"We, half dust, half deity,"

To The Substitute Art Teacher - Jordan Bolton

My grandfather and my godfather (a beloved neighbor and dear family friend) had a long standing bet- for one dollar- about who would die first. Both of them being slightly pessimistic (in the funny way), they both insisted that they themselves would be the first to die. Any time my grandfather had a health scare, he’d gleefully call up my godfather to boast that he’d be passing “any day now” and he was sure to win the bet. It was a big family joke and they were always amiably sparring and comparing notes about who was in worse shape, medically speaking.

When my grandfather was in hospice care dying of liver cancer, my godfather was quite ill also. It took him great effort to make the journey to see his dying friend. As he came into the room, supported by a family member, he shuffled to my grandpa’s bedside and silently handed him a dollar bill. He was ceding his loss of the bet, as they both knew who was going first. My grandpa had been in quite bad shape for a while and was no longer able to speak but let me tell you he snatched that dollar with unexpected strength and literally laughed aloud. He knew exactly what the gesture meant and he couldn’t help but find the humor within the grief. It was the last time any of us heard my grandpa laugh, as he passed shortly after.

When I talk about my appreciation for “dark humor” I’m not so much thinking about edgy jokes, but rather the human instinct to somehow, impossibly, both find and appreciate the absurdity that is so often folded into the profound grief of life and death. When I tell this story I think it kind of perturbs people sometimes, but it’s honestly one of my favorite memories about two men I really deeply admired. I could never hope for anything more than for my loved ones to remember me laughing until the very end, and taking joy in a little joke as one of my final acts.

My grandfather and my godfather (a beloved neighbor and dear family friend) had a long standing bet- for one dollar- about who would die first. Both of them being slightly pessimistic (in the funny way), they both insisted that they themselves would be the first to die. Any time my grandfather had a health scare, he’d gleefully call up my godfather to boast that he’d be passing “any day now” and he was sure to win the bet. It was a big family joke and they were always amiably sparring and comparing notes about who was in worse shape, medically speaking.

When my grandfather was in hospice care dying of liver cancer, my godfather was quite ill also. It took him great effort to make the journey to see his dying friend. As he came into the room, supported by a family member, he shuffled to my grandpa’s bedside and silently handed him a dollar bill. He was ceding his loss of the bet, as they both knew who was going first. My grandpa had been in quite bad shape for a while and was no longer able to speak but let me tell you he snatched that dollar with unexpected strength and literally laughed aloud. He knew exactly what the gesture meant and he couldn’t help but find the humor within the grief. It was the last time any of us heard my grandpa laugh, as he passed shortly after.

When I talk about my appreciation for “dark humor” I’m not so much thinking about edgy jokes, but rather the human instinct to somehow, impossibly, both find and appreciate the absurdity that is so often folded into the profound grief of life and death. When I tell this story I think it kind of perturbs people sometimes, but it’s honestly one of my favorite memories about two men I really deeply admired. I could never hope for anything more than for my loved ones to remember me laughing until the very end, and taking joy in a little joke as one of my final acts.

Thinking about what the creator of this had in mind eight years ago it's haunting me

My #1 recurring thing as an editor is to guide people away from writing shyly and defensively. If you preempt aggression and try defuse it in your writing itself, you are showing your belly. The audience wants blood.

If you write with the expectation of being hated, you are writing for your haters. This is exactly what they want. So the more you do it, the more of your readers will be haters.

i feel like the boeing whistleblower case should radicalize more people. a major airline company is producing planes with less and less regard for safety and it's starting to get noticeable. man takes them to court, which would reduce profit at the cost of public safety. he fucking dies the night that boeings legal team asks him to stay an extra day. if nothing happens about this, i hope it gets through to people that america would literally kill you for a few extra cents

black cat eating a whole rotisserie chicken while Mamma Mia by ABBA plays in the background

There is explicit nonbinary representation on my math homework

rb if you support them

Bin’s identity is valid BUT👏THEIR👏ANSWER👏IS👏NOT👏

in 2012 we had an anti-abortion demonstrator on campus. I was in a ballet intensive and I walked by him—30 yards away & in total silence—wearing leggings and a sweater over my leotard, and he yelled, “nice cameltoe, dyke!”

I got to class and told my instructor about it and we complained to campus security, who told us that the campus was open to the public and that it was “his legal right to assembly and protest.”

so I guess the NYPD just showed up this time because these protestors forgot to sexually harass students and call them homophobic slurs. Easy mistake to make

— We Should Not All Be Feminists by Frances Wright

yea.

Thinking about the two (male) coworkers I had a few farm jobs ago, one of whom was a very well spoken and politically knowledgeable self reported socialist who was nevertheless urging me to stay silent about the lower wages I was receiving so I didn't compromise his job. The OTHER one was a foulmouthed nineteen year old who didn't know what trans meant (but listened VERY well when I talked about it) and was absolutely up in arms about the wage inequality, and honestly any injustice in front of him. I'll let you guess which if them I'm still in touch with

getting second hand embarrassment on the dash tonight

Answers to who saw who in the shapeshifting episode!

mm fulled of eggs

wait fuck NOT A FETISH POST NOT A FETISH POST NOT A FETISH POST. HARBOILED EGG ARE HARD BOPILED CHICKEN EGGS . CHIECKEN EGGS I ATE THEM NOT !! PEGNANT

if you're a human adult you physically need to eat actual vegetables, read real books, work, exercise, be outdoors, have sex, and have other real adult humans to talk to all on at LEAST a weekly basis or else you go will literally go completely insane and the problem is too many people choose to skip all those basic needs on purpose

"I'm depressed and always tired and my body is in mysterious pain all the time for no reason" yeah you've spent a whole month isolated except for talking to online people and coworkers and eating convenience store snacks for half your meals with 0 physical activity like that isn't passive self harm. of course your body doesn't like that, it's exhausting

they should invent a brain that doesn’t whisper bad things to you