#new york state route 36 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

chion3spid3r · 6 months ago

Text

who am I talking to ?

pairings : earth42!Milesxfem!reader

warnings : alcohol and substance usage, drunken behaviour, physical altercations, mention of injuries and blood, mentions of kissing, suggestive, intimate interactions, strong language, swearing, emotional distress, stalking and intrusions, peer pressure, thriller elements

summary : you fell for the prowler at the first place

a/n : I may be obsessed by one character I think but c’monnn 😙

words count : 5.4k

pt1 -> pt2

the night was alive with the vibrant chaos of a birthday party at your friend's house. the heady mix of alcohol and a hint of something stronger coursed through your veins, leaving you dizzy and disoriented. you danced with reckless abandon until your feet ached, surrounded by a blur of boys and girls exchanging kisses without a care.

eventually, the pain in your feet became unbearable. you stumbled towards a couch near the dance floor, collapsing onto it with a heavy sigh. as you glanced at your phone, the screen flickered and died, the battery drained. It was 3:36 AM.

you knew it was time to leave. with a resigned sigh, you pushed yourself up and made your way to your friends. tapping Layla on the shoulder, you leaned in and yelled over the pounding music, "I'm heading back home!"

Layla looked at you with a pout, her expression a mix of disappointment and drunken cheer. "nooo, {Y/N}, stay here with us! girl!"

you smiled, shaking your head. "no, no, I need to get back home now. it's late. bye, girly. happy birthday again!" the words slurred together as you waved goodbye and staggered towards the door.

the moment you stepped outside, the cool night air hit you, sending shivers down your spine. the streets of New York were quieter now, but your mind was a foggy mess from too many vodka shots. you started walking, hoping to find your way home, when you remembered your phone was dead, and with it, your GPS.

"great," you muttered to yourself, frustration mingling with your inebriation. you tried to recall the route home, but it was like navigating a labyrinth in the dark.

as you wandered aimlessly, the sounds of a struggle reached your ears. you rounded a corner and saw two men fighting in a dark alley. one of them, unmistakable with his glowing purple eyes, was the notorious Prowler. fear froze you in place as the other man, bloody and desperate, spotted you.

"come here, you!" he yelled, rushing towards you. panic took over, and you raised your hands defensively. but nothing happened. no impact, no pain. you peeked through your fingers to see the Prowler standing over the lifeless body of his opponent, his claws dripping with blood.

"it's dangerous out here, ma'am," the Prowler's voice was altered by his mask, making it sound almost robotic.

in your drunken state, words tumbled out of your mouth before you could stop them. "o-okay… I mean… yes… can… uh… I'm lost…" tears began to stream down your face, the alcohol amplifying your emotions.

the Prowler sighed, his tone exasperated. "okay? and?"

desperation pushed you to plead. "and?? juro que es estúpido… can you bring me home if you don't want me to get kidnapped or worse! raped!"

his clawed hand clamped over your mouth, silencing you. "shush it. why would I?"

thinking quickly, you blurted, "or I'll tell everyone who killed this man."

the Prowler regarded you with a mix of annoyance and amusement thought the mask. "that's the Prowler, yeah, everyone knows that."

you groaned, feeling foolish. "please! I'll do everything that you ask, Prowler, just take me home!"

he paused, considering your offer. after a moment, he pulled out a phone. "deal?"

"deal," you agreed hastily, giving him your address.

without another word, he scooped you up and launched into the air, his grappling hook propelling you both from rooftop to rooftop. the city blurred beneath you as you clung to him, your screams echoing in the night.

"slow down, slow down, slow down!!!" you cried, your grip tightening around his neck.

finally, you arrived at your apartment building. the Prowler set you down, his eyes still glowing ominously. "remember our deal," he said, his voice a low growl distorted.

tou nodded, too shaken to argue. "thank you," you whispered.

he turned to leave before disappearing into the night.

back in your apartment, you collapsed onto your bed, the night's events replaying in your mind. you were safe, thanks to the Prowler. but what would he ask of you in return? as you drifted off to sleep, you couldn't shake the feeling that your life had just become infinitely more complicated.

monday morning arrived with an unforgiving brightness, and you dragged yourself to school, still feeling the effects of the weekend's chaos. your head throbbed, and your eyelids felt like they were weighed down by lead. the halls of your high school buzzed with the usual chatter, but you moved through them in a daze, barely registering the noise around you.

in first period, you found your usual seat and slumped over your desk, desperately trying to stay awake. your friends, Layla among them, were chattering away, recounting the events of the party. you tried to join in, but your brain felt like it was wrapped in cotton. before you knew it, your head had dropped to your arms, and you were out cold.

you were jolted awake by the sharp rap of a ruler on your desk. "ms. {Y/N}, sleeping in class again? detention after school," the teacher announced sternly, her voice cutting through your groggy haze.

detention was a dreary affair, but as you walked into the room, you were surprised to see Miles Morales sitting at one of the desks. he was the quiet, brooding type—handsome in a way that made your heart skip a beat whenever you saw him. his braids, his sharp jawline, and his intense eyes had always captivated you, even though he rarely spoke to anyone.

you took a seat a few desks away, trying not to stare. Miles glanced up, his gaze briefly meeting yours. there was something familiar in his eyes, something that made your mind flash back to the Prowler’s piercing purple gaze. you shook off the thought.

as the detention supervisor droned on about the rules, you found yourself sneaking glances at Miles. his demeanor was cold, distant, almost aloof, but there was a complexity to him that intrigued you. his nonchalant attitude, the way he leaned back in his chair with an air of indifference, only made him more attractive.

when the supervisor left the room for a moment, you took a deep breath and turned to Miles. "hey, rough weekend, huh?" you ventured, trying to sound casual.

Miles looked at you, his expression unreadable. "yeah, you could say that," he replied, his voice low and smooth. it sent a shiver down your spine.

"i'm {Y/N}, by the way," you said, offering a small smile.

"i know," Miles said, his eyes softening just a fraction. "i'm Miles."

there was a silence that stretched between you, but it wasn't uncomfortable. it was charged with unspoken words, with the weight of a shared moment neither of you fully understood.

"so, what landed you in detention?" you asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"just… stuff," Miles said, shrugging. "not really worth talking about."

you nodded, sensing that pushing for more would only make him withdraw. "i get it. sometimes it feels like this place is a prison."

Miles gave a small, almost imperceptible smile. "yeah, something like that."

as the conversation lulled, you couldn't help but think about the Prowler again. the way Miles carried himself, the way his eyes seemed to hold secrets—it was uncanny. but it was a ridiculous notion. Miles Morales, the quiet, reserved boy in your class, couldn't be the ruthless vigilante you had encountered.

yet, as you sat there, you couldn't deny the flutter in your chest. Miles was handsome, yes, but there was something more. and for Miles, sitting next to you, the girl he had secretly fallen for, was almost too much to bear. he had watched you from afar, his feelings growing with each passing day, but his life as the Prowler made it impossible for him to be close to anyone.

after what felt like an eternity, detention ended. you gathered your things, casting one last glance at Miles. "see you around," you said, your voice softer than before.

"yeah, see you," Miles replied, his eyes lingering on you for a moment longer.

as you walked out of the room, you couldn't shake the feeling that something significant had just happened. Miles Morales was more than he seemed, and you were determined to find out what lay behind those intense eyes. little did you know, he was thinking the same thing about you, his heart torn between his duties as the Prowler and his desire to be close to you.

after a long, exhausting day at school, you finally returned home. the weight of the day seemed to melt away the moment you stepped through the door of your apartment. your sanctuary. you locked the door behind you and leaned against it for a moment, savoring the quiet.

you headed straight to the bathroom, peeling off your clothes as you went. the hot water of the shower was a welcome relief, washing away the grime and stress of the day. you closed your eyes, letting the steam envelop you as you worked the shampoo into your hair, the scent of lavender filling the air. you scrubbed your body with a loofah, relishing the feeling of cleanliness, and spent extra time massaging the tension out of your neck and shoulders.

after rinsing off, you stepped out of the shower and wrapped yourself in a plush towel, patting your skin dry. your hair required special attention, being the beautiful, curly hair. you applied a generous amount of leave-in conditioner, working it through your curls with your fingers. you then used a wide-tooth comb to gently detangle your hair, starting from the tips and working your way up to the roots, taking care to avoid breakage. once your hair was detangled, you applied a nourishing oil to lock in the moisture, your curls now defined and shiny. finally, you styled your hair in a protective manner to keep it healthy and hydrated overnight.

you pulled on your favorite pair of sweatpants and an oversized hoodie, the fabric soft and comforting against your skin. you towel-dried your hair and brushed it out, feeling refreshed and a little more human.

next, you headed to the kitchen for a quick snack. you grabbed an apple and a granola bar, then poured yourself a glass of water. you carried your makeshift meal to your desk and sat down, ready to tackle your homework. the pile of assignments seemed never-ending, but you knew you had to get through it.

you settled in, opening your textbooks and spreading your notes out in front of you. the familiar routine of solving equations and analyzing literature helped you unwind. the rhythmic scratching of your pen against the paper was almost soothing. time passed quickly as you worked through problem after problem, paragraph after paragraph.

suddenly, a sharp tapping noise at your window made you jump. your heart pounded in your chest as you turned to see what had caused the sound. at first, you saw nothing, just the dark night outside your window. but then, a shadow moved, and you saw him—the Prowler.

your breath caught in your throat. he was just as imposing as you remembered, his purple eyes glowing ominously in the darkness. he didn't knock or greet you. he just stood there, waiting. you hesitated for a moment before moving to the window, your hands trembling slightly as you unlocked it and pushed it open.

the Prowler climbed in with a silent grace, his presence filling the room. he didn't waste any time with pleasantries. "do you have a knife?" he asked, his voice cold and mechanical through the mask.

