Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together; sophistication demands that they submit to sex immediately without proper preliminary talk. Not courting talk — real straight talk about souls, for life is holy and every moment is precious.

Jack Kerouac, On the Road (via wordpainting)

Clay Bennett

Morgan Le Fay by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, 1880

Girl and Fox (by Alexandra Bochkareva)

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Dark red by Reinennen

There is nothing quite so tragic as a young cynic, because it means the person has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.

Maya Angelou, who would’ve been 89 today, on the courage to face evil.  (via explore-blog)

Honestly, I don’t need someone who sees the good in me. I need someone who sees the bad in me and still wants me.

Unknown  (via wordsnquotes)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) unveiled legislation that would make public universities and community colleges tuition free for working families, and he had a powerful backer with him in Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

Constellations.

April 6 marks 100 years since the U.S. Congress voted to declare war on Germany, entering World War I. The war took the lives of 17 million people worldwide. But what’s not as well-known is the role that animals played at a time when they were still critical to warfare.

Horses in particular served alongside troops on both sides, and several million died during the war. The animals were so crucial to the war effort that they also became military targets.

“You need these horses to move, to fight, to exist,” says Christopher Kolakowski, director of the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Va. “It would be like maintaining your car today.”

Hundreds of thousands of horses and mules were shipped to Europe from Newport News, Va., the largest departure point for horses and mules, during war years. The area around the port on the James River is now full of condos, office buildings, and even today — shipyards.

The Unsung Equestrian Heroes Of World War I And The Plot To Poison Them

Photo: Courtesy of U.S. National Archives

“I met him at the company where we worked. We went out dancing. He was kind to me. Things started changing after we got married. I’d rush home from work so I could cook for the whole family. But if the food wasn’t ready on time, he’d get upset. One day his mistress came to the door to tell me about their affair. I was pregnant at the time. He came back from work and found her in the house, and he hit me so hard that he broke my face. I still have the scars. The abuse got worse and worse. I stayed for a long time. At first I thought marriages were supposed to be like that. And by the time I learned otherwise, he wouldn’t let me go. He’d lock me in the house. He’d threaten me by putting a gun to our son’s head. When I finally got a restraining order, I was in such bad shape that I checked into a mental institution. Now I’m alone and it’s the happiest time of my life. I’m able to work. I can eat whatever I want. I can go out whenever I want. Even sitting here and smoking a cigarette is a joy for me.” (Bogotá, Colombia)

Auguste Toulmouche (1829-1890),

Giants Causeway- Ireland

formed by volcanic activity over 50 million years ago, the Giants Causeway is Irelands first World Heritage Site. In Irish folklore, epic hero Finn McCool was said to have built the causeway in order to challenge a neighbouring giant.

Photo of the Day: Singing for Big Mama

Photograph caption: Lucretia M. Anderson sings a tribute to legendary blues singer Big Mama Thornton at the Blues Gal Musical hosted by Unity Church in Richmond, Virginia, in honor of the famous Richmond-born blues singer Lady E. Photo by Jared Johnson (Glen Allen, Virginia, USA); Richmond, Virginia, USA

This photo is a finalist in the American Experience category of our 14th Annual Photo Contest. This year, we received more than 48,000 submissions, submitted by photographers from 146 countries and territories. See all 70 finalists and vote for the Readers’ Choice Winner!

Ved-ava is a water deity, common to several Finno-Ugric peoples traditionally dependent on fishing. She is also sometimes associated with fertility. She is generally depicted as a water creature resembling a mermaid, with long hair, large breasts, and the lower body of a fish complete with tail, and is sometimes said to play or sing, seducing humans with her music. Fishermen sacrificed to her the first of their catch and observed numerous taboos related to her while fishing. Seeing Ved-ava boded ill, most often drowning. She has been regarded as the spirit of a drowned person or simply as a personification of the water itself. Among the Mordvins (an area in what is now Western Russia) she was the Water Mother, ruler of the waters and their bounty; she is known as Vete-ema among the Estonians and Veen emo among the Finns.