#scott’s history with the birds

[bobbie-robron]

I lost my nerve though. Let my dad talk me out of it. I should’ve blown him away when I had the chance. (Part 2)

First off, these string of episodes… we are learning so much about these characters that would affect how things play out when Ryan!Robert arrives. Donna decides to drown her sorrows with the only friend she has left… Andy. The strain continues between Jack and Andy even as Jack offers to work the farm for Andy to sort his head but it’s an emphatic no! Scott has a word with Robert but he brings up two instances that can only be seen as worse than Robert has done. Donna’s taken aback how Andy would readily kill Robert if he had the chance (Andy is premeditated murder talk full on unlike in the heat of the moment Robert with the scumbag). Andy attacks ‘village bike’ Donna and she flees!

07-May-2004

[thoughtportal]

This episode’s guest may be too young to remember the 90’s children’s show, Gullah Gullah Island, but he’s certainly influencing the next generation the same! Isaiah Scott, a rising Gen-Z bird-influencer and ornithologist, reconnects with Tenijah to dish all about his journey into birding while young, Black and curious. He also shares how his Gullah Geechee heritage continues to inspire his work, including a forthcoming field guide that seeks to preserve his ancestral connection to birds. There’s definitely “lots to see and to do there”– press play and take the journey with us!

[blackwoolncrown]

Reading list for Afro-Herbalism:

A Healing Grove: African Tree Remedies and Rituals for the Body and Spirit by Stephanie Rose Bird

Affrilachia: Poems by Frank X Walker

African American Medicine in Washington, D.C.: Healing the Capital During the Civil War Era by Heather Butts

African American Midwifery in the South: Dialogues of Birth, Race, and Memory by Gertrude Jacinta Fraser

African American Slave Medicine: Herbal and Non-Herbal Treatments by Herbert Covey

African Ethnobotany in the Americas edited by Robert Voeks and John Rashford

Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect by Lorenzo Dow Turner

Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples by Jack Forbes

African Medicine: A Complete Guide to Yoruba Healing Science and African Herbal Remedies by Dr. Tariq M. Sawandi, PhD

Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh, African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed by Bryant Terry

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston

Big Mama’s Back in the Kitchen by Charlene Johnson

Big Mama’s Old Black Pot by Ethel Dixon

Black Belief: Folk Beliefs of Blacks in America and West Africa by Henry H. Mitchell

Black Diamonds, Vol. 1 No. 1 and Vol. 1 Nos. 2–3 edited by Edward J. Cabbell

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney

Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance, and Food Access in Washington, D.C. by Ashanté M. Reese

Black Indian Slave Narratives edited by Patrick Minges

Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition by Yvonne P. Chireau

Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry edited by Camille T. Dungy

Blacks in Appalachia edited by William Turner and Edward J. Cabbell

Caribbean Vegan: Meat-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Authentic Island Cuisine for Every Occasion by Taymer Mason

Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America by Sylviane Diouf

Faith, Health, and Healing in African American Life by Emilie Townes and Stephanie Y. Mitchem

Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman

Folk Wisdom and Mother Wit: John Lee – An African American Herbal Healer by John Lee and Arvilla Payne-Jackson

Four Seasons of Mojo: An Herbal Guide to Natural Living by Stephanie Rose Bird

Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement by Monica White

Fruits of the Harvest: Recipes to Celebrate Kwanzaa and Other Holidays by Eric Copage

George Washington Carver by Tonya Bolden

George Washington Carver: In His Own Words edited by Gary Kremer

God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talks About Life on Sapelo Island, Georgia by Cornelia Bailey

Gone Home: Race and Roots through Appalachia by Karida Brown

Ethno-Botany of the Black Americans by William Ed Grime

Gullah Cuisine: By Land and by Sea by Charlotte Jenkins and William Baldwin

Gullah Culture in America by Emory Shaw Campbell and Wilbur Cross

Gullah/Geechee: Africa’s Seeds in the Winds of the Diaspora-St. Helena’s Serenity by Queen Quet Marquetta Goodwine

High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America by Jessica Harris and Maya Angelou

Homecoming: The Story of African-American Farmers by Charlene Gilbert

Hoodoo Medicine: Gullah Herbal Remedies by Faith Mitchell

Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals by Luisah Teish

Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care by Dayna Bowen Matthew

Leaves of Green: A Handbook of Herbal Remedies by Maude E. Scott

Like a Weaving: References and Resources on Black Appalachians by Edward J. Cabbell

Listen to Me Good: The Story of an Alabama Midwife by Margaret Charles Smith and Linda Janet Holmes

Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race, and the American Imagination by Melissa Cooper

Mandy’s Favorite Louisiana Recipes by Natalie V. Scott

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet Washington

Mojo Workin’: The Old African American Hoodoo System by Katrina Hazzard-Donald

Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife’s Story by Onnie Lee Logan as told to Katherine Clark

My Bag Was Always Packed: The Life and Times of a Virginia Midwife by Claudine Curry Smith and Mildred Hopkins Baker Roberson

My Face Is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations by Mary Frances Berry

My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem

On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker by A'Lelia Bundles

Papa Jim’s Herbal Magic Workbook by Papa Jim

Places for the Spirit: Traditional African American Gardens by Vaughn Sills (Photographer), Hilton Als (Foreword), Lowry Pei (Introduction)

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy DeGruy

Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage by Diane Glave

Rufus Estes’ Good Things to Eat: The First Cookbook by an African-American Chef by Rufus Estes

Secret Doctors: Ethnomedicine of African Americans by Wonda Fontenot

Sex, Sickness, and Slavery: Illness in the Antebellum South by Marli Weiner with Mayzie Hough

Slavery’s Exiles: The Story of the American Maroons by Sylviane Diouf

Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time by Adrian Miller

Spirituality and the Black Helping Tradition in Social Work by Elmer P. Martin Jr. and Joanne Mitchell Martin

Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo & Conjuring with Herbs by Stephanie Rose Bird

The African-American Heritage Cookbook: Traditional Recipes and Fond Remembrances from Alabama’s Renowned Tuskegee Institute by Carolyn Quick Tillery

The Black Family Reunion Cookbook (Recipes and Food Memories from the National Council of Negro Women) edited by Libby Clark

The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales by Charles Chesnutt

The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham

The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin

The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas by Adrian Miller

The Taste of Country Cooking: The 30th Anniversary Edition of a Great Classic Southern Cookbook by Edna Lewis

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study: An Insiders’ Account of the Shocking Medical Experiment Conducted by Government Doctors Against African American Men by Fred D. Gray

Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape by Lauret E. Savoy

Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine by Bryant Terry

Vibration Cooking: Or, The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl by Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor

Voodoo and Hoodoo: The Craft as Revealed by Traditional Practitioners by Jim Haskins

When Roots Die: Endangered Traditions on the Sea Islands by Patricia Jones-Jackson

Working Conjure: A Guide to Hoodoo Folk Magic by Hoodoo Sen Moise

Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing by Michelle Lee

Wurkn Dem Rootz: Ancestral Hoodoo by Medicine Man

Zora Neale Hurston: Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings: Mules and Men, Tell My Horse, Dust Tracks on a Road, Selected Articles by Zora Neale Hurston

The Ways of Herbalism in the African World with Olatokunboh Obasi MSc, RH (webinar via The American Herbalists Guild)

[kaihuntrr]

The Sea Prince: The Watcher, ‘Civilians’, and Hunters.

To celebrate this au being one of my most favorite things to work on, I’ve made designs for the Solidarity brothers, Big B, and redesigned the trio!

Closeups and introductions under the cut :> here they are!

Now that’s character design! I’m super proud of how they turned out, and they form a rainbow by pure coincidence. Let’s talk about them!

Starting off with the duos!

‘Nosy Neighbors’ & ‘Mean Gills’

Big B is a new one so I’ll talk about him first. I’ll talk about the other three as characters :)

‘Big B.’

Big B is a Watcher; an organization that studies and hunts sea monsters. He used to be a famous vagabond hunter, but due to some mysterious circumstances, he retired early. You’ll meet him much later on in the story, but he’s quite an interesting character! He keeps his secrets. He knows yours. Who knows if he's trustworthy or not.

