hello welcome to my blog iām ampere, i am a physics student in western america with as many interests as there are stars in the sky, and have no theme. here are some things about meĀ :)
i really love older technology (especially old math tools): typewriters, vintage calculators, landlines, slide rules... i've been having fun doing problems with only logarithm tables lately. i'm also a fan of fountain pens though i don't like collecting things
probably as consequence i am a firm believer of digital minimalism and most of the time i have a flip phone (right now i have no phone because mine is broken and i don't wanna deal with nokia while it's finals season). genuinely adverse to doing work online (terrible thing i need to get over since i want to go into computational physics) and when i was in high school my beloved english teacher would print out assignments so i could do them by hand instead of using canvas
i love reading, i currently have 17 library books floating around my room and some 20 holds. big fan of non-fiction, especially essay writers and the new journalism movement in the 70s (think: annie dillard, jone didion, tom wolfe, etc etc). but i also read a lot of textbooks (i like that they have pictures)
still i adore literary fiction and am working through the secret history but have put it on hold so @sr71blackbirdd can catch upĀ
physics! math! history! my favorite subjects. often they combine in delightful ways (infinite powers by steven strogatz is a super fun book about the history of calculus)
my most prized possession ever is my hp 15c calculator itās my baby. sometimes i forget my wallet but i never forget my calculator
my favorite space mission is apollo-soyuz; my favorite integration technique is trig substitution; my favorite authors are natalya baranskaya, joan didion, and virginia woolf; my favorite periods of history (to study) are post-stalin ussr, 1920s america, space race, cold war in general; i say my favorite drink is a cappuccino but itās actually free drip coffee in a paper cup at physics conferences⦠my favorite color is probably blue ā¤ļø
email me at [email protected] and let's be friends. or pen pals. i'll send anyone a letter
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Happy late Independence Day! Here are some tidbits about American culture for non-American authors
America is a huge nation with a lot of different cultures, ideas, and types of people, and as such, there are a lot of questions that often come up from non-American writers on how to adequately portray the MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD (excuse my patriotism). I, a proud American, who has lived on the East Coast, the West Coast, the South, and the West, am here to deliver some such advice:
1. Divisions
You can get very specific with the divisions of America, so Iām going to list them on specificity
Yankees vs Dixie:
This dates back to the American Civil War, and while the term Dixie has largely gone out of use, the term Yankee has not. Outside of America, Yankees just refer to any American, but within the countryās borders, a Yankee is a northerner (typically a coastal northerner). Northerners are seen by Southerners as rich haughty bastards who hate their families and communities and think only about themselves. Meanwhile Northerners view Southerners as backwards bigots who exist in a culture of cruelty. Neither of these are necessarily true, and when Northerners and Southerners meet they typically treat each other kindly. The stereotypes do have a basis though. The Northern part of America is richer than the Southern part, and Northerners are generally less religious and more independent. Children up north are expected to fly the nest and fly far, and more emphasis is placed on chosen family than birth family. The South is poorer, more religious, and more community oriented as a result. Itās the more collectivist part of America through the lens of Jesus and serving god, and as such a lot of Southern folk adopt bigotries that Northerners do not.
East Coast vs West Coast:
While North vs South is basically war shit, West vs East is more a friendly rivalry. As coasts, both are very rich. East Coast America is seen as more classy, the first states, the oldest states, and some of the wealthiest states without huge Silicon Valley celebrities. The East Coast is more family oriented than the West Coast and generational wealth is huge over there. East Coasters are seen as intelligent and deep (though really, theyāre just like anyone else). The West Coast is very new money. Cities like Seattle and LA propped up by super famous billionaires rather than mob crime. Huge drug problems, vapid culture, and an odd coldness, the West Coast is far more disliked than the East. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it, the West Coast is the most beautiful stretch of land in the entire world, with vast rainforest, mountains and rivers and valleys, and areas of it that are evergreen. The east and west are a sibling rivalry, California is to Washington and Oregon what New York is to New England.
Then thereās the widely accepted regional divide:
New England/Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, West, Northwest
This regional divide does not accurately convey the cultural differences of each region, so I have edited it based on my experience:
New England (Navy), New York (Yellow), The Mid-Atlantic (Orange), Appalachia (Burnt Orange), the South (Red), the Deep South (Dark Red), the West (Gold), California (Pink), the Cascades region (Teal), the Mid-West (Green), and No-Manās Land (Gray)
A brief summary of each would be:
New England: Rich, haughty, educated bastards. Incredibly mean to your face but will accept you as family once you form a connection with them. A friend from New England is a friend for life. Secular Catholic with heavy cultural influences from Irish and Italian immigrant groups.
