#Mark Twain view on life and death

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Banned Books Week 2023

It’s that time of year again, when we honor and focus on the books out there that have been banned. And boy, it seems the last few years that book banning has been on the rise. You know if you don’t like a book and you don’t agree with it, no one is forcing you to read it. I’ll even go as far as understanding parents taking books out of their own kid’s hands. My objection is when parents take books out of some other kid’s or adult’s hand. Growing up, if someone had taken “The Diary of Anne Frank” off of my library’s shelf, I would have been lost.

This year I’m focusing on… “Anne of Green Gables,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Yes, you read that right, our dear old unromantic Anne Shirley was banned!

Description:

Eleven-year-old Anne Shirley has never known a real home. Since her parents’ deaths, she’s bounced around to foster homes and orphanages. When she is sent by mistake to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert at the snug white farmhouse called Green Gables, she wants to stay forever. But Anne is not the sturdy boy Matthew and Marilla were expecting.   She’s a mischievous, talkative redheaded girl with a fierce temper, who tumbles into one scrape after another. Anne is not like anybody else, the Cuthberts agree; she is special, a girl with an enormous imagination. All she’s ever wanted is to belong somewhere. And the longer she stays at Green Gables, the harder it is for anyone to imagine life without her.

Author:

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in Clifton, Prince Edward Island, in 1874. Educated at Prince Edward College, Charlottetown, and Dalhousie University, she embarked on a career in teaching. From 1898 until 1911 she took care of her maternal grandmother in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, and during this time wrote many poems and stories for Canadian and American magazines. Montgomery’s first novel, Anne of Green Gables, met with immediate critical and popular acclaim, and its success, both national and international, led to seven sequels. Maud Montgomery also wrote the popular Emily of New Moon in 1923 followed by two sequels, and Pat of Silver Bush in 1933 with its sequel. L. M. Montgomery died in Toronto in 1942, but it is her early years of lush, green Prince Edward Island that live on in the delightful adventures of the impetuous redhead, the stories Mark Twain called “the sweetest creation of child life yet written.”

Why It was Banned:

You’re probably asking yourself, who on earth would ban something as adorable, and funny, and innocent as “Anne of Green Gables?” (Who on earth bans any book?) Well, let’s find out!

After “Anne of Green Gables,” was published in 1908, it wasn’t long before it was translated into other languages, that way others could fall in love with Anne Shirley. In 1912, it was translated to Polish and it found a captive audience amongst the Polish people. Soon, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s other works were translated, and she grew very popular there. Anne’s individuality was endearing. In 1939, when the Nazis invaded Poland, Polish soldiers were issued copies of Montgomery’s novels to take to the frontlines, as a means to raise the moral. When the Nazis occupied the country, “Anne of Green Gables” and Montgomery’s other works were banned, but that didn’t stop the Polish people. Copies were sold on the black market; resistance members carried them. Anne Shirley had become a beacon of hope. The war in Poland ended in 1945 and I’m sure the Polish people were looking forward to being free…unfortunately, they had been liberated by the Soviets and a Communistic government was put into place. Similarly, because Montgomery’s works were so beloved and “Anne’s resistance to authority” was a threat, the Soviets viewed it as “subversive” and banned “Anne of Green Gables” in 1953 to 1956.

My Thoughts:

I first read “Anne of Green Gables” when I was thirteen or fourteen. My family and I were visiting family up north and we stopped by this huge warehouse that sold old, used books for cheap. I stumbled across “Anne of Green Gables” and from the title I was intrigued, and it was one of the ones we bought. I devoured it and soon fell in love with odd, weird, red-haired girl. She turns her hair green, hits a boy with a slate, gets her friend drunk – what’s not to like? I had no idea it was Classic Lit – to me Anne Shirley felt modern and realistic. I went on to read the rest of the series, and re-read them off and on over the years. Then, I found the miniseries! Imagine my surprise when I learned it was a banned book.  

So, you see, the Nazis and the Communists banned and censored books…Those who are on the side of good don’t ban and censor books. And I’ll leave it at that.

[beardedmrbean]

A 29-year-old woman who stabbed to death a man who "loved and supported" her because he ran out of money has been jailed for at least 25 years.

Lauren Harris, of no fixed address, murdered David Mark Wilcox at his flat with accomplice David Webster, who bludgeoned him with a vodka bottle.

Webster, 43, of Lacey Street, Widnes, Cheshire, was jailed for at least 23 years after the pair were convicted last week.

Mr Justice Pepperall told Harris at Mold Crown Court the killing of the 65-year-old, who "had loved and supported you,” was "brutal and senseless".

A third man, Thomas Whitely, 33, of Colwyn Bay, had also been charged with murder but was cleared.

The jury heard that North Wales Police went to a property in Bay View Road, near Colwyn Bay town centre, in Conwy county, where Mr Wilcox was found stabbed and battered to death in an armchair.

He had been punched, kicked and stamped on and had broken ribs.

During sentencing Mr Justice Pepperall said: "I detect no remorse."

At one point as she was led into the dock Harris sang Shania Twain's Man! I Feel Like a Woman!

Andrew Ford KC, prosecuting, told jurors she had previous convictions for assault, including an unlawful wounding in 2022 in which a knife was used against a partner in a block of flats in Old Colwyn.

CCTV footage was played to the court and footage was also played of her assaulting men in the centre of Wrexham and Colwyn Bay.

Mr Ford said Harris also had a string of convictions for theft.

Harris had used Mr Wilcox’s bank cards at two ATMs in a bid to withdraw cash for drugs.

The judge said the murder may have happened out of anger that the money had dried up. Harris had crashed and abandoned Mr Wilcox’s car soon after the murder.

The court heard Harris took a “leading” role.

But the judge told Webster, who had a history of violence: "You were a willing accomplice in this brutal crime. It was you who bludgeoned your victim with a vodka bottle."

Mr Justice Pepperall said Webster lied about how he had Mr Wilcox’s watches.

"The appalling truth is you stole one of the watches from a dying man’s wrist," he said.

The court heard Mr Wilcox had moved to support Harris as he sought to turn her life around, but he started to struggle with his finances.

In the days before he was killed she began a relationship with Webster.

The court heard they spent money on drugs.

“This was a sustained and vicious attack in which you showed Mr Wilcox no mercy,” the judge said.

"From his defensive injuries it was clear the victim suffered greatly.”

Dean Quick of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Mr Wilcox was stabbed in his own home, suffering injuries that proved to be fatal.

“The CPS placed all the evidence before the jury who have returned guilty verdicts for Harris and Webster.

“Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Mr Wilcox who have had to deal with a terrible loss.”

Supt Sarah-Jayne Williams of North Wales Police called the killing “violent and senseless".

“Harris and Webster callously murdered Mark in his own home in a sustained attack, where he should have been safe," she said.

[justforbooks]

For most of his prolific, 40-year career, Percival Everett has been published by a non-profit imprint in Minneapolis, outside the traditional centre of US publishing in New York. In the UK, he was long out of print until being picked up by Influx Press, the small independent that in 2022 published his Booker-shortlisted The Trees. But after the success of that novel, major labels on both sides of the Atlantic came calling. Suddenly he’s hot property: his new book, James, arrives hard on the heels of the Oscar-winning film American Fiction, adapted from Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, about a frustrated black novelist who decides to live down to stereotyped expectations of his work by producing a pseudonymous spoof titled My Pafology.

If you’ve read Erasure or seen American Fiction, you’ll be prepared for the central conceit of James, a reboot of Mark Twain’s 1884 novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, narrated by the enslaved Jim, one half of the book’s runaway odd couple rafting up the antebellum Mississippi. In Twain’s novel, the boy narrator, Huck, has fled home, only to encounter Jim, his guardian’s slave, also on the run because he’s about to be sold (“Ole missus... treats me pooty rough, but she awluz said she wouldn’ sell me down to Orleans”). In James, Jim’s speech, like that of every black character in the novel, is a calculated code-switching put-on: “White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them... The better they feel, the safer we are”, or “Da mo’ betta dey feels, da mo’ safer we be”, in “the correct incorrect grammar” required by what Jim calls “situational translations”.