He seems to have a connection to Grian.

‘Pearl Moone.’

She’s a cocky, energetic person to be around. She doesn’t seem too trusting with strangers, especially hunters. Her accessories are golden, and she has a scar over her left eye so she definitely stands out.

She has a red shell bracelet similar to Scott’s necklace. Are they friends?

‘Scott Major.’

A pleasant, sassy, and entertaining server in the port town the Red Canaries visit. He often flirts with Martyn, leaving the hunter speechless with promises of something more. He’s hiding something. Maybe he’ll tell Martyn his secrets one day?

He swears a couple of necklaces, but one is hidden under his shirt.

‘Martyn Woods.’

The second mate to the Red Canaries. Loyal to a fault, he prioritizes everyone before himself, even neglecting his needs. He believes that his isolated life is worth it, but his feelings change the more Scott talks his way into his life. Is he ready to love again, even after what happened to Ren?

He has a couple of scars, some big ones on his chest. He has a locket and tattoo of a crown and a necklace trinket of the first monster he killed as a boy.

‘Bad Boys’, the Solidarity brothers.

A bunch of new designs here! I referenced their bad boy skins so they have similar ‘leather jackets’. I’m excited for you all to learn about them and their history.

‘Grian Solidarity.’

The youngest adopted brother of the trio. He’s chaotic, but he’s shifty. His birth parents were from the Watchers, but after their death, he was entrusted to the Solidarity family to care for him. They died when he was young, so he doesn’t remember them. He loves his brothers to death and does what he can to protect them and his crew.

He, like his other brothers, keeps a locket with their family photo. He wears a yellow bandana with his name crudely stitched on it. Strangely, he has some similarities to Pearl…

‘Joel Solidarity.’

The awkward, funny middle child. He has the most muscle out of the brothers but he masks it with his pleasant behavior. He quickly accepted Grian into the family and shared his interest in starting the hunter crew. When they were younger, the two would sneak away from their older brother to meet Martyn and Impulse by the docks. Currently, he’s engaged to Lizzie Shadow and is waiting for winter so they can finally tie the knot.

He keeps a falcon feather in his hat as his parents were falconers. He wears his red bandana, also with crude stitches of his name, on his head.

‘Jimmy Solidarity.’

The oldest and most emotional of the brothers. He wasn’t particularly interested in becoming a hunter, preferring to spend time with the birds and become a falconer, but he loved his brothers so he went with it. He’s impulsive, stubborn, but a wonderful and simple person all around.

He keeps his red bandana on his belt, with neat stitches of his name. He has a braided bracelet and a tattoo on his neck.

...and he’s dead.

...or is he?

There’s a LOT going on with these designs, a lot of spoilers in them so what I’ve said could or could not be hints to what’s to come! Not sure when the next design dump would be, but I think my upcoming post would be fun, particularly for those who want to read the story ;) all in due time.

oh, also new life Scott is partially ginger. I predicted that HA- /j I’ll probably whip up art of those two bc. That’s incredibly funny-

Which one of these characters/ designs is your favorite? Let me know! :D

[white-poppie]

ST✩RBOY: random hxh hcs

Now playing- STARBOY by The weekend ft. Killua, Kurapika, Chrollo, Illumi Tw: dissociation

💿 Kurapika

The most perfect man there is to exist!!?!!

So I know Kurapika had to almost grow up by himself, so I think he can handle household chores very well.

I would like to think that he somehow discovers baking. I just know he would be good at it <3

I just know he has super pretty cursive handwriting -sighs dreamily-

If you hug him, I know he would be so hesitant, but would slowly nuzzle deeper. If you were close to him and finally hug him, he would literally try his best to hold back tears (Please tell him, it's okay to cry!)

He smells so good omfg. I can't decide between Vanilla or some earthy smell, either way, it's so comforting yet at the same time it's like *eyes roll to the back of head*

You can read this for more scent hcs: Serenade my Senses

Call him pretty boy and he would be so shocked the first time, but as he gets used to it, he gives coy smile <33

I like the think it takes him a long time to get comfortable, but when he does it's so soft that it feels like breathing air. He is so touch-starved tho, so I can imagine him getting clingy after a while. (same bro same)

He is the knuckle and neck kisses type of dude *cue the flusters*

He hates Andrew Tate and his fans like he would go spit on them if could, this guy has the most healthy masculinity in all of anime and I love him for that.

Doesn't really understand the concept of memes tbh, he needs some explaining but he will laugh a little when you send them, he will once in a blue moon send memes but only the cat ones.

(realises how much I wrote for him while about to write more. This man has me on a chokehold frfr)

💿 Killua

He has trans-supporting t-shirts for him and Alluka. They are all matching.

Takes Alluka to pride parades! He has them sat on his shoulder the entire time too!!

Cant comfort a person even if his life depends on it. If you are crying he is just there like 🧍, awkwardly offering you some chocolate robots tho.

He just can't sit without moving every second! Literally a cat 😒

Older! Killua around 16-17 is a massive flirt! He is so quick to pull out reactions from anyone and takes a sick pleasure in it too??

Calls himself 'The Rizz lord' unironically.

His top Spotify artists would be Chase Atlantic, Mother-mother, The Scotts, Nirvana, Mitski and the Arctic Monkeys. Basically really an alt-rock/indie thing going on (us bro.)

💿 Chrollo

Mansplain, Manslaughter, Manwhore, Manipulate, Malewife ™️

Reads macabre literature like Crime and Punishment, No longer human, if we were villains, the secret history etc.

Tbh I feel like unlike how the fandom portrays him, he is a rather normal dude.

Gothic Academia ultra pro max.

Did the Soldier/Poet/King test, wanted 'king' but got 'poet'

Doesn't have pets because he thinks he can not take care of them

He loves animals tho, idk he seems the birds type of guy.

He likes the 'ominous' kind of birds more; like Ravens, Crows, Vultures and eagles.

Listens to Lana Del Ray and Maneskin, no questions asked.

Is scared of diving into conspiracy theories because he knows he would get sucked into the black hole because he is very interested in morbid things.

He is a DC fan, especially Gothan chronicles. (is that what it's called? Yk the things related to Gotham: joker, poison ivy, harlequin etc.)

Tried journalling once, failed terribly, and stopped after a week.

💿 Illumi

Oh wow, he is a difficult one to write about, but you guys love him, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I hate to say this, but I think he frequently dissociates, usually for very short periods of time, he doesn't even know it tbh, just thinks he is out of the element.

He is subconsciously under a lot of stress so his mind tries to flee from it by dissociating.

I wrote a little more about this here: Stuck in a vicious cycle

I think he likes potted plants, especially succulents. He is patient so I can see him take care of even the very difficult ones.

If he is going on a mission, he would go to his mother (because he cannot trust his siblings and father in this matter) like 'take care of my child.'

She actually manages to keep it alive somehow??

I think he knows how to do origami (he saw a child making a paper crane once and got curious.)

Illumi genuinely doesn't know how to care for his hair, he just follows whatever his mom tells him to do, so thank Kikuyo for those luscious tresses.

He has a hyper-fixation on mushrooms (not the psychedelic kind you weirdo). He knows the names of a lot of mushrooms.

Just imagine him and Hisoka taking walk and he randomly spots a mushroom and mumbles to himself 'Coprinus comatus'

and Hisoka is like:

(yes it's a bad meme, but it's the effort that counts)

🏷 Tags: @denkis111, @jazzylove, @lordmypantsaresocool, @futuristicallykawaiiturtle, @kristaline2dmensimp,@rintaroubby @nanaseishiro @innerpurple, @cleaningfairylevi, @webawee

⤷‧₊˚ Hunter x Hunter (ハンタ x ハンタ)

🥀 BYI/DNI ♡⌇ Request Rules 𓏸 🗝️ ₊﹒《 Join my Taglist •

[gumnut-logic]

It started with a bang.

Lots of bad things start with a bang, but this one wasn’t obvious.

A stray meteor hit Five. Wasn’t the first time, doubtful it would be the last, but Brains had built her strong enough to resist the majority of non-dinosaur-extincting rock events.

Most of them.

This one got through.

