[brucelewisphotography]

In The Garden

[thedurvin]

The Trial (1962)

Arrested for an unnamed crime, Josef K. is trapped in a surreal bureaucratic maze where justice is unknowable and guilt is assumed.

As much as Tumblr lately likes Franz Kafka, y’all should know about Orson Welles’ tragicomic adaptation of “the Trial” starring Anthony “the guy from Psycho” Perkins as Josef K, who is arrested on charges that nobody is willing to explain to him. MIGHT just be a coincidence that Perkins and Welles were both bi but maybe think about that while you watch

[titleknown]

Fun fact: Orson Welles considered this the best movie he ever did.

Note that this is the guy who also did fucking Citizen Kane, so that does say something...

[larien-vardamir-arcamonel]

“There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored. The reader of today looks for this motion, and rightly so, but what he has forgotten is the cost of it. His sense of evil is diluted or lacking altogether, and so he has forgotten the price of restoration.”

— Flannery O’ Connor, Speech at Weslayan College 1960/ Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction

[bloodofelves]

NORCO (2022) ↳ You often dreamed that the towers were cathedrals. That the swamps listened when you spoke. That the birds became radiant spheres while circling Norco’s sky.

[havingapoemwithyou]

I THINK LOVE IS SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS TO OTHER PEOPLE by Michael Gray Bulla

[calibvrnvs]

Ulf Jenninger

Leipzig Gehweg

2026

[enki2]

[anachrosims]

just in case anyone forgot how wildly colorful Georgian interiors could be, even among the working class to the wealthy:

[anachrosims]

and EVEN WHEN things were more muted/neutral, the neutrality was OFFSET by ACCENT COLORS and HIGH CONTRAST between the wood tones and everything ELSE

ALSO AMERICAN COLONIAL INTERIORS POPPED OFF, Y'ALL (IN TERMS OF COLOR/COZINESS)

PEOPLE USED WHITEWASH AND COLORFUL TRIM OR EVEN JUST COLORFUL FURNITURE IF THEY COULD AFFORD TO DO SO

AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON FRENCH AND BRITISH AND AMERICAN WALLPAPERS

"ELIZABETH" YOU CRY, "WHY ARE YOU BEING SO EXTRA THIS MORNING?! IT'S MONDAY"

Because, my friend, my war on GREIGE will NEVER end.

Historic interiors were filled with LIFE and LIGHT and COLOR. ALWAYS HAVE BEEN.

Part of the reason we don't see a lot of textile art is because, frankly, textiles tend to degrade over time - especially ones that had utility! And yes, pigments and weaving and dying all boosted the expense of things, when we were finally reliably block-printing fabrics and broad reams of paper, it was no longer just the wealthy who could afford pretty patterns!

In the Americas, a far wider variety of pigments also became available because of the abundance of... well, a shitton of flora and minerals, some of which weren't as common in Europe.

WHY THE HIGHLIGHTER COLORS? you ask.

CANDLES.

Those colors reflect candlelight and natural sunlight REALLY WELL.

Humans LOVE bright colors, it's NOT just a thing for kids. We live in a brilliant, vibrant, multifaceted world. We ALWAYS have.

(STOP MAKING YOUR HISTORIC SIMS 4 BUILDS BE BLAND. STOP IT.)

[periodinteriors]

On the subject of Colonial America: don't forget, even if you couldn't afford wallpaper, wall stenciling might still be in reach!

(If ever you have the opportunity to visit the Stencil House at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont (pictured above at 3, 4, and 5), I highly recommend.)

And that's before you get into American painted murals:

Embrace the decorative arts, folks!

[arte-artem-artibus]

Raymond Grandjean - Untitled, 1958, oil on canvas, 28 ¾ x 23 ⅝ in

[em-iliart]

how this week has felt

[em-iliart]

Prints of these are now up on my inprnt! Link in bio as always and thank you for the lovely comments 🖤

[clementine-kesh]

i read an interview with a mathematician recently where she talks about the commonalities between math and literature and the idea that playfulness is a key part of doing both of those things. there’s a lot of fun to be had in turning a concept over and over, finding novel ways to look at it or combine it with other things, and i think that idea of playfulness also applies to analysis + critique. looking at a story through different lenses to see what new insights you can gain, reading intertexts and learning about the context in which it was created. finding a new bit of theory and saying hey wait a minute, i can use this to talk about [insert favourite media here]! it’s fun!

[clementine-kesh]

if i can get on my professional educator soapbox for a moment i think the reason a lot of people struggle with the idea that analysis and critique can be fun is that our education system in general is not designed to make the intellectual process seem particularly fun, or like something that can be approached in a playful manner (see also: the mathematician’s lament). thinking deeply about things for the sake of thinking deeply about things seems ridiculous because it’s associated with the stress of grades and too much homework and general bad pedagogy. it creates a lack of confidence in one’s own intellectual abilities that makes even the act of trying seem like too much. and it’s not at all impossible to grow past this and find the fun in the intellectual process but you do have to push past a lot of that fear and anxiety first

[clementine-kesh]

here’s the original article as well as a mathematician’s lament

[calibvrnvs]

[pmamtraveller]

UNHELD — Lina Poluna, 2026, Oil on canvas

[tpwrtrmnky]

Like. Look. Listen. I have taught introductory quantum physics at a university level, and I need you all to incorporate this into your trans advocacy: There are situations where you need to make a decision to prioritize being comprehensible to your target audience above being The Most Unassailably Correct.

[peppermintquartz]

You can try to teach a toddler about germ theory or you can get them to wash their hands because "yucky"

[tpwrtrmnky]

Teaching a toddler to wash hands because yucky when the Ethics Understander crashes through the roof. "STOP RIGHT THERE," the Ethics Understander shouts at me. "The disgust response is not a legitimate substitute for a considered value judgment, and in fact, weaponizing disgust instead of grounding those judgments in a more rigorous framework is fundamental to reactionary rhetoric!"

The toddler looks at me. "You are a fascist, auntie. I have seen the light and will now go eat chewing gum from the pavement, unless you can educate me on a rigorous framework on the microbiology of pavement chewing gum this very instant."

[feotakahari]

But I’m not a toddler, and I would never want someone to tell me the “for toddlers” version of their beliefs. If I found out they weren’t telling me their actual beliefs, I’d get mad and stop trusting them. So I don’t want to treat other adults like they’re toddlers.

[liprairian]

This is something I had to struggle with a lot in my job. I know at least a few of my colleagues have had similar journeys, so I'm going to put mine here as an example.

I spend a lot of time explaining things like technology and legislation as someone with a Master's degree speaking to farmwives. One of my personal sparks-to-tinder rage triggers is being condescended to, and so I at first spent a lot of energy not adapting my communication much at all because I feared making everyone hate me.

Finally, a coworker I really looked up to, an absolutely brilliant high-powered former kindergarten teacher, took me aside and told me, as one teacher to another, that I needed to slow down. It helped a lot that she'd vented to me before about resenting becoming the "little old lady" everyone talked down to as soon as she walked into a phone store; she wouldn't be telling me this if I were in danger of condescending. It felt a little like permission. She was insanely good at her job.

Over the next 5 years, I gradually figured out that I could turn what felt like condescension into a much more natural-feeling curiosity towards other people's mental models and skill sets. In fearing condescension, I'd taken things too far in the other direction and started assuming everyone had my background knowledge... But both of those problems have the same root cause, which is skipping the step of taking the time to figure out where someone is at before you launch into explanation.

I developed scripts for it, as I got better, and it's certainly easier to develop those scripts as a response to someone asking you for an explanation, rather than trying to change someone's beliefs on the fly. But leading with genuine and genuinely curious questions, I find, rarely leads me astray. What does this person already know? What's the story they tell about it, if asked to explain it themself? What do they find practical and applicable about this information - what parts of this subject do they think they'll use?

I'm going to be working on these skills my whole life; to teach well, you have to decenter yourself, and for me that kind of progress comes in fits and starts. But this is what's worked for me to get a start on it!

[weepingwidar]

Kay Seohyung Lee (Korean, 1995) - Allergy Valley (2019)

[cauchyfeelings]

All math jokes aside (for now), we're generally first taught to "solve" problems in math and I think that may be where math loses a lot of people because the intuition doesn't come easily. It's plug and chug and input and output and you don't really get to "understand" the nature of it.

As you continue (if you should choose to do so) math becomes more abstract because it's not necessarily about plugging and chugging and solving (although yes you do need to solve it lmao). It's more about how to visualize and see the "nature" of the problem, how to see the entire system as a whole. This is where representation and structure start to matter because now it's about perspective. Understanding the system through different lenses.

You intentionally have to choose a space, coordinate system, etc. to "uncover" the structure because different representations illustrate and emphasize different properties.

We must be intentional with how we choose to "manipulate" the system because we're not just trying to "solve" something we're trying to understand what's actually happening. And this is where you have to be patient because the math might not come out clean or sometimes it doesn't work out on the first try etc. It might be a bit frustrating but math requires patience because it reveals itself slowly.

And for me personally this is where I find the beauty in math.

Some might not have the patience and might get frustrated because what they tried didn't work out or it becomes too complicated or simply because it just takes too long (I know I still get frustrated as well). But if you look at math as a relationship you'd understand how patience and being intentional and looking at different perspectives is so valuable.

Understanding anything deeply whether it's math people relationships etc requires patience intention and openness. And it's in that understanding that makes it beautiful.

Heck to take it one step further I argue it's in the endurance and slowness that you start to fall in love with things. I believe this is why modern day hustle culture and grind and all that overlooks slowness because it wants what is quick hitting and dopamine inducing only to feel unresolved and on the search of "whats next" rather than staying long enough to uncover "whats deeper".

Sometimes love is just staying.

[illustrationartgallery]

Anatoly Fomenko