For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. –Charles Bukowski
I discovered this quotation through one of my Flickr contacts (thanks, Claire), and figured it would fit very well with the Mailer paper I’m writing for next month’s conference. This sounds like something I might say at the beginning of my first-year composition course — I didn’t know until now that I was channeling Bukowski. To me, this sounds like something I heard Mailer say about existentialism: that it’s a continuous asking of questions — an unease with absolutes. I belief this idea is in his last book On God
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The “drink beer” part will also fit in with my personal experiences with the legislation of morality here in Georgia: the law that does not allow alcohol to be sold on Sundays, except in restaurants.
I’ve also discovered a treasure-trove of church signs at Church Sign Generator. Yes, it allows you to make church signs, but it also has pages of real signs. Nice.
) the man who helped spark the Enlightenment in France, born François-Marie Arouet in Paris (1694). He was a well-known playwright and poet. He spent most of his late life in exile, and he wrote most of his work from England. In the last year of his life, 1778, he was allowed to return home to Paris. More than 300 people came to visit him his first day in the city, including Benjamin Franklin.
