Thur. Thread: Bold & boisterous readers, have you ever caused a catastrophe? 😂
Scenes from last night, and yet we are all authors of catastrophe...
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Hello, Lovelies, How the hell are you?
I know what you’re thinking after last night, utter catastrophe.
That said, we are all guilty of catastrophes—some great… Some of far lesser consequence. Even the word's etymology has an interesting evolution across time from Greek to Latin…
Have you ever been the source of a great catastrophe in the lives of others or yourself?
When did it happen?
What happened to cause the sudden, disastrous upheaval?
Who was impacted? Was it a giant blow like a tidal wave? Or something that rippled out over the years in ongoing or escalating trauma?
Did it ever reach a denouement where things came full circle?
Was it a result of you just being young or stubborn, or a deep failing of character?
For me, there are three big instances in my life… One, I’ve already told you about and that was our return from Paris. Big mistake—marriage and lifewise.
The second, is upon my divorce… not doing one of two things:
Remaining in Cambridge where my kids could have had a much more stable existence between co-parents, gone to BB&N, and I could have finished my PhD and gotten tenure or;
I could have bought back the big gray farmhouse the girls totally loved in Bennington and that could have been an easy haven for a lifetime, and even established a neurodivergent school, or kept writing, taught, consulted, etc.
Instead, I uprooted everyone for my own film & TV work in LA, which now feels terribly selfish and catastrophic for my children. So, that’s the major catastrophe I authored and it’s a biggie because children need both parents and grandparents and a whole community. And we established that, but it took time and it was devilishly hard on the littles. OK, that’s tornado Alisa…
Now, it's your turn! Have at it. Lean into the fact that even total catastrophes can lay waste to misfortune and later reveal goodness?
🤍🤍🤍 - xoxo - gotham girl
Ps - Thank you to the marvelous
for the above image—go buy her hilarious and poignant books.
I’m more curious of who survived the great Christmas tree fire of 93? There’s no way that they all made it out. That tree must’ve been in full blaze within a minute, and those geriatrics don’t seem to move as fast as they did when they were rowing for Cornell. I need to know. Haha
My mother got knocked up with me (accidentally on purpose), so I became the catastrophe that she then resented for the remainder of our relationship. She may still, but I peaced-out on that 25 years ago, so... But the catastrophe I created, with a grand assist from Malignant Optimism, is being stubborn, staying freelance for too long, putting everything in jeopardy because I was *determined* to get a screenplay produced. Got close a couple of times, but went deep into debt that I finally got myself out of a couple of years ago. Sometimes, we have to walk away from our own storm. xo