There’s no mistaking Everett’s glee in the steady comedy this generates throughout the book, but the language games have teeth, too, as a literal matter of life and death in a novel in which roleplay goes hand in hand with survival. Playing fast and loose with the original Twain throughout, the story unspools a series of last-gasp escapes that each usher in further jeopardy, as Jim is caught up in a money-making scam by vagrants posing as down-at-heel aristocrats or sold to a minstrel troupe, before pinning hopes of freeing his family on a hazardous disguise, only for a shipwreck to intervene.

James offers page-turning excitement but also off-kilter philosophical picaresque – Jim enters into dream dialogue with Enlightenment thinkers Voltaire and John Locke to coolly skewer their narrow view of human rights – before finally shifting gear into gun-toting revenge narrative when Jim’s view of white people as his “enemy” (not “oppressor”, which “supposes a victim”) sharpens with every atrocity witnessed en route. It’s American history as real-life dystopia, voiced by its casualties, but as you might guess from The Trees – a novel about lynching that won a prize for comic fiction – solemn it is not: “White people try to tell us that everything will be just fine when we go to heaven. My question is, Will they be there? If so, I might make other arrangements.”

The central dilemma of Twain’s novel, whose ironies have troubled readers differently down the decades, turns on Huck’s fear that it’s immoral to abet Jim’s flight, not least because Jim wants to free (or, in Huck’s word, “steal”) his family, a notion that leaves the boy aghast. Everett likewise deploys the duo’s misaligned perception for sardonic punch even as he treats their relationship tenderly. Witness the moment when Huck moots going to fight in the civil war:

“To fight in a war,” he said. “Can you imagine?” “Would that mean facing death every day and doing what other people tell you to do?” I asked. “I reckon.” “Yes, Huck, I can imagine.”

Gripping, painful, funny, horrifying, this is multi-level entertainment, a consummate performance to the last. Is there pause for thought when Jim says “white people love feeling guilty”, having told us on the first page that “it always pays to give white folks what they want”? Yes, after decades as a writer’s writer, Everett is finally hitting the big time, but somehow you doubt he’ll be giving anyone the chance to feel too cosy about that.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

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Varanasi Travel Guide 2024 – For Indians – Best Things to Do

Exploring Varanasi, the City of Light

Welcome to Varanasi, the spiritual heart of India and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Known as Kashi, or the City of Light, Varanasi is where spirituality and culture intertwine, creating a unique experience for every traveler. This Varanasi Travel Guide 2024 is tailored for Indian travelers, offering insights into the best things to do and see in this mesmerizing city. Whether you’re seeking spiritual enlightenment, cultural enrichment, or simply a unique adventure, Varanasi promises an unforgettable journey.

Mark Twain rightly said – “Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.”

Best things to do in Varanasi

1. Visit the ghats

Varanasi is renowned for its ghats – the series of steps leading down to the Ganges River. Each ghat has its own significance and charm. Dashashwamedh Ghat, one of the oldest and most important, is a bustling hive of activity. Here, you can witness pilgrims performing rituals, sadhus meditating, and locals engaging in daily life. Manikarnika Ghat, the main cremation ghat, offers a profound glimpse into the Hindu belief in life and death. Don’t miss Assi Ghat, a quieter spot perfect for morning yoga and meditation sessions.

2. Take a boat on the Ganges at dawn and witness Ganga Aarti at Dusk

One of the most iconic experiences in Varanasi is taking a boat ride on the Ganges River at dawn. As the sun rises, the ghats come alive with the sound of temple bells, chants, and the sight of devotees taking a holy dip. In the evening, the Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat is a must-see. The elaborate ceremony, with its synchronized rituals and blazing lamps, creates a magical ambiance that leaves a lasting impression.

3. Explore the Old City

The narrow, winding lanes of Varanasi’s Old City are a treasure trove of history and culture. Here, you can discover ancient temples, vibrant markets, and hidden gems around every corner. Don’t miss the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, one of the most revered Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. The bustling bazaars are perfect for picking up souvenirs, such as silk sarees, brassware, and religious artifacts.

4. Head to Durga Temple

Also known as the Monkey Temple due to the resident monkeys, the Durga Temple is an important site dedicated to the goddess Durga. The temple’s striking red color and serene atmosphere make it a popular destination for both devotees and tourists. The temple is especially lively during Navratri when it is adorned with lights and flowers, and special prayers and rituals are performed.

5. Wander around the Tulsi Manas Temple

The Tulsi Manas Temple is a modern temple built in honor of the poet-saint Tulsidas, who wrote the Ramcharitmanas. The walls of the temple are adorned with verses and scenes from the epic, making it a fascinating place to explore. The temple’s peaceful garden is an ideal spot to relax and reflect on the rich literary heritage of India.

6. See some art at Bharat Kala Bhawan Museum

For art and history enthusiasts, the Bharat Kala Bhawan Museum is a must-visit. Located within the Banaras Hindu University campus, the museum houses an impressive collection of artifacts, including sculptures, paintings, textiles, and ancient manuscripts. The museum offers a deep dive into the cultural and artistic history of Varanasi and the broader region.

7. Go over the river to Ramnagar Fort

Across the Ganges River lies the Ramnagar Fort, a 17th-century fort and palace complex that serves as the residence of the Maharaja of Varanasi. The fort’s museum showcases vintage cars, medieval costumes, and an eclectic array of artifacts that provide insight into the royal history of Varanasi. The fort also offers stunning views of the river and the city, especially at sunset.

8. Visit one of the oldest mandir – Nepali Mandir

The Nepali Mandir, also known as the Kathwala Temple, is a unique wooden temple built in the traditional Nepali style. Located near Lalita Ghat, this temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is known for its intricate wood carvings and serene ambiance. The Nepali Mandir stands out as a testament to the cultural connections between India and Nepal.

Best areas to stay | Varanasi Travel Guide

Assi Ghat

Assi Ghat is a popular area for travelers seeking a quieter and more laid-back experience in Varanasi. This ghat is known for its yoga sessions, cultural events, and a variety of cafes and restaurants. Staying near Assi Ghat offers a blend of tranquility and easy access to the city’s main attractions.

Dashashwamedh Ghat

For those who want to be in the heart of the action, Dashashwamedh Ghat is the place to stay. This area is bustling with activity, especially during the Ganga Aarti in the evening. Numerous hotels and guesthouses offer stunning views of the Ganges and the vibrant life along the ghats.

Shivala

Shivala is another excellent area to stay, offering a mix of traditional charm and modern amenities. This neighborhood is close to several important temples and ghats, making it a convenient base for exploring Varanasi. The area’s historic buildings and narrow lanes add to its unique character.

Outside the city

If you prefer a more peaceful retreat, consider staying outside the city. There are several resorts and guesthouses in the outskirts of Varanasi that offer serene environments and beautiful views of the countryside. These locations provide a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of the city while still being within easy reach of the main attractions.

Best restaurants and bars | Varanasi Travel Guide

Dashashwamedh Road

Dashashwamedh Road is lined with a variety of eateries that cater to all tastes and budgets. From local street food stalls to upscale restaurants, you can find a diverse range of culinary delights here. Some popular options include Kashi Chat Bhandar for delicious chaats and Ksheer Sagar for traditional Indian sweets.

Assi Ghat

Assi Ghat is known for its vibrant cafe culture, offering a range of options from local eateries to international cafes. Pizzeria Vaatika Cafe is famous for its wood-fired pizzas and riverside views. Brown Bread Bakery, a popular spot among travelers, serves organic and vegan-friendly dishes.

How to get around | Varanasi Travel Guide

By rickshaw

Rickshaws are a common and affordable mode of transportation in Varanasi. They are perfect for short distances and navigating the narrow lanes of the Old City. Remember to negotiate the fare before starting your journey.

By auto rickshaws

Auto rickshaws are another convenient way to get around Varanasi. They are faster than traditional rickshaws and can cover longer distances. Auto rickshaws are ideal for traveling between different parts of the city.

By car

If you prefer more comfort and convenience, hiring a car is a good option. Several car rental services are available in Varanasi, offering both self-drive and chauffeur-driven options. This is especially useful if you plan to explore areas outside the city or travel in a group.

What is the best time to visit Varanasi?

