, how was Nepal able to meet these targets even when dealing with civil conflict and internally displaced people?", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "While many of the clinics were operated without trained health professionals, they still received regular training and supplies. Key actors increased coordination in response to the conflict, while maintaining a low profile. Regular meetings continued between the Ministry of Health (MOH) and community officials.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Mobilization: In these cases, services are provided without the direct input of government officials. Support is developed among third parties that can exert pressure on government officials to take over and provide services.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "The critical point is that the Ministry of Health must coordinate among those organizations. Much of the focus on healthcare provision during emergency and conflict situations revolves around the use of Mobile Health Units (MHUs). Mobile Health Units are, at their most basic, mobile service units that usually provide specific forms of both preventative and curative care.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Not only is the provision of mental healthcare during conflict situations feasible, but it is proven to be effective. The WHO has recommended incorporating mental health as one of the screening services offered by MHU, with referrals to trained mental health professionals as seen fit. It seems that adding mental health screening to MHU tasks has been shown in programming to be an effective tool for the future. Clearly, immediate conflict response focuses on morbidity and mortality, and rightly so.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "As indicated by the mention of triage above, staff in MHUs must be highly trained. In addition, access to a nearby clinic for referral is critical.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "The international community, however, has correctly identified mental health as an important and under-appreciated aspect of conflict response and is taking steps to ensure those aspects are addressed moving forward. In light of the many issues that make health service provision so difficult in IDP settings, it is useful to identify successes amid the confusion. In Understanding effects of armed conflict on health outcomes: the case of Nepal, Bhimsen Devkota and Edward R van Teijlingen find one such case.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "MHUs are limited in the number of services they can provide and the frequency at which they are available to any one community. These considerations must be kept in mind when formulating a plan as to how to use MHUs in any conflict or emergency setting. Du Mortier and Coninx describe their use of MHUs with the International Committee of the Red Cross during the conflict in Columbia in 2005. In this case, the rebel forces refused to allow access to the Ministry of Health in the country to citizens in areas they held.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Namely, commitment from both sides of the conflict to not disrupting the health provision infrastructure in the country is key. Ensuring clinics still run and funds are in place can help to minimize the effects of access and migration. In addition, the government must be able to hand off some of the management to provincial or community levels, especially in rebel-held zones where they have limited access.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "Similarly, communication between the MOH and international organizations was not identified as a strength of the program. Public health and more traditional service providers also increased their efforts during the conflict. In addition, community clinics were handed over to the communities to manage, as the federal government did not have adequate resources to manage them during the conflict.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "The effect of the continued growth of the national GDP cannot be understated, as the relationship between increased GDP and increased health indicators (such as the MDGs Nepal is on track to meet) is quite close. While internal conflict would certainly mitigate some of the expected improvements due to GDP, those increases, as well as the infrastructure investments, likely played an important role in helping health status continue to improve through the ten year war. There are some takeaways from Nepal and the other literature reviewed that can be applied to all conflict situations, however.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "However, the conflict in Nepal had its own set of rules that likely don't exist in other areas. In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, NGO workers are regularly held hostage or killed due to their perceived western ties. In many conflicts aid organizations are often viewed as a target.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "In addition, According to N Hakamies, \"Although material and human resources are significant constraints on agencies, the main challenge is to tackle ideological, managerial and policy barriers, and those related to donor influence.\" Finding funding for family planning services continues to prove difficult for NGOs, and as a result they often do not exist or cannot meet the need levels of their constituencies. Reproductive Health funding problems underscore a larger issue with a reliance on NGO services, as can often be seen in IDP situations.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "This affects a country's capacity to rebuild post-conflict as well as their ability to provide services while the rebuilding effort is underway. Another issue is the added levels of coordination that occur when working with multiple aid groups to ensure healthcare service coverage. NGO involvement in IDP aid is a fact of life, however.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "In addition, the only aid group they allowed to enter the region was the ICRC. For these reasons, it was clear that they needed the mobility the MHUs afforded them to ensure basic services were offered to as many citizens in the occupied areas as possible. The point above is reiterated multiple times in Du Mortier and Coninx's article: the reason why MHUs were deemed acceptable in this case is because they were used as the only option.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "They are generally expensive, however, and the fact that they only provide services intermittently tends to affect when they are appropriate for use. According to Stephane du Mortier and Rudi Coninx, \"In situations of armed conflict, the range of PHC services that can be provided is severely restricted. This means that, in any given situation, it is essential to select the priority services among the spectrum of PHC services\".", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "This is reliant on government cooperation and funding, whether via grants or private funding. In these frequent situations, coordination between agencies is of the utmost importance, as is earning the trust and commitment of country leadership.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "h", "text": "The importance of providing mental health care, and screening for IDPs suffering from emotional issues is important for many reasons, one of which is the high rate of prevalence. While it may seem obvious, survivors of conflict situations often have very specific mental health needs. Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) has integrated mental healthcare into their emergency response module. Community level workers are \"trained to identify and refer cases of mental disorders and epilepsy to the MSF mobile health clinics where the mental health team provided proper diagnosis and treatment.\"", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Many white-hat hackers end up working as security consultants for organizations such as these. The \"Do Not Track\" bill introduced in the House of Representatives would ban advertisers from tracking the behavior of users who opt-out of ad tracking for marketing purposes.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "MyID can change privacy settings to a more secure setting and help you understand what information is private and public. Protect personal information with the MyID identity theft monitoring solution. If you'd like to make your whole blog private, head to Settings and then Privacy and check the radio button for I would like my blog to be visible only to users I choose. Click Save Changes, and then you can start to add users by their Wordpress username. The Word Press Blog Visibility settings have three options which will allow you to set the level of privacy of your blog.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Here are some simple steps for protecting your personal reputation online. First, be sure to secure your accounts from unauthorized access. If your ex had any of your passwords, be sure to change them immediately (and don't give them away next time - your e-mail is none of their business). You should also set up Google News alerts for your own name, so that you know when you pop up in blogs and news stories.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "People without any impulse control. Whether they are addicts or just simply impatient, these are spenders who wants what they want, and they want it now. These thieves think they deserve more than they have. They could be young, even teenagers, who have a history of stealing credit cards.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Select Options, then the Under the Hood tab. Click Content Settings, then Cookies. To delete all cookies, select Remove All.