Thank You For Your Contributions To Society... Oh Wait! You Have Done Nothing! In Fact You Have Probably

Your weakest moments; I will go to war for you.

Chrissy Vistiaire

Nona the Ninth is one of my favorite books of all time. Not just because it's Locked Tomb, but it is the purest form of one of the big messages the series is trying to divulge.

The price of love is grief. We will never be free of it as long as we love anything at all. Our family, friends, our pets, even beloved media. Anything that connects that deeply to us that we love it will leave a gaping hole when it's gone.

But no one rejects loving to avoid grief. Every one of the characters holds on desperately to something they love, to levels that seem unhealthy to us. They want the perks without the cost.

John is holding on to a world and people that died 10k years ago.

The lyctors cling desperately to their cavaliers memories, to the point of being willing to end the 9 houses to honor them.

Cam held on to Pal, Pal held on to Dulcie. Harrow held on to Gideon so hard she disappeared her from her memory to avoid the grief she would pay for the privelege of caring for her.

But Nona loves indiscriminately. She loves the polluted sky, she loves the sad people, she loves the stray dogs and her friends and her teachers and Varun. She loves Pyrrhas lying ass, she loves Camilla and Palemedes, she loves crown and even cares about Judith. Nona isn't afraid of grief, because to her all that love balances it out. Nona is the only one in the end willing to pay the price for that 6 months of unconditional love. She knows from the beginning of the book that her own days are numbered, but she doesn't shy from it and avoid loving.

She loves all that much harder.

"If you could see your whole life, start to finish, would you change anything?" The movie Arrival (2016) approaches this same theme. If you knew what you'd lose, would you go back to avoid it? Would you keep away from the people and things you knew you'd lose? Would you shy away from experiencing love just because it hurts?

"Love and Freedom don't coexist, warden."

mount Rushmore redesign on the house

God, I wish I had this level of confidence

Do you ever wonder about you and your place in the universe?

Nope I know exactly where my place is and it’s directly in the center

my mom bought me challah from the bakery today and said "i got you some of your 'chaw-luh' bread :)"

a few days ago a coworker asked me to explain Hanukkah and I asked her if she knew what a menorah was. She said, “like the Northern Lights?”

I’m simultaneously haunted by and wild about this concept now. instead of aurora borealis, menorah borealis. menorah borealis

Hadestown may have stolen my heart and crushed it, but at least I also had fun

eurydice: h

orpheus:

hey don’t cry. two nice jewish boys falling in love while studying talmud and homoerotically wrapping each other’s tefillin ok?

An embroidery of the Wikipedia page for embroidery.

I hate when Inst*gram inf*graphics or social justice posts say stuff like “this is NOT political, it’s a human rights issue!!!” Bestie, it IS political!! Human rights issues are almost always political! They have to do with politics. They have to do with politicians. The actions they require are political in nature. Something having a clear moral right and wrong does not equal it not being a political issue!