the wrath of the devil was also given him by god

Show me what you cooked!

Avenue in a Park & Landscape with Houses Vincent Van Gogh

In the wrong crowd

Enormous seashell sculpture at Akkulam, Thiruvananthapuram, India

lake, 2005

I haven’t seen you in years,,,

Vladimir Nabokov’s note card, c. 1969.

Student explaining to me (after getting 55) that when reading a novel (’Ulysses’ in this case) he likes to skip ‘passages and pages’ so as ‘to get his own idea, you know, about the book and not be influenced by the author’.”

“Dead Women”, Mitski (Nothing’s About to Happen to Me)

Spring Light. Made by Stephanie Wilds.

If I could improve anything about that system, I'd take it even further and make it so kids could see a doctor and get meds, treatments, therapy, tests, disability aids etc. without having to rely on their parents as well. I shouldn't have had to put up with being bullied and guilt-tripped about the family finances and the time investment needed to take me to the optometrist every time I needed new glasses.

So I have to wonder: what did they actually contribute to our upbringing? Like they didn't teach us shit and mostly they just endangered our mental and physical health — but hey, at least they gave me cPTSD! That took some work too.

Assume some parents will fail. Build social infrastructure that is designed to support failed kids rather than punish would-be parents.

The best thing is to support the children and give them the tools they need to succeed even if the parents are already giving them those tools. Because you can never learn something too much.