It was tiny, but it was enough to mess with some critical systems and it had both a worried Scott on the line and Brains jumping up and down as both John and Eos hurried to make repairs.

Virgil asked John to come down, but he chose not to.

Apparently his ‘bird needed nursing and Virgil, if he was honest, could respect that.

He really wished he hadn’t.

Being on the more paranoid end of the spectrum considering International Rescue’s history of getting the not so lucky end of anything, Virgil checked in with his space brother every half hour.

For the next twenty-four.

John was sympathetic until about the eighteen-hour mark. After that, he became snarlier each time Virgil poked him.

“Virgil, the damage has been repaired.”

“Humour me.”

“Why?”

Why? Virgil wasn’t sure, but he was sure that he needed to check on his brother. “Because it is my job.”

“Then maybe you should check your own readings because you are being beyond ridiculous.” And John cut the connection.

Great. He’d pissed John off – never a good thing to do.

But half an hour later, Virgil prodded him again. “John, report.”

“I’m fine, Virgil. Go to bed.”

Virgil peered closer at his brother’s hologram and frowned. “John?”

“What?!”

Virgil’s fingers darted over the sensor readouts from his brother’s spacesuit. “How are you feeling?”

“Annoyed. If you don’t stop this, I’m going to ask Scott to stop you from doing this.”

“Go for it.” He frowned at the oxygen saturation stat. “You sure you are feeling okay? Eos, can you give me an atmospheric reading on Five?” The numbers were all good, but something felt wrong.

Something had his hackles up, but he couldn’t identify what.

“All atmospheric reading are within the expected range, Virgil. John needs his rest, why are you continuing to disturb him?”

He stared at his brother floating far above. “I’m not sure, Eos.”

John rolled his eyes. “Then get back to me when you are.” His brother cut the connection.

Virgil sat back in his father’s chair. Maybe John was right. Maybe he was just edgy because of the meteor collision, a reminder of the brutality of space and his brother’s vulnerability so far above them. Maybe it was time for bed.

He lasted another hour before he commed John again.

“Virgil, whyyyy?”

Again, he ran his fingers over the sensors, again they tried to reassure him everything was okay.

But nothing was okay. Virgil was sure of it.

He just didn’t know what or why.

“I’m coming up.”

John stared at him. “What? Why?”

“Can’t I drop in to see my brother?”

“It’s 3am!”

“I’m a night owl.”

“I’m going to kick your ass, Virg. I’m tired. You’ve been bugging me for hours. Leave me alone!” The comm line cut again.

And Virgil’s hackles hit orbit.

John never called him ‘Virg’.

Ever.

“Eos?”

It took a moment. “Yes, Virgil?”

“Could you please lower the elevator?”

“He doesn’t want to see you.”

“Too bad. I need to check on his health.”

Eos didn’t answer.

“His health is important, Eos.”

Another long moment where Virgil considered waking Alan or Scott.

“Lowering elevator.”

There was no clarity in Eos’ voice as to her opinion but she was doing what he requested and that was all that mattered.

Half an hour and several layers of atmosphere later, Virgil was thankful for whatever sense that set him off.

He found John floating aimlessly in the central hub of Five. Above the vista of the planet, the holographics system was displaying a three-sixty view of family photos.

Scott grinned at him from the east, a baby Allie from the south pole, his father from the north, Gordy dressed in squid-print swimwear to the west and their beloved mother smiled her familiar smile from somewhere near Africa.

Virgil’s own picture took out South America next to Grandma in the South Pacific.

“John?”

His brother startled. “You! What do you want?”

Virgil eyed him. “Eos, can you give me those atmospheric readings again?”

“Yes, Virgil.” She rattled off the necessary numbers.

Unfortunately, they did not match the portable air sensor Virgil held in his hand. “Your readings are incorrect, Eos. Run a diagnostic.”

There was a pause as John continued to frown at him.

“Diagnostic complete. There are no errors in the sensor network, Virgil.”

“There is a contaminant in your air supply, John.”

“So you finally found an excuse for being annoying.” His brother flipped mid-air and stared up at the hologram of their father. “You hear that, Dad? Virgil finally has a reason for driving us all insane!” That last was shouted in Virgil’s direction along with a glare.

Virgil ignored it.

“John, I want you to come down to Tracy Island.”

“Why?” It was belligerence itself.

“Because you aren’t safe up here. And I miss you.”

“How can you miss me when you never leave me alone?!”

Virgil pressed his lips together and hit his comms. “Tracy Island, we have an Alert Gold.” The command would wake Scott and probably the rest of the house. It was an alert designed to help protect their most remote family member.

“You’re kidding.”

“No, John, I’m not.”

And John burst out laughing. “Do you ever hear yourself?”

Virgil didn’t answer.

“Obviously not. Other wise you would be insane by now. Or you would nag yourself to death.”

John didn’t mean it. He was under the influence. At a guess, there might be a leak in the thruster assembly, leaking oxidiser into Five. But why the sensors hadn’t picked it up…

“So are you going to tie me up and strap me to a bed because I don’t meet your standards of what I should be? Trample me until the numbers add up correctly?”

“John, Virgil is trying to help you.” Eos’ voice rang like a bell throughout the station.

John flinched. “So, you’re on his side now?”

“I wasn’t aware Virgil had a side.”

John grunted and glared his brother again. “You’ve infected her with your nagging.”

“We are just concerned about you. You are not yourself.”

His brother closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Thunderbird Five, status?!” Scott’s voice practically screamed a combination of worry and command over comms.

“You told! Dobbed me into big brother so he can nag me, too! Why can’t you all just leave me alone?!” John pushed off from the wall and threw himself towards the exit.

Virgil caught him mid-air.

It was a mistake. John was in his native environment. He flipped and slipped out of Virgil’s grasp. The engineer grabbed at his brother and missed as John used him as a launch point to finally reach the exit.

Before Virgil could regain his equilibrium, John had slammed the airlock shut and sealed him in.

Damnit.

“Eos!”

“Working on it.”

What could be stopping the AI from unsealing an airlock was a growing concern.

Dad glared at him from the ceiling.

“Thunderbird Five, answer me!”

Virgil drew in a breath, thankful for his uniform’s standalone air supply. “There is an atmospheric contaminant present in Five’s life support systems. I’m guessing we have an oxidizer leak from the thruster assembly. John is…not himself. I’m working on it.”

“Do you need Three?” In other words ‘can I come up there and join you before I melt from worry?’

“Give me ten and ask again.” He flicked off comms. “Eos, any luck?”

“I have contained him in his sleeping quarters, but you will need to hurry as he is currently attempting to override my program.” The speaker gave a little squawk and went silent.

“Eos?”

The airlock suddenly hissed open.

Virgil didn’t hesitate. He was through the exit and throwing himself after his brother without a second thought. He grabbed a spare helmet along the way. It was time to end this.

He found John yelling at the ceiling and pulling a control panel out of his shower cubicle. Why he thought that was a productive thing to do, Virgil didn’t know, but since Eos hadn’t said a word since, it was concerning enough.

The airlock to John’s quarters unsealed at his touch and Virgil slipped through, sealing it again behind him.

His brother didn’t look up from what he was doing. “So the brat let you out, did she?”

“John, you need help.”

“What I need is silence. No more nagging from annoying brothers. Didn’t you guys get the hint when I moved up here in the first place? All my life it has been the four of you in my ears, always bugging me. Now I’m in space and I still can’t escape you. Why can’t you leave me alone?!”

Virgil swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. “We care, John.”

“Only enough to satisfy your own concern. Not how I feel having to listen to all your caterwauling.”

He’s not himself. It became a mantra echoing through Virgil’s head, but a little voice asked if it was really the truth.

“I can’t believe that.”

“No, you wouldn’t.” John continued to rip electronics out of the wall of his shower.

“What are you doing?”

“Silencing the dawn.”

“In the shower?”

John finally looked up at him but his smile was eerie. “No better place.”

“Then I’m going to have to stop you.”

His brother snorted. “You can try.”

Virgil didn’t move immediately. Instead, he pulled up a schematic on his HUD and confirmed the wiring behind the shower unit. Most of it was innocuous, but one of the main power distribution relays was nearby and that relay supported the main computer. There was sense in John’s statement, of an extreme kind. Taking out Eos by taking out his Thunderbird.

