“what was it like, seeing those first pictures? (space *is* eternally new; that’s *exactly* the feeling of it.)”
I know a lot of people have said it was a moment of awe for them, that those first pictures of the “blue marble” really transformed their point of view, but I was kind of already there? See, I was a little kid who loved maps, especially world maps. I would look at them for hours, thinking happily of all the people and countries and animals and ecosystems that exist in the world and being frustrated that the ones in my textbooks (printed during the Cold War, which was still going on) showed the Soviet Union and China as just blank spots, as if those countries weren’t part of the Earth, too, just because they had Communist governments. So the pictures of the Earth from space just confirmed the sense of the world that I already had. I think it was older people who maybe weren’t so bookish, whose mental picture of the Earth was centered on their own physical experience of it (kind of like the famous “View of the World from 9th Avenue” cartoon that has been so often parodied that for a while those “View of the World” cartoons formed a genre of their own), who had their minds blown by the sight of this planet as a rather small thing compared to the vastness of the universe around it. Just a theory.
Oh my god, Cold War textbook maps had the Soviet Union and China as blank?? That’s…so weird and yet as soon as you said it, I was like ‘ah yes BUT OF COURSE THEY WERE’.
I literally only have one rule in my writing and it is this:
No matter what I put my characters through, they make it. They get to make it to the end of the story and have everything work out and be ok.
Because that’s the story I need. So it’s the kind I write.
If you want a piece of writing advice: write a story that is what you needed to hear at whatever age your target demographic is. I can guarantee you there’ll be someone out there who needs to hear it as much as you did. And maybe you’ll help them the same way someone else’s story did for you.
For some reason, this hit home and I never realized it that I did this for my stories too
Yep, in a partnership with young adult retail brand ASOS, Crayola now has a line of 58 vegan and cruelty-free beauty products,
which includes “face crayons,” mascara, highlighters, and eyeshadow
palettes. Shades, such as Tumbleweed and Dandelion, match the names of
actual Crayola crayons.
Elle notes
the collection is “gender fluid,” citing a press release about the line
from ASOS. They also note that both men and women are shown wearing the
product in the campaign’s photos.
“Bisexuality is a whole, fluid identity. Do not assume that bisexuality is binary or duogamous in nature: that we have “two” sides or that we must be involved simultaneously with both genders to be fulfilled human beings. In fact, don’t assume that there are only two genders. Do not mistake our fluidity for confusion, irresponsibility, or an inability to commit. Do not equate promiscuity, infidelity, or unsafe sexual behavior with bisexuality. Those are human traits that cross all sexual orientations. Nothing should be assumed about anyone’s sexuality, including your own.”
(From the 1990 Bisexual Manifesto, Bay Area Bisexual Network, “Anything That Moves”)
“In fact, don’t assume that there are only two genders.” -From the 1990 Bisexual Manifesto
So maybe people can stop saying bisexuality’s inclusion of nonbinary folk is ‘new’. Signed, a bi nonbinary person.
I’ve been studying the classic black tie dress code (mainly from here) so I thought I could share my notes. Maybe they can be helpful to someone else, too. If I made any mistakes or things are really confusing please tell me. I also have some notes on white tie which I could share as well…
setepenre-set 
