Racoonstuff

The ONLY WAY to combat the lack of funding in arts education is for professionals to take a few hours a week to share their skills for FREE, to empower and encourage the next generation of artists. THIS IS WHAT THE INTERNET IS FOR. Here’s 200 tutorials:

and exomis:

Art suggests that the Ancient Greeks were less concerned about underpants, but then they weren’t standing guard on the damp and chilly edge of Empire. The “almost-out” part of wearing a chlamys didn’t seem a great cause for concern, and though art is probably more idealised than reality, Greek culture certainly considered that If the gods gave someone a good body there was nothing wrong about showing it off. What WAS wrong was to dishonour the gift by letting it go to seed and gave extra emphasis to “religiously hitting the gym”.

Since gym(nasium) comes from gymnos - γυμνός, “naked” - and working-out was done in the buff, there was no hiding a lack of reps under baggy sweats.

To evade the stupid porn-not-art bots, I’m not posting full-frontal examples of what happened to a chlamys when the wearer moved - there are plenty if you Google, and this would be typical if complete…

…but the ones I’ve included give a good idea of how much it covered or didn’t.

Figures wearing a chlamys often also wear boots and a broad-brimmed hat called a petasos, sometimes pushed back to give a halo effect. This seems to be visual shorthand for someone on a journey; Odysseus certainly qualifies.

Behind him on the right is Hermes; a hat, chlamys, short chiton (tunic), trademark winged heels / boots and caduceus snake-staff or herald’’s wand are his typical attributes-in-art. (Side note: the double-snake staff isn’t medical, despite appearing on US badges; an Asklepios medical rod has just one snake.)

Sometimes his Roman representations are a bit more, uh, cheeky.

The chlamys looks like something developed by a culture which wore towels at the shoulder rather than round the waist, then decided “bodies are nothing to be ashamed of and we have a hot climate, so why not outdoors as well…”

Oddly enough the Aztecs had a cape or mantle called a tilmàtli which was secured at one shoulder in almost exactly the same way…

So yeah, they are destroying the biggest ecosystem that is the Amazon right now. And the world must know.

And sometimes I think, “Well, two hundred is technically less than four hundred.” And I have to stop myself, because - I am writing half as much as Terry Pratchett. Terry fucking Pratchett, who not only published regularly up until his death, but published books that were consistently good. 

And this has also been an immense help as a writer with ADHD, because I don’t feel bad when I take a break from writing - two hundred words works up quick, after all. If I take a break at 150, I have a whole day to write 50 more words, and I’ve rarely written less than 200 words and not felt the need to keep writing because I need to tie up a loose end anyways. 

1) DON’T use your search bar to find and open the Run app

2) DON’T type in services.msc

3) DON’T find Adobe Genuine Software Integrity Services and right-click to get a dropdown menu, and don’t select ‘properties’

4) if you happen to click properties, DON’T use the startup type dropdown to locate the option to disable the program. be sure you DON’T click apply to finalize that change. 

5) DO NOT do the same thing in order to also disable Adobe Genuine Software Monitor 

if you do all of these things, this WILL disable adobe’s ability to monitor the software, and you will be forced to continue using the same older software that you already paid for instead of having to sign up for a newer, shittier version and pay more for it. so if you have lots of cash to spare and are cool with putting it the pockets of racketeering capitalists, definitely don’t do any of these things. 

This is actually my dog. Please help me save him. He’s too young. We’re trying to get a diagnosis of leptospirosis. I’ve already paid $2000, but he needs more. Every little bit will help. Please, please.

but i hate kids.

or really, i hate how they’ve always been expected from me.

when i was five i was given “babies.” i hated the hardness of dolls, disposed of them for dramatic stories between stuffed animals. i knew how to wrap, feed, and care for a baby before i could spell my last name. when i was nine i was already “watching the kids”. i was only four years older than my cousins were. i wanted to go out and play. instead i was expected to have responsibility. by the time i was thirteen all of my friends had told me about how many children they were going to have in their twenties. 

my hips were “child-bearing” hips. my brother was a scientist, or a fireman, or a steamroller. i was going to make a good housewife, or mom, or nanny, or mom, or mom, or mom.

and when my body hurt, i was told it wasn’t really my body, not really, it belonged to my future children. i couldn’t cut or snip or tie anything; i was trapped by the potential energy that hung above me. a boulder, threatening. i couldn’t get tattoos, because what would i tell my children? i couldn’t kiss a girl, because what would i tell the children? i couldn’t be risky or wild or anything but a lady, because what about the children?

and when i said “i don’t want children” - not biologically, at least, not when cancer and depression and a whole other host of terrible things lives inside me - do you know what they said? “it’ll change, wait and see” “it’s not bad” “you’ll get used to it” “when you meet the right man” “you don’t want to be lonely”.

i don’t hate kids. i’m great with them. 

but then i’m told again that my life will be forfeit to them - something in me snaps angry. “wait until you have kids” “you should travel before you have children” “you’ll be more happy.” 

i hate kids! i’ve snarled. i don’t mean it at all. but god. please, leave me alone. i don’t want to be a biological mom. 

it’s like we’re born with a uterus and told “this is your whole life. your singular purpose. your job.” 

My 2 tutorials BOOKS are coming BACK to KICKSTARTER in the HIGHER TIERS of my brother Robin’s How to WRITE campaign THIS OCTOBER 2019! BUT! The ONLY WAY to get the books is to join the SECRET LAUNCH CLUB MAILING LIST by sending “Add me, Lorenzo!” to [email protected]. We WON’T be announcing the launch date ANYWHERE online ahead of the campaign going live! My drawing tutorials books will NOT be on sale ANYWHERE in shops OR online outside of Kickstarter for at least the next TWO YEARS, so this is a VERY RARE CHANCE to get them!

Tracy J Lee on Instagram