#Vestal Street

[mariasmemo]

While Some Things Change . . .

Some things remain the same.  Vestal Street looks different from when Maria Mitchell was a child here at 1 Vestal Street.  I am happy to say, her home has not really changed either inside or out. Some aspects of the rest of the street have not changed either, particularly down here on the lower end where the MMA is located.  Here I am talking about the built environment.  She would recognize houses, recognize changes that were made before she left island in 1861, and even changes made as she returned from time to time over the next decades. 

One thing that does not change at all is the sound the rain makes on the roof of the Mitchell House.  Still fully exposed to the elements as no trees hang over the House – and never did – the rain continues to make its drumming noise – the same as Maria, her siblings, and her parents heard – particularly when they were in the attic or the garret.  It’s a pleasing noise – though I’m not a fan when it’s a torrential downpour!  Though we have much more frequently with climate change than they obviously did in the Mitchells day.

I noticed this sound again the other day when it began to pour a fast burst of rain for a short period of time.  Vestal Street became not just wet but steamy in the summer humidity, bubbles popped up in the puddles of the asphalt that was just laid in the spring (another change from the dirt of Maria’s day and until 1948 or so!).  And the smell of summer rain as it mixed with leaves and grass and just was its own rain smell.  I made myself sit in the attic stairs for a moment just to listen and breath.  And I reminded myself, this is what Maria heard when she was in the attic at 1 Vestal Street.

JNLF

Photograph by Henry Michaelis

[nicelytousled]

Kiki Layne for Vestal Magazine

[sempersirens]

iuvenalis

part one of strangers in the night

a joel miller au

main masterlist

author's note: welcome to part one of strangers in the night! this is going to be a six part anthology of joel x reader meeting throughout different lifetimes. expect a lot of angst, pining, and yearning. i'm so excited for each and every era i have planned. they will all be different kind of stories but will pretty much be heartbreaking across the board. thank you for reading and don't forget to follow my updates blog @sempersirenswrites as i don't have a taglist!

warnings etc (spoilers): [historical fantasy au] no outbreak (yet...), ancient rome, reader is a vestal virgin, implied misogyny/sexism/patriarchal society, angst, punishment for sexual transgression is being buried alive (not graphic), historically accurate, no smut, no use of y/n, this has not been beta read pls forgive any errors!

Rome, 216 BCE

The door creaks as it opens. 

You know this dance by now. You should’ve anticipated the wooden shrill beneath your toes alerting the entire household of your deviltry one final time.

The walls hold their breath as you descend to the floor below, the warmth from the hypocaust crawling up your shins.

Yet, all remains still. Not even the feral cats who roam the cobbled streets stir from their slumber. 

Tomorrow they will march you down this road; praetorian guards brushing your bare shoulders with no fear of corruption.

But dawn is yet to break and your palms yet to dampen with fear.

“Iuvenalis?” The muggy air clamps around your throat as you speak for the first time in days.

You know his footsteps as intimately as you know the beat of his chest. Months moving in darkness, knowing one another only under the veil of the night. You’d recognise the weight of his step if you were robbed of each and every sense.

“Mea columba.” 

You shut your eyes as his sweet, misplaced worry fills your ears.

“Iuvenalis.” You breathe his name, surrendering to his hands desperately finding their way from your waist to your cheeks.

“You are too trusting of these streets, mea columba.” My dove. You hadn’t seen him the first time he saw you. It had been the day of your inauguration; he says he mistook your hair for a dove in flight. Wild, white, and too soft for the wind tangled within it.

“These are streets I played in as a girl. They have treated me well.” 

“But, tomorrow-,”

“Tomorrow is a far-off thought, corculum. Be with me as I am now. That is all I ask.”

He nods. You know he disagrees, but tonight he swallows any indication of contention as he silently takes your hand in his and leads you toward the walls of the city.

You can see the Colosseum from here. You always hated the wretched thing. Slaves and beasts banished to Tartarus simply to divert the eyes of Rome far away from treaties signed in the stands.

You hated how as a daughter of Vesta, your presence was expected at each game. As a girl, your father had once caught you squeezing your eyes shut as two lean slaves delivered their final blows to one another's pink flesh.

