#7 Sisters of India

[exploringbitplaces]

Unveiling the Exquisite 7 Sisters of India! Explore the hidden gems of Northeast in this captivating guide.

[hannibalismos-jaaneman]

for all those people wondering why i'm talking about delhi and armand in such vivid detail and that too in hindi, good question. i am a delhi ka chhokra and ofc i'll not shut up about my desi girl.

[parasolids]

just remembered that i have some iranian ancestry which means that by us census designations i am at least partially white. insane

[mystifiedmess]

middle schooler in me, who used to always get full marks in geography maps is patting me on my back rn

[dazonntravels1]

Explore the rich and diverse culture of the 7 Sisters of India with Dazonn Travels. Discover the unique traditions, vibrant festivals, and captivating heritage of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. From breathtaking landscapes to indigenous crafts and cuisines, each state offers a distinct cultural experience. For more details visits our website or Contact us now:+91-896-872-7340

[gguk-n]

Cinematic Sparks (Kim Namjoon x Lewis Hamilton's sister!Reader)

Face claim- India Armateifio. Pictures from Pinterest

Series Masterlist

y/nhamilton

Liked by lewishamilton, mercedesamgf1 and 234,987 others Tagged lewishamilton

y/nhamilton A weekend well spent😌😌

mercedesamgf1 you should spend more weekends with us🥹🥹 user1 the hamilton's have great genes❤️❤️ user2 so pretty!!😍😍 user3 the first picture😍😍 user4 how is she so pretty even without make up??😩😩 lewishamilton stop telling dad I don't take you places😤😤 y/nhamilton lewishamilton never bc its the truth😡 lewishamilton y/nhamilton that's why I don't take you anywhere🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️

y/nhamilton

Liked by lewishamilton, nicorosberg and 147,927 others Tagged lewishamilton

y/nhamilton I coquettified him!!🎀🎀

lewishamilton take that picture down😡 y/nhamilton NO🫢 nicorosberg that's why you're my favourite Hamilton ❤️❤️Liked by the Author mercedesamgf1 why didn't we think of that?🤔 user5 I want a brother like Lewis🥲 user6 Lewis I get you ma brother, my sisters crazy just like yours😥 user7 she looks so perfect doing anything😫😫 user8 we love you Y/N. Never change for this industry🤣🤣 user9 user8 what industry? f1? user8 user9 she's an actor, she starred in a lot of movies and shows😀

y/nhamilton

Liked by lewishamilton and 1,287,298 others

y/nhamilton Exhausted from all the promo but I hope you guys will enjoy seeing me in the new Netflix original

user10 I just watched it and I love it❤️❤️ user11 effortlessly pretty😍😍 user12 her interviews are riveting😘 user13 her chemistry with her co-stars is unbelievable🫢🫢

y/nhamilton

Liked by 278,029 others

y/nhamilton Rejuvenating my soul in Seoul

user14 OMG!! YOU LOOK SO GOOD IN A HANBOK❤️❤️ user15 That caption is bomb 😩😩 user16 I ran into her the other day and she was the nicest person and we took pictures and even gave her autograph🥹🥹 y/friend/user best girls trip everrrr🥹🥹 y/bff/user wanna go back!!!❤️‍🩹🥲

y/nhamilton followed rkive

gossippage

Liked by 1,287, 298 others

gossippage Dispatch Korea released pictures of a couple saying they are Y/N Hamilton and RM of BTS. The outlet says that they were spotted a couple times spanning months going in and out of RM's Hannam-dong apartment. The couple or their agency are yet to confirm anything

user17 obviously namjoon pulled her, I mean look at her😩 user18 you can't even see their face, it's utter bs😤😤 user19 they are grown adults, if they date then they date user20 I hope it's true, I wanna see Namjoon at races🥹 user21 it's funny how 7 time world champion's sister's dating some one who cannot drive🤣🤣 user22 I think it's true, RM just followed her🥲🥲

rkive followed y/nhamilton

y/nhamilton

Liked by rkive, lewishamilton and 2,456,973 others Tagged rkive

y/nhamilton All the time I spent with you was the best. I'll be looking out of the window wistfully waiting for my husband to return from the war😭

rkive I'll be back soon❤️ lewishamilton what do you mean husband?? 😡😡 georgerussell63 incase any one was wondering, Lewis is pacing the mercedes hospitality like a mad man nicorosberg he's a gent, we love him❤️ sebastianvettel he's so much better than the other guys you've brought home❤️ lewishamilton sebastianvettel there were others???🥲😤 y/nhamilton lewishamilton you act like I am 5😫😫 user23 y/n and namjoon dating was not on my 2023 bingo🫢🫢 user24 the boyfriend namjoon pictures are killing me😭😭 user25 she's us, waiting for our husbands*cough*JungKook*cough* user26 love the Hamilton siblings😂😂

rkive

Liked by y/nhamilton, uarmyhope and 2,370,290 others Tagged y/nhamilton

rkive My favourite person to take to museums

y/nhamilton I'm the only person you take to museums🤔 rkive y/nhamilton bc that's the only time you shut up😌 y/nhamilton rkive 😤😡 user27 he really said f u to the company, I do what I want😂😂 user28 this couple was made for us😭😭 user29 I'm living vicariously through them😭😭 user30 cutest couple ever❤️🥹 user31 ewww you ruined your feed for her🙃🙃 urarmyhope ❤️

