#19th century women who know what the internet is
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Emily and Sue and Carlo in the exact spots where Dickinson was filmed 😳 At Old Bethpage Village Restoration in Long Island, New York. The orchard and the field where the Dickinson house set was built!
For period drama appreciation week day 2: favorite TV period drama 🐝💀🎩🌋
The outfits I drew were from season 2 episode 4, "The Daisy follows soft the Sun". Sue's "watermelon dress" was made for that episode but cut! She posted it on her instagram story in 2021. Luckily the watermelon dress made it into season 3 but we never got to see her and Emily's interaction in this episode (the one with the maze). 🤔👭
#old bethpage village restoration#dickinson#perioddramaweek2023#emisue#hailee steinfeld#ella hunt#alena smith#paper dolls#the daisy follows soft the sun#s2e04#dickinson season 2#carlo the dog#19th century women who know what the internet is#dickinson fanart#dickinson fan art#dickinson apple tv
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The Snark Is Real This Morning
Oh no! Some patriarchal shill just had an Illegal Corset Thought on the Internet!
Maybe they said "corsets weren't invented by the patriarchy" or "comfort was actually often a prime concern for most women's day-to-day corset-wearing, as evidenced by mid-late 19th century advertising" or "women didn't go around fainting constantly because most of them didn't tightlace most of the time."
Maybe they brought up "survivorship bias in extant clothing" or "rampant photo doctoring in the 19th/early 20th century" or "treating satirical cartoons and fashion plates as gospel" or "museums displaying corsets laced entirely closed when wear patterns and primary sources indicate that lacing gaps were more common in many times and places" These concepts are actually conspiracies invented by Big Misogyny to sell more booze to depressed history workers!
Maybe one of them said that she'd worn corsets, or even that she and/or her friends actually found them more comfortable than bras! Clearly she believes this is representative of all women throughout history and in the present day. Besides, she is suffering from Femininity Poisoning and nothing coming out of her silly, weak little brain can be taken seriously. Remember, it is Peak Feminism to dismiss what a woman says because of her gender presentation!
Don't be fooled! All of these statements mean one thing: they are saying that corsets were and are, always and forever, universally feminist and empowering. That no woman in the past ever found them uncomfortable, and that GNC women didn't exist before 1960 and also are icky. Did they actually say that? Doesn't matter! You know what she Really Meant- you've seen P*rates of the Caribbean and Br*dgerton! Corsets were always torture devices meant to oppress women, and any statement contradicting that clearly means the extreme opposite.
So what's a right-thinking and concerned Internet Citizen to do? You have a few options:
See point above re: femininity. Feminine-presenting women are basically brainless, so if a woman talking about dress history Wears An Skirt, you can just write off whatever she says. Easy peasy! Be sure to say something derogatory about her appearance, so others know why they shouldn't take her seriously.
Accuse them of not knowing their history. Any degrees, professional experience, publications, academic accolades, etc. they may have are irrelevant. Their primary sources are...idk photoshopped or something? Best to ignore them altogether. You have Feelings on your side, and that's far more valuable than any research!
Accuse them of accusing you of being a t*rf. Works especially well if they've said anything about the preponderance of t*rfs expressing your True and Correct views- that just means they're calling everyone who thinks like you a transphobe, duh!
Tell them they're not believing women. If they have cited so-called "realities of historical women's lives," well, that's clearly just the rich elite of any given era (who were also brainrotted by Femininity, natch). If you're a woman, and you say corsets were the spawn of Beelzebub, that should be enough ~evidence~ for anyone!
Appeal to common knowledge. Everyone KNOWS corsets were evil; can they really be DEFENDING a KNOWN HATEFUL OPPRESSIVE HELL-GARMENT?! What is the world coming to! If they ask how exactly everyone knows that and where that collective belief comes from, reply with a snarky GIF and block them. There's just no reasoning with some people.
Call them a tradwife. Are they a tradwife? Irrelevant.
With all these tools in your arsenal, you are now well-equipped to fight the horde of vile corset apologists online. Remember: It's Only Real Oppression If The Oppressed Group Is Miserable 24/7!
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dunky and rust! took me forever but details below
Rusty:
*clutches fists at overalls costing $1.29 in the 50s
ANYWAY uhm Rusty came to the SR in 1957 so I took some inspiration from both 50s and 60s clothing but mostly 50s
But yeah like all the other freethinkers🤖 in this community i subscribe to Rusty being nonbiney (altho they're mostly masc presenting)
I want to say that Rusty's jumpsuit is based off women's workwear but like. women's workwear in the 50's was based off men's workwear so what difference does it make😭
Ripped their boots straight from the bottom right of the catalog here so hehe
Their nameplate is specifically very simple and non-glossy to designate them as a maintenance worker as opposed to for passenger service
I don't. um. intend for Rusty to be that much taller than overhaul 2 loey. they're probably around the same height at best and Rusty is def a bit shorter than overhaul 3 loey
also they're wearing a flat cap. i don't like drawing them but it made the most sense so,
i don't know if they had binders in the 50s? If they didn't then um. I'm sure there was some kind of equivalent shapewear-
Duncan:
this guy was such a damn pain to design for oml
i really need to find a way to save my ref pics when i make my pencil sketches so i can add them to these posts when im done djfdjbfk
i gave duncan beeeaaauuuttifull lushious long blonde locks💅because he's got a long ass funnel HAHAHAH
he's tall. but he's also lanky. he's like a very tall twink sorta. like i get that he's strong cuz he worked at a factory but bro cannot retain muscle like. he's sticks.
oh and also blue eyes because of douglas. yyyyeah
anyway you might be wondering. capy what the hell is that ugly ass band of pattern across his chest
well that was my BIG BRAIN moment.
starting around like the 19th century people would take the fabric used to make sacks for shipping dried goods like animal feed and flour, and turn that fabric into clothing
this originated in more rural communities but became more widespread during world war I and especially world war II with rationing and whatnot. basically when companies noticed people wearing their sacks they began printing patterns onto their sacks for this explicit purpose (cuz you know. marketing)
before arriving to Sodor, duncan worked in a factory. you know who else produces dried goods?? factories!!!
around the time he arrived to sodor was also when American rock and roll was really influencing British youth, particularly with the rise of teddy boys and then the rockers (which is from my understanding, greasers but British). So around the time Duncan was heading to Sodor there was already an air of rebellion among the UK's youth
I took particular inspiration from Rockabilly based on its noted influence on British popular culture, which from what I've seen, adopts some more flashy elements to their clothing in contrast to the traditional suit and dress. I was this close to making duncan wear a bowling shirt
the kerchief is also because of this hehe
so in a moment of genius/delusion, i thought. what if while working at the factory, duncan saw the trends of people using their feed sacks as clothing fabric, and stole a bag or two for himself so he could sew on a strip of the fabric onto his work shirts because he's, ya know, mr. rock n roll
yes i did all that just for a stripe of fabric on his chest i am VERY happy with this choice
btw here's the exact pattern i used (i just ripped it off the internet)
ok that's it thank you for reading through my rambling once again!! lowkey i want to post lil western next but also. i talked abt making rws/formal uniforms for the SR crew so. we'll see what happens next lol
#ttte rusty#ttte duncan#ttte#ttte humanized#wow i typed a lot for duncan#except most of it was just exposition hahaaa#NOW I CAN DRAW THEM INTERACTING YIPPPEEEEEE#pictures in the reception hall#capy posting
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A hat full of shit
Just a very short post compared to others this time. Lets start by playing a game, shall we? Can you identify the difference between these two pics of Dobson?
And no, just because they show the same douchebag, they are not the same. Cause in one pic, something important is missing!
Yeah, that's right, the hat. To be more precise, the fedora Dobson would like to draw himself with, based on the fact that at least ever since college Dobson had been a fedora wearer in real life. Likely to hide his eggshaped, bald calvaria.
Now frankly, I don't think the fedora as a hat in itself is something terrible. In fact, it is actually something of a feministic icon, originating from a headpiece a female character named "Princess Fedora Romanova" wore in a theater play called "Fedora" by the french writer Sadoun from 1882. The character even played by a highly respected actress at the time called Sarah Bernhardt. And after it got popularity via the play, it was worn mostly by women in the late half of the 19th century -particularly members of the first feministic movements- it became popular with men in the 1920s all over the world, especially in America where it was famous during the prohibition, the 40s-60s, in Hollywood movies (particularly the detetive noir ones of the time) and so on.
Nowadays however... well, we all know the memes, how the fedora is something of the first indicative piece of clothing a fake feminist or unhinged social justice warrior likes to wear.
And even Dobson, though a bit late to the party, eventually became aware of the negative association the fedora developed online, which is actually the reason why he stopped wearing the hat altogether.
As he made known in a "humourous" fashion through this dumb SYAC strip...
And would also confirm quite a few years later on twitter, when he ranted randomly about how internet creeps ruined the hat for him.
And as to be expected of Dobson, utter lack of self awareness. At all.
Cause honestly, if he thinks only male douchebags wear a fedora now... well, then he should have kept it on. After all, it fit him.
There is really not much here I can say than the following: If Dobson wanted NOT to be associated with (male) douchebaggery at all, then getting rid of his hat was not the right course of action. Cause being Dobson, it did not matter if he wore a fedora, 80s leggings, nothing, a plain white shirt or started vapping: A douchebag, is a douchebag independent of his choice of clothing.