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "According to Ms. Caproni, \"In the ever-changing world of modern communications technologies, however, the FBI and other government agencies are facing a potentially widening gap between our legal authority to intercept electronic communications pursuant to court order and our practical ability to actually intercept those communications. As the gap between authority and capability widens, the government is increasingly unable to collect valuable evidence in cases ranging from child exploitation and pornography to organized crime and drug trafficking to terrorism and espionage.\"", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The fact is that it's impossible for you to keep all of your information completely private. When you go to a doctor, your insurance card and driver's license are photocopied and placed in your file and are available to anyone who opens your folder. At a restaurant, your credit card is taken away while you wait, trusted to the restaurant's wait staff.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Set the time range to Everything. Click the arrow next to Details and select Cookies from the list.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Readers can take immediate steps to protect online privacy and prevent government efforts to scour social networking sites for your personal details. MyID and Personal Information Privacy. With MyID monitoring your personal information privacy, you can be sure that none of your personal details will leak out across the Internet. MyID can help configure settings to maximize privacy on social networks and stop online ad tracking.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Want to see how private you are on the Internet? Visit Panopticlick, at https://panopticlick.eff.org/, and see just how much information your browser reveals to the Web sites you visit. Each and every computer has a browser fingerprint based on one or more points of identifying information, from the exact version of the browser that you use, to the fonts you have installed, to the resolution of your screen. Web sites use these details to enhance your browsing experience, but if a Web site stores this information about you, it can be effective at tracking where individuals go on a site.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "He knows enough to open accounts in your name, and he has the motive to hurt you. If you've just broken up, you'll want to take extra care in checking your financial statements to ensure that he or she didn't make away with one of your credit cards. MyID Identity Theft Protection.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The \"Do Not Track\" bill would similarly force advertisers to respect the privacy of users who do not want their online activity to be subject to ad network tracking for marketing purposes. According to Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), the bill's sponsor, \"Consumers have a right to determine what if any of their information is shared with big corporations, and the federal government must have the authority and tools to enforce reasonable protections.\"", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "These laws date back to a time when users fetched their mail from a single computer almost daily, so e-mail that had been on a server for six months was considered abandoned. In the age of webmail, users keep most of their emails forever.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "This objection is partially overruled as the newest edition of the Firefox browser makes prevalent a \"Do Not Track Me\" option said to be the response to this and other similar bills. FBI Wants to Expand Internet Wiretapping. The FBI, in an effort to keep up with the changing landscape of the Internet, is calling for a push to expand its capabilities in intercepting online evidence. Citing advances in \"webmail, social networking sites, and peer-to-peer services,\" the FBI's general counsel, Valerie Caproni, addressed Congress to discuss the increasing difficulty in tracing electronic communication in ongoing cases.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Even if you make all the right choices, some things will be beyond your control. You can't control what your ex posts on his or her blog about you. With our patented online privacy protection software, we can alert you whenever your name appears on any of your ex's social networking pages or blogs, allowing you to start doing online reputation management early.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "By doing this, identity thieves can learn about your personal information, such as account numbers, PINs, and passwords, and then use the information to gain access to your bank accounts and credit cards. It is even possible for some identity thieves to gain enough information from your computer to open new, fraudulent accounts without your knowledge. By using anti-virus and anti-spyware software, you can keep identity thieves from accessing any of your private documents that are stored on your computer.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Even if you can't eliminate identity theft, you can get instant fraud notifications any time your identity is used without your knowledge. Prevent identity theft with MyID.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "You caught her rifling through your files. If she found last year's tax returns, she already has everything she needs to commit identity theft. The Ex. An ex holding a grudge can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "They help sites create advertisements targeted for a customer, which ad network tracking specialists say increase the effectiveness of the advertisements. Have you ever noticed an Internet advertisement that was a product you had just searched for? The reason the advertisers knew your preferences was because of ad tracking.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "MyID Can Protect Your Privacy Settings and Alert You If They Change. The MyID suite of privacy applications can protect your privacy as it monitors dozens of social network privacy settings.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Hackers who own botnets, malware worms that infest many computers at once and allow the hackers to control them remotely, are usually in business for themselves, selling their services to the highest bidder. Services rendered by these botnet operators most commonly include money laundering and denial of service attacks. Other hackers are simply guns-for-hire, paid between $1,000 and $5,000 to compromise a specific computer. Hackers are often genius-level students who are creative and enjoy puzzles or challenges.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "This number cannot be changed, deleted, or modified, and it is forever attached to a single phone's usage history. The number-one recipient of this unique identifier number is Google as part of their advertisement targeting service. In essence, Google's advertising department has a history of your cell phone usage; including download history, what games you play, and how long you play them for.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "MyID provides instant fraud notifications any time your identity is used to open a new account. Our patented \"Is This You?\" Verification service notifies you via text or e-mail any time a new credit card, bank account, or bill is taken out in your name. We sort through millions of incoming reports every day from credit card companies, utilities, and banks, filtering for patterns that might correspond to identity theft.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "With soapboxes like Facebook and personal blogs, a vengeful ex often has the motivation and opportunity to irrevocably damage your reputation. These days, first impressions are made online. According to author Michael Fertik, \"The first ten Google results on a search of your name are now your resume.\" Online reputation management can be difficult, but not impossible.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Infiltrating a computer system often requires the hacker to practice on similar machines for many hours. In many cases, the hacker will read through the actual programming code that the machine uses until something sticks out as wrong.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Carl Caldwell, the president of Right-to-Know, released the following statement: \"FBI files can begin with records as simple as bankruptcy, Veteran Administration activities to income tax difficulties and passport and visa problems. More than 200 classifications like these are given to the files the FBI considers confidential, secret or top secret.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "This is usually due to a programmer error, but these are often overlooked when many individual programmers work on a single piece of code. More novice hackers read the latest security reports from Microsoft and simply attack unpatched computers before the computers have a chance to install the updates.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Whether or not the FBI is having trouble catching criminals who conduct their illicit business over the Internet, the Internet Wiretapping laws need a complete overhaul to ensure privacy protection, not an expansion, which will further limit personal information privacy. A new survey reports that the average American is worried about personal information privacy. For good reason, too - newly declassified files detail massive FBI efforts at data-mining.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Make sure that items you do not wish to delete are unchecked and click Clear Now. To Remove Tracking Cookies in Google Chrome, click on the wrench icon on the browser toolbar.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Install the Firefox Add-on Flashblock. Flashblock stops Adobe's Flash application from storing cookies that enable you to be tracked anywhere on the Web. Install the Firefox Add-on NoScript. This unique whitelist-based script blocking approach prevents the use of JavaScript security vulnerabilities, both known and unknown.