He had no idea what kind of logic was churning in his little brother’s brain, but he had to stop this. He had to get John’s helmet on his head and his body and brain off the cocktail of whatever was in the air.

Virgil pushed off from the wall and barrelled into him. John saw him coming and leapt ceiling-ward. Virgil anticipated the move and compensated enough to grab his brother around the waist.

Virgil had the brute strength, but John had flexibility. Virgil’s only chance lay in hanging on.

So he did.

And John did not like it.

At all.

“Get off me!”

He struggled, shoving at Virgil’s arms. When that didn’t work, he tried to knee his brother in the gut.

Virgil grit his teeth and in return, wrapped his legs around his slippery space-suited brother and began climbing him inch by inch, to get that damned helmet on his head.

John yelled in his ear. Tried a few moves that Kayo, no doubt, taught him. The bruises were beginning to mount up and yet, Virgil still hung on.

John wasn’t himself.

Not himself.

The proof was in the fact he hadn’t yet really employed the solid and attacker-crippling techniques Virgil knew his brother was fully capable of. Instead, they spun around in a totally uncoordinated tumble hitting walls and furniture until Virgil was able to get enough of a grip on his brother to shove his helmet on his head.

The helmet hung loose as John took the opportunity to jab him in the ribs as a result and for a moment Virgil thought he was going to lose his grip and hence the battle, but he managed an extra push and his brother’s suit engaged, automatically switching to its portable air supply exactly as it was designed to do in an emergency.

Virgil continued to cling to his brother to keep that helmet in place long enough to do its job. It earned him an aching kidney and some creaking ribs, but eventually John stopped struggling and fell quiet. A glance through the plexiglass of his helmet and Virgil found John’s eyes scrunched shut.

“John?” Virgil’s voice was hoarse. His belly had taken a beating, literally. Thank goodness for his baldric and all the equipment that came with it.

“V-Virgil? God, my head.” John groaned, his gloved hand scratching at his helmet.

Virgil let out a breath and drew his brother closer. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” He brought John’s head down to his shoulder and held him safe in his arms. There was a need to grab the medscanner. He…he would do that in a moment. “Tracy Island, can we take you up on that offer of a pick up?”

“Virgil, launching now. What’s your status?” Scott was all worry and clipped syllables.

“We’re okay.” He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on John’s shoulder. “We’re okay.”

-o-o-o-

[arminreindl]

Paludirex: Life of the Swamp King

Having gotten the long taxonomic history of Pallimnarchus and Paludirex out of the way (see here), lets talk more about the animal itself.

As far as we know at this point in time, Paludirex was the last of the large semi-aquatic mekosuchines and the largest members of this group had ever gotten. Whereas the cleaver-headed Baru dominated the waterways of the Oligocene and Miocene, Paludirex lived from the Pliocene and Pleistocene. There is some division between the species tho as it appears. Given the ambiguity around the origin of some Paludirex vincenti specimens, this species is currently only known from the Pliocene, whereas Paludirex gracilis is currently only known from the Pleistocene. There may also be a third species from the same region as Paludirex vincenti.

Comparisson between Paludirex gracilis (left) and Paludirex vincenti (right)

Anatomically, Paludirex has a pretty easily recognizable animal. Unlike Baru, with its short, triangular skull, Paludirex had a head that was almost rectangular when viewed from above, about half as wide as long and comparably flat. Mind you the skull can still be pretty deep, especially in Paludirex vincenti, but the proportions still highlight how wide it is most of all. In both robustness and skull width, Paludirex far exceeds what is known in modern saltwater crocodiles, which likely fill a similar niche.

Left: Skull reconstruction of Paludirex vincenti. Right: Life reconstruction of Paludirex (Nellie Pease)

As said before, Paludirex represents the biggest mekosuchine. At a minimum length of 4 meters, it already rivals many of today's crocodiles and Baru, and that's just the smaller ones. Large individuals of Paludirex vincenti probably got much larger, 5 meters and more further drawing parallels to todays salties.

A size comparisson between Steve Irwin and both species of Paludirex

Now while the description is pretty sound on account of recent work by Ristevski and co., the ecology is a different matter. A lot of work was published back when Pallimnarchus was still a thing, so trying to separate what and what isn't applicable these days is a bit of a challenge.

On the most simple level, Paludirex was a generalist semi-aquatic ambush hunter. It's skull, tho incredibly robust and wide, shows no peculiar adaptations like long slender jaws so its obviously not a specialist. It's semi-aquatic because the nostrils and eyes face up so that they would peer out from the water while the rest of the body remained submerged. And these last two together basically suggest ambush-hunting.

Willis and Molnar also made comparissons between Paludirex skulls (or rather skulls now recognized as such) and Mugger crocodiles. All in all this suggests that its diet could have ranged from turtles to aquatic birds to large mammals (so the typical croc range really). They also infer that it may have had similar habitat preferences, being found in marshes, swamps, rivers, lakes, anywhere theres freshwater really. One exception may be that some researchers have argued that Paludirex was avoiding saltwater and brackish water, which eventually could have factored into its extinction once inland waterways in Queensland dissappeared.

Top: Eastern Sahul megafauna, the foreground features Paludirex about to ambush a giant kangaroo (Ryan Bargiel, Vlad Konstantinov, Andrey Atuchin & Scott Hocknull) Bottom left: Paludirex vincenti (Diego Ortega Anatol) Bottom right: An unforunate Paludirex being attacked by a marsupial lion (Joschua Knüppe)

As with many crocs, its pretty likely that individuals were hostile towards each other at certain times, perhaps during territorial disputes or in the mating season. Now this one's a bit of a more ambiguous one regarding the assignment of the fossils. Fossils of leg material show clear bite marks, HOWEVER, the fossils were assigned to Pallimnarchus purely on the basis that they don't appear to have belonged to a terrestrial animal (as often inferred for Quinkana) nor to a modern croc. Based on this, the material was assumed to have been that of Pallimnarchus without much else to back it up. Now that Pallimnarchus is no more, it is reasonable to assume that it may be Paludirex but then again, it could also be an entirely different animal. Only way to tell would be to find Paludirex fossils with leg fossils attached.

This does bring up the interesting discussion, what crocs did coexist with Paludirex? Well there's a couple. As just mentioned, there's Quinkana, which I'll research more in depth later, but for now it's commonly assumed to be more terrestrial than other mekosuchines. There's the Darling Downs form, which lived around the same time as Paludirex vincenti in Queensland and may be a third species of this taxon. Gunggamarandu is another animal from this region, tho much as with Paludirex its not entirely clear if its Pliocene or Pleistocene. More certain is the fact that during the Pleiostocene, Paludirex gracilis coexisted with freshwater crocodiles in the Riversleigh WHA. Finally, there's indetermined species of crocodiles that date as far back as the Pliocene. Historically, they've been regarded as salties, but more recently it's though that they were a different species entirely and that salties only moved in recently, possibly after Paludirex went extinct and the niche of large semi-aquatic predator was free.

Top left: Quinkana faces off against Megalania (Hodari Nundu) Top right: A freshwater crocodile running (Brandon Sideleau) Bottom: Gunggamarandu, a relative of today's gharials (Eleanor Pease)

By this point I've basically already given away the reason why Paludirex is no more. With mekosuchines already taking a massive hit during the late Miocene, the group was not at its peak when Paludirex came around. And things were not getting any better as Australia grew more and more arid, river systems disappearing, freshwater drying up and the habitat of these animals shrinking bit by bit. Paludirex, presumably staying clear of coastal waters, was hit hard by these events and eventually it was just too much. And once it was out, saltwater crocodiles moved in, leading into the modern day.

