He got up and sat on the edge of the bedstead with his back to the window. “It’s better not to sleep at all,” he decided. There was a cold damp draught from the window, however; without getting up he drew the blanket over him and wrapped himself in it. He was not thinking of anything and did not want to think. But one image rose after another, incoherent scraps of thought without beginning or end passed through his mind. He sank into drowsiness. Perhaps the cold, or the dampness, or the dark, or the wind that howled under the window and tossed the trees roused a sort of persistent craving for the fantastic. He kept dwelling on images of flowers, he fancied a charming flower garden, a bright, warm, almost hot day, a holiday—Trinity day. A fine, sumptuous country cottage in the English taste overgrown with fragrant flowers, with flower beds going round the house; the porch, wreathed in climbers, was surrounded with beds of roses. A light, cool staircase, carpeted with rich rugs, was decorated with rare plants in china pots. He noticed particularly in the windows nosegays of tender, white, heavily fragrant narcissus bending over their bright, green, thick long stalks. He was reluctant to move away from them, but he went up the stairs and came into a large, high drawing-room and again everywhere—at the windows, the doors on to the balcony, and on the balcony itself—were flowers. The floors were strewn with freshly-cut fragrant hay, the windows were open, a fresh, cool, light air came into the room. The birds were chirruping under the window, and in the middle of the room, on a table covered with a white satin shroud, stood a coffin. The coffin was covered with white silk and edged with a thick white frill; wreaths of flowers surrounded it on all sides. Among the flowers lay a girl in a white muslin dress, with her arms crossed and pressed on her bosom, as though carved out of marble. But her loose fair hair was wet; there was a wreath of roses on her head. The stern and already rigid profile of her face looked as though chiselled of marble too, and the smile on her pale lips was full of an immense unchildish misery and sorrowful appeal. Svidrigaïlov knew that girl; there was no holy image, no burning candle beside the coffin; no sound of prayers: the girl had drowned herself. She was only fourteen, but her heart was broken. And she had destroyed herself, crushed by an insult that had appalled and amazed that childish soul, had smirched that angel purity with unmerited disgrace and torn from her a last scream of despair, unheeded and brutally disregarded, on a dark night in the cold and wet while the wind howled

Don’t Cut the NEA: 20 Ways the Government Spends $150 Million

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Donald Trump plans to cut the funding for the NEA, the National Endowment for the Arts.

The budget for the NEA is $150 million annually.

To the average person, $150 million a year sounds like a lot of money. But since $150 million is actually only .006% of the annual budget of the federal government, it’s actually quite small.

Here is a list of some other things the U.S. Government spends $150 million on.

What The Government Spends $150 Million On 

Cost of one year of housing for a handful of private-sector mercenaries in Afghanistan: $150 million

The annual cost of a teacher leadership program in Iowa: $150 million

The cost of building a website, Healthcare.gov: around $150 million

The single-day cost of Donald Trump’s inauguration: $150 million

Amount cheese farmers want from the government for their 90-million pound cheese surplus: $150 million

What a single fighter jet, the F-22 Raptor, costs per jet: $150 million

The amount that the expansion plan for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan will run over budget: $150 million (total cost is $774 million)

The price of a single bridge in Pennsylvania: $155 million ($650 million total)

A bypass road in Ohio: $150 million in federal funds ($200 million total)

The loan for a 1.6 mile road in San Francisco: $150 million

The amount that governor Cuomo wants to spend on a research and science laboratory: $150 million

Amount of a grant to the Palestinian Authority in October of 2011: $150 million (total assistance for the year: $700 million)

Cost of building less than a mile of a subway line: $150 million

Amount of an accounting error that caused New York to overcharge the federal government on Obamacare: $150 million

Amount the Department of Housing is spending on developing sustainable housing: $150 million

Amount of a grant to promote healthy marriage and reentry services for formerly incarcerated fathers: $150 million

A grant to revitalize public housing in 5 neighborhoods: $150 million

The amount spent on office furniture and building upgrades by the Department of Homeland Security: $150 million

The cost of bonds sold for plumbing upgrades and other repairs for Chicago schools: $150 million

 

Amount Governments Spend Per Person on the Arts

$150 million might still sound like a lot, but it’s helpful to consider what other countries spend on funding for the arts.

All of the numbers in the infographic to the right have been adjusted into U.S. dollars. The statistics are from 2014. 

All of these numbers are per citizen and this is money spent on the arts.

  • America spends .41 cents per citizen
  • Sweden spends $1.6
  • Finland spends $8.4
  • Northern Ireland spends $11.6
  • Germany spends $20
  • France $151
  • England $269
  • Australia $318

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writers and Artists are Not Getting Rich

The NEA has provided employment to more than 3,000 writers over the last 40 years, and many writing friends of mine have gotten grants from the NEA to pursue writing projects. The books they write end up benefitting society as a whole. 

They are not getting rich from these grants. Writers and other artists receives $25,000 for the year. For a year’s worth of work, that ends up as $12 an hour, which is less than the average salary for front-line In & Out employees, who make $14 an hour.

It’s clear that the plan to cut the NEA is a misguided attempt to slash expenses.

Trump says he plans to boost spending to the military between 500 billion and 1 trillion. The paltry amount spent on the NEA each year is dwarfed by these kind of numbers.

 

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Every writer NEEDS this book.

It’s a guide to writing the pivotal moments of your novel.

Whether writing your book or revising it, this will be the most helpful book you’ll ever buy.

Learn More