[typhlonectes]

A new species of Parachute Gecko of the subgenus Ptychozoon (Sauria: Gekkonidae: Gekko) from the Indo-Burma region 

Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga, Lal Muansanga, Mathipi Vabeiryureilai & Zeeshan A. Mirza

Abstract. 

The Parachute Gecko Gekko lionotum (Annandale, 1905) has been reported to be distributed across parts of Mizoram state (India), Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. 

A phylogeographic study revealed that the species is paraphyletic and comprises multiple cryptic species. Earlier studies included samples from most parts of the species range except for India, and the status of the Indian population remained unresolved. 

We conducted surveys in Mizoram and collected specimens, which allowed us to assess the systematic status of the Indian population. Morphology and molecular data suggest that the Indian population represents a distinct species and is here described as new. 

The new species is most similar to its sister species Gekko popaensis, from which it differs in having an uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence of 7–14% and by discrete differences in morphology and colour pattern. 

The discovery of the new species and several other reptiles from northeast India highlights the poor state of biodiversity documentation and the need for dedicated efforts to documumentation and the need for dedicated efforts to document this region’s biota. 

Read the paper here:

https://www.salamandra-journal.com/index.php/home/contents/2115-lalremsanga-h-t-l-muansanga-m-vabeiryureilai-z-a-mirza/file

[empty-movement]

Nanami-sama, Beware!!!

It's May 7, 1997, and you're about to watch episode 6 of Revolutionary Girl Utena!!!

There was a HUUUGE data leak though, and somehow, in advance of the episode dropping, you were able to catch the storyboards!! (Hell, you even found someone who leaked the script, and screenshots of the episode!) Looks pretty exciting, lots of strange things happening here. The storyboards say episode 8 for some reason, but otherwise it all seems on the up and up!

So you eagerly crack open your May issue of Newtype Magazine to check out the plot summary:

Today's home economics class is cooking practice. At Miki's request, Himemiya and I decided to make "spicy curry." However, the curry powder we use is replaced with extremely spicy curry from India, which is so spicy that Touga's younger sister, Nanami, harasses her. What's more, the spiciness explodes into pieces! The phantom megaton of ultra-spicy curry, 900 billion times more, goes into the pot. When Himemiya and I did that, we were so blown away that our personalities switched!! Hey, hey, you're not kidding!

Wait....what????? That doesn't match the storyboards at all! Or the screenshots??? Sure enough, the episode title listed with this plot summary is Nanami-sama, Beware!...but what's curry gotta do with that?

So you hop in a time machine, and check out Ikuhara's 2011 DVD extras commentary:

This episode originally went into production as “Episode 8.” It was “in production as Episode 8” during scripting, storyboarding, and even after animation started. But it got switched in the broadcast order with “Episode 6 (”Curried High Trip”, which broadcast as episode 8)“, because that episode fell behind schedule. Because I always called this “Episode 8” during the production process, the impression stuck in my mind to this day is: “Curry is Ep 6; the kangaroo is Ep 8.” It’s a comedic story, but it shows Nanami’s feelings for Touga. This wasn’t just about Nanami; it was also about how we’d present Touga. The original plan was to connect stories with a “Touga Episodes” theme: first in episode 8 we’d show Nanami’s feelings for Touga is a comedic way, then in episode 9 we’d show Touga in contrast with [Kyouichi] Saionji, then in episode 10 we’d show Touga using Nanami’s feeling for him, and finally in episode 11 we’d show Touga facing off against Utena. I’d used a group of three identical characters before, in Sailor Moon S [the Amazon Trio?]. It was strangely fun, so I tried sticking them in this show, too. The staff liked them, too (it was probably more like the staff found them convenient), so we turned them into semi-regular characters. It’s largely thanks to Ms. Hayashi, the animation director, that the production troubles weren’t reflected in the quality of the episode. I like how Touga looks so unnecessarily cool during the climax, when he defeats the kangaroo.

Huh!!! In case you're wondering, the next issue of Newtype will have the identical description under an episode 8 titled Curried High Trip. So I guess amid the mess, they just never published an episode description for this one??