New York: Iām gonna say it with my full New Englander chest: Basically just a more diverse Boston, at least in the city. Same rude culture, except they care less about you. Same prestige associated with the area. New Yorkers just act less rich and pretentious and care less. Upstate is practically abandoned.
Mid-Atlantic: All I really know is that they love crab and their history Iām so sorry
Appalachia: Due to a variety of circumstances, they serve as the poorest part of America. Drug addiction and poverty run rampant and the states themselves do not try to help their people much at all. There are also creatures that live there that possess mysterious properties or so Iāve heard.
South: Very friendly people but honestly not exactly the nicest at heart. Thereās this kind of self absorbed mentality that mask itself as community oriented thought that only gets worse as you enter the poorer Deep South. Highly religious people but some of the best food and music in the country. I love the South even if I hate their leadership.
Deep South: in all honesty, the divide here until you reach Texas is class. The governments thrive on keeping folks poor and uneducated, and strong community bonds, good food, and Jesus canāt fix all of that. Plenty kind people, very armed people however. Also people from major Texas cities (especially Houston) are like⦠super conceited in my experience???
Mid-West: About as family oriented as the south but progressive as the north in large swaths of it. People from the Midwest are either farmers or scientists and in my experience thereās little in between. Harsh weather conditions make hardy people, theyāre also very kind and Canadian as you get further north.
West: Cowboy land yee-haw. Some of the most beautiful things can be found in the West, but people can also be especially vapid. Be it judgemental Mormons in Utah, Plastic surgeons and plastic surgery addicts in Colorado, sinners from Vegas, or WASPs from anywhere else West, sometimes you canāt help but feel a bit judged for everything you do. This region is also almost all swing states so itās a bit of a toss up how woke the people youāll meet are.
California: New York has its own culture because it is halfway in between two regions, California has its own culture because itās the fourth biggest economy in the world. Intensely vapid and capitalistic despite how many leftists inhabit the region. Consumer culture is huge. Everyone in the country who isnāt from California hates Californians.
Cascades: Prettiest ever. The people are really chill and thereās a huge drug problem but also a ton of people who just do drugs recreationally. A lot of people in these parts work in tech or alcohol, but there is also a large often ignored agrarian population. People in this region love hikes and smoking weed and eating salmon with every meal. (A bit hyperbolic but whenever I am in Washington, as someone who lived there half of my life, itās non-stop salmon).
No-manās land: Nobody lives here.
And then of course a lot of state culture is individual to each state. Food culture is largely based on availability and immigrant groups. Lobster is popular in Massachusetts but not Washington because of shipping, Salmon is popular in Washington but not Massachusetts for the same reason. People in the North are typically fitter and more active and healthy than people in the South because summers are better fitted for hikes in colder climates and we tend to fry our food in oil rather than butter just as a preference. Health culture is more of a thing up north as a result and we are marketed more products for āhealth and wellnessā rather than surgeries to look hotter. Politics also play a large role in a stateās culture. Red states are more family oriented, blue states are more individualist, and swing states are a tossup. Put research into the state youāre writing!
Speech and linguistics also vary on these divides. Each region has its own accent, though there are subtle differences within each, and not so subtle differences in the west. Western American accents can sound something like a southern twang but actually, Western Americans, including those in the cascades region, just have slight variations on the standard American accent. As it stands though there are major accents like the Southern drawl, the Bostonian, the New York, the Minnesota, the Chicago, the Phillie, and the California accent (god I hate the California accent in all of its varieties). Look up the accent and dialects of whatever state youāre writing because different people from different states also have different way of talking. The Boston driver would say: āEYES ON THE ROAD FUCKWADā, the Washingtonian āUse your eyes!ā, the famous Coloradan āwatch it, pronouns!ā (Joke based on a post I saw a while ago). But these people all talk differently depending on the culture of their state. Folks also tend to, especially in a group of people from other states, play up their state identity for comedy. A friend of mine from Boston barely watches baseball but will get pissed if you bring up the Yankees. Another friend from Seattle jokes about marijuana all the time despite having never smoked it.
2. Religion
America is home to a wide array of religious groups and affiliations, how common they are depends on the area in which you live. I was raised in Catholic America, getting every Christian holiday off school, before moving to Secular America, where no holidays really got us the day off.
Business Insider marks these religions as the biggest in each state (as of 2010) other than Christianity:
People in America generally react well to meeting non-Christianās, however ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, interactions with Muslim Americans have been strained in some communities. It is also important to note that many communities in America completely lack diversity. While most of America is incredibly diverse with large populations of a variety of ethnic and religious groups, some areas are just white Christians and lack perspective or understanding of other groups just because they have never met them before, as is the consequence of being such a large country with so much empty land. Thereās also a generational divide with a large amount of young Americans rejecting religion entirely.