“You think me naive to have taken up the post, do you not?”

His brows pierce into his forehead as he considers your question.

“I think your family cruel to sentence you to death from girlhood. I think the Gods merciless for requiring such sacrifice.”

"You are brave to speak of the Gods so recklessly." You scoff. Part of you feels guilty; he was devout when he found you. All soldiers must be; how could you believe in nothing as the enemy charges toward you?

It didn't take long for you to become his temple. You replaced his exaltation; the ripples of your thighs his temple; your stifled moans his prayer.

You had corrupted him just as much as he had you.

"Let them hear me. I would sooner accompany you to Elysium than press my head to the altar of these false prophets."

"You don't know what you speak, Iuvenalis."

His grip finds your arm, turning you to feel his breath against your forehead.

"You are dimidium animae meae, there is no punishment I would not endure to remain by your side in this life and the next."

"What a wretched soul you must have for that to be so."

His fingertips find your cheek before you even notice the tears falling.

"We could still flee. I would grow old in the slums of Carthage if it meant I could watch your hair turn grey."

"Traders would recognise a Vestal Virgin as far as Babylonia."

"Then we will go farther."

His beard scratches beneath your palm.

"I will not lament any longer, corculum. Tomorrow, you will walk beside me, and then I beg you turn and do not look back. I can't bear to think of you watching."

For the first time this night, a smile creeps across his cheeks.

"You forget the man with whom you speak. I will be at your side until they drag me from you."

The crowds in the street do not look at you as you walk.

Your mother wails somewhere behind you, but she is blocked by a procession of praetorian guards. She does not weep in sorrow, but in shame that her only daughter approaches the grave unchaste.

He is there, beside you. The guards that encircle you owed their lives to his leadership in a battle on foreign soil.

Your fingertips brush against one another as you walk. You are already ruined, you think, what more could they punish you with?

You think that if not for his presence, you would fall to your knees in the street. You would claw at your skin and the cobbles beneath you, leave scratches in the road and beg to be forgiven.

But he is there, and you will not leave the world as you came into it.

The priest waits at the end of the procession. Iuvenalis' fingers weave between your own, and he squeezes three times as the water is brought forth. Enough to last you a day; their hands are clean if they keep you alive for a little while.

A final prayer is read, and the crowds turn their backs. His hand squeezes tighter; you fear he will not release you.

"No," you mutter, loud enough for only him to hear.

The guards herd you both forth like cattle, the marble descent to your tomb the only viable path for you now.

But he is still here.

Your palms grow damp as the men flock closer.

"No!" You shake your head, searching the faces of the praetorian for an answer.

"It's okay, mea columba. It's going to be okay."

The realisation sinks into your skin like a tick; he never intended for you to enter your grave alone.

The light grows dim as you both are forced into the chamber, and silence rings out above you. Soon, everything goes dark.

You weep and beat into his chest, engulfed almost entirely by darkness. Slim arrows of light beat across his face, and he is here, smiling down at you.

"Why condemn yourself?" You choke between gulps of grief.

"You think I would wait to walk the fields of Elysium by your side? There is nothing for me on this plain of existence without you. Dimidium animae meae. You are half of my soul, I will follow you anywhere. Even into death."

Under the darkness you began, in the darkness, you would end.

[joeinct]

West 22nd Street, New York, Photo by David Vestal, 1964

[static-scribblez]

Bored as fuck so here’s (almost) every change in the everything is a lot 2020 remaster because I listened to the original version way too many times:

6up 5oh Cop Out (pro / con): the scatting part at 2:30 - 2:47 is quieter, the drums are louder

Skeleton Appreciation Day In Vestal NY (Bones): the conversation between the man and the woman at the end is way less static and more comprehensible

Front Street: the guitar in the background is more louder, more instruments have been added in certain parts of the song (mostly in the last 40-50 seconds of the song), the vocals are more quieter (as pointed out by galactic-mayhem), the ‘it’s always sunny in philadelphia’ audio clip has been removed, Will might’ve done a retake on the ‘step right up folks’ monologue because although it’s still the same it still sounds noticeably different in the remaster (or maybe that’s just me)