The best time to visit Varanasi is during the winter months, from October to March, when the weather is pleasant and ideal for sightseeing. The summer months (April to June) can be extremely hot, while the monsoon season (July to September) brings heavy rains that can disrupt travel plans. The winter season also coincides with several important festivals, such as Diwali and Dev Deepawali, adding to the city’s vibrant atmosphere.

How many days do you need in Varanasi?

To fully experience the essence of Varanasi, plan to spend at least 3 to 4 days in the city. This allows you enough time to explore the main attractions, enjoy boat rides on the Ganges, witness the Ganga Aarti, and soak in the unique ambiance of the ghats and the Old City. If you have more time, consider taking day trips to nearby destinations like Sarnath and Ramnagar Fort.

How to get here | Varanasi Travel Guide

By plane

Varanasi’s Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport connects major cities across India. Regular flights operate from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and other key cities. From the airport, you can hire a taxi or take a pre-booked cab to reach the city center.

By train

Varanasi is a major railway junction with several trains connecting it to different parts of India. The Varanasi Junction (BSB) and Manduadih Railway Station are the two main stations serving the city. Trains from Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and other cities run frequently, making train travel a convenient option.

By bus

Varanasi has a good road network connecting by road, with several state-run and private buses operating from nearby cities and towns.The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) and private operators offer comfortable and affordable bus services. The main bus stand in Varanasi is located near the Cantt Railway Station.

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Indian Pilgrimage Tours

Odisha Tour Packages

Buddhist Circuit Tour

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Mark Twain reflections

Mark Twain reflections Mark Twain reflections, ideas, wise thoughts and literary social witty opinions on life, religion, people, society, life, death, power, soul, and many other topics. The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one. Mark Twain Work like you don't need the money. Dance like no one is watching. And love like you've never been hurt. Mark Twain The citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth's political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal, he is a traitor. That he may be the only one who thinks he sees this decay, does not excuse him: it is his duty to agitate anyway, and it is the duty of others to vote him down if they do not see the matter as he does. Mark Twain My mind changes often ... People who have no mind can easily be steadfast and firm, but when a man is loaded down to the guards with it, as I am, every heavy sea of foreboding or inclination, maybe of indolence, shifts the cargo. Mark Twain You are not you - you have no body, no blood, no bones, you are but a thought. I myself have no existence; I am but a dream - your dream, a creature of your imagination. In a moment you will have realized this, then you will banish me from your visions and I shall dissolve into the nothingness out of which you made me. I am perishing already, I am failing, I am passing away. In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever - for you will remain a thought, the only existent thought, and by your nature inextinguishable, indestructible. But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better! Mark Twain After a few months’ acquaintance with European “coffee,” one’s mind weakens, and his faith with it, and he begins to wonder if the rich beverage of home, with its clotted layer of yellow cream on top of it, is not a mere dream after all, and a thing which never existed. Mark Twain People who always feel jolly, no matter where they are or what happens to them - who have the organ of hope preposterously developed - who are endowed with an uncongealable sanguine temperament - who never feel concerned about the price of corn - and who cannot, by any possibility, discover any but the bright side of a picture - are very apt to go to extremes, and exaggerate with 40-horse microscopic power. Mark Twain

Mark Twain wise thought Why was the human race created? Or at least why wasn't something creditable created in place of it? God had His opportunity. He could have made a reputation. But no, He must commit this grotesque folly -- a lark which must have cost Him a regret or two when He came to think it over and observe effects. There are those who imagine that the unlucky accidents of life - life's "experiences" - are in some way useful to us. I wish I could find out how. I never know one of them to happen twice. They always change off and swap around and catch you on your inexperienced side. Mark Twain But who prays for Satan? Who in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most, our one fellow and brother who most needed a friend yet had not a single one, the one sinner among us all who had the highest and clearest right to every Christian's daily and nightly prayers, for the plain and unassailable reason that his was the first and greatest need, he being among sinners the supremest? Mark Twain Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. Mark Twain So far as anybody actually knows and can prove, Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon never wrote a play in his life.” “Shall I set down the rest of the Conjectures which constitute the giant Biography of William Shakespeare? It would strain the Unabridged Dictionary to hold them. He is a Brontosaur: nine bones and six hundred barrels of plaster of Paris. Mark Twain Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it – namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign. Mark Twain Isn’t it odd, when you think of it, that you may list all of the celebrated Englishmen, Irishmen, Scotchmen clear back to the first Tudors – a list of five hundred names, shall we say? – and you can learn the particulars of the lives of every one of them. Every one of them except one - the most famous, the most renowned – by far the most illustrious of them all – Shakespeare! Mark Twain I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English, it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them, then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice. Mark Twain In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing. Mark Twain What a wee little part of a person's life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those of other things, are his history. These are his life, and they are not written. Everyday would make a whole book of 80,000 words - 365 books a year. Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man -- the biography of the man himself cannot be written. Mark Twain

Mark Twain witty quote There is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a Dream, a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And You are but a Thought - a vagrant Thought, a useless Thought, a homeless Thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities. Mark Twain The so-called Christian nations are the most enlightened and progressive ... but in spite of their religion, not because of it. The Church has opposed every innovation and discovery from the day of Galileo down to our own time, when the use of anesthetic in childbirth was regarded as a sin because it avoided the biblical curse pronounced against Eve. And every step in astronomy and geology ever taken has been opposed by bigotry and superstition. The Greeks surpassed us in artistic culture and in architecture five hundred years before Christian religion was born. Mark Twain Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for - annually, not oftener - if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man's side, consequently on the Lord's side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments. Mark Twain Unconsciously we all have a standard by which we measure other men, and if we examine closely we find that this standard is a very simple one, and is this: we admire them, we envy them, for great qualities we ourselves lack. Hero worship consists in just that. Our heroes are men who do things which we recognize, with regret, and sometimes with a secret shame, that we cannot do. We find not much in ourselves to admire, we are always privately wanting to be like somebody else. If everybody was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes. Mark Twain Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal... In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately. Mark Twain Spiritual wants and instincts are as various in the human family as are physical appetites, complexions, and features, and a man is only at his best, morally, when he is equipped with the religious garment whose color and shape and size most nicely accomodate themselves to the spiritual complexion, angularities, and stature of the individual who wears it. Mark Twain O, Switzerland! the further it recedes into the enriching haze of time, the more intolerably delicious the charm of it and the cheer of it and the glory and majesty and solemnity and pathos of it grow. Those mountains had a soul; they thought; they spoke, - one couldn't hear it with the ears of the body, but what a voice it was! - and how real. Deep down in my memory it is sounding yet. Mark Twain Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion--several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother's path to happiness and heaven....The higher animals have no religion. And we are told that they are going to be left out in the Hereafter. I wonder why? It seems questionable taste. Mark Twain A man's house burns down. The smoking wreckage represents only a ruined home that was dear through years of use and pleasant associations. By and by, as the days and weeks go on, first he misses this, then that, then the other thing. And when he casts about for it he finds that it was in that house. Always it is an essential - there was but one of its kind. It cannot be replaced. It was in that house. It is irrevocably lost. It will be years before the tale of lost essentials is complete, and not till then can he truly know the magnitude of his disaster. Mark Twain

Mark Twain great thoughts The true charm of pedestrianism does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking. The walking is good to time the movement of the tongue by, and to keep the blood and the brain stirred up and active; the scenery and the woodsy smells are good to bear in upon a man an unconscious and unobtrusive charm and solace to eye and soul and sense; but the supreme pleasure comes from the talk. Mark Twain Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain An average English word is four letters and a half. By hard, honest labor I've dug all the large words out of my vocabulary and shaved it down till the average is three and a half... I never write "metropolis" for seven cents, because I can get the same money for "city." I never write "policeman," because I can get the same price for "cop."... I never write "valetudinarian" at all, for not even hunger and wretchedness can humble me to the point where I will do a word like that for seven cents; I wouldn't do it for fifteen. Mark Twain The kernel, the soul - let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances - is plagiarism. For substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily used by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral calibre and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing. Mark Twain The common eye sees only the outside of things, and judges by that, but the seeing eye pierces through and reads the heart and the soul, finding there capacities which the outside didn't indicate or promise, and which the other kind couldn't detect. Mark Twain You can also read: Mark Twain great quotes Quotes by authors Quotes by arguments Thoughts and reflections Essays with quotes Read the full article

[empiricalramble]