[militantinremission]

Vivek Ramaswami: The Perils of 'Race Neutrality'

Vivek Ramaswami's interview w/ Ann Coulter killed many birds w/ One Stone. Her blatant Racism & his acceptance of it spoke Volumes. Vivek has been pushing an Anti- Black Narrative for several years; I have personally said that he WILL become a victim of the Institutionalized Racism that he marginalized & dismissed. Ann Coulter is NO DUMMY! She tested his 'Race Neutral' stance from the start of the Interview. When she told him Point Blank that she agrees w/ him on many issues, but won't vote for him because he's 'Indian', Vivek didn't blink. He later commented that he 'respected her Courage to speak honestly'(???). THIS is what separates Black Americans from 'Brownfolk', & why ANY Black & Brown Coalition is just a pipe dream.

I have said a few times that Black Immigrants & Brownfolk don't have the same experience as Black Americans. We have an American Experience of Institutionalized Systemic Racism that has endured for Centuries. From the American Constitution, to Local Law, legislation has been put in place w/ the intent of marginalizing Black America as a Collective. For example: Property Taxes are lower & Insurance Rates are higher in Black Communities, compared to similar situations (same Property Lot size, same Vehicle) in Non Black Communities. This is by legislative design. 'People Of Color' don't share that experience. Like Irish, Italian, & Eastern European Immigrants, these Folks experienced a Period of 'Social Hazing' by the Mainstream, but are eventually included into American Society. They know Discrimination & Prejudicial Bias, but few experience the level of Systemic Racism that Black America faces daily.

Vivek Ramaswami's Case is worth noting. He's a 2nd generation American- a child of Brahmin Parents; both w/ Post Graduate Degrees (like Nimrata 'Nikki' Haley & Kamala Harris). He was born & raised in Ohio, attended Private School, & was able to amass Hundreds of Millions of Dollars at QVT Financial (managing their Biotech Division). By all accounts, Vivek is living The American Dream. His brief Public School Experience in Cincinnati has obviously affected his view of Black Americans. He has gone out of his way to slander the Black American Experience; marginalizing Our History & Our Struggle, but his Family arrived in the 1980s. He positioned himself in Conservative Politics & rose to prominence spewing Anti- Black rhetoric. Conservative News Media Outlets gave him a wave to ride, but he Wiped Out in the Iowa Primary.

Despite visiting all 99 Counties, Ramaswami received a meager Return on his Investment. Iowans liked his talking points, but weren't comfortable w/ his Religion (Hinduism) or his 'Brown Skin'. The conversations that his Wife had w/ Iowan Voters were cringe worthy! Many looked her in the eye & stated their mistrust of his 'dark complexion' & questionable Christian Values; this despite Vivek touting his Jesuit Education non-stop on the Campaign Trail. Black Americans (other than Sen. Tim Scott) would've been insulted, but Vivek & his Wife apparently took it on the chin. He dropped out of the Race after Iowa, & predictably kissed the ring of Donald Trump. Throughout his Presidential Bid, Vivek Ramaswami sounded like he was auditioning for the Office of Vice President more than President.

Donald Trump recently had an Event at Mar A Lago that Media is calling a 'Vice Presidential Sweepstakes'. Ramaswami was among those being considered. It appears that his interview w/ Ann Coulter was an effort to beef up his Social Capital among MAGA Republicans, but Coulter deflated his Trial Balloon before he could reach a proper threshold. I personally find it comical. Vivek got so wrapped up in his perceived White Privilege, that he didn't realize what he REALLY had was Anti- Black Privilege. He thought that his wealth put him in the Ballpark, but didn't realize that most Americans don't know much about Hedge Funds or Biotech. Vivek literally flew beneath the radar, but his glaringly Non- White features overshadowed his rhetoric.

Like most 'People Of Color', Vivek Ramaswami failed to understand that AmeriKKKa sees him & his demographic as nothing more than a 'Buffer Group'. Their arrogance & smugness towards Us, blinds them to the fact that they are tools of Benign Neglect Policies; set up solely for the purpose of marginalizing Black American efforts to exercise a Right of Expression... Middle Class & Poor Whitefolk are becoming aware of just how much money this demographic earns; i'm anticipating a pushback at some point. AmeriKKKa IS NOT a Democracy, it's a White Supremacist Capitalist Republic. In This Land, The Wealthy Rule & Wealthy Whitefolk (i e. WASPS) are at the top of the Totem Pole... To date, the average Asian American Family earns more than the average White American Family. Black America knows FULL WELL what happens when Whitefolk begin to think that a Non- White Population may B outperforming them. For their own sake, Latinx & Black Immigrants should pay close attention.

When We factor in the Sabre Rattling between The U.S. & China over Commerce & Taiwan, plus rising tension between The U.S. & Hindustan/ Bharat over alleged Election Tampering, there may B some blow back on Asian Americans; especially during a Time of Economical Uncertainty- think Japanese Americans during WW2... Chattel Slavery has provided Black Americans w/ a unique perspective that Immigrants don't have. Whitefolk regarded Us as Sub Human (3/5ths of Humanity), so they weren't discrete about their actions around Us. This gives Us an intimate understanding of HOW AmeriKKKa moves. We warned these 'People of Color' about the folly of Race Neutrality, as We warned Poor Whitefolk about the folly of choosing White Privilege over Progressive Politics 135Yrs ago (i.e. The Populist Movement). NO ONE took heed to Our Prophecy- that American Capitalism WILL come for them, once We're neutralized. As always, it's Profit over People.

-The pendulum swings both ways.

[j-femmescoli]

books i read in 2023

my goal was to read a book a week and while the timeline wasn't perfectly even, i did manage to get it to add up (and then some!). this year i focused on religion and philosophy as well as classics (of which im counting both as traditional "ancient or pre-modern famous and outstanding" types of books, but also famous more modern books). i also bolded some books that were really good in my opinion that have really stuck with me so if you are interested in the genre i'd suggest those

st joan by bernard shaw (play)

mary and your everyday life by bernard haring (theology)

theology of liberation by gustavo gutierrez (theology)

magnificat by elizabeth ruth obbard (theology)

piedras labradas by victor montejo (poetry)

the boy who was raised as a dog by bruce perry and maia szalavitz (psychology)

4 great plays by ibsen - the dollhouse, ghosts, the wild duck, and an enemy of the people by henry ibsen (plays obvi)

the night of the iguanas by tennessee williams (play)

being logical by dq mcinerny (idk sociology maybe? it was about recognizing and avoiding bad-faith arguments and logical fallacies)

the alchemist by paolo coelho (classics)

frankenstein by mary shelly (classics)

an american tragedy by theodore dreiser (classics)

is this wifi organic? by dave farina (idk how to classify this one either but it was also about recognizing bad-faith arguments, specifically when it comes to pseudoscience)

the nicaraguan church and the revolution by joseph muligan (theology, history)

catholic social teaching: our best kept secret by peter henriot, edward deberri, and michael schultheis (theology)

beowulf (classics)

sapiens by yuval noah harari (anthropology)

the church and the second sex by mary daly (theology)

mary in the new testament edited by raymond brown, karl donfried, joseph fitzmyer, and john reumann (theology)

a catholic devotion to mary by oscar lukefahr (theology)

1001 nights / arabian nights trans. sir richard burton (classics)

a house on mango street by sandra cisneros (poetry)

primary source readings in catholic church history edited by robert feduccia and nick wagner (theology)

doing faithjustice by fred kammer, sj (theology)

winds of change by isaac asimov (sci-fi)

the sound and the fury by william faulkner (classics)

una ciudad de la españa cristiana hace mil años by claudio sanchez-albornoz (history)

the glass menajerie by tennessee williams (play)

reinventing the enemy's language by joy harjo and gloria bird (indigenous women writers anthology)

the great gatsby by f scott fitzgerald *reread* (classics)

the bell jar by sylvia plath (classics)

the kite runner by khaled hosseini (classics)

one nation, under gods by peter manseau (history)

development as freedom by amartya sen (economic / political philosophy)

women in ministry: four views edited by bonnidell and robert g clouse (practical theology)

mother of god: a history of the virgin mary by miri rubin (theology / history)

a study in scarlet and the sign of four by sir arthur conan doyle (classics)

adventures of sherlock holmes by sir arthur conan doyle (classics)

the casebook of sherlock holmes by sir arthur conan doyle (classics)

the valley of fear by sir arthur conan doyle (classics)

the memoirs of sherlock holmes by sir arthur conan doyle (classics)

the return of sherlock holmes by sir arthur conan doyle (classics)

the hound of the baskervilles by sir arthur conan doyle (classics)

his last bow by sir arthur conan doyle (classics)

the fundamentals of ethics, fourth edition by russ shafer landau (philosophy)

dracula by bram stoker (classics) (yes i'm counting dracula daily)

desde mi silencio by carmen gomez (poetry)

happiness in this life, excerpts from the homilies of pope francis (theology)

the vigilante / the snake / the chrysanthemums by john steinbeck (classics)

quest for the living god by sister beth johnson *reread* (theology)

the adventures of tom sawyer by mark twain (classics)

the adventures of huckleberry finn by mark twain (classics)

the boys in the boat by daniel james brown (history)

and that's all folks, ending the year with some classics, plus my mom insisted i read the boys in the boat while im home for christmas because she wanted to see the movie lol. i got so many books for christmas so i'll be startin off strong next year too, and my goal is finishing my collection of john steinbeck, by which i mean obtaining as well as reading everything i can find by him. here's my list from 2022 and i'll see you next year

[neoneun-au]

A post for my book recommendations, to be continuously updated as I read and remember more. Because without reading, I would not be writing. 

