Lupins And Indian Paintbrush!!!

I mean.

Oscar Santasusagna

Oscar Santasusagna - Rites of Passage (2021)

Still in progress. ADHD mom of neurodivergent kids here. My executive function is nonexistent.

I have disappointed more loved ones in the past ten years than all my other years put together.

Incredible. I ship it so hard.

A crossover for the ages.

Omg.

Activists did this yesterday (Tesla factory, Berlin):

(original post on bluesky)

The Cool Down

Study uncovers surprising fact about wildflowers in urban areas: 'No difference … between the meadow types'

Researchers found that small patches of wildflowers can foster the same biodiversity as entire meadows.

A caveat to this study: the researchers were primarily looking at insect pollinator biodiversity. Planting a few native wildflowers in your garden will not suddenly cause unusual megafauna from the surrounding hinterlands to crowd onto your porch.

That being said, this study backs up Douglas Tallamy's optimistic vision of Homegrown National Park, which calls for people in communities of all sizes to dedicate some of their yard (or porch or balcony) to native plants. This creates a patchwork of microhabitats that can support more mobile insect life and other small beings, which is particularly crucial in areas where habitat fragmentation is severe. This patchwork can create migration corridors, at least for smaller, very mobile species, between larger areas of habitat that were previously cut off from each other.

It may not seem like much to have a few pots of native flowers on your tiny little balcony compared to someone who can rewild acres of land, but it makes more of a difference than you may realize. You may just be creating a place where a pollinating insect flying by can get some nectar, or lay her eggs. Moreover, by planting native species you're showing your neighbors these plants can be just as beautiful as non-native ornamentals, and they may follow suit.

In a time when habitat loss is the single biggest cause of species endangerment and extinction, every bit of native habitat restored makes a difference.

these are the murderbot artworks Tommy Arnold did for the Subterranean Press omnibus editions of the series, and a photo of Kevin R. Free, who narrates the murderbot audiobooks. when fans complain about the casting for the tv show, there is a very real basis for it in these past official/canonical aspects of the book series

There is still value in understanding the darkness and the dirt.

Yes. Preach! If I can’t love my deeply fucked up fictional and RL historical characters, what is even the point of reading?

some ppl thought that adding black ppl to iwtv meant they were gonna "wokeify" anne rice and the bigots got mad at that mere promise while the leftists with poor media comprehension got mad at the failure to fulfill it but. anne rice works cannot be wokeified. she wrote about horrible lil gremlins with these nasty lil disrespectful unorthodox kinks lol. you will find sweeping romances in there and 0 of them healthy. the optics are bad, bad, bad! she would never get a publishing deal today because one of her characters would psychologically abuse the other one, and there wouldn't even be an after school special moment in the book where someone mentions the word "gaslight"!

the amc iwtv creators did not set out to distance themselves from the atrocities anne rice wrote, they set out to lean into them! to get closer, uglier, deeper in the dirt! how could you not recognize this from the very first episode when instead of making louis a white plantation owner they made him come from a black family who enslaved black ppl for capital gain and didn't feel real bad about it! perverse situation from the get go. you've recognized the ways in which the characters are evil and can be morally improved? congrats on step 1! step 2 is knowing these stories are not really interested in doing that. now you can finally begin to use your critical thinking as intended to ask: if these stories are not morality plays, what are they for? what do they say? well. great questions, now we're talking!

have your intersectional readings but kill the dichotomy, seek the nuance, bask in a narrative layered and baked in the complex stench of humanity! there is still value in understanding the darkness and the dirt. and sometimes when everyone's a murderer in your sandbox we can bury the word "problematic" and just have some fun ✌️🏽

arts crew reacts to tarik/ratthi (audio)

I was thinking "oh but I can't be autistic, I'm so good at eye contact and small talk! I know all the right ratios for looking/not looking and asking/answering questions! I even know the best posture to communicate low-stakes friendliness (about 15 degrees from facing them. weight on one leg. 70% eye contact. still hands.) everybody says I'm great!" before realizing I may be refuting my own point