#we're 1890s

[elderberries-and-honey]

It was shortly after the O'Doyle girl's funeral that Lawrence's sleep disturbances began. They had started small with troubles falling asleep at night and the bruised-coloured circles under his eyes became darker, showing off his insomnia to the world like a flashy new coat.

He never questioned it when eventually his sleepless nights ceased; he never thought it'd been replaced by something more peculiar like sleepwalking. After all, he wasn't privy to such phenomena.

Without fail, he'd rise from his bed and make his way across the house silently. Careful, even in his unconscious mind, not to step on the creaky floorboards and disturb anyone's slumber.

Always he went to the steps - the true mystery being how he never stumbled - climbing towards the attic. Up, up, UP he went, one foot in front of another until he eventually reached the top; almost as though he were a moth drawn to a flame, only instead of being attracted to orange glowing embers, the flame was a bright red door.

Each morning he found himself lying just outside the door with no recollection of how he'd gotten there, or even remembering that they'd had an attic at all. Never did he question what was on the other side, too afraid to pull the handle and see.

Instead, he'd stand just outside, shivering there wearing only his nightgown, a ringing in his head as he'd whisper "Oh dear, I've gone positively mad!"

[simadelics]

Bibury, 1895

Emmeline

I prepared to leave in the morning, glad for the rest and the wash but unsure of what awaited me on the horizon, when I struck up a conversation with the inn-keeper’s wife. She was wearing my earrings, and they suited her quite nicely, which I told her. My remark must have made her feel guilty to some degree — it surely was not my intention; the highest value any of my jewellery holds at this point is strictly monetary and nothing more — because she told me that if I was truly and desperately in need of a place to stay, she knew of an old woman in town who’d recently lost nearly all sense of sight and could offer me bed and board in exchange for some work she is no longer fit to do herself. Though I may be visibly unaccustomed to a life of labour, I could not understand her emphasis on the presumed “desperation” required to take her up on her offer; I asked her where I could find this woman, and she gave me directions I had to repeat in my mind to remember.

It’s strange to walk through unfamiliar streets totally unaccompanied, and a touch overwhelming: if I desired to, I realized, I could run in any direction and end up in a place entirely new to me, a thought that was liberating and terrifying in equal measure. Really, it’s not so different than the experience of a sailor marooned on an undiscovered island — it seems a silly thought, but we are all charting our own maps, are we not?

My map led me to Almira Hobbs’ doorstep, which I waited at with absurdly high hopes, dreadfully low expectations, and an odd anxiety I couldn’t quite place. I did not summon her until a second knock, and I stated my business with her. She stared in my general direction with visible skepticism, though she did not turn down my offer; in fact, she didn’t say much of anything at all — she walked inside, keeping the door ajar, and I took it as an invitation. I could not afford not to. Following behind her, she stated the various duties she would require of me, and I agreed to them without a thought: none would require much exertion to a woman of my age and ability, regardless of my condition (a thing I did not make known for obvious reasons; I am terrified of ruining things just as they finally begin to work in my favour, though I know I am only delaying the inevitable).

Though upon my entrance I was faced with neglected surroundings and a cold hearth, I have never been so happy to step foot in a place in my life, I should think.

LAST POST | NEXT POST

[nero-neptune]

made up a group of edwardian-era hockey girls, Heavily inspired by the many wintery late 19th/early 20th century photos i processed in an archive over the summer. at some point, i decided their team would be called "the hail raisers".

[throwing-roses-into-the-abyss]

wait hang on is this a drag performance in the early 1900s based on gustav klimt art????

[kindred-sims]

Caleb tried not to let it bother him, but he knew he'd only be lying to himself if he said it didn't.

At first, he hadn't minded Henry's reading so much. It was healthy for his mind, for his soul, as Jo had repeatedly insisted. It would give him a hunger for knowledge, a vast imagination. All of which were good qualities for a growing boy to have.

If he were being truthful, however, Caleb had always hoped that the excessive reading was a phase, that Henry would eventually grow tired of it and take to the fields, just as Caleb had when he was his age. But with the boy's tenth birthday quickly approaching, he wasn't showing any signs of stopping just yet.

It wasn't in Caleb to stop him, either. He couldn't, and he hated that he felt so irritated any time he spotted Henry on the sofa with yet another book. What kind of father would belittle his own son for his interests, surely not a decent one, and so he didn't.

So instead, he had slowly begun to try and sway Henry's mind. He'd convince him to come and help him with the crops, hoping that eventually Henry would see the appeal and take to farming just as many Wakefields before him had. Alas, it didn't seem to have much effect, and Henry only looked miserable as he lugged the watering can around the field, causing a pang of guilt in Caleb's heart.

All he wanted was for his family's farm to have a secure legacy, that was it. Someday, he told himself, someday Henry would understand. He would understand, and he would do what was necessary for his family.

Even if it meant putting other interests aside.

[deeisace]

Stapled my finger! ASM had to do a form about it! Ow :(

[bitsofsciencelife]

Ok everyone, before you panic, go look up dr.andrealove, drjengunter, and drjenniferlincoln on Instagram they have broken down this subject. But basically, the study is basically a nothing-result. The methodology isn't... Great. But even with the bad methodology and unrealistic conditions of the study, the ammounts of metals found were very low, below consumer food safety limits. They were definitely NOT "concerning levels". Most trace toxic substances found in consumer goods are often due to accidental contamination of raw materials or during the manufacturing process. They are NOT added on purpose. Yes, we should still monitor for safety levels to make sure everything is OK, but that's what regulatory bodies like the FDA and toxicologists do. They aren't just doing nothing all day. Also, metals can often be there on purpose for antimicrobial reasons, as we know silver and copper have such properties, for example, but the sensationalized short videos and news don't seem to care about THAT, huh? Biases.

It isn't like tampon companies are trying to scam and poison us un purpose. (If anything, these results are a lesson in why organic and natural often don't mean anything beyond marketing tactics and how sensationalized and taboo female bodies still are. Weird.) Women, trans men, AFAB, and feminine-presenting people already have a lot to deal with as is without everyone trying to scare us about period products that have been safely used for decades in the modern world.

Yes, we still need more research and funding in gynecology, periods, and women's health, but this article is just bad science, and the news covering it are fearmongering. You can keep using your tampons they're safe!! (Just remember to change your tampons, cups and discs every 8 hours max to avoid toxic shock syndrome.)

(Also, not everyone can or wants to change to a reusable period product for multiple reasons. Check your privilege. Please don't shame people for what they use to deal with their periods. Not everyone has ready access to clean water either.)

Weighing up the pros and cons of different sanitary products requires sound knowledge of what risks and benefits each poses. For the first time, researchers have measured concentrations of various metals in tampons, finding worrying levels of several toxic types, including lead, for which there is no safe level of exposure. The walls of the human vagina are lined with a highly absorptive tissue that has the potential to soak up stray pollutants – like metals – that would circulate in the bloodstream without being filtered by the liver first.

Continue Reading.

[nedlittle]

apropos of nothing, here are some gay historical fiction novels that engage with historical queerness in thoughtful, complex, and interesting ways (organized chronologically)

hild by nicola griffith ↪ early 7th century england

a tip for the hangman by alison epstein ↪ 1585-1593 england

confessions of the fox by jordy rosenberg ↪ 1702-1724* england

the confessions of frannie langton by sara collins ↪ 1812-1826 jamaica to england

patience and sarah by isabel miller ↪ 1816 america

devotion by hannah kent ↪ 1830s prussia to australia

the sweetness of water by nathan harris ↪ 1865 america

whiskey when we're dry by john larison ↪ 1885 america

the city of palaces by michael nava ↪ 1897-1913 mexico

tipping the velvet by sarah waters ↪ 1890s england

at swim, two boys by jamie o'neill ↪ 1915-1916 ireland

the gods of tango by caro de robertis ↪ 1913-1920s argentina

uncommon charm by emily bergslien and kat weaver ↪ 1920s america

the book of salt by monique truong ↪ 1930s vietnam to paris

the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay by michael chabon ↪ 1939-1954 america and beyond

the flight portfolio by julie orringer ↪ 1940 france

the savage kind by john copenhaver ↪ 1940s america

a thin bright line by lucy jane bledsoe ↪ 1950s america

*this one has a framing device and footnotes from the present day but the bulk of the story is set in the early 1700s

[mousedetective]

PAYPAL | AMAZON WISHLIST | KOFI | GOFUNDME

09/06/24 - Updated Post!

