The Modesty Writers Guild

Beauty is not only a terrible thing, it is also a mysterious thing. There God and the Devil strive for mastery, and the battleground is the heart of men. Dostoevsky

it is time to finally wake the dead, though sleepers rest in guilty bed's. with eyes awake they fall asleep, their hearts doth toil, avoiding passions ill defeat. what's become of this called modesty? who killed what they thought they could not keep? as if love bought into could not be sold, we burn the book's before the stories unfold. who burdened this thing to the daughter's of eve, to pursue such things that one can not see? for long hard years their lives revolve, like a minor chord which seems nor to resolve. i must admit i am as guilty as they, to this matter i have been a hard working slave. for in the beginning it is as a dear friend, but strike's like slow moving venom quite near the end. wake o sleeper from shallow of graves, though you part the memories will remain. try as you will for you shall never escape, love in its splendor; and death in it's heartbreak. -7.27.05

"when walking downtown here this evening, i intermittently look around at all these people with their armani suits, and the women with there channel handbags and matching scarves and wonder why they were so lucky to be born with everything figured out. they just look like they know what they are doing. if they have any insecurities at all it has been masked by there flawless makeup smiles and grappling, prestigious, and manly hand shakes. how do they get their teeth so white, how did they get success as a genetic predisposition, have they read some timeworn text that i have not yet ascertained? did they figure out who moved the cheese and why and did they get it back? they look so... found. and i feel so...opposite. does money make one gratified? have i missed my calling? we have all heard the saying that money doesn't make a person happy but @ this point in life i have no money and i am not happy.im totally willing to try the whole rich thing. i could be guineane pig to prov...

start a journal. stop smoking for good. write the screen play you promised yourself you would always write. take singing lessons, please. lose 10 pounds. gain 10 pounds in muscle. listen to a new type of music. read about another religion. book that ticket. don’’t call your x. stop looking for mr. right. start becoming mrs. right. start painting, start with your room. take a black and white photo. walk don’t drive next time. look around while walking.start a journal. try a different drink next time, it might be your new favorite. give the homeless man more than your money, give him a conversation. see something beautiful in chaos. see something beautiful in yourself. see something beautiful in both at the same time. call your family, yes all of them. enjoy the sunshine, even though your sweating. write a mission statement. write 10 places you want to see before you die. go to 20. talk to yourself. talk to God. really talk to someone you have never talked to before, even if youv’e had c...

"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it." ‚ Henry Emerson Fosdick

my friend josh tillman is also one of the most refreshing musicians i have ever had the pleasure of listening to. i think when you hear him you will agree. you can listen and order his new CD from his site jtillmanmusic.com do yourself a huge favor and check his stuff out.

Please get involved. this dear women has given her life to help orphans in Tanzania. She would love anyone to volunteer and go to Tanzania to help. If you cannot take the time off please send your prayers or thoughts. @ very minimum please email her and tell her thanks for making a difference in this world. Her email address is: lynnkaziahelliott@hotmail.com this is a letter she wrote me updating me on her life. Just read her heart below. Hello Stephen, Greetings from Moshi in Tanzania on a very hot day! Thank you so much for your word of encouragement, the team appreciates it very much, when their work is recognized... My family and I serve freely, and we try to answer every desperate cry for help... As you will have probably seen on our mission statement, we do not ask for any funding - although - sometimes our need is great, we just wait for hearts to be inspired to send us a donation so we can help more children and more of the unsupported people in the bush..... Each week, we a...

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the doorsill where two worlds touch. The round door is open. Don't go back to sleep. -Djalal ad Din Rumi

ok 2 different people told me about postsecret.com and it is now my favorite site on the web! people send in postcards that mirror their darkest secret, and announce it to the world anonymously. i think a lot of things i can see in myself. and i think i love it so much because i almost feel normal.

stephen christian brisban, australia the paper girl 7.05

random http://www.foundmagazine.com/ it is just random things found across the world know any other random sites? -estaban

MARS from: astronomy magazine. The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reac...

