The Hummingbird Sound

Just a bunch of stuff (no real focus to this blog). I'm old (for Tumblr) (part of the Oregon Trail/xennial generation). I'm also on Bluesky. She/Her.

[userarmand]

jacobanderson: Love you forever Mean-spirited Long Table Louis in Azalea era Raspberry Suit ❤️‍🔥

[just-french-me-up]

the urge to write is like a cat meowing for dear life for someone to open the goddamn door, who then shows utter disinterest in said open door

[mancandykings]

TOM HOLLAND as Peter Parker SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (2026)

[alwaysscreechingbasement]

[cryptidjeepers]

just watched a star trek episode about a planet that relied so heavily on it's computer system that they all forgot the basics of their own knowledge. and that allowed them to miss the fact that they were being posioned with radiation and nearly ending their civilization. because they couldn't use their own knowledge to figure things out. i bring this up for no reason in particular

[rainbowlimenade]

[bethanydelleman]

The most amazing thing to me about Jane Austen is that she staunchly refuses to leave any woman behind. It doesn't matter if a woman is an antagonist, a side character, or what, the reader is assured that they will be okay. This is so different from fiction at the time or even now.

Marianne Dashwood, living a plot perfect for a tragic death by illness to preserve the beauty of her first attachment and disappointment? Nope, she lives and loves with her whole heart again. Maria Rushworth, the fallen woman who cheated on her husband does not die for her crimes or even fall into poverty or prostitution, her father and Aunt Norris will provide for her. She is punished, but she's protected. Lydia Bennet? Her two sisters will provide for her for the rest of her life. Her husband's debt will not destroy her. Miss Bates? There is an entire community around her no matter what happens and her newly rich niece will provide. No woman is even left as a governess, Miss Taylor is Mrs. Weston, Jane Fairfax becomes Mrs. Churchill instead. Mrs. Smith is pulled out of her indigent state by Anne and Wentworth.

The only woman Jane Austen allows to suffer a terrible fate is off-page and dead long before the novel begins: Eliza Brandon. Eliza Williams, her mother's affair baby, is ruined by Willoughby. Colonel Brandon could easily have washed his hands of her and her affair child, but he doesn't. Eliza Williams is going to be okay. Her child will be okay.

Antagonist women never fall into poverty or die for their crimes, most of them are even in loving marriages. Fanny Dashwood is cruel to her mother and sisters-in-law, one could imagine her falling low in karmic retribution, but no, she's fine. Lady Susan, the delightful anti-heroine, marries a baronet at the end of her novel. No punishment looms on the horizon for her promiscuity and deception. Caroline Bingley has a loving family that will never turn her away and an independent fortune. Mary Crawford has a loving sister. Isabella Thorpe may have lost the big prize, but she has her mother. Never is a woman thrown to abuse or poverty, even when they have attacked other women. The only punishment would come from their own conscience or regret for the goodness they have thrown away.

Jane Austen somehow imagines a world where even the worst women are safe.

[bethanydelleman]

#jane austen#is truly a better woman than me#because idk if I could ever be so charitable to women I find hateful at worst or annoying at best#and yet the sentiment lying therein is something more women could adopt#we *should* want women to be safe#even if we don't get along with them#because women are already at the mercy of a merciless society#women should be able to have a safety net *somewhere*#and Jane gave that to pretty much every woman in her stories#that's a lovely thing to do#for real tho#my history people#19th century (via @elizabeth-karenina)

[katherinetheok]

For people who don't read a lot of literature from that period, I cannot overstate how many of Austen's characters would have died/been forced into a life of prostitution for their "sins". That was the literary expectation because you didn't want to risk the impressionable young women reading the novels to think it was okay to enjoy sex or otherwise not be a paragon. Jane Austen made the intentional choice not to write that kind of outcome for her stories ("let other pens dwell on guilt and misery") and she was going against the tide big time by doing so. The balls ovaries on that woman. She knew the world could be cruel to women, but she also knew the world could be kind to them, and she chose kindness every single time.