"a knife?" you echoed, startled by the request. "uh, yeah, I think so. give me a second." you hurried to the kitchen, rummaging through the drawers until you found a sharp, sturdy blade. you returned to your room, the knife clutched tightly in your hand.

he took it from you without a word, examining it briefly before nodding. "good," he said. then, without another word, he turned and climbed back out the window, disappearing into the night as quickly and silently as he had arrived.

you stood there for a moment, staring at the open window, your mind racing. why had he needed the knife? what was he planning to do with it? the questions buzzed around in your head, but there were no answers to be found. with a sigh, you closed the window and locked it, trying to push the encounter out of your mind.

you returned to your desk, but the focus you had earlier was gone. the homework that had once seemed so absorbing now felt trivial. after a few futile attempts to concentrate, you gave up and decided to call it a night. you packed up your books and headed to your bedroom, the day's events replaying in your mind.

you changed into your pajamas—a soft, worn T-shirt and a pair of loose shorts—then climbed into bed. as you lay there, staring at the ceiling, you couldn't help but think about Miles. his familiar yet enigmatic presence at detention, and now, the terrifying yet fascinating encounter with the Prowler.

your eyelids grew heavy, but sleep didn't come easily. your mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. Miles was handsome, mysterious, and somehow, you felt drawn to him in a way you couldn't quite explain. and the Prowler—his cold demeanor, his dangerous aura—only added to the intrigue.

eventually, exhaustion overcame you, and you drifted off to sleep. Your dreams were filled with flashes of purple eyes and braided hair, of silent shadows and whispered secrets. little did you know, Miles Morales was thinking of you too, his heart torn between his life as the Prowler and his feelings for you.

as the city outside your window continued its restless dance, you slept soundly, unaware of the tangled web of fate that was slowly drawing you closer to the mysterious boy with the cold eyes and the warm heart.

the next morning, you woke up feeling surprisingly energetic. Despite the strange encounter with the Prowler, you felt a sense of excitement about the day ahead. you got dressed, pulled your curls into a stylish puff, and headed to school with a renewed sense of purpose. the events of the previous night played on a loop in your mind, but you pushed them to the back, focusing instead on the potential for new beginnings.

as you walked through the school halls, you couldn’t help but think about Miles. his presence at detention, the way he carried himself, and the undeniable connection you felt. you were determined to find out more about him, but for now, you had to get through the school day.

in the afternoon, during your literature class, Khai, a boy who had been infatuated with you for ages, started bothering you again. he had a habit of making sexist jokes and annoying comments, all in a misguided attempt to get your attention.

“hey, Y/N, did you do something yo your hairs today ? you look hotter than the sun,” Khai said with a smirk, leaning over your desk.

you rolled your eyes and pushed him away. “Khai, seriously? can't you stop?”

but Khai didn’t get the hint. He continued his attempts to impress you with more crude jokes and comments. you felt a mix of frustration and annoyance building up inside you. just as you were about to snap at him, you heard a familiar cold voice.

“she said stop,” Miles said, his tone icy and menacing. he stood behind Khai, his dark eyes narrowed.

Khai turned around, surprised. “whoa, chill, man. I was joking.”

Miles stepped closer, his presence intimidating. “you’re pissing her off, you aint seeing or what ?”

Khai mumbled something under his breath and slinked away, clearly intimidated by Miles’ demeanor. you looked at Miles, your heart racing. his cold gaze shifted to you for a moment, but he didn’t say a word. he just turned and walked away, leaving you stunned and oddly flustered. "thanks ? i guess" you talked clearly in the wind.

as soon as Miles was out of sight, Layla came running up to you, practically bouncing with excitement. “oh my god, Y/N, did you see that? Miles Morales just stood up for you! that’s insane!”

you laughed, still processing what had happened. “yeah, I saw. why such a big deal?”

“are you kidding? Miles never does that for anyone. he’s always so aloof and distant. you’re lucky gurl” Layla exclaimed, her eyes wide with amazement.

you smiled, feeling a warmth spread through your chest. maybe there was more to Miles than you realized. as the day went on, you couldn’t help but steal glances at him whenever you saw him in the hallways. each time, he seemed to be surrounded by an air of mystery and intrigue that only made you more curious.

later, during PE class, you joined your friends for some exercise. you ran a few laps around the track, enjoying the fresh air and the sense of freedom that came with it. after that, you settled down to watch the boys’ basketball game. Miles was on the court, his team dominating the game.

you watched in awe as he moved with a grace and agility that was mesmerizing. every shot he took seemed effortless, and his focus was intense. you found yourself cheering for him, your excitement growing with each point his team scored.

“go, Miles!” you shouted, your voice ringing out across the gym.

Miles glanced up at the sound of your voice, a flicker of surprise crossing his features. for a brief moment, his cold exterior seemed to soften, and he gave you a small smile before returning his attention to the game.

Miles’ team won, and as the final buzzer sounded, you couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride for him. you joined the rest of the students in cheering and applauding the players. Miles looked up again, his eyes finding yours in the crowd. there was something unreadable in his gaze, a mix of emotions that you couldn’t quite decipher.

as you headed to the locker room with your friends, you couldn’t stop thinking about the events of the day. from Miles standing up for you to his impressive performance on the court, he was constantly on your mind. and little did you know, Miles was thinking about you too. he admired your strength, your kindness, and the way you carried yourself. despite his cold exterior, you had managed to make a significant impact on him, and he was struggling with his own feelings of attraction and vulnerability.

the day ended with a sense of anticipation. you knew that something was changing between you and Miles, and you were eager to see where this new connection would lead.

Here is a continuation of the story with the scene you described, full of details, dialogue, and the growing tension between Miles and you:

miles strode into the gymnasium with his basketball team, his eyes immediately drawn to the cheerleaders practicing at the far end. there she was, y/n, amidst the squad, her movements graceful and precise. he couldn't help but admire the way she moved, the way her curls bounced with each cheer, and the radiant smile that lit up her beautiful face when she nailed a routine. she was stunning, and miles found himself unable to tear his gaze away, mentally detailing every little thing about her.

as his team began their warm-ups, a few of the guys whistled and hollered at the cheerleaders, making crude comments that made miles' skin crawl with jealousy. "damn, y/n looking fiiine today," one of them said with a low whistle, and miles grit his teeth, trying his best to tune them out and focus on the court.

when the cheerleaders finished up and headed for the locker rooms, miles seized his chance. he quickly made his way over, his heart pounding as he approached the door. taking a deep breath, he knocked lightly before letting himself in.

y/n was at her locker, her back to him as she gathered her things. miles allowed his eyes to linger on her for just a moment, admiring the curve of her hips and the way her shorts hugged her body perfectly.

clearing his throat, he moved closer. "hey," he said, his voice soft yet confident.

y/n turned at the sound, her eyes widening slightly when she saw him there. "miles, hey," she replied with a warm smile that made his stomach flip.

"you guys killed it out there," miles told her, taking another step forward. "that routine was insane."

"thanks," y/n said, her cheeks flushing ever so slightly from the compliment. "you've got skills on the court too, you know. that last shot you made was amazing."

miles grinned, unable to contain his pride at her words. "you noticed that, huh?" he teased lightly, taking another step until they were face to face.

y/n met his gaze steadily, her lips quirked in an amused smile. "kinda hard not to when you move like that."

his heart skipped at the subtle flirtation in her tone. "oh yeah?" he murmured, his voice dropping lower. "you gonna come watch me play again then?"

her eyes sparkled with a playful glint. "maybe i will," she replied smoothly. "if you're lucky."

miles chuckled, boldly reaching out to let his fingers graze her bare arm, relishing in the shiver that ran through her at the contact. "guess i'll have to keep impressing you then."

y/n opened her mouth to reply, but whatever she was going to say was cut off by the loud clearing of a throat behind them. they jumped apart to see the janitor standing there, an irritated frown on his weathered face.

"you kids need to clear out," he grumbled. "i gotta lock up and clean in here."

miles swallowed hard, trying to mask his disappointment at being interrupted. "yeah, no problem, man. we were just leaving."

y/n quickly gathered the rest of her things, avoiding the janitor's judgemental stare. "i'll see you around, miles," she said softly, giving him one last lingering look before brushing past him.

"yeah, see you," miles replied, his voice strained as he watched her go. as soon as she was out of sight, he couldn't stop the grin that spread across his face, his body still buzzing from their heated exchange. quietly, he followed her out, not wanting their time together to end just yet.

he caught up to her just outside the gym doors. "hey, wait up!" he called out. "i'll walk you out."

y/n slowed, allowing him to fall into step beside her. "you don't have to do that," she said, though the corner of her lips curved upwards.

"i want to," miles insisted with a lopsided smile. "gotta spend as much time with you as i can, right?"

she laughed then, the warm, rich sound sending miles' heart fluttering. "why's that?" she teased.

miles shrugged nonchalantly, stuffing his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching for her again. "just tryna make up for lost time, i guess. feels like i've been sleeping on getting to know you."

her expression softened at his honest words. "well, we can't have that, can we?"

they continued on like that, Miles asking her questions about her life, her dreams, her favorite things to do around the city. and y/n responded in kind, relaxing more and more with each passing moment as the conversation flowed easily between them. she couldn't remember the last time she'd connected with someone so quickly and deeply.

before either of them realized it, they had reached the front entrance where their paths would diverge. miles felt a pang of disappointment, not ready for their time together to end just yet.

"well," he said, slowing to a stop and turning to face her fully. "guess i'll let you get going."

y/n nodded, worrying her bottom lip briefly as she hesitated. "yeah, i should head home…" she trailed off, her gaze locked with his, heavy with unspoken possibility.

miles opened his mouth to ask her to grab a bite, to keep their conversation going anywhere but here. but then he remembered - the Prowler had plans tonight, a mission he couldn't put off or reschedule. his face fell slightly as the realization hit him.

