#so no research. all vibes

[blyszczopies]

teaching people how to barbecue polish style

[sciderman]

How did your meeting go with the surgeons?

it was memorable

[applerums]

it's a tradition of sorts. a ritual, one might say...

[ihavesomejays]

text transcription:

Many springs ago, I perceived a sea of flowers upon a lake. I thought to myself that those fleeting colors held indescribable beauty.

The next time I perceived those colors was many years later, when the medic’s tent had blinded me to all but red. The radiance of that shining star was lost on my eyes.

Now, my eyes no longer perceive the subtleties in the colors around me.

But I am content.

For I can now see the most brilliant colors in my universe.

anyways yeah why did they fucking do that to jiaoqiu bro

the planning for this experimentalish comic is under keep reading

[bennetsbonnet]

Started reading Longbourn by Jo Baker and ooft... it's a struggle.

What's billed as 'a reimagining of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the servants' according to a quote on the cover is actually the author forcing their modern views onto domestic staff in the Regency era that it seems unlikely they would ever have held.

The narrative primarily follows Sarah (who is named in the original novel which furthers my point that the staff do have a role in it) who seems annoyed when she actually has to actually serve the family who employ her to be... a servant? Yes, to us today the concept of being employed by someone else to wash their clothes, help them dress and serve their food seems.... strange... to say the least, but at the time it was a job like any other and part of the strict hierarchical structure of society where everyone 'knew' their place.

While it is true that the Industrial Revolution saw domestic staff leave positions they held at estates such as Longbourn in droves and move to cities in search of better job opportunities and pay... that really began in earnest after this time (particularly when railways began to be constructed and travel became easier).

One of the servants came from a workhouse and as anyone with even a passing familiarity with the plot of Oliver Twist will understand, if you came from such abject poverty and dismal circumstances, being a servant at a country estate would seem like an amazing life in comparison.

There are also a lot of allusions to slavery which are, in my opinion, clumsily done and forced into the plot in an attempt, I think, by the author to subtly compare the suffering of slaves to the situation of domestic servants. Which is not only misguided but also pretty insensitive (to say the very least) given that tens of millions of human beings were forcibly removed across the Atlantic Ocean to work against their will in unimaginable conditions (if they even survived the Middle Passage) to line the pockets of the rich and to construct the nations which they and their descendants have largely been kept from benefitting economically from to this day... whereas servants in Britain worked for a wage and were (largely) treated well by their employers and had agency (obviously within reason, if they were treated badly they could quit but it would be a risk).

But servants spoke to each other, so masters and mistresses of estates knew that they must treat their staff well, otherwise they would never be able to secure decent help as no servant worth their salt would work for them. I don't dispute it was a tough life! But there were definitely more precarious situations than working an estate such as Longbourn for a family such as the Bennets.

Plus, I question the need for such as a perspective as I would argue that Pride and Prejudice actually does draws attention to the servants. We know the name of both Longbourn's housekeeper, Mrs Hill (who tells Elizabeth and Jane about the letter Mr Bennet received with news on Lydia) and Pemberley's housekeeper, Mrs Reynolds (who has an enormous part to play in improving Elizabeth's opinion of Mr Darcy).

In addition, we learn something of the respective companions of Anne de Bourgh, with Mrs Jenkinson ('in whose appearance there was nothing remarkable, and who was entirely engaged in listening to what she said, and placing a screen in the proper direction before [Anne]'s eyes') and Mrs Annesley ('a genteel, agreeable-looking woman, whose endeavour to introduce some kind of discourse proved her to be more truly well-bred than either [Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst]').

Servants are present in the original novel. They are not described in detail because a contemporary audience would understand they would have been present, sort of like how modern day novels would not have characters charging their phones up or detailed descriptions of them being used. They're just so commonplace and second nature to us that we understand everyone does those things. and it was similar back then with servants. They weren't callously 'ignored' by Jane Austen; it isn't within the scope of the novel for a reason because Pride and Prejudice focuses on gentry families and their personal relationships with each other... rather than the servants who washed their dirty dresses...

[derrypubliclibrary]

i either have 2 make a cowgirl oc or i have 2 put The Characters in that situation but i cannot keep going like this (plagued by Cowboy Thoughts for some reason)

[astriiformes]

Starting to fully sink in that I have approximately three months to put together my grad school applications (closer to four at a couple schools, but still, not a ton of time). That's... closer than I thought.

Anyway, guess who's been combing back over faculty profiles at various schools to try to find folks whose interests align with mine and getting a little stressed out. I don't know how close a match someone's research interests need to be, nor do I feel entirely ready to be reaching out to grad students to ask them about their experiences so I don't end up regretting my choice.

(And of course I'm back to having doubts I can get in anywhere, but I'm still committed to trying. Just. Getting kind of stressed about it.)

Sorry in advance for how much you all will be hearing about this over the next few months. I'm kind of scared and there's a lot riding on this hopefully working out. Which I am realizing I am maybe not as collected about as I thought now that it's starting to feel real.

[voltaridylla]

i’ve been away from my laptop for too long I NEED TO WRITE MY TOLKYLE ONE SHOT 😫

[saltyb0ba]

a deep blood moon, a starless night

dark enough to see the light

[idontmindifuforgetme]

So inspired by girls as little as three years older than me bc the self-assuredness and elegance to even the way they walk is crazy

[v4mpyinred]

would it be a stretch to say Akihiko & Yukari are lowkey BPD-coded? cuz this realization is driving me insane

[forestials]

For @finweanladiesweek day one: Míriel Þerindë, the Weaver

[lucabyte]

🐺🐺🐺❓

[puhpandas]

Cassie Cooper from my fic The Vanishing of Gregory Cooper :)

[shannonpurdyjones]

After going entirely too far off the rails trying to research this, I'm officially calling out to the hellsite for aid. *lights the beacon*

My novel-in-progress is set mainly on the ancient eastern coast of Sweden along the Gulf of Bothnia, specifically in the area near what is now Sundsvall and the Indalsälven river basin. Unfortunately I can't afford to travel there (though I would love to one day), but I've done pretty extensive research into the native flora and fauna, local geology, etc that's relevant to the book.

What I'm having more trouble finding is the overall "vibe" (for lack of a better word) of the wilderness in that area. As in, if I were to go hiking west of Sundsvall, what defining vibes would stand out? Is it humid/more cloud forest-like, or drier? What does the soil feel like underfoot? What feelings would these woods inspire walking among the trees? If you had to put words to that ineffable quality of the feel of the forest and river what would it be?

As I'm typing this I'm realizing how vague and fully insane this sounds, but I'm desperate 😭. Swedes and Scandis of tumblr please help save a writer's sanity 🙏

[moonchild-in-blue]

Not forgiving yall for making me believe Price was a proper Tired Old Man™. What do you MEAN he is canonically 38/39 💀

and what do you mean Soap is like? 27? sir you are but wee boy. where are your parents.