The day Mark Twain was created

For Twain, the romantic, idyllic scenes were a surface beneath which the complexities and hypocrisies of society lurked. The satire and humour for which Twain is renowned were not mere entertainment but tools for social criticism.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known to generations of readers as Mark Twain, remains one of America’s most iconic literary figures. Born on November 30, 1835, in the small village of Florida, Missouri, he was the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. His early life was characterised by frequent moves and a formal education that ended when he was just twelve years old, after the death…

[varunjain]

#75 What fear does

What fear does “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” – Mark Twain When we are fearful, a lot of things happen. Our decision models change. And so does the way in which we dream. Our curiosity about the unknown becomes manifest in this emotion called fear that leads us to stasis. Fear is the ultimate mind-killer. It is what…

[seagreenzines]

Zine Review: Death

Death Wesley Sueker 16 Pages https://www.youtube.com/c/TwentyTwoZines https://linktr.ee/twentytwozines Death is an 18.5x11cm sized black and white zine in Wesley’s Drawing Room Tarot series that explores the meaning and implications of the card as well as adding perzine elements from Wesley’s life that relate to the card. We open from a quote from Mark Twain about Death the immortal and its equal…

[frogsbejumpingincalaveras]

Hey There Reader,

As I round out my blog here with a final post on the work of Mark Twain, I would just like to begin by saying that viewing Twain's work over the past few months has led to a real appreciation for the guy. I've found his work to be really thought-provoking, funny, and so much more in-depth than I would've guessed from knowing the work of some his contemporaries. For anyone that stumbles across these posts, I hope you'll take the time to read some. But let's move on from sentimentalities and discuss the seemingly effortless way Twain was able to weave humor and morality into works that were not expected to contain them. Looking at some of his late-life work, like his 70th birthday speech and The Death of Jean, one can really read Twain's 'voice' in these two pieces despite their wildly different contents.

Starting light, Twain's 70th birthday speech was a speech he gave on during his 70th birthday dinner where he reminisces on the life he's lived and speaks to the power of vice but more realistically enjoyment and self-satisfaction, for him personally he claims time and time again, in staying alive. For anyone familiar with Twain's, or perhaps Hal Holdbrooks', live work, you may be familiar with the monologue on smoking,

"I smoke in bed until I have to go to sleep; I wake up in the night, sometimes once, sometimes twice, sometimes three times, and I never waste any of these opportunities to smoke. This habit is so old and dear and precious to me that I would feel as you, sir, would feel if you should lose the only moral you’ve got—meaning the chairman—if you’ve got one; I am making no charges. I will grant, here, that I have stopped smoking now and then, for a few months at a time, but it was not on principle, it was only to show off; it was to pulverize those critics who said I was a slave to my habits and couldn’t break my bonds."

This, among other notions on when and where to smoke or quit, have made the rounds since their first recital and offer a pure glimpse into the masterful storytelling technique Twain refined over his life. It exists as a smart takedown of the types of 'health' advice we all receive, while also acting as a relatable retreat into personal pleasures for which the entirety of the speech attempts to get the audience to understand. So not only is this speech a triumph in the beginnings of stand-up comedy that Twain would be known as later on, or just a nostalgia trip along with him as he picks out the most favorable memories from his long and storied life, but also a lesson on morality, and the importance of having them but also the more important act of breaking them on occasion to indulge in one's self. It's this type of multi-layered messaging that Twain really excels at, especially by this time.

Unfortunately, I have to follow this light-hearted speech up with the recounting Twain penned of the death of his daughter. And while that is certainly more akin to his ponderances of the meanings of life, The Death of Jean contains moments of levity and kindness that portray the deepest feelings the man had. Like these lines about Jean's pet dog,

"Her dog has been wandering about the grounds to-day, comradeless and forlorn. I have seen him from the windows. She got him from Germany. He has tall ears and looks exactly like a wolf. He was educated in Germany, and knows no language but the German. Jean gave him no orders save in that tongue. And so, when the burglar-alarm made a fierce clamor at midnight a fortnight ago, the butler, who is French and knows no German, tried in vain to interest the dog in the supposed burglar. Jean wrote me, to Bermuda, about the incident. It was the last letter I was ever to receive from her bright head and her competent hand. The dog will not be neglected."

Within this paragraph, Twain is not only processing the grief of such a powerful love lost, but also displaying his wide empathy for animals. Despite often noted as a "cat-person", Twain vows to take car of his late daughter's dog. And even before that kind last line, we get more of the signature Twain storytelling, with hints of humor at the incredulousness of a dog that understand German and no other tongue, so it will be so difficult in keeping him trained, since Twain doesn't speak the language. In those moments of extreme sadness, Twain still can't help but make a joke.

I think this type of writing is how Twain wants to be remembered. With a smile on his lips that either betrays his fondness for joy in any moment, or his quick-witted takedowns of those that would rather order over that joy. He'd never tell which it was, in fact, he'd probably tell you it was both, with verbose explanations as to why and as ever as his stories were, you'd have to piece together the truth yourself, but not from his instruction, but because you'd want to. I did.

Thanks for reading, Reader. I hope these were insightful in some way.

-Stephen

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

The thing that always baffles me is why creators want to "tie their fantasy" into the real world by bastardizing history when all it actually does is add confusion and draw you out of the story. Making Joan of Arc into a miraculous holder who escaped death to go be with her man isn't tying your show to the real world and making us question if this could all be true or whatever. At best, it's insulting a real person and highlighting how much your show isn't tied to reality. At worse, it's giving viewers a messed up view of history.* Either way, what's the goal here? What does this do that wouldn't be done better by making up a fictional former holder? When you're writing a piece of fantasy, it's so much more fun and freeing to divorce yourself from reality as much as possible.

It would be very different if the show was trying to teach history while also adding a fun magic angle to keep kids engaged, but they're not. Nothing about their version of Joan remotely matches reality so why bother to even call her Joan?

*To be clear, I don't think that anyone watched Reunion and thought that was what really happened, but I could absolutely see it giving someone a false impression of who Joan of Arc was because they know she was a real person and they might assume that the story the show gave us was at least somewhat routed in history, but it's not. The only semi-accurate element of it was that she was murdered. What's extra weird is that there's no obvious real-life person to match up to Dark Grimalkin, so they actively chose to make up a love interest for this famously celibate martyr instead of just making both holders fictional. It's super ick.

Part of the reason I'm so passionate about historical accuracy and Joan in particular is because one of my earliest childhood memories is watching the Wishbone episode about her. An episode that ends with her historically accurate death. We actually see her tied to a stake with flames around her as the narrator says that she died. Little me was not okay with any of that. I think it's the first time I had to deal with the idea of the good guy not winning.

I believe that I only saw that episode once, but I have never forgotten it. It saddens me that a kid watching Miraculous would walk away shipping Joan with a fictional character while little me walked away from Wishbone crying over this real woman's deeply tragic and undeserved death. If memory serves, I went on to learn more about the real Joan specifically because of the glimpse I got in that episode. It is undoubtedly the reason that I've always been drawn to her story.

You can find the whole episode on Youtube if you're curious, but as I was writing this, I was more curious how accurate it actually was. A little digging found this lovely review on both the episode and the book that it was inspired by: Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. It sounds like the book is quite accurate and well researched while the Wishbone episode was probably about as accurate as you could be in a 30-minute long kids show. Like Miraculous, it removed the religious stuff, but it didn't replace it with Tibetan monks recruiting Joan to fight in a war, so I don't think it insulted the real person even though the religious elements are an important part of her story. Someone watching the Wishbone episode would know the basic facts about her and that's really all I ask for a brief cameo appearance.

Still can’t comprehend why they chose Joan of Arc as their historical figure to butcher

I never expected accuracy or respect for the figure but they might as well have just made up some random historical soldier with how little she resembles the actual person and it would’ve been the same

[huayno]

from neon genesis evangelion, vol. 12

The Mysterious Stranger

The Anime, the Manga, and the Mark Twain Novella

"God will provide for this kitten." "What makes you think so?" Ursula's eyes snapped with anger. "Because I know it!" she said. "Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His seeing it." "But it falls, just the same. What good is seeing it fall?"

