English professor Vinita Prabhakar is suing South Florida State College after she was abruptly fired for teaching a story (Ottessa Moshfegh's 'Bettering Myself') the college president deemed “political,” according to a complaint filed Wednesday in Florida district court.
Link to Moshfegh's unpaywalled story: https://electricliterature.com/bettering-myself-ottessa-moshfegh/
9.40pm in gothenburg, sweden
a quote from Nirmal Verma's A Rag Called Happiness
That is probably why Mother gave me the notebook. She said when we sit down to write we remember again what we had seen but forgotten all about before long. But this remembering is not seeing—it is setting apart. And so, even as I see the incredulous stares of Bitty and Darry on the page of my notebook, the memory stands apart by itself, alone, stuck there like a pressed butterfly, dead, remains of a splash of colour that once flustered about on its broad wings. This is a kind of compromise one strikes between saying, dying and remembering. (Verma, Rag, 53)
it got me thinking if this is why i journal -- to not forget, yes, but to also not let the unremembered wither away. in journaling everyday or whenever i can, i feel i give words to the feelings that are pressing upon me from all sides. but i'm also patterning those that do not have that immediate or physical a feeling or presence. the unworded, if you might. my hopes and dreams, yes, but also my woes and despairs. not sure if this makes sense.
what do you think we capture when we journal?