Saturday, June 20, 2026

Comparisons as Predictable as the Sunrise

 Whither Writing Workers? Ramble


Two competing (?) thoughts kept going through my head while reading this: “Not even a celeb like Emily Ratajkowski can find a decent man to date” and “A celeb like Emily Ratajkowski especially can’t find a decent man to date”.

I knew he was new to New York when he picked the bar. It was on a street that had felt cool and exciting to me in 2014, when I’d first moved to the city, and probably was, before the Australian café that does matcha art opened around the corner and women who could afford a uniform of Miu Miu bags and Alo sets moved into the fire-escape apartments. My date was older than me, and though I’d seen him on Instagram, he was more like a walking, talking Myspace page: bright hoodies, obnoxious gold jewelry, with a preference for passé hipster bars like the one he’d chosen.
“Washed” is what I would’ve called him to my friends if I’d been feeling honest and not just looking to get laid. Not get laid in the way men do, to quickly satisfy a physical urge — Lord knows I didn’t think there was any chance he was exceptional in bed or likely to make me come (besides, even if that were a possibility, I could do that at home in three minutes and experience the same mind-numbing seconds I would with him). What I wanted was his attention: I wanted to feel a man’s desire and to be reminded that I was a sexual being, not just a mother of a toddler. The lame bar would have to do.
I’d given birth two years earlier, a few months shy of my 30th birthday. “Pushing will be easy,” the nurse told me after I’d arrived at the hospital, nearly shitting myself on the linoleum floor, repeating “Oh fuck, oh fuck,” sounding like I was having the best orgasm of my life instead of experiencing the most agonizing pain I’d ever known. I was seven centimeters dilated, which impressed the staff. “For someone like you, you’ll be done in 30 minutes.” Instead, I pushed for four hours, ripping the muscle between my ass and my vagina in the process. My OB/GYN, in an effort to loosen me, had used her fingers to repeatedly spread my vagina, scratching both me and my son’s delicate, nearly translucent scalp. At home after being discharged from the hospital, I would find tiny scabs on the top of his head that matched the ones between my legs.



John Thomson’s photos of China (1860s-70s). “Unlike many other early photographers he didn’t spend all his time photographing palaces and ruins. He also captured a lot of daily life including peasants, merchants, and criminals.”


Comparisons as Predictable as the Sunrise

The Pudding: An analysis of 200,000 similes from popular fiction. Similes are all around us. But, if you haven’t considered this figure of speech since grade school, here’s a refresher: similes compare a shared quality of two things, often using “like” or “as.” I pulled every simile in the form “as ___ as ___” from tens of thousands of fiction books for the top 500 most common adjectives.

See also The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows – The word sadness originally meant fullness,” to be filled to the brim with some intensity of experience. It’s not about despair, or distraction, or controlling how you’re supposed to feel, it’s about awareness. Setting the focus to infinity and taking it all in, joy and grief all at once; feeling the world as it is, the word as it could be. 

The unknown and the unknowable, closeness and distance and trust, and the passage of time. And all the others around you who are each going through the same thing. The Romans called it lacrimae rerum, the “tears of things.” We call them obscure sorrows.

This morning Dolphins at Little bay at 10 am with hundreds of salmons

The best spot around Sydney for spotting Dolphins, Whales, Sharks while on land and in the sea …


The sea is about 18 degrees and dolphins are chattier than normal today as there are hundreds of huge salmons to breakfast at little bay …

It must be K’s 35th birthday 🎊 party today …







Bob Dylan and Liza Minnelli Already Turned 80. They Have Thoughts for Trump.

 True forgiveness is when you can say, "Thank you for that experience.

~ Oprah Winfrey


Bob Dylan and Liza Minnelli Already Turned 80. They Have Thoughts for Trump.


On Sunday, President Trump turns 80. By the end of his term, he will be the oldest president in U.S. history. “I feel the same as I did 50 years ago,” Mr. Trump said last month. “It’s crazy.”

Times Opinion asked a handful of notable older Americans to share the best and worst things about being 80. They described the sadness of loss and the freedom age brings — and some offered Mr. Trump advice.

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A black and white portrait of Bob Dylan, surrounded by colorful yellow and blue shapes.

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and Nobel Prize recipient

The best thing

The best thing about being 80 is that you outlive the clocks that have been chasing you. It’s freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control. You don’t chase the parade anymore. You’re an old king from some vanished country. You’re harder to program. You’re not rushing to become anything and you’re not haunted by things that you did. You’re haunted by how little of it really mattered in the way you thought it would.