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Smart-phone users collect apps, especially the free ones. But, as the adage goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Even apps one might suppose were mindful of concerns about personal information on the Internet, like the CBS News app, routinely send location and identification details to undisclosed third parties. The best-in-breed of these apps include Facebook, YouTube, and ESPN ScoreCenter, which transmit no data to third parties and only send limited data to their parent company. The privacy settings of some apps, like the bi and gay social networking app Grindr, is appalling. Grindr sends age, gender, location, and identification information to various third parties for marketing purposes.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Track how your ID Theft Risk Score changes on a day-to-day and month-to-month basis with MyID identity theft monitoring. MyID Monitoring sends monthly reports with your current risk score, last month's risk score, a report of circumstances that increased or decreased your risk score for the month, and the ability to access your risk scores for the previous 36 months. The end of a relationship can be a high-strung time.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "By clicking on the Public Profile link on LinkedIn, you can change privacy settings that control what information is displayed on your profile to users who are not connected to you in any way on LinkedIn. It is best to make your public profile visible to everyone but only show your name, industry, location, number of recommendations, and headline. This will make it possible for people who are looking specifically for you to identify you and send you a connection request and will also limit the amount of information harvesting that can be done by people you do not know.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The minute your identity is stolen, you can report it to the FTC, disable the accounts in question, and catch the identity thief. Most of the damage of identity theft is done over time. An identity thief might open an account this week, another account in a month, and then subscribe to a cell phone plan three months from now.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The default setting allows everyone, including search engines, to access your blog. The second, more limited, setting blocks search engines from crawling your blog, requiring users to type in your URL directly.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software. This is one of the most important things you can do to keep identity thieves from accessing personal information that is stored on your computer. Identity thieves use viruses and spyware to gain access to the passwords, files, and browsing history on your computer.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Addicts. Impaired judgment and a desperate need of money make addicts one of the prime perpetrators of identity theft. These might be drug addicts, compulsive gamblers, or alcoholics. Nosy friends.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "High levels of education in certain areas of China and Russia plus a national broadband system and a government which may not support, but at least condones, computer crime against foreign nationals also lead to the majority of real threats originating from these areas. Most hackers are young, under thirty. The reasons for this are uncertain, but it is known that their respective governments recruit the best and brightest hackers as part of their military.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "identity verification ensures that you'll never be caught unaware by an identity thief. Identity thieves use a number of different ways to steal an individual's personal information, and many of them use the internet to get this information. With technology advancing at the speed it is, it is crucial to know how to protect your financial information online. Do not put personal information in e-mails.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "These programs are often distributed among the hacker community as ways to break into certain systems. Many of these programs are freely available on the Internet today for any novice interested in getting started as a hacker. Some hackers do not attack the computer systems at all, preferring to manipulate the human behind the system instead. These hackers, known as social engineers, are usually behind most of the phishing and pharming scams on the Internet. Hackers come in two varieties, called black hat and white hat.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Sending an email message is not the same as sending something through certified mail. In fact, email is one of the main resources that identity thieves use to steal personal information.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "This can be leveraged into a positive reputation as well, though. By creating your own account on social networking sites, you can ensure that your own profile gets a higher Google search engine ranking, moving the smears off the first page of Google.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The FBI databases contain tens of thousands of records from car-rental companies, hotels, and national department stores. Such a system can correlate data from different sources to automatically identify terrorists. The system was used to locate a suspected Al Qaeda operative who was hiding in Houston.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Do not send any of your personal information through email, even if you know the person you are sending it to. There are ways that identity thieves can \"intercept\" these messages, and they can then use the information from the email to take over your identity. It is also important to never respond to any email requesting personal information from someone you do not know.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Google also allows you to create a profile for yourself which will show up when users search for your name. This service, at google.com/profiles, can link up your positive reputation sources like your photo albums, social networks, and blogs.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Choose secure passwords. Online banking accounts and credit card accounts are very common, and it is important to choose secure passwords for these types of accounts.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "It also discovered that members of a Pakistani terrorist group were working in Philadelphia as taxi drivers. And, when the United States government lost track of terror suspects during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, the system was able to track down and find them across the entire southern half of the United States. Many, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, believe that this kind of data-mining is the first step toward an Orwellian control over the population. The EFF cites a National Research Council paper that concluded \"data mining is a dangerous and ineffective way to identify potential terrorists, which will inevitably generate false positives that subject innocent citizens to invasive scrutiny by their government.\"", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The result is a number between 0 and 999 that quickly assesses whether or not you are at risk for identity fraud. Built from the ground up, our identity theft monitoring engine has grown to include over 700 billion aggregated identity attributes and one billion consumer transactions. The service receives over 45 million reports per day from leading financial institutions, retailers, wireless providers, credit card issuers, auto and mortgage lenders, and other issuers of credit.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "By changing privacy settings of your WordPress blog, you can protect your privacy and be sure that only approved users read your content. Maximize Privacy on Social Networks with MyID. Any time you post private information to WordPress, MyID will find it and alert you, allowing you to remove it before any search engine has a chance to archive it, maximizing your privacy on social networks. Without resorting to Hollywood stereotypes about hackers, let's take a look at the demographics, psychology, and goals of your average online computer hacker.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The FBI argues that the current limitations on their wiretapping are antiquated. Many statutes have not been updated since the early nineties. Some of the statutes allow the FBI to read e-mail stored on a local server that is more than six months old.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The EFF is a non-profit with a stated goal to protect online privacy. The FBI hopes to add more sources of information to their database, including airline manifests from the Department of Homeland Security, the Postal Service's change of address database, the national Social Security number database, and 24 other unidentified databases whose names were redacted in the released report. Whether or not sacrificing personal information privacy is worth it to catch terrorists is up to the reader to decide.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Under Cookies, click Delete cookies, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to delete them. Click Close, and then click OK. To Remove Tracking Cookies in Firefox, click on the Tools menu and select Clear Recent History.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The vast majority of hackers are from China or Russia. These nations serve as a breeding ground for criminals of every kind, not just computer criminals.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Are Grindr users even aware of this breach of personal privacy? It's unlikely that many read the privacy policy before signing up.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Identity thieves will even send emails claiming to be from a company that needs you personal information for financial purposes. Remember that no reputable company or business would ever contact you through email asking for this type of information.