#typewriter revolution

[ironfoxtypewriters]

🦊📣 AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON WEBSITE 📣🦊

"The cards tell a story...but you write the ending. You pull The Four Harbingers of the Revolution: Where Does Your Story Go Next?"

2024 Welcomes new opportunities and new typewriter lifestyle merch from the Iron Fox. Ever feel like the tarot deck never holds anything that speaks to you? Write better stories and introduce the Four Harbingers of the Revolution into your deck: Books for the well read, typewriters for the well written, soup "for your family" and a Molotov cocktail for when logic and reason fail.

Of course there's no fun in wearing a design you love if the shirt is scratchy, that's why for this new run of T shirts we've chosen Thread Epic's Soft Tees, pre-washed 100% cotton printed and shipped in the USA in partnership with Happy Fox Apparel

Shirts are machine washable, unisex and are available in sizes small thru 2XL. Apparel is true to size even after washed so please keep that in mind when ordering.

Shipping: please select "Merch - TShirts/Mixed - USPS" in the continental US

Only available through www.ironfoxtypewriters.com Please select "Merch - TShirts/Mixed - USPS" in the continental US for shipping. Sales links through the linktree in bio.

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#thismachinekillsfascists #ironfoxtypewriters #typewriterjunkies #typewriterrevolution #writeintentionally #writenow #vintagetypewriter #electrictypewriter #retrotypewriter #writers #poets #authors #writenow #writeintentionally #literacy #pictureoftheday #typewriterrepair #vintagetypewriter #typewritertshirt #typewriterart #talkqwertytome #revolutiontshirt #typewritwrmerch #revolution #tarottypewriter #tarot #analoglife

[commodorez]

Strange question, but I'm curious. Do you have a least favourite computer?

Ohhhh, good one. I'm going to make some enemies for these, I'm sure.

Least favorite vintage computer:

Apple I

Not for any technical reasons, or anything about its history. I happen to like and respect Steve Wozniak, and everything he did in the service of computing in the 1970s. His ROM monitor known as WOZMON is only 256 bytes so it can fit into a first generation 1702A EPROM, which is damned impressive. I use the newer EWOZMON regular basis on other 6502 machines.

The Apple I exemplifies a computer that no longer exists as a computer. Rather, it's become the legendary trading card for the ultrawealthy techbro types who seek to commodify the history of the home computer revolution that they didn't bother to study. It's been reduced to no more than a static display piece, and a cornerstone of revisionist history, ignoring the larger picture.

An Apple I is considered too monetarily valuable to risk applying power to or fixing, "gotta leave it original!" with failed, leaky capacitors, doing nothing. Well if you can't use it, it ceases to be a computer because it isn't computing anything. They had almost a dozen of them at VCF West XIV, most of which were under plexiglass with a hired guard to keep an eye on them because the high price they fetch. Only one was powered up at a time under the watchful gaze of experts, handling things with museum gloves. Unlike other exhibits, these were not available to be touched or interacted with (which defeats the whole reason people enjoy vintage computer festivals).

Assuming you look beyond the hype, and get your hands on a working Apple I? It turns out to be quite underpowered and limited -- which makes sense, Woz was optimizing the shit outta his part count and budget! I wish I had his skills. It was a major technical achievement to get it to do that much with so little. It's a TV Typewriter (RIP Don Lancaster) bolted to a minimal 6502. If i had one at my disposal in the 1970s, I'd probably do like the contemporary hackers did and modify it as my budget and skills allowed. But it's 2024 and an Apple I -- you aren't allowed to do that. No, if I had an Apple I, I could sell it and buy a house with that money.

If it weren't for all that, I think I'd probably just be indifferent to it, or maybe even like it for what it is.

Least favorite general computer:

eMachines eTower 600is

What a piece of shit. I had one when it was new, running Windows ME and it was hot garbage. I could not stand this underpowered excuse for a computer after a few months when the new computer sheen wore off. Floppy drive died too soon. Didn't come with the advertised 64MB of RAM (who puts 33MB of RAM in a computer?). Hard drive was only 10GB, kept filling it up. It was filled with bloatware, the keyboard was cheap garbage. I don't begrudge my parents for buying it, they didn't know any better and I was too young to have any say in the matter. That said, it endured the shortest tenure of any computer in my house to date.