Then thereās Mormonism. The American religion. A long long time ago there was a man named Joseph Smith who did a ton of convoluted bullshit and started a cult. This cult spread like wildfire as Americans began believing in their own individualist perceptions of God and religion. This individualist perception of god is very present in the Mormon faith with Mormon Americans believing that you get your own kingdom when you die and that god was once a normal human being. The Mormons have their own state, one of the most beautiful in the entire country, Utah. But this does not mean they have not proliferated elsewhere. Mormons are everywhere, they tend incredibly successful because of their networking, much like a fraternity except itās a whole religion. A lot of America operates on Mormon values without even realizing, in part because some of their values have universal appeal, but also because they work them into a lot of media. Did you Crumbl cookie is Mormon? I didnāt. But now Iām spreading the word.
Evangelism and Calvinism are also ingrained in the American mindset. āI am good and god loves me and I am predestined for good things so I should not give up.ā This manifests in positive ways and negative ways and can probably be traced back to why large swaths of the country hate welfare.
3. Racism
Often I hear the question: āWhy do you Americans make everything about race?ā And the answer is that in America everything is about race. Often this isnāt even in a racist way, America is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, and as such, a large amount of our discourse circles back around to race, privilege, and how we uplift those who have been historically oppressed by racism. America is no more racist than any other country in the world, contrary to popular belief. Before the 2024 election I would even argue that America had done more to address her past misgivings, bigotries, and prejudices. Imperialism is another issue and not what Iām addressing when making this statement. Genuinely I believe that people of color in America are treated better, on an individual basis, than they would be in say, China or Italy. Americans talk a lot about race because it is the most important issue of our time, moreso than even class. That is why Americans make everything about race.
4. Politics
All Americans, whether theyād like to admit it or not, are libertarian. At least⦠moreso than most Europeans. Government overreach is something that, honestly, everyone fears to a degree, even self proclaimed American authoritarians. Itās just part of how this country works, nobody trusts the government. Itās almost a core tenet that has historically strengthened our democracy, but at the same time it seems it has gradually weakened it. The party lines used to be clearly defined:
Dems want more government overreach and taxes. They want to fund welfare programs and provide enough to the lowest common denominator so that the most Americans possible can lead happy and fulfilling lives.
Republicans want everything up to the state out of fear that a federal government cannot adequately respond to state specific issues and to keep taxes lower. If people are struggling in a state the state has to find solutions, sure they can ask the fed for help but not everything should be up to the fed.
In the modern day American politics looks like Hitler II vs Everyone else (Iām a dem, Iām biased). The American Democratic Party has candidates ranging from democratic socialists to classical republicans. The party divide right now is quite literally just: do you like killing immigrants and living under an egotistical maniac? No? Join the Dems!
But really, really it wasnāt always like that. And if you are writing about American characters, you can capture the nuances of both the democrats and the republicans.
America has no organized socialist party because a majority of Americans hate socialism. Libertarianism is common but never wins from lack of funding (most libertarians vote right but that has seemed to shift recently). And then the Greens in America are literally a Russian psyop. The only true Green Party is the Democrat party. Politics make up a big part of American life and discussion, but itās generally frowned upon to talk about with strangers unless something really big just happened like 9/11 or the Big Beautiful Bill or if youāre in a room full of scientists you can bring up the science cuts and see who cries.
5. School and Education
American schooling is about as diverse as the nation itself and largely depends on the funding of a particular area. Wealthy areas have better schools than poor areas. American schools are divided in four parts, only three are mandatory. American students are afforded a great deal of freedom in day to day life, short school hours (about 6 a day), abundant extracurricular opportunities (in a lot of areas), no uniforms (at public schools) and the ability to hold jobs while in school, American students often do not have school as their whole world during their schooling years.
Elementary school, ages 5-9/10/11 - Elementary school provides basic understanding of math, reading, writing, penmanship, and science. The depth of this knowledge varies drastically state to state but typically students get up to a 925-1185 reading level and achieve mastery of the four functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). Cursive and spelling are also taught in this time and many schools offer a library period for students to explore literature. Students are also taught teamwork and collaboration, as well as communication and presentation skills from an early age. Elementary schools also provide a rudimentary curriculum in art and music. Elementary schools provide the least specialized education of American schools. Elementary schools also provide the most diverse historical curriculum throughout the United States as they typically stick to state specific issues. Students in liberal Boston schools will learn about the American Revolution and Native American genocide (as well as peace treaties), students in liberal Washington schools will learn about native tribes that existed before colonization, Students at schools in Texas will learn about the Alamo and the war that made Texas America, it depends on how liberal the school is and what state it is located in. American elementary school grades are broken up as follows: Kindergarten (5-6), First Grade (6-7), Second Grade (7-8), Third Grade (8-9), Fourth Grade (9-10), often Fifth Grade (10-11), and potentially Sixth Grade (11-12).
