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I think I may never be sad ever again. There is a statue entitled "Farewell to Orpheus" on my college campus. It's been there since 1968, created by a Prof. Frederic Littman that use to work at the university. It sits in the middle of a fountain, and the fountain is often full of litter. I have taken it upon myself to clean the litter out when I see it (the skimmers only come by once a week at max). But because of my style of dress, this means that bystanders see a twenty-something on their hands and knees at the edge of the fountain, sleeves rolled up, trying not to splash dirty water on their slacks while their briefcase and suit coat sit nearby. This is fine, usually. But today was Saturday Market, which means the twenty or so people in the area suddenly became hundreds. So, obviously, somebody stopped to ask what I was doing. "This," I gestured at the statue, "is Eurydice. She was the wife of Orpheus, the greatest storyteller in Greece. And this litter is disrespectful." Then, on a whim, I squinted up at them. "Do you know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice?" "No," they replied, shifting slightly to sit.

"Would you like to?"

"Sure!"

So I told them. I told them the story as I know it- and I've had a bit of practice. Orpheus, child of a wishing star, favorite of the messenger god, who had a hard-working, wonderful wife, Eurydice; his harp that could lull beasts to passivity, coax song from nymphs, and move mountains before him; and the men who, while he dreamed and composed, came to steal Eurydice away. I told of how she ran, and the water splashed up on my clothes. But I didn't care. I told of how the adder in the field bit her heel, and she died. I told of the Underworld- how Orpheus charmed the riverman, pacified Cerberus with a lullaby, and melted the hearts of the wise judges. I laughed as I remarked how lucky he was that it was winter- for Persephone was moved by his song where Hades was not. She convinced Hades to let Orpheus prove he was worthy of taking Eurydice. I tugged my coat back on, and said how Orpheus had to play and sing all the way out of the Underworld, without ever looking back to see if his beloved wife followed. And I told how, when he stopped for breath, he thought he heard her stumble and fall, and turned to help her up- but it was too late. I told the story four times after that, to four different groups, each larger than the last. And I must have cast a glance at the statue, something that said "I'm sorry, I miss you--" because when I finished my second to last retelling, a young boy piped up, perhaps seven or eight, and asked me a question that has made my day, and potentially my life: "Are you Orpheus?" I told the tale of the grieving bard so well, so convincingly, that in the eyes of a child I was telling not a story, but a memory. And while I laughed in the moment, with everyone else, I wept with gratitude and joy when I came home. This is more than I deserve, and I think I may never be sad again.

Here is the aforementioned statue, by the way.

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shout out to everyone who participated in the january-february mass depressive episode

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love shakespeare. did a hamlet run tonight, looked someone dead in the eye to say “am i a coward?” during a speech and the fucker shrugged and nodded

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Past Tense, Pt. 1"

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What’s on your mind? Learn more about yourself and your unique personality type with this scientist-designed word search.

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A lot of people talking about Mary's Song because it's the 89th show and listen I know a lot of people claim Mary's Song and they should and are correct because it's a Great Song. BUT as someone who is

A. Named Mary

B. Was 7 when the song came out

C. Had a crush on my brother's friend who was 9

I feel like I gotta claim it just. Just a little more.

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I'm not sure why everyone says Renegade is about Joe and uses this as ammunition towards Taylor to prove she's insensitive towards him when it's... So clearly a result of the conversation she and Aaron Dessner have in the Peace section of the Long Pond Sessions about anxiety and Aaron's own insecurities about how a partner may interpret his struggle with anxiety?

Like maybe it's not that deep y'all. Maybe it's based off that experience of fearing how a partner would react to their own mental health issues. Maybe it's harsh because it's what they're hearing in their heads.

I have never seen anyone on tumblr ever consider that take despite?? It feeling kinda obvious??

If there's some lore I'm unaware of by all means lay it on me.

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Holy shit get a load of this thing

Fucking incredible

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not to give pirates of the caribbean too much credit but it really is the only major franchise Ive seen that was able to pull off the “historical and mythical exist at the same time” with any sort of success

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oh. my god I was just writing a fic and I was about to say "he grimaced as if he'd bitten into a lemon" when it occurred to me, hang on, are there lemons in Star Wars? Or are they called something else? Despite the fact that it literally does not matter sksjs I went to google it and I typed in "Star Wars lemons" FORGETTING, in my brief naivety WHAT LEMONS USED TO MEAN

so you can imagine what came up

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christ

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Absolutely losing it at this Reddit post

And the update

She buttered Jorts

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Girl you need to get out of bed faster than this

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The pain is more incredibly annoying than unbearable