¡Aikido! (Neurotic / Erotic): added rock verse at the end

[Cover this song!] A little bit Mine: slight name change (original ver - “Cover This Song” (A little bit Mine)” 2020 remaster - “[Cover this song!] A little bit Mine”), changed audio sample at the beginning (changed from inaudible whispering [please let me know wtf it’s saying] to “why do you wanna kill me”), cut out the last 5 seconds of raw audio

Thermodynamic Lawyer, Esq G.F.D: removed “I hold myself in contempt” at the beginning and “Absolutely reprehensible behaviour” at the end, instrumental slightly changed, “foams at the mouth with a head full of acid” and “never came back from her last trip on jesus” are properly sung, the “cry like a baby with autism” line is now distorted, the ‘barren as mojave sands’ line has an echo effect (as pointed out by galactic-mayhem)

Red Moon: slight instrumental change, maracas were switched to a tambourine or some other instrument (as pointed out by willstapeworms) the vocals are more quieter (as pointed out by galactic-mayhem)

The First Step: instrumental has changed a bit, removed slap bass (as pointed out by galactic-mayhem), the chant (?) at the end has an echo effect at the end

Chemical Overreaction / Compound Fracture: removed “we can’t stop here, this is bat country” in the beginning

Everything is a Lot: split into two separate songs (everything is a lot, destroy to enjoy)

Edit: Added Red Moon, more changes in The First Step, more changes to front street, more changes to red moon, more changes to thermodynamic lawyer, more changes to cover this song, more changes to 6up 5oh

[cricketfucker]

Will Wood Song Tournament!

Good morning ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, neithers, boths, and in-betweens. We gather here to vote upon the best Will Wood songs of all time.

Below is our roster of 64 Will Wood / Will Wood and the Tapeworms songs, placed in a randomized order, my only rule being that none of the matches in the first & second round will be from the same album:

ROUND 1 - Voting Date & Time: January 31st, 2pm CST

Match 1: Becoming the Lastnames VS Self-

Match 2: Euthanasia VS Chemical Overreaction / Compound Fracture

Match 3: Welcome to Camp Here & There VS You Liked This (Okay, Computer!)

Match 4: Falling Up VS Cotard's Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca)

Match 5: Momento Mori: the most important thing in the world VS Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll

Match 6: Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!) VS Morning Announcements

Match 7: Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus) VS Everything Is a Lot

Match 8: Evening Announcements VS Ferryman

Match 9: Love, Me Normally VS Good Morning, Campers!

Match 10: Afternoon Announcements VS Destroy to Enjoy

Match 11: Misanthrapologist VS Lysergide Daydream

Match 12: Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In! VS That's Enough, Let's Get You Home.

Match 13: Dr. Sunshine Is Dead VS Yes, to Err is Human, so Don't Be One.

Match 14: When Somebody Needs You VS Big Fat Bitchie’s Blueberry Pie, Christmas Tree, and Recreational Jell-o Emporium a.k.a. “Mr. Boy is on the Roof Again” (Feat. Pasta by Sneakers McSqueakers) [From “B.F.B.’s B-Sides: Bagel Batches, Marsh-Mallows, & Barsh-Mallows”]

Match 15: 2econd 2ight 2eer (that was fun, goodbye.) VS Your Body, My Temple

Match 16: Cover This Song (A Little Bit Mine) VS The Main Character

ROUND 2 - Voting Date & Time: February 1st, 2pm CST

Match 1: Red Moon VS I / Me / Myself

Match 2: Cicada Days VS Outliars and Hyppocrates: a fun fact about apples

Match 3: BlackBoxWarrior - OKULTRA VS Half-Decade Hangover

Match 4: Front Street VS Vampire Reference in a Minor Key

Match 5: Tomcat Disposables VS Thermodynamic Lawyer Esq, G.F.D.

