#minipliny

Odysseus speaks:

If I'd approached him differently – spoken to him more gently, asked not for guest-gifts, but for – for simple lodging, maybe, a refuge from the storm, would he have been kinder? could I have saved those men who died? If I extended my hand, not grasping, but as a man extends his hand to greet any other man, would it have gone otherwise?

No. I saw his brutish face, his lumpish muscles, hear him proclaim – the fool – the supremacy of his kind. I took only what I needed, his simple cheeses, and he took the lives of men I knew. How could it, how could it ever have gone otherwise?

Polyphemus speaks:

:D

i dig the phrasing of this, because i feel like it really captures my intended priorities—like, i care a lot about good fresh clear-eyed thinking, and while i hope i do some of that, ultimately the point is the overarching intellectual, human project, not the authorship of it; if anything, i’m glad and grateful to feel as though we’re all coming together and collaborating. (i imagine i probably do come across sometimes as looking to officiously overwrite other people’s Bad Takes, but that’s not my goal: on the contrary, i’m trying my best to keep ego out of it, because really what i’m interested in is a very earnest, equal project of mutual support and ongoing betterment.)

thanks for playing! :)

5. What objectively terrible snack food or candy are you really attached to? 

What are you talking about, my tastes are impeccable, everything I eat is objectively delicious, up to and including those Jell-O brand butterscotch pudding cups with the slightly weird chemical aftertaste I used to get as a treat when I had to see an occupational therapist in the first grade and have craved intermittently ever since. 

10. What dish does/did your mom/other family member make that No One Else Will Ever Make As Well? 

Weirdly enough, it's my grandmother's oatmeal. It's creamier than other oatmeals, with loads of brown sugar but also a slightly salty thing going on. She used to make it in industrial quantities over an old double boiler. I'm not even a big hot cereal person! 

16. What is the most important cooking appliance? 

Dear Pliny,

Thank you for your birthday wishes. I thought getting off Tumblr meant that no one would ever trouble to make a callout post for me. What, instead, is this?

Birch (something you’re proud of): oh god you would ask a hard one.  idk i’m proud that i’ve been setting out to learn new skills (weaving, felting, embroidery), and that I’ve been persevering through a lot of “why am I even trying, it’s not worth trying if I can’t be a brilliant artist.”  It’s, uh...it’s an uphill battle sometimes.

Index: What book character would you like as your best friend?

Still tricky on account of my inability to imagine real interaction with book characters! Uh...I don’t think we would be BEST friends necessarily but I would totally love to work with Beverley Brook (from RoL) and I think we could be Good Work Friends. 

Volume: Last book you dnf?

@minipliny replied to your post “the Museum of English Rural Life is bringing me the only  Marie...”

I'm losing my mind this is so funny