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "It is good to keep a hand-written list of your online passwords so that you will not forget them. Put this list somewhere safe in your home where no one else will have access to it but you. Never store a list of passwords on your computer or anywhere online because if an identity thief gained access to the files stored on your computer, they would then have access to every single account that is listed in the file containing your passwords. Cookies are small bits of information that sites store on your computer to track the places you have been on the Web.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "You should also sign up your own name as a domain name, ensuring that you have that address before your angry ex can register it. Domain names rank highly in search results.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "MyID Identity Theft Monitoring and Identity Theft Protection software provides identity theft alerts any time your identity is used to open a new account. Instant fraud notifications like the \"Is This You?\"", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Additionally, not all third-parties are the same. While information sent to Pandora's sponsors may be aggregated and not linked to a phone's unique identifier (whether this is the case is not apparent), can you be sure that an independent game developer is protecting online privacy beyond his own monetary interests? For games with millions of installs, like Angry Birds, companies pay big bucks for collated and organized user identifying data, and though Apple and Google have both encouraged app developers to maintain user privacy through privacy policies, opt-out procedures, opt-in tracking, and collecting data anonymously, apps are not required to have any of these features to be included in either marketplace. In essence, your privacy on the Internet is protected only by the scruples of the app developer themselves.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The possibility that Internet users will be able to hide what they do from the ubiquitous ad tracking is a big win for consumers concerned with Internet privacy. Lawmakers have heralded the bill as a companion to the \"Do Not Call\" registry that was introduced in 2003. The registry prevented telemarketers from calling consumers who chose to opt-out from telemarketing calls.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Individuals with high identity theft risk should take immediate and aggressive steps to protect personal information. These steps include reviewing credit card statements and bank account activity, requesting a free credit report, or requesting a credit freeze or fraud alert with a credit bureau. Identity Theft Protection your ID Theft Risk Score with MyID.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Next, you should do some deep cleaning with tracking cookie removal. To Remove Tracking Cookies in Internet Explorer, Open Internet Options by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, and then clicking Internet Options. Click the General tab, and then, under Browsing history, click Delete.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "According to a survey by Javelin Research, as many as half of identity thefts can be attributed to someone that the victim knew. These are some potential identity thieves that you may know. Unemployed with rich lifestyles.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Depending on how much personal information you post on your blog, you can choose to change privacy settings to a high level in order to protect your privacy. If you'd like to make a particular post private so that only you or a bunch of people you choose can see it, all you need to do is head to the post editor and click on Visibility in the Publish pane. You can choose to make the post either password protected, in which case you'll need to supply a password, or private, which means only that you or other blog contributors will be able to see it. Click OK and that will be made effective immediately.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The MyID Theft Risk Score gives you actionable insight into the risk of you becoming a victim of identity theft. Your ID Theft Risk Score is a quick and easy way to gain insight into whether your personal information is at risk of misuse. Your ID Theft Risk Score uses patented technology to identify suspicious or unusual access to your identity. Our statistical formulas use hundreds of variables that affect your unique, individual risk of identity theft.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Monitoring Your Financial Accounts with MyID Identity Theft Solution. MyID can monitor your financial accounts for financial identity theft and notify you if it believes you have been compromised. Protect against identity theft with instant fraud notifications. It's painful but true: most identity thieves are people that you know - neighbors, friends, relatives, or co-workers.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "If potential employers acting in a business capacity were the only people who could see your resume, it would be fine to post your contact information on LinkedIn, and, on LinkedIn, you can protect your privacy through the use of the LinkedIn social network privacy settings. The Accounts & Settings section of LinkedIn allows you to choose how your information is displayed.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Avoiding being tracked by cookies, while still maintaining Web usability, is the Holy Grail for Web users. There are a few steps you can take to make sure you avoid ad tracking. First, download a modern browser like Firefox. Internet Explorer is notoriously bad at keeping your computer secure and untrackable.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Identity theft occurs anytime someone uses personally identifying information to open fraudulent accounts or commit crimes. As many as 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year. Most victims know the person who stole their identity, after all, who else would know your mother's maiden name, city of birth, date of birth, and address?", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "It's proper etiquette in the white hat community to send instructions on how to patch the hole to the administrator of a compromised system via an email from his own account. Since hackers fight on their own turf, most individuals stand little or no chance against them without relying on the security consultants who release the updates to their operating system, browser, and anti-virus software.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "LinkedIn is a social networking site for employees and employers. It functions as a Web resume, allowing employers to recommend employees for work they have done in the past, and allowing employees to find new work from the thousands of posted available jobs. In the job market, \"putting yourself out there\" is often seen as a good thing.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "An individual's attempts to retrieve this information are often thwarted by the complexity of the system itself.\" Caldwell continues, \"As the government gains access to more and more aspects of a private citizen's life in the name of preventing terrorism, more ordinary people will unknowingly become targets of investigation, and more files will be gathered on the innocent.\"", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Choose passwords that have uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. It is also good to have a different password for each of your financial accounts. This way, if an identity thief does gain access to one account, they will not be able to use the other one.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "This sort of passive monitoring of your reputation should be in everyone's online reputation management toolbox. According to Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online, the reason that Facebook smears can be so damaging to an online reputation is that Facebook ranks highly in search engines.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The \"Do Not Track\" bill would give the FTC eighteen months to come up with a set of enforceable privacy protection regulations for online ad network tracking. Some, like Ryan Calo, director of Stanford Law School's Consumer Privacy Project, believe the bill does not go far enough.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Of course, if you want, you can also make yourself impossible to find by anyone you have not directly initiated a connection with by making your public profile visible to no one.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Smart phone apps collect data about you as you use them, and many deliver this data not only to the apps owner but to third parties as well. An investigative report by the Wall Street Journal [1] found that iPhone and Android apps routinely track and send data like your contacts, age, gender, location, phone ID, phone number and usage habits to anonymous parties, angering many users concerned with the privacy on the internet.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Of the 101 apps reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, 45 did not even have a published privacy policy. Many of these apps simply do not allow users to opt-out of phone tracking. The most widely shared piece of personal information on the Internet is the phone's unique identifier number.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Identity thieves often give themselves away by living out of their means, given their resources and credit. If you know how much money someone makes, but their lifestyle doesn't correlate with that, it might be a warning sign.