12 Comments
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Linda Monk's avatar

I think this is the loveliest thing written about literature and the human condition that I have ever read, and it was written by my agent.

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Ali Moss's avatar

I come for the advice but stay for the metaphysics, I guess. What a resonant piece, and not only because I’m watching videos of LA burning while listening to Beautyland.

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Cecilia Tan's avatar

Voyager always makes me cry and I don't even know why, really, other than I was a nerdy science-loving and space-loving kid in the Carter years. When the news had come that we had lost contact with Voyager II, I cried. When the news came that we'd reestablished contact, I cried. As always, I'm glad I'm not alone.

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Henriette Lazaridis's avatar

This is beautiful. Thank you. What you say here about Carter's beautiful sentence made me think right away about something Robert Falcon Scott wrote as he was dying in Antarctica: "Had we lived, we would have had a tale to tell. . . ". Had we lived. The man is writing from after his own death. It's a courageous act, deranged and childlike, as you say. It's what we do.

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Mimi Hayes's avatar

I didn't know how much I needed that. Thank you.

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Diane Josefowicz's avatar

Wept.

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Sarah Snow's avatar

This is beautiful, and reminded me why I friggin love beauty.

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Deanna Zandt's avatar

My freakin' HEART.

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WanderFinder's avatar

This is so beautiful, thank you.

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Robin's avatar

Thank you for this.

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Carolyn Flynn's avatar

Astonishing! Thank you for this precious post.

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Susan Merrell's avatar

Thanks for this.

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