Dobson wasn't seen as a douche because of his hat or rather a lack thereof.
He was a douche because he was condescending, creepy, acted like he was a semi authority at what "decent" and "progressive" entertainment is like/should be, despite a severe lack of actually creating stories of his own and many other reasons.
Heck, Dobson couldn't even be halfway "consistent" with the fact he abandoned his hat. After all, even in the years following that comic, he would occassionally still draw himself with the hat.
No, seriously. The comic condamning fedoras, according to the base timeline I can construct on the release date of the comics, indicate it to have come out sometime before 2014.
And then when he made his patreon campaign video in 2015... well, I unfortunately only have a modified version of that video found online, but guess what sort of headwear shows up in the "unedit" parts.
youtube
I hope that whatever happened with his hat, it found a better use than resting on his skull. Who knows, perhaps it was donated to the homeless and is now catching more money on average, than Dobson earned via patreon
#andrew dobson#fedora#my lady#adobsoncomic#adobsonartwork#adobsonsartwork#so...you are a cartoonist#syac#soyouareandrewdobson#comic#webcomic#tom preston#Youtube
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Dear Irene, watching Series 2 has not been a good experience for me not only because of the show but bc of the fandom as well. The amount of times I saw people publicly fantasize about physical and emotional violence toward Anne deeply disturbed me, at the same time I feel that the fandom lacks any understanding for Anne's position in society as a women and a lesbian. You are one of the very few blogs who remained levelheaded and fair toward her. Thank you so much for that. It saved me.
Hello friend. I'm sorry to read that you didn't have a great experence with series 2, or the fandom. I usually enter tumblr to post and don't really read the Gentleman Jack tag, but I came across quite a lot of people that seem to have had your same experience – I guess I just want to share with you that you are not alone in this.
Because I don't really go looking for GJ content I never came across people publicly fantasize about physical and emotional violence toward Anne, thankfully. I'm sorry that you did. I read a lot of very simplistic takes on Anne, yes, and came across a lot of wanting-to-be funny posts about her that were quite derogatory in nature. I'm not a fan of all that and I don't like to engage with that type of content, so I try to stay away from it.
I'm happy to read that my blog is a sort of safe place for you. I'll always try to share good vibes and I'll always be kind to Anne Lister, what she did and achived as a woman and a lesbian in a 19th century society is remarkble and that will never change, despite what random peeps on the internet say.
A heartfelt advice: try to not give too much credit to what random strangers write on the internet. Find few people who write good reviews, who know how to write well argued criticism and who really analyse the content they discuss, and stick with them – and stop following them if they start making content that upsets you in any way, it's not worth it.
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tw:mentions of nationalism,racism,(slightly less of) homophobia and femicides.
[all credits for the tweets go to @ k._antonis on instagram]
"I hope for Turkey to soon be demolished,to hurt and feel how it is to lose people,you cursed,may God burn you all."
"in the end,God was Greek! #earthquake of course we are not taking pity on you!"
"sending help to Turkey is a civilised deed,like the slaughtering and raping that the barbarian Turks (every invader) do when they invade another country (see Cyprus). QUESTION: SHOULD WE SENT HELP?"
(this last one is actually from a president of a party.a party that has a place in the parliament,represented by ten members.which means people voted for it)
.
enough is enough.
the (ongoing) tragedy that followed the earthquake in Turkey and Syria was followed in turn by (the usual) nationalistic comments,comments which are focused on events that happened centuries ago,comments that show that,even in 2023,there is not so much hope for certain people to change their views.and that's a tragedy itself,too.
before anyone,if anyone ever reads that,comes at me for whatever reason,I want to put a disclaimer here:I do not mean that everyone is like that when I am refering to certain events happening in this country,which I love but recognise the problems of that need to be solved.I am just furious about certain people's reactions to Greece sending help to the countries during this difficult (difficult is an understatement) time.
sending help is the least we can do as a whole.
I am not usually a person who expresses her opinions on the internet;to be honest with you,it's very hard,a roller coaster ride worth of anxiety for me-anyway,this isn't about me.
this time,though,I want to talk.
I want to talk about the nationalistic side of things,from the perspective of a person who grew up and is still living in this country, a person who has seen a lot and heard a lot and is sick and tired of being stuck in the 19th and the 20th century.
for almost nineteen years,this country has been what one would call my homeland;yet,how can you give the label "home" to a country whose people yell that refugees from Syria take our jobs,a country where your yiayia forbids you from talking to the Pakistani family down the street who greet you every morning,because they are dangerous people who cook and smell and act weird,a country that thinks different is equal to weird,a country that kills difference,literally and figuratively,whose people throw queer couples out of the taverna because the "normal" costumers want to eat in peace,a country in which you count down on New Year's Day and the next moment you start counting the number of the women killed this year by their husbands/lovers/exes etc.,a country that even tries to kill theatre,its own child,and that (despite of it being an issue for further analysing) may seem completely irrelevant,but if you think about it,isn't it theatre that teaches us how to love and accept and live peacefully with others?isn't it theatre that teaches us about tragedies?
a country whose people do not want to help their neighbours/other nations because of our "past",when,at the same time,they claim to have read the history and know it by heart,when,at the same time of saying that God cursed these people,the most practiced religion in Greece is Orthodox Christianity and the church that gives the New Testament away to young students has such influence? have all these wars and all these tragedies and Jesus taught you nothing?haven't they taught you not to hide your nationalism behind the door of religion and history?haven't you gotten the message for being at peace with each other and others,to "love thy neighbour"?
the thing is,at least from my experience,almost no one ever says anything to anyone when they hear curses and "threats" (with or without quotation marks) towards the Turkish people and the people from Syria-I myself have been guilty about not putting people in a place to think critically of what they have said many times and I sincerely apologise for not acting at the moment because I was afraid.I get that some may be afraid;but silence is participation oftentimes;when you are learning about the Greek Revolution at 4th grade and little Kostakis or Anna indirectly make their hatred towards Turkish people,because that's what they have probably heard at home and the teachers/other students do not have an open dialogue with them or/and their caregivers to understand the situation;when your grandfather and uncle are still cursing them for even existing because of past events and you just sit in the corner of the table;when,when,when...
I just don't get it.
I understand that these people set Greece (that was merely a nation back then,walking in baby steps,which I also understand) free back in the 19th and 20th century from the Ottoman Empire,and I recognise the tragedy of the Catastrophy of Asia Minor,and (for the people in the tweets above talking about Erd*gan and the turkish airforce) I get that today's president utters scary words for many and acts in a certain way,to put it lightly,sometimes.
but what I don't get is why some still think and act this way;on the contrary,history,as I mentioned above,should have taught us some things at this point.
my great-grandmother was from Asia Minor and horrible events occured there,I realise that,I am grateful that she survived and I exist,but how could we hate on the people that are now facing something so horrible and tragical and curse them on top of everything-on top of their loses,their tears,their pain,their mourning?how can we complain about and hate on the country's decision to send help to them?
last but for sure and certain not least,I want to send my deepest condolences to the people from Turkey and Syria.
we are right here,besides you.no hatred.just love and peace.
and help.
[click on the link on the word "help" to see ways in which you can,if you are,of couse,able to do so.
also,I am sure that there are posts more eloquent than this one that explain a lot more other ways in which you can do so.]
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Surely people on the internet in 2023 are not looking at scholars who are MODERN WOMEN who REGULARLY WEAR CORSETS as part of their research and hobbies who go on record saying that corsets were never regularly worn tightlaced and therefore are actually not evil patriarchy cages and being like "wow white liberal feminists suck for this". Like. I KNOW that's not what yall are doing right now. Tightlacing corsets was in the 19th century what getting your buccal fat removed today is. Please tell me yall are not getting your Historical Facts TM from like. Bridgerton and Pirates of the Caribbean.
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I'm your huckleberry (Tombstone 1993) (Doc Holliday)
Description:
The joys of modern inventions and miracles are often taken for granted. Your hungry or thirsty? Get something from the fridge or make it. You need to go somewhere? Drive or call an uber. Your hurt? Go to the doctor.
Your bored? Watch a movie, play video games, watch videos on the internet, talk to people without ever leaving your house.
Some much time is in our hands... but back in the 19th century... you wouldn't last very long.
Diseases are rampant, gun violence is higher, no modern technology, barely any good medicine, almost all of your favorite food doesn't exist and most of the people are rude as hell. But... That doesn't mean all of them were so bad. Love was not something most people in this time really cared about. At least, in the town of Tombstone, Arizona.
After falling asleep with a nice looking stone you bought at a small stand at the carnival, your whole world becomes the opposite. Six people from the past discover you unconscious and alone in the blistering heat and offer help but it was their help that let you meet the most amazing man you've ever met.
John Henry "Doc" Holliday.
Chapter 5
Previous ~ Next
"Look out ladies" you yelled as you slammed the door open and entered the cottage, arms outstretched like royalty and being dumb on purpose. "I have returned"! The women laughed and the Earp brothers were right behind you. "Don't do that" Wyatt said like he was scolding a child, "You could break the door".
"I was careful" you said dismissively and then turned your attention to the wives. "Guess what girls! I got a date with a hot and sexy man! WOOP WOOP"!
"A date" Mattie asked.
