cara

beautiful state situated in the northeastern united states. best known for such landmarks as the statue of liberty, empire state building, central park, and times square. new york was the 11th state to join the union by ratifying the united states constitution in 1788. (see: new york city)(see: albany)

i leant upon a coppice gate
when frost was spectre-grey,
and winter's dregs made desolate
the weakening eye of day.
the tangled bine-stems scored the sky
like strings of broken lyres,
and all mankind that haunted nigh
had sought their household fires.

the land's sharp features seemed to be
the century's corpse outleant,
his crypt the cloudy canopy,
the wind his death-lament.
the ancient pulse of germ and birth
was shrunken hard and dry,
and every spirit upon earth
seemed fervourless as i.

at once a voice arose among
the bleak twigs overhead
in a full-hearted evensong
of joy illimited;
an aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
in blast-beruffled plume,
had chosen thus to fling his soul
upon the growing gloom.

so little cause for carolings
of such ecstatic sound
was written on terrestrial things
afar or nigh around,
that i could think there trembled through
his happy good-night air
some blessed hope, whereof he knew
and i was unaware

thomas hardy the darkling thrush

art is the human attempt to turn experience, emotion, imagination, or reality into something another person can see, hear, feel, or interpret.

“we have art in order not to die of the truth.” friedrich nietzsche

funny how “nothing personal” is usually followed by something extremely personal.

the only social network where getting laid off becomes “excited to announce my next chapter.”

everyone is humbled, honored, thrilled, grateful, and somehow always learning leadership lessons from a coffee meeting.

nstagram is where people pretend their lives are perfect.

linkedin is where people pretend their careers are.

one of those rare internet personalities who somehow became trusted by both toddlers and exhausted parents at the same time. the videos look extremely simple, but that is kind of the point. slow speech, repetition, facial expressions, songs, pauses, and direct eye contact are all designed around how very young children actually learn language. to a toddler, she is entertainment. to a parent trying to make dinner while their kid learns a new word in the background, she is basically infrastructure.

a term that started as a fairly literal description of someone fighting for social justice and eventually turned into an internet insult.

by the 2010s, especially around online culture wars, “sjw” became shorthand for someone seen as overly performative, moralizing, or obsessed with identity politics. dictionary sources now label the term as disparaging in common usage.

the sociological part is more interesting than the insult itself.

take a college student who cares about racism, sexism, or lgbt rights. activism can start as genuine concern, but once that activism moves onto social media, it also becomes visible to an audience. now there are likes, reposts, status, group approval, and punishment for saying the wrong thing.

at that point, you are not only expressing a belief.

you are also performing membership in a group.

that does not automatically make the belief fake. humans have always signaled values through religion, clothing, rituals, politics, and community behavior.

social media just gave moral signaling a scoreboard.

that is probably why “sjw” became such a loaded term in the u.s. it stopped describing what someone believed and started describing how other people thought they were performing those beliefs.

the person, comment, or moment that walks into a perfectly good vibe and kills it instantly.

everyone is laughing, having fun, enjoying the night.

then someone says, “actually…”

buzzkill.

the gray area between being completely faithful and obviously cheating.

secret flirting, keeping someone around for attention, hiding messages, deleting conversations, or doing things you would suddenly stop doing if your partner walked into the room.

lead singer of popular band panic! at the disco. also known lovingly as beebo. pretty much the most beautiful man alive.

the most fascinating aspect of human history

what is something about me you noticed before i noticed it myself?

what is one thing you wish people understood about you?

image

the general rule of the universe is that, over time, everything wants to reach minimum energy and maximum disorder.

(see: entropy)

since it's a universal show, they were forced to shoot a final season in keeping with the fundamental rule of the universe. game of thrones isn't just a show, it's a work of natural art, in my opinion. like a lake, like a mountain, like a waterfall.

a temporary state of being thrown into a world you did not choose, given a body you did not design, surrounded by people you cannot fully understand, and then asked to somehow make meaning out of all of it.