—from The Mysterious Stranger

There is a short novel by Mark Twain, written near the end of his life and published posthumously, entitled The Mysterious Stranger. The tale is set in a small village in 16th century Austria, where three boys one day meet a young man different from themselves: "he had new and good clothes on, and was handsome and had a winning face and a pleasant voice, and was easy and graceful and unembarrassed, not slouchy and awkward and diffident, like other boys."

The mysterious stranger starts to do small but amazing tricks for them—causing water to turn to ice; conjuring grapes and bread out of air; even making birds that can fly out of clay. At last one boy, the story's narrator, works up the courage to ask the stranger who he is:

"'An angel,' he said, quite simply, and set another bird free and clapped his hands and made it flyaway."

The angel then proceeds to really impress them by making an entire toy castle, complete with five hundred miniature soldiers and workmen that move around by themselves. Naturally the boys get involved with this ultimate playset, making their own knights and cannon and cavalry, and although they get rather nervous again when the angel reveals his name is Satan, he assures them he is not that Satan, but only named after the fallen one.

"We others are still ignorant of sin; we are not able to commit it; we are without blemish, and we shall abide in that estate always." Distracted by two of the miniature workmen, "Satan reached out his hand and crushed the life out of them with his fingers... and went on talking where he had left off: 'We cannot do wrong; neither have we any disposition to do it, for we do not know what it is." Horrified as the other boys are, "he made us drunk with the joy of being with him and of looking into the heaven of his eyes, and of feeling the ecstasy that thrilled along our veins from the touch of his hand.'"

Yes, Kaworu Nagisa made quite an impression on the fans of Neon Genesis Evange/ion, despite the fact that, in the original broadcast version of the TV show (before it got all director's-cutted, box-setted, special-editioned, and platinum-lined) he shows up for only slightly less than thirteen minutes of total screen time, the climax of which being an entire minute where nothing happens at all.

That's what being a beautiful angel will do for you, especially when you make the most of your thirteen minutes on Earth by having a Whirlwind romance with the main character that ends in a lover's quarrel with Prog Knives and finally a voluntary martyrdom at the hand of your boy here. Relationships don't come any more tragic than that of Kaworu Nagisa and Shinji Ikari, and when fans (including this one) first saw it on TV, the affair was so brief and shocking the story logic of it didn't click in until much later.

In the anime, Kaworu is acknowledged as the Final Messenger, and, of all the Angels Shinji has to fight, this is the most ruthless battle, won at the highest possible cost to himself. It took even longer for me to realize that the showdown in episode 24 had also taken us full circle from Shinji's first fight in episodes 1 and 2, which emphasized his personal helplessness against the looming Angel Sachiel. Against Kaworu, it is the Angel who becomes the small, helpless figure, while Shinji is represented only by the gargantuan, frightful helm and arm of his Eva Unit-O1. We never see Shinji's human face once throughout the whole final minute of decision.

So as Col. Trautman would have said instead of Major Katsuragi, "It's over, Shinji! IT'S OVER!" Kaworu v. Shinji (or Kaworu x Shinji, in the doujinshi) was the big final showdown between humanity and the Angels. And with the outcome leaving Shinji at his most wretched ever, wouldn't it be nice if everyone just died—your wish being Eva's command, as it turns out that fortunately humanity hardly ever needed the Angels to slaughter itself.

"I am perishing already—I am failing—I am passing away. In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever...But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better!"

—from The Mysterious Stranger

Satan's words near the end of Mark Twain's story also uncannily prefigure the end of the world and the Instrumentality project, both of which follow his death in the TV show in such quick order you picture Anno as a hairnetted fry cook dinging the counter bell. By now you see Sadamoto's handling of Kaworu, and perhaps nothing illustrates the different experiences of the manga and the anime better than his handling of this critical character.

No longer the last Angel to be fought, Kaworu actually becomes an active Eva pilot and fights an Angel—the dude even has the nerve to observe the fight is fixed, based on his knowledge of SEELE's prophecies. Sadamoto of course introduces him at an earlier point in the narrative—at the equivalent of episode 19's end—and then sends him to NERV near the equivalent of episode 22's beginning—before certain important events, to put it mildly, can occur. When one notes this kind of thing, of course, it's important to restate that the Evangelion manga has always been a separate but equal "official" version of Eva, with no particular obligation to align itself with the anime, and indeed it was with Book Five, the first released after The End of Evangelion, that Sadamoto began to truly seem free to go in his own direction.

Nevertheless, as the "other" official version of the Eva story, it is reasonable for fans to view it as an "alternate history" relative to the anime, and the way Kaworu has been introduced makes us realize the manga may end very differently indeed. Despite the fact we know here that Kaworu is an Angel from the very beginning, he appears destined to at least hang around long enough to pick up a few paychecks. It's not clear when your health benefits kick in at NERV, although if Ritsuko is your primary caregiver it might be best to forego them.

Sadamoto's remarks upon visiting the U.S. in 2003 indicated that the Eva manga might (might) be planned as a twelve-volume series in all. There is still plenty of room for speculation, as the slow working pace to which the artist himself often refers has of late become almost relativistic—as of this writing, it has been eight months since Sadamoto has drawn a new installment of Eva in Japan, and hence a Volume Ten is nowhere in sight. It may be small comfort, but those of you reading this are pretty much in the same drifting boat as the Japanese fans.

"An angel's love is sublime, adorable, divine, beyond the imagination of man—infinitely beyond it! But it is limited to his own august order. If it fell upon one of your race for only an instant, it would consume its object to ashes. No, we cannot love men but we can be harmlessly indifferent to them; we can also like them, sometimes."

—from The Mysterious Stranger

And with Book Nine we see the most staggering difference thus far between the manga and the anime; Sadamoto's Shinji doesn't even like Kaworu, much less love him. Of course, you could say the less-ethereal Kaworu of the manga is harder to love. I can't believe Sadamoto had him tell Rei he thought she'd be "heftier." And yet he did.

I don't think any A.T. Fields actually got penetrated in the anime; while I do think Shinji felt sexually attracted to Kaworu, and that you the audience are supposed to feel that he felt it, what Kaworu himself thought was a very different matter. Like Rei, I believe Kaworu to be innocent—coyly, he appears not to be so, because while Rei needed to be reached out to, Kaworu has come to reach out; whereas Rei has spent her existence being observed; Kaworu has come to observe.

Indeed, in the manga, Shinji's irritation about Kaworu's invasion of his personal space seems almost a parody of his attitude in the anime. In the TV show, when Kaworu put his hand on Shinji's, he flinched but did not pull away; whereas in the manga it's easy to imagine Shinji slugging him. Instead he goes to run after Rei, hoping to get closer to her again.

I hardly think the change reflects any phobia on Sadamoto's part (after all, we even get to see Shinji's "Unit One" in the manga), but the fact the manga Shinji is less emotionally bleak and empty, and hence less vulnerable. Shinji's just as negative in the manga, of course, but it's an active variety, rather than the passive negative creep (in the best Nirvana song sense) we know from the anime. We don't have to imagine him slugging Gendo; from the look of surprise on Dad's face in Book Seven he would have smacked the beard off his face if Kaji hadn't stopped him.

Neither is Shinji in a positive emotional situation where we leave him here, either; indeed at this point in the manga there's arguably no one he can turn to—the more brutal fate that befell Toji has cut him off from his school friends, Rei has become hesitant, Kaji is dead, and his perennial self-esteem booster Asuka is going to need to rebuild her internal supply before she can even get back to calling him a loser and idiot.

So, like Misato trying to put her own hand on Shinji's, all I can do for now while we wait for Sadamoto-sensei is to recommend for your winter vacation reading list The Mysterious Stranger, which I can almost guarantee will give you new angles to think about Kaworu, and may even earn you class credit besides. A quick look at the novel's comments on Amazon list a teacher who says fundamentalist students walked out of his class when he taught it; another compares it to The Matrix; those who dislike it call it "sick," "bitter," and "twisted." Sounds like good old Evangelion to me!

—Carl Gustav Horn

[a drawing of Kaworu holding a kitten]

Although The Mysterious Stranger can also be found in a number of print editions, including The Portable Mark Twain from Penguin (haw haw), the story, being from the days when mp3s came on shellacked cylinders, is legally available online at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/TwaMyst.html. The same site has a book called The Holy Bible, King James Version, which fans of Evangelion might also enjoy, although it's technically "Editor's Choice."