"You know. When a guy asks you out and you both spend time with each other. You know". They understood and got excited "You did" Allie asked excitedly. "With who"?
"Doc Holliday"!
The woman were speechless in shock and confusion. "What's wrong"?
"Isn't he still with Kate" Louisa asked Morgan.
"Doesn't sound like it" Morgan said, "They were pretty stuck on each other".
"Who's Kate? His girlfriend or something"?
"If you mean lover, then yes" Morgan said.
"Oh". You said feeling suddenly upset and sat down on the couch besides Allie. Wyatt could see that this really did upset you suddenly and decided to share his input. "Believe me when I say this, (Y/n)", you looked over at Wyatt. "I've known him for a very long time. And I can promise you that he keeps his word".
"I hope so".
"But this is still wonderful" Allie said, "We need to get you a dress and-"
"I already told you guys that I hate dresses and I already told him that I won't wear a dress and he was ok with it. So HA"!
"Oh, come on, (y/n)" Louisa begged, "Will you at least let us do your hair"?
"So you can make me look like a discount Lady Gaga"?
"What" Morgan asked surprised and trying not to laugh.
"Nevermind. It's just another thing from the future". You turned your attention back to the woman. "I still don't think it's a good idea".
"Oh, come on, (y/n)" Louisa begged, "Your hair is so beautiful, you have to do something to it at least".
"Really" you asked carelessly. "Watch this". With their attention on you, you flipped your hair around stylishly and looked back at them to say, "That's style right there". Morgan tried not to laugh.
"Oh please, (Y/n)" Allie begged and stood up, "Let us do your hair. If you won't wear a dress then let us do your hair at least".
"That won't matter" you said, "It wouldn't look right with what I'm wearing and I would look even stupider than I already am".
"You don't look stupid, but please let us do your hair" Allie asked.
"I'm sorry but no" you said genuinely. Allie and Louisa sighed sadly and knew that they couldn't convince you. "Very well, but you'll have to make it up to us at some point" Allie said.
"Alright. You have a deal. But for now, I got to kill time. So I'm gonna play some games on my phone". You went and sat down next to the girls and the Earp brothers walked over to see the small device in action once again. The small device was illuminated with bright colors and they couldn't follow along with what your doing.
They couldn't watch for long since the ladies had to figure out what to wear and you pulled out your solar panel charger to charge your phone for awhile until night finally came and Doc came to the cottage to walk with you all. It was a bit cold outside and you didn't mind since you do enjoy cold weather. You walked alongside the Earps and their wives and Doc offered his coat to you to keep you warm and you accepted even though you didn't need it. As you all walked in, there were a lot of cowboys taking up the benches on the ground level but the Earps told you that they were going up to the birdcage balconies to have better views.
As you all sat down, Morgan and Virgil and their wives had their own booth and you with Doc and Wyatt with his wife had your own booth, you admired the whole theater. It was so nostalgic and enjoyable to look at. "I've never been to a live performance before".
"I'm assuming it's different in the future" Wyatt said.
"You have no idea. I can show some of them to you guys later".
"Here darlin'" Doc said as he took his coat off your shoulders and gently guided you to the seat closest to the balcony. "Sit here".
"Oh why thank you" you said sweetly. Doc slipped his coat back on and gave you a brief smile and sat down beside you. "Wyatt" a voice said from beside Doc. "I'd like you to meet Mayor Klump and his wife". It was Fred White. Wyatt stood up and shook the mayors hand. "Mr. Earp. Your reputation precedes you". They retracted their hands. "I was wondering if you might be--"
"Not a prayer. Nice meetin' you" Wyatt said dismissively and sitting back down. The Mayor and his wife looked at each other awkwardly before turning to leave to go back to their seats and with Fred White leaving as well. The sounds of a drum were heard which signified that the theater was about to start. The curtain was pulled up to reveal a man with three wooden pins and dressed nicely. He bowed and you all then hear one of the cowboys say, "Professor Gillman? Oh, I seen him in Bisbee. He catches stuff".
"Hey professor" one of the cowboys stood up his gun drawn and aimed at Gilman. "Catch this". He fired at him and shoot one of the pins and said pin exploded. Gilman was shocked and ran off stage exclaiming they were shooting at him which made the cowboys laugh. Another man walked out onto the stage wearing a black robe and two men helped set the stage. All it was was placing a 5 ft. fake marble pillar and the other man replaced the sign on the stand saying what the next act is. "Prettiest man I ever saw" one of the cowboys said laughing.
The man on stage whipped his robe off dramatically and revealed him in a white unbuttoned shirt and red tights but also with red and black stripped flows and black boots. The cowboys cheered for how he looked and the man spoke. "Ladies and gentlemen, the st. Crispin's day speech from Henry V. To set the scene-"
A cowboy shot at the pillar and it startled you that you quickly grabbed Docs arm for safety and you quickly realized what you did and let go. Doc smiled and said, "Nothin' like a beautiful woman to hold me for comfort".
"I'm sorry" you said quietly and while the man on stage was saying his speech. "No reason to be" Doc said and then gently squeezed your hand, "I'm right here if you need protection". You smiled back at him and went back to watching the show. "... Gentle his condition. Gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap, whilst any speaks who fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day"!
The cowboys were first to applaud the performance and even started firing some of their guns into the ceiling and the rest of you applauded as well. As the man walked off stage and someone took the pillar off stage, another man went on the stage to change the sign for the next performance that read, "Faust or the devils bargain". The sound of the violin was heard and music to set the scene was played and it sound interesting. Another curtain was pulled up to reveal an old man at a desk and another man wearing what looked to be old victorian mens clothing but he also wore a devils mask.
"Now what in the hell is this" one of the cowboys asked confused.
"Th- that's Faust. H- he's gonna make a deal with the devil" someone replied.
Doc leaned in close to you and asked, "Is your soul for sale dear"?
"Nope" you said plainly but then looked at him to say, "My soul is claimed". Doc looked at bit confused and asked as the play was going, "By who"?
"Oh, I dunno" you said teasingly but then said, "Maybe you". Doc smiled and scooted closer to you. The play continued and it wasn't making any sense to you so you just watched it with a blank stare. "Know what I'd do" a cowboy said and it got your attention. "I'd take the deal, then crawfish and drill that old devil in the ass".
All the cowboys started laughing and so did you but you tried to hide it. Both Wyatt and Doc looked down at the cowboys in disapproval at how they were acting but when Doc heard you laugh, he couldn't help the smirk that appeared on that handsome face of his. The play continued until the music stopped and the act ended and everyone started applauding. "Very instructive" Doc said.
The actors came out and bowed to thank them but the devil actor wasn't on stage. "But who is the devil" Wyatt asked. More music was heard and the devil came out quickly to remove his mask to reveal that it was actually a woman. The same woman that you all saw wearing the grey dress with the orange umbrella from earlier in the day. She looked right up at Wyatt, who had the look of shock, and smiled right up at him in a flirty fashion. "I'll be damned" Wyatt said.
"You may indeed, if you get lucky" Doc said to Wyatt. As the performers walked off staged, everyone got up to leave. "Oh" you said getting the people around you their attention. "It's over already"?
"Yes ma'am" Wyatt said as he stood up and helped Maddie stand up and Doc doing the same thing to you like a true southern gentleman. As you all exited the theater, you all met outside with Morgan and Virgil with their wives. All the cowboys had headed to the saloons for drinks and since the streets were pretty quiet, Morgan asked, "What'd you think, (Y/n)? Was it better than what your used to"?
"It was... Different" you said with Doc holding your arm so properly and like a gentleman. "You still gotta tell me how things are from where you come from".
"I will. I promise".
Morgan smiled and looked up. "Would you look at all those stars? I mean, you look up and you think "God made all of that, he still remembered to make a little speck like me". You all started to walk forward into the street. "Kinda flattering, really. Wyatt, do you believe in God"? Wyatt just shrugged, he wasn't sure how to respond. "No, come on, really. Do ya"?
"Yeah. Maybe" Wyatt said. "Hell, I don't know".
"Well, what d'you think happens when you die" Morgan asked Wyatt.
"Somethin'. Nothin'. Hell, I don't know".
"Well I read this book, a book on spiritualism".
"Oh God. Here he goes again" Virgil said tiredly and sarcastically which made you chuckle.
"Said that a lot of people when they die, they see this light. Like in a tunnel".
"Yeah"?
"They say it's the light leadin' you to heaven".
"Really" Wyatt asked in an interested tone, "What about hell? They got a sign there, or what"?
"I know what it is" you said getting their attention. "If you see a light, you go to heaven. If you see me, you go to hell". They all broke out in laughter and Allie reached over to gently smack your arm. "Hey, (Y/n), goddamnit. I'm serious" Morgan said regaining his breath. That joke really made him laugh hard. "You have such a dark sense of humor" Doc said. He also laughed at the joke.
"Well, what can I say? I'm crazy and fun to be around"! They all agreed and Doc smiled in agreement. He really was enjoying your company. "Comin' to the Oriental, Virg" Wyatt asked.
"Not tonight" Allie said. "Tonight, me and my old man are gonna have some fun". Morgan and his wife bid their goodnights to each other. "Come on, get movin', old man".
"Maiden name was Sullivan" Virgil said and then Allie smacked him with her scarf and after another kiss, Louisa walked off to catch up with Allie and Virgil. "You two better go with them" Wyatt said to you and Mattie.