Match 6: White Knuckle Jerk (Where Do You Get Off?) VS ...well, better than the alternative

Match 7: Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave VS Alma Mater

Match 8: Um, It's Kind of a Lot VS Under a Monochromatic Sky

Match 9: ...And If I Did, You Deserved It. VS Against the Kitchen Floor

Match 10: -ish VS Venetian Blind Man

Match 11: Under a Technicolor Sky VS 2012

Match 12: 6up 5oh Copout (Pro / Con) VS The Song with Five Names, a.k.a. Soapbox Tao, a.k.a. Checkmate Atheists! a.k.a. Neospace Government, a.k.a. You Can Never Know

Match 13: Jimmy Mushroom's Last Drink: Bedtime in Wayne, NJ VS White Noise

Match 14: Willard! VS ¡Aikido! (Neurotic / Erotic)

Match 15: The Rhumba of Death VS The First Step

Match 16: Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY (Bones) VS Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

ROUND 3 - Voting Date & Time: February 2nd, 2pm CST

Match 1: Becoming the Lastnames VS Chemical Overreaction / Compound Fracture

Match 2: Welcome to Camp Here & There VS Cotard's Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca)

Match 3: Momento Mori: the most important thing in the world VS Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!)

Match 4: Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus) VS Ferryman

Match 5: Love, Me Normally VS Destroy to Enjoy

Match 6: Misanthrapologist VS Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In!

Match 7: Dr. Sunshine is Dead VS When Somebody Needs You

Match 8: 2econd 2ight 2eer (that was fun, goodbye.) VS The Main Character

ROUND 4 - Voting Date & Time: February 3rd, 2pm CST

Match 1: I / Me / Myself VS Cicada Days

Match 2: BlackBoxWarrior - OKULTRA VS Front Street

Match 3: Tomcat Disposables VS Thermodynamic Lawyer Esq, G.F.D. VS ...well, better than the alternative

Match 4: Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave VS Um, It's Kind of a Lot

Match 5: Against the Kitchen Floor VS Venetian Blind Man

Match 6: 2012 VS The Song with Five Names, a.k.a. Soapbox Tao, a.k.a. Checkmate Atheists! a.k.a. Neospace Government, a.k.a. You Can Never Know

Match 7: White Noise VS Willard!

Match 8: The First Step VS Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

ROUND 5 - Voting Date & Time: February 5th, 2pm CST

Match 1: Chemical Overreaction / Compound Fracture VS Cotard's Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca)

Match 2: Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!) VS Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus)

Match 3: Love, Me Normally VS Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In!

Match 4: Dr. Sunshine is Dead VS 2econd 2ight 2eer (that was fun, goodbye.)

Match 5: Cicada Days VS BlackBoxWarrior - OKULTRA

Match 6: ...well, better than the alternative VS Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave

Match 7: Against the Kitchen Floor VS The Song with Five Names, a.k.a. Soapbox Tao, a.k.a. Checkmate Atheists! a.k.a. Neospace Government, a.k.a. You Can Never Know

Match 8: Willard! VS Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

ROUND 6 - Voting Date & Time: February 7th, 2pm CST

Match 1: Cotard's Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca) VS Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!)

Match 2: Love, Me Normally VS 2econd 2ight 2eer (that was fun, goodbye.)

Match 3: BlackBoxWarrior - OKULTRA VS Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave

Match 4: Against the Kitchen Floor VS Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

ROUND 7 - Voting Time & Date: February 8th, 4pm CST

Match 1: Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!) VS Love, Me Normally

Match 2: Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave VS Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

ROUND 8 - Voting Time & Date: February 9th, 5pm CST

Final Match: Love, Me Normally VS Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

WINNER!

Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

[itsplutohere]

a very appropriately unhinged review of will wood's music (except for icimi)

I rate every will wood song because wtf else do i do with my pathetic life

6up 5oh Cop-Out (Pro/Con):

10/10-fuck yes we are BOPPING. we are CRIMINALS. we are STARTING OFF STRONG!

Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY (Bones):

4/10-okay we are kinda bing chilling. it’s okay :P kinda triggers me a lil cuz it reminds me of EDs???

Front Street:

10000/10-YESSSSSSSSSSSS YES YES GOING FERAL INJECT THIS INTO MY FUCKING VEINS!!!!!!

¡Aikido! (Neurotic/Erotic):

4.7/10-it slaps a liiiiittle but not that hard. like it kneads. it kneads not slaps.