Never obsolete my ass.

[letters-to-rosie]

eeeeeeeeee I'm loved and blessed fam 🩵💙🩵

so I said that the most fitting song I'd found for revolution timebomb was a kpop song... and this is the song lol the vibes couldn't be more perfect

but here instead of peach blossoms, he's looking at blue flowers! since the fic has color symbolism galore haha

this is such a lovely gift!! thank you so much!

revolution-verse Ekko x Peaches - Kai thanks to @letters-to-rosie's vision

or, Ekko longingly staring at some blue wisteria while missing his girlfriend 💙

[humansofnewyork]

“I worked as a legal assistant for 50 years. And I’ve always been lucky to work for honest, kind, brilliant attorneys. All that paperwork might seem boring to other people. But I never even took lunch, that’s how much I loved it. I loved the law. It’s very precise. My work needed to be exactly right. And there was a lot of pride there. But something seems to have changed in the culture. So many of my coworkers would rush out the door at 5 o’clock. With important, unfinished things on their desk. In law you have to get things out quickly, but it’s like they just didn’t care. Maybe it’s a generational thing. I’m older, I’m 77. So maybe there’s something I don’t get. ‘Quiet quitting,’ and all of that, I just don’t understand it. If it’s just a paycheck to you, if you’re getting by on the minimum, and not trying to be perfect, or God forbid, if you're screwing it up on purpose,  why are you even going to work? Save your pennies and quit. Find something else you can take pride in. If you’re spending eight hours a day on something you don’t take pride in, it seems to me that somewhere, deep down inside, you’re a phony. Maybe not a phony. But you’re deluding yourself. It’s going to spill over into the rest of your life. And there’s not enough money for me. Well, $20,000 a week maybe. But otherwise there’s not enough money for me to not take pride in my work. I couldn’t do it. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I can’t. You know how people text, and there’s like spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes and everything? Not me. I’ll reread everything. I’ll go back and fix it, I’ll put in the comma. That’s who I am. You either have it or you don’t, and less people have it now. I think it was the digital revolution. When I first started working there were typewriters. If you made a mistake, you had to redo it. You had to be careful, you had to get it right, until the computer came along. I remember my boss was so excited about the computer age. He said: ‘It’s going to be great! We’re going to have a paperless office!’ I knew better. I told him: ‘There’s going to be a lot more paper, actually.’ Because you can reprint everything. And nobody’s going to care anymore.’”

[elsalouisa]

"Volodia was an extraordinary being, a living instrument of rare sensitiveness which could of itself produce sounds of startling melody and purity and create a world of bright images and harmonies. In years and experience he was still a child but his spirit had penetrated into regions reached only by a few. He had genius. The first child of my father's second marriage, he confirmed the theory that exceptional children are born of a great and exceptional love. When he was still a baby there was something indefinable about him that set him apart from the others. When he was a child, in fact, I considered him a nuisance, affected, and priggish. But later I understood that he was simply a being older than his years lost in the milieu to which his age assigned him. His parents saw how different he was from the others and wisely did not try to shape him according to pattern as had been done with us. They allowed him comparative freedom to develop his unusual abilities. While still a child he wrote good verse and very fine plays, to be acted by his small sisters. He played the piano j he painted j and at a very early age astounded people by his extensive reading and his extraordinary memory. Until he was sixteen, he shared my father's banishment in France. Then he was sent to Russia, with the Emperor's permission, and entered in the Corps des Pages, a military school. According to the family tradition he was to be an officer. There was nothing military in his character, but the years spent away from an adoring family, the contact with boys of his own age, and the discipline of the school did him a lot of good. He became more natural, simpler in his ways. Having formerly spoken Russian very badly, he quickly learned his mothertongue and knew it better than many of those who had lived in Russia since childhood. The many subjects studied at the Corps did not prevent him, even there, from developing his own abilities. At eighteen he brought out a first book of verse which made something of a stir. He wrote with equal facility in three languages, but preferred to publish his first works in Russian. Throughout his stay at the Corps he continued privately to school himself in painting and music. He was more than talented; one had the feeling that mysterious forces worked within him, driving him onward to inspirations inaccessible to ordinary humans and remote from all things mundane. In his later verses, which came out during the war and the revolution, contemporary events were not in the least reflected j his work, on the contrary, was permeated by a profound sense of peace and of spiritual equilibrium...