Middle school (9/10/11-14): Middle school is not much more specialized than Elementary, however students get more freedom to make choices on things like the level of courses theyāre taking (often this is when the honors/accelerated system is introduced as an option) and the electives they take, allowing them to explore a variety of subjects based on interests they developed up to this point. Middle school students learn basic reading comprehension skills and literary techniques, pre-algebra, and pre-geometry. Students also get a rudimentary introduction in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, and Astronomy and learn varying historical curriculums, though most often, ancient civilizations, specific state history, and the American Revolution. Middle school goes further in depth on all concepts that were taught in Elementary school except penmanship. Students also often have more arts options such as fine arts, band, choir, orchestra, and shop (woodworking and soldering and such). Middle school can have Fifth Grade (10-11), often Sixth Grade (11-12), Seventh Grade (12-13), and Eighth Grade (13-14).
High School is the most familiar to those outside of the United States and services students 14-18. Students get the most freedom to explore what they want in high school, getting to create their own schedules so long as they follow certain state guidelines. High Schools also have the most variety in educational programs and models, this is largely dependent on where a student lives, though many schools allow students zoned to neighboring schools if they wish to take a specific program only offered by that school. AP is the most common honors program in the United States and provides students with approximately one year of college credits. Most students only take a handful of AP classes due to their rigor. IB is an international program many American students take, it started in the UK. IB students take a full diploma, typically, but there are options for students to only take one or two IB classes. The IB diploma can also often transfer as one year of college credits and the programās rigor extends beyond the classroom to community service and personal projects. Many schools offer Dual Enrollment programs, in which a student can take courses at a local community college, and five states (Washington, Hawaii, Illinois, Montana, and New Hampshire) have adopted full time dual enrollment programs known as Running Start, in which the state covers the majority of a studentās college tuition to get them around 90 college credits by the time of graduation. Sports are also big in American high schools, as well as extracurriculars and things such as Football, Baseball, Soccer, DECA (Business Competition), HOSA (Medical competition), FIRST Robotics, MUN (Model United Nations), Mock Trial, and other sport and academic organizations often provide students scholarships to attend university or improve a studentās chances of getting into college. American colleges value what a student has done outside of school sometimes more than what they have done in it. Also yes, pep rallies are real, yellow buses are real, lockers are real but are being phased out, school shootings are real but incredibly rare, some high schoolers love to party and get drunk, it is not the majority. High school is broken into Ninth Grade or Freshman Year (14-15), Tenth Grade or Sophomore Year (15-16), Eleventh Grade or Junior Year (16-17), and Twelfth Grade or Senior Year (17-18). Junior year is one of the most intense years for students as it is when programs such as AP, IB, and Dual Enrollment become available, and it is also when students make the decision on whether they wish to attend college, and what they wish to pursue there.
Higher Education, College, University: about 62% of American students go to University after Highschool, only about 40% make it out with a Bachelorās degree. Colleges and Universities are the most specialized schools in America, and still often fall behind European contemporaries in that respect, which ironically makes them some of the best academic institutions in the world. American schools typically focus on not only teaching a student their niche, but also a million other skills and ideas. STEM students have to take reading, writing, literature, and history courses. Humanities and Arts students have to take natural sciences. Presentation, marketing, business, and all the skills necessary to thrive in industry are drilled into every curriculum, it is not uncommon for a studentās final to be a presentation or an essay or a capstone project rather than a traditional exam. American professors are allowed a great deal of freedom in how they teach and it leads to everyone having a different college experience. I adore the American University model, as it often focuses more on making well balanced students over efficient machines. Students and professors are encouraged to form relationships and connections, college and university in America is basically a networking gala. Research for Undergraduates is a large concern for many large scale universities and academic advisors (good ones) help students find ways to acquire internships and make necessary connections. American higher education is just unfortunately expensive and many families have to go into major debt or send their children to the military so that they can afford them.
Then thereās the issue of private schooling, a whole beast of its own. Wealthy parents can opt to send their students off to prestige academies. Are they actually better than public schools? Depends! Are they stricter than public schools? Depends! If you wish to write a character in private schooling you are on your own.