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "For one, he said, the bill only applied to those who chose to opt-out from ad network tracking. It does not affect those who do not know that they can or do not know how.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "According to the report, the big offenders are not the kind of underbelly-scale applications you might expect. Angry Birds and Pandora are two of the biggest offenders.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Briefly, the other options you have to further limit what people see about you include disabling Connections Browse, which keeps your connections private, Profile Views, which limits what information people who you have browsed can see, opting out of the Service Provider Directory and the LinkedIn Partner Advertising directory. These settings will limit the number of eyes on your profile but will not limit your ability to use your LinkedIn profile as a resume. You can also use this page to control the unsolicited e-mail you receive by modifying the settings on the Receiving Messages settings page as well as the InMails page.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "The black hat hackers are the criminal element, doing things that are illegal or immoral in order to make money or simply for vandalism. White hat hackers are often individuals hacking for the fun or the challenge with no intention to harm any of the computers they compromise.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "pp", "text": "Building on this robust database of information, events and patterns surrounding your personal information privacy can lead to an increase or decrease in your ID Theft Risk Score. To check your ID Theft Risk Score, you are required to submit a Social Security number, Name, Address, Home Phone number, and Date of Birth. Additional details such as a Cell Phone number, E-mail address, and IP address can improve precision and add further insight into your risk level.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Though Africans continued to enter the assimilado class, the stringent restrictions on assimilation and the reluctance of many Africans to give up their African culture meant that less than 1% of Angola's population was ever formally assimilated. In the post-WWII period white immigration to Angola reached new highs as industrialization brought about massive rural unemployment in Portugal.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The commitment to fighting communism and the US's previous relationship with Holden Roberto trumped the opinions of the dissenters and the US continued to support the FNLA. US weapons, foreign mercenaries, and Zairian and South African forces were unable to defeat the MPLA with their Cuban and Soviet allies and American involvement declined during the following years under the Carter administration. The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan brought the US back into the fold of the Angolan Civil War, with continued support of UNITA. Though UNITA achieved some military victories with the help of the SADF, particularly at Cuito-Cuanavale in 1988 where they beat off a large attack by MPLA and Cuban forces, it became increasingly clear that neither side would gain an upper hand and that most of the military successes on both sides were due to the Cuban and South African forces.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Some of these were ideological; Mobutu was a staunch Cold War ally of the US and was highly critical of communism. His experience with Soviet-supported Katangese rebels in the late 1960s helped establish these views and when this group began to fight on the side of the MPLA in 1975, it only increased the animosity between Mobutu and the MPLA. Other aspects of the MPLA and Mobutu's ideologies also clashed.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "In addition to the competition between the US and the USSR, several other factors motivated the involvement of international powers: the Sino-Soviet split, Third World solidarity against Western exploitation and imperialism, and in the case of the US, Angola's large oil reserves. The USSR was involved with the MPLA from its foundation in the late-1950s. Starting in 1958, MPLA founding member Mario de Andrade would travel to Moscow on a regular basis for various conferences and meetings.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "After Vasco de Gama secured a passage to India at the turn of the sixteenth century, Portugal lost interest in Kongo and other African kingdoms as major trading partners, and began to view them primarily as sources of slaves. The slave trade came to dominate Portuguese-African relations and nearly all economic activity in Angola.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Becoming an assmilado meant showing a certain degree of educational attainment and financial security, in addition to adopting the Portuguese language and culture. The criteria for entry into the assimilado class were regulated by the Portuguese colonial authorities.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Starting with the training of UNITA operatives in Beijing during the late-1960s, Chinese support eventually rested primarily on the FNLA. After the events of 1974-1976, China was discouraged by the course of the war and withdrew its military advisors and materiel aid. The Angolan War of Independence together with the Angolan Civil War cost hundreds of thousands of Angolans their lives, and occupied the country for over forty years. The effects of the conflict are still felt today as thousands of landmines make farming in many areas very dangerous and tensions between different ethnic and political groups still exist, though not on the scale it previously did.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Despite this, the MPLA initially struggled to build popular support. Many Angolans were suspicious of the MPLA, which represented the old mestico and assimilado elite of the coastal cities and had a history of dominating the largely rural populations of the interior. Rival groups like the FNLA highlighted this distrust by publicly condemning the MPLA as out of touch with the peasants that made up 93% of the Angolan population.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "As the Afro-Portuguese were increasingly excluded from the higher levels of colonial administration, they had to compete with poor white immigrants for lower level jobs. Modern forms of transportation like the railroad and steamships began to dominate trade at the expense of the old mestico-controlled caravans, further undermining their economic activities.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Tanzania and Zambia also served as transit points for incoming Soviet arms shipments. Though a relatively unified group during most of the civil war, divisions within the MPLA threatened its existence in its early years and into the 1970s. At the root of the inner factionalism was the disparate backgrounds of MPLA members, which included both educated mesticos and assimilados as well as uneducated peasants. Various groups formed factions that struggled for dominance within the movement.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Cuba was not simply a Soviet proxy but rather had its own agenda for being in Angola. As a Third World country with a colonial past and communist government, Cuba wanted to sustain the global conflict against the West and imperialism through spreading Marxist-Leninist revolution.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Members of the indigena group were given access to few political rights and restricted to only the lowest and most menial forms of employment. By contrast, assimilados, mainly urbanized, were granted some political rights and eventually Portuguese citizenship.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Chief among the regional powers involved in Angola were Zaire and South Africa. Both countries had strong motivations for their presence in Angola and importantly the means to affect the course of the war. The rise of Black Nationalism and the decolonization of many countries in the region posed a major threat to the survival of the apartheid regime of South Africa. Politically and economically based on a persistent system of racial oppression and exploitation, South Africa, as well as the other remaining settler colony, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), was under heavy international pressure to grant rights to its African majority and faced various boycotts and trade embargos as a result.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The MPLA was also not as focused on regional or ethnic issues, as the predominately Bakongo UPA based in northern Angola was. The USSR also practiced the policy of recognizing and supporting only one rebel movement within a conflict, a policy not shared by all of its peers.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "One major split was the Eastern Revolt led by Daniel Chipenda in the early-1970s, which set the guerillas doing most of the fighting against the political organization led by Agostihno Neto in Luanda. Chipenda eventually joined the FNLA and helped elicit the support of South Africa in the war against his old organization.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Ranging from global superpowers like the United States and the Soviet Union to regional players like South Africa and Zaire, numerous countries entered the conflict and complicated the situation. American, Soviet, and Chinese involvement were rooted primarily in the existential Cold War struggle of ideologies and global geopolitics, with economic interests also playing a major role for the United States. Regional powers were influenced by the superpowers and motivated by a number of other factors as well. The changing nature of world politics would alter the course of the war and most of the major powers would withdraw from Angola in the late-1980s and early-1990s.