Gratitude

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From The Divine Comedy (1950)

  him 8 there, who by the Servant of servants was translated from the Arno to the Bacchiglione, where he left his ill-strained nerves. I would say more, but my going and my speech must not be longer: for there I see new smoke arising from the great sand. People are coming with whom I may not be; let my ‘Treasure,’ in which I still live, be commended to thee; and more I ask not.” Then he turned back, and seemed like one of those who run for the green cloth at Verona 9 through the open field; and of them seemed he who gains, not he who loses. 1. Bruges, about ten miles from the sea, and Wissant, between Calais and Cape Grisnez, roughly indicate the western and eastern limits of the coast-line of Flanders (as then constituted). 2. In the Middle Ages the Duchy of Chiarentana, or Carinthia, extended as far as the Paduan district, the inhabitants of which built dykes to protect themselves against the waters of the Brenta, when swollen by the melted snows of the Carnic Alps. 3. Brunetto Latini or Latino (ca. 1210-1294), a Florentine Guelf and one of the leading figures in the political life of his native town. As an author, his fame rests on two works written between 1262 and 1266, the Livre dou Tresor, a prose encyclopædia composed in French, and the Tesoretto, a popular didactic poem in Italian, which contains in a condensed form much of the matter of the larger work. Dante was well acquainted with both these compilations, but was specially indebted to the latter, which is in the form of an allegorical journey. It is absurd to regard Latini as a kind of schoolmaster: he was far too busy a man in other walks of life. The words should obviously be taken in the widest sense; and there can be no doubt that Dante’s thought was largely moulded and directed by his illustrious friend. 4. According to tradition, Catiline was besieged by Caesar in Fiesole, the Roman Fæsulæ, situated on a hill three miles north-west of the future site of Florence. When the town fell, a new city was founded on the Arno, Florence, to wit. The inhabitants were composed partly of the Fiesolans, and partly of the remnants of the Roman army. The Florentine commons (Whites) were commonly held to be descended from the former stock, the nobles (Blacks) from the latter. These two strains were always at variance: hence there was unceasing internal strife at Florence. Dante ingeniously utilizes the mountain on which Fiesole stood, and the rock of the Fiesolan quarries, with which a great part of Florence was built, to indicate the rough and hard nature of his fellow-citizens. The reference to Dante’s fortune has usually been taken to mean that both the Blacks and the Whites would be eager to win over to their side a man of Dante’s calibre; but in view of the actual historical facts, which are summarized by Dante in Par. xvii, it is perhaps better to adopt Casini’s interpretation, that both parties would vie with each other in persecuting the post—the Blacks with their decrees of exile (after be opposed the entry of Charles of Valois, which is probably the act specially referred to—see Gardner, pp. 21, 22), and the Whites with their hatred, caused by his defection from their party. The Florentines are called “blind” either because they thoughtlessly opened their gates to Attila, or because, in the year 1117, they lost some booty that was due to them, owing to an ingenious trick played them by the Pisans. 5. Dame Fortune’s varying moods affect him as little as the act of the peasant. 6. It is an insult to Dante to assume that he condemns Priscian merely because, as a grammarian and teacher of youth, he was specially liable to fall into the vice here condemned. There must have been some medieval tradition to account for Priscian’s position in this circle. 7. Francesco d’Accorso (1225-1293) the son of a great jurist, and himself a lawyer of distinction, lectured at Bologna and at Oxford. 8. Andrea dei Mozzi belonged to a wealthy and influential Florentine family, who were White Guelfs. He was Bishop of Florence from 1287 till the year 1295, when he was translated to the See of Vicenza (on the Bacchiglione) by Boniface VIII (servus servorum Dei being one of the official styles of the Popes, from the time of Gregory I). 9. This race was run on the first Sunday in Lent, the prize being a piece of green cloth.

• From The Divine Comedy (1950)

  Therefore go on; I will follow at thy skirts; and then will I rejoin my band, that go lamenting their eternal losses.” I durst not descend from the road to go level with him; but kept my head bent down, like one who walks in reverence. He began: “What chance, or destiny, brings thee, ere thy last day, down here? and who is this that shows the way?” “There above, up in the clear life, I lost myself,” replied I, “in a valley, before my age was full.” Only yester morn I turned my back to it; he appeared to me, as I was returning into it, and guides me home again by this path.” And he to me: “If thou follow thy star, thou canst not fail of glorious haven, if I discerned rightly in the fair life; and if I had not died so early, seeing Heaven so kind to thee, I would have cheered thee in the work. But that ungrateful, malignant people, who of old came down from Fiesole, 4 and still savours of the mountain and the rock, will make itself an enemy to thee for thy good deeds; and there is cause: for amongst the tart sorbtrees, it befits not the sweet fig to fructify. Old report on earth proclaims them blind, a people avaricious, envious, and proud: look that thou cleanse thyself of their customs. Thy fortune reserves such honour for thee, that both parties will have a hunger of thee; but far from the goat shall be the grass. Let the beasts of Fiesole make litter of themselves and not touch the plant, if any yet springs up amid their rankness, in which the holy seed revives of those Romans who remained there, when the nest of so much malice was made.” “Were my desire all fulfilled,” I answered him, “you had not yet been banished from human nature: for in my memory is fixed, and now goes to my heart, the dear and kind, paternal image of you, when in the world, hour by hour, you taught me how man makes himself eternal; and whilst I live, beseems my tongue should show what gratitude I have for it. That which you relate about my course, I write; and keep it, with another text, for a Lady to comment, who will be able if I get to her. Thus much I would have you know; so conscience chide me not, I am prepared for Fortune as she wills. Not new to my ears is such earnest: therefore, let Fortune turn her wheel as pleases her, and the boor his mattock.” 5 Thereupon my Master turned backward on his right, and looked at me, then said: “He listens well who notes it.” Not the less I go on speaking with Ser Brunetto, and ask who are the most noted and highest of his companions.