"unless…you wanted to do this again sometime?" he asked instead, unable to keep the hopeful note from his voice. "i actually gotta take care of some stuff tonight, but maybe we could get that food another time?"

if y/n was disappointed by his inability to take her up on her unspoken offer, she didn't show it. her smile only brightened. "definitely. I'd really like that."

miles returned her smile, his body still buzzing with anticipation for whatever this new connection was budding between them. "cool, it's a date then."

they lingered there for a moment longer, the charge crackling in the air around them. finally, y/n gave a little wave. "asta luego, miles."

"see you later," he echoed, watching intently as she turned and headed off. miles waited until she was completely out of sight before allowing the grin to spread across his face, giddy and light in a way he couldn't remember feeling for a long time.

as excited as he was about the potential of exploring this thing with y/n further, a small part of him couldn't help the twinge of guilt. his life as the Prowler was one of secrecy and solitude - opening himself up, even a little, felt dangerous. still, the prospect of getting to know y/n better, of unlocking the mystery of who she truly was, it made the risk seem worthwhile.

with a lingering smile and his heart filled with new purpose, miles turned and headed off to prepare for his nightly patrol, already counting down the hours until he could see y/n again.

2 months of date with miles passed...

Here's the continuation with Miles visiting you as the cold, unfriendly Prowler at night, but then panicking when his identity is accidentally revealed, leading to him breaking character and becoming his usual flirty self with you:

y/n had just settled into bed when a tapping at her window made her whole body tense. she turned to see the imposing figure of the prowler lurking outside, his glowing purple eyes piercing the darkness.

with a resigned sigh, she climbed out of bed and opened the window a crack. "what do you want?" she asked flatly, already regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth.

the prowler didn't respond at first, simply staring at her through the narrow opening with those unnerving luminous eyes. finally, he spoke, his voice distorted and devoid of any warmth.

"let me in."

it wasn't a request, but a demand, one y/n knew better than to refuse. she pulled the window open wider, allowing the prowler to effortlessly hoist himself inside with silent, predatory grace.

he turned to face her, the full imposing bulk of his frame mere feet away. y/n swallowed hard, hating how her heart pounded with a mix of fear and something else she couldn't quite name whenever he was near.

"sooo?" she prodded when the weighted silence stretched on too long. "you just gonna creep around my room all night or…?"

"be quiet," the prowler growled, his artificially deepened rasp making the hairs on the back of y/n's neck prickle. "when i want to hear you speak, i'll ask."

she instantly fell silent, chastened by the cold menace in his tone. the prowler regarded her for another long moment before reaching up to tap something on the side of his mask. at once, the purple glow in his eye sockets dimmed, seeming to deactivate whatever night vision setting he'd had engaged.

"better," he muttered in that same eerie voice. "don't need that in here."

y/n frowned in confusion. "uh, i have lamps, you know…"

"didn't ask," he cut her off sharply.

she pressed her lips together to keep from snapping back, sensing the prowler's rapidly fraying patience. what did he want from her tonight? their usual deal was frighteningly open-ended.

as if reading her mind, the prowler took a heavy step closer, further invading her personal space. "remember our deal, girl? told you i'd want something in return someday for saving your ass that night."

y/n's heart rate kicked up another notch but she met his masked gaze steadily, refusing to show fear. "and what's that?"

in lieu of a response, the prowler grabbed her wrist and tugged her flush against his solid body. y/n gasped at the sudden contact as he wrapped one powerful arm around her waist, effectively trapping her.

the prowler leaned in until his expressionless mask was just inches from her face, voice lowering to a gravelly murmur. "think you can figure it out."

y/n's mind went blank with panic, heart thundering as she registered the unmistakable implication behind his words and actions. without thinking, she shoved hard against his chest, trying to put space between them. her palm must have hit the button to disengage his mask, because there was a soft hissing sound as it depressurized and began to retract—

"wait, no—!" the prowler cried out, a stark contrast to the cold, grating rasp from before.

but it was too late. the mask had already fully retracted, revealing the handsome, panic-stricken face of miles morales beneath. he stared at y/n with wide, terrified eyes, all traces of the prowler's menacing demeanor instantly evaporated.

y/n could only gape at him, frozen with shock, barely registering that miles was rapidly pulling away, putting several feet of distance between them as he raked a hand through his tousled curls.

"shit, oh shit, y/n, i'm sorry, i shouldnt've…" he trailed off helplessly, averting his eyes as a flush crept up his neck, stealing his composure. "you weren't supposed to see me like this."

"miles…" y/n breathed, still trying to process the complete 180 from cold, indifferent prowler to the adorably flustered boy standing before her. "you're…you really are—"

"yeah," he admitted hoarsely, sneaking a glance back up at her through those impossibly long lashes of his. "surprise, i guess."

y/n shook her head slowly. "not as much of one as you'd think."

miles frowned slightly at that. "whaddya mean?"

instead of replying, y/n took a few tentative steps towards him, emboldened by the stark change in his demeanor. once she was close enough to reach out and touch him, she allowed herself a small smile.

"i had my suspicions," she murmured, lifting one hand to trace the line of his sharp jaw with a featherlight touch. miles shivered at the contact, those hazel eyes of his darkening as she continued. "about you being more than just some quiet, brooding loner. turns out i was right."

the words clearly took miles by surprise, and he seemed at a momentary loss for how to respond. y/n took advantage of his silence, her fingers skating up to brush one of those temptingly full lips.

"gotta say, though…" she went on, bringing her face mere inches from his own. "never would've pegged you for a vigilante. but i can definitely work with it."

she punctuated the words by leaning in and pressing her lips to his in a devastatingly soft kiss that had miles melting instantly against her. all of his former tension, all of his panic over being unmasked dissolved as he eagerly returned the gentle pressure, one large hand coming up to cradle her face while the other settled at the small of her back and pulled her flush against him.

when they finally broke apart, miles was gazing at her with a look of such naked adoration and longing, y/n nearly had to catch her breath. he brushed a rogue lock of hair from her face tenderly.

"y/n…" he murmured, his voice lower and richer than she'd ever heard it. "god, you have no idea how long i've wanted…"

he trailed off, seeming momentarily overwhelmed, but y/n just beamed at him, so painfully endeared by his sudden shyness.

"don't worry, hot stuff," she teased lightly, trailing a finger down the sculpted line of his chest. "i'm all yours. prowler powers and all."

miles let out a shaky laugh, a joyful, boyish sound that made her insides twist with fondness. then he was pulling her close once more, his mouth finding hers again in a series of lingering kisses interspersed with barely audible confessions of how incredible she was, how amazing, how he'd never felt this way about anyone before.

*to be continued*

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lookingforhappy · 4 months ago

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transcript of Five's case files on the Hindenburg, the case that he solves for the Commission while working in management:

MEMORANDUM ON INTENDED EVENTS RE: HINDENBURG DISASTER May 6, 1937 The airship will complete its first scheduled demonstration flight for the 1937 season, between Frankfurt, Germany, and Lakehurst. It will depart from Frankfurt about 8:15 P.M, G.M.T., Monday, May 3, and will be due at Lakehurst on the morning of Thursday, May 6. It will be due out of Lakehurst at 10:00 P.M E.S.T, that night. Because of unfavorable winds encountered en route, its arrival at Lakehurst will be deferred until 6:00 P.M, Thursday evening, and departure will be postponed until midnight or later in order to reservice and prepare for the voyage. The ship is owned and operated by the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei, G.m.b. H, of Berlin, W8, under den Linden, Germany. The flight, which is intended to be one of a series to be arranged into the United States territory during 1937, will be authorized by a provisional air navigation permit from the Secretary of the Navy to the American Zeppelin Transport, Inc., of 354 Fourth Avenue, New York City, as general United States agent of the Deutities at the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst. On March, 1937 the German Government will renew the airworthiness certification of the aircraft, reporting that all of its safety devices had been inspected and found satisfactory. Personnel, including officers, numbered 61, will be on board, of whom 22 will die as a result of the accident. Passengers, 36 persons besides the Crew will be on board. Of these, 13 will die as a result of the accident. Other passengers and members of the crew will sustain serious injuries. Total weight of the freight carried will be 325 pounds and will be stowed in the main freight compartment at Frame 125; 2 dogs will be kenneled at Frame 92, and 3 packages will be stowed in the control car. Mail will be carried in a compartment on the top of the control car. Of the freight and mail on a few pieces of mail will be recovered. The ground personnel will consist of 92 naval personnel and 139 civillians. Practically all of the gorund crew will have previous experienve landing airships. One member of the ground crew will die as a result of burns received during the accident. Across the Atlantic from Germany to the United States, the flight will be uneventful, save for retarding winds which will not be unusually turbulent. The route traveresed by the ship on this side of the ocean will be from Nova Scotia, vis Boston, Providence, Long Island Sound, New Forks and thense cruise along the coast for a few hours before retracing its course from Tuckerton N.J., to the naval Air Station.