The worst thing

The worst thing about being 80 is that you still want to say yes to everything, but the world moves without asking. The old fire in your heart still tells you to do this and that, but your body says we already did it. Also, nothing surprises you. It sounds like a luxury but it’s not, and also you’ve run out of illusions. People treat you like either you’ve solved something or you’ve lost something, and you haven’t. You see life repeating itself everywhere.

The really worst part about being 80 is that you find, at last, you’ve got an understanding of something that might have altered everything in the past, had it come at a time when something could still be altered. When you’re young you think that time moves forward. At 80 you know that it doesn’t, it stands still. We’re the ones that move.

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A black-and-white portrait of Liza Minnelli, surrounded by red, yellow and blue shapes.

Academy Award-winning actor, singer and dancer

The best thing


What would you think if somebody said to you, “You’re going to be 80. How do ya feel?” Well, I can tell you, you stop auditioning for approval. You know who you are, what you love and what matters. At 80, the noise fades and the music gets clearer. I’ve had a life in front of audiences, under lights, through triumph and heartbreak. What’s left is joy. Real joy. The kind you don’t chase. You recognize it, you hold it and you say thank you.

The worst thing

You lose people. That’s the truth of it. Friends, collaborators, parts of your own history. You carry them with you, but the room gets quieter. And your body has its own opinions now. I’ve learned to listen, not fight it. You adjust. You find new rhythms. Still, the missing never quite goes away.

Any advice for the president as he turns 80?

I would say this to any president: Turning 80 gives you perspective. You’ve seen enough to know what lasts and what costs people too much. Use that. Stay curious. Stay engaged. Experience is an asset if you keep learning and listening. Surround yourself with people who tell you the truth. You are there to take care of people. Listen when they are struggling. Act with fairness. Remember every decision reaches someone’s real life. Lead with empathy.

A black and white portrait of Robert De Niro, with a peach and orange background.

Academy Award-winning actor, director and producer

The best (and worst) thing

I don’t think of birthday milestones as occasions for reflection. I live my life every day, grateful for the blessings of family, friends and work.

Any advice for the president as he turns 80?

The president doesn’t listen to advice. He surrounds himself with feckless clowns who keep their positions by supporting his every whim. If I were able to pierce the shell of cruelty, greed, corruption and stupidity for one piece of advice … I would advise him to get some good advice from good people, and follow it.


A black and white portrait of Gloria Steinem, with a purple and green background.

Activist and co-founder of Ms. magazine

The best thing

With the needs of work and family more in the past, it’s likely we have some of the immediate pleasures of childhood again, from appreciating pets and nature to seeing family members and friends blossom in unexpected ways. For example, my friend who was a makeup artist has opened a great bookstore.

The worst thing

Losing people you love.

Any advice for the president as he turns 80?


Resign.

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A black and white portrait of Art Garfunkel, readhing his hand into an illustrated popcorn bucket.

Grammy Award-winning singer and poet

The best thing

You gain a longer view. Time stretches behind you, and patterns reveal themselves. The urgency softens. You listen more closely. You notice what endures. For me, it has always been the voice, the words, the quiet spaces between them, and the melody. In your 80s, you trust those spaces. You don’t rush to fill them. You let meaning arrive on its own terms.

The worst thing

The body sets limits, and you’re obliged to accept them. The world you knew changes shape, sometimes faster than you’d like. The joy of being in my 80s is the love for my wife, Kim, and my sons, who are the greatest joys of my life, and of course, the joys of singing and being onstage. Age allows me to truly appreciate the greatness of love every day.

Any advice for the president as he turns 80?


I don’t give advice, because life is a mystery and none of us really know. Still, I would offer this to any president turning 80: Value reflection as much as action. The impulse to move quickly is strong, but depth requires stillness. Seek out voices that challenge your thinking. Read widely. Listen carefully. A nation responds not only to decisions, but to tone. Choose words with care. Let them carry clarity, restraint and a sense of shared humanity.

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A black and white portrait of Dionne Warwick, holding a microphone. She is surrounded by green and blue shapes.

Grammy Award-winning singer

The best thing

The fact that I have been blessed to make it to 80.

The worst thing


Haven’t found anything yet.

Any advice for the president as he turns 80?

Start acting like he is 80!

Illustration by Lucy Jones; source photographs by Kevin Winter, Samir Hussein, Stephen Lovekin, Paul Bruinooge and Monica Morgan/Getty Images; Erik Carter for The New York Times.

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A version of this article appears in print on June 14, 2026, Section SR, Page 12 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘What’s Left Is Joy’: Advice for Trump on Turning 80Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe