#carrie fisher always in our hearts

[ist4rgirlo]

𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐨? : 𝐈𝐈𝐈

Summary: Growing up with the Conklins and the Fishers has been a wonderful experience for you; you feel as if you were a part of another family. Your days of stress as a child were over, well at least you thought that was the case not until you had to choose between your two childhood bestfriends, the one who did you wrong and the one who has been waiting his entire life for your decision.

Prev || Steven Conklin x fem!reader || My blog

Warnings: PURE FLUFF (lmk if i missed anything!)

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Steven’s Pov

It has been a year since Conrad gave me his blessing, a year since he decided to let y/n go. I have been helping y/n a lot and it honestly made our bond so much special. We were literally inseparable and I would not trade it for anything else.

Despite my feelings growing over the years, I have fallen in love with her. It all began when we were young. She had just moved into the neighborhood and became our neighbor. She was my first playmate, she was the first girl that made me feel all tingly.

Whenever we played together back then, mom would always call it a "playdate." it was corny but I loved the thought of it. I realized my love for her when we were seven, when we accidentally kissed, a silly little peck. It was still funny back then. My mother and her mother witnessed the incident, and even captured it on video.

She has been always important to me. Mom has always believed we would be together, not until the Fishers came. When it was supposed to be Steven and Y/n, it became Conrad and Y/n but I never hated Conrad, I never fought with him about it.

They were both my childhood best friends, so I let them be.

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Your Pov

After a year since the incident with Conrad, Steven has been a great help to me. He has helped me move on and carry on with my life. He was the reason why I’m still here, living and breathing.

During those times when he was helping me, I began to develop feelings for him. But I couldn't tell him - no, it was too fast, I don't want him to think that he is just a rebound.

“Y/n?” Steven tappped me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I turned to him and smiled. He smiled back, offering a hand — pulling me up from my seat. “You ready?” he asked.

Steven decided to take me out today - it was a friendly date, well that’s what I thought, what I assumed.

I never wanted to make the same mistake again, Steven is a good person — he really is, I know that he’ll never hurt me like that but can you really blame me if i’m just being cautious?

I nodded, following him outside the door. We walked towards his car — he opened the door to his car, guiding me. These were the bare minimum but it sure made my heart flutter.

Steven went around his car and sat at the driver’s seat.

“So.. how’s your day going so far?”

“Steven, we’ve been together all day” I said, throwing my head back — laughing.

“Hey! Is it bad that I’m asking my bestfriend?” Steven frowned before poking me on my side — tickling me.

Yeah “bestfriend” — would lie if I said that it didn’t hurt me a little bit. “Focus on the road!” I giggled — pushing his hands away.

“Sooo.. where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see” Steven said — looking at me, smiling gently.

TIME SKIP

We arrived at the beach, we were in Cousins — the last time I went here was when I got my heart broken.

Steven hopped out of his car and went around it to open my door. I smiled at him as I take his hand as a support.

I took a deep breath and looked at the beach, Cousins has always been beautiful. We both sighed in amazement. He pulled me closer, putting an arm around my waist as we walked towards the shore

“So why exactly did you take me here?” I asked, looking up at him.

He shrugged “Just wanted to make new memories” he looked down at me — smiling.

“Plus I knew how much you love to watch sunsets, and this place was special to you so I decided to take you here” he answered while smiling at me and taking my hand into his

Steven made me feel special in this moment, he always did. He was always the one who remembered the littlest details about me. He always knew how to make me happy. I wonder why I was unaware of it at the beginning.

When we reached the shore, he placed a mat on the sand and sat down — patting the space beside him, telling me to sit down.

I love this place, I always loved Cousins, I always loved the beach house. It was a wonderful escape from the hectic of life to come here and enjoy the breeze of the ocean.

“It’s so beautiful” I whispered — wind blowing against my face. I looked at Steven, smiling gently. He was also admiring the ocean, this is where we grew up, our second home.

Steven turned to me “It is huh? It’s always been beautiful” he smiled — I nodded.

“You know what, let’s put on some music”

I reached for the bag and gave it to Steven, he pulled out the speaker and placed it gently on the mat. He pulled out his phone and started to play our favorite song.

Moon river, wider than a mile

I'm crossing you in style someday (someday, day)

A dream maker (maker)

My heart (you heart) breaker

I smiled at him — he stood up “Come on, I wanna dance with you” he said before offering me a hand, pulling me up.

I giggled — he twirled me before placing both of my hands around his neck, his hands placed on my waist.

Wherever you're goin'

I'm goin' that way (the same, the same)

“This feels nice” I hummed — we both moved in a tiny circle, my head leaning against his chest.

Steven moved his hands away from my waist, putting a small space between us. My heart was pounding so rapidly, I felt like it was going to jump out of my chest.

Steven tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear before saying “You look beautiful” — he smiled gently, his cheeks red.

I slapped his chest gently “Gosh, you��re so corny Conklin” I laughed.

Two drifters off to see the world

There's such a crazy world to see

We're all chasin' after all the same

Chasing after our ends

He chuckled before pulling me close again — now his arms wrapped around my waist, my arms wrapped around his neck. He swayed us side to side, still dancing to the song.

The fact that I am this close to him has only confirmed how much I like him, how much he really means to me.

I pulled away gently, “Stev-“

I felt him pull me closer - he leaned then next thing I knew his lips were against mine. My eyes closed — melting against him. Both of us stayed there for a while before Steven pulled away — rubbing my cheek with his thumb.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. “I- I’m sorry” Steven paused, his voice shaking “I just wanted to do that for so lon-“

My lips pressed against his, cutting him off as he began to melt against me - I could not help but smile against his lips - this answered my question, he likes me too like how much I like him.

I pulled away, catching my breathe — looking at him in the eyes, I smiled gently.

“I like you”

“I like you”

We both said at the same time. We giggled — relieved because we both felt the same. Steven was about to lean towards me again but his phone rung.

I chuckled — he smiled awkwardly before answering his phone, it was his mom.

“Hey mom” he said before kissing my forehead, I pulled him closer and hugged him — he hugged me back using the arm that his other arm — wrapping it around my shoulders.

I left small kisses on his cheek, I felt so inlove — he giggled, his face flushed.

Who knew being in love would feel like heaven - it is absolutely euphoric to know that the man you like, also likes you. His need for me was the same as my need for him, and he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

It feels so nice having this kind of love, it feels so nice having this with Steven.

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taglist : @joeybandthings @scysuxx @fangirl-kimora @avengershoeee @tasha13-blog2 @lemon-lav

so this is the last chapter for this fic !! i hope everyone likes it - i honestly couldn’t wait and just went and got them together I MEAN THEY BOTH DESERVE TO BE HAPPY SO WHY NOT :))

lmk if you guys have any requests i’ll happily do them !!

[grapejuicestyless]

hi, hope you're well! i was wondering if you could write something for conrad based on the song my love mine all mine by mitski? i've been obsessed with it lately and it reminds me off him 💖

My Love, Mine All Mine.

Conrad Fisher x fem!reader

summery: Y/n has always gave too much. She always loved, believed too easily. She can’t control what others will do with that, but she can control how she loves.

Sorting through the shiny papers, the corners cut into my skin with each photo I crumpled up, tossing it into the shadows. Each memory ingrained forever on a film that would only taunt me with the past.

I hate the way the sun shined through the leaves in each one. How the sand looked so soft under our feet, the ocean bluer than any summer sky could every paint it now. I am reminded of how vibrant the world became with him in my life, when he was mine.

I say that he was mine loosely. I am unsure if I even have the ability to own something so pretty, so precious. If I ever even did. I remember the way my hands would run through his salty curls after a beach day. How he would hold me extra tight, we’d only bring one towel to share. His lap was soft, shorts scrunched up and dripping still.

I think of his lips on mine. How perfectly they fit on mine. I remember how desperate each kiss was. Not once had he ever made it seem like if it were to go no further we would cease to exist, but he was feverish enough with each lick into my mouth where I knew no matter what, he would never be satisfied. He always wanted more, more, more. How foolish of me to believe it was because he could simply not get enough of me, not because I was not enough.

He was kind, showing me affection in ways he swore would only ever be for me. He decorated his walls with love letters and Polaroids of us, of me. He had stacks of our adventures in an old shoebox under his bed for when I was away and he was missing me. He reminded me everyday how much he adored me. Counting down the seconds until he could hold me in his arms. He promised me it was a feeling that nobody else could ever give him. A heart rush that only ever came over him when my name was involved.

So why does he look at her that way? Why must his eyes carry the same shimmer of lust in them that he once held for me? I see the way his hands grip at her hips, her thighs. It’s animalistic in a way, primal. He wants her, needs her. He’s hers.

I remember the night I discovered their secret. My lover and my sister hand in hand one late June night. I stood still on the grass watching over them. My tears came out dry. I couldn’t even try and sob, let myself break. With his leaving just months ago, I’d already rung myself dry of any tears I had left.

It’s funny how something that once made you feel special can make you feel so sick so suddenly. What once gave me a reason for my living killed me so suddenly.

I knew I was always destined to die, to burn out and disappear. I never imagined how it would’ve happened at the hands of the two I trusted the most in my life. Looking up at the moon that night, I prayed to forget, to heal so suddenly. Rid me of the ache in my heart and replace it with a cold emptiness.

He holds her while she sits in my spot on the couch. She laughs at the jokes I told him that now spew from his lips. Her hands find home in his hair and the towel we once shared as become theirs. It’s all reused, it’s the same. He makes her feel special, wanted, lusted after. He’s a damn good actor, he fools the whole damn world with his cruel games.

Now I know better than anyone that when calling him mine, I must use it loosely. At some time, he might have been. The photos I tear up in my room are only proof of our years spent together. Two summers spent doting on each other. He was with me, but could I call him mine? If he left so easily, did he ever even need me? Want me?

I hold the final photo in my hands, the moon shines down on us. We’re only young in the photograph. His cheek is pressed to mine, our smiles touch. We look so free, so happy. I feel guilty if I were to rip it up when it still feels so happy.

Grabbing a pin from the bedside table, I poke it into the wall beside my mountains of other places and people I’ve seen. It sticks out, like it’s been highlighted in bright red. It stings to look at, but it reminds me of a better time, a time when I believed I had the ability to have good things.

Now I know, nothing in this world belongs to me. Not my baby, not my sister’s loyalty. Not my mother, not my brother. I have no control over anything. Yet, each time I allow myself to believe that I do. That I mean something. I pay a price for the immaturity of my heart. I act a fool over the smallest affections, the most discrete love. And I watch as each time it is taken away, leaving me with a heavy chest and a heart far too full for my body. Nothing in this world is mine for free. Nothing in this world belongs to me but my love, mine all mine.

[escapingrealityforamoment]

hello! i loved your idea on the speak now mini series, taylor is one of my fav artists and i was so excited to read! I was wondering if you could do something based off the title track? (speak now) ur writing is so beautiful!