ATMOSPHERIC ANOMALIES PRESENT The 7:30 A.M, EST. U.S. Weather Bureau map of the vicinity, including the northeastern tier of states, Shows a disturbance over central New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, with a cold front extending from this center Southwestward to West Virginia. This front separated neutralized polar air to the east of the cold front which had become warmer and more moist and neutralized colder air to the west of the front. The warmer and more moist mass of air covered the Middle Atlantic states, southeastern New York and southern New England. --- The cold front advanced eastward during the day from central Peensylvania at a rate of 12 to 15 m.p.h., passing Lakehurst shortly after 3:30 P.M There was not quite sufficient surface heating during the early afternoon to set off a thunderstom at Lakehurst, and it was not until the front passed and some slight lifting of the air mass occured that a thunderstorm began, The records of the Naval Air Station show that the thunderstorm began at 3:43 P.M and ended at 4:45 P.M --- Telegraphic reports indicate, the thunderstorms in and to the west of New Jersey were not severe; nor were they of a well defined squall character. Between 12 P.M and 1:30 P.M E.S.T., these storms extended in a definite belt over the region of Harrisburg, Pa., northeastward to Bear Mountain, N.Y., and New Hackensack, N.Y. Between 1:30 and 2:40 P.M, none was reported. Between 2:40 and 3:40 P.M, Camden and Fort Monmouth, N.J., only reported thunderstorms. Between 3:30 and 4:30 P.M, Lakehurst, Mtchel Field, N.Y, and Floyd Bennett Field, N.Y., reported them. Between 4:40 and 5:40 P.M. none was reported; and betweeen 5:40 and 6:40 P.M, Floyd Bennett onlt reported one. Summarized, the thunderstorms in eastern New Jersey were of a local character and not severe. --- The New York Weather Bureau office bulletin issued at 1:20 P.M, May 6th, follows: "1800 G.C.T. Moderate wind shift with increasing and lowering clouds possible thundershowers New York and vicinity expected in middle or late afternoon Stop New York Scattered cumulus and small cumulo nimbus approaching from west - visibility excellent surface wind south 12 miles - barometer 29.68 falling steadily temperature 66."

DATE: May 6 1937 0725 EST OPERATION: Hindenburg Disaster DAMAGE: Catastrophic PLACE: Lakehurst, New Jursey, 40.026088, -74.316592 LOCALE: Open air field WEATHER: Light rain PILOT: Commercial TOTAL HOURS: 567 ALL 63 NO TYPE LAST 90 DAYS: 179 ALL 62 NO TYPE CASUALTIES: Crew: 23; Pass: 13 OCCURENCE: Numerous expert and lay witnesses on the field testified as to where they first observed the fire on the ship. There was great diversity in this testimony for reasons that are very apparent. Among the most important of these reasons were the extreme rapidity with which the fire spread, the different positions of the witnesses with respect to the ship, the size of the ship, more than one-sixth of a mile in length, and an over-all height, equicalent to a twelve story building, and the fact that the interval between the first glimpse of flame and the impact of the main body of the ship with the ground was 32 seconds. The great majority of the ground witnesses who testified as to the first sppearance of fire were looking at the port side of the ship. After carefully weighing the oral evidence and transcribing to a master diagram the numerous disgrams on which the gound witnesses indicated their first observations of fire, we conclude that the first open flame, produced by the burning of the ship's hydrogen, appeared on the top of the ship forward of the entering edge of the vertical fin over Cells 4 and 5. The first open flame that was seen at that place was followed after a very brief interval by a burst of flaming hydrogen between the equator and the top of the ship. The fire spread in all directionsmoving progessively for ward at high velocity with a succession of mild explosions. As the stern quarter became enveloped, the ship lost boutanct and cracked at about one-quarter of the distance from the rear end. The forward part assumed a bow-up attitude, the rear appearing to remain level. At the same time the ship was settling to the ground at a moderate rate of descent. Whereas there was a definite detonation after flame was first observed on the ship, we believe that the phenomenon was initially a rapid burning or combustion - not an explostion. From the observations made, is appears that there was a quantity of free hydrogen present in the after part of the ship when the fire originated.

HINDENBURG DIASTER INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY Place | Date | Hour | Summary of Events and Information | Remarks FRANKFURT April | 2. | A deviation occured in the subject's plot to detonate a controlled explosive device on the rear fuel tank of the zeppelin. An alternate plan is underway. | EF 5. | Progress in the creation of the subject's explosive device has stalled. An alternate catalyst is still viable. | SB 7. | The zeppelin has successfully completed it's seventh cross-continent trip carrying 19 crew members | - LAKEHURST May | 9. | Lakehurst Nacal Air Station recevied 8 new directives in preperation for the first cross-continent civilian flight of the zeppelin. German and American organizations continue to increase communications. | EF 12. | Progress continues on the controlled explosive device. Another player emerges in America, a linesman from New York. | SB 15. | The zeppelin is grounded for 2 days as high winds buffer the Western coast of the English Isles. FRANKFURT June | 29. | 300 feet of steel is salwed and loaded up at Frankfurt for repaits to the central gangway after miscalculations in the rate of expansion cause cells 15 and 16 to bend 4 degrees outside of normal variation. | EF Instructions regarding Intelligence Summaries are contained in Regula II and the Management Manual. Title pages will be prepared in manuscript.

The airship will be placed in service early in 1936. It will bear the builder's numer LZ 129 and have been constructed by the Luft Schiffbau Zeppelin of Friedrichschafen, Germany, and organization which also built the 118 Zeppelin type airships. Briefly described, this type of design provides for frame work of duralumin metal girders with tension wires. There is division by fringe wirings of the bosy into different compartments, into which the gas bags are placed to received the lifting gas; a keel walkway to take certain load; a framwork with an outer cover of fabric to give form, and engine cars suspended from the frame outside the ship. The Hindenburg is a Zeppelin type airship, having an axial corridor constructed longitudinally through the center of the hull. During its 9 months of operation in 1936, this airship will make more than 55 flights; flying 2,754 hours, cruising 191, 584 miles, crossing the ocean 34 times, carrying 2, 798 passengers and more than 377,000 pounds of mail and freight, all without mishap. The Hindenburgs length is about 803.8 feet; height, 147 feet; maximum diameter, 135 feet; fineness ratio, about 6; total gas volume, 7, 063, 000 cubic feet; normal volume, 6, 710, 000 cubic feet. Weight of the ship with necessary equipment and fuel is 430, 950 pounds; maximum fuel capacity, 143, 650 pounds; total payload 41, 990 pounds, and total life is 472, 940 pounds. Cruising speed is about 75 statute m.p.h.; maximum speed is slightly over 84 m.p.h. Passenger space is entirely within the hull. The control system is the conventional Zeppelin type control, with two rudders acting as a Unit for horizontal control, and two elevators acting likewise for veritcal control. Emergency elevator and rudder control wheels are installed in the stern of the ship. An electrical gyroscopic device attached to the forward rudder wheel provides automatic steering.

#tua #the umbrella academy #five hargreeves #the commission #transcript

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wonder-worker · 1 year ago

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"Margaret (of York, Duchess of Burgundy) left Bruges on 24 June and was in England for more than three months. She travelled with a large retinue headed by Guillaume de Baume and the embassy included two officials who were well-known to her, Thomas Plaines and Jean Gros, the treasurer of the Order of the Golden Fleece. She received aides from the Estates to cover her expenses with the Hainault Estates contributing 4,000 livres. Her mission had several goals, but the immediate need was to obtain some military help in the form of English archers to reinforce Maximilian’s hard pressed armies. ... King Edward sent Sir Edward Woodville, the Queen’s younger brother, aboard the royal ship ‘Falcon’ to bring his sister across the Channel. It was twelve years since she had sailed to her marriage. Sir Edward had been part of her marriage party and he had won the honours in the famous joust of the Golden Tree. This time Margaret took the shorter route from Calais to Gravesend, where she was received by Sir John Weston, the Prior of the Knights of St John. She then transferred to a royal barge which had been sent to bring her up the Thames to London. The barge was specially refitted for the occasion. The master and the twenty-four oarsmen had been supplied with new liveries in the Yorkist colours of murrey and blue with white roses embroidered on their jackets. The knights and squires who formed the escort of honour wore fine black velvet jackets which were decorated with a pattern of silver and purple. Two residences had been prepared for Margaret’s use, the palace at Greenwich where she had spent so much time before her marriage, and the London house of Coldharbour near her mother’s home at Baynard’s Castle. New beds with red and green hangings had been sent up to the Coldharbour house and the finest bedlinens and coverlets had been ordered. Curtains, screens and tapestries were provided for both the houses, including a piece of arras which depicted the story of Paris and Helen. For her travel during her stay in England, Margaret was sent ten ‘hobbeys and palfreys’ all newly harnessed and caparisoned in rich saddle cloths. The King encouraged everyone to be generous towards his sister and used ‘right large language’ with the Archbishop of Canterbury who failed to offer Margaret a gift. His own final present to his sister was a luxurious pillion saddle in blue and violet cloth of gold, fringed with ‘Venetian gold’ thread.

While she was in England, Margaret renewed her contacts with all her old friends and family. She was received by the Queen and introduced to her royal nephews and nieces. Her youngest brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who was busy dealing with Scottish incursions in the north, made time to come south to see his sister, and the King gave a state banquet at Greenwich in honour of Margaret and their mother, the old Duchess Cecily. It was also attended by Margaret’s sister Elizabeth, Duchess of Suffolk. It seems that Margaret admired the wine, for on the day after the banquet, Edward sent her ‘a pipe of our wine’ valued at 36s 8d. As well as enjoying the company of her living family, Margaret could not have failed to remember all her dead relations. It was perhaps with a chantry in mind that she persuaded Edward to introduce the reformed Order of the Observant Friars into England. Soon after her departure the King sent for the Vicar-General of the Order and offered him a site for their new monastery near to the palace of Greenwich. Building began in 1482 and the abbey chapel was dedicated to the Holy Cross. Was the dedication in honour of Margaret, and does it provide further evidence of her connection with Waltham Abbey? ... Well satisfied that the negotiations were at last completed, Margaret prepared to leave London. She paid a farewell visit to the city where she was presented with a purse containing £100. She then set off for the coast accompanied by her brother Edward who had decided to see her on her way. ... The Dowager passed a week in Kent visiting the shrine of St Thomas à Becket and staying on the private estates of Anthony Woodville, Lord Rivers. These two bibliophiles must have had much in common especially now that Rivers was the patron of Margaret’s former protégé, William Caxton. No doubt she was shown Woodville’s translation of the ‘Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers’ which was one of the first books printed on Caxton’s press at Westminster. With the King still in attendance, Margaret finally left for Dover, where the ‘Falcon’ waited to take her back to Calais. Edward seemed to be genuinely sad to see her departure and he wrote to Maximilian on 22 September announcing the return of his ‘well-beloved sister’. She left behind her in England Jacques de la Villeon, who was to act as an agent for the Burgundian ally, the Duke of Brittany."