All time favourites are marked with a ☆

All are sorted by genre and will be linked (if able) to their Goodreads pages so that you can dig deeper into whatever catches your eye.

(ps if you have a Goodreads account, you can add me here)

Anthology/Short Story Collections

Behold This Dreamer - Walter de la Mare ☆

Love Letters of Great Men - Ursula Doyle

Difficult Women - Roxane Gay

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories - Ken Liu

The Elephant Vanishes - Haruki Murakami

Essays

Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay ☆

Bluets - Maggie Nelson ☆

On Freedom - Maggie Nelson

In Praise of Shadows - Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

Malleable Forms - Meeka Walsh ☆

Fiction (Classic)

Persuasion - Jane Austen ☆

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

The Awakening - Kate Chopin

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell ☆

Siddhartha - Hermen Hesse

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera ☆

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

Fiction (Modern)

All’s Well - Mona Awad ☆

Bunny - Mona Awad

Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach

The Pisces - Melissa Broder

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

For Today I Am A Boy - Kim Fu

The Vegetarian - Han Kang

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova ☆

Fall on Your Knees - Ann-Marie MacDonald

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing - Eimear McBride

No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy

The Road - Cormac McCarthy ☆

Under the Hawthorne Tree - Ai Mi

The Song of Achilles - Madeleine Miller ☆

After Dark - Haruki Murakami ☆

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Haruki Murakami

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami ☆

Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell

The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje

Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi

Mr. Fox - Helen Oyeyemi ☆

A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki

The Overstory - Richard Powers ☆

The Godfather - Mario Puzo

Blindness - José Saramago

How To Be Both - Ali Smith

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt ☆

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

Ru - Kim Thúy

Brooklyn - Colm Tóibín

Big Fish - Daniel Wallace

Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto

Horror/Thriller

The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty

Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton

Gerald’s Game - Stephen King

The Shining - Stephen King

Audition - Ryū Murakami

I’m Thinking of Ending Things - Iain Reid

Manga/Graphic Novels

Basilisk - Futaro Yamada, Maseki Sagawa

Death Note - Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata

Eureka Seven - Jinsei Kataoka, Kazuma Kondou

Lore Olympus - Rachel Smythe

Nana - Ai Yazawa ☆

Paradise Kiss - Ai Yazawa

Uzumaki - Junji Ito

xxxHolic - CLAMP

Memoirs/Journals

Speak, Okinawa - Elizabeth Miki Brina

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness - Susannah Cahalan

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - Caitlin Doughty

I’m Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books - Azar Nafisi

Henry and June - Anaïs Nin ☆

The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls ☆

Non-Fiction (General)

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking - Susan Cain

The Red Market - Scott Carney

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern - Stephen Greenblatt

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right - Jane Mayer

The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson

The Elements of Style - William Strunk Jr, E.B White

Non-Fiction (Philosophy/Spiritual)

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge - Carlos Castañeda

Silence: In the Age of Noise - Erling Kagge ☆

The Kybalion - Three Initiates ☆

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo - Chögyam Trungpa

Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

Poetry Collections

I Love My Love - Reyna Biddy

Let Us Compare Mythologies - Leonard Cohen

The Prophet - Khalil Gibran

The Anatomy of Being - Shinji Moon

The Beauty of the Husband - Anne Carson ☆

Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth - Warsan Shire

Night Sky with Exit Wounds - Ocean Vuong

Speculative Fiction

Dune - Frank Herbert

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel ☆

Battle Royale - Koushun Takami

True Crime

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders - Vincent Bugliosi

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote ☆

Young Adult

A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray ☆

The Diviners - Libba Bray

The Sun is Also a Star - Nicola Yoon

[scotianostra]

9th December 1770 saw the birth of the poet and novelist James Hogg.

Hogg is primarily known today not only as the author of a series of pastoral poems, but also as the writer of the novel, Confessions of a Justified Sinner, widely regarded as the first piece of modern Scottish fiction.

A contrary figure in real life, Hogg almost bankrupted himself in attempts to be a successful shepherd - leading to his literary friends dubbing him "the Ettrick Shepherd".

There were two main strands to Hogg’s early cultural experience: folk traditions and religion. The family were church-goers and his father was an elder, while his mother was steeped in the oral tradition, relating to her children folk tales and songs of kings, knights and supernatural beings.

With no media ,as we know it back then Hogg would have listened reel off tales of Scottish history and legends as he was growing up. As a young man Hogg worked as a shepherd in Selkirkshire and Dumfriesshire, becoming interested in literature in his early twenties, when he attempted writing songs and poems, some of which were published in The Scots Magazine. He moved to Edinburgh in 1810 to pursue a career as a full-time man of letters, after having published poetry and non-fiction while maintaining his day-job as a shepherd. However, in 1813 he returned to Selkirkshire, where he lived and worked in the Duke of Buccleuch's Altrive Farm in Yarrow.

He continued to publish regularly while maintaining a contentious relationship with the Edinburgh literati, including his friend and some-time mentor, Walter Scott.

Many of Hogg's stories and poems appeared in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, or Maga as it was affectionately known.

Hogg continued to write, publish and farm until his death in 1835. He was buried in Ettrick Churchyard, appropriately next to his grandfather, Will o’ Phaup, who is reputed to have been the last man to converse with the fairies!

Among Hogg's most famous works was Jacobite Relics - originally commissioned by the Highland Society of London in 1817, it included Lament of Flora McDonald, sung here by Kenneth McKellar

Far over yon hills of the heather sae green An' doun by the corrie that sings to the sea, The bonnie young Flora sat sighin' her lane, The dew on her plaid an' the tear in her e'e. She look'd at a boat wi' the breezes that swung, Away on the wave like a bird on the main, An' aye as it lessen'd she sigh'd an' she sung, "Fareweel to the lad I shall ne'er see again; Fareweel to my hero, the gallant and young, Fareweel to the lad I shall ne'er see again."

The moorcock that crows on the brows o' Ben Connal, He kens o' his bed in a sweet mossy hame; The eagle that soars o'er the cliffs o' Clan Ranald, Unaw'd and unhunted his eyrie can claim; The solan can sleep on the shelves of the shore, The cormorant roost on his rock of the sea; But ah! there is one whose fate I deplore, Nor house, ha' nor hame in this country has he; The conflict is past, and our name is no more, There's nought left but sorrow for Scotland and me.

The target is torn from the arm of the just, The helmet is cleft on the brow of the brave; The claymore forever in darkness must rust, But red is the sword of the stranger and slave; The hoof of the horse, and the foot of the proud, Have trod o'er the plumes on the bonnet of blue; Why slept the red bolt in the breast of the cloud, When tyranny revell'd in blood of the true? Fareweel my young hero, the gallant and good, The crown of thy father's is torn from thy brow.

