Carpe Diem

Dark Academia/CottageCore aesthetic Poetry and love creates a beautiful life The love for Dead Poets Society is infinite 23 | Jess | she/they

[ncolxft]

Neil Perry took the whole “dead poets society” thing a bit too seriously

[grungelvrr222]

please dont let this flop i was cackling as i wrote these lolol

[mkvx-deactivated20240202]

@mkvx

[fatehbaz]

enough

news from 24 june 2021

other headlines from the same week:

——-

the news, from 24 june 2021:

Calgary-based Enbridge runs Line 3 and Line 5.

Line 3 brings fossil fuel from the tar sands of Alberta, across northern Minnesota, to the Duluth-Superior area, where Line 5 then collects and continues to transport the fuel across Wisconsin and Michigan to the Sarnia (Ontario) area north of Detroit. In June 2020, the Alberta oil sands pipeline portion in Minnesota, Line 3, was confronted and delayed by Minnesota communities as the Alberta oil industry was erratic and in turmoil. Both Line 3 and Line 5 have faced consistent resistance from multiple Native communities at different points along the pipeline routes. Line 5 has already spilled over 1 million gallons of oil, most of it in the dense forests of the Upper Peninsula near the Wisconsin-Michigan border, and it was scheduled for a major update in 2020 in Michigan (an underwater pipeline beneath Lake Superior, from which the infrastructure would also draw water).

The governor of Michigan has ordered that Line 5 construction end, though Canadian corporations/governments have vowed to fight this order. Meanwhile, the portion of Line 3 in Minnesota has been in headlines throughout spring 2021 as hundreds protest across Minnesota, and others take direct action at pipeline construction sites, leading to sustained and heavy p0lice presence, surveillance, arrests, etc. Despite the spring 2021 cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline project (another Alberta-based project nearby, with a route through Montana and South Dakota), the current US presidential administration  is backing Line 3 and also declined to stop development of the infamous Dakota Access pipeline.

[leitharstjarna]

Can you imagine what cathedrals would have been like if the medievals had access to neon lighting?

[leitharstjarna]

This is the quote I had in mind when making this post.

[leitharstjarna]

Some Vietnamese churches give a glimpse of what it might’ve been like.

[leitharstjarna]

[spritetough]

inside the cathedral of christ the savior, moscow. the neon says “christ is risen”

[bookwormwinnetou]

[deathshallbenomore]

Liverpool

Münster

[macrolit]

by Laura Randazzo

[slavicafire]

what I really like about all these vintage couple’s portraits is that there is a very certain romatic decorum kept up – certain themes and poses – which, while of course being the mainstream preferred view of couples repeated throughout many studios, are just… so nice to look at. 

this staged affection, a mix of theatricality and intimacy, the couple holding still for a couple of moments and now immortalised in a very set sequence of embraces and kisses. there is a charm to it even when I can’t tell whether this was a genuine couple portait or just actors hired by the photographer.

the kiss on the bare shoulder (eyes perfectly averted), the cheek caress, the piano and the violin, the interrupted embrace, the woman tilted back as in a half-stopped dance…

[slavicafire]

I simply must torment you a bit with these, let us see some of my personal favourites! (part one due to the image limit)

let us start with the kiss on the cheek (eyes averted! oh the pose! these were taken between 1910-1940)

or the nearly opposite energy (how daring!) of the kiss or caress with direct eye contact (1910-1930)

and then the innocent – yet so flirty – classic of the park encounter! (1890-1920)

[slavicafire]

and then the famed kiss on the bare shoulder – what an idea, what a vibe, such intimacy! (1910-1930)

and oh, I am not done, look at this – the adoration of the woman! look at this expression, this pose, this decorum! (1910-1940)

and then some of my favourites from the more playful or direct category, enjoy (1910-1930):

[slavicafire]

and, at last (thank you for still being here and witnessing my recent fascination with vintage polish photography) my three absolute favourites outside of any particular categories (1910-1930)

just look at her. just look.

[thoradvice]

it's so easy to deny yourself basic things, like food and sleep, in order to punish yourself. but you deserve better. you deserve tasty foods that make you smile, to sleep in and go to bed early, to be warm and cozy. you never have to "earn" that. you deserve all of that and more just by existing. you're allowed to be kind to yourself. kindness is brave.

[tony-stanks]

PLEASE DO NOT THINK FOR EVEN A SECOND THAT YOUR VOICE WILL NOT HAVE AN IMPACT THIS IS LITERALLY THE BARE MINIMUM

I'm sorry for putting this in the BLM and stop Asian hate tag but in the last few days posts tagged with "Palestine" have not been showing up.

[forthegothicheroine]

I’m not a classicist, but I suspect one of the reasons so many of the Greek gods are portrayed so unflatteringly was less because they were seen as villains than because they represented their domains.  Of course Zeus sometimes misuses his power, that’s what a king does.  Of course Artemis’s wrath is wild and painful, that’s what nature can be.  Of course Hades snatched away a young girl from her mother’s arms, that’s what death does.  This is one of the reasons callout posts for some gods comparing them negatively to ‘nicer’ gods are kind of missing the point.

[stardustemotions-deactivated202]

Not to be over dramatic or anything but the decline in popularity of hand written letters is one of the most disappointing decisions we've made as a modern society.

[archaic-stranger]

dark academia - self care edition

i’m on a school break this week and i’ve been trying to find ways to rest/recharge while i have the time, so here’s a list of some academia-themed self care ideas <3

brew a cup of your favorite tea and look out the window for a bit

cut up some fruit to eat and arrange it nicely on a plate

reread an old favorite book - or just your favorite chapters

bake something or make a nice dinner for yourself

lie on the floor for and listen to music

watch a documentary about something you find interesting, even if it’s one you’ve seen before

put on classical music and take a long bath/shower

make origami with book pages

read some poetry, or write some of your own

light a candle and watch the flame

if you’re religious or spiritual, spend some extra time on your prayers/meditation

buy flowers for yourself (optional: press them between heavy books so you can keep them forever)

tidy your desk

go outside barefoot and stand in the grass until you feel just a little bit cold, then wrap yourself in a blanket to warm up

write yourself a love letter and seal it with wax

as lovely as it is, learning can be quite rigorous and it’s important to avoid burnout. take some time and do something kind for yourself - you deserve it! i love you all and i hope you do something beautiful today <3

[macillacamaulay]

Wealth in Donna Tartt’s novels

One of the criticisms I see repeatedly leveled at Donna Tartt as a writer is that her books are all about rich people. While I certainly agree that her books 100% lack diversity and award primacy to  wealth, I think something people repeatedly miss is that her protagonists are by and large poor people. Depressed people, grieving people, addicts, lonely people, but foremost the voices with which she speaks are those of the extremely unwealthy. Richard Papen is on significant financial aid and almost dies trying to make money during his winter holidays. Theo Decker’s mother is scrabbling to make ends meet when she dies and the only way he manages to haul himself out of poverty is through illegal means and marriage. I am not saying that Tartt is above criticism and I certainly believe there is an unsettling romanticism of wealth in her novels, but at the same time we are provided a view of this world through the eyes of those for whom money is the difference at times between life and death, between comfort and starvation, and ultimately between a life of loneliness and isolation and one of apparent love. Is it unreasonable to believe that a person entirely down on their luck would not be drawn in by the alluring facade of money and comfort? Moreover, she emphasizes the facade rather than luring one into belief. Theo Decker abandons the rich family he almost marries into because of its insubstantial pretense. Richard is forced into the realization that the rich friends he surrounds himself with have used him and are unable to be there for him except as ghosts when it all goes to pieces. Yes, Tartt writes about rich people and at times over-romanticizes and aspires to their lifestyle, but to dismiss her work for this reason is to totally overlook the protagonists through which this opulence is viewed, and what this perspective says about wealth and power.

[leonardcohenofficial]

i think that all stories are about consumption, performance, and/or narrative, and the best combine elements of all three

[leonardcohenofficial]

a thesis as a series of posed questions

consumption: who and what is consuming or being consumed? who is invited to the table? who is given scraps and who eats well? is the consumption an act of love or of violence? is the act of consuming performed alone or with others? is the act of consumption one of ritual, survival, eroticism, pain? who is fed and who starves?

performance: who and what is performing? is there an audience? what is an audience? is the performative act a conscious one? is it a performance if there is no audience? who is watching? who is watching the watchers? does it matter?

narrative: whose story is being told? who is telling the story? whose story is being erased? who is aware they are in a story? who is trying to escape? is the narrative linear, does it loop, does it move backwards? is there a resolution? is the story about the conclusion or the action itself? what haunts this story?

[sophiamcdougall]

Please don’t pirate books at least while the author is alive. I’ll make an exception for actual billionaires and wildly expensive textbooks you cannot afford yet need to complete your studies. I can’t make an exception for assholes, because we’re all considered assholes by someone.  I don’t know how many people realise how many writers who created successful, beloved stories and characters still die poor while other people get rich off the same work. I don’t think people realise that in the UK the current average yearly earnings for an author has nosedived over the last fifteen years to £10,500. That obviously is forcing people to quit writing. It increasingly means writing is a job for people who’ve inherited money or have wealthy spouses who can support them. I don’t know if people realise that in general, writers are poor and getting poorer. I’m sorry, but if you think widespread sense of entitlement to free books has nothing to do with that … you’re just wrong. 

I say I don’t think people realise - the truth is I hope they don’t, because the alternative is that they don’t care. That’s certainly the impression I’ve got from Twitter, where a truly horrifying number of people are arguing that copyright on  all books should expire after thirty years, and you should be able to acquire books for  free after that. This … would not just mean that everyone gets free books. It would mean if you write a book at 30, not only do you lose any royalties from it at 60, but Disney can take it, make a franchise out of it, Scrooge McDuck it up in a pool of money while you starve because writers don’t get workplace pensions.

Some threads on the unintended (?) consequences of this. I can’t go over it all again. John Brownlow NK Jemisin Michael Marshall Smith Me Marina Lostetter Kari Dru and others William Gibson and others

There are plenty of others. It’s not that this actual idea will actually happen, but I do think it reinforces the idea that it’s not only okay, but sometimes actually virtuous to search for ways to enjoy writers’ work without paying for it. Like it’s somehow a step towards a better world. Not just at the reader end, to be fair, at the employer end too. And I do see a lot of people here too who are all about supporting workers unless the workers are writers in which case fuck’em. 

Like. If you want to radically change society in such a way that mass-media conglomerates don’t exist and so can’t exploit us and we’re supported to make art in some other way than fine. But can you start the revolution with actual rich people please, not ask us to live right now, in the society we’ve got, without the money we need to survive it. Finally, a plea: I really, really, do not want to debate this. This whole thing genuinely makes me feel tense and shaky and sick. If you’ve got to disagree - unfollow me, block me, vagueblog somewhere I can’t see it. The Twitter version of this already has me feeling like I’ve been kicked in the gut. I didn’t want to write this post. I just felt I wasn’t going to have any peace until I did.

[sophiamcdougall]

More from Courtney Milan, including on how no, it’s not like patents.

[feuervogel]

So much good here. 

[mikkeneko]

not even about the topic at hand but

I can’t make an exception for assholes, because we’re all considered assholes by someone

[sophiamcdougall]

No there freaking isn’t. A millionaire is not a billionaire-lite. A millionaire is not someone who has absolutely no risk of suffering personal want, and the power to fix multiple social issues and chooses not to.

I chose my words deliberately. If I’d meant “and millionaires” I would have fucking said that. I didn’t forget. 

So much has been said about the difference between a million and a billion that I would have hoped it was no longer necessary to explain it, but here we are. 

 A million is a thousandth of a billion.  A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 32 years. 

If you earned £1000 a day, and spent nothing, it would take you three years to become a millionaire. It would take you 2,470 years to become a billionaire. They’re not even close to the same kind of thing. Obviously it’s fortunate and unusual to be in possession of a million anything at once, (although it’s worth noting that different currencies mean significant differences in how much wealth we’re actually talking) but in a career where it often takes years to create and sell even one book, it should be understood as equivalent to several years of salary coming at once. The safest thing for any writer would be to assume it will never happen again. Your next book bombing - or simply not getting the lucrative film deal your last book did – these are very normal occurrences. Yeah, that wouldn’t in itself take you back to poverty, but it could very easily mean the status of “millionaire” is a one-off blip, not a static condition.    And factor in one fairly normal problem like having to pay for your own or a relative’s longterm care, or any kind of health crisis at all for writers in the US, and you could be back to average levels of wealth at best very quickly.  Also how the hell do you know who is a millionaire? You don’t. 

And people are very quick to assume writers are millionaires, because a book has sold fairly well or has been made into a film or even simply because they’ve heard of them. That’s a big part of the point of this post. People think writers are much, much richer than they are. They are very unaware of how often even books that make money don’t necessarily make money for the writer. (Just look at what happened to Peter Beagle, for a particularly heinous recent example.) They are very keen to find loopholes to  put writers in a special category of person it’s okay to exploit.

Don’t. 

[alexseanchai]

[image: tumblr tag reading “#also an exception for millionaires”.]

[jabberwockypie]

It’s worth noting that those net worth sites where you can google an author’s or a celebrity’s name and their net worth, are complete bullshit with no real basis in fact.

[edgy-sparknotes]

no because that puts Gatsby’s whole quest for wealth and the ‘perfect’ wife, his anger at not receiving an inheritance from his mentor, the whole white supremacy rant which Tom Buchanan goes off on, not to mention Daisy’s hesitance to marrying Gatsby and how no one actually mourns him when he gets murdered, and the Buchanans can just walk away without consequences… IT ALL MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE

[oxbowreality]

If you want to look more into this theory, it’s largely attributed to Dr. Carlyle V. Thompson, a professor of African American and American literature at Medgar Evers College. Looking him up should help point you in the direction of any papers or articles that cropped up around it.

From what I’ve learned, the idea doesn’t run contrary to the original text. It offers an interesting perspective on the themes of race that pervade it. There’s a neat Reddit thread in r/fantheories [here] that offers some evidence in the form of historical context and quotes from the text.

[fernsandsunflowers]

If I was Elizabeth Bennet my entire family abandoning me at the dinner table when Mr. Collins requested a private audience would have been my villain origin story.