The Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 8, 1919
Micrographic Design in the Shape of a Labyrinth, early 17th century. Pen and ink. Anonymous French or Flemish. Via Metmuseum
This is both amazing and profoundly irritating - the exact writing equivalent of that thing artists do - you know, how they’ll mess up anything that’s on expensive paper and planned in every single detail but get them doodling during a boring lesson and suddenly they’re Michel-bloody-angelo.
someone: i love twice shy ships where they both love each other so so much but they both think the other is just being nice and that they’re just friends!!!
me, remembering when mr. fitzwilliam darcy didn’t realize the depth of miss jane bennet’s affections for mr. charles bingley, setting off a chain of events which nearly destroyed miss bennet’s happiness: you fool, you absolute buffoon, you
violentwavesofemotion-deactivat
“September evening; the yellow flowers of autumn droop speechless over the blue lake’s countenance. A tree was burnt away in a red flame; bats with dark faces fly up in a flurry.”
— Georg Trakl, from Poems & Prose: A Bilingual Edition; “Landscape,”
“I wanted to write a book about ghosts, but I was perfectly prepared–I cannot emphasize this too strongly–I was perfectly prepared to keep those ghosts wholly imaginary. I was already doing a lot of splendid research reading all the books about ghosts I could get hold of, and particularly true ghost stories–so much so that it became necessary for me to read a chapter of Little Women every night before I turned out the light–and at the same time I was collecting pictures of houses, particularly odd houses, to see what I could find to make into a suitable haunted house. I read books of architecture and clipped pictures out of magazines and newspapers and learned about cornices and secret stairways and valances and turrets and flying buttresses and gargoyles and all kinds of things that people have done to inoffensive houses, and then I came across a picture in a magazine which really looked right. It was the picture of a house which reminded me vividly of the hideous building in New York; it had the same air of disease and decay, and if ever a house looked like a candidate for a ghost, it was this one. All that I had to identify it was the name of a California town, so I wrote to my mother, who has lived in California all her life, and sent her the picture, asking if she had any idea where I could get information about this ugly house. She wrote back in some surprise. Yes, she knew about the house, although she had not supposed that there were any pictures of it still around. My great-grandfather built it. It had stood empty and deserted for some years before it finally caught fire, and it was generally believed that that was because the people of the town got together one night and burned it down. By then it was abundantly clear to me that I had no choice; the ghosts were after me. In case I had any doubts, however, I came downstairs a few mornings later and found a sheet of copy paper moved to the center of my desk, set neatly away from the general clutter. On the sheet of paper was written DEAD DEAD in my own handwriting. I am accustomed to making notes for books, but not in my sleep; I decided that I had better write the book awake, which I got to work and did.”
— Shirley Jackson, “Experience and Fiction”
la-petitefille-deactivated20210
do you ever just ache to be within old architecture? to exist in the presence of historical buildings? to gaze at old paintings from faraway, and then study their brushstrokes up close? to marvel at exquisite chandeliers, study the curves and angles of a breathtaking sculpture, or walk across marble floors? i do.
Pro’s of being a Plague Doctor:
- mask smell nice sniff sniff mmmm that goodass aromatic herbs bitch
- leeches
- get paid to poke w/ stick hell yeah babey living the dream
- what’s under those robes? boy? girl? unqualified fruit seller? doesn’t matter there is no gender only Death
princesshamlet-deactivated20210
when it’s three o’clock in the morning and you keep thinking about the great gatsby instead of going to bed:
A Hellenistic gold earring in the shape of a dove.
2nd century BCE
Met Museum: 25.78.41
“Oh, but there’s such a difference between saying a thing yourself and hearing other people say it,” wailed Anne. “You may know a thing is so, but you can’t help hoping other people don’t quite think it is.”
Source: deadpoetsmusings
-,’ types of people ,’-
mountains: mysterious, long hair, passionate about dreams, loves nature and animals, mist, old books, ancient ruins, sharp features, mythology
deserts: dark skin, the sun, caring for others, thick hair, peaceful beings, stars at midnight, dancing to music, dimples, soft lips, loves traveling, astronomy
beaches: light hair, elegant movements, sunsets, gardening, doing your best, daydreaming, ocean waves, mermaids, freckles, making friends
forests: witchcraft, cottage in the woods, moonlight, rainy days, dreamy eyes, healing people you love, curiosity, old folklore, messy hair, writing
Power move: calling all books written by men about male characters “Men’s fiction”
Intermediate level: call dumb action movies ‘dick flicks’
as someone with a bachelor’s degree in english, i am inexpressibly tired of people telling me to get highly specific jobs that often require highly specific degrees. “just go write for a magazine!” you need a journalism degree for that. “just teach!” you need a teaching certificate, and also fuck you. “just go work at a tutoring place!” tutoring children with learning disabilities, which make up the majority of the clientele at those places, requires not only a teaching certificate but a specialized master’s degree. “just go work at a library!” you need a master’s degree in library science to be a librarian. it is actually a highly skilled and extremely competitive field. you don’t just “go work at a library,” you train for years in the vain hope that you will get one of handful of available jobs. “just go work at a library.” the nerve. the unmitigated gall. “just go work at a library.” ugh.
alright listen up. i had no idea this was going to be the most popular post i ever made, and i’ve gotten some really nice comments and some pretty condescending ones. let’s get a few things straight:
first, this post is based on MY experiences and MY research in MY geographical area. i don’t know if it really is any different in big cities, small towns or elsewhere in the world, but where i live this is how it is.
second, this post is not about my burning desire to work in a library. i honestly don’t want to, it’s just something that’s been recommended to me ad nauseam.
thirdly, i don’t KNOW what you can do with an english degree. if i knew that, would i be having all these jobs recommended to me? i don’t have a job! i haven’t figured out what i’m doing with my life! i don’t KNOW!
and finally, several people have expressed their confusion about why i or anyone would get an english degree if there are no jobs for it, and i find these comments to be especially tedious.
i. was. told. there. would. be. jobs.
english is the only thing i’ve ever been good at, so i knew that’s what i wanted to study. it was my passion, and i was assured that following your passions was what college was about. i went to a meeting for prospective english majors freshman year and the head of the department told us all that he was constantly getting requests from employers who would tell him “send me all your english majors!” he told us if we majored in english we’d have the critical thinking skills to do whatever we liked. we’d be in impossibly high demand.
these were all, as i have found out, baldfaced lies. BUT, not in the way you think.
it’s true, english majors are not in as high demand as the department head led us to believe. but you know who is in incredibly high demand? NO ONE! there is no major that makes you imminently employable, not a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree or a doctorate. you are equally unemployable with a business degree, or a law degree, or a degree in marine biology. you could have a degree in any STEM field and you’d still struggle to find a job. the only difference between those degrees and an english degree is where you’re told to “just get a job doing x.”
we are in an employer’s market right now. there are more people than there are jobs to be had, partly because none of the baby boomers will fucking retire, but also because of all the people who have to work two jobs to make ends meet because nowhere pays a living wage anymore. no one is safe, nothing is sacred, and if you think “well if you’d only gotten a different degree this wouldn’t be happening lol” then you need to pull your head out of your ass and look around you my friend. this is not a result of our poor choices. we did not do this to ourselves. it was done to us, by the ivory tower shit-heads who line their pockets with our student loan money.
tldr: major in english. eat the rich.
Oh my god…. so was looking up cats eating corn and there are these old time looking photos of a cat eating corn on the cob and I don’t even know what to say
coolcatgroup