"Nonsense" Doc said to Wyatt. "Stay with me darlin'. I want to learn more from you".
"Ok" you said sweetly.
"Please stay with me" Mattie pleaded to Wyatt.
"Well, honey, I-I gotta get to work". Mattie look defeated and just said, "All right".
"Well, wait a minute. I guess I don't have to go right now. I could stay awhile".
"No, no. I don't wanna keep you" Mattie said and then reached for something. "No, really" Wyatt said encouragingly, "I can stay awhile". Mattie pulled out a small dark glass bottle and took a drink. "That the bottle Lou gave you" Wyatt asked.
"Yes, it is" Mattie said getting a bit defensive.
"Maybe you should see a doctor" Wyatt suggested.
Mattie scoffed and said, "Wyatt, it's just headaches".
"You know the best thing for headaches is sleep, right" you said. You would've said pain relievers but you had remind yourself where you were currently at. Mattie just brushed you off but Wyatt backed you up. "See" Wyatt then got a bit quiet, "You should listen to her. She knows more than we do. You should rest".
"She doesn't get it. She's not from here, she wouldn't understand".
"I can learn" you said genuinely. Mattie once again ignored you. "I know what I'm doing, (y/n). I don't need to see a doctor"!
"All right, honey. Ok" Wyatt said trying to calm her down.
"Just go" Mattie sighed. "Everything's fine, Wyatt. Work well".
"All right" Wyatt said and then leaned in to kiss her cheek which didn't look like it satisfied her. "Good night". As Mattie walked away, Wyatt said, "You look beautiful tonight". Mattie looked back and scoffed, "Thank you" and just continued walking away. You and Morgan said goodnight to her but she only acknowledged Morgan and not you and that upset you. Why was she being mean? "Hey" Morgan said getting your attention and also seeing that Matties attitude kinda upset you. "Don't worry 'bout it. Come on, let's go have some drinks. You are old enough, right"?
"Shut up, Morgan" you said playfully which made them happy to see you smiling again. There was something about your smile and personality that really made them feel happier to be around you. Doc especially. "You two go on ahead to the Faro table" Wyatt said to you and Morgan. "I gotta talk to Doc for a moment".
"Alrighty" Morgan said and then looked at you, "Let's go".
"COME ON"! You both raced inside like children and both Doc and Wyatt were still outside. "Wyatt"?
"Doc? I really have to ask". Wyatt was nervous to ask this question and knew he couldn't ask this question with you around. "What happened to Kate"? Doc sighed and took a drink from a flask he had in his coat. "I sent her away" he said plainly.
"Why"?
"Oh, I suppose it had something to do with the fact that she saw me more as a meal ticket than her lover". Wyatt could understand this and only nodded. "But with her" Doc said mentioning you, "I can tell that she cares more".
"You two just met today" Wyatt interjected.
"I know, and so did me and Kate when we first met. I thought we were meant to be but I then saw through that false image pretty quickly". Doc took another drink from his flask. "I had nobody else and I just dealt with it. But now, it's different. She's different".
"Well" Wyatt said chuckling, "She is from the future".
"It's not that, Wyatt. I don't know what it is" Doc said having a million theories running through his head. "I don't know".
"Well, maybe you'll find out soon. Cause for now, she's stuck with us. You'll have time to think that through" Wyatt said walking alongside Doc to go inside. Everyone from the theater was inside and they saw Morgan setting up the Faro table and you standing beside him. As they made it over, Doc was still trying to think about what it was about you that really made him feel like you were the one for him after meeting him for the first time today.
He wasn't sure but he knew he needed a drink and to be beside you.
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False Idyll
This project was made for EA020 Nature, Culture, Society. We had two weeks from the day it was assigned to the showcase. The assignment was to create an art piece related to an environmental topic, so just incredibly broad. Everybody made something super unique and very cool. I really enjoyed seeing all their work.
Brainstorming ↓
The professor was encouraging, though not requiring, us to engage with the idea of "making the invisible visible." I was also thinking a lot about purity culture and the idea of purity in environmentalism. We had read an excerpt from Alexis Shotwell's book Against Purity where she argues that "purity" is impossible to achieve and dangerous to attempt. "Purity is never made simple. Aspirations to purity, are…misleading ad copy on one level and secret carcinogens as a cell boundary-crossing material reality on another." There is not even such thing as real purity, "there is no primordial state we might wish to get back to, no Eden we have desecrated, no pretoxic body we might uncover..."
Refining the Idea ↓
I came to the idea of sewing a sort of cottagecore dress and attempting to subvert the ideals of purity that exist within that subculture and reveal the hypocrisy present in the way these people present themselves.
Before I talk about cottagecore, I want to say that I did not really go deep into the subculture. I had been exposed to it online before and knew a bit about it and then did some surface level research focused around the look it presents, but I don’t know the nuances of this community and perhaps that is reflected in my analysis of it.
But anyway— Cottagecore is an aesthetic that idealizes rural life. I feel it draws especially from late 19th-century European pastoral life, but it pulls inspiration from multiple places and periods and is not trying to authentically recreate any past style. The aesthetic promotes the ideal of living simply, disconnecting from the internet, being self-sufficient, baking bread, and having traditional feminine and creative hobbies such as embroidery, pottery, painting, baking, etc.
Cottagecore seems to intersect with environmentalist messages, though believe it to be a coincidental byproduct of their want to return to simpler times as opposed to a deliberate want to live or promote a sustainable lifestyle (I'm sure there are people who are interested both in environmentalism and cottagecore and perhaps even picked up on the aesthetic for those environmental reasons, but I presume them to be in an extreme minority). Traditional rural living is more eco-friendly than modern city life: homemade goods, traditional crafts, growing your own food, reducing reliance on consumerism. Consumerism... that's what I'm especially interested when it comes to the cottagecore aesthetic. They idealize a time before rampant consumerism, a time before the internet, a slower, simpler time, just sitting down and reading a book or connecting with your environment. I see a lot of pictures of women collecting wildflowers, picking fruit from their gardens, going on picnics in the rolling countryside. But at the same time, this aesthetic originally gained and has maintained popularity on TikTok. An app that perhaps stands as the antithesis to that type of lifestyle. TikTok is fast-paced and trendy, obsessed with constant engagement and constant consumption. Also ads everywhere! Promoted videos, sponsorships, TikTok shop, undisclosed ads, sometimes it feels like everyone is trying to sell you something.
Look, I like the cottagecore aesthetic. I think it's super cute and, in the current landscape, I can't help but idealize that sort of pastoral living. But engaging in this trend isn't an escape from consumerism. It's driven by consumerism.
Cottagecore is an aesthetic. At its very core, it's about commodification and surface-level adoption. By engaging with it, you are feeding into an industry that exists to shape consumer desires and drive sales. So most people who are interested in this sort of aesthetic aren't really attempting to extricate themselves from our highly consumeristic culture, quite the contrary, they are purchasing products that align only with the image of living a life free from corporate overlords and late-stage capitalism.
Anyway, I've gotten away from the point a little bit. What I was focusing on in this project was the fashion industry. We all know how much fast fashion is ruining the planet and how incredibly exploitative it is.
Here is my extremely quick and condensed summary of ethical problems in the fashion and textile industries:
The fashion and textile industries are major contributors to pollution, resource depletion, and labor exploitation. Industrial monocropping and irrigation deplete soils of nutrients and heavy use of pesticides impacts the quality of the soil and the workers who apply it. Pesticide runoff contaminates water supplies and thus the health of humans, animals, and plants in the area. Even stuff that isn't immediately harmful or toxic accumulates in bodies and magnifies up the food chain. Not to mention just the sheer amount of water that cotton production requires.
Additionally, most fashion brands rely on cheap labor, child labor, and even slave labor in dangerous working conditions particularly in developing countries. These practices violate basic human rights and perpetuate cycles of poverty and exploitation in vulnerable communities.
Here are some links to get you started on further reading if you're interested: Sweatshop Facts — The World Counts; Modern slavery is on the rise. Fashion’s role remains steady — Vogue Business; Fast fashion: an industry built on exploitation — Collective Fashion Justice; The impact of textile production and waste on the environment (infographics) — European Parliament; Tons of water used in cotton production — The World Counts
All of this exploitation of people and Earth's resources contradicts the values of simplicity, authenticity, and connection to nature that cottagecore seems to represent. Perhaps cottagecore was born out of a genuine love and interest in the simple, the homemade, the vintage, and the sustainable, but it has fully been co-opted by commercial interests. Brands have capitalized on its appeal by pumping out mass-produced cottagecore-inspired goods (especially clothing) that not only do not align with those values but fully spit in their face. When purchasing this aesthetic, you are purchasing the idea that you believe in its 'core values.' You are purchasing the illusion of a connection to nature and authenticity while directly supporting practices that undermine those very values.
(I do feel it necessary to point out that there are people that exist who fall into the cottagecore aesthetic but do not engage in the capitalist side of it. However, they are by far not the majority. Like it or not, the aesthetic has been taken over by corporate interest and consumeristic behavior.)
Designing ↓
Cottagecore clothing is very old-world inspired. Milkmaid dresses, prairie dresses, ruffles, light colors, florals, that sort of arena. Because of the time constraint, I decided to incorporate a dress I had already made. A few summers ago I made a milkmaid dress (pattern: Mood Fabrics Anthea Milkmaid Dress). It's like the second real sewing project I did so the construction is kinda wonky, but it has the right sort of top for the look I'm going for, and with my other classwork, I didn't think I'd have time to sew a new top for this project.
