Flame, Glass and Ink are Poems, essays, and reading notes by Stefania Joori Suh

Tag: writer

  • prompt 84

    Bloganuary writing prompt
    What’s your dream job?
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    The word “Job” always triggers the image of Job, whose piety to God was tested by Satan, who made him go through the trials of life so that he could curse God for the suffering. The etymology of Job is from Greek Iōb, from Hebrew Iyyōbh, meaning ‘occurrence.’ Or ‘Joining Others’ Business,’ which is hardly anything dreamy.

    My ideal Job is one where I can perform my abilities to the greatest extent possible with good pay and benefits packages to secure my livelihood. After a series of misses on the Wheel of Fortune, I finally landed my current Job as a case manager assistant in a law firm, which I am grateful for (although some of the co-workers behave foolishly and immaturely as if they were teenagers.) It’s not a dream job, and I wouldn’t have to sustain a job if I won a lottery or possessed bequeathed estates from the family trust account. Still, it helps me pay the rents, dues, provide the food and medical to my cats and Mom, and keep my appearance.

    No jobs are dreams; if you insist, they will not last like a midsummer night’s dream because feelings are fleeting and precarious. Earl of Kent wouldn’t have had to get a job if King Lear had not let him go of employment as his trusty servant. And when he got it, it wasn’t his dream job, either.

  • prompt 83

    What makes a good leader?

    A good leader is not only knowledgeable but also patient and understanding. The Homerian virtue of Arete was a combination of military finesse with personal integrity, which applies to today’s prompt topic.

    But in reality, there are a few good men and women in leadership. Many women on the leadership level are afraid of showing traits of feminity and behave overtly professionally, berating other women whom they regard as too gentle or quiet. It is not an overtly manipulated air of aggressiveness that commands respect or attention, which the pretenders mistake.

    It reminds me of Queen Elizabeth I’s Tilbury Address: “I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.” You can be both gentle and firm, and that’s called wisdom. It makes a good leader.

  • prompt 82

    Bloganuary writing prompt
    If you could un-invent something, what would it be?
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    Daylight Saving Time. Puritanical and Calvinistic. I see no absolute necessity in going against the law of nature to disturb our biological rhythms that work differently on individuals by forwarding an hour to work all day as long as the Sun Chariot is racing around the celestial hippodrome. Why not let the time alone and accept the things of nature in summertime? I attribute it to puritanical ethics that waking up early in the morning constitutes an ethical code of a “healthy, wealthy, and wise” individual, as campaigned by Benjamin Franklin. While it has some truth, everyone has different mental and biological dispositions. Sleep deprivation causes loss of memories, anxiousness, nervousness, and attention deficiency. It has to go.

  • Prompt 81

    Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?

    I love you Toro ❤️🥰

    I feel love with Toro, the Tabby General, the only one I can say, ‘ I love you.’ It’s emotionally taxing to work human’s love to be loved as if it were a quid pro quo deal or a meritocratic reward. But with Toro, it is anything but.

    Of course, I also love Camille, the Puss in Black Socks, but Toro is the center of my existence. He is all love and life. Toro is the only one who sees me gladly and greets me with his little head, bunting my leg and hand forcibly, even when I am sulky and miserable. He also sleeps at my feet or sometimes next to me when I sleep as though to dispel nightmares. He knows what I am feeling inside and who I am. Looking at his eyes is seeing my soul reflected in the emerald sea sparkling with curiosity and soothing with lullaby.

    I confide in Toro the maladies of my heart and secrets. Shakespeare said, “Love All, Do Wrong to None, and Trust a Few.” Toro is one of those a few I trust. I read a letter written by Elizabeth Taylor to her beloved cat who went missing after they moved to a house in California from England. I could feel her love toward her missing cat so much that it almost felt physically hurtful for the sorrow she expressed.

    Toro will turn four years old this August and is in good health now, but I am also worried that he will leave me someday. I can’t imagine a world without him and life without his love. So I always ask him to live with me as long as possible and to leave this world together when our times on earth are due. There’s no one like Toro who is as kind and affectionate as he is. He is my friend and my brother. I love him so much in every universe.

  • prompt 80

    Bloganuary writing prompt
    Where can you reduce clutter in your life?
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    I am a person of paradox. I like decorating my tiny room, but I also like it minimal to make it spacious. And there are piles of books to read that I haven’t read yet. I am a vain reader who wants to read a lot but also wants to read only the ones I feel strongly about. Like the faces of Janus, Frivolity and Austerity, Comedy and Tragedy. Very human.


    I rearrange things and organize the room when I am either under dark clouds of mood or the weight of the narrowness of the space. I do not hesitate to throw things that I no longer need because those things are like trendy guests hurriedly leaving the host’s house when feeling no need to stay long. Since my cats’ tower and hammock are the mainstays of our room, creating maximum effect for the minimum capacity is my responsibility and mission to keep our den as enjoyable and livable as possible.


    I wish I could reduce the clutter in my mind’s space that Lord Byron called “the palace of the soul, the dome of thought.” There are so many things occupying it; honestly, I don’t think I will miss them if wiped out. That will be my cleaning Aegean stable. Hercules cleaned it with streams of the river. Of course, he got help from his godly side, but that’s cheating, not by himself alone. Hence I am doing it myway with the habit of writing be the fresh streams of the river to clean my Aegean stable.

  • prompt 79

    What is your favorite animal?

    Toro and Camille from L to R

    I am of Cat People by birth. It is said that the ones born in the year of the tiger are independent, resilient, headstrong, and adventurous, all of which are the characteristics of Cats. Rudyard Kipling called a cat a creature that walked alone, and there is no better epithet than this. All three of us, Me, the Tiger, Toro the Tabby General, and Camille, the Puss in Black Socks, love to be alone but also hate to be alone when together.

    We can be merry and demanding, charming and aloof, affectionate and timid. We are also picky eaters, not in favor of trying new things but adhering to each of our favorite food articles. As Lucy Maud Montgomery, who loved cats very much, said, cats are so lovely, so friendly, and so selfish, which makes them all the more humanlike. When I see my Toro and Camile, I sometimes wonder if they think they are humans, especially Toro, who is not an iota interested in other cats but humans.

    Cats are also for the poor. In ancient Egypt, cats were considered poor men’s lions at home and kept as chief snake catchers. In Europe, cats were chief mousers on the farms. I am grateful for my cats to live in such a tiny apartment with me and my mom.

    My Sweeties 💕❤️🥰🧚‍♀️⭐️

    Many people take pride in publicly announcing their dislike of cats as if there were some virtue in doing it. They compare them with dogs and are peevish about cats’ independence and capriciousness. But that feline tendency suits me, and that’s why I like cats. And my cats are also bilingual, understanding Korean and English when I tell them, “I love you so much in every universe.” Precious. ⭐️✨🌟🧚‍♀️