IMPORTANT: WE HAVE SECURED NEW HOUSING AND NEED MAJOR HELP!

My mother and I are both overdrawn (my mom by $210, me by $517) with charges on both accounts that are going to be retried in a few days. My large loan payment also defaulted, but my loan company agreed not to do automatic withdrawals on my account so I can put money in when I have it; however, my balance has gone back up to $1890. We need help covering the overdrafts and the loan payments.

The rest of the money will go to pay a mover to help us get stuff out of our larger units. We have another month on the units that a friend paid for but we need to try and clear out all three units we have by October 1st. My mom is worn out so any help I can have with a mover getting stuff out and bringing it up the stairs would be great.

We also need to raise $1300 to get work done on our car; our brakes were failing and we got those fixed but there was a secondary, less important problem that we still need to take care of (pinion axle or something like that) that we need to do $500 down to get the part. So some of the money will go to that, too.

Two urgent needs off our Amazon wishlist we need are the incontinence underwear and the lightbulbs. Our overhead light has no bulbs that work, and my daughter needs three more bulbs in her lamp. The rest will be saved to replace them. If anyone can help get the dresser as well, that would be much appreciated and would help my daughter get more space in her room.

Any reblogs of this post, monetary help or buying things from our Amazon wishlist would be so helpful. We're almost on our feet and hopefully we won't need as much help in the future. Thank you very much for reading, and have a pleasant day!

$12/$5000

[marzipanandminutiae]

get in loser we're trying to figure out the original layout of the 1890s house I live in (based primarily on real estate listing photos, for the other unit)

[elderberries-and-honey]

One day after school, Oscar found his parents sitting in the parlour waiting for him and Flora. Once their school bags had been unpacked, Winifred and Lawrence had asked them if they could have a talk.

Both of his parents looked rigid, and neither one spoke for what felt like a very long time; the slow ticking of the grandfather clock echoing throughout the halls.

"My angels, um," His father began, pausing to clear his throat. "Well, you both know Dr. Jekyll has been getting old. After all, he was your Mum's cat long before we even met. And, when animals grow old, they die...just as humans do; it's the natural order of things, you see..."

Even as his father explained the cycle of life and death, and how all living things eventually cease to exist, young Oscar couldn't bring himself to understand what it had to do with their beloved cat. Not until his father finally stopped beating around the bush and got on with it.

"All this is to say that...I'm sorry, my loves, but Dr. Jekyll passed away this morning. Mummy found him out in the yard, in his favourite sunny spot."

The terrible words met Oscar's ears, and for a moment, he was in disbelief. But he knew his parents wouldn't lie...and if they wouldn't lie then that meant his favourite kitty was truly gone.

All of Oscar's precious memories came rushing back. From the way Dr. Jekyll would hiss at his mother's creepy black bird, and how always beg for scraps of food like a dog, and how he followed him and his siblings around everywhere, even out into the snow as they played!��

He and Dr. Jekyll had always been the closest out of him and his siblings, and every day before school, he found his beloved cat and kissed him goodbye. In fact, he had just that morning. And now…he would never kiss him goodbye or fall asleep together in his bed at night? It just didn’t make sense! None of it made sense!

The next thing Oscar knew, he was running from the parlour. He could hear his mother calling after him and ordering him to come back but still, his legs kept moving. His chest had never felt this way before, as though it were heavy and light at the same time.

Every memory entering his mind demanded he find release in the tears that were stinging in his eyes. But it was not until he got to the safety of his room, and away from the worried look in his parents eyes, that he would allow himself to truly cry.

[pluckyredhead]

…Sorry if this is a bit weird but do you have any queer romance book recommendations? I ended up finishing the last binding trilogy because you posted about it (you have excellent taste lol) and I’m a bit stuck at the moment with what to read next.

Not weird at all! I absolutely have recs! Also Freya Marske has a brand new book out called Swordcrossed if you want more of her writing. (For people who are not anon: The Last Binding is an Edwardian historical fantasy romance trilogy and it's excellent.)

