#state of wonder

[bookcoversonly]

Title: State of Wonder | Author: Ann Patchett | Publisher: Harper (2011)

[hinamie]

post-graduation trip airport looks

[maryannmackey]

At dusk the insects came down in a storm, the hard-shelled and soft-sided, the biting and stinging, the chirping and buzzing and droning, every last one unfolded its paper wings and flew with unimaginable velocity into the eyes and mouths and noses of the only three humans they could find. Easter slipped back inside his shirt while Dr. Swenson and Marina wrapped their heads like Bedouins in a sort. When it was fully dark only the misguided insects pelted themselves into the people on board while the rest chose to end their lives against the two bright, hot lights on either side of the boat. The night was filled with the relentless ping of their bodies hitting the glass.

'Dr. Rapp used to say how easy it was the entomologists,' Dr. Swenson said, turning her back to the onslaught. 'They only had to switch on a light and all their specimens came running.'

Marina was less comfortable in the jungle now that she couldn't see it. She felt the plant life pressing against the edges of the water, straining towards them, every root and tendril reaching. 'Not only do the specimens come to you, they then have the decency to kill themselves.'

'This is worse than a hailstorm,' Dr. Swenson said, spitting a small winged beetle onto the deck. 'We can do without the lights.' And the she turned off the lights.

In an instant the veil of insects lifted and Marina saw nothing as she had never seen nothing before. It was as if God himself had turned out the lights, every last one, and left them in the gaping darkness of His abandonment. 'Shouldn't Easter be able to see where he's going?' she asked. A boy who could find a single branch in a thousand miles of uninterrupted trees could surely find his way home in the dark. She was the one who wanted the lights back on.

'Open your eyes, Dr. Singh,' Dr. Swenson said. 'Look at the stars.'

Marina put her hands in front of her and batted at the air until she found the rope at the edge of the boat. She held tightly to it when she leaned to the side. Beyond the spectrum of darkness she saw the bright stars scattered across the table of the night sky and felt as if she had never seen such things as stars before. She did not know enough numbers to count them, and even if she did, the stars could not be separated one from the other, the whole was so much greater than the sum of its parts. She saw the textbook of constellations, the heroes of mythology posing on fields of ink. She could see the milkiness in everything now, the way the sky was spread over with light. And when, finally, she could tear herself away from the theater above them to look forward again she saw yet another light blinking like a mirage on the horizon. It was small and orange and as they came towards it, the light appeared to stretch into a single line, and when she thought she had the line fixed in her vision it broke apart. It scattered and spread, bits of it popping on and off. 'There's something up there,' she said to Dr. Swenson, and in another minute she said, 'It's fire.' What she meant to say was Turn the boat around.

-State of Wonder, Ann Patchett

[andreabadgley]

This should be a good book for our tropical vacation.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Prompt: What is hope like?

Hope is like walking around with a fishhook in your mouth and somebody just keeps pulling it and pulling it.

Ann Patchett, State of Wonder

[solardrake]

Delivering mail to the furthest corners of the server ✉✈

[charlott2n]

i hope the magic of being trans never dies. i dont think it will

[cokoweee]

File: Chase. Run. Hide

I finished this awhile ago so now that I’m rewatching to tweak shit it’s uhh…..imma go cry for awhile

It always feels like showing a teacher an essay and them saying right back to me that it’s ass and makes no sense when I’m posting animations like this. Kk bye for now

<===—===>

[thatwritererinoriordan]

Egads, I love this book.

The literature: Ann Patchett’s STATE OF WONDER

The libation: Most of us won’t get to visit the Amazon in our lifetime on fully-funded pharmaceutical research trips, let alone for vacation. The best we can do for you in the interim is an evening in with Ann Patchett’s lush, sensual novel, which does an almost uncomfortably good job of communicating the humidity, claustrophobia, horror, and vibrant beauty of the Amazonian rain forest.

If you need to take a break (we understand, no judgment), try a different kind of intensity. The Wasp Sting shot is made with equal parts pepper vodka and Tingala, a liqueur made from the tingflower native to the Amazon basin which imparts a particularly invigorating prickling sensation. Knock one back or sip for a slower burn.