[black-rabbit-razumikhin]

Books, So Many Books

The Bedside Pile

~ The Gift Of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

~ The Appeal by John Grisham

Physical TBR

~ The Mammoth Hunters by Jean Auel

~ Plains Of Passage by Jean Auel

~ Shelters Of Stone by Jean Auel

~ Land Of The Painted Caves by Jean Auel

~ The Business by Iain Banks

~ As Long As We Both Shall Live by Joann Chaney

~ Incendiary by Chris Cleave

~ Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

~ Silas Marner by George Elliot

~ Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

~ Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks

~ On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastian Faulks

~ Here I Am by Jonathan Foer

~ A Killer Choice by Tom Hunt

~ Cold Heart by Linda LaPlante

~ The Call Of The Wild by Jack London

~ Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

~ Brothers by Bernice Rubens

~ The Hickory Staff by Robert Scott

~ The Farm by Tom Smith

~ The Master Of Ballantre by Robert L. Stevenson

~ Gulliver's Travels by Johnathan Swift

~ Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

~ The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Storygraph TBR

~ The Lord Of The Flies by William Golding

~ Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

~ Animal Farm by George Orwell

~ Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Huw Lemmey

~ Sea Of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

~ Blood In My Eye by George Jackson

~ Escape Routes by Naomi Ishiguro

~ The Gospel Of The Eels by Patrik Svensson

~ The End Of Loneliness by Benedict Wells

~ Orlando by Virginia Woolf

~ Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie

~ Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie

~ Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

~ Unexpected Vanilla by Lee Hyemi

~ The Ritual by Adam Nevill

~ Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns

~ Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park

~ The Last Tale Of The Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

~ Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H.

~ Battle Royale by Koushin Takami

~ What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

~ The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

~ American Prometheus by Kai Bird

~ Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

~ The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

~ Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

~ Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

[samwisethewitch]

Sam's Masterlist of Beginner Resources

These are some of my favorite books, podcasts, and blogs that can help you develop your spiritual practice even if you have zero previous knowledge. All of these resources are approachable enough for total beginners, but I also recommend them for more advanced practitioners who want to brush up on the basics. Some books are listed in multiple categories because they cover multiple topics.

This list will be updated continuously as I find new resources that I want to recommend.

Secular Witchcraft (witchcraft that is not part of an established religious or spiritual tradition)

Witchcraft for Everyone by Sam Wise

A Witch's Guide to Spellcraft by Althaea Sebastiani

"Witchcraft for Skeptics | Science and Theory Behind Magick" by Jessi Huntenburg on YouTube

A Green Witch’s Cupboard by Deborah J. Martin

By Rust of Nail & Prick of Thorn by Althaea Sebastiani (this book is about protection magic specifically)

Witchcraft Traditions (witchcraft that is part of an established religion or spiritual path)

Wicca For Beginners by Thea Sabin

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham

Reclaiming Witchcraft by Irisanya Moon

The Spiral Dance by Starhawk (written by a founder of Reclaiming, but also contains elements of Wicca and Feri)

Betwixt & Between by Storm Faerywolf (about the Feri tradition)

Witchcraft in History and Culture

Waking the Witch by Pam Grossman

Witches, Sluts, Feminists by Kristen J. Sollee

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deidre English

Paganism

Wicca For Beginners by Thea Sabin

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham

The Spiral Dance by Starhawk (written by a founder of Reclaiming, but also contains elements of Wicca and Feri)

Irish Paganism: Reconstructing Irish Polytheism by Morgan Daimler

Morgan Daimler's YouTube channel (Irish paganism and Fairy lore)

Lora O'Brien's YouTube channel (Irish paganism)

The Irish Pagan School

Temple of the Cosmos by Jeremy Naydler, Ph.D. (Kemetic paganism)

The Way of Fire and Ice by Ryan Smith (Norse Heathenry)

On Black Wings: A Site for Fire & Ice Heathen spirituality and practice: https://www.onblackwings.com/

Skald's Keep: https://skaldskeep.com/ (Norse Heathenry) (on tumblr as @skaldish)

North of Annwyn: https://northofannwn.wixsite.com/home (author is Heathen but posts about magic and paganism more generally; author is currently on hiatus) (on tumblr as @north-of-annwn)

American Folk Magic

New World Witchery podcast

Southern Cunning by Aaron Oberon (Southern folkloric witchcraft)

Roots, Branches & Spirits by H. Byron Ballard (Appalachian folk magic)

Sticks, Stones, Roots, and Bones by Stephanie Rose Bird (Hoodoo, African-American magic)

Jambalaya by Luisah Teish (New Orleans Voodoo and African-American women's spirituality)

Divination

Kitchen Table Tarot by Melissa Cynova

Astrology for Real Life by Theresa Reed

Fifty-four Devils: The Art & Folklore of Fortune-telling with Playing Cards by Cory Thomas Hutcheson

Religion, Spirituality, and Politics

"Rethinking How Paganism Engages Culture" by Sam Wise (blog post: https://www.samwisethewitch.com/post/rethinking-how-paganism-engages-culture)

Bringing Race to the Table edited by Crystal Blanton, Taylor Ellwood, and Brandy Williams

"Witchcraft PSA: The Chakras & Cultural Appropriation" by Anthony the Witch on Tumblr (https://anthonythewitch.tumblr.com/post/187293358858/witchcraft-psa-the-chakras-cultural)

Bright-sided by Barbara Ehrenreich (deals with toxic positivity)

McMindfulness by Ronald Purser (this one is a little bit dense but has a very important message about how American mindfulness culture misappropriates Buddhist practices)

[hermitcrossovers]

So fun fact I'm currently avoiding doing my greek school work to write this haha

Anyways on to the other parts of the plot!

So Empires is another island, with nine ruling clans (I took out Pearl, Jimmy, and Gem's kingdoms due to plot). This is where most of the Emperors come from, they are the children of these leaders.

Pearl and Jimmy ended up on the island when Jimmy was thirteen and Pearl was fourteen. Jimmy had been sent by the Listeners, while Pearl had shipwrecked after escaping the Watchers.

Most of the Emperors are just kinda chilling. They're living their lives and learning how to hunt dragons and keep their island safe.

There's only one problem, the island has a history of sacrificing misbehaving children to a nearby island filled with the worst and most deadly dragons.

Everything changes when a masked figure starts attacking, claiming to control the deathgrippers. They say their name is Xornoth, and they know the secrets of the island.

Of course, they do. After all, Xornoth is the only surviving child who was sacrificed. They want revenge for their friends, and to get rid of their parents once and for all.

Oh, and they're Scott's older sibling. Scott doesn't know about this.

So, when Xornoth starts threatening Scott's island, he (very blind to the truth, because sheltered upbringings will do that to you) decides to leave and seek out somebody who could help. Jimmy offers to come along, and Scott says yes, because Jimmy could be useful, not at all because Scott has a crush on him. Totally.

They end up sailing for a few days, before being scooped up by Grian, who is overjoyed to see one of his old friends again. And to have somebody who isn't Scar around.

I should note this happens before Grian finds out BigB and Martyn are alive.

Now, meanwhile with the Crastle crew:

Cleo is about to pull her hair out, because why are they stuck with this gremlin of a teenager. All she wants to do is go home for once, not be stuck on this random island after getting blown off course in a storm.

Bdubs is having a great time! He's finally got another person on the island besides himself, and shes great! He swears he'll protect her forever, because she can get him off the island. It's been a long two years after all.

Impulse has zero idea what's going on. He and Tango were out looking for Skizz one minute, exploring an island and getting jumped on by a feral teenager and a redhead who has a knife the next. He's pretty sure he wants to go home.

Tango has given up trying to understand anything. He's just listening to Cleo and Bdubs argue about what to do with him and Impulse, so he offers to help them work on a ship in exchange for their freedom after the ship is built. That seems to work.

-------

I'm still working out most of the details but here's a list of dragons + the answer to your question:

Yes Evo is abandoned but sort of intact! However it's been pretty ravaged and needs a few years before most plants grow back, as a lightning storm that ended up making the forests catching fire happened shortly after the Watchers took and/or killed everybody.

Jimmy - a yellow razorwhip named Canary!

Scott - a red whispering death named Poppy

Bdubs - a snaptrapper named Mossy as a collective, and a terrible terror named Shrub

Cloe - a bonenapper named Bones, and she later gets a screaming death named Screamy

Impulse - a yellow and black windwalker named Ssvee

Tango - a rumblehorn named Ravager!