[blogdemocratesjr]

The House of Joan of Arc by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1918)

Our Domremy was like any other humble little hamlet of that remote time and region. It was a maze of crooked, narrow lanes and alleys shaded and sheltered by the overhanging thatch roofs of the barnlike houses. The houses were dimly lighted by wooden-shuttered windows—that is, holes in the walls which served for windows. The floors were dirt, and there was very little furniture. Sheep and cattle grazing was the main industry; all the young folks tended flocks. ... Now from time immemorial all children reared in Domremy were called the Children of the Tree; and they loved that name, for it carried with it a mystic privilege not granted to any others of the children of this world. Which was this: whenever one of these came to die, then beyond the vague and formless images drifting through his darkening mind rose soft and rich and fair a vision of the Tree—if all was well with his soul. That was what some said. Others said the vision came in two ways: once as a warning, one or two years in advance of death, when the soul was the captive of sin, and then the Tree appeared in its desolate winter aspect—then that soul was smitten with an awful fear. If repentance came, and purity of life, the vision came again, this time summer-clad and beautiful; but if it were otherwise with that soul the vision was withheld, and it passed from life knowing its doom. Still others said that the vision came but once, and then only to the sinless dying forlorn in distant lands and pitifully longing for some last dear reminder of their home. And what reminder of it could go to their hearts like the picture of the Tree that was the darling of their love and the comrade of their joys and comforter of their small griefs all through the divine days of their vanished youth?

—Mark Twain, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

See also The Twelve Senses, Forces & World Views

[nichse]

Death lays just over the horizon 🌈 ☀️ ⭐️💐🍁

Recently I read ‘The Wisdom of Insecurity: A message for an age of anxiety’ by the philosopher Alan Watts. The main takeaway from it for me is perhaps well captured by exploring the title of the book itself…

‘The Wisdom of Insecurity’. How could it be that being insecure contains wisdom? Well, how Alan uses the phrase ‘insecurity’ is quite particular. ‘Insecurity’ here, may be understood as a radical appreciation of the fact that our lives are fleeting and inherently exist on the most unstable foundations. The Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges, stated: “Nothing is built on stone; All is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone.” All our plans for tomorrow are contingent on us even being here tomorrow, which is far from guaranteed. Countless stories can be found of people making plans for a tomorrow which never was. At each and every moment, our time on Earth could be up. Some may view this as unduly pessimistic, but truly, is it not so?

You may then say: “I now understand the ‘insecurity’ of life, but where is the wisdom in that?” Who is better positioned to capture life in all its entirety, the beauty, the subtlety, it’s exquisiteness? Who but the person who deeply and intimately understands that, at any minute it could all be gone, who could truly appreciate all life has to offer but they? Writer Mark Twain wrote: “the fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” The pedantic will query whether this qualifies as wisdom. To this pedantic I say that to fully understand life, one has to fully experience life, life is fully experienced by being here and now. There is nowhere else to go and nowhere else to be. In this state, of not rushing but fully appreciating everything, then and only then will truth reveal itself to us. Alan Watts himself wrote: “Paradoxical as it may seem, the purposeful life has no content, no point. It hurries on and on, and misses everything. Not hurrying, the purposeless life misses nothing, for it is only when there is no goal and no rush that the human senses are fully open to receive the world.”

So why then do I say that “Death lays just over the horizon”? To fully appreciate and capture all that comprises life, we must be in a fully receptive state. If we are too busy caught up in trying to ignore our inevitable ending, resisting the inevitable, pushing it out of one’s mind, then we inadvertently close our senses to all of life. How do we avoid this? By radically accepting our fate.

How liberating? No more resisting. Just acceptance of what is. Pure presence. I believe ‘death’, full appreciation of it, is liberating. Steve Jobs wrote it like this: “Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

The number of limitations we place on ourselves through resistance, fear of failure and so on, when set against a conscious appreciation of our own morality, they must quickly dissipate.

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Credit: Jordan J. Lloyd

I've been trying to dive deeper into politics, discover the genuine roots of our society, the origins of our beliefs, and the consequences of our economic system. It's a big, long, wide journey and through multiple sources such as articles, images, videos and multiple social media platforms, I've been trying to educate myself more on important subjects.

Communism, capitalism, libertarian, conservative, the left, the right, the history, the impact. It is scary to commit to everything because once you start, you simply cannot stop, once you start waking up your conscience about the horrible reality, the lies, the truths, you cannot put it back to sleep. You can't just ignore prejudice, especially when you're extremely conscious of it's omnipresence. I have continually tried to build my own opinions all while actively creating bullet point arguments in my mind because I just know that at some point I will have to defend my thinking, and I want to do it right.

Now, I am so far from being enlightened, I am a beginner and an amateur in all of those themes, but I am trying, which is the only way to start and grow.

So to tell you about my beliefs, I am a militant human rights activist, I believe in equal opportunities regardless of gender identity, sex, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race and disability. This is a fact, not a belief, but the system was obviously not built to protect all people, its wasn't created to serve everyone equally but to grant a privilege to some and harm others. The current state of the world is not a slip, an accident or a misfunction of our brilliant system but a testament of it operating remarkably well. I believe that equity leads to equality, and I believe that we cannot "fix" methodologies that were immorally created with absolutely no honor whatsoever. I believe in reproductive rights, in legal, safe abortions for anybody who needs one. I believe in the decriminalization of marijuana. I believe that the death penalty is a despicable punition that should be banned as soon as possible. I believe in defunding the police and the military. I believe that it is a shame that I even have to talk about police brutality, I don't want to have to say that it is one of the most horrible things our world has originated, I feel extremely dense when I do because it seems like the most obvious certitude and I refuse to believe that this is a controversial statement. I believe that everything I have just stated, along with many more, isn't anything grand but the bare minimum, the bar is low, and yet, we still have the fight for basic human decency.

Humanity has become an option. We have normalized supporting people that represent everything wrong in this world under the name of tolerance. The left has never claimed to be tolerant towards hateful beings, We have never accepted homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism and sexism. We cannot, for exemple, accept nazis, as too much tolerance inevitably leads to intolerance. This picture explains it perfectly:

I consider myself a communist/ socialist. The two terms still confuse me a little, some say they are the same, some say they differ quite a bit. What I know is that socialism is the transitional period between capitalism and communism. At the end of the day, the final result and goal is a stateless, moneyless and clasless society that will provide to each his need.

Our capitalistic society has brainwashed us way more than you may think. It is the root of so many of our issues, the underground demon of our problems. Every idea, thought, belief, and misconception of ours were all affected by our current economic system. It has sold us the billionnaire dream which is one of the most toxic things capitalism has offered. We have looked up to billionaires for way too long, why are they so idolized? Most of them come from high upper class families that can easily afford to invest in their inventions and creations. After starting up their companies and occasionnaly stealing other's people ideas to ultimately get undeserved merit, they then can start to properly exploit their hardworking employees's labour. And for unlimited hours and a minimum wage which probably won't even suffice you to survive, you will have to either pick up more shifts or a second or even third job, especially if you have a family to support. All while the CEO barely does any of the work and gets all the praise and money. So no, they don't all come from really poor families and have built everything for nothing.

The worst thing is that we've been so gaslit and brainwashed that we're proud of our own exploitation, we are wired to think that to be successful we have to suffer, work 10 jobs we all hate, constantly pick up extra hours, have 2 hours of sleep, have no free time to do anything we love, waste our entire youth, be depressed our entire adulthood, to finally have a few pennies to spend when we're eighty. We so strongly believe that this is the only right way to be successful that I don't think many of us have dared to question it's authority, and even if we do, we quickly accept that this a truth, a fact we cannot change and this is just the way things are.

We have capitalized water, food, land, forests, oceans, space, and everything in betweeen. Money is social construct and we have deliberately let it take over our lives. To think about the wasted opportunities and the misery that we have to endure so others can enjoy life truly angers me.

Also, communism is not an ideology that has every actually taken place. Despite what they say, there was never actually a communist country. However, every nation that has attempted a socialist system, for exemple Burkina Faso, has thrived. But of course, once capitalist countries noticed that, they decided to murder it's leader. So in conclusion, the only reason socialism failed is because of capitalism and it's interventions.

