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Month: December 2019
LauraGaede: Come On, Dear Santa
workingclasshistory:On this day, 26 December 1862 the largest…
On this day, 26 December 1862 the largest mass execution in US history took place when 38 Native American Dakota people were hanged during the US-Dakota War of 1862. Some of the trials of the Native Americans lasted less than 5 minutes, and President Lincoln personally reviewed the trial paperwork and approved the death penalty.
This book is a heartbreaking account of the genocide of the original inhabitants of the United States: https://libcom.org/library/bury-my-heart-wounded-knee-indian-history-american-west-dee-brown https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1304657869719360/?type=3
“Into the underland we have long placed that which we fear and wish to lose, and that which we love…”
“Into the underland we have long placed that which we fear and wish to lose, and that which we love and wish to save.”
- Robert Macfarlane, Underland.
- Robert Macfarlane, Underland.
bronweathanharthad: It recently occurred to me that Gandalf only counsels Frodo when it’s just the…
It recently occurred to me that Gandalf only counsels Frodo when it’s just the two of them.
He doesn’t tell Frodo about the Ring until Frodo is in Bag End and they assume that nobody is around to listen in on their conversation. When Gandalf checks in with Frodo between Caradhras and Moria, he calls Frodo away from the rest of their Fellowship, at which point they talked in hushed voices and pause their conversation when other members of the Fellowship pass them. They likewise talk about Gollum in a place where the rest of the Fellowship probably can’t hear their conversation. In the books, Gandalf is accompanying the hobbits back home on the one-year anniversary of Weathertop, and Gandalf only asks Frodo whether he is in pain once he is riding alongside Frodo, and again he talks quietly to prevent the other hobbits from eavesdropping.
Gandalf knows Frodo well enough to know when Frodo is distressed, and he also knows that Frodo is often reluctant to talk about his troubles. Frodo trusts Gandalf in a way that he doesn’t really trust anyone else, not even Sam, and he always takes Gandalf’s advice to heart, even if he doesn’t understand it right away. But sometimes, as he shows on the one-year anniversary of Weathertop, Gandalf also knows that sometimes Frodo just needs a listening ear, someone who will listen and offer sympathy without being overly pitiful.
That mutual trust is possibly one of my favorite things about their relationship.
“At night, according to their accustomed watches, the stars traverse a path beneath the earth.”
“At night, according to their accustomed watches, the stars traverse a path beneath the earth.”
- Bede, The Reckoning of Time, trans. Faith Wallis.
- Bede, The Reckoning of Time, trans. Faith Wallis.
grayskymorning: Mylène Cybele Sopacua
“‘Of course it’s a trick. Building a canoe is a trick. Throwing a spear is a trick. Life is a trick,…”
“‘Of course it’s a trick. Building a canoe is a trick. Throwing a spear is a trick. Life is a trick, and you get one chance to learn it.’”
- Terry Pratchett, Nation.
- Terry Pratchett, Nation.
walkingthroughhistory: The feeling when you pull a heavy book off a shelf and suddenly you are an…
The feeling when you pull a heavy book off a shelf and suddenly you are an apprentice doctor who is desprate to cure the king before the land is plunged into war.
philamuseum: Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good…
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
“Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night,” 1879, by Thomas Nast
Perhaps the saddest of all is that Canada’s reindeer (aka Caribou) are endangered, and not likely to last out the century if we keep destroying habitat.