During the last summer he wrote ceaselessly. Inspiration seemed never to forsake him. He would sit down at the typewriter and write, without pausing, verses that needed almost no correction. Yet in spite of this productivity and this purely mechanical way of writing, the quality of his verse improved continually. It seemed to me then that the speed of his work was somewhat overdone; I remember saying to him once that in pouring forth such torrents of new verse he gave himself no time to polish them. He was then sitting at his desk, one hand propping his cheek while with the other he made notes upon the margins of the poems he had just finished. Having listened to my words he turned towards me his face, always pale, and smiled sadly and somewhat enigmatically. "What I am writing now comes to me in a completely finished form J changes would only spoil the freshness of the inspiration. I must write. After I am twenty-one I shall not write any more. Everything that is in me must find its expression now; it will be too late afterwards. . . ."

Marie, Grand Duchess of Russia "Education of a princess"

[lol-jackles]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6Mj2q-yRSI/

Is it weird that Justin is making all these casting announcements before the official announcements (at least as of the time I'm sending this Justin's post has been up for 30 mins and still no official announcement)? He did it for Melissa too (https://www.instagram.com/p/C5yzmypy-8I/) but her official articles came out withing a few minutes of him posting.

Link and link,

Haha for some reason I thought Jensen was madly typing away on an antique typewriter and then it showed he was actually playing an arcade game. Typewriters are making a comeback with Gen Z and even Gen Alpha (called the "typewriter revolution").

CBS likely told Justin to make the announcements, figuring it's the least expensive way to promote the show. I'm a little surprise because CBS are anti-star makers, but that may have changed ever since Leslie Moonves was forced out.

[xtruss]

Evelyn Berezin in 1976 at the Long Island office of her company Redactron. She developed one of the earliest word processors and helped usher in a technological revolution. Evelyn Berezin said her word processor would help secretaries become more efficient at their jobs. Photo By Barton Silverman/New York Times.

Evelyn Berezin, “Godmother of the Word Processor!” The Woman That Made Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Possible

Evelyn Berezin (1925-2018) was born in the Bronx to poor Russian-Jewish immigrants. Growing up, she loved reading science fiction and wished to study physics. She excelled at school and graduated two years early. Berezin had to wear make-up and fake her age to get a job at a research lab. She ended up studying economics because it was a more “fitting” subject for women at the time. During World War II, she finally received a scholarship to study physics at New York University. Berezin studied at night, while working full time at the International Printing Company during the day. She continued doing graduate work at New York University, with a fellowship from the US Atomic Energy Commission. In 1951, she joined the Electronic Computer Corporation, designing some of the world’s very first computers. At the time, computers were massive machines that could only do several specific functions.

Evelyn Berezin, “Godmother of the Word Processor.” Born: April 12, 1925, The Bronx, New York City, NY — Died: December 8, 2018, ArchCare at Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home & Rehabilitation Center, New York, NY

Berezin headed the Logic Design Department, and came up with a computer to manage the distribution of magazines, and to calculate firing distances for US Army artillery. In 1957, Berezin transferred to work at Teleregister, where she designed the first banking computer and the first computerized airline reservation system (linking computers in 60 cities, and never failing once in the 11 years that it ran). Her most famous feat was in 1968 when she created the world’s first personal word processor to ease the plight of secretaries (then making up 6% of the workforce).

“Without Ms. Berezin There Would Be No Bill Gates, No Steve Jobs, No Internet, No Word Processors, No Spreadsheets; Nothing That Remotely Connects Business With The 21st Century.” — The Times of Israel (12 December 2018)

The following year, she founded her own company, Redactron Corporation, and built a mini-fridge-sized word processor, the “Data Secretary”, with a keyboard and printer, cassette tapes for memory storage, and no screen. With the ability to go back and edit text, cut and paste, and print multiple copies at once, Berezin’s computer freed the world “from the shackles of the typewriter”. The machine was an in instant hit, selling thousands of units around the world. Berezin’s word processor not only set the stage for future word processing software, like Microsoft Word, but for compact personal computers in general. It is credited with being the world’s first office computer. Not surprisingly, it has been said that without Evelyn Berezin “there would have been no Bill Gates, and no Steve Jobs”.

