Dark stories, like horror, are at their best when there is a small amount of lightness and hope to counteract (and therefore enhance) the tension. The reverse is also true
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In June of 1902, Rachel's former roommate Peggy (one of the "two Margarets") wrote Will from Pasadena, California where her family had recently relocated. Mart (the other Margaret) was visiting and the two of them had taken up a new hobby.
"We have taken to playing Ping Pong lately. Have you tried it? We play every evening until after eleven o'clock. Sometimes it is too much of a good thing." - Peggy to Will, June 1, 1902.
Joining Peggy and Mart in their new hobby was - well, pretty much the entire world...
After the introduction of lawn tennis (now just called tennis) in the 1870s created a worldwide phenomenon, it was perhaps inevitable that someone would move the sport indoors.
A handful of mentions of various games called “table tennis” or “parlor tennis” appear throughout the 1880s, often with rules that bear no resemblance to outdoor tennis. Several related patents were filed in England in the 1880s and early 90s, but none that seem to have resulted in mass production.
The earliest modern table tennis set was marketed under the name “Gossima” by J. Jacques & Son Ltd of London, beginning in 1891.
(source: The Graphic, December 10, 1898.)
A Gossima set included two vellum rackets, a covered cork ball and a foot high net that could be secured to any standard dining table with a strap.
Though I’ve found records of Gossima being marketed as far away as Pakistan and New Zealand, it seems to have met with limited success until the Fall of 1900 when it suddenly exploded in popularity among London’s elite under a new name - ping pong. This (both the sudden success and the new name) were likely due in part to the introduction of the celluloid ping pong ball we know today, which far outperformed the previous cork design.
In September 1900, the Pall Mall Gazette published an article (actually a stealth ad for Hamleys toy store) discussing the new fad and giving tips for players. The article was also picked up by overseas press and printed in several newspapers in the US and Canada (minus the Hamleys plug), spreading the first whispers of the game abroad.
By January of 1901 the fad had become near ubiquitous in London. The Evening News wrote ““Ping Pong” is the only game that may be mentioned, let alone played, in London drawing rooms. Everybody Ping Pongs, or watches other people Ping Pong, from the Dutchess in Belgravia down to the clerk in Forest Gate.”
(An improvised ping pong table set up by servants as portrayed in Punch magazine, November 13, 1901.)
The (London) Morning Leader wrote in March - “Gentle reader “Do you Ping Pong”? If you don't you're not an up-to-date person. It is as fashionable as mourning or the Twopenny Tube, and far more the rage than bridge.”
By May, Hamleys was selling folding ping pong tables and special sets for tournaments.
Throughout 1901, ping pong continued to grow in popularity across the British Empire and beyond. By this point the name “Ping Pong” had been trademarked in both England (by Hamleys and J. Jacques & Son Ltd.) and the US (by the Parker Bros.), forcing competitors to sell under various names including: Whiff Waff, Pom-Pom, Pim-Pam and Netto. “Table Tennis” or “Parlor Tennis” would remain the most common generic terms.
One London firm claimed to have sold one million ping pong sets in the last three months of 1901.
The US would not fully fall to the ping pong craze until 1902, and newspapers reported the spread of the game as you would an encroaching pandemic.
“[It] is becoming more infectious than smallpox and as catching as golf.” The Boston Globe warned in December 1901.
“If it were a plague, ping-pong could not be sweeping more widely over the face of the earth. In Mexico, in India, in Japan - everywhere - the ping-pong of the little xylonite ball is heard throughout the land…” - Harper’s Weekly, May 3, 1902.
(source: The Macon Telegraph, May 18, 1902.)
By May 1902 the ping pong pandemic had fully engulfed the US.
“For one not to know how to play ping pong means practically social ostracism.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 18, 1902
Ping pong parties and luncheons abounded. Pubs and poolrooms quickly converted into public ping pong parlors. Countless clubs and tournaments were soon arranged.
Even senators and congressmen were asked their opinion of the game and, in one case, whether they would support opening a ping pong parlor at the Capitol Building.
In late May, Alice Roosevelt hosted a “ping pong tea and dance” aboard the presidential yacht.
(source: The Bradford Weekly Telegraph, April 19, 1902.)
Enterprising businessmen attached the name ping pong to articles of all imaginable varieties. Soda fountains served ping pong punch and ping pong ice cream.
Photographers introduced the ping pong photo - which produced a strip of multiple pictures using a sliding frame which “ping ponged” back and forth.
(A ping pong photo of Mart and Rachel, taken circa 1902.)
Clothing stores carried ping pong hats, ping pong ties, ping pong shirtwaists, ping pong slippers and ping pong belts (made of mesh to resemble the net), while fashion columns suggested appropriate ping pong attire.
(A dress with pockets designed to hold ping pong balls, from the New Orleans State, May 25, 1902.)
(source: The Memphis Commercial Appeal, May 25, 1902.)
Flexible ping pong corsets were developed after some female players found it difficult to play the game in their tight-laced undergarments. One article mused whether ping pong might bring an end to tight-lacing altogether.
(source: The Indianapolis News, May 27, 1902.)
Articles extolled the healthy virtues of ping pong for exercise and weight loss, while others warned of its dangers to your health. “Ping pong shoulder”, “ping pong ankle”, “ping pong wrist” and severe eye strain were all touted as possible outcomes of overzealous play.
Worries that public ping pong parlors would encourage gambling resulted in Providence, Rhode Island implementing a ping pong license.
The ping pong craze would last through the summer of 1902, but begin to wane by the end of the year. Some areas extended the fad through 1903, but by 1904 it was well and truly dead.
“There isn’t half enough thankfulness for the griefs of yesteryear that haunt us no more. Ping-pong has gone.” The St. Louis Globe-Democrat proclaimed on January 25, 1903.
While a syndicated column in February 1904 printed “Weep copiously, dear ones, for the ping pong fad is dead. After the obsequies, you may trade your outfit for a phonograph and annoy the neighbors.”
Over the next two decades dedicated clubs continued to hold tournaments, but the general public more or less moved on.
Until another ping pong craze broke out in the late 1920s and persisted throughout much of the Great Depression.
After several more crazes and a stint in global politics, table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988.
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When I reblog someone, I'm reblogging just that one post—I'm not endorsing everything they've ever posted. I haven't scrolled through their entire blog or looked at their DNI list if any.
It's entirely possible for a person to make one post that is thoughtful and inspiring, and then the very next thing they post is full of shit. Maybe you've even noticed that in things I've written.
Use your own judgment, according to your own needs of what is or is not safe for you.
It is not my job to make sure that everyone I reblog is "safe" for you in all respects.
It is not my job to make sure that everyone I reblog does not hold problematic views.
This world consists of billions and billions of people, all of whom are capable of holding multiple contradictory views, and of being being both saint and sinner, hero and monster simultaneously.
Folks online need to grow the fuck up and curate their own feeds. I am not a living NetNanny, existing to protect you from objectionable content or from people who hold views you find reprehensible.
I am not the thought police, nor do I have the authority to prosecute thoughtcrimes.
This is all correct but additonally, people change. People change a lot. Some people have had blogs for a very long time. Personally, I've only had this blog for like 5 years, but if we pretend I'm still using the tumblr I opened in ~2010, I know I held beliefs then that I don't today. So I could in theory have myself posted shit I don't believe/agree with now. And I think that's healthy. A lot of the shitty beliefs I held as a person were ones I was handed by my parents or my culture and I just accepted unthinkingly because I was young and stupid. Some were also well-intentioned but fucking stupid. Because it can be easy to consider something only from your own context. Very easy, in fact.
One of the dumbass opinions I had in my late teens and early 20s was the (stupid) expression "if you can't afford free range eggs you can't afford eggs." Yes. I know. Yes the problem with this is immediately apparent. But listen, I was a teenager who was not aware of ever personally having been unable to afford eggs (even though my family was fairly poor growing up, we were never in poverty). I had also put myself through Some Shit trying to be a vegetarian for moral grounds. I was trying very hard to be progressive and good. I like animals. The perfect storm for me to hear that and go "yes, that sounds about right" never considering that free range eggs cost a fuck ton of money compared to cage eggs and poor people deserve to have eggs. Even if they are from caged battery hens. Eggs are hugely nutritious and cage eggs are cheap. Poor people shouldn't be punished for being poor. Poverty is awful enough.
Anyway my point is that it's quite easy to hold a fucking stupid, shitty opinion while trying to be a good person. Growth happens. This is a good thing.
Expecting people to go through a thousand posts before reblogging one post to see if the blogger has committed thought crimes is not serious. Nobody is doing this. If they are doing this they need to log off
I think it was KA Applegate in Animorphs who had one of her technologically advanced aliens (Andalites my beloved) remark in astonishment to a human that we are such curious creatures because we think computers are better than books just because we invented computers second.
It feels like something that would appear in Animorphs. Then he went on that you can open a book to a page and the information is there instantly and unchangeably. He listed many strengths of books there. I haven't thought about this for years. I've always loved computers and books and I don't know that I fully agreed with Elfangor or Ax or whoever it was that said this then, but I totally get it now
my knight you have to live you have to get up you have to put your hand over your wound and hold it there. you have to keep walking and walking and walking because you cannot lay down yet, it’s not time. wipe the blood off your breastplate and look up into the sun. lean on your sword if you need to. lift one foot after another. get up. get up. this would be a pitiful grave.
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We're starting today with the first week in June. Yay!
🏖️
In this challenge you set your own goal and I would love for you to announce it publicly.
Your goal can be whatever you want to get done over the summer, and you can change it from week to week. It can be a wordcount, or edited pages, or a set of time spent on a project. This is up to you, depending on what you feel comfortable with and what you need to do.
🦩
Track your process however you like. You can use sites like trackbear or mywriteclub to track your process, or a spreadsheet, or just write it into a notebook, a graphic, a document.
I have a weekly calendar for you and @mareebrittenford made a cool spreadsheet to track your process (a how-to is coming up). I've put everything into this folder:
Here's a link to the spreadsheet on Google, if that works better for you
And here's a graphic for you:
That's the first calendar. Set your own goal and fill in what you would like to use as a prompt (optional) and then track what you've accomplished every day.
The problem with having a child with an attorney that has spoken to the child like an adult since birth is that she's 4 years old and she's negotiating the order in which we're going to complete tasks as a family to best suit her idea of an ideal day.
The great thing about being beholden to Penny the Deals Warlock is that she is also beholden to the art of the deal
Me: (watching Penny scoot her step stool over to where we keep the candy jar): hey honey we're literally walking out the door to go get dinner, maybe we wait on the candy okay?
Penny: Oh but I will have some candy?
Me: Why don't you come have some mac and cheese and then when we get home you can have some candy, deal?
Penny: (running out the door) oh, yes this is deals!
We are visiting my family and Papa has quickly had to pay patronage to Penny the Deals Warlock
Papa: (yesterday morning, when Penny was a little grumpy) What about you come downstairs and we'll have some waffles and then tomorrow Papa will take you to the Diner in town for breakfast?
Penny: (extending her tiny hand to a VERY confused man) this is deal?
Penny has a canker sore to end all canker sores, to the point where she hasn't been able to eat so we had to make some deals surrounding getting some medicine on it because a hungry Penny Rose is like a angry demon queen
Me: Okay baby this is going to suck. This is going to hurt real bad for a second and then it's going to feel weird and then it's going to feel good. You're going to hate it. But if you let Mama get these three medicines in and on you [Listerine, Antacid, Tylenol] you can scream it out and then we'll go get some ice cream! Deal?
Penny: (obviously not thrilled with this idea) okay, three big shreams, three medicines, ice cream ... it will suck... ice cream ... deal. (Sticks out hand and we shake on it)
Me: okay let's do this I'm so sorry (starts the process)
Penny: ( In between her big screams ) IM GONNA GET LOTS OF FRINKLES
My husband is trying to make a deal with Penny to get upstairs and get in the bath tub
Penny: I will go upstairs and get my body clean but you hafta titch me, deal?
Dada: I would love to make this deal with you kid but I literally have no idea what you are saying- I don't know what the terms are, you're speaking a language I don't speak
Penny: you have to titch me like mama does okay DEAL!? (Sticks tiny hand out aggressively)
Dada: (looks at me bewildered for help)
Me: ( starts making a quick tick tick tick sound imitating a stop watch like I'm timing her, while penny jumps around yelling YES TITCH ME LIKE THAT)
Dada: In what world was I ever going to figure that out, thank you for acting as our legal interpreter yes deal let's go!
Penny does not want to go to bed, but man is it time for her to go to bed
Penny: But I don't want to be sleeping, I want to stay up now! I want to see Grampy and Cozy and Guppie and Papa!
Mama: What if we video call all the grands and say good night to everyone? If we do that will you then go to bed no fussing?
Penny: Oh yes, this is deals! -sticks her hand out to shake-
** we make the rounds and video call all her grandparents, they are all already in bed and say good night and penny hangs up the last video call and toddles into bed with minimal fussing **
Penny : (after a few minutes of silence, over the video monitor, to herself in her dark bedroom) I hafta respect da deals.
Every morning Penny wakes up, and she asks if we have decorated her house with "Halloween every where" and every morning I have had to tell her not yet baby but soon. This last morning Penny had to go to pre k a little earlier then she is used to cause Daddy had court and I had a dentist appointment, which made her a little bummed out... or so I thought
Me: Hey baby do you want to make a deal about school?
Penny: (immediately sticks out her hand, literally no hesitation, her entire demeanor changing in an instant) yes let's deals, I will be big and brave and go to school no fussing, and you will put Halloween every where all over my house, okay this is deals Mama??
Penny: (is doing some strange interpretive dance to let us know she's not a fan of the cup we've chosen to put her juice in, mind you this is the only clean cup at this moment. She is hopping up and down, and swinging her arm like an elephant trunk, she is pirouetting, her hands are on her hips. Shes is completely silent)
Husband: (exasperated) okay but DID you make a deal with SOMETHING while you were pregnant ? It's the only explanation I can come up with.
sometimes people will ask me if penny is still making deals and here is an update for you to let you know:
Husband: okay, you can not leave your room until someone comes and gets you okay? You're getting up way too early and we're guests in Papa and Guppies house so you stay and play in your room and someone will come get you when you can come out of your room tomorrow morning, deal?
Penny: (hand extended, plotting) deal
-smash cut to the next morning, penny is NOT in her room at the allotted 7:30 AM retrieve Penny Rose Time, we find her in bed cuddled up with my mom and dad watching a movie-
Penny: (hands out in a "calm down" gesture) LISTEN LISTEN I DIDNT LEAVE! I DIDNT- I didn't break da deals! I just knocked on the door until Papa came and got me.
Papa: (laughing hysterically) WELL DONT SNITCH!
Penny: I DIDNT DO NOTHING I KEPT MY DEALS! YOU JUS SAID SOMEONE HAD TO COME GET ME! PAPA COME GET ME!
(so we have to be insanely detailed in our deals because she did knock on her bed room door and yell PAPA! PAPA! PAPA! At 4:30 in the morning until my dad came and got her and you know what that's on us 🤣)
Penny: -sits down at the dining room table like she's on literal trial- Listening
Me: if you can do bath time and get around for bed with literally NO FUSSING you and I can watch ONE POKÉMON in mama and dadas bed before you go to bed! IF I HEAR ONE BIT OF FUSSING POKÉMON IS OFF THE TABLE!
Penny: -folding her hands ready to counter, speaking to me like I'm losing my faculties- uhm, no deal Mama, I want Pokémon on the TV not on the table.
Me: -trying not to die- that's ...no I just mean the deal is if you fuss at all there will be NO POKÉMON TONIGHT
please eat enough and drink enough water and get enough sleep. this is so that you have enough energy. because we need you to be writing and drawing porn on the internet
i love making friends in fandom, i love playing with our toys together, i love coming up with increasingly niche aus, i love lifting strangers up, i love motivating people to create, i love watching someone get excited over an idea and immediately running with it, i love yelling in tags together, i love seeing someone gain confidence in their writing/art because people were kind to them <33
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