Dreimehrparsec - The Light Like Lead

inspired by an illustration from a 1950 magazine

*** [we'll sit by the window...]

we'll sit by the window

we'll watch the storm coming

the darkest skies open

the strongest wind blowing

we'll see it take over

the world as we know it

we'll be left with nothing

but each other's hoping

for the days to come after

the days of redemption

to finally bring forth

our longed-for salvation

and yet we'll be crying

and yelling, denying

for no one has taught us

how to handle dying

i wish i could stop this

and hold you forever

but this very moment

is worth more than ever

we'll sit by the window

and watch the storm coming

once we had a future

soon we will be nothing

Arial B.

September 2023

January so bad only nine inch nails announcing a show in my country could save it

Hi and welcome. My name is Arial and this is my blog I will use to let my thoughts out into the world, sometimes. If you feel like staying here – make yourself at home.

I Listened to that Band in 500 BC

Side-by-side pictures in my photo app. Blixa Somewhere around 10 years apart in age. 1978-1988 ish.

The total solar eclipse seen from Casper, Wyoming (US), by a team of ESA astronomers.

So I've just started reading the third part of Neal Shusterman's series Arc of a Scythe – The Toll, and I believe this is the first time I came across a non-binary/genderfluid character in a book, additionally that beautifully portrayed.

The character's name is Jerico. Jerico is a captain of a great ship. Through the first few paragraphs of that chapter there are no gendered expressions used to describe Jerico (and note that I'm not reading it in English, but in my native, heavily-gendered language), until that moment when one sailor refers to Jerico as "sir", and then quickly corrects himself to "madam", adding, "it was cloudy a moment ago".

I won't explain here the whole setting of that story, but for what you need to know, it is happening in the future when there are some places in the world that function differently from the rest. It is explained that in Madagascar, where Jerico comes from, the concept of gender is not imposed on children. Once they are grown up, they are free to choose whether they feel like men or women, or not to choose at all. Jerico chose the fluidity.

And here's my favourite part. Jerico's gender depends on the weather. When there is sun or stars in the sky, she is a woman. When there are clouds, he is a man. For someone whose everyday life depends so strongly on atmospheric conditions as for a sailor, a captain, I think it's beautiful. I don't know yet what happens to Jerico later in that book, but anyways. Huge respect to the author.

Patti Smith by Michael Ochs, 1975

Einstürzende Neubautenin in Japan, 1985

Corona of the Egyptian Eclipse, 1882

source