Evelyn Berezin Pioneered Word Processors and Butted Heads With Men! A ‘loud woman,’ she studied physics and found that to get to the top she had to start her own company. Evelyn Berezin later became a mentor to entrepreneurs, venture capitalist and director of companies. Photo: Berezin Family. Wall Street Journal

“Why Is This Woman Not Famous?” British Writer Gwyn Headley Wrote In A 2010 Blog Post. — The Times of Israel

Redactron grew to a public company with over 500 employees. As president, she was the only woman heading a corporation in the US at the time, and was described as the “Most Senior Businesswoman in the United States”. Redactron was eventually bought out by Burroughs Corporation, where Berezin worked for several more years. In 1980, she moved on to head a venture capital group investing in new technologies. Berezin served on the boards of a number of organizations, including Stony Brook University and the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and was a sought-after consultant for the world’s biggest tech companies.

She was a key part of the American Women’s Economic Development Corporation for 25 years, training thousands of women in how to start businesses of their own, with a success rate of over 60%. In honour of her parents, she established the Sam and Rose Berezin Endowed Scholarship, paying tuition in full for an undergraduate science student each year. Sadly, Berezin passed away earlier this month. She left her estate to fund a new professorship or research centre at Stony Brook University. Berezin won multiple awards and honourary degrees, and was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame.

[floppybun]

🦊✉️ Looking for something paws-itively different? ✉️🐾

Tired of endless “hey” messages and shallow online convos? Wanna connect with fellow furries on a deeper level? 🦁💌 Try penpalling! 🎨✨ Whether you love sending snail mail, collecting cute stationery, using typewriters, or just wanna share furry art postcards—r/PawsAndPostcards is your new home! 🐺

Come find a penpal, swap wax seals, and make some real connections. Join the cozy letter-writing revolution! 📬🐾

[elephantlovemedleys]

(just going by the context of the movie and what i've read and have taken into account based on unused footage or bits the original screenplay drafts) i love how christian definitely came from a boujee victorian era family that definitely carried itself out with generational wealth going on but then he just goes like no fuck it the world is changing i need to be a part of it i am partaking as one of the children of the revolution whatever even if it means being broke in paris and only thing i can afford was the typewriter i carried with myself

[ironfoxtypewriters]

🎶🫧So FRESH and So CLEAN🫧🎶Back with ANOTHER finished client machine; this time for the supremely talented New Jersey artist Kristi Nazzaro aka @soul_positive on IG. Kristi uses her 2 typewriters as integral instruments in creating her art and her musings and contacted me a little over a month ago to give a clean and service to her aqua colored Grant 737 ultra portable typewriter. Not only was I able to restore it to its former glory I was also able to do so while preserving the bits of character that Kristi added to it herself. 3 more client machines to go until I am 100% refocused on restocking the typewriter section of IronFoxTypewriters.com (and Etsy). In the meantime if you're looking for something new-to-you send me a DM, I have a TON of unserviced stock just waiting to be chosen for reconditioning so they can find a new forever home and yours might be it! .....

[oddvanilla]

i <3 the chat font hes so cute

and it makes you mad teehee

THE CHAT FONT IS A HE??? I mean today I watched a video about the russian revolution and the chat font reminds me of like that typewriter crap,, it's great to an extent but the more i see it the more I HATE it.

[horsesarecreatures]

Book review: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

This book is grim, but I’m glad I read it. It is a very eye-opening look into Romania under the rule of it’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The main character is a 17 year old boy named Cristian Florescu, who lives with his parents, sister, and grandfather in a one bedroom apartment in Bucharest. One day while he is at school, he is pulled aside by a Securitate agent. The agent somehow knows that he accepted American stamps from the son of his mother’s employer, an American diplomat, which is illegal. The agent blackmails him into becoming an informer on the diplomat family, first by threatening to arrest him, then by threatening to arrest his whole family, and finally by promising him medicine for his grandfather with “leukemia” (is is later discovered that the grandfather was actually poisoned with radiation by the government). Cristian has to decide whether he will fully comply, partially comply, or try to sabotage his missions. 

................................................................................................................................