well its 3:30am and i cant seem to feel tired. jet leg set in, and i guess i have no reason to feel tired since i slept in till 5pm. the topic of money is so, well im ignorant to the facts of money. me talking about it is like me trying to tell a person how to maintain a marriage. i have never been in a marriage so i couldn't tell you, and i have never had money so i don't really know what it feels like. what i can tell you is that while i have no financial merit i do consider myself very wealthy. i have a beautiful life, wonderful friends, and gas enough to get the local coffee shop. one of my closest friends, however, has a lot of money, but they are more concerned about hoarding it then they are about spending it. i think life is all about making memories, not getting a rush from a once a month bank statement. i read somewhere that while americans are rich in money they are poor on time, and just coming back from australia i saw it for myself. in australia even though the ma...

i received this this morning.  ‘I've actually always had numerous thoughts run through my head and had trouble getting them out. You inspired me quite some time ago, but its just now hitting me and I'm just now getting around to writing again...for that I thank you Stephen!’ Unexpected Rhapsody  It's quite lengthy, but I had a lot on my mind. Thanks again, but I think its time for sleep.”  -kris i did not post this on modesty to congratulate myself on inspiring, for hopefully that is what each one of us do every day. but i posted it because first off this is a great blogspot, she is very well thought out, and openhearted. and second of all because i hope she inspires you to write out your feelings and be transparent. each of you has the ability to teach someone else something worthwhile. each one of you has a different passion that i myself could learn from. in the book “blue like jazz” don miller in the intro said when speaking about jazz, ‘sometimes you have to watch some...

"Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession." -Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I've been thinking a lot about the entire circumference of life. birth life death. everything in between. we all go threw all the cycles. take it for granted in the begining. appreciate it only when were nearing the end. for example. the other day in the airport leaving NYC i saw an old man who just saw his 12-14 year old grandfather for the first time in what appeared to be a great while. the grandfather was near tears to see how big the young man had grown. the kid just stood there numb to the entire situation; but the grandfather grabbed him by the face and kissed both cheeks. i remember being that kid. everytime my grandparents would try to hug/show affection i would back away. make it as quick as possible. i thought they were wrinkled and well... old. but then i realized that not only do i remember being that kid, but i will be that old wrinkled man one day. i will be overwhelmed @ the sight of my grandchildren. i will love them unconditionally. i will want to kiss both of the...

"A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. A revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast between poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists in the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America only to take profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: 'This is not just.'" - Martin Luther King Jr.

there are things in life that baffle me. aerodynamics, thermodynamics, love, chemistry, trigonometry, etc. but lately the most baffling concept to me is bands who think that they deserve to be in the spotlight and don't appreciate the fan's that put them there. i know my place, when people come to show's i am there for them, they did not come to see me. i am nothing more than an entertainer and am no more important than any of the people that i perform for. i wanted to say thank you for those who have come to see anberlin; i appreciate every song you have sung along with, every clap of your hands, every moment of your life you have shared with us, and every picture you have allowed me to take with you. i am sorry if i have ever acted like a rockstar to anyone, i would have never intentionally done that to anyone, but everyone makes mistakes. please give me another chance. please don't think you are bothering me when you get on stage and sing along, come ask me for my si...

It is not physical solitude that actually separates one from others; not physical isolation, but spiritual isolation. It is not the desert island nor the stony wilderness that cuts you from the people you love. It is the wilderness in the mind, the desert wastes in the heart through which one wanders lost and a stranger. When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others. How often in a large city, shaking hands with my friends, I have felt the wilderness stretching between us. Both of us were wandering in arid wastes, having lost the springs that nourished us - or having found them dry. Only when one is connected to one's own core is one connected to others, I am beginning to discover. And, for me, the core, the inner spring, can best be refound through solitude.

the human heart is the most confusing vessel in the human makeup. who knows where it leads or why it leads, or at what speed it can be led. why is it when everything seems so right it has the capibility to be so very wrong. if life had a roadmap it would be so easy, but yet so boring. if we knew the future what is there for risk, for adventure, in fear, in love, in destiny and fate. but at points i would trade it all in so that i could never hurt anyone again. so that i didn't question, i just knew.