For the skirt, I knew I wanted it to be floor length and was thinking sort of like a prairie dress skirt. I ended up going with another Mood pattern (The Heather Dress) though I really could have drafted it myself and I altered it so much anyway.
Going into this stage I knew I wanted the skirt to tell a story about its production. I was thinking sort of a story map style narrative wrapping around the skirt. I was inspired by story tapestries and children's storybook styles.
You can see more of my thought process and ideas below, but this idea had to be scrapped due to the time limit. There was just no way that I was going to be able to design and execute this whole story map idea in just a few days.
I pivoted to a different idea that you can see started to form on those pages. The idea of having the hem appear to have been dragged through mud or blood.
I really wanted to go with the look of having the hem soaked in blood representing the hidden cost behind beautiful garments. The blood of the human beings who work the cotton fields, who sew your clothes, who toil in the hazardous conditions under which our clothes are produced. A visceral reminder of the very real human suffering that produces innocent-looking clothing.
Now that I have made that aspect of the design the entire thing, I felt I needed to expand it a bit. I wanted hands grasping at you as if begging for help. The desperation and anguish felt by workers subjected to abysmal treatment in their work. Blooded hem and haunting images would contrast the pristine and innocent look of the bodice and upper skirt. The stark juxtaposition between our two positions. Their desperation against our indifference. You could extend a helping hand but choose not to, turning a blind eye to their suffering while enjoying the fruits of their exploitation.
Sewing ↓
I went to thrift stores looking for fabric. Reusing fabric from something else supports the message of the piece, but really my main motivation was that I'm cheap. I was looking for a light-colored fabric that matched the tone and weight of the dress I was using for the bodice. Having to match the bodice made the search more difficult, but luckily I was able to find something that works. For $2.99 I got a slightly stained king top sheet. The color goes surprisingly well with the bodice's shade of green, I think this is the best result I could have hoped for given the parameters.
I used my school's makerspace to sew. The machines are kind of crappy, I had quite a few issues with them which caused it to take longer than I could have done on my machine at home, but the job got done and honestly I'm just glad that I have access to a machine out here at all. The thing I will complain about though is the chalk. Like on one hand, thank you for putting chalk in the sewing makerspace. On the other hand, this room was not stocked by somebody who sews. They have blackboard chalk not tailor's chalk which is totally fine except that they only have colored chalk! I didn't look it up beforehand (which maybe is my fault but also I was using supplies in a sewing room) and it stained my fabric. I thought it would come out in the wash, but no. I don't have anything for laundry here besides detergent and baking soda, so when I go home I'll treat it properly and hopefully that will help.
I needed to lengthen the skirt pattern so it went all the way to the floor and then totally forgot until I had marked and was about to cut the fabric. Whoops. And then I didn't actually measure how much to lengthen it by and just guesstimated it. The main part of the skirt should have been longer and then the bottom panel much shorter. The entire skirt ended up about two inches too long. It drags on the floor much more than I would like it to. I could bring up the hem but I hate hemming skirts so much that I've just let it be.
Another thing about the pattern is that it wants you to gather SO MUCH. From the pictures, I did not anticipate the amount of gathering. It's such a pain, and honestly, I think it looks better with the amount I ended up doing instead of using all of the fabric. The problem is that I didn't realize what was going on until I was too far into the process. It would have been such a pain and cost me precious time to cut the fabric and rework it so there was the 'right' amount of gathering and the panel seams hit at the right place. So the placement of those seams is super wonky. I hoped that in the waves of the skirt they wouldn't be noticeable unless you were looking, but turns out that is not the case. Also this meant that there was all of that extra fabric now in the skirt's back panels. In order to install a zipper, I would have to cut those. But I'd have to cut them exactly the right amount and at the right angle. The skirt was taking much longer than I had planned to sew and at this point, there were only a few days before it was due. I decided screw all that tedious work, I've already done so much of it, I'll just use buttons and let the extra fabric (hopefully) cover up the slit in the skirt in a natural way.
I ran into a second problem with the gathering as well but in the opposite direction. The bottom panel is supposed to be as gathered as the top one but it's just so much fabric. I did technically have enough fabric to have 3 panels the size the pattern called for, but I hate hemming and I had the finished edges of the bedsheet right there and I was so frustrated with sewing at this point so I just cut one panel down the length of it. It turned out to be not enough fabric to gather almost at all. If I didn't have a deadline with this project, the gathering does mean enough to me that I think I would have spent the time to cut another panel and hem the whole thing, but unfortunately, that was not the scenario I was in so I just left it how it was. It doesn't look bad the way it is, I just think the shape of the skirt would have been a little bit better. Another factor to consider though is how that would impact the design on the skirt. I was a little worried about the amount of gathering impacting how well the design translated. So I guess it's good for me that I never had to decide how much gathering I wanted for the shape versus how much I could get away with and the design still be readable.
And then with the buttons!! The makerspace did surprisingly have a buttonhole AND button foot, but for some reason the buttonhole foot didn't really work. I've made them before on my machine at home and I watched a tutorial to make sure I wasn't forgetting something, I have no idea why it didn't work. I never took a picture of the failed attempts, but they were just not buttonholes. Instead, I just made them with a series of zigzag stitches. I mean, that's what the machine is doing with the buttonhole stitch anyway, what I did is just a little bit jankier.
Mudding ↓
I finished sewing the dress two days before the assignment was due which left me only one day to translate the design. I'm really glad I simplified it as much as I did and I still think it does a good job of getting the core message across.
Going into the final day I had to work on this, I was still fully planning on painting it. The original plan was for the design to be in 'blood' not mud. The problem is I don't own any paint and wasn't interested in spending any more money on this assignment. Obviously I first looked in the makerspace, but for some reason they don't have any paint?? I went to a few other spaces I thought might have some I could use but came up empty-handed. So I moved on to plan B. Actually, mud was my mother's idea. She suggested it one time when I was talking to her back in the brainstorming phase. It totally works. Mud is freely and widely available and still reads as very similar to the blood idea, only less shocking. So after dinner (yes, I spent all day searching for paint and trying to come up with an alternative without resorting to dirt), I went out in the pouring rain to some fields behind my college to collect dirt.
One important thing I had forgotten about the dirt around here is how sandy it is. The dirt where I grew up was pretty clay-y, that's what I'm used to, and I had just forgotten that dirt around here isn't like that. It's not like the sandy dirt was any kind of deal-breaker or anything, I just thought (1) rubbing it into the fabric will damage the fibers more than a dirt with more clay content and (2) it's probably gonna leave more little rocks and pieces of sand in it's wake.
But it was fine and also like 9 o'clock the night before it was due so I didn't dwell on it. Problem though, it's dark and raining outside, where am I going to do the dirty work? The answer: just in my dorm. My room had dirt and grit everywhere for like a week afterward.
Applying the mud was actually very easy. I first drew the design on the skirt with a light-colored washable marker and then made a mud slurry and really just slopped it on. On the edges and finer areas, I used a popsicle stick to get a harsher line. I also attempted a bit of an ombre effect going up. It was inconsistent, but I stand by the idea.
I draped my skirt over my floor lamp for this, which was a great idea if I do say so myself. The whole process from when I got home with the dirt to when I finished the skirt was maybe four hours and this was certainly the part I enjoyed the most.
Final Thoughts ↓
In the end, it actually turned out kinda okay. You can see in the pictures that I decided to button it at the front side instead of in the back like how it was originally supposed to be zippered. This means that one of the panel seams is right there in front, so not a fan of that. But overall, I'm happy with it. I took these pictures 6 weeks after I finished it and was pleased with how well the mud lasted. I was worried that because it was so sandy, it wouldn't stick as well to the fabric. It did come off some, as you can see, and if it was something I had worn or otherwise moved around more, it would have been a bigger deal, but as it was, I actually liked the way the dirt faded.
If you care, I got a 91% on the assignment, but it was cos my artist statement sucked not because of my actual piece.
....well, goodbye
February 2024
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Hi! I really enjoy reading your posts, you seem like a knowledgeable and witty person, so I hope it’s alright to ask you a question about one of the eras of history you’ve mentioned an interest in. Specifically, the golden age of piracy.
In recent years especially, and especially online, it seems like there’s been a reframing of our view of the era—I’ve seen many people express that it was essentially marginalized people “getting back” at their oppressors, and was almost a (admittedly dangerous) progressive utopia-on-the-sea for queer people, people of color, people from impoverished backgrounds, et cetera., where such things weren’t punished like they were by conventional society. And although I am decidedly in favor of marginalized identities rising up against oppressors, I am curious how much truth there actually is in that view of piracy and pirates.
Of course, if you have neither the time nor inclination to answer, don’t worry about it, that’s completely fine! Thank you for your time in reading and I hope you have a lovely day
It's not really my subject or era, but that definitely sounds like an oversimplification. Kind of like the shift from "Vikings were ruthless, mindless killers" to "Vikings were super-progressive and perfectly in line with modern leftist beliefs" on certain parts of the internet. It has kernels of truth, but so does the reverse attitude.