Photo © Tingala

[timothylawrence]

"Wyll is boring" he is the personification of daddy issues. he hides away at a beach TWICE and leaving the tav to go find him because he's not used to having people around who care abt him. he's been running around the sword coast for seven years just killing things and saving people because he got EXILED and chose to prove himself to his father and just help others. he spends his time training kids how to defend themselves. you find out his dad is the ARCHDUKE of Baldur's Gate. he almost drowned once trying to find mermaids. he has a literal devil haunting him that watches his every move. He managed to stop an entire cult of Tiamat AT AGE 17!!!!!!! he loves clowns.

Wyll isn't boring, ppl just haven't taken the time to explore his story and it SHOWS

[skillbattle]

umm hi happy juneteenth 👋🏽 im a freelancer who’s just trying to get by and pay my bills, if you’d like to support me in anyway today it would be highly appreciated!! 🫶🏽 kofi ☕️

[little-pondhead]

DP x DC Prompt

…

There are no more heroes.

Well, okay. Rewind a bit.

Danny has been doing the hero thing for a while now. He’s had a big reveal; everyone has accepted him (including his parents), the GIW disbanded, the Anti-Ecto acts repealed, and generally, everything is going great. Some of the A-Listers are even training as junior ghost hunters to help give him a break from his rogues! (Being Ghost King makes things hectic sometimes, and he just needs the extra help. Sue him!)

The point is, literally nothing is wrong with Danny Phantom’s afterlife.

And then Valerie Gray, the Red Huntress, disappears in front of his eyes.

Danny is baffled! She’s just…gone! Valerie just popped out of existence, like she was never there. But no matter how hard he searches in the Ghost Zone, he can’t find her soul anywhere. His core isn't broken in grief. So she’s not dead. Which is good. So then, where is she?

Some of the others come forward with ideas on how to find her. A few ghosts volunteer to go out into the mortal realm, an area Danny had declared off-limits, to see if she was out there. Danny approves it. He rounds up some of the friendlier (i.e., discreet) ghosts and Amity Parkers and demolishes the outside travel ban.

So everyone spreads out, looking for their dear frenemy and teammate. But it becomes apparent very quickly that something is wrong with the rest of the world.

There are no more heroes.

Every single living superhero on the face of the Earth has just…vanished. Villains are running amok; the countries are in chaos! Some aliens are invading Earth, mythical deities are trying to take over, and society is crumbling to the ground. Everything is on the brink of collapse.

Well, Danny was still there. And so were his people. They were pretty spread out, so could they just…take up the mantles? He also knew where to find the souls of dead heroes in the Zone; surely they wouldn't mind coming out of retirement for a little bit, especially if they couldn't die again. Oh! And that skeleton army leftover from Pariah Dark's reign might be useful in repelling those invading forces.

Honestly, there were more than enough hands to go around! And with the heroes gone, Danny didn't mind letting everyone out for a little break, as long as they followed his rules. They wouldn't stop the search for the other heroes, but hopefully, when they found them, the heroes wouldn't mind Danny's intervention too much. :)

In other words:

Someone fucks up, and all of Earth's living heroes are either wished out of existence or are whisked away to some far-off realm where Danny hasn't checked yet. In the attempt to figure out what's going on, Danny lets the dead run amok over the Earth as they search for clues. The skeleton army repels the invading armies, the souls of dead heroes deal with the world leaders, and his rogues and other Amity Parkers set up shop in place of famous heroes, trying to get the cities under control again.

Basically, they just do their best to keep everything from imploding until the Justice League and others are back.

(And why is it that Danny hasn't disappeared? Well, whatever caused everyone to go poof! only affected living heroes. Anyone heroes that were dead in the first place, or even just half-dead, stayed behind.)

[nerdy-hyperfixations]

My style is too cutesy to draw shit like this lol 😭😭😭

Anyway, they should really be glad the portal shit happened because having a BLOOD KINK right before the AIDS EPIDEMIC???? Could've gone so badly.

[drizzledrawings]

Insert a deep quote about seeing your grief in everything

[dailydccomics]

Immortal Wonder Woman by Becky Cloonan

[breakingjustxn]

the world was never the same once the 2012-2016 pop punk era on tumblr ended