Thank you love for sending in a request! I hope you enjoy reading this! :)

Y/N stood nervously at the entrance of the grand ballroom, their heart pounding with anticipation. Tonight was Conrad Fisher's wedding, and they couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions—happiness for Conrad and a tinge of regret for the unspoken words between them. As Y/N watched Conrad exchange vows with his new partner, memories of their own summer romance flooded their mind. The stolen glances, the shared laughter, the unspoken connection—they all seemed like fragments of a distant past. But deep down, Y/N knew that they couldn't let this moment pass without closure. They had to speak now or forever hold their peace. Summoning their courage, Y/N approached Conrad during the reception. His eyes widened in surprise as he spotted them in the crowd. "Y/N? What are you doing here?" Conrad asked, his voice filled with a mixture of curiosity and concern. "I couldn't let this day go by without saying what I've kept inside for so long," Y/N replied, their voice trembling with vulnerability. Conrad's gaze softened, a flicker of recognition in his eyes. "I've wondered so many times what could have been between us." Y/N took a deep breath, gathering their thoughts. "Conrad, I want you to know that our time together meant something to me. I fell in love with you that summer, and even though we went our separate ways, you've always held a special place in my heart." Conrad's expression turned solemn as he listened intently. "Y/N, I had feelings for you too. But circumstances and fear held me back. I've carried the weight of regret ever since." Tears welled up in Y/N's eyes as they continued, their voice filled with a mix of sadness and acceptance. "I don't want you to carry that burden anymore, Conrad. I want you to be happy, and I want to find my own happiness too. It's time for us to let go of what could have been and embrace the lives we've chosen." A bittersweet smile tugged at Conrad's lips as he reached out to gently touch Y/N's hand. "Thank you, Y/N, for saying what needed to be said. I've needed this closure as much as you have. Let's cherish the memories we shared and move forward with no regrets." In that moment, Y/N felt a sense of liberation wash over them. They had finally spoken their truth, releasing the lingering echoes of the past. As they watched Conrad return to his celebration, Y/N felt a renewed sense of hope. It was time for them to speak now and create their own future, leaving behind the what-ifs and embracing the possibilities that lay ahead.

[foxes-that-run]

Walking in the wind

Harry Styles has a gift for answering a question and not answering it at all at once. In the Made in the A.M track by track he said WITW was inspired by Paul Simon’s song Graceland.

I love how Harry's solo work draws modern inspiration from his diverse music tastes and he encourages his fans to broaden their tastes. Hindsight being 20/20 you can see where he went with his debut in that short video and this song.

When Simon wrote Graceland he and Carrie Fisher were divorcing and his relationship with Art Garfunkel was bitter. Simon said Graceland was a metaphor for the journey to mend a broken heart. Much like 2015 Harry who had broken up with Taylor and was on tour as One Direction ended. Simon also went to Africa to make this album, much like Harry went to South America for debut.

Timeline

Made on the AM was written in Japan in February 2015. Harry talked being able to just write 'good songs' because it wouldn’t be toured which made space for a song like this. WITW was probably written between February and May 2015. Harry and Taylor had been close at the end of 2014, it was over on or by his 21st birthday 2 February 2015. His smile when he saw her at the start (0:29) of BBMAs showed no animosity, but it’s unlikely WITW was written after the BBMAs in May (Woman). He also started looking even sadder live then.

To rolling stone Julian Bunetta said:

“That title was born in Japan. Just the title of it and the idea of it. Everyone’s different experiences of what they’re going through, whether it’s this or that, I’d like to think that these songs can apply to more than just [one instance].”

Lyrics

[Verse 1: Harry] A week ago, you said to me "Do you believe I'll never be too far?" If you're lost, just look for me You'll find me in the region of the summer stars The fact that we can sit right here and say goodbye Means we've already won A necessity for apologies between you and me Baby, there is none

The relaxed and happy tone depicts their romantic friendship that continues. I think they genuinely cared for each other, are nice people who both prioritised their careers. To me, “the fact we can say goodbye means we’ve already won” shows that mutual respect for each other.

To me “Do you believe I’ll never be too far” is agreeing to be apart while they focus on being massively famous and together in the future.

In the context of their later work about being end game, the 1, sushi is about having only a piece of your persons life, in as it was and golden he sings about it being time or feel her taking over.

Harry does not have anyone that would never be too far in a literal sense, and although at that time he was always with 1D they have spoken in interviews that year of that not being good.

[Pre-Chorus: Niall] Ah-ooh, we had some good times, didn't we? Ah-ooh, we had some good tricks up our sleeve Ah-ooh, goodbyes are bittersweet But it's not the end, I'll see your face again

Taylor has a similar lyric in The 1 “But we were something, don't you think so? / Roaring 20s, / tossing pennies in the pool / And if my wishes came true / It would've been you” this is about appreciating the relationship.

[Chorus: All] And you will find me Yeah, you will find me In places that we've never been For reasons we don't understand Walking in the wind Walking in the wind

Where their earlier work on Red and other 1D albums sung about always wanting to be together and coping in their career by Made in the AM and Reputation onwards they started singing about being connected but apart, on faith they’d come back together.

[Verse 2: Louis] Yesterday, I went out To celebrate the birthday of a friend But as we raised our glasses up to make a toast I realised you were missing

This may be referring to Lily Aldridge’s birthday where they both were. Harry’s 21st birthday was 2 weeks later but Lily and Taylor were in Nashville. In Hunger he sang about making her cry on his birthday, if it was for Debut the 1 year to 2 timeframe line up for that. (Hunger also sings of “your stuff” as in music, doesn’t taste the same, as in Two Ghosts)

Later on 27 February he posted the overgrown winding wheel and she started dating CH.

[Bridge: Harry] And I know we'll be alright, child Just close your eyes and see I'll be by your side Any time you're needing me Oh, yeah

The bridge is similar to Fine Line, which also ends on “we’ll be alright” in Fine line he’s reflecting on being friends with someone he’s in love with. Here he is asking his muse to have faith that although they are not together he’s there for her. Also Sign of the Times "Just stop your crying / It'll be alright"

I just wanna love you leak

In September 2023 a leaked song, I just wanna love you referenced WITW with “A week ago you said to me: "We've started running out of time" / Crying over memories that we lost and cannot be found / Why don't we stop talking now? / (I just wanna love you)” which to me, in the sound and this lyric is the sequel to WITW, he’s saying it’s time. It also refers to Late night talking, and The 1 and Question…? Where they explore friendship with someone they love, in WITW they seem to agree to leave a live unresolved, on Harry’s House and Midnights they are contemplating that unresolved love.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

 Window in His Heart

Alex Gibney’s new documentary chronicles Paul Simon’s course from voice of a generation to aging performer who’s not ready to hang up his guitar

BY DAVID YAFFE

MARCH 16, 2024

A 21-year-old Queens College student wrote a song in his parents’ bathroom about how we would all be swallowed up by death. Do your best to make music, but silence will defeat you in the end. “Hello, darkness, my old friend,” he began, singing to the tiles. This was not an obvious chart-topping topic, yet “The Sound of Silence” eventually became a No. 1 hit, and Paul Simon, with his childhood pal Artie Garfunkel rocking a harmony, broke very, very big.

When he sang, “Losing love is like a window in your heart,” he was singing about his divorce from Carrie Fisher, but he was really singing for anyone who had lost love and was still reeling. Simon lamented that he could not sound enigmatic like Dylan. He always sounded sincere. Maybe it was because he was part of something larger. “There is something where the music is coming through you,” he said. “You’re a part of it, but it’s not starting with you—it’s coming from somewhere.” O.K., but when he sold his catalogue, he kept the $250 million.

He had a farewell album in 2016 and a farewell tour in 2018, but then a voice came to him in a dream, telling him he would write something called Seven Psalms, even providing lyrics. Simon would transcribe like a biblical prophet. The message would have something to do with dying, right back to where he started in “The Sound of Silence.” Gibney’s In Restless Dreams follows Simon’s quest to record the album after the final album, while he was losing the feeling in his hands and his hearing in his left ear, first gradually, then suddenly.

“The artistic process is about real shit,” Gibney tells me. “Because I was around when he was doing the work, it was like Picasso painting. Paul needed an audience, particularly when it was hard for him. He was having issues with his hands. There was one day when he came in with a huge bag of Theraguns, a muscle relaxer for his hands. He had issues with his playing, his hearing, and his singing, and he let us watch him struggle through that. That was both very generous and vulnerable. But it also helped him, because he knows how to rally for an audience. The extra energy was useful to him. Watching him in the present gave me more insight into the past.”

When Brickell sings, “Heaven is beautiful. It’s almost like home,” I cannot listen without tears. We want to hear the songwriter of “The Sound of Silence.” We’re not ready for actual silence. Losing love is a window in your heart, but what about losing everything? “The big mystery about life,” Simon says in the film, “you can never solve the mystery. That’s what’s so great about it. You don’t want to solve it.”

After Seven Psalms, Simon went back to doing what he was doing before: writing songs. He’s still working out how to perform with the one good ear, and he hasn’t given up. Neither should we. We’re on our way. We don’t know where we’re going.

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon premieres on MGM+ on March 17

David Yaffe is a professor of humanities at Syracuse University. He writes about music and is the author, most recently, of Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell. You can read his Substack here

[know-the-way]

Continued Stages of Falling Down the Miss Fisher Rabbit Hole

I’m gonna be real - I wish I could watch things in chronological order, I really do, but my ADHD brain just doesn’t work like that. So, I’ve bounced all around the different seasons and my overall thoughts are a jumbled mess. However, there are some things - in chronological order - that I just continue to go feral over the more I look at them, so I’m gonna share with the class. (P.S. Thank you so much for the warm welcome! You’re all very lovely and I just hope I don’t fuck that up by being annoying 😅… Uh… yep. Anyway, have a nice day! Lots of nonsense and a wee bit of meta below!)

- “Perhaps we could allow ourselves one candle?” “I think I could cope with that.”

Mmhm, listen here you cheeky fuckers, I see you. Whoever wrote this show learned the art of subtle symbolism and slow burn majesty, and while I am HERE for it, I also just… ya know… *pushes heads together* kiss already.

- Hearing Phryne say “I’m looking for my daughter” when she was searching for Jane in Queen of the Flowers. *clutches chest* Owwww. Her progression from “ugh, kids” to “this one’s okay, I guess” to “she is a part of me and to wrench her away would be akin to removing my very heart.” Just… yes. I will always love that dynamic. But I also appreciated Phryne emphasizing that Jane’s mum would always be her mum. I feel like there’s normally a focus on the child needing to choose between their biological or adoptive parents and it was refreshing that they allowed room for both of those relationships with Jane to exist equally.

- Maybe it’s just me, but whyyyyy does this exchange feel so domestic? There’s something about Jack just sitting there, marveling at her being in her own element, telling Hugh “of course” when he asks if Phryne knows judo (‘cause he knows her well enough to not be shocked anymore - like ‘of course she knows judo and speaks 8 languages and flies planes, it’s common sense Collins, get with the program’), and already knowing the answer to his suspicion about the “dangerous weapon.” It all just has an air of ‘gently teasing my spouse of 10 years in front of people because I know it winds them up and that’s our love language’ about it.

I’m also kind of curious how long Phryne has been practicing martial arts. Was it a ‘from childhood’ thing or a ‘from a traumatic event that made learning this skill feel necessary’ thing? If that fic hasn’t been written yet, I’d love to read one.

- “This time, you’re an accomplice. And unless you plan on killing Inspector Robinson yourself, he’ll make sure you hang.”

Again… I could so easily be reaching, but to me this comes off very much like “once my husband finds out what you’ve done to me, he will spend every waking moment ensuring your demise.” Couple that with Jack carrying her out like Prince Fucking Valiant and… yeah. #FERAL

- The fact that he wasn’t already holding her hand, but she was reaching for him… 🥺 The hurt/comfort goblin that lives in my brain: thriving. Just… fuck me up.

I still have two episodes of season 2 to finish, but so far my overall summary is that - by episode 3 - they’re together. Together, together. Don’t even care that it’s not “official,” don’t care that they don’t say it explicitly… they’re committed to each other in every way that matters, so they are bloody together. Just need them to realize that and accept it. For all our sakes.

