From Joan Didion’s essay in Slouching Towards Bethlehem:
[S]elf-respect is a discipline, a habit of mind that can never be faked but can be developed, trained, coaxed forth. It was once suggested to me that, as an antidote to crying, I put my head in a paper bag. As it happens, there is a sound physiological reason, something to do with oxygen, for doing exactly that, but the psychological effect alone is incalculable: it is difficult in the extreme to continue fancying oneself as Cathy in Wuthering Heights with one’s head in a Food Fair bag.
If you have never read this little essay, you absolutely must read it: On Self-Respect by Didion.
Affording the MFA 