"As President (1983-1987), Sankara initiated economic reforms that shifted his country away from dependence on foreign aid and reduced the privileges of government officials; he cut salaries, including his own, decreed that there would be no more flying in first class or driving Mercedes as standard issue vehicles for Ministers and other government workers. He led a modest lifestyle and did not personally amass material wealth. President Sankara encouraged self-sufficiency, including the use of local resources to build clinics, schools and other needed infrastructure. [...] President Sankara promoted land reform, childhood vaccination, tree planting, communal school building, and nation-wide literacy campaigns. He was committed to gender equity and women’s rights and was the first African leader to publicly recognize the AIDS pandemic as a threat to African countries. Although Sankara became somewhat more authoritarian during his Presidency, his ideas, and the possibility that they could spread, were viewed by many as posing the greatest threat. President Sankara was assassinated during a coup led by a French-backed politician, Blaise Compaoré, in October 1987. Compaoré served as the President of Burkina Faso from October 1987 through October 2014, when he himself was overthrown."

Via:https://africandevelopmentsuccesses.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/success-story-from-burkina-faso-thomas-sankaras-legacy/

I have been reading and watching some amazing human rights activists, notably Angela Davis, Malcolm X and James Baldwin. The people that were villainized, labeled as violent and radical, when every single word that came out of their mouhs were pure facts. They are probably some of the most eloquent people I have had the pleasure of hearing. Every sentence, every argument, every single detail made so much sense and opened my mind to so many new realizations. This is the perfect exemple of how the media tarnishes the reputation of wise black women and men. I would strongly advise you to research more about them.

"Socialism & communism are demonized in the west to the point of erasing influential individuals' socialist advocacy. Heres a short list of people you may not have known were socialists/ communists:

MLK

Albert Einstein

Nelson Mandela

Frida Kahlo

Tupac Shakur

Mark Twain

Malcom X

Oscar Wilde

Bertrand Russell

Hellen Keller

Pablo Picasso

George Orwell

Shia LaBeouf

John Lennon

Woody Guthrie

Socialism & communism are not dirty words. Some of the most brilliant minds of our history were socialists and communists. Embrace it." Via @sleepisocialist on twitter

So what else can I say, capitalism has ruined our society and the way we act and think. I know a lot of people refuse to support communism because they think it's too much of a perfect ideal utopian world for it to ever actually exist. And to that I say, first of all, so you agree, it is a wonderful theory, and second of all, a world without racism, sexism, homophobia or any kind or discrimination could also be perceived as "too ideal to actually exist", but does that mean I'm giving up on talking, educating myself and others, protesting and trying to build a better future? Absolutely not. This is the objective, it would be so dumb to think that we just couldn't achieve that so let's not even try.

I want to talk more in detail about communism, theory, human rights, etc... but I don't want to make this post any longer. I will however be posting more about it soon enough.

I know this is a little different than what I usually post, but I want to speak, tell you all my own opinions, I don't want to just repost activism related stuff. I'll continue to do that, but not exclusively. I know it won't get as many interactions as my other posts, but this is what I needed at some point in my life, and if I could make understanding some basic informations easier to some people, it'll already be a great accomplishment.

Thank you for reading.

[gilmoregirlsrevival2016]

Season 1 Gilmore Girls References (Breakdown)

Yay! All the season 1 references have been posted. Before I start posting season 2, I wanted to post this little breakdown for your enjoyment :) It starts with some statistics and then below the cut is a list of all the specific references.

Overall amount of references in season 1: 605

Top 10 Most Common References: NSYNC (5), Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (5), Taylor Hanson (6), Leo Tolstoy (7), Lucky Spencer (7), Marcel Proust (7), PJ Harvey (7), The Bangles (8), The Donna Reed Show (8), William Shakespeare (10)

Which episodes had the most references: #1 is That Damn Donna Reed with 55 references. #2 is Christopher Returns with 44 references 

What characters made the most references (Only including characters/actors who were in the opening credits): Lorelai had the most with 237 references, Rory had second most with 118, and Lane had third most with 48.

First reference of the season: Jack Kerouac referenced by Lorelai 

Final reference of the season: Adolf Eichmann referenced by Michel 

  Movies/TV Shows/Episodes/Characters, Commercials, Cartoons/Cartoon Characters, Plays, Documentaries:

9 1/2 Weeks, Alex Stone, Alfalfa, An Affair To Remember, A Streetcar Named Desire, Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman, Avon Commercials, Bambi, Beethoven, Boogie Nights, Cabaret, Casablanca, Charlie's Angels, Charlie Brown cartoons, Christine, Cinderella, Citizen Kane, Daisy Duke, Damien Thorn, Dawson Leery, Donna Stone, Double Indemnity, Double Mint Commercials, Ethel Mertz, Everest, Felix Unger, Fiddler On The Roof, Footloose, Freaky Friday, Fred Mertz, Gaslight, General Hospital, G.I. Jane, Gone With The Wind, Grease, Hamlet, Heathers, Hee Haw, House On Haunted Hill, Ice Castles, I Love Lucy, Iron Chef, Ishtar, Jeff Stone, Joanie Loves Chachi, John Shaft, Lady And The Tramp, Life With Judy Garland: Me And My Shadows, Love Story, Lucky Spencer, Lucy Raises Chickens, Lucy Ricardo, Lucy Van Pelt, Macbeth,  Magnolia, Mary Stone, Mask, Midnight Express, Misery, Norman Bates, Officer Krupke, Oompa Loompas, Old Yeller, Oscar Madison, Out Of Africa, Patton, Pepe Le Pew, Peyton Place, Pink Ladies, Pinky Tuscadero, Ponyboy, Psycho, Queen Of Outer Space, Rapunzel, Richard III, Ricky Ricardo, Rocky Dennis, Romeo And Juliet, Rosemary's Baby, Sandy Olsson, Saved By The Bell, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Schroeder, Sesame Street, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Sex And The City, Sixteen Candles, Sleeping Beauty, Star Trek, Stanley Kowalski, Stella Kowalski, Stretch Cunningham, The Champ, The Comedy Of Errors, The Crucible, The Donna Reed Show, The Duke's Of Hazzard, The Fly, The Great Santini, The Little Match Girl, The Matrix, The Miracle Worker, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Outsiders, The Shining, The Sixth Sense, The View, The Waltons, The Way We Were, The Scarecrow, This Old House, V.I.P., Valley Of The Dolls, Vulcans, Wild Kingdom, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Wheel Of Fortune, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Working Girl, Yogi Bear, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown

Bands, Songs, CDs:

98 Degrees, Air Supply, Apple Venus Volume 2, Backstreet Boys, Bee Gees, Black Sabbath, Blue Man Group, Blur, Bon Jovi, Boston, Bush, Duran Duran, Everlong, Foo Fighters, Fugazi, Grandaddy, Hanson, I'm Too Sexy, Joy Division, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Kraftwerk, Like A Virgin, Livin La Vida Loca, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Man I Feel Like A Woman, Metallica, Money Money, My Ding-A-Ling, NSYNC, On The Good Ship Lollipop, Pink Moon, Queen, Rancid, Sergeant Pepper, Shake Your Bon Bon, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Sister Sledge, Smoke On The Water, Steely Dan, Suppertime, Tambourine Man, The B-52s, The Bangles, The Beatles, The Best Of Blondie, The Cranberries, The Cure, The Offspring, The Sugarplastic, The Wallflowers, The Velvet Underground, Walk Like An Egyptian, XTC, Ya Got Trouble, Young Marble Giants

Books/Book Characters, Comic Books/Comic Book Characters, Comic Strips: 

A Mencken Chrestomathy, A Tale Of Two Cities, Anna Karenina, Belle Watling, Boo Radley, Carrie, David Copperfield, Dick Tracy, Dopey (One of the seven dwarfs) Goofus And Gallant, Great Expectations, Grinch, Hannibal Lecter, Hansel And Gretel, Harry Potter (book as well as character referenced), Huckleberry Finn, Little Dorrit, Madame Bovary, Moby Dick, Mommie Dearest, Moose Mason, Nancy Drew, Out Of Africa, Pinocchio, Swann's Way, The Amityville Horror, The Art Of Fiction, The Bell Jar, The Grapes Of Wrath, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, The Lost Weekend, The Metamorphosis, The Portable Dorothy Parker, The Unabridged Journals Of Sylvia Plath, The Witch Tree Symbol, There's A Certain Slant Of Light, Tuesdays With Morrie, War And Peace, Wonder Woman

