Friday QuoteDay Bonus

"A year, ten years from now, I'll remember this; not why, only that we were here like this, together."

— Adrienne Rich

 This quote is so simplistic and relatable in its beauty. I'm thrilled to share it with you, and hope that we will continue to walk together for years to come.

Friday QuoteDay

"You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it." 

— Adrienne Rich, American writer, feminist, activist

Via the New York Times:

Adrienne Rich, a poet of towering reputation and towering rage, whose work — distinguished by an unswerving progressive vision and a dazzling, empathic ferocity — brought the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse and kept it there for nearly a half-century, died on Tuesday at her home in Santa Cruz, Calif. She was 82.

Weekly Flâneur: Cosmic

Night shot of large skyscraper. Click to enlarge.

Blast off!

(Take your protein pills and put your helmet on.)

Uptown skyline close-up, Charlotte, N.C., USA

Friday QuoteDay

“One of the mixed blessings of being twenty and twenty one and even twenty three is the conviction that nothing like this, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, has ever happened to anyone before.”

— Joan Didion, Goodbye To All That, 1968.

Weekly Flâneur: Silhouette

Haunting shapes on an arbor, with Kensington Palace in the background. Click to enlarge.

Of bits and bobs and keys.

Kensington Palace, London, UK

(The Palace reopens on the 26th; this arbor design may no longer be there. 

Always take photos and memories while you can!)

Friday QuoteDay

“Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, 'She doesn’t have what it takes.' They will say, 'Women don’t have what it takes.'"

— Clare Boothe Luce, 

American playwright, editor, journalist, 

U.S. ambassador to Italy, and U.S. Congresswoman

Weekly Flâneur: Mirrored

Image of a city monument reflecting its surroundings. Click to enlarge.

Yellow flowers in the light, mirrored in Jo'burg, South Africa

The delightful and vivacious Nikki R. (who needs her own website for me to plug in this space) has provided this lovely flâneur image from Johannesburg, South Africa, and writes, "This is the reflection of Oppenhiemer Park in its mining monument. The park is a little gated-off area of garden and public art in the centre of the city."

What the Backstreet Boys Taught Me About Internet Politics

Bastions of Internet knowledge.

When I was young'in, I attended 4 different high schools before graduating. In the states, high school is 4 years of study and jumping schools isn't the norm. The first school was an arts school that combined junior high with the first year of high school (7th through 9th grade). The second school was the local high school I was assigned to by location (10th grade), and the third was a brand new high school built to manage overcrowding that my district re-assigned me and half my classmates to (11th and 12th grade). In this shuffling about, I managed to miss a required math class and found myself in my last term of my senior year missing a credit that I would need to graduate come Spring with the rest of my classmates.

In came high school number four: a night school that offered the missed class I needed that I would attend after my regular full day of classes. The night school was alternative schooling for an eclectic mix of students who didn't fit the traditional mold; young mothers, working students, students who were not up to speed for their grade level, older students, students who spoke English as a second language (like the French-Arabic guy who I would sometimes make-out with in the parking lot, but that's another story), and students who missed a class (like me). 

One night I made it class a little bit early and took a seat next to two friendly looking girls. We started talking. They were younger than me, both around 15. Let's call them Girl A and Girl B. What followed was an encounter that I still think about, years later.

"He called me again last night," Girl A said to Girl B.
"For real?" Girl B replied.
"Yeah, he says he's really into me," Girl A said.
Girl B looked at me and excitedly said, "She knows the Backstreet Boys."
My reaction was naturally skeptical. "How?" I asked.
"I know a girl who knows them," Girl A explained. "She gave them my number and we talk."
"But, how do you know it's them?" I said.
"I talk to Kevin. He knows things only the Backstreet Boys would know," Girl A earnestly replied.

But, how would you know what only they would know? I wanted to ask, but stopped myself. I weighed the possibility that this was a stupid joke. A really stupid joke. Or was it possible that Kevin was actually calling this girl every night? That would be some serious dedication to the fans, or worth a call to the police, since 15-year-old girls are underage and Kevin was grown man. But after listening to her talk a few more minutes it was obviously not the case. Too many details didn't add up. Could this girl really believe that the Backstreet Boys, who were at the height of their late '90s popularity, would be calling a 15-year-old girl they've never met before just to chat for hours?

Caught In A Bed Romance

Every time. Click to enlarge. 

Ta-Da!

Exciting and overdue news!

Long and annoying URL flaneur-in-the-city.blogspot.com is no more! 

Keep an eye on FitC; in the next 24 hours or so, it'll be http://www.flaneurinthecity.com! (Still long, but not obnoxiously so!) And no worries about losing the address; flaneur-in-the-city.blogspot.com will still work if you have it bookmarked or saved, you'll just be redirected to the new URL.