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "By the 1980s, a Soviet investment of $5 billion in military hardware helped lead the MPLA to victory in the war. Weapons provided included \"T-34 and T-54 tanks, 100mm guns, 120mm multiple rocket launchers, amphibious vehicles, helicopters equipped with 20mm cannon and air-to-ground rockets\" as well as MIG-17 and MIG-21 fighter jets. Soviet and Cuban presence continued until the late 80s when global political changes and the end of the Cold War took away many of the incentives of remaining in Angola.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "In both of these situations, the rebel groups fought successful united campaigns against the Portuguese and were on the verge of victory at the time of independence. By contrast, no single nationalist movement in Angola was able to unite the various rebel factions in the struggle against Portugal for independence, and the three major groups that came to dominate the fourteen-year liberation war often fought each other as much as the Portuguese. The Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) was initially formed in the late 1950s by a young group of Angolans studying in Lisbon and Paris, including Lucio Lara, Agostinho Neto, Mario de Andrade, and Jose Eduardo dos Santos (Neto's successor and the current president of Angola).", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "During these visits the MPLA developed a relationship with the Soviets, securing funding and in 1961 the explicit support of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who stated that \"the patriots of Angola can be sure that the sympathies of the peoples of the great Soviet Union are fully on their side.\" Many MPLA leaders would go on to be educated in Moscow. The USSR chose to support the MPLA over rival movements in Angola for a number of reasons. As a left-leaning Marxist movement that explicitly condemned the imperial powers, the MPLA followed the same basic ideological principles as the USSR. The UPA/FNLA was more ambiguous on this issue, receiving support from the US and sometimes practicing anti-communist rhetoric.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "They further stated that an independent Angola under the MPLA would be dominated by urban mesticos and assimilados, effectively transferring power from one class of colonial masters to another.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The Afro-Portuguese were also challenged by a growing population of urbanized and mostly missionary-educated Africans. In an attempt to create a more defined social hierarchy, the Portuguese implemented as system of assimilation, drawing a distinction between indigena (indigenous) and assimilado (assimilated) populations.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "According to John Stockwell, chief of the CIA's Angola Task Force in 1975, the FNLA \"had few educated men at the top--no intellectuals--and had spent much of its history in the cocktail parties of Kinshasa.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Early Soviet support of the MPLA included food and clothing as well as weapons and increased progressively during the course of the war from goods valued at $25,000 in 1961 to $220,000 in 1973. Large scale Soviet assistance did not come until 1975 though. In this year another foreign power would join the equation, with Cuba's shipment of two shiploads of T-55 tanks and 500 military advisories. Though the Cubans and Soviets would work together closely in Angola, early actions were not coordinated as is widely assumed.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The effects of the plantation system in the early twentieth century also exacerbated tensions between African ethnic groups. In the northern part of the country, large numbers of peasants were displaced to make room for commercial coffee plantations.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Unlike the ideologically based MPLA, the UPA and other Bakongo nationalist movements appealed directly to the Bakongo ethnic group and the heritage of the old Kongo kingdom. Though Holden Roberto had ambitions of making the UPA/FNLA a nation-wide movement with broad-based support, it remained for most of its history an organization dominated by Bakongos, and was responsible for numerous acts of violence against mesticos, assimilados, whites, and non-Bakongo Africans, particularly the Ovimbundu who worked on the coffee plantations of the north. Its reputation for violence and the lack of discipline among its ranks led many to distrust the FNLA, and greatly decreased its effectiveness. Infighting plagued the organization throughout its history as well.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Used as soldiers, settlers, and sailors, the degradados, together with exiled Jews, gypsies, and other \"undesirables,\" formed a large majority of the white population in Angola until the beginning of the twentieth century. The mortality rate among degredados was alarmingly high, and this further discouraged free immigration to Angola, creating a cycle of continued penal settlement. Because of their small numbers and unreliability, the degredados could not fulfill all the roles of colonial administration and commerce, a class of mesticos, also called the Afro-Portuguese, rose to take many these positions. Originally descendant from the union of Portuguese soldiers and merchants with indigenous African women, the Afro-Portuguese eventually became their own distinct ethnic group and grew to wield significant economic, and later political, power.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Assimilados were further divided into two groups, \"assimilated objects\" and \"assimilated groups,\" with the former mostly made up of the established Afro-Portuguese families who worked in various levels of the colonial government and the latter of the growing class of missionary-educated Africans.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Other communist countries in Eastern Europe also supplied arms and military advisors, including the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Support from other African countries was more limited. Neighboring Zaire and South Africa actively backed the FNLA and UNITA, both committing significant numbers of soldiers to fight the MPLA. Other African nations were less hostile; during the independence war the organization was based at different times in Congo-Brazzaville, Tanzania, and Zambia.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Despite its ostensibly obvious contradictions, lusotropicalism was widely accepted among the people of Portugal until the mid-1970s, and was used by the government to justify its continued involvement in Africa during a period when most European powers were leaving or had already left the continent. These colonial policies of the twentieth century instigated the forty years of conflict in Angola. However, a long history of violence and exploitation created the context for these struggles, starting with the Atlantic slave trade in the late fifteenth century.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Savimbi's charisma and previous training in China helped him build an effective fighting force that challenged the MPLA for over twenty-five years. However, the fact that UNITA was built around Savimbi meant that after his death the movement disintegrated. Through the entire course of conflict in Angola from 1961 to 2002, foreign powers were involved in various degrees, from direct military assistance to monetary and diplomatic backing of one or more of the internal movements.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Without the aggressive Mobutu regime as a neighborhood, the situation in Angola stabilized and the MPLA was finally able to crack down on internal dissent without being troubled with foreign intervention, ending the civil war a few years later in 2002. Like most other Third World conflicts of the twentieth century, the wars in Angola were heavily affected by the Cold War.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "According to some estimates, as many as 8 million slaves were taken from Angola, a figure higher than the total population of the country upon independence in 1975. The slave trade caused major disturbances in the interior, with the associated violence and depopulation ultimately leading to the demise of the Kongo and other indigenous states. The abolition of the international slave trade in the 1830s and of slavery throughout the Portuguese empire in the 1870s did not mark the end of forced African labor in Angola. Domestic slavery, particularly among the Kongo chiefs and highland kings of the interior was still widespread and slaves continued to be exported to Indian Ocean markets further east. Forced labor continued in a legal form under the new system of forced labor outlined in the 1878 Regulamento para os contratos de servicais e colonos nas provincias de Africa (Regulation for contracts of servants and colonists in the provinces of Africa).", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "This document essentially made former slaves into \"servants\" or servicais, who had to be \"contracted\" into labor. The Regulamento also stipulated that any Angolans who were not fully employed were considered \"vagrants\" and could be legally forced into five-year contracts. While slaves were no longer exportable commodities on the same scale they were before the abolition of the slave trade, slavery persisted in much the same way it had in the past centuries, despite the change in nomenclature.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "As both Cuba and South Africa agreed to leave Angola where they were both essentially fighting another country's war for them, US support for UNITA also decreased and under the Bush and Clinton administrations closer ties were made with the MPLA and it was recognized diplomatically as the legitimate government of Angola. With the Cold War over and its oil interests safe, the US had little reason to be actively supporting rebel movements in Angola. China was the third superpower to project its power in Angola. Chinese involvement was mostly limited to the first two decades of war and was rooted in its opposition to Soviet expansion coming out of the Sino-Soviet split. This anti-Sovietism held together the curious alliance of two African nationalist groups (the FNLA and UNITA), Zaire, apartheid South Africa, communist China, and the United States.