• From The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us (2023)

  “I wanted to find out how it would feel,” she says, pulling her pants up. “Now I knew. I liked it.” No children’s book had ever gone here before. “You were never allowed to talk about [menstruation],” said Arlene LaVerde of the way things were during her childhood. LaVerde was born in 1967 and served as president of the New York Library Association from November 2023 to November 2024. “Now… the way we’re able to talk about menstruation and periods, without fear—it starts with Judy Blume and what she started with that one book.” LaVerde went on: “We wouldn’t be where we are without her.” In Judy’s day, girls ended up learning about Aunt Flo not from their parents, but from the people who wanted to sell them menstrual products. The overlap between physical maturity and consumerism—shopping for pads, picking out a brand—was as true for Margaret as it was for girls in the real world, writes Joan Jacobs Brumberg in her book The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls . With adults being ashamed to discuss periods with their daughters, it left a gap in the chain of communication that industry stepped in to fill. The first disposable sanitary napkins were manufactured by the medical and personal care corporation Kimberly-Clark, and sold under the name Kotex, which appeared on shelves in the early 1920s, after the company developed synthetic surgical cotton for use during World War I. Quickly, according to Brumberg, Kotex became a status symbol among young, middle-class women, who could afford the monthly investment in a store-bought product that was immediately marketed as an upgrade in personal hygiene. Meanwhile, poorer girls, and particularly the daughters of immigrants, were stuck with the functional—but high-maintenance—washable cloth-rag pads used by their mothers and grandmothers. “Well into the 1930s and 1940s, there were some American girls who had to make do with homemade protection,” Brumberg writes. But they weren’t happy about it. “Daughters of immigrants understood, before their grandmothers and mothers did, that there was an American way to menstruate, and that it required participation in the larger consumer society.” By the time Judy Blume was writing about Margaret, that initiation often began in school, especially in more liberal enclaves like northern New Jersey. In 1946, Kotex and the Walt Disney company collaborated on an animated ten-minute film called The Story of Menstruation , an educational short that would eventually be viewed by approximately 100 million American girls. In it, a smoky-voiced actress with a fancy transatlantic accent walks viewers through the science of early puberty, starting with the pituitary gland. The cartoon, done in elegant, muted colors, is filled with wide-eyed girls who mostly resemble the title character in the studio’s 1950 full-length take on the Cinderella tale. The narrator—who pronounces the word “maturing” as ma-TOOR-ring—uses correct scientific terms, such as “uterus” and “ovaries,” to explain the monthly cycle.

• From Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture (2018)

  Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com. Acknowledgments“Only the Lonely” by Lisa Mecham originally appeared in Big Truths. “Spectator” by Brandon Taylor originally appeared in Catapult. “Wiping the Stain Clean” by Gabrielle Union originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times. Excerpt from “Photography from September 11” from Monologue of a Dog: New Poems by Wislawa Szymborska, translated from the Polish by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh. Copyright © 2002 by Wislawa Szymborska. English translation copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. THANK YOU FIRST AND FOREMOST, TO THE THIRTY PEOPLE who contributed work to this anthology. It is a privilege to share their work with the world. I will always admire their eloquence and courage in offering readers a part of themselves as they talk about what it means to live in a world shamefully warped by rape culture. This anthology would not have come together without the editorial support of Megan Carpentier. She brought brilliant insight and empathy to these essays and was invaluable in helping me assemble this collection. I also want to thank my assistant, Melissa Moorer, for helping me wrangle the hundreds of submissions received for this anthology and otherwise providing invaluable support. She has an eagle eye and a beautiful heart. Thanks also to my agent, Maria Massie, my editor, Emily Griffin, and Maya Ziv who originally bought this book. The usual suspects I am always grateful for know who they are. Last but never least, I want to thank Tracy Gonzalez, my best friend who always encourages me to take on new challenges and supports me no matter how they turn out and is the funniest, smartest person I know. Also by Roxane GayNonfiction Bad Feminist Hunger Fiction Ayiti An Untamed State Difficult Women [image "an image of the cover for Opinions, and text explaining the content" file=image_rsrc2T5.jpg] [image file=image_rsrc2T6.jpg] [image "Bookperk sign-up advertisement" file=image_rsrc2T7.jpg] Copyright [image file=image_rsrc2T8.jpg] The names and identifying characteristics of some of the individuals featured throughout this book have been changed to protect their privacy while preserving the integrity of the authors’ stories. NOT THAT BAD. Compilation and introduction copyright © 2018 by Roxane Gay. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. FIRST EDITION Cover design by Robin Bilardello Digital Edition MAY 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-241350-5 Version 04122018 Print ISBN: 978-0-06-241351-2 (paperback) About the PublisherAustralia HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd. Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia www.harpercollins.com.au Canada HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower

• From The Divine Comedy (1950)

  C A N T O I I Warning and promise to the reader, who shall see stranger tilth than when Jason sowed the dragon’s teeth. They reach the moon and inconceivably penetrate into her substance without cleaving it, even as deity penetrated into humanity in Christ; which mystery shall in heaven be seen as axiomatic truth. Dante, dimly aware of the inadequacy of his science, questions Beatrice as to the dark patches on the moon which he had thought were due to rarity of substance. She explains that if such rarity pierced right through the moon in the dark parts, the sun would shine through them when eclipsed; and if not, the dense matter behind the rare would cast back the sun’s light; and describes to him an experiment by which he may satisfy himself that in that case the light reflected from the dense matter at the surface and from that in the interior of the moon would be equally bright. She then explains that Dante has gone wrong and accepted a scientifically inadequate explanation, because he has not understood that all heavenly phenomena are direct utterances of God and of his Angels. The undivided power of God, differentiated through the various heavenly bodies and agencies, shines in the diverse quality and brightness of the fixed stars, of the planets and of the parts of the moon, as the vital principle manifests itself diversely in the several members of the body, and as joy beams through the pupil of the eye. O YE WHO in your little skiff longing to hear, have followed on my keel that singeth on its way, turn to revisit your own shores; commit you not to the open sea; for perchance, losing me, ye would be left astray. The water which I take was never coursed before; Minerva bloweth, Apollo guideth me, and the nine Muses point me to the Bears. Ye other few, who timely have lift up your necks for bread of angels whereby life is here sustained but wherefrom none cometh away sated, 1 ye may indeed commit your vessel to the deep keeping my furrow, in advance of the water that is falling back to the level. The glorious ones who fared to Colchis not so marvelled as shall ye, when Jason turned ox-plough-man in their sight. The thirst, born with us and ne’er failing, for the godlike realm bore us swift almost as ye see the heaven. Beatrice was gazing upward, and I on her; and perchance in such space as an arrow stays and flies and is discharged from the nocking point, I saw me arrived where a wondrous thing drew my sight to it; and therefore she from whom my doing might not be hidden turning to me as much in joy as beauty, “Direct thy mind to God in gratitude,” she said, “who hath united us with the first star.” Meseemed a cloud enveloped us, shining, dense, firm and polished, like diamond smitten by the sun.

• From The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us (2023)

  Thank you to the people who generously shared their time and their thoughts, making this a sharper, more nuanced project than anything I could have done on my own: Dean Butler, Michael Dishnow, Shannon Dressler, Michelle Fine, Jennifer Fleissner, Karen Fleshman, Lauren Harrison, Suzanne Kahn, Arlene LaVerde, Rachel Lotus, Julia Loving, Peter Silsbee, Cory Silverberg, Roger Sutton, Carol Waxman, and Jonathan Zimmerman. Thank you to Mary Ellen Budney, John Monahan, and the entire staff at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library for helping me navigate the Judy Blume papers. Thank you to the many other librarians and archivists who pitched in along the way, especially Aimee Fernandez-Puente at the Elizabeth Public Library, Maribeth Fisher at the Scotch Plains Public Library, Greg Guderian at the Newark Public Library, Demetrius Watson at School Library Journal , and John Wright at the Fulton County Library. Thank you to Chris St. John and Rebecca Santiago for taking the time to read an early draft and offering invaluable feedback that made blurry ideas click into focus. The story of this book is not complete without acknowledging the health challenges that shaped the entire editorial process. I would not have been able to put together a decent sentence, let alone a book proposal, during a global pandemic were it not for my village, the other parents in my childcare pod: Frank Boudreaux, Suzanne Dikker, Megan Gaffney, Matt Kebbekus, Lauren Portada, Sarah Rockower, and Hans Maarten Wikkerink. Thank you to them, and also to our beloved babysitters Rizzo Klotz and Zoe Tanner, who treat our kids like family. Thank you to all the friends and family who supported me when my own medical crisis hit while I was still writing the book’s first draft. In particular, thank you to Neal Dusedau for a perfectly timed cross-country visit, to Gwen Schantz for being my art-viewing buddy, and to Jess Lattif for the fun and diverting phone conversations. To my parents—Annette Bergstein, Jay Bergstein, Pauline Bergstein, and Jeff Wilson—my sisters—Allison Bergstein and Deanna Smetanka—and my in-laws—Herb Rosenberg and Jean Rosenberg—thank you for loving me in sickness and in health, no matter what I do for a living. Thank you to Judy Blume, for writing books that truly changed the world. Thank you to The West coffee shop, for providing such a lively creative hub for the neighborhood and for being an extension of my office. Thank you to Henry, my furry companion of fifteen years who never fails to warm laps, hearts, and manuscript pages (my son would be very indignant if I left out the cat). Most of all, thank you to my most cherished guys, Andrew and Curtis, who fill our home with joy, laughter, great conversation, and silly dance moves. You show me every day what life is really about. About the Author [image "Photo: Rachelle Bergstein, author" file=Image00007.jpg] Rachelle Bergstein is a lifestyle writer, author, and editor, focused on style, pop culture, and families.