Come chat about it in the watch thread on Something Eternal, or just enjoy this weird little tour. :)

[rowretro]

TW!!! RAPE

let me tell u what a rapist deserves: To be locked away between 4 walls for eternity. Guilt eating them up 24/7, the feeling of fear alerting them every second, a painful, heart grabbing feeling, chocking them of their breath, to think of their mother/sister/daughter and what they've done to ruin an innocent being's life, death is such an easy way out, but if that guilt is there, eating them up painfully, killing them on a daily basis, more torturous than anything, locked in a prison in fear of getting hurt, feeling the exact fear and pain their victims felt.

let me tell you what the victim deserves: To walk back to school, work, home, or anywhere down the street with their head held high, free of the shame and guilt society or their rapist brings on them. To feel safe, knowing they're in no wrong for what had been done to them by some filthy, disgusting, heartless monster. To go about their life living the way they wanted without the crushing weight of trauma on them.

but what actually happens?... the rapist walks out freely, no guilt, the victim dies everyday feeling like they're robbed of their life, their name stunk up and dignity robbed by the media. trauma, fear eating the victim up, making them feel as though its happening again and again, and almost no one is there by their side, or otherwise, end up dead, unable to defend themselves.

why does this happen in a world like this? is this the world our parents wanted to bring us into? is this a world u want to live in? is this a world you want to bring your child into?

The media is there to spread fair news to the public, the facts, not opinions and headlines that ruin a girl's name, the court is there to bring justice, no amount of power or money should be able to stand in the way of justice. Now I know, this isn't always the case around many developed areas, but India? it feels like a crime to be a victim of rape there, and my heart is paining for those victims who feel as though their life is over because of something some disgusting monsters did.

Justice for rape victims.

[migalloyuji]

Things I wanted to see in Sense8

1. Riley overcoming her trauma and experience motherhood with Will

2. Kala Rajan and Wolfgang living their best lives in India

3. Will getting his job and life back

4. Lito’s debut in Hollywood

5. Why was he making heart eyes at Hernando? (Blake)

6. More of Dani, Lito and Hernando overall

7. Nomi and Amanita living in Paris

8. What happened to Nomi and the organization that gave her the key to disappear? Did they never bother her again?

9. Coppheaus being an honest politician

10. Sun cleaning her name, sending her brother to jail

11. Sun and Mun training together

12. Sun reunion with her friends from jail

13. What really happened to Raul? Was he lobotomized? If he was, why was he able to move around and destroy Angelica’s investigation?

14. Lito giving clausure to Raul’s father and the rest of Raul’s family

15. More about Angelica

16. The Lacuna and Bhoddie

17. Whisper’s claustro, who were they? My personal theory is that whispers started to experiment on them

18. Someone from the Claustro giving both to a new claustro

19. Raul’s story being published, exposing the BPO and everybody involved

So please please please Netflix go bankrupt so another streaming service can buy the rights of this amazing story and the Wachowski sisters can give us more season, ten at least

[wrixie]

♡ JUMPING for JUNIPER | A BACHELORETTE CHALLENGE

> Introducing Juniper Lane Olevera | Age: 26 | Pronouns: She/Her Traits: Over-Achiever, Creative and Romantic

> Growing up as the eldest of three, Juniper aimed to be the best role model she could be for her sisters. She worked hard to get her culinary degree from Foxbury Institute and land work in 4 star restaurants. This introverted chef/baker is looking for someone to take her away from her over-pouring amount of work and show her what love could look like. Could that someone be you?

Likes: True Crime Podcasts, Reading, Physical Affection, The Smell of Leather, Baking, Gourmet Meals, Long Hair, Jazz Dislikes: Soggy Cakes, Hot-Headedness, Being Yelled At, Polyester, Massages, Stand-Up Comedy, Horror Movies

Fun Facts About Juniper:

Has a culinary degree

Can’t drive

Allergic to pet dander

Has Oppositional Defiance Disorder

Doesn’t go a day without talking to her dad

Has a nail biting problem

Hopes to own a bakery someday

♡ Contestant Entry Guidelines:

Must be young-adult or adult

Humans are only being accepted this time!

Must have at least one negative trait

Can be any gender

Cannot have the romantic trait

Skills don’t matter!