[pygmypyncher]

Hello, hope this is ok. Just to say how much I have enjoyed your writing for Bodies. Your writing is so beautifully detailed, and the internal nuances are delightful to wander amongst. I have read all TRC books, not my favourite, but I really like your fics, but Oh boy, I can see how your writing has developed since then. So, just a big thank you for writing all these pieces. (Do you have any recs for queer media that you have enjoyed?)

Thank you so much for messaging! It's really lovely of you to say!

Also very glad to hear my writing has come on since the TRC days! I was very proud of those fics at the time, and really do still think of them fondly, but I am aware of how much I've grown as a writer since then (hence the slight jumpscare this morning, for which I can only apologise!).

Queer media! Let me dredge my memories for a bit, and I will no doubt mention stuff you've heard of or watched/read already. There are doubtless SEVERAL things I've forgotten, as it is well past my bedtime, but if any glaring omissions occur to me I'll send them on! Shows: Recently I've really enjoyed Our Flag Means Death - you've probably at least heard of it (and as you've been looking at my AO3 you'll have seen I've written for it), and it's completely different from either TRC or Bodies tonally bc it is, in essence, a pirate sitcom, but there is honestly nothing so unashamedly and joyously queer out there at the moment. The fandom is a bit of a terrifying juggernaut, so I suggest treading neatly round the edges and delving into some absolutely top-tier fic (of which there is no shortage) if the whim takes you. On the other side of the pirate scale is Black Sails (DO NOT compare these directly they are very different beasts). Excellent story, very dark and gritty, great pay-off. Deadloch is another great show - Australian detective black comedy, filled to the brim with lesbians! The Haunting of Bly Manor is just a gorgeous ghost/love story with some brilliant characters. Feel Good is one of these unexpectedly heart-breaking sitcoms that I can't recommend enough even though it took me a year to build up the courage for a rewatch A League of Their Own (TV) is just brilliant, and i am GUTTED we're not getting a s2 I'm gonna stick Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries here too, bc even though it isn't actually all that queer (but it DOES have Miriam Margolyes, which definitely qualifies it), it's super camp and has what is possibly the only straight mc romance i've ever been invested in which is saying something Books: KJ Charles is a favourite of mine. She writes really great, quick-to-read queer historical romances that always have a great mystery and body count. The Will Darling Adventures (1920s pulp action-mystery with a romance between an ex-soldier who now runs a second-hand bookshop and a disgraced aristo) are my absolute favourites of hers, but everything she writes is very solid. I've also really enjoyed The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir series so far - very complicated Space Opera, again chock-full of lesbians. Sex: Lessons From History by Fern Riddell is a really interesting non-fiction book about, shockingly, attitudes to sex through history, and takes a delightfully non-heteronormative approach to it that I wasn't expecting going in. As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann is an all-time favourite read of mine, but is quite challenging as the main character is Not The Greatest Guy and it does carry some hefty stuff and warnings. Girl Meets Boy and How to Be Both by Ali Smith are both just brilliant stories with some great Gender Stuff going on.

Like i say, I'm sure I've missed stuff! And it's a bit all over the place because, as well as replying to your AO3 comments too early this morning, I am now answering this too late at night. I am sorry, but can do nothing about it :P I hope this is a little bit helpful at least! <3

[daimonclub]

Quotes and aphorisms on food

Quotes on food Quotes and aphorisms on food by various and famous authors and writers, ideas and thoughts to a well balanced diet and food philosophy to eat and live better. I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead - not sick, not wounded - dead. Woody Allen We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police. Jeff Arder A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart, who looks at her watch. James Beard Unbought feasts.  (Lat., Dapes inemptae.) Latin Proverb An anonymous man from the 16th century always used to say: "There are many important things in life, the first is eating, I don't know the others." Carl William Brown Hunger is a good cook. Author Unknown Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good. Alice May Brock Eating is touch carried to the bitter end. Samuel Butler One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. Virginia Woolf I would like to find a stew that will give me heartburn immediately, instead of at three o clock in the morning. John Barrymore Only the pure in heart can make a good soup. Ludwig Van Beethoven

Aphorisms on food Yogi ordered a pizza. The waitress asked How many pieces do you want your pie cut? Yogi responded, Four. I don't think I could eat eight. Yogi Berra Edible. Good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm. Ambrose Bierce The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star. Anthelme Brillat-Savarin I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid, and my mother made me eat it. I am President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli. George H. Bush The healthy stomach is nothing if it is not conservative. Few radicals have good digestions. Samuel Butler I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants. A. Whitney Brown What most moved him was a certain meal on beans. Robert Browning I just hate health food. Julia Child Life is too short to stuff a mushroom. Shirley Conran Anybody who believes that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach flunked geography. Robert Byrne A woman should never be seen eating or drinking, unless it be lobster salad and Champagne, the only true feminine and becoming viands. Lord Byron The right diet directs sexual energy into the parts that matter. Barbara Cartland

Aphorisms and quotes on food It is a difficult matter to argue with the belly since it has no ears. Cato The Elder For its merit I will knight it, and then it will be Sir-Loin. Charles II Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat. Marcus T. Cicero Although there is a great deal of controversy among scientists about the effects of ingested food on the brain, no one denies that you can change your cognition and mood by what you eat. Arthur Winter Food = joy ... guilt ... anger ... pain ... nurturing ... friendship ... hatred ... the way you look and feel.... Food = everything you can imagine. Susan Powter Bread that must be sliced with an axe is bread that is too nourishing. Fran Lebowitz Food is an important part of a balanced diet. Fran Lebowitz Inhabitants of underdeveloped nations and victims of natural disasters are the only people who have ever been happy to see soy beans. Fran Lebowitz More die in the United States of too much food than of too little. John Kenneth Galbraith Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly. M.F.K. Fisher Food was always a conduit in our family for storytelling, and it was a way for us to keep in touch and remember things. We're people that use food to keep each other together and to always cheer us up and make all of our days better. Rachel ray My favorite food city is wherever I happen to be eating. You know what they say, love the one you’re with! Pamela Anderson A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. Aesop The soup is never hot enough if the waiter can keep his thumb in it. William Collier The one way to get thin is to re-establish a purpose in life. Cyril Connolly

Salami Italian typical food To eat is human, to digest divine. Charles T. Copeland Square meals often make round people. Joseph E. Cossman I found there was only one way to look thin: hang out with fat people. Rodney Dangerfield Let the stoics say what they please, we do not eat for the good of living, but because the meat is savory and the appetite is keen. Ralph Waldo Emerson When a man's stomach is full it makes no difference whether he is rich or poor. Euripides Cheese is milk's leap toward immortality. Cliff Fadiman Roast Beef, medium, is not only a food. It is a philosophy. Seated at Life's Dining Table, with the menu of Morals before you, your eye wanders a bit over the entrees, the hors d'oeuvres, and the things a la though you know that Roast Beef, medium, is safe and sane, and sure. Edna Ferber I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks. Totie Fields Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly. M. F. K. Fisher Food has it over sex for variety. Hedonistically, gustatory possibilities are much broader than copulatory ones. Joseph Epstein I am not a glutton - I am an explorer of food. Erma Bombeck Food ... is the topmost taper on the golden candelabrum of existence. Donald Barthelme He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. Bible, Psalms The food here is so tasteless you could eat a meal of it and belch and it wouldn't remind you of anything. Redd Foxx One should eat to live, not live to eat. Benjamin Franklin More die in the United States from too much food that from too little. John Kenneth Galbraith God comes to the hungry in the form of food. Mahatma Gandhi It isn't so much what's on the table that matters, as what's on the chairs. W. S. Gilbert Meat eaten without either mirth or music is ill of digestion. Sir Walter Scott Mellow nuts have the hardest rind. Sir Walter Scott

Thoughts on the art of food Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast. Oscar Wilde We ought to know about our culinary past. Food and identity is terribly important ... I don't mean we should go out and eat historic dishes, but we should know what makes us different ... self-confident nations have that sense of where they come from. Tom Jaine What is food to one, is to others bitter poison. Lucretius Food is much better off the hand than the fork. Mario Batali You can't just eat good food. You've got to talk about it too. And you've got to talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food. Kurt Vonnegut We need a quarter of the food we eat to live, the rest is used to fatten industrialists, advertisers, doctors and undertakers. (obviously for those dying of hunger the situation changes.) Carl William Brown Food - what is chosen from the possibilities available, how it is presented, how it is eaten, with whom and when, and how much time is allotted to cooking and eating it - is one of the means by which a society creates itself and acts out its aims and fantasies. Margaret Visser There is such a thing as food and such a thing as poison. But the damage done by those who pass off poison as food is far less than that done by those who generation after generation convince people that food is poison. Paul Goodman A gourmet is just a glutton with brains. Phillip H. Haberman Jr. As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it, or leave it. Buddy Hackett A store of grain, Oh king is the best of treasures. A gem put in your mouth will not support life. Hitopadesa First rule of Economics 101: our desires are insatiable. Second rule: we can stomach only three Big Macs at a time. Doug Horton Most of us are either too thin to enjoy eating, or too fat to enjoy walking. Edgar Watson Howe A lot of Thanksgiving days have been ruined by not carving the turkey in the kitchen. Kin Hubbard A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of anything than he does of his dinner. Samuel Johnson He who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else. Samuel Johnson He who cannot eat horsemeat need not do so. Let him eat pork. But he who cannot eat pork, let him eat horsemeat. It's simply a question of taste. Nikita S. Khrushchev Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may diet. Harry Kurnitz I judge a restaurant by the bread and by the coffee. Burt Lancaster The most dangerous food to eat is a wedding cake. Author Unknown

Quotes on food and wine Food is our common ground, a universal experience. James Beard The fact is that this generation - yours, my generation ... we're the first generation that can look at poverty and disease, look across the ocean to Africa and say with a straight face, we can be the first to end this sort of stupid extreme poverty, where in the world of plenty, a child can die for lack of food in it's belly. Bono The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown is perhaps your most direct interaction with the earth. Frances Moore Lappe Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying. Fran Lebowitz Food is an important part of a balanced diet. Fran Lebowitz If you're going to America, bring your own food. Fran Lebowitz Vegetables are interesting but lack a sense of purpose when unaccompanied by a good cut of meat. Fran Lebowitz I told my doctor I get very tired when I go on a diet, so he gave me pep pills. Know what happened? I ate faster. Joe E. Lewis If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way. Georg C. Lichtenberg Everything you see I owe to spaghetti. Sophia Loren Choose rather to punish your appetites than be punished by them. Tyrius Maximus It ain't what you eat, but the way how you chew it. Delbert McClinton You can travel fifty thousand miles in America without once tasting a piece of good bread. Henry Miller Never eat more than you can lift. Miss Piggy We are digging our graves with our teeth. Thomas Moffett Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half. Charles De Montesquieu No man is lonely while eating spaghetti; it requires so much attention. Christopher Morley You needn't tell me that a man who doesn't love oysters and asparagus and good wines has got a soul, or a stomach either. He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed. Hector Hugh Munro He that eats till he is sick must fast till he is well. Hebrew Proverb There is only one thing harder than looking for a dewdrop in the dew, and that is fishing for a clam in the clam chowder. New England Proverb