Okay recs:

KJ Charles: My favorite queer romance author, hands down, and also the most prolific! She's written over 30 queer historical romance novels (and one queer historical mystery), mostly M/M, all historical and set in the UK during various time periods ranging from the 1810s to the 1920s. My two favorite things about her work: 1. It draws very heavily on the history, meaning that her characters never come across like modern people in historical cosplay. And 2. she's great at creating genuine conflict between or around characters. I have read too many romances where everything is uwu softness and nothing hurts but Charles's characters are always either fundamentally divided by politics, class, ethical perspectives, lies, and/or tragic backstories, OR they get along fine but a murderer is trying to kill them, OR, in the best of her books, both.

My favorites are probably The Will Darling Adventures (1920s trilogy all about the same couple fighting a criminal secret society), A Seditious Affair (1810s, a radical firebrand and a Tory government official accidentally fall in love while having extremely kinky sex), An Unnatural Vice (1870s, "spiritualist" con artist and the crusading journalist trying to expose him), and Any Old Diamonds (1890s, The Saddest Boy in the World hires a sexy jewel thief to rob his horrible father, kink ensues), but you can really start anywhere - Think of England is where I jumped on and it's nice because it's more of a standalone (there is a companion book but Think of England comes first). If you liked The Last Binding, you might want to start with her Magpie Lord series because they are also fantasy romance. (Freya Marske is a big KJ Charles fan and it shows, in a good way.)

Allie Therin: Sticking with the fantasy romance angle here for a moment, Therin has a 1920s trilogy called Magic in Manhattan that is all about the same couple, a prickly magic-user named Rory and the big hunky WWI vet who loves him, as they fight various evil magicians. (HUGE oversimplification but you get it.) There's a spinoff trilogy, the Roaring Twenties Magic series, which has two books out so far. I love NYC, the 1920s, fantasy, and queer romance, so obviously I love all of this.

But I'm particularly obsessed with her Sugar and Vice series (also a trilogy, first book is out already and the second one comes out next month) which is set in modern day Seattle and is about an empath named Reece and the super dangerous empath hunter called the Dead Man who may or may not be here to kill Reece, and also there's a serial killer on the loose. This one is a suuuuuuper slow burn (they don't even kiss in the first book!), so you have to be patient but I read the second book early and yeah I'm obsessed and desperate to talk to other people about these books.

Charlie Adhara: More paranormal romance! I wrote about these books at greater length recently, but the short version is: FBI agent gets transferred to the super secret werewolf division of the FBI and partnered with a hot werewolf, they fall in love, spend five books developing into The Ultimate Power Couple, I'm in love with their love. There's a spinoff series called Monster Hunt but only one book is out so far.

TJ Klune: I probably don't have to tell anyone about TJ Klune anymore and I'll admit he can be hit or miss for me but I did really love Wolfsong. As long as we're talking werewolves.

Dessa Lux: Okay these are more erotica than romance but Omega Required is a comfort read for me, which is funny because I'm not usually an omegaverse gal. But this is about a very sweet alpha doctor who offers a marriage of convenience to a very traumatized omega and it's literally just nonstop cuddling and soup. She also has a series that's just ever-growing werewolf gangbangs, if that's a thing you're into. Like. A cartoonish amount of werewolves at the gangbang. It's delightful.

Cat Sebastian: I will admit Sebastian is also a little bit hit or miss for me. I loved her very first trilogy, the Turner series, which is very much in the vein of KJ Charles (Regency romance, class divides, lots of conflict). She wrote some more 19th century stuff after that and then moved into mid-20th century romance (50s-70s) which is honestly very rare. She also basically...stopped writing any conflict at all. I would say a large portion of her books after the Turner series can be accurately described as "two best friends who are secretly in love with each other sit in the same house/apartment and enjoy each other's company until they get together." I know a BUNCH of people who absolutely love that and they are well-written! But I really have to be in the right mood for them.

Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy: Okay I am not a hockey person, but you must, you MUST read Him and its sequel, Us. Hockey-playing BFFs, one is gay and secretly in love with the the other, the other one is like "I don't think I'm into dudes but I'd better give you 300 blowjobs to make sure." (Spoiler: he's into dudes.) Honestly the stupidest men imaginable. I love them so much. Bowen has written a few other queer romances solo and I'm working my way through her back catalog now.

Rachel Reid: Yes it's more hockey romance but. BUT. Heated Rivalry. Two of the top players in the NHL, on rival teams, have famously hated each other for years...and have secretly been fucking since they were rookies. Reid is another one where I'm still working my way through her books but Heated Rivalry is something special.

