Bright Shining

so-so

Everything I‘ve ever read by Baird has taken me forever to finish. I‘ve only read this and Victoria: The Queen, which are very different books in content & length (256 pages vs. 752) — but the fact remains. Baird‘s writing is sprawling, which makes it difficult to read in one go. Nevermind that I kept stopping to cry!

I don‘t know if I found enough of what I wanted (homely, undramatic, everyday grace) but the examples provided knocked me out.👇🏻

monalyisha 1/2: I especially appreciated the real-life stories of nurses working during the pandemic, interviews with record-breaking blood donors, and the well-chosen quotes from poets, authors, and philosophers. 4w

monalyisha 2/2: Other reviewers have called Baird‘s prose “uneven” and have questioned the strength of her organizing principles. I think those judgments may be too harsh but I also *do* see what they mean. There‘s something scattered about her style…but light scatters, too, shining brightly as it does so.

TW (among many, many others): It should be noted that cancer-content lurks around the page corners. 4w

Chelsea.Poole I can imagine this is a difficult one—I read another from her and it was a hard read

Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark

(edited) 4w

monalyisha @Chelsea.Poole For a minute, after learning of that one, I was wishing I‘d read it instead! But then I heard tell that they‘re *incredibly* similar. 4w

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monalyisha

Bright Shining | Julia Baird

Despite acing AP US History, taught by a very liberal teacher in the heart of Massachusetts — in a former factory town! — I‘m just now learning about the suffragette slogan “Bread for all, & Roses too!” which is inextricably linked to the Lowell Textile Mill Strike.

My soul is consumed; I need the words framed immediately.

Read the linked poem, then the context in the comments below:

https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/bread-and-roses-song/

monalyisha It meant “that women were fighting for not just physical needs but also music, education, nature, art, leisure, and books…for pleasures as well as necessities, and the time to pursue them, the time to have an inner life and freedom to roam the outer world.” 2mo

monalyisha In a 2022 interview with The Nation about her tagged book (referenced in my current read), Solnit said, “We all know what ‘bread‘ is: food, clothing, shelter; the bodily necessities, which can be more or less homogenized and administered from above. But ‘roses‘ was this radical cry, in a way, for individualism, for private life, for freedom of choice — because my roses and your roses won‘t be the same roses, you know?”

Orwell's Roses

2mo

monalyisha “Bread for All, and Roses too!” recognizes that “people are subtle, complex, subjective creatures who need culture, need nature, need beauty, need leisure.” 2mo

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TheKidUpstairs I love this. It reminds me of the quote from the depths of the AIDS crisis “We buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night.“ A reminder that so many social justice movements strive for more than just the basic needs of the body, but the necessities of the soul 💗 because what is life without joy? 2mo

monalyisha @TheKidUpstairs YES! Did you read the tagged? There‘s a powerful essay about queer joy, clubs, dancing, tragedy, & community. I think it might be the one “about” yeti crabs.

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures

2mo

TheKidUpstairs @monalyisha I have not read it, but I do have it stacked (probably from your review!) I'll have to bump it up the TBR! 2mo

monalyisha @TheKidUpstairs I feel confident that you‘ll love it. If you don‘t, IOU. I don‘t know what. But something. 😅 2mo

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