Vegetarian food pyramid Want to learn to eat a lot? Here it is: Eat a little. That way, you will be around long enough to eat a lot. Anthony Robbins We know that ever woman wants to be thin. Our images of womanhood are almost synonymous with thinness. Susie Orbach We may find in the long run that tinned food is a deadlier weapon than the machine-gun. George Orwell Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody. Samuel Pepys Make food a very incidental part of your life by filling your life so full of meaningful things that you'll hardly have time to think about food. Peace Pilgrim He who eats alone chokes alone. Arabian Proverb It's better that it should make you sick than that you don't eat it at all. Catalan Proverb Don't dig your grave with your knife and fork. English Proverb A good meal ought to begin with hunger. French Proverb Appetite comes with eating; the more one has, the more one would have. French Proverb There is no such thing as a pretty good omelette. French Proverb Coffee should be black as Hell, strong as death, and sweet as love. Turkish Proverb When one has tasted it he knows what the angels eat. Mark Twain He who is a slave to his stomach seldom worships God. Saadi I have found it to be the most serious objection to coarse labors long continued, that they compelled me to eat and drink coarsely also. Henry David Thoreau There is nothing to which men, while they have food and drink, cannot reconcile themselves. George Santayana To eat is to appropriate by destruction. Jean-Paul Sartre Eating is not merely a material pleasure. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale. Elsa Schiaparelli He jests at scars that never felt a wound. William Shakespeare There is no love sincerer than the love of food. George Bernard Shaw

Ideas and quotes on food Seven's a banquet nine a brawl. Author Unknown Worthless people love only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live. Socrates For much of the female half of the world, food is the first signal of our inferiority. It lets us know that our own families may consider female bodies to be less deserving, less needy, less valuable. Gloria Steinem Lunch is for wimps. Oliver Stone Man shall not live by bread alone. The Holy Bible Put a knife to thy throat, if you're a man given to appetite. The Holy Bible Much meat, much disease. Author Unknown Fang drops so much food on his ties we keep them in the refrigerator. Phyllis Diller Do not arouse disdainful mind when you prepare a broth of wild grasses; do not arouse joyful mind when you prepare a fine cream soup. Dogen A good, honest, wholesome, hungry breakfast. Izaak Walton Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks. Lin Yutang Find out more visiting these links: Good food for your diet (With Videos) Vegetarian food diets (With Videos) Thoughts and reflections on food Aforismi e citazioni sul cibo International and Italian recipes Enogastronomia e turismo Italian recipes, fashion and travels https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/easy https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes http://allrecipes.com/recipes/1947/everyday-cooking/quick-and-easy/ http://www.sjana.com/blogs/lifestyle/food-for-the-soul Cooking traditions in Lombardy, Italy Read the full article

[padmeanddorme]

Just watched the documentary behind Obi-Wan Kenobi and-

😭❤️☺️😄🥺🥰🥲

I cannot describe in words this documentary’s impact on me. It was genuinely so heartwarming <3

Witnessing how ecstatic Ewan and Hayden were to see each other again was so heartwarming. They have such sweet brother energy.

Seeing Hayden get the respect he deserves is so lovely. It proves that, despite how there are many things in this would that are upsetting, humans are capable of spreading love, inspiration and joy!

That one behind the scenes footage of Hayden and Natalie from Attack of the Clones had me on my knees wanting to cry omg. I miss seeing Natalie in Star Wars. I miss that Anidala/Skyberrie sweetness.

It was truly amazing to see how many people pour their heart and soul into loving Star Wars. Yes, our fan base does have its toxic moments, but watching the end of the documentary and seeing how excited and emotional people were to see the premiere of Kenobi moved me. It proves that everywhere where there is darkness, there is an even larger amount of joy!

It was nice to listen to Deborah Chow explain how Carrie Fisher’s portrayal of Leia deeply impacted her. Princess Leia, no matter if she is played by our princess Carrie or the talented Vivian, is a feminist icon who continues to be inspirational. Oh and I cannot forget how amazing Beru is! Thank you Bonnie for bringing to life a humble, caring, badass woman in Star Wars.

I am thankful to Moses Ingram for her portrayal of Reva! She was a relatable, fresh face who was pretty skilled at making me feel creeped out by her entrances. I hope Ingram gets more praise and can push back the awful criticism that was targeted her way.

I really want to watch Kenobi again, now that I understand all the emotion, time and effort that was put in.

Please Hayden return in the Ahsoka series!

I have so much more to say, but I cannot remember any of my other points now 😂

I am always here if someone wants to have a passionate rant about the beauty of Star Wars with me.

Thank you George, all the actors, directors and many, many people who have contributed to bringing Star Wars to life.

[grapejuicestyless]

Kalopsia

Conrad Fisher x fem!reader

Summery: You convinced yourself you were in love but, was it for the wrong brother?

Kalopsia. A Greek noun that by definition means, The delusion of things being more beautiful than they really are.

A word that I had not known existed moments ago, but became aware of now. And how funny it was that in all the languages there were I managed to find the word to perfectly describe what was happening.

Love causes Kalopsia. More than we as people could ever realize. The way our hearts race and our cheeks blush. We put on our rose colored glasses that hide the red flags for the people we love.

That’s what makes this so funny. Because that’s what seemed to happen for Jeremiah.

I was so infatuated with the golden retriever with the boyish grin, icy blue eyes and tanned skin that I forgot that appearances are exactly what they are meant to be. Only appearances.

To me, he hung the sun and the moon in a rotation, spreading the stars along the sky just for me. I let myself become blinded by his perfections to see his side glances and his sly smirks that lingered on his cheeks.

I chose not to believe it when I’d heard he’d fallen for the shorter brunette with the long eyelashes and pink lips. Continuing the fantasy I had constructed in my head, the continuance of the paradise Jere had sold to me almost a year ago.

But how can you remain so ignorant to something right in front of your eyes? How can you lift your head and smile like he’s still the only boy in the world when your world is in the pool making out with his best friend?

I should’ve seen it. Their longing touches and side glances. Her hands cupped around his ear as flirty whispers were exchanged.

I wanted to rip Belly apart. I wanted her to feel the pain I was feeling, ripping her apart piece by piece emotionally. I wanted to keep them apart. Yet, I knew it wasn’t her fault. She was in love with the same man as I, and we both knew the affects he could cast down on us. I couldn’t help but almost feel a sense of pity towards Belly.

We were childhood friends, just like she was the fishers. My mother had a home down the street but Susannah kept a bed warm for me as I stayed there every night. We were so similar. The only thing separating us was our blood, our physical features and our age. She was a year younger while I stood at the same age as Conrad. Maybe that’s what made her believe she would be different. That Jere would love her more than he ever could to me.

Yet I could see it. We were so similar I could see that in time, she would endure the same fate as Jeremiah would once again get bored and run off behind her back. Too much of a child to have the guts to end things before starting something else. But then again, what we had was dead from the start. We just chose not to believe it.

I made no sound when leaving the scene. Exiting just as I came, quiet as a mouse, heart heavy and shoulders slumped. The world kept spinning without him, and that’s what seemed to be the scariest part.

Catching my two friends together didn’t leave me in the unspeakable despair I had imagined it would. Instead I was left feeling very ambivalent. Torn between my feelings. One one hand, I was hurt by the boy I had adored so much. My heart cracking thinking about all of my firsts I’d given him. My first kiss, my first dance, my first love. It was a hurt that touched the surface level, cutting my skin and making me bleed. Yet, on the other hand I felt more numb. Almost relieved in a way. While Jeremiah would always carry the title of my first love, it felt almost wrong to call him that. We loved each other, sure. But after the newness of it died, it seemed that so did his end of it. Could he really be my first love if everything we did was one sided?

And how stupid I felt for wearing those glasses and letting the Kalopsia happen all because I’d told myself it was love. I’d never known love. I’d never had it. How could I have been so blind and allowed myself to believe that it was meant to be that way? It was like a huge bullet was coming my way, and somehow in his own selfishness and his large ego, he acted as the shield to protect me from that ultimate heart break.

I grabbed my tote bag, slinging it over my shoulder, holding my surf board firmly under my other arm. I hadn’t planned to go to the beach today. I had only put on my swimsuit to go swimming with Jere in the pool. But I knew I wouldn’t feel up to returning to that pool in minutes knowing what had happened, and the beach had always been a sanctuary that wrapped my anxiety in a blanket of peace.

The sand filled the crevasses between my toes and stuck to the backs of my calves as I ran. It kicked up behind and left little divots behind in my wake. I dropped my bag somewhere behind me, next to a towel I recognized faintly and continued my path. My feet didn’t stop moving until my board was underneath me and my stomach was pressed against it. Even then I let my legs kick harshly.

It was then I remembered why I hadn’t gone to the beach today. The waves had been horrible all weekend and the weather was sucky. The birds were quiet and the wind was gentle. There was no chance of letting out my frustrations on the water. But floating was always an option.

“Hey! Y/n/n!” The voice was loud, gruffly and deep. It held a playful tone, lacking any heaviness. Refreshing, almost.

I knew the voice as Conrad’s. The older, more serious brother of the two. His hair was blonder, and straighter. His eyes a darker blue, yet they held more emotion and depth in them than Jeremiah’s ever did. His skin was less tan but still glowed a warm color. Everything about him screamed summer. He was my best friend before Jere and I got together.

It wasn’t like we fell out, we continued to hangout just as much as before. Only, Jeremiah always felt the need to join in on our movie nights and our bonfire carpools even when it was clear that it was our tradition to do so. The one thing we had was our surf trips. We never told anyone when we’d go on them, so the waves became our hangout. Maybe it was fate that we’d both gone out here tonight, but it was probably just a coincidence.

I nodded my head, acknowledging him while shifting on my board carefully. I laid on my back, staring at the stars. The stars I once believed Jere had painted across the sky just for me, but now knew it was just me being a fool.

“I didn’t expect to see you out here tonight. I though you were going swimming with Jere?” His smile was genuine, his teeth showing and slightly parted. He sounded almost out of breath.

“I didn’t expect to be out here tonight either.” I smiled back, only half of what he gave me. My tone was shaky, lower than usual. I felt my board bounce slightly, shifting enough to have my posture stiffened and my body sitting up. I let my legs straddle the board.

Looking over I saw an apologetic Conrad, cheeks reddened, I realized he had just bumped into me. Now, we mirrored each other. Both straddling the boards, facing each other.

“Did he fall asleep on you again? I told him to stop staying up so late with Steven but he never listens.” We laughed, my eyes closing for a moment. I let us fall into a silence, pulling in more air to speak.

“No, I uhm. I caught him kissing Belly in the pool.” There was no laughter this time. My hung head lifted to meet his gaze. His eyes were wide. Mixing with sadness and anger. As well as what I thought to be a sort of relief?

“What the fuck?” His brows were drawn together, hands clenched so hard his nails were digging into his palms. I placed my hand delicately over his, peeling his nails away from his soft skin.

"Conrad, hey. No, it's fine. Honestly, I should've seen it coming. Jere lost interest in whatever we had a long time ago." My confession felt like a weight coming off of my chest, Conrad’s face contorting into more confusion and sadness.

“I don’t give a fuck about him, Y/n.” His eyes met mine. His hand was now clenching over mine, holding it in the more firm grip I’d ever experienced. Like I’d disappear if he didn’t hold on.

“I care about you. You loved him, Y/n/n. He might have treated you like shit in the end, but we all saw the way you looked at him. Like he was the only person in the room. In the world.” I shrugged, looking out into the sea.

“We were both sick, we just wouldn’t admit it. What we had died a long time ago, Con. I was just too afraid to accept it. I think I was more afraid of losing one of my best friends than losing him romantically.” We looked at each other, letting out a deep sigh.