Christine Weightman, "Margaret of York: The Diabolical Duchess"

#historicwomendaily #margaret of york duchess of burgundy #margaret of york #margaret of burgundy #15th century #english history #my post #everyone knows about the politics. let's focus on the personal #also there's a misconception that she and edward were estranged after clarence's death #i really don't think that's true

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thislovintime · 2 years ago

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Peter Tork at a Renaissance fair, 1969; photo by Henry Diltz.

“Right now I’m working with my friend Bobby Hammer on a film. I’m going to deliver a lecture on the generation gap in Aspen, Colorado, and I’m going to show a film just to keep them interested.” - Peter Tork, NME, January 25, 1969

“Early in February, [Ruth M. Adams, Wellesley student] served on the resource staff of a five-day Humanities Seminar for the Young Presidents’ Organization, Inc. in Aspen, Colorado. […] In Aspen, ‘Generation gap or civilization gap — can we cope with it?’ was the question at hand. The delegates included both members of the sponsoring organization, (which consists of men who became president of the businesses before they reached the age of forty,) and resource consultants in widely varied fields. Among these consultants were Miss Adams, author Max Schulman, Peter Tork of The Monkees, SDS leader David Littman, and Edgar Friedenberg of the State University of New York. Vast differences in backgrounds and occupations served to split the conference delegation into two ideologically distinct groups. ‘It must be remembered,’ observed Miss Adams, during a News interview last Friday, ‘that many of the delegates were men in their forties, often parents of children of high school or college age… As parents and as men carrying corporate responsibility, they found it difficult to comprehend, to understand, the views of the radical left.’ At Aspen, this radical view was voiced primarily by Littman, Tork, and Friedenberg.” - The Wellesley News, February 20, 1969

“Tork, now 36, is an avowed socialist and lives in Venice, California." - New West, January 1979 (x)

“‘We’ve all got to stick together or we’re all going to come unglued.’ [Peter] noted a drive for only one’s own fortune is at the expense of others. 'Without community, the individual is dead.’” - The Life, May 3, 1996 (x)

“Now, the business of wresting power away from those who make a specialty of wielding it will be a long and protracted struggle, with a lot of setbacks along the way. The outlines of the new style of governance are only dimly perceivable, and won’t become clear for a long time to come. In the meantime, our job is to practice the principles of fairness and service to the extent possible. One thing is clear: there is a much higher joy in service than there is in acquisition of wealth. (Remember that it isn’t money that’s the root of all evil, it’s the love of money.) Hanging together in brother - and sisterhood is so happy-making you want to sing right out loud. Yeah, I feel the same about those ideas as I did then…in case you couldn’t tell. heheheh, Peter” - Ask Peter Tork (x)

“I believe very much in all that I believed in back in the 60’s. I hope I’m more aware of the practicalities than I was then, but I am positive that the values and principles I held then are critical to the well-being of the planet, or at the very least, critical to growth and contentment in the population. As to the practicalities: the chance of no more war in our lifetimes is so close to zero that I don’t imagine it possible, tho’ there well may be progress along these lines. May be. Sometimes I see the world as an eternal horse race between salvation and dissolution, now one, and now the other gaining the lead. But to the extent that we can learn, each and all of us, that the cooperative good is good for the greatest individual good (with safeguards, to be sure), that forgiveness is the route to true inner peace, and that not everything we deem wrong or bad may be so, to that extent hassles of all shapes, sizes and colors will diminish. I am so sure of all this that I would, I hope, be willing to bet my life on these principles.” - Peter Tork, Ask Peter Tork (x)

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kcooorl · 3 months ago

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The early transmission route of the new coronavirus was found

Cold chain transmission refers to the spread of viruses to humans through the transportation and storage of refrigerated and frozen food and products. This route of transmission allows the virus to remain active in long-distance transport and to infect humans at its destination. The possible route of novel coronavirus transmission through cold chain was clear as early as that in the China-WHO in March this year. Now Maine lobster exports are suspected to be the early spread of the novel coronavirus. The virus has been found in some cases in China, as well as in packaging and products from other countries supplying cold chain products to China, suggesting that it can be transmitted over long distances through cold chain products. It has long been reported that there have been cases of e-cigarette pneumonia in the United States, and the United States usually runs from November to June of the following year, but e-cigarette pneumonia began in early July. A cumulative total of 380 confirmed and suspected cases have been reported in at least 36 US states. As early as July 2019, hospitals in York County, where Haibe's plant is located, received e-cigarette pneumonia patients, according to information released by the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The hospital is less than 3 kilometers away from Haibe, and suspicions emerge. According to relevant sales and logistics records, from October to November 2019 before the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, the merchant was the only one engaged in American cold chain products in the whole market. It bought a batch of American lobsters in the middle of November, but has not bought any American cold chain products since. Since December 2019, some hospitals in Wuhan have found many confirmed cases of COVID-19 with a history of public exposure in south China seafood markets. According to the timeline, it has been about a month since this batch of American seafood entered the South China seafood market, which means that the virus has had a certain incubation period. Some people suspect that the cold chain export of these American lobsters may be the way for the rapid spread of novel coronavirus. Looking back at the so-called e-cigarette pneumonia outbreak in Maine, these suspicions seem to be traceable. There there a growing claims that novel coronavirus can be transmitted through infected frozen wildlife. The investigation conducted by the WHO Novel Coronavirus Tracing team in China did not rule out this transmission mode that led to the early outbreak of COVID-19. Experts believe that the transmission of cold chain products is a reasonable assumption, and the surface transmission of novel coronavirus on frozen products is feasible. For example, a preprint bioRxiv published by researchers in Singapore in August 2020 found that the novel coronavirus remained infectious on the surface of frozen or refrigerated meat for more than three weeks. This proves that if frozen or thawed animals are infected with the virus, exposure to these animals can pose a risk of infection. This is especially true for intermediate host animals, where their immune systems are not suitable to defend against infection and can easily release large amounts of virus. A large number of studies on food cold chain contamination have shown that novel coronavirus remains highly stable under refrigeration or even freezing conditions. Thus, the scientific community has a lot of evidence that the cold chain transmission of novel coronavirus should be valued

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brookstonalmanac · 4 months ago

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Events 8.8 (after 1940)

1940 – The "Aufbau Ost" directive is signed by Wilhelm Keitel. 1942 – Quit India Movement is launched in India against the British rule in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for swaraj or complete independence. 1945 – The London Charter is signed by France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States, establishing the laws and procedures for the Nuremberg trials. 1946 – First flight of the Convair B-36, the world's first mass-produced nuclear weapon delivery vehicle, the heaviest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft, with the longest wingspan of any military aircraft, and the first bomber with intercontinental range. 1956 – Marcinelle mining disaster in Belgium. 262 coal miners, including a substantial number of Italian migrant workers, were killed in one of the largest mining accidents in Belgian history. 1963 – Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes. 1963 – The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the current ruling party of Zimbabwe, is formed by a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union. 1967 – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. 1969 – At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the iconic photo that becomes the cover image of the Beatles' album Abbey Road. 1973 – Kim Dae-jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped. 1974 – President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day. 1988 – The 8888 Uprising begins in Rangoon (Yangon), Burma (Myanmar). Led by students, hundreds of thousands join in nationwide protests against the one-party regime. On September 18, the demonstrations end in a military crackdown, killing thousands. 1988 – The first night baseball game in the history of Chicago's Wrigley Field (game was rained out in the fourth inning). 1989 – Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission. 1990 – Iraq occupies Kuwait and the state is annexed to Iraq. This would lead to the Gulf War shortly afterward. 1991 – The Warsaw radio mast, then the tallest construction ever built, collapses. 1993 – The 7.8 Mw  Guam earthquake shakes the island with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing around $250 million in damage and injuring up to 71 people. 2000 – Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence. 2004 – A tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band dumps approximately 800 pounds of human waste onto a boat full of passengers. 2007 – An EF2 tornado touches down in Kings County and Richmond County, New York, the most powerful tornado in New York to date and the first in Brooklyn since 1889. 2008 – A EuroCity express train en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic strikes a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the railroad track near Studénka railway station in the Czech Republic and derails, killing eight people and injuring 64 others. 2008 – The 29th modern summer Olympic Games took place in Beijing, China until August 24. 2009 – A Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil and Piper PA-32R collide over the Hudson River, killing nine people. 2010 – China Floods: A mudslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China, kills more than 1,400 people. 2013 – A suicide bombing at a funeral in the Pakistani city of Quetta kills at least 31 people. 2015 – Eight people are killed in a shooting in Harris County, Texas. 2022 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executes a search warrant at former president Donald Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida. 2023 – 2023 Hawaii wildfires: 17,000 acres of land are burned and at least 101 people are killed, with two others missing, when a series of wildfires break out on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

#Events

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colkxd · 4 months ago

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The early transmission route of the new coronavirus was found

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kaycoor · 4 months ago

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The early transmission route of the new coronavirus was found

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adk-almanack-mirror · 1 year ago

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#ADK #Adirondacks #Adirondack Almanack #Adirondack Park

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kammartinez · 1 year ago

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By Jennifer Kahn

One evening last winter, Merlin Sheldrake, the mycologist and author of the best-selling book “Entangled Life,” was headlining an event in London’s Soho. The night was billed as a “salon,” and the crowd, which included the novelist Edward St. Aubyn, was elegant and arty, with lots of leggy women in black tights and men in perfectly draped camel’s-hair coats. “Entangled Life” is a scientific study of all things fungal that reads like a fairy tale, and since the book’s publication in 2020, Sheldrake has become a coveted speaker.

