#maybelle white

[meyerlansky]

boardwalk empire gifset per episode: white horse pike [4x10] ↳ the way i saw it, it was the same life i was risking either way.

[speakeasyanniversary]

Fire and Gold: A Mix for the Ladies of Boardwalk Empire

For some of the strongest and most broken women, rising from the ashes. By whatever means necessary... For cannibalartist

For @cannibalartist

[speakeasyanniversary]

For @jaspersens

“You love this, tell me you’re not miserable.      You do the math, you expect the trouble.         The seaside town. The electric fence. Draw a circle with a piece of chalk. Imagine standing in a constant cone      of light. Imagine surrender. Imagine being useless. A stone on the path means the tea’s not ready,    a stone in the hand means somebody’s angry, the stone inside you still hasn’t hit bottom.”

- Richard Siken “Seaside Improvisation”

[lemonbrow-empire]

[goatsandgangsters]

Ten Things Angela Loves About Maybelle (Angela/Maybelle)

1. The first time they met—a sense of timelessness through the room, of detachment, as bodies pressed together and heads leaned closer and the self-professed creative souls of the city shared their latest philosophies—she asked Angela who she was, with such a frank honesty that Angela knew immediately she meant more than just her name.

2. When she spoke, she was so earnest that Angela was surprised to hear Maybelle say she was lost, drifting, searching for something she couldn’t find. But they were all lost, Maybelle said, and Angela promised they’d keep looking, together. For the first time in a long time, there was hope that she could.

3. They both smiled more. Even when Maybelle’s latest poem tugged at her soul until she thought her heart might leap through her mouth, Angela always smiled when she finished reading, telling Maybelle that it was beautiful in a reverent whisper.

4. They were sad together, too—sad for the wasted years, the bridges burnt behind them, the loss and the heavy weight they’d borne alone for too long. But they were still together. Angela knew there were blessings to be found even in their shared sadness.

5. Maybelle was beautiful. Her eyes lit up with rapturous joy as she explained the works of her favorite author, her smile beaming with excitement. Angela could hardly capture her look of exuberance in her paintings—but she was going to try. However, she had long since realized that no paintbrush could ever capture the warmth of Maybelle’s heart, the softness of her hands, or the tender quiet in her eyes as they spent their nights coiled together in comfort.

6. They read together at night. Sometimes they read from the same book, peering over one another’s shoulder and prompting the other to turn the page. But most often, they lay together, separate books in hand, arms draped over the other. It was quiet; it was nice.

7. Life was vibrant. The art flowed from her hand in swirls of color and life, rhythmic and floating as the poetry that filled her days. Life had meaning. They were creating a better world, carving it for themselves with the broken bits left around them. Maybelle brought inspiration; Maybelle had determination, vision, an image of what the world could be instead of what it was. They’d fight for it, for each other, to be creators in every way they could.

8. When Maybelle laughed, the world stitched itself back together—for one sweet moment, and that was enough.

9. Maybelle hated mornings. She’d tug the blanket over her head, grumbling as Angela tried to coax her out. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the heels of her hands and Angela would smile. She loved even the little complaints, the sleep that hung in her voice, the way she’d curl against Angela as they stood at the kitchen counter in an attempt to save the warmth she’d left behind in the blankets. Maybelle said that her brother used to tell her nobody liked a morning grump. Angela said that she liked them very much.

10. Tomorrow, Angela knew, Maybelle would still be there.

[goatsandgangsters]

Favorite Familial Relationship: Maybelle and Chalky White (requested by gangstergish)

"It's my life, Daddy." “And how you gonna live it?”

[textsfromtheboardwalk]

→  2/4

[notgrungybitchin]

When Maybelle makes this confession, I read it as her admitting — more to herself than to Narcisse — that she is queer. Specifically, I read it as her admitting she is asexual, because her feelings sound extremely familiar to the asexual experience. Especially since Maybelle would have been familiar with queer artists through her love of the the Harlem Renaissance, I think her saying “I don’t know what I am” shows she might not have yet found an experience that she identifies with in their writings.     Narcisse’s response is significant, and disarmingly insightful.  For truly it was — and still is — especially dangerous for people of color to stray from any behavior that deviated from the strict expectations of upper class white America. And as dangerous as it was for anyone at the time, queer identities have always been more dangerous for people of color to embody and express. In the context of the show, Maybelle is facing a historic period in which there was significant pressure on black Americans to conform to the expectations of white society in order to be accepted.