I am SURE there are more I'm forgetting but this is long so I'll stop it here for now! Also folks should feel free to reblog with further recs, she said selfishly.

[leporellian]

actually i'm going to talk about the met's weird thing with the rust belt more because it was definitely one of those things where a few years ago when the new met lucia was in development i was like, oh cool i wonder what they'll do with that, but now that we're here... man does it leave a bad taste in the mouth.

here's a question for you: Why Do So Many Operas Take Place In Seville?

seville is the setting for some hundreds of operas, including many of the famous ones: the barber of seville, carmen, la forza del destino, the marriage of figaro, fidelio, don giovanni (which actually might not take place in seville but given don juan stories up to them did it sticks)... the list keeps going. and there was a legitimate reason for this- for hundreds of years, seville was seen as a seedy and sexualized location where anything could happen. that exoticism carries over into the plot of many of the Seville Operas, which often feature seductions, crimes, and passion stories that fit neatly into the tales of the seedy city.

opera is about, in a lot of ways, EXOTICIZING OTHER PLACES. the spectacle of a setting was often a major part of the excitement of seeing a new opera, especially in the 19th century. but some of these places 'work' better than others, for a variety of reasons that boil down to the politics of representation and who is being who onstage.

seville works as an Exotic Opera Location Du Jour for multiple reasons. for one thing, if you notice, a lot of the seville operas take place 60-100+ years before the composition of the opera. for example, the marriage of figaro and don giovanni were composed in 1786 and 1787 respectively, and both depict 1600s seville. if you were writing a Seville Opera right now, for comparison, it would probably take place between 1890 and 1960- there's enough of a time gap that exploring the world as a more fantastical setting is easier to swallow. for another, seville is in western europe, and many of the composers depicting it were also from western europe. there is an evened playing field. (THERE IS A NOTABLE EXCEPTION about this that I WILL GET TO SOON.) finally, now that these operas are over a century old, we're even more removed from their concept of 'seville' and the 'seville' in operas has been turned into something of a convenient fantasy location in which to put an opera. it's something out of a medieval times dinner and tournament and not necessarily meant to be Actual Real Seville at all, which works fine because Seville Operas work without needing much context about the location. don jose is a soldier, you don't need to know what seville soldiers' duties were. figaro is a barber, you don't need to know what barbers in seville were like. and so on.

but there are other opera locations that don't serve this purpose as well- often nonwhite regions appropriated by white composers. the incredibly warped conceptions of egypt that show up in aida and the magic flute, the looking-glass japan of madama butterfly, the brief moment in which la fanciulla del west wherein the opera remembers the existence of native american peoples... suddenly the make-believe of exoticism goes away and is replaced by a sour feeling because in many cases these cultures could not have a say on their own depictions in the operatic world, while the western europeans featured in the operas that exoticize locations like seville or paris could.

carmen is an interesting case study in Opera Exoticism because it features a location that is fine enough to exoticize (early 1800s seville) and a titular character that is not. carmen was- and, in many productions, is still- written as romani. she embodies many negative stereotypes about the culture- she is seductive, morally ambiguous, a smuggler, a femme fatale. yet we as an audience are made to sympathize with her. she is honest about who she is, accepting of the hard truths that are given to her; she is close to her friends and her crueler moments come across as more of an ill-planned joke than a real sense of antipathy. carmen is both a product of how romani people were written by white men in her time, and progressive in that we root for her against the (white) don jose. (and it should be noted that she knows that if he kills her he will be executed for it- carmen is about a mutual kill.) a good carmen production will evaluate all of these features and include them into the work somehow; be it through metatextual commentary, or careful representation, or understanding of what the audience is seeing.

anyway, now that we've covered all that, let's go look at The Met Opera's Current Fascination With Lower Class American Communities and see what we find there.

the rust belt and the sun belt have captured the imagination of the met opera recently, as seen in their current productions of lucia di lammermoor and carmen. these settings are depicted as grimy, miserable, and joyless; women are thrown around by men, men are depicted as one-dimensional monsters that are not to be understood or seen into. the cruelty is the point- these productions do not treat lower-class americans as people to relate to or understand. the sole exceptions are lucia- who is made out to be something of an outsider, so the audience can relate to her- and carmen, who is misinterpreted into being a sad woman who just wants love (god forbid a woman have some other motivation). the racial issues that dominate the cultural conversation in america are unspoken of in these productions, even when there is an opportunity to; this becomes especially uncomfortable in carmen, where the above history of carmen as a nonwhite woman and the opera's setting on the US-Mexico border (with the soldiers cast as border agents!) goes unmentioned in the name of 'heightening the class and gender inequality'- both of which were already in the original work along with the race inequality! these productions are both directed by non-american white people. simon stone is from australia, carrie cracknell is from britain. why would they want to depict this setting? because they see it as a dark, cynical den of seediness and repressed sexuality- a world where we don't have to worry about empathy, or broader implications, because the people in these settings do not go to the met- a world where we can look on with revulsion and unease.... this crosses the line from exoticism into fetishization, in which lower class people become pawns for the met to use as set dressing.

this is especially uncomfortable because of opera's long history being seen as a 'rich people hobby'. opera is characterized as snobbish, useless, reprehensible; an art form that exists only to please the rich and the white and the male-dominated. all of which is not true! i believe to the bottom of my heart that everybody deserves a night at the opera, and that there is an opera for everyone, and everybody should feel welcome in the opera house (or other opera space du jour). and there are so many people working to change the industry from the inside, particularly the work of artists of color to broaden the opera canon and depictions of that canon as we know them. but as long as the met continues to use poor people as set dressing instead of bothering to communicate with them in a meaningful way, as long as the met sees these settings as places where brutes live instead of human beings, that stereotype of the rich man's hobby is going to continue. and the met is going to suffer for it- as i suspect that, as time goes on, the voyeuristic lens of these operas into the lives of abused lower-class women will be seen as more and more revolting.

TLDR

[thethirdromana]

A telegram came from Van Helsing at Amsterdam whilst I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at Hillingham to-night, as it might be well to be at hand, and stating that he was leaving by the night mail and would join me early in the morning.

On the third time of reading this, I wonder if there are hints of a mystery that Victorian audiences would pick up on that modern audiences don't.

Van Helsing's travel schedule in this period is unhinged. Here's a breakdown from last year (note: spoilers through to 30th September). He's zipping back and forth from London to Amsterdam at a frequency that would be pretty uncomfortable if he were taking the Eurostar, but that would be exhausting on 1890s trains and steamers.

(I think sometimes in the world of Dracula Daily we get a bit nostalgic about 1890s trains, not least because a good chunk of the novel is a love letter to them, but anyone who's been on a heritage railway knows they would also have been noisy, smelly and frequently uncomfortable.)

So we're going, 'he's travelling a lot, that's weird, well, he's a weird guy', whereas perhaps a Victorian audience would go, 'no one would travel that much without very good reason. What on earth is he doing in Amsterdam that he can't do in London?'

[nothingspecialherern]

I've seen a million posts like this, but just a reminder, especially with a historians perspective. The doomsday is not here yet. He is not in power yet. And even when he is, there will not be a flipped switch for every policy he says he'll do. Policies take time, and approval, and they can be challenged. I know-- I promise I know-- that the Senate majority is scary. And I know that supreme court justices have said they would resign for this specifically. I know the House may be red too. This is hard, this is scary, and he will get things done as he pleases.

But goddammit, if ACTUP could fight against the AIDS problem in the middle of an extreme conservative wave, then so will we. If women were still casting votes and smashing bars in the 1890s, then so will we. If the 'Radical Republicans' of the post-civil-war South stood fast in the face of the klan and an uncaring government, then so will we. If the civil rights movement survived beatings on live television, then so will we.

The president isn't the goal. We are. Our movement is not a ballot-- it's an unshakable community. We aren't losing yet. We're still here for each other. This will be hard, and scary, but it's us that will save ourselves. Don't lose sight of that.

[fanlore-wiki]

Featured Article: Racetrack Higgins

This week we're dancing our way back to the 1890s and hanging out with the news boys, because our Featured Article is Newsies character Racetrack Higgins!

Racetrack Higgins is a minor character from the movie/musical, but the most popular character in the fandom. Fans have created a great deal of the fanon about the character, including his family, his cultural background, and what his first name may possibly be.

Curious to learn more? Head over to Fanlore!

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