"Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate who transfigured American literature, dies at 88."

“The Bluest Eye” (1970), Ms. Morrison’s debut novel, was published as she approached her 40th birthday, and it became an enduring classic. It centered on Pecola Breedlove, a poor black girl of 11 who is disconsolate at what she perceives as her ugliness. Ms. Morrison said that she wrote the book because she had encountered no other one like it — a story that delved into the life of a child so infected by racism that she had come to loathe herself.

“She had seen this little girl all of her life,” reads a description of Pecola. “Hair uncombed, dresses falling apart, shoes untied and caked with dirt. They had stared at her with great uncomprehending eyes. Eyes that questioned nothing and asked everything. Unblinking and unabashed, they stared up at her. The end of the world lay in their eyes, and the beginning, and all the waste in between.”

Comments

"It's just a type of berry from Japan, unfortunately. Very cool though!"

Went to a small fruit farm were they grew strawberries crossed with raspberries. from r/pics Rubus illecebrosus — "a red-fruited species of Rubus that originally came from Japan (where is it called バライチゴ, roseberry), but is also very popular in some European countries like Lithuania. Common names include balloon berry and strawberry raspberry."

"Apple has suspended its practice of having human contractors listen to users’ Siri recordings to 'grade' them..."

"The company said it would not restart the programme until it had conducted a thorough review of the practice.... The suspension was prompted by a report in the Guardian last week that revealed the company’s contractors 'regularly' hear confidential and private information while carrying out the grading process, including in-progress drug deals, medical details and people having sex. The bulk of that confidential information was recorded through accidental triggers of the Siri digital assistant, a whistleblower told the Guardian. The Apple Watch was particularly susceptible to such accidental triggers, they said.... Although Apple told users that Siri data may be used 'to help Siri … understand you better and recognise what you say,' the company did not explicitly disclose that this entailed human contractors listening to a random selection of Siri recordings, including those triggered accidentally...." The Guardian reports. What is voluntarily stopped can be ...

"She inspired me so much, it helped me to slow down. The way she would notice the little things like the colour of the mushrooms on the ground."

"I was focused on goals, like climbing the mountain, but sometimes it's not all about the epic views, it's about enjoying those little moments too." From "Why this 89-year-old is visiting every US national park with her grandson" (BBC). There's also the question why would a young, strong person would travel to grand and extreme landscapes with a companion who is slower and less stable and vigorous. That's my own photograph of mushrooms, noticed on a walk in 2010 in the Apostle Islands National Seashore. It's good to see the small things within the big.

kajakinu

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