Worrying was painful .... but compared to the alternative, a privilege Laura Moriarty More Quotes by Laura Moriarty More Quotes From Laura Moriarty My mother says that when Mrs. Rowley is mean, which is generally the case, it is really because she is just unhappy, and who could blame her with a husband like that . . . She says this is really the only reason people are ever mean--they have something hurting inside of them, a claw of unhappiness scratching at their hearts, and it hurts them so much that sometimes they have to push it right out of their mouths to scratch someone else, just to give themselves a rest, a moment of relief. Laura Moriarty husband hurt mother You could push people away, past their limits, even accidentally, and then it was just too late to get them back Laura Moriarty too-late people past I am supposed to be where I go. Laura Moriarty supposed-to-be I always found Louise Brooks interesting. She was an icon of the silent - film era, and I knew she'd grown up in Kansas, and that she was smart and rebellious and sharp - tongued. Laura Moriarty silent-films icons smart This life is mine because of good luck. And because I reached out and took it. Laura Moriarty this-life good-luck life-is The young can exasperate, of course, and frighten, and condescend, and insult, and cut you with their still unrounded edges. But they can also drag you, as you protest and scold and try to pull away, right up to the window of the future, and even push you through. Laura Moriarty insult cutting trying I'm drawn to intergenerational tension, and it must have been strong in the 1920s: I wondered how Louise's [Brooks] generation of flappers appeared to the women who came of age at the beginning of the century - wearing corsets, long skirts, and high collars. Laura Moriarty strong age long This is how it is now. This is my life. Laura Moriarty It's like swimming, underwater, this whole year. I just close my eyes. hold my breath, and keep kicking. Laura Moriarty swimming eye years Someone needs to give the Pope thirteen babies. Just for a week or so. See how he likes no birth control then. Laura Moriarty baby giving needs I wasn't that familiar with silent films. I didn't know, for example, how hugely popular silent films were in the 1920s, how people would go to the movies several times a week. Laura Moriarty silent-films example people I know that sometimes when you are really worried about something, it ends up not being nearly as bad as you think it will be, and you get to be relieved that you were just being silly, worrying so much over nothing. But sometimes it is just the opposite. It can happen that whatever you are worried about will be even worse than you could have possibly imagined, and you find that you were right to be worried, and even that, maybe, you weren't worried enough. Laura Moriarty opposites silly thinking Maybe children just want whatever it is they don't get. And then they grow up and give their children what they wanted, be it silence or information, affection or independence--so that child, in turn, craves something else. With every generation the pendulum swings from opposite to opposite, stillness and peace so elusive. Laura Moriarty swings growing-up children Shooting stars are not really stars at all but meteorites, burning their way through our atmosphere, sometimes landing in the oceans and in the middle of farms...you could make wishes on them if you like, but they are really just pieces of rock falling down from the sky, and they could land on your head and kill you just as you look up to make a wish. Really, they're just rocks. They don't care about your wishes at all. Laura Moriarty ocean stars fall While I was writing the book, I went to see Louise Brooks's most famous film, Pandora's Box, at the Tivoli in Kansas City, and it was a lovely experience. You can watch old silent films on DVD or even on YouTube, but it was a different feeling watching her up on the big screen, seeing the film the way people saw it all those years ago. Laura Moriarty dvds writing book One way to remain unfinished is to stop. the other is to go on. Laura Moriarty unfinished goes-on way I learned a lot of details about 1920s clothes, cars, kitchen appliances, and food. I had a character eating peanut butter in one scene until I learned that peanut butter wasn't commercially packaged and sold until 1924. Laura Moriarty clothes car character Yes, Louise Brooks was beautiful and intelligent, and she could be very funny, but obviously there was a deep insecurity there, a real destructive rage and immaturity. Laura Moriarty intelligent real beautiful The thing that got me about the Orphan Trains was that the experiences were so varied. Some of the kids went from neglect and hunger in New York to loving farm families who couldn't wait to fatten them up, who gave them medical care, an education, affection. And some of the kids became the victims of terrible cruelty, and more hunger, and more neglect - it all depended on who adopted them off of the train. Laura Moriarty new-york waiting kids I don't think I've ever tried on a corset, though a certain bridesmaid's dress did require a torturous bustier that will stay forever burned in my sensory memory. Laura Moriarty forever memories thinking