• From The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us (2023)

  Because you have to realize that there’s something to this reading thing.” Chapter Twenty-Five Legacy “We didn’t have the internet; we didn’t have any places where we could find the answers.” In the 1981 Christian Science Monitor article, there’s a quote about Blume that feels kind of ridiculous now. It came from Mary Burns, then a professor of children’s literature at Framingham State College in Massachusetts. Burns told the reporter that “in every age… there are books that answer the needs of the moment, and Judy Blume’s books seem to be fulfilling that need. But you can’t equate popularity with quality, nor quality with popularity. The question that needs to be asked now is: will Judy Blume’s books be as popular 20 years from now?” Okay, it sounds silly in hindsight, especially given the flash flood of love and gratitude that has washed over Blume these past few years. But Burns wasn’t entirely off base. Kids aren’t reaching for Blume’s novels as frequently as they were in the 1980s and 1990s. Julia Loving noted that while she keeps all the Judy Blume books in her library, they don’t circulate nearly as much as they used to. Carol Waxman agreed. These days, she said, it’s mostly parents of young children who are checking out Blume’s books, wanting to share beloved characters like Fudge and Margaret and Deenie with the next generation. Less often, it’s the kids themselves who are plucking them off the shelves. They’re reaching instead for graphic novels and Captain Underpants. But whether Blume’s work stands the test of time is an entirely different conversation. You only need to spend a few hours reading Superfudge with a second grader to appreciate the perennial appeal of her writing. “Bonjour, stupid!” still unleashes a tiny bellyful of giggles. Also, the challenges kids face remain largely unchanged. Parents are still getting divorced. Elementary schoolers still get diagnosed with scoliosis and require intervention. Bullies terrorize their classmates; best friends laugh and sob and struggle. The competitive friendship dynamics between Margaret and Nancy remain true to life, with or without the intrusion of iPads and cell phones. And we, the pre-internet generation, genuinely needed Judy Blume. She was dropping nuggets of truth and wisdom that kids couldn’t get anywhere else at the time. Yes, if we were lucky, we had some sex ed in school, and yes, a fifth grader could steal her parents’ copy of The Joy of Sex and smuggle it into a birthday party the way a classmate of mine did in 1992 (she was caught and everyone got reprimanded and sent home). But it wasn’t the same. “The way that sex education is usually done is to put up one picture of a female body and one picture of a male body, which already scientifically is not enough,” Cory Silverberg said of the heteronormative approach to sex ed that dominated the twentieth century. That’s something, but it’s not gender- or orientation-inclusive and it’s not meeting children at their level.

• From In the Unlikely Event (2015)

  Marrying Andy would mean she’d stay in Las Vegas. Henry was always supportive. If she was happy, he was happy for her. They didn’t marry for another year. When they did, Ben Sapphire gave them a bungalow. —THE MAYOR CALLS Miri’s name. She still goes by Ammerman. If she’d taken Andy’s name, Zinn, she’d be at the end of the program. She thinks about walking out the door and not coming back. But Henry comes to her side, takes her arm, walks her up to the podium, the way he walked her down the aisle on her wedding day, sharing her with Dr. O, who was on her other side. Two of the best fathers any girl could have. She hadn’t invited Mike Monsky to her wedding. They’d found out pretty quickly there wasn’t going to be much between them. The first summer he’d picked her up in Las Vegas and driven her back to Los Altos, where she never even met Adela, who’d had such a severe migraine she’d moved into her parents’ house for the duration of Miri’s visit. And that visit was cut short when Mike’s kids came down with chicken pox. The following year it was worse. Adela greeted her, then left with the boys to spend a week with her parents in Santa Barbara. By then she’d had it. If Mike Monsky wanted to see her, he could come to Las Vegas, or take her someplace neutral. But it never worked out. She wasn’t disappointed. She had a lot of people in her life. He was just a complication. Frekki stopped by once, with Dr. J. J. Strasser, when Miri was a senior at Las Vegas High. They were on their way to a medical convention in L.A. She’d invited Miri to lunch at the Sands. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” Frekki said. “I’m fine,” Miri told her. “I got into American University, my first-choice college.” “Well, good for you,” Frekki said. “I hear you’ve seen your fa…” She hesitated before saying the word, then changed it to “Mike.” “Yes. Twice. But we’re both so busy, there’s not a lot of time to visit.” “I understand,” Frekki said. “I’m meeting him for lunch in L.A. He’s flying down for the day, without Adela or the boys.” She sighed deeply. Miri nodded. “I hear he’s changed his name to Monk. ” “Yes.” Was she just finding out? “Well, I can’t say I blame him. Monsky was always a mouthful.” Miri took a bite of grilled chicken and chewed it very slowly. When she’d announced her marriage to Andy, Frekki sent a crystal bowl from Tiffany’s. Mike Monk sent a $100 check. —AT THE PODIUM Miri takes the leather-covered journal from her purse, opens to the first page and signals to Henry, she’s okay. She begins to read into the microphone, glancing over in Mason’s direction just once. His head is bowed. After enough time it fades and you’re grateful.

• From The Annotated Lolita (1991)

  Speaking of busybodies, I had another visitor—friend Beale, the fellow who eliminated my wife. Stodgy and solemn, looking like a kind of assistant executioner, with his bulldog jowls, small black eyes, thickly rimmed glasses and conspicuous nostrils, he was ushered in by John who then left us, closing the door upon us, with the utmost tact. Suavely saying he had twins in my stepdaughter’s class, my grotesque visitor unrolled a large diagram he had made of the accident. It was, as my stepdaughter would have put it, “a beaut,” with all kinds of impressive arrows and dotted lines in varicolored inks. Mrs. H. H.’s trajectory was illustrated at several points by a series of those little outline figures—doll-like wee career girl or WAC—used in statistics as visual aids. Very clearly and conclusively, this route came into contact with a boldly traced sinuous line representing two consecutive swerves—one which the Beale car made to avoid the Junk dog (dog not shown), and the second, a kind of exaggerated continuation of the first, meant to avert the tragedy. A very black cross indicated the spot where the trim little outline figure had at last come to rest on the sidewalk. I looked for some similar mark to denote the place on the embankment where my visitor’s huge wax father had reclined, but there was none. That gentleman, however, had signed the document as a witness underneath the name of Leslie Tomson, Miss Opposite and a few other people. With his hummingbird pencil deftly and delicately flying from one point to another, Frederick demonstrated his absolute innocence and the recklessness of my wife: while he was in the act of avoiding the dog, she had slipped on the freshly watered asphalt and plunged forward whereas she should have flung herself not forward but backward (Fred showed how by a jerk of his padded shoulder). I said it was certainly not his fault, and the inquest upheld my view. Breathing violently through jet-black tense nostrils, he shook his head and my hand; then, with an air of perfect savoir vivre and gentlemanly generosity, he offered to pay the funeral-home expenses. He expected me to refuse his offer. With a drunken sob of gratitude I accepted it. This took him aback. Slowly, incredulously, he repeated what he had said. I thanked him again, even more profusely than before.

• From The Divine Comedy (1950)

  Thou didst like one who goes by night, and carries the light behind him, and profits not himself, but maketh persons wise that follow him, when thou saidst: ‘The world is renewed, justice returns and the first age of man, and a new progeny descends from heaven.’ 8 Through thee I was a poet, through thee a Christian, but that thou mayest see better what I outline I will put forth my hand to fill in colour. Already the whole world was big with the true belief, sown by the apostles of the everlasting kingdom; and thy words, touched on above, harmonized so with the new preachers, that the habit took me of visiting them. They then became so holy in my sight, that when Domitian persecuted them, 9 their wailings were not without tears of mine. And while by me yon world was trod, I succoured them, and their righteous lives made me despise all other sects; and ere in my poem I had brought the Greeks to Thebes’ rivers, 10 I received baptism, but through fear I was a secret Christian, long time pretending paganism; and this lukewarmness made me speed round the fourth circle more than four times a hundred years. Thou therefore, who hast lifted the covering which hid from me the great good I tell of, while we have time to spare on the ascent,

• From In the Unlikely Event (2015)

  For this one and for Summer Sisters, thank you, Carole. You are my sister. Finally, to my loving, supportive husband, who has been there for me for thirty-five years. When the deadline loomed, he “stepped up to the plate” and said, I can be your Henry Ammerman. He took the stories in my research notebook and reworked them. I was a tough city editor, but he came through every time, always in good humor. Without his months of work, his dedication to Henry, the story and to me, you probably wouldn’t be reading this book for another five years, if then. He is my “Henry” and my everything else. How lucky I am to have him in my life. — JUDY BLUME Key West February 22 , 2015 P.S. from “Henry Ammerman”—I’d like to throw in a thanks to what William Gibson calls the “global instantaneous memory prosthesis.” When you need it quick the Internet knows, like The Shadow from the radio show of our youth. [image "Penguin Random House Back Ad logo" file=Image00046.jpg] [image "Penguin Random House Next Reads logo" file=Image00046.jpg] What’s next on your reading list?Discover your next great read! Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author. Sign up now.

• From In the Unlikely Event (2015)

  said, I can be your Henry Ammerman. He took the stories in my research notebook and reworked them. I was a tough city editor, but he came through every time, always in good humor. Without his months of work, his dedication to Henry, the story and to me, you probably wouldn’t be reading this book for another five years, if then. He is my “Henry” and my everything else. How lucky I am to have him in my life. —JUDY BLUME Key West February 22, 2015 P.S. from “Henry Ammerman”—I’d like to throw in a thanks to what William Gibson calls the “global instantaneous memory prosthesis.” When you need it quick the Internet knows, like The Shadow from the radio show of our youth. What’s next on your reading list? Discover your next great read! Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author. Sign up now.