6. Common Cultural Misconceptions
1. Americans donāt have culture
WRONG! Our immigrant culture is what makes us strong and beautiful and diverse. The Melting Pot was originally a play by a Slavic Ashkenazi Jew describing Americaās cultural melting pot as stripping immigrants of their identity, but being combined into the mixture of America has made us some fondue more incredible than anyone could imagine. America is a place where cultures can coexist, perhaps not always peacefully, but the beauty of American culture is that it cannot be distilled, it has proliferated to the furthest corners of the earth and been shaped by Black Americans, Latino Americans, White Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Arab Americans, Polynesian Americans, whatever you want Americans to create a culture with universal appeal. From our diverse cinema in Hollywood, to our incredible shows on Broadway, to our music in LA, Seattle, New York, Nashville, Houston, and New Orleans, to the art made by incredible artists of a variety of backgrounds every year, America is a beautiful country responsible for many of the cultural commodities you enjoy today.
2. Americans only speak English
In many states, a second language is mandatory, and Hispanic Americans have effectively made Spanish Americaās second language.
3. America is uneducated
Large swaths of it are, and it is largely a funding issue. Americans are also out of touch because of general affluence, this is true. But some of the greatest minds in the world have been American and America just allows a greater degree of freedom in its curriculum than Europe. It is also important to note that America emphasizes communication and charisma over memorization and efficiency, so perhaps those ādumb Americansā are just marketing experts or entrepreneurs or business managers or any job not traditionally associated with what we shallowly consider intelligence.
4. Americans are racist
Take a Black friend to Italy and get back to me on that.
5. Americans love guns
This is actually completely true I love my second amendment rights can someone please get me a stupid dumb fucking Mauser pistol to hang on my wall, C96 Broomstick. Please please please please (in actuality, many Americans oppose the second amendment and even more think it should exist but urge for stronger restrictions on guns and gun ownership.
6. There is nothing that truly makes an American
WRONG. The one thing that unites us all under the Stars and Stripes, be you a basement dwelling revolutionary from Portland Oregon, a farmer from Texas, or an Immigrant who just moved to Chicago trying to find your place in this country, we are all united in the belief in a better future and a love, perhaps a perverse love, perhaps a love that inspires a desire for change, or perhaps one that is blinding, a love for some aspect of America that keeps us here.
Iāll add more as I come across them.
6. Q&A
Please leave your questions in the comments or in my asks and I will answer both under the post, and put them in this section of the post, thank yāall, lots of love ā¤ļø
Q: What is considered a long drive in America?
A: depends where you are. I would say four hours is long for some, but not so much for others, 8 hours is probably universal long. I get tired driving three :P
For the first time in your life, youāve decided to make a change. You bought yourself athletic wear and stare at the ground beneath your feet, youāve broken in your shoes but fear still petrifies your heart as you take a deep breath. Stretch, you recall them saying, you bend down, reaching for your ankle. You canāt touch your toes. Thatās okay, many canāt these days. You complete a series of stretches, your arms, your legs, you bounce a bit on the balls of your feet this time as you take. Deep breath of the crisp morning air. With that, youāre off. One foot in front of the other, long strides, as long of strides as your little legs, unused to hitting the ground so hard can achieve. The morning air stings your lungs and eyes. Your mouth feels dryer than the desert. Your body is simultaneously hot and cold as you respirate, perspirate, air out your skin in the cool morning breeze. Everything hurts. Your feet hit the ground too hard, your lungs wheeze for air, youāre red in the face, youāre covered in sweat, even your arms are sore from the backwards and forwards motion of jogging. You pull out your phone to check strava. A quarter mile. All this pain for a quarter mile. Whatās even the point? Youāre weak. Your inactivity has wrecked your body and the sedentary lifestyle youāve led to this point will ruin you forever. Whatās even the point? Why not just set your shoes aside forever and stop running? The health benefits are hard to deny but do they even matter in this modern world? Medical technology has come so far. Your doctor didnāt tell you to run, 60 minutes of activity could be anything. Is all of this pain really worth a slightly better life? Who even runs anymore? Why must you take this burden of suffering whenā
You catch your breath as you stand in contemplation, a jogger runs past you, shooting you a thumbs up. āGood job!ā they say through winded breath, ākeep going!ā they shout airily. Theyāre struggling too. Theyāre struggling too and yet theyāre still trying, theyāre still running. Maybe theyāre just better than you, maybe theyāre healthier, more fit, better, a better person, a more model person. But theyāre struggling too. You ground yourself, recommit. Your feet hit the concrete and you take off once again. How do you breathe again? You let yourself fall into your memory, inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth, thatās what the tutorials say. You let your vision blur just a bit as you run, you can still see obstacles but your mind tunes out the distance youāve run, the distance you need to run, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. You ponder the machine that allow you to do this, when you intake air oxygen enters your blood, supplying it to your body, you undergo the complex process of respiration, your body feeds on this energy along with the ATP in what you ate this morning. Everything youāve done to this point is fueling you now. Your muscles extend and retract with every step, your feet were designed to absorb shock, theyāre doing a great job all things considered. The fibers in your muscles are tearing, making themselves stronger, your lungs are getting more and more used to this temporary oxygen deprivation. Three quarter of a mile, Strava says, youāre in the home stretch. But can you make it? Your muscles are screaming for help, your heart is pounding in your head, your lungs are wheezing for air. You can take a break. It never hurt anyone to take a break. You pause for a minute, you catch your breath, you drink some water. You put electrolytes in it this morning but unfortunately they do not provide you any instant energy. Your body feels heavy. Your legs are sore, your arms are sore, your feet hurt, your chest hurts. Everything is heavy and painful. Why continue, why complete the mile, you can just go back tomorrow and finish it. You could, that would be fine, everyone takes their own pace. There is, however, something. Something that is tugging at your heart and mind, some resolve youāve developed in the last ten or so minutes. You remember you have headphones in your pocket, maybe, just maybe, some tune could carry you through the rest of this run. You scroll through your music, finger landing on something upbeat and you take a deep breath and commit again. The pain dissipates, the world fades away, all thatās left is you, your goal, and Elton John, or someone like that, ringing in your ears. One mile, youāve made it, one mile. One mile in fourteen minutes, and tomorrow it will be twelve, the day after that eleven, because it wasnāt ability stopping you, it was your threshold for discomfort and your ability to manage it. Tomorrow will be better. The day after will be better than that, and with enough practice, perhaps youāll feel confident in calling yourself a runner.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Honestly one of the best pieces of advice I think I can give authors who wish to understand themes, how to write them, and how to develop them narratively is just learning how to write short stories. When you start with novels the focus often becomes āhow can I make this engaging for an audience?ā Rather than āhow can I convey my themes effectively?ā And trying to cram big ideas into 3000 words (I believe that was the publisherās cap on my first published short story) gives you a quick tutorial on how themes can be introduced and explored through all aspects of a narrative. How can I use a mystery plot with two central characters to convey themes of how fascism breeds in society in 3000 or so words? How can the characterization, dialogue, setting, and premise act in favor of my themes? How do I say something when what Iām writing has a word limit?
man. the secret history has become so synonymous with dark academia that when u look through the tag its just knit sweaters and latte art. like please show me a text post about how fucking unhinged richard was for staying in a room with a Literal hole in the wall during the dead of winter and almost dying of hypothermia.
oh to have infinite money to spend on obsolete technology...
circular slide rule. so elegant and it's how the linear ones work anyway, when your answers get larger they go off the left end and come back on the right. and it's actually compact!
This joy is not your own, quit living the borrowed life!!!
Social media and the algorithm is like sugar water for your soul instead of milk, you will not sustain on it, and you can not continue to neglect growing your own roots. You reap what you sow! Love is for those who love the work! Let others inspire you, let your community motivate you, but please God learn to love the work. Have days where you create without looking at Pinterest when you get lost, let it take hours, let it take days! What are you trying to be free of? The LIVING? The miraculous task of it?
- feeling very fired up by the poem "For the Student who used AI to write a Paper" by Joseph Fasano and a small line from Blue Period where Yatora says 'this joy is not my own' while watching TV. Its so easy to not do things when you can get the dopamine by watching other people do those things, but gosh does is slowly poison you and your soul. If you feel like you are not living your life, consider your choices, one of the being a flip-phone, please life can be so much better :3
Ask yourself what I did and still do:
When is the last time I felt joy of my own creation and accomplishment?
How much do I spend in the fields of boredom, the birthplace of imagination?
Where does my artistic soul flow from when its not curated by other peopleās work?
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
I ā¤ļø community colleges. Academic institutions that aim to serve the underprivileged and provide them better skills for hiring in the modern workforce have my heart. Donāt underestimate the passion and skill of professors at community colleges, and donāt be afraid to begin your educational journey there, whether you canāt afford to go to university or you just havenāt figured out what to do yet. Dual enrollment has been an absolute blessing. (Iām graduating tomorrow and getting all in my feelings ššš)
literally cried when writing my fav prof's teacher evaluation. we've discussed sharing custody of a cat. community college professors are so approachable
A while back I downgraded from a semi-recent iPhone to a feature phone (Nokia 2780), which was well and good until I broke it in a confused scrimmage with physics lab equipment. At the time I was so busy I couldn't make myself do anything about it, so now I'm just without a mobile phone. And it's been fine. I actually like it, not being constantly connected to the world, not being constantly available... Of course my circumstances are what makes this doable: I'm living with my parents until the end of the summer and have no job that requires I have a phone. I know this isn't sustainable in the long term, but I'm trying to make the most of it while I remain at the dusk of childhood, before responsibility forces my hand. Still, I thought I'd share a couple anecdotes and logistical things because I've seen a lot of people talking about "dumb phones", but no one talking about no phone at all.
Logistics:
When I need to call my parents, I use the phone of a friend or professor. When I need to call some organization, I just use my dad's number
Copy down directions a quick map on desktop before leaving the house if I'm going someplace new
Do everything school related on laptop
That's kind of it... it's been so much easier than I thought it would be. I guess it makes sense, most people had a time in their lives where they got by just fine this way. Many remember a time where everyone did (I don'tāI was born in the year of the iPhone). It's been delightful enough that I've begun to dread returning to a mobile phone, even if it's just a flip phone.
Some anecdotes:
I've been reading a lot more (a LOT moreātoo much. I've been neglecting studying a little in favor of reading). I'm reading The Secret History and a collection of Thoreau's essays and Night Train to Lisbon now. I like going to the park with just a book and enjoying the June weather with nothing else demanding my attention
Now my downtime feels more restful than it ever has, and it makes me feel like I never rested in my previous adolescence. I think having a device like a smartphone on you at all times is kind of exhausting, like a cursed amulet that feeds off your internal struggle to not be on it all the time... or something
I've spent way more time outside just zoning out and staring at trees and flowers and the fan on a side of a building doing absolutely nothing. and my head feels clearer doing this
I drafted a 2000 word essay for my English class in a leuchtturm journal. I sat in my high school library for two hours with a giant dictionary on right and a thesaurus to my left. The librarian then gave me the thesaurus, saying I was "the only person to have used it in ages. Actually, it's already been removed from our catalogue..."
I heard that some people are talking about a "no phone summer" or "low tech summer" and so this is my two cents on that. If you're my age and can't imagine life without a phone, maybe you should shut it down for a week and see what happens. My friends still like me and I see them often. Probably more often now that I can't text them (I've told them all to just email me š). So much of younger gen z are on their phones near constantly (I was no exception, with my 5-8 hours of it) and I worry what happens when we're never properly alone with our thoughts. I think high schoolers can take a week or a month or maybe even a year off and learn a lot about who they are. I don't know, I'm not anti tech, I just hope we don't waste away our whole lives like this. I feel bad for how much of my childhood I spent doing nothing on a phone, and it's only in the past few months that I finally feel free from this tug of having everything all the time.
None of this is canon to my story but it was fun to write.
CW: Nazism, suicidal ideation, tobacco use
āDieter is dead, Erich is dead, my father is dead. I have gone AWOL and today will go down in history as the capitulation of Germany. I, Albert Edelstein, retreated from my post on May first. Only a week ago. I am barely even a traitor to my nation and that makes me almost sick. Iāve been sick. Iāve been sick and Iāll be sick a while. I arrived at the Ziegelbauer residence six days ago. Munich was in ruins when I arrived. The Führerās brain was full of lead when a Soviet shell almost pierced my own skull. Faced with bullet fire as a last stand for Berlin, I found for the first time in a four year military career, I ran. I ran and I didnāt stop until somehow I had found my way back home. I would hardly call this home anymore. I barely recognize it, not only because of the bombings. Through my time in the military the city has become disfigured until it was entirely unfamiliar to me. Streets I once navigated with ease I am no longer able to trace. How I found Ziegelbauerās home perplexes me, but when Frieda saw me at the doorway she let me in without question. She recognized instantly her family friend who hardly looked like a man anymore. Who was broken and bent and foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. She recognized instantly a man who I would never have been able to identify as Albert Edelstein. The first thing my sister did when Frieda called her down was take from me anything I could use to kill myself. The pistol Iād put in my mouth, the knife Iād held to my wrist, the rope Iād used to take measurements of my neck, the lighter that has already stolen years of my life. The second thing she did was hug me. Subconsciously I leaned on her, I put all my weight on her, and she held me like it was nothing, if that tells you anything about the dire state of our supply lines. She untied for me my boots, she undid the layers of uniform that my frozen stiff fingers could never hope to work their way through. She ran me a bath. How long had it been since I last had a warm bath? Long enough that my muscles had gone stiff like that of an old manās. Long enough that I let my body relax in the hot water until it went cold. Ernst saw me after I was dressed, he also gave me a hug, one as tight as his armsāplagued with atrophy as insulin had presumably become harder to come by in recent yearsācould muster. He took me to the kitchen and told me to eat. He said I looked as sickly as him. I complied. Thatās all Iām good for. Following orders.
I couldnāt keep it down.
Ernst said heād give me advice on nausea management in the morning. I asked him to light me a cigarette. It could stave off the hunger for the next 8 hours. The greatest proof I have that he loves me, or is, at least, still subservient to me, is that even after all of these years, he took a draw from the cigarette before putting it in my mouth. Just as I had asked him to do the first time. Ernst Ziegelbauer doesnāt smoke unless I tell him to.
I slept over 14 hours that night. I wish I could say it was just last night that that happened. Yesterday I slept the whole day away. Ten hours straight, wake up, use the restroom, get water, snack on something light enough not to make me nauseous, smoke, go back to bed until god next woke me. Iām sick with something.
I really ought to cut to the chase, no? Apologies, it has been a while since Iāve journaled, theyāre a security concern. I overheard Ernst speaking to my sister today, he said: āI do quite like your brother, Alice. I wouldnāt mind him staying even now that the war in Europe has ended.ā And I will admit, that made me go red and kick my feet. It is nice to know I can still feel things like that, even if it is for stupid, stupid reasons. Itās hard not to be in love with a boy like Ernst Ziegelbauer. I am still yet to ever in my life experience sexual arousal, but I would imagine it feels something like Ernst holding my handāshaky with withdrawalāstill as he lights me a cigarette. I believe, the tone I am taking in this is one of someone very disconnected with their feelings. I must always be a perfect German specimen, I suppose. But I would let you know I am not. I am overcome by them all the time and the only thing that seems to heal me from his malady emptiness and exhaustion is my sisters dearest fiance. I live an accursed life, doomed always to fall by the wayside and be my sisterās shadow. I can delude myself into believing it is secretly me heās after, and I will continue to do so until my mouth no longer demands the taste of cool steel, my wrists no longer the prickling of a blade, and my neck no longer the comfort of strangulation. And I will grow out my brown hair, for I am no longer a soldier, my father is dead, and Germany is free.ā
Am I the only one who feels like āFiction is for escapism!ā Is a reductive, anti-intellectual dogwhistle that devalues fiction as a whole? Like yes itās a valid school of thought so long as it exists among others, but itās become the dominant narrative in reading and writing spaces and honestly I think it is part of what has deterred men from reading fiction. In the eyes of many itās a frivolous waste of time because at least with a TV show or Movie you can work while it plays in the background. I donāt know, I was always taught fiction is supposed to teach lessons in a way more easily understood than lecture. Itās a symbol of an increasingly vapid society that it has become āescapist fantasyā.
Stories Iāve thought of that I might write, might not (except the last one, Iām definitely writing the last one)(follow if any of these interest you!):
Black Lake, Black Sea:
A story about a detective duo working for the Olympia Police Department in Washington State in the year 1991 as they track down a killer praying on University age girls at the Evergreen College. The killer turns out to be supernatural in nature and feeds on thoughts of distrust in the government among both far left groups in Olympia, and Far Right groups in the nearby city of Tacoma. The main character is an ex-Soviet Detective named Arkady Zolotov who, while encountering this entity, reflects on political extremism in the Soviet Union vs America and emphasizes a metaphor linking the creature to the KGB and other authoritarian secret police.
Thread the Needle:
A story about two women during the Spanish revolution. Rosalia Carranza is a communist poet (and seamstress) who works in secret distributing propaganda and information to the people of Spain to aid in the fight against fascism. Rosalia is tasked one day with spying on an old friend of hers, Isabela de la Cierva, the wife of a fascist General. As the two connect more, a romance begins to blossom between them and fascismās grip weakens on Isabela. Thereās dual perspective and probably a love triangle in this one (Rosalia also falls for with a Soviet Volunteer).
(Still Untitled):
The year is 1890, Edwyn and Anna Malczyk have just moved to a village in France after their parentsā passing, opening an Inn with their remaining inheritance. They find quickly however, that this was a mistake. At night in this area, creatures, doppelgƤngers roam, trying desperately to kill humans and take their place. Renovations are quickly made and the Inn becomes a safe space⦠at least for now. The story not only follows the siblings as they face these terrifying events, but also follows Anna as she takes care of her schizophrenic brother, who cannot necessarily tell people from doppelgƤngers, and finds meaning in life outside of being his caretaker. This one is also a Queer Romance.
Dreaming of New York (Title in progress):
15-year-old Feli Achille has just moved for maybe the fifth time in his life, Rome, Milan, Zurich, Munich⦠it all blends together sometimes. This time, his uncle has found his way to West Berlin, and Feli, having been removed from his parentsā custody at a young age is forced to follow. Feli doesnāt expect much of his experience in Berlin, he knows three things as fact: Everything is temporary, the world cannot heal from the scars of the past, and people are unkind to those they see as different. Ludwig Bohrer, a classmate of his, is determined to change his thoughts on that. The leather-jacket-wearing, cigarette-smoking, New-York-Romanticizing teenager is full of a life, energy, and lack of shame that Feli is entirely unused to. As the two fall in love, Feli begins to wonder if the world truly can change for the better.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming