on memory

madeline miller, the song of achilles // @magentasnail // haruki murakami, norwegian woods // fleetwood mac, silver springs 1997 perfomance remastered // michael faudet // taylor swift, this is me trying // jeremy miranda, waves of winter // virginia woolf, mrs dalloway

my heart's full to the brim w the joy of loving btw. i'll die one day but also i won't. on account of the love.

@vampowers / fleabag / erica e goode / last kiss taylor swift / @bookwyrminspiration / euripides

the world is so beautiful you can eat rice here

im so calm and normal but also if im misunderstood by people in a way i cannot control i will tear apart the fibers of the universe

Girls will say "I just need to lie down for a little while" and then sink into a muddy river and get all their hard.tissues replaced with mineral deposits

life is just humiliating yourself over and over and learning to live with the inherent shame of being alive !! do what makes you happy !! it is impossible to live life without embarrassment, so why bother trying !!

it’s just the way katniss won against snow by not starving to death, and then she won against snow by being one of two victors, and then she won against snow by being the face of the revolution. and then right at the end of mockingjay, she has this clear direction to kill snow, to win against him one more time. but this time katniss knows better than to obediently win against snow (because of prim’s death and coin’s hunger games suggestion), so she wins against coin instead, and snow loses to the crowd.

there’s something poetic about that. the only time katniss lets herself lose to snow is the only time the world is good enough to win against him themselves. the only time katniss lets herself win against coin is when the world is good enough that otherwise they would lose to her.

Been letting go of people without necessarily villainizing them. I don’t need to tell myself “they’re a bad person” “don’t know how to handle my emotions” “have xyz negative traits” “a total asshole without any redeeming qualities” to be able to arrive at the conclusion that maybe that certain person would not be a very healthy addition to my life. Idk growing up and maturing has come w seeing other people not though the lens of “u bad me good,” but more so through “we’re all imperfect in our own ways, and I can still acknowledge the good in you even as I decide it’s best to part ways.” People will always be tricky to navigate, it’s just a matter of asking yourself “do I have the capacity or time for this? Is this worth it?” and the answer can still be no even if the person you’re removing from your life isn’t an evil caricature of who they actually are

family <3

it is spring and things regrow. btw

there is love in this story. even in its most brutal end. there is love in the story. how? where? here: here in me telling it to you, in spite of everything. because of everything.

[looks for you in everything] [finds you there]

Another advice for girls and young women: love and sex is supposed to be fun, happy and make your life better. If it’s not, if it’s making you miserable, if it’s making you love yourself less, if it’s making you doubt yourself, and if you feel like you have to sacrifice yourself or put up with things you don’t want to, you are absolutely entitled to throw it out from your life. In fact, you should, because your life is so, so valuable and you have the right to be happy. Being a girl does not mean having to accept misery and pain, even if that’s what we’re often taught. You are allowed to decide what comes into your life. Let it be happy and beautiful.

The chapter in the book Little Women/Good Wives, and the scene in the movies of Jo's proposal and married life are So Important. They show the heroine living a happy and unconventional lifestyle: It says that this life she leads with work, marriage, and very little money is a good, wholesome life. That is so important.

But - I think an overlooked chapter in the books (not depicted in the films that I have seen) is the one in which Meg tries to cook and preserve currant jam. She has a miserable day, turned even worse when her husband John brings home a friend for dinner. For once, Meg snaps at him and he snaps back when provoked.

Eventually, Meg takes some good advhice from Marmee, and she brings peace. The chapter ends with a line about married life foe these two not being perfect - it will always have its difficulties, but peace has been preserved and quarrels will be managed.

In another chapter, after Meg has had twins, she understandable becomes so wrapped up in them that she neglects both herself and her husband. Neither the book nor I are saying that one partner should be a servant to the other. But in marriage, we have promised something of ourselves to them*. Meg has isolated herself from the world and grown irritable while she rarely sees John who spends time at his friend's house instead of being nagged at home.

Again, Meg takes initiative and fixes it. This is a bit of a pattern that we see the world over today, in which women usually take the emotional burden in the home. I have no comment to make on that, it's not the point of this post.

The point is: The book has made a few excellent points through everyday, domestic scenes about marriage which are not (or only rarely) shown on film. The glamour, unpredictability and excitement of Jo's publishing, marriage to the Professor, work and, from a plot-based POV, the fact that she is the main character, mean that her storyline is in the spotlight. I love her storyline. But I also think that Meg's has something important to teach us: If you choose the more traditional path, your life is just as full of adventure and growth, difficulties, pain and pleasures.

*talking about non-toxic nd non-abusive relationships.

on the destruction of love

taylor swift, illicit affairs // @otrtbs, art heist, baby! // emily juniper, coming home to her // boygenius, $20 // fragments of sappho (tr. anne carson, if not, winter) // charles bukowski, the people look like flowers at last // florence + the machine, kiss with a fist // rupi kaur, milk and honey // @mayzarbewithyou, crimson rivers // sade andria zabala, coffee and cigarettes // florence + the machine, the bomb

i would not survive five minutes in the hunger games what if my lips got dry