“I think I realized that on the way here. I always thought that the day we ended I would be inconsolable. That the world would end and I would be left in little tiny pieces. But, when it finally came, guess what? The world kept spinning and my heart kept beating. I didn’t feel like I lost a piece of myself. It was almost like, I gained something back.” I caught myself rambling, Conrad’s eyes boring into mine. Teeth tugging at his bottom lip.

“Sorry, fuck. I know he’s your brother.” He shrugged.

“Us being related doesn’t give him the excuse to be an asshole. Jeremiah has always been the flirty one. That’s just how it is. He goes around, finding anyone he can, making them feel special and then dumping them for the next.” My lips were drawn back in a tight line, a swift nod of my head as I avoided his eyes.

“I was surprised, honestly, over how long you lasted. What was it, almost a year now?”

“Yeah.” He tucked my hair behind my ears to see me better.

“For a moment I thought I lost you to him.” The ignorance and oblivion on my face was comedic, at his confession.

“I remember when he told me you’d kissed for the first time, I was so angry. I always thought you deserved better. Then, he stayed with you. He stayed loyal and I couldn’t help but believe he had found his person. And in doing that, he had taken mine away.” The realization had dawned on me in that moment, lips parting and eyes widened, Conrad met my face with a shy smile.

“You don’t mean…” I whispered, almost like if I said it too loud it wouldn’t be true.

“I’ve loved you since we were kids, Y/n. How could I not? You’re funny, competitive, compassionate. You’re everything I love. That’s what makes me love you.” And suddenly everything made sense. The days we spent on the boardwalk, talking for hours. Spending away all of our money we saved over the winter for these moments. I remember him blowing through thirty dollars to win me a stuffed animal after I’d seen the one he won for Belly. I always thought it was because he knew I felt left out, but now it made a little more sense. He had always gone out of his way to make me feel good. To spend time with me, to make me laugh. All of our shoulder brushes and long hugs clicked in my head, I’m sure he saw it.

“Shit, Conrad, why didn’t you tell me?” I let myself drift closer to him, concern and sincerity laced in my voice.

“You seemed so in love with Jeremiah, you said yes to him before I could even ask.”

“Damn it. Conrad, I only said yes to him because I thought you didn’t like me.” I shut my mouth quick, my hand flying over my mouth as a small laugh left Conrad a moment later, seeing my accidental confession. I let a laugh out too, his happiness contagious.

“Back up, back up. You’re in love with Jeremiah.” I shook my head. His mouth opened in disbelief, a smile pulling on his cheeks.

“I loved Jeremiah in a way that was different than a best friend, but it was nothing compared to what I felt for you.” I stuck my finger into his chest, pushing back a little.

“I always thought you were too good for me and, at the time I had harbored a small crush for Jere and when he asked me out, it felt like fate. Like maybe I was meant to be with him because he wanted me all along and you never did but, I guess I had it backwards.” We shared a glance, his eyes falling to my lips, mine following his stare to look at his mouth as well.

My eyes flickered back up to his, a silent understanding passing between us, the air grew heavier.

It was like gravity was pulling us towards each other, our fingers interlacing with each other, our noses close to touching. I felt his breath on mine, his words choppy and lingering with nervousness as he whispered, “Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure about something in my life.”

Our noses bumped and a chuckle was exchanged. We moved slowly into it, not rushing what had been building for years now, letting it peak finally as his lips met mine in the most soothing kiss Id ever experienced.

With Jeremiah, it was sloppy, rushed and needy. Always so sexual and demanding. It was hot, but never the most fulfilling. However, him being my one and only, again I had fallen for the trap that kissing was just meant to be like that. Needy and rushed.

With Conrad, it was slow and sinful. His lips massaging mine smoothly as my hands found the back of his neck. I let his fingers curl into my hair, tangling themselves as we pushed each other closer together. It was a blur, almost. I felt my mind growing foggy at how badly I wanted to be closer to him, over how much I enjoyed this. My mouth opening and his tongue providing more closeness than before. It was hot, and wet all around. The water dancing over our legs. How inconvenient for us that the moment happened in the water. A place that restricted our movements. Yet, the same restrictions let us start this change in relationship off slow. Not rushing into anything too quickly.

Soft sighs of contentment and pleasure echoed between us, satisfied with what was happening. It was only the splashing of the current coming back in that pulled us apart, our forehead stuck together and eyes fluttered shut still. We breathed each others air while the minutes passed, and the peace settled in.

By then I had forgotten all about Jeremiah. He didn’t matter to me anymore. I knew he didn’t hang the stars for me, and I realized that I truly wasn’t in love with him. And in his infidelity, I found what I wanted all along.

His brother.

[escapingrealityforamoment]

Unspoken Desires

Chapter 3: Surrendering to Love

Days turned into weeks, and our bond only grew stronger. Conrad and I spent endless hours together, exploring the hidden corners of Cousins Beach and creating new memories. Each touch, each stolen kiss, deepened our connection, igniting a flame that burned brightly within us. But as summer waned, so did the sense of blissful ignorance. The realities of life began to creep into our idyllic bubble. Conrad's family obligations, my own uncertain future, and the impending end of summer loomed over us like a storm cloud. One evening, as we sat on the beach, watching the sun dip below the horizon, Conrad turned to me, his eyes filled with a mix of sadness and determination. "Y/N, we both know summer can't last forever," he said softly. "But that doesn't mean we have to let go of what we've found." Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized the truth in his words. Our time together was limited, but the love we shared was undeniable. I nodded, my heart aching at the thought of our impending separation. "Conrad, I don't want to let go," I whispered, my voice trembling with emotion. "I want to hold onto this, whatever it may be, for as long as we can." A bittersweet smile tugged at Conrad's lips as he reached for my hand, intertwining our fingers. "Then let's make every moment count," he said, his voice filled with determination. "No matter what the future holds, I want to cherish this summer and our connection." And so, we embarked on a journey of love, fueled by passion and the desire to savor every remaining day. We laughed under the sun, danced beneath the starlit sky, and shared whispered promises in the quiet of the night. But as the final days of summer approached, an air of melancholy settled upon us. The reality of our impending separation weighed heavily on our hearts. We found solace in each other's arms, seeking comfort in the knowledge that our love would forever be etched in the sands of Cousins Beach. On that last day, as the sun dipped below the horizon for the final time, Conrad and I stood near the water's edge, tears glistening in our eyes. The ocean's waves crashed against the shore, echoing the bittersweet symphony of our emotions. "Y/N, this summer has been the most beautiful chapter of my life," Conrad whispered, his voice filled with a mix of sadness and gratitude. "You've shown me the true meaning of love and the courage to hold onto it, even when the world tries to pull us apart." I leaned into his embrace, the warmth of his touch soothing the ache in my heart. "Conrad, you've awakened a part of me that I never knew existed," I replied, my voice trembling. "No matter where life takes us, you'll always have a piece of my heart." With one final lingering kiss, we silently vowed to carry the memories of that summer forever. The waves crashed against the shore, carrying away our whispered promises and unspoken desires, but leaving behind a love that would endure, even as time carried us to different shores. As I looked back on that unforgettable summer, Conrad Fisher remained etched in my heart, forever the one who showed me the power of love and the courage to embrace it. And in the depths of my soul, I knew that no matter where life took us, our connection would forever be intertwined, an eternal reminder of the summer we turned pretty and found a love that defied the constraints of time.

THE END..

[oldsalempost-blog]

The Old Salem Post

Our  Local Tamassee-Salem SC Area News each Monday except holidays                                          Contact: theoldsalempost@gmail.com                              Distributed to local businesses, town hall, library.                                            Volume 7 Issue 9                                                                                              Week of February 13,2023                https://www.tumblr.com/settings/blog/oldsalempost-blog                                                         Lynne Martin Publishing

EDITOR: It is the week of love.  It is not always easy to love, especially if you feel someone has done something to damage that love.  Words and actions can harm a relationship.   Maybe your “boss” is difficult to work for or someone is difficult to work with.   The battle of who is right and who is wrong consumes valuable time, mind-space and energy. Often, we prefer to carry a heavy burden rather than cast if off.  If we truly love one another as Jesus taught, and as we say we do, this can be a challenge.  Sometimes we despair in our trials, and feel we are walking alone.  I call this the valley, when we don’t always feel the Presence of God. But, we will learn from trials, if we open our hearts, knowing in the end love will conquer all! L R Martin  Prayer:  Lord, Help me to always choose to love.

TOWN OF SALEM: *Downtown Market every Sat. 8am-12pm. Council Meeting Feb 21 6pm.                                                                                                            Diane Head Memorial Dedication:  You are invited to attend the cutting of the Red Ribbon to dedicate the site in memory of Salem’s first town mayor on Feb 25. 1pm. The location is across Hwy 130 just south from the Calvary Church.    Valentine Mission: Thank you all who contributed to the Talley Luce Valentine Mission of spreading love over our county.  The project began from Talley’s little heart of love, that not only unites our Tamassee-Salem community and churches, but spreads through our whole county as she shares the gifts to the elderly and shut-ins.                                                                                                

__ASHTON RECALLS_________________________       By Ashton Hester  Here is the follow-up to the basketball story I sent last week:  SALEM'S 1952-53 GIRLS' BASKETBALL TEAM ALSO DOING WELL - (Last week's column featured a story about Salem High School's outstanding 1952-53 boys' basketball team that was in the January 28, 1953 issue of the Keowee Courier. That story continued with the following account of the Salem girls' team). . .The Salemites won't take a back seat when it comes to their girls' team either, for even while playing their first full schedule in several years, they have still managed to win 5 while losing 8 and tieing once. . .Coached by L.H. Pursley, the girls' scoring parade is led by brilliant little Betty Lou Towe, who can "natural-born" play a tune with the netting when she gets her hands on the ball. The diminutive star has sacked in 230 points in the campaign for a resounding average of 16.4 points per game. . .Not far behind is Phyllis Fisher who has poured in 189 points and now boasts a 13.5 per game average. . .The other forward post alternates between Bobbie Ann Littleton and Betty Perry. . .The guards lack height this year, but they have made up for much of that handicap with hustle and spirit. . .Shirley Ann Childress, Hilda Sue Burgess, and Martha Jean Nicholson handle the guard posts with some help from Maxine Smith, a promising eighth grader. . .(Footnote written in 2023: "Girls' rules" back then were that each team had three guards and three forwards on both ends of the court. None of them could cross the center-court line; they had to remain on their end). . .Others seeing action with the squad this year are Bea Holden, Ramona McCoy, Juanita Burrell, and Martha Hinkle. . .TOURNAMENT RESULTS: The February 18 issue of the Courier reported that the Salem boys' team lost its first-round game in the Class C District Tournament at Pendleton to Antreville, 45 to 37. The girls' team also lost its first-round game. The details were not reported other than the unfortunate loss of  their second-highest scorer, Phyllis Fisher, who moved away the final week of the season.                                                                                                                      

JOCASSEE VALLEY BREWING COMPANY,(JVBC)& COFFEE SHOP 13412 N Hwy 11 Open Wed-Sat 8am-9pm. Sun 2pm-7pm.  Events this week:  Wed: Blue Grass Jam 6:30pm.  Fri– FOOD: Wing Wagon  Music:  Square Roots at 6:30pm.  Sat–Music: BJ Calahan 6:30pm Food: Lobster Dogs.