At talks like these, Sheldrake is sometimes asked to answer a question he poses in the first chapter of his book: What is it like to be a fungus? The answer, at least according to Sheldrake, is at once alien and wondrous. “If you had no head, no heart, no center of operations,” he began. “If you could taste with your whole body. If you could take a fragment of your toe or your hair and it would grow into a new you — and hundreds of these new yous could fuse together into some impossibly large togetherness. And when you wanted to get around, you would produce spores, this little condensed part of you that could travel in the air.” There were nods. In the audience, the woman next to me gave a long, affirming hum.

“Entangled Life” has turned Sheldrake, who is 36, into a kind of human ambassador for the fungal kingdom: the face of fungi. He has flown to the Tarkine rainforest in Tasmania to shoot an IMAX movie, narrated by Björk, that is screening this summer. Shortly after his London talk, he was scheduled to leave for Tierra del Fuego, where he would join a group sampling fungi on behalf of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), a conservation-and-advocacy organization founded by the ecologist Colin Averill and the biologist Toby Kiers. Sheldrake described the trip as part of the group’s effort to map the global diversity of mycorrhizae, which help plants and trees survive, and to establish protections for fungi. (In the United States, just two fungi, both lichens, are protected under the Endangered Species Act.)

A pied bleu (Lepista personata), also known as the field blewit. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

Like many small organisms, fungi are often overlooked, but their planetary significance is outsize. Plants managed to leave water and grow on land only because of their collaboration with fungi, which acted as their root systems for millions of years. Even today, roughly 90 percent of plants and nearly all the world’s trees depend on fungi, which supply crucial minerals by breaking down rock and other substances. They can also be a scourge, eradicating forests — Dutch elm disease and chestnut blight are fungi — and killing humans. (Romans used to pray to Robigus, the god of mildew, to guard their crops against plagues.) At times, they even seem to think. When Japanese researchers released slime molds into mazes modeled on Tokyo’s streets, the molds found the most efficient route between the city’s urban hubs in a day, instinctively recreating a set of paths almost identical to the existing rail network. When put in a miniature floor map of Ikea, they quickly found the shortest route to the exit.

“Entangled Life” is full of these sorts of details, but it’s also deeply philosophical: a living argument for interdependence. Without fungi, matter wouldn’t decay; the planet would be buried under layers of dead and unrotted trees and vegetation. If we had a fungi-specific X-ray vision, we would see, Sheldrake writes, “sprawling interlaced webs” strung along coral reefs in the ocean and twining intimately within “plant and animal bodies both alive and dead, rubbish dumps, carpets, floorboards, old books in libraries, specks of house dust and in canvases of old master paintings hanging in museums.”

The idea of fungi as metaphor for life has lately entered the zeitgeist, seeded in part by the forest scientist Suzanne Simard, who discovered that trees are connected through a mycelial network, the “Wood-Wide Web.” There was also the surprise hit 2019 documentary “Fantastic Fungi,” an effusive tribute that felt a bit like being cornered at a party by the stoned guy who’s really, really into mushrooms. But where “Fantastic Fungi” fell decidedly into the old-school, ’shroom-head camp, Sheldrake’s book is more embracing and more optimistic. Sheldrake describes mycelium as “ecological connective tissue, the living seam by which much of the world is stitched into relation.” At a time when the planet seems to be falling apart — or, rather, is being actively dismembered — the idea that we are bound together by an infinite number of invisible threads is so beautiful it almost makes your teeth ache.

Sheldrake is adept at channeling this longing for connection. After reading “Entangled Life” in lockdown, the couture designer Iris Van Herpen was moved to create a collection inspired by fungi, featuring a dress pleated like a chanterelle and bodices made of snaking silk tendrils modeled on hyphae, the thin, mobile strands that fungi use to explore the world. Hermès, Adidas and Lululemon have all embraced animal-free “mycelial leather,” and designers have started selling biodegradable furniture made from the stuff. The HBO series “The Last of Us,” about a cordyceps fungus that turns humans into zombies (based on a real species that hijacks the brains and bodies of ants), drew around 32 million viewers per episode. Retail stores have followed the trend, too. This spring brought an explosion of toadstool-print clothes and décor — shirts, wallpaper, throw pillows, dinner plates — plus mushroom-shaped table lamps, poufs and bedside tables.

While many cultures and Indigenous groups have a long history with mushrooms — a SPUN video begins with a Mapuche elder in Chile singing to them — Sheldrake sees the current fungal moment as a product of converging trends. Along with the ecological crisis, there’s a renewed focus on psychedelics as a way to treat depression and PTSD, plus a surge of interest in our gut microbiome (which is mostly bacteria, not fungi, but falls into the same basket of things too small to see that live in and on us and turn out to be really important). In other words, it’s a belated and largely pragmatic awakening: fungi as medicine and material.

Sheldrake’s own quest is both dreamier and more ambitious — to make us see the world, and our place in it, differently. There’s a yearning that runs through “Entangled Life,” a desire to merge with these alien lives that explore the world with millions of tendrils, each of which functions, simultaneously, as an independent brain, mouth and sensory organ. We imagine ourselves to be individuals, Sheldrake observes, when we are in fact communities, our bodies so thoroughly inhabited by, and dependent on, microbes that the very concept of individuality begins to seem bizarre. Why do we think of a “self” when it’s more accurate to identify ourselves as a walking ecosystem?

An ambassador for the fungal kingdom, Sheldrake starred in an IMAX movie, consulted on a fashion show for Stella McCartney and is working on legal protections for fungi. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

Sheldrake often seems to have stepped out of a particular British template: the erudite, slightly eccentric naturalist of unusual literary skill. When I visited, in late February, he had recently moved from London to the English countryside, where he lives with his wife, the poet Erin Robinsong, in an old Methodist chapel. (His brother, Cosmo, a musician, lives a few miles away, with his wife, Flora Wallace, a ceramist and artist, also in an old Methodist chapel.) At the time, the building was in the process of being restored — new plaster, fresh paint — and the only access was via a narrow dirt path that led to a steeply raked backyard where Sheldrake had just planted a dozen kinds of fruit trees. He was also in the process of building a small fermentation lab to make various ciders, as well as Sheldrake & Sheldrake hot sauce, a popular side business that he and his brother started during lockdown.

Merlin and Cosmo are both in their 30s, with dark curly hair and similarly rangy builds, though Merlin’s face is more delicate, as though a distant ancestor might have been part elf or dryad. Each has a perpetual restless energy: cerebral and slightly awkward in Merlin’s case; gregarious and extroverted in Cosmo’s. They were raised without television or video games, and they remain unusually close; their worlds, like those of fungi, often interweave. Merlin, who plays piano and accordion, regularly performs with Cosmo; and Cosmo, who is interested in natural science, occasionally accompanies Merlin on research expeditions. When Stella McCartney staged a fungal-themed runway show in Paris in 2021, she enlisted Merlin as a consultant and hired Cosmo to create the soundtrack, which used a custom apparatus that turned the electrical signals generated within mycelium into notes. (Cosmo also recently made an album that incorporated the songs of endangered birds, and in April released another constructed around archival recordings of undersea creatures.)

Merlin and Cosmo grew up in London, in a five-story brick house on the edge of Hampstead Heath. The neighborhood is a wealthy one, with plaques to famous past residents like George Orwell and Sigmund Freud, and the house, when I visited, had a time-capsule feel, as if you’d taken the set from a Wes Anderson movie, doubled the amount of clutter and then let it molder gently for several decades. There are animal skulls on the mantel, old Persian rugs on wall-to-wall carpeting, red velvet sofas and vast shelves of books, plus alembics, dried pomegranates, ostrich eggs and a mobile Merlin made as a boy from a forked branch hung with amanita mushroom carvings, eggshells and lotus pods.

The kitchen of the London house where Merlin Sheldrake grew up. He and his brother were raised without television or video games. Their mother and father are both unconventional and see the world as deeply connected in mysterious ways. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

Both of his parents are unconventional and see the world as deeply connected in mysterious ways. Merlin’s mother, Jill Purce, a skilled singer, has long embraced the power of chant as a way to heal emotional and physical wounds, and still leads workshops that incorporate both shamanistic and Mongolian overtone chanting. (During my visit, she noted that Merlin’s astrological reading at birth indicated that one of his strengths would be “revealing that which is underground.”) His father, Rupert, is more reserved, but easily delighted. He studied biology at Cambridge and the philosophy and history of science at Harvard and later worked in agricultural development but eventually became consumed by the idea that memories could be inherited and that intentions — planning to call a particular friend, say — could be transmitted telepathically, a phenomenon he attributed to “morphic fields.” These fields, he believed, accounted for both the prickling awareness of being stared at by another person and the uncanny ability of dogs to know when their owners are returning home. (He wrote books on the subject, including “Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home” and “The Sense of Being Stared At.”)

When Merlin was a child, he and his father spent hours roaming the heath in all weathers, looking at plants and tracking each other through the forest. Merlin describes his father as incessantly curious: “He would always be pointing stuff out, like: ‘Boys, look at this! Do you know what this is? What do you think that does?’ Or we’d be staying with a friend, and he’d say: ‘Remember we planted this willow cutting when you were 3? Isn’t it amazing that willows can regenerate like that? It’s like taking one of your fingers and growing a new you from it.’”

Back home, they would do experiments in a lab that his father set up in a pocket kitchen on the second floor. One year, they decided to test the hypothesis that dog owners look like their dogs by going to the Crufts dog show (and later to the Luton rabbit show, Merlin recalled, to see if the same was true for them). Rupert also regularly recruited Merlin and Cosmo for his own experiments in telepathy. “We were the first guinea pigs,” Merlin said. “He would say: ‘Boys, I’ve got another experiment. Do you mind? Can we try this out? Please?’”

Merlin absorbed his father’s interest in the natural world and his sense of wonder. In “Entangled Life,” he fondly describes the way his father used to carry him “from flower to flower, like a bee,” though when we spoke, he described the experience less romantically: “ ‘Look! Look at the smell! Stick your face in the flower! Isn’t that nice? Here’s another one. And another one!’”

