Man, I like plants so much. for something that doesn't move in any way you can see or appreciate except in the aggregate, they are nevertheless so very alive.

For example, I was potting the second generation of clippings from my pothos plant yesterday and felt a profound sense of satisfaction. I know houseplants are not exactly difficult to keep alive, given their intended purpose, but I started my collection in 2022. The pothos plant is 4 years old, it already has a first generation cutting growing on one windowsill, this will be the second.

Or even take my spiky dracaena and rubber plants, also from 2022. I took this picture in January 2024:

Two years later?

I realize this is much more dramatic and interesting with human children, or even pets. But I have a tree that is taller than I am, a spiky plant wider than my head, and three generations of trailing vine in my apartment, so I would like the mark the occasion.

the sappho 'mother I cannot spin' poem, but it's about me falling in love with apartments on zillow at 5am

I'm sure there are! However, I'm a bit off fic these days---though I am currently reading Esther Yi's Y/N. (Named after the fan trope of writing self-insert "your name" fic, it's delightfully insane.) But really, I just have too many books to get through before the library claws them back.

That said, if someone's doing something really weird, or ambitious, I do like knowing about it. I recently read the "Isaac Chotiner interviews the guy who runs the lottery in Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery'" fic, and that was fun---I just don't have a lot of appetite for more traditional fanfiction.

I really, sincerely do think that one of the most interesting topics to think about is the clash of material culture with The Arts. For example: I'm watching a ballet right now, so I'm thinking about the romantic, flowing tutu vs. the stiff material of the pancake tutu. To understand this as more than just a random stylistic choice, you have to understand a hundred years of ballet fashion and general fashion history; the difference between tulle, gossamer, gauze and organza; and also 750 approximate other qualities, from budget to number of dancers to intended aesthetic to what an ignoramus audience member (like me) is going to assume when you show them the two dancers side-by-side.

I love thinking about The Arts as something rare and rarefied, untouchable, but suspect it's largely about budgets. I like thinking about that too.

it feels very strange to open all my windows in January just so I can listen to the rain, but having done so, I made the correct call.

Wizards!! // by Jessica (jesserintaylor1)

from Night Moves, by Jessica Hopper

Every three months or so, I go through what I like to call "A Bullshit Dark Night of the Soul." For those not familiar with my brain's shenanigans, this is a period of time when it feels like the whole world is drowning, darkness rises, all is lost and all hope and joy has fled from the world; nothing will ever change---when actually, that's just my brain being a dramatic little liar, and if I wait a couple weeks, it will go away.

Still, those couple of weeks are endless.