Piracy was a career choice. And like with any career, people chose it for multiple reasons. Many probably chose it for the money, for adventure, or because it matched a certain skill set they had. Some did take it up to get back at a certain oppressor, like Grainne O'Maille with the English or Jeanne de Clisson with the French. But that wasn't the only motivation- nor, I suspect, the most common one.
It's often cited that many pirate vessels had a more egalitarian system for dividing up profit, lodging complaints, etc. than fishing ships, merchant ships, navies, or other legal seafaring enterprises. And from what I've heard, some of them did! Whether that was true for all of them...well, it's quite hard to establish absolutes in history, so I'm willing to bet the answer is "no." I also suspect that, while a blind eye will often be turned to things society frowns upon in situations of necessity, it was only genuine acceptance some of the time and, well, nececessity alone the rest.
Anyone care to chime in, who knows more about the subject? My main area is social history of 19th-century England and the U.S., focusing on women's, queer, and dress history, so I'm definitely not the person to weigh in at length.
(The most recent Fun Fact I learned about pirates is that Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet were actually in their 20s-30s when they met. Bonnet, in fact, didn't live past age 30, or Blackbeard past 40. They Dad-ified those men, and honestly, for a highly fictionalized story, kudos on that. Please do not ask me more about OFMD; I have never seen it.)
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573 of 2023
What states have you been to in the past year?
I've never been to any state in my life.
Have you ever sleepwalked?
No, not that I know of.
What year was your house built?
Somewhere in the 19th century or whatever. I don't know, we only rent it.
Do you feel like you have more in common with men or with women?
What's sthat question lol. Everyone is different and genders have little to do with it. But if we go into stereotypes, I'm a dude. Technical job, nerdy interests, all that.
What’s your favorite superhero movie?
I don't watch movies. And superheroes are lame in my opinion.
Do you want children? Why/why not?
No, I don't. I think I'll never be ready for it. I'm fine being an uncle, though.
Do you have any credit card debt?
No, I don't own any credit card. Only a debit card.
Have you ever been really late for work because you slept past your alarm?
No, I never sleep past my alarm. If I'm ever late for work, it's because something happened on the way.
Are you good at reading people?
Nay. I got autism, pals.
Who do you go to for relationship advice?
Nowhere. I just get by myself and land in weird situations lol.
What was your favorite way to spend a summer day as a kid?
Playoing outside with other kids.
What’s the longest you’ve worked without a day off?
Several months.
Have you ever been scammed?
Almost. I got a message from the "tax service" and then I realised the website was fake.
Do you know anyone who works in the tech industry in Silicon Valley?
What is Silicon Valley?
Do you wear eyeliner?
No, I don't. I have nothing against the guys who do, though.
Did you ever take a personal finance class in school?
No, we don't have anything like that.
How’s your mental health? Are you feeling well??
Haha lol. I had to be put on antidepressants because I got horrible anxiety throwback over my overall health. They put me on fluoxetine and it works well for me. It even stopped my dermatillomania while nothing else was helpful.
Did you have a Xanga page back in the pre-Myspace days?
Never had either of these.
Around what year did you start using the internet, anyways?
In early 2000s or so. The sound of dial-up modems is still comforting for me, even though h-they haven't been in use for a long time.
Do you have any uncommon interests or hobbies?
Yeah, I'm fixated on trains (this is why I love my job), and I'm obsessed wiwth signal identification on the radio. That's definitely uncommon.
What’s something that would make you incredibly happy right now?
Bringing my cat back to life.
What did you do for your 18th birthday?
I was sick lol. Lying in bed with fever.
What temperature do you keep your thermostat set at in the winter?
Either 20°C or 21°C.
Have you ever been to the Caribbean?
No, never. But I would like to.
Have you ever fostered an animal?
Nah, I kept all the kitties I rescued.
What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Some veggie salad.
What’s your favorite form of exercise?
Walking. Back in time, playing basketball.
Have you ever drank so much that you passed out?
Yup, but I still remember I was crying over someone's death.
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Revenge of the chocolate cream poisoner:
Broadmoor archives go online, revealing the story of its most crazed inmate By TONY RENNELL FOR MAILONLINE, 9 December 2011
For a mentally healthy person, insane people, even though it is a sickness, is incomprehensible to a sane person. The danger that some of these mental nut jobs, as many would classify them, is cause for concern because of their unpredictable behavior, suicidal or murderous actions, however, there are tamed crazies, totally alienated and completely out of it who need to be put away to be cared for because of their incapacity to fend for themselves. Many of these characters obtain notoriety because of the human damage they cause or may cause. There are many movies and TV serials produced that make for adrenaline rush of these people. This time around, I have included the history of the CHOCOLATE CREAM POISONER, in which her character has been made into a TV show called the WICKED WOMEN, that I have posted below.
833-1 https://ok.ru/video/3861120223976
But before we go into complete insanity, some ungodly behavior:
833-3
I have also included an article as manifested in the headline in two parts. One read out in an experimental method I am trying to develop, the other, story itself.
833-2 https://ok.ru/video/7303072385587
Following the complete text of the article: source.
She was a scheming, image-obsessed, murdering minx who in her younger days laced sweets with strychnine to see off the wife of the married man she desired.
Now, though, she appeared perfectly harmless as, in her dotage, she preened herself for her last attempt to entrap a man.
'Are my eyebrows all right?' the temptress asked a fellow inmate at Broadmoor, the hospital for the criminally insane, as she prepared for a Christmas dance at the institution in 1906. 'I was a Venus before,' she declared, the years of her incarceration seemingly forgotten, 'and I shall be a Venus again!'
The male doctors and staff could expect her full-on, sexually-charged attention, even if, in her late 70s, Christiana Edmunds's man-mesmerising days were long over.
Mad, bad and dangerous to know, she was one of the most notorious inmates of Broadmoor in Victorian times, her name a byword for something that hidebound era found impossible to comprehend or forgive — a woman's unbridled lust.
Sex pest, stalker, compulsive liar, manipulator, trouble-maker, murderess — there is something uncannily modern about her case, though the crimes for which she was locked up were committed almost a century and a half ago
Her story has been resurrected by a local archivist who was given unprecedented access to 19th-century patient records at the 150-year-old secure unit tucked away in a Berkshire forest. It is aired in what has become this winter's surprise internet hit.
Available free of charge on Kindle, Mark Stevens's Broadmoor Revealed has become one of most downloaded books, overtaking classics such as Dickens's Christmas Carol, Jane Eyre and Dracula.
Like some ghoulish Victorian precursor of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, his handful of heart-stopping Broadmoor reality stories makes compulsive reading.
Leaving aside Christiana for the moment, there was, for example, paranoid surgeon, man of letters and random killer Dr William Minor, who, in between contributing learned entries to the Oxford English Dictionary, was beset by deep-seated delusions that he was being sexually molested by hundreds of women.
He eventually sliced off his own penis (though with no effect on his fornicatory fantasies, which continued as before).
Equally lost in his own world was Richard Dadd, a hugely talented artist who ended up in Broadmoor after mistaking his father for the devil and slitting his throat. He spent his time obsessively painting fairies and biblical scenes in minute detail.
Lost in his own world: 19th Century artist Richard Dadd ended up in Broadmoor.
Broadmoor housed killers of all sorts, baby-batterers, rapists and arsonists. A few had taken potshots at Queen Victoria, including Edward Oxford, who was classified as an 'hysterical imbecile' at his trial but, once under lock and key, managed to master French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek and Latin and learn to play the violin.
A number of inmates thought they were actually the Queen and should have been resident in Buckingham Palace. But saddest of all were the likes of Mary Ann Parr, one of the very first inmates.
Brought up in poverty and afflicted by congenital syphilis, she gave birth to an illegitimate child, which she suffocated against her breast. Broadmoor saved her from a death sentence.
Found guilty of their crimes but insane, Parr and hundreds like her were sent there rather than to the gallows in what was in many ways an enlightened act of compassion given the general brutality of the criminal system at the time.
In its grim blocks and unheated, unlit bedrooms, there were no drug therapies or psychiatric analysis. Instead, inmates were subjected to a regime of routine and work designed for their moral improvement.
Some of these suffering and delusional individuals recovered enough to be allowed to leave, even Oxford, who had fired a pistol at the Queen.
But Christiana Edmunds, the so-called 'Chocolate Cream Poisoner', was not one of them. She would remain within Broadmoor's walls for 35 years until her death.
Unlike most of the female inmates, she was not a casualty of the grinding poverty of Victorian England's city slums. She was middle-class, educated and of independent means. Her downfall was sex.
Described in contemporary reports as tall, handsome and 'extremely prepossessing in demeanor' — Victorian-speak for pretty damn hot — she lived in fashionable Brighton, where she met and fell madly for a local doctor, Charles Beard, a married man. She sent him passionate and indiscreet love letters.
How much of the affair was real and how much in her mind remains unclear. He would afterwards insist there had been nothing physical between them.
But he returned at least some of her romantic interest and let matters take their course until, after a year of secret assignations, he tried to cool things down. It was over, he told her. She was not to write to him again.
But Christiana was unfazed by rejection, even taking to calling on the Beards at home. One day in September 1870 she arrived with a gift of chocolate creams for Emily, the doctor's wife. Mrs Beard ate some and was violently sick.
An outraged and no doubt scared Beard, wondering what demons he had unleashed, accused Christiana of poisoning his wife. She denied it, arguing that it couldn't have been her because she too had eaten a chocolate and become ill.