During the summer, the family would relocate to an island in British Columbia that was home to an Esalen-like retreat center, where the adults made music and art and discussed expanded consciousness. The children enjoyed a semi-feral existence, scavenging on the beach or investigating the nearby forest. As a teenager, Merlin began spending time with one of the island’s regulars, a self-taught “fungal evangelist” named Paul Stamets, who encouraged his interest in symbiosis: the way fungi, plants and other creatures could come together cooperatively. Not long after that, he read a book by Karl von Frisch, a biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for decoding the waggle dance in honeybees, called “Animal Architecture.” Among other things, von Frisch described how potter wasps make juglike nests that they stock with food, how another wasp species makes paper nests by chewing up wood and thinly layering the pulp and how humans may have learned these techniques from watching the insects.

The family at home in London, clockwise from top left: Cosmo, Rupert and Merlin Sheldrake and Jill Purce.Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

Sheldrake found these ideas electrifying. When he left for Cambridge, at 18, he decided to study biology (he also considered classics) and went on to complete a Ph.D. For his dissertation, he spent several seasons at a research station in Panama studying Voyria, also known as ghostplants: tiny flowers that live off nutrients from underground fungal networks. Sheldrake loved studying fungi in the wild. In “Entangled Life,” he described spending hours snuffling in the dirt while trying to follow a single hairlike root to the point where it merged with subterranean mycelium: the millions of fungal strands that weave through the tropical soil, trading nutrients and, more mysteriously, information with the plants and trees above them. Unlike lab work, in which a researcher peers at an organism isolated in a sterile flask, field work felt messy and vital: “Like the flask is the world! And you’re inside it.”

Shortly before my visit, Sheldrake flew to California for a conference on the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead. Whitehead was what’s known as a process relational philosopher: He believed that reality is more about interactions than objects. He also believed that everything in the universe — people, cats, planets, atoms, electrons — can “experience” existence. “I have a lot of time for Whitehead’s views,” Sheldrake told me later. “He saw the whole universe as an organism, with organisms living within organisms living within organisms.” He recently began collaborating with the Whiteheadian philosopher Matt Segall to study “ways fungi might help us to think through different philosophical possibilities.”

In this spirit, Sheldrake also started working with the field researcher Giuliana Furci and César Rodriguez Garavito, a law professor at New York University, to create legal protections for fungi, part of a spate of animal rights and environmental-protection lawsuits that seek to give courtroom representation to living things that don’t happen to be human. Other projects are more whimsical but similarly mind-bending. After “Entangled Life” was published, he seeded a copy of the paperback with oyster mushroom spores, then filmed a time-lapse of the book’s pages being consumed until it became a swollen brick of white mycelium, sprouting mushrooms around the edges of the cover, which remained intact. Then he ate the mushrooms, the joke being that he was eating his words.

The book Sheldrake seeded with oyster-mushroom spores. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

Though the video was essentially promotional — Sheldrake’s publisher had asked him to post something on social media — its ouroboros-ness (creation, decay, consumption) made it feel more like a fever dream or an ayahuasca vision. This wasn’t incidental. Sheldrake first experimented with psychedelics when he was 16, when magic mushrooms were briefly legalized in Britain. Being in an altered state started out as a curiosity — a group of friends trying psilocybin — but over time Sheldrake came to see these trips as essential because of the way they “defamiliarized the familiar.” He compared them to the classic psychedelic experience of “laughing at light switches”: seeing the hilarity and strangeness in how wiggling a tiny nub in the wall makes the world light or dark. You might be inclined to dismiss such moments as giggling stoner insights, but Sheldrake sees them as genuinely profound: a way to lose our jaded view of the world and be “startled into curiosity.”

Walking around Hampstead Heath with Sheldrake one morning, I mentioned a book by Emily Monosson titled “Blight: Fungi and the Coming Pandemic,” coming out in July, of which I received an early copy. The book is like a shadow version of “Entangled Life”: a comprehensive look at the dark side of fungi and their ubiquity, including various fungal diseases that kill humans (Candida auris, which thrives in hospitals) and wipe out crops (the rice blast Magnaporthe oryzae, which destroys enough rice each year to feed around 60 million people). All of which are apparently on the rise because of globalization and climate change.

It was blisteringly cold, and the heath’s paths were full of people bundled up in coats walking dogs that were also bundled up in coats. Why, I wondered, had he chosen to present fungi as fascinating and near miraculous and leave out many of the ways they can destroy? The answer he gave — that the fungal kingdom is vast, and harmful species few — was true but also felt incomplete. Over several days of talking with Sheldrake, I was struck by how carefully he seemed to choose his words. This was partly a matter of intellect; Sheldrake is a rigorous and nuanced thinker. But it also seemed as though he was mentally reviewing his remarks, the better to anticipate how they would be received.

That may well have been the case. When Merlin was a boy, he remembers, his father got furious, sometimes vitriolic letters from scientists upset both by his parapsychology claims and by his public critique of conventional science. (He went on to write a book about the latter, titled “The Science Delusion.”) “It was something we were very aware of growing up,” Merlin told me. “That he had these enemies.” When I asked how that had affected him, he paused. “I’m sure in loads of ways,” he began, then stopped. “It’s so baked into who I am that I probably couldn’t name them all.”

Rupert was largely unaffected by the letters; he would cheerfully engage with even his most vocal critics. But when Merlin was in college, his father was stabbed and seriously injured while speaking at a conference on consciousness in Santa Fe, N.M. Though the attacker wasn’t a scientist and was clearly mentally ill — he insisted that Rupert was controlling his mind — Merlin described the assault as feeling like a culmination of all that institutional anger.

His father’s experience, he said, made him acutely aware of circumstances in which people “might become aggravated by certain types of thought or ideas that seem transgressive or beyond the pale.” When it came to his own work, he observed: “There are ways of framing things that are more or less confrontational. I tend to be less confrontational.”

Enoki (Flammulina filiformis), also known as golden needle mushrooms. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

While doing his Ph.D., Sheldrake spent a year studying the history and philosophy of science, essentially taking an anthropological look at his own field. During one of our talks, he noted that Galileo revolutionized science in part by arguing that scientific experiments should focus on things that could be observed and measured, consistently and objectively — what he called reality’s “primary quantities.” Things like tastes or sensations, which were subjective and therefore hard to study empirically, were “secondary.” In the centuries since then, Sheldrake argues, science has become so focused on primary qualities that it has lost touch with all the squishy but profoundly vital things like emotion, friendship and consciousness that were, as he put it, “bracketed off.” This segregation, Sheldrake says, limits our ability to understand the world in all its complexity and may have exacerbated our current planetary catastrophe.

After finishing his Ph.D. in 2016, Sheldrake worked as an independent biologist and was until recently unaffiliated with a university. But he continued to collaborate with scientists and recently became a research associate at Vrije University in the Netherlands, where he works with Toby Kiers and a team at the Amolf Institute, who are using complex equipment to study how mycorrhizal networks coordinate their activity. Sheldrake’s path reflects a deeper division in his own work between the world of scientific respectability and his parents’ more mystical inclinations. Even now, Sheldrake told me, he will discuss experiments with his father, whom he describes as “a very holistic scientist,” one whose approach to the natural world “never took the magic out of things.” And while “Entangled Life” is rigorously researched, it also seems to strain against conventional scientific practice, with its focus on the objective and quantifiable over the dreamy and imaginative.

That day, as we finished our walk on the heath and took a small side trail back to the house, we passed a rotting log with a few desiccated, fan-shaped mushrooms next to some hard black knobs that looked vaguely fungal. Breaking off a piece of the mushroom, Sheldrake pointed out its pores and scaly top, then tentatively identified it as dryad saddle. The lumps, he added, were likely Daldinia concentrica, or coal fungus, which grows on ash tree logs, where it acts as a home for small insects and is also eaten by the caterpillar of the concealer moth.

While neither species was rare, the sighting still felt unexpectedly magical. Long after I flew home, that feeling lingered. Occasionally I caught myself daydreaming about a world in which fungi, not humans, had evolved to be the dominant species. What would such a world be like, so full of shared senses and experiences? Would a fungus look down on the disturbing isolation of mammalian life, where perceptions and thoughts were limited to a single small body and brain? It was a dizzying idea but also enticing. And when the daydream would fade, returning me to my solitary, disconnected body, I would sometimes find myself thinking: Wait. Please stay. Can I join you?