White Knuckle Jerk (Where Do You Get Off?):

9/10-it both slaps and i can jumpscare ppl with the surgery line??? fuck yes sign me up!!!

Cover This Song (A Little Bit Mine):

2/10-ew too slow. yucky nasty bleh hiss ew hiss

Thermodynamic Lawyer Esq, G.F.D.:

8.5/10-i hold ur M O M in contempt

Red Moon:

10/10-CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED. ME WHEN I WALK THE EQUATOR CHASING THE LIGHT.

Lysergide Daydream:

5/10-mid!!!! muh-muh-muh-MID!!!

The First Step:

9.5/10-MUNCH. OMNOMNOM DINNER NOW. IM JUST A BOOZIN BASTARD,

Jimmy Mushrooms’ Last Drink: Bedtime in Wayne, NJ:

1/10-this exists???

Chemical Overreaction/Compound Fracture:

10/10-when ur an unhinged girlie in the middle of a yeehaw desert

Everything is a Lot:

3.5/10-deep but the deepness doesnt stop it from being too slow for me

Destroy to Enjoy:

7.5/10-surprisingly good for laundromat ambience and chanting??? we r bodhisattva we r buddha dying waking up ig <3

Self-:

7/10-too good for a 6/10 but not good enough for a 8/10. still slaps tho

2012:

9.5/10-FUCK!!!! (inhales) (iwasanexistentialcriminalsoinnocentlycynicalignorantasfuckbutaproudindividual-)

My mom also likes it :D :D :D

Cotard’s Solution (Anatta, Dukkha, Anicca):

8.4/10-starts slow but then GOES UNIMAGINABLY HARD!!!! jumpscare ur friends with it!!!

Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer’s Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus):

8/10-me when i try to replace myself.

The Song With Five Names a.k.a. Soapbox Tao a.k.a. Checkmate, Atheists! a.k.a. Neospace Government (A.K.A. You Can Never Know):

30/10-WOOO BABEY. OH MAN OH MAN THIS FUCKS SO HARD. IF IT WAS A PERSON I WOULD MAKE BABIES WITH IT-

THE SONAR WEEOW WEEOW WEEEOOOWWWW AT THE BEGINNING THE SUNSHINE IS A GASLIGHT PART EVERYTHING IS JUST HJADFKHNF

Hand Me My Shovel, I’m Going In!:

8/10-if i ranked it any lower i would self-crucify <3

Dr. Sunshine Is Dead:

7.8/10-i love the funky little way he sings “i fumble for the switch”. you go buddy.

-ish:

6/10-good close to the album but NOT FUNKY ENOUGH

Suburbia Overture/Greetings From Mary Bell Township!/(Vampire) Culture/Love Me, Normally:

9/10-ITS ONLY CULTUUUUUUREEEEEE!!!! AND IT SLAPS!!!! WILL WOOD COOKED FRFR

2econd 2ight 2eer (that was fun, goodbye.):

8.5/10-this actually introduced me to william woodsmith :explode: the nostalgia is def a factor

Laplace’s Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!):

100/10-hehe gender

I/Me/Myself:

7/10-g e n d e r

…well, better than the alternative:

3/10-very sweet but too slow for my megamind

Outliars and Hyppocrates: a fun fact about apples:

9/10-i did not know this existed??? still kind of a bop

BlackBoxWarrior-OKULTRA:

10000/10-THIS SLAPS HARDER THAN AN ASIAN PARENT WHEN YOU BRING HOME A B

Marsha, Thankk You For the Dialectics, But I Need You To Leave:

7.5/10-me at therapy

Love, Me Normally:

2/10-boring ew tomato tomato

Memento Mori: the most important thing in the world:

8.5/10-SHOW TUNE ABT DEATH AND ITS INEVITABILITY YESSSS

Venetian Blind Man:

8/10-THIS IS SO UNDERRATED?????

Your Body, My Temple:

7.5/10-will wood had his whole willussy out. this song is so unapologetically horny

Yes, To Err Is Human, So Don't Be One:

9/10-silly vampire bop!!