Whether or not the doctor believed her, he kept his suspicions to himself, fearful that to involve the police would mean scandal. But he told Christiana to stay away from him and his family.
Once again, she took no notice and continued to write to him three times a week, her love for him as undying as ever, her pursuit every bit as manic and devious.
What happened next was odd. Over the coming months, there were no more attempts on Mrs Beard's life, but a number of other people in Brighton fell ill after eating sweets and chocolates. There were no fatalities — until a four-year old boy named Sidney Barker died after visiting a sweet shop called J.G. Maynard's.
There was a coroner's inquiry, and Christiana, of all people, came forward to offer evidence, describing how the chocolate that had made Mrs Beard ill the year before had also come from Maynard's.
The investigation now turned to the sweet shop, and traces of strychnine were found in some of its chocolates. But how they got there was a mystery no one could solve, and the shop owner was exonerated of any intentional poisoning. A verdict of accidental death was recorded on poor little Sidney.
But the poisonings continued. More people in Brighton were taken ill. News spread. The town and the police were on tenterhooks for the next incident. It came on August 10, 1871, when six local people received parcels of poisoned fruits and cakes. Mrs Beard was among them, as was one of her neighbours and the editor of the local newspaper.
Another recipient was . . . Christiana Edmunds herself, presumably trying to cover her own tracks but in fact recklessly drawing intention to herself.
Dr Beard had now had enough. He finally went to the police to voice his suspicions about Christiana and handed over her passionate letters to him as evidence of her unstable mind and evil intent. She was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
She appeared in court, the ultimate femme fatale in a black silk dress, nonchalant and aloof. But the evidence was now piling up against her — a chemist said he knew her as 'Mrs Wood' and had supplied her with strychnine to kill some troublesome cats; an errand boy said he delivered chocolates to her from Maynard's.
Everything was now falling into place, and an additional charge was then laid against her — of murdering Sidney Barker.
Brighton was considered too small a stage for what had now become a sensational national case. Only the Old Bailey would do, and Christiana stood in the dock there, in black velvet this time, with a fur trim.
Witnesses told the rapt jury how she sent boys to buy sweets for her from Maynard's shop and then returned them for re-sale — now laced with poison — on the grounds that the wrong ones had been delivered.
As for motive, the prosecution suggested that after her first attempt to dispose of Emily Beard failed, she had embarked on her subsequent poisoning spree around Brighton because she wanted to blame Maynard's for the incident and thereby get back in her lover Dr Beard's good books.
Alternatively, she might have simply been experimenting with poisons before having another go at the hapless Mrs Beard. What seemed incontrovertible was that unrequited love had driven her on.
Her lawyer put up a defence of insanity. Christiana didn't know the difference between right and wrong, he argued, and the revelation in court that there was a history of lunacy in her family seemed to be in her favour.
But the jury was having none of this and found her guilty. She was sentenced to hang, a verdict she greeted by dramatically claiming she was pregnant and therefore the sentence could not be carried out. A doctor examined her and concluded she was in this, as in so much else, lying.
In prison, awaiting execution, she was seen by Dr William Orange, Broadmoor's medical superintendent, and another Home Office doctor. Their report was unequivocal — Christiana Edmunds was as mad as a hatter, 'with confused and perverted feelings of a most marked insane character'. On this advice, the Home Secretary reprieved her and sent her to Broadmoor.
The decision caused ructions. It was not just that two health-care professionals had chosen to overrule the clear decision of a properly constituted jury. There were also many who felt she had got away with murder and resented the cost of keeping her alive indefinitely when a long rope and a short drop would have been considerably cheaper.
On her arrival at Broadmoor in 1872, she was 43 — not the 35 she claimed — with rouged cheeks and an enormous wig. Orange wrote on her notes: 'She is very vain.'
She also quickly proved to be sly, getting her sister to smuggle in clothes and make-up for her, as well as extra headfuls of false hair to fill out her wig and enhance her glamorous appearance.
To Broadmoor's doctors she was a painted lady, obsessed with her personal appearance and motivated by romantic desire. She in turn flirted with them outrageously, demanding their attention and flaunting herself. 'Her manner and expression,' noted one, were 'sexual and amatory'.
'I shall astonish them all,' she insisted. 'I shall get up and dance ¿ Venus again!': Christiana Edmunds died just nine months later after uttering these words in Broadmoor
The decades made no difference. She continued to come on to any of the male staff she had contact with, and she never for a moment showed any remorse for her crimes.
Was she really mad? Many doubted it as she went about her days quietly engrossed in her embroidery, easy enough to manage, though she seemed to delight in winding up other patients until they lost their tempers and she could then complain about them.
There was never any question of her being released, particularly after her remaining family died and she was alone in the world.
Her health weakened, her sight faded and she could barely walk unaided, but she did her best to keep up appearances, still — judging by the conversation she had before the Christmas dance in 1906 — worrying if her eyebrows were sexy enough to capture a man's attention.
'I shall astonish them all,' she insisted. 'I shall get up and dance — Venus again!' She died nine months later on September 19, 1907, at 78, from old age.
Author Mark Stevens, senior archivist at the Berkshire Record Office, finds Christiana a woman who still tantalises more than a century later. 'She never denied her actions, nor offered up an explanation of what she was trying to achieve by them,' he says.
'There is still a sense of mystery about her motivation. It is unclear whether she wanted to have Dr Beard for herself or to ruin him.'
Was she just a frustrated spinster whose uncontrollable desires destroyed her? He believes she was a more complex character than that suggests.
'She was a slave to adulation, and thrived on the publicity that her criminal actions generated.'
If so, then the enigmatic Victorian Venus of Broadmoor may well have been that most modern of dazzling and bedazzled creatures — a fame junkie, made mad by her own desire not so much for sex but for celebrity.
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Hello! Happy June! It's Pride and I have another question (8/30)
HiHi, today we are again diving into the evolution of another word: queer!
The word queer entered the English language around the 16th century, and initially meant "strange", "odd" or "eccentric". (This is a slightly unrelated sidenote; as someone whose dialect of English is Hiberno-English, the word queer is still very commonly used to still mean this, and has also evolved to the word "quare" which can be used in place of "really" or "very" to provide adverbial emphasis <- like if someone is "quare tall" they're so tall that you're kinda in a little disbelief about it. Anyway just thought this was a fun side note because I really had not realised this word was controversial for people until I was on the internet)
Anyway, onto the late 19th century, the word queer began to have the connotation of "sexual deviance", before then starting to be used specifically about the "sexual deviance" of "feminine men".
The first, or at least one of the first, recorded time that the word queer was used as a pejorative for gay was in a letter written by John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquis of Queensberry, about his son's relationship with Oscar Wilde. This letter was read out in Wilde's trial in April 1895 (in which he was being tried for "gross indecency" or "homosexuality"), and in it Douglas refers to Wilde and other gay men at the time as "Snob Queers". It is believed that American newspapers picked up this phrase and began using it themselves, thus spreading the pejorative to the US's vocabulary.
"The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang" (1937) defined the word queer as "Homosexual. Derogatory from the outside, not from within. US, 1914", which tells us both that by 1914 it was a common pejorative or insult for gay people, but also, that queer people were using the word to refer to themselves as well. Around this time, queer, fairy, trade and gay all signified distinct "categories" of homosexual men. Historian George Chauncey notes in his book ("Gay New York") that queer would've been the self-identifier of ""masculine"" gay men.
We can also assume that this is what was happening in the U.K. as well, as a letter held in the National Archives shows us (you can look up the letter in full, search the full name of the person and "My Dear Billy"). This letter was written by a man named Cyril Coeur de Leon to ‘My Dear Billy’ in 1934. Billy was the owner of "The Caravan Club", a ""disorderly house"" of ""male prostitutes"", and in it he writes "Just a note to say that I am very disappointed about you. I honestly thought you were queer, but different from the others, and I liked you very much […] I have only been queer since I came to London about two years ago, before then I knew nothing about it." This use of queer is arguably ahead of it's time, given that at this point queer was exclusively about gay men, whereas de Leon mentions he "still likes girls occasionally".
Over the years though, queer has evolved from the narrow definition of "gay man" to "gay men and lesbians" to "anyone not heterosexual" to "not heterosexual and/or not cisgender". And despite the fact that for the majority of the time that it has meant "gay" it has been used by the community, some people are still of the opinion that the word is "too offensive" to be used, but thankfully, this argument isn't as common as it was in the 90s and 00s, though still annoying persistent.
And as for my question, today I want to know firstly, if you use the word queer yourself? and secondly, what is your favourite word/way to refer to the queer community? (for example, "friend of dorothy" is funny to drop into conversation, and today I spoke to some who said they were "looking forward to meeting other *limp hand movement* at [pub name] tonight!")
Happy Pride 🌈 🎉
wooooo thanks for the info anon :D
very interesting to learn some of the history about the word queer because even though i identify as a cis women who likes going by she/they and is both bi and asexual, sometimes describing myself as “just queer” also feels correct to me. it’s a comforting label to me, because even on the days where i might start to question my labels a little/get overwhelmed, i remind myself that you don’t need to indefinitely put yourself in box or have labels to be valid, and even if you’re suddenly unsure of where you stand, to not stress about it too much, bc you’re still just queer.
and yea i agree that’s also a fun way i would identify another queer person from the community lol, just *checks to see if they have a limp wrist* 💅 i know that some people don’t like certain “identifiers” because they can turn into harmful stereotypes, but, i think the harmless ones, like that one, are funny 💅
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The Rise of Chess in Terms of Popularity
Do you know how to play chess?