I knew from watching travel shows like Globe Trekker that things were pretty bad in Romania during that time, but the things I read in this book still shocked me. Ceausescu in some senses put Stalin to shame, and the fact that he was critical of other communist leaders made the West turn a blind eye to the atrocities that were happening under his rule.  Before Romania became the last country in the soviet bloc to have it’s revolution, some things that became normalized in there included:

- Extreme food restrictions that were more severe than the rations during World War II. People had to stand in lines for hours in the cold after their 12 hour work shifts just to get something like a small piece of bread, or cooking oil. If a person over purchased food, they could be imprisoned for 6 months to 5 years.

- Due to Ceausescu wanting to increase the worker population, he encouraged women to have 10 children. They had to undergo forced, unsanitary monthly gynecological exams at work. If they were pregnant, the state tracked their pregnancy. Birth control and abortions became banned.

- The majority of orphans in the state weren't parentless; they just had parents that couldn't afford them. Most orphans were indoctrinated by the state to become Securitate agents. Others were deemed "deficient” and kept in concentration camp-like conditions. 

- It is estimated that about 1 in every 10 people in Romania was an informer at the time. Everyone informed on everyone, and people’s homes were bugged and had hidden cameras in them. It wasn't enough for Ceausescu to isolate the country from the rest of the world; he also had to isolate citizens from each other by creating an atmosphere is mistrust. 

- Children of political dissenters were also at risk of being sent to prisons were they were tortured along with adults. 

- Citizens went years without ever eating fruit. All of Romania’s “good” agricultural products were exported to pay off the debt Ceausescu plunged the country into with his failed oil investments.

- People never knew when they were going to have electricity. This wasn't just due to energy shortages; it was a strategy of the regime to keep citizens powerless through the unpredictability of their lives. Babies in incubators died at hospitals all the time when the power went out without warning. It was also illegal for temperatures to be heated above 16 degrees in the winter.

- Citizens had to report all contact they had with foreigners. It was illegal to own many items, from foreign currency to sofas to unregistered typewriters. 

- Romanians could not leave the country or apply for passports without the risk of being arrested. They also could not choose their own homes, or freely change jobs.

- When Bucharest’s historic buildings were raised and replaced with cement apartment buildings, the dogs that previously lived in the destroyed homes were forced to the streets. As they were starving, they often brutally attacked and killed citizens in packs. 

[fantasyfantasygames]

The Revolution

The Revolution, Devin Roundsman, 2008

Sometimes you throw a bunch of things into a blender and come out with a gem of a game. The Revolution, despite its generic name, has a lot of really cool stuff going for it in a very focused package.

The Revolution is a modern-day game, and it leans heavily on that for its setting. You're relying a lot on "everyone knows what corporate executives act like." It's lazy but it's excusable I guess.

For the system - have you ever seen one of those systems where someone says "I like it because it gets out of your way"? Yeah, someone brewed up one of those in an afternoon. You roll a number of d6 equal to your effectiveness in a particular thing. It starts at 1d6 or 2d6 where you're specialized, and maxes out at 5d6 or 6d6. Not a dice pool, just roll and add 'em together.

Now that we got the boring stuff out of the way, the actual concept: this game is one part Exalted Modern, one part Werewolf the Apocalypse, and one part Sigmata. Your characters, everyday people, "wake up" to being able to see the spirit world overlaid on the physical world. There are massive, ethereal, sinister spirits manifested by corporations and other large orgs, which feed psychically on people. You can fight those directly if you can get to them. Your PCs are pulled together instinctively.

You get 5 levels of power: the mere-mortal level 1 (which rolls 1d6), the empowered-mortal 2 (2d6, where you generally live), and three levels (3d6/4d6/5d6) of "you can reach for it if you want it" that shift you up to Super-Sayan temporarily. Where you are power-wise at any given time is totally up to you, if you don't mind glowing. You get some low-level superpowers like wide-area blasts, enhanced movement, phasing, armor, etc. Except the 5d6 level. When you go for that, you'll die at the end of the scene, but you'll go out in a blaze of glory. It's very much a how-bad-do-you-want-it scenario, so... part wish fulfillment and part deathwish fulfillment.

The XP curve is shallow. You're expected to go through a bunch of characters in a longer game, or to have half the party die at the end during a one-shot or convention game. I do feel like the urge in a con game will be to guarantee your own death at the end because you aren't really attached to your character, but maybe that's just the people I usually play with.

The Revolution was a 46-page PDF on 1km1kt. Pour one out for the typewriters and another for the monkeys.

[vintage-tech]

scans: Time magazine, October 22, 1945

World War 2 had ended a month and a half earlier and now everyone was trying to figure out what they were supposed to be doing in peacetime. (The advertisements still include a line saying “Buy War Bonds” at the bottom.) Let’s take a jaunt through this exciting time, where Time had a lot of political statements to make because so much was going on right then.

Czechoslovakia started in 1918. ceased existance under the Nazis in 1939 but Beneš maintained a government-in-exile, was restarted in 1945 once the war ended, and ceased existance for good in 1989.

That’s right, we bombed Hiroshima because they had ball bearings. This is one of three advertisements by bearing makers.

That time the Daughters of the American Revolution were unsurprisingly racist, and President Truman called them Nazis... but then his wife Bess had tea with the DAR, which pissed off Scott’s husband, US Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.  Scott got the last laugh when Representative Powell booked Carnegie Hall for her and the show was a huge success.

I will post the entire article soon. Some people are reading too much into the character and not doing enough reading of the comic strip itself. (Also, he claims that Wonder Woman is both a Nazi and a whore. Clearly Ong has a thing for either the soft-heroes of Marvel or the horror comics from Entertaining.)

You’ve got to move to Memphis, that’s what I’ll do... There’s also a full-page ad for moving to Cleveland. “75 million customers within 500 miles!”

“Experts agree that Shirley [Temple] has a good many years ahead -- either in or out of the movies.” Mostly out since she did 8 more films over the next two(!!) years then mostly bowed out of Hollywood. Also, remember that in the 1940s, premarital sex was taboo so the premise of Temple’s character getting knocked up by her boyfriend was scandalous. Marriage at 17, as she had done, was not.

This guy.

A two-page spread for magnesium. A decade later, the rave would be aluminum, and that particular metal is still with us.

Heil (thppt!) Heil (thppt!) right in the Fuhrer’s face. The Nuremberg trials started on November 20 so things were going to stay interesting for a year.

I’ve asked the purists: Aralac fiber, derived from the casein in milk -- “wool made from cheese” -- makes the clothing vegetarian but not vegan, and no cattle died to make that outfit.

Lastly: You’ll have to click over to my typewriter blog to see the clunky post-war typewriter Smith-Corona was advertising (an Army office model), when what they really put on the market once they had unshelved all the parts they had stockpiled prior to the war (to make rifle firing pins for a spell) were some really stylish and handsome Silents, Sterlings, and Clippers.

[indyflanery]

Bold what the signs remind me of

REPOST DON'T REBLOG

ARIES: The smell of burnt matches, whiskey burning your throat, running at night, fiery gazes, freckles, laughs that expose their teeth, winning an arcade game, the thundering sounds of a crowded bowling alley, hearing music blaring from someone else’s headphones, cherry stained lips.

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TAURUS: Thick hair, septum piercings/nose rings, earthy eyeshadow palettes, red wine, blasting Adele, standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean, leather bound journals, wearing expensive lingerie underneath casual outfits, MAC nudes, splurging at your local bakery, brownstone buildings, suede skirts, online shopping.

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GEMINI: Synth pop playlists, neon signs, blurry nightclub photos, high school cliques, collecting crystals, getting dressed up to go to concerts/festivals, fleeting but intense crushes, conversations composed of gibberish, sitting in diners late at night, body glitter, witty comebacks, complicated coffee orders.

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CANCER: Small tattoos, tasting teardrops on your lips, bed hair, swimming at night, high school English classes, the importance of platonic relationships, herbal tea, random quotes on post it notes, combing a friends hair out of their face, hermit crabs, swallowing the lump in your throat when you’re about to cry.

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LEO: Theatre/drama kids, loud drunks, enthusiastic bear hugs, gold jewellery, leading the pack, grins that are a mixture of mischievous and sinister, eye catching outfits, temporary tattoos, dancers/musicians/painters (artists in general), a flair for the dramatic, flirtatiously winking at strangers, sunflowers.

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VIRGO: New car smell, aesthetic highlighted notes, wire frame glasses, succulents, light denim, eyeliner and sass so sharp, wandering through antique stores, lace bralettes, Fleetwood Mac, flowers blooming, typewriter keys clicking, minty breath, dated polaroids, skepticism, organised bookshelves.

