Hello, I Am Here Just To Say That I Have Not Died Tragically, I Have Just Been Extremely Busy These Days.

(spoilers for TSH)

A certain aspect of the secret history I think about to this day is how accurate it is when it comes to public outrage, especially for it's time. When I am with others and they turn on the TV to watch television (personally, I avoid the news.) I am horrified by the tragedies that are portrayed.

But only for a few seconds.

The horrible events displayed on the screen are cocaine - their impact is strong, yet short lived. Swiftly the journalist moves on to the next topic, feeding me media until I puke.

When I watch the news, I think about the Hampden college students. I think about how much they cared, and how it wasn't enough.

Stay yourself, stay curious

To the kids not excited for this school year,

To the kids that don't have someone to sit next to in class,

To the kids that just can't seem to make friends,

To the kids that are falling behind,

To the kids that will push themselves to their limits for a number on a card,

To the kids that are made fun of because of their way of appearance,

To the kids that are bullied, and yes they are,

To the kids that don't share a language with their peers,

To the kids no one believes,

You are important.

You deserve this year for yourself.

And you are more than enough.

Stay yourself, stay curious.

I have recently started to become more ecologically conscious in my everyday life - eating out less, buying less, using more of the possessions I already own, etc... - and that includes shopping for clothes in second hand shops. And I am ASTONISHED at how many well kept, good quality pieces are simply lying around at some dim lit room downtown. Honestly, I urge everyone reading this to go to the worst rated second hand shop in their area. Avoid the trendy ones, go for the ones with 70 year old witches who'll smoke a whole pack inside the store in the hour you'll spend there. The true gems lie there.

Stay yourself, stay curious.

Frog and Toad; Tales of a simpler life

Hello. This is my first essay post - maybe I'll make a masterlist, maybe I won't.

''Frog and Toad'', a short book series written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel in the 1970s, is a collection of tales about two friends - Frog and Toad. They both live in the forest and go on many adventures together. Every time my mind reminds me of the existence of the duo, one word comes to my mind - Home. Frog and Toad is a cozy sort of series, and every tale has a comforting feeling attached to it. In this post, I'd like to address the philosophy of Frog and Toad - Simple living.

• Most Frog and Toad stories have a similar premise - one of our two protagonists has an everyday issue he has to face and the other helps him overcome this. When we think about everyday life, we think about moving forward - getting promoted, making more money, moving away, getting fitter - always an additive, and fast. A great example for this is hustle culture - the glamorization of putting all of your self into your line of work. I personally strongly dislike hustle culture - as a communist I believe that the improvement of the self should not be calculated with money, but with health and happiness, and that instead of success being isolated to an individual, if someone succeeds it should benefit their surroundings. "Frog and Toad" doesn't fit with those sort of ideals of hustle and constant improvement. The duo's problems are, well, very simple.

• Arnold Lobel describes himself as a domestic kind of person ;

"I'm really not much of a traveler or wanderer or adventurer and I think that feeling certainly comes into my books. I notice that all of my books are rather homebound"

He is certainly right. In his writing and illustrations, Lobel creates a very welcoming (ahem cottagecore ahem ahem) atmosphere - his language is simple and inviting and his coloring style consists of warm earth tones. Even the protagonist's houses have this feeling, consisting of wooden furniture and warm, fluffy pillows. (I'd like to add Frog and Toad are both very middle class, and these stories are affected by their privilege). Although they don't own many possessions - honestly, the most common item you'll see that costs any money in the Frog and Toad series is the protagonist's bed - Frog and Toad find their place in moments and people.

• Allow me to give an example (my favourite personally). The story "A list" follows Toad - a usually anxious and worried type. He wakes up and realizes he has many things to do, and so he writes a list of the things he wants to get done that day;

- wake up

- eat breakfast

- get dressed

- go to frog's house

- take (a) walk with frog

- eat lunch

- take (a) nap

- play games with Frog

- eat supper

- go to sleep

Before the story even starts, we can see Toad doesn't really have many things to do that day, and yet he puts heavy emphasis on what he does have. That is one of the building stones of simple living - the silent agreement to enjoy every minute you get out of your life.

As the day progresses, Toad crosses out what he accomplished, until he takes a walk with Frog. As they are walking, a gust of wind blows over his list, and he is frozen in place. Frog starts running towards the list, while Toad stays back, claiming that running after his list is not on his list, and thus not something that he should engage in.

• Frog didn't manage to catch Toad's list. Toad claims "I cannot remember any of the things I wrote on my list of things to do. I will just have to sit here and do nothing." In this instance, Label criticizes the close minded way people who are only interested in 'the grind' (Jesus Christ I can't believe I just wrote that) think - they only see the things they want to achieve as goals worthy of energy, and nothing else. Toad may have wanted to play games with Frog to strengthen their bond, but the intention or the way didn't matter - it was the goal that did.

• Frog and Toad sit around all day. After a lot of nothing, Frog says "Toad, it is getting dark, we should be going to sleep now". Suddenly, frog realizes that was the last thing on his list, to sleep, and they both slip into unconsciousness. I think this ending really clears out they way Label thinks about always moving forward - sure, maybe they weren't on Toad's list, but there were many activities he and Frog could have partook in he skipped out on out of sheer stubbornness. Instead of trying to make the most out of his day, he wallowed in his own sadness over not achieving every goal he had, and let a whole afternoon slip by.

• to summarize, Frog and Toad are friends. They are friends and they enjoy each other's company. They prefer to have a cup of tea instead of building a bigger house, and they'd never call each other on the telephone, if they want to talk to each other, they simply walk over to their friend's house. I personally have started to pick up some of their habits - I now drink my morning Tea or coffe without any distractions, I spend more time outside, and I try to not get hung up on every little detail. As a perfectionist this is a... Hard task, at the least, but it's worth it. I have calmed down. I have become more at peace with less.

Thank you for reading - Stay yourself, stay curious.

Hi there, I bought a doc martens addina flower buckle a few weeks ago and it hurts to walk in them - my toes feel cramped. It's it normal? What should I do? I already went to a cobbler...

I'm currently filling an admission to a VERY prestigious religious - studies program, and I was requested to write about a piece of media which influenced me as a person.

Fools just gave me free rein to infodump on TSH

Stay yourself, stay curious

The Torah is hilarious because one moment you read a passage illustrating how the upcoming king is the best person to ever walk the earth, and a couple chapters in he is starting a civil war because his soldier is more popular than him. (I'm talking about Shaul)

As a communist, leisure is something I find especially sacred. No matter what area a person finds fascinating, I believe that person should have the right to indulge in it (given it is harmless). The pure idea of a world in which an inspiring historian has to sit at a desk and click on buttons to survive sickens me, let alone the reality of it. As long as you can, especially if you are young enough -

Read that Wikipedia article.

Analyse those films.

Learn that instrument.

There is a reason all my post end with

Stay yourself, Stay curious.

I love you people going into "useless" fields I love you classics majors I love you cultural studies majors I love you comparative literature majors I love you film studies majors I love you near eastern religions majors I love you Greek, Latin, and Hebrew majors I love you ethnic studies I love you people going into any and all small field that isn't considered lucrative in our rotting capitalist society please never stop keeping the sacred flame of knowledge for the sake of knowledge and understanding humanity and not merely for the sake of money alive

Stay yourself, stay curious.

Just got up at 4:30am in order to go to a march that demands returning war hostages.

I know it's a good cause but my dear brothers in Christ why FOUR THIRTY AM 😭😦

Stay yourself, stay curious