Should have Likes + Dislikes (if ya like)

Maxis-Match or CC free

Must be comfortable with changes such as eyes, skinblend + lashes as I have my own defaults and preferences as well as outfit changes to fit into my game style

> Remember to at me @wrixie or use #junipersBC to make sure I see your entry + ask if you have any questions

♡  7 / 7 CONTESTANTS

ADRIANA MORENO - @rainymoodlet

AZURE KEAHI - @rheallsim

INDIA LYON - @pearlean

KINGSTON LEARY - @acuar-io

NAVEEN MUTANI - @squeezesublime

SHA WEST - @alltimefail-sims

SILAS CLINE - @townieandy

SEND ME YOUR SIMS, PLEASE

[lantur]

updates,

I got to spend last Sunday & Monday with @emberglows and her wonderful parents when they were in Minneapolis :) It was really lovely to spend that time together exploring the city, eating ice cream in the park together, visiting Minnehaha Falls and Longfellow Gardens, and having them over for dinner on Monday. I love my adopted family ❤️

On that note - I've spoken on here before about being adopted as a baby and raised separately from my older brother. He stayed in India, while I was raised in the US. We had some contact during the first decade of our childhood. Due to family issues with our respective parents, we haven't spoken to or seen one another as adults, outside of sporadic texts. It's been a great loss and source of sadness for me. We video chatted last Friday night and saw/spoke to each other for the first time in 12 years. It was a really special and moving experience. I've wanted to reconnect with him for so many years, and I'm so glad that we got to do this. It was amazing to learn about the things we have in common, like our shared taste in music, books, board games, etc. I feel a great sense of peace and relief about finally having an open line of communication between us again.

It's been a busy work week, but I also got to have lunch on Monday at a ramen spot with my friend Deborah, and spend time with @broomchickabroom last night :) I took a couple of hours off work this afternoon to do a picnic at the park, visit to a children's bookstore, and scenic walk around the neighborhood with my sister-in-law and my nieces! The older one of the sisters is almost 7 now, and the younger is 4, and it's just amazing how much they've grown over the years. I feel very lucky to have seen them grow up.

I'm starting my Masters in Social Work in just a couple of weeks! I had day one of my program orientation today, and I have the second day tomorrow. I ordered my textbooks today, and I've also been working on getting digitally organized. I cleaned up my desktop and deleted hundreds of old emails tonight.

I've gotten a lot of cuddles with Westin this week ❤️

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 7/2/2024

as of friday i have lived in texas for a full year. that's the most neutrally diplomatic thing i can say about my time in this state so far

listening

i did a lot of driving last week and had the first album from genshin impact's legally-not-France nation on loop bc it's a lot of vivaldi inspired stuff and i find that soothing. however! one of my favorite pieces of music from this nation is this battle track. i don't have any music words but i do like the.. pipe organ emphasis? on the little flourish at 0:28. catholic brain go brrrr

-

reading

thank you mackintosh.

i liked gotham city: year one! many many many callbacks but framed in a way "and this is the start of the blueprint for how everything would go" which made me less annoyed than callbacks for their own sake. a very chandler-esque take on noir, by which i mean a fundamentally good (but tired) man gets beaten to shit and survives a doublecross as he unravels a fucked up little family dynamic for the pure nosy sake of unraveling it.

-

watching

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024, dir. Ritchie). a spy/action/comedy thing about Operation Postmaster, a wwii special operation off the west coast of Africa to disrupt nazi u-boat supplies.

i did not like this at all.

i generally like a guy ritchie film-- the holmes duolgy are movies i would happily rewatch at any time, but this one is very flat. there's very little banter and remarkably little dialogue-- long stretches of this film are of people getting from place to place in perfect silence. even the soundtrack is remarkably toned down. most of it sounds like ai-generatred morricone (very few of the musical passages like. resolve in any sensible manner. there is no theming and no noticeable leitmotif. one of the worst covers of mack the knife ive ever heard is at the climax of the fuckin film. what if someone ominously tapped a hihat to create tension for literally half the movie with NO other accompaniment). when it doesn't sound ai-generated and kind of off (morricone's cowboy western work is not what i expect for a largely seafaring wwii movie) it sounds like they rented a jazz five-piece for a weekend. one of the worst soundtracks i've ever heard. it was extremely distracting.

this is a heist movie that never really figured out how to effectively intercut actions its team is independently taking. there are also a lot of places where the cuts are very strange, especially in the final harbor scene flicking back and forth from the land crew to the boat crew. just felt very underbaked as a movie. i was frequently bored. not an effective comedy, action, or spy movie. just barely a coherent war movie, though not a very enjoyable one.

