our spirit has never been broken

Hey idk who needs this but helpful reminder that "virgin blood" in any witchcraft shit that requires that means "virgin" in the same sense as "virgin hair" means hair that hasn't been dyed or processed in any way, natural in the default sense. So no, "virgin blood" doesn't mean blood from a virgin, just blood that hasn't been used for any other kind of witchy shit earlier.

I’m fifty papers in to this round of grading. Please enjoy a selection of out-of-context comments I’ve left on students’ papers so far:

renaissance in the 21st century

okay, found her

some more good replies from the notes

Terry was a professional writer from the age of 17. He worked as a journalist which meant that he had to learn to research, write and edit his own work very quickly or else he’d lose his job.

I only ever had a chance to talk to Terry Pratchett once, and that was in an autograph line.  I’d bought a copy of The Carpet People, which was his very first book, and he looked at it with a faint air of concern.  “You realise that I wrote that when I was very young,” he said, in warning.

One of the sassiest and most brutal things the German language does is use "noch" (still) as a prefix.

Image description:

Today I want to show you a very special painting.This place is part of my childhood and some of my happiest memories. I painted it after a trip to Russia in 2017. It feels like a lifetime ago. My oldest son had just turned one, and my husband and I traveled to visit my parents.My parents have a big off-road vehicle, and they love exploring places where ordinary cars simply can’t go-deep forests, marshes, hidden lakes, and quiet rivers. They took us on many adventures, and this was one of those places. We spent the day fishing there and even caught a few large northern pike.This landscape is near the village of Kholuy in the Ivanovo region of Russia.Although I painted it years ago, it isn’t for sale. It is the only painting that was permanently damaged during the catastrophic flood that hit my gallery in 2021, After days of heavy rain in Belgium and Germany, a dam had to be opened overnight to prevent an even greater disaster. Nobody had time to prepare. During the night, the water rushed into the building. The flood reached almost 2.5 meters (over 8 feet) high, nearly touching the ceiling. My paintings floated in muddy water for many hours.Afterward, I washed and disinfected every painting by hand. Many survived surprisingly well, although several wooden stretcher bars warped as they dried. This painting was less fortunate. It must have fallen in just the wrong way, and part of the thick acrylic paint layer detached from the canvas. It now has a small but visible scar, and I still don’t know the best way to restore it.So it hangs in my home instead.People often ask whether it’s okay to touch my textured paintings. I always say yes you can gently touch them with your fingers or even wipe them with a damp cloth if needed. After seeing paintings survive a flood, floating in dirty water for hours, it’s hard for me to imagine that even thousands of curious fingers could do more damage than that one night did.