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Further south in the central highlands, the primary commercial crop was cotton, and British and Portuguese cotton plantations displaced the native Ovimbundu. Unlike the Bakongo farmers of the north who largely stayed together and settled in Zaire, the Ovimbundu dispersed in all directions, some remained in the area to work the cotton fields, while others migrated north to work on the coffee plantations or south to less populated areas. The employment of Ovimbundu on land formerly occupied by Bakongo farmers created tensions between the two groups.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "In the 1990s Zaire served as the main supporter of UNITA, as South African and American support for the organization dwindled. In 1997 a coup supported in part by the Angolan government overthrew Mobutu, and Zaire was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "For the first few hundred years of Portuguese rule, the European population in Angola was minimal and largely limited to the coast. Though several attempts were made to found agricultural outposts with white settlers in the interior, these were largely failures. The oppressive tropical climate and hostile African neighbors made life difficult for settlers, many of whom lacked agricultural experience or expertise.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The influence of the mesticos began with the slave trade, in which they often served as middlemen between the Portuguese traders and indigenous African kingdoms, leading and accompanying trade caravans into the interior. Though the slave trade was initially associated with the areas in and around the Kongo kingdom and its capital of Sao Salvador, Afro-Portuguese traders began to penetrate the central highlands to the south to find new sources of slaves. Luanda and later Benguela were established as ports to facilitate direct the new trade with Brazil and the other colonies. The decline of the Kongo due to a series of wars with the Portuguese in the seventeenth century, together with the stronger and more direct connections with colonial traders enjoyed by the Afro-Portuguese led to the eclipse of Sao Salvador by Luanda as the center of the Angolan slave trade, and by extension, economic activity in the region.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "This action would be the first of twelve invasions by the SADF, which would be vital for the survival of UNITA as a viable military force. The continued involvement of South Africa forced the MPLA to rely on Cuban and Soviet military support throughout the civil war. The transition to a post-apartheid government in the early-90s and the independence of Namibia meant that South Africa would no longer intervene militarily in Angola.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "This new system created even more divisions in Angolan society by separating the population into groups, which actively competed with one another. The old Afro-Portuguese families, who often identified economically and culturally with the white settlers, saw their historical privileges taken away and became increasingly critical of the colonial government and at odds with white settlers. Mesticos also felt threatened by the newly educated class of Africans, who were seen as usurping their traditional roles in the colonial hierarchy. This split within the assimilado group carried on through the civil war, with the MPLA leadership coming mostly from the older established group, and the leaders of FNLA and UNITA from the newer group.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "In the disorganized retreat back into Zaire, the troops wrecked havoc on the countryside and abandoned large amounts of American weapons, exposing the US's somewhat clandestine support of the FNLA.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Counting urban mesticos and assimilados, in addition to some liberal whites among its ranks, the MPLA was explicitly inclusive and set out to unite Angolans of different ethnic, religious, and regional backgrounds into one independence movement. Many of the founders had been members of the Communist Party of Angola (PCA) and a Marxist class-based ideology was adopted by the movement, partially as a uniting force for a group without a strong ethnic or regional base.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Furthermore as they were largely employed in lowly paid plantation work, the Ovimbundu occupied the low end of the economic scale, being scorned by both the Bakongo and Mbundu as crude and subservient. The animosity displayed by the other ethnic groups toward the Ovimbundu caused many of them to reject the two dominant nationalist groups, the FNLA and MPLA, during the liberation war, in favor of UNITA, an explicitly Ovimbundu-based organization. The continued fragmentation of its nationalist movements set Angola apart from other Portuguese colonies. In Mozambique Julius Nyerere united the various factions under the banner of FRELIMO, and Amilcar Cabral convinced the assimilados of Cape Verde and the peasants of Guinea-Bissau to unite as PAIGC.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The underlying causes of the long conflict are many and complicated, having their roots in nearly five centuries of disruptive Portuguese rule in which millions of Angolans were enslaved or forced into labor and the population was divided into a racial hierarchy that led to distrust and resentment between groups. Constant internal factionalism and massive foreign intervention prolonged and intensified the conflict, leading to one of the most devastating wars on the African continent.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "While the MPLA espoused multi-racial and cosmopolitan views, Mobutu was a black nationalist with strong ideals of African authenticity. Starting in 1975, Zaire sent several battalions of regular soldiers as well as commando units into Angola, after unsupported FNLA guerillas proved ineffective. Even with significant weapons provided by the US and other Western nations, the Zairians were decisively defeated by the MPLA and their Cuban allies.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "To do this, the old system of indirect rule through mestico and African allies had to be replaced by direct Portuguese control and white settlement. Though European settlement continued at a relatively slow pace through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, restrictions were gradually made on which civil service and military positions Africans or mesticos could occupy.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Still, the Afro-Portuguese \"seldom, if ever, identified with the Africans because for all practical purposes they were Portuguese in nearly every way except colour.\" Later in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, some of the old Afro-Portuguese families began to merge with the other Kimbundu-speaking peoples of coastal and central Angola to form the modern Mbundu ethnic identity. The history of Afro-Portuguese dominance and compliance with the Portuguese colonial authorities created rifts between the coastal and inland peoples, which would continue to manifest themselves in the post-colonial conflicts, as the coastal and Mbundu-dominated MPLA struggled to win support among the Ovimbundu people of the interior. The relative dominance of the Afro-Portuguese began to be challenged in the late 1800s, as the Portuguese were increasingly pressured to \"modernize\" their colonies by their colonial neighbors, the British and Germans.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Portuguese Angola and Mozambique were seen as potential solutions to South Africa's economic and security problems, and South Africa had worked with the Portuguese colonial government in the past. With both territories possessing large settler populations, friendly post-colonial regimes could be set up with South African military intervention, turning the former Portuguese colonies into buffer states and important allies in a hostile neighborhood. Furthermore, Angola's developed infrastructure and rich resource wealth could help South Africa economically, as it felt increasingly isolated by the international community.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The Mbundu and Bakongo ethnic groups dominated the MPLA and FNLA leadership, while the largest group, the Ovimbundu, had limited representation. Seeking to create a nationalist movement for his own people, Savimbi formed UNITA, basing his power among the Ovimbundu capital of Huambo. UNITA received aid from the US and South Africa for most of its existence and espoused an anti-communist agenda, though Savimbi had himself been a Marxist at one time. After being defeated right after independence UNITA retreated deep into the Angolan bush and built up an army of several thousand men with fanatically loyal officers.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "A Soviet friendly nation in southern Africa might tip the balance of power in favor of the communists and set off more leftist revolutions in the region. Since 1961, the US had been supporting Holden Roberto with a modest stipend of $10,000 a year. In the light of the new situation, this sum was increased to $300,000 in 1975, and throughout that year $35 million was spent on arming the FNLA through airbases in friendly Zaire. US involvement was relatively clandestine at this stage, mostly involving the CIA and indirect aid to the FNLA through Zaire. An American population weary from Vietnam was not willing to enter another bloody Third World conflict so far from home.