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LIBRA: Collecting teacups, bright coloured pool floats, orchids, soft lips, Valentine’s day memes, float like a butterfly sting like a bee, smearing cream blush onto cheeks, bubblegum, Marina’s Electra Heart era, classic romance novels, songs that reference Paris, hoop earrings, pink lemonade, fluffy blankets.

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SCORPIO: Menthol cigarettes, jealousy, original ChapStick, deep glares, tongue/lip piercings, crushed ice, cold hands, picking at your nails, storm clouds rolling in, maroon lipstick, band tees, suppressed emotions, Lorde aesthetic, an air of mystery, standing your ground, monochromatic themes, kept secrets.

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SAGITTARIUS: Roadtrips with the windows down, drunken debates, loose jeans, camping with friends, speeding tickets, kissing strangers, action flicks with surround sound, messy bedrooms, wind swept hair, sneaking out of windows, chasing sunsets, big sunglasses, Ride by Lana Del Rey, backroads, wildflowers.

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CAPRICORN: Black coffee, silver stationary, Arctic Monkeys, pencil sketches, cast iron gates, calligraphy, sleep deprivation, black skinny jeans, well written essays, deadly ambition, unboxing new shoes, absinthe, garter belts, tracing fingers over hardcover books, planning outfits in advance, expensive perfume.

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AQUARIUS: Street smarts, revolutions, racing cars at traffic lights, sci-fi aesthetic, pool parties, dyeing your hair bright colours, spontaneity, conspiracy theories, dream catcher collections, random pockets of knowledge, lava lamps, artistic graffiti, stoner movies, flashing carnival lights, seldom used emojis.

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PISCES: Giggly drunks, heart eyes, making playlists, seeing the good in people, aquariums, daydreaming in class, volunteering at animal shelters, watery eyes, acoustic guitar, anime, childhood teddy bears, shoeboxes full of things, talking to pets, wishing wells, clear umbrellas, flying a kite, philosophy.

[music-despite-everything]

I'm with you in Rockland

In 1959, Gregory Corso and Peter Orlovsky accompanied Ginsberg to Chicago for a benefit reading for "Big Table" [named at Kerouac's suggestion], a newly established literary publication born as a result of censorship of the student magazine the Chicago Review. The reading took place on January 29, 1959. Ginsberg debuted his most famous poem, Howl. Below is an excerpt.

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III Carl Solomon! I’m with you in Rockland where you’re madder than I am I’m with you in Rockland where you must feel very strange I’m with you in Rockland where you imitate the shade of my mother I’m with you in Rockland where you’ve murdered your twelve secretaries I’m with you in Rockland where you laugh at this invisible humor I’m with you in Rockland where we are great writers on the same dreadful typewriter I’m with you in Rockland where your condition has become serious and is reported on the radio I’m with you in Rockland where the faculties of the skull no longer admit the worms of the senses I'm with you in Rockland where you drink the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica I’m with you in Rockland where you pun on the bodies of your nurses the harpies of the Bronx I’m with you in Rockland where you scream in a straightjacket that you’re losing the game of the actual pingpong of the abyss I’m with you in Rockland where you bang on the catatonic piano the soul is innocent and immortal it should never die ungodly in an armed madhouse I’m with you in Rockland where fifty more shocks will never return your soul to its body again from its pilgrimage to a cross in the void I’m with you in Rockland where you accuse your doctors of insanity and plot the Hebrew socialist revolution against the fascist national Golgotha I’m with you in Rockland where you will split the heavens of Long Island and resurrect your living human Jesus from the superhuman tomb I’m with you in Rockland where there are twentyfive thousand mad comrades all together singing the final stanzas of the Internationale I’m with you in Rockland where we hug and kiss the United States under our bedsheets the United States that coughs all night and won’t let us sleep I’m with you in Rockland where we wake up electrified out of the coma by our own souls’ airplanes roaring over the roof they’ve come to drop angelic bombs the hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls collapse O skinny legions run outside O starry-spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is here O victory forget your underwear we’re free I’m with you in Rockland in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-journey on the highway across America in tears to the door of my cottage in the Western night

San Francisco, 1955—1956