Do you know what chess is? Chess is one of the oldest and most well-known board games. It is played between two players using specially made pieces in contrasting colors, usually white and black, on a checkered board. Following White's move, the players take turns switching roles according to predetermined rules, with the goal of forcing the opponent's King, their most important piece, into checkmate—a situation in which it cannot escape capture.
Chess first appeared in India about the 6th century AD and by the 10th century had spread from Asia to the Middle East and Europe. Since at least the 15th century, chess has been known as the “royal game” because of its popularity among the nobility. Rules and set design slowly evolved until both reached today’s standard in the early 19th century. Once an intellectual diversion favoured by the upper classes, chess went through an explosive growth in interest during the 20th century as professional and state-sponsored players competed for an officially recognized world championship title and increasingly lucrative tournament prizes. Organized chess tournaments, postal correspondence games, and Internet chess now attract men, women, and children around the world.
But....why is chess suddenly popular right now?
Chess has always been well-liked, but over the past two years, its appeal has increased more than ever. Every skill level – from Grandmaster to novice – plays and enjoys chess. Chess has also been able to consistently gain momentum and expand its fan base because to its simple to understand rules and global appeal.
The game has fluctuated in popularity throughout its existence, but recently, it's become more popular than ever. Chess games have surged among players both in the real world and on Chess.com, an online virtual platform. Since January 2020, more than 102 million users have signed up through Chess.com, a 238% increase.
There are several contributing factors that brought people to chess over the last two years, but here are three major ones:
The Pandemic
We all probably recall March 2020 with far too much clarity. Everything was shut down by COVID-19, and most people were forced to stay inside their homes. The pandemic briefly replaced TikTok, which caused many people to concentrate on personal development. Many people viewed chess as a mentally demanding means to develop oneself while fortifying their wits.
Traditional sports were also abandoned during the pandemic, so many individuals turned to chess competitions to satisfy their lingering need for competition. Although chess tournaments in person were postponed, many people were still able to participate in or watch events online.
Chess filled the hole left by unexpected boredom and provided an outlet for individuals to escape from the problems facing the globe.
The Internet
Naturally, being confined indoors during the pandemic caused the majority of us to spend more time than we'd like to admit online — corresponding, connecting, cooperating, and trying to feel normal. The internet played a significant role in chess's meteoric rise to popularity since it eliminated the necessity for players to find one other in person. Internet chess classes, competitions, and games have introduced millions of individuals to the game who never would have otherwise. Veteran players also spoke directly to the global chess public using social media and online channels to impart their knowledge.
There is also the growing popularity of game streaming. Moreover, chess saw an uptick with the popularity of streaming. The number of chess streamers has increased recently, including Gotham Chess and BotezLive.
And let us not forget the Grandmasters of chess who also streams such as Hikaru Nakamura and the current world champoin, Magnus Carlsen.
The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix
If you haven't already, you should watch The Queen's Gambit on Netflix. An orphaned girl who becomes a chess champion while overcoming addiction and the preconceptions associated with being a female chess player is the subject of the third-most watched TV show of 2020. The series breaks perceptions of a "typical" chess player by being immensely approachable and maybe inspiring more women to participate in the still largely male-dominated sport.
In the first three weeks after the show debuted, sales of chess sets went up by 87 percent, and sales of chess books went up 603 percent!
What was it that brought you to chess? I would love to hear it!
And if you haven't, maybe its now time to learn and enjoy chess!
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Week 34. Lilou's sign : Nordahl Bruns gate
The sign I chose is a street name plate. Nordahl Brun’s gate one precisely. This choice came naturally : they are surely the most frequent signs, the most familiar, and yet, the most ignored since they are so much a part of our environment. Indeed, very often, we know how to get to a friend's house, we know the road, but we don't know his address and therefore the street name. Moreover, with the emergence of Internet, we now tend to use a GPS on our phone instead of a map that we have to inspect ; because of our need to go always to the fastest, most efficient way, we make these signs, to some extent, invisible. So, for these reasons, I thought it might be interesting to look at them and what they represent.
First of all, these street signs are what we call an odonym. According to Geoconfluences, odonymy is « the branch of toponymy that deals with the names of ways, including streets, avenues, boulevards, dead ends, etc., and more generally with the names of public open spaces (squares, esplanades, squares, etc.) or even, in the broadest sense, with all the names of public spaces (schools, libraries, stadiums, etc.) ». In this sense, through this definition, we can see that this sign is part of a precise nominative system.
Thus, if the street names are a sign of public order, then it is the city authorities, and more specifically, the local city council, which today chooses the name. Nordahl Bruns gate was named in 1864 after the bishop and poet Johan Nordahl Brun. If the circumstances around the people who have the power to name a street in the 19th century can be different from today, I guess it always remains people rather high ranked and in the field of administration who chose this name and not another.
The name chosen can imply a meaning or not. Here, Nordahl Bruns is the lyricist of the Bergen Song, the city's anthem still today. He worked as a priest from 1774, and in 1803, he became bishop of Bergen. He is therefore an important public figure of his time. One can imagine then that as a tribute to his esteemed work and the extent of his fame, a street name today carries his name. This sign is first of all in honor of the character but also for the population of Oslo, in a purpose of memory : the blue signs keep the past alive, as they tell something about the role the street has played in the city's history.
Nevertheless, this naming raises some questions. For example : why this street precisely? why Nordahl Bruns and not someone else ? For this second question, we can come back to what I said above ; the sign is part of a precise system among other street names, but aleatory in its choice itself. It is a matter of social, cultural and historical factors. These factors have sometimes been subject to re-evaluation. We often come across a so-called "old" street. To another extent, a change can be made. According to geoconfluences, « Jean Rieucau (2021) notes that out of 33% of odonyms bearing names of personalities in France, only 6% are that of a woman ». In the French press, there was a wave of articles in 2014 after the publication of a report by Soroptimist, a feminist NGO, which revealed this fact. Against the underrepresentation of women in street names, there is a desire to commemorate the women who have also made history. Although a great change has not been made, an effort has been noticed afterwards, giving mostly women's names to the still unnamed spaces.
Today, with a name and a little creativity, we can imagine the story we want behind it. Nordahl can then become a baker, an Olympic champion or a warrior in everyone's imagination.
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Street name sign by Lilou
The sign I chose is a street name plate. Nordahl Brun’s gate one precisely. This choice came naturally : they are surely the most frequent signs, the most familiar, and yet, the most ignored since they are so much a part of our environment. Indeed, very often, we know how to get to a friend's house, we know the road, but we don't know his address and therefore the street name. Moreover, with the emergence of Internet, we now tend to use a GPS on our phone instead of a map that we have to inspect ; because of our need to go always to the fastest, most efficient way, we make these signs, to some extent, invisible. So, for these reasons, I thought it might be interesting to look at them and what they represent.
First of all, these street signs are what we call an odonym. According to Geoconfluences, odonymy is « the branch of toponymy that deals with the names of ways, including streets, avenues, boulevards, dead ends, etc., and more generally with the names of public open spaces (squares, esplanades, squares, etc.) or even, in the broadest sense, with all the names of public spaces (schools, libraries, stadiums, etc.) ». In this sense, through this definition, we can see that this sign is part of a precise nominative system.
Thus, if the street names are a sign of public order, then it is the city authorities, and more specifically, the local city council, which today chooses the name. Nordahl Bruns gate was named in 1864 after the bishop and poet Johan Nordahl Brun. If the circumstances around the people who have the power to name a street in the 19th century can be different from today, I guess it always remains people rather high ranked and in the field of administration who chose this name and not another.
The name chosen can imply a meaning or not. Here, Nordahl Bruns is the lyricist of the Bergen Song, the city's anthem still today. He worked as a priest from 1774, and in 1803, he became bishop of Bergen. He is therefore an important public figure of his time. One can imagine then that as a tribute to his esteemed work and the extent of his fame, a street name today carries his name. This sign is first of all in honor of the character but also for the population of Oslo, in a purpose of memory : the blue signs keep the past alive, as they tell something about the role the street has played in the city's history.
Nevertheless, this naming raises some questions. For example: why this street precisely? why Nordahl Bruns and not someone else? For this second question, we can come back to what I said above ; the sign is part of a precise system among other street names, but aleatory in its choice itself. It is a matter of social, cultural and historical factors. These factors have sometimes been subject to re-evaluation. We often come across a so-called "old" street. To another extent, a change can be made. According to geoconfluences, « Jean Rieucau (2021) notes that out of 33% of odonyms bearing names of personalities in France, only 6% are that of a woman ». In the French press, there was a wave of articles in 2014 after the publication of a report by Soroptimist, a feminist NGO, which revealed this fact. Against the underrepresentation of women in street names, there is a desire to commemorate the women who have also made history. Although a great change has not been made, an effort has been noticed afterwards, giving mostly women's names to the still unnamed spaces.
Today, with a name and a little creativity, we can imagine the story we want behind it. Nordahl can then become a baker, an Olympic champion or a warrior in everyone's imagination.
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