• From In the Unlikely Event (2015)

  Irene’s brisket. It’s not exactly the same, not quite as good as I remember, but it’s good. I look forward to it.” “Irene would love knowing that.” “She knew.” “You kept in touch with her?” “Holiday cards, the occasional note.” “She never told me.” “She didn’t want to upset the cart. One summer, when she and Ben were vacationing down the shore, she invited me and Rebecca and our kids to lunch.” “I can’t believe she kept you a secret from me!” “She wanted to see for herself that I was happy. She already knew you were.” “She never stopped trying to rescue people, to fix what wasn’t right.” “Rebecca fell in love with her.” “Who didn’t?” She stops, then asks, “You and Rebecca?” “Up and down. But I think we’re going to make it.” “I hope you do.” He checks his watch. “I have to get you to the airport...if you’re really going.” She gives him a you must be kidding look. He shrugs and smiles. They walk back to his car. “I’m glad we got to spend time together.” “I’m glad, too.” She feels satisfied, happy. At the airport he kisses her goodbye in the car. “If someday...” he begins. “Yes, if...But for now...” “I get it,” he says, kissing her one last time. — SHE’S MADE A PLAN to meet Natalie for coffee in the first-class lounge at the airport before their flights. How long has it been since Natalie visited them in Las Vegas? She gave a lecture at the library on “channeling your past lives” during one of her book tours, but that was years ago, and she flew in and out of town quickly, with no time for family. Fern, who’d come in from Shiprock with her girlfriend, Ora, also a doctor on the Navajo reservation, had been disappointed. Now the two of them run a family clinic outside of Las Vegas.

• From The Divine Comedy (1950)

  will make itself an enemy to thee for thy good deeds; and there is cause: for amongst the tart sorbtrees, it befits not the sweet fig to fructify. Old report on earth proclaims them blind, a people avaricious, envious, and proud: look that thou cleanse thyself of their customs. Thy fortune reserves such honour for thee, that both parties will have a hunger of thee; but far from the goat shall be the grass. Let the beasts of Fiesole make litter of themselves and not touch the plant, if any yet springs up amid their rankness, in which the holy seed revives of those Romans who remained there, when the nest of so much malice was made.” “Were my desire all fulfilled,” I answered him, “you had not yet been banished from human nature: for in my memory is fixed, and now goes to my heart, the dear and kind, paternal image of you, when in the world, hour by hour, you taught me how man makes himself eternal; and whilst I live, beseems my tongue should show what gratitude I have for it. That which you relate about my course, I write; and keep it, with another text, for a Lady to comment, who will be able if I get to her. Thus much I would have you know; so conscience chide me not, I am prepared for Fortune as she wills. Not new to my ears is such earnest: therefore, let Fortune turn her wheel as pleases her, and the boor his mattock.”5 Thereupon my Master turned backward on his right, and looked at me, then said: “He listens well who notes it.” Not the less I go on speaking with Ser Brunetto, and ask who are the most noted and highest of his companions. And he to me: “It is good to know of some; of the rest it will be laudable that we keep silence, as the time would be too short for so much talk. In brief, know that all were clerks, and great scholars, and of great renown; by one same crime on earth defiled. Priscian6 goes with that wretched crowd, and Francesco d’Accorso;7 also, if thou hadst had any longing for such scurf, thou mightest have seen him8 there, who by the Servant of servants was translated from the Arno to the Bacchiglione, where he left his ill-strained nerves. I would say more, but my going and my speech must not be longer: for there I see new smoke arising from the great sand. People are coming with whom I may not be; let my ‘Treasure,’ in which I still live, be commended to thee; and more I ask not.” Then he turned back, and seemed like one of those who run for the green cloth at Verona9 through the open field; and of them seemed he who gains, not he who loses.

• From The Golden Ass (Metamorphoses) (2)

  the sky, the wholesome winds of the seas, and the lamentable silences of hell be disposed; my name, my divinity is adored throughout all the world, in divers manners, in variable customs, and by many names. For the Phrygians that are the first of all men ! call me the Mother of the gods at Pessinus ; the Athenians, which are sprung from their own soil, Cecropian Minerva; the Cyprians, which are girt about by the sea, Paphian Venus; the Cretans which bear arrows, Dictynnian Diana; the Sicilians, which speak three tongues, infernal Proserpine; the Eleusians their ancient goddess Ceres; some Juno, other Bellona, other Hecate, other Rhamnusia,” and principally both sort of the Ethiopians which dwell in the Orient and are enlightened by the morning rays of the sun, and the Egyptians, which are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine, and by their proper ceremonies accustom to worship me, do call me by my true name, Queen Isis. Behold I am come to take pity of thy fortune and tribulation ; behold I am present to favour and aid thee; leave off thy weeping and lamentation, put away all thy sorrow, for behold the. healthful day which is ordained by my providence. Therefore be ready and attentive to my commandment; the day which shall come after this night is dedicate to my service by an eternal religion; my priests and ministers do accustom, after the wintry and stormy tempests of the sea be ceased and the billows of his 1 ‘The Egyptians[of the time of Psammetichus] were brought to think that the Phrygians were the most old and ancient people of the earth, and themselves to be next in antiquity to them." For the reasons which induced Psammetichus and his people to form this opinion, see Herodotus, tr. 2. 2 An epithet of the goddess Nemesis, or Fate. 547 LUCIUS APULEIUS rudem dedicantes carinam primitias commeatus libant mei sacerdotes: id sacrum nec sollicita nec profana mente debebis opperiri. Nam meo monitu sacerdos in ipso procinctu pompae roseam manu dextera sistro cohaerentem gestabit coronam. Incunctanter ergo dimotis turbulis alacer continuare pompam, mea vo- lentia fretus, et de proxumo clementer velut manum sacerdotis osculabundus rosis decerptis pessimae mihi- que destabilis iamdudum beluae istius corio te protinus exue. Nec quiequam rerum mearum reformides ut arduum : nam hoc eodem momento quo tibi venio, simul et ibi praesens quae sunt sequentia sacerdoti meo per quietem facienda praecipio. Meo iussu tibi constricti comitatus decedent populi ; nec inter hilares caerimonias et festiva spectacula quisquam deformem istam quam geris faciem perhorrescet, vel figuram tuam repente mutatam sequius interpretatus aliquis maligne criminabitur. Plane memineris et penita mente conditum semper tenebis mihi reliqua vitae tuae curricula ad usque terminos ultimi spiritus vadata: nec iniurium, cuius beneficio redieris ad homines, ei totum debere quod vives. Vives autem beatus, vives in mea tutela gloriosus; et cum spatium saeculi tui permensus ad inferos demearis, ibi quoque in ipso subterraneo semirotundo me, quam vides 548 THE GOLDEN ASS, BOOK XI

