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M. Molly Backes

@mollybackes

22 Mar 20

Well, it seems the existential depression is kicking in. That would be the exhaustion, the heaviness, the inner voice muttering “who cares, what’s the point” to every thought you have. If you’re new to it, I’m sorry: it sucks a lot! But I do have a few suggestions to fight it.

1) Keep things clean. Your house, your car, your body. My dad’s theory is that your inner voice tends to believe that if your surroundings are dirty, it’s because you don’t deserve better, and it becomes a vicious cycle of reinforcing belief.

I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that I just vacuumed my house & it helped. So: make your bed, take the trash out, keep the kitchen counters clean. Take a shower! It makes a big difference, I promise.

Read 13 tweets

M. Molly Backes

@mollybackes

26 Sep 19

I just gave an after class pop-up advice session to some of my creative writing students; allow me to share.

Stop asking whether you're good enough to be a writer. The question isn't whether or not you're good enough, the question is whether or not you're willing to put in the work.

Similarly, stop asking whether or not your piece is good. No one can agree on what is good or not, not even when it comes to great literature. The more important question is: is it finished, or does it need more work?

Read 12 tweets

M. Molly Backes

@mollybackes

28 Jan 19

@KateHarding

Guess what came in the mail today! Thanks, Auntie @KateHarding!

HALLO
I IS MODEL

This coat was custom-made for Alfie by the same woman who made Zia’s winter coat ten years ago, my friend & former neighbor Gini of Gini’s Greyhound Fashions. Sadly, she is closing up her shop, so I feel very lucky to have snuck this order in under the wire. 💖

Read 4 tweets

M. Molly Backes

@mollybackes

28 Jan 19

Look, I love Rent with the intensity of a small town queer teen in the 90s, but it is the pinnacle of self-righteous white person 90s multiculturalism & therefore problematic as hell.

90s white person multiculturalism: "I don't see race!" Through the lens of 2019, it is clear that a) only a white person can claim not to see race, & b) not seeing race means demanding that everyone conform to your standards of whiteness, which c) is a gross form of erasure

...but in the 90s, it was d) considered to be Peak Enlightenment by white people, including Jonathan Larson, who wrote Rent as All White People But Some of Them Happen to Be Black (which again is basically how we white folks did multiculturalism in the 90s).

Read 16 tweets

M. Molly Backes

@mollybackes

8 Jan 19

This lady on Windy City Rehab claims to be a Chicago native but just pronounced Wabansia as “wuh-bahn-zia.” Ma’am no. The correct pronunciation sounds like a punch in the face, not a cheap red wine.

Probably says Paulina like it’s a woman’s name.

Lol yep she’s from Geneva. Nice try, “Chicago native”

Read 5 tweets

M. Molly Backes

@mollybackes

31 Dec 18

I really hate the expression "be your best self." It promotes an external, competitive, airbrushy selfhood that makes me feel anxious (which, I suspect, is the point) & rebellious (probably not the point). "Be your best self" says "because you sure as hell ain't her right now."

Who is this person? Your Best Self? Because she seems like your very worst friend, raising an eyebrow when you skip the gym, judging you for eating a cookie: "Is that what your best self would do?" Fuck you, I want to say, my best self loves cookies.

Why does your Best Self seem to look like everyone else, act like everyone else, & shop like everyone else? Is it possible this so-called Best Self is actually a fabrication of consumer culture, the same impulse magazines use to sell makeup & clothes & weirdly expensive candles?

Read 15 tweets

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