the best thing about being a writer -- part XXIX
$Zero
it's the poverty.
if you can embrace the poverty for all its worth,
you will become a great wealthy success.
if you can't, you can become a shill.
or a stenographer.
etc..
-$Zero...
the best thing about being a writer -- part XXVIII
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.writing/msg/41b1dcd9c7d57d10
danger...@gmail.com
> the best thing about being a writer -- part XXIX
>
> it's the poverty.
>
> if you can embrace the poverty for all its worth,
> you will become a great wealthy success.
Poverty isn't what it's cracked up to be.
It's been forty years since I went without a meal for lack of money,
and I haven't forgotten, nor has it assumed a romantic sheen.
Also, the world is rigged so that, if you're born poor, you're most
likely to remain that way. It's always been that way.
DB
$Zero
<dangerousb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On May 18, 2:31 pm, "$Zero" <zeroi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > the best thing about being a writer -- part XXIX
>
> > it's the poverty.
>
> > if you can embrace the poverty for all its worth,
> > you will become a great wealthy success.
>
> Poverty isn't what it's cracked up to be.
yes it is.
that's exactly what it is.
> It's been forty years since I went without a meal for lack of money,
> and I haven't forgotten, nor has it assumed a romantic sheen.
who said anything about romanticism?
yikes.
> Also, the world is rigged so that, if you're born poor, you're most
> likely to remain that way. It's always been that way.
wrong.
and you might try rereading the thing.
-$Zero...
it's the metaphors.
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.writing/msg/15bd4d4b0f626ecb
serenebabe
<danger...@gmail.com> said:
<...>
> Poverty isn't what it's cracked up to be.
>
> It's been forty years since I went without a meal for lack of money,
> and I haven't forgotten, nor has it assumed a romantic sheen.
>
> Also, the world is rigged so that, if you're born poor, you're most
> likely to remain that way. It's always been that way.
It's definitely rigged that way. And poverty and wealth are also such
socially constructed experiences. That isn't to say someone living with
*nothing* is only living in poverty because of social constructions,
but, at what point someone is considered poor is relative. Thinking
about most USA poverty v. poverty in India, for example.
The other direction was my experience. That is, I grew up with really
wealthy people. Really wealthy. And, yeah, okay, they didn't live in
castles like your European money people, but, you know the types. The
Pillsbury's, etc. Old money and new money, both. So, I always felt like
my family didn't have much. We had one car and my parents kept it for
13 or more years. We lived in a "small" home with "just" 3 BA, four
bedrooms, etc. It was "humble." (My parents did let it run to shit, so
it was dirty which definitely added to the "we're not wealthy" idea I
had.)
Anyway, it's not as if I ever thought we were poor. But, I've also
never romanticized poverty. I've known spoiled rich kids who "lived on
the streets" because... well, a variety of reasons. But coming from
money and choosing to live without is not even close to really not
having it.
You know, this is one of those times when gekko might counsel me to not
just write and send. But I'm just so fucking glad to have two hands
free for even a moment, I'm going to send this anyway even though I
never came to the point I originally had. In fact, I think this whole
thing is a mess that doesn't really make a point connected to your
thoughts, Bill. Oh well, she's grunting and groaning now and will need
to nurse again and I'll lose my hands and. THERE WE GO. Bye.
--
It's All About We! (the column) -- new 5/16 "Doing It in Public"
http://www.serenebabe.net/
microblogging here: http://serenebabe.blogspot.com/
Piet de Arcilla
> likely to remain that way. It's always been that way.
Nobody's born with any material possessions. Everyone accumulates them
throughout life, at different rates. Money is easy to get if you do
something to help other people.
However, the disparity in innate talent and temperament is far vaster
than the difference between Bill Gates' fortune and being penniless.
You have things that you couldn't buy for a billion dollars if you
lacked them.
And you can't buy what you do lack.
danger...@gmail.com
> You have things that you couldn't buy for a billion dollars if you
> lacked them.
> And you can't buy what you do lack.
Those sound like things you might hear in church.
For every Bill Gates that earns his place at the top of the economic
heap, there are 100 George Bushes who have no talent but prosper on
family and inherited wealth. There are indeed people born with lots of
material possessions, who will be sent to expensive schools and who
will be boosted to the top of the social ladder by family money and
contacts.
There are lots of talented Bill Gateses who won't get a chance to
write an MS-DOS and won't get a lucky deal with IBM, and who will
languish in gray cubicles across the planet. Some may lose their jobs
to the Bush Recession and end up living in their cars.
DB
Grand Mal
"$Zero" <zero...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:2ffa8d08-b0c8-4231...@q2g2000vbr.googlegroups.com...
> the best thing about being a writer -- part XXIX
>
> it's the poverty.
>
> if you can embrace the poverty for all its worth,
> you will become a great wealthy success.
>
> if you can't, you can become a shill.
>
> or a stenographer.
>
> etc..
>
> -$Zero...
"In a well-governed country poverty is to be ashamed of. In a badly-governed
country, wealth is to be ashamed of."
-Kung Fu-tse-