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Immigration to Africa was seen as both a solution to Portugal's excess population problem and as a way to strengthen Portuguese control over its colonies. With the white population in Angola increasing from 44,000 in 1940 to 325,000 in 1974, Europeans soon took over not only upper and mid-level positions, but also most low-wage jobs in the city, displacing most of the urban African population. Having lost much of their status to poor white settlers, mestico and assimilado populations felt increasingly marginalized by the Portuguese, and members of these groups would form the leadership of most of the independence movements in the 1950s and 60s. In addition to the social-cultural hierarchy imposed by the Portuguese, ethnic divisions were also intensified by other colonial policies.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "As a highly lucrative business, it was often the primary occupation of most Portuguese in the area, including members of the colonial administration, with the governor essentially the largest slave-dealer. The Portuguese were leaders in the Atlantic slave trade, supplying not only their own plantation-dependent colonies with labor, but also those of France, Britain, and Spain.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Besides the divisions among assimilados, there was also significant tension between assimilado and indigena populations. When they went through the process of assimilation, assimilados made a conscious decision to completely abandon their African heritage and adopt European culture. This process detached the assimilados from the largely rural, uneducated indigenas and often made it difficult for the two groups to see eye-to-eye and identify with one another.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "In Angola however, black Africans never made up less than 95% of the population, so the demographic situation there (and in the other Portuguese colonies) was never the same as it was in Brazil. Furthermore, the claim that racial mixing equates to racial egalitarianism is problematic, as there are significant racial inequities in Brazil and other countries with large mestico populations. The fact that the Portuguese were leaders in international trade of African slaves for nearly 400 years also challenges the theory.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Without Cuban and Soviet backing, the MPLA would have never been able to defeat its opponents, who also had the support of foreign superpowers. The initial reasons for United States intervention in Angola were primarily economic. American oil companies were well established there since the discovery of oil in the 1950s, and in order to protect these interests, the US supported the Portuguese during the liberation war. By the time the Portugal was preparing to leave the continent in 1974, the threat of communist takeover by the MPLA with Cuban and Soviet support influenced the US to fund alternative groups to prevent a communist victory.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "However, at the root of the early failures of white settlement lied the Portuguese system of penal colonization. As with overseas colonization in general, the Portuguese were the first to begin and the last to stop the practice of using convicts as settlers in their colonies. The difficult nature of life in Africa made it difficult to find voluntary immigrants, so convicts, called degradados, were seen as an effective subsitute, as well as a solution to the problem of overcrowding in Portuguese prisons.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The Frente Nacional de Libertacao de Angola (National Front for the Liberation of Angola) grew out of the UPA (Union of Peoples of Angola, previously Union of Peoples of Northern Angola), a predominately Bakongo movement based in northern Angola and led by Holden Roberto. While the MPLA had its origins in Lisbon and Luanda, the UPA was founded in Leopoldville (modern Kinshasa) in neighboring Congo, also home to a large Bakongo population. In the late 1950s and 60s, Leopoldville was a center of nationalist activism, hosting a large refugee community from Angola and over fifty Angolan political organizations, mostly made up of Bakongos.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "According to a British diplomat serving in Angola in 1902, \"nobody regarded the contract laborers as anything other than slaves.\" Claims of racial tolerance aside, the Portuguese set up social, political, and economic hierarchies based on race throughout their reign over Angola. These distinctions and inequalities, as well as internal displacements of African tribes, created significant tensions between members of different ethnic and racial groups which would come to shape the formation of nationalist movements and the course of the post-colonial civil wars.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Despite the official backing of the FNLA, many within the US establishment did not agree with the decision to support the FNLA. Two important US officials in Luanda, Robert W. Hultslander, the CIA station chief, and Tom Killoran, the American Consul General, agreed that the MPLA were the most qualified of the groups to govern and sought peaceful relations with Washington. Hultslander further stated that its leaders \"were more effective, better educated, better trained, and better motivated\"; by contrast the FNLA \"was led by corrupt, unprincipled men who represented the very worst of radical black African racism.\"", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The FNLA soldiers [were] slathering animals.\" Though consistently armed by the US and China and supported by troops and artillery from Mobutu's Zaire, the FNLA was not able to maintain military success against the Cuban-backed MPLA and ceased to be a major force in Angolan politics after 1976, . The Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) was a latecomer in the independence struggle, formed in 1966 by Jonas Savimbi. A Swiss- and Portuguese-educated Angolan emigre of Ovimbundu descent, Savimbi was for a time a member on the FNLA but left the organization in 1964.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "This economic power soon became political, and by the nineteenth century the Afro-Portuguese dominated the areas of the central highlands closer to the coast, presiding over several semi-autonomous kingdoms (reinos) centered on the coastal ports of Luanda and Benguela. These reinos were under the technical sovereignty of the Portuguese crown but were in practice ruled by the leading mestico families. Seeing themselves as ethnically distinct from the indigenous Africans, the Afro-Portuguese were nonetheless visually indistinguishable from black Africans and often spoke Kimbundu as well as Portuguese.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Increasing antagonism with the US meant that Cuba was also looking to foil American plans abroad, and the Angolan crisis was a perfect opportunity for Cuba to use its strong military to embarrass the US. Fidel Castro initially acted unilaterally and without notifying the Soviets on his intentions in Angola. However, Cuban and Soviet collaboration soon led to highly effective assistance to the MPLA, with the Cubans provided tens of thousands of well-trained soldiers and the Soviets technical expertise and military equipment, particularly in the field of heavy artillery and tanks, which were previously absent in the Angolan theater.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Many of these farmers, mostly Kikongo-speaking members of the Bakongo ethnic group, fled to neighboring Zaire, where they flourished as small-scale commercial coffee farmers. As successful small entrepreneurs, many of the Bakongo diaspora in Zaire would be wary of the socialist policies of the MPLA, and would instead choose to support the ostensibly more business-friendly FNLA, which was also led by Bakongo and based in Zaire. After living in francophone Zaire for several generations, most of the Bakongo refugees adopted French, further dividing them from the mostly Portuguese-speaking groups in Angola.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Having the largest and most powerful military of the region, South Africa had the means to accomplish its objectives. Military bases in South-West Africa (Namibia) served as a useful staging ground for intervention in Angola. In addition to its own motivations, South Africa was encouraged to intervene by the United States, who felt that they were needed to counter the Cuban and Soviet support of the MPLA. After invitations from both UNITA and the FNLA in the early days of the civil war, South Africa made its first incursion into Angola in June of 1975.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "Lacking strong domestic backing, the MPLA looked abroad for military and economic support. Its leftist revolutionary agenda naturally aligned the MPLA with communist nations and the Soviet Union and Cuba became the movement's strongest allies, with the Soviets providing material aid, money, and weapons and the Cubans eventually sending soldiers to assist with security and military campaigns.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "UNITA would have to depend on its other regional ally, Zaire, for continued support against the MPLA. Sharing a large border and deep cultural ties that went back to the Kongo kingdom, Zaire and Angola were strongly connected. Throughout the liberation war, Zaire served as a base of operations for the Bakongo-dominated FNLA and provided it significant military assistance. Besides the solidarity showed to their Bakongo kin, Mobutu's Zaire had other important reasons for fighting the MPLA.", "category": "amt" }, { "style": "qq", "text": "The past eight years have been relatively peaceful for Angola and the economy has been growing at a rapid rate, though much of this is due to oil revenues and expansion of the oil industry. A fledging democracy is forming.", "category": "amt" } ]