evermoresunny

[evermoresunny]

I think one big reason why we don't consider the stars as important as before (not even pop-astrology anymore cares about the stars or the sky on itself, just the signs deprived of context) is because of light pollution.

For most of human history the sky looked between 1-3, 4 at most. And then all of a sudden with electrification it was gone (I'm lucky if I get 6 in my small city). The first time I saw the Milky Way fully as a kid was a spiritual experience, I was almost scared on how BRIGHT it was, it felt like someone was looking back at me. You don't get that at all with modern light pollution.

When most people talk about stargazing nowadays they think about watching about a couple of bright dots. The stars are really, really not like that. The unpolluted night sky is a festival of fireworks. There is nothing like it.

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Ghinwa Jawhari, “I translate the names of boys killed in Gaza”

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Tips for writing those gala scenes, from someone who goes to them occasionally:

Generally you unbutton and re-button a suit coat when you sit down and stand up.

You’re supposed to hold wine or champagne glasses by the stem to avoid warming up the liquid inside. A character out of their depth might hold the glass around the sides instead.

When rich/important people forget your name and they’re drunk, they usually just tell you that they don’t remember or completely skip over any opportunity to use your name so they don’t look silly.

A good way to indicate you don’t want to shake someone’s hand at an event is to hold a drink in your right hand (and if you’re a woman, a purse in the other so you definitely can’t shift the glass to another hand and then shake)

Americans who still kiss cheeks as a welcome generally don’t press lips to cheeks, it’s more of a touch of cheek to cheek or even a hover (these days, mostly to avoid smudging a woman’s makeup)

The distinctions between dress codes (black tie, cocktail, etc) are very intricate but obvious to those who know how to look. If you wear a short skirt to a black tie event for example, people would clock that instantly even if the dress itself was very formal. Same thing goes for certain articles of men’s clothing.

Open bars / cash bars at events usually carry limited options. They’re meant to serve lots of people very quickly, so nobody is getting a cosmo or a Manhattan etc.

Members of the press generally aren’t allowed to freely circulate at nicer galas/events without a very good reason. When they do, they need to identify themselves before talking with someone.

[evermoresunny]

they don’t tell you this but you can take steps to improve your life all the time. even when you’re feeling absolutely miserable. even when it doesn’t pay off immediately. do you guys know about this

[evermoresunny]

Dunya Mikhail, from Diary of a wave outside the sea (trans. Elizabeth Winslow and Dunya Mikhail) [ID'd]

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Marina Tsvetaeva, excerpt from Poem of the End, Selected Poems (trans. Elaine Feinstein, with Angela Livingstone)

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“Her love and duty for her children were like her chain of slavery. …The arrival of her new twin daughters had a subduing effect upon Nnu Ego. She felt more inadequate than ever before. Men– all they were interested in were male babies to keep their names going. But did not a woman have to bear the woman-child who would later bear the sons? ‘God, when will you create a woman who will be fulfilled in herself, a full human being, not anybody’s appendage?’ she prayed desperately. ‘After all, I was born alone, and I shall die alone. What have I gained from all of this? Yes, I have many children, but what do I have to feed them on? On my life. I have to work myself to the bone to look after them, I have to give them my all. And if I am lucky enough to die in peace, I even have to give them my soul. They will worship my dead spirit to provide for them: it will be hailed as a good spirit so long as there are plenty of yams and children in the family, but if anything should go wrong, if a young wife does not conceive or there is a famine, my dead spirit will be blamed. When will I be free?’ But even in her confusion she knew the answer: 'Never, not even in death. I am a prisoner of my own flesh and blood. Is it such an enviable position? The men make it look as if we must aspire for children or die. That’s why when I lost my first son I wanted to die, because I failed to live up to the standard expected of me by the males in my life, my father and my husband– and now I have to include my sons. But who made the law that we should not hope in our daughters? We women subscribe to that law more than anyone. Until we change all this, it is still a man’s world, which women will always help to build.’”

— Nnu Ego, The Joys of Motherhood, Buchi Emecheta

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I’ll embrace all your versions.

Details by Roberto Ferri.

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All the world's poetry and all the world's art,

Will never write me pretty or paint me with a heart.

[evermoresunny]

“The fruit was never an apple”

Max Svabinsky, (1873-1962)

“In Paradise” circa 1918

[evermoresunny]

musings on the sun

christina perneta, noor hindi, vincent van gogh, jeanette winterson, zinaida vysota docenko, anne sexton, olga kos, khalil gibran

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"Unexpected Storm", Paruyr Sevak (translated by Tathev Simonyan)

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ms. dalloway, virginia woolf

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Dunya Mikhail, from Diary of a wave outside the sea (trans. Elizabeth Winslow and Dunya Mikhail) [ID'd]

[evermoresunny]

what are your favourite movies? Do you have a letterboxd? X

i don't but a brief list of films i'm always thinking about:

the way he looks (dir. daniel ribeiro)

before sunrise (dir. david linklater)

the godfather (dir. francis ford coppola)

pacific rim (dir. guillermo del toro)

the double life of veronique (dir. krzysztof kieslowski)

pan's labyrinth (dir. guillermo del toro)

taste of cherry (dir. abbas kiarostami)

in the mood for love (dir. wong kar-wai)

ida (dir. pawel pawlikowski)

pain and glory (dir. pedro almodovar)

potrait of a lady on fire (dir. celine sciamma)

the tale of the princess kaguya (dir. isao takahata)

la llorona (dir. jayra bustamante)

arrival (dir. denis villeneuve)

gruff (9 min short film, but including it because it made me bawl my eyes out)

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[evermoresunny]

Ocean Vuong, from “Woodworking at the End of the World”, Time Is a Mother