-

playing

the breath of the wild to genshin ripoff pipeline is pretty clear, esp in the legally-not-India nation with lots of legally-not-koroks. u get a bunch of chests and achievements if u find all 76, i finally sat down on friday with an hour-long walkthough video and found them all. every single four-leaf clover sigil is where one of these fuckers was. and to get to this point, i had to do a whole DIFFERENT quest chain with different collectibles to unlock some of the legally-not-koroks and also make room on my map to free up 76 markers. very annoying process. i fucking hate collectibles for the sake of collectibles and padding out gameplay. i could not imagine doing this if i were employed

-

making

cross stitch update.

i got this belt for the ren faire when my sister came down, finally got around to pulling it out of the freezer and cleaning it the other day, and it was what i can only call yucky-disgusting. an inordinate amount of scunge for a belt with very few signs of wear. it's impossible to photograph bc it's quite late and i did not think to take a before shot, but it straight up changed color. it is much lighter now

[nyupreservation]

Preserving Leaf Paintings in an Anglo-Indian Commonplace Book, 1822-1825

Hello, I’m Alexa Machnik, a third-year graduate student at the Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. I first came to the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation & Conservation Department in Fall 2022 as a student in the graduate course, Conservation in Context, taught by Laura McCann, Director of Preservation. During this course, we delved into the world of library conservation, exploring the value systems that guide preservation decision-making and treatment action in academic research libraries. One of my class projects involved rehousing delicate leaf paintings from an early 19th-century commonplace book, or friendship album, part of the Fales Library holdings in the Special Collections at NYU Libraries (figs. 1-2) [1]. In honor of Preservation Week, I will share the intriguing history of the book and discuss the decisions that were made to preserve the leaves.

Figure 1 [left]: Front cover of the commonplace book, bound in gold-tooled red morocco leather.   Figure 2 [right]: Ownership label of “Jane Harriet [Blechynden]” on front marbled pastedown.

The book in question was compiled by Jane Harriet Blechynden (1806-1827) in England between 1822 and 1825. It holds her personal collection of handwritten and acquired materials, with contributions from her sisters, Emma and Sarah, who wrote original poems about sisterhood, separation, and their Anglo-Indian ancestry. The three women were the daughters of a British merchant residing in Calcutta, and while born in India, they were educated in England [2]. There is not a great deal known about Jane Harriet’s life in England, but her impending return to India in 1825 is documented in an emotional verse by Emma (fig. 3):

“Thus in parting my sister we’re breaking a link / Which may ne’er be united again / And firm as that chain was ‘tis painful to think / That absence may send it twain.”

Figure 3: Excerpt from the original poem, “Parting and a Meeting,” signed by Emma.

Jane Harriet’s book offers insights into her personhood, social connections, and sensibilities as an artist and collector. In addition to written entries, she inserted a compendium of acquired materials–pressed flowers, her own original drawings, and numerous paintings–between pages of the book (figs. 4-6).

Figures 4-6 [left to right]: A small sampling of the ephemeral treasures found in the book, including a dried pressed flower, a drawing on pith possibly by Jane Harriet, and a cut-paper silhouette.

Notably, six of these paintings are executed on the dried leaves of the Bodhi tree, a sacred plant indigenous to Asia with distinct spade-shaped, long-tipped leaves (fig. 7) [3]. Although leaf painting has origins in Buddhist traditions, by the time Jane Harriet collected her leaf paintings, it had already evolved into a form of Chinese export art in Europe. Her leaves depict secular scenes of contemporary life in China and botanical subjects, which are typical of the export genre (fig. 8). Their inclusion in the book implies that Jane was among the many people who partook in the avid collecting of China trade goods during the first few decades of the 19th century, a time when European fascination for Chinese culture and art was at its peak. 

Figure 7: A leaf painting, as found loose in the book and partially lifted to show the thin, translucent nature of the leaf support.

Figure 8: Another leaf painting from the book, oriented with the leaf tip at the bottom of the image, depicting flowers and a butterfly.

The initial rush of excitement that I felt at finding the leaf paintings soon turned to concern as I gave thought to their long-term preservation at NYU Libraries, where researchers are expected to handle the book. The leaf paintings were loose in between the pages, which raised a series of “what ifs” about the potential dangers they could encounter. What if the leaves slip from the book? What if they bend or break as the pages are turned? What if the painted surfaces become abraded? The paintings were made with opaque pigment-based watercolors on exceptionally delicate, skeletonized leaves that have been primed with a thin organic coating. Despite being intact, their inherent fragility means that they are vulnerable to even the slightest touch. After considerable discussion, the Conservation Unit decided that in order for the leaf paintings to be preserved and safely accessed by researchers, they should be housed separately from the book. 

I thoroughly examined the condition of the leaves and the painted surfaces in order to make a housing recommendation. Despite some minor damage, all were in stable condition. Thus, the ideal housing would provide support to prevent any further damage, such as paint loss and leaf breakage, and at the same time allow the leaves to maintain their translucency. To achieve this, I opted to mount them in double-sided window mats with a support made from clear polyester film, or Mylar® [4]. The addition of the Mylar® would not only create a stable surface for the leaf paintings but also enable the viewing of both sides (fig. 9).