Public Figures:

Adolf Eichmann, Alfred Hitchcock, Angelina Jolie, Anna Nicole Smith, Annie Oakley, Antonio Banderas, Arthur Miller, Artie Shaw, Barbara Hutton, Barbara Stanwyck, Barbra Streisand, Beck, Ben Jonson, Benito Mussolini, Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Crudup, Bob Barker, Brad Pitt, Britney Spears, Catherine The Great, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Charles I, Charles Dickens, Charles Manson, Charlie Parker, Charlotte Bronte, Charlton Heston, Charo, Cher, Cheryl Ladd, Chris Penn, Christiane Amanpour, Christopher Marlowe, Chuck Berry, Claudine Longet, Cleopatra, Cokie Roberts, Courtney Love, Dalai Lama, Damon Albarn, Dante Alighieri, David Mamet, Donna Reed, Edith Wharton, Edna O'Brien, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Elizabeth Webber, Elle Macpherson, Elsa Klensch, Elvis, Emeril Lagasse, Emily Dickinson, Emily Post, Eminem, Emma Goldman, Errol Flynn, Fabio, Farrah Fawcett, Fawn Hall, Flo Jo, Francis Bacon, Frank Sinatra, Franz Kafka, Fred MacMurray, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gene Hackman, Gene Wilder, George Clooney, George Sand, George W. Bush, Harry Houdini, Harvey Fierstein, Henny Youngman, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, Henry VIII, Herman Melville, Homer, Honore De Balzac, Howard Cosell, Hugh Grant, Hunter Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Jaclyn Smith, James Dean, Jane Austen, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Tandy, Jim Carey, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Hoffa, Joan Of Arc, Joan Rivers, Jocelyn Wildenstein, Joel Grey, John Cage, John Gardner, John Muir, John Paul II, John Webster, Johnny Cash, Johnny Depp, Joseph Merrick AKA Elephant Man, Judy Blume, Judy Garland, Julian Lennon, Justin Timberlake, Karen Blixen AKA Isak Dinesen, Kate Jackson, Kathy Bates, Kevin Bacon, Kreskin, Lee Harvey Oswald, Leo Tolstoy, Leopold and Loeb, Lewis Carroll, Linda McCartney, Liz Phair, Liza Minnelli, Lou Reed, M Night Shyamalan, Macy Gray, Madonna, Marcel Marceau, Marcel Proust, Margot Kidder, Marie Antoinette, Marie Curie, Marilyn Monroe, Mark Twain, Mark Wahlberg, Marlin Perkins, Martha Stewart, Martha Washington, Martin Luther, Mary Kay Letourneau, Maurice Chevalier, Melissa Rivers, Meryl Streep, Michael Crichton, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Miguel De Cervantes, Miss Manners, Mozart, Nancy Kerrigan, Nancy Walker, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Nico, Oliver North, Oprah Winfrey, Oscar Levant, Pat Benatar, Paul McCartney, Peter III Of Russia, Peter Frampton, Philip Glass, PJ Harvey, Prince, Queen Elizabeth I, Regis, Richard Simmons, Rick James, Ricky Martin, Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, Robert Smith, Robin Leach, Rosie O'Donnell, Ru Paul, Ruth Gordon, Samuel Barber, Sarah Duchess Of York, Sean Lennon, Sean Penn, Shania Twain, Shelley Hack, Sigmund Freud, Squeaky Fromme, Stephen King, Steven Tyler, Susan Faludi, Susanna Hoffs, Tanya Roberts, Taylor Hanson, Theodore Kaczynski AKA The Unabomber, The Kennedy Family, Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo Marx AKA The Marx Brothers, Venus and Serena Williams (The reference was "The Williams Sisters"),Thelonious Monk, Tiger Woods, Tito Puente, Tom Waits, Tony Randall, Tonya Harding, Vaclav Havel, Vanna White, Vivien Leigh, Walt Whitman, William Shakespeare, William Shatner, Yoko Ono, Zsa Zsa Gabor

Misc:

Camelot, Chernobyl Disaster, Cone Of Silence, Hindenburg Disaster, Iran-Contra Affair, Paul Bunyan, The Menendez Murders, Tribbles, Vulcan Death Grip, Whoville, Winchester Mystery House

[scotianostra]

January 15th 1803 saw the birth of Marjory "Pet"  Fleming.

Born at 130 High Street, Kirkcaldy to accountant James Fleming and his wife Isabella.  Marjory, also spelled Marjorie was a child writer and poet, the reason I am saying child writer is she never reached any age as she passed away a month before her 9th birthday.

By the age of six, the Flemings decided that Marjory needed to broaden her horizons and satisfy her burning curiosity for the world in which she lived. They sent her to Edinburgh to live with her 18 year old cousin, Isabella Keith, who was happy to take over responsibility for the little girl's education.  

Isa, as she was now had a passion for literature and in particular poetry; she introduced Marjory to the power of verse, and the child soon began to write poems of her own. When she wasn't writing, Marjorie was reading, yet for all her intelligence, she remained a child. Playful and cheery, she took her learning in her stride, seeing nothing unusual in her abilities and encouraged by Isa to lead an utterly normal life. It was whilst in Edinburgh that she met and charmed  a relative on her mothers side, Walter Scott, who became a regular visitor and one of her greatest literary champions.

Marjory kept her family informed of her experiences in the city by writing numerous letters to them. She further elaborated on life in Edinburgh in the diaries she kept in the final years of her short life where she discussed domestic life, the news of the day and her views on the lessons she undertook with her adored Isa.  

Marjory left Edinburgh and returned home to Kirkcaldy at the age of eight. That same year she contracted measles during an epidemic and, though she appeared to recover, she fell ill again and swiftly deteriorated. The official verdict on her death was that she had been killed by "water on the head", likely meningitis, and she was laid to rest in Abbotshall Kirkyard, Kirkcaldy.

Marjory's diary provides a fascinating insight into the life of a child in the era, but remained unpublished for decades after her death until a journalist, HB Farnie, serialised them in a heavily edited version in the Fife Herald. Shocked at some of the forthright language used by the little girl, further edits followed before in 1868, the diaries were published as a book. This was the first of several works about Marjory and slowly but surely, six decades after her death, the child found fame.

These published diaries were a huge hit in the Victorian era, as readers were utterly beguiled by the tragic tale of this bright, brave little girl.  So popular were the diaries that they were reprinted on numerous occasions and each time, more and more celebrity admirers queued up to shower lavish praise on the child including Mark Twain, who wrote an essay on Marjorie that popularised her works in America.

Marjory's works are now kept in the National Library of Scotland, and she has become recognised as a deservedly important figure in the history of Scottish literature. Her poems and writings reveal a child with a wit and intelligence that surpasses that of many adults; whilst it is tempting to speculate on what she might have achieved had she lived, the legacy she left behind cannot be underestimated.

The first pics show her diary, said to have been written by the child, and you have to say the handwriting itself is very neat for an infant, although there are some textual corrections by Marjory's cousin, who is also thought to have drawn the portrait of Marjory.  The final pic is her memorial at Abbotshall Church, Kirkcaldy.  The link takes you to the National Library of Scotland webpage, although they say Marjory died in Edinburgh, her grave marker, as seen in the last two photos, reads: 

MARJORY FLEMING PET MARJORIE Died at Kirkcaldy December 19th 1811 Aged 8 years and 11 months The Youngest Immortal in The World of Letters 

A Sonnet on a Monkey

by Marjory Fleming

O lovely O most charming pug

Thy graceful air and heavenly mug

The beauties of his mind do shine

And every bit is shaped so fine

Your very tail is most divine

Your teeth is whiter than the snow

You are a great buck and a bow

Your eyes are of so fine a shape

More like a christian's than an ape

His cheeks is like the rose's blume

Your hair is like the raven's plume

His nose's cast is of the roman

He is a very pretty woman

I could not get a rhyme for roman

And was obliged to call him woman.

  https://digital.nls.uk/marjory-fleming/archive/100989212