• From The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us (2023)

  She had been wary of marriage given her past experiences, but by then she was sure about George. On June 6, 1987, just a week after his fiftieth birthday, the longtime couple gathered their family and friends for an informal wedding on their Upper West Side terrace. A female judge, a friend, performed the nuptials. The rings came from a street fair on Broadway. Larry bought his mother a mixed bouquet of white flowers to hold. Essie Sussman lived to see her daughter get married again but died that August of pneumonia, at the age of eighty-three. In Presenting Judy Blume , Judy said that she was grateful her mom was there to witness her exchanging vows with George. “She always said, ‘I should only live to see this wedding,’ ” Blume said. “And she did.” By the time she turned fifty herself in February of 1988, the most difficult years of Judy’s life were behind her. It also marked the end of a roiling, tumultuous, wildly productive stretch when Blume wrote the books she’d be best known for. “I used to think that when my kids grew up, then I could really focus on my writing,” she said at an event in 2015. “Instead, it’s kind of been the opposite. You know, I got happy. And writing comes of angst,” she explained, before quickly assuring the audience: “I can still conjure it up, don’t worry.” Judy got happy. She called up her angst when she had to, for work, but she unleashed her joy into many other things—marriage, friendship, a midlife passion for tap dancing. In the early 1990s, Randy gave birth to a baby boy and Judy became a besotted grandmother. She took up water sports at Martha’s Vineyard, and later, she and George fell in love with Key West, Florida, where they’d eventually live full-time and invest in a bustling bookstore. Committed feminist that she was, she never stopped talking publicly about puberty, or menstruation, or sex. As the now-octogenarian Blume likes to point out, the pleasurable things we can do with our bodies are an integral part of our human existence. And shouldn’t we all be making the most of our short time on earth, delighting in these amazing and awkward physical forms? Judy has written as she has lived: wholeheartedly. Chasing, embracing, pinning down experience—and gathering it up again, so very full. AcknowledgmentsThank you to David Halpern, who is the best agent I could ask for and an even better friend. Thank you to my editor, Julia Cheiffetz, who I’ve been lucky to work with twice and who is one of my all-time favorite collaborators. Thank you to Nick Ciani, Abby Mohr, Hannah Frankel, and Joanna Pinsker at One Signal for believing in this book and helping me bring it out into the world. Thank you to Laywan Kwan for the gorgeous cover design. Thank you to my longtime pal and production editor Liz Byer for taking such good care of the manuscript.

• From On Beauty (2005)

  He’s into the whole evisceration theory, you know – like art should rip your fucking guts out.’ There was not time for the fallout from this. Zora felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. She couldn’t remember ever being more pleased to see her own mother. ‘Mom!’ ‘You been taking care of our guests?’ Kiki stretched out her invitingly podgy hand, glittering with bangles at the wrist. ‘It’s Monty, isn’t it? In fact, I think your wife was telling me it’s now Sir Monty . . .’ The smoothness with which she proceeded from here impressed her daughter. It turned out that some of those much maligned (by Zora) traditional Wellington interpersonal skills – avoidance, denial, politic speech and false courtesy – had their uses. Within five minutes everybody had a drink, everyone’s coat had been hung, and small talk was proceeding apace. ‘Mrs Kipps . . . Carlene, she’s not with you?’ said Kiki. ‘Mom, I’m just going to . . . excuse me, nice to meet you,’ said  kipps and belsey Zora, vaguely pointing across the room and then following her own finger. ‘She didn’t make it?’ repeated Kiki. Why did she feel so disappointed? ‘Oh, my wife very rarely attends these things,’ said Monty. ‘She doesn’t enjoy social conflagration. It’s fair to say she is more warmed by the home hearth.’ Kiki was familiar with this way of torturing metaphor that the self-consciously conservative occasionally have – but the accent was incredible to her. It flew around the scale – somewhat like Erskine’s but the vowels were given a body and depth she had never heard before. Fair came as Fee-yer. ‘Oh . . . that’s a pity . . . she seemed so sure she was going to come.’ ‘And then later, she was just as sure she would not.’ He smiled, and in the smile was a powerful man’s assurance that Kiki would not be silly enough to push the topic any further. ‘Carlene is a woman of changeable moods.’