Figure 9: View of the double-sided window mat with a Mylar® support.

My next challenge was to figure out how to mount the leaves onto the Mylar® support without the use of adhesive [5]. After consulting with conservation staff and creating mock-ups, short, discreet Mylar® tabs were selected as the best option to secure them into place (figs. 10-11). For this process, I positioned a single leaf painting onto the support and selectively placed the tabs around its perimeter, making sure the tabs did not overlap any areas of paint. I then used a handheld spot-welding pen to fuse the tabs to the support. Since this process was done in-situ, near the leaf, it required lots of precision practice and encouragement from colleagues before I felt confident enough for the task.

Figure 10: Detail of a mounted leaf painting. Notice that the Mylar® tabs are welded just outside the leaf and extend minimally over the edges, holding it in place with gentle pressure.

Figure 11: The backside of a mounted leaf painting viewed through the Mylar® support. This gives researchers access to the painting’s verso, where an underdrawing and other signs of artistic process can be discerned.

At the time of writing this post, I successfully housed the six leaf paintings in their double-sided window mats (figs. 12-13). This housing project, while complete, is just one part of the ongoing effort to preserve the commonplace book, and the Conservation Unit is continuing work on other elements of the book to ensure its safe return to Special Collections.

Figure 12: Example of the completed housing, showing the front of a leaf painting.

Figure 13: Back of a leaf painting.

Though my involvement in the project has come to an end, I have gained a very special appreciation for the commonplace book and the preservation challenges it presents. The experience of learning directly from NYU Libraries Special Collections was especially invaluable, providing me with opportunities to participate in complex decision-making processes unique to large research libraries driven by user needs. Before signing off, I’d like to extend my gratitude to my supervisors, Laura McCann, Director, and Lindsey Tyne, Conservation Librarian, and the entire team at the Barbara Goldsmith Conservation Lab for their unwavering support and enthusiasm throughout this project. Thank you all very much!

Notes:

[1] A commonplace book is a centralized place for an individual to record information, whether it be their personal thoughts or quotes from outside literary sources. Friendship albums, by contrast, contain handwritten entries from the family, friends, or acquaintances of the owner (often female). Both forms of commonplacing sustained popularity in Europe and America throughout the 19th century. To learn more about this fascinating literary genre, see Jenifer Blouin, “Eternal Perspectives in Nineteenth-Century Friendship Albums,” The Hilltop Review, Vol. 9, Issue 1 (2016) and Victoria E. Burke, “Recent Studies in Commonplace Books,” English Literary Renaissance, Vol. 43, No. 1 (2013), 153-177.

[2] Much of what is known about Jane Harriet (also known in her family as Harriet) comes from the Blechynden papers in the British Library (Add. Mss. 45578-663). This large holding contains the diaries of her father, Richard (Add. Mss. 45581-653), and older brother, Arthur (Add. Mss. 45654-61). For a secondary account of the Blechynden household, see Peter Robb, Sentiment and Self: Richard Blechynden’s Calcutta Diaries, 1791-1822 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011).

[3] Michele Matteini, “Written on a Bodhi tree leaf,” Anthropology and Aesthetics, Vol. 75-76 (2021), 45-58. 

[4] The design of the double-sided mats is based on an instructional guide made available by the Library of Congress. “Double-Sided Mat,” Library of Congress, accessed 1 February 2023. 

[5] We chose not to use adhesives or traditional paper-hinging techniques to mount the leaf paintings for several reasons. As noted, the paintings are on fragile, non-paper-based supports that have an organic coating, which may be derived from plant gum. The leaf supports are thin, translucent, and highly vulnerable to breakage, so applying hinges directly with adhesive might permanently alter their appearance or risk further damage to the leaves over time, especially if they need to be removed from the housing in the future.

Photographs: Alexa Machnik

[lying-on-floors]

Modern AU things...

The AU

Some headcanons

Bertholdt has an older sister, Freya. Their father, Suraj, moved his family from India to Massachusetts after their mother died. Freya is working towards her medical degree, while Berthodlt is working towards his psychology degree. English is their second language, but they're both proficient enough that no one questions where they're from.

Bertholdt and Freya did classical ballet, and that's where they met Annie. She and Bert became friends soon enough, and then she met Reiner through Bert. Now, they're a dynamic trio.

Pieck's been dating her butch boyfriend for almost two years.

Colt and Pieck are childhood best friends, and she introduced Colt to Porco. The two men began dating after being friends for a few years.

Pieck and Porco always went to school dances together as friends. They tried dating once in middle school, but it never went anywhere, and neither were all too interested.