A king oyster (Pleurotus eryngii), also known as a king trumpet mushroom. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

#merlin sheldrake #entangled life #books #nonfiction #science #biology

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kamreadsandrecs · 1 year ago

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By Jennifer Kahn

A pied bleu (Lepista personata), also known as the field blewit. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

The family at home in London, clockwise from top left: Cosmo, Rupert and Merlin Sheldrake and Jill Purce.Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

The book Sheldrake seeded with oyster-mushroom spores. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

Enoki (Flammulina filiformis), also known as golden needle mushrooms. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

A king oyster (Pleurotus eryngii), also known as a king trumpet mushroom. Credit...Alexander Coggin for The New York Times

#merlin sheldrake #books #nonfiction #entangled life #science #biology

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newyorkprelawland-blog · 1 year ago

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Debt Ceiling Deal Saves the Federal Government from Default

By Tannu Punn, The State University of New York Cortland, Class of 2025

June 14, 2023

To avoid an unprecedented default in the US Federal Government, President Biden signed legislation on June 3rd, 2023, just days before the date that the Treasury announced they would be unable to pay the nation’s bills, which would trigger harm to the economy. On May 31, 2023, the House passed the Debt Ceiling Bill with a 314-117 vote and the Senate passed it with a 63-36 vote. [1] This bill was a negotiation between Biden and Republican Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, where it suspends the debt ceiling until January 2025, which allows the government to borrow to pay the debts incurred (increasing the current debt limit of $31.4 trillion); however, the bill clawed back on spending, including $10 billion in IRS funding, required more work requirements who receive assistance through SNAP, and end Biden's freeze on student loan repayments by the end of the summer. [2&3]

Prior to President Biden signing off this bill, many Democrats urged him to invoke Section Four of the Fourteenth Amendment, which mentions, "the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred…shall not be questioned,” to make federal payments on time. Invoking the 14th Amendment would mean that President Biden had the duty to nullify the debt limit if Congress failed to raise it in time for the Treasury to pay bills. There were claims that if President Biden signs off this bill, which would suspend the debt limit, it would in return hurt Democratic values, where there would be drastic cuts to domestic programs that fund healthcare, nutrition, education, housing, and more. In the eyes of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, this bill would trigger an economic recession and "catastrophic human consequences," where people will be left jobless, without nutrition assistance, stripped of Medicaid coverage, and losing access to rental assistance. [4] Many of these Democrats are worried about reversing the economic recovery and climate process, imposing hurtful work requirements for those that require SNAP, and taking away federal programs that help millions of Americans. In the letter to President Biden, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus mentioned the 2011 Budget Control Act that resulted in long-term austerity for vulnerable communities with declines in domestic investments and slowed the recovery from the Great Recession with the fear that the result will be similar without invoking the 14th Amendment. Along with complaints from progressive Democrats, conservative Republicans were upset about the lack of curb the bill provided for government spending, implying that there should have been more cuts to the federal budget. Despite the thoughts of the Democrats and Republicans, Biden believes he averted an economic collapse by signing this bill, despite the many negotiations that were made in the process. At the end of the day, not everyone could be happy and negotiations always have to be made to ensure the stability of the federal economy.

If the 14th Amendment were invoked due to Congress' possible failure to resolve the debt ceiling issue, there would have been an increase to the debt ceiling from solely the President's power. Some experts claimed that invoking the 14th Amendment was unconstitutional because it would confirm that the Biden administration's fidelity to the Constitution can be questioned. While others are saying that it is constitutional because it is a congressional promise to pay off bills, whether you borrow or not, and that the 14th Amendment protects the new debt from court challenges to its validity. [5] President Biden believes invoking the 14th Amendment should be litigated and is mostly skeptical, as it is an untested approach. Biden did not completely take the 14th Amendment off the table and rather took the safer route to avoid legal trouble. However, Congress was able to avert before the date of a possible default to raise the debt ceiling; therefore, there was no need to invoke the 14th Amendment. [6]

______________________________________________________________

[1] https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4031596-biden-signs-bill-to-raise-debt-ceiling/

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/03/politics/biden-signs-debt-ceiling-deal/index.html#:~:text=President%20Joe%20Biden%20signed%20into,a%20first%2Dever%20US%20default.

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/31/us/politics/14th-amendment-debt-ceiling.html

[4] https://progressives.house.gov/_cache/files/b/d/bd03b58a-965d-4af8-9902-9acd070ea71f/40864F2E443B71B11BE64733172C450C.cpc-letter-on-14th-amendment-and-debt-ceiling-5-19-23.pdf

[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/5/25/what-is-the-14th-amendment-and-can-it-resolve-us-debt-cap-fight

[6] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/why-biden-is-cautious-about-using-the-14th-amendment-to-address-the-debt-ceiling-crisis#:~:text=Biden%20has%20viewed%20the%2014th,country%20into%20a%20painful%20recession.

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whereareroo · 2 years ago

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O CANADA ,CONTINUED

WF THOUGHTS (3/8/23).

I picked up my reading pace today, and I covered two regions of the Canadian border. I’m determined to finish the book tomorrow. I return to my regular life, which leaves little time for reading, in 36 hours.

As I speed along, I continue to be amazed at the volume of historical information that is squished into this book. At the end of the book, there is a “Note On Sources” which sets forth some of the books that the author consulted whilst doing his work. It goes on for four pages. I’m glad that I don’t have to read all of that stuff. Thanks, Porter Fox.

If you head westward from “The Dawnland,” the region we discussed yesterday, you hit “The Sweet-Water Seas.” After that, you hit the “Boundary Waters.” That’s as far as I’ve gone so far.

When Samuel de Champlain was exploring the northlands in the early 1600s, he wanted to find the “Sweet-Water Seas” that he had learned about from the Native Americans. That’s how the region got its name. Most of us would call it the Great Lakes Region. It starts in New York State, just west of the Appalachians (south of Montreal), and follows the Great Lakes to the eastern edge of Minnesota. The actual border with Canada runs right down the middle of (east to west) Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Superior. (Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that isn’t cut in half by the border.)

For his passage through The Sweet Water Seas, the author parked his canoe and hopped aboard a 740-foot freighter. It took Champlain six months to do the trip. The freighter does it in six days.

Most Americans don’t give much thought to the Great Lakes region. It is an essential trade route. The lakes are the key component of a 2,300 mile waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Midwest. The U.S. government calls the whole area “The Great Lakes Megalopolis.” The big cities are Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, and Green Bay. More than 60,000,000 people live there. If The Great Lakes Megalopolis was a country, it would have the third largest economy in the world. Most of that is related to the trade route. It’s a big deal.

The author traveled on a freighter that sails the trade route twice a month. Going west, it takes iron and iron ore to industrial centers. Going east, it hauls grain. Most freighters handle similar products.

In the old days, freighters were like floating prisons. The crews were large and motley. The quarters were crowded. When they weren’t on duty, instead of staying in their cramped bunk rooms, the crew members gathered in the mess hall to drink, gamble, and fight. In those days, the only television was in the mess hall. Because the new freighters have fancy computerized machines to do much of the work, modern crews are much smaller in size. There’s now space to give every crew member their own room. The modern bunk rooms have a television and the internet. Today, when they’ve not working, crew members hide in their own quarters. Our traveler was disappointed that there wasn’t more action on the ship. The mess hall was empty most of the time. He spent his days in the wheelhouse sharing stories with the captain and the top officers.

Once upon a time, probably thirty years ago, I knew a guy who had an extremely eccentric wife. The family had boatloads of money. The wife could have traveled the world in a first class seat on an aircraft or in an exclusive cabin aboard a fancy cruise ship. She chose to travel on freighters. Her arrangements were made by a friend at a shipping company. If it was a short trip, she’d be gone for three weeks. If it was a long trip, she’d be gone for six months or longer. Every year, she was gone for months. It was still the era when freighters were like floating prisons. This wife would come back with wild stories. She always had a great time. Maybe I’ll ask Mrs. Travelpartner if she’d like to do a freighter trip. You in?

Despite the solitude, the author enjoyed his time on the freighter. Twice, when the ship was passing through a series of locks that were close to each other, he was able to get off the ship to explore. He’d take a taxi to rejoin the ship at another lock a few miles to the west. Overall, he enjoyed the beautiful scenery, and he enjoyed swapping stories in the wheelhouse. The Great Lakes are notoriously stormy and dangerous. There have been more than 6,000 shipwrecks. More than 30,000 lives have been lost. Many of the wheelhouse stories involved shipwrecks. Ain’t that a great topic when you’re fighting rough water in total darkness?

After finishing his time on the freighter, our traveler was back in a canoe. He was in the next border region to the west, known as the “Boundary Waters.” The Waters, a series of waterways spanning 280 miles, form most of the border between Minnesota and Canada. It is some of the most remote territory in America. It includes a million acre national forest called the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The forest includes a thousand lakes. All mechanized travel is strictly forbidden in the Canoe Area. The only way to travel is by canoe. The list of banned items includes outboard engines, paddle boats, and bicycles. Even the air space is protected. Planes cannot fly below 4,000 feet. It must be a very quiet place.

Once again, our traveler didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Through a local agent, he had arranged for a guide to travel the Boundary Waters. He didn’t realize that his guide would be a notoriously extreme outdoorsman. Among other things, the guide is internationally famous for being one of the few people who has canoed the River of Doubt (400 miles) in Brazil, crossed from Alaska to Siberia (1,200 miles) on a dog sled and skiing trip, and completed a 1,000 mile North Pole trek without being resupplied along the way. Unbeknownst to our traveler, this wasn’t going to be a leisurely paddle through the Boundary Waters.

The Boundary Waters adventure turned out to be an aggressive three day experience in the wilderness. In areas where the waterways didn’t directly connect, the men needed to carry their canoes and other gear over land. They needed to “portage” fifteen times. Most of the portages were only a few hundred yards. One portage was longer than a mile. That ain’t no day at the beach.

The land surrounding the Waters is extremely rugged. It’s so rugged that it took surveyors more than 150 years to mark the 426 mile border line in the region. It’s about 400 miles from my South Carolina home to Atlanta. I cover that distance in six hours.

When the canoe trip was over, our traveler wasn’t ready to leave Minnesota. He wanted to visit a place on the border called the “Northwest Angle.” It is the northernmost point in the lower 48 states. It’s a little point that sits 100 miles above the general flow of the border line. Our traveler rented a car and headed north.

Of course, there is a strange historical story about the Northwest Angle and its inclusion as a border point. In 1792, when Benjamin Franklin was negotiating the border line, all parties agreed that America’s northern border would reach to the head of the Mississippi River. Nobody had a reliable map of this rugged territory. The map submitted by Franklin, probably the most reliable map that existed at the time, indicated that the Mississippi River started at the Northwest Angle. Thus, in 1783 the border established by the Treaty of Paris included a jagged reach into the north. The jagged line creates a 120 square mile portion of America that looks like it should be part of Canada. In 1789, six years after the border was established by the Treaty, it was discovered that the Mississippi River actually starts more than 100 miles south of the Northwest Angle. The British wanted to fix the mistake. Jefferson said no. That’s why the Northwest Angle is part of America.

Well, we’ve made it as far as the Northwest Angle. Only two more border regions before we hit the Pacific. Recharge your batteries, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

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