Hang on to your fedoras, y'all, because FitC just got fancy.

Like this, but with more glitter.

 Remember: flaneurinthecity.com!

Friday QuoteDay

POTUS edition. Click to enlarge.

Weekly Flâneur: Egg-citing

Image of happy insects painted on an egg. Click to enlarge.

The Great Eggscape by Alex Williams, by the Southbank Centre, London

Who doesn't love the opportunity for a good egg pun?

This sunny-side photo is courtesy of Ashley 

from Through a London Looking Glass and Dead Men Tell No Tales.

London's Big Egg Hunt boasts over 200 eggs hidden through the city. 

First it was elephants, now eggs. What's next London?

Keep In Mind

Via this Flickr User Super_Furry's Photostream.

Image reads: "Be Kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Weekly Flâneur: Reflect

Image of building within a building. Click to enlarge.

A mirrored building of restaurants reflects the summer sky and beachfront apartments of 

Green Point, Cape Town, South Africa.

This week's beautiful photo was brought to you by Nikki R.  

 

Just A Reminder

If you are on Pinterest, all of the images here on FitC can instantly be pinned, thanks to the handy-dandy Share/Save button directly under the Tags below each post. But! When using the images, please credit them to the original owners. Credit is currency on the Internet, especially for small blogs like this one. I try to watermark Flaneur-in-the-city.blogspot.com (ugh, I know, that name is soooo long, right? I'm working on fixing it, I swear) on each of the photos I've taken, but I also use other photos and images created by amazing graphic artists who deserve credit. Thanks and kisses!

In Which I Substitute Witty Emails For A Blog Post

Oh, man. It's like 2008 all over again, huh? Does that mean Obama will be re-elected and Sarah Palin will fade from media attention for 4 years? That'd be great.

Thanks to Jamie of Bibliophiled Away for all the witty banter, teen lit talk, and penis and hymen jokes. 

Round One

Natalie:
As I was writing this, my supervisor came by to talk to me. Whoops! Also, I'm tweeting about Cher. That's totally a thing.

Jamie:
And a special message for anyone peeking over your shoulder right now:

PENIS

I'm cruising to Asheville this weekend. And staying with my friend at the Grove Park Inn. I hope it's not a themed room. The swingin' 60's need to stay in the 60's.

I'm researching baby shower ideas on Pinterest. Surely there has to be more appetizing games than melted candy bars in diapers. For all the non-pregnant guests: take a shot any time any one mentions "baby."

Natalie:
Thank you for the very large penis. You know how I like 'em.

Tell the Grove Park Inn hello for me. I love that place. Try to stay on the haunted floor! Or at least visit and see if you can spot any ghosties. Probably the whole place is haunted, anyway, since no one has ever proven ghosts can't use stairs. No one's ever proven ghosts can't drive, either, so be sure to hide your keys.

You can eat all the poop-chocolate you want, as it's against my religion I just made up to eat out of diapers. But have fun. I'll have the booze, thanks. In fact, I may just walk in singing Justin Bieber's "Baby" for good measure.

Where In The World?

It’s been a long time and I shouldn’t have left you without a dope beat to step to. Forgive my extended absence. 

So what’s new? 

First off: Your favorite feckless flâneur found herself a job. For now. It’s a freelance in-house temp position, and I signed a contract to have my butt in a cubicle from 9-6 until May. This is a good thing, as blogging doesn’t really pay the bills. Unless those bills are attached to ducks, and those I can pay with stale bread and water. Which is what I would be stuck eating if it weren’t for my dear Mr. B providing me with vittles as I wrote for 10 cents a word for the past few months. 

Via TrueWildlife.

Now that I am getting paid to write 8 hours a day, my blogging will have to be limited to the weekends and after work. My goal is to produce content (fancy speak for writin’ lots) during my free time and schedule posts throughout the week. This hasn’t actually happened yet, but when I do, I’m sure it will work fine. Right? 

Second: If you’ve ever wanted to do a guest post for all the fame and glory that comes with free blogging for an extremely small and limited audience (that mostly consists of people Googling “David Bowie’s penis,” my friends and family -- sorry Mom! -- and like-minded lovelies) now is you big time to shine, shine like a child star on public access Saturday morning television! Come! Join me! Be a GUEST BLOGGER! 

And if all that fame and glory isn’t enough for you, I am also looking of Flâneur in the City photo submissions, since being stuck in a cubicle means I can’t run around taking pics until my heart and memory card are full. 

I have a couple of posts in the works, and my draft folder is full of stories going back to April of last year, because that’s the kind of organized and prompt individual I am. (SUPER organized and timely, that’s the kind.)

In short: I love you all, and I’ll talk to you soon.


UPDATE: Yes, the opening line is from this song. Consider it tonight's jam:

Aaliyah featuring Timbaland, "Try Again"