Marco and Ymir are first-generation Italian American, and both speak fluent Italian. Their mom moved from Italy to Massachusetts with her parents when she was 18. She met a second-generation Italian American man while going to a New Jersey college.

Gabi moved in with Reiner and Bertholdt when she was 16 after her parents divorced. Reiner blames himself because he has issues but also because his mom died and she wouldn't have needed to stay with her brother in the first place if he didn't cause his dad to leave. (His thoughts, the poor boy did nothing wrong.)

Gabi, Falco, Udo, Zofia, and Kaya carpool every now and then. Mainly, when Colt lets Falco borrow the car.

Porco and Piecks girlfriend, Miles, both wear the same cologne. (Your choice.)

Gabi plays volleyball. Reiner and Bert often try to make it to her games. Her parents don't show up for her much anymore. They've kind of declined over the years as she's gotten older. Reiner's always been there for her. Colt, Falco, Pieck, Jean, Armin, and Mikasa often go support her.

Zofia and Udo have a sweet little relationship. They've been dating since their freshman year of high school. They're silly.

Colt, like his mom, is an artist. He specializes in portraits, which is the same thing his mom specializes in. They spent a lot of time when he was growing up painting together. Cecilia has always encouraged it. She keeps large boxes of all of her kids' art and creations, including Pieck, who is the honorary third Grice sibling.

Colt's mom, Cecilia, is battling cancer at 53. She was 48 when she found out she had cancer. The only person who knew, aside from her medical doctors, was Gideon, Pieck's father, her childhood best friend. He later died due to a lung infection.

When Cecilia was too physically ill to hide her diagnosis from her kids, she sat them down to break the news to them. Her best friend was dead, so she had to do it alone. Colt was kind of mad that his mom kept this from him, but he knew he would've done the same thing.

Colt and Falco's dad, Ben, died in a work accident when Colt was 13.

Porco's older brother, Marcell, died (ik I'm sorry :/) when he was little from an accident. Porco still struggles with it and confides in Pieck and Colt the most about it. They're the only two people who have seen Porco cry since Marcell died.

Carla Yeager adopted Zeke when he was young. She then had Eren. Grisha died because he sucks and I don't like him.

Zeke and Eren argue often, and Zeke tends to be a bit overbearing, but he means well. Both of the yaeger boys are a bit annoying but Carla is an angel.

Levi is Mikasa's older cousin. He and Erwin adopted Mikasa after her parents died in a car crash when she was 7.

Carla and Levi often have tea together. They're shopping and gossip buddies.

Colt doesn't have many friends outside of Pieck, his boyfriend, and Marco. He and Marco became friends in high school after becoming partners on a science project. They shared a drunken kiss, but nothing came of it. It's an inside joke now.

Bertholdt's childhood nickname, "Bear," has stuck to him for life. Only close friends and family use it, though.

Speaking of childhood nicknames, Jean's mom still calls him "Jeanbo." He doesn't mind it much anymore, but it is a little embarrassing. Marco teases him about it all the time, lovingly, though.

Annie and Hitch live a state away, so they don't get to see their friends in person that often, but they do FaceTime a lot.

Bertholdt and his family are all super tall. He's 6'3, his sister is 6'0, and his dad is 6'2. His mom was 5'10.

Connie is Afro-Hispanic. He's also a trans man.

Sasha, Connie, Jean, and Marco all became friends in elementary school after being in the same after-school club. (What was it? Idk, choose.)

Hitch and Marlow are best friends. They did have a crush on each other in middle school, but it wasn't actually a crush. They just didn't know what to label it.

Marco's nickname amongst his friends (Connie and Sasha) is "Freckle Guy."

Colt spends a lot of time taking care of his mom, who has been getting better but is often on bed rest. She hides a lot of her pain from her kids, never wanting to involve them in it. She wants them to be as worry free as possible. She's a very strong woman and I admire her.

Jean hasn't come out to his grandad, Pops, yet. He's a devout Christian man who has talked about his hatred of queer people. Now, Jean isn't religious, but his mom and grandad are. He came out to his mom by accident. It was a drunken confession. She was pretty accepting of him, as she didn't share her father's views.

Marco and Jean often babysit Marco's young cousins. They're great babysitters. Historia and Ymir are like the fun aunts who probably shouldn't be left in charge too long.

Ymir is a chaos agent, and Historia is a chaos enabler.

This is all for now, I'll probably come up with more.

[blackknight-100]

So remember the Medusa in MB AU we were discussing in the comments of the Zombie AU post the other day? @chahaa-piun-ja and @friend-shaped-but

I have been thinking about it a lot, and now I have a detailed outline for it (this is only part 1):

1. Perseus, in order to free his mother, pursues the Gorgon Medusa, helped along by Athena and Hermes.

2. Medusa learns about it beforehand, and realizing it would be almost impossible to defeat a demigod son of Zeus who is backed by two Olympians, does the sensible thing and bolts. Her sisters, who are immortal, go to Phorkys to hide.