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

6up 5Oh Cop-Out (Pro/Con) • Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY (Bones) • Front Street • ¡Aikido! (Neurotic/Erotic) • White Knuckle Jerk (Where Do You Get Off?) • (Cover This Song) A Little Bit Mine • Thermodynamic Lawyer, esq, G.F.D • Red Moon • Lysergide Daydream • The First Step • Jimmy Mushrooms' Last Drink: Bedtime in Wayne, NJ • Chemical Overreaction / Compound Fracture • Everything Is A Lot • Credits • Destroy to Enjoy

Spotify ♪ Bandcamp ♪ YouTube

[lyssahumana]

West 22nd Street, New York, Photo by David Vestal, 1958

[drowning-rat73]

ED Related Songs

I'll have some in ab it-Crywank

Big Isn't beautiful-King Adora

The sea is a good place to think of the future-Los Campesinos!

Skinny-The dollyrots

Diet coke-Leanna Firestone

I go hungry-Mother Mother

Skin and bones-Marianas Trench

Jenny, you're barely alive-Rilo Kiley

Skin & Bones-Picture Me Broken

Decadence and disorder-ElysianSoul

Binge and purge-Lunachicks

Girl Anachronism-The Dresden Dolls

Touch-Lights Fade Low

Anorexic Beauty-Pulp

Cause and effect-Maria Mena

Angels of p0rn II-Nicole Dollanganger

Paper Bag-Fiona Apple

Skinny-Rebzyyx

Skinny-Edith Backlund

Hunger-Florence + The Machine

Eyesore-Maria Mena

90210-Wale

Starving for attention-The Narrative

Skeleton Appreciation day in vestal,NY (bones)-Will Wood And The Tapeworms

Funhouse-MOTHICA

Dying on the inside-Nessa Barrett

The Fear-Lily Allen

Aesthetic? (More like Ass-Pathetic)-Panucci's Pizza

Teen Idle-MARINA

4st 7lb-Manic Street Preachers

I can play the piano-Car Seat Headrest

Stop Eating-Cex

Bleed like me-Garbage

NOTE- not all of these are specifically ed related but are ones i think are ed coded

[soggytapeworm]

Round 1 Lineup

1st Battle: I/Me/Myself vs. That’s Enough, Let’s Get You Home

2nd Battle: White Noise vs. Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, N.Y. (Bones)

3rd Battle: Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll vs. ¡Aikido! (Neurotic/Erotic)

4th Battle: …well, better than the alternative vs. Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer’s Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus)

5th Battle: Love, Me Normally vs. The First Step

6th Battle: Um, It’s Kind Of A Lot vs. Your Body, My Temple

7th Battle: Thermodynamic Lawyer, Esq, G.F.D. vs. Misanthrapologist

8th Battle: Falling Up vs. 6up 5oh Cop-Out (Pro/Con)

9th Battle: Chemical Overreaction/Compound Fracture vs. Ferryman

10th Battle: (Cover This Song) A Little Bit Mine vs. Laplace’s Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!)

11th Battle: Lysergide Daydream vs. Front Street

12th Battle: Mr. Fregoli and the Diathesis-Stress Supermodel, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Con (An Untitled Track) vs. Dr. Sunshine Is Dead

13th Battle: Marsha, Thankk You For The Dialectics, But I Need You To Leave vs. 2econd 2ight 2eer

14th Battle: Jimmy Mushrooms’ Last Drink: Bedtime in Wayne, NJ vs. -ish

15th Battle: The Song with Five Names, a​.​k​.​a. Soapbox Tao, a​.​k​.​a. Checkmate Atheists! a​.​k​.​a. Neospace Government, a​.​k​.​a. You Can Never Know vs. 2012

16th Battle: Memento Mori: the most important thing in the world vs. Vampire Reference In A Minor Key

17th Battle: BlackBoxWarrior - OKULTRA vs. Half-Decade Hangover

18th Battle: Cicada Days vs. Tomcat Disposables

19th Battle: White Knuckle Jerk (Where Do You Get Off?) vs. Euthanasia

20th Battle: Destroy To Enjoy vs. Cotard’s Solution (Anatta/Dukkha/Anicca)

21st Battle: When Somebody Needs You vs. Willard!