Land Preservation starts with each one of us.  You can have plans in place for what you like to happen to your land once your time here is gone.   If you leave it to developers, it will be chopped up with whatever idea they have in mind.  Then landowners all around have to contend with the destruction left behind.    Like planning your life, plan what you want to happen to your land you cherish and have worked so hard for.  Do not let others plan for you.  Consider conservation easements or land trusts. Once the land is preserved for perpetuity, you can sell it or gift it. The land is protected.  LM

Jottings from Jeannie:  Celebrating South Carolina                                            We have 46 counties.       Here is a cure for insomnia: Try to name them all-- Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson...   Our state has 187 miles of coastline and a total area of  31,113 square miles. Did you know that the Edisto River is the longest black-water river in the entire world?  We live near SC's highest point which is Sassafras Mountain (3,560 ft above sea level).  Be proud! More Revolutionary War battles were fought in SC than in any other state!  The town of Abbeville is known as "the birthplace and the deathbed of the Confederacy."   I know what you are thinking! "Oh! Miz Jeannie! You are so smart! You should go on JEOPARDY!"  My reply: I probably would win a big prize-- but then I would have to leave Oconee County to go fetch it.   No Thank You!                                                                                                            

                   EAGLES NEST ART CENTER , 501c3, 4 Eagle Lane, Salem                                                                                                                                            WOMEN ECOURAGING WOMEN: FEB 18, 1PM-4PM  *Love Offering event.  * This is a wonderful event for our local churches to help sponsor. *  Invite your girlfriends, sisters, mom, or strangers to this local 3 hour retreat. Our speaker is Martha Loftis Watson, a former T-S teacher and minister.                                                                                                                                                                      Alumni Gathering March 4, 2pm-6pm:  Calling all Salem, Tamassee-Salem, and Eagle Ridge alumni, staff, and faculty to drop-in to visit together and unite the past with the present.  There is a sweet sprit that unites us from our beloved roots.  Come tour the campus.  Bring your tennis shoes and shoot some hoops.  There will be concessions and maybe some homemade soups and chili available to purchase to support the hallowed grounds.   Call for more information or if you would like to assist in any way, Susan Hopkins, 864-944-2490, or Judy Hines.

Tamassee DAR:  Tamassee DAR School can make your wedding dreams come true.  From engagement tea, rehearsal, ceremony, to reception – Weddings at Tamassee is a one-stop-venue experience for all your wedding needs. Make reservations for the next Bride-to-Be Tea Party on Sat, Feb. 18 at 10 a.m. in historical South Carolina Cottage on the campus of Tamassee DAR School.  Tour our beautiful indoor and outdoor venue options, visit with preferred vendors, enjoy refreshments, and learn more about our affordable wedding packages.   Cost for the Tea Party is $10 for the bride and one guest.  To register call us at 864.944.1390 or email us at events@tdarschool.org.                              Tamassee DAR Full Day Program: On Monday, Feb 20, Presidents’ Day, our student will have  a fun day of adventures with friends and learning good citizenship values. Your child does not need to be enrolled in the regular after school program to participate.  $28/day for nonparticipants, $18/day for participants.   Call Ms Hope 864-944-3022 Ext 118.    7:30am-6:00pm Includes Breakfast, Lunch, and Snack.                                                                                BELLFEST 2023:  Join Friends of Jocassee for the 10th annual celebration of our native Oconee Bell at Devil’s Fork State Park. March 18 from 10am-3pm.  Park entry fees apply.  There will be Interpretive Bell Trail  walks, craft vendors, food trucks, music, kid & family activities, silent auction, and more. Visit www.friendsofjocassee.org to learn more.  

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Free my spirit from anything that causes me not to love everyone as myself.  Amen                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Share your heart of love this week. Lynne

[lakelandseo]

2023 Local SEO Success: Human Power in a Year of Change

2023 will be a run-up to the Olympics for the world’s top athletes who will be competing in a variety of events to prove themselves ready to represent their countries in the Paris Games, and I have a strong hunch that the coming months will be a strenuous exercise in fortitude for local business owners and their marketers, as well.

Having weathered the extraordinary events that occurred in local search in the second half of 2022 – most particularly the deprecation of the historic Google Business Profile Manager Dashboard and a slew of business-impacting bugs – it’s my prediction that 2023 is going to be a year of notable change for the millions of local brands for whom Google’s local search interfaces have become integral to discovery, communications, and sales. Meanwhile, ChatGPT is stirring up the whole SEO industry, with many wondering how long a shadow AI will cast over work and life.

It’s my gut feeling that the developments we’ve seen over the past few months presage greater change ahead driven by Google’s attitude toward and handling of local and general search philosophy. Let’s prepare ourselves by getting an outlook on organic SEO (which bounds our local world) from Moz’s own Tom Capper and Dr. Peter J. Meyers. Then, let’s gather local wisdom from thoughtful industry commentators including Amanda Jordan, Ben Fisher, David Mihm, Garrett Sussman, Greg Sterling, and Mike Blumenthal. Finally, I’ll offer 3 areas of local search marketing I recommend focusing on in 2023.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

Image credit: St Dennis Band

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” ― Aristotle

We come running into the arena of 2023 carrying, as always, the bright torch of human intelligence, but this year, our steps are a little dogged; AI is on everyone’s mind. On our road to Paris, we can reflect on the Olympic motto that was first introduced in that city in the 1924 games: Swifter, Higher, Stronger. As a species, we are always hoping for improvements in ourselves and society. But, it was Aristotle who said that the mark of an educated mind was to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it, and right now, many of my SEO colleagues are questioning whether the rise of artificial intelligence and a life so ordered by machines is, in fact, anyone’s idea of a smart move. Simply said, just because people can do something, it doesn’t mean that they should.

I asked my fellow Subject Matter Experts here at Moz what is on their minds in organic SEO for the new year, and their answers help shed a particular light by which we can better see the larger stadium in which all businesses are competing.

From Tom Capper:

The big SEO topic in the tail end of 2022 has been AI content - both ChatGPT and before that Google’s Helpful Content update bringing this topic to the front of people’s minds. Said update now looks rather prescient, with a new wave of increasingly coherent bot-written content surely to follow. Expect this to be a major battleground for Google in 2023. As I am writing this in the first week of December 2022, there is already an update to Google’s “Helpful Content system” rolling out - and that brings me to the other big change we’ll see more of. Ranking system updates. This is likely more of a terminology change than a practice change from Google, but I’d still expect it to somewhat shake up how SEOs think about and contextualise these updates — in my opinion, a shake-up that is long overdue. Lastly, a carry over from my predictions for 2022 — I predicted an increasingly volatile SERP feature landscape, and I think that prediction has aged well. But it still stands. Again, as I write this, Google has just rolled out continuous scroll desktop SERPs in the US, and numerous feature changes in the last few weeks. There is nothing sacred here, from Google’s perspective, and with increasing threat from dissimilar competitors like Apple or AI assistants, they may feel like slightly less gradual change is justified.”

From Dr. Pete Meyers:

Echoing Tom, because it's so important that I'm forced to agree with Tom, expect a flood of low-quality, machine-generated content in 2023 and a corresponding pushback from Google. Whether this will be part of the Helpful Content system updates or something entirely new remains to be seen, but creating Machine Learning content that doesn't look like ML content will likely (and sadly) become a new obsession of some corners of the SEO industry. This trend may force Google to re-evaluate E-A-T and/or more clearly define how they measure Expertise, Authority, and Trust, in order to encourage positive best practices. Google is aggressively experimenting with product listings, including the large-format product "grid" that seems to blur the lines between free and paid product listings. As Google seeks to compete with Amazon and other product searches (including an increasing amount of purchases driven by social platforms like TikTok), expect these lines to blur even more. Some competitive product search results are going to be unrecognizable from a traditional, organic SEO perspective. My riskiest prediction — Expect Google to re-evaluate Featured Snippets, especially given quality concerns, both around trustworthiness of content (including disinformation) and the impact of low-value ML content. We've already seen snippets being pulled from a chunk of competitive queries in 2022, and I suspect Google may substantially re-invent the Featured Snippet or set a higher bar on when and how often they're displayed.”

In sum, Tom and Pete are expecting volatility in the SERPs, including SERP features like local packs, which Moz has been tracking a decrease in the visibility of for some months. Both SMEs are looking closely at the disruption of AI and how it may impact search and searchers. 

Local SEOs may well be feeling like they’ve already experienced quite enough change in recent times with the loss of the dashboard for managing Google listings and an onslaught of bugs, but when I asked my peers to look ahead, many of them predict significant challenges yet to come for local businesses and their marketers.

From Mike Blumenthal:

“I would say that while a lot of levers are being pulled getting the Search Interface (NMX) off the ground, it was a change that was totally unnecessary and brought with it both bugs and an attitude of total apathy towards the multi user/agency dashboard. The other big, hardly reported on changes were the move to AI first moderation of reviews AND images, introducing GPB behaviors that are perceived as totally illogical by the small business community. If the intention of the NMX was to simplify and engage, why layer on totally obtuse moderation decisions for reviews and images while providing no clear guidance as to what was happening and how to deal with it?”

From David Mihm:

“What Google is doing in Local is officially anyone’s guess at this point. Regardless of the level of internal resources devoted to Google Business Profiles as a product (which clearly fell off a cliff beginning in late 2021), the current NMX/skeleton dashboard version of GBP lacks a coherent vision and a poor (any?) understanding of user needs and pain points. Not to mention myriad functional bugs including 404 errors when trying to upload photos, inability to save store codes on newly-created locations, and inability to deny (or even confirm, in many cases!) user-suggested edits. As usual, there seems to be no institutional knowledge of Google’s long history of internal failures and weak spots in its Local product or Maps data, or anyone with power making a strong case for the centrality of GBP in the marketing ecosystem — even for large multi-location brands which are spending millions of dollars annually on Ads. It feels to me as if Google’s “strategy,” such as it is, is to simply ignore SMBs as a meaningful source of data for Maps and Universal results, and to force multi-location brands to work with a partner like Yext/Uberall/etc. for a real product interface. Given that Big Tech is cutting headcount and investment across the board, I can’t imagine the situation will change for the better in 2023.” 

From Amanda Jordan:

“I expect to continue to see pretty drastic changes for local for at least the next couple of years. I think local has been under the radar for Google for awhile and COVID has really brought Google’s shortcomings for local to light. Now they are correcting the experience for SMBs who may have been neglecting SEO until they depended on it during COVID and were overwhelmed by GBP management. I think we’re going to see Google testing a lot of changes for local in SERPs. Local mobile SERPs will be one of the most interesting places to watch next year.” 

Meanwhile, Greg Sterling offers a candid theory on why some of the local changes may be taking place:

“Google recognizes local content and maps remain critical for its users, especially mobile users. But the company is disappointed by the number of SMBs engaging with GBP, and GMB before it. Hence the move from the app to the web. In many ways Google has been less successful monetizing small businesses than Facebook, which doesn't have a consumer-facing local product. GBP isn't the onramp to ads Google had hoped. I believe, internally, there are now reduced expectations and support for local on the B2B side. NMX comes out of this larger context.”

I find all of the above comments to be probable, realistic, and insightful, but I also want to be sure to mention that there isn’t a complete consensus on trends. At least one respected colleague, Ben Fisher, has a more comforting view that we may already have weathered the biggest changes:

“The big stuff is behind us for now I think. Mainly the name change and in-Search experience. The in-Search experience was planned for a long time and Google in their infinite wisdom decided it was the best route to go based on data. I think that with the rollout of this new in-Search experience that new 'bugs' and aggressive 'features' will come to pass. Next year I think we are going to see ongoing tweaks. I would predict that the review filtering will probably get worse as we have seen with reviews leaking on a daily basis. Also it took over three months for reinstatements to go back to a normal timeframe. Next year I think we can expect this to go haywire again. It feels like it happens yearly. One thing I think is certain: Google looks to fix problems at scale and all but ignores the little guy, and in some cases can cause horrible consequences to non-guilty merchants. That being said, one other thing is constant, they will do their best to 'fix' the issue.”