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  IV. On the fourth head it is to be noted, that humility, in three ways, preserves man in good. (1) By defending him from his enemies: “The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and He helped me,” Psalm 116:6. (2) By promising increase of grace: “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble,” S. James 4:6. (3) By leading man to eternal glory: “Honour shall uphold the humble in spirit,” Prov. 29:23. To which honour may we, &c. HOMILY XXXII THREE-FOLD BENEFITS THE HOMILY UPON THE GOSPEL BEING OMITTED IN THE SERIES, ANOTHER HOMILY OF THE SAME AUTHOR IS GIVEN TO SUPPLY ITS PLACE“And when He had given thanks, He distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down.”—S. John 6:11. THE Gloss. says that Christ, having given thanks, teaches us to give thanks for three benefits. Firstly, for corporeal benefits. Secondly, for spiritual benefits. Thirdly, for eternal benefits. I. On the first head it is to be noted, that we ought to give thanks for corporeal benefits, for three reasons. (1) Because He ordained that they should be in the gift of nature: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Ephes. 5:20. (2) Because He preserves them to nature by removing the evil from them: “And they that before had been wronged, gave thanks, because they were not hurt now; and asked this gift, that there might be a difference. Therefore they received a burning pillar of fire for a guide of the way which they knew not,” Wis. 18:2, 3. (3) Because He nourishes it by refreshing it with bodily food: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, &c. … and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving.… For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused.… For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer,” 1 S. Tim. 4:1–6.

• From The Golden Ass (Metamorphoses) (2)

  1 By calling his rider Bellerophon (which Adlington merely translated **my new master"), the ass implies that he was a very Pegagus. 339 LUCIUS APULEIUS unus . * Indidem. praesens iactura nostra, sed plane crastino libet non tantum naturam, verum etiam caput quoque ipsum pessimo isto asino demetere: nec tibi ministerium deerit istorum." 27 Sic effectum est ut in alterum diem clades differ- retur mea, at ego gratias agebam bono puero, quod saltem mortuus unam carnificinae meae dieculam donasset. Nec tamen tantillum saltem gratulationi meae quietive spatium datum: nam mater pueri mortem deplorans acerbam filii, fleta et lacrimosa fuscaque veste contecta, ambabus manibus trahens cinerosam canitiem, eiulans et exinde proclamans stabulum irrumpit meum, tunsisque ac diverberatis vehementer uberibus incipit : * Et nunc iste securus incumbens praesepio voracitati suae deservit et insatiabilem profundumque ventrem semper esitando distendit, nec aerumnae meae miseretur vel detesta- bilem casum defuncti magistri recordatur, sed scilicet senectam infirmitatemque meam contemnit ac de- spicit et impune se laturum tantum scelus credit. At utcumque se praesumit innocentem; est enim congruens pessimis conatibus contra noxiam con- scientiam sperare securitatem. Nam pro deum fidem, quadrupes nequissime, licet precariam vocis usuram sumeres, cui tandem vel ineptissimo per- suadere possis atrocitatem istam culpa carere, cum propugnare pedibus et arcere morsibus misello puero potueris? An ipsum quidem saepius incursare calci- bus potuisti, moriturum vero defendere alacritate simili nequisti? Certe dorso receptum auferres protinus et infesti latronis cruentis manibus eriperes, 340 THE GOLDEN ASS, BOOK VIT mischief is not of his doing, but now we are con- tented that to-morrow not only this vile ass’s stones shall be cut off, but also his head, and you shall not lack helpers.”

• From The Golden Ass (Metamorphoses) (2)

  fate, and appeasest the great tempests of fortune, and keepest back the harmful course of the stars. The gods supernal do honour Thee ; the gods infernal bave Thee in reverence ; Thou dost make all the earth to turn, Thou givest light to the sun, Thou governest the world, Thou treadest down the power of hell. By Thy mean the stars give answer, the seasons return, the gods rejoice, the elements serve: at Thy commandment the winds do blow, the clouds nourish the earth, the seeds prosper, and the fruits do grow. The birds of the air, the beasts of the hill, the ser- pents of the den, and the fishes of the sea do tremble at Thy majesty: but my spirit is not able to give Thee sufficient praise, my patrimony is unable to satisfy Thy sacrifices ; my voice hath no power to utter that which I think of Thy majesty, no, not if I had a thou- sand mouths and so many tongues and were able to continue for ever. Howbeit as a good religious person, and according to my poor estate, I will do what I may: I will always keep Thy divine appear- ance in remembrance, and close the imagination of Thy most holy godhead within my breast.” | When I had ended my oration to the great god- dess, I went to embrace the great priest Mithras, now my spiritual father, clinging upon his neck and kissing him oft, and demanding his pardon, consider- ing I was unable to recompense the good which he had done me: and after much talk and great greet- ings and thanks I departed from him straight to visit my parents and friends, after that I had been so long absent. And so within a short while after, by the exhortation of the goddess I made up my packet and took shipping towards the city of Rome, and I voyaged very safely and swiftly with a prosperous wind to the port of Augustus, and thence travelling 585 27 LUCIUS APULEIUS celerrime ac denine carpento pervolavi, vesperagse quam dies insequebatur Iduum Decembiium sicro- sanctam istam civitatem accedo. Nec ullum tam praecipuum mihi exinde studium fuit, quam cotidie supplicare summo numini reginae Isidis, quae, de templi situ sumpto nomine, Campensis summa cum veneratione propitiatur. Eram cultor denique assi- duus, fani quidem advena, religionis autem indigena.