22nd Battle: The Main Character vs. Outliars and Hyppocrates: a fun fact about apples

23rd Battle: ...And If I Did, You Deserved It. vs. Against The Kitchen Floor

24th Battle: Becoming The Lastnames vs. Self-

25th Battle: Wealth & Hellness vs. Red Moon

26th Battle: Venetian Blind Man vs. Yes, To Err Is Human, So Don’t Be One

REMEMBER!! This one is for the WORST song!! so just keep that in mind when voting and stuff!! (I will be putting reminders in each poll)

[mariasmemo]

Is That A Wrap?

Yes.  Well, almost.  After about a month of working – and some living (staff and or neighbors) – on Vestal Street with all the sewer and water replacement work, the paving happened today (April 17, 2024).  This is the first “layer” – a three-inch binder coat.  In the fall, once time has passed, they will return for the final one inch of the finish layer.  Some of the other things along Vestal Street will also be repaired and updated between now and the final coat – and a bit after that.  But we are very happy, after all these years to have a modern system of piping – and all new drainage we never had before!

While the curator in me loved the old clay pipes, they were riddled with roots from the trees, holes, and in some places, collapsed, and the twelve inches of asphalt had to go.  Vestal Street was only paved in about 1946/1948 – and has not been paved in maybe twenty years so that is a lot of asphalt in about fifty years!  And with climate change and the increase in how much rain we get in these heavy rain events, all that water rushed down Vestal Street with nowhere to go – except our cellars.  I am sure the neighbors are happy too!

A thank you to the Town of Nantucket’s Sewer Department, especially David Gray (who may regret giving me his cellphone number forever), N&M Excavating and Utilities (Dean, we appreciate you being so nice when we had too many questions), Victor-Brandon Corp for paving, and numerous others.  We are looking forward to great flushing, powerful hose lines, and rainwater being whisked away via the new, never-before-had storm drains!

JNLF

And to all the N&M workers who wondered why I was constantly looking down as I walked along Vestal Street, you should see the trove of porcelain shards, glass, old nails, a bottle neck, 19th century spoon, and even possibly a Wampanoag stone tool I found!

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Jane Street, Vestal, New York.

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British Tourist is Caught Carving Initials Into 2,000-Year-Old Home at Pompeii

Its perfectly preserved streets and still-standing houses provide a unique opportunity to see how people lived nearly 2,000 years ago. A visit to the ancient city of Pompeii, frozen in time when it was covered by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, provides memories of a lifetime.

But memories weren’t enough for one British tourist, who was caught this week engraving the initials of himself and his family into one of the city’s 2,000-year-old houses.

The 37-year-old, who has yet to be named, is said to have made five engravings – the initials of his family and the date, August 7 – with a blunt object on the wall of the House of the Vestal Virgins.

Photos of the damage show the letters scratched in the plaster beside the entrance door, which was frescoed red nearly 2,000 years ago.

The letters “JW LMW MW” high on the wall and “MYLAW 07/08/24” further down are clearly visible.

Staff at the site noticed and called the police. According to Italian news agency ANSA, the man apologized, saying that he had written the initials of himself and of his two daughters to leave a sign of their visit to the site.

The archaeological park declined to comment. However in June, when a tourist from Kazakhstan was caught carving his initials on the House of the Ceii in the ancient city, Pompeii’s director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said that the tourist would have to pay for the restoration of the wall.

The case has been referred upwards to the local court in Torre Annuziata as “damage to artistic heritage,” a charge which carries a fine of 20,000 to 60,000 euros and a possible jail term of up to five years thanks to laws that were toughened up in January.

The law covers acts of destroying or damaging cultural or landscape heritage. A lesser charge for defacing heritage sites can impose fines between 10,000 to 40,000 euros.

The vast site has often been victim to badly behaved tourists, who have carved their initials and stolen items since excavations began in the 1700s. In 2022, an Australian tourist even rode a moped around the ancient site.

Tourists appear to be particularly badly behaved in Italy a country whose top sites tend to be art or archaeology-focused – and are therefore more fragile than most.

By Julia Buckley.

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Anne Vestal, 19 Pitt Street, New York, Photo by David Vestal, 1953

[lascitasdelashoras]

David Vestal. West 22nd Street, New York, 1958