[aquitainequeen]

There's even a short moment in P&P when some of the nastier inhabitants of Meryton are disappointed that things aren't turning out as they expected, and that Lydia isn't ruined and won't become a prostitute/courtesan/outcast:

The good news quickly spread through the house, and with proportionate speed through the neighbourhood. It was borne in the latter with decent philosophy. To be sure, it would have been more for the advantage of conversation had Miss Lydia Bennet come upon the town; or, as the happiest alternative, been secluded from the world, in some distant farm house. But there was much to be talked of in marrying her; and the good-natured wishes of her well-doing which had proceeded before from all the spiteful old ladies in Meryton, lost but little of their spirit in this change of circumstances, because with such an husband her misery was considered certain.

('come upon the town' being slang for becoming a sex-worker)

And while Austen certainly acknowledges that Lydia and Wickham's marriage is pretty dire, her life still won't be a misery, no matter what the spiteful old ladies in Meryton desire.

[bethanydelleman]

I love the way the gossip in Meryton is almost it's own character, and like Mr. Collins, we see the spiteful side during Lydia's scandal.

Additionally, I love that the ending of Pride & Prejudice includes that Jane and Elizabeth have this constant annoyance of Lydia asking them for money for so many reasons, one because I find it realistic that everything isn't perfectly happy, but on a much more important level, this is Jane Austen telling us that Lydia will be okay. Here is a character who never learned her lesson, disgraced her family, and continually causes shame to her sisters, but she's going to be okay. They will always be there for her anyway. It's beautiful. And people who want Elizabeth to cut her off... Elizabeth loves her sister. Despite everything.

[yancant]

Happy Birthday Peter

[myfootyrthroat]

I think some of y'all would really benefit from learning the scope of power of various political offices.

[smegorl]

Are you trying to tell me my local schoolboard doesn't have the ability to declare a unilateral ceasefire with iran?

[myfootyrthroat]

If they try hard enough and are pure of heart... still no.

[riceflavor]

Paradoxically I think people often dismiss local elections as useless, which is also absolutely not true. Your local schoolboard might be aggressively banning books, or they might be fighting a trans sport ban. Paying attention to who gets elected to that board is important. It's just also important to know what you're electing someone to do, and what they can do.

[vixen-flame]

while that's true, I'm pretty sure the original point is that people overestimate what presidents (and other officer) can actually do or affect

[myfootyrthroat]

It's both! People get mad at local positions for not tackling federal issues and get mad at national positions for not doing things governed by local offices.

Sometimes it's easier to just harass your park board into doing something rather than to harass your senator into creating a cascading set of legislation that would allow them to do it. And also don't be mad that your park board didn't vote for a ceasefire with Iran.

[wrenhavenriver]

the cat was sleeping cutely so i took a picture and went to show it to my mom and she burst out laughing and pulled out her phone and showed me a near identical one she'd taken a few minutes before

[wrenhavenriver]

self-proclaimed free thinkers when the cat is doing a snooze:

[papayajuan2019]

but that's beyond the scope of this post

[awed-frog]

For all my fellow oversharers out there.

[pup-dion]

As a chronic people-pleaser, this is my advice for success.

Offer as little as possible. Be terse. Get rid of all those exclamation marks and tidbits about why you want to take a sick day. State your needs clearly and concisely without reason. Start saying “No, I’m unable.” more often. Say Thank You only when the other party deserves it.

[bisexualhunterbiden]

I need to remember that 90% of the people discussing politics on here are basically operating at this level of historical literacy.

[thancbread]

i love this reply in particular

[atouchofsass]

I almost 100% of the time read "LLM" as lin lanuel miranda

[haveyouseenthisseries-poll]

Have you seen Another World (1964-1999)?

Yes

Partially

No, but I've heard of it

Never heard of it

Remaining time: 2 days 2 hours

[navigatorsnorth]

Phenomenal spare wheel cover I walked past the other day

[pacificnorthwestcore]

(Source) August 2nd, 2026.

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Wildfire Recovery Fund