Joel - a pack of small shadows (you might notice I haven't done much with Joel yet, that's because I'm trying to figure out what he's even doing) - 🔮🐦 (magic bird anon)

I swear I had already answered this 💀💀

First off! The crastle vibes are on point, and Cleo with a bonenapper is just perfect, honestly I feel like she would absolutely gather bones to give to Bones lol.

Second... the empires guys are in for so much hurt, plus sailor Jimmy and Scot is now stuck in my head.

I love how you're weaving in the different servers together.

-Mod Jer

[vthetease]

my favorite things

it's me birthday

so just incase anyone wanted to know some stuff about V

heres some random info about my life as well as some of my favorite things

i am a libra sun, aquarius moon, capricorn rising

i like dark chocolate more than any other; i have since i first got my period. i like gummy candy and starbursts but my favorite are the little cola bottle candies. i like tea and coffee sweet, but flavorful. i like energy drinks and slushees and wanted my first tattoo to be a cola-mtn dew slushee but it wasnt. i like waffles more than pancakes but would prefer a toaster strudel or muffin. i like apples and lemons and cinnamon and garlic and truffle and black cherries but not maraschino. i dont like onions or cilantro or swiss cheese. i dont like chili because something about the consistency of wet, tomato-ee hamburger makes me ill. i also can't drink hard liquor.

i like smells like thick cologne that lingers and juniper and spearmint and old houses and honeysuckle and the smells of the earth when it stops raining in the summer. i like the smell of other peoples laundry soap and coffee more than my own. i like eucalyptus and aloe and teakwood and dragons blood incense.

i like classic rock from my dad and 80s pop ballads from my mom and afi and lincoln park from my older sibling and 4*TOWN for my younger sibling. one of my earliest loves in music was Paramore, and hayley is an inspiration of mine. i like pop punk and the band ive seen the most is sleeping with sirens, 4 times now. i like hip hop and rnb and acapella and piano. i like music that makes me feel alive. anything from violin to screaming, i just like passion. i'm a very passionate person and always have been despite myself.

i sing and like singing in the car, while i shower, and cook. i am very loud but sometimes can do cool things. i like how singing makes me happy and helps me relate to other people and also my predecessors. i like how i feel connected to those before me through my voice. my first time singing in public was my 4th grade talent show. I sang The Only Exception by Paramore because my parents thought Almost Lover was too dramatic and adult for a 12 year old

i like old movies and i used to fall asleep to them at my grandparents and wake up to them at weekends at my dads apartment. i like musicals like ride the cyclone and drama like the fault in our stars and action like john wick and will always be down for a horror movie. i like get out and candyman and hereditary and black swan and blair witch and creep. i like the twilight zone and rod serling has a special place in my heart. i also like alex trebek from jeopardy, matthew grey gubler, penn badgely, andrew scott, evan peters, and my biggest current celeb crush is matt rife.

i like being alone in busy places. i like to talk to people but i also like to disappear to the other room during the party. im the girl you find sitting outside sometimes smoking, or on the balcony. i enjoy walking back into a concert midsong and seeing all the happy little people being happy. i like stepping away from chaos to appreciate it. i like driving on highways at night when its empty and im high. i like watching airplanes land. i like sleep and i sleep in a tank top and underwear but never socks. my dreams always take me back to this very similiar place every single night doing different tasks with different people. i might start calling it the twilight zone. i like to paint my emotions in my makeup and artwork. i have always felt very deeply and openly.

i like the moon and the stars and it is so fascinating to learn about the same beautiful big rock my ancestors saw. i feel drawn to white butterflies and birds and bumblebees and skinks ( they r tiny lizards). i like history and culture, but im really bad at math.

thats all i can come up with for now. if you have any questions let me know

thanks for reading about me, lmk if youre in love yet

valentine, 22 today <3

[gumnut-logic]

A still moment.

Cloud sailing slowly across the sky, sunlight and shadows. The flickering sheen of palm fronds gently shaken by the breeze. The clatter of sea air-hardened plant fibres crumpling together and rubbing like the back legs of a cricket.

Birds. So many birds.

At some point in pre-history Tracy Island had risen above the waves and created one of the rare oases of land in a sea of ocean desert and life had taken advantage of it. Birds discovered it and made it their home. Coral colonised it and built the reef his fish brother played in.

Trees, shrubs, ferns, moss, insects, an entire ecosystem unique to the Island had grown.

And eventually it had become his family’s home.

He filtered sand grains through his fingers.

Today had been one of those days where he questioned whether it was worth it.

Of course, it was worth it.

It was his father’s voice in the back of his mind. A familiar timbre and surety.

He had clung to both many times, and they gave reassurance and direction.

But days like today?

They were not enough.

His father wasn’t the one who had to watch a brother fall.

His father wasn’t the one who had to cling to a brother’s hand while he screamed in pain.

His father wasn’t the one who had to face his family with news enough to shatter them.

Was it worth it?

He tried to answer that in the positive but the words crumbled under the weight of anguish.

John had survived.

Barely.

There was a long road ahead and it would be some time before he saw his beloved Thunderbird Five again. He was going to be hell to live with.

A hell that was heaven up against the alternative.

His sigh was like the sound of the world squashing him just a little more.

They followed their father’s dream. It had become their dream.

But at what cost? How much did they have to pay? When did it stop? When was enough enough?

His brothers’ eyes grew wearier every day. Alan, barely into adulthood and already aged by experience. It hurt to watch his spark dim. It hurt to see him struggling with sights and sounds he should have been protected from.

God, he wished he could protect his little brother.

Protect all of them.

The imp in the back of his mind sat down next to his father and smiled. ‘I’m fine, don’t worry.’

He couldn’t help it. He was responsible.

Wiping his hands on his pants, he stood up. His runners were full of gritty sand and the waves mocked him with their regularity.

He rubbed his face, but he couldn’t scrub away the sight of John screaming.

So, he broke into a run.

His feet hit the first of the rocks leading off the beach and he leapt up and back onto the path he had deviated from earlier. Nothing was calming his heart.

The question kept surfacing.

Was it worth it?

His feet pounded amongst the gravel, as regular and as mocking as the waves below.

The view blurred.

God, he was going to stash John on Five and never let him down again.

He would love that.

Something in his heart just hurt.

His feet pounded faster.

His mind’s eye darted over familiar faces. Sadness, fear, Grandma’s tears.

He rubbed his face again and his hand came back wet.

Goddamnit!

Scott staggered to a halt and dropped his hands to his knees, his breath coming in little more than haggard gasps as his head drooped.

Goddamnit.

How could it be possibly worth his brothers’ lives?

A hand touched his back and he flinched away.

But the hand was strong and before he knew it, he was wrapped in even stronger arms, his head drawn to a flannel shoulder, words of reassurance rumbling in his ear.

For a moment, there was just distress and tears.

“He’s going to be okay.” Virgil’s voice was always reassuring. Always there.

Scott pulled away, straightening up and wiping his face. “I know.”

“You did what you had to do.”

“I know.”

His younger brother was staring up at him, worry in his dark eyes. A hand reached up to grip his arm. “You had no choice.”

“I know.” But this time it was hoarse and it hurt so much.

“John wouldn’t have it any other way. Those children owe their lives to your decision.”

“I don’t care.”

“What?” Worry turned to puzzlement.

“Why is John’s life worth less than another.”

“It isn’t. But it is his choice.”

Scott opened his mouth, but his protest died in his throat.

Virgil picked up on it and furthered his point, his remaining hand landing on Scott’s other arm and gripping tight. “It was his choice, Scott. It is John’s life to offer.”

“It was my decision.”

Virgil’s lips thinned. “No. Not really. He would have done it anyway.”

The image of his brother screaming taunted him again. So much pain.

And he had given his permission.

But John would have done it anyway.

Hell, Scott would have done it, if he had had the chance.

Anything to protect his brother.

To save those children’s lives.

Virgil drew him into a hug again and Scott wasn’t sure if it was for him or for Virgil.

Likely both.

Was it worth it?

Children screaming.

John screaming.

He didn’t have an answer anymore.

It just hurt.

-o-o-o-