Words I Needed Last Week 3/16

Be nobody's darling. Be an outcast.

Nneka Julia

May 16, 2022

Words I saved, read, wrote down, and savored last week. From being nobody’s darling, to taking a mischievous and dangerous attitude towards existence, to supporting and validating your own work, to not yanking on one particular thread of whatever wonderfully frustrating thing you’re working on before it’s ready to come undone.

Cortney and I went to see “Everything Everywhere All at Once” in theaters this past weekend, and it’s by far one of the most beautiful, wildly creative, relatable films I’ve ever laid eyes on. I haven’t laughed and cried within the same sixty seconds during a single movie, ever. If you have a spare two hours this weekend, give it a watch.

Happy Monday, Friend.
—Nneka

Photo shot by Nneka Julia on 35mm film. Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2022).

One must take a somewhat mischievous and dangerous attitude towards existence, especially since one will always lose it in the end, however poorly or well things may turn out. Why cling to a miserable patch of land, or a particular profession? Why listen to one's neighbor's chatter? How petty it is to bind oneself to views that lose their power to oblige a few hundred miles down the road.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

Be nobody’s darling;
Be an outcast.
Take the contradictions
Of your life
And wrap around
You like a shawl,
To parry stones
To keep you warm.
Watch the people succumb
To madness
With ample cheer;
Let them look askance at you
And you askance reply.
Be an outcast;
Be pleased to walk alone
(Uncool)
Or line the crowded
River beds
With other impetuous
Fools.

Make a merry gathering
On the bank
Where thousands perished
For brave hurt words
They said.

But be nobody’s darling;
Be an outcast.
Qualified to live
Among your dead.
—Alice Walker, “Revolutionary Petunias” (1973).

“So much energy is wasted knocking on doors that won’t open and refusing to walk through others that open to the touch. We pound on the door to certain establishments, wanting someone, the right someone, to open the door, invite us in, and certify us as “real” artists. We crave a stamp of approval we are meant to give to ourselves. Ironically, when we all give ourselves, by our own hand, the dignity we crave and the right to support and validate our own work, so many locked doors mysteriously open.” —Julie Cameron, “The Vein of Gold” (1996).

“Every point in the cosmos can be considered its center.” —Dorthy Maclean

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!” Begin it now!
—W.H. Murray, ”The Scottish Himalayan Expedition” (1951).

“This is one more piece of advice I have for you: don’t get impatient. Even if things are so tangled up you can’t do anything, don’t get desperate or blow a fuse and start yanking on one particular thread before it’s ready to come undone. You have to realize it’s going to be a long process and that you’ll work on things slowly, one at a time.”
—Haruki Murakami