Finally, Garrett Sussman’s take on the impact of MUM should not be missed:

“In 2022, Local SEO has felt the impact of Google’s MUM algorithm more than anyone. A local search on a mobile device is sliced and diced by various contextual query refinements: • Places • ‘Find places through photos’ • Google Explore • Deals They’re all showing up and influencing every single local result. It forces local business owners to improve their content on their own site, build out their listings on review sites, and earn mentions in local media. You can’t only focus on your Google Business Profile. But when people do search for your business specifically, you need to provide as much information as possible, because people expect it: • You need your office hours to be accurate • You need fresh and positive reviews • You need photos of your business It’s never been more important for a local business owner to have a digital presence on Google.”

Taken altogether, there is a high level of dissatisfaction with Google’s handling of local as we throw the discus into 2023, and there is a definite sense that there will be bug and feature hurdles all along our lane. Our expert commentary depicts Google local search in a marked state of flux. I personally find it counterintuitive that Google is shortchanging local right now, given that local data is the biggest ace the search titan has up its sleeve in its contest with Amazon. Whatever their motives, It’s not great news for our industry, but it’s vital to be real about the present state of local so that we can cut our coat to suit our cloth. Even amid volatility, good strategy is absolutely still possible.

Harnessing the human power of local in 2023

Image credit: Memories of Days Gone By

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ― Socrates

When I consider the level of concern currently being expressed in the SEO industry over the rise of disinformation that may ensue as a result of inventions like ChatGPT, the pitfalls of programmatic moderation of key local content like reviews and images, and the failure of Google to adequately support the millions of local brands they represent on their platform, I think we have to dig deep into human resources to counterbalance the shortcomings of machines. Here are my top three recommendations for a smart local business strategy for 2023.

1. Shortcut the path to a real human in every way you can

I see signs everywhere that people are at a tipping point of fatigue over being “handled” by robots. Multi-step phone trees and long hold times are truly wearing. Chat functions that never result in human contact feel cold and impersonal. Websites that hinder rather than assist customer journeys are no-win on both sides of transactions.

In 2023, achieve the least possible distance between customers and live customer service with the following methodologies:

69% of surveyed American consumers prefer talking to a live person by phone for customer support. The majority list their top pain points as being long hold times, disconnects, and having to start over again with each phone agent so that issues take too long to get resolved. If short staffing is causing long hold times at your business, implement call-back technology so that the customer can go about their life while waiting to hear from a live person, and be sure that every public-facing staff member is well-trained in your products, services and policies so that a customer has to talk to the fewest possible people in your organization to get answers to their questions.

46% of customers believe businesses use chatbots to prevent them from reaching a live person and 60% would rather wait for a live person than talk to a bot. However, if you are using chatbots as after-hours support, it can be a useful tool. Just be sure your interface clearly identifies that it is automated, covers FAQs so that answers are provided in a pinch, and then capture customer contact information so that a human engagement can begin as quickly as possible following the chat.

If you’re using livechat, know that over ½ of customers expect a response within minutes. Applications like this must be staffed just as you would staff your phones to avoid customers feeling ignored and abandoning the brand.

44.5% of customers aged 35-54 say that texting is their preferred method of communicating with businesses and the previously-cited Leadferno study found that about ⅓ of people expect a response within a day when they text a company. Given the difference in expected response times, texting may be a better option for brands with minimal staff, so that customers aren’t being lost to unfulfilled expectations.

Email remains a key channel for customer support, but one survey found that 62% of companies don’t respond to email-based customer service requests, 90% don’t send an email confirming that the question has been received, and just 20% of businesses are able to provide a complete answer on the first reply. These are startling statistics that speak to the need to staff your inbox so that customers are receiving prompt, well-informed emails to every inquiry.

Finally, one of the greatest challenges of the past few years has been short staffing for local businesses due to the ongoing pandemic. Wherever doors are open, customers still want to be greeted and assisted by well-trained staff, but the realities of a labor shortage, COVID, and Long COVID mean businesses and customers need to lean more heavily on additional, non-human resources such as the answering of FAQs on in-store and storefront signage, company websites, and local business listings. We’ll examine these points next.

2. Let good tools come to your rescue in tough times

Regardless of what AI fans may say, there is no replacement for the human relationships that are the basis of doing business locally. That being said, when external conditions cause staffing shortages, it’s time to consider the long history of humans’ ingenious use of tools to aid labor. Like the sea otter and the heron, we can select props to make it easier to achieve our goals, and in 2023, local business owners should ensure that customers are being served even when a staff member isn’t immediately available. Focus on these areas:

The New Merchant Experience that replaced the former Google Business Profile dashboard in 2022 was widely judged to be a usability fiasco, particularly for multi-location brands. Restore ease of management by using software like Moz Local to regain the quiet, dedicated workspace you need to manage your listing on Google and on the most prevalent local business listing platforms, all in one place.

Be sure the listings you’ve created are fully filled out with accurate information so that customers get fast answers to common questions about your location, contact info, hours, services, products, and policies. Add your products, take more photos this year, and set yourself up to begin filming aspects of your business. Google has finally started featuring local business videos and I would recommend filming 30 second videos in which a friendly person from your company answers your top FAQs.

96% of your customers read reviews and 60% of review writers expect a response from your business within 2-or-less days. Make this the year you envision reviews as a two-way conversation, charged with the knowledge that when your responses resolve complaints, 63% of reviewers will update their negative review and 62% will give your business a second chance. Make 2023 your most communicative year yet by studying The Impact of Local Business Reviews on Consumer Behavior. But, do be careful how you are asking for reviews this year, given recent research from Mike Blumenthal on the startling causes of reviews being filtered out by Google.

Broaden your communications channels. Try an after-hours text hotline if you’ve never had one before. Experiment with video-based support, live chat, and callbacks. Make 2023 the year you emphatically decide whether channels like TikTok or Instagram are a good fit for your customers and brand. The easier it is for people to discover and reach your business, the better.

3. Faced with facelessness, buck trends

Why is it that Patagonia’s founder declared Earth its only shareholder? Why is it that when everyone was saying that bricks-and-mortar was dead and all sales would be happening via e-commerce, Warby Parker began doubling down on physical storefronts so that people lacking prescriptions could get an on-site eye exam? Why, despite looming recession, has someone opened a successful restaurant for dogs in San Francisco, betting that people will splurge on their animal friends even if they are budgeting for themselves?

These scenarios aren’t just about fighting the tide and daring to be different – they’re about daring to be human and to understand what people care about, need, and love. The people behind ideas like these really took time to understand the realities of a society longing to fight Climate Change, needing accessible vision care, and wanting to have low spirits raised by doing something special for a cherished pet. Having a real face (and a real heart behind it) in an increasingly automated, impersonalized world could be the thing that sets your local business apart in 2023.

In some executives’ strange dreams, human value is measured in the mass consumption of products, and now, of AI-driven content. Local business owners know better, from lived experience. In this new year, embrace the narrative of your business being operated by real people who serve real neighbors in real ways, with personality and charm that can’t be replaced by bots. This won’t be an easy race, but it’s worth running, whatever the odds.

In wishing you success in the local business year ahead, I’d like to close with the words of Wilma Rudolph, who overcame infantile paralysis caused by polio and went on to become an Olympic champion: “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”

[bfxenon]

2023 Local SEO Success: Human Power in a Year of Change

2023 will be a run-up to the Olympics for the world’s top athletes who will be competing in a variety of events to prove themselves ready to represent their countries in the Paris Games, and I have a strong hunch that the coming months will be a strenuous exercise in fortitude for local business owners and their marketers, as well.

Having weathered the extraordinary events that occurred in local search in the second half of 2022 – most particularly the deprecation of the historic Google Business Profile Manager Dashboard and a slew of business-impacting bugs – it’s my prediction that 2023 is going to be a year of notable change for the millions of local brands for whom Google’s local search interfaces have become integral to discovery, communications, and sales. Meanwhile, ChatGPT is stirring up the whole SEO industry, with many wondering how long a shadow AI will cast over work and life.

It’s my gut feeling that the developments we’ve seen over the past few months presage greater change ahead driven by Google’s attitude toward and handling of local and general search philosophy. Let’s prepare ourselves by getting an outlook on organic SEO (which bounds our local world) from Moz’s own Tom Capper and Dr. Peter J. Meyers. Then, let’s gather local wisdom from thoughtful industry commentators including Amanda Jordan, Ben Fisher, David Mihm, Garrett Sussman, Greg Sterling, and Mike Blumenthal. Finally, I’ll offer 3 areas of local search marketing I recommend focusing on in 2023.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

Image credit: St Dennis Band

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” ― Aristotle

We come running into the arena of 2023 carrying, as always, the bright torch of human intelligence, but this year, our steps are a little dogged; AI is on everyone’s mind. On our road to Paris, we can reflect on the Olympic motto that was first introduced in that city in the 1924 games: Swifter, Higher, Stronger. As a species, we are always hoping for improvements in ourselves and society. But, it was Aristotle who said that the mark of an educated mind was to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it, and right now, many of my SEO colleagues are questioning whether the rise of artificial intelligence and a life so ordered by machines is, in fact, anyone’s idea of a smart move. Simply said, just because people can do something, it doesn’t mean that they should.

I asked my fellow Subject Matter Experts here at Moz what is on their minds in organic SEO for the new year, and their answers help shed a particular light by which we can better see the larger stadium in which all businesses are competing.

From Tom Capper:

The big SEO topic in the tail end of 2022 has been AI content - both ChatGPT and before that Google’s Helpful Content update bringing this topic to the front of people’s minds. Said update now looks rather prescient, with a new wave of increasingly coherent bot-written content surely to follow. Expect this to be a major battleground for Google in 2023. As I am writing this in the first week of December 2022, there is already an update to Google’s “Helpful Content system” rolling out - and that brings me to the other big change we’ll see more of. Ranking system updates. This is likely more of a terminology change than a practice change from Google, but I’d still expect it to somewhat shake up how SEOs think about and contextualise these updates — in my opinion, a shake-up that is long overdue. Lastly, a carry over from my predictions for 2022 — I predicted an increasingly volatile SERP feature landscape, and I think that prediction has aged well. But it still stands. Again, as I write this, Google has just rolled out continuous scroll desktop SERPs in the US, and numerous feature changes in the last few weeks. There is nothing sacred here, from Google’s perspective, and with increasing threat from dissimilar competitors like Apple or AI assistants, they may feel like slightly less gradual change is justified.”

From Dr. Pete Meyers:

Echoing Tom, because it's so important that I'm forced to agree with Tom, expect a flood of low-quality, machine-generated content in 2023 and a corresponding pushback from Google. Whether this will be part of the Helpful Content system updates or something entirely new remains to be seen, but creating Machine Learning content that doesn't look like ML content will likely (and sadly) become a new obsession of some corners of the SEO industry. This trend may force Google to re-evaluate E-A-T and/or more clearly define how they measure Expertise, Authority, and Trust, in order to encourage positive best practices. Google is aggressively experimenting with product listings, including the large-format product "grid" that seems to blur the lines between free and paid product listings. As Google seeks to compete with Amazon and other product searches (including an increasing amount of purchases driven by social platforms like TikTok), expect these lines to blur even more. Some competitive product search results are going to be unrecognizable from a traditional, organic SEO perspective. My riskiest prediction — Expect Google to re-evaluate Featured Snippets, especially given quality concerns, both around trustworthiness of content (including disinformation) and the impact of low-value ML content. We've already seen snippets being pulled from a chunk of competitive queries in 2022, and I suspect Google may substantially re-invent the Featured Snippet or set a higher bar on when and how often they're displayed.”

In sum, Tom and Pete are expecting volatility in the SERPs, including SERP features like local packs, which Moz has been tracking a decrease in the visibility of for some months. Both SMEs are looking closely at the disruption of AI and how it may impact search and searchers. 

Local SEOs may well be feeling like they’ve already experienced quite enough change in recent times with the loss of the dashboard for managing Google listings and an onslaught of bugs, but when I asked my peers to look ahead, many of them predict significant challenges yet to come for local businesses and their marketers.

From Mike Blumenthal:

“I would say that while a lot of levers are being pulled getting the Search Interface (NMX) off the ground, it was a change that was totally unnecessary and brought with it both bugs and an attitude of total apathy towards the multi user/agency dashboard. The other big, hardly reported on changes were the move to AI first moderation of reviews AND images, introducing GPB behaviors that are perceived as totally illogical by the small business community. If the intention of the NMX was to simplify and engage, why layer on totally obtuse moderation decisions for reviews and images while providing no clear guidance as to what was happening and how to deal with it?”

From David Mihm:

“What Google is doing in Local is officially anyone’s guess at this point. Regardless of the level of internal resources devoted to Google Business Profiles as a product (which clearly fell off a cliff beginning in late 2021), the current NMX/skeleton dashboard version of GBP lacks a coherent vision and a poor (any?) understanding of user needs and pain points. Not to mention myriad functional bugs including 404 errors when trying to upload photos, inability to save store codes on newly-created locations, and inability to deny (or even confirm, in many cases!) user-suggested edits. As usual, there seems to be no institutional knowledge of Google’s long history of internal failures and weak spots in its Local product or Maps data, or anyone with power making a strong case for the centrality of GBP in the marketing ecosystem — even for large multi-location brands which are spending millions of dollars annually on Ads. It feels to me as if Google’s “strategy,” such as it is, is to simply ignore SMBs as a meaningful source of data for Maps and Universal results, and to force multi-location brands to work with a partner like Yext/Uberall/etc. for a real product interface. Given that Big Tech is cutting headcount and investment across the board, I can’t imagine the situation will change for the better in 2023.” 

From Amanda Jordan:

“I expect to continue to see pretty drastic changes for local for at least the next couple of years. I think local has been under the radar for Google for awhile and COVID has really brought Google’s shortcomings for local to light. Now they are correcting the experience for SMBs who may have been neglecting SEO until they depended on it during COVID and were overwhelmed by GBP management. I think we’re going to see Google testing a lot of changes for local in SERPs. Local mobile SERPs will be one of the most interesting places to watch next year.” 

Meanwhile, Greg Sterling offers a candid theory on why some of the local changes may be taking place:

“Google recognizes local content and maps remain critical for its users, especially mobile users. But the company is disappointed by the number of SMBs engaging with GBP, and GMB before it. Hence the move from the app to the web. In many ways Google has been less successful monetizing small businesses than Facebook, which doesn't have a consumer-facing local product. GBP isn't the onramp to ads Google had hoped. I believe, internally, there are now reduced expectations and support for local on the B2B side. NMX comes out of this larger context.”

I find all of the above comments to be probable, realistic, and insightful, but I also want to be sure to mention that there isn’t a complete consensus on trends. At least one respected colleague, Ben Fisher, has a more comforting view that we may already have weathered the biggest changes:

“The big stuff is behind us for now I think. Mainly the name change and in-Search experience. The in-Search experience was planned for a long time and Google in their infinite wisdom decided it was the best route to go based on data. I think that with the rollout of this new in-Search experience that new 'bugs' and aggressive 'features' will come to pass. Next year I think we are going to see ongoing tweaks. I would predict that the review filtering will probably get worse as we have seen with reviews leaking on a daily basis. Also it took over three months for reinstatements to go back to a normal timeframe. Next year I think we can expect this to go haywire again. It feels like it happens yearly. One thing I think is certain: Google looks to fix problems at scale and all but ignores the little guy, and in some cases can cause horrible consequences to non-guilty merchants. That being said, one other thing is constant, they will do their best to 'fix' the issue.”

Finally, Garrett Sussman’s take on the impact of MUM should not be missed:

“In 2022, Local SEO has felt the impact of Google’s MUM algorithm more than anyone. A local search on a mobile device is sliced and diced by various contextual query refinements: • Places • ‘Find places through photos’ • Google Explore • Deals They’re all showing up and influencing every single local result. It forces local business owners to improve their content on their own site, build out their listings on review sites, and earn mentions in local media. You can’t only focus on your Google Business Profile. But when people do search for your business specifically, you need to provide as much information as possible, because people expect it: • You need your office hours to be accurate • You need fresh and positive reviews • You need photos of your business It’s never been more important for a local business owner to have a digital presence on Google.”

Taken altogether, there is a high level of dissatisfaction with Google’s handling of local as we throw the discus into 2023, and there is a definite sense that there will be bug and feature hurdles all along our lane. Our expert commentary depicts Google local search in a marked state of flux. I personally find it counterintuitive that Google is shortchanging local right now, given that local data is the biggest ace the search titan has up its sleeve in its contest with Amazon. Whatever their motives, It’s not great news for our industry, but it’s vital to be real about the present state of local so that we can cut our coat to suit our cloth. Even amid volatility, good strategy is absolutely still possible.

Harnessing the human power of local in 2023

Image credit: Memories of Days Gone By

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ― Socrates

When I consider the level of concern currently being expressed in the SEO industry over the rise of disinformation that may ensue as a result of inventions like ChatGPT, the pitfalls of programmatic moderation of key local content like reviews and images, and the failure of Google to adequately support the millions of local brands they represent on their platform, I think we have to dig deep into human resources to counterbalance the shortcomings of machines. Here are my top three recommendations for a smart local business strategy for 2023.

1. Shortcut the path to a real human in every way you can

I see signs everywhere that people are at a tipping point of fatigue over being “handled” by robots. Multi-step phone trees and long hold times are truly wearing. Chat functions that never result in human contact feel cold and impersonal. Websites that hinder rather than assist customer journeys are no-win on both sides of transactions.

In 2023, achieve the least possible distance between customers and live customer service with the following methodologies:

69% of surveyed American consumers prefer talking to a live person by phone for customer support. The majority list their top pain points as being long hold times, disconnects, and having to start over again with each phone agent so that issues take too long to get resolved. If short staffing is causing long hold times at your business, implement call-back technology so that the customer can go about their life while waiting to hear from a live person, and be sure that every public-facing staff member is well-trained in your products, services and policies so that a customer has to talk to the fewest possible people in your organization to get answers to their questions.

46% of customers believe businesses use chatbots to prevent them from reaching a live person and 60% would rather wait for a live person than talk to a bot. However, if you are using chatbots as after-hours support, it can be a useful tool. Just be sure your interface clearly identifies that it is automated, covers FAQs so that answers are provided in a pinch, and then capture customer contact information so that a human engagement can begin as quickly as possible following the chat.

If you’re using livechat, know that over ½ of customers expect a response within minutes. Applications like this must be staffed just as you would staff your phones to avoid customers feeling ignored and abandoning the brand.

44.5% of customers aged 35-54 say that texting is their preferred method of communicating with businesses and the previously-cited Leadferno study found that about ⅓ of people expect a response within a day when they text a company. Given the difference in expected response times, texting may be a better option for brands with minimal staff, so that customers aren’t being lost to unfulfilled expectations.

Email remains a key channel for customer support, but one survey found that 62% of companies don’t respond to email-based customer service requests, 90% don’t send an email confirming that the question has been received, and just 20% of businesses are able to provide a complete answer on the first reply. These are startling statistics that speak to the need to staff your inbox so that customers are receiving prompt, well-informed emails to every inquiry.

Finally, one of the greatest challenges of the past few years has been short staffing for local businesses due to the ongoing pandemic. Wherever doors are open, customers still want to be greeted and assisted by well-trained staff, but the realities of a labor shortage, COVID, and Long COVID mean businesses and customers need to lean more heavily on additional, non-human resources such as the answering of FAQs on in-store and storefront signage, company websites, and local business listings. We’ll examine these points next.

2. Let good tools come to your rescue in tough times

Regardless of what AI fans may say, there is no replacement for the human relationships that are the basis of doing business locally. That being said, when external conditions cause staffing shortages, it’s time to consider the long history of humans’ ingenious use of tools to aid labor. Like the sea otter and the heron, we can select props to make it easier to achieve our goals, and in 2023, local business owners should ensure that customers are being served even when a staff member isn’t immediately available. Focus on these areas:

The New Merchant Experience that replaced the former Google Business Profile dashboard in 2022 was widely judged to be a usability fiasco, particularly for multi-location brands. Restore ease of management by using software like Moz Local to regain the quiet, dedicated workspace you need to manage your listing on Google and on the most prevalent local business listing platforms, all in one place.

Be sure the listings you’ve created are fully filled out with accurate information so that customers get fast answers to common questions about your location, contact info, hours, services, products, and policies. Add your products, take more photos this year, and set yourself up to begin filming aspects of your business. Google has finally started featuring local business videos and I would recommend filming 30 second videos in which a friendly person from your company answers your top FAQs.

96% of your customers read reviews and 60% of review writers expect a response from your business within 2-or-less days. Make this the year you envision reviews as a two-way conversation, charged with the knowledge that when your responses resolve complaints, 63% of reviewers will update their negative review and 62% will give your business a second chance. Make 2023 your most communicative year yet by studying The Impact of Local Business Reviews on Consumer Behavior. But, do be careful how you are asking for reviews this year, given recent research from Mike Blumenthal on the startling causes of reviews being filtered out by Google.

Broaden your communications channels. Try an after-hours text hotline if you’ve never had one before. Experiment with video-based support, live chat, and callbacks. Make 2023 the year you emphatically decide whether channels like TikTok or Instagram are a good fit for your customers and brand. The easier it is for people to discover and reach your business, the better.

3. Faced with facelessness, buck trends

Why is it that Patagonia’s founder declared Earth its only shareholder? Why is it that when everyone was saying that bricks-and-mortar was dead and all sales would be happening via e-commerce, Warby Parker began doubling down on physical storefronts so that people lacking prescriptions could get an on-site eye exam? Why, despite looming recession, has someone opened a successful restaurant for dogs in San Francisco, betting that people will splurge on their animal friends even if they are budgeting for themselves?

These scenarios aren’t just about fighting the tide and daring to be different – they’re about daring to be human and to understand what people care about, need, and love. The people behind ideas like these really took time to understand the realities of a society longing to fight Climate Change, needing accessible vision care, and wanting to have low spirits raised by doing something special for a cherished pet. Having a real face (and a real heart behind it) in an increasingly automated, impersonalized world could be the thing that sets your local business apart in 2023.

In some executives’ strange dreams, human value is measured in the mass consumption of products, and now, of AI-driven content. Local business owners know better, from lived experience. In this new year, embrace the narrative of your business being operated by real people who serve real neighbors in real ways, with personality and charm that can’t be replaced by bots. This won’t be an easy race, but it’s worth running, whatever the odds.

In wishing you success in the local business year ahead, I’d like to close with the words of Wilma Rudolph, who overcame infantile paralysis caused by polio and went on to become an Olympic champion: “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”

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