3. Unfortunately for her, one of the gods helping Perseus is Hermes, god of roads and travellers, so all types of accidents keep happening her on the way.

4. In the end, she makes for the sea where hopefully Poseidon would look the other way, climbs into the cargo hold of the first ship she lays her eyes on (because she can't really talk to people) and books it.

5. But an Olympian's ill-will is hard to shake off, so even though Hermes is no longer actively trying to hinder her, she ends up far from Greece and in India, turns a bunch of people into stone when she disembarks, and then horrified with herself, disappears.

6. Medusa wanders about for a bit, veiling her face* and going out only at night, and ends up in Jarasandh's hands when he is beseiging the Yadus. Jarasandh does not really like Medusa, he is even a little afraid of her, so he sends her to Dhritarashtra in Hastinapur. The idea is that either she turns everyone in the palace into stone, creating a power vacuum in Hastinapur which Jarasandh can take advantage of (because the Kauravas and Pandavas are going to fight) or Dhritarashtra and Gandhari (both blind) use her to get rid off their political opponents and reward Jarasandh by becoming his ally against Mathura.

7. Unfortunately, in this whole journey, another bunch of people get turned into stone, and news reaches the Hindu Gods, who are all very confused about this random, undocumented issue that popped out of nowhere, and which was not supposed to happen dammit! Indra calls for a council meeting, where Pushan, god of roads, agrees to try and look into her history and where she came from.

8. Medusa meets Dhritarashtra, who is overjoyed by her existence and immediately offers to help Jarasandh against Krishna. He is, in fact, so pleased with her powers that Medusa is flattered beyond belief (even though she knows he's going to use her) and agrees to turn all of Dhritarashtra's enemies to stone. Krishna, now trapped between two powerful empires, retreats from Mathura and brings the people to Dwarika, putting more distance between himself and his enemies.

9. Krishna weds Satyabhama in Dwarika, after they kill Narakasura. Unfortunately, Narakasura's son Bhagadatta, King of Pragjyotisha, immediately becomes their enemy. Less unfortunately, Indra remembers Krishna exists, and pleased with Narakasura's death and Swarga's freedom, forgets about his insult and becomes his friend again. This is how Krishna finds out about the widespread pertrification of people.

10. Meanwhile, Pushan, in his enquiries, runs across a very angry Hermes, who rants to him about how Some People^(TM) need to listen to their King and think about the consequences of their actions and that is an actual monster UNCLE!! This is how the Hindu Pantheon learns about Medusa and the Greek Pantheon realises where she's hiding.

11. Fortunately, Perseus is still raring to go kill Medusa and free his mother. Unfortunately, Indra and Zeus are now locked in a political headlock because Zeus cannot keep his monsters within his kingdom and Indra refuses to let a random greek demigod (who just so happens to be the son of the other God of Thunder) show up in India, insisting Krishna can take care of it.

12. Zeus sends Athena and Apollo and Hermes to intercede on his behalf, Indra sends Krishna, Mitra and Saraswati. They agree to let Perseus kill Medusa, but his fame will be shortlived in human memory, and in return, Dionysos will not show up to attack India. Zeus and Indra are unimpressed with these terms, because Zeus refuses to deny his son his well-deserved kleos, and Indra refuses to let intruders into India, whether Perseus or Dionysos. It kind of spirals out of control from there.

13. Meanwhile Duryodhana** and Medusa are having the time of their lives turning people into stone, although Gandhari thinks they shouldn't be using this ability so indiscriminately. So far their victims include Vidura, Kunti, Yudhisthira and Bheem (I'm sorry, they'll recover, promise). Dhritarashtra is conflicted about all of this, because at the end of the day these people are his family, but he doesn't protest either.

14. Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva are left alone because Dhritarashtra refuses to allow them to be petrified; not only are they not competitors for the throne, but they could also be prevailed upon to become assets. They are not idiots though, so they leave for Madra, to take asylum under Shalya. Bhishma is given to understand that this is a sickness/disease, but he has his doubts.

*I don't really know whether you have to look into Medusa's petrifying eyes or just gazing at her face overall is enough, so she has a full face veil of a very dark colour. She had the idea for this when she noticed other women wearing this and remembered that Greek women also used veils. In true Indian soap opera style, she has a black veil so everyone knows she's the villain.

**Duryodhana operates through his father, because Dhritarashtra refuses to let him see Medusa. So although he might ask for a lot of things, Dhritrashtra almost always has a say in what happens.