Papercuts

If everything was legal for like twenty-four hours I’d start a communal garden.

This is barely even hyperbole.

I would legit start a communal garden with whoever wanted to join me.

rest stops on highways

trails by the highway just out of earshot of traffic

schools during breaks

those little beaches right next to ferry docks

your friends living room once everybody but you is asleep

the lighting section of home depot

A lot of these places are called liminal spaces - which means they are throughways from one space to the next. Places like rest stops, stairwells, trains, parking lots, waiting rooms, airports feel weird when you’re in them because their existence is not about themselves, but the things before and after them. They have no definitive place outside of their relationship to the spaces you are coming from and going to. Reality feels altered here because we’re not really supposed to be in them for a long time for think about them as their own entities, and when we do they seem odd and out of place.

The other spaces feel weird because our brains are hard-wired for context - we like things to belong to a certain place and time and when we experience those things outside of the context our brains have developed for them, our brains are like NOPE SHIT THIS ISN’T RIGHT GET OUT ABORT ABORT. Schools not in session, empty museums, being awake when other people are asleep - all these things and spaces feel weird because our brain is like “I already have a context for this space and this is not it so it must be dangerous.” Our rational understanding can sometimes override that immediate “danger” impulse but we’re still left with a feeling of wariness and unease. 

First off, this is a quick warning to you all. Some of the stuff here is going to deal with the Antebellum Period right before the Civil War in the Deep South. This is going to deal with the Confederacy and race relations and a whole lot of historically accurate but highly objectionable material by today’s standards. You have been warned.

So. Remember how I said I sat down and made a time line for him… well, this is pretty much it. Now, I could sit down and give the minutia of ever single battle of the Civil War he fought in, but honestly, that’d take a lot of time, so I’m just going to highlight some of them and give my reasoning behind it all.

Staring with my reasoning for his birth year. I’m going with the age of the actor, which honestly, for that time period, Ethan Hawke would be considered “old”.  The average life expectancy during this era was 37 and Ethan Hawke is 45. Knowing that the movie takes place in 1879 that places the date of his birth to 1834.

TIME LINE 1834 - Born in New Orleans, the son of  landed gentry. (he’s old money). His family hails from French fur traders that made it big and expanded their trading into a business. They ran the trading docks and ports. The year he was born, the family gets the trading contract for the very first gas company. (it brought this new fangled fuel to the city that was used in lights)

1835-1847 - Your standard upper class childhood. There were schools and tutors. Lessons on math and reading and languages. He would take trips with his father up river to learn more of the business. Most of his young life was controlled and dictated by the family patriarch. Just about everything was decided for him. from what he was going to wear to who he was going to marry all before the age of 10.

1847 - 1854 The Boarding School Years. Generally, well to do young men would be sent to boarding schools from the ages of 13 to the age of 20. These were basically colleges and would bring an even more formal education to those who could afford it. I believe that during this time is when he discovered his sexuality. He would go on to graduate Boarding School and rejoin hid father’s trading business as a full partner.

1861 The Civil War begins. Louisiana succeeds from the Union and there is a large call for able bodied men to fight. While Goodnight cares nothing for the politics of it all, he sees it as “romantic” and as his “god given duty” to stand for his beloved state. He  swears in and joins the 9th Louisiana Infantry Regiment. During the training phase, it’s discovered that he’s an amazing shot with a rifle and made a sharpshooter.

(aside - the 9th has an amazing and painful history, I really recommend reading up on them if you have any interest in it)

1861 - 1865 The Civil War is fought. The 9th fought 14 Battles in 1862, 6 in 1863, 8 in 1864, and finally 2 in 1865. In this time, the brigade suffered innumerable losses to both the fighting and to disease and starvation as well as from desertion. The highlights are as follows:  - Second Battle of Manassas -The regiment ran out of ammunition and resorted to throwing rocks at attacking Union soldiers while defending the Unfinished Railroad - Battle of Chantilly - It was rumored that a sharpshooter from Company D killed Union General Kearney. This rumor is true. The shooter was Goodnight. - Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam)  - 22 confirmed kills.  The casualties of the battle were a combined 22,717 dead, wounded or missing. General Lee later describes this battle as “Artillery Hell”   - Battle of Fredericksburg  - Gatling Guns were used for the first time in combat against the South. Lots of people died. - Battle of Gettysburg - He was most likely put into use early in the fighting (Little Round Top) and was not part of Picket’s Charge (he just watched from the tree line) - Battle of Rapahannock Station -  Over 1,600 Confederate prisoners were taken from the eight understrength regiments defending the bridgehead. Of the 1200 men of Hays’ Louisiana Brigade, 699 were captured. - Prisoner of War (Nov 1863 - March 1864) March of 1864  500 of the 699 men from the brigade captured at Rappahannock Station were exchanged and returned to duty  - Siege of Petersburg - Appomattox Court House - the final battle and surrender of Lee to Grant signifying the war ends.

From Free Kesha to Flint, Michigan. From RuPaul to Rigged Elections. 

scrapbooked the hell out of his newspapers

put on a hat that was too big for him 

giggled

cried because lestrade was nice to him

got all sappy and romantic by smelling a rose

let a puppy lead him on adventures

“impish mood”

lit his pipe with an ember from the fireplace because he thought it looked cool

told a guy he was giving him secret government documents and then gave him a book about bees instead

Was offended that Watson doesn’t praise his skills as a housekeeper

Waived his fee if his clients are too poor to pay him

Made hot chocolate to wake Watson up on a cold morning

Danced around and bowed to imaginary friends

‘Flushed up with pleasure’ when being praised

Wouldn’t explain how he comes to conclusions because he was worried Watson would think he is ordinary

Grabs Watson’s hand when he’s frightened