poem i wrote for @montereybayaquarium and @mbari-blog's winter art theme. (day 11's theme was precious, which is exactly how i felt about these kids.)
full poem text underneath the cut.
based on my very real experience of working at an underfunded elementary school and being the under-trained lead teacher for a week while they learned about the ocean.
Whale fall
Room 303 is learning about the ocean
I'm reading them a book about whale fall
They listen, rapt, eyes wide and mouths
open like so many gasping fish
"Ew" and "Gross" and shrieks ready behind
the ridges of their gums
But they refrain, for now,
Too entranced by the cycle of life
The cycle of death
The cycle of nourishment
A closed loop, a noose, an engagement ring,
the rotating plate of a microwave
Room 303 goes to recess
I watch over them and wonder
If they know they're dancing in whale fall
If they know how thoroughly they may be failed
If they do not learn to sustain themselves on scraps
Life flourishes, in the deepest oceans, in the coldest climates,
in the ribcage of the whale, in the belly of the beast
Life can flourish here, too
That's what I tell myself
The children of Room 303 will feast one day
They will inherit the earth in a state unfit to be passed down
They will rage and resent and renew
And I will regret, already do
regret, not serving them as an anchor longer
For rusting all the way through
The children of Room 303 do not belong there any more than I did
May they be guided by their own light
May they wield their bioluminescence with conviction and joy
May they grow into a thousand forms that have yet to be discovered
But for today, let them dance in the whale fall
Let them think this is all the world is
And find peace in ignorance of abundance
And find joy in the taste of what trickles down to them
scurvy has got to have one of the biggest disease/treatment coolness gaps of all time. like yeah too much time at sea will afflict you with a curse where your body starts unraveling and old wounds come back to haunt you like vengeful ghosts. unless☝️you eat a lemon
saw a woman comforting her sobbing child saying “i already told you, you have to keep looking forward, looking back just gets you hurt” and i thought she was sharing a beautiful life lesson about the importance of letting go of regret and resentment. but it turns out the kid just wasn’t looking where he was going and ran into a wall
has anyone ever tried putting raw eggs in the detergent slot on the washing machine and olive oil in the fabric softener slot to make clothes mayonnaise
HOLY SHIT GUYS, I WAS INSPIRED BY THIS POST TO TRY MAKE THE SONG AND YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT WHEN I DRAGGED THE TRAINING AUDIO OVER THE BACKING TRACK AND IT LINED UP PERFECTLY
The artist Paweł Ponichtera seems to have inexplicably dedicated a massive amount of time and effort to hyper-detailed and hyper-accurate illustrations of chinchillas engaged in historical fencing, many with clear and specific reference to particular historical treatises. So, I give you:
When I was a very suicidal trans activist in Texas, Benjamin Sisko saying “sure, you would [die for your people]. Dying gets you off the hook. The question is: are you willing to live for your people?” changed and possibly saved my life. It’s up there with “if we are going to be damned, let us be damned for